David Masciotra discusses the Biden dilemma in Salon. I include the unassailable first two and last paragraphs below.
The survival of American democracy currently seems to depend upon convincing a majority of voters that a man who could not speak in complete sentences and spent half the night staring blankly into the middle distance in front of the largest audience in CNN’s history, is a trustworthy steward of the federal government and the world’s most lethal military force.
Concerns about Joe Biden’s age, infirmity, and mental acuity are nothing new. They have troubled his prospects for re-election for more than a year. What began as yet another expression of right-wing paranoia and manipulation—baseless accusations of senile dementia dating back to 2020—have morphed into a legitimate inquiry into the health and state of mind of the president.
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Republicans will of course deny this—and many on the progressive left will bemoan it—but at least for now the Democratic Party is the only electoral bulwark against a fascist takeover of American democracy. It cannot afford to squander its political capital, and risk the nation’s future, in defending the delusional hubris of one decent, rapidly failing man and his devoted family.