No more criticizing, say Dems: Former President Joe Biden was diagnosed on Friday with an aggressive form of prostate cancer that has metastasized to the bone. David Axelrod, a Democratic operative, argued on CNN that conversations about Biden's mental acuity "should be more muted and set aside for now as he's struggling through this." He was referring to the discourse around Original Sin, a book by Axios reporter Alex Thompson and CNN anchor Jake Tapper that chronicles the coverup of Biden's mental decline by those around him as he was seeking reelection.
But if anything, the announcement raises more questions. Less than a year ago, Biden's physician claimed he was a "healthy, active, robust 81-year-old male, who remains fit to successfully execute the duties of the Presidency." This already strained credulity for people who noticed his mental decline; it is still more suspicious now, in light of this stage four diagnosis, signs of which were likely present 10 months ago.
The Axelrod line is an attempt to ensure there's never a reckoning. You can be sensitive toward Biden's condition, which is surely very sad for his family, while also trying to uncover which operatives tried to perpetrate a fraud, lying to the American people about the man for whom they were going to be asked to vote. In fact, the two aren't really in tension at all. Which Democratic aides, staffers, and decision makers tried to pull the wool over people's eyes? It's important to suss out how culpable the Bidens were in all this, yes; but the former president doesn't have some long political career ahead of him, whereas some of the people who were complicit in all this might have many decades left.
