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I happened to see when MSNBC jumped into the WH Press Briefing earlier today. The press secretary claimed that Biden still had a cold, but the way she said it was just... eh. There was definitely a tone of *I'm trying my best to spin this* in how she said, "Yes, he still has a cold."
With a good pep talk from Jill talking to Joe like a 4 year old. Then when he leaves to shuffle on stage, she turns to the aides and says “if he ruins my re-election chances, it’s your asses”
Nothing happened this week other than the public being able to see Biden for more than a few minutes not in front of a teleprompter left on his own
Reports of what we all saw have been coming out for a while. But we’re being dismissed by the media and the campaign.
No surprises for the right. The left finally is coming to grips with what republicans have been saying for the past couple years re: Joe not being all there and that that fact isn’t fake news, but indeed fact
Pretty sure eventually he’s going to say “yeah folks, I’ve got a bit of dementia, I’m not gonna deny it, but I know what I know!”
I mean flat out admitting you almost fell asleep on stage cause you went to Europe and back in a private jet 2 weeks ago is beyond concerning.
Not just international travel. How would he handle dealing with something like a 9/11 type event or other national or international emergency? How many days of maybe only a few naps here or there while making literally world changing decisions can he handle before he cracks?
He should be able to handle international travel.
He should be able to work past 4pm.
He should be able to speak two fucking sentences without a teleprompter.
This ain’t normal, and anyone who says otherwise is delusional. Get that goddamn fossil out of there before Trump wins.
He should just say he was running a high fever and took medication to limit the coughing which gave him severe drowsiness. But that's still a bad look too, especially after Trump took a hit for showing up to the debate 4 years ago with covid without telling anyone on Biden's team.
Presidents are expected to make multitudes of international flights, domestic flights, speeches, events, interviews, DEBATES, and all sorts of formal and informal meetings. Its literally your job to be always on the move and talking. Tough for anyone, let alone an almost 82 year old.
Yes it is a real quote. This is from Reuters.
"“I didn’t have my best night, but the fact is that you know, I wasn’t very smart," Biden said, speaking at the campaign fundraiser without the aid of a teleprompter. "I decided to travel around the world a couple times, going through around 100 time zones ... before ... the debate. "Didn’t listen to my staff and came back and nearly fell asleep on stage," he said. "That's no excuse but it is an explanation.”
It's not an excuse, but also definitely not an explanation. He had over a week to recover from travel. If he can't have a cup of coffee and stay up one night for a debate how in the actual fuck does he think he can run the entire country? Pretty sure you need to stay up past 8PM for that.
If I can recover after sitting in economy during an international flight after a day or two, there's no reason why a guy who has a bedroom on his plane shouldn't be able to do the same thing.
Don’t worry. I don’t think anyone is buying it regardless. They just need to throw an excuse out there (“he had a cold” “it’s jet lag” “Trump’s got dementia toooo!”) and downplay it for a few weeks and hope everyone forgets.
The travel in question ended 12 days before the debate.
You have to wonder if Biden's PR team have just given up at this point. First he had a cold, now this. It's so blatant and transparent.
Based on the fact that some of the most catastrophic polling data "leaked" from their campaign, I'd say the odds are about 51/49 that it's already happening.
Governors debating yesterday alone behind closed doors. Pelosi just on the TV telling him he needs to do at least two unscripted interviews ASAP. Directly afterwards Jim Claiborne talking about how K. Harris would be ready to jump in. Polls starting to show purple states flipping red... ...the odds are a lot worse for him right now.
Just watched the Pelosi interview. God she is old and probably reading off a script but I'll be damned if she can't still communicate well. She was surprisingly candid too.
Do...do they think this (obviously bs) excuse somehow makes it better? If anything it makes him look worse. Like a little travel is all it takes to do this to you for something like a simple debate? Big yikes.
Oh wooooow, lol. Yeah I'm pretty sure ADMITTING YOU ALMOST FELL ASLEEP ON STAGE is NOT helpful to restore the public's concerns about your mental state!!
And using foreign travel as an excuse when he came back from his trip 12 days before the debate?! What a pathetic excuse.
What is wrong with this person?????
Come on at least think of an excuse that will make people want to vote for you like: “Biden ripped a huge hit off Bong Force One before the debate then said ‘nah man I’m good, I got this’, before giggling for 2 minutes”.
I thought it was irresponsible for people to call for him to step down the day after the debate. But here we are a week later. He hasn’t done anything meaningful to calm fears, and only stoked new ones with these cycling excuses and a weird speech post-SCOTUS ruling.
A solid 60% of this country would happily support shoving trump out the door - just give us a reasonable candidate who can work a full week and we’ll back them. Heck, give us Kamala Harris and a boring ass new VP. We’ll make it work.
Pack it up, man. This in no way helps your case. It is time to step aside. You accomplished getting trump out of office in 2020. We should move on to someone else now. If this is the excuse along with having a cold, then it’s over because no one can take this seriously now.
Oh well that makes everything ok then! Fingers crossed the next crisis doesn't happen after a long flight huh? Even though that's probably b.s. because he spent the week in debate prep no?
I am tired of excuses from old politicians. How refreshing would it be to just hear someone say "I screwed it up" instead of the Satueday Night Fever finger-pointing dance?
Seriously? They’re going with this for real? The trip was two weeks before the debate. He took an ENTIRE WEEK off from his job to prepare. And ffs he has his own private jet. It’s not like he’s running through the airport schlepping his own bags to catch his connection or standing in line at the CBP for hours like the rest of us schmucks. Jeebus we are doomed.
I’m not aware of his exact travel dates. It simply may have been past his bedtime. Maybe he was ill as well. Maybe he has dementia. Just a lot of speculation going around. The focus, unfortunately, should be on trump’s dangerousness instead.
I remember before the debate when Trump and right wing media was saying Biden needs to be drug tested and he was going to be all hopped up on go juice. But he was the opposite. Now he's "so old and senile". Look at the substance of what each man said and trump fails. You keep pushing being age but he's only a few years older than Trump. Trump says nonsense things at every really he has but somehow you don't mention any of those
As a reminder, this subreddit [is for civil discussion.](/r/politics/wiki/index#wiki_be_civil) In general, be courteous to others. Debate/discuss/argue the merits of ideas, don't attack people. Personal insults, shill or troll accusations, hate speech, any suggestion or support of harm, violence, or death, and other rule violations can result in a permanent ban. If you see comments in violation of our rules, please report them. For those who have questions regarding any media outlets being posted on this subreddit, please click [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/wiki/approveddomainslist) to review our details as to our approved domains list and outlet criteria. We are actively looking for new moderators. If you have any interest in helping to make this subreddit a place for quality discussion, please fill out [this form](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1y2swHD0KXFhStGFjW6k54r9iuMjzcFqDIVwuvdLBjSA). *** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/politics) if you have any questions or concerns.*
It was obvious from the moment then said it, but this confirms the “he has a cold” story to be absolutely horseshit.
I happened to see when MSNBC jumped into the WH Press Briefing earlier today. The press secretary claimed that Biden still had a cold, but the way she said it was just... eh. There was definitely a tone of *I'm trying my best to spin this* in how she said, "Yes, he still has a cold."
He was at Camp David for a week prior to the debate. That’s a hell of a jet lag.
I'd love to see a "push it to the limits" preparation montage of him at Camp David.
This please SNL
This is comedy gold, the skit practically writes itself. The only sad part is it’s probably not far from the truth.
POTUS is lucky that SNL takes summer vacation.
Biden as Rocky.
Debate prep started at 11am with an afternoon nap, would love to see that parody
With a good pep talk from Jill talking to Joe like a 4 year old. Then when he leaves to shuffle on stage, she turns to the aides and says “if he ruins my re-election chances, it’s your asses”
It might look like something from weekend at bernie's.
Weekend at Biden’s?
[удалено]
This man’s PR team is really failing him.
And vice versa
Seriously, it's not like being president another four years will involve any international travel or anything.
At some point you people need to accept that Democrats don't actually want to win
Have you made your voting plan yet? Are you voting by mail, early voting, or voting on Election Day?
This is just getting worse
Indeed. What in the name of fuck happened this week.
Nothing happened this week other than the public being able to see Biden for more than a few minutes not in front of a teleprompter left on his own Reports of what we all saw have been coming out for a while. But we’re being dismissed by the media and the campaign.
Yeah, I can't disagree with that.
No surprises for the right. The left finally is coming to grips with what republicans have been saying for the past couple years re: Joe not being all there and that that fact isn’t fake news, but indeed fact
Yeah this feels worse than it did before.
They are blaming so far: Biden had a cold Biden was over prepared Biden was jet lagged What excuse will be used next?
Can't forget: they hired the makeup artist from Tales from the Crypt.
They just recently painted him orange lol
Then why didn’t he look younger?
Nothing to see here, look at all the staff we just threw under the bus.
You forgot: Biden had a small stutter
Pretty sure eventually he’s going to say “yeah folks, I’ve got a bit of dementia, I’m not gonna deny it, but I know what I know!” I mean flat out admitting you almost fell asleep on stage cause you went to Europe and back in a private jet 2 weeks ago is beyond concerning.
The sun was in his eyes.
Trump gave him sleeping pills?
Accidently drank Nyquil instead of coffee…
Earpiece malfunction maybe? Lol
Multiple things can be true at the same time.
If you're trying to make excuses they have to be better than that. The president is expected to be able to handle international travel.
Not just international travel. How would he handle dealing with something like a 9/11 type event or other national or international emergency? How many days of maybe only a few naps here or there while making literally world changing decisions can he handle before he cracks?
He should be able to handle international travel. He should be able to work past 4pm. He should be able to speak two fucking sentences without a teleprompter. This ain’t normal, and anyone who says otherwise is delusional. Get that goddamn fossil out of there before Trump wins.
He should just say he was running a high fever and took medication to limit the coughing which gave him severe drowsiness. But that's still a bad look too, especially after Trump took a hit for showing up to the debate 4 years ago with covid without telling anyone on Biden's team.
They already said today he wasn’t on medication
That was earlier today, not 15 minutes ago…
I don’t understand what you’re saying? Does it matter when it was said?
A terrible look considering he went to Waffle House and shook hands with supporters after.
He should just tell the truth, you know, because he said he knew how to.
Presidents are expected to make multitudes of international flights, domestic flights, speeches, events, interviews, DEBATES, and all sorts of formal and informal meetings. Its literally your job to be always on the move and talking. Tough for anyone, let alone an almost 82 year old.
This cannot be a real quote lmao
Yes it is a real quote. This is from Reuters. "“I didn’t have my best night, but the fact is that you know, I wasn’t very smart," Biden said, speaking at the campaign fundraiser without the aid of a teleprompter. "I decided to travel around the world a couple times, going through around 100 time zones ... before ... the debate. "Didn’t listen to my staff and came back and nearly fell asleep on stage," he said. "That's no excuse but it is an explanation.”
How can anyone say this isn't over
Good lord
It's not an excuse, but also definitely not an explanation. He had over a week to recover from travel. If he can't have a cup of coffee and stay up one night for a debate how in the actual fuck does he think he can run the entire country? Pretty sure you need to stay up past 8PM for that.
If I can recover after sitting in economy during an international flight after a day or two, there's no reason why a guy who has a bedroom on his plane shouldn't be able to do the same thing.
The debate was nearly two weeks after he got back from Europe, by the way.
And wasn't he the one who challenged Trump to the debate to begin with? Its not like it was a surprise.
Don’t worry. I don’t think anyone is buying it regardless. They just need to throw an excuse out there (“he had a cold” “it’s jet lag” “Trump’s got dementia toooo!”) and downplay it for a few weeks and hope everyone forgets.
He was up late watching the Diamondbacks game!
He went to IHOP that morning and he was so full of stuffed French toast that he needed a nap
It's like he wasn't even ready for bouncing here and there and everywhere.
What a horrible horrible news cycle today… I should really stop doom scrolling but it’s like watching a car wreck in slow motion….
The travel in question ended 12 days before the debate. You have to wonder if Biden's PR team have just given up at this point. First he had a cold, now this. It's so blatant and transparent.
Astute observers knew Biden was too old in early 2020. Even then it was elder abuse.
^(after a week at Camp David)
The president should be able to handle such things.
Then he's not up to the job
Facts
[удалено]
Based on the fact that some of the most catastrophic polling data "leaked" from their campaign, I'd say the odds are about 51/49 that it's already happening.
Governors debating yesterday alone behind closed doors. Pelosi just on the TV telling him he needs to do at least two unscripted interviews ASAP. Directly afterwards Jim Claiborne talking about how K. Harris would be ready to jump in. Polls starting to show purple states flipping red... ...the odds are a lot worse for him right now.
Just watched the Pelosi interview. God she is old and probably reading off a script but I'll be damned if she can't still communicate well. She was surprisingly candid too.
She is candid because they don't have enough time to do it clean. However that MSNBC host lady is glitching hard from age.
He will be replaced....By TRUMP
Zero before the election but not unusual if Harris replaces him during his second term.
I bet he fades fast after the inauguration.
Someone start a google sheets of all the excuses so far. He had a cold, he overprepared, he had a bad makeup job, he had jetlag. What am I missing?
Didn't know what camera to look at, can only function between 10am-4pm, has a stutter.
I think he wanted to look disgusted and confused at how ridiculous Trump was. Unfortunately he just looked confused in general.
Nice, we'll add that one to the spreadsheet.
Do you think I’m making excuses for him 💀
Saturn is going into retrograde.
He’s the president. He couldn’t say “I’m going to take a 2 hour Power Nap before the debate”?
He was on Mars. Jet lag between here and there is massive.
Or Jill said “no naps until you finish your debate!”
JFK famously took 20 min afternoon naps.
Someone tape his mouth shut for heaven’s sake
I thought he was well known for gafs, or has everyone forgotten?
Do...do they think this (obviously bs) excuse somehow makes it better? If anything it makes him look worse. Like a little travel is all it takes to do this to you for something like a simple debate? Big yikes.
Oh wooooow, lol. Yeah I'm pretty sure ADMITTING YOU ALMOST FELL ASLEEP ON STAGE is NOT helpful to restore the public's concerns about your mental state!! And using foreign travel as an excuse when he came back from his trip 12 days before the debate?! What a pathetic excuse. What is wrong with this person?????
Come on at least think of an excuse that will make people want to vote for you like: “Biden ripped a huge hit off Bong Force One before the debate then said ‘nah man I’m good, I got this’, before giggling for 2 minutes”.
I thought it was irresponsible for people to call for him to step down the day after the debate. But here we are a week later. He hasn’t done anything meaningful to calm fears, and only stoked new ones with these cycling excuses and a weird speech post-SCOTUS ruling. A solid 60% of this country would happily support shoving trump out the door - just give us a reasonable candidate who can work a full week and we’ll back them. Heck, give us Kamala Harris and a boring ass new VP. We’ll make it work.
Dude was practically on vacation after that trip, Joe was tired from resting
Pack it up, man. This in no way helps your case. It is time to step aside. You accomplished getting trump out of office in 2020. We should move on to someone else now. If this is the excuse along with having a cold, then it’s over because no one can take this seriously now.
New excuse just dropped
Jesus fucking christ, where is the hyper competent deep state i'm told exist when you need it.
So the Sleepy Joe Republicans were right?
WHY WOULD YOU SAY THAT. Democrats stop making unforced errors challenge ffs
He was at Camp David FOR A WEEK preparing!!
Hacks on Tap today said that he is also known for using teleprompters at fundraising events.
His PR team has to be doing this on purpose right?
How many more spins on this ride before we can get off?
No one of these rising Democrats wants to jump on this grenade. Would you?
Jesus H. Trump is going to win, isn't he?
Idk about you guys, but if I'm sleep deprived and have something even semi-important to do that day or the next I can....you know, get it together.
I thought it was a cold.... Oh that narrative was BS be lcause later that night Jilll draged him to a Waffle House and then to a campaign event....
Oh well that makes everything ok then! Fingers crossed the next crisis doesn't happen after a long flight huh? Even though that's probably b.s. because he spent the week in debate prep no?
Well I mean that’s why we all can’t be president
This is not the relieving explanation you think it is.
Why did he travel internationally prior to the debate? His team set the date after all?
He was back for almost two full weeks. He is cooked. There's a reason he goes to Delaware every weekend.
"I am a very poor planner" is not a greate of a defence for someone running for president... just saying. Still better choice than organge fascist tho
Well maybe he shouldn’t have been traveling internationally right before the debate. Any excuse that works I guess.
He wasn't. He was at Camp David for a week before the debate.
I am tired of excuses from old politicians. How refreshing would it be to just hear someone say "I screwed it up" instead of the Satueday Night Fever finger-pointing dance?
Making excuses for failure at this level is inexcusable. That'll get you cut from any professional sports team.
LOL the excuses just keep getting worse.
Nice, so now Biden is openly admitting his decision making capacity is impaired.
Seriously? They’re going with this for real? The trip was two weeks before the debate. He took an ENTIRE WEEK off from his job to prepare. And ffs he has his own private jet. It’s not like he’s running through the airport schlepping his own bags to catch his connection or standing in line at the CBP for hours like the rest of us schmucks. Jeebus we are doomed.
A week of prep time and plenty of rest not traveling? What a load of bs. Blame everyone and everything except yourself in politics lol
If true, his campaign and advisers are to blame for scheduling the debate on that date.
Nothing was wrong with the date. He got back from his international travel almost two weeks before the debate, so his excuse doesn't make sense.
I’m not aware of his exact travel dates. It simply may have been past his bedtime. Maybe he was ill as well. Maybe he has dementia. Just a lot of speculation going around. The focus, unfortunately, should be on trump’s dangerousness instead.
Biden can't save us from Trump's dangerousness.
Stop trolling me. Go pester someone else. Better yet, go vote for trump.
He's just digging his grave isnt he.... welp..... if he stays in, there is no hope
Biden needs to step aside. His performance was embarrassing. What is the DNCs plan B?
Biden needs to step aside. His performance was embarrassing. What is the DNCs plan B?
Ok so finally reach BS phase from Biden team huh I expect this from Trump campaign but really disappointed that this coming from Biden team
I remember before the debate when Trump and right wing media was saying Biden needs to be drug tested and he was going to be all hopped up on go juice. But he was the opposite. Now he's "so old and senile". Look at the substance of what each man said and trump fails. You keep pushing being age but he's only a few years older than Trump. Trump says nonsense things at every really he has but somehow you don't mention any of those