At a public event yesterday, President Biden asked if Representative Jackie Walorski, who died in a car accident in August, was present in the room. As Jim noted, the White House made the gaffe worse by refusing to admit that the president had a “senior moment.” This is clearly a president and an administration worried about questions of whether Biden has the mental acuity to serve another term in the White House.
The White House press secretary’s absurd denial was widely covered by the mainstream press. Here’s the New York Times’ write-up:
Reporters asked repeatedly why Mr. Biden would appear to look for Ms. Walorski in the audience if her death was “top of mind” and he was thinking of the upcoming meeting with her family.
“The confusing part is, why, if she and the family is top of mind, does the president think that she’s living and in the room?” one reporter asked.
“I don’t find that confusing,” Ms. Jean-Pierre responded. “I mean, I think many people can speak to: Sometimes when you have someone top of mind, they are top of mind, exactly that.”
Ms. Jean-Pierre appeared to get frustrated by the repeated questions about Mr. Biden’s remarks. Asked whether there was something written in the teleprompter that confused the president during his remarks, she said that was not the case.
“You’re jumping to a lot of conclusions,” she said to the reporter. “I just answered the question. If that had been the case, I would have stated that.”
Ms. Jean-Pierre said she did not see the need to distribute the president’s remarks as they were prepared ahead of delivery, saying, “I’m not understanding why that would be necessary.”
At the end of her daily briefing, Ms. Jean-Pierre gave her final answer to the question.
“I’ve answered it multiple times already in this room, and my answer is certainly not going to change,” she said. “All of you may have views on how I’m answering it, but I am answering the question to the way that he saw it. And the way that we see it.”
Biden is still 79 until November, and he would turn 86 before the end of a second term. His age will be a major point of criticism if he runs again, but it’s an argument that would be seriously undermined if Republicans nominate Donald Trump, who would himself be 82 years old during a final year in office.