Behold “the sudden and overdue Democratic acknowledgment that Joe Biden isn’t up to the job,” snarks The Wall Street Journal’s Kimberly A. Strassel, Biden’s “fitness wasn’t a worry to Democrats when he was AWOL from consequential domestic policy debates” or, say, caught wandering at last month’s G7 summit. No: They “attested” to Biden’s “sharp” mind, boundless “energy” and obvious “competence.” Then came his disastrous debate, “showcasing the alarming depths of his deterioration,” and the “polls began to roll in,” showing the danger to vulnerable Dems. “Now Democrats are worried” — and, indeed, “the polls merit this alarm”: Republicans can “tie the Biden anchor to Democratic legs.” Once the poll numbers became clear, it was “inevitable” that the Dem “freakout would escalate.”
“There are times in all of our lives when we see things we wish we hadn’t,” groans Hillary Frey at Slate of events “confirming something you’d previously been able to deny.” And the June 28 debate was “shocking, upsetting, nearly impossible to watch.” President Biden “was not OK: Which meant the impending presidential election was more like an impending disaster.” Worse was the spin that followed: “Bad debate nights happen.” For those in the media, “it’s our job to say what is really happening out there.” Biden’s aging is “not pretty.” The Democratic Party tells us “to get on board and do this thing,” but “I’m up for rolling the dice” because “we can’t unsee what we saw.” And I “don’t want to see it again.”
“The yearslong effort by Biden administration flunkies, Democratic Party poohbahs and pro-Regime media stenographers to forcefully deny Biden’s obvious physical and mental decline will go down as the single greatest lie in American history,” fumes Creators Syndicate’s Josh Hammer. “The Wall Street Journal’s recent story in which reporters interviewed 45 officials who expressed concern about Biden’s senescence was excoriated as a ‘hit job,’” and “costly ‘gaffes’ — such as Biden inadvertently calling for regime change in Moscow during a March 2022 visit to Warsaw — were simply chalked up to Uncle Joe being Uncle Joe.” “For Democrats and their media enablers, there can be no stone left unturned to protect their precious.” “Never forgive, and never forget, what these lying miscreants have done to us — and to the republic.”
President Biden did Friday’s ABC interview “to try and quell the panic that has gripped the Democratic Party,” notes CNN’s David Axelrod, but: “He didn’t succeed.” Indeed, “on the big question that now threatens his campaign — whether he still has the stamina and mental acuity to serve for four more years in the world’s toughest job — the 81-year-old president offered little reassurance beyond a proud recitation of his impressive first-term accomplishments.” He wound up explaining his debate disaster by admitting, “I realized I wasn’t in control.” Says Axelrod: “That, in a nutshell, is the Republican attack. That an aged Biden is not in control, and that’s why his debate misfire was so devastating.” The polls show “Biden is likely headed for a landslide defeat,” yet the prez offers “Denial. Delusion. Defiance.” If he doesn’t withdraw, “it will be Biden’s age” that “will dominate the rest of this most important campaign and sully the president’s historic legacy.”
“If we citizens recognize the gravity of the situation and insist upon action, policymakers will have little choice but to work toward a sustainable fiscal future,” argues Reason’s Veronique de Rugy. Federal debt “is projected to reach a staggering 122% of gross domestic product by 2034.” History shows that national debt leads to “excessive borrowing and spending lead to economic weakness, loss of global influence, and eventual downfall.” Yet: “This is a solvable problem. The U.S. has successfully navigated past debt challenges, notably in the 1990s.”
— Compiled by The Post Editorial Board