We're sure you've seen the meme — just above raging flood waters is a street sign that's been Photoshopped to read, "BUT HER EMAILS." That's been a rallying cry of Democrats ever since Hillary Clinton lost the election in 2016 — those nasty Republicans just hounded poor Clinton over tens of thousands of deleted emails, which were just about yoga and her daughter Chelsea's wedding plans. We could FOIA them to see if that's true, but we can't, because Clinton didn't use her official government email address on secure servers but rather a homebrew server she could wipe with BitBleach if necessary.
Ian Milhiser fears that "Biden is old" is going to be the new "But her emails." Find something "genuinely suboptimal" about the candidate and hammer it into voters' heads. Clinton's mishandling of classified documents was "genuinely suboptimal," even more so than Joe Biden's age. (How about Biden's speech in Vietnam?)
I worry the “Biden is old” coverage is starting to take on the same character as the 2016 But Her Emails coverage — find something that is genuinely suboptimal about the Democratic candidate, and dwell on it endlessly to “balance” coverage of the criminal in charge of the GOP. https://t.co/tGimLutqi9
— Ian Millhiser (@imillhiser) September 11, 2023
Wow, that's twice now that the New York Times has mentioned Biden's age. They're not going to have any subscribers left.
The right comparison. https://t.co/2KMRDLEfXW
— James Fallows (@JamesFallows) September 11, 2023
Wrong.
Good save the queen man
— Jim Muessig (@JimMuessig) September 12, 2023
He's old, and his age is highlighting his other problems: dishonesty, spend-first-ask-later, anger issues, bullying, and a lifelong habit of sniffing and fondling prepubescent girls.
— Area Man (@lheal) September 12, 2023
It's valid in both cases.
— The Organization Kid (@Meritocrating) September 12, 2023
Not even close. Ironically, condensing Biden’s patent senility and Hillary’s emails into the same broad category of “suboptimal” is exactly the kind of disingenuous flattening he’s complaining about.
— Chrisyppus (@GotYourNoose) September 12, 2023
It's extremely sane for voters to ask whether a man who would be 86 at the end of his second term should be president. It's a salient and newsworthy question. The better argument is that the media should *also* cover how Trump is old AF. https://t.co/mX6mAQWPJ5
— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) September 12, 2023
True. But Trump appears to have all of his facilities.
— Rod Laurenz (@LaurenzRod) September 12, 2023
"Biden is senile" sounds mean. So we use "old" as a euphemism.
Ok, but is it right for said 81 year old president to pull a strenuous global trotting overnight diplomatic trip breaking policy ground and the media to just talk about him being tired?
— Andrew McFarland (@ammcfar1) September 12, 2023
Exactly … a strenuous global trotting overnight diplomatic trip in which he cuts off his speech and announces he's going to bed. That's why first lady Dr. Jill Biden asked the press to name a 30-year-old who could keep up with her husband. He's just that fit.
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