All week, we've seen the media asking themselves why they didn't make President Joe Biden's mental acuity a bigger story before that debate that went so badly that the New York Times editorial board asked Biden to step down. CNN's Hadas Gold wrote a piece saying that "it's complicated" why the media didn't cover the story more thoroughly. One reason is because it was being amplified by right-wing media, "which may have inadvertently turned off any serious investigation."
A few reporters are stepping forward and saying, "Hey, wait. I wrote about it." This editor did a post on the New York Times catching hell for writing a generic story about the 80-year-old brain. The Daily Beast was a little less subtle, publishing a piece headlined, "Biden is old. Get used to it."
Olivia Nuzzi has a piece in New York Magazine about "the conspiracy of silence" to deflect from Biden's mental decline.
In January, I began hearing similar stories from Democratic officials, activists, and donors who came away from interactions with Joe Biden disturbed by what they had seen. For @NYMag, I wrote about the conspiracy of silence to protect the president: https://t.co/clKmksK9D8
— Olivia Nuzzi (@Olivianuzzi) July 4, 2024
She writes:
In January, I began hearing similar stories from Democratic officials, activists, and donors. All people who supported the president and were working to help reelect him to a second term in office. Following encounters with the president, they had arrived at the same concern: Could he really do this for another four years? Could he even make it to Election Day?
When they discussed what they knew, what they had seen, what they had heard, they literally whispered. They were scared and horrified. But they were also burdened. They needed to talk about it (though not on the record). They needed to know that they were not alone and not crazy. Things were bad, and they knew things were bad, and they knew others must also know things were bad, and yet they would need to pretend, outwardly, that things were fine. The president was fine. The election would be fine. They would be fine. To admit otherwise would mean jeopardizing the future of the country and, well, nobody wanted to be responsible personally or socially for that. Their disclosures often followed innocent questions: Have you seen the president lately? How does he seem? Often, they would answer with only silence, their eyes widening cartoonishly, their heads shaking back and forth. Or with disapproving sounds. “Phhhhwwwaahhh.” “Uggghhhhhhhhh.” “Bbbwwhhheeuuw.” Or with a simple, “Not good! Not good!” Or with an accusatory question of their own: “Have you seen him?!”
Holy shit: “Longtime friends of the Biden family, who spoke to me on the condition of anonymity, were shocked to find that the president did not remember their names.” https://t.co/6tT2o8hLJ9
— Peter J. Hasson (@peterjhasson) July 4, 2024
“At a White House event last year, a guest recalled, with horror, realizing that the president would not be able to stay for the reception because, it was clear, he would not be able to make it through the reception… the guest was now open to an idea that they had previously…
— Peter J. Hasson (@peterjhasson) July 4, 2024
… an idea that they had previously dismissed as right-wing propaganda: The president may not really be the acting president after all.
Weird how this is all coming out now.
— Geoff Walker (@gewa76) July 4, 2024
It’s a stutter
— Gordon Plutsky (@GordonPlutsky) July 4, 2024
That's only because of jet lag. Ten days ago. And a cold.
— Ron Franklin (@RonaldBFranklin) July 4, 2024
And they aren’t “protecting the president” - they are protecting their own activism and their own power. That’s it.
— AllRightyThen (@HikingHank) July 4, 2024
Olivia, what were your own eyes and ears telling you before the debate?
— DuncanDowntown (@DuncanDowntown) July 4, 2024
Interesting, Olivia. Genuine question: if you’ve been hearing about this for months and even witnessed something months ago, why report it only after the debate?
— Andrew Tavani (@andrewtavani) July 4, 2024
Why didn’t you report this earlier?
— stevemur (@stevemur) July 4, 2024
Did you post any concerns to social media? Something that has a date before the debate?
— Variable1079 (@MrNobody1079) July 4, 2024
Thanks for telling us all about it in January, Olivia. Great job journalisming.
— K T Cat (@ktcat) July 4, 2024
Anytime since January would have been an ideal time to write the article
— Ryan McCarthy (@ryrymcc) July 4, 2024
When was this piece published?
— Richard Grenell (@RichardGrenell) July 4, 2024
Today, it seems. Is Nuzzi saying she was part of the conspiracy to cover up Biden's mental decline?
She participated in the “conspiracy of silence”, by her own admission, since January. Interesting. https://t.co/9UL8wgspAo
— Mollie (@MZHemingway) July 4, 2024
Tomorrow she’ll apologize to herself and then Sunday she’ll forgive herself. However, the navel gazing will go on for years.
— Katie Scarlett (@Katiescarlet2) July 4, 2024
Isn't this "election interference"?
— 🇺🇸speppers69🇺🇸 (@speppers69) July 4, 2024
It's never the crime...it's the cover-up.
— 🇺🇸speppers69🇺🇸 (@speppers69) July 4, 2024
No more "courage in journalism". Or "democracy dies in darkness". They're willing participants in hiding the truth from the American people. Pathetic.
Wow, you wrote about this back in January? That was pretty brave of you. Oh, what? You just wrote about this today? After sitting on it for 6 months? Way less brave.
— New Old Agenda (@NewOldAgenda) July 4, 2024
The memo went out to the media that it was OK to write about Biden's mental acuity. The DNC was probably trying to force him out by shopping the story to all the mainstream outlets.
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