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Home Front: Politix
The Real Problem with Joe's Dementia
2020-08-16
[American Thinker] Many Americans seem to have understandably concluded that Joe Biden has dementia based on his very public displays of confusion, aphasia, and incoherence. But the question we should actually be asking is What is going on with Joe out of public view?

Like many Americans who have cared for parents with dementia, I witnessed my father’s decline firsthand and, sadly, Joe Biden is presenting exactly as my father did in the early stages -- right down to the vacant look in his eyes. While I am neither doctor nor expert, physicians and other medical professionals rely heavily on caregiver observations because they monitor the disease’s progression 24/7 over the long haul, and can add valuable input that is not always obvious at an appointment or measurable with a cognitive test. I am relying on my experience as my father’s caregiver, corroborated by medical professionals, health consultants, literature, research, and the shared experiences of others. Of course, not every dementia victim will experience every symptom, but the commonalities are significant.

As the disease grabs hold of one’s faculties, men like Biden and my father continue to view themselves as experienced executives -- in control, commanding, and coherent; holding court as the family patriarch; the old dude who’s seen it all. They don’t doubt their ability to express complex ideas with the right words. And so, they conduct business as usual and, for the most part, things go fine until they stammer over a word, get frustrated, then confused, and either babble their way out or shut down. It isn’t long before lost words, forgotten names, and elusive ideas are replaced by whatchamacallit, whosimajig, whatshername, and the thing.

These lapses can be easily hidden during the early stages. It’s not uncommon for loved ones, spouses in particular, to make excuses for the afflicted, cover up the messes, and run interference with others. In those embarrassing moments when a dementia patient fails to recognize someone he should know, the dutiful spouse (often in denial) will swoop down, rush to his side, and handle the mishap. Of course X remembers you. He’s just very tired from our trip. Can you excuse us for a second? She will answer the phone and put the caller on speaker to assist with answering questions her spouse might find confounding. She will accompany him everywhere and serve as backup if he starts to frazzle. But for those occasional "senior moments," he seems put together to the outside world.
Posted by:Besoeker

#8  Media is already moving to a Trump will win, what next stance.
Posted by: M. Murcek   2020-08-16 09:43  

#7  For the Chilruns
Posted by: Frank G   2020-08-16 09:22  

#6  For the country's good...of course!
Posted by: Clem   2020-08-16 09:15  

#5  #4 Edith Wilson Dr. Jill Biden, for one
Posted by: Frank G 2020-08-16 08:41


Frank,

I don't think it will ever get that far...because long before that, Vice President Harris will be leaking Biden's condition like a sieve and pushing hard behind the scenes for a 25th Amendment finding.

For Joe's own good, of course.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski   2020-08-16 08:55  

#4  Edith Wilson Dr. Jill Biden, for one
Posted by: Frank G   2020-08-16 08:41  

#3  We used to call this "senile" back when my grandmother was 90.

The question that worries me is who are the puppet masters pulling his strings and what do they have in store for us if he wins?

I fear that all hell is soon to break loose.
Posted by: AlanC   2020-08-16 08:27  

#2  But we don't hear any shrieking about how bad it would be to have him near the "football."
Posted by: M. Murcek 2020-08-16 05:24


...The little-g good news here is that even the person behind the Resolute desk cannot order a nuclear strike completely on his or her own - a second individual actually physically present(SecDef, NSA, possibly VPOTUS, CJCS, and likely SecState) MUST concur, or all the codes in the world won't do a bit of good. If Biden suddenly got it into his head to glass Jacksonville or Brazzaville it's not likely to happen, no more than it would be with DJT. And on reflection, this proves that the Democratic terrors of DJT suddenly deciding to nuke something are no more than unhinged fantasies or attempts to make political points among the unknowing because they know perfectly well how the system works.

My biggest concern along those lines is that when our enemies try us after Biden gets elected - and we know good and damned well that they will - that the stress and speed of such an event will overwhelm him, and we're faced with a President who simply cannot make a decision or worse, is simply crying in a corner. We have lots of contingencies in the event of losing POTUS, trust me on that. We don't have one in the event they have a nervous breakdown.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski   2020-08-16 08:22  

#1  I used to date a social worker who said there are two broad classes of dementia patients: the placid and the belligerent. We know Joe ain't placid. But we don't hear any shrieking about how bad it would be to have him near the "football."
Posted by: M. Murcek   2020-08-16 05:24  

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