About Biden's Debate Performance

by Rod Williams, June 28, 2024- I watched the presidential debate last night like millions of other people. 

I was looking for two things that I thought could make the debate significant. One, I wondered if Trump could maintain his cool and not look like a raving maniac, a jerk, and a bully. The other thing I was looking for was whether or not Biden could look capable and cognitive. 

I had a low bar for Trump. My evaluation is that Trump seemed almost like a normal person. He performed admirably. He did not engage in wild name calling and he did not rant. He maintained his cool. Trump, of course lied a lot and he failed to answer the questions asked, but he appeared fairly reasonable and in control of his emotions. Trump exceeded my expectations.

For Biden I was looking to see if he seemed aware of where he was and see if he could understand and answer question. I have seen Biden do well in delivering the State of the Union and at some other events, but I have seen him have to be directed in leaving the stage. I have seen his open mouth, shuffling walk, and blank stare. I knew Biden could read a teleprompter in front of a friendly crowd, but I wondered if he could answer questions when in a debate setting.   

As I watched, I saw that Biden was struggling. He looked frail and confused and lost. He had trouble answering questions. Some of his answers made no sense at all. However, I had a low bar for Biden just has I had a low bar for Trump. My evaluation of the debate was that Trump did better than expected and Biden did about as I expected. I thought Trump won the debate but did not think Biden was a total disaster. I did not think Biden performed so below expectations that the debate was game changer. 

I was surprised that Biden's poor performance was such a shock to media personalities and commentators and Democratic politicians. I was surprised that Bidens performance caused such anguish. I am surprised that people were surprised.  I thought they would say he had a less than great performance and move on to attacking Trump. I thought the media and Biden supporters would act as if he did okay. I thought they would continue to excuse and cover for him and act like he is not this senile old man we see. 

I recall when Special Counsel Robert Hur described President Biden as a "sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory," and said he would not bring criminal charges against the president over his improper retention of classified documents because he would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during Hur's interview of him, and a jury would not convict him. The liberal media acted as though this was a terrible attack on Biden, a smear, and inappropriate. I thought it reasonable and probably accurate.

I have seen the compilation videos of Biden looking like a senile old man and his confusing statements and his mistakenly identifying world leaders. Liberal media commentators assured us these videos were "cheap fakes," selectively edited to make Biden look bad. White House spokesman, Democratic politicians and the mainstream press have assured up time and time again that the Biden they know is sharp as a tac and knowledgeable and a has a firm grasp of the issues. I didn't believe it. 

I had set such a low bar for Biden, that I was willing to give him points for finding the podium. I expected Biden to perform about like he did. I was not shocked. The reason I think that the liberal establishment is so shocked by Biden's performance last night is that they actually believed their own propaganda. 

Top Stories