When Democrats die

[stevenkesslar]

Texas Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee dies at age 74

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Jackson Lee, who disclosed less than two months ago that she had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, was 74.

So while I am the worst poster in the world at keeping a thread narrowly on topic, or being terse, I thought I would start a thread to focus on Biden's medical condition.   I don't see how Biden can survive as the Democratic nominee.  But he will probably survive as President.  That's if the reporters who are behind the endless leaks now know what they are talking about.  What should people think about that, if he wants to remain as POTUS until January?   Is he mentally fit to be President for six more months?

Two points about Jackson Lee.  First, she was a widely respected leader who deserves to be honored.  Second, she is a great example of both how quickly and how clearly things can change.  Part of the problem with Biden's health issues is precisely that:  nothing is happening quickly, or clearly.  He has not been diagnosed with cancer, or dementia, or anything that impacts his ability to lead.

I mentioned in another thread that I got my Mom diagnosed with dementia - twice - in order to activate my parents' long term care policy for her.  My Mom did not want to think she was demented.  I know for a fact that there is a reluctance, even among mental health professionals, to make a judgment like that. One of my family members, stupidly, felt my Mom should be forcibly placed in an institution.  No one, especially my Dad, agreed.  But I was a good little bureaucrat and checked it out, mostly to undercut the argument.  Mental health professionals told me it is very hard to force someone out of their home against their will.  Let alone a helpless old woman.  That killed that debate quickly, thank God.

I've had two run ins with pancreatic cancer, both of which involved denial.  One of my brothers died of pancreatic cancer years ago.  While he did not deny his condition, he was mostly in denial about how long he would live.  I spent many days with him during a one year illness, after he was finally diagnosed correctly.  We'd watch "Flip or Flop" and he'd talk about how we should flip homes together once he get better.  It was sweet.  Even though I knew it had nothing to do with reality.  His wife told me later she felt like she had to be the one to accept and manage the grim prognosis.  Which she did.

While I was spending last Thanksgiving with my deceased brother's family a sister-in-law called me to tell me her brother, who I also knew well, had just been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.  She wanted my advice.  So I told her he would probably die soon.  And that this is a good time for you to create lots of lasting positive memories with a brother you love, like I did.  She did, and he died two months later.  A few weeks after that first conversation this sister-in-law called me and said both her brother and his wife were in denial.  And she wanted to know if I would call him to tell him he was going to die, basically.  I politely said I'd pass.  And honestly it was probably better for him to just be in denial until he dies.

So Biden seems both totally different and exactly the same.

The part that feels exactly the same is that Biden is denying what almost everyone else sees. I don't think this could not have happened before the debate.  Because I think millions of people needed to see it and hear it themselves.  Jake Tapper has even speculated that Biden might have been set up at that debate by his own team.  As in, they knew he would flounder.  But it somehow needed to be made clear that what was being rumored is actually true.  More likely, I think Biden's own team and family is in denial.  Something has changed.  You can play the speeches from 2020 and 2022 on YouTube.  Biden sounds and looks different now.  But there does seem to be this deep fog of denial.

I have to interject here that Trump - and Republicans - are doing the same thing.  Trump is a convicted felon who raped lots of women.  No Republican wants to talk about that.  Trump will lose because whatever is happening with Biden doesn't change the fact that Trump lies and rapes and has no integrity.  Which a majority of Americans also see clearly, in poll after poll after poll.

What is completely different about Biden is he has no diagnosis - yet.  I'm hopeful this will end well for Democrats.  Because what is happening is obvious, I think.  Republicans are in complete denial about what's wrong with their candidate.  And they are operating as if he is somehow America's messiah.  Not the lying raping felon he actually is.  Which, again, a majority of Americans see clearly, based on polls.  I hope Democrats are seen as the adults in the room dealing with an ugly problem.  But it is one without a diagnosis - yet.  So it makes sense that Biden is denying a medical diagnosis he has not been given.  Other than the fatal political diagnosis.

As much as replacing Biden at the DNC is messy, people are saying -  correctly - that the French and Brits somehow manage to have national elections in far less time than we do.  Maybe this could be a good lesson in having shorter elections in the future.   Especially since the vast majority of voters are already locked into one side.  The messy part to me is Biden will want to stay on as POTUS until January.  And Republicans will scream he has to resign.  Because he is a national security threat.  This is the party that just nominated a POTUS and Veep who want to appease Putin, and defund Ukraine.  Which would have my Reagan Republican Dad rolling in his grave.  National security?

I think when it comes to Biden being POTUS today, and through January 2025, the most compelling fact is that Biden has no medical diagnosis that prevents him from leading.  Republicans will howl and use it as a political point to undermine Harris and all Democrats.  But what have they got?  They deny Trump is a felon.  They deny Trump is a rapist.  They deny he brought a 30 % murder spike to America.  They deny they want to give Ukraine a death sentence, and let Putin take over big chunks of it.  So these are the people we're supposed to trust to diagnose Joe Biden?  What do they know about denial?  Give me a break!

I already posted this on another thread, but here it is again:

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The staff “told stories about how inattentive and inept the president was,” Cannon recalled to journalists Jane Mayer and Doyle McManus in Landslide: The Unmaking of the President, 1984-1988. “He was lazy; he wasn't interested in the job. They said he wouldn't read the papers they gave him—even short position papers and documents. They said he wouldn't come over to work—all he wanted to do was to watch movies and television at the residence.”

Reagan had years, not months, to go as POTUS at the time.  If that is a standard for judging the medical status of an aging President in his final term, Biden is fine.  Republicans have no argument.

It was about 15 years until Reagan was diagnosed.  And his doctors said this was not a condition that would have impaired him 15 years earlier.  However this ends for Biden, and apart from the ugliness of this specific moment, I'm confident that history will judge him well.  And Democrats will be able to look back on him as their wise old leader.