
<p>In the wake of the scathing special counsel report, Democrats are in a tailspin over Joe Biden&#8217;s failing mental capacity!</p>



<p>The report from Special Counsel Robert Hur that characterized Biden as a &#8220;well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory&#8221; was followed by a fractious White House news conference at which the president — seeking to shore up concerns about his cognitive state — misidentified the president of Egypt as the president of Mexico.</p>



<p>There is no escaping the intertwined issues of Biden’s age and mental acuity now. Polling has been showing for months those topics are among the top concerns of voters.</p>



<p>Some Democrats are no longer bothering to minimize the gravity of the situation, with a presidential election — almost certainly against former President Trump — just nine months away.</p>



<p>&#8220;Whatever language you use, I have not had a single person say, &#8216;Well, this really worked out well,'&#8221; James Carville told this column. &#8220;Obviously, this has been a bad 48 hours here.&#8221;</p>



<p>Carville, best known for his central role in former President Clinton&#8217;s 1992 election campaign, added that Democrats were now looking to interventions from the Supreme Court or a criminal conviction for Trump in the hope that such developments would shift the election in Biden&#8217;s favor.</p>



<p>“We’re officially in Hail Mary mode here,” he said.</p>



<p>A different Democratic strategist, who asked for anonymity, chose a similarly dire metaphor.</p>



<p>“We’re at a DefCon One situation,” the strategist told reporters. ;</p>



<p>“I think between the catastrophic Special Counsel report and the more catastrophic press conference that followed, and the even more catastrophic attacking of the Special Counsel for the report, they are magnifying and dismissing the concerns that the overwhelming majority of Americans have about Biden — including a lot of Democrats.”</p>



<p>Meanwhile, in a CNN appearance Friday, ;<a href="https://thehill.com/people/paul-begala/">Paul Begala ;</a>— who rose to political fame along with Carville during the 1992 ;<a href="https://thehill.com/people/clinton/">Clinton ;</a>campaign — described himself as a “Biden supporter” but continued, “I slept like a baby last night. I woke up every two hours and wet the bed. This is terrible for Democrats. And anybody with a functioning brain knows that.”</p>



<p>It’s easy to see why Democratic panic is rising.</p>



<p>If the election were held today, Trump, despite his legal issues, would be the clear favorite. Trump leads Biden by two points in a one-on-one match-up, according to average polling.</p>



<p>Abundant polling even before Thursday’s events shows the degree to which voters are worried about the 81-year-old Biden’s capacity to serve a second term effectively.</p>



<p>In an NBC News poll released Tuesday, 76 percent of voters — and 54 percent of Democrats — said they had concerns about Biden’s physical and mental health during a second term. ;</p>



<p>“Whether Democrats like it or not, this has become an issue,” said progressive strategist Jonathan Tasini, referring to Biden’s age and acuity.</p>



<p>White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters at Friday’s media briefing that the report’s commentary about Biden’s age “is something that we don’t believe lives in reality.”</p>



<p>But whatever the reality of Biden’s cognitive powers, the issue is not going away. ;And independent observers believe the president’s own press conference was a mistake that could come to haunt him.</p>



<p>“It was a major unforced error,” said Tobe Berkovitz, a Boston University professor emeritus who specializes in political communications. ;</p>



<p>Referring to the double punch of the press conference and the special counsel report that preceded it, Berkovitz said the effects on the small universe of persuadable voters could be grave.</p>



<p>“If you were on the fence, that pushed you off the fence,” he predicted.</p>

Democrats in Panic Mode Over Biden’s Failing Mental Acuity!
