This is getting uncomfortable.  Dr. Jill, it’s time to limit Joe Biden’s public appearances.  His cognitive decline is accepted.  There are questions about how diminished he was, and when.  We need to know who knew of his decline and who was running the White House.  None of these questions are for Joe Biden.  Public appearances don’t influence those discussions and only make him appear pathetic.

In his first appearance since the cancer diagnosis, he appears weak, feeble and awkward.  That photo at the top is Biden getting uncomfortably close to a cute female reporter for no obvious reason.

Reporter:  “And there’s also been a lot of discussion recently about your mental and physical capabilities while you were in office.”

Biden: “You can see that I’m mentally incompetent, I can’t walk and can beat the hell out of both of them.”

Reporter: “Well did you want to reply to any of those reports and also to the fact that there are some Democrats who are now questioning whether you should have run for reelection again.”

Biden:  “Why didn’t they run against me then?  I beat them.”

Biden’s first response doesn’t make sense.  It isn’t clear that he said, “mentally incompetent”, but he did say that he can’t walk.  That could have been a facetious joke, but if it was, then the joke is a little too on-the-nose.  It would be like Jeffrey Epstein joking about having a “whore island”.

Who are the two that he is going to beat the hell out of?  The only pair that suggests itself are mental capabilities and physical capabilities. 

Biden’s second response indicates a general sense of being a victorious scrapper, rather than any understanding of the question that was asked.  Nancy Pelosi and George Clooney were in no position to run against Biden.  He may have particular Democrats in mind, but the reporter didn’t name anyone.

Six years after leaving office, President Reagan issued a statement disclosing that he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.  His last public appearance with six months before that.  Reagan continued to attend events, but didn’t talk to the press.  He would issue written or pre-recorded video if he wanted to weigh in on an issue.

Joe Biden should do that.

Metaphorically, Dr. Jill should take away the car keys to protect her husband.  She should understand his limitations, and limit his appearances to limit the damage to his public image.   

Unscripted interactions are beyond his ability to navigate confidently.  Here is the video of the interaction with the press.  Decide for yourself.