Times-Call (Longmont)

The Las Vegas Review-journal on how Biden’s ‘diminished faculties’ are a great concern:

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If Democrats believe Donald Trump is an existentia­l threat to American democracy, why do they insist on sending a weakened 81-year-old Joe Biden into battle against him? That question became a bit more urgent last week.

On Thursday, special counsel Robert Hur issued his report on Biden’s mishandlin­g of classified documents. It was both damning and worrisome regarding the president’s fitness for office.

Hur declined to bring charges against Biden, although he concluded the president had “willfully” retained and disclosed classified documents after leaving the vice presidency seven years ago. Hur suggested that Biden’s cooperatio­n was a factor in his leniency.

But he also noted that Biden’s fading mental state was in play.

The report found that the president was a “well-meaning elderly man with poor memory” and described Biden as having “diminished faculties in advancing age.” Hur speculated that the president’s attorneys would potentiall­y raise the issue of their client’s “limitation­s” if the case went to court.

But it gets worse. The president, the report found, “did not remember when he was vice president, forgetting on the first day of the interview when his term ended (‘if it was 2013 — when did I stop being vice president?’), and forgetting on the second day of the interview when his term began (‘in 2009, am I still vice president?’). He did not remember, even within several years, when his son Beau died.”

This should be alarming enough given the current state of domestic and internatio­nal events. But based on Hur’s observatio­ns, it’s no longer impolite to ask whether Biden is capable of carrying out the duties of the Oval Office for the next nine months, let alone through 2028.

Democrats insist Biden is sharp and lucid. Yet it’s notable that he has held the fewest news conference­s of any president in more than three decades. He maintains a limited campaign schedule. His handlers insist on tight control to ensure his accessibil­ity is limited . ...

The bind in which Democrats find themselves is exacerbate­d by Vice President Kamala Harris, who is drowning in the polls, with an unfavorabl­e rating of 53 percent, according to a recent NBC News survey.

Biden may carry the day come November, but he also may be the only Democrat — perhaps along with Ms. Harris — whom the baggage-laden Trump can beat. Do Democrats want to take that chance? ...

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