Thank you for sharing your MIL’s story and I have a little better understanding. The other candidate who often trails off and gets lost in word salad needs the same tests, too.
My apologies for misreading your comments. I’m so tired of the attacks on Biden, but not Trump. I think the press should demand the same from Trump that they do from Pres Biden.
Thanks. I have been raising questions about Trump’s cognitive issues for a while. He has had episodes of aphasia, unable to form his words, not to mention his long, disjointed speeches and limited vocabulary, confusion on names and place. Agree that there is too little attention paid to Trump’s mental decline, but in the scheme of things—his threat to democracy, criminal behavior and lack of character—it ranks lower on the concern scale I guess.
Just to be clear, it’s not known if it’s Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, or something not as well known or understood- you are in no position to diagnose Biden. But I agree with the general thrust of your comment; I have a mother who is 94 and, after a long life full of accomplishments, is slipping mentally. I agree with what all of you had to say on Mona Charen’s “Beg to Differ” this week. God bless Joe Biden. It’s time to retire and let a stronger candidate take over.
Absolutely—Alzheimer’s only definitive with a post mortem brain autopsy. (Rhoda donated her body to the University of Colorado Medical School, where her husband had led the Department if Physical Medicine for 40 years). But a thorough work up could determine the level of decline and it could rule in or out other possible causes.
I’ve been an emotional wreck since the Debate. I know Biden is old and little bit slower but that “debate” made me realized his health condition is a lot more severe than being a little bit slower. I was honestly shocked because he did so well during the SOTU address earlier this year. I think back on my own mother’s demise and there were signs here and there but her health deteriorated rapidly and I went into a state of denial at times myself. I wasn’t just protecting her but myself as well. It is a difficult position being President. It requires a lot of physical and mental stamina and neither candidate meets the basic requirements. I’m worried that Biden is being shielded by family and close advisers that care more about him than the country. I also worry what a mess that will be created if we open up the convention with a new candidate. There are some crazy people in the Democratic Party. I know. I am a member of the Democratic Party.
His advisors and family may actually care more about themselves than Joe or the country. They all have enormous influence and power because of their positions and they come to depend on it. It's a natural human instinct for them to be in denial or maybe even worse....
Perhaps he has been evaluated by neurologists, and found to be only mildly cognitively impaired. If there is another underlying condition, that doesn't affect his judgement or intellectual ability, perhaps those around him have decided to keep that information private. Remember FDR was in a wheelchair, but wasn't deemed unfit to lead.
President Biden is certainly not as nimble linguistically or physically as he was at the beginning of 2024 when he gave the SOTU address, but that doesn't equate to alzheimers or another dementia. (I know some will say he read his SOTU speech off teleprompters, but he had "banter" with Republicans in the audience which could not have been scripted, and was on target and relevant in fact and tone.)
As we get older we ALL lose occasional words and trains of thought mid-sentence, but geriatricians state that this is not necessarily indicative of dementia.
The way I put it is, my filing cabinet (brain) is so full after 70+ years of memories, it takes a little longer to find the exact memory or word I'm looking for!
We all know that about Trump though. Nobody wants to hurt Biden - We want to be in the best position to beat Trump. Every anti-Trumper asking these questions in good faith.
I am not in a position to diagnose Joe Biden and neither are you. My mother had dementia, so I know the challenges for the family. Joe is not displaying the symptoms my mother had. I’m a strong supporter of Joe Biden because of his ability to work across the aisle. Obama achieved this when Joe worked Congress members. I don’t see anyone else achieving this besides Kamala and she wd face nationwide discrimination challenges on two fronts -I do wish this was not true. What platform wd another candidate have? Has another candidate demonstrated the ability to govern at a national level? Where do they stand on Israel or Ukraine? Will the business leaders support this candidate? Challenge for Kamala. It’s not that easy and how will the primary voters feel? The delegates to the convention were not selected to make this decision but will face it anyway and will be blamed if the candidate fails along with the democratic leaders. At the moment count me riding with Biden.
I wasn’t diagnosing—quite the contrary. My point was he needs to be evaluated and resisting it doesn’t make the problem go away. His refusal to consider an evaluation is as worrisome as his failure at the debate. For the sake of the country, he needs to find out if this was, in Namcy Pelosi’s words, an episode or a condition.
Thank you for sharing your MIL’s story and I have a little better understanding. The other candidate who often trails off and gets lost in word salad needs the same tests, too.
Agree 100%
My apologies for misreading your comments. I’m so tired of the attacks on Biden, but not Trump. I think the press should demand the same from Trump that they do from Pres Biden.
Thanks. I have been raising questions about Trump’s cognitive issues for a while. He has had episodes of aphasia, unable to form his words, not to mention his long, disjointed speeches and limited vocabulary, confusion on names and place. Agree that there is too little attention paid to Trump’s mental decline, but in the scheme of things—his threat to democracy, criminal behavior and lack of character—it ranks lower on the concern scale I guess.
Just to be clear, it’s not known if it’s Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, or something not as well known or understood- you are in no position to diagnose Biden. But I agree with the general thrust of your comment; I have a mother who is 94 and, after a long life full of accomplishments, is slipping mentally. I agree with what all of you had to say on Mona Charen’s “Beg to Differ” this week. God bless Joe Biden. It’s time to retire and let a stronger candidate take over.
Absolutely—Alzheimer’s only definitive with a post mortem brain autopsy. (Rhoda donated her body to the University of Colorado Medical School, where her husband had led the Department if Physical Medicine for 40 years). But a thorough work up could determine the level of decline and it could rule in or out other possible causes.
I’ve been an emotional wreck since the Debate. I know Biden is old and little bit slower but that “debate” made me realized his health condition is a lot more severe than being a little bit slower. I was honestly shocked because he did so well during the SOTU address earlier this year. I think back on my own mother’s demise and there were signs here and there but her health deteriorated rapidly and I went into a state of denial at times myself. I wasn’t just protecting her but myself as well. It is a difficult position being President. It requires a lot of physical and mental stamina and neither candidate meets the basic requirements. I’m worried that Biden is being shielded by family and close advisers that care more about him than the country. I also worry what a mess that will be created if we open up the convention with a new candidate. There are some crazy people in the Democratic Party. I know. I am a member of the Democratic Party.
His advisors and family may actually care more about themselves than Joe or the country. They all have enormous influence and power because of their positions and they come to depend on it. It's a natural human instinct for them to be in denial or maybe even worse....
Perhaps he has been evaluated by neurologists, and found to be only mildly cognitively impaired. If there is another underlying condition, that doesn't affect his judgement or intellectual ability, perhaps those around him have decided to keep that information private. Remember FDR was in a wheelchair, but wasn't deemed unfit to lead.
President Biden is certainly not as nimble linguistically or physically as he was at the beginning of 2024 when he gave the SOTU address, but that doesn't equate to alzheimers or another dementia. (I know some will say he read his SOTU speech off teleprompters, but he had "banter" with Republicans in the audience which could not have been scripted, and was on target and relevant in fact and tone.)
As we get older we ALL lose occasional words and trains of thought mid-sentence, but geriatricians state that this is not necessarily indicative of dementia.
The way I put it is, my filing cabinet (brain) is so full after 70+ years of memories, it takes a little longer to find the exact memory or word I'm looking for!
Waste of words Linda. Perhaps you yourself could use a trip to a neurologist.
Another Republican heard from. He’s been tested. Look it up. The other guy is PSYCHOTIC AND demented. Focus on that test first.
We all know that about Trump though. Nobody wants to hurt Biden - We want to be in the best position to beat Trump. Every anti-Trumper asking these questions in good faith.
I am not in a position to diagnose Joe Biden and neither are you. My mother had dementia, so I know the challenges for the family. Joe is not displaying the symptoms my mother had. I’m a strong supporter of Joe Biden because of his ability to work across the aisle. Obama achieved this when Joe worked Congress members. I don’t see anyone else achieving this besides Kamala and she wd face nationwide discrimination challenges on two fronts -I do wish this was not true. What platform wd another candidate have? Has another candidate demonstrated the ability to govern at a national level? Where do they stand on Israel or Ukraine? Will the business leaders support this candidate? Challenge for Kamala. It’s not that easy and how will the primary voters feel? The delegates to the convention were not selected to make this decision but will face it anyway and will be blamed if the candidate fails along with the democratic leaders. At the moment count me riding with Biden.
I wasn’t diagnosing—quite the contrary. My point was he needs to be evaluated and resisting it doesn’t make the problem go away. His refusal to consider an evaluation is as worrisome as his failure at the debate. For the sake of the country, he needs to find out if this was, in Namcy Pelosi’s words, an episode or a condition.