Madden Mischief

An article in the publication I STAND FOR FREEDOM noted “the latest evidence” of President Biden’s cognitive decline was his Sunday night address to the nation mourning the death of his dear friend, former President Jimmy Carter.

But I thought Biden’s speech was more touching emotionally, more deeply heart felt than cognitively revealing.  Biden, like many of us, was sad to lose a friend.

As we all know by now Carter died Sunday at age 100, becoming the first U.S. president to reach that milestone. He had been in hospice care at his home in Plains, Georgia, which I once drove by.

In his mournful speech, Biden called Carter “a statesman and humanitarian” and said he and his wife, first lady Jill Biden, had lost “a dear friend.”  He was so emotional, he could hardly talk. 

But writer Noah Stanton took a totally different angle in his story in the Patriot Central citing that Biden “struggled through the mere nine-minute speech” honoring his late friend.

“Biden’s delivery was marked by persistent coughing and notably sluggish speech patterns, reinforcing growing concerns about his cognitive decline,” wrote Stanton who actually is a pretty good writer.

In responding to his article in the Patriot Central, I thought I had to say something in the spirit of quenching any flames it might reignite on the left just as President-elect Trump is about to become President again of hopefully a more united America.

Still, I must say Stanton had a point that if presidential cognitive fitness should become an issue again, it should be noted by both political parties that under our republic’s constitutional framework, we’re all dependent upon having a fully capable executive in our country’s highest office, not one whose staff must manage their basic functions as was alleged in the case of Biden.

Yes Stanton, cognitive and physical decline can lead to a crisis of leadership that indeed extends beyond partisan politics.  If indeed our commander-in-chief requires constant management and guidance for basic functions, it raises profound questions about national security and constitutional governance, which may demand immediate attention.

And yes, We the People deserve complete transparency about our president’s cognitive capacity and you’re right, the media’s failure to properly scrutinize a president’s decline could indeed represent not just a journalistic failure but could pose a threat to our democracy.

But here’s the caveat, my dear friend, coming from a fellow conservative writer.

Sometimes our bias against liberals causes us to misinterpret as senility what really is plain old sincere sadness as was evident in Biden’s heart felt remarks about someone whom he cared deeply about, Jimmy Carter.

As for Biden’s Presidency, I believe we’ve bashed him enough and this latest critique of his acuity, although well written, just comes at the wrong time with Trump’s inauguration soon to happen.

Fellow writer, I say let’s engender respect and not loathing among Democrats for Republicans as there are difficult days ahead for which we’d all be much better off more unified than divided.

God bless Jimmy Carter and Joe Biden for doing their best but let’s now root for President-elect Trump to do his best to improve, to unify to Make America Great Again.

For years, we conservatives have raised alarm bells about President Biden’s cognitive abilities, but now that he’s leaving office let him go in peace and pray we can become a more UNITED States of America. 

Please forgive Tom Madden, he is a writing addict. If it’s not writing his weekly blog at www.maddenmischief, he’s writing another book to follow his most recent one, Planetary Lifeguard, Blowing the Whistle on Climate Change, or he’s cranking out news releases about the clients of his busy public relations firm, TransMedia Group. He never stops. He can’t. He’s an addict.