Biden Is Absolutely the New Thomas Eagleton
Well of course. Now come the leaks. The Washington Times headline: White House photographer claims aides knew for months Biden was not fit for office The Times reports: After President Joe Biden’s recent dismal debate performance, concerns have emerged from both current...
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Well of course.
Now come the leaks.
The Washington Times headline:
White House photographer claims aides knew for months Biden was not fit for office
The Times reports:
After President Joe Biden’s recent dismal debate performance, concerns have emerged from both current and former aides about his health and leadership capabilities.
The White House attributed Mr. Biden’s low and sometimes difficult-to-understand speaking voice to a cold. However, some insiders suggest this reflects the president’s day-to-day condition.
Former White House deputy director of photography, Chandler West, shared on Instagram, “It’s time for Joe to go.”
One would have to be still in the womb to not understand that anybody and everybody in Joe Biden’s immediate vicinity knew — say again knew! — that all was not well with the President of the United States.
[T]he Biden debate appears to quite possibly have politically mortally wounded both the President and … the down ballot campaigns.
The serious tell of just how damaging the now iconic debate really was? When one tuned in to the post-debate coverage on CNN, where the liberal host network, per their anchors, was being flooded with leaks and messages from serious Democrats that Biden’s performance was so stunningly bad that he had to be moved off the ticket – and pronto.
The immediate question from others was — is there precedent for this?
As a history geek I can say the answer to that is actually yes — in 1972.
The Eagleton Affair
The Democrat nominee that year was the decidedly left-wing South Dakota Democrat Senator George McGovern. As the new convention nominee, McGovern needed to pick a VP who could be a serious asset in his uphill run against the popular Republican President Richard Nixon. (READ MORE from Jeffrey Lord: Trump v. Big Government: The Department of Education Won’t Die Easy)
McGovern’s favorite, in fact the favorite of the party, was Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy, the youngest and last surviving of the already iconic (and late) Kennedy brothers — President JFK and Senator RFK. But Kennedy, no dope, had no intention of joining a doomed ticket, and repeatedly said no. Finally, in desperation, McGovern turned to a young, rising Democrat star — Missouri Senator Thomas Eagleton.
Eagleton had already had a skyrocketing career. Elected as Missouri Attorney General, then Lieutenant Governor, he was now the junior U.S. Senator from the state. He was, on the surface, perfect for McGovern. Midwest, handsome, capable — a star in the making. Not to mention a VP nominee, win or lose, would have him climbing another rung that many thought would eventually end in the White House.
So. In typical then-convention style, Eagleton was announced and the new teammates closed out the convention with the traditional hands clasped with raised arms and big smiles.
And then.
Over there at NPR, The Thomas Eagleton Affair Haunts Candidates Today, there is this look-back at what happened next.
Within a few days, rumors started to circulate, beginning with a call to McGovern’s headquarters in South Dakota.
The anonymous caller had said, “Check into Sen. Eagleton’s background; he has a complicated medical background,” [McGovern campaign manager Gary] Hart says.
Hart says neither he nor McGovern’s top aide, Frank Mankiewicz, knew anything.
Then calls were made to the Eagleton staff to say, “We got this call; what does it mean?” Hart says. “The response was ‘We’ll check it into it and let you know.’ ”
Within hours, the McGovern campaign was getting those details. On three occasions in the 1960s, Eagleton was hospitalized for depression and had undergone electroshock treatment.
“This was the height of the Cold War,” Hart says. “The key here wasn’t how do we feel about mental illness or therapy or anything like that. The key was — finger on the button.”
That phrase, “finger on the button” began to dog the McGovern campaign once the revelations about Eagleton’s mental health became public.
In short, Eagleton had not been seriously vetted by McGovern and his staff. Now, McGovern was paying the price for it.
Senior Democrats were outraged and incredulous. The campaign against Nixon was enough of an uphill battle without this. Very shortly, Eagleton was out the door and off the ticket, replaced by Kennedy in-law and ex-Peace Corps Director Sargent Shriver. Shriver, also a former diplomat, was a serious and well-respected replacement.
But it was too late. The damage to McGovern had been done. The ticket never recovered, with Nixon winning a 49-state landslide.
The point here is obvious.
As with McGovern, the damage to the Democratic ticket has now been done. The only difference is that the Eagleton role is filled by President Biden himself, with his, as they say, “cognitive problems” on full, living color display in this debate.
Not to mention that in this day of 21st century social media, the Biden vacant stares and mumbling are out there for endless repeated display, never to vanish.
Clearly this is what has launched not only the hysteria among Democrats, but the blunt “get-him-off-the-ticket” editorials from leftist media bastions like the New York Times.
Will all of this wailing and hollering actually work — and get Biden off the ticket? Not, one can be sure, if wife Dr. Jill and the rest of Clan Biden has anything to say about it — and they do.
So as the GOP and Democrat Conventions approach, with the November election looming beyond, the Biden debate appears to quite possibly have politically mortally wounded both the President and his campaign, not to mention the down ballot campaigns of countless U.S. Senators, Congressmen, Governors, state legislators, and more at the local level. (READ MORE: Trump vs. CNN and Biden)
All of which is a moral for Democrats that they perhaps should have been more familiar with the actions and consequences revolving around the Eagleton Affair.
Yes, that was all a long 52 years ago.
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