(LifeSiteNews) — A longtime Democratic consultant suggested President Joe Biden’s campaign staff could have concerns about his cognitive abilities.
James Carville, a top strategist on President Bill Clinton’s 1992 campaign and a consultant to many other candidates, made the comments on CNN recently.
Carville commented on Biden’s decision not to appear in a customary interview prior to the Super Bowl, a tradition began by President Barack Obama in 2009.
Particularly during a campaign season, the decision to not do an interview when millions of Americans are tuning in prior to a major sporting event raises questions about the 81-year-old president.
“Last year, Biden refused the interview in what was widely believed to be a snub of the network broadcasting the Super Bowl, Fox,” The Blaze reported. “But this year, CBS broadcasted the event, and Biden still declined the interview.”
CNN host Michael Smerconish asked Carville how he would handle the age problem.
“It’s the biggest television audience, not even close, and you get a chance to do a 20- to 25-minute interview on that day, and you don’t do it,” Carville told CNN on Saturday.
James Carville comments on Biden’s age. (Language warning). https://t.co/7BwRBLTXvN
— Matt Lamb (@MattLamb22) February 14, 2024
“That’s a kind of sign that the staff or yourself doesn’t have much confidence in you — there’s no other way to read this,” he said.
“And he’s not going to do debates, he is old. I know what it is because I’m also as old as he is – and it’s never going to get better.”
“Today is the youngest you’ll ever be for the rest of your life,” Carville said.
He said the “whole Democratic infrastructure,” such as fundraisers and campaign volunteers, needs to be told the limits of what Biden will and won’t do in his 2024 run.
Carville’s comments come after the Department of Justice released a report on February 5 from Special Counsel Robert Hur, who was looking into Biden’s handling of classified materials. Though Hur declined to press charges, the rationale only further adds questions to Biden’s cognitive ability.
“We have also considered that, at trial, Mr. Biden would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview of him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory,” the 388-page report stated. “Based on our direct interactions with and observations of him, he is someone for whom many jurors will want to identify reasonable doubt.”
“It would be difficult to convince a jury that they should convict him-by then a former president well into his eighties-of a serious felony that requires a mental state of willfulness,” the report stated.
The report also noted Biden’s “memory was significantly limited” when it came to classified documents about Afghanistan he had in his possession.
The report, commenting on possible defenses Biden’s attorneys could raise, again discussed his memory.
“Mr. Biden’s memory also appeared to have significant limitations-both at the time he spoke to [ghostwriter Mark Zwonitzer] in 2017, as evidenced by their recorded conversations, and today, as evidenced by his recorded interview with our office,” the report stated. “Mr. Biden’s recorded conversations with Zwonitzer from 2017 are often painfully slow, with Mr. Eiden struggling to remember events and straining at times to read and relay his own notebook entries.”
The report continued:
In his interview with our office, Mr. Biden’s memory was worse. He 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. And his memory appeared hazy when describing the Afghanistan debate that was once so important to him. Among other things, he mistakenly said he ‘had a real difference’ of opinion with General Karl Eikenberry, when, in fact, Eikenberry was an ally whom Mr. Biden cited approvingly in his Thanksgiving memo to President Obama.
While gaffes are a part of any political campaign, Biden has also recently confused current foreign leaders with their (dead) equivalents from decades ago.
For example, the day before the release of Hur’s report, Biden told a story about Helmut Kohl, the former chancellor of Germany, mixing him up with former German Chancellor Angela Merkel. While telling that story, he also appeared to refer to former French President Francois Mitterrand (who died in 1996) instead of current French President Emmanuel Macron.
During a press conference on Thursday to respond to the special counsel report, Biden appeared to call Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi the “president of Mexico.”
A poll conducted after the release of the report and Biden’s gaffes found that most Americans are concerned about Biden’s age.
While 62 percent of Americans thought President Donald Trump is too old to serve another term in the White House, 86 percent shared the same concerns about Biden, an ABC News/Ipsos poll found.