On Thursday, President Joe Biden embarrassed himself during a speech for the late Sen. Bob Dole, R-Kan. by reading the instructions on his speech — again.
Not to worry! The president received assistance from First Lady Jill Biden, who dismissed Americans’ concern about the president’s cognitive function.
The first lady spoke earlier this week with CBS Television News Correspondent Rita Braver. CBS plans to air the interview on Sunday, but by Thursday, The Hill had already obtained reports of the first lady’s remarks.
According to The Hill, Braver told the first lady, “Quite a few Americans have some questions about the president’s current mental fitness.”
Braver reportedly cited a new poll from Morning Consult. In last month’s poll, Biden was described as mentally fit by only 46 percent of voters, compared to 53 percent in May and 56 percent in October 2021. What’s more, 48 percent of voters disputed his mental fitness.
Jill Biden hit back. “I think that’s ridiculous,” she said, according to The Hill.
The first lady reportedly shook her head while hearing about the poll, visibly unhappy that it was being questioned.
Later the president was bungling words at Dole’s memorial service.
Earlier that day, Joe Biden was giving a speech in Dole’s honor, and he appeared to read the instructions out loud.
He said, according to the White House transcript:
Because Bob deserves the final word, I’d like to read a portion of his final message…
And I quote Bob Dole:
“I cannot pretend that I have not been a loyal champion [of] my party, but [I’ve] always served my country best when I did [it] so first and foremost as an American… Our nation has certainly faced periods of division. But at the end of the day, we have always found ways to come together. We can find that unity again.”
“When we prioritize principles over party and humanity over personal legacy” — when we do that, we “accomplish far more as a nation. By leading with shared faith in each other, we become America at its best.”
He went on to say, “a beacon of hope, a source of comfort in crisis, a shield against those who threaten freedom.”
And then the message said, end of message.
My fellow Americans, America has lost one of our greatest patriots.
Biden said “end of message” at the end of Dole’s quote.
Biden suffers from a clinical stutter, according to The Atlantic. In light of that stutter, some of Biden’s verbal errors start to make sense.
But a stutter doesn’t make people read instruction prompts aloud.
Some Democrats have argued that Biden might have said “end of message” on purpose, to signal the quote’s end.
However, context signals the end of the quote already.
Earlier in the speech, Biden ended a quote simply by switching to the third person, not by declaring the “end of message.” Biden said of Dole, “He went on to say…”
Biden’s mishap ended up on video, and the video matches up with the White House transcript.
Watch here —
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXP5IHSB9ec
The Horn editorial team