DemonRats Are Supporting People with Dementia Running the Government.. From President to Senators

 

Once upon a time we mocked the Soviet Union for its gerontocracy. Aged party leaders, bundled up in overcoats and fur hats to the point of near-unrecognizability, would be wheeled out to sit, immobile, as parades passed or party congresses opened. Their withered, stale leadership was emblematic of the decaying USSR’s withered, stale ideology — and industrial base.

But now the joke’s on us. A leading United States senator, Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), can’t seem to remember important things, like her just-taken vote on a judicial nominee and her just-announced retirement. “Did I vote for that?” she asked an aide Wednesday, moments after leaving the chamber.

The day before, the oldest sitting senator announced she wouldn’t seek another term — or her staff did, anyway. Asked about her coming retirement an hour after the statement posted, Feinstein said, “Well, I haven’t made that decision. I haven’t released anything.” A staffer told her she had. As The Post reported, “an incredulous-sounding Feinstein” said, “You put out the statement?” before telling reporters, “I didn’t know they put it out.”

Well, Feinstein is 89. She shouldn’t be expected to remember things too well at that age. But maybe she shouldn’t be expected to serve two more years in the Senate, either.

Of course, another senator, John Fetterman (D-Pa.), isn’t nearly as old as Feinstein but not exactly compos mentis either. Fetterman ran for election despite a severe stroke that left him unable to campaign much and unable to perform basic senatorial tasks like speaking to reporters.

People who have noted this have been accused of “ableism,” which in this context means an expectation that someone with the elevated and demanding job of a US senator should be able to perform the job of US senator.

Hey, maybe it’s unfair to single Fetterman out. After all, Feinstein’s not doing any better. But he’s costing his constituents six years of capable Senate service.

Fetterman is being praised as stunning and brave for checking himself into Walter Reed to receive treatment for severe depression, perhaps brought on by his realization he lacks the physical and mental wherewithal to perform the job he campaigned to get. But while he may be brave for seeking treatment, he should have heeded Clint Eastwood’s famous advice: “A man’s got to know his limitations.” Fetterman’s were such that he should have dropped out of the race early.

Then there’s our commander-in-chief. President Joe Biden’s doctor just called him “healthy” and “vigorous,” though one news story on his annual physical carried this addendum: “The report did not say whether he had any cognitive tests.”

Yes, well, that’s kind of the thing — as Biden has seemed cognitively impaired on numerous occasions.

“On the campaign trail, he forgot the name of the governor of New Mexico,” as the Boston Herald’s Howie Carr noted. “He lauded Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden, then seconds later couldn’t recall his name and instead described Wyden as ‘that other guy that I just talked about.’ . . . He wished a speedy recovery to Nancy Pelosi’s husband ‘Bobby.’ (His name is Paul.)”

It gets worse, as Carr continued: “At age 80, Biden is unable to read the simplest words off the Teleprompter. The word ‘ban’ comes out as ‘blan.’ He tries to urge people to vote, but instead says ‘veto.’ Inflation is rendered as ‘implation.’ The Obergefell decision by the Supreme Court (gay marriage) comes out as ‘Ogilfry.’”

Biden recently promised to take our auto fleet all-electric by … 3035. He confused Amy Barrett, the Supreme Court justice, with Mary Barra, the General Motors executive.

One of Biden’s own nominees — he was withdrawn last week — described him as a “senile gaffe machine.” Speaking privately, Democratic politicians admit Biden is just too old, as Politico just reported.

So 2% of the United States Senate — at minimum — and 100% of the executive branch is mentally impaired enough to raise real questions about these Democrats’ ability to do their jobs. And in Biden’s and Fetterman’s cases, the press actively ran interference for them, ensuring their election over candidates who were, at least, mentally all there.

There’s a species of cruelty in putting people in jobs they’re mentally unable to handle, but there’s a worse species of cruelty in subjecting an entire nation to being governed by such people — or by whoever is pulling their strings from behind the scenes. Enough.

Glenn Harlan Reynolds is a professor of law at the University of Tennessee and founder of the InstaPundit.com blog.