I've seen nothing from Biden over the last year that makes me think he has all of his faculties about him. I agree the Veep spot tends to be overrated, but not so much when the guy at the top of the ticket is 78 years old and clearly struggling with aging issues.
Plus, I don't equate voting for Doug Jones with voting for Joe Biden for obvious reasons.
I haven't noticed any cognitive decline in Biden that is atypical compared to his age group. I believe his stutter has been intensely magnified due to the intense spotlight the RNC and Trump's campaign has placed on it. It's similar how they claimed Hillary had one foot in the grave yet 4 years later she's just fine.
It's largely a focus group tested way of distracting from Trump's own obvious decline. I dislike Trump, but he wasn't slurring his words or unable to complete a sentence 4-5 years ago. Those are recent phenomenons.
Neither Trump nor Biden should be running for President; I'd fully support a Constitutional amendment that prohibits candidates from running if older than 72, unless they pass a comprehensive suite of cognitive tests from an independent and non-partisan panel. And, they'd be required to be re-tested every 3 months while in office, and the results should be released to their cabinet as a check on in-office decline.
I also think no candidate should be allowed to run unless they fully disclose their tax return and finances. That should be part of any new amendment. The old system of trusting that our President would be honorable, decent, and/or at least capable of being shamed has been exposed as inadequate.
By the way, I'd be all for Biden publicly taking a cognitive test. I think both he and Trump should be forced to do a suite of such tests publicly with the administrator being chosen randomly from a group of highly-qualified doctors and research scientists.
If you haven't seen it yet, I'd like to get your thoughts on the following video of Biden:
Sure, it's edited and staged, but it's inarguable he's driving the vehicle just fine, operating its systems, and multi-tasking while doing so. That's worth something, IMO.
I have a parent that just turned 80, and I was also extremely close to my grandfather before he passed at 89. I've witnessed the aging process and cognitive decline that occurs in all people in those age ranges. Some have it worse than others, but I haven't seen that in Biden.
I think his stutter is unfortunately being used as a cudgel by those who want brand him by deceptively editing video and highlighting anytime he misspeaks. The Trump campaign has been Atmospheric Anti-Climax multiple times recently for doctoring or deceptively editing videos of Biden. I think there's a clear reason why -- they can't run on Trump's record or supposedly superior cognitive abilities. Anyway who has watched Trump in the past year has noticed his extreme cognitive decline -- the speech slurring alone is alarming.
In short, I do think Biden has declined cognitively. Anyone that age is going to have that happen. The question is, however, how much of it is visible and measurable, and how much of it is simply due to attempts by bad actors to take advantage of his stutter?
We have a whole lot more information about Biden's health than Trump's -- including that before 2017 he received top-notch physicals and testing from the doctors that attend to the VP/POTUS. And that was before Trump politicized that entire process and made it laughable. I just don't have any concerns about Biden's health. It is Hillary redux. Trump is a million times more likely to experience a serious health issue than Biden is. Biden isn't morbidly obese, he exercises, and doesn't live off of a diet of fast food, Diet Cokes, and minimal sleep.
If Biden were to pick Val Demings or Tammy Duckworth would you still be concerned about who might replace him if he were to be incapacitated or die?