In yet another wild defense of Joe Biden, Rep. Jim Clyburn, a Democrat, insisted that the president, known by many since the disastrous June 27 debate, if not earlier, as a cognitive mess, has “one of the best minds,” and that the many gaffes and forgetful remarks he makes are not evidence of cognitive decline, but rather related to his stutter.
Such is what Rep. Clyburn insisted when he appeared on “The TODAY Show” on Friday, July 12, and argued that it was really the stutter, not cognitive issues, behind Biden’s various misstatements and comments. That claim was made all the more ridiculous by Biden, just a day earlier, on Thursday the 12th, mixing up Zelensky and Putin when speaking.
Rep. Clyburn, in any case, argued that though Biden is known to “mangle words,” cognitive decline is not to blame, saying, “Those of us who are real close watchers of Joe Biden, we do know that he sometimes mangle words and phrases. But all of that is almost natural for people who grew up stuttering and they do focus a little more. And when you focus a little more, you tend to lose the flow.”
Somewhat skeptical, NBC host Craig Melvin pressed Rep. Clyburn if it was really just a stutter that is to blame for Biden’s issues with speaking properly, even with a teleprompter, asking, “But you’re not saying what we’ve seen from this president in the last three weeks is just a function of him stuttering?” Melvin continued, “It’s more than that.”
Rep. Clyburn didn’t back down from his absurd position. Instead, he insisted that Bien has always had a stutter and it is to blame, saying, “He doesn’t stutter now. He is still working to overcome the stuttering of his childhood. I’ve been around that condition for a long time and I know exactly how it operates. But he has one of the best minds that I’ve ever been around.”
Clyburn continued, insisting that those near Biden would make the same claim about Biden’s cognitive health. He argued, “And the people who have been around him will tell you that. So I would hope that we will focus on the substance of this man, rather than these sometimes misspoken words and phrases, and how he has run this country.”
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A few days earlier, on Tuesday the 9th, Rep. Clyburn insisted that he would back Vice President Kamala Harris if Biden did, for some reason, have to drop out, saying, “I will support her if he were to step aside. But I am going to support her going forward as sometime in the future. I want this ticket to be Biden-Harris, and then we’ll see what happens after the next election.”
Continuing, he added that the Democrats should do everything necessary to support Harris if such an eventuality comes to pass, saying, “No, this spot should not in any way do anything to work around Ms. Harris. We should do everything to bolster her, whether she’s in second place or at the top of the ticket.”
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