A rare moment of honesty slipped onto the air during Sunday’s This Week on ABC when chief national correspondent Terry Moran admitted most Americans “don't want to vote for an 81-year-old man for President.” This, of course, was a reference to President Joe Biden who will be 82 years old at the beginning of a hypothetical second term in office.
During the “Powerhouse Roundtable” segment, co-moderator Martha Raddatz turned to Moran and asked whether he thinks all Democrats will “rally around the President?”
To what probably was a shock to Raddatz, Moran demurred and went in a different direction when he started pointing out Biden’s advanced age. My own sense is that most Americans don't want to vote for an 81-year-old man for President,” Moran said of Biden before also noting Trump is only four years younger. “Neither do they really want to vote for a 77-year-old man for President. They’d like to go to the next generation.”
Pointing out how apparently oblivious the Biden team is to the serious concern Americans have about Biden’s old age and rapidly declining mental faculties, Moran asked: “I think part of the modesty is the Biden White House operation aware that people are uneasy with his age?”
Raddatz then jumped back in to read a portion of an editorial piece from the Wall Street Journal on the political problems Biden’s age is causing him:
The public understands what Mr. Biden apparently won't admit: that electing an octogenarian in obvious decline for another four years could be an historic mistake. It’s impossible to know Mr. Biden's real physical and mental state because the White House goes to great lengths to hide it. But his decline is clear to anyone who isn’t willfully blind.
Serving as the panel’s Biden stenographer, failed former Democrat Senator Heidi Heitkamp defended Biden’s obvious declining mental faculties by pointing to Trump.
“The real issue here is when you don't compare Biden to, you know, kind of the perfect candidate,” Heitkamp insisted. “You compare them to who the likely nominee is. And I think that there’s a comfort level as we move into this that Donald Trump probably will be the nominee.”
She ended by claiming with a straight face that “when you look at what the administration has in fact accomplished in the last four years it’s pretty impressive. It’s a pretty impressive record.”
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To read the relevant transcript click “expand”:
ABC’s This Week
4/23/2023
9:45:14 a.m. EasternMARTHA RADDATZ: Do you expect everyone—all Democrats to suddenly rally around the President?
TERRY MORAN: Well, I will leave that to our Democratic former official here. My own sense is that most Americans don't want to vote for an 81-year-old man for President. Neither do they really want to vote for a 77-year-old man for President. They’d like to go to the next generation. And I think part of the modesty is the Biden White House operation aware that people are uneasy with his age?
RADDATZ: And to that point, Heidi, the Wall Street journal editorial board had a very strong statement about it, saying ‘the public understands what Mr. Biden apparently won't admit: that electing an octogenarian in obvious decline for another four years could be an historic mistake. It’s impossible to know Mr. Biden's real physical and mental state because the White House goes to great lengths to hide it. But his decline is clear to anyone who isn’t willfully blind.’
HEIDI HEITKAMP: Absolutely and the real issue here is when you don't compare Biden to, you know, kind of the perfect candidate. You compare them to who the likely nominee is. And I think that there’s a comfort level as we move into this that Donald Trump probably will be the nominee. This will be a repeat of 2020. Biden has a lot of things to run on. He’s got a lot of good policy things that both Progressives and moderate Republicans like. And so I think there isn’t going to be a lot of opposition within the Democratic Party, but I also think that the attention that we’re going to see Democrats expose is these false lines among the Republicans. So you know, there is going to be this question, right? And rightfully so. But I think when you look at what the administration has in fact accomplished in the last four years it’s pretty impressive. It’s a pretty impressive record. And so, let's see how this plays out.
