Over the past few months, as concerns have mounted among the public over President Joe Biden’s mental fitness, numerous Democrats rushed to his defense, calling him “sharp” and praising his cognitive abilities.
However, after Biden’s catastrophic debate performance Thursday, the party doesn’t seem as enthusiastic to defend the president’s cerebral vigor.
While Republicans have sounded the alarm over Biden’s mental abilities, many Democrats have rushed to assure the public that Biden is as sharp as ever. The Daily Caller News Foundation reached out to several of these lawmakers and asked them if they still felt the same way about Biden’s mental acuity after Biden’s debate performance, in which he routinely stumbled over his words, froze up and lost his train of thought. (RELATED: Panicked Dems Scramble For Biden Replacement After ‘Disaster’ Debate Performance’)
One-Minute Debate Recap: pic.twitter.com/YCuBnZSw0U
— DC Shorts (@theDCshorts) June 28, 2024
In a CNN interview from Feb. 9, Democratic Rep. Dan Goldman of New York recounted an interaction he had with Biden following the Oct. 7 massacre.
“I can tell you, he was sharper than anyone I’ve spoken to about a very complex, geopolitical urgent issue,” Goldman said.
Goldman did not respond to requests for comment from the DCNF on whether he stood by his statement praising Biden’s mental acuity.
Former House Speaker and Democratic California Rep. Nancy Pelosi also defended the president following a Wall Street Journal piece featuring soureces that criticizied Biden’s mental fitness from Jun. 4. Pelosi called the WSJ story a “hit piece,” according to a post on X from Jun. 5.
“Many of us spent time with [the WSJ] to share on the record our first-hand experiences with [Biden], where we see his wisdom, experience, strength and strategic thinking,” Pelosi said in the post.
Following the debate, Pelosi avoided the subject of Biden’s fitness, saying Trump “presented another pack of lies which along, with his candidacy, must be rejected,” according to a post on X from Jun. 27. (RELATED: Nancy Pelosi Implodes After MSNBC Host Fact-Checks Her On Trump’s Economy)
Pelosi’s office did not respond to requests for comment from the DCNF.
Pelosi declined to comment on Biden’s debate performance this morning, but “compared to a person who was lying the whole time, we saw integrity on one side and dishonesty on the other.” On Trump: “He’s a fool. He thinks I planned my own assassination. He’s sicker than I thought.” pic.twitter.com/W0p1Acr6vN
— Alejandro Alvarez 🫡 (@aletweetsnews) June 28, 2024
Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer also came out in support of Biden, saying his mental acuity is “great” in an interview with The Hill on Feb. 13.
“I talk to President Biden regularly,” Schumer told The Hill. “Usually several times in a week. His mental acuity is great, it’s fine, it’s as good as it’s been over the years. He’s fine. All this right-wing propaganda that his mental acuity has declined is wrong.”
Following the debate, Schumer said the choice was between “four more years of progress, or four more years of attacks on our fundamental rights and our democracy,” according to a post on X from Jun 27.
Like Pelosi, he did not publicly address Biden’s performance, and his office did not respond to requests for comment from the DCNF.
Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, told the DCNF that Biden is “absolutely lucid,” on Feb. 9.
“Well, a lot of your readers think Trump is fit for office, and I don’t agree with that,” Fetterman told the DCNF. “And I suspect some of your readers don’t feel that President Biden is fit, but they’re both older gentlemen that are running and have made, uh, verbal gaffes, uh, throughout this [campaign].”
Fetterman, who suffered from a stroke in May 2022, brushed off Biden’s performance as a “rough debate,” according to a post on X from Jun. 28.
“I refuse to join the Democratic vultures on Biden’s shoulder after the debate,” Fetterman said in the post. “No one knows more than me that a rough debate is not the sum total of the person and their record.”
Fetterman’s office did not respond to a requests for comment from the DCNF.
ATLANTA, GEORGIA – JUNE 27: U.S. President Joe Biden walks off with first lady Jill Biden following the CNN Presidential Debate at the CNN Studios on June 27, 2024 in Atlanta, Georgia. President Biden and Republican presidential candidate, former U.S. President Donald Trump are facing off in the first presidential debate of the 2024 campaign. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California also stood by Biden’s side. “I’ve seen the president twice in the past two weeks,” Khanna told the Washington Times on Feb. 11.
“I’ve had a conversation with him. He’s completely mentally sharp.”
When Khanna was asked if he could vouch for the president, he said “I can vouch for policies,” according to The New York Times. (RELATED: ‘Total Distraction’: Dem Rep Ro Khanna Calls Out Party’s Cases Against Trump, Says Focus Should Be On ‘Core Issues’)
“We have a great team of people that will help govern,” Khanna told the NYT on Jun. 28. “That is what I’m going to continue to make the case for.”
Khanna’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment from the DCNF.
Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota previously defended Biden’s mental fitness, describing him as “focused” in statements to NBC News on Feb. 18.
“I was on Air Force One with the president going from Washington, D.C., to Wisconsin for an infrastructure project,” Klobuchar told NBC. “And I was with the president for over an hour and talked about so many things, domestic, international. He was focused. His recall was good. It was the same experience that my colleagues had who met with him for hours, Democrats and Republicans, about the Mideast only a few weeks ago.”
Klobuchar did not respond to requests for comment from the DCNF.
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