Thereâs a reason that âOh, come on, itâs just who he isâ has never, ever worked as an argument in a court of law.
And yet, that largely appears to be the line of excuse-making that Axios employed in a startling puff piece that largely tried to excuse the incumbent presidentâs countless gaffes as little more than an insignificant behavioral tic.
In doing so, Axios actually may have done more harm than good for Biden, as they plainly laid out: There is no explanation or excuse for Bidenâs alphabet soup spelling and grammar.
The piece, simply titled âBidenâs weird words,â came out Sunday and largely appeared to be some sort of response to Bidenâs inexplicable âGod save the queenâ remark while speaking about gun violence in Connecticut on Friday.
Axios reporter Alex Thompson characterized that nonsensical phrase away as just something that happens.
âPresident Biden often uses old-timey expressions that confound even his own staff,â Thompson wrote. âThat happened again Friday when he ended a speech on gun violence with âGod save the queen, man.'â
Thompson noted that Olivia Dalton, the White Houseâs principal deputy press secretary, couldnât even explain why Biden used a phrase of British patriotism (for a deceased monarch, no less) while halfway across the world from England.
âBidenâs quirky aphorisms are sometimes weaponized by Republicans to insinuate the 80-year-old president is in mental decline,â Thompson noted. âBut Biden has been using unique phrases for years â but even some of his aides arenât exactly sure what he means by them.â
Again⌠thatâs not an excuse, as the blistering comments under the accompanying Axios tweet demonstrated:
Dismissing signs of mental decline as little more than a built-in personality trait is an incredibly dangerous disservice to everyone â Americans, international allies, heck, the president himself.
There really isnât any way to justify or write off Bidenâs countless gaffes as little more than âwhoopsies,â but that didnât stop Axios from trying.
But even in its âdefenseâ of the president, the piece did largely feel like the old adage of âdamning with faint praise.â
âDuring this yearâs State of the Union, he told Republican lawmakers, âLots of luck in your senior year,'â Thompson wrote.
The best answer Axios could muster: âSome Biden allies believe thatâs his way of saying, âGood luck with that.'â
Axios also brought up the infamous 2020 âlying, dog-faced pony soldierâ incident, where he bizarrely called a female student that.
âHeâs claimed in the past that line was from John Wayne, but film aficionados havenât been able to find the movie (there is a 1952 film called âPony Soldierâ but Wayneâs not in it),â Thompson wrote.
That line might be the most egregious one written by Thompson in this piece because it acknowledges that the president is either lying or making things up in his head (neither of which is a good sign) â and yet the writer dismisses it as much ado about nothing.
âBottom line: There are legitimate questions about Bidenâs age and stamina as he runs for a second term â but his off-beat proverbs are just Biden being Biden,â Thompson concluded.
Look, can this writer admit that there is just a smidgen of mean-spiritedness when some conservatives deride the incumbent president and his follies?
Of course.
But there are also a number of conservatives and Republicans who are genuinely concerned about a man who may or may not be cognitively impaired having access to the nuclear football â and they would feel the same if it were a conservative, Republican president in office showing similar decline.
Bidenâs issues, however overblown they may or may not be, should not be dismissed so handily as nothing more than a conservative attack point.
Not everything in politics is rooted in partisan hackery.
Much still is, however, as this Axios article demonstrates.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.