# Does Biden have early on set dementia? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [March 4, 2020, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-biden-have-early-on-set-dementia/848933 "2020-03-04T18:45:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![eenerms](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cdc98d/32.png) [@eenerms](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eenerms)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2020, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-biden-have-early-on-set-dementia/848933/101 "2020-03-07T08:40:01Z")
> [@dba\_Fred](#): > > I’m not so sure, I did/do think Biden would have been labeled as _a third Obama term/more of the same_ and that would have been a handicap in the _change/do something-anything_ atmosphere of 2016. > It would have put Obama in a difficult position: does he endorse his Vice President or his former Secretary of State? Or say something like “I respect both candidates and want to see the process play out and will endorse the candidate who wins our party’s convention”? I meant four. Instead of Hillary. :D:smack: ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2020, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-biden-have-early-on-set-dementia/848933/102 "2020-03-07T19:38:12Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > We’ll need some cites for this. Start with the Trump speech in #45. Tell us what you think of it and/or point to speech by a younger Trump that was just as deranged. I’m not going to sit down and watch a hit piece that claims that Trump is like Charles Manson. Its like one of those infowars things where I can make a meaningless list that (insert democrat here) is like Josef Stalin because they have such similarities like being in favor of workers rights, are concerned about the rise of Naziism, or are concerned about income inequality. In any event, the hit piece claims that Trump is a cult leader like Manson. That is not what we are talking about it this thread. If that’s the best you got then I declare victory. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2020, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-biden-have-early-on-set-dementia/848933/103 "2020-03-07T20:00:25Z")
> [@Saintly\_Loser](#): > > Sorry, but that doesn’t even make sense. We’re being asked to vote for a candidate in a spectacularly important election, perhaps the most important in some of our lives. > > But we don’t have a right to consider a candidate’s fitness for the job? > > Seriously, that’s nonsense. > And, furthermore, I didn’t “diagnose” Biden. I said that, based on my experience with men of his age with dementia, I see some similarities, and that concerns me. There’s a difference between saying “the guy ain’t right” and diagnosing dementia. But whatever. At least threads like this give the Bernie guys some false hope, I suppose. ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2020, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-biden-have-early-on-set-dementia/848933/104 "2020-03-07T20:26:43Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > There’s a difference between saying “the guy ain’t right” and diagnosing dementia. But whatever. At least threads like this give the Bernie guys some false hope, I suppose. Read carefully. I am not a “Bernie guy.” Not everyone who has observed Joseph Biden for many years and thinks he’s slipping a bit is that mythical creature, a Bernie Bro. I specifically said that I am not “diagnosing” Biden. I do observe some similarities between Biden and other elderly men I have known who \*have \*been diagnosed, by professionals, as having dementia. That’s just a fact. And you do not get to set the rules by which people determine who will get their vote. You cannot dictate that people may not say certain things, or speculate about mental health, because the wrong people (the “Bernie guys” again) might get some false hope if they read it. I mean, I know there’s a party line and everything, but it’s not enforceable. And finally, what’s your problem? I specifically said, in the post that provoked your ire, that if Biden wins the nomination, I’m going to vote for him. I’m sure he’ll be happy to have my vote even if I do think he’s showing signs of cognitive decline. If you’re a Biden fanboy, take it. Really. A vote is a vote. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2020, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-biden-have-early-on-set-dementia/848933/105 "2020-03-07T20:35:22Z")
I am not going to read that carefully. I stopped when I got to "I am not a “Bernie guy”’ as I was not suggesting you were. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2020, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-biden-have-early-on-set-dementia/848933/106 "2020-03-07T21:51:46Z")
> [@UltraVires](#): > > I’m not going to sit down and watch a hit piece … > > If that’s the best you got then I declare victory. 😕 Nobody’s asking you to watch a video. Just read the short transcript already quoted in #45, and tell us what you think. Biden suffers ordinary tongue-slippage, possibly exacerbated by old age. Trump’s quoted speech in #45 exhibits some personality disorders. I’d like to hear psychiatrists’ assessments of that bizarre rant, but first I want to hear from you. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2020, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-biden-have-early-on-set-dementia/848933/107 "2020-03-07T22:25:47Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > 😕 Nobody’s asking you to watch a video. Just read the short transcript already quoted in #45, and tell us what you think. > > Biden suffers ordinary tongue-slippage, possibly exacerbated by old age. Trump’s quoted speech in #45 exhibits some personality disorders. I’d like to hear psychiatrists’ assessments of that bizarre rant, but first I want to hear from you. So, you believe that a transcript of a single speech can show a personality disorder? In any event, we are not discussing personality disorders. We are talking about whether Biden suffers from dementia. However like every other thread on the SDMB, it turns into how utterly evil Trump is, so people are saying that Trump has suffered a further mental decline than has Biden. Nobody is talking about personality disorders. ---
**Author:** ![Manwich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e480ec/32.png) [@Manwich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manwich)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2020, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-biden-have-early-on-set-dementia/848933/108 "2020-03-07T23:21:07Z")
> [@UltraVires](#): > > So, you believe that a transcript of a single speech can show a personality disorder? In any event, we are not discussing personality disorders. We are talking about whether Biden suffers from dementia. However like every other thread on the SDMB, it turns into how utterly evil Trump is, so people are saying that Trump has suffered a further mental decline than has Biden. Nobody is talking about personality disorders. Now you mention Trump, I think there is a similarity with him and Biden. They have both spent their lives glibbly talking shit for the advancement of their own interests and their cronies. Trump in his rich kid bully businessfail man way and Biden in his centrist shell of human, placeholder way. It’s such a thin veneer in the first place, that now they are old and the cracks appear, they are very obvious. There is no content or conviction behind the men, so when their brains fail, they fail spectacularly. ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2020, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-biden-have-early-on-set-dementia/848933/109 "2020-03-08T04:43:44Z")
[Well, at least he’s saying what everyone’s thinking.](https://mobile.twitter.com/townhallcom/status/1236444332124778497?s=19) ---
**Author:** ![Manwich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e480ec/32.png) [@Manwich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manwich)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2020, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-biden-have-early-on-set-dementia/848933/110 "2020-03-08T04:54:22Z")
[In an article about why it’s misinformation to suggest his brain is mush](https://washingtonmonthly.com/2020/03/06/the-disinformation-campaign-being-launched-against-biden/): > [@](#): > > “The only test that hasn’t been done is the cognitive functioning test,” Olshansky added. “But the fact that he’s on the campaign trail and meeting a rigorous travel and meeting schedule probably would suffice as a replacement for the formal test for cognitive functioning.” So a doctor is saying that turning up places is enough. I’d have thought his staff would arrange everything so I don’t see the relevance but that dude is a doctor. ---
**Author:** ![Anxious\_Squirrel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/anxious_squirrel/32/1083_2.png) [@Anxious\_Squirrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anxious_Squirrel)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2020, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-biden-have-early-on-set-dementia/848933/111 "2020-03-08T04:58:29Z")
Have we ever had an 80 year old president before? If Bernie or Biden wins they will be both be prez in their eighties. How old is Orangey-face? I really think their ought to be an upper age limit. Maybe 74-75 should be the cutoff for running for either a first or second term. And make the oldest a sitting president could be - 79. ---
**Author:** ![Weedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/weedy/32/301_2.png) [@Weedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weedy)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2020, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-biden-have-early-on-set-dementia/848933/112 "2020-03-08T11:38:36Z")
> [@UltraVires](#): > > Is this what you are talking about? [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQUaQo2j42Y](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQUaQo2j42Y) > > In that video I see Donald Trump twenty years younger. If you played the audio from that, I would bet anything that nobody here could tell if it was Trump 2020 or Trump 1999. Same arrogance, same brashness, same deflection of questions, same everything. > > Could you point out something to me that Trump exhibits in the video that he no longer does which would support your assertion that he is losing it? I just spent a while comparing this interview (Trump’s first answer, at least) with the speech that Septimus quoted in post 45. They are in many ways very similar, word count, number of clauses, number of subordinate clauses, level of vocabulary. The main differences grammatically were the 14 sentence fragments in the later speech vs 3 in the earlier one, and the use of filler words, 10 in the later speech vs 0 in the first one. What really stands out to me is the number of topics. It might be a bit subjective to decide whether or not different sentences are about the same topic, but I count 6 different topics in the first speech, 4 or 5 of which were relevant to the interviewer’s question (depending on how random you think his analogy is). It goes: negotiating with North Korea street crime analogy New York NK nuclear weapons nuclear proliferation NK nuclear weapons negotiating with NK nuclear proliferation Jimmy Carter negotiating with NK So he jumps around a little bit, but mostly relates back to the interviewer’s question. In the second speech I count 9 topics, and there are a couple of sentences where I cannot work out what he is talking about. A bit over half the speech is about his credentials (including his uncle’s), and his need to prove them. Another 30% is something vague about nuclear power, prisoners and negotiations, which I’m guessing was meant to be the topic. Topics: my uncle’s credentials bias against Republicans my credentials nuclear something? prisoners? my uncle [unclear] number of prisoners the messenger? women are smarter than men Iranians/negotiations He jumps around a lot more. Some of his sentences are quite vague and some make very little sense. These things, combined with the number of sentence fragments and filler words make me think he is much less coherent now than he was 20 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2020, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-biden-have-early-on-set-dementia/848933/113 "2020-03-08T20:56:04Z")
Biden was in St. Louis yesterday and I watched his entire speech. He knew which city he was in; named-checked all the local politicians; dismissed his hecklers with a single sentence and got right back on message; spoke in complete sentences; and worked the rope line after he finished. Based on my complete and thorough analysis of seeing a 10-minute campaign appearance, I feel completely qualified to declare that Joe Biden is absolutely, positively, the 100% most mentally ready person to be President in the history of American democracy. You got a problem with that? ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2020, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-biden-have-early-on-set-dementia/848933/114 "2020-03-09T01:25:47Z")
Biden has seriously fucked up in the past but he seems mostly coherent. Tramp continues to seriously fuck-over others and seems too incoherent. Tramp and Putin _fear_ Biden, thus the many attacks by their supporters. We are judged by the positions we assume. I judge enemy assets harshly. ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2020, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-biden-have-early-on-set-dementia/848933/115 "2020-03-09T03:21:01Z")
Is there a German word to describe the case where someone makes a terrible choice they ought to be thoroughly ashamed of, but instead desperately try to save face by pretending their choice was excellent so they don’t look like a complete dunce? Is Biden the best you could come up with, out of… _checks_… 327.200.000 million people? that’s the best you could muster? It reeks of panic and if you complain about the low opinion the rest of the World has of Trump and how it reflects on the US I can tell you right now, Biden will lose you whatever respect you have left. I mean, it’s already doing that, I can only look and shake my head in pity. A gibbering, corrupt, senile fool, yup, that’s your man, well done. :smack: You run a two party system and one half of that system is structured in such a way that it spits out _that_ at the end, and you wonder how you got Trump? Hello McFly??? But hey, all’s right as long as you can scapegoat your own failings on the Russians. ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2020, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-biden-have-early-on-set-dementia/848933/116 "2020-03-09T05:30:27Z")
Oops, put an unnecessary “million” in there. Nevertheless, all you have to do is find someone, anyone, more “presidential” than Trump, and you can’t even do that. On the other hand the Democratic Party in the US lost their collective mind after Trump’s election, so perhaps it’s only fitting they’ll pick Biden to represent them. ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2020, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-biden-have-early-on-set-dementia/848933/117 "2020-03-09T07:39:53Z")
**@Ale:** Your profile lists your location as Bangkok. A [military junta](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Thailand_since_2001#2014_coup_d'%C3%A9tat) runs Thailand. Are they your best and brightest? ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2020, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-biden-have-early-on-set-dementia/848933/118 "2020-03-09T19:02:05Z")
> [@RioRico](#): > > **@Ale:** Your profile lists your location as Bangkok. A [military junta](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Thailand_since_2001#2014_coup_d'%C3%A9tat) runs Thailand. Are they your best and brightest? I don’t vote here since I’m not a citizen and have no say in the political situation, so that tu quoque is irrelevant. It’s also an embarrassing own goal, considering that my country, Uruguay (listed as “Full Democracy”), is ranked 10 places higher than the USA (“Flawed Democracy”) in the [Democracy Index](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy_Index). You got Trump, and now you are getting Biden (which will lead to Trump staying put) in great part from a lack of self examination of your political processes and culture, which is not going to be solved by pointing fingers elsewhere. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2020, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-biden-have-early-on-set-dementia/848933/119 "2020-03-09T19:23:47Z")
Even if one is as pessimistic about Biden as one can be, there’s a difference between incompetent and malevolent, on one hand, and incompetent and benevolent on the other. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2020, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-biden-have-early-on-set-dementia/848933/120 "2020-03-09T20:33:46Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > Even if one is as pessimistic about Biden as one can be, there’s a difference between incompetent and malevolent, on one hand, and incompetent and benevolent on the other. And it’s that, all other things being equal, benevolent beats malevolent? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-biden-have-early-on-set-dementia/848933.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-biden-have-early-on-set-dementia/848933.md?page=7)