old Joe
It seems to be the fashion for Dems to imply that Joe was suffering from some dementia a year ago, or sooner, and that this contributed to the Democratic loss of the Presidential election last year. Joe is 20 days younger than I am. We were born in the same month in 1942. And, of course, age-related decline may affect different people at different times and rates , but ... OK. As for me, I've lost a few steps. I can still do complex mathematical work, but I'm not likely to keep at it as late as I once would have. And yes, I lose a name or term that I really should know well, and yes, that has always happened now and then, but it is much more frequent and troubling than it was even five years ago. And I get tired -- I used to figure that I might not be strong, but I could keep putting one foot in front of another until I got the job done. Not as sure as I used to be. So it's plausible to me that at the infamous debate, Joe was overprepared -- so tired from the preparation that he could not concentrate. I've come pretty close to that. The difference between "on it" and "not pulling it together" can be pretty blurry.
Anyway, I would not want to do the job of the President at any age. It's a tough job.
That's not to say that Joe was the right nominee, or that he should not have passed the baton sooner than he did. But what real evidence or reason do we have to show that another nominee would have done better if Joe had withdrawn? Nomination is the weak part of our electoral system: party primaries lead to extremism, but the alternative seems to be the smoke-filled room. Who can really be confident that we would have gotten a better nominee if Joe had pulled out sooner?
= new reply since forum marked as read
Criticism does not need to demonize or destroy, but in today's world, it seemingly does. Might Joe have made an alternate calculus and stepped away earlier? Yes. But, good gawd. Look what we have now. He did his damndest to avoid another Trump term and to clean up after his last one. I hope history will treat him well, but sadly he won't live to see it.
I hope he knows the most vocal are not those who count the most and there are plenty of the rest of us who still see him for the honorable and dedicated man that he is and similarly, Jill Biden.
Great respect to them both.... 
