Nicholas Grossman: The Real Reason for All the Biden Age Talk

[Ocelot II]

9. Yes. It's quite a good article.

The basic point is that Biden's age is used against him because there's nothing else wrong with him. "For Republicans, Biden’s age is just about the only true thing they can attack him on."

For Democrats, it's because they think his age is something other people will have a problem with. "Democrats’ Biden age discourse is often second- or third-order. There’s concern about his age among voters, yes, but more expressions of concern about that concern. There isn’t enough, there’s too much, you’re not allowed to say it, you won’t shut up about it, etc."

And for the media, it's "good for horserace coverage and “both sides” credibility. To make the levels of negative coverage remotely similar, Biden’s age and mental acuity have to, on their own, balance out many things (including Trump’s age and mental acuity). [see chart in the above post] So coverage in the press often inflates Biden’s age as an issue and effectively downplays the importance of Trump’s malfeasance, since there’s so much of it."