Joe Biden Is Old

This week on Politix, Matt and Brian discuss: * The Robert Hur report, and the fire storm the special counsel ignited with his rule-breaking, partisan attack on Biden; * How Biden could in theory alleviate concerns that he’s too old to be both president and candidate simultaneously—and why his advisers haven’t really tried; * The extent to which Biden’s age really is limiting his ability to throw his weight around in the partisan mosh pit, even if it isn’t limiting his ability to govern at all; * Whether polls on this question, and on the question of how well alternate candidates would fare, are useful at all; * The Kamala Harris factor—is her consistently weak polling against Trump freezing a dysfunctional situation in place? * How Biden’s politics of restoring norms and magnanimity has compounded (and in the case of the Hur appointment, created) his old-man woes. Since this is a news-pegged episode about a consequential and unexpected development in the campaign, we’ve made it free to all subscribers. Further reading: * Matt says seeing more of Joe Biden would make his totally ordinary memory flubs seem unremarkable, and would remind Americans of his moderate instincts, but his advisers are worried that his moderate positions will make party activists angry. * Brian demands candor from the party and the Biden campaign about why they think things are going so much worse than they anticipated when they put their strategy in motion. * He also argues that most fears about what would happen if Biden stepped aside in favor of an alternate are misplaced.

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