June 30, 2020

Vice President Joe Biden surprised reporters by having an impromptu press conference after delivering a speech slamming Donald Trump for the way he has handled the COVID-19 pandemic.

On Trump's failure to protect our national security and our troops in Afghanistan, Biden was biting, mocking Trump.

“He talks about cognitive capability," Biden scoffed. "He doesn’t seem to be cognitively aware of what’s going on.”

“He either reads and/or gets briefed on important issues and he forgets it, or he doesn’t think it’s necessary that he need to know it,” he continued, before going on to point out that he and President Obama read their intelligence briefings every day.

Slamming Trump hard for the failure to protect our troops and the nation, he wrapped that question up. “So the idea that somehow he didn’t know or isn’t being briefed, it is a dereliction of duty if that’s the case,” Biden explained. “It’s an absolute dereliction of duty if any of this is even remotely true. So I think the president has a lot to answer for and should get the answers quickly.”

Biden's reference to cognitive capability was a direct slam on the ageist, pathetic, projecting ads Trump is running on national cable channels claiming Biden is the one with cognitive capabilities. And leave it to Fox News reporter and flack Doug McKelway to set up another slam dunk for Biden.

Setting up the question, McKelway said, "I'm 65. I forget my train of thought from time to time. You've got 12 years on me, sir."

Dropping the stink bomb, he asked, "Have you been tested for some degree of cognitive decline?"

Well, there it is. The ghost of Roger Ailes was probably laughing his fat ass off. Except that Biden took that serve and scored.

"I've been tested, and I'm constantly tested," Biden laughed.

"Look, all you have to do is watch me, and I can hardly wait to compare my cognitive capability to the cognitive capability of the man I'm running against."

Game, set, match. That exchange, by the way, followed questions about whether Biden would agree to debate Trump, something he is eager to do. We'll see who has the cognitive issues then.

Here is the full text of Biden's remarks as prepared for delivery

And here is the video of the entire speech, without the Q&A.

UPDATE: I guess McKelway didn't like being fully owned:

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