With all the attention focused on Joe Biden’s nightmarish troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, it is easy to forget that his lack of foreign policy chops is not his only — or most serious — shortcoming. His dementia remains at the top of the list.
One manifestation of his diminished mental capacity is his tendency at times to ramble on, often incoherently. An example that comes to mind is his anecdote, shared on the campaign trail in 2019, about how when he was a lifeguard children enjoyed rubbing the hair on his legs.
Sometimes the point of sharing these obscure details from his past can be explained by the context. I leave it to you to judge whether that is true of his latest bout of stream of consciousness. To provide some background, it occurred on Thursday, during a virtual phone call to rabbis over the upcoming Jewish High Holidays. The video that follows is a small portion of what he had to say. (A transcript of the video follows.)
Will this presidential election be the most important in American history?
And I only asked one thing. They asked me — and I arranged it — and I only asked one thing. There’s a psalm based — there’s a hymn — my favorite hymn in the Catholic Church based on a psalm, and it’s — it’s a psalm that talks about life. And — and so, I — I asked if that ps- — that psalm — that hymn in the Catholic Church. And it says, “May He lift you up on Eagle’s wings and bear you on the breath of dawn, and let the light shine upon you,” et cetera, and — “and hold you in the palm of his hand.” And they played — and I’m — my mind is going blank now. What’s the song that is played where everybody is on the chair? Everybody, you know — what — what — I can’t remember it. Anyway. And that’s the song was played. So, you know, I don’t know what the hell is going on here. I just had one little favor — you know, just that they play “On the Wi- — On Eagle’s Wings.” But, look, I’m taking too much of your time, but I really, honest to God, believe that we have a possibility — a possibility to make things so much better, and we just have to believe it.
So will seeing the passage in its larger context provide a clue? Have at it.
But, you know, here’s — I want to say one more thing. I just want you to know that — and there — there is hope for some religious collaboration down the road here. As Rabbi Beals will tell you, my — my daughter married a Jewish young man. And — you know, dream of every — every Catholic father that she marry a Jewish doctor.
But all kidding aside, he did — he’s a great surgeon. And — and we wanted to have a co-confessional wedding, and everybody said, “What do you mean by that?” The rabbi will tell you, I contacted a friend of mine in Delaware, who’s passed away — she was just an incredible woman — to find me a rabbi who’d come and — and preside in a Catholic Church — the oldest Catholic Church in the state, that I belonged to it, built in 1842.
And we had a chuppah on the altar, and we had a co- — it was co-officiated. Now, some of you aren’t going to like this, but it was co-officiated by a Catholic priest as well as a Jewish rabbi.
And I only asked one thing. They asked me — and I arranged it — and I only asked one thing. There’s a psalm based — there’s a hymn — my favorite hymn in the Catholic Church based on a psalm, and it’s — it’s a psalm that talks about life. And — and so, I — I asked if that ps- — that psalm — that hymn in the Catholic Church. And it says, “May He lift you up on Eagle’s wings and bear you on the breath of dawn, and let the light shine upon you,” et cetera, and — “and hold you in the palm of his hand.” And they played — and I’m — my mind is going blank now. What’s the song that is played where everybody is on the chair? Everybody, you know — what — what — I can’t remember it. Anyway. And that’s the song was played. So, you know, I don’t know what the hell is going on here. I just had one little favor — you know, just that they play “On the Wi- — On Eagle’s Wings.” But, look, I’m taking too much of your time, but I really, honest to God, believe that we have a possibility — a possibility to make things so much better, and we just have to believe it. But, look, I’m taking too much of your time, but I really, honest to God, believe that we have a possibility — a possibility to make things so much better, and we just have to believe it.
One additional detail worth noting in your evaluation is the screen capture from the video at the top of the page. Look at the expression on the face of the signer off to the right.
