‘My goodness gracious, he’s got a lot of history…’
(Ben Sellers, Liberty Headlines) After former Vice President Joe Biden’s physician rubber-stamped him with a clean bill of health, few in the media seem to be sounding any skepticism.
Kevin C. O’Connor, director of executive medicine at the GW Medical Faculty Associates, described the 77-year-old Democratic presidential front-runner as “healthy, vigorous [and] fit to successfully execute the duties of the Presidency,” according to a three-page summary of his recent medical history that Biden released Tuesday, The Washington Post dutifully reported.
Nothing to See Here…
The Post noted that despite his physical condition—which has included “challenging voters and reporters to push-up contests and wrestling matches,” concerns have been raised about Biden’s mental acuity.
However, without elaborating, the reporters quickly dispatched those as baseless attacks by President Donald Trump and instead dove into a laundry list of equally trivial afflictions.
“The summary indicated that Biden was being treated for several conditions, including an irregular heartbeat, gastroesophageal reflux and seasonal allergies,” it warned.
It also glowingly declared that the report was entirely thorough and no more questions needed to be asked.
“The records are the most complete glimpse into Biden’s health since the Obama–Biden campaign released 49 pages of records in 2008,” said the Post.
A Second Opinion…
Yet, it took another, more reputable, DC publication—the right-leaning Washington Examiner—to raise valid concerns about Biden’s recent summary by literally getting a second opinion, which fittingly came from President Barack Obama’s longtime personal physician.
“He’s not a healthy guy,” Dr. David Scheiner said after reviewing Biden’s medical summary.
“He’s not in bad shape for his age, but I wouldn’t say he’s in outstanding health,” Scheiner continued. “Could I guarantee he won’t have issues for the next four years? He has a lot of issues that are just sort of sitting there.”
Scheiner, who is 81 himself, said the risk of strokes topped his list of concerns for Biden. He noted that the report mentioned previously suffered two brain aneurysms that nearly killed him, was taking blood thinners and had a history of sleep apnea.
Also buried in the report was a previously undisclosed condition: Biden’s surgery for an enlarged prostate.
“I had no idea Biden had such a history,” Schener said. “My goodness gracious, he’s got a lot of history.”
In addition to his internal issues, Biden’s physician mentioned, without elaborating, that he had undergone various physical therapy treatments and surgeries for orthopedic injuries, suggesting his wrestling bouts during campaign stops might not be the best idea.
Fortunately for Biden, those campaign events have been few and far between.
An opinion piece in the left-wing The Week cautioned this week that Democrats were sleepwalking into a serious blunder by backing the former veep.
“Biden has so far run a lackluster at best campaign. He is doing relatively few events, and often puts his foot (or his wife’s fingers) in his mouth at the ones he does,” wrote Ryan Cooper. “… His own campaign reportedly cut back on campaigning earlier in the year for fear of negative press, and his allies have suggested he do the same.”
Another Double-Standard
Biden’s critics on the far-left, whose attention to his many flaws go only as far as the primary campaign season, are the current exception to the rule.
Meanwhile, in contrast to their obsequious reporting on Biden’s medical history, the Post and other members of the leftist mainstream media have repeatedly hyper-scrutinized and lambasted Trump’s checkups.
After Trump made an unscheduled visit to Walter Reed National Medical Center in November—which press secretary Stephanie Grisham downplayed as minor lab work, announcing the president was “healthy and energetic”—the Post ominously ran with the headline: “Trump’s health under scrutiny again after unplanned visit to Walter Reed.”
It also reported that leftist talk-show hosts such as Trevor Noah and Stephen Colbert mocked the visit.
In advance of Trump’s annual physical in February, Yale physician Anna Reisman, writing for the Post, criticized the checkup as “a watered-down summary with a strong infusion of medical jargon” that was several layers removed from any actual medical expertise.
Even so, she acknowledged that Trump’s doctors, including his former personal physician, Dr. Ronny L. Jackson, had been browbeaten by the media—and other so-called medical experts—who harped on “Trump’s LDL cholesterol (over goal) and coronary calcium scores (moderately elevated but of unclear significance), kicking up a flurry of debate about what might be concluded, or not, about Trump’s heart health.”