THE COMPLETELY TABOO SUBJECT WE'VE BEEN TALKING ABOUT OPENLY FOR YEARS

I'm sure the appearance of these two pieces a day apart is totally coincidental and not part of a coordinating messaging campaign at all:

National Review's Jim Geraghty writes:

Did you notice that discussing Joe Biden’s age, memory, and mental state ... became an acceptable subject for quiet and subdued expressions of public concern in the past week or so?

Yes, this was a completely taboo subject until just this month -- if you don't count one or two exceedingly rare outlier articles by brave samizdat journalists:

* New York Times, March 21, 2019: "Joe Biden Weighing Unique Steps to Reassure Voters Concerned About His Age"

* The Atlantic, July 5, 2019: "Is Joe Biden ‘Too Old’?"

* New York Times,, July 29, 2019: "Why Joe Biden’s Age Worries Some Democratic Allies and Voters"

* CNN (Chris Cillizza, in fact), July 31, 2019: "Is Joe Biden Too Old to Be President?"

* Politico, August 2, 2019: "Is Joe Biden Too Old?"

* New York Times, September 19, 2019: "Are Biden and Sanders Too Old to Be President?"

* New York Times, December 12, 2019: "President Joe Biden, 86, ... Should He Make a One-Term Pledge?"

* Washington Post, March 12, 2020: "It’s Fair to Speculate Whether Biden Is Mentally Fit to Be President"

* Politico, August 20, 2020: "Joe Biden: An Old Man Trying to Lead a Young Country"

* New York Times, September 2, 2020: "Age and Health on the Ballot"

* Washington Post, January 12, 2021: "Joe Biden, 78, Will Lead an American Gerontocracy"

* Des Moines Register, August 15, 2021: "Joe Biden Isn’t the Person I Knew in Congress. He Should Get Cognitive Testing, with the Result Made Public."

* Politico, November 17, 2021: "Poll: Voters' Doubts Rising About Biden’s Health, Mental Fitness"

* U.S. News, December 3, 2021: "Age, Coronavirus Sharpen Focus on Biden’s Health"

* The Hill, December 11, 2021: "How Old Is Too Old to Be President?"

* Financial Times, January 6, 2022: "The Awkward Issue of Biden's Age"

Apart fom these extremely rare pieces, and a few hundred more like them, the press has clearly been silenced on the question of Biden's age until just the past week or so!

And yes, Democrats have been in denial about Biden's age and vigor, unlike Republicans, who are remarkably clear-eyed about the age and health of their party's top leader:

And no, I'm not comparing apples and oranges when I cite cartoons and Photoshopped images of Trump because they're among the main drivers of the public pwerception of Trump's vigor among right-wing voters. They really believe he is that guy.