Veteran CBS reporter Jan Crawford called Joe Biden's "obvious cognitive decline" the biggest news story that the mainstream media failed to report in 2024.
"Under covered and underreported, that would be, to me, Joe Biden’s obvious cognitive decline that became undeniable in the televised debate," Crawford told a roundtable of Face the Nation.
There was a time when the words "cognitive decline," in connection to Biden, could only be found in right-wing media sources.
Mainstream liberal outlets downplayed concerns about Biden's health throughout most of his single term and well into his doomed presidential campaign, even as members of the public repeatedly expressed concern about his mental sharpness.
Everything changed on June 27, when Biden debated Donald Trump on CNN in front of the nation. Biden's frail appearance alarmed viewers and sent Democrats, and Biden's media sympathizers, into a tailspin.
That was the point when, as Crawford noted, Biden's decline became an "undeniable" reality - and a dangerous liability for Democrats.
Biden, after weeks of resistance to his own party, ended his re-election campaign and endorsed vice president Kamala Harris, who lost decisively to Trump.
Crawford told Face the Nation that the election may had a totally different trajectory if Biden had faced public pressure earlier on to step aside.
"We should have much more forcefully questioned whether he was fit for office for another four years, which could have led to a primary for the Democrats," she said.
In the final weeks of his presidency, more detailed reports of Biden's diminished capacity have leaked to the press.
Crawford cited a recent report in the Wall Street Journal about the extensive steps the White House took to isolate Biden from the public and his own staff throughout his four years in office.
Crawford pushed back on co-panelist Robert Costa after he echoed Biden's talking points about feeling "sick" at the debate.
"President Biden has said repeatedly he was sick during the debate June 27 in Atlanta and he’s always been fine and he leaves fine," Costa said.
Crawford shot back, "FIFTY people the [Wall Street Journal] interviewed."
Crawford is correct about Biden's story being downplayed - but she is wrong to call the story "underreported," which implies that journalists somehow missed it by mistake. As she herself said, Biden's decline was obvious.
The story wasn't underreported but covered up by a partisan media that has lost all credibility.
