Ordinarily, you'd call it elder abuse for some manipulative character to lead an infirm elderly old man where he might not want to go.

But then there Joe Biden, running for president, unable to recall his own political proposals for running our lives, even with a teleprompter before him, clearly being led by the hand by agile Bernie Sanders minions.

Here's how bad it was, from Bronson Stocking at Townhall:

Appearing virtually at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers' 2020 Virtual Political Conference on Wednesday, Biden appeared to be reading from a teleprompter when he repeatedly lost his train of thought. 

"Lonnie knows I believe this every fiber of being, we're opposed," Biden began confidently enough before he seemingly lost his place with the teleprompter. 

Biden then switched to platitudes about making "it happen" and illuminating "the path forward."

"What I propose is, is, it can be done. I think we're in a position to really make it happen. And my team and your team are already working closely together to light up the path forward here," Biden said. 

Biden's overworked staff must have queued the teleprompter back up because Biden then appears to return to it, only to lose his train of thought once again.    

"Critical laws like the PRO Act to strengthen collective bargaining, on politics like prevailing and," Biden continued, as he held up his hand in a futile effort to follow along. It was no use. 

"Look," a defeated Biden said as he gives up on the teleprompter. "I guess, I'm, I'm, I'm taking too much time, but you know ..."

That's a scarily wretched performance, from a man who's expected by pollsters to become the next president of the United States.

He also had problems with pre-written lines, coming out with a "Buy American' policy proposal' in which he couldn't quite say 'American first.'

He doesn't know where he is, what he is talking about, or even how to fake it by just reading the lines. He just drifts off, a victim of what a majority of voters think is creeping dementia, a portrait in bathos, of someone who's utterly unfit for the office of the presidency. Hillary Clinton had a habit of physically collapsing on the campaign trail, but Joe Biden has simply checked out, he's collapsed mentally.

As Peggy Noonan noted awhile back, he's 77, and with people aging at different rates, he's not a 'young' 77.

What's disturbing about the whole thing is who's cleaning up as a result. In a quest to woo back the unenthusiastic Bernie Sanders supporters, Team Biden has effectively turned all of Biden's proposed policies over to hardcore socialist Team Bernie. Biden presents the human face, Bernie presents the socialism - socialism with a human face, get it?

The New York Times has a rundown of what exactly that leading of Biden by the hand really means:

Here are key points from the six areas.

• Health care: Expanding government-run plans, without ‘Medicare for all’
• Criminal justice: A shift for Biden on private prisons, but not on marijuana
• Climate change: New near-term targets, but no fracking ban
• The economy: Closing racial gaps and creating jobs programs
• Education: Rethinking Obama-era priorities
• Immigration: A focus on undoing Trump policies

Which in fact would be the most extremist Democratic platform ever. Huge new medical bureaucracies. Criminals allowed out of jail. Picking and choosing which companies succeed and which companies fail. Woke educational curricula. Open borders - and a big welcome to all the world's remaining Ilhan Omars, looking to make over America in the image of Somalia.

It's a platform to make America's enemies happy, and a certain recipe for bankruptcy, lost freedoms and economic and cultural decline.

And sure enough, it's happening because Biden is so senile, so out of touch, so unknowing of what is happening to him that it's a piece of cake for socialists to take charge. The Bernie-ites are doing it, as multiple news reports state, and Sanders himself, like the cat that swallowed the canary, has declared that Biden "could be the most progressive president since FDR," meaning Hugo Chavez.

It all goes to show that Joe's not there, and his declining mental facilities have made him an easy mark for the most extremist elements in the Democratic Party, their little puppet man, one foot in the grave, mentally checked out a long time ago. One can only hope that the voters will see what a bad picture this is.

Photo illustration by Monica Showalter with use of two images by Gage Skidmore, via Flickr // CC BY-SA 2.0.