With the conventions over, the Democrats know they have to drag Hidin' Biden out of the comfort and safety of his basement and put him before the public.  They're doing everything they can to keep their candidate from visibly decompensating before the cameras, but it's not easy.  In his limited appearances, Biden's struggled with his notes, deviated widely from the truth, and lapsed into incoherence.

We've long suspected that, unlike the random questions Trump routinely fields from hostile reporters, the reporters are told to ask Biden scripted questions so that he can respond with prepared answers.  If Biden's off-script, things can go terribly wrong.  ("Well, I tell you what.  If you have a problem figuring out whether you're for me or Trump, then you ain't black.")

On Tuesday, Biden gave the game away when he read the "topline message" in the notes that were given to him for an ostensibly spontaneous one-on-one interview with a sympathetic reporter.  What was really sad was that the message he spoke was one that even the most amateur candidate ought to have remembered, which is to blame his opponent for everything.

Oops! Joe Biden read the "topline message" part of the talking points his handlers gave him for a TV interview.

He apparently couldn't remember it on his own. pic.twitter.com/0iGG83FZKA

— Trump War Room - Text TRUMP to 88022 (@TrumpWarRoom) September 2, 2020

The last time a candidate did this was in 1992, when George Bush, instead of saying, "I care" or similar words, read his topline.  "Message: I care," he said, and instantly helped torpedo his candidacy:

Biden also has lost a strong grip on reality, something sadly common in elderly people afflicted with diminished mental capacity.  Like small children, they not only forget things, they also have a sort of memory soup, in which events became a mishmash of time, place, and people.

The best example comes from Biden's foolish decision to answer a question without first having his staff tag a friendly reporter:

As you see, Biden claims that, during the initial months of the Wuhan virus, he authoritatively told Trump what to do, including instructing Trump to use the Defense Production Act to obtain ventilators and other supplies to combat the virus.  This is a fantasy from a lifetime liar who no longer has a sufficiently working memory to give the lie even a whiff of truth.

Here's what really happened: on March 13, Trump made it clear he intended to invoke the Defense Production Act, and, on March 18, he issued an executive order to that effect.  In contrast, Biden did not mention the act during his March 15 debate, nor was it in the virus response plan he urged debate viewers to read online.  Only after Trump signed his executive order did Biden first refer to the act.

As for Biden's other claims about spelling out a way to save America, the truth is that, in mid-April, Biden was reduced to parroting steps Trump had already taken to address the virus.  Listening to Biden speak on Tuesday, it was apparent that he no longer had any idea what he had said versus what Trump had done in the past few months.

Lastly, there's the fact that Biden is often just incoherent or trapped in a memory vacuum:

Joe Biden: "Covid has taken this year, just since the outbreak, has taken more than 100 year, look, here's, the lives, it's just, when you think about it." pic.twitter.com/D3dDY6njfD

— Trump War Room - Text TRUMP to 88022 (@TrumpWarRoom) August 31, 2020

"And so what I've done is I've met with via via what I did this morning with the medical experts." -Joe Biden.

Biden appears to have forgotten what he did just a few hours ago. pic.twitter.com/xqDhALoH1s

— Francis Brennan (@FrancisBrennan) September 2, 2020

Nations do not survive when they put into power decrepit, confused, dishonest old men.  Just sayin'.

Image: Biden forgets things; screen grab from a shareable video.