Remember When Biden Was Perfectly Fine at the Hollywood Fundraiser?

There was a mini news cycle around Biden being led by the hand by Barack Obama after his big Hollywood fundraiser a couple of weeks ago. That’s not the way presidents usually look or need to be handled by people around them. But it was all fine! The AP fact-checked the claim that Biden “froze” and had been led away by Obama, which quite obviously had happened:

Here’s a closer look at the facts.

CLAIM: Biden froze onstage during his fundraiser in Los Angeles on Saturday night and had to be led away by Obama.

THE FACTS: Biden paused amid cheers and applause as he exited the stage with his predecessor following an interview moderated by late-night host Kimmel.

The AP added, with the strong implication that something untoward was being done to the president, “The video is the most recent in a series of clips taken at public events, some of them edited, that are being used to suggest Biden is mentally and physically unfit for office.”

The White House strenuously denied that anything was amiss at the fundraiser.

And there it was left, until now, when it has suddenly become safe for Democrats to admit the truth. We’ve now learned from his op-ed that co-host George Clooney himself was dismayed by Biden’s condition at the event, and, according to former Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau on CNN earlier, everyone he talked to at the fundraiser — everyone — knew there was something wrong with Joe Biden:

Bill Clinton’s White House press secretary Mike McCurry spoke of “telling the truth slowly.” This is telling the truth not at all, then — when it becomes politically expedient — telling it all of a sudden.