I can't tell whether the Associated Press has decided to dial down the pro-Biden gaslighting to a 3 ... or turn it up to a Spinal Tap 11. A week after the presidential debate exposed Joe Biden's cognitive decline to tens of millions of voters, the mainstream media has scrambled to explain its failure to report on it. 

Last night's AP effort takes a both-and approach that's really, um ... something:

President Joe Biden’s conduct behind closed doors, in the Oval Office, on Air Force One and in meetings around the world is described in the same dual way by those who regularly see him in action.

He is often sharp and focused. But he also has moments, particularly later in the evening, when his thoughts seem jumbled and he trails off mid-sentence or seems confused. Sometimes he doesn’t grasp the finer points of policy details. He occasionally forgets people’s names, stares blankly and moves slowly around the room.

Biden’s occasional struggles with focus may not be unusual for someone his age. But at 81 years old and seeking another four years in the White House, the moments when he’s off his game have taken on a fresh resonance following his disastrous debate performance against Republican Donald Trump. The president appeared pale, gave nonsensical answers, stared blankly and lost his train of thought.

See? We're covering both stories! This might be called "damning with faint praise," but I'd consider it more akin to "covering our asses." 

This is a particularly lame effort to avoid responsibility for perhaps the biggest media cover-up in American history. The AP and every media outlet is now trying to get themselves off the hook for not just not reporting on Biden's cognitive decline, but regurgitating false propaganda about him being "sharp as a tack." This is the AP's effort to claim that the latter was true ... occasionally. At times. Mainly during Dr. Pepper hours. 

But of course, that prompts the question: why didn't they cover both stories as they unfolded? As Carl Bernstein told CNN's Anderson Cooper on Monday, everyone knew Biden had been slipping well before last Thursday night, including reporters at the White House. Bernstein put the discovery time frame a year ago, but as I point out, the Easter Bunny's corralling of Biden to keep him away from the media in April 2022 is what we in the biz like to call a clue. 

And this is an absurd dodge in terms of journalism to boot. It's the classic dog-bites-man/man-bites-dog analogy. "The president is healthy" is the former; "the president is easily confused and mentally deficient" is firmly in the latter category. The real news story was Biden's slide into senility, which they covered up -- and would still be covering up if Team Biden hadn't gambled on a prime-time TV debate with its aphasiac candidate. 

After at least two years of gaslighting the American electorate, does the AP or any other mainstream media outlet think they can regain trust with this lame spin? 

Addendum: Just remember -- no matter how much you despise the mainstream media, it's not enough. The crisis in American media can no longer be foreseen -- it has arrived, and it's more important than ever to support independent platforms that fight the gaslighting. Join us in the fight. Become a HotAir VIP member today and use promo code FAKENEWS to receive a 50% discount on your membership.