Few revelations have driven home the reality that for some people, elected office is effectively an assisted living program, with the recent news about Rep. Kay Granger (R-TX) and President Joe Biden.
Last week, the Wall Street Journal published a comprehensive report that detailed the lengths to which officials in the Biden administration went to ensure that the mental and physical decline of the president were hidden, not only from public view but from government officials and members of his own party.
That report came days before another astonishing revelation from the Dallas Express, which found that Granger, who until April of this year was the chairwoman of the House appropriations committee, was suffering from dementia and was now living in an assisted living facility in Texas. The last time she appeared on the House floor to vote was in July, a full six months before her two-year term was set to expire.
There are some key differences between both cases. Granger had announced that she would not run for reelection in October 2023, while Biden was unceremoniously forced out of his stubborn bid for reelection after a humiliating June debate performance with now-president-elect Donald Trump that exposed his mental and physical decline for the world to see. Not to mention, the office of the presidency requires much more from its occupant than serving in the House of Representatives.
But in both cases, there is a common theme: a person who has spent decades in public service, who is now unquestionably physically diminished, but who for reasons of pride or vanity cannot fathom the notion that they are no longer as physically or mentally capable as they used to be, and thus do their constituents and their allies a disservice.