The release of the book “Original Sin” by Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson has created as many problems in the press this past week as it has created a stir. Tapper himself has actually been having a tougher time of it, what with his contradictions on his past coverage exposed, as well as facing a grilling from Megyn Kelly. (Seriously, you need to watch that glorious discussion.)

But now Jake may be able to pause and take a breather, as he has been surpassed in the arena of journalistic self-immolation. Over at The Atlantic, veteran pundit Mark Leibovich delivered an amazingly audacious screed that manages to be more desperately out of touch with reality on the subject of Joe Biden’s mental demise.

If you are not familiar with Leibovich, he is a longtime D.C. reporter, a frequent guest on a variety of news shows, and years back wrote a fairly decent expose on the inner workings of The Beltway, “This Town.” Mark is actually a sharp guy and decent writer – which means his piece on this whole Biden aftermath is all the worse, because he knows what is going on and his lying about what transpired is all the more a scathing indictment about his work and that of his industry.

The deception takes place right from the start, as the headline and sub-header reference Biden’s age and his “getting old.” Leibovich also opens with this as a reference point, setting things up for his long-winded attempt to diminish what are ever-growing revelations of deception from his industry.

Because apparently, Joe Biden is still really old. Older than he was last summer, when Washington was even more abuzz about the 46th president being really old—and about whether he was fit to lead the country, run for reelection, beat Donald Trump, thwart fascism, etc.

This is a familiar dodge we saw from the media, mostly in the first half of 2024, when deflections in the press were hitting the high-water mark. The matter, as we all know, was not that Biden was old, it was that he was showing signs of mental erosion. By referencing that it was only about his years meant the press could lob accusations of ageism, cite the importance of wisdom and experience, and turn it back to a similarly aged Donald Trump.

Mark next sets the stage for his excusal of his behavior, and the behavior seen across the journalism plantation. He brings up the Tapper-Thompson tome and positions it as something nearly trivial and barely worth a mention.

You know what else is old? The story about Biden being old. For the latest chapter in this saga, we give thanks to a new book, out today, whose arrival has been as hotly anticipated around Washington as a sundae cart at the senior home. Biblically titled Original Sin, the book…offers the latest after-action report of the calamitous culmination of Biden’s career. The book depicts a kind of West Wing Weekend at Bernie’s, with Biden playing the frail, prideful, and self-deluded leader.

Leibovich goes on to attempt to diminish the import of the book’s contents from the position of someone who is on the inside and basically bored with a topic for which he has had a unique perspective. It is only the naive Luddites who are not privileged to work in his realm who find these revelations significant. But then Leibovich turns desperate as he attempts to dismiss.

He amazingly gets to a point of justifying the exposure of the media cover-up by declaring that it never fooled anyone in the first place. Seriously, he takes the position that the press colluding to lie about the condition of the leader of the nation and hiding/ignoring/denying that a nebulous group of others were operating the levers of the highest office is not a concern, all because the fact that the pudding that rested in the brainpan of President Silveralert was something everyone could plainly see.

Here is why I think that the ‘cover-up’ of Biden’s ‘true condition’ is beside the point—and why I’m not really vibing with the umbrage-mongering: It’s pretty much impossible to ‘cover up’ for something that is hiding in plain sight.

This is a rather staggering approach made by someone clearly attempting to excuse the absolutely inexcusable performance in the media over the past four years. But Leibovich is doing this for no other reason than that he was among those eager participants in the partisan coverup. Just listen to this appearance he made last year when he was addressing this very topic and stated that anyone accurately describing Biden’s state of mind was the one who was lying.

Why is @MarkLeibovich so eager to sweep current Biden coverage aside?
Because as he now says it is was patently obvious to everyone, he previously declared those of us calling out the obvious were abject liars.

He was fully complicit. Now…”Who really cares?!”

Pure desperation. https://t.co/3k2tB17Gua pic.twitter.com/OVTd4D9d1j

— Lie-Able Sources (@LieAbleSources) May 22, 2025

So there was no real cover-up, as he was covering it up. Biden’s condition was evident to all, even as it was declared a lie last year to point it out. The information coming out today was never properly revealed, but since the journalists all knew back then, this is an old story that needs to be set aside. The news industry working collectively to obscure a scandalous topic is beside the point because today that industry needs to be listened to intently about what is happening. 

These are the positions held by Mark Leibovich. The next thing he wants to cover up is how destructive this all becomes to him, and the credibility of the news industry in general.

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