Bad News: Speaking Circuit Dries Up For Fabulists

Come on, man. Where else but at a Joe Biden speech would one hear so much “malarky,” both literally? 

Unfortunately, the market hasn’t ponied up for $300,000 speeches about dog-faced pony soldiers from a man who mumbles nonsense about “colored kids” while claiming to have been raised in a veritable United Nations neighborhood. As the New York Post reports, Democrats appear to have the least interest in subsidizing Biden’s new attempt at a public career:

Former President Joe Biden’s attempt to bill $300,000 per speaking appearance is finding few takers, The Post has learned — as some of his own former aides say it’s time for the 82-year-old to leave the spotlight for good after reminiscing about “colored kids” Tuesday in his first public address since leaving office.

A source familiar with Biden’s faltering speaking career said that the 46th president’s standard pitch is $300,000 — 25% below Barack Obama’s $400,000 asking price upon leaving office in 2017.

Powerhouse talent agency CAA took on Biden after he left the White House, hoping to get some interest from the man who clearly lied about his cognitive status as President. They even set A-list conditions, requiring that venues cover the costs of a private jet and a five-person entourage for any speaking gigs outside of the Wilmington area. Needless to say, it’s not exactly a surprise that the center of the worst White House cover-up since Watergate — and arguably since Edith Wilson made herself president-in-waiting a century earlier — isn’t seeing a huge market demand for his observations of the political scene.

As the Post points out, it’s not as if Biden was exactly a reliable source even before his cognitive decline became an outright disability:

A second source said they heard people close to Biden floating an even higher desired fee, despite the ex-commander in chief having a history of peddling glaring inaccuracies before his political career came to a crashing end when he delivered incoherent debate remarks that prompted a Democratic mutiny.

The scene in Chicago had former aides cringing — hypocritically:

“This was hard to watch,” said one former White House official. “It felt like seeing someone you care about start to regress. We just wanted him to enjoy retirement like other presidents — not go out like this.”

Say what? These are the same aides who wanted Biden to do another four years as President, right up until June 27, 2024. They weren’t worried about his retirement — they wanted to get another four years in power even if they had to Weekend At Bernie’s Biden all the way to January 2029. Now they’re worried about his dignity and an enjoyable retirement? Child, please.

One does have to wonder at the effort to press Biden into creating a revenue stream at this point, though. He has his presidential pension plus his waiting pension from both the Senate and his two terms as Vice President. The National Taxpayers Union Foundation did the math last July, just before Biden withdrew from the election, and they calculate his annual pension payout at $412,774 — not counting health insurance, Secret Service protection, etc. Biden’s net worth was estimated at the time at $9 million, on the low end for former presidents but certainly enough to live comfortably for a very long time — especially for an 82-year-old man suffering from some form of encroaching senility.

So what’s the reason for the launch of the Biden Speaking Tour? Did the Bidens run through all of the Biden Inc cash already? Are they just that addicted to attention and the illusion of power? It can’t be that Biden has anything interesting left unsaid after over 50 years in Washington DC. This looks more like elder abuse perpetrated by the Bidens in an attempt to exploit a sick old man to squeeze every last coin possible out of his deteriorating mind and body. 

And not too many people would pay to watch that, thankfully — not $300,000, and maybe not even $300.