Something terrible appears to be happening to former V.P. Joe Biden.  His mental capacity is declining to where it is painfully obvious, yet the media and his political supporters appear totally unwilling to speak of it.

Watch a video of Biden while he was still vice president, and you see a man who, though he was a gaffe-machine even then, still appeared to be in full possession of his mental faculties.  He had the mental acuity to hold a conversation, deliver a speech, and process complexity.  Contrast that with his rambling, confused, and sometimes incoherent remarks on the campaign trail and in the Democratic debates.  The contrast is so dramatic that we are justified in asking the question: does Joe Biden have Alzheimer's Disease, or a similar brain-destroying neurologic disorder?

The causes of neurologic decline are no respecter of race, sex, ethnicity, or political affiliation.  I watched Alzheimer's claim my grandmother back when it was called "senility."  In recent years, my wife and I have watched aging parents decline as neurologic disease destroyed their brains.  We helped care for them as they lost ever greater amounts of their abilities to reason, their memories, and their ability to care for themselves.  We cried as we watched their memories fade into a disconnected fog, and we felt as though visits to their doctors were a waste of time because all they did was document the decline.  We took hope from the initial slowness of their decline until they "fell off the cliff."  So I offer my most heartfelt sympathies to Biden's wife, family, and friends as they watch his mental faculties diminishing.  I also offer my sympathies to his supporters, because our natural reaction to seeing this happen to someone we respect is to deny it until the evidence becomes overwhelming.  Letting go of our dreams for our heroes is not an easy thing to do.

I am not a physician, so I am not attempting to diagnose what is causing Joe Biden's mental decline.  Still, the public deserves to know what is happening to him and his prognosis.  My guess is that his neurologic state is only slightly worse than that of President Reagan when he left office.  What makes things different is that Joe Biden isn't leaving office; he is seeking the highest office in the land, so I believe that the public deserves to know what is happening to him and if he we can reasonably expect him to be able to perform the duties of president.

I ask again: Does Joe Biden have Alzheimer's Disease?

William Noel is an award-winning writer who has a master's degree in management.