 aides were bewildered by his performance many felt they had never seen him collapse so dramatically after all biden was a veteran of numerous debates they did not understand why he gave an entirely different answer on the age question than the one they spent more than a week perfecting the president did not just stumble over words he appeared to lose his focus and often was unable to finish sentences his voice was raspy and thin when the debate concluded first lady jill biden appeared to help her husband down the stairs apparently again this whole story from the washington post is these aides trying to justify themselves