 was above conspiratorial chit-chat that entertained seriously scenarios in which the president was suffering from a shocking decline most Americans were not seeing. If the president was being portrayed that way, it was by his political enemies on the right who promoted through what the press office termed cheap fakes, a caricature of an adult creature unfit to serve. They would not dignify those people or people doing the bidding of those people with a response. For many inclined to support the president, this was good enough.