Joe Biden doesn’t seem to be the most effective communicator, so it’s especially important that he surround himself with good communicators. Presumably, his deputy campaign manager and comms director Kate Bedingfield was brought on at least in part for her ability to, well, communicate.

But as it turns out, she’s apparently not a whole lot better than Biden himself:

Fox News just asked Biden's Deputy Campaign Manager if he's fit for office because he can't complete sentences. Her response: "This is a disgusting smear tactic… This kind of false, misleading, basically conspiracy theory." It's a smear tactic to show his own words on video? pic.twitter.com/eK8Buc3Eq6 — Caleb Hull (@CalebJHull) March 11, 2020

Come on, Kate. Surely you can do better than that.

Not a smear tactic, just calling it out, Joe isn't healthy. — KAS (@AbeTrump) March 11, 2020

It is going to be absolutely amazing to juxtapose video of CNN/MSNBC contributors who called for 25th Amendment for Trump pretending Joe Biden has all his faculties. This isn't a "smear tactic." These are facts. Ask ANYBODY who has a parent with dementia.https://t.co/Gg8ZzaJrfs — BonkPolitics (@BonkPolitics) March 11, 2020

We’re not medical professionals. We’re not qualified to make medical diagnoses. But it’s very difficult to watch Joe Biden struggle to speak and not be concerned that something’s wrong.

If you think it's a conspiracy theory and a smear tactic to show video of your boss in public speaking, maybe you picked the wrong boss to work for. — Caleb Hull (@CalebJHull) March 11, 2020

We don’t envy Bedingfield’s position. But as long as she’s in that position, it’s up to her to attempt at least some semblance of damage control that doesn’t boil down to desperate deflection.