the New York Times has descended into total nihilism; it doesn't give a damn about the truth, only about damaging Democrats and helping Trump. So it presents a video it acknowledges to be misleadingly edited as evidence for its thesis.
Setting the particular topic aside for a second, this is a truly spectacular case of the Times' pathologically incompetent "Where there's fire, there's smoke" theory of writing up high-stakes investigative stories
They are literally saying "the fake image" "created an impression" that is one we're supposed to take seriously. Am I reading this incorrectly? I'm stunned.
You are not. They're trying to report that people get ideas from things they see, whether the things are true or not. But they're doing a really bad reporting job.
This is not an article about public perception of Biden, or where people get ideas. It is an article ostensibly examining the *reality* of Biden's fitness. This anecdote doesn't belong anywhere in it, and certainly not presented in contrast to Biden "appearing on his game" in a press conference.
they had it in there because this is how the New York Times has consistently behaved when it falls in love with a storyline about a Democrat's flaws; from Whitewater to Al-Gore-is-a-liar and Hillary's-Emails.
It's not some noble effort to explore perception gone wrong; it's an agenda.