You may recall that early last month Rep. Jackie Walorski and three other people were killed in a car crash in Indiana. Two of the other victims were members of Walorski’s staff who were riding in the car with her. Last week an investigation into the accident concluded Walorski’s driver was responsible for the crash:

Zachery Potts, the driver of the Toyota RAV4, was traveling northbound on a two-lane road last month behind a flatbed truck, according to the Elkhart County Sheriff’s Office. Walorski’s communications director, Emma Thomson, was also in the SUV.He tried to pass the truck on the left and collided with a southbound Buick driven by Edith Schmucker.

At the time of the crash, President Biden issued a heartfelt statement which mentioned Rep. Walorski’s work on an upcoming White House hunger conference. [emphasis added]

Jill and I are shocked and saddened by the death of Congresswoman Jackie Walorski of Indiana along with two members of her staff in a car accident today in Indiana.

Born in her beloved South Bend as the daughter of a meat-cutter and firefighter, she spent a lifetime serving the community that she grew up in – as a journalist, a nonprofit director, a state legislator, and eventually as a Member of Congress for the past nine and half years.

We may have represented different parties and disagreed on many issues, but she was respected by members of both parties for her work on the House Ways and Means Committee on which she served. She also served as co-chair of the House Hunger Caucus, and my team and I appreciated her partnership as we plan for a historic White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health this fall that will be marked by her deep care for the needs of rural America.

We send our deepest condolences to her husband, Dean, to the families of her staff members, Zachery Potts and Emma Thomson, who lost their lives in public service, and to the people of Indiana’s Second District who lost a representative who was one of their own.

That was a reference to the fact that Rep. Walorski, along with Senators Cory Booker and Mike Braun and Rep. James P. McGovern, had jointly introduced a bill last year to convene this conference:

Today, U.S. Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Mike Braun (R-IN) and U.S. Representatives James P. McGovern (D-MA) and Jackie Walorski (R-IN) introduced a bipartisan, bicameral bill that would convene a second national White House conference on food, nutrition, hunger, and health. The first such conference occurred just over 50 years ago, culminating in the creation and expansion of programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC), and the National School Breakfast and Lunch Program.

Today, exactly eight weeks after his statement about her death, President Biden is hosting the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health. During his remarks he thanked the bipartisan group that had made it possible. And that’s when things went terrible wrong.

“I want to thank all of you here including bipartisan elected officials like Representative McGovern, Senator Braun, Senator Booker, Representative…Jackie are you here? Where’s Jackie? I didn’t think she was going to be here,” Biden said.

You’ll notice that the four people Biden thanked are the four co-sponsors of the bill that created this conference. That’s Senators Booker and Braun, Rep McGovern and the late Rep. Jackie Walorski.

"Jackie are you here? Where's Jackie?"

Rep. Jackie Walorski (R-IN) died in a car accident in August pic.twitter.com/cHc3b7zPmE

— Charlie Spiering (@charliespiering) September 28, 2022

It could have been a nice moment to praise a lawmaker who had passed away. But Biden clearly didn’t remember that Rep. Walorski had died eight weeks ago. I’m a bit surprised that his team didn’t prepare him with something nice to say about her but then again, maybe they did. Maybe they talked about it and he forgot?

There’s really no doubt who Biden was referring to and yet some are suggesting that maybe he had a different Jackie in mind. There’s a Jackie DeCarlo who is attending this event today.

You liars. He’s looking for Jackie DeCarlo, an internationally recognized award-winning leader of hunger initiatives. She’s from Montgomery County Maryland, about 10 miles from the White House.

— NYCTaper (@nyctaper) September 28, 2022

Uh oh, my good seat to see ⁦@POTUS⁩ speak at #WHconfhungerhealth just got a bit crowded. However, I am grateful to Secret Service pic.twitter.com/RovQ7EmZ5D

— Jackie DeCarlo (@jacqdecarlo) September 28, 2022

But Biden was specifically thanking elected officials. His statement mentioned a “Representative” so he wasn’t talking about Jackie DeCarlo who is not an elected official. Other have mentioned Rep. Jackie Speier of California but I don’t see anything suggesting she was involved with this conference. She tweeted this about an hour ago (as I write this).

Just intro’d my Resolution w/@FrankPallone, @RepAdamSchiff & @RepAnnaEshoo condemning Azerbaijan’s blatant atrocities against Armenian servicemembers & civilians. Beheadings, mutilations & Aliyev's contempt for basic human dignity must not be tolerated! https://t.co/nsYK7NpfXo

— Jackie Speier (@RepSpeier) September 28, 2022

Rep. Walorski was one of four people who helped make this conference happen and Biden was thanking those four people by name. It really is that simple. Even NPR isn’t letting him off the hook.

President Joe Biden mistakenly called out for the late Rep. Jackie Walorski, the Indiana Republican who died in a car crash in August, while giving opening remarks at a White House conference on hunger, nutrition and health,

Walorski was one of four cosponsors on a bill to fund the conference and had been an advocate for reducing hunger in America…

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

At this point I don’t have much more to add except that, obviously, President Biden is struggling with declining mental faculties. I think this incident makes it clear that there’s a real problem that can’t be ignored even by Biden’s fans and defenders.

I will say that the idea Biden could possibly run for reelection in two years and hold it together for another four years beyond that is just silly at this point. Does anyone really believe that’s possible? I think we need to worry a bit more abut how much worse this could get over the next two years.

Update: I didn’t think it could get more awkward but it has. Asked what happened, Karine Jean-Pierre said, “The President was naming congressional champions on this issue and was acknowledging her incredible work.” She added, “Of course she was on his mind. She was of top of mind for the president.”

Okay, no one has a problem with Biden remembering her or having her in mind. The problem is that he seems to have forgotten her death. That’s the issue. She completely sidesteps that though unlike some people on Twitter she’s not denying Rep. Walorski is who Biden was talking about.

REPORTER: "He said, 'Jackie, are you here, where's Jackie. She must not be here."

Karine Jean-Pierre: "I totally understand. I just explained, she was on top of mind." pic.twitter.com/AnAjBAtYdr

— Charlie Spiering (@charliespiering) September 28, 2022

Update: What is the first rule of holes again?

Reporter, referring to Biden calling out to the late Rep. Jackie Walorski: "I have John Lennon top of my mind just about every day, but I'm not looking around for him anywhere."

Jean-Pierre: "When you sign a bill for John Lennon as president, then we can have this conversation" pic.twitter.com/ZA9LM1t4NU

— Washington Free Beacon (@FreeBeacon) September 28, 2022

Here’s today’s full briefing. I cued this up to the 2nd time KJP was asked about this. She says it’s not weird that Biden seemed to think a deceased woman might be in the room. “That is not an unusual scenario there.” That’s when someone (maybe James Rosen?) jumps in with the line about John Lennon. And when KJP brushes that off someone else in the room starts shouting questions about Biden’s “mental acuity” and she ignores those as well.

Here’s the same clip cued up a little later. KJP was asked about this a third time. The reporter is clearly trying to give her an out in his framing of this. Her response: “My answer is certainly not going to change.”

I generally try not to overstate things but in this case the White House looks completely broken. They can’t deny and they can’t explain but they still don’t want the media to run with this because it looks really, really bad. It is inexplicable apart from the thing they don’t want to talk about.