Bernie and Biden: The politicians' mouths are moving

Question: "How do you know a politician is lying?" Answer: "His mouth is moving." You've probably heard this before. It's somebody's way of saying you can't trust anything a politician says. But every once in a while, one comes along who means exactly what he says -- which is the problem. Say "hello" (and soon "goodbye") to Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Even in 2016, I said it: Bernie Sanders is one of the rare ones who actually means what he says. It's not a compliment. Dude is out there. When he says "democratic socialist," he means it. He's word-up serious about raising your taxes, making you pay for other people's stuff and demonizing the rich -- although he's one of them. His idea for the nation comes across as love, love and more love, but it's the antithesis of what makes America America, what incentivizes hard work and what has proved to work over time. He's too far left for the mainstream, which is probably why it looks like Democrat candidates intent on dethroning President Donald Trump strategically joined forces to freeze him out and endorse Joe Biden.

Biden is another story altogether. While I trust Bernie -- that he, unfortunately, stands for what he says -- I have no trust in what the former vice president says. He seems to be, to use the old expression, "the lesser of two evils," more middle of the road than Sanders. But I don't know if that's true. I've heard it said that Biden is only a moderate when compared to Sanders -- and, in that scenario, who wouldn't be?

Barack Obama's former right-hand man seems to have the nomination locked up, so perhaps we may not have to worry about Bernie's honesty and can, instead, zone in on "Burisma Biden's" deception. I just feel you never know what's going to follow the "Look" Biden says before every sentence in which he's trying to convince us that he knows what he's talking about and means what he says. A lot has been made of his mental capabilities, or lack thereof, some believing he's bordering on some kind of dementia. He certainly has had a plethora of problems remembering, articulating and making sense, but I'm not making a diagnosis. Some are pontificating because it's politically advantageous, which is a low blow. I won't go there; certain things are too real to joke about. I'm not a doctor, and I don't know what's going on with Biden. Sure, he's aging, which may give way to more gaffes, but let's be frank: His mind has always struggled to catch up with his mouth, and I'm not sure how often his mouth has caught up with the truth. Isn't that part of why they call him Crazy Uncle Joe? And I don't mean crazy-crazy. I just mean Crazy Uncle Joe.

So while Bernie burns out, a victim of folks frightened to near-death that what you see with him is, in fact, what you get -- that his moving mouth means moving the nation down a course only the naive want to go -- we get a front-row seat to travel who-knows-where Joe Biden takes us. And unlike Bernie, he gives us no clear clue of where that might be and what he might say, not to mention what he actually means.

Adrienne Ross is owner of Adrienne Ross Communications and a former Southeast Missourian editorial board member.