“Why did it take for this debate for everyone to act like this is NEWS???”
I will take a wild guess. The people who are the REAL decision makers know that Biden can not beat Trump. That they can not cheat enough this time in the swing states.
That they can no longer hide his dementia. Therefore, the decision was made to send him out there without the drugs and let him be exposed.
Within minutes the NY Times was calling for his removal. All the other MSM take their talking points from the NY Tines and the Washington Post. So, just like they decided it was time for Nixon to go, they now decided it was time for Biden to go.
I disagree somewhat: I think Biden’s handlers misjudged the dosage on his drugs, and then gave him a boost @ the 1st commercial break (or it could be in his “water”? — did the candidates ever take sips of water during all this talking? - I sure would have to!)
It is impossible to otherwise reconcile “the Biden” of the 1st half of the debate with “the Biden” late in the debate, much less “the Biden” of the SOTA or in public the day after the debate, without medications being most of the explanation.