I’m pretty sure a lot of you have something to say about last night’s debate. What did I notice? Biden is an old man, a real old man. Fairly certain there are some in the DNC sweating that absolute fact. Trump remains a pathological liar and he can convey those lies vigorously. If he lightened up on the lies, I would have declared him the absolute winner. But he couldn’t so I can’t.
Perfect summary, blessedly succinct TTG. Based on this brief clip below of Gavin Newsom some say he is in the running to be the nominee. For that to happen before or during the convention Biden has to withdraw from the race since he already has more than sufficient delegates pledged to him. After the convention the party bosses can pick his successor with zero input from anyone else if he pulls out.
https://x.com/growing_daniel/status/1806559308856934423
If they do withdrawal Biden, they lose three swing states. Wisconsin does not allow withdrawal except for death. In Nevada no changes can be made after the fourth Friday of June except for death. In Georgia if he withdraws 60 days before the election, his name will be on the ballot, but no votes counted. In Texas they have until the 74th day before election to withdrawal. So they are fucked . Hahahaha
What are they going to do? Kill him? Only democrats are so evil and desperate.
Condottiere,
The Democratic convention isn’t until 19-22 August. If someone other than Biden is chosen, it would be then. So does Nevada not recognize nominating conventions?
Thanks. It’s beginning to look like you’re right and that Joe will remain in the race. I wouldn’t bet the ranch on it but wouldn’t bet against it either.
Biden did not do a good job of communicating, but got some if his policy answers right. Everything that came out of Trump’s mouth was a lie. I think the moderators did an awful job by letting him avoid answering their questions and go off topic. That was not very professional. Other than that, I doubt this debate changed many minds. According to some, Biden had a cold, which would explain some of the problems he had. He is an old man, but so am I. As long as I can play pickleball and do the NYT crossword puzzle every day, I am in reasonable shape. But I am also getting over a cold, so I can understand Biden’s problem. The good news for him is that there are 5 months to the election and that is a life time in politics.
They both are liars. Biden and his 3 degrees, top of his class, full scholarship, plagiarism in college for starters. I keep hearing people say Trump is a liar but so what. Anyone who says that and voted for Biden they also voted for a liar so the “Trump liar” is not the issue at all.
The issue is what liar benefits you the most.
I had to shut off the televised debate after 30 minutes. It was just too painful to watch Biden. His addled self was on display for all to see. The split screen of both candidates drove home the point even more, by watching Biden’s facial gestures.
A chill ran down my spine that a person with this level of cognitive function is POTUS. As my non-political spouse (who watched all 90 minutes) said afterwards: if you knew nothing about the 2 men on stage, and where they stand on the issues, Trump won hands down.
Old Joe has not been a bad chief executive, and his heart has mostly been in the right place. But he, like Ruth Bader Ginsburg, believe they are indispensable people, and do not know when to gracefully exit the public stage.
I am so glad we got this revelation, now in June, rather than in October.
I thought they both did a terrible job of communicating and both generally looked old and decrepit, but Biden more so than Trump. As for lies, they both told some whoppers. Biden is a blatant liar and Trump is an exaggerator.
I’ll be voting for Trump, again, however it is sad that those two are our choices. Between the stupid and vicious media, the vicious politicians and the vicious forces behind the scenes (e.g. deep state, deep pocketed special interests) and an ignorant public that can’t grasp nuance or complexity and prefers sound bites and handouts, there is no reason a competent successful person would run for office and become a target, on top of being unappreciated.
So, how does Biden compare to FDR in late 44 and 45?
scott s,
FDR was in far worse condition physically, but it was fairly well hidden even by the press. Biden still bikes. Mentally, I’m not sure. FDR did well through the election, but 24/7 media and social media were not a thing back then. Biden might still be sharp, but his ability to express himself had declined and that’s readily apparent to all.
Scott,
Diane Feinstein was rolled into the Senate to vote until they finally had to put her into hospice. They’ll do the same thing with Joe.
In real news another US coup failed. This time in Bolivia. Apparently Bolivia has a lot of lithium, the largest reserves in the world:
https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/bolivia-has-the-worlds-largest-lithium-reserves-is-it-worth-investing-in
Other US coups have failed over the last several years. The old playbook no longer works. Ukraine was the last successful one. Either countries are catching on or people are just getting outright tired of the upheaval and commotion and want nothing to do with it other than stop it.
babelthuap,
Bolivia has been signing contracts with Chinese companies to exploit their Lithium reserves and has been talking about joining BRICS. This cannot stand!
I was trying to fly out of La Paz sometime around 2009 and my flight kept getting cancelled. BoA has a really good safety record (and flying into or out of La Paz is non-trivial) but that comes at a price – they cancel flights if they have any safety concerns whatsoever.
So I kept going back, day after day, to this one woman at this one travel agency, who spoke English perfectly because she had lived in the US and been educated in the US, to book yet another flight after my previous flight had been cancelled. There were some indigenous Bolivians protesting in the street and I asked her what they were protesting about. She rolled her eyes and said “those people are ALWAYS protesting”.
She actually, with much effort, managed to book me on a flight (with three hops) to get me to Sao Paulo from where I could fly to Ecuador which was where I really wanted to go. I will always be grateful to her – she was very nice. And she gave me a bit of a glimpse into the class divisions into that part of the world between the lighter skinned elites and the darker skinned indigenous and into the fact that every group is likable if you bother to get to know them.
Even – believe it or not TTG – even the Russians. Or at least some of them.
James,
Every Russian I’ve met up close, I’ve liked. We even exchanged cordial waves of ski poles with the Spetsnaz team training on the next ridge, although our Austrian trainers kept us separate.
I liked the David Duchovny Russian beer commercial back in 2014, even though a lot of people gave him shit about it. It expressed a wonderful view of Russian culture.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qu0rUpEX7k4
My prediction:
Jill will read all the reviews, observe how Joe did and is doing, make a judgement on what is most likely to happen in the next four years,
and then urge Joe to start enjoying a well-deserved retirement, spending more time with his grandkids.
Maybe even getting to know Navy.
Joe and Jill = (Woodrow) Wilson and Edith.
Or “Cherchez la femme…”
CNN post debate show indicates just how much the left is panicking.
Apparently many here still don’t understand edited audio and video and thus still believe the fine people hoax, the 51 intelligence against statements that hunter’s laptop (now confirmed in court as real) was Russian disinformation, and a few others. Truly sad. I would refer you to Scott Adam’s debunking, but even Snopes has changed its tune.
Fred,
The immediate post-debate analyses showed DNC talking heads with their hair on fire frantically suggesting immediate replacements for Biden. By morning, it was calmer, but not by much. Saw a post debate performance by Biden where he was night and day from his debate performance. Go figure.
TTG,
The most important question from last night was “who’s running the country, the guy who is older than Petain when he headed the Vichy government, or someone else?”
Yes. And the question the Democrats need to consider is:
“If the Russians should launch a nuclear strike, either just in Europe or in America as well
(brought about of course precisely by the policies towards Ukraine these same Democrats have been pushing),
which Joe Biden (one a man who can’t complete coherent sentences)
will be in control of America’s nuclear arsenal?”
It is the height of irresponsibility for the Dems to avoid that question.
If I were the Dems, I would not panic; if I were the GOP. I would not gloat;
Biden was bad, but Trump was not much better (and has 34 felony convictions)
Worst case, both sides will need to open their conventions and we will have other (and possibly better) candidates.
Given both sides have the problem, neither SHOULD object to the other side doing this.
John Minehan,
That’s the best advice I’ve heard for both parties.
Yeah! Why not be optimistic (fun image) 🙂
http://ekladata.com/EsoDAeJGAE-YWivyMcz7f-mpmI4.jpg
John,
What felonies were those? Why did they not get charged or even discovered until after 2020?
The supreme court has issued a few important decisions. The one about the SEC (taking away Lucy’s football) is a body blow to the administrative state.
SEC (taking away Lucy’s football) is a body blow to the administrative state.
Finally giving it back to Charly Brown?
What decision is on your mind, Fred?
LeaNder,
As a victim of European regulators you can’t comprehend the loss of freedom Americans the have endured at the hands of a regulatory apparatus of unrestrained bureaucrats acting as prosecutor, jury, and judge combined in one agency.
I would recommend reading on English Common Law, but it might be faster to simply watch some old episodes of Rumpole of the Bailey.
You seemed to be referring to a specific case/decision.
The reversal of Trump’s hesitant bumb stock ban? … Restrictive but not concerning the SEC.
******
But thanks for the hints. Let’s take a closer look at recent SC decisions:
https://tinyurl.com/verdict-SC
SEC
https://tinyurl.com/SEC-via-Reuters
https://tinyurl.com/SEC-decision-Slate
Yes, the world’s only truly free market should be unleashed full force on the world again. A more beautiful since more powerful 2008 with a small elite of beautiful, beautiful winners versus a wasteland of losers and whiners.
LeaNder,
The decision affecting the securities and exchange commission has zero to do with armaments. Ending the ability of the ATF to administratively change the definition of one, that is a keen and accurate insight.
Oh, look, Chevron is dead too. And all those OSHA mandated covid shots…..
Well Sir…Joe The Pale Face…Recovered From His Flew (Over The Cockoos Nest)
Very Well. .. Ninety Minutes of Debate Vs…One Long Distance Doocey Shout..
on the WH Lawn…
After Having His Morning Tea…and Plate of Mushrooms…And Make Up…He
And Jill ..Went Down The Hill…Oh What a Difference a Pill Can Make…The
Morning After.. The Hillary and Jill Show…Saving Abominations Again.Eh
Oh man. “plate of mushrooms”.Worth a read
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41386-022-01389-z
Let me remind you that when in his 90’s, Carter was building houses and teaching Sunday school. But Biden and his team created this and it is up to them to fix it and soon. In addition, in a debate Obama truly was bad, but recovered and won. This is just really a blip and there will be much more events to come. It was clear that Trump is a threat to the country, so it will be a match between a guy who sometimes slips and one who wants to tear everything down without any real plan to replace. Like the last time, some people think they can handle Trump, so everything will be fine. I am not so sure about that.
Lars,
What is the threat Trump poses to the country? What is he going to tear down? What was torn down in his first term?
Fiscal responsibility disappeared and there was some serious damage at the Capitol. Not to mention the international status of the US. But most importantly, facts were ignored, omitted and discarded on a daily basis.
Lars
A changing “International status” of the US? Is a threat? You care about what Vanuatu, Nepal or Mozambique’s respective governments think of the US? What do you think about how the governments of China, Russia, India and our “NATO allies” view of our national leadership after the performance of Joe Biden?
Facts ignored, omitted and discarded on a daily basis? How does that relate to the truthful reports from NYT, WAPO, AP, CBS, NBC, ABC, BBC, and your other sources for years? What have they ignored, omitted, or discarded daily?
The good news is that I do not live in an echo chamber with distorted acoustics. The bad news is that too many Americans do. Several people I know only want to hear what they want to hear, not necessarily what they need to. There are some empirical studies about the news media and I do take them seriously. I also get quite a bit of my info from overseas sources and that helps forming opinions too.
Still can’t give straight answers to simple questions.
You can blame Ronald Reagan for that. He deregulated the media and it resulted in total consolidation. About 90-95% of our information and media comes from 5 major conglomerates. News, magazines, publications, websites, books, movies, cable networks, movies, TV, and radio is controlled by 5 billionaires and executives. We are being bombarded and gaslit with partisan propaganda. Tribalism is how we pick who is right. This is why no one trusts their opponent’s media.
https://thedinfographics.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/media-infographic.jpeg
https://fortune.com/longform/media-company-ownership-consolidation/
Condottiere,
Yes. CNN just showed the world the reality that was hidden. Many still prefer the comfort of the gaslight.
The idea that the Dems should or will change candidates is stupid and a certain loss. The hysteria would be funny, if it was not so…you know…stupid and counterproductive. Whoever convinced the Biden campaign to have a debate between incumbent and challenger in the first place should be eaten by rats publicly.
The only thing anyone from the Biden campaign should be saying is “Do you remember 2019? Do you remember 2020? Do you remember not only all the lies, but the really bone-crushingly stupid lies since then?” That’s it. Let the opposition wail their wails. Just keep asking if anyone remembers what it was like when they were in charge. Maybe point out that there are a million less people answering that question because the challenger was denying the pandemic and then telling people to huff bleach.
Any “progressive” who thinks that not voting for Biden will do anything that they do not consider harmful is…what? Stupid. It is remarkable and troubling how often that word is coming up in relation to US presidential politics.
Finally, a word from Cap on the election:
https://i.imgur.com/xrYJKfd.jpeg
Remember when the challenger brought the Doctor who publicly states that demons impregnate women at night as a COVID advisor?
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-53579773
I’ll be honest. I have practiced Health Law for 35 years and I have no idea what President Biden was talking about about with Medicare (or even what he might have wanted to talk about when he said “Medicare.”)
Trump was not much better (and he is just before being sentenced on 34 NYS felony Charges he was convicted on.
Both parties need to sit down and think about what to do,
An open convention and a better candidate might do both political parties (and the Country) a world of good.
. . . . then we might look at the Primary/Convention/Selection process overall . . . .
Sorry! Typo. “25 years” not”35.
But I still have no idea what it meant.
John,
Healthcare insurance guy here for past 20 years +. I have no idea what Biden was talking about either. The related points that were a little more were blatant lies. Pretty sure Biden had no idea what he was saying either, as noted by Trump.
meant to say “more clear”; not just “more”.
Maybe I’m getting it too.
Terrible debate format. What were those two doing agreeing to it? Lined up like a couple of schoolboys and allowing some nobodies to tell them what to speak on and how long to speak on it.
Those two need space. Trump needs a lot of space, and an audience cheering him on, to put his message across. Biden showed in his fighting back speech afterwards he’s still able to put his across. And yet both allowed themselves to be confined in that cramped and bitty format where no real debate could be unfolded. The most new information I got from it was more knowledge than I need about their golf handicaps.
Though I don’t know who’d win a round of golf between those two. I’d not put it past the Donald to kick his ball to a better lie nor past Biden to make front page news of it. And Trump showed himself at his worst, jibing at Biden’s mental capacity and asserting his own was superior.
As for that mental capacity, there hasn’t been a really clever US President since Clinton. And looking at what Clinton got up to with US foreign policy, cleverness doesn’t help that much. On US foreign policy, which naturally is what interests me most, these big politicians are mostly the sum of the forces acting on them in any case. As long as they can read the teleprompter OK, doesn’t make a lot of odds who they are. Who finds relevant the breed of Caligula’s horse?
Except that appearances do matter. Especially in the States, where the voters aren’t quite as easily herded as they are in Europe. The politicians wouldn’t obsess about PR if how good they are at it doesn’t have effects in the real world. The donors aren’t going to want to back Biden if they doubt he’ll be able to deliver the votes. To fool We the People into putting their ticks in the right box it’s necessary for the showmanship to be right. The showmanship wasn’t right in that debate and the donors are going to want to see it improved. Or else.
So whoever agreed on Biden’s behalf to that crazy debate format should be told not to take risks like that again. I think, however, that as far as foreign policy goes Putin had it right. It doesn’t make a lot of odds who the President is. I watched the Colonel’s “Borg” overriding Trump when it suited them and if he’s elected it’ll no doubt happen again. In as far as a US President exercises any personal power in foreign policy, Biden’s probably the safer bet. On the rare occasions when he gets his hands on the reins, Trump tends to be less predictable.
EO,
The format wasn’t good? The moderators weren’t good enough? The showmanship didn’t please donors? Clinton, the Epstein island visitor who signed the “giant sucking sound” (Perot reference) nafta treaty that gutted our manufacturing base? Yes, clever. Like Boris and few other empty suits who’ve lived at 10 downing street. Sounds like Europe’s preferred candidate is toast.
I think it benefited Trump. It kept him on point and less strange or belligerent..
I think it was a set-up designed to show everyone how far gone Biden is. Even CNN has been saying that it’s time for Joe to go. Now there is a justification for replacing him prior to the election, which is a better option than having him either die in office or have to be 25th amendmented next year and being stuck with Harris has POTUS, something no one finds acceptable.
I also think this is why Trump agreed to the debate. There really is no reason to have a debate at face value. We all already know each candidate’s platform, talking points and style. We already know what they will say to each other. This is just a rehash of 2020.
However, beneath the surface, going through with the debate is win/win for Trump. He helps demonstrate that Biden is vegetable and that the powers that be have been allowing that situation to continue and that is red meat for the MAGAs and may sway some independents who are already angry about the NY sham trials. It’s a very bad look for the Democrats party keeping a Biden in office to date. It speaks to the presence and power of the deep state. Sure it helps the democrats accomplish a replacement for Biden, but it’s too late for them to save their image. No matter who the democrats select to replace Biden, it looks rushed and unvetted.
On the other hand, if the democrats stick with Biden, independents will definitely move to Trump, the candidate that isn’t obviously demented.
Now, it may be that the democrats are trying to make a deal – they will replace Biden with a candidate the republicans can live with if elected and, in return, the republicans will torpedo Trump for someone the democrats agree they could live with if elected. Trump would fight this tooth and claw, but who knows what sabotage the two parties may yet have in store for Trump? They may think they have a coup de grace poised to drop.
“Biden showed in his fighting back speech afterwards he’s still able to put his across.”
Um, there was a big difference.
In the North Carolina speech Biden had a teleprompter:
https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/one-teleprompter-speech-in-north-carolina-and-democrats-relax-again/ ,
like in practically all of his speeches.
The debate revealed how much trouble Joe Biden has thinking on his feet, without a teleprompter,
when he is merely voicing words likely written by a speechwriter,
rather than extemporaneously.
Keith Harbaugh – I didn’t know that though I did wonder when I saw Biden looking fixedly at single spots.
Should say that I don’t think much of the foreign policies of either candidate, or rather of those backing them. Unless my memory’s at fault, in 2016 the Colonel voted Stein. She and Tulsi Gabbard are the only two I have seen speaking whose foreign policy sounds in any way realistic. Trump seems to be living in dreamland with his proposals on Ukraine, Biden similarly, and both have a screw loose on events in Israel. Psychos on the loose about sums it up.
As was apparent even from that debate. I suppose you know we have an election over here too. All except oddball Farage carefully avoiding issues of substance. Main difference being that when the top European politicians talk foreign policy the world laughs. When the American ones do, thousands die.
In the Ukraine, both sides want an out without admitting it
Biden probably does not want to give it to them.
Trump wants to be able to take credit for settling it.
Their interests are mutual enough that there might be a solution there (at least in the short term).
To quote von Bismack, “If You like laws or sausages, it does you well not to see them made.” The same may be true of “peace.”
EO, PL supported Bernie Sanders against Hilary Clinton, but I consider it highly unlikely he never supported let alone voted Stein. But as always I willing to learn something new about our late host.
“Main difference being that when the top European politicians talk foreign policy the world laughs. When the American ones do, thousands die.”
A good look at who is driving American foreign policy is here:
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/neoconservative-ukraine/
by Katrina vanden Heuvel
From the link provided:-
“As Cohen put it in the Atlantic, “we need to see masses of Russians fleeing, deserting, shooting their officers, taken captive, or dead. The Russian defeat must be an unmistakably big, bloody shambles.”
The word “bloody” is seldom used in the States as an expletive. In this passage, therefore, what is meant is a military defeat accompanied by much slaughter.
May 19th 2023, that was published. Washington must have been ringing with applause for that up an’ at ’em call to war. I know Westminster was.
Except that I imagine any Russian under 90 or so hearing that would instantly enlist. And of course Russia delenda est has been message coming loud and clear from the West since ’22. Did we think they would not hear that message?
Presumably why the Russians have been flocking to the colours in their thousands, Anyone saying “the English defeat must be an unmistakably big, bloody shambles” would have any Englishman who wasn’t six feet under doing the same.
Eliot A Cohen. Gets a glowing set of references here:-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eliot_A._Cohen
A glittering CV and a more that usually distinguished career. Now merely a humble recruiting officer for the Russian armed forces. Strange, the tricks fate plays on even the best of us.
EO,
By your reasoning, Russia has only her own politicians and talking heads to blame for the Ukrainians resisting the Russian invaders with the ferocity and heart they’re exhibited for the last two and half years.
EO,
Keep the insult. Boris Johnson kept the Ukraine war going, not the US. Had GCHQ not aided Hilary the whole Russia Russia collusion hoax would have gone nowhere, we would be at the end of Trump’s second term, and the end of the EU as we know it. Rejoice in with the situation that your politicians helped create. BTW the EU, which you are still entangled with, won’t last much longer.
Biden also has the angry old man down pat. It’s deeply ingrained in his character like braggadocio is in Trump.
In essence, it will come down to a contest between an old man and a conman. As one veteran Republican election specialist put it: It is between two old men. I you ask them to house sit for you, one will forget to turn of some lights and take some naps. The other one will steal all your valuable stuff and kill your dog.
each has a bunch of fellow travelers. the old man’s might raid the fridge of beer… the con’s? religious freaks & violent gangsters seeking to wipe out house-sitting competition. if your wife & children might return before you do… that’s a risk you accept.
The only chance the Democrats have is to replace Biden. The independent voters are not going to vote for the only President in history who does the old man, Parkinson’s shuffle when he walks and whispers when he talks. That’s my analysis, not my preference. I’m voting for Jill Stein. I do not have a dog in this fight.
This was the Nader Voter attitude of 2000, and frankly, mine in 2016 when I did not cast a vote for president at all. Those both worked out like shit. You cast a vote for someone you know will not win, you vote for the winner; are they really that equal to you? I know I learned my lesson.
Do you really think they could change candidates now and win? Really? I would love to hear how that would work.
Technically, it depends what State you are in. I live in a “safe” Blue State, so I can vote for Stein (or whoever) without throwing the Electoral College to Trump.
But just imagine the hot air Trump would produce if he won the Popular Vote but lost the EC! In both 2015 & 2020, I held my nose & voted Dem, specifically out of fear for what Trump & his Mob would do if they lost like that – despite the *fact* that Trump won the EC in 2016 while losing the popular vote by almost 3 Million votes.
Interesting note: the GOP has only won the popular vote once this century (narrowly, in 2004).
Where in the constitution is this popular vote, which Clinton didn’t win either?
Christian J Chuba,
I’m tired of hearing people saying “I do not have a dog in this fight”. You do have a dog in this fight. You refused to vote for Biden or Trump, and will vote for Jill Stein. You also do “have a dog in this fight” if you will not vote for any of the candidates. Even if you move out of the country, you will still have “a dog in this fight” when you retire and start getting Social Security and Medicare benefits.
As usual it will be a binary choice and to opt out is neglect. Any vote for anyone besides the two main candidates is a vote for one of them and less for the country and more for self-indulgence.
Thanks, TTG.
I should explain that it’s only possible to say thanks by writing a comment. I write fast and don’t always catch errors when I look over the comment before submitting. So if I later see a particularly stupid error I submit a corrected comment and ask TTG if he’d mind deleting the first. Scholar and gentleman as he is, TTG always helps out. Must add to his already heavy load moderating so have just put in a note to say thanks.
Hope this one’s error free for once!
Computer support for background investigations: A huge boondoggle
“An Examination of DOD’s Struggling Background Check System”
https://oversight.house.gov/release/hearing-wrap-up-dod-says-security-clearance-process-updates-are-unacceptably-late/
“[Overview:]
After eight years and over $600 million spent on the [National Background Investigation Services (NBIS)], there is very little to show for it.
…
[The chairman said]
we are eight and a half years into a three-year program.
We are 1.345 billion spent on about a 700-million-dollar program”
I would say that it is time for the iranian people to choose their destiny.Not wisely because they are wise,but rather with their hearts.
Voting for a third party is a way to register your displeasure with both candidates and is something I’ve done before and may do again. Both the RNC and DNC are private corporations that don’t have a requirement to make the primaries fair. To try and convince somebody they have to vote for the lesser of two weasels is shirking their duty as an Americano is a form of brainwashing.
I met a man who just came from the Democratic convention in SF back in the 80’s. He said that it was not a democratic process and if people understood how the candidates were chosen, there would be a revolution. I think he gave Americans too much credit.
https://www.drmikekatz.com/the_dnc_and_rnc_are_private_corporations