Thank you for this interview! It motivated me to give you $9/month for the foreseeable future.
My response to comments so far: Read. The. Transcript. Look for the June 27, 2024 presidential debate on the website for “The American Presidency Project”. Turn off the TV and look away from the performative trappings – all the drama - of that p…
Thank you for this interview! It motivated me to give you $9/month for the foreseeable future.
My response to comments so far: Read. The. Transcript. Look for the June 27, 2024 presidential debate on the website for “The American Presidency Project”. Turn off the TV and look away from the performative trappings – all the drama - of that phony debate. Just read the transcript. The transcript gives the lie to the hysterical barrage of claims that Biden has lost the cognitive abilities to do his job. No. He lost his voice. He stumbled a bit, occasionally lost his train of thought. And – you haven’t??? Even when you’re very sick and tired? The transcript demonstrates mostly cogent answers to the actual debate questions. Trump didn’t answer any question but vomited out one lie after another. Robustly, of course! But Trump’s ability to loudly and profusely lie is not a demonstration of cognitive ability. Biden is the one who showed that he was the one with mastery of the subject matter and the ability to respond to specific questions posed to him. Read the debate for substance – ignore the illusion of theatrics. And, give the guy a break. His claim that he was exhausted and sick is an entirely plausible explanation for his seemingly frail performance. The transcript shows that his mind is very on point. He is successfully presidenting right now and has been for the past 3 ½ years. He is credited by many with being one of the most effective presidents in modern times. What he has already accomplished is extraordinary and would be in a much younger person.
If you won’t take the time to read the transcript, at least read the opinion piece in The Hill by James Zirin: "Biden lacked oomph, but the transcript tells a different tale".
The trope that Biden is some kind of mindless invalid has been rained down upon him from the MAGAs for years – ever since Biden first challenged Trump. Because they fear Biden and his appeal. The Dems are now demonstrating a too frequent capacity for being rolled by the right and embracing the right-wing trope with utter panic – falling right into the trap set by the right.
Yes, Biden has made mistakes. Yes, he is imperfect. Yes, he has been unable to readily solve some of our most intractable and heartbreaking political crises. But he has been tested and has grown more than most. He has vast experience and he has been very effective as president.
I do remember how livid I felt during the Clarence Thomas hearing. Biden voted against nominating Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court, but he was in charge of the hearing which was a disaster. Biden was blamed – by the Republicans!- for the wild national spectacle – which they created. Of course, he was blamed by the Dems, too, for not being able to stop the demonization of Anita Hill and ultimately the success of the Republicans in getting Thomas nominated. This was not only his failure – in my opinion. The Democrats weren’t there to back him up. Dems were caught flat-footed as usual and didn’t have the “nasty-skills” of the Republicans, or the stomach to withstand the political bombs thrown their way. Clarence Thomas attacked the hearing: “ …it’s a high-tech lynching for uppity Blacks”. Republicans said that Anita Hill got her accusations against Thomas from The Exorcist. They suggested she was mentally unstable, that she believed Clarence Thomas was in love with her, or else she was a scorned woman and thus made up these salacious “stories”. The Dems were all polite and soliticitous.
I think Biden has learned from his failures and through hard experience to stand his ground. That’s what he’s doing now. Biden correctly identified the existential struggle between democracy and autocracy that is overwhelming us and he motivated this country to beat back Trump by electing him president. That was a demonstration of political acumen. Furthermore, he has proven to be a very consequential president, pushing through game-changing bi-partisan legislation. It was said that was impossible, with the divisions in this country. Math: Democrats are out numbered in Congress. Biden made that legislation happen: That was a demonstration of political acumen.
So, yes: Biden is the right one for the job. And he has earned it.
"Look, there’s so many young women who have been – including a young woman who just was murdered and he went to the funeral. The idea that she was murdered by – by – by an immigrant coming in and (inaudible) talk about that.
But here’s the deal, there’s a lot of young women who are being raped by their – by their in-laws, by their – by their spouses, brothers and sisters, by – just – it’s just – it’s just ridiculous. And they can do nothing about it. And they try to arrest them when they cross state lines."
And there's a lot more like this in the transcript.
“But, reading the cold transcript, we get a very different picture of Biden. Substantively, he ably and forcefully made the case that that Trump should not be allowed back in the Oval Office.” Then Zirin proceeds to detail those comments by Biden.
Yes, there were gaffes, as I've said. Stumbles. But mostly not - there were lots of cogent remarks that were on point. Judge the whole thing in its entirety. Every one of us has brain farts at times, but those singular events don't define who we are. Every one of us gets sick. Are we going to allow this president to be human, or not? I’ve certainly gotten sick to the point I was hoarse, stuffed up and coughed so much I could hardly talk let alone think. His debate stumbles are credibly explained by exhaustion and illness. That's not even considering the fact that he was born with a severe speech impediment – a bad, bad stutter. Biden has overcome that obstacle amazingly well, although he still has to contend daily with this neurodivergence. It’s not gone or cured. He has been known as a gaffe machine (possibly a side effect of his stutter?) all his career. Yet voters have reelected him continually over 5 decades. Voters like him. Maybe they particularly like his humanity. His authenticity. His ability to get back up when he falls. His debate stumbles don't rise to the level of evidence of dementia or senility or lack of mental acuity - at all - when examined in context of all he said at the debate itself. Certainly not when considered in the fullness of his presidential record and his daily performance. In fact, that he felt so terrible and still got up on that stage and tried to perform is a mark of his determination and character. He failed to beat back the braggadocio of Trump in that moment. The moderators failed, too. They let Trump run roughshod all over them – and they weren’t even sick. By the way, Biden called in to the Morning Joe show on Monday and answered unscripted questions quite well.
I watched the whole thing live and read it after. I think I'll believe my lying eyes.
Your argument is literally blame the voters. See how that works at the ballot box. A political party blaming voters for their loses makes as much sense as a company that blames it customers for not buying their product.
If Biden stays in you gotta throw all your energy into Congress to counter the inevitable Trump landslide.
I pointed out that Biden’s actual remarks during the debate as documented in the official transcript show that he has not lost his marbles. The content of Biden’s remarks were on point, despite a few gaffes. Comments – not all, but many – here are replete with the assertion that Biden has lost it upstairs because of his debate performance: this is demonstrably false. Read. The. Transcript. Not to mention that it is disproven by the continued evident & largely successful daily execution of the most difficult job in the world. At any rate, I never blamed the general voting population for this misinformation. I don’t think most voters have fallen for this false senility trope being used to attack Biden, nor will they. There will be no Trump landslide.
Thank you for this interview! It motivated me to give you $9/month for the foreseeable future.
My response to comments so far: Read. The. Transcript. Look for the June 27, 2024 presidential debate on the website for “The American Presidency Project”. Turn off the TV and look away from the performative trappings – all the drama - of that phony debate. Just read the transcript. The transcript gives the lie to the hysterical barrage of claims that Biden has lost the cognitive abilities to do his job. No. He lost his voice. He stumbled a bit, occasionally lost his train of thought. And – you haven’t??? Even when you’re very sick and tired? The transcript demonstrates mostly cogent answers to the actual debate questions. Trump didn’t answer any question but vomited out one lie after another. Robustly, of course! But Trump’s ability to loudly and profusely lie is not a demonstration of cognitive ability. Biden is the one who showed that he was the one with mastery of the subject matter and the ability to respond to specific questions posed to him. Read the debate for substance – ignore the illusion of theatrics. And, give the guy a break. His claim that he was exhausted and sick is an entirely plausible explanation for his seemingly frail performance. The transcript shows that his mind is very on point. He is successfully presidenting right now and has been for the past 3 ½ years. He is credited by many with being one of the most effective presidents in modern times. What he has already accomplished is extraordinary and would be in a much younger person.
If you won’t take the time to read the transcript, at least read the opinion piece in The Hill by James Zirin: "Biden lacked oomph, but the transcript tells a different tale".
The trope that Biden is some kind of mindless invalid has been rained down upon him from the MAGAs for years – ever since Biden first challenged Trump. Because they fear Biden and his appeal. The Dems are now demonstrating a too frequent capacity for being rolled by the right and embracing the right-wing trope with utter panic – falling right into the trap set by the right.
Yes, Biden has made mistakes. Yes, he is imperfect. Yes, he has been unable to readily solve some of our most intractable and heartbreaking political crises. But he has been tested and has grown more than most. He has vast experience and he has been very effective as president.
I do remember how livid I felt during the Clarence Thomas hearing. Biden voted against nominating Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court, but he was in charge of the hearing which was a disaster. Biden was blamed – by the Republicans!- for the wild national spectacle – which they created. Of course, he was blamed by the Dems, too, for not being able to stop the demonization of Anita Hill and ultimately the success of the Republicans in getting Thomas nominated. This was not only his failure – in my opinion. The Democrats weren’t there to back him up. Dems were caught flat-footed as usual and didn’t have the “nasty-skills” of the Republicans, or the stomach to withstand the political bombs thrown their way. Clarence Thomas attacked the hearing: “ …it’s a high-tech lynching for uppity Blacks”. Republicans said that Anita Hill got her accusations against Thomas from The Exorcist. They suggested she was mentally unstable, that she believed Clarence Thomas was in love with her, or else she was a scorned woman and thus made up these salacious “stories”. The Dems were all polite and soliticitous.
I think Biden has learned from his failures and through hard experience to stand his ground. That’s what he’s doing now. Biden correctly identified the existential struggle between democracy and autocracy that is overwhelming us and he motivated this country to beat back Trump by electing him president. That was a demonstration of political acumen. Furthermore, he has proven to be a very consequential president, pushing through game-changing bi-partisan legislation. It was said that was impossible, with the divisions in this country. Math: Democrats are out numbered in Congress. Biden made that legislation happen: That was a demonstration of political acumen.
So, yes: Biden is the right one for the job. And he has earned it.
This is Biden's transcript, on ABORTION:
"Look, there’s so many young women who have been – including a young woman who just was murdered and he went to the funeral. The idea that she was murdered by – by – by an immigrant coming in and (inaudible) talk about that.
But here’s the deal, there’s a lot of young women who are being raped by their – by their in-laws, by their – by their spouses, brothers and sisters, by – just – it’s just – it’s just ridiculous. And they can do nothing about it. And they try to arrest them when they cross state lines."
And there's a lot more like this in the transcript.
I’ll point again to the piece by James Zirin - https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/4745771-biden-lacked-oomph-but-the-transcript-tells-a-different-tale/ Zirin says:
“But, reading the cold transcript, we get a very different picture of Biden. Substantively, he ably and forcefully made the case that that Trump should not be allowed back in the Oval Office.” Then Zirin proceeds to detail those comments by Biden.
Yes, there were gaffes, as I've said. Stumbles. But mostly not - there were lots of cogent remarks that were on point. Judge the whole thing in its entirety. Every one of us has brain farts at times, but those singular events don't define who we are. Every one of us gets sick. Are we going to allow this president to be human, or not? I’ve certainly gotten sick to the point I was hoarse, stuffed up and coughed so much I could hardly talk let alone think. His debate stumbles are credibly explained by exhaustion and illness. That's not even considering the fact that he was born with a severe speech impediment – a bad, bad stutter. Biden has overcome that obstacle amazingly well, although he still has to contend daily with this neurodivergence. It’s not gone or cured. He has been known as a gaffe machine (possibly a side effect of his stutter?) all his career. Yet voters have reelected him continually over 5 decades. Voters like him. Maybe they particularly like his humanity. His authenticity. His ability to get back up when he falls. His debate stumbles don't rise to the level of evidence of dementia or senility or lack of mental acuity - at all - when examined in context of all he said at the debate itself. Certainly not when considered in the fullness of his presidential record and his daily performance. In fact, that he felt so terrible and still got up on that stage and tried to perform is a mark of his determination and character. He failed to beat back the braggadocio of Trump in that moment. The moderators failed, too. They let Trump run roughshod all over them – and they weren’t even sick. By the way, Biden called in to the Morning Joe show on Monday and answered unscripted questions quite well.
I watched the whole thing live and read it after. I think I'll believe my lying eyes.
Your argument is literally blame the voters. See how that works at the ballot box. A political party blaming voters for their loses makes as much sense as a company that blames it customers for not buying their product.
If Biden stays in you gotta throw all your energy into Congress to counter the inevitable Trump landslide.
I pointed out that Biden’s actual remarks during the debate as documented in the official transcript show that he has not lost his marbles. The content of Biden’s remarks were on point, despite a few gaffes. Comments – not all, but many – here are replete with the assertion that Biden has lost it upstairs because of his debate performance: this is demonstrably false. Read. The. Transcript. Not to mention that it is disproven by the continued evident & largely successful daily execution of the most difficult job in the world. At any rate, I never blamed the general voting population for this misinformation. I don’t think most voters have fallen for this false senility trope being used to attack Biden, nor will they. There will be no Trump landslide.
You didn't "point out" anything. You made a vapid claim wholly unsupportrd by the facts.