I was driving home from a friend’s memorial service held in Salisbury, Connecticut, and I tuned in to CNN, where I heard the live broadcast of a speech by Joe Biden. He was in Burlington, Iowa.
It was about American values, what we stand for, what our ideals are, and how Trump has betrayed those ideals and appealed to the darkest forces in our society. Trump is a propagandist and apologist for racism and White Supremacy, he said. The biggest applause line was when he said that Trump was like George Wallace, not George Washington.
He spoke of the stain of racism that runs through our history. And he spoke of the constant struggle to extend our ideals and overcome our history of slavery and racism.
He tore into Trump with passion and vigor. He described as clearly as possible why this accidental president is unfit for the office he holds, Why he is a threat to our democracy, and why he must not be re-elected.
The link from NBC.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
This accidental president. So well observed. And some accidents, ofc, are much worse than others. I have to believe that we shall learn from this horrific mistake.
Tears in my eyes watching Biden today. It’s a must view for everyone.
A great speech–stark, clear with regard to who Trump is–the vile cretin whom neo-Nazis recognize as one of their own. Thank you, Vice President Biden, for saying what so needed to be said, and for saying it so clearly, unequivocally, and eloquently. Trump used the highest office in the land as a bully pulpit to spew vitriol against immigrants, with entirely predictable, horrific consequences.
One line in Biden’s speech, in particular, struck me, and that was when he quoted Lyndon Johnson as saying that nothing equals the presidency for calling upon a person to have some moral clarity. (One wishes that Johnson had found that clarity with regard to the Vietnam War. I still hear, resounding in my ears, “Hey, hey, LBJ, how many kids did you kill today?”) There’s always that moment after the election when one hopes that the extraordinarily flawed winner will rise to the office, will meet the moral demands of the office. On rare occasions, for a brief time, this happens. Nixon goes to China. Ronald Reagan, the simple-minded, racist, extremist Cold Warrior and sufferer from senile dementia, realizes that a nuclear war isn’t winnable and would be devastating for the entire planet and commits himself to detente and to a nuclear arms limitation treaty. Moments of moral clarity.
If he becomes the Democratic candidate, Joe Biden will have my vote. But I hope that he will get some moral clarity about medicare for all. We spend DOUBLE, per capita, on healthcare, what other countries in the OECD do and have worse outcomes BECAUSE so much of our healthcare dollars is siphoned off into the obscene profits of private insurers, pharmaceutical companies, and other healthcare RICOs. We need medicare for all, national, single-payer because healthcare is a human right, and it’s not impossible to get there from here because the rest of the freaking industrialized world has figured this out.
And I hope that he will get some moral clarity about the abomination of Obama-Era education policy, which wasted and continues to waste billions on pedagogically useless standardized testing, has not improved outcomes, and has not closed achievement gaps, but has trivialized our curricula and pedagogy and stolen desperately needed money for real solutions, such as wrap-around services, to the actual underlying education problem–poverty.
And I hope that he will get some moral clarity about protecting ordinary Americans from predatory lenders and credit card companies–from the companies headquartered in Biden’s home state of Delaware that have used him as a tool in their continued quest to squeeze every last dime out of the Middle Class.
I believe that an old dog can learn new tricks, and this speech gives me hope that if elected, Biden will have his awakening and recognize that he can be the one to bring about a Social Democratic revolution in the United States so that we might at last begin, seriously, to address the gulf between our idea of ourselves and the terrible realities for millions of our citizens. The arc of history bends toward justice WHEN PEOPLE COMMIT TO DOING THE BENDING.
These are not theoretical matters. Respectfully, Mr. Vice President, these are the real, middle-class, main street issues. Millions of Americans have teeth rotting out of their mouths because they have no access to dental care. Millions have health insurance but can’t get the medical care they need because they can’t pay the deductibles and can’t afford their medication, and it’s obscene that insurance companies are making the decisions about whether people can or cannot get care. Millions of kids don’t read novels and write essays because their administrators are insisting that their English teachers do Common-Core-based test prep instead because the test is all that matters. Americans are drowning under student loan debt and credit card debt with breathtakingly high interest rates, and millions of families are desperate as a result. Recycling Romneycare/Obamacare isn’t going to fix the healthcare problem. Canada did, Denmark did, and we can, too. Show us moral clarity, Mr. Biden. Admit that you were wrong about medicare for all and standardized testing and the Common Core and charter schools and credit card rates and bankruptcy laws. Show us that you have grown.
Bob,
Totally AGREE with YOU. Thank you.
Thanks for your perspective and insights!
Somehow, however it can be done, by our laws or election, end this nightmare of an administration headed by such a vile oaf who, it seems, within the chaos and conflict he inhabits, is manipulated and molded by even viler scum.
Somehow, however it can be done, by our laws or election, end this nightmare of an administration headed by such a vile oaf who, it seems, within the chaos and conflict he inhabits, is manipulated and molded by even viler scum.
Let me explain how the above double comment happened.
https://tenor.com/view/twinning-super-hero-twin-powers-wonder-gif-6046723
Just read the text of this speech at CSPAN. So proud of Biden. Talk about rising to the occasion. I especially admire his ability to speak directly to American ideals vs facts on the ground not as hypocrisy but in terms of an ongoing struggle to realize ideals through choices and actions.
Full speech from NBC
Biden served as second in command in an administration that destroyed Libya, Honduras and Haiti, continued the destruction of Iraq and Afghanistan and stood by and allowed (and supported) the Saudi destruction of Yemen (and maybe there are other countries I’m not thinking about off-hand). The same administration that destroyed public education by making public schools fight over scraps while giving billions to charters, testing companies, consultants and ed tech suppliers. The same administration that said that collective bargaining for teachers is “problematic”. The same administration that bailed out the banks rather than the American people (after preaching on the campaign trail about taking care of “Main Street” over “Wall Street”). The same administration that sold out the public option in back-room meetings with the health insurance industry even while promoting it around the country. The same administration that droned a sixteen-year-old American citizen. The same administration that campaigned on the Employee Free Choice Act and then couldn’t even find “comfy shoes” to wear in Wisconsin.
These are American values? Why, yes, in fact they are, so maybe Biden is a perfect representative for America. Eloquent words covering heinous deeds. Or, as I hear they say in Texas, all hat and no cattle.
When are we going to stop listening to pretty words and see the destruction wrought behind them? I mean, from what I understand, Ted Bundy was a master of pretty words (fortunately never met the man) – does that somehow redeem his deeds? Obviously not. Yet Biden is responsible for far more destruction than Bundy could have imagined in his wildest dreams.
I know you all think that getting rid of Trump himself is the goal. But Trump is only a symptom of the disease. Trumpism grows in the fertile soil of neoliberalism. Until we get rid of neoliberalism and embrace true democracy and justice, we’re just going to keep getting Trumps, and the next one is likely to be far worse. I know you think that’s not possible, but Trump is far too erratic and reactive to be truly effective. There are plenty more who don’t suffer from such limitations (Pence, for instance). We cannot simply trade Trump for a return to standard-order neoliberalism and breathe a sigh of relief. It’s useless to get rid of Trump if we only get neoliberalism in return. At least Trump is obvious about what he does, which makes it far easier to counter him. Neoliberalism is so devastating precisely because it’s so subtle and can sound so appealing (“education is the civil rights issue of our time”, for instance). If I have the choice between an enemy who barrels around like a bull in a china shop vs. an enemy who moves by stealth and seduction, I’ll take the latter any day. Just because Biden is an enemy of Trump does not make him our friend.
The world is as it is. It’s hard to change any part of it for the better. But we must do what we can every day.
Job one: Rid the presidency of the malignant, illegitimate, narcissistic, greedy, bitter, ignorant, racist Trump. I’ll vote for any Democrat who wins the nomination.
Amen to that!
And Biden is a sure bet to guarantee the tRump’s second term.
Biden is not a hater.
He will not give Trump a second term.
He would restore the Paris Climate Accord.
Rebuild our frayed relationships with our allies.
Clean out all the Trump Swamp appointees from ENVIRONMENTAL Protection Agency, Education Dept, Agriculture, Labor, Justice, and every other agencies.
And Ruth Bader Ginsberg could retire.
Those things may all be true, but from an electoral standpoint I don’t see how the numbers work–not that I wish they wouldn’t in order to get rid of the tRump.
It’s going to take a massive get the votes out effort on the part of the Dems in EVERY state to defeat the tRump. Is the DNC willing to do so? I don’t know.
Dienne, here’s a reason why I will enthusiastically support Biden if he gets the nod: It seems to me that Job 1, right now, after getting rid of Jabba the Trump, is climate change and other environmental issues like the holocaust among wild creatures worldwide, mostly caused by a) rising water temperatures, b) use of neonicotinoid pesticides, and c) runoff from fertilizers. Biden would address these issues. Trump will not.
Biden has made it clear that he would immediately rejoin the Paris accord AND convene the nations of the world to develop and immediate plan to tackle climate change seriously. He understands that we don’t have time to fool around on this. Other Democratic candidates understand this as well. I believe that Mr. Biden is serious about this matter, and, in ranking our priorities, I think that this, followed by healthcare, are most important–most consequential. Biden would also work to develop international nuclear arms reductions. Another pressing issue.
Supreme Court and federal judges.
We are in a terrible position with the fascists empowered because of people who said that having Trump appoint two Supreme Court Justices and filling so many federal judgeships was unimportant.
How can progressives be successful when people calling themselves progressive are telling them that it doesn’t matter what happens in the third branch of government and if it is far right with lifetime appointments, that’s not a problem at all?
Well stated, Dienne!
Yes, why would anyone bother to vote to stop Hitler when the guy running against him wasn’t progressive enough?
Well, that is if you happen to be white yourself and the issues on which the guy running against Hitler are different are ones you don’t care very much about since they don’t affect you.
You don’t get to a progressive country by allowing fascism to take hold because the opponent of fascism isn’t progressive enough. That’s what the Germans thought. And those white Christian Germans who thought that did not pay nearly the price that the non-white non-Christian Germans paid.
If Biden wins the nomination — and I do not support him — it will very likely be because he gets the support of African-American voters in the primary. If you believe in democracy, you vote for whoever the Democratic candidate is (and that goes for Biden supporters, too).
If it doesn’t bother you that a fascist spewing hate against people who are not you takes over, then you are no different from those white Christian Germans who insisted that they were taking a principled stance to allow Hitler to win because his opponent just wasn’t progressive enough.
That is an understandable stance when the right winger has not gained unlimited power spewing hate, racism, xenophobia, and you heard him crowing that he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and his supporters would be fine with it.
Sometimes the principled stance is to be able to distinguish between true evil and compromise and conservatism. If you are repeating the nonsense that there is absolutely no difference, then you probably are not the target of the truly evil guy and the hate he has enabled.
We live in dangerous times and people forget the lessons of history.
Do you really believe there is something principled for every Biden supporter to refuse to vote for Bernie against Trump because Bernie has a stance they decide is more important than having a racist President?
That is a very dangerous idea you are promoting — that no person should ever vote for a 2nd choice in the primary against the Fascist because that would be unprincipled and wrong.
And it is just as wrong if Biden voters or Booker voters make your argument and try to bash Bernie as too dangerous to be elected and encourage people to believe that Trump is no worse than Bernie.
You lost me with your first paragraph counterfactual.
Every single evil on your list was ALSO done by right wing Republicans and they were 1,000x worse.
In what world do you say ‘well I’d rather have the party that is 10000 times worse and neo Fascist because the other guy is too corporate.”
Anyone who claims they care about those issues while completely empowering the party that does those evil to a degree that is significantly more destructive than Democrats.
There is nothing inherently “evil” about having different views of how an economy should be run. There is something evil about finding scapegoats and having them suffer because your policies hurt people and you want those who are hurt to blame someone even more vulnerable for their problems.
The Democrats don’t have scapegoats. They just don’t. And Republicans have always needed them because they want people to vote for policies that are inherently hurtful to the majority of Americans.
I’m also sick and tired of people who insist that LBJ was an evil baby murderer and he tried to kill and maim as many children as possible and this country would have been much better if Goldwater had won.
LBJ made terrible judgements in Viet Nam not because he was trying to murder as many babies as possible. He also did good things for many people in this country. Those who wish none of that would have happened and Goldwater/Nixon/Reagan would have ruled the day so that we already had long repealed Medicare and Social Security and any civil rights laws are simply wrong.
Well, I don’t think those are merely pretty words, but it isn’t terribly pretty to go back to the establishment that brought us Feducation. However, the establishment is much bigger than neoliberalism, it covers both parties and more. Still, I think it is a more vulnerable enemy to fight, many-headed as it is, because it reacts to shame and scandal to some degree. Trump is so shameless, so nominally disruptive/maverick/anti-establishment and so constantly on the attack on not only the sources, but the media and truth itself, he slips through major scandal, major violation, major overreach, etc., again and again and again. He is far more vile than the establishment as a whole.
Let’s hope one of his American ideals is support for authentic public education. Let’s hope he’ll stop charter drain, if elected.
The one positive side of the otherwise utterly disastrous IQ45 misadministration is that Agent Orange’s keepers in Moscow put a check on the ambitions for military adventurism of Trumpty Dumpty lackeys like Bolton. Some neoliberal candidates, Repugnican or Demoscat, will not have even that check upon them. NB: I am emphatically NOT saying that Trumpty’s being a Putin puppet is a good thing in general. Lord knows how much this president has compromised our security. But it seems to me that this is not a consideration that is much talked about.
I am not sure if having a “big tent” is a good thing or not. Based on the comments on this post it concerns me that we could beat ourselves up so badly that the likes of Trump and his followers take over for good. Come on folks, focus on the big fight ahead, the petty family squabbles need to be left at the door for now.
Biden gave a speech that should warn us all that the very fabric of our nation is a risk of being torn apart at the seams. He is the best choice at this point.
Thank you, Rratto.
Never let the perfect be the enemy of the good.
I don’t censor opinion.
I don’t agree with those who say that if it’s not Bernie, they won’t vote.
Bernie doesn’t agree with it either.
Biden is NOT the “best choice” — he is simply one of many choices and whether he becomes the person who runs against Trump in the general election is based on what the majority of primary voters want. That is democracy.
But Biden is a clear “best choice” when it is Trump or Biden. And Bernie is clearly the “best choice” when it is Trump or Bernie. And Corey Booker (who I really do not like) is the “best choice” when it is Trump or Booker. And Elizabeth Warren is the “best choice” when it is Trump or Warren.
I hope you agree with that as well, rratto, and if Bernie (or another candidate other than Biden) gets the majority of the votes in the primary you will come together and support him against Trump.
All Biden did this time was stay on script.
His ability to think critically is in question. He wrongly referred to the recent shootings as having taken place in Houston and Michigan. If he’s the front runner and wins, who would be running the country?
He is not an agent of change and that is what is needed to fix our broken system that’s exponentially worse due to the current president.
Warren remains at odds with Joe. Both Warren and Sanders actually FIGHT FOR WHAT THEY BELIEVE IN. Joe’s not a fighter. He doesn’t want to work that hard.
“The lobbyists on the other side of the fight remember Warren as a formidable opponent, although some of them disdained her approach. Tassey, the lobbyist who led the coalition of credit card companies and other lenders, described Warren as “extremely skilled tactically” but accused her of making whatever arguments she needed to derail the bill. “She had no interest in compromise,” said Rubin, the former House Republican staffer who later lobbied in support of the bill. “She had no interest in trying to make the bill better. She just wanted to kill it.” Warren, who didn’t respond to an interview request for this article, waged war against the bill with the same uncompromising approach she brought to the Senate and on which she is running for the White House. She fought for what she believed in, and she lost. After George W. Bush’s election, lobbyists began pushing for the bill again, so Warren wrote an article in the Harvard Women’s Law Journal castigating Biden in particular for supporting it. “Senator Biden supports legislation that will fall hardest on women, particularly on women trying to rear children on their own,” she wrote. “Why? The answer will have to come from him, if any reporter or constituent presses on this question. There is an unavoidable suspicion, however, that he supports the financial industry’s legislation because there is no political disadvantage to supporting it. Bankruptcy is sufficiently arcane, sufficiently obscure that it is possible for an otherwise respected legislator to support legislation that, over the next decade, will make it more difficult for millions of women to keep their homes, feed their children, and deal with bill collectors.”
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/03/12/biden-vs-warren-2020-democratic-primaries-bankruptcy-bill-225728?fbclid=IwAR0EqWBIOx-3AULIFq_qkve3QznYGLEce_M2U-i1GjUDy_KZO4D3D9VUiYU
Good speech…listening to it now. Thanks for the recommendation.
I, too, will vote for whoever the Dem. candidate is at the end of the day.* That having been said, I must say that, for the Dem. primaries, we are seeing a redux of 2016. Once again, Bernie is being shut out by the msm-have any of you seen him/heard what he’s had to say since Sunday (I saw him on one of the Sunday morning press shows, & he might have been on for all of 15 minutes)? I was glad to see Elizabeth Warren & Julian Castro also on the news today.
I just can’t picture Biden defeating IQ45…I’m sorry…
I can, however, see Bernie, Warren (she would eviscerate him in the debates) or Harris doing so (although she’s not my favorite, either).
& among those I just named, who is taking the most from the 1%? I’d have to reread the *Forbes article (I did cite, in the Booker post, that he’s #2), but either Harris or Biden is #3; one of them is #4 or 5, I think. So–out of the # of candidates, neither #3 or #5 is very good.