Frank Bruni, columnist for the New York Times, points out that Trump is almost as old as Biden, yet the media obsesses about Biden’s age and seldom mentions Trump’s.
Worse, Trump is incoherent. The same cannot be said of Biden, who usually speaks in complete sentences and makes sense.
Trump speaks in word salad, following his train of thought.
Bruni wrote:
To our intensifying discussion about whether President Biden has grown mentally fuzzy and too old for a second term, I’d like to add this question: How would we even notice Donald Trump’s lapse into incoherence, when derangement is essentially his brand?
Pretty much any interview he gives is a babble bonanza, and his recent lovefest with Tucker Carlson was no exception. He went on wacky tangents, including one about the wages of building the Panama Canal: “We lost 35,000 people to the mosquito. Malaria. We lost 35,000 people. We lost 35,000 people because of the mosquito. Vicious. They had to build under nets. It was one of the true great wonders of the world.”
“One of the nine wonders,” he added, then corrected himself. “No, no, it was one of the seven.” Seven, nine – he seemed unable to decide, unwilling to commit. “You could make nine wonders,” he ventured. I guess that’s some limit. Once you hit 10, they’re just curiosities. Wonder-ettes.
But was there a bevy of headlines about a brain ravaged by time? Were there notations that Trump, at 77, was already as old as Ronald Reagan at the end of his presidency, and that after another four years in the White House, Trump would be a touch older than Biden at the end of his first term and thus the oldest president ever?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Headline says Bruno
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Thank you! Fixed it.
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Frank Bruno had a couple very spirited bouts with Mike Tyson.
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I am increasingly concerned about the Biden headlines while Trump continues to be in the news everyday with his continued lies and falsehoods!
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Friendly advice: let go of the extreme partisanship and analyze issues from the perspective of an historian who is trying to be as fair-minded as is humanly possible. It has long been obvious that Trump is mentally lazy, purely a showman who is not willing to make the effort to be well-informed about serious issues. He openly admits that he makes decisions based on his “gut”, and staff who saw his work habits all said that he reads nothing more than one page memos. A professor at the University of Pennsylvania once said that Trump was the dumbest student he ever had in class, someone who was just admitted to Wharton based on the Trump family name and money.
But Trump’s extreme unfitness for public office does not change this obvious fact about Joe Biden: he has clearly declined cognitively over the last five years, a very normal event for humans as we age. He often rambles and says nonsensical things; he is frequently incoherent. He benefits from a news media that overwhelmingly supports his party and that wants at all costs for Trump not to be elected President again, so they rarely state the obvious about his cognitive condition. A frequent liberal commenter here has written that Biden appears to be in his 90s and has not aged well. I agree. You can believe that Biden has been a good President, but it is willful ignorance – or extreme partisanship – to deny the clear evidence of his serious cognitive decline. He should retire gracefully; likewise for several Senators of both parties.
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I have written here that it is my personal preference that Biden retire gracefully and allow a younger generation to lead the party in 2024. Too much is at stake to allow Trump, this vengeful, ignorant man, to capture the presidency. I fear that he will imprison his enemies.
But if it comes down to Biden v. Trump again, my choice is clear.
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H-m-m-m. The media must be treating Biden very kindly then, since I can’t say that I have noticed that Biden is frequently incoherent and nonsensical. I hear people repeating this meme frequently, but I have yet to see a catalogue of the apparently voluminous evidence supporting it. Sure, I would like a younger candidate but with Biden’s experience in government. I am not interested in some young honcho that has to “get up to speed” in office. This fumbling, old man has managed to get more done than any president in decades. Rhetoric is great, but turning goals into law is a skill too few presidents have been able to do without having the deck stacked in their favor.
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Speduktr,
I agree with you about Biden. I have not seen any evidence of him fumbling and sounding incoherent. I have seen many clips of Trump saying crazy things and exposing his ignorance.
Biden makes sense. He has many legislative accomplishments. He does not insult others. Unlike Trump, he is a decent human being. Although he has a long history as a moderate and a centrist, he has a sweeping vision that would extend the goals of FDR and LBJ to improve the lives of all people.
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I will add that I have seen Republican ads that ridicule Biden as a demented old man, including pictures of him with his eyes closed (all of us blink in public).
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“(all of us blink in public)” Remember all those rejected family photos where one person blinked at the wrong time?
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Frankly I don’t care if the President of the US is in a coma if he delivers the policy agenda I favor. The US economy is probably in better shape than almost any other country in the G20. Lower unemployment and inflation. Biden has been the most Pro Labor President since FDR. His agenda has been blocked by the Connecticut Compromise. (Its complicated ).
But with the Country being where it is at, it is remarkable what legislation he has managed to pass.
In foriegn policy he has stood up to authoritarian leaders as much as possible given the Political reality of where the country is at and the historical unwillingness of Americans to sacrifice. It took Pearl Harbor to create the “Greatest Generation”. Would Americans make the small sacrifice or tolerate 5 ,6 or 7+ dollar a gallon gas to bring the authoritarian oil states to their knees and end our dependence on oil. While moving to clean energy. They would far prefer paying far more in the future for Climate disasters and pretend there was nothing that could have been done.
Ronald Reagan may or may not have been senile while he was in office. He certainly was incoherent and making up nonsense stories. Yet his administration(!!!!!) managed to end the New Deal and move both parties to the right for 40 years. Exactly what the Right was looking for.
So if Joe Biden does nothing but appoint competent people to pursue policy I favor . He can sit in front of a TV screen all day like the last guy and I could care less. That he has not done.
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Joel, well said. You remind me of a recent flap on Twitter about the decision to relax the Senate dress code, specifically to accommodate the typical dress of Senator Fetterman (who likes to wear a hoodie, or shorts and a hoodie. I tweeted that I don’t care what they wear, but how they vote. I was surprised to get responses from people saying the reverse: how they dress matters more (to them) than how they vote.
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How Senators vote is more important than what they wear, but I think the dress code is important and Fetterman looks embarrassing.
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If voters cared about “looks embarrassing”, most Republicans would not be in office.
Fetterman’s attire is similar to “elementary schools teaching CRT and gender identity studies”.
This did not become an issue because there was a groundswell of public opinion about how Fetterman’s attire was ruining the Senate! A body that the Republicans have already ruined with their years of partisan blocking of everything – something that goes unmentioned. Just like there was no outrage about supposed CRT.
There was some right wing folks good at propaganda who made a concerted effort to convince voters that CRT and Fetterman’s dress was a huge issue, entirely for political reasons.
Because talking about the things that affect their lives might make them correctly blame the Republicans.
I loved how Fetterman said “he would “save democracy by wearing a suit on the Senate floor next week” if House Republicans “stop trying to shut our government down.”
I guarantee you that despite the faux outrage, a poll of Americans would rather see a functioning government that helped them than a bunch of folks in 3 piece suits blocking anything but legislation targeting women and gays.
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Being worried about Fetterman’s clothing at a time when Congress is as dysfunctional as it is is like worrying about how polished the brightwork is in the middle of a gale with a broken mast and a whole in the hull.
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I’ve been thinking about Schumer’s decision on the dress code. People with depression often have triggers that appear nonsensical to others. Perhaps Schumer is quietly trying to offer an accommodation for Fetterman’s disability in this way.
Maybe not, but hey, we coulda had Dr. Oz!
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Your compassion is moving, Christine. More like you!
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I think Schumer is an astute politician though not someone of great courage. There must be more to his action for Fetterman – whom the right mocks as Uncle Fester and Jeannie Pirro has called a thug and a drug dealer – than has become public.
I have two family members who’ve suffered from strokes. The first fills the stereotype – a man in his sixties who is a workaholic and whose physical activty is cheering for his football team on TV. The second, my niece’s husband, just past 40 with two young boys, is the opposite. Doctors think his stroke may be a covid sequelae. The truth is we’re each closer to becoming disabled than is comfortable to imagine.
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Insightful and compassionate, Christine! I love Fetterman and am grateful for your comments on this.
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Thank you, Bob.
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There are many Republicans far more embarrassing than Fetterman.
Yet at the same time I believe the dress code is important and that Fetterman looks disgraceful in his sweatshirt and shorts.
The ability to hold these two views simultaneously is what makes me a freaking genius.
Also, for the hundredth time, you’ve been told not to engage with me, but you cannot help yourself. Rent-free.
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Christine, I’m sympathetic to mental health issues. But if a suit makes Fetterman too sad to do his job, he should step down and let Josh Shapiro appoint a replacement.
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FLERP –
Of necessity, I’ve had to learn a lot about the group of mental health issues we commonly call depression. One component is anxiety, which can be unreasonably (to non-sufferers) paralyzing. “Too sad to do his job” is pretty dismissive, even if you don’t intend it to be. If he can be an effective Senator with a simple accommodation, why not? Teachers do this for kids all the time.
Of course, we have no idea if that’s the case, which is as it should be.
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Also, FLERP, it may be the aftermath of the stroke he suffered. It could be something as simple as handling buttons or a zipper. Not a thing to shout about from the rooftops.
I know kindness and consideration are not fashionable in this moment, but Schumer isn’t preventing anyone from dressing in a suit.
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If the Senate dress code has been suspended for Senators, it should be suspended for Senate staffers, too. Why can’t they wear sweatpants, too?
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FLERP – Isn’t what staffers wear under the purview of the member of Congress under whom they serve?
Here’s Mehdi Hasan’s comment on the topic and the faux outrage it’s generated:
https://x.com/mehdirhasan/status/1706125964550234484?s=20
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No, the dress code is Senate-wide for staffers.
https://www.axios.com/2023/09/22/senate-dress-code-democrats-now-oppose#:~:text=Between%20the%20lines%3A%20The%20new,the%20attire%20is%20all%20business.
Not a big Medhi Hasan fan.
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Could anyone compel Rep. Jim
Jordan to wear a suit jacket? I have not heard complaints about him appearing without a jacket.
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Good point, Diane.
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J Kinner, Did you watch 2023 SOTU speech, when Biden—unscripted—challenged Republicans not to cut Social Security, Medicare? On his worst day, Biden knows more than most politicians. As VP he worked with Latin American countries to reduce the number of people crossing border. He has not appointed relatives to be White House advisors/cultivate $2 billion investment + $25 million annual management fee.
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That was a great speech.
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Trump has always been incoherent, though.
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WaPo poll today has Trump ahead of Biden 51-42. Maybe it’s an outlier but the approval numbers for Biden are horrific. I have to believe his age is a big part of what’s driving that. Very concerning to say the least.
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If Trump is convicted and goes to prison, and then wins the election, can he carry out his duties behind bars?
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I don’t know, but “[w]henever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.”
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FLERP!
That may be more frightening than Trump !
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Imagine that. Kristi Noem or Margarie Tayler Greene becomes president of the United States.
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Lol (not not actually), I know.
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cx: Taylor
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If it wasn’t Biden’s age, it would be his “corruption”. Or his “uncaring”. Or his “greed”. Or his “disrespect”. Or his “wants to socialize your Medicare and have death panels”.
When will we learn that these attempts to destroy Dems only work when we give them credibility? And since it is now a commonly accepted “fact” — “even the Democrats agree” that Biden is too old — this meme is going to stick with Biden permanently. The comments on here convince me of it.
Which is the height of insanity since no one has ever come up with how this supposed dementia and decrepitude of Biden has EVER affected his performance. Has Biden made deals with some crazy dictator because of his old age? Is he advising the public to take horse pills or inject disinfectant?
Nope, Biden is doing a darn good job. And yet we help the far right amplify their propaganda, and we legitimize the mainstream media reporting on the “huge problem” of Biden’s age. Not because there is any evidence that he hasn’t been able to do the job, but because he’s just old. He’s slowing down to “only” working 10x as hard as Trump or GWB.
The far right always tries to make a huge scandal of “perceptions” regarding the Democrat candidate because the actual actions are generally above reproach. The Dems and media refused to play along when it came to Obama (the right tried so hard to make the “friends with terrorists” meme get traction but no Dems legitimized it), but the right wing has pretty much destroyed every other Democratic candidate that has lost an election to a far worse, more corrupt Republican. Because of “perception”.
Was Dukakis a card carrying liberal with no military experience? What did Dukakis actually do? He rode a tank! He looked stupid!
Was Gore a serial exaggerating liar? Was Kerry a lying coward? Was Hillary the most corrupt Democrat (either a raging Marxist or a lying, greedy neo-con, depending on which voters the propaganda was directed to)?
The right has spent years trying to make the Biden is corrupt/Hunter Biden propaganda work — starting with Trump’s extorting Ukraine to help destroy what Trump knew was the strongest candidate against him. It didn’t work. The Biden is corrupt meme has not worked, it has not become the accepted truth. Just like the “Hillary Clinton/Benghazi smears did not work”.
So the right has to come up with something else. Something that will get “the Democrats” to legitimize.
“Biden is too old” has worked.
The most outrageous thing is that both Bernie Sanders and AOC already endorsed Biden’s re-election because despite being old, HE IS DOING A VERY GOOD JOB.
And people here would rather believe the propaganda that “Biden is too old”, than believe two respected, truthful people – Bernie and AOC.
If this continues, I promise you Biden will lose. It’s a re-hash of 2016, which I got attacked constantly on here for trying to stop. The media loves nothing better than to say “even on liberal and progressive blogs, voters agree that Hillary is corrupt, greedy and a bald-faced liar”, “even on progressive blogs, voters agree that Biden is way too old”.
As if the little disclaimer at the end “but I’ll vote for the old demented, decrepit Biden if there is no one better” or “I’ll vote for the corrupt, lying Hillary if there is no one better” did not simply help the far right destroy the Dems and defeat very good candidates like Russ Feingold. Would you vote for a Democratic senator when all these Democrats and progressives were confirming that the Dems weren’t to be trusted? No wonder people hate the Dems — we tell them our own candidates aren’t to be trusted. If they aren’t corrupt greedy liars who can’t be trusted, then they are demented and mentally unsound and can’t be trusted.
Bernie Sanders and AOC do NOT think Biden is too old and they have not been running around the country amplifying the right wing narrative that voters should not trust Biden because he is too old and too demented “but if he is running against Trump, you voters should definitely join us Dems in helping a demented, untrustworthy Biden win again.”
We never learn. We would rather amplify and legitimize the right wing propaganda than repeat and amplify all the many reasons that Bernie and AOC give – which, fyi, does not EVER include the disclaimer that “we know Biden has dementia and is too old, but vote for him anyway.”
We’d rather say we don’t trust AOC and Bernie to tell the truth, we trust our own lying eyes that Biden has single handedly made terrible decisions as president that has destroyed our country, due to his demented state and old age.
I believed the same kind of propaganda about Jimmy Carter, and truly believed with every fiber of my being that he was one of the most corrupt presidents ever. Then I said fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.
But like in 2016, I expect the next year to see lots of folks amplifying as “news” the propaganda that “everything about Biden’s job performance is irrelevant because what we must talk about is that Biden is much too old and demented, but hey, we do hope that voters don’t vote for a third party candidate or Trump just because “even Dems and progressives” think Biden is too old.
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Not everything is a problem of propaganda. And as much as you may wish you could, you can’t control everything that people think. Biden is old and he appears even older than his age. People have noticed.
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But as NYCPSP said what policy decisions can anyone point to that have been influenced by old age.
I once asked a supervisor who I had worked for “how are you doing” . His response: “You know me I have no idea how to do things. I just know how to get it done. ”
Does Biden make minor gaffes. He certainly does. But he has brought expertise back to the W.H. , most of his team is very talented.
Republicans have a far easier task. They want a Government that can do nothing outside of peoples bedrooms. And that is what they deliver.
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His policies for the most part are ok so far. I assume his advisors are mostly running the show. He could be in a coma (as you noted) and his policies would for the most part be ok and definitely much better than Trump’s. If he wins again, we may test that thesis.
I would vote for Biden in any condition (coma included) if I lived in a swing state. But that’s probably not how everyone thinks. Polling is showing that a huge majority of Dem voters don’t want him to run and believe he’s too old to govern. I’m not a polling wizard but I think that’s not a good thing, and in fact I fear it’s a very bad thing. Like Diane, I wish he had stepped aside and let the party run a vigorous primary so someone closer to their cognitive prime could be the candidate.
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“People have noticed” because they have heard nothing but the “Biden is too old and demented” narrative being legitimized without questioning it.
Is speduktr too inferior to know the “truth”? does Christine Langhoff lack your brilliant insight into Biden’s dementia?
The “people have noticed” is Trump-speak for “I can’t cite any evidence but “people have noticed” that Hillary is a lying criminal.
Are Bernie Sanders and AOC not to be trusted, but do trust the “people who noticed” that Biden is unfit for office and untrustworthy?
Trump is leading among Republican voters. Flerp! is right that “people have noticed” as I am sure the people who adore Trump also “noticed” that Biden is just as demented as flerp! implies he is.
That’s an ingenious way to legitimize a lie. “People have noticed”. Trump-speak.
What I noticed is that when flerp! tried to “prove” Biden’s dementia, he/she posted an edited video of a snippet of Biden that was clearly from a right wing propagandists’ twitter feed. Out of context.
Do you deny this, flerp!?**
Flerp! did the same thing when it came to the extreme dangers of DEI ideas or CRT, linking to right wing twitter feeds with video clips of some young hapless teacher making perfectly innocuous comments that were mischaracterized as if they were dangerous. Or linking to a single page or card from a random diversity training program that supposedly supported the Republicans’ concerns that CRT was infecting public schools.
Do you deny this, flerp!?**
Instead of real evidence, propagandists get people to believe something because other people believe something and that means it is true. Instead of their own “lying” eyes. We know Biden is old, as is Trump. We also know that Biden’s job performance has been excellent.
But none of that matters because “people know” Biden has dementia.
Thank you to speduktr and Christine Langhoff for injecting a note of reason in this conversation. Thank you Bernie and AOC.
**I recently rewatched Game of Thrones and saw Lord Baelish’s comeuppance, finally after so many seasons where he seemed to be a helpful friend while he was constantly pushing false narratives that led to his “friends” suffering great harm. It’s fair to say that Baelish saved the day when he brought his troops to help Sansa regain Winterfell and defeat Ramsay Bolton. But even after that, Little Finger could not stop trying to divide two sisters by pushing false narratives – he just could not just be satisfied with the truth.
For the record, no one should be punished like Little Finger, but had Little Finger’s “frenemy” status been recognized in the first season, there would be no need for most of the remaining seasons of Game of Thrones! He seemed helpful and sometimes was, but he was also pushing false narratives that hurt the folks he purported to support. And yet people continued to trust him because “sometimes” he was helpful.
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FYI, the right wing LOVES it when people say “I don’t care if Biden is in a coma or demented, I would vote for him anyway.”
Nothing like having the so-called liberal media write 100 stories every day for the next 13 months about how “even the Dems” agree that Biden is comatose and has severe dementia, but they will vote for Biden anyway.”
Talk about doing the far right’s job for them. I can totally see Lord Baelish whispering to reporters about how so many Democrats know Biden is demented and senile.
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No, people have noticed he’s old and frail because he is old and frail.
Not everything people believe is a consequence of propaganda or messaging. And you cannot control everything that people think.
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If anyone wants to post footage from a recent Biden press conference in which he is answering adversarial questions in ways that put to rest any concerns about his age and cognitive ability, be my guest. It will be difficult because he rarely if ever is allowed to do such press conferences.
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FLERP!,
How typical. Biden must “prove” he is not senile.
I noticed you didn’t deny that you had posted out of context video to prove Biden was. But now it’s “well he hasn’t done enough press conferences for us to know whether he is totally demented or not.”
Why should Biden do a press conference when there are disingenuous right wing propagandists who will immediately take any snippet out of context to “prove” he mental state is extremely questionable and folks like you who will help them amplify it? Do you deny you posted those out of context clips in the past, flerp!?
Most of us could be edited into looking like something we aren’t. We misspeak. We make gaffes.
We also CORRECT ourselves. Biden has NEVER once doubled down on a gaffe and insisted that something that was completely false was true.
I can’t say the same about almost all Republican politicians.
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Again, if you think that the only reason that people think Biden is old and frail and have concerns about his cognitive decline is because of right-wingers’ cherry picked snippets of videos that deceptively make him look old and frail and cognitively slow, please show me a video of him at a press conference answering adversarial questions in a way that puts those concerns to rest.
Around 2/3 of Democratic voters do not want him to be the candidate and think he’s too old to govern effectively. If that doesn’t worry you, ok. It worries me, a lot.
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Linking to a Michael D. Shear article kind of proves my point!
Columbia Journalism Review
‘Unity’ does not mean ideological consensus
JANUARY 25, 2021
By JON ALLSOP
“On Thursday afternoon, twenty-eight hours after Joe Biden was sworn in as president, Michael D. Shear, a reporter at the New York Times, asked Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, a question that was more of a comment. “There’s this call for unity that the president made in his speech yesterday, but there has so far been almost no fig leaf to the Republican Party,” he said, presumably meaning “olive branch”; Biden, Shear went on, has thus far not appointed a Republican to his cabinet, prioritized executive orders “largely designed at erasing” Trump’s legacy, and put forward an immigration bill that “doesn’t do much of a nod towards border security” and a relief bill that Republicans also dislike. “Where is the actual action behind this idea of bipartisanship?” Shear asked, finally. “And when are we going to see one of those sort of substantial outreaches that says, ‘This is something that the Republicans want to do, too?’”
Check out how all Shear’s biases are evident in how he asks questions and writes articles.
From Politico:
“The New York Times is under fire again for its handling of revelations in a book by its reporters.
The paper is defending its reporters Michael Shear and Julie Hirschfeld Davis, who faced criticism on Twitter from fellow journalists and readers for appearing to wait months to report on President Donald Trump’s suggestion in a March meeting that migrants might be shot in the legs to slow them down at the southern border. The Times revealed the news this week in an excerpt to promote Shear and Davis’ book, “Border Wars,” which comes out next week.”
Michael D. Shear is the guy that tried to make it into a scandal that Biden wouldn’t comment on Trump’s indictment. I suspect Shear would have also made it into a scandal if Biden had commented on Trump’s indictment.
Next….
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Let’s just agree to disagree. I think Biden is too old for a second term and should have made way for a younger successor to emerge. If you disagree, that’s fine.
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flerp!
Thank you, let’s just agree to disagree. I think Biden should be judged on his performance. You think Biden should be judged on the fact that Biden “appears” demented and “too old” to be anything but a risky, untrustworthy president.
Readers should not trust those liars Bernie Sanders and AOC. Who clearly don’t recognize this near-senility of Biden that supposedly the vast majority of Dems have personally witnessed.
And will you continue to post links to right wing twitter feeds with edited video of Biden’s dementia? Or is the new narrative that Biden has to “prove” he isn’t demented because the default assumption is that Biden can’t do the job of president that he has been doing so remarkably well because Biden is “too old”?
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I think we have a deal!
Both FLERP and NYCPSP agreed to disagree.
Stop responding to one another’s comments now that you agree.
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In my last comment, I wrote “I think Biden is too old for a second term and should have made way for a younger successor to emerge.” I almost followed that with a sentence that described what you think. I decided that would be obnoxious, because you would surely disagree with my characterization of what you believed, so I decided not to include that sentence. 😂
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I would be shocked if an attorney advised their clients that “too old” is a completely reasonable and legitimate reason to fire someone who has been doing a competent — or a very good — job.
I assume you know that saying that someone is “too old” is grounds for a lawsuit if that’s all you have as a reason to fire someone whose job performance has been very good. “Too old” is not a substitute for just cause.
When a person is doing a very good job, and no one can cite any issues with their job performance, but an employer decides they are just “too old”, then it’s clear that they have a different agenda.
You have repeated “too old” and cited that other people believe that Biden is “too old” over and over again.
You tried to post edited video clips as “evidence” that Biden was “too old”, but they were quickly shown not to be what you characterized them as being.
So now you have decided that Biden’s responsibility to prove he isn’t “too old” — and his job performance is not allowed into evidence!
Does that actually work in court? An attorney like you insisting that the person doing a great job fired for being “too old” has the responsibility to prove his own competency in court because the fact that there was no issues with his job performance is irrelevant?
If you have free reign to cross examine any witness and carefully edit their responses, you can make a witness look like they are demented and unfit for what they are doing, as long as you say that the actual performance of that witness at their job is not allowed to be mentioned.
I am trying to imagine some attorney advising their client – an employer who just fired an employee doing a good job on the grounds that he was “too old” — that a very good evidence for the fact that the person is “too old” is that other people believe the person is “too old”, too!
We have become a nation propagandized to believe that “what other people think” is more important than facts and evidence.
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Clearly, NYCPSP, you have not watched this guy give a speech recently.
Mark my words: His presidential campaign will be conducted remotely. It will be Biden’s in the basement, mixin’ up the medicine. Why? He’s just not up to it. If you are not aware of this, NYCPSP, then a) you aren’t paying attention or b) you are blinded by ideology or c) both.
He speaks and moves like someone much older than his age.
He has been a good president. He has reached the pinnacle of his profession. Now, it is time for him to step down and allow a younger person to fill the seat. That he doesn’t do so is just ego. Not Trump-level, but egregious anyway.
During the second Reagan administration, all the cabinet members and staff knew that he was senile.
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Bob,
Link to a Biden speech that I should watch. I don’t care if someone is slowing down. Show me a speech that makes me doubt that Biden can continue to do the same very good job he has been doing.
Bob, which of these reasons do you offer up for why AOC and Bernie Sanders endorsed Biden’s re-election?
Bernie Sanders and AOC either aren’t paying attention, or are blinded by ideology or both.
Bob, I can’t help wondering which of those nasty innuendoes you will apply to Bernie and AOC to demean and attack them personally. And please don’t try to tell me they are both such dishonest politicians that they would simply mislead the American people.
I trust Bernie and AOC, not you. Sorry, Bob. You don’t just smear me, you help amplify the false narrative that even progressives like Bernie and AOC are just lying politicians not to be trusted.
I won’t place all my trust in the right wing edited video links flerp! posted, nor what someone I don’t know who constantly insults me tells me to believe.
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Bob Shepherd
First let me clarify for NYCPSP . When I said I would not care if a President was in a coma as long as he pursued the policy I wanted. That President could be 30 or 90 years old.
Now as for Biden stepping down. Incumbency usually brings more advantages than disadvantages and I am not sure that there is anyone in the Democratic Party that would draw more votes than Biden. Now I can not recall ever voting for the winner of the Democratic Presidential Primaries. Except for McGovern and we know how that worked out. You certainly would not want to see my choice running against Trump.
So if Joe goes out to pasture let him do so on January 21 2025.
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“I trust Bernie and AOC” is one of my favorite NYCPSPisms. It’s a classic, probably has been typed 50 times in the comments here. My understanding is that it rests on the assumption that nobody with proper progressive credentials would have the balls to not trust Bernie or AOC.
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People EARN trust.
Bernie and AOC have earned my trust.
The person who re-posts right wing twitter feeds that smear and demonize perfectly nice young teachers do not.
I can’t stop you from trusting the right wing twitter feeds you so often re-post here.
But I can certainly defend the people I trust. If you want to give me a reason to trust you over Bernie and AOC, then earn it.
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I don’t trust anyone.
It cracks me up how we are probably in agreement on 90% of national policy matters and you think I am a right wing devil.
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https://www.google.com/search?q=%22NYC+public+school+parent%22+%22trust+bernie%22&sca_esv=568055726&rlz=1CDGOYI_enUS1004US1004&hl=en-US&prmd=niv&sxsrf=AM9HkKmUrFlPGQJgclqhnI5xpfhPetrNMA:1695596774373&filter=0&biw=375&bih=717&dpr=3#ip=1
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Flerp! above, doing his/her usual bang up job of desperately changing the subject whenever he/she lacks any reasonable argument to contradict my points.
The subject of my post is that Bob said this about Biden:
“He’s just not up to it. If you are not aware of this, NYCPSP, then a) you aren’t paying attention or b) you are blinded by ideology or c) both.”
I CORRECTLY pointed out that two people who – like Diane Ravitch – have always been extraordinarily respectful of the truth (Bernie and AOC) endorsed Biden’s re-election, and apparently in Bob’s eyes that means neither Bernie nor AOC is paying attention, or they are “blinded by ideology” or both.
But apparently Bob is absolutely certain that the reason is not “because Bernie and AOC happen to believe Biden is as likely as any other Democrat to be as good of a president his second term as he was in his first.”
I don’t pay attention to the ins and outs of Biden’s appearances parsing them for some sign of the dementia that supposedly all reasonable and truthful people must agree Biden has.
And I trust Bernie and AOC more than the hack DC “both sides equal” reporters for the so-called liberal media.
I trust Bernie and AOC more than some person here who constantly links to misleading right wing twitter feeds that supposedly prove Biden’s dementia or demonize some hapless teacher to prove how CRT has dangerously infected public schools.
I invoke Bernie and AOC often because I notice no one even tries to make an argument about how Bernie and AOC are wrong and explain why I should distrust what Bernie and AOC say, and instead believe some random person on the internet who likes to throw out gratuitously demeaning insults at me instead of making a convincing argument citing evidence.
The question to you and Bob is why are both of you so certain you have better judgement about Biden’s competency than Bernie and AOC? If you don’t want to answer, than don’t answer, but changing the subject just reinforces how disingenuous you are.
I would certainly be interested in an explanation that doesn’t insult Bernie and AOC the way I was insulted.
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We find the defendant GUILTY of the High Crime of insulting Bernie and AOC.
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NYC
If you’re not familiar with NYT Pitchbot (available on-line), it bolsters your conclusions. Its tweets skewer the NYT’s bias against Joe Biden. One tweet posted today provides example of how the paper spins positive for Trump
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Of course AOC and Bernie Sanders are not going to admit in public that Biden is too old to continue in this job. They are prominent Democratic politicians, and he is, until he decides to retire or becomes too ill, he is still the party leader. For those reasons, they aren’t going to be straight-up about this, as a matter of discretion and to avoid hurting the party as a whole. But the fact remains that Biden can barely walk and frequently becomes confused when talking and sometimes doesn’t seem to know where he is. He appears to be extremely elderly. And this can get a lot worse very quickly.
During Ronald Reagan’s first term, I often pointed out that he would start a sentence, forget what he was talking about mid-sentence, and then finish with something entirely different. These grammatical nonsequiturs were COMMON in his speech. And people would pooh-pooh my observation and write about how competent he was.
Well, it is now known that he had severe dementia during his second term. Various people who were on his staff, including cabinet secretaries, have written about this. So has his son.
I used to run a publishing company. I was an Executive VP at another. Lots of power and authority within those fishbowls. And lots of stuff that I was juggling at any given time. I now think that, at my age, I would not be up to that job, for which I would keep the minutiae of a couple dozen ongoing projects simultaneously in mind. I don’t think that now, at my age, I would be up to that–capable of performing at that level in those ways. In many ways, I’m better than ever. I know more, for example. But I am not as quick. I have issues with short-term memory that I never had–I often forget small, recent stuff. I have to compensate with memory aids in a way I never did before. And I am a lot more fatigued, these days, than I was. I’m good for four hours or so of serious work. Then I need a rest.
THERE IS NO SHAME IN THIS. I AM OLDER.
Now, let’s compare being a VP at a major publishing house with being President of the United States. Take the pressures and responsibilities of the former and multiply them ten-thousand-fold.
I would not hire me now for those jobs that I did so well in the past. I WOULD hire me as a consultant. Experience matters. Age does, too.
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Oh, and please insert a 3,000-paragraph rebuttal here accusing me of calling Sant AOC and Saint Bernie liars because I said they exercise discretion. ROFLMAO.
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Bob, how dare you insult Bernie and AOC by suggesting that they’re candid, private views are not exactly the same as their public statements.
We find you GUILTY of failing to trust Bernie and AOC.
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Clearly, it is time for reeducation and rectification camp for me. Or a little visit to Rm. 101.
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Linda
I would be absolutely shocked to learn that the established wealth who owns mass media including the NYT , WaPo , and CNN might see some advantage in a Trump Presidency. A Presidency that would lower taxes further, eliminate regulation, crush Unions and the working class. These factors only offset by his personal flaws(ie authoritarian demagoguery) . Shocked I tell you.
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Bob says:
“Of course AOC and Bernie Sanders are not going to admit in public that Biden is too old to continue in this job. They are prominent Democratic politicians…..they aren’t going to be straight-up about this…”
And people ask why Democrats and progressives keep losing. Why average Joe and Jane not paying attention trust right wing politicians and don’t trust progressives and Dems. Because so many of us keep telling them not to trust them. When “even progressives” know that Bernie and AOC aren’t to be trusted –Bob says they are politicians who are aren’t “straight up” — why would anyone vote for them? You never hear right wing folks saying “don’t trust the Republicans”. But our side undermines even the best politicians with casual remarks like what Bob wrote.
It’s so typical that Dems and progressives get demonized for their MOTIVES. Not their positions, but the “whys”. Why do they take that position? Not for any good reason. Because they are politicians and can’t be trusted.
Why couldn’t Bob just say that he will have to agree to disagree with Bernie and AOC because he believes his own knowledge of Biden’s incompetency is superior to both of theirs? Instead, the innuendo is that Bernie and AOC agree with Bob, but are not telling the truth.
And Bob, telling me in advance not to point out the obvious in what you just did is beneath you. You couldn’t just acknowledge that your opinion of Biden’s abilities was DIFFERENT than the opinion that Bernie and AOC have. Instead your impugned their MOTIVES and implied that their opinions aren’t to be trusted.
Bob, there was absolutely no reason for them to endorse Biden SO EARLY. None. In fact, most people were shocked that AOC and prominent members of the squad would do so.
What you basically said is that AOC and Bernie would lie. Do you really think that using weasel language like Bernie and AOC “are not going to be straight-up about this” is not outrageously insulting? They aren’t just following the golden rule of “if you can’t say something nice, say nothing”. They ENDORSED Biden. When they didn’t have to. Because, according to your innuendo, they aren’t people who are straight up.
That’s right out of the right wing playbook. They are constantly impugning the motives of Diane Ravitch for her support of public schools. As if someone with a reputation for weighing evidence and looking for truth would be dishonest. Don’t trust Diane Ravitch, she supports public schools so could never be “straight up”. Believe me, that is clearly what certain education reporters seem to believe. And it has hurt the public’s view of public education tremendously because even the most trustworthy supporters are still impugned by the innuendo that they would “not be straight up” because their main priority is supporting public schools.
Dems – and Biden – suffer from the same negative perception that public school supporters suffer from. It amazes me that teachers, especially, don’t get how harmful that kind of discussion is. A dismissal of trustworthy people’s opinions by claiming that they should be ignored because they would not be “straight up” with the public anyway because their motives are not to speak the truth, but to protect something they like.
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Ah, you never disappoint, NYCPSP. It’s gotten to where I can fully predict your misreadings and distortions of everything anyone says before the torrent arrives. ROFLMAO.
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And I can’t think of a less persuasive argument than “Reagan suffered from alzheimer’s and it was covered up, so that’s good evidence that Bernie and AOC, would cover up for Biden and endorse him for re-election.
It’s a reason why a different untrustworthy White House official or politician might cover up for Biden.
It doesn’t explain why – according to you – out of the public eye Bernie and AOC are certain that Biden has no business being president but still endorsed him. If you don’t think that casual comments like that are why voters don’t trust progressives any more than they trust Dems, it is comments like that one.
It astonishes me that the one reason you have dismissed out of hand is that Bernie and AOC are being truthful. That is, according to Bob, not allowed to even be considered, because apparently he knows they both secretly agree with him about Biden not being at all suitable for the job.
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Come on. Is that all you got, NYC? Keep ’em coming! Make this one your personal best! If you try, you can refute some bizarre, twisted, distorted version of what I said straight through until Kwanza! To infinity and beyond!
This is why Democrats keep losing. All this talk by people like Bob and Flerp about endangered feces. Who wants them anyway.
BOB says that they can’t afford to buy house inshrewance in Florida.
Inshrewance. Don’t that just beat all. If it’s not one thing, it’s another. Why would you want shrews in your house, anyway?
Shoes, maybe, but not shrews.
That’s why Democrats keep losing. Maybe Bob likes feces and shrews in the house, but Bernie and AOC certainly wouldn’t!!!!
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BOB: Uh, gee, NYCPSP, I didn’t mention anything about feces or inshrewance. I spoke about species and insurance.
NYCPSP: There you go. You don’t make any actual points. Just state your opinion. Then you attack me.
BOB: Just clarifying what I did and didn’t say. And expressing my exasperation at the mischaracterization and misreading of everything I write.
NYCPSP: [insert 1,666 paragraphs of unintelligible chatter here, punctuated by references AOC and Bernie and implicit bias. LOL.
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If you will reread what I said, you will find that I said that they exercise discretion when talking about the party leader. I did not say that they were liars.
If someone holds up an ugly baby to you and says, “Isn’t he adorable?” you don’t answer, “No. I think he looks kinda scrunched up and odd, but that happens sometimes with babies. He’ll grow out of it.” No, you say, “Sure is!” IF someone gives you a birthday present you don’t like and says, disappointed, “You don’t like it, do you?” you don’t say, no, I hate it. It’s terrible. Why would you buy this for me? Instead, you say something like, “It was very thoughtful of you.” It’s a matter of hierarchy of concern. It might surprise you to learn, NYC, that everything is not black and white.
Discretion. It’s a social skill.
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Bob,
You haven’t made a single argument except “I said so”. I am disappointed in you – I thought you were better than that. And your claim that Bernie and AOC aren’t being truthful is, frankly, unsupported except for your own apparent certainty that they would not simply remain quiet if they thought Biden was mentally unfit, but they would actively endorse his re-election.
Cue Bob making another personal attack on me again. Bob, I get a kick that someone who posts so many very long comments keeps insulting me for making too many overlong comments. People in glass houses….
You keep smearing Bernie and AOC and then have the chutzpah to deny it because you seem to believe repeating over and over again that Bernie and AOC can’t be trusted because they are politicians is NOT insulting to them.
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“You haven’t made a single argument except ‘I said so’.”
False. Again, you didn’t read carefully enough and are mischaracterizing. First, I argued from watching him in public appearances and seeing him moving extremely slowly, both when he walks and when he does something as simple as raise his arm; sometimes making references that suggest that he doesn’t know exactly where he is; and making a LOT of gaffes. Second, I argued from my own experience of getting older and the difficulty that I would have now (and I’m quite a bit younger than Biden is) doing the complex and demanding jobs I used to do. Third, I argued that the presidency is even more demanding that was those jobs of mine. The point was that age is a factor. Third, I argued that elderly people are easily fatigued and cannot put in long work hours, which the presidency requires if it is done right. Fourth, I argued that in recent years Biden has avoided arduous visits and campaign touring and suggested that a reasonable explanation for this is that he isn’t up to it. The evidence is in the fact that he limits his activity. When he goes on foreign trips, he’s out and about for about three hours or less, and that’s it. Sixth, I argued that I have a pretty good sense of this. I called it correctly with Reagan, and I think I’m calling it correctly with Biden. Seventh, I argued that he has already reached the pinnacle of his career and so now can retire successful rather than suffer the inevitable further decline in public.
So, that’s seven arguments. ONE of these–the argument from my calling it correctly with regard to Reagan–might be uncharitably characterized as my saying, “I said so,” which, of course, I never presented as an argument.
This is what I mean. You misread. You don’t read or think carefully. Then you launch into a rebuttal screed based on an utter lack of understanding of what was said, and it’s almost inevitably, as a result, very like Roseanne Roseannadanna–you getting incensed about something that wasn’t said, that you misunderstood.
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It’s not an outlier, Flerp. ABC/Washington Post poll Sept 15-20 gives the general to Trump over Biden 52% to 42%. Activote poll Jun 21-Sept 19 has Trump 52%, Biden 42%. Morning Consult poll Sept 15-17 has them tied, 42 to 42%.
These are scary numbers. Trump is insane and is staring down almost a hundred indictments (and counting), but Biden still isn’t crushing it. I suspect that Biden’s people aren’t going to let him out much for fear that a major gaffe or stumble will become his Dukakis in the Tank moment.
But as it is right now, Trump could actually win against Biden.
Time for Joe to step down with honor for all he has accomplished.
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Slate.com
“On the Uselessness of Polls 19 Months Before An Election”
By David Weigel
April 20, 2011
“Whenever I see analysis of polls that gauge Barack Obama’s electability in 2012, I remember that America has gone through other presidential elections. There was an election in 1984, for example. On March 23, 1983, the New York Times ran an item about how Ronald Reagan looked for re-election.
Fun historical fact: Mondale didn’t end up beating Reagan.”
(PS, Obama also won re-election in 2012 — the 2011 article was to point out that the 2011 polls about Obama’s chances should not be taken as gospel.)
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Sure, NYCPSP. Scientific evidence means nothing.
Oh, and don’t look up.
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Biden appears neither incoherent nor incapable here, though he is obviously still brimming with emotion when he refers to his son’s death. To me, he seems at his humane best.
https://x.com/cwebbonline/status/1705766506788012246?s=20
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“I hope they now go and take a look at the oranges, the oranges of the investigation.” –Donald Trump, meeting with press after the Mueller Report was released
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But he is the orange of the investigation.
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Indeed!!!! HAAAA!!!!
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Career criminal. Money launderer. Rapist. Kidnapper (all those kids taken from parents at the border). Psychopath (He ordered his Secretary of Homeland Security to SHOOT unarmed asylum seekers). Malignant Narcissist. Russian Asset. Moron. Yeah, wouldn’t it be just peachy to have him in the Oval again?
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Yesterday, he called for General Milley’s execution and today Paul Gosar echoed that call.
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We all owe a great debt to Gen. Milley! A true patriot. A true hero. A defender of democracy. His courage to stand up against power when necessary was critical and key moments in our recent history. There should be statues to this guy, airports named after him.
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My choice of renamed airports would be Dulles.
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Reagan
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The crimes of the Dulles brothers were greater than Raygun’s, and no one calls it by its proper name anyway. It’s referred to as National or DCA.
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I guess you are speaking of Allen, Christine.
Guatemala, Iran, the Bay of Pigs, the totally bizarro MKUltra. Pretty terrible and ridiculous. He didn’t understand what my Grandma used to say, that “you catch more flies with sugar.” Just think how history could have differed if we had dealt differently in those and many other cases!!!! However, Allen Dulles was also responsible for creating much of the functional architecture of the CIA, an indispensable service. It’s a war out there (a covert one), and intelligence is important.
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All true, and his impact was squared with his brother John Foster as Secretary of State. The duo cut out any intermediaries that might have restrained them. FWIW, they were raised in quite a religious home. This review of Stephen Kinzer’s book The Brothers gives some insights.
The brothers’ Manichaean worldview proved to be a poor tool for dealing with the complexities of the postcolonial era. Leaders like Lumumba and Mossadegh might well have been open to cooperation with the United States, seeing it as a natural ally for enemies of colonialism. However, for the Dulles brothers, and for much of the American government, threats to corporate interests were categorized as support for communism. “For us,” John Foster Dulles once explained, “there are two kinds of people in the world. There are those who are Christians and support free enterprise, and there are the others.” Rejected by the United States, the new leaders turned to Moscow.
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Well argued as usual, Christine! Totally agree with you about those and many other leaders who would have been willing to work with the United States, including Castro. “Rejected by the United States, the new leaders turned to Moscow.” That’s EXACTLY what happened, again and again.
I am not talking about appeasement here. I am talking about detente and openness. Our policy of supporting authoritarian dictators for more than a century has been disastrous again and again and again. And now Trump, who never saw a Fascist he didn’t love, is leading Biden in many polls. Aie yie yie. When will we ever learn?
I so appreciate your insightful, informed posts, Christine!
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As incoherent as Traitor Trump is as he rambled for hours in front of his fascist loveing MAGA lunatics, all he has to do is repeat his BIG LIES correctly and coherently, and since they are “short,” they are easy to remember.
They cheated
Fake news
Election fraud
I am a genius
The only way I could lose is if they cheated.
The deep state
Drain the swamp
I won
They cheated
Fake news
Election fraud
I am a genius
The only way I could lose is if they cheated.
The deep state
Drain the swamp
I won
repeat…
Still, the ten word lie is probably a challenge for Traitor Trump to remember so he might scramble that one occasionally.
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Biden doesn’t look “old, frail” in the recent news clips of him bicycling.
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flerp! says he does. Case closed. If people believe Biden is old and frail because they believe what they hear and not their own lying eyes, then it is a “fact”.
Remember, this is the disingenuous nature of these attacks on Biden.
They don’t have to prove that Biden IS demented. They just have to say that Biden “looks” demented. They have to say “people believe” Biden is demented.
This demented poresident bas been one of the best presidents in recent history. But don’t believe your eyes, he LOOKS like he was an incompetent demented president, and isn’t that what matters? “People know” he is, as Trump and certain others would say.
It isn’t technically a lie if you push false narratives by saying “people think” and “Biden looks”. It’s just the kind of thing that frenemies say when they don’t have evidence to support their wanting to destroy a “friend” but can pass along that “people know” that person is xxxxx.
This is exactly what has destroyed every Dem candidate who had no scandals but who needed to be undermined as untrustworthy to voters.
Bernie Sanders and AOC refuse to play along, but so many here do.
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OMG the man is able to ride a bike at his age, and he is “mentally unfit” because he sometimes falls!
You convinced me!! Biden is demented!
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The fact that this is the best you got reveals a lot!
Remember when Gerald Ford kept falling (not even on a bike!) SNL had a heyday with it.
“Everyone knew” that meant Gerald Ford had dementia, right?
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😂 sorry, I couldn’t resist.
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Booklady. I now use a cane when I walk. I need it. Not all the time, but quite frequently–more often than not. And I bicycle almost every day. On most days, I have no issues with balance, thanks be to all the gods. Not yet. So, both can be true. One can have trouble walking and still be a cyclist.
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By the way, when was the last time that DeSantis answered questions at an “adversarial” press conference? When Trump did? When any candidate did?
I would be interested to view the many “adversarial” press conference where DeSantis “proved” he wasn’t suffering from dementia because he answered adversarial questions with such intelligence and honesty.
Feel free to post those here, anyone who believes that the indisputable evidence that Biden is dangerously old and too old to be able to do the job of president without being a huge risk to our safety. Surely every other candidate is held to the same standard in which they answered “adversarial” questions perfectly and truthfully. No gaffes allowed.
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Just thought I would let you all know that given my age, I have decided not to stand for president in 2024. I am still open to becoming King of Thailand, however.
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Anyone remember SNL making fun of Gerald Ford’s constant falling? And just walking, not on a bike!
I never heard Jimmy Carter folks trying to push the narrative that it proved Ford was suffering from dementia. But apparently he missed a golden opportunity, since falling (not on a bike) is clearly evidence of very, very serious mental incompetency.
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Yes, it was hilarious!
Although it wouldn’t be as funny if done about Biden. It would be cruel.
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no need to identify yourself as “cruel”.
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https://twitter.com/TheySaidWhuut/status/1705043179173531679/photo/1
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Donald Trump has said, “Joe Biden can’t speak clearly. He can’t think clearly.”
Republicans and their supporters, including right-wing media, have jumped on the age issue to argue, badly, that Biden is “too old” for office.
But as the NY Times reported toward the end of 2022, “experts in geriatrics say that people in their 80s who are active, engaged and have a sense of purpose can remain productive and healthy — and that wisdom and experience are important factors to consider.”
“Mr. Biden, these experts agreed, has a lot going in his favor: He is highly educated, has plenty of social interaction, a stimulating job that requires a lot of thinking, is married and has a strong family network — all factors that, studies show, are protective against dementia and conducive to healthy aging. He does not smoke or drink alcohol and, according to the White House, he exercises five times a week. He also has top-notch medical care.”
It seems that some commenters here have jumped on the right-wing bandwagon and are repeating what right-wing media have been spewing.
Meanwhile, just last week Trump claimed Biden would lead the U.S. into “World War II” and that he (Trump) beat Obama in 2016. This man does NOT look or sound well.
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“It seems that some commenters here have jumped on the right-wing bandwagon and are repeating what right-wing media have been spewing.”
Watch it — if you dare to challenge them, they start launching personal attacks about how your comments are too long.
I know my comments are too long, but did you notice how the people who spend paragraphs to tell me that my comments are too long have never offered any good evidence to support their certainty of Biden’s incompetency?
Among their arguments:
“People have noticed” that Biden’s competency is an issue.
Watch Biden speaking, his mental status is a problem (No specific references)
Ronald Reagan had alzeimer’s and it was covered up, so Biden is also incompetent.
Don’t trust Bernie and AOC just because they both gave Biden a surprisingly early endorsement for re-election. Because they are both just politicians who aren’t being “straight up” with the public.
And my favorite:
Someone here who challenged our reasonable arguments for why we are certain that Biden is incompetent (and why we are certain Bernie and AOC are not being “straight up”) writes posts that challenge our position, but they are too long, so that means all the reasons above are incontrovertible.
I don’t know why I bother. Actually I do. The infestation of right wing propaganda is dangerous, as proven by how so many otherwise reasonable people make some of the least convincing arguments to support what they are absolutely certain is true.
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I have a friend who is a Trump lover. You won’t believe the garbage that the far R is now spreading. Here are some quotes my friend emailed to me:
It is confirmed that the real Joe Biden is dead. An actor is taking his place.
Obama is not the anti Christ but he is definitely anti Christ. He is anti Christ and will be brought down. He is also a homo. Michelle is a trans.
Obama is now running the government because Biden is dead.
My brother once told me that Obama is the AntiChrist who will destroy the U.S. Obama is killing Christians and Jews in FEMA camps.
I forgot to say that my brother, to this day, believes that God controls the weather. The weather is bad because God is angry at all the sins that humans commit.
This is UNBELIEVABLE!!
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Adding to absurd info-
Louisiana Republican AG Jeff Landry (now running for Governor) chose not to do what other state AG’s did. He didn’t launch a state-run investigation into sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. He said, “as a practicing Catholic…”
Landry’s in the news this week because he hired Corey Lewandowski (Catholic high school) for his campaign. A major GOP donor, John Odom (likes Trump) is unhappy. The situation provoking Odom’s anger were charges (settled) based on the report of Odom’s wife, Trashelle, that Corey said “vile and disgusting things” to her and, he “stalked and made (her) feel violated and fearful.”
If Landry is elected, it will mean that at least 5 GOP Catholic Governors are in states promoting school choice. -good day for segregation academies – bad day for women and children.
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Carol,
I have a brother and a sister who are Trumpers, but neither is as far gone as your brother.
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omg there are smart people in your family!! God bless them, you must be the odd one out haha.
Bob insane for your brain, the people who can research and critically think have the truth.
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Another comment by our resident Trump troll. Different names, same IP address.
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I posted the same comment on a different blog. The writer, who also reads and comments on your blog, commented.
“I have two sisters, both evangelicals, who believe the same.”
This most likely means that the nonsense about God controlling the weather is coming from Baptist ministers. This type of gross fear is meant to keep people afraid of the vengeance of God.
Christian churches thrive on fear. You’ll go to hell if you don’t listen to what the priests and ministers say.
In the Catholic religion, if you use birth control, you must confess this sin to a priest. If you die before confessing, you’ll end up in hell for eternity.
[It’s all B.S. but keeping people in fear makes them return to church and put money in the basket that is passed around.]
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hahahahahaha, carol your brain hurt from the truth? Joan rivers admitted it about Michael then was killed. Obama has said Michael a few times then went back to Michelle.
Trump has more energy than all of you combined times 100. Plays tons of golf. He hold hundred of rallies with tens of thousands of people. Talk for hours, how do your idiotic brains think Trump is old, talk about Biden who cant ride a bike, cant walk up staurs, is lost, needs cheat sheet cards, cannot speak for more than 5 minutes.
Pathetic brains, yay dems yay worst admin in history of world.
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He’s back again, this time calling himself “Lost Carol.” He uses a different name every time he injects a sour note and slavishly worships Trump, but all that drivel comes from one computer.
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He’s recycling . . .
the most insane stuff from the QAnonosphere.
Totally wacko. Self parodying. In fact, those posts would be hilarious if they didn’t reflect the beliefs of some 30 percent of the populace.
Which raises a question: is there lead in the drinking water in large parts of rural American?
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cx: America
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To “back again” from NYT Pitchbot-
If Biden is unable to freeze prices in the worldwide oil market then I have no choice but to vote to end democracy in the US.
And…. I attacked Nancy Pelosi’s husband with a hammer- and, now regret it. Here’s how Democrats can appeal to voters like me.
And… Racism is an important part of my culture. So, why is the left trying to cancel it.
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Linda, it seems that Russia and Saudi Arabia have agreed that they must help Trump get re-elected. Putin wants the US to stop helping Ukraine; Trump will deliver. The Saudis have invested $2 billion in Jared’s friendship. The best way to help Trump is to keep the price of oil high.
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Linda,
I totally love NYT pitchbot. He nails how often the most inane arguments become accepted truths.
But one just has to look at the comments here to see that those “accepted truths” infect people who offer up non-arguments and believe they have presented copious evidence for amplifying propaganda.
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Agree NYC-
NYT Pitchbot also has a version dedicated to education.
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Agree, Diane.
And, I appreciate you reading the comments.
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You are right, Mr. Trumper Fan. Trump is energetic. But he is stupid and a dangerous authoritarian.
You can’t cure stupid.
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Trump has proven many times that he can’t speak in complete sentences and can’t stay on any topic. Trump is the one with a pathetic brain. [And what does it say for anyone who supports this pathological, narcissistic liar?]
Chris Hayes Exposes Trump’s Incoherence by Simply Reading His Words Aloud
JUNE 6, 2020
BY PETER WADE
PETER WADE
MSNBC’S CHRIS HAYES highlighted on his program Friday night what sometimes gets lost now that so many have grown accustomed to President Trump’s ramblings, and that is just how incoherent Trump actually is.
Hayes began, “One thing we’ve learned is that you can never actually get the full flavor of how disjointed, incoherent and incapable of the most basic responses the president is to the most pressing social questions until you actually just read the transcript.”
Hayes then quoted a recent radio interview where President Trump was a phone-in guest on a show hosted by Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade — a place that should be a soft landing spot for Trump.
Hayes explained that Trump was asked a simple, direct question about the treatment of Black people by the police.
Hayes then noted that Kilmeade “tried to coach Trump through the question” and read that portion of the interview’s transcript aloud:
Kilmeade: This is the one stat I’m going to bring you to, and I’m going to ask you if could attack this.
According to a Axios-Ipsos poll, 70 percent of white Americans say they trust the local police. Only 36 percent of African Americans do. How do you attack that problem? How do you change things?
Trump: Well I think it’s a very sad problem. As you know, as a Republican I’m doing very well with African Americans and with the vote with the — in polls and everything — especially, I mean, I haven’t seen one very recently because you had the plague come in from China.
So that changed things up, but we had the best economy ever. We had the best numbers for African-American on employment and unemployment in history. Best homeownership — best everything. We had the best numbers in everything — not only African-American, but the African-American numbers were great.
Hayes paused his reading of the transcript to note that Kilmeade recognized that Trump “had lost the plot entirely” and attempted to right the president’s course.
Kilmeade: How do you handle the law enforcement part?
Trump: Well, I think you have to get better.
Kilmeade: How do you handle the law enforcement part of this?
Trump: They have to get better than what they’ve been doing. I mean obviously that was a terrible thing. And I’ve spoken about it numerous times in various speeches. And what’s interesting is I spoke about it when we launched a very successful rocket — a tremendous program that culminated on that day and obviously it goes on from there.
But I then made a speech and it was a speech about the rocket, and I devoted 25 percent of the speech probably to what happened — or more — to what happened with respect to George — George Floyd, and it was — and then you listen to this, he doesn’t talk about George Floyd. The rocket went off, I then I made a speech, and I talked about George Floyd, but they said he didn’t talk about George Floyd…
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There may be a time when the evidence shows that Biden’s age means he is unable to do his job. The election is over a year in the future. Biden hasn’t even completed 75% of his term yet.
But at this point, there isn’t any evidence. It’s all supposition. It’s all propaganda coming from the right and given legitimacy for no good reason. Why do Dems always have to prove a negative when there is nothing but “people think” to support attacks?
In fact, if you go back you will see many of the exact same arguments made about Biden’s age before the election in 2020. Biden was “too old.”
Well, that “too old” president did a better job (in my opinion, because I like progressive policies) than Carter, Clinton or Obama.
It’s ironic that the progressives like Bernie and AOC like Biden’s job performance, and many others who supposedly support Dems can’t wait to throw him under the bus.
Of course the right wing would make Biden’s age an issue, just like they try every attack line to destroy Democrats and progressives. The only time it works is when the Dems themselves join in and legitimize their attacks. They keep trying until our side bites. Which we so often do, to our detriment.
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I agree that Biden has done a great job. Now, it is time for him to pass the torch.
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Why? Because you say so? Because “people think” he’s too old? Because you think the way he moves demonstrates he has lost it?
If Bernie and AOC don’t think Biden is too old, then I trust them more than you – mainly because they are basing their opinion on a lot more than what they saw in a news clip.
You always accuse me of putting words in your mouth or misquoting you. So every comment I make is going to follow a direct quote from you. If someone did that to me – quoted something I wrote and gave it an interpretation that was different than what I intended – I would explain why. Not simply rant at them and insult them.
“If you will reread what I said, you will find that I said that they exercise discretion when talking about the party leader. I did not say that they were liars.
If someone holds up an ugly baby to you and says, “Isn’t he adorable?” you don’t answer, “No. I think he looks kinda scrunched up and odd, but that happens sometimes with babies. He’ll grow out of it.” No, you say, “Sure is!” IF someone gives you a birthday present you don’t like and says, disappointed, “You don’t like it, do you?” you don’t say, no, I hate it. It’s terrible. Why would you buy this for me? Instead, you say something like, “It was very thoughtful of you.”
Bob, this is an unconvincing argument in which you compared two of the most honest politicians making an early endorsement of Biden’s re-election long before there was any need for them to do so with someone being asked whether an ugly baby was adorable and saying yes.
You compared two of the most honest politicians making an early endorsement of Biden’s re-election long before anyone asked with someone politely responding to a gift that you don’t like.
Help me understand your point here. Are we now disputing actual facts? I assume we both agree that my citing of Bernie and AOC was NOT because Bernie and AOC were put on the spot and asked about Biden and they wanted to be “polite” and “discrete”.
What Bernie and AOC did was to GO OUT OF THEIR WAY to make an absolutely unnecessary early endorsement for Biden’s re-election. I can’t believe you are comparing that to someone being polite about a baby or a gift and arguing that Bernie and AOC would agree with you about Biden’s incompetency but go out of their way to endorse him out of politeness. No one endorses a mentally unfit candidate to be “polite” or “discrete”, and they especially would not do that long before it was politically necessary. It defies logic. There are only two explanations: either they believe Biden is fit enough to be re-elected, or they believe Biden is as unfit as you claim, but they specifically chose to go out of their way to make a completely unnecessary early endorsement anyway. Which makes them no different than all the cowardly Republicans who support unfit Trump.
I know that Bernie and AOC would never go out of their way to endorse an unfit president when they didn’t have to. I cannot think of even one time in history – ever – when a trustworthy politician went out of their way to endorse the re-election of someone unfit because of “politeness” or “being discreet.” Do you really not see how unconvincing your argument is? It would certainly hold water if what we were discussing was Bernie and AOC being put on the spot about Biden, in which case you might have a point. But that wasn’t the case. They weren’t put on the spot. There was absolutely no pressure for them to endorse Biden that early. An upright and honest politician – which they both are – would simply remain quiet unless asked, and then say something “polite”. They would not go out of their way to endorse when they didn’t have to, UNLESS they actually believed in the endorsement.
Bernie and AOC endorsed so early for one obvious reason, and “being polite” isn’t it. The obvious reason was to discourage progressives from challenging Biden. Because they believed Biden was doing a good job and would continue to do a good job. If they hadn’t endorsed, there would have been a lot more pressure for Biden to not run again.
Another quote from you, Bob:
“I argued that elderly people are easily fatigued and cannot put in long work hours, which the presidency requires if it is done right.
I have seen a lot of presidents and no proven correlation between “works long hours” and “is a good president”.
If anything, shouldn’t the last 3 years have proven that Biden doesn’t have to work long hours to do a good job?
Some not very successful (in my view) presidents put in very long hours because they had little or no experience in how Washington works.
Biden doesn’t need that. It’s like comparing a newly minted young teacher who has to work 14 hours/day to learn how to teach, and the MOST experienced teachers who can work a fraction of the time because they already know all of that stuff — it’s practically internalized in their DNA after many decades.
Here is what I truly believe. Diane Ravitch knows 10000x more about education policy than someone just out of grad school. If that person just out of grad school with almost no experience spent 18 hours a day studying and learning about education policy, they still wouldn’t come close to knowing what Diane Ravitch knows after many, many decades.
And it doesn’t matter if Diane has forgotten some stuff because she knows how to find sources to refresh her memory! Knowledge and experience isn’t memory. It is wisdom. And Diane would be a better education policy person working 2 hours a day than some inexperienced person who worked 15 hours day. Eventually that hard-working inexperienced person would become experienced and need a lot less time, too.
But give Biden credit that he isn’t learning everything from scratch. Biden knows the White House, knows Congress better than any president, including LBJ (who also got a lot of good domestic policy done despite his foreign affairs failures).
If a school appoints a 65 year old principal who has worked 25 years as a teacher and another 15 years as a high level assistant principal, that person doesn’t need to work the same 14 hours days to be an “excellent” principal that a 28 year old principal with a couple years of teaching experience does. The very long hours that the young principal puts in doesn’t make them better. It just makes them more likely to catch up with all the knowledge the 65 year old principal working far fewer hours has.
I was going to write that having a younger version of the experienced Joe Biden would be ideal. But the truth is that I don’t think a younger but still experienced Joe Biden would be as good as today’s Joe Biden. The fact that he is old is the reason he is so good! He doesn’t care about politics anymore. He cares about trying get as much good stuff done as possible. And he has some serious knowledge about how to do it.
(Before you make a derogatory abut the length, please note that I am inserting long quotes.)
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You’re doing, great, NYCPSP. At this rate, you’ll keep it up until Kwanza for sure! I have faith in you! Let it roll!
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I’d like Biden to pass the torch. What candidate would the Democrats put in his place?
I like Marianne Williamson but she isn’t being given any air time on any major news networks. Most people have never heard of her.
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I think that most have heard of her, Carol, if only for her past participation in Democratic presidential candidate debates.
I personally like Newsom, Buttigieg, and Warnock.
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Bob, many people have heard of Marianne Williamson but how many know what she stands for?
She is very liberal. I get her thoughts on Substack. I’d say her beliefs are similar to Senator Bernie Sanders. The mainstream media doesn’t like either Bernie nor Marianne. They stand up for working people. The wealthy control the media.
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good point, Carol
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Why am I running? [for President by Marianne Williamson.]
The fundamental economic problem in the United States has less to do with how much money we spend and everything to do with what we spend it on. We spend huge amounts on things that reduce the life force of the nation: tax cuts for the wealthy, corporate subsidies, and war. Meanwhile, we withhold money from things that help people thrive, and thus create more good/produce more money themselves: health, education, and the wellbeing of our communities.
Tax cuts to the very wealthy are given under the canard that those people will then create more jobs and add to the economy. Evidence is clearly otherwise. The 2017 Tax Cut – where 83 cents of every dollar went into the hands of the wealthiest Individuals and corporations – will never pay for itself. Giving tax cuts to companies already making billions in profit did not make them invest; the money mainly went to stock buybacks and CEO stock options. When corporatists talk about reducing the deficit, they are only willing to do so on the backs of the middle class and poor. They are never willing to spend money on catching wealthy tax cheats, repealing unfair tax cuts to the very wealthy, or increasing investment in things that actually support the average person in creating more wealth.
America is in a decline because we continue to do things that decrease the wellbeing of our people — all so that a ridiculously small portion of our population can do better and better. We will not pull out of our decline until and unless we are willing to fundamentally change. We will either continue to fall – and make no mistake about it, our political status quo is a trajectory of decline – or we will consciously and proactively rise.
The problem is not one individual policy here or there. The problem is the big picture: a state of aristocracy and corporate entitlement now baked into the cake in America – the very opposite of a free democratic society in which everyone is supposed to have a fair shot. The current system makes a mockery of the very idea of “unalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
As the late Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis said, “We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can’t have both.”
That is why we need universal health care, tuition-free colleges and tech schools, free childcare, paid family leave, and guaranteed sick pay and a living wage. It is why we need an Economic Bill of Rights. It is why we need a wealth tax on those who make over $50M a year, and a tiny tax on stock transactions. It is why we need to decrease our bloated military budget, now proven to be so price gauged by defense contractors.
Please read my platform at Marianne2024.com to understand more specifically our plans to make needed changes in our country.
I am running for president to say these things. No president of the United States has been willing to talk this way for quite a while, but I will; I don’t come from the system that mitigates against it. There is no value to me in not telling it like it is. And if that means I only get one term – which it most probably will – then that’s fine, too. Give me four years, and I will start to turn this country around.
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If I may be so bold as to respond on Bob’s behalf, NYCPSP — Bob is saying that it is his opinion that Biden should pass the torch, for the reasons he has expressed in this thread. It’s quite simple and does not require that everyone agree.
To Carol — the nominee would be identified through the normal primary process. There’s no magic successor to whom a “torch” would be handed.
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flerp!,
And it is my opinion, along with Bernie Sanders and AOC’s, that there is not a more viable candidate than Biden.
There is no reason to invent specious motives for why AOC and Bernie would endorse a candidate that they believe is unfit. Just acknowledge they agree with me and we are done. The fact that you keep slinging insults and acting like a mean girl instead of acknowledging a simple truth speaks volumes. The fact that people are inventing all kinds of motives to pretend that Bernie and AOC (secretly) agree with them, instead of just saying that Bernie and AOC disagree with them speaks volumes. And you keep making fun of my citing two people whose endorsement is so significant that people have to make up the most unlikely motives for it! Yes, Bernie and AOC have a long history of playing it safe. Not hardly. They said it because they believe it.
Although if the circular firing squad keeps giving legitimacy to right wing propaganda about Biden’s dementia and unfitness for the job, then your prophecy will be self-fulfilling and by all means fight to nominate Marianne Williamson or a more viable candidate because obviously you all are far more knowledgeable than Bernie and AOC. They agree with me, not you. That’s a pretty powerful argument that my view is reasonable, but hey, they are just untrustworthy politicians who always take the safe position, right? Their long history of always taking the “safe” positions certainly supports your view. Right?
My comment in regards to polling this early isn’t posting. But polls this far before an election predicting an incumbent’s demise (or sometimes a big victory) have never been particularly accurate. See the 1983 polls predicting Mondale’s big victory Reagan the following year. See the handwriting over Obama’s re-election chances in 2011.
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NYCPSP,
Just state your own views. You don’t need to invoke Bernie and AOC.
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Diane,
I don’t need to, but the fact that AOC and Bernie both endorsed Biden’s re-election so early is a strong indication that smart people who understand politics believe the same thing I do. And the best evidence that my invoking Bernie and AOC’s endorsement is so important is that some folks here are still twisting themselves into knots to invent some reason why AOC and Bernie secretly don’t believe Biden is fit for office but just endorsed him to play it safe. Since when do those two “play it safe”?
Why not just tell Bob and flerp! to accept that when it comes to Biden’s fitness for office, AOC and Bernie’s assessment of Biden’s fitness is very different than Bob and flerp!’s? And perhaps yours.
It’s not really complicated. I’m just some random person who sees some news clips. Like everyone here. Bernie and AOC are much closer to the president and his advisors. Why wouldn’t I trust them and why am I censored from invoking their far more expert judgement when it comes to discussing whether Biden should step down? If anything, the folks inventing reasons for why Bernie and AOC don’t mean what they say are the ones who should stop.
Why not tell them to just acknowledge that their opinion of Biden’s fitness is different than Bernie’s and AOC’s, and they should move on? I have no idea why they keep theorizing that AOC and Bernie secretly agree with them about Biden’s unfitness instead of just acknowledging that Bernie and AOC agree with me, not them.
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NYCPSP,
I rely on my own judgment to reach decisions. It would be a sign of weakness if I were to write that I came to the following conclusion, and so did Bernie and AOC. They are not my lodestars. I am sure there are issues where we agree, and issues where we disagree. You really don’t need to invoke them to justify your own views.
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Boy, I hope I’m not ordered to “acknowledge that their opinion of Biden’s fitness is different than Bernie’s and AOC’s”!
I don’t care one bit what Bernie and AOC’s view is on this matter. I don’t know if they secretly agree with me or not. I don’t care if they secretly agree with me or not. My view is mine.
And arguments from authority are really bad arguments.
Such a weird thread.
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flerp!,
You wrote a long, word salad post in which you pretended that it is not an absolute fact that both Bernie and AOC publicly endorsed Biden for re-election.
It is an indisputable fact, whether you disingenuously pretend not to know. Deal with it.
Bernie and AOC have a lot more credibility than I have. And why would I care whether someone who posts links to right wing twitter feeds like you believes that Bernie and AOC’s opinions are worth considering? I already know you don’t trust them. Others here might.
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And, in fact, Sanders is clear that he does have reservations. In his endorsement speech, he said that it is no secret that he and Biden disagree on many issues but that “our job now as a progressive movement is to rally the people of this country.”
I have major reservations about the guy, but we have to rally now (because it is an election year).
Not exactly a ringing, shout it from the rooftops endorsement. LOL. More like real politics.
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What a “do it for the party even if you don’t really feel it” endorsement looks like:
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4183690-ocasio-cortez-treads-carefully-with-biden-ahead-of-2024/
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And the weirdness continues with more discussion of Bernie and AOC!
I don’t know what you’re talking about. My understanding is they’ve each endorsed Biden. That Bernie Sanders and AOC have endorsed Biden has zero impact on my view that Biden should have stepped down so that another candidate could run next year.
That’s 100% fine if you trust Bernie and AOC more than you trust me. I care about whether you trust me even less than I care what Bernie and AOC think about Biden’s age.
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Bob,
If you read the articles you linked to, you would see that their reservations are about policy differences. Not fitness to serve.
It is perfectly reasonable for you to point out that AOC endorsed Biden’s re-election even though he was not as progressive as she liked, because she thought he had the best chance of winning. AOC said that! She didn’t whisper it in secret!
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I never said that these articles dealt with the issue of fitness to serve. My suggestion was that they show that neither one has the ringing endorsement for Biden that you have suggested that they have. Until Biden decides to withdraw, he will be the nominee. And in such a situation, you circle the wagons around your candidate. That’s what politicians always do, NYC. This is not difficult to understand.
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And NYC, if you will look back to the beginning of the thread, you started this by attacking me quite ruthlessly because I said that Biden should step down and not run again due to his age. You launched into a screed and mischaracterized what I said. I defended myself. Again, you misstate the facts.
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Politicians DO endorse candidates whose views may be more progressive or less progressive than theirs. All the time. They have no problem saying so. I like Pete Buttigeig and would vote for him even if doesn’t support all the same progressive legislation I do. Bernie and AOC have no qualms about pointing out policy differences with Biden, but they still endorse him because the policy differences aren’t disqualifying, just like my policy differences with Buttigeig- which I would readily acknowledge – would not stand in the way of my supporting him.
Neither Bernie nor AOC said they had “reservations” about endorsing Biden. That was yours – or the media’s – spin on it. They publicly acknowledged policy differences.
Politicians DO endorse candidates who they secretly believe are unfit for office. But the politicians who endorse candidates who they secretly believe are unfit for office tend to be Republicans. And if they are Democrats, they are the worst kind of Democrats. Not respected ones.
You can bully and belittle me until the cows come home, but you haven’t provided one iota of evidence to support your view that in secret, Bernie and AOC believe Biden is unfit. If that was the case, they would have waited to endorse, not endorse long before they had to.
How about you just take them at their word, and acknowledge that they don’t agree with your view that Biden isn’t fit to be president?
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The Democratic Party tends to go with what it perceives to be the “safe” candidate–someone whom IT thinks of as appealing to moderates. And thus we got Hilary Clinton, who won the popular vote by a hair but lost the Electoral College, and thus we got Joe Biden instead of Bernie Sanders. Biden has, from my POV, been a better, more progressive president than I perceived him to be. And I think that the party is falling in line behind him for a second run BECAUSE SUPPORTING THE INCUMBANT IS PERCEIVED OF AS “SAFE.” But when does the party win by a landslide? When it goes out of its comfort zone and backs a candidate who galvanizes progressives, including young people and women–see the example of Barack Obama.
Some here look at the news stories about Biden’s age and see only Republican propaganda. I LIKE BIDEN, but when I watch him move or speak, I see an extremely elderly man, someone who probably isn’t a good candidate for another four-year-term. And the polling shows this. The vast majority of Americans AND OF DEMOCRATS think that he is too old, his popularity ratings are abysmal despite his great performance so far, AND he is neck and neck with The Idiot Traitor Rapist Con Man. Even against THAT GUY, the Seditionist under federal indictment almost 100 times over. Some reputable polls have Trump beating Biden by almost 10 percentage points?!?!?!!?!?
I think we need what is not the safe choice. We cannot afford to lose to Trump. The man is insane. And so, I think, the Democratic Party needs to put forward a representative of a younger generation, someone who will galvanize its progressives, especially young people. It’s going to get the middle-of-the-road folks anyway because they hate Trump.
Biden is wise and experienced. He’s probably also working three-hour days and forgetting a lot of important stuff. This can sort of work because of the enormous support staff around the president. But it isn’t working in the court of public opinion. He is viewed as very old, and NOT JUST BY REPUBLICANS. They can see for themselves that he is. And this is not good with the danger of Trump looming.
There is no shame in aging. There is shame in pretending at one isn’t aging, that everything is just hunky dory, when so much is at stake.
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I cannot believe you have the gall to smear Bernie and AOC like this!
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LOL.
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Bob, you and flerp! are like 2 mean girl bullies. Snickering together publicly making fun of someone else. Grow up! Seriously, grow up!
It’s way beneath you to join flerp! in this behavior, and I am sick of your gratuitously nasty snide comments. ENOUGH. I hope Diane Ravitch and others here will call you out.
I hope others here have the courage and credibility to call out this kind of mean girl juvenile behavior and aren’t cowed into silence. As teachers, I expect better.
And I stand by my point that Bernie and AOC have never taken “safe” positions.
It astonishes me that people here are so insecure in their positions that they just can’t accept the truth that Bernie and AOC disagree.
Deal with it Bob. Bernie and AOC have a different opinion than you.
Stop tying yourself in knots to convince us that despite all evidence to the contrary (like their actual actions and words!), Bernie and AOC agree with you but chose to endorse Biden anyway – even though there was no reason for them to do so this early – because they are playing it safe.
Geez, just admit that they have a different opinion than you do, Bob. Stop maligning them as politicians who would “play it safe” and endorse an unfit president for re-election.
And fyi, the fact that you have invented a scenario in which Bernie and AOC agree with you that Biden is unfit but would go out of their way to endorse him anyway is exactly why I cited their endorsement.
Why not just say “I have a different opinion than Bernie and AOC and I believe my opinion is superior to theirs”?
Because you can’t. They are too credible. You’d rather impugn their motives and call them “safe” politicians than just admit that your opinion is different than theirs.
I trust that Bernie and AOC knew exactly what they were doing when they endorsed Biden’s re-election. You keep trying to convince us that they are safe politicians who secretly agree with you but would endorse an unfit candidate to play it safe.
Why? Why malign them? Just admit they don’t agree with you instead of twisting yourself in knots and maligning their motives because you just can’t admit that they disagree about whether Biden should step down?
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It is absolutely outrageous how Bob has maligned Bernie and AOC.
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It’s outrageous that neither you nor Bob can just acknowledge that Bernie and AOC agree with me and not Bob! Instead, we are supposed to believe they secretly agree with Bob! There is no evidence of that except Bob’s innuendo that they secretly agree with him but are supposedly playing it safe and thus choosing to endorse Biden’s re-election so early. Sorry, it’s not very convincing, especially when talking about 2 politicians who have a long history of not “playing it safe” but instead speaking the truth.
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Yes, as AOC was saying to me just the other day, “I don’t agree with you, Bob. I think that Caruso was a better tenor than Freddy Mercury was.”
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lol who cares if someone disagrees with positions taken by Bernie and AOC? Are they saints or something? You do this “wait are you saying you don’t trust Bernie and AOC????” thing all the time. It’s really weird.
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Evidently, NYCPSP is now the official spokesperson for AOC and Bernie Sanders. She can do this because she is able to read their minds (in addition to having the superpower of being able to discern that when people explicitly say “species,” they mean “feces.” LOL.
Superpowers.
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Never fear! Superprogressive is here!
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Nope, the only thing that is “weird” is that you still can’t just admit that Bernie and AOC agree with me. Why is that so hard for you to do? Concede my point instead of insulting me because for some truly “weird” reason you can’t just acknowledge that Bernie and AOC’s endorsement of Biden’s re-election actually means that AOC and Bernie think it’s a good idea for Biden to stay in office!
It’s become truly laughable watching you and Bob do everything but actually say that Bernie and AOC have their opinion and you and Bob disagree with Bernie and AOC.
Most ridiculous is Bob trying to tell me that Bernie and AOC secretly know that Biden is unfit but are just playing it safe!
Because neither of you – for some weird reason – cannot simply accept that AOC and Bernie could actually mean what they say, if what they say does not support your view of Biden’s unfitness for office.
There are times when I haven’t had the same view point of a politician I admire. I accept that. I don’t make up cockamamie reasons about how that politician I admire actually doesn’t believe what they are saying.
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There are so many layers of weirdness here. It’s weird to think “I trust Bernie and AOC, not you.” It’s weird to think that disagreeing with “Bernie and AOC” is disqualifying in an argument. It’s weird to think it’s slanderous to say that Bernie and AOC’s public positions may not be 100% aligned with their private views. It’s weird to think that it’s mere ipse dixit to say that polls showing 2/3 of Democratic voters believe Biden is too old to govern effectively indicate that “people have noticed Biden’s age.” Just a really weird thread in general.
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Well, yes.
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Meant to type in my second sentence that “It’s weird to think that ‘I trust Bernie and AOC, not you’ is an argument.”
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Bob says: “Yes, as AOC was saying to me just the other day, “I don’t agree with you, Bob. I think that Caruso was a better tenor than Freddy Mercury was.”
I think the proper analogy is this:
“AOC was saying just the other day that Caruso was a better tenor than Freddy Mercury was, but I, Bob, know that AOC secretly, out of the public eye, agrees with me that Freddy Mercury is the better candidate. I know AOC’s private thoughts and I know that AOC is just saying that Caruso is better because she is a politician who is playing is safe, but she really agrees with me, so her public words are irrelevant.”
That’s why all the mean girl behavior is so ridiculous. AOC and Bernie don’t agree with you. So what? Just own that they have a different opinion than you. Don’t tell me that they secretly agree with you!
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Way to go! You have now matched your Let’s Ban to Kill a Mockingbird but I Didn’t Say That personal best!!! Keep it coming! Only 91 days until Kwanza! You can do it! I believe in you!
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https://tenor.com/view/socialism-bernie-sanders-boo-surprise-gif-16375181
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OK. That’s it. If I live to be 100, then I shall announce my candidacy for president on the “Socialism means free ice cream for everyone” platform.
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And I said. “OK, AOC the Pure, between us, as friends, don’t let your real opinions re: Saint Freddy Mercury get out. I mean, come on. Freddy Freaking Mercury. The best voice this side of paradise. He would sing, and stones would grow ears to listen to him.”
And she said, “That’s what I love about you, Bob. You tell me what I need to hear.”
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Bob,
More mean girl crap. I’m not playing along. I concede.
You are always right, Bob. Bernie and AOC agree with you, not me, and whatever reason you say is definitely why Bernie and AOC endorsed Biden’s re-election despite them agreeing with you.
Let’s all shout throughout the land that Biden is far too old and demented to be president and should step down. AOC and Bernie agree (in secret) that’s the very best thing for this country. To amplify that Biden is exactly the infirm, demented, “too old” candidate that the far right says he is.
Bob and flerp! are always right.
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Who cares what Bernie and AOC think? 😂
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I don’t understand why NYCPSP would find it so difficult to grok that nationally known Democratic politicians aren’t likely to denigrate the presumptive party nominee in an election year when Trump is a likely opponent, EVEN IF THEY HAVE RESERVATIONS. This is not difficult to understand. Th world is not black and white. The whole thing does, indeed, seem quite weird, but it’s such a trainwreck that I’m finding it hard to look away. LOL.
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flerp! seems to have no idea what an endorsement means.
A public endorsement is when someone believes that the people who respect and trust them and agree with their vision for the future of this country are willing to go out on a limb and say that they think a candidate should be elected or re-elected.
I don’t care what you think, flerp!. You are some unknown person with your own agenda. So am I.
I know what Bernie and AOC’s agenda is. And I support it. So when they make an endorsement, I pay attention.
I may not agree, but I never pretend that I have some special knowledge that two people whose agenda I support and whose truthfulness I respect secretly don’t believe the person they just endorsed is fit for office.
However, I would very likely reconsider my view if someone I respected and thought was a truthful person had a different opinion. I still might stick to my own opinion, but I wouldn’t pretend those folks secretly held a different opinion.
It’s really not complicated. Yours and Bob’s mean girl behavior aside, my view is perfectly reasonable.
Sometimes I have a different view than Bernie and I acknowledge that our opinions are different. I don’t pretend that Bernie secretly agrees with me because I know that Bernie is a respected person whose opinions are generally based in his long experience and facts, and I don’t like admitting my opinion is different than his.
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“Sometimes I have a different view than Bernie . . . ”
OMG you don’t trust Bernie and AOC?
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Bob says:
“nationally known Democratic politicians aren’t likely to denigrate the presumptive party nominee in an election year when Trump is a likely opponent”
Bernie isn’t a Democrat. And it is NOT an election year.
As someone who supported Ted Kennedy running against Carter, despite the very right wing Reagan as the likely opponent, I know that if “nationally known Democrats” believe that a sitting president isn’t fit, they don’t endorse him 18 months before the election. They wait.
ESPECIALLY if someone like Trump is a likely opponent and they believe there is a better candidate.
Feel free to insult me more, Bob. You seem to get such joy out of it.
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Bernie caucuses with the Democrats. You know that. I am a Social Democrat–a Socialist. But I vote Democratic.
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Correction:
It is NOT an election year.
As someone who supported Ted Kennedy running against Carter, despite the very right wing Reagan as the likely opponent, I know that if “nationally known Democrats” — and highly respected democratic socialists who caucus with the Democrats — believe that a sitting president isn’t fit, they don’t endorse him 18 months before the election. They wait.
ESPECIALLY if someone like Trump is a likely opponent and they believe there is a better candidate.
Feel free to insult me more, Bob. You seem to get such joy out of it.
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As Bernie said to me back when we were dive buddies, “Sometimes I just make shit up because I get a kick out of it.” Here, Bernie and me:
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10231734180484689&set=a.1200477179262
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Bernie and I are old buds. Here we are on a diving trip together back in 2006:
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10231734180484689&set=a.1200477179262
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cx: election season
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Bob,
I really want you to get as much joy out of this as possible.
I abjectly bow to your wisdom, recognizing that Bob Shepherd is doing the right and proper work of completely humiliating me with remarkable and unprecedented success. I am deeply, deeply ashamed and throwing myself on the mercy of the omniscient and wise Bob Shepherd.
I was absolutely wrong to even suggest that the reason Bernie Sanders and AOC made the decision to endorse Biden 18 months before the election could ever be because they believed Biden would make a perfectly good 2nd term president. How ridiculous of me to think that either of them would do such a thing! Of course their endorsement of Biden had nothing to do with what they actually believed in their heart.
I defer to your wisdom and mind-reading skills that they had another motive for publicly endorsing the re-election of a president who they know is unfit to serve due to his age. I defer to your wisdom that both of them believe that a “safe” choice is to unnecessarily endorse for re-election a “too old” president who isn’t up for the job. I defer to your wisdom that they wouldn’t simply keep quiet, but would act in a way to discourage any progressive challengers. Because you have convinced me that sounds exactly like something Bernie and AOC would do. They didn’t have to do it — they could have remained quiet. But I defer to your knowledge that the reason they both went out of their way to endorse Biden’s re-election and discourage progressive challenges had nothing to do with them actually believing that Biden was fit enough to be president, because you know their thoughts. And I now know that I should ignore what Bernie and AOC do and say, and instead ask someone much wiser than I am -Bob Shepherd – to tell me what their true thoughts really are.
Please don’t mean girl bully me anymore, Bob. If I promise to only agree with what you tell me is true, will you stop?
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It has become abundantly obvious, NYCPSP, that it’s a total waste of time to respond to your posts. Mean girl? Seriously? Aie yie yie.
J’ai fini. No more. I am instituting a new rule for myself–that I will not respond to anything you write. Ever.
Have a nice life.
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Bob, if you wanted to end this discussion, you could have done so before you wrote 20 or so posts. You could have simply responded to me and said that you respect Bernie and AOC but they have a different opinion of Biden’s fitness for office than you do.
You own motives for why you couldn’t just acknowledge that AOC and Bernie’s early endorsement of Biden is simply an honest reflection of their belief that Biden is NOT too old to serve another term is beyond my comprehension.
Maybe Bernie and AOC are wrong and you are right. But why the heck can’t you just acknowledge they wouldn’t have endorsed Biden this early if they believed he was too old? They know he’s old and slowing down, but they don’t believe he is “too old”. If they did believe Biden was “too old”, they would have waited to endorse him. Endorsing Biden early isn’t “playing it safe” if you don’t believe Biden is fit for the job! It is the stupidest thing in the world to do. And neither Bernie nor AOC is stupid.
You think Biden is too old to serve a second term and AOC and Bernie do not. They have a different assessment of Biden’s fitness for office than you do. It happens to align with mine. It doesn’t align with yours. I know this because they both went out of their way to endorse Biden’s re-election. I am not pretending to read their mind. I am telling you what common sense dictates based on THEIR words and THEIR actions and THEIR history of truth-telling and wanting what is best for this country.
Some day in the future they may change their assessment of Biden’s fitness for office. And if the time comes, I have every faith that they will withdraw their endorsement.
There is nothing controversial in anything I just wrote above. It is astonishing that you spent so much time writing snide remarks and insulting me that you can’t even see it.
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Trump now believes that he can choose for the whole country which news channels should allowed to exist. [Only ones that would survive would be ‘news’ that tell how wonderful Trump is.]
‘They are a true threat’: Trump threatens to go after NBC News if re-electedSept. 24, 2023
Donald Trump said on Sunday that he intends to thoroughly scrutinize and limit NBC News and other news agencies if he’s re-elected president in 2024.
Trump, who recently had an interview on NBC in which some people said he made accidental confessions about his federal cases, lashed out about NBC news and its affiliates
“They are almost all dishonest and corrupt, but Comcast, with its one-side and vicious coverage by NBC NEWS, and in particular MSNBC, often and correctly referred to as MSDNC (Democrat National Committee!), should be investigated for its ‘Country Threatening Treason,'” Trump wrote on Sunday…
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-2024-nbc/
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How can any of you morons talk about Trump not finishing sentences? Biden cannot speak, he has note cards, he has cheat sheets for questions, he campaigned in the basement, he has no big rallies, he falls asleep at meetings all the time!!!!!
Awwwww worried Trump is going to clap back to the people wrongfully going after him??? Get ready, because nothing can stop what is coming, hope you all move to Germany!
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If Trump is re-elected (God forbid), we won’t need to move to Germany. We will have the Fourth Reich here.
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