After four years of celebrating Joe Biden as one of America’s smartest and sharpest residents, the New York Times watched one TV show and decided that the former Savior of our Democracy was too feeble-minded to run for reelection (but it is okay for him to be Commander in Chief of the world’s largest military for another six months?).
I was mostly peacefully sleeping in Portugal when the debate happened, but the kids asked to see some of it so we cued up a highlights reel for them this evening. Now I’m even more confused. Biden behaved exactly like the Democrats I know in Massachusetts, New York, and California. Given the slightest prompt, he expressed rage about Donald Trump supposedly having sex with a paid female 20 years ago, “lying”, or saying something outrageous. I’ve heard plenty of 20-to-65-year-old Democrats respond in exactly the same manner.
I’ve also poked around in a transcript of the debate and can’t find anything in the wider event that seems unusual. If anyone questions the wisdom of open borders in a cradle-to-grave welfare state at a gathering in Cambridge, MA, the Harvard graduates come back with a prepared script of anti-Trump talking points: sex with porn star, praised Nazis as “fine people”, is a convicted felon, is a racist, will end our democracy, etc. The talking points have no relevance to the policy question, e.g., whether the border should be open or whether the working class should be forced to pay back student loans for college graduates. Joe Biden stumbles over his words more than a 25-year-old Harvard graduate would, but he conveys the same scripted anti-Trump message.
I was, actually, more surprised by what I saw of Donald Trump in the video. I hadn’t seen a video of him since 2020, I think, and it was remarkable how little he’s changed. God loves Trump and is preserving him for some reason known only to Him/Her/Zir/Them?
One thing that I was pleased to see in the transcript was Biden repeating his prophecy of doom for the human race:
He had not done a damn thing with the environment. He – out of the Paris Peace Accord – Climate Accord, I immediately joined it, because if we reach for 1.5 degrees Celsius at any one point, well, there is no way back. The only existential threat to humanity is climate change. And he didn’t do a damn thing about it. He wants to undo all that I’ve done.
Humanity is on track to be wiped out, in other words, but there is no need for Democrats to rush into congestion pricing, no need to cut back on importing humans from low-carbon economies into our high-carbon economy, no reason to redirect almost all federal spending into solar cells and windmills, and no reason to lock Americans down to prevent CO2 emissions from unnecessary trips. (We had lockdowns to fight a virus with the potential to kill a small percentage of old/sick people, but we shouldn’t do anything significant about a situation in which 100 percent of humans might die, including the young and healthy.)
Separately, what if Donald Trump should win and our democracy actually does, therefore, end? Our local Palm Beach County library is preparing both Black and white patrons for the (horrifying) possibility:
He did better than I expected, but I don’t understand the feigned shock among Democrats…did they attribute his incoherence to “Russian Disinformation” all these years?
I am disappointed that he didn’t reuse this 2 year old quote about his personal cleanliness:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1veW1s24Xo
This was not shown, but here is Biden unable to leave the stage without assistance:
A lot has been said about the debate and Joe’s performance, but truthfully it wasn’t that bad, even though Joe said he had “a bad night.” He’s been such a wonderful public servant for decades, so one slightly less than perfect evening should be taken in that context. Also, Dr. Jill Biden is there too.
Given the internet’s 10 second memory, it’s hard to imagine Bide not winning. Bide is an easy way to guarantee 8 more years of democrat rule. When Bide keels over, Kamals takes over uneventfully, wins a 2nd term. Incumbent democrats are a sure thing. Trump on the other paw would spark a wave of violence from the left.
Philip — That highlight reel is not representative. It’s actually Biden at his best during the debate.
The short answer is that Biden looked like a old, feeble man who is suffering from early dementia, maybe Parkinson’s.
I suggest watching the first 10 minutes.
The noticeable things were:
– His voice was very weak.
– At various points, he had a blank, lifeless face that is common on people suffering from mental decline. I have a family member that faced Parkinson’s and Lewy Body Dementia at the end of his life, and after being properly diagnosed, the doctor said “I knew what the diagnosis was going to be as soon as I saw your face in the waiting room.” There’s a distinctive look.
– It was clear he lost of trail of thought at several points.
– He mixed up words at a far higher rate than a normal person would.
You can also talk about the points he made, but none of those points are important. All the largest problems could be seen by someone who didn’t understand any of the issues being discussed.
“early dementia”…. ummm Biden is 81 years old. How is it early?
Maybe Democrats whose only memory of a Democrat president is Obama were confused by their guy being unable to formulate perfectly grammatical utterances off-the-cuff?
No danger of that for the Trumpists.
… although Trump is getting more familiar with sentences.
Unelected people were running the country for 3 years behind this old mindless man. That all that needed to be seen
Alexr is right, it’s basically been Weekend at Bernie’s for the past three years in the White House.
It is amazing how Democrats ignored it this whole time.
Most Democrat voters that I know , what matters the most to them is intention. As long as their president and staff “have good intentions” then it doesn’t matter to them if they are being lied to, if the promises are not economically feasible, or if there is some later moral hazard created by the good intentioned laws or execute decisions taken. Hence, the student loan forgiveness, the open borders, the free healthcare to illegals, etc.. it just makes them feel good to know our government can do that. Because they want to be known as good people. This is a rich country afterall and if we just taxed the rich some more (damn the Bezos and the other rich f*ckers) it would all be paid off anyway (never mind that it you took all their wealth at once, it would only pay for one to two months of the deficit!). Regardless of their higher education, there is an ignorance of micro and macro economics.
I agree that Biden’s performance was not so bad. It was about what you would expect, if you had followed his decline.
It is strange how so many Democrats said that Biden was sharp as a tack before the debate, and then said that he had to be replaced. It all seems like a set up.
Quite odd, especially given that there is plentiful evidence at least since the summer of 2020. Though the White House strong black presslesbian did dismiss all of it as ‘cheap fakes’.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/karine-jean-pierre-doubles-down-on-videos-of-biden-being-cheap-fakes/ar-BB1oximY