The latest kerfuffle over Joe Biden's age reminds me of the power of the hack gap. Cast your thoughts back over a few recent high-profile incidents:
In 2016, liberals supported Hillary Clinton during her email difficulties, but hardly wholeheartedly. They constantly wrung their hands over her "admittedly poor judgment," "adversarial communication style," and "habit of pushing the envelope."
In 2021, liberals didn't even waffle: they just threw themselves in with gusto over the outrage about Joe Biden's "chaotic" withdrawal from Afghanistan. They might as well have been a wing of the Republican Party.
In 2022 Biden passed the biggest climate legislation in American history. Liberals applauded, but tepidly. It didn't have everything they wanted, you see. And anyway, Joe Manchin certainly wasn't about to get an ovation from them.
Today, liberals are all over the media lamenting Joe Biden's elderliness. They don't call him "President Poopy Pants," as they do on Fox, but language aside they might as well.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump says the 2020 election was stolen and conservatives are all in. House Republicans ludicrously claim that Alejandro Mayorkas has committed impeachable offenses, and conservatives are thoroughly on board. They're equally on board with the Hunter Biden jihad. And the "persecution" of Trump. And the claim that CRT is ruining our schools. And looking the other way at Trump's obvious cognitive decline.
Now, in the long run maybe it's good that liberals are publicly willing to say things even if they're politically harmful. But it's hard not to be reminded of Robert Frost's aphorism that a liberal is a man too broadminded to take his own side in a quarrel. After all, it turned out that Hillary Clinton did nothing wrong except get caught in the middle of a classification snit between State and CIA. The Afghanistan withdrawal was remarkably smooth under the circumstances. And Biden seems to be fully capable and competent even if he does look old.
Conservatives these days are willing to defend even the most lunatic theories with total devotion. Liberals, by contrast, are barely willing to wholeheartedly defend even the things where they legitimately have the better of the argument. I'm not sure where this all ends.
Biden cannot talk. He cannot defend his record with vigor, let alone go on the offensive. Talking slowly and in low volume does not count as really being able to talk.
I agree that Biden is "fully capable and competent" at... governing. That's not enough. It's not enough to win and it's not enough to bring our country together.
And your alternative that is more likely to be successful is ... ?
(And please, "Biden cannot talk?" What nonsense. Have you heard ANY of the press availabilities recently? And did you hear the Orange Guy ranting at the Gates of Mag-a-Lardo yesterday? Does that count as effective "talk"? Honestly ...)
Johnny (if not a troll) is part of the new Green Party, which elected W in 2000 and TFG in 2016.
We could win but only if we all actually care.
https://www.mattball.org/2024/02/for-you-and-all-of-us-challenge-for.html
You're making a variation of an argument that I made in 2020. I didn't think Biden could win the nomination, let alone the election. But I was wrong. He beat the pants off a large Democratic field, then took out a one-term president.
Biden in office is arguably the most productive president in my adult lifetime. I respect the man. He doesn't give rousing speeches. He's not the most articulate politician around. But he's not the worst communicator who's been president lately either. The Bushes were ordinary only on their best days. Trump is all gibberish. Biden hits a few important themes, and his experience comes through when he talks about issues. If that's not enough (and it was plenty in 2020), then the problem is not Biden but the media and the public.
The media, first and foremost .
The media responds to the public.
No it doesn't. It responds to opportunity for a news story lines that will attract attention. And in so doing it shapes public opinion. The public wouldn't care a wit about Bengasi except that Republicans made it an issue, relentlessly, and the media decided those efforts were news worthy of broadcasting because it had a whiff of scandal.
Biden manner does give the appearance of old-age diminishment, which many people might wonder about, but it was the relentlessness characterization of this as dementia by Trump and the GOP as a campaign issue (and this cynically done by people who know Biden and know damn well he's totally "with it") that got the media to make it front-page stuff because its great horserace fodder. Which, in turn, called attention to Biden's mannerisms by those who weren't tuned into it and confirmed the worst suspicions of those already wondering. Once again, the media is shaping public opinion.
This is a dumb comment. Do better.
Liberals, by contrast, are barely willing to wholeheartedly defend even the things where they legitimately have the better of the argument.
THIS, I think, at last, belatedly, I hope, is changing.
Dobbs was a shock to the system, especially to a lot of leaners-but-not-always-voters. It has made a lot of people angry.
The increasingly overt racism and other bigotry of Republicans -- some more than others, but pretty much ALL of them to a significant degree -- has likewise gained notice, and it likewise is making more people angry than were angry about it before.
The laughable dysfunction of the House is playing a part, including among "leaners" who might sympathize to some degree with the religiosity and/or the bigotry but who also care about having a government that is at least minimally functional, and if they're not angry they're at least not gruntled.
All of this is making liberals actually angry (!) AND is making others more receptive to that anger.
I'm still optimistic that it won't end in an American Reich. Not certain, but optimistic.
"It has made a lot of people angry."
Who knew women were actually people? And on top of that, who knew they were people who like having control over their own bodies, especially in being able to decide for themselves whether to receive necessary healthcare treatments that are incompatible with pregnancy? The mostly-male pundit class did not prepare us for these people's existence or the strong beliefs that they are unwilling to trade away in our political system.
Pro-choice women voted for Bush II & Trump in numbers more than sufficient to change the outcome. If people came to believe that self-identified pro-choice voters did not base their federal election votes on that issue it's because there was ample evidence that they did not.
Even post-Dobbs. The alleged mass of outraged women didn't help Tim Ryan or Democratic congressional candidates in southern California who lost D+ districts.
Have you actually watched the man? We are clearly not looking at the same person. Unless you plan is to denigrate the guy for political purposes.
It's all they got. That and TEH BORDERRRZZZ!! and the Amazing Republican Congressional Clown Show has so completely bobbled that issue that there's nobody left on their side except the stone racists, and they're always gonna vote Republican. So yeah, wanna criticize Biden, gotta go with "old," QED.
"... 'fully capable and competent' at... governing. That's not enough." ?!?!? What, his runway look can't top Blue Steel?
“you plan is”
Ungrammatical! CAbornandbred, you are clearly in the early stages of dementia!
Unfit to be President, right there! (Absent evidence of major financial fraud, of course.)
All us seniors here in CA talk like that. You get it??
Well, the last guy from California that got elected really did end up demented!
The one before him too
The reactionary centrist is engaging in hippie punching again
shocker
how has that worked out in the past for you all? well?
Centrist Dean Phillips actually got in the primary to challenge Biden, citing among many things, Biden's cognition and calling Biden "a threat to democracy"
But reactionary centrists cant resist the hippie punching
Centrist Joe Manchin has spent months threatening to run on No Labels ticket, a move that would not help BIden
But reactionary centrists cant resist the hippie punching
But sure. "liberals"
Can you make any less sense?
KD is largely talking about the centrist liberals here and the news media, no the green party hippies. All of his complaints are against mainstream folks.
Kevin,
I am so glad you said this!
O.
>> "President Poopy Pants," <<
When Republicans have a weakness they project it on to their opponents. In this case Adam Kinzinger said:
“I'm genuinely surprised how people close to Trump haven't talked about
the odor. It's truly something to behold. Wear a mask if you can”
The Lincoln Project created an ad, but mostly Democrats ruminated as to whether it was true. Republicans co-opted the insult and ran with it. They didn’t worry about “truth”.
+1eeeewweee
And meanwhile this fat psychotic has to wear an actual diaper because he has so little self-control he craps himself while in a continuing state of demented freak out,
How does he get his pants made in such a manner if not to pack in some kind of accessory in the seat?
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EnznWZkUYAE7QbS.jpg:large
But it would be vulgar to mention such a thing. And this in addition to everything else about him.
As someone famously put it, the Democrats bring a covered dish to a knife fight.
Republicans can get away with this because what they're really doing and what they're really all about is so insane they have always been able to count on serious, boring probity to discount it out of hand.
Kevin, on MAGA complaints you forgot "DEI is responsible for the Boeing door plug failure."
Yes, I have actually heard that.
I’m content with a useless president doing nothing for years. Let’s Go Joe!
Hmm, the ‘useless’ President who got legislation passed or issued executive orders for infrastructure, climate-change response, health care cost control and broadening ACA, promoting US manufacturing and sustainable energy, or the actually useless one that did nothing but sign a bill giving tax breaks mostly to the wealthy?
Yeah, but look at what happened to the stock market! And unemployment! And ... whut? They what?
When the national press show a clip of Trump on one of his rants, they limit it to a sentence, or the closest thing they can find that resembles a sentence. The word salads are cut out. When they show Biden, more often than not, it's a gaff. And Biden has always been a gaff machine--kind of his trademark, but even with that, it's clear he knows what he is talking about and he'll admit making the gaff. Trump pretends he said nothing wrong.
I was pleasantly surprised (ok also horrified, but bear with me) that CNN showed his entire, ah, remarks at the Gates of Mag-a-Lardo last night. It was mostly irrelevant, insulting, and even incoherent, but also he just wouldn't ... shut ... up. At least twice he did the "thank you" wrap-up and then kept talking! And about the same stuff, except a slightly different mix of word-salad.
It isn't just the obsessive narcissism and paranoid flashes. The guy is materially incompetent!
Centauri Emperor Turhan: How will this end?
Kosh Naranek: In fire.
Babylon 5 "The Coming of Shadows" (1995)
I have not been voting for long, an immigrant, but my take, even though I vote Democrat, is that democrats are milquetoasts. The simply don’t stand up for what they believe!
To reference an old Daily Show bit:
The Republicans are such a$$holes. And the Democrats are such pussies.
It's as true as ever.
Whereas Republicans stand up proudly for their racist beliefs and the power of lies
And let's not forget how many liberals thought it was a good joke that Al Gore invented the internet.
Liberals, by contrast, are barely willing to wholeheartedly defend even the things where they legitimately have the better of the argument.
I was thinking the same when I read the Ezra Klein piece in the Times yesterday:
All is good, you might think. Here is Klein admitting that the "Biden is too old" argument is wrong. Biden is capable and of sound mind in Klein's own estimation.
But what is the point of his essay? Is he writing to defend Biden and make the case why Biden's critics are misguided and that Biden deserves to run for another term? No. His conclusion: Biden must find a way to step down.
What an absolute idiot.
The punchline of this week's Tom the Dancing Bug comic (if there is a punchline) appears to be: this is what it looks like when liberals take their side in an argument.
https://www.gocomics.com/tomthedancingbug/2024/02/16
Agree re Clinton, Afghanistan, and climate legislation. As to Biden appearing old...
He's lucid and reasonable standing still, but movement is a problem, especially compared to Trump, who, while he talks incoherently (I'd characterize it as lazy up to now*) has reasonable posture and gait. He's either playing golf or traveling all over the country. In the last two weeks it was to Michigan, Philadelphia, New York (court), South Carolina, Nevada, South Carolina, and Washington D.C.
Not saying Biden should be barnstorming (a president hasn't time for that) but there is a stark contrast in visible energy levels. As to bemoaning the state of affairs, there is no chance for a different ticket now, so face the future with grim determination, stay quiet, and hope there are no incidents where Biden slips or gets ill.
* don't agree that he's got dementia (yet). Still in the mild wrong-item-from-a-list stage, which is excusable by most.
Trump has a normal gait? Remember the G7 where he had to ride in a golf cart rather than walk with the other leaders? He drives his golf cart onto the green when he plays because he can barely walk there either.
And have you seen Biden trotting up stairs and riding his bicycle? Trump has lots of energy for shouting and complaining. Biden though is the picture of health and vigor compared to Donnie Diapers.
Well FDR walked really funny and he did all right
At first I was happy to see that Jon Stewart was back on the Daily Show, but then I remembered what a "fair minded" both sides guy he is so often. His first bit was about how both Biden and Trump were bad candidates no one wants. Yeah nice one. Have fun speaking at the "No Labels" convention bro.
Stewart also made fun of Biden's stutter. Reminded me of someone famous who mocks the disabled.
There are no financial incentives for a center left hack culture. The path to prosperity is to be a center left "but some" contrarian who spends 95% of their time castigating Democrats and "the left" however defined.
The climate stuff in the IRA triggers moans from me, because I read that in some survey, something like 78% of "climate-concerned" progressives never even heard of it. But they got really exercised when Biden approved an oil lease for some site in Alaska -- where they probably will never drill.
Who needs policy when some artwork is waiting to have food splattered on it?
Kevin is right but it’s not a novel observation
“The best lack all conviction
While the worst are full of passionate intensity.”
WB Yeats
Here’s to hoping the center will hold
My apologies for posting same quote below. I hadn't noticed you beat me to it. The Second Coming seems so appropriate for orange Jesus.
I've been struck by the failure of Democrats to launch a ferocious attack on Special Counsel Weiss and Merrick Garland. It stands in stark contrast to Trump's massive, sustained offensive against Mueller and his "13 angry Democrats" which was so successful, many Americans came to believe the Mueller investigation was a Democratic Party operation. It stands in stark contrast to Trump's vicious assaults on Jeff Sessions, Rod Rosenstein and Bill Barr, not to mention countless judges and law enforcement officers.
In fact the most effective criticisms of Weiss are coming from Republicans, who argue with some justification that it's a bit late for him to be concluding his "very credible" informant lied to the FBI back in 2020.
But most Democrats want to believe that judges and cops and prosecutors are honorable. They go low we go high, etc. I understand Social Democrats in the Weimar Republic's dying days held similar views.
I’m reminded of the old saw that Democrats fall in love while Republicans fall in line. On the Right, the MAGA faction has clearly fallen in love, but they wouldn’t be where they are had the rest of their party not fallen in line. On the Left, the progressive wing has fallen in love (with an ideology). The rest of the party, however… is not smitten.
The US Left from the idententarian ideologues of the Progressives to the various flavours of the centre-Left rather needs to bloody well understand what their real choice structure is
A. Biden
B. Trump
that is it.
And for the love of God anyone who is not MAGA who for one moment hesitates on this bloody well needs their head examined. And needs to set aside their foolish Perfect Enemy of the Good nitpicking and agendas. Trump II will be damanging in real terms to the US for a broad range of reasons, and while the "End of Democracy" is overwrought, damage to alliances, to relations and of course to domestic political (never mind expanding your various special constiuencies rights - just imagine what 4 years of Trump administration judicial appointments will do).
"The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity"
Yeats
I'll as usual go a step further than Mr. Drum and say that much of what constitutes the psychology of the left is entitled narcissism, the kind of narcissistic arrogance that refuses to accept the reality, or even the possibility, that other people might legitimately see things differently than you do, a bubble of self-centered ego inflation that allows rejection of the necessity of effectively wielding power and force, where juvenile, self-righteous niche ‘activism’ and virtue signaling replace understanding of the big picture (i.e., politics as warfare), the actual realities of what this entails, and the willingness to accept one’s (probably diminished) role in this. The national American media, of course, are the shining exemplars.
Put another way, liberals are a bunch of selfish cowards, scared shitless of even the idea of a real fight, and rightly so. The Ketanji Brown Jackson hearings illustrated this with crystal humiliating clarity.
Project much?
I am not “replying” to Comrade Ghost, actually. I am just pointing out that they have perfectly demonstrated Kevin’s point.
In response to a post which included statements like “…it's hard not to be reminded … that a liberal is a man too broadminded to take his own side in a quarrel” and “Conservatives these days are willing to defend even the most lunatic theories with total devotion”, they completely ignore the argument and simply spew their own propaganda.
They simply reject the actual content in favor of their talking points. They pretend to engage with the topic, but instead reframe it to fit in their worldview.
Liberal pundits don’t have that skill. They tend to respond to the question at hand, instead of using it as a jumping off point for their own agenda. *That’s the hack gap. Liberals just can’t seem to get past the whole “honest engagement with the facts” thing like Comrade Ghost can.
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As a liberal, I strenuously object to how you've characterized me. Misinformation!
Also, I seem to remember you wishing we had a younger candidate to vote for in this election. However, I live in California and can afford to support Jill Stein (73 years young! And a woman!) because my vote for president doesn't count. Still, there's a reasonable chance that Biden will die in office, leaving us with a relatively young black woman as president. Good Strategy!
The logic of this post doesn't make sense to me.
Have you ever been persuaded by someone who said their leader can't make mistakes? If anything I see those people as less credible and in an echo chamber. I would hope that people opposing Trump would acknowledge that what is true and what is beneficial to the party line are not always the same thing.
We have to separate what is pleasing for ourselves to hear and what is persuasive to people who are not in our tribe.
It isn't persuasive to people that voting for Trump will save them once they know he only wanted to build the wall for his own fundraising efforts. Questioning authority is important.
In the same vein, how persuasive is it to people to say "don't worry about global warming, we got this," when they have asthma from highways? To say, "my leaders can responsibly wind down wars" when we leave military kit all over the place on the way out, and are currently extending the Gaza war over the UN objections?
You have to be honest about the shortcomings of policies with people or else you are acting like you're in a cult just like Trump's followers.