The MSM is very relieved to know that Joe Biden can read
Good enough for government work, anyway.
See this, this, this, and this.
From that last link:
And declaring that Republicans (at least those who don’t bow to Biden) are the forces of darkness being confronted by the light is not a formula for governance, but political terror.
The theme of the DNC convention that pretended to nominate Biden and the speech in which he pretended to accept is that Democrats are a unifying force and that their political opponents are the forces of darkness. That’s not an election speech. It’s an argument for a one party state…
Biden’s speech rehashed all the tired old Obama paradigms, depicting Democrats as “generous” and Republicans as “selfish”, his base as “fair” and his opponents as “privileged”, and the system, the one that allowed him to spend nearly half a century in power, as systemically racist, while somehow the old ally of segregationists isn’t racist at all.
The true message of the DNC convention, spoken and unspoken, is that it represents a cultural class that is entitled to absolute political power, because it is morally superior to everyone else. The facade of religion and of fake former Republicans was as real as the “democratic” process leading to a rigged nomination and a fake convention of videos recorded weeks if not months ago. Behind that facade is a small class of wealthy coastal donors pulling all the strings.
The Democrats are represented by a 77-year-old political hack who spent his career trading favors and traded up through a rigged nominating process, and the former squeeze of the dirtiest man in San Francisco politics who got into the Senate through a one-party election, and by the men and women pulling the strings in a process that has nothing to do with democracy.
“Biden, they insist, is a family man with real integrity. ”
Didn’t Biden have an affair with the wife of a man working his campaign and she divorced her husband to marry Joe? So for the democrats, that’s a man with real integrity.
Ray:
According to her ex, they had an affair. Biden and Jill tell a different story.
Hello. I’ve contented myself for the most part with reading various synopses of the Dem convention and Biden’s speech and so on. I did listen to a couple of minutes of the earlier part of Biden’s talk at first hand, which happened to include that bit about the party of darkness vs. that of light.
As I recall it, however, Biden was framing it as more like Trump having ‘kept the nation in darkness’, not so much the GOP in general (I can’t find the clip right now). So while I understand the revulsion at what he said there, I wouldn’t want to see too much being read into it. Some may say it’s a distinction without a difference, but I don’t agree – the specific phrasing indicated to me that while Biden obviously has no great love for the Reps in general, he seems to want to make the election be about DJT as this satanic avatar.
Which is an interesting play, in a way, since it could have a couple of effects: 1. targeting Trump’s occasionally sensitive ego, and 2. having the potential to make some set of people who have been voting Rep but somewhat half-heartedly due to being less than fully enamored of Trump start to think somewhere in their minds, well, maybe Biden has a point and I should maybe give him a bit of a chance.
If this assessment of the speechwriters’ motives is accurate, then I would note further that the latter of these points is not directed toward the NeverTrump crowd, as they’re pretty much already committed to Biden anyway, but rather to the somewhat different set of voters who aren’t clearly anti-Trump, but aren’t necessarily fully pro- either, while they may still be generally pro-Republican.
I don’t know if this analysis is more sophisticated than the speech merits. I am building it off of only one line in it, after all, though Biden may have drawn on that darkness vs. light theme in other parts that I didn’t listen to. But I think there are enough people in the Dem organization that are cunning enough to come up with some idea like this in order to try and split off a few voters from Trump by whatever means. It could be a game of inches on election day.
The convention as a whole and Biden’s acceptance speech were quite barren of platform planks. The whole thing amounted to “Orange Man bad,” and all those who support Orange Man are equally bad.
IMO, the Dems don’t want to talk much about their platform. They know it won’t play well in Peoria. They’re banking on the idea that enough undecided voters are put off by Trump’s style, that they can convince them that it isn’t only his style that is bad, but that he is actually Sauron in disguise.
Trump needs to hammer away on his plans for the next term and contrast them with the Dems platform. It would be smart to do relatively short individual speeches about increased taxes, increased business regulations, open borders, amnesty for illegals, Medicare for all, climate change and the Green New Deal, weak Dem trade policies, the Democrat failures to maintain law and order in major cities that they control, etc. By breaking the subjects down he could simplify the issues in voters’ minds and leave them with a lasting impression of how they will be adversely affected by each proposed Dem
policy. He should also have his surrogates hammer on these points as well.
J.J. (4:54 pm) suggests that Donald Trump “do relatively short individual speeches . . . .”
I cannot recall when Donald Trump *ever* delivered a relatively short speech.
Not exactly his modus operandi.
So what might a Plan B look like?
According to her ex, they had an affair. Biden and Jill tell a different story.
I think it is verifiable that Dr. Jill sought a divorce from her first husband and wanted a piece of the business he’d built. IIRC, he successfully fought her off. Just a reminder of what the domestic culture of this family has been since its inception. Hunter was just taking things to the next level.
“The true message of the DNC convention, spoken and unspoken, is that it represents a cultural class that is entitled to absolute political power, because it is morally superior to everyone else.”
THIS. The only thing to add is that it would be slightly less destructive and abhorrent if that cultural class felt a need to BE morally superior to everyone else. Aristocrats who actually behave like aristocrats have some value. What we have are “elites” who act like ignorant gutter trash.
Mike
So now Biden is the New Light Bringer? Give me a break.
Pretty much every Presidential reelection vote is a referendum on the incumbent. I don’t think it matters who he is.
My worry is that because President Trump is a “calls ’em as he sees’em” “let the chips fall where they may” leader – a HUGE plus to me – others might feel somewhat squeamish towards him.
I sure hope he is re-elected. But since before he was even nominated in 2016 the knives were out to get him, I can’t say I feel CERTAIN he will win.
Then, again, I felt that way about President Reagan – an entirely different personality type – too. The knives were out to get HIM also. Thankfully, for all Americans and the entire world, he was re-elected.
MJR: “I cannot recall when Donald Trump *ever* delivered a relatively short speech.
Not exactly his modus operandi.
So what might a Plan B look like?”
True dat. 🙂
Hmm, a Plan B. His pandemic briefings could be a template. They have usually been relatively short and on point. They always get a great deal of pushback from the MSM. So, they do generate news. His surrogates could follow up on the talk shows driving the points home. Editorials could be written for those outlets that will run them – always hammering away on the issues, never making it personal.
It will get personal during the debates. Trump has an instinct for how to handle that and that’s the place to go there. Otherwise, hammer on the issues.
I know. I would not last ten minutes as a political adviser. But I can play one on the internet. 🙂
The Democratic Party, historically rarely a force for good, has become the Party of Evil.
If Trump loses, you can kiss your sweet behind goodbye. And your kids and grandkids will rot in Democratic hell.
“– the specific phrasing indicated to me that while Biden obviously has no great love for the Reps in general, he seems to want to make the election be about DJT as this satanic avatar.” Philip Sells
I didn’t watch the DNC propaganda but IMO there’s no doubt that however Biden meant it the election is indeed about DJT the “satanic avatar” and his supporters.
J.J.,
“The whole thing amounted to “Orange Man bad,” and all those who support Orange Man are equally bad.” [my emphasis]
Bingo.
“Trump needs to hammer away on his plans for the next term and contrast them with the Dems platform. … By breaking the subjects down he could simplify the issues in voters’ minds and leave them with a lasting impression of how they will be adversely affected by each proposed Dem policy.”
Absolutely, short pithy ads. Too wordy is self-defeating. One issue per ad.
“I cannot recall when Donald Trump *ever* delivered a relatively short speech.” MJR
Trump’s preference for tweets demonstrates that speechifying is not his forte. There is a great deal of difference between a tweet, a 30 second political ad and a speech.
““The true message of the DNC convention, spoken and unspoken, is that it represents a cultural class that is entitled to absolute political power, because it is morally superior to everyone else.”” Mike
“Those the gods would destroy, they first make mad.”
“So now Biden is the New Light Bringer? Give me a break.” Lynn Hargrove
It’s the party itself that is the ‘light bringer’ and it’s their moral and cultural superiority that makes them so… gag.
“If Trump loses, you can kiss your sweet behind goodbye.” Cicero
“Nuts”.
Molon Labe.
I’m feeling more optimistic about the election and while I might be completely wrong I nonetheless feel it is going well for Trump and the Republicans. I’ll just point to the wondrous photo from the convention of Joe and Kemala set against the American flag wearing black masks with Kemala in front, but their dark suits almost merged. It has to be a consciously contrived image and it blurs the distinction between president and vice president and the choice of black masks makes the image edgy by being way too close to a burka. How could they not see that potential association and have the candidates of ‘light’ signalling their virtue by wearing white masks? Well. in the same way that Obama in his speech lionised the young rioters as leaders showing us the way, they fail to even notice their unconscious self revelation. They are so sure of themselves that they remain completely unaware when they are betraying their true sympathies. Hillary’s Deplorables remark was just the beginning. Like Comey or Judge Sullivan and all the rest – including Never Trumpers who are evidently as self righteous about it, but less floridly public. Point is I am optimistic because I think the Democrats are unconsciously doing everything they can to push people toward Trump. They have been since that magic moment when after it became clear that Hillary’s normal call for a recount in Michigan was not going to change the result and they started in begging the Electoral College voters to be unfaithful. They have continuously demonstrated that they lost any sense of the rules of the game ever since. I don’t know if anyone here has encountered YouTuber Sanity4Sweden but in this 5 minute video he puts his finger on the problem of people acting as helpless sheep and then talks about Laura Loomer winning the Republican primary in Florida’s 21st district despite being banned on all social media platforms. He then says we need more censorship and general oppression because it makes people angry and that anger motivates them to act. (Google Laura Loomer and you will be told she is a conspiracy theorist even before being told she is far right wing.) The sheeple may well elect Biden and Kamala even if they actually put on burkas but they are doing everything one could hope for to reelect Trump. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfifG4tPJHI
Neo,
Joe Biden gave a good speech. Period. It wasn’t surprising to anyone who respects the fact that human beings can function past the age of 75. Maybe it surprises you? Maybe you believe everyone over 75 should be put out to pasture? I certainly understand that we like our politicians younger but since Trump is 74 then the age factor is off the table.
You and many have floated the idea that Joe has dementia. My mother had dementia. I have known people with dementia and early dementia. I can tell you based on my experience and watching Joe Biden’s speech the other night Joe does not have dementia. [Of course, you guys also floated the idea that Hillary had Parkinson’s because she had a cough].
You have also embraced the idea that Biden will somehow not be on the ticket, which is a conspiracy theory. Biden is on the ticket and running. Sure, he is at an age that he could succumb to illness quickly – but, again, so is Trump. Your analysis is better when you focus on what Biden might or might not do as president not on your opinion about what he can and cannot do because of his age or because he is a ‘hack’ or whatever adjective fits the narrative.
Also, every politician reads for a teleprompter. Why is this unacceptable now?
That last link talks about nastiness. I read Breitbart, Red States, PJ Media et al. They are JUST as nasty, just as dismissive and just as full of conspiracy theories as left leaning sites. Maybe you don’t see it because you think the views are cogent and smart rather than snarky and blindly one-sided. It’s hard today to NOT find this on both sides. But if you stick with the facts and not the narrative that conservatives expect then you’ll see more like most Americans will. Which is exactly why we went from Obama to Trump and possibly to Biden. We’re not as divided as the left / right blogs want us to believe.
What we know is that Joe Biden can still read a teleprompter after practicing this short speech how many times? When one thinks of our leader dealing with China and those hostile to our interests, the attributes he needs do not begin with empathy and being a nice guy, qualities his presenters described ad infinitum. Given his performance in foreign policy in the past, the future with him at the helm seems frightening.
“I can tell you based on my experience and watching Joe Biden’s speech the other night Joe does not have dementia.”
as a physician of over 30 years I can tell you based on my experience and watching Joe Biden’s prerecorded and edited speech the other night with his word slurring that Joe does clearly have have dementia.
Montage:
Gee, I guess you’re the only person who has a relative who’s had dementia, and that makes you the expert. Sorry, but unfortunately most of us have had plenty of experience with it, as well, and we are at least as good judges of it as you.
Nor does one judge dementia by the ability to read from a teleprompter. If one is extremely demented, yes, but at no point have I thought Biden was anywhere near that far gone. Those people who say he has dementia are judging him on his non-scripted utterances, errors, blankness, etc., whereby his difficulties have been amply demonstrated.
What’s more, I do not think he has full dementia, but I think the evidence is clear that he is in the early stages of dementia and is somewhat cognitively challenged. I have used the term “cognitively challenged” sometimes to refer to Biden (see this for example). Time will reveal more – if we’re ever allowed to see him having to field actual difficult questions in real time, without pre-preparation.
I never though that Biden would be removed from the ticket, nor did most people here, although some did of course. But it’s not the prevailing attitude here; maybe you’re gotten the blogs you habitually troll mixed up? However, I wonder, as do many people, whether if elected he would serve out a term. And I definitely think others would really be in charge and he would mostly be a figurehead.
Nor am I at all surprised that Biden can read a prepared and very well-rehearsed speech from a teleprompter. As I said, he’s not that far gone.
Well they should like it. He gave just about the same speech at the 2008 DNC convention.
http://www.twitter.com/realPowerTie/status/1297026068696543233
…And hasn’t someone who oughta know (scholar of friend of the late President) claimed that Biden plagiarised his speech from Reagan?
Has anyone checked out that angle? Or was it all a pile on about Biden’s rep of doing so?
“Does Joe Biden have dementia?” This question is put to Dr Todd Grande whose non-expert but informed opinion is no.
But scouring through the comments, no one is convinced, often citing contrary evidence from Joe himself.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDIpfm3eQ4M
Indeed, some suggest the Dr is rationalising to comply with YouTube censors demands.
This parallel with Montage versus others is pretty plain: hard facts are cruel compared to unicorn farts.
“Those the gods would destroy, they first make mad.” – Geoffrey
The gods actually don’t need to do anything pro-active; they just quit helping people avoid going mad. In other words: they get out of the way of people digging themselves into deeper holes.
That would be The Gods of the Copy-book Headings, of course.
I liked the quip from Victory Girls:
“The bar was on the ground, and he walked over it.”
Actually, his staff probably just lifted him over it.
Here is some possible evidence that the prerecorded speech was cut-and-pasted from multiple attempts (standard operating procedure, of course, but the Dems were implicitly billing it as a genuine one-shot deal).
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/204e1918939bf3e6712d9edcd562d221430846733746d8b4e4f413be2936c80d.png
And the Tweet-quote from Jason Rantz is on the money:
Andrea Widburg at AT summarized the situation nicely:
Bonus pictures from PowerLine’s TWIP and commenters.
This is how much Biden cares – his charitable giving record depends mostly on using your tax money.
https://i0.wp.com/www.powerlineblog.com/ed-assets/2020/08/Screen-Shot-2020-08-22-at-7.58.41-PM.png?w=1172&ssl=1
The Trojan Horse Candidate
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/df87ffd6ef87002b2432c83d19a7e7c6beddd6b7d65ac6480cc3837dfc48af16.jpg
Or, if you prefer, the Puppet Candidate
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2e5edd1466b671bb4eebc831e92846387b344adabec19fa924fbe45448296722.jpg
I will embrace the power of “and” myself.