The Hur report is shocking
[NOTE: Please see my earlier post on the subject.]
Why do I say it’s shocking?
Not because it tells us anything we didn’t already know about Biden’s mental incapacity. We’ve known for years that Biden has serious cognitive difficulties. We’ve also seen them increase recently.
Nor is it shocking because Biden won’t be prosecuted. We’ve assumed that from the very start.
It’s shocking because we expected an exoneration, and this is not an exoneration. It exposes Biden’s slipshod treatment of the records, various coverups, and above all his serious cognitive challenges. Many people thought that Biden wouldn’t be running in 2024 – although I have long thought he will, for the simple reason that a substitute is hard to find. But I doubt most people thought that Hur’s report would provide a reason to jettison Biden while simultaneously announcing a decision not to prosecute. Kind of a twofer.
So, will Biden be withdrawn? I still don’t know, although I bet somebody does. This morning, before the report, I would have said I still think Biden will be the candidate. Now I’m 50/50 on it, but leaning more in the direction of his removal because I cannot imagine they would have allowed the Hur report to see the light of day without having a Biden replacement all lined up and ready to go.
And I won’t even begin to speculate on whom it might be, except to say we’ve already done a lot of that here in various comment threads.
Nor do I know whether Trump would do better or more poorly against that person. Everything seems to be up in the air.
See also this post of Ace’s:
The man Biden divulged national security secrets do is Zwonitzer [his biographer/ghostwriter]. He was mentioned in the last post.
The Special Counsel said that Biden couldn’t be prosecuted for revealing national security secrets to a complete civilian with no clearance to receive them because of Biden’s “diminished faculties.”
But that’s just the beginning of the story. …
As soon as the Special Counsel was appointed and Biden and Zwonitzer realized that he would be subpoening all the notes and records of their meetings, ZWONITZER DELETED ALL THE TAPES, thereby denying the Special Counsel evidence of what, exactly, Biden was sharing with him.
The implication, of course — impossible to miss — is that Zwonitzer deliberately engaged in spoliation — destruction — of evidence.
And why would he do that?
Another big implication is that Biden, or his lawyers, demanded that Zwonitzer destroy evidence of a crime.
It gets worse and worse, doesn’t it?
Democrats assume they can do anything without consequences, and so far they appear to be right.
Yes, it’s not a vindication of Biden, though he’ll present it that way.
If Biden is replaced on the ticket, wouldn’t it be awkward for the replacement candidate to answer why he or she followed the obviously gaga Biden for so long and supported so many of his deluded, ineffective and counterproductive policies? I suppose there are still enough Trump haters to give the Democrats a victory, but if there’s a break in the narrative it may be hard to pick it up again with the same conviction and same ability to persuade voters. If the king is forced to abdicate because everyone sees that he’s not wearing any clothes will the new king have the same trust from the subjects that the old one started out with?
Tbe head staffer kathy chung works for the dod
Opinions on Biden’s press conference at 8pm?
The Ds must be dumping him and quick in order for them to let him go on prime time and give that performance.
I’ve looked a conservative opinions on that press conference and they think it’s devastating for Biden. On the other hand, some leftists say he was “forceful” and “effective.”
To say angrily that his memory is just fine and then call el Sisi the president of Mexico is damaging.
“I cannot imagine they would have allowed the Hur report to see the light of day without having a Biden replacement all lined up and ready to go.”
This really is the salient point. A report this damning would have been supressed until after the election if there wasn’t a contingency plan in place (or close to being in place) with powerful people ready (possibly eager) to invoke it.
He will certainly not resign nor will the 25th amendment be invoked. But he’s going be withdrawn from the ticket; the question is, when? Earlier I said at the end of the primary season or at the convention. I stand by that opinion because I think Democrats want to wait until the GOP is bound to Trump. But…it’s possible the switch will happen much sooner.
I agree that it is now much more likely that Biden will be replaced. The forces in the Justice Department and intelligence agencies who want Biden gone have showed their hand. I still think that there are pro-Biden forces led by Dr. Jill) that will fight his removal but if their idea of a good defense is having Joe answer questions from an increasingly hostile press, they will lose.
This is all outrageous and disgusting. From the sound of it he would fail the basic cognitive test “Who is the President of the United States?”
I saw a post over at powerline with several excerpts from the report. This passage “It would be difficult to convince a jury they should convict him, by then a former president who will be at least well into his eighties–of a serious felony that requires a mental state of willfulness.” – while I like the use of “former” as that implies he doesn’t get re-elected – is fatally flawed because the crime took place in early 2017, at the latest (I have read earlier as he had classified materials from when he was a Senator) so what was his mental state seven years ago? As if any of our “mental states” would matter to the DOJ should we be investigated for a crime.
Well, Mrs. O is in the wings.
I have now watched the press conference. I wanted to withdraw for a couple hours and try to shed as much of my background knowledge and biases as I could. I was a very partisan Democrat until age 30 and I strived to channel that young man’s perspective
Though the press conference is embarrassing and absurd at times, there is nothing I saw which partisan Democrats (like myself at 30) couldn’t spin and rationalize. I rationalized Bill Clinton’s actions until I was blue in the face…and I passionately believed all of my own BS. So, I don’t think the content of the press conference will be too significant in the long run.
Here’s what is significant: There was an impromptu press conference. This is the White House, which a week ago declined a Presidential interview during the Super Bowl. What President declines an opportunity…in an election year where he is consistently trailing in the polls…to be interviewed before millions of people, with a relatively friendly interlocutor lobbing at most moderately softball questions? This one! Because his handlers don’t want to take that risk.
And yet…they did call an impromptu press conference with a gaggle of reporters, some of whom seemed to (kind of) be doing their jobs. Why? Because they knew the Hur Report is so devastating they needed Slo Joe to respond live and in person, risks be damned.
That shows you that an earthquake has occurred.
It might take until the convention…we’ll see. But Brandon’s days are definitely numbered.
It’s exactly like Comey’s treatment of HIllary — “no reasonable prosecutor would bring charges.” And Hillary continued blithely on her way.
Biden to address the country tomorrow evening.
This could be it.
If it is, forget everything I said.
This entire administration has been CRIMINAL since Day One.
Since before Day One, actually.
Which is why it’s been coverup after coverup after coverup ad infinitum, and lie after lie after lie.
So what will be different this time…?
IOW, if the emperor has NOT been perceived as totally BUTT NEKKID up until now then why should that change?
Really? Ya think?
(Keeping in mind that we have Dr. J’s whole-hearted—and most professional—assurances WRT to his competence…plus the Media will quickly regroup and circle the wagons, no doubly claiming with the shrillness they so love that it’s all Trump’s fault…with his ickiness and awful orange jujube…)
Funny thing about this whole “latest” episode is that as far as I can tell, the Republicans have been too shocked to even “POUNCE”!
(Maybe they’ll recover, though…)
SHIREHOME @ 10:53: what you said. Probably the big reveal comes at DNC convention, when things look darkest. She’ll graciously accept —finally feeling pride in this country!— and then let slip the dogs of DEI. Racists beware.
One might compare and contrast the performances of Biden and Putin in their most recent interviews. One might come away with certain… impressions about the mental states of the two men that reflect poorly on Biden. To think that the United States is allegedly in the hands of Joe Biden is to comprehend the utter state of ruin in which it finds itself. Thank goodness there is a lot of ruin in a country. Or so I hope.
Kate – How many Americans are able to spot the Sisi/Mexico thing if the press doesn’t tell them?
On the other hand, to Abraxas’s point about the speech tonight, the cleanest way for Democrats to handle Joe’s departure at this point is for him to resign now. Then Kamala is the president and the nominee. At this point, her chances in November are probably marginally better than Joe’s. Has anyone polled Trump v. Harris recently? Maybe they should.
Related:
“The Invasion Democrats Created and America Can’t Unsee”—
https://johnkassnews.com/the-invasion-america-wont-forget/
H/T Powerline blog.
Prof. Jacobson has invented an excellent nickname for Biden, after that press conference: “Joey Bananas.”
https://legalinsurrection.com/2024/02/uncle-leo-defense-works-for-biden-in-special-counsel-report-no-charges-for-an-elderly-man-with-a-poor-memory/
Acker said:
“Though the press conference is embarrassing and absurd at times, there is nothing I saw which partisan Democrats (like myself at 30) couldn’t spin and rationalize. I rationalized Bill Clinton’s actions until I was blue in the face…and I passionately believed all of my own BS. So, I don’t think the content of the press conference will be too significant in the long run.”
This goes for both sides. This is why the Democratic Party and Republican primary voters are giving the electorate a general election that 60% or more of the public does not want. Partisans can’t recognize that the crap that they’re peddling actually does stink.
The nightmare scenario for November is one where Democrats actually manage to get someone (anyone) other than Joe or Kamala at the top of their ticket and the GOP remains saddled with Trump. Then we’ll get the “change” election that I think the electorate desparately wants. (And I think the GOP will rue the missed opertunity to run a “change” candidate, again, literally anyone other than Trump.)
CNN this morning is still cricking the wagons talking about how Biden “misspoke” last night.
I have to agree with Bauxite: I still have grave misgivings about Trump winning against anyone other than Biden; who now appears to be replaced. Yes, I fear the electorate will want some sort of change…and smarmy Newsom will look great to them.
I now think the nominee will be Kamala.
I saw an analysis (I can’t remember where) that said she is Obama’s choice, and that seems plausible. It would explain her over-confident behavior. And the puppet strategy has been working pretty well so far. A more appealing puppet seems like a logical next step.
I guess the surprise is in the level of corruption you cannot will fully retain and not retain documents if you are not compus mentis your staff are liable right.
The steyn atrocity well words dont conjure it properly. Science is irrevocably corrupted
My bet is JoJo dies in his sleep.
Well, DeSantis is still on ballots nationwide. I suggest that any conservative still uneasy about Trump get to the primary election and vote for DeSantis. We need an alternative if anything happens to Trump. The level of violence in the country is rising.
CC™ once again can’t help himself.
One of these things is not like the other, but when every color on your palette is orange, your paintings all turn out the same.
Kate,
Good point. I was not going to vote in the FL primary, but might as well just to register a vote for DeSantis as a backup.
Sarah: yes, Kamala would make a good puppet for Obama.
“And I won’t even begin to speculate on whom it might be…” Should be “on who it might be.”
A generic man of Biden’s age has a life expectancy of about 7.25 years. An Alzheimer’s diagnosis will knock < 10% off that estimate. (Vascular dementias are associated with a radical decline in life expectancy, not Alzheimer's). The Democratic electorate is content with having a dementia patient manipulated by others sitting in the president's chair.
They’re not going to do anything until they’ve completed their polling. Hugh Hewitt seems to think there will be a replay of August 1974, but I’m not so sure. I don’t think there are enough Democrats in Congress who would be willing to stick their necks out. Democrats have a way of enforcing party discipline* that the GOP lacks.
* Could be threats to withhold campaign money, denial of committee assignments, or even threats to expose embarrassing and/or criminal activity.
hugh hewitt is very foolish, look at everything they have gotten away with, destroying our energy infrastructure, crippling our supply chains, waging war on orthodox believers,
Kate – Good idea. I was planning to vote Haley in the primary if she was still in the race and DeSantis if Haley was out, or had no way to beat Trump. I don’t think Haley’s campaign is going to last until my state votes, and even if it does she has no shot, so DeSantis is looking like the way to go.
Margot Cleveland at The Federalist has read the entire Hur report, which shows that hundreds of pages of classified material were found, stored in several places including Biden’s Delaware garage, and that Biden was aware of having classified materials as early as 2017. This contradicts leftist media spin that “six” classified items were involved.
https://thefederalist.com/2024/02/09/democrats-spun-bidens-classified-docs-as-six-items-but-special-counsel-report-reveals-it-was-300-plus/
Ideologues – true believers – can spin and rationalize absolutely anything.
Those that like Biden will just find ways to explain away any negative news about Biden’s mental acuity.
Those that hate Trump have no problem believing he is Hitler.
Just look at all those really “intelligent” academics that justified the actions of Hamas on Oct 7 or the anti-Semitism at their universities. Because of their intelligence, they can devise better sounding reasons to justify their positions.
If the demokrats in power believe that Biden can win the next election , they will support him, his senility notwithstanding.
Dems care about power; that’s it.
If it means the USA goes into the shitter, so be it.
They do not care.
if they can steal it, yes, the point is how to avoid realizing this is what happened in 2020
so the fake dominion trial, gets clicks and serves to tame whatever really critical impulses that NewsCorp might retain, the real one is going on, and yet crickets
Navarro and Bannon are being charged not for contempt of this vile body, but basically for existing and as abject lesson, in similar fashion Smartmatic is going afer One America News because reasons,
Tammany and Daley graduated from big-city political corruption to full-scale, country-wide corruption.
I was listening to Mark Moss last weekend, and he was reading the results of some polls. He broke down the responses into the top 1% “elite” and the response of the 99% regular folks, and it was eye-opening, horrible, and painful…
The “elite” are people have post-graduate degrees, make more than $150,000/year, live in large cities, mostly between 30 to 50 years old, and graduated from “elite” universities, and are really removed from how things are made, fabricated, or grown.
“Elites”: 82% have a favorable view of Biden (older poll; it has gone down.)
Everyone else: 41% have a favorable view.
“Elites”: 70% believe there is TOO MUCH freedom in America
Everyone else: 57% believe not enough individual freedom in America.
“Elites”: 69% have a favorable of Congrees
Everyone else: 6% have a favorable view of Congress
“Elites”: 70% have a favorable view of journalists
10% have a favorable view of jounrlastis
And here is the WORST:
“Elites”: 69% would rather cheat than lose a close election
Everyone else: 93% reject cheating and will accept the result of an honest election
“Elites”:
77% would like to impose rationing on gas, electricity, etc.
72% favor banning gas-powered vehicles.
His show goes on from there… I suggest listening to it. It is from 2/5
Elites can’t fathom that what they desire for the masses will leave them at the end of their rope. The ruthless bastards they empower will cull them first.
Kate and Physicsguy make an excellent point.
As I understand it, candidates ‘suspend’ presidential campaigns rather than withdraw partly for financial reasons. But I believe that they can easily reactivate a suspended campaign. Gary Hart did so in 1988; though it didn’t do him much good.
Trump is not the GOP nominee until the convention. He’s not the presumptive nominee until he wins enough primaries and caucuses to secure a majority of the delegates. Until then, DeSantis (or any of the former GOP candidates) could unsuspend an re-enter the race. It’d be incredibly awkward, particularly he endorsed Trump. But it could happen.
That’s why I think the Democrats will hold off on yanking Slo Joe at least until Trump has secured enough delegates to be the presumptive nominee.
But…I might be very off in that regard.
Is it possible that Harris is truly a coward? Might she be able to see herself being a smarter person if she passed on being President for now and let Blinken step in for the duration until the convention? HTH are they gonna get rid of both of them?
Ackler has it right, I think. The R convention is in July. Once Trump is the official nominee, a month later at the D convention they’ll pull Biden and substitute, at a guess, Newsom.
My concern in voting for DeSantis as an alternative is in case there is a black swan event which takes out Trump, physically.
“And I think the GOP will rue the missed opertunity [sic] to run a “change” candidate, again, literally anyone other than Trump.” Plenty of GOP-ers already rue it. And other candidates—maybe even change candidates—ran. Trouble is, primary voters have chosen Trump, for better or worse.
Fox News Video – Special counsel gives brutal depiction of Biden’s mental fitness
https://commoncts.blogspot.com/2024/02/fox-news-video-special-counsel-gives.html
ps. Could you please add CC to your blogroll? Thanks!
Re voting for DeSantis in the GOP primary, I was planning on doing this but changed my mind.
Trump is the only major candidate still running, besides Haley. Conservatives should unite around him, and not leave any wiggle room for RINO or third party shenanigans.
I still prefer DeSantis, but he pulled out, so I think conservatives should unite around Trump and show our support for him.
It would be nice if Republicans could, for once, form a united front, instead of a circular firing squad!
Hur gave Biden the closest thing to a cognitive test Joe would ever sit for
and he failed, horribly
and why wasn’t it videoed ?
“As soon as the Special Counsel was appointed and Biden and Zwonitzer realized that he would be subpoening all the notes and records of their meetings, ZWONITZER DELETED ALL THE TAPES, thereby denying the Special Counsel evidence of what, exactly, Biden was sharing with him.”
So, fair enough, no subpoenas had been issued so no crime in deleting evidence.
But… didn’t everyone say that the difference between Biden and Trump (in fact the main reason Trump got indicted while every other Prez/ExPrez has not) was that Biden cooperated? This is a strange species of cooperation.
so biden actually read from classified documents to zwonitzer, what he alleged about trump, to Meadow’s biographer, said document was returned six months before the Maralago case Biden had no right to possess in his case,
The DNC showed in 2016 and 2020 they would bend the process to get the candidate they wanted (and keep Bernie away, Not sure why he hasn’t squawked more). I don’t think they’ll lose any ethical sleep doing the modern equivalent of the smoke filled room.
The RNC did not want Trump, I’m pretty sure. But the base did want him, and he is nominee presumptive.
I was only 7 in 1968. I didn’t remember how we got from RFK winning California to HHH as the nominee. But Humphrey gathered delegates from inside the party–today we call them superdelegates–and he led even after California. After RFK died most of his support went to Humphrey, and that was enough.
1968 was a crazy, crazy year. I remember a headline: “Kennedy Survives Surgery” from the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, seen in a hospital. Of course he died that night.
This is some f*cked up sh*t & we’re in BIG trouble. This is far worse than Hillary’s illegal server, she wasn’t POTUS yet.
Related (another Jeremiad from Peter Schiff):
“We Are On The Brink of A Catastrophe”—
https://www.zerohedge.com/personal-finance/peter-schiff-we-are-brink-catastrophe
So when exactly WILL the Wise Owlita GO home to roost…?