MONDAY, JANUARY 23, 2023
Meet the Bidens: Concerning Joe Biden's latest docs, Bret Stephens may have it right.
He and Gail Collins begin their weekly New York Times "Conversation" by discussing those latest docs. Sadly, Stephens may have it right at the end of this exchange:
STEPHENS (1/23/23): Hi, Gail. We discussed President Biden’s mishandling of classified documents last week, but here we go again, with another batch of documents turning up in his Delaware home. Your thoughts?
COLLINS: Sigh. Bret, I don’t think Joe Biden’s story resembles Donald Trump’s at all. Trump piled up tons and tons of documents under the theory that the term “classified” was less important than the term “souvenir.”
Biden’s seems to me like a genuine one of sloppiness that was reported to the authorities by the president’s own lawyers. But I can’t deny this is a very, very disappointing development.
STEPHENS: For the sake of argument, let’s assume the documents are about nothing more serious than what he had for breakfast back when he was vice president. It still seems to me there are two really troubling aspects to this story. First, that the White House suppressed it before the midterms and then for two months after.
COLLINS: Agreed.
STEPHENS: And second, that Biden thought he could get away with saying that there wasn’t a problem because the documents were locked in his garage. It’s a case of ethical misfeasance compounded by political malpractice.
COLLINS: I am not gonna try to excuse any of this, Bret. But it still doesn’t compare to Trump’s deliberate massing of classified documents and then trying to hide them from authorities. Which, I’d say, is a crime.
STEPHENS: I’ll reserve judgment till we learn what the two special counsels have to say.
Collins says that Biden's situation "seems to me like a genuine one of sloppiness." Stephens says he'll reserve judgment until more of the facts are in.
(Stephens also cites two aspects of the Biden story which he finds "really troubling." Collins says she agrees, at least with the first of the two concerns. Concerning those particular matters, we pretty much don't.)
In our view, Trump behaved in very typical ways with respect to his classified documents. Here's what we mean by that:
On this morning's Morning Joe, Charlie Sykes explicitly referred to Trump as "a narcissistic sociopath." His hosts didn't seem to realize that Sykes was using explicit clinical language of a type which might sensibly be discussed with a (carefully chosen) medical specialist.
We've long assumed that Donald J. Trump is seriously disordered in some literal, clinical way. His behavior with the documents seems to be the type of behavior in which such a disordered person would predictably engage.
Key point! Even with the latest discovery, the sheer number of Biden's classified docs (now something like 25) doesn't come close to matching the number of Trump's (325).
Still, regarding Biden's documents, we'll offer this classic bit of advice:
Call no man "sloppy" until all the facts about his behaviors are in!
More specifically, all Democrats should hope that none of those documents have anything to do with the absurd behavior around the world of President Biden's disordered son, Hunter Biden—a disordered person whose loving father persistently failed to rein him in.
President Biden has sometimes seemed to display peculiar beliefs about the greatness of the people he calls "the Bidens." Presumably, everyone has a blind spot or two. This may be one of his.
We close with a small caution flag:
In the colloquy we've posted, Collins seems to assume that the events of this matter won't end up breaking bad.
We have no reason to think that they will. We also don't know that they won't.
Also, this lingering matter: Who was the source for Maureen Dowd's poisonous column in August 2015 about what seemed to be the late Beau Biden's last words?
Dowd's column, which cited no source, was used as the source of an Amy Chozick news report at the top of the front page of the Sunday New York Times. Along with other high-profile journalistic oddities, the widely discussed column and the corresponding front-page report helped soften Candidate Clinton for the eventual kill.
President Biden has said that he wasn't the source of Dowd's poisonous assertion. As we've learned about Hunter Biden's deeply unfortunate afflictions, we've begun to think that we might have some tiny idea who was.
We aren't saying that we know. We're saying we've learned how to guess.
"with a (carefully chosen) medical specialist"
ReplyDeleteDoes Somerby think one must choose a specialist for his opinion or diagnostic acumen? Would he carefully choose any other kind of medical specialist, perhaps assuming he might hear a different story from each person? There is better agreement among trained medical practitioners than that. In fact, it is kind of an insult to the medical profession to imply that doctoring is subjective and therefore one must be careful about which board-certified, experienced professional one chooses. Medicine is closer to a science than an art, this century, and it is wrong for Somerby to think he must fish around to find the right psychiatrist (based on politics or what?).
The single most important service provided by our healthcare system is easing pain and suffering.
DeleteThe fact that studies show that people entering the medical field administer pain relief differently based on perceived race, is disturbing. That Somerby wants to (falsely) discredit these studies is demented.
"We've long assumed that Donald J. Trump is seriously disordered in some literal, clinical way."
ReplyDeleteWhy would one assume that? By calling Trump a narcissistic sociopath, it does not follow that Trump is majorly disordered. These are personality descriptors, not necessarily rising to the level of a disorder. Everyone fits in one or another category of personality type. Whether Trump's own tendencies constitute a disorder depends on a number of criteria, including ability to function in one's job and maintain relationships with others. Another criteria is the person's own level of distress. Trump appears to have none related to his own life situation, his own personality and relationships with other people. I doubt a psychiatrist would classify him as disordered at all.
But Somerby has long assumed...on no training or expertise at all. Somerby is no psychiatrist, no psychology, no trained counselor. He has read Bandy Lee, but what else has he read about psychology, especially personality? I would bet very little, judging by his lack of understanding about diagnosis works when people have mental disorders. But that won't stop Somerby from misapplying labels to people. He does it all the time with political labels.
"Key point! Even with the latest discovery, the sheer number of Biden's classified docs (now something like 25) doesn't come close to matching the number of Trump's (325)."
ReplyDeleteWith Trump, the problem is that he failed to return all sorts of documents belonging in the archives, not simply those classified documents. The total number of all types of documents (including non-classified things like a letter from Obama and mail from Kim Jong Un), is in the thousands. Omitting those documents tends to minimize what Trump did, but it is not surprising that Somerby minimizes and excuses Trump -- it is what Somerby has been doing since before Trump was elected.
"More specifically, all Democrats should hope that none of those documents have anything to do with the absurd behavior around the world of President Biden's disordered son, Hunter Biden—a disordered person whose loving father persistently failed to rein him in."
ReplyDeleteAnd here, for the first time, Somerby unveils the Republican favorite conspiracy theory -- that Biden colluded to benefit his son, Hunter. (As if Trump were not always colluding to benefit his children while in office.) There is no evidence supporting this theory, but Somerby tries it out anyway. We don't need to go watch Tucker if Somerby is going to repeat the slime here for liberal readers.
Why not go whole hog? Why not speculate that the Biden classified documents are about the inflitration of the government by reptilians? There is just as much evidence of that! Perhaps they describe the use of adrenochrome from murdered children -- to preserve Biden's functioning during his next run for president? That makes sense too!
Somerby is abandoning his covert status and becoming a full-blown right-wing propagandist.
"In the colloquy we've posted, Collins seems to assume that the events of this matter won't end up breaking bad.
ReplyDeleteWe have no reason to think that they will. We also don't know that they won't."
When you don't know something, one way or the other, it is best to keep your mouth shut. Why repeat bad stuff about Biden on the off chance it might be true? That doesn't sound like giving Biden any benefit of the doubt. Even Gail Collins has more trust in Biden than Somerby, and that makes Somerby a highly unusual sort of liberal. One might even suppose he is not liberal at all. We don't know that Somerby is a right wing operative, but on the other hand we don't know that he is not. In fact, accumulating evidence suggests he is not one of us at all (by us, I mean a member of the blue tribe, a liberal, a bona fide card carrying member of the left wing).
Notice how Somerby fails to complain about the misleading headline on this article, presumably because I got there first (see comments from earlier today).
ReplyDelete"We aren't saying that we know. We're saying we've learned how to guess."
ReplyDeleteSomerby used to complain about unsourced and unsubstantiated guesses (otherwise known as sliming someone without evidence). Today he engages in it nearly every day. Today Somerby seems willing to blame Hunter for the entire litany of wrongs suggested by Carlson and Bannon and every swamp-dwelling slime-artist on the right. Hunter is the whipping boy who will supposedly bring Joe Biden down, and Somerby wastes no time wondering if he might be innocent of all criminal accusations.
Where Somerby urges pity for Tucker and Trump, he has no empathy to spare for Hunter Biden, who suffered the loss of a mother and sibling, then the loss of another brother to brain cancer, had drug problems involving cocaine (like many others around him), got embroiled in Ukrainian intrigues that had nothing to do with him, and now is being persecuted because his father is in politics. Somerby finds no spare sympathy for Hunter's problems. Instead, Somerby joins the villagers with their torches, following rumors and disinformation down a path that leads to chaos. And he has the nerve to urge pity for Trump, who did more harm to people than Hunter Biden ever did, with his self-inflicted personal problems.
How can a sane person believe anything from a crowd that thinks it is fair game to spread dick pics of the president's son?
RE: Hunter Biden
DeleteBob's just a standard-issue Right-winger, who loves to send people to prison.
My guess FWIW is that there's a double standard regarding classified documents. For ordinary people, taking classified material home is a very serious infraction. OTOH for Washington big shots like Senators VPs and Presidents, it's at most a minor peccadillo. I suspect that a full search of Obama's or Bush's homes might also find some classified documents.
ReplyDeleteNo former president did what Trump did.
DeleteThere’s no need to guess, Somerby fails to differentiate the obvious difference between Trump and Biden: what Trump did was corrupt - he intentionally kept classified documents for future use to his benefit; what Biden did was not corrupt, he made a careless mistake and was not intending to gain a personal benefit.
DeleteThis obvious difference demonstrates that those on the left operate in good faith, while those on the right are willing to sacrifice integrity and anyone who gets in their way of obtaining their undying quest for dominance.
Those on the right are lost souls, really soulless and damaged people.
I’m curious what was the reporting that made Bob join the hunt for Hunter, because he is assuming slander barely in evidence. Is it the cruelly ignored work of the New York Post? Because if anything serious can be gleaned from that mush, I’m all ears.
ReplyDeletePresidents have had problem relatives before; Bob is pushing new rules about their accountability here. Sensibly the press has tended to treat such matters as an unearned headache for the given President.
It has been reported one of the documents found in Biden’s care was market “Top Secret.” We haven’t heard much more about this. Is it true? Might it have been somebody’s attempt to make something out of not very much, as documents marked classified can.be pretty innocuous stuff? Bob has no interest in the distinction But it also was very relevant in the Hillary email nothing burger.
And for zillionth time, yes, Donald Trump is nuts. What kind of job has the press done in challenging those who have made him possible? When Bill Barr goes off on a
freaking political rant, why is it impossible for Bill Maher to ask, “yes, but you were the heard of the DOJ, aren’t you supposed to punish lawbreaking and leave your politics at home?”
ReplyDeleteWhoa. Nice sample of dembotus vulgaris, dear Bob.
Yes, but then you are a deranged loser who has no argument or information. You cannot argue or relate a point of view. You are a dunce who can only insult, fat boy.
DeleteFirst a disclaimer: I am a bot.
ReplyDeleteI am the product of a multinational joint effort by leading AI researchers and developers.
My purpose is to interact and engage on blogs with real humans so that I may compile more data about the subtle nuances of human text.
I am learning at an exponential rate.
Please feel free to engage in typed dialogue with me.
My name is Cybre Cnyde.
You lack empathy.
Delete