THURSDAY, JULY 11, 2024
Here's what Chris Coons said: BREAKING! We ourselves had a "one-off" once!
It happened somewhere around 1990. It was caused by a prescription drug error.
We were taking steroids as a treatment for poison ivy, something we'd done a few years before. In this instance, we hadn't been told that we needed to taper the dosage of the steroids as the treatment proceeded, and we didn't remember doing that from the earlier episode.
As a result, we simply took the initial daily dosage until the prescription ran out. At that point, we stopped cold turkey.
That wasn't a good idea! It led to a few slightly odd occurrences on that first day, then to (what was described to us as) a strange performance at The Comic Strip in Fort Lauderdale that night.
(Millions now claim they were there.)
At any rate, management was extremely unhappy. In the immediate aftermath of the show, it somehow suddenly came to us that the day's peculiar events had occurred because we hadn't tapered the steroids, the way we'd done before.
We spent the next several days sick in bed. Always taper your steroids!
We'd describe that weird event as an obvious "one-off." The episode had a fairly obvious pharmaceutical cause. There was no reason to think it would recur. It didn't seem to be a manifestation of some underlying condition.
With that, we jump ahead to President Biden's performance at the June 27 debate. Can that be viewed as some strangely unexplained but isolated event? Putting it another way:
Had anyone ever seen President Biden behave that way before?
On this morning's Morning Joe, that key question was addressed in the 7 o'clock hour. Joe Scarborough said he's spoken to the president a fair amount, though usually on the phone.
He said he'd never seen or heard the president confused in the way he was at that debate. I never saw anything approaching this, Scarborough said at some point.
(We can't give you perfect quotes at this point. The video from today's program still hasn't been posted by the invaluable Internet Archive.)
For us, an obvious question had come to mind several days before. That said, in the world of "cable news," even the world's most obvious questions routinely go unasked.
But then, dear God, a major surprise! Up popped Senator Coons!
Coons was introduced at roughly 7:12 a.m. Since 2010, he's been the junior (Democratic) senator from Delaware. He won a special election that year to fill Vice President Biden's former seat.
There's more! According to the leading authority on the matter, "Coons is seen as among President Biden's closest allies in the Senate and is a co-chair of his 2024 reelection campaign."
Senator Coons is all in on Biden. There's no reason why he shouldn't be—but for that reason, we were surprised by something he now said.
It happened at 7:15. Scarborough said he's never seen (or heard) the president in the state of confusion he exhibited at that debate. According to our notes, the then directly asked Senator Coons if he'd ever seen such a thing.
Coons said no, he never has. He said he found the debate performance "shocking."
At that point, he answered the question we'd had in mind without ever having been asked. According to our notes, he said something very much like this:
I don't see Joe Biden every day. Often, [when we speak], it's by phone, and it's him calling me.
And it's him calling me! We almost wondered if Senator Coons, who's very bright, was trying to tell us something.
If the president has a debilitating condition which comes and goes, that may mean he has times of high lucidity mixed with episodes of confusion. As with Scarborough, so too here:
If the phone conversations only happen on the days, and at the times, when President Biden calls, that doesn't tell us what the president might be like on the days, and at the times, when he doesn't call.
We would have asked Scarborough that very thing about his phone calls with President Biden. Does Scarborough place phone calls to the president, and do his calls go through? Or instead, does he have to wait until the president calls?
It seems like the world's most obvious question. But in the world of cable news—in the world of human cognition—even the world's most obvious questions will typically go unasked.
As for Senator Coons, he's very bright. He answered the question without being asked. Because the guy is very bright, we wondered why he did that.
For ourselves we would guess that the debate performance actually wasn't a "one-off." We've seen a fair amount of videotape in the past year in which President Biden seemed to be lost and confused.
They play that kind of videotape on the Fox News Channel. It gets disappeared on cable channels whose business models are built around the goal of keeping us Blue Americans happy.
(On cable channels where we get pleasured by "our favorite reporters and friends.")
We've seen a fair amount of such videotape. To our eye, a lot of it looked unmistakable.
For that reason, we were surprised when the Biden campaign agreed to do a debate. We can't tell you the ultimate truth about this unexplained situation, but we certainly would have asked that one fairly obvious question.
By the way:
Diminishment with age often presents as a tragedy. Along with everything else, the situation under pseudo-review within our ersatz "public discourse" is a deeply human affair.
Jesus Christ did you even see the unhinged rants by Trump last night? WTF is wrong with Somerby. If we are going to elect an old geezer, prefer to not have the fascist team win, for fucks sake.
ReplyDeleteWhat does Somerby have to do with the outcome of the election?
DeleteSomerby seems to be trying to get Biden out of the race so Trump will have an easier time.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
Delete"I’m not sure if anyone even pretends to believe the “economic anxiety” explanation for Trumpism anymore, but the success of industrial policy under the Biden administration and the fact that he’s gotten zero credit for it should be a dispositive rebuttal:
Delete'America’s so-called “left behind” counties — the once-great manufacturing centers and other distressed places that struggled mightily at the start of this century — have staged a remarkable comeback. In the last three years, they added jobs and new businesses at their fastest pace since Bill Clinton was president.
The turnaround has shocked experts. “This is the kind of thing that we couldn’t have even dreamed about five or six years ago,” said John Lettieri, the president of the Economic Innovation Group, a think tank that studies economic distress in the U.S. His group is releasing a report today that details the recovery of left-behind counties. Those counties span the nation but are largely concentrated in the Southeast and Midwest. In today’s newsletter, I’ll explain how they defied recent trends — including a particularly grim stretch under Donald Trump — to rebound so strongly from the pandemic recession. I’ll also show the one indicator that helps explain why voters there might not reward President Biden for the good news that has happened on his watch.'
Under Trump, conversely, the left behind counties remained left behind:
'The last two decades were economically cruel for the 1,000 or so left-behind counties in the U.S. — places like Bay County, Mich.; Dyer County, Tenn.; and Lackawanna County, Pa., home to Scranton, Biden’s birthplace. These counties added jobs and people far more slowly than the nation as a whole. Some lost factories to foreign competitors like China. Many lost residents, including educated young workers, as economic activity concentrated in big cities like New York and San Francisco. As a candidate in 2016, Trump promised to revitalize those areas. In his first three years in office, before the pandemic hit, the national economy was strong. Unemployment was low. Wages were rising. But left-behind counties saw few of those benefits. In 2018, a colleague and I noted that left-behind counties that voted for Trump had not seen any net job gains the previous year. The new Economic Innovation Group analysis shows that, in terms of job growth, left-behind counties experienced three of their four worst years since the Great Recession on Trump’s watch.'
It is comforting to think that providing material benefits to people is the path to political success, but between the Medicaid expansion in the ACA and the broadly distributed gains of the Biden era, it just ain’t so. Which isn’t a reason not to do good policy, just a reminder that good policy has little correlation with political success in this political environment." https://bit.ly/45ZXXTc
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't matter whether he is demented all the time or only sometimes. He will be nominated, then he drops out, and Kamala become the nominee. This is how they can control the mess they created.
Although, I suppose it's possible that Kamala will drop out before that, and is replaced by someone else. Who knows.
One thing's for sure: Democrat lawyers are calculating every possible move as we speak.
Like it or not, Biden has won the nomination by getting the huge majority of votes in the Democratic primaries. It is not OK to set aside those votes.
Delete@3:55 PM
DeleteTheir primaries were also controlled, as always. People were prevented from getting on the ballot (in Florida, for example), and in NH they certified completely fake results. Nothing to see there.
4:14,
DeleteLike all things no Republican would say under oath in a court of law, that could be true. Or not.
@4:14 That sounds like fake news to me. These kinds of claims have not ever been found to be supported by evidence. Given that Biden has been winning with over 90% of votes everywhere, how can any fraud overcome such huge levels of support?
DeleteBiden ran basically unopposed in the primaries.
DeleteThe DNC announced in advance they would not allow a primary challenge, would ban all debates, and proclaimed Biden their nominee no matter what.
DeleteAC/MA, exactly. Alternative candidates could have challenged him but only a couple did, getting very few votes. The people have spoken.
Delete@7:02, if that were true, how did several others get on the ballot? There is someone here making things up.
DeleteA debate with people polling only a few % makes no sense and wastes money needed for the general election.
Delete
DeleteThe DNC is a private corporations and it has complete control over its business and activities. The DNC can appoint and nominate any candidate they want. And that's exactly what they do.
See this class-action case against the DNC brought by Sanders voters:
https://ivn.us/posts/dnc-to-court-we-are-a-private-corporation-with-no-obligation-to-follow-our-rules
Fuck those sore losers. Bernie is and always has been a bag of hot air. Ain't got shit done since he's been in the senate.
Delete"Can that be viewed as some strangely unexplained but isolated event?"
ReplyDeleteDoes it have to be viewed that way? Where is it written? I'm pretty sure Biden didn't have poison ivy, or he would have said so, being an honest person. He said he had a cold combined with fatigue and he didn't prepare well either. Why is that not a sufficient explanation?
It's not a good explanation because it's obvious bull shit.
DeleteColds and fatigue are not bullshit. They happen to lots of people.
DeleteBullshit happens to lots of people, too.
Delete"We've seen a fair amount of videotape in the past year in which President Biden seemed to be lost and confused."
ReplyDeleteThere have been a lot of deceptively edited videos distributed by Republicans in the past year, as part of a campaign to portray Biden as too old to function. Somerby knows about this and yet he persists in believing he has seen a debilitated president. Somerby should know better than to believe such propaganda, but here he is spreading it himself.
I don't know what else we can say to Somerby. I have chalked him up as one of the others, working to elect Trump. There is nothing about his current behavior that says otherwise.
Can you share one of the deceptively edited videos with us?
DeleteThis is fake. What part of fake do you not understand?
DeleteThen he wanders off again a few minutes later to go shake the hands of the parachutists who are standing in line to go shake the leader's hands!!
DeleteSo - the people that told you this was fake and he didn't wander off were misleading you.🙁
DeleteTrolls who come here to lie are not worth responding to.
DeleteOh please. This bullshit again? He didn't wander off. For fuck's sake, he went over to engage with some of the other skydivers. There was no reason for him NOT to do so. There was no photo op going on at the moment he turned to engage with them. The photo op arose just after he turned -- in one of the videos you can see a military figure walk up to the group just after Biden turns away. That's why the Italian PM brings him back.
Delete(He wanders off again a few minutes later. There is a formal event tradition called a "receiving line" where guests line up and walk past dignitaries or important figures, such as world leaders from the G7, to greet and shake hands with them. Biden subverts this and wanders off to walk past the line of parachutists to shake their hands! Macron comes and saves him. Comedy)
DeleteThis is a lie about fake video, but it doesn’t matter because Biden is not stepping down and Trump cannot win.
DeleteNo it's true and indisputable that he wandered off from a photo op to talk to a skydiver and it is also true that for some reason, maybe out of embarrassment, his administration doesn't want you to believe what you can obviously see at 9:30 on that video, that he did wander off. And it's also true it does not matter. Which is why it's weird that they try to hoodwink you about it. But that he wandered off his indisputable. It's right there on the video. It's strange to see people stuck in a position of trying to defend something that is indisputable. I don't understand why. Especially if Biden is not stepping down and Trump cannot win. What is so embarrassing about it? It's right there for everyone to see and indisputable. Biden wandered off. (twice) Big deal. It doesn't matter. So why do they propagandize and gaslight us about it?
DeleteI would encourage anyone who's curious about this utterly stupid topic to watch the first minute or two of the video linked to above, just for context, just to get a feel for what is going on. There is no photo op in the literal sense of someone standing in front of them snapping a photo. There's no one around who's guiding them, addressing them, etc. It's just the group of world leaders, standing around casually chatting, waiting for the skydiving demonstration to begin. Once you get the overall vibe, skip ahead to about 8:45 and then watch until about 9:55 or so, to see the moment in question. When Biden turns to engage with some skydivers to the group's left, there is still no one standing with or in front of them, addressing them, guiding them, snapping a photo, etc. It's still just the group of them watching the demonstration. Just as Biden is turning, watch as a military figure walks up to the group. That's when the scene changes. It goes from them merely spectating and chatting amongst themselves to them being approached and addressed in formal manner by the military figure (he apparently is not there to snap a photo, as I initially thought -- he walks up and starts addressing the group in a kind of formal manner). Biden did not inappropriately "wander off."
DeleteMike,
DeleteThe video above is the photo op. There is a photographer with a camera—it's a videocamera! They are using that camera to take a highly staged video photo op. This photo op is on video, and you are watching it. It is a photo op in the literal sense, and the photographer with the videocamera shooting the video you are watching is the one capturing it. You are watching the photo op. There's no one in front of this photographer guiding or addressing them because all of those people are behind the photographer, so as not to get in the way of the photo op they are shooting and you are watching.
It's a photo op of a group of world leaders watching people parachute, and when the final parachutist lands, they are approached and addressed by a military leader. The photo op is exactly what you have described. And you were describing it that way because you are watching the photo op.
This highly orchestrated photo op is of the group of them watching the demonstration. As the literal photo op proceeds, the final parachutist lands directly in front of the group of leaders standing shoulder to shoulder, as planned. And as planned, a military figure approaches and addresses the group of leaders, all standing together shoulder to shoulder in a formal manner. This composed shot you see there is the photo op.
The military leader is not there to "snap a photo," as you initially thought, because he is part of the literal photo op that you are watching. As he is addressing the group of world leaders in a formal manner as planned, Biden wanders off from that group in the middle of the photo op that you are watching. The Italian leader goes to fetch him, and the rest of the world leaders adjust their positions to try to save the photo op Biden has just wandered off from. This is obvious and indisputable. (This happens at 8:45 in the video 9:55).
Maybe you should watch it again, this time with the understanding that it's not a photo op taking still pictures. It's a photo op on video and you are watching it. That will help you understand that Biden wanders off from it at 9:30. At 9:30 you are watching the composed shot of the photo op Biden wanders off from. Hopefully, that will help you understand the whole wandering off controversy, which did happen. Indisputably!!
I was surprised you pushed back on this one. But I guess in your mind photo ops are only still pictures. You didn't realize you were actually watching the photo op from which Biden wandered off. 🦏
Watching it again, Biden does look pretty foolish when he wanders off and back into the photo op you are watching, so I guess I can see why they mislead you about it.
DeleteMike, if you're still confused about it, please let me know. I will take you through the photo op you are watching, second by second and shot by shot. The people behind the camera have worked very hard on it. They had been guiding and instructing the world leaders on exactly what to do, and they must have been a little exasperated when Biden wandered out of the meticulously choreographed photo op they had staged. Up until that point, it was going perfectly.
DeleteFor our audience watching at home, let me just take a moment to acknowledge how dumb this "debate" is. The fact that two adults would dig in their heels over such a topic is clear evidence of arrested development. With that out of the way, LET'S WASTE SOME MORE TIME YA'LL!!
Delete1. Given the context (i.e., Biden's age and the story-line about Biden supposedly being senile), and given how right-wing sources presented the video (in a dishonest way, removing important context), the turn of phrase "wander off" (or any similar expressions like "why is the president talking to the air" or "somebody go get grandpa") clearly implies that Biden was having some sort of senior moment in which he was "lost in space" (to use Somerby's phrase) and was just wandering aimlessly due to senility. That is clearly not the case. Biden simply took a few steps towards a skydiver(s) to the group's left WHO WAS PART OF THE DEMONSTRATION! He did this to engage with him/them. In some of the videos you can see him saying something to the skydiver and giving him two thumbs-up. That is not "wandering off." That is not any kind of senior moment or brain malfunction. Are you honest enough to at least acknowledge that? The impression the right-wing was trying give was that Biden was having some kind of mental lapse during which he aimlessly wandered off. That is complete bullshit.
2. Obviously when I referred to a "photo op," I wasn't referring to the ENTIRE FUCKING VIDEO. If you want to argue that during the entire 16+ minute video, with different cameras and different angles, the G7 leaders can't take a few steps to the side to get a closer view of this or that part of the demonstration or to engage with some of the demonstrators because doing so would RUIN the entire video, I think you're being absurd and just imposing your own ridiculous made-up social norm to try to bolster your argument. If you want to see the actual photo op, it starts at about 14:45.
3. The Italian PM didn't go get Biden because he was ruining the entire 16 minute video. She brought him back over because, AFTER Biden had turned away to engage with the other skydiver(s), a military figure approached the group to give some kind of formal address. If Biden had "wandered off" AFTER the military figure had approached the group, or if he had wandered off during the actual photo-op that occurs later in the video, everyone would agree that that would have been weird and must be some sort of senior moment thing.
Hi Mike,
DeleteI would acknowledge that Biden stepped towards other skydivers to the group's left, and that the person he engaged with was part of the demonstration. You can see him talking to them and giving them a thumbs up.
However, I would not acknowledge that he didn't also wander off from the pre-established medium shot of all the G7 leaders at 9:30 to do so. Simply pause the video at 9:30 and consider the composition. If you are a photographer, what would be wrong with that shot?
The person Biden wandered off to speak with was part of the presentation but not part of that particular shot, which had been meticulously planned and framed as part of the photo op. Whether it was a senior moment or brain malfunction, it looked like one. Regardless, he did begin to exit the frame of that meticulously planned medium shot (at 9:35) to engage with the other skydiver. The videographer, a top professional, saw Biden wandering off and began to widen the shot to adjust for it between 9:35 and 9:42. While zooming out to accommodate Biden, you can see Macron notice Biden's mistake at 9:39 and look at the Italian PM to make sure she sees that Biden has wandered off out of the pre-planned shot. By 9:42, she is aware and goes about getting Biden back into the shot, and by 9:46, she touches him to let him know. During this time, the rest of the world leaders realize what's happening and start moving towards Biden to adjust the shot back to the original composition seen at 9:30. Biden realizes this and comes back into the shot and begins to look at the military leader by 9:51 as the rest of the leaders adjust around him and the camera person pushes in towards a tight medium shot. The original plan was probably to have that tight medium shot as composed at 9:30, with the military leader's back in the foreground and the rest of the leaders in the background listening to him, which the camera person tries to recreate, but the military leader is really far off to the left of the frame. As Biden puts on his sunglasses around 9:57, the shot isn't perfect because some of the leaders are not shoulder to shoulder as they originally were, but at least the shot is basically recovered. From about 10:05 to 10:20, you can see the world leaders pretending to listen to the military expert while likely amusingly talking to themselves about Biden wandering off. The camera person then pulls out to a more medium shot, and the meticulously planned shots of the photo op are pretty much recovered.
This video is being cut live by a technical team somewhere in a nearby truck. At 10:16, they cut to a tight shot from a different camera of the military person speaking so the camera person we've been watching can reframe their shot to a nice medium shot that starts at 10:28 and slowly pans from right to left to show all the leaders admiring the military presentation. Macron is super aware of all the optics and gets an A+. By 10:44, the camera person who gave us the tight shot of the military leader before has zoomed out to a wide shot showing the military leader and all of the world leaders composed on the left as originally intended. By this point, the wandering-off drama is over.
2. I understand that you don't realize the entire video was a photo op, which might make it seem absurd. However, this is very typical and happens all the time. What is being shot here is called an electronic press kit. It's intended to be saved for posterity but mostly to be sent to news stations worldwide so they have footage to show while they talk about this event or other events at this meeting. News stations use these clips in their stories.
DeleteWithin the 16 minutes, leaders have the leeway to wander off to some extent. However, at this point in the video, when the final parachutist lands, it's the climax and it's meticulously choreographed. Look at how the leaders are composed at 9:30. This is all pre-planned so the shots the crew gathers look perfect, tell a story, and are suitable for the news stations. It's not random. I've shot and produced hundreds of these things. The moment is too rare to not choreograph.
I understand that you didn't realize you were watching a photo op and were looking for a still photo op within the footage you were watching. The actual photo op does not start at 14:45. That is just more of the same electronic press kit—"b-roll" shots for the news stations.
3. The Italian PM moved because Biden had ruined the shot set up at 9:30, which I described above. The landing of the final parachutist and the arrival of the military figure are part of the same sequence. The Italian PM had to get Biden because he was wandering off in the middle of it. This is indisputable and something that the right-wing pointed out, making a big deal of it. Perhaps unfairly, but they were correct. For some reason, the White House didn't acknowledge it. Instead of taking the L, they fought back and gaslighted people over it, which I find quite strange.
Huh, so a skydiving demonstration with world leaders was carefully planned out ahead of time? I'll be darned. Well in the that case, clearly Biden should not have taken a few steps away from the group to engage with some of the skydivers. He obviously has Alzheimer's.
Delete"The Italian PM moved because Biden had ruined the shot set up at 9:30." No. She moved because it was time for the formal address by the military dude. If it wasn't time for some formal part of the event like that, if they were still in pure spectator mode like at the beginning of the video, she wouldn't have bothered to go grab Biden.
You didn't look at the shot at 9:30, pause it and ask yourself about the composition as if you were photographer. What was bad about it? What would have made it perfect? Or ask yourself this how are all of the rest of the leaders positioned at 9:30? What is their body language doing? Is it candid and in pure spectator mode? Or does that look like it has been composed? Do you think it's an accident that the tops of their heads are positioned at the top third of the frame and their torso's line up with the bottom third? Do you think they are naturally all together shoulder to shoulder smiling and clapping? Or do you think that may have been composed by someone? They were in the formal part of the photo op before the final parachutist even landed.(See 7:22 for example.) They were very much in the formal part of the photo album at 9:30 which you would realize if you pause the shot and look at the composition.
DeleteJust because he wandered off from the prearranged shot doesn't mean he has Alzheimer's. It just means he made a mistake. Which is kind of ironic considering America is usually the world's royalty at media, spectacle and optics. So it was definitely very ironic and maybe even symbolic to see the American leader being completely clueless about the optics as all of the other leaders looked on.
But we will just have to agree to disagree on one. Thank you for sharing your interpretations of what was happening at the event.🤘
Start with the camera cut at 9:24 and you see the intended composition. It's a very, very well done. Watch the camera person push into the medium tight shot of all the world leaders with a parachutist in the foreground. Perfect! Except one thing. :)
DeletePause the video at 9:36 and tell me what you think about the composition of that shot. I would be interested to know what you think.
DeleteI doubt that Biden during his debate was as awful on stage as Somerby on steroids.
ReplyDeleteLol. "Somerby on steroids."
Delete"Dude, I read this random blog post the other day, and it was like 50,000 words on the media and Gore's wardrobe. It was like Somerby on steroids!"
"Diminishment with age often presents as a tragedy."
ReplyDeleteThis is an odd statement by Somerby. Most of us who are elderly accept diminishment of various kinds as part of normal aging. When someone comments on it, the invariable rejoinder is "Well, it beats the alternative". What is the alternative for elderly people? Death. No one escapes the routine aches and pains, the stiff joins, the changes to our eyeglass prescriptions, the encroaching difficulties hearing, the age spots and small skin cancers due to sun exposure, the weakening of muscles, and yes, some memory problems. We adjust to all of this, grateful it isn't anything worse, such as heart problems or cancer. If you get to age 65 without major problems, then you have a clear shot to 80 without them (according to doctors), because the major killers arrive in late middle age, not old age. But we also know that not every old person gets dementia and we know the difference between normal aging and Parkinson's or Lewey Body Dementia or MS or Alzheimer's.
So this hysteria over an elderly man who is aging normally, the pretense that he has dementia when he clearly does, is insulting to all of us who are living our lives and going on Road Scholar trips, playing difficult mental games like bridge (average age at tournaments is 73), writing memoirs, raising grandkids, still working at our jobs, staffing volunteer organizations and taking care of each other. We are not geezers any more than Biden is.
That makes Somerby and others assholes when they portray all elderly as senile in order to push Biden off a ticket where he has earned his place. If there is a civil war, it is the young versus the elderly, and WE VOTE, boy do we ever vote! Every tiny push Somerby makes to get rid of Biden, we notice and remember, and that is going to mean something at the polls, especially for those who want to be reelected, such as certain downticket congress members who didn't have their finest hours this week.
"... the pretense that he has dementia when he clearly does," -- this clause needs work.
DeleteSo you're old but you play bridge? I couldn't play bridge when I was young; I don't even try it now.
Joe should resign and let Kamala take over.
If Biden withdraws, the age issue will fall on Trump, as it should.
DeleteBiden is the nominee. There is no point in speculating about what might happen if he were to withdraw, when he has said he is continuing in the race.
Delete@4:26 I am saying that most of the people who play tournament level duplicate bridge (which is VERY difficult and a challenge to memory) are old, including many in their 80s & even 90s. I don't believe Trump could learn the game, if only because he cannot focus and has no attention span, but also perhaps he cannot count sufficiently to make inferences about unseen hands. Warren Buffet used to require his managers to learn bridge to develop mental skills such as concentration and inference.
DeleteYes, I meant that Biden does not have dementia. He would sound more like Trump if he did. Biden is the least silly person I've heard talk, whereas Trump is bizarre and seems to have no understanding of what is socially appropriate. That mocking of the mothers of drug overdosed young people was horrifying. Such a person shouldn't be allowed anywhere near the presidency. It astonishes me that the media is picking on Biden's gaffes instead of telling Republicans to find a better candidate, not because Trump may lose but because he is so unfit.
There is no "age issue". The controversy is about candidate Biden being demented.
DeleteThere is no "dementia issue" either. A neurologist has attested that Biden has been examined and found fit to be president.
Delete"That makes Somerby and others assholes when they portray all elderly as senile"
DeleteMaybe it's because I'm elderly, but I seem to have missed the part where Somerby says "all elderly are senile."
Trump wants Biden to stay in the race.
DeleteNo neurologist has confirmed that Biden has been examined and found fit to be president.
DeleteVegas odds for Biden winning the presidency are down to 11%.
DeleteVegas said Hillary would win. Give them ALL your money.
Delete@7:10 is lying. The White House released a physician’s report a few days ago.
DeleteYes! At 8 pm Trump's odds were 17 %. Three hours later they were 90%.
DeleteThe White House released a physician’s report a few days ago, but it was not written or confirmed by a neurologist, was it now?
DeleteYes, it was. The same neurologist who did his annual physical in Feb, the one supposedly visiting the White House to treat Biden’s imaginary Parkinson’s but actually treating others. That neurologist gave him a comprehensive exam and said he was fit to perform theduties of president and showed no signs of degenerative disease. In writing, released to the public by the head of the White House Medical Unit. Stop lying here.
DeleteSomerby is obsessed with Gutfeld because Somerby is just an old poop himself.
ReplyDeleteanon 4:07, are you glad to got that one off your chest?
DeleteSo you tell us why Somerby is obsessed with Gutfeld’s poop jokes.
DeleteAll the parameters of the debate, including the very early date for the first debate, were dictated by Biden’s team and Trump just accepted them. Why would the Biden team ask for such an early date for the debate, before the conventions are over? What were they hoping to accomplish? I am baffled and I haven’t seen a plausible answer from anyone of either tribe. Does anyone here have theories?
ReplyDeleteI thought the very early date was set to allow Biden to withdraw if he did badly. But that isn’t happening
DeleteThe Biden team was aware of his cognitive decline but never acknowledged it. When the pace of Biden’s deterioration quicken in the midst of his re-election battle,, they arranged an early debate in order to pretend that they had been unaware of his worsening condition and to allow the media to take charge of the narrative from there on.
DeleteCecelia has an active imagination.
DeleteAre you saying Biden's own team did him in? They are so committed to the Democrat party? There must be some other reason.
DeleteAnd what did they dell Jill Biden to get her consent for early date?
DeleteCecelia presupposes that there has been a decline worthy of discussing. When a neurologist does a test looking specifically for such decline and finds none, putting his name on a report to that effect, I am going to believe the doctor, not Cecelia.
DeletePerhaps the very early date was to give the Republicans a chance to replace Trump with somebody else. Trump did much worse at the debate than Biden did.
DeleteAnonymouse 4:55pm, it’s not going to get prettier for you. I don’t mean that as being between you and your political contrarians, it’s not going to be good for awhile between you and yours.
DeleteWhether he gets out and especially if he stays in, you’re going to be in a family feud for a bit.
Anonymouse 5:02pm, the people on Biden’s team are just regular people too. Regular people don’t always act or react with clarity or alacrity.
DeleteThe early date was set to impress Ivanka. Her Daddy is still trying desperately to bed her.
DeletePoor Donald Trump. After Ivanka ratted him out to the FBI for stealing confidential government files, the odds of him finally getting to fuck her is even less than the current unemployment rate.
Deleteanon, what are you? the "blue" tribe Greg Gutfield (if perhaps nastier)?
DeleteAnd Biden proposed it with a taunting video on par with what one would see from a professional wrestler. Strange.
Delete5:05. Then I take it, when Ronnie Jackson stated that an unscheduled trip to Walter Reed Hospital on a Saturday evening was for a routine physical, after Trump “aced” the Montreal Cognitive Test on that visit, we were to take Jackson’s word for it, because he is a doctor?
DeleteAC/ MA,
DeleteI'm the Democrats version of a Republican, only more truthful.
Cont.
ReplyDeleteIn truth, the Democratic Party is little more than a national fundraising machine, as is the GOP.
I’m not faulting Biden for expressing his frustration with the party’s big money elite. He’s simply stating the truth. America’s donor class has become extraordinarily powerful, in both parties.
Biden and his top aides aren’t hiding this reality. To the contrary, they’re actively portraying the effort to remove him as driven by the party’s wealthy elite.
This may be an exaggeration. The polling data I’ve seen suggests that concerns about Biden’s age and evident decline worry a wide swath of the public.
But Biden is trying to persuade the party’s major donors of his viability. Soon after Biden shared with the hosts of “Morning Joe” his frustrations with the moneyed elite of the party, he held a Zoom call with that very same elite.
In that call, according to The New York Times, he told them that they had to shift the focus of the campaign away from him and onto Trump.
Telling them to shift their focus seemed further evidence that, at least in Biden’s mind, the party’s biggest donors were responsible for focusing on Biden’s debate stumbles in the first place. And it was they who must shift their focus back to Trump.
I just read a New York Times op-ed by actor George Clooney, who calls for Biden to drop out. I’m not aware of any special political expertise Clooney brings to the table, except for what he states in the very first paragraph of his op-ed: “I have led some of the biggest fund-raisers in my party’s history,” he writes. “Last month I co-hosted the single largest fundraiser supporting any Democratic candidate ever, for President Biden’s re-election.”
I guess that makes Clooney’s view highly relevant.
Over the last week and a half, I’ve been immersed in countless discussions about whether Biden should drop out of the race. I expect you have as well.
But those discussions are irrelevant. You and I aren’t going to persuade Biden to stay in the race or to drop out.
Only one group is going to persuade him — the Democratic Party’s biggest donors. If they decide to stop funding the Biden campaign, Biden has no chance of winning.
It’s now becoming a game of chicken. If the biggest donors stop funding Biden and Biden stays in the race notwithstanding, he clearly loses. Yet so do we all.
Biden’s efforts over the last few days confirm much of what I’ve increasingly observed over the years. The real political power in America, regardless of party, lies in the hands of big money."
Just in case Somerby doesn't understand what actual media criticism looks like, here is some from Steve M. at No More Mister Nice Blog:
ReplyDelete"Thursday, July 11, 2024
NEW YORK TIMES EDITORIAL: TRUMP IS BAD -- BUT THE REPUBLICAN PARTY IS AWESOME!
The New York Times has just published a long editorial under the headline "Donald Trump Is Not Fit to Lead." The editorial is clearly the ed board's way of issuing this response to critics who've objected to the paper's endless discussion of Joe Biden's age: "There, we denounced Trump too -- are you satisfied now?" Henceforth, the ed board will tell these critics that it already checked that box, even as it continues its relentless criticism of Biden (and shifts its focus to attacking Biden's replacement, if there is one).
The ed board called for Biden to leave the race less than 24 hours after the June 27 debate; notably, this editorial doesn't say that Trump should step aside or be replaced as his party's nominee. That's defensible -- obviously, Trump isn't going anywhere, while Biden might be persuaded to step aside. But the ed board could have made the recommendation anyway, in the interests of parity.
But what's really striking about the editorial -- although it's not surprising at all, given the tone of mainstream media coverage since the Reagan era -- is the fact that its message is "Republicans have an awesome party, and it's really a shame that that Trump fellow came along to ruin it." Many Republicans are trotted out as examples of the party's awesomeness, though, notably -- although the editorial never notes it -- all are dead or estranged from the GOP."
Steve then goes on to support his point with examples from the NY Times Editorial. And there is not one single mention of sacred Troy.
Pass the popcorn.
DeleteTo you I pass the poopcorn.
DeleteThe Times feigns neutrality by praising Republicans who are not running. But, when Romney, McCain, etc. were running against Democrats, the Times criticized them and endorsed their Dem opponents.
DeleteTrump's only significant legislation, tax cuts essentially for those making over $150K, was scheduled by the Republicans pushing it to expire soon as such a disaster for the debt. It won't expire if Trump is reelected. Those tax cuts increased the wealth of the top 1% by 25%. Greedy fucks have all the money in the world and they are threatened by the notion of having to pay a small fraction of the % of taxes that their lessors below them pay.
ReplyDeleteSomerby is over-interpreting Coons’ preciseness to fit his own preferred narrative that Biden has “episodes”, but Coons just never saw any. Coons explicitly said the debate was a one-off that shocked him. That means the opposite of Somerby’s grasping.
ReplyDeleteAnonymouse 5:36pm, if Bernie was a candidate in 2024, it would then be at least three times that most Democrats and certainly the DNC got to stab him in the back.
ReplyDeleteanon 5:02, an interesting and intelligent post. But why would the donors want him out? I would think it's because Biden's debate performance (you really understate by characterizing it as a some "stumbles") was so horrible that it'll make him unelectable by the common folks who vote, presumably. I would note that I have no real ability to predict outcomes in cases like this, but it looks like Biden fumbled the election to Trump. -
ReplyDeleteUkrainian President Vladimir Putin urged the US to provide more support to Ukraine at a speech today in Washington, DC.
ReplyDeletePeople with money usually do things for their own self-interest. Maybe they don’t like Biden’s promise to tax the rich? Biden & Trump are even in the polls, so it isn’t that Biden is losing.
ReplyDeleteKevin looks at the economy.
ReplyDelete"If the phone conversations only happen on the days, and at the times, when President Biden calls, that doesn't tell us what the president might be like on the days, and at the times, when he doesn't call."
ReplyDeleteOf course, if the conversations only happened when Coons calls Biden, then that tells us that Biden is just sitting there in a stupor and lacks the sense or initiative to pick up the phone!
Confirmation bias is a dangerous drug.
IMO Biden did fine in his presser today. I see no reason for him to withdraw. I am amazed at the difference between today and the debate.
ReplyDeleteYou’re a Republican, Dave. You know Biden will lose to Trump.
DeleteTrump is thrilled with the press conference. Biden did just well enough to stay in the race which is exactly what he wants. He thinks he will easily beat Biden. Maybe he's wrong. Apparently Biden and Trump are even in the polls, so who knows?
DeleteI can't imagine Dementia Joe on the ballot in November.
DeleteThat'd be beyond absurd. Especially now, after the "emperor has no clothes" moment.
The NBC expert said that the Dem candidate must be officially nominated one week before the Dem convention. That doesn’t leave much time for a switch.
DeleteBut can't Biden be nominated and then drop out on account of heath problems?
DeleteI think the establishment leaders inside her Democratic Party realize that this election is lost. They will just go through with Biden and hope he doesn't die or do something really really embarrassing. We will all have to go to the painful process of watching this man who has no business running for president go through the motions of doing so. Which is so sad and so brutal. But the leadership will probably concentrate on State and down ballot candidates and reorganize for 2028. The only good thing about it for Democrats is that the people who have made the decisions and have let it come to this, hopefully we'll all be fired.
DeleteIf Biden makes it to the election, he can disregard the results if he doesn't like them. I'm a Konstitushional skollar (i.e. rRpublican appointed Supreme Cuort justice).
Delete7:21. The big money donors for Biden have known all along that his plans would be to put less money in their pockets via IRS taxes than Trump. On the other hand, they have much of their money tied up in assets that will take a major hit if Trump tanks the economy. Of the two, Trump’s stated plans, if he is elected, have a greater chance, via broader tariffs and other dumbass notions, on tanking the economy.They may also see his foreign policy as potentially more destabilizing to the world at large, with economic consequences.They have seen the polls, they saw the debate, and they now have a strong sense that Biden’s team has been lying to them. Why would they put money on a horse that looks destined to lose? Trump is a blow hard with a long track record of ruining things; he poses a threat to their money at a time when the economy is strengthening and the outlook is positive under Biden. They need a stronger candidate and have been waiting for Biden to show some life, and the waiting is over, even with the good performance tonight, unless the polls miraculously swing in Biden’s favor now.
ReplyDeleteThe donors are in essence, responding to the masses, who keep polling poorly for Biden. This is where Robert Reich has to correct himself. The electorate is the main driver here, not the big money donors, who would be keeping their money on Biden if he had a 20 point lead over Trump in the polls.
ReplyDeleteHi
ReplyDeleteThank you very much for your kind words! I'm glad you found the piece thought-provoking and approachable. In the future, I will continue to strive for informative articles. Keep an eye out for more!
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I think the donors are responding to Biden's proposed tax on the wealthy. The masses are polling the way they have all along, unaffected by the debate. Biden is now leading in several polls and still tied nationally.
ReplyDeleteAccording to a friend of my younger brother, the $700 is nothing in comparison to the millions he has given to Ukraine. Why? We require it, she replied. Because vs03 we don’t know why, it must be it. We possess citizenship.
ReplyDelete.
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