October 16, 2016

"It seems to me if you can speak, you're at a liability in the Democratic Party anymore. It seems to me you've all become heartless technocrats."

"It seems to me that you forget that... we have never as a party moved this nation by 14-point position papers and 9-point programs. It seems that when we got involved in the civil rights movement... nobody asked Martin Luther King what his legislative agenda was. He marched to change attitudes. When the women's movement started, it had not moved with a constitutional amendment. They marched to change attitudes. And this party better understand full well that it's about time that we change our attitude and we begin to change the attitudes of Americans about what their responsibilities are to the poor, about what their responsibilities are to other people, and about what our responsibility in the world is, and that requires changing attitudes. But... I promise you'll see my 15-point plans and 19-point position papers and...  you'll be able to make a judg[ment] about whether... I know more about economic policy. But ultimately... this country needs a leader, and leaders change attitudes about people, and it's the ironic twist that in the wake of Ronald Reagan that the only one thing he knew how to do was the one thing that is now being... the currency of which is in fact now being devalued so much."

That's something Joe Biden said in 1987 (when he was running for President). I quoted that back in August 2008, relating it to Barack Obama. I imagined Obama hearing Biden's remarks and seeing his path to the presidency, seeing how he might be the one who could, like Ronald Reagan and Martin Luther King, use the power of speech to change attitudes.

The reason I'm dragging this up out of the archive this morning is I'm noticing how Biden's idea also applies to Trump. Maybe Trump too heard Biden's idea and saw that the presidency is achieved through speech — emotionally rousing speech that changes attitudes.

Of course, there are many possible attitudes. Which way are you going to change the attitudes? And what attitudes will be inspired in response to how that attitude looks in the people you inspire? In Trump's case, the response to the attitude he inspired turned a lot of people back to the kind of Democratic Party candidate Biden was speaking against — the flat, dull speaker with the 14-point position papers and 9-point programs.

Talk about an ironic twist. 

43 comments:

Big Mike said...

Nothing ironic about it. When Trump spoke, people who had given up hope suddenly had hope.

rhhardin said...

You can change attitudes by explaining economics properly. That never happens. The opposite happens, usually.

Explain it properly and you get no coverage.

Responsibility to the poor isn't the problem; it's doing something that works instead of making it worse.

A couple trickle down and where wealth comes from, from long ago.

From which you can see Obama would make things worse, and he has.

Tommy Duncan said...

So tell me again why a candidate can't inspire first and then have a 9 point plan to achieve the inspirational goals?

Some of us like to know where we are headed AND how we'll get there.

Jeff said...

You forgot the rousing chorus of "Kumbaya" that Biden led the audience in immediately afterward.

Michael K said...

I would say that Obama, after becoming a "made man" by Emil Jones Jr in Illinois, realized that white good will, which he disdained, could push him anywhere if he could just fake the "magic negro" who loved his fellow man.

Several months before Obama announced his U.S. Senate bid, Jones called his old friend Cliff Kelley, a former Chicago alderman who now hosts the city’s most popular black call-in radio ­program.

I called Kelley last week and he recollected the private conversation as follows:

“He said, ‘Cliff, I’m gonna make me a U.S. Senator.'”

“Oh, you are? Who might that be?”

“Barack Obama.”


It was as easy as that.

Plus, of course, getting the court to unseal the divorce and custody records of Jack Ryan.

Obama's fixer Axelrod arranged that.

mockturtle said...

Trump hasn't changed anyone's attitude. He merely legitimized it.

Jeff said...

@rhhardin,

I followed your links. Very nice.

But also sad, in that there is no shortage of similar posts scattered about the Internet, and yet widespread ignorance of such basic reasoning. Like you said, if you explain things correctly, very few pay any attention.

Bob Ellison said...

That was a theme in the 1988 general election. Mike Dukakis's stump speech was this is a choice about competence. Dukakis proved to be spectacularly incompetent when he had to admit he had driven Massachusetts into the ground about three weeks after he lost to Bush.

Now the theme is vaginas. This is a choice about whether a woman should be President. That's incredibly stupid, but it's gonna get Hillary elected, and plenty of pajama-boys are going to help her in there.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Democrats care about the poor.


LOL. No - Democrats care about making life painful for ordinary Americans while they gain wealth and power. ..and they lie to the masses thru the media, Ellen, SNL, CNN and Seth Myers to do it.


...As the emails show, her public career has been based on showing one face to her gullible supporters and another, more ruthless one to allies and adversaries behind closed doors.

Michael K said...

"Democrats care about the poor. "

That's why they make more of them.

Etienne said...
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Etienne said...
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Wince said...

The Democrats' x-point plans require too much coercion to rely simply on persuasion to change people's attitudes as a means to achieve an end, except inasmuch persuasion is a necessary predicate to con the public into giving up more and more of their liberty to enable more coercion.

And what better way for the Democrats to persuade than through one invented "crisis" after another, even if the crisis is of your own making?

Examples: Obamacare, economic stagnation, income inequality, divisions between the races and sexes.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Democrats live and breathe to enrich themselves, and punish anyone who stands in their way.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

I imagined Obama hearing Biden's remarks and seeing his path to the presidency, seeing how he might be the one who could, like Ronald Reagan and Martin Luther King, use the power of speech to change attitudes.

Why? It's not all that uncommon at all to actually just naturally get it.

Is this why we have had to endure Glenn Beck and his crazy chalkboard diagrams? People actually think that being academic and uninspiring works?

Well I'll be damned. Welcome to Hillary's America.

Etienne said...
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Amadeus 48 said...

Michael K--It is hard to see that BHO has changed much, except he has given up masking his disdain...and he has extended to to all citizens.

One of the most remarkable events of the past year was the final location of the Obama Library to be built here in Chicago. The Obamas' final decision placed it in Jackson Park, a stone's throw from the well-loved and easy-to-get-to Museum of Science and Industry and Lake Michigan. A fleet of limos can sweep down Lake Shore Drive to the site from the deluxe hotels on Michigan Avenue with no encounters with anything but scenery and tourists.

The famous "community organizer" left in the dust the hopes and aspirations of the neighborhood a mile west near Washington Park. If ever there were a place that would have benefited from having a substantial new institution with international visibility attached to it, it is Washington Park. Close to the University of Chicago, it is in, but at the edge of, the sea of despair on the South Side.

For two years, the local media talked exclusively of a Washington Park location, hyping BHO's connections to the community that gave him his start. About 12 months ago, without comment, the news stories started to talk about two locations--one in Jackson Park, one in Washington Park. When the first story appeared, I said to my wife, "He is going to put it in Jackson Park."

And so it turned out. He really doesn't care about other people at all. He looks down on them.

Enter Trump.



Expat(ish) said...

"It seems that when we got involved in the civil rights movement..." - Funny that.

It would have been even better if Biden had said, "When we started the civil war over black rights..."

-XC

Etienne said...
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Laslo Spatula said...

Emotionally rousing speech versus 14-point position: an example.

Emotionally Rousing Speech for Obtaining Sex.

"We're all sensitive people
With so much to give
Understand me, sugar
Since we've got to be here
Let's live
I love you

There's nothing wrong with me
Loving you, baby no no
And giving yourself to me can never be wrong
If the love is true, oh baby woo ooo

Don't you know how sweet and wonderful life can be woo ooo
I'm asking you baby to get it on with me, ooo ooo ooo
I ain't gonna worry
I ain't gonna push, I won't push you baby
So c'mon, c'mon, c'mon, c'mon, c'mon, baby
Stop beatin' 'round the bush, heyah

Let's get it on
Let's get it on
You know what I'm talkin' 'bout
C'mon, baby, hey hey
Let your love come out"

The 14-Point Position on Obtaining Sex.

1. Wash behind your ears.

2. Make sure and wash behind your balls.

3. Buy new underwear. What you consider clean underwear is not what a woman considers clean underwear.

4. Wear REAL shoes, even if your favorite sneakers cost over a hundred bucks.

5. Brush your teeth the way you do before going to the dentist, not the way you do when you're late for work.

6. Tuck in your shirt. Seriously.

7. Easy on the cologne, Tiger. And do NOT spritz your junk: this is why you washed behind your balls.

8. Make sure there are clean linens on the bed. NO SPORTS LOGO sheets, even if you really really love your college football team.

9. Remove the tissue box from the night stand. You know what I mean.

10. Clean under the bed. Who knows what incriminating crap you've left under there.

11. Air out the bedroom. Febreze and chronic masturbation just smells like Febreze and chronic masturbation

12. Put your cell phone on Mute. And NO TEXTING.

13. Find a girl you want to have sex with.

14. Play Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On"


I am Laslo.

Ann Althouse said...

LOL, Laslo.

That was great... even as it was unfrontpagable.

You lost me at "behind your balls." You assume the reader is male.

Michael K said...

" Close to the University of Chicago, it is in, but at the edge of, the sea of despair on the South Side. "

I grew up on the South Side, in South Shore to be exact. In the 1940s and 50s, it was an idyllic place for a kid. The lake was close and we could ride our bikes to it or to the Museum of Science and Industry where we used to spend days evading the guards.

Michelle Obama's parents lived four houses from mine although 20 years after we left.

I stopped in front of the old house about five years ago to take a photo and the owner came out. He wanted to know who I was and I told him. He insisted I tour the house with him. He asked if I could send him photos of it when I lived there. I feel so sorry for him. He is trying to live a middle class life in that hellhole.

I would like to have that house today if it were somewhere else, although stairs are not my thing anymore.

The South Side is now hell and there is only one reason. It is not a slum. Some of the houses are Frank Lloyd Wright designs and many are luxurious. It is the feral young men.

HT said...

"It is the feral young men."

This is what I see all the time in the Washington Post comments section.

Michael K, that is not your finest moment, by a long shot. It is truly offensive.

Thuglawlibrarian said...

And what happened to Slow Joe Biden shortly thereafter in the 1988 election? His 2d plagiarism conviction.

Michael K said...


"It is the feral young men."

This is what I see all the time in the Washington Post comments section.

Michael K, that is not your finest moment, by a long shot. It is truly offensive.


How would you describe them? They grow up without fathers and often without mothers, if they are lucky being raised by grandmothers.

I am seriously curious what you would call them. Hillary calls them "predators."

I contribute to my high school which is 100% black. What do you do besides virtue signal ?

Vouchers would allow a lot of black kids with parents who care, sort of like the owner of my old house who is trying to live a middle class life in a war zone, go to decent schools.

Do you read the Chicago Tribune?

I am really annoyed by the lefty (usually) hand wringing types who would no more go near such a neighborhood than shop at WalMart.

I had better stop because I am getting more angry as I think about this.

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...


Michael K, that is not your finest moment, by a long shot. It is truly offensive.

10/16/16, 10:29 AM

Feral young men are not a problem in Chicago?

Michael K said...

Don't bother with HT, exiled. Another blank profile. Probable Hillary troll.

Sebastian said...

"In Trump's case, the response to the attitude he inspired turned a lot of people back to the kind of Democratic Party candidate Biden was speaking against — the flat, dull speaker with the 14-point position papers and 9-point programs. Talk about an ironic twist." Maybe ironic, but wholly predictable. Not clear though he "inspired" an "attitude," or that anyone's "attitude" was changed. Unless "no, thanks" is an attitude.

Of course, 14-point positions and 9-point plans are entirely phony, purely symbolic posturing. Progs gonna do what progs wanna do. O ran against the individual mandate, remember?

Real American said...

Why work so hard to change Americans' attitudes when you you can just mock them and replace them with immigrants who are easier to manipulate?

buwaya said...

The Laslo procedure really only applies to males.
Women dont ever seem to expect male company to show up at THEIR place, or at any rate it seems that no prep work is ever required. My impression anyway, and granted I may be decades out of date.
And for that matter so may be Laslo out of date.

Amadeus 48 said...

Michael K: "I contribute to my high school which is 100% black."

South Shore High School? Mt. Carmel? Hales Franciscan? Hyde Park High?

mockturtle said...

Women dont ever seem to expect male company to show up at THEIR place, or at any rate it seems that no prep work is ever required.

LOL! I find it quite touching how little men know about women. Just the same, I appreciate the fact. ;-)

JaimeRoberto said...

There's a difference between persuasion and intimidation. The Democrats and their allies use the latter. Ask Brandon Eich, the Little Sisters of the Poor and that pizza shop in Indiana.

Big Mike said...

@HT, what is the color of the sky on the planet where you live? Because if the phrase "feral young men" offends you then you don't live on earth.

Laslo Spatula said...

Okay, Okay. The earlier post WAS Male-centric. So:

The 14-Point Position on Women Obtaining Sex.

1. Wash behind your ears.

2. Make sure and wash behind your vagina.

3. Wear new underwear. Modest yet sexy.

4. Not that underwear. Try another pair. Definitely sexy.

5. No, go back to the first pair. Modest yet sexy is good. Things can go either way.

6. Wear THAT bra. You know the one.

7. Wear THAT dress. You had it dry-cleaned for a reason.

8. Look in the mirror to make sure your ass still looks good in THAT dress.

9. No Pearl necklace. For obvious reasons. Guys will shoot themselves in the foot over that one.

10: Wear THOSE shoes.

11. No, the heels are too high: try another pair.

12. Try the third pair. Comfortably and flirty: perfect.

13. Find a guy you want to have sex with.

14. Try not to roll your eyes when the guy plays Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On"


I am Laslo.

mockturtle said...

Laslo, I could fill you in with a wild assortment of not-so-sexy behind-the-scenes preps that you might never think of but that would be giving things away, wouldn't it?

Leora said...

Bill never got to 50% of the vote and that doesn't keep him from pretending to be a beloved ex-president.

Laslo Spatula said...

mockturtle said...
"Laslo, I could fill you in with a wild assortment of not-so-sexy behind-the-scenes preps..."

I'm good with being oblivious to "not-so-sexy".

I don't even want to guess.

I like my illusions pure.

I am Laslo.

mockturtle said...

I thought you would, Laslo. Most men do. ;-)

Michael K said...

South Shore High School? Mt. Carmel? Hales Franciscan? Hyde Park High?

St Leo High School, Chicago.

I still donate and have attended several reunions.

It's reassuring that the black alumni are starting to take over from the white alumni who are dying off.

Lewis Wetzel said...

The story of the Democrat party since the Clintons took it over, is that the Democrats became the party of the bosses and Wall Street, and the Democrat voters don't care.

buwaya said...

Multi-point policy papers are just a different sort of rhetorical strategy, meant to appeal to a different subset.
Its not any more realistic than any other, it just works on a different sort of personal taste.

Actual policy and programs rarely survive past the campaign promises stage, and fewer still matter to a greater degree than their unintended consequences. And then, of course, there are events, which tend to make the arguments of one or two years before moot or irrelevant.

Perhaps the subset who would be swayed by such things should be the whole of the electorate, in an ideal world. Theres an argument for that, and arguments against.

tcrosse said...

Policy is for chumps. Divide and Rule is where the action is. White against Black, Male against Female, Straight against Gay, cis-gendered against the great mass of millions of transgendered. God forbid they should all get together and figure out where the real Power lies.