२८ मे, २०२०

"It is a shame that December 7th is remembered as a dark day when America was attacked, when it could be seen as a bright day in our history, the beginning of constitutional ratification."

I wrote on December 7, 2007 — the 220th anniversary of the day the first state ratified the Constitution — the first state, AKA "The First State," my state, Delaware. Maybe you don't know that Delaware is the first state, but if you grow up in Delaware — at least if, like me, you grew up in Delaware in the 1950s — you know that Delaware is The First State, and you know that December 7th is Delaware Day. When you get a little older, you find out that other Americans don't even mention Delaware on December 7th. They call it Pearl Harbor Day. Another event vastly overshadowed the little state's pride. We weren't even the smallest state, if smallness can be a point of distinction, only the second smallest. But we were first. First! No one outside of Delaware ever seemed to notice.

But Joe Biden is a person from Delaware. He wasn't born there. He was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania in 1942, but his family moved to Delaware in 1953. Maybe I crossed paths with young Biden. Maybe he was seated at the next table at the Charcoal Pit. Clearly, he knows about Delaware Day, and wouldn't he have heard — every year of his life — the reminiscences about Pearl Harbor that overshadow Delaware Day? It's something that has affected me all my life, that caused me to write that line you see in this post title.

In the video below, we see Biden, bringing up Delaware Day as he lightly taunts the Governor of Pennsylvania over the fact that Delaware was once part of Pennsylvania: "But we declared our independence." Delaware separated from Pennsylvania at the point of the Declaration of Independence, in 1776. That's not the basis for Delaware Day, which marks the ratification of the Constitution on December 7, 1787. Biden not only mixes up the 2 important events in Delaware history — "We declared our independence on December the 7th" —  he forgets that December 7th is Pearl Harbor Day. He calls it D-Day:



The clip begins with Biden tracing the arc of the northern border of Delaware, which I can attest, is something people from Delaware believe is very interesting but really just shows how little there is to say about Delaware.

Anyway... what's up with Governor Tom Wolf? Did someone instruct him to abase himself by keeping the top of his bald head lower than Biden's effulgent smile?

४४ टिप्पण्या:

rehajm म्हणाले...

I remember the great 'Delewarians' vs 'Delewarites' debate- watched it on Jim Ignatowski's giant wall of televisions.

mezzrow म्हणाले...

What does the University of Delaware have in common with the University of Michigan and Princeton University? If this were Jeopardy, the category would be "Sports Apparel".

My money's on Meade to get this one.

Howard म्हणाले...

What did Delaware?

She wore her New Jersey!

Why did California? -She called to ask Hawaii.

Where did Chicago? -The same place Oregon

Where has Oregon? I don't know but Alaska. She said she went to pay her Texas.

What did Missisip? She sipped a Minnesota.

What did Tennessee? The same thing Arkansas

How did Wisconsin? He robbed an Oklahoma using a Kentucky.

stevew म्हणाले...

The evidence continues to accumulate, to the point of being overwhelming, that Biden is unfit for a job that requires clear thinking and mental competence. This makes his choice of running mate so much more relevant and important. I'm thinking this scenario: Democrats go all in on Joe, provided he picks the VP candidate they favor, he wins the election and then the administration, with the backing of the party, invokes the 25th Amendment.

If that is possible, who is the ideal VP candidate? Not Crazy Stacy Abrams, that's for sure. Hillary? Amy? Liz?

whitney म्हणाले...

People with dementia can frequently recount stories from their youth in great detail.

mezzrow म्हणाले...

My home county, Duval County Florida (pronounced Duuuuval), has an area of 918 square miles and a population of about 950,000 at present.

The state of Delaware has an area of 469 square miles and a population of about 970,000.

David Begley म्हणाले...

Looks like Biden just lost The First State. Not knowing that important fact about Delaware is like a Nebraskan not knowing about Arbor Day.

And I finally figured out who Joe Biden is. He’s a senile Senator Blutto Blutarsky. “Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!”

gspencer म्हणाले...

Joe, the way for you as a politican to honor the Constitution is to obey it. Over the years you've taken the oath to support and defend it numerous times. And haven't meant it once. You've repeatedly violated the people's liberties by increasing government beyond belief. The spirit of the Constitution is limitation. But you as a Democrat have taken every frappin' opportunity to expand government.

David Begley म्हणाले...

Bluto. Not Blutto.

Temujin म्हणाले...

December 7 is the day I opened my restaurant back in 1987. I do believe more people know about that than know about Delaware becoming the first state on that day.

As for Gov Tom Wolf. He's not liked very much across Pennsylvania right now. Perhaps he's keeping a low profile in that image?

NotWhoIUsedtoBe म्हणाले...

Can we fact check Biden? Or is that simple cruelty?

Rob म्हणाले...

Oy, the dementia!

The 2016 election was Fatass versus Fatass, and Fatass won. The 2020 election will be Addled versus Addled, and my money’s on Addled.

NotWhoIUsedtoBe म्हणाले...

It's only a matter of time before one of these memory lapses sticks to Biden. The public isn't paying attention right now, but when election day is close it will be hard to ignore.

Danno म्हणाले...

Delaware has no reason to exist. Never has. The Twelve Mile Circle should be ceded to Pennsylvania and the rest made part of Maryland's Eastern Shore.

Earnest Prole म्हणाले...

I've spent my entire life in the West and can therefore confirm: The Arc is objectively quite interesting.

tim maguire म्हणाले...

It was on the license plate in the 70's so (I lived in Delaware for a few years as a child in the early 70's). I don't know if that's still the case, but it was a major point of Delaware pride when Biden entered congress.

Barack Obama had a history of saying astonishingly ignorant things too. But he was too young to blame dementia so the media settled on a strategy of ignoring it and pretending Sarah Palin was the dumb one.

Danno म्हणाले...

My interest in the twelve mile circle came about as I explored the MD Eastern Shore, where one of my great-great grandmothers moved with two daughters, after she was widowed and sick of the Minnesota/Wisconsin weather.

Here is a nice link-

https://www.howderfamily.com/blog/the-twelve-mile-circle/

tim maguire म्हणाले...

stevew said...The evidence continues to accumulate, to the point of being overwhelming, that Biden is unfit for a job that requires clear thinking and mental competence.

And now we see the brilliance of the left's claims that Trump is mentally unfit for office--having for years dismissed such claims as partisan BS, it is harder for the right to claim Biden is mentally unfit for office. The fact that the claims about Trump were BS and the claims about Biden fully legit doesn't mean as much as a rational person might think.

Inga म्हणाले...

Yeah but, should Trump be using insulin?

Ralph L म्हणाले...

North Carolina used to put "First In Freedom" on all its license plates in honor of the Mecklenburg County's (Charlotte) Declaration of Independence, whose 245th anniversary just occurred on May 20th. Then black activists objected, so it was "First in Flight" for years, thanks to the Wright Bros. Now you have a choice. The history of Meck Dec is disputed, but my ggg grandfather was a witness at 16 and a speaker at the 50th anniversary celebration. It was a holiday with parade in Charlotte until recent decades, after too much yankee infiltration.

The other date on the state flag is April 12, 1776, for the Halifax Resolves of the state legislature. The adoption of the resolution was the first official action in the American Colonies calling for independence from Great Britain.

NC touts these dates because we're "a valley of humility between two mountains of conceit" (SC and VA). I should mention that people outside NC thought my late grandmother was in the NC Chamber of Commerce.

Gilbert Pinfold म्हणाले...

I know the answer to mezzrrow’s question, but to leave room for Meade, I just want to name drop Fritz Crisler as a hint.

Craig म्हणाले...

The entire Biden campaign, and its curation by the media, is creepy propaganda.

Fernandinande म्हणाले...

Those rinky-dinky states in the N.E. shouldn't get two senators.

buwaya म्हणाले...

I've said this many times before, but what the heck. Your legal arrangements are just the rituals that your society has come up with out of its own nature. These things, even your constitution, are superficial symbols without inherent power. You are yourselves because you are yourselves, not because some piece of paper made you that way. That piece of paper is frippery. Lots of other nations have adopted American-like constitutions, and a few even managed to keep them. But that did not make them much more like you.

I guess its fair enough to note a symbolic event on a symbolic date. But its way too easy to misunderstand symbols.

Battles and wars are not symbolic, though they can be of course.

madAsHell म्हणाले...

Elizabeth Warren managed to capture third place in Massachusetts. Perhaps, Joe wants to avoid a similar fate.

Roger Sweeny म्हणाले...

That is why, when the U.S. Mint produced state quarters from 1999-2009, Delaware's was the first to go into circulation.

Christy म्हणाले...

Mostly I remember Caesar Rodney of Delaware, who in signing the Declaration, forewent ever
being able to get medical care in England for his cancer.---- Things one learns when educated by musical theater---

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves म्हणाले...

why did Inga vote for a Russian Agent?

AllenS म्हणाले...

Wisconsin is famous for it's dairy air.

अनामित म्हणाले...

When did Mitch Miller become governor of Pennsylvania?

अनामित म्हणाले...

When did Mitch Miller become governor of Pennsylvania?

Craig म्हणाले...

This is the Zoom version of Bloomberg standing on a box.

Lurker21 म्हणाले...

Anyway... what's up with Governor Tom Wolf? Did someone instruct him to abase himself by keeping the top of his bald head lower than Biden's effulgent smile?

Kneel before Zod!

The Doonesbury cartoonist (a guy whose name I don't want to remember) used to draw Ronald Reagan as the Eighties TV ... um ... character? ... icon? ... Max Headroom. Now we have a candidate who actually looks and sounds like Max Headroom and is as distracted and disconnected as Max Headroom, but I don't think Biden will be turning up as the Eighties TV icon in that comic strip (whose name I don't want to remember).

Lurker21 म्हणाले...

How The States Got Their Shapes was a good book and a so-so television series. What stands out in my mind is that incompetents surveyed the Kentucky-Tennessee line and nobody thought to rectify it and straighten it out in all the years since then.

I was going to add a disquisition on state holidays - Patriots' Day, Pioneer Day, Lee-Jackson Day - but that would mean too much research.

Two-eyed Jack म्हणाले...

Delaware was the three slave-holding countries of Pennsylvania, causing the rift. They got to sign the Declaration of Independence separately to ensure unanimity, and quickly ratified the Construction, because it gave them outsized sway. Although federalism was possible among mixed-sized 18th-century agricultural economies, the independence of Delaware set us on a course where a functioning federal nation became impossible. All true Americans know this in their hearts.

Charlie म्हणाले...

Let's elect the creepy senile guy as our president, what could go wrong??

Gilbert Pinfold म्हणाले...

OK—time’s up. The three schools share the same football helmet scheme. Now oddly known as the “winged helmet” it was originated by Princeton coach Fritz Crisler to recall a tiger’s ears and stripes. When Crisler left Princeton to coach Michigan, he introduced the same design in maize and blue. Why this might represent a wolverine, nevermind a blue hen, I can’t say. We should note that during the Alito confirmation hearings, Biden said to Alito ( Princeton grad) “I hate Princeton). The brain was pudding even then.

mccullough म्हणाले...

So did Delaware split from Pennsylvania because of slavery?

Wince म्हणाले...

That arc Biden draws in the air reminds me of the scene in Lost in Translation.

"Ahhh... after Japan?"

Evidently some time after the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor".

Craig म्हणाले...

Would you let Joe Biden run your fantasy football league? Or your school's PTO?

Then why the hell... sigh, never mind.

Maillard Reactionary म्हणाले...

The Althouse Word of the Day is "effulgent".

Use a word 10 times and it is yours, they say. Get busy people, your vocab could use some perking up.

Separately, Governor Wolf is pretty short, as I recall. Short people are at a video disadvantage now, since we don't have phone books to sit on any more.

How long until people start laughing in Joe Biden's face when he comes out with one of these howlers? Anybody making odds on that?

Drago म्हणाले...

gadfly: "So - perhaps Plugs is not confused in this instance -....."

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

Come on Man! Try and maintain some dignity in your Biden Cuckholstery!

Kirk Parker म्हणाले...

One of my kids got a t-shirt somewhere that read "Rhode Island: Last To Ratify!"

Bunkypotatohead म्हणाले...

Delaware is currently known mainly for its lack of sales tax.
Eastern Maryland nicotine addicts find that quite useful.