August 7, 2020

"His first self-imposed date for naming a running mate, around Aug. 1, came and went. The first week of August, another timeline he publicly floated..."

"... is nearly over, and an aide confirmed that an announcement would not happen this week. Mr. Biden has reached the final stage of his deliberations and is expected to name his choice shortly before the Democratic National Convention, which begins on Aug. 17.... This kind of approach — being openly meditative about the issue at hand, with a penchant for missing his own deadlines as he mulls his options — is in line with how Mr. Biden has made other big political choices throughout his career. Those who have worked with him over the years describe nonlinear decision-making processes with input from allies and family members, a barrage of questions from Mr. Biden, and a habit of extending deadlines in a way that leaves some Democrats anxious and annoyed, while others say it brings him to a well-considered decision, eventually.... Yet as the process has stretched out, each day has also brought intensive lobbying, uncertainty for the contenders and, increasingly, visible factions...."

From "Why Joe Biden Keeps Missing His Own V.P. Deadlines/On issues big and small, Joseph R. Biden Jr. will not be rushed, including the critical choice of a running mate. He’s deliberative, and he doesn’t mind extending his timetable — again and again" (NYT).

Did that article answer the question why Biden keeps missing his own deadlines? Nonlinear decision-making processes?? Isn't the answer really more about how he limited his range of choices by promising to pick a woman and then got overtaken by events that made it seem as though he had to pick a black woman and now he has no good choice? I wouldn't call that nonlinear. I'd call that disastrously linear!

By the way, there's no difference between "decision-making" and "decision-making processes," so "nonlinear decision-making processes" really set off my bullshit detector.

143 comments:

Mountain Maven said...

It's called a "poor decision making process." A president can't afford it.

n.n said...

Althouse sees the order in the chaos.

Yancey Ward said...

Biden isn't so far gone down the road of dementia that he doesn't realize what the Democrats in actual power are trying to do- put in a VP candidate that they can then elevate to the top of the ticket. This is probably why Biden has resisted selecting, let's say, Warren, Klobuchar, or Harris so far. Biden and his closest associates want to pick someone who can't be elevated to the top of the ticket in any realistic scenario.

Bill, Republic of Texas said...

Kamala would happily suck his dick to get the VP slot. Since he is dithering that means he's impotent and the little blue pills don't even work anymore.

Mark said...

There was nothing wrong with the system where the pick wasn't chosen until the convention.

DKWalser said...

The article is nothing but a really long roundabout way of saying Biden is indecisive. Just the kind of mind we want in our President!

Nichevo said...

So what you're saying is, he's a loser.

Agreed.

Kai Akker said...

The Biden/Pailin Fusion ticket will rock! Bristol is sooo ready.

So much better than Biden/Harris. Biden/Bass. Biden/Omar.

Wait... Biden/Omar....

.... nah.

Sebastian said...

"a barrage of questions from Mr. Biden"

I call BS.

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

pick any black woman--

...they all think alike anyway!

eddie willers said...

If he picked Condi Rice, I could breathe easy.

readering said...

No pick to talk about so let's talk about picking the pick.

Susan said...

The VP has not been named for the exact same reason that Joe Biden is the last person standing in the Democrat presidential field.

Gaze upon the field where the candidates are grown and, lo, it is barren.

Mark said...

And let's also dispense with the pretense that Biden is picking someone for the vice president slot.

If he is elected, that person will be president in the not-too-distant future.

That should scare the hell out of anyone thinking of voting for Biden, as if Biden himself on his healthiest day would not be a disaster.

Iman said...

In-kind contribution to the Biden campaign.

Earnest Prole said...

If it’s inevitable the next president will be an incompetent executive, we might as well stick with the orange devil we know.

The Godfather said...

Oh Ann! No difference between decision-making and decision-making processes? They are exact opposites.

gspencer said...

We know Joe doesn't know what he's doing.

Now we know that those who are running Joe and running his campaign don't know either.

Yancey Ward said...

In short, the Biden team is trying to find a lighter lightweight than Biden himself.

Ann Althouse said...

"Oh Ann! No difference between decision-making and decision-making processes? They are exact opposites."

No. Making is a process. Decision making is not a decision.

I wonder if they pronounce it "processEASE."

rhhardin said...

Nonlinear must mean illogical in this context. What's called a chemical calculation.

Women do it all the time, but in this case there's a calculation of hidden benefits and costs (namely, thinking of them) where women go to feelings without the calculation.

Linear would be we need one of these, and within that category one of those, and within that category one of so-and-so, narrowing the field without backtracking.

Original Mike said...

"Why Joe Biden Keeps Missing His Own V.P. Deadlines"

He's still trying to memorize her name.

MikeR said...

A mark of a good leader is the ability to make quick decisions. If they are right, so much the better...

rhhardin said...

Australian ABC news is fun in the background.
ABC (Australian) link

State-sibsidized so they have lots of money to spend on content. Leftist mostly, but with interesting shows, say one analyzing Trump and getting everything wrong in new and surprising ways not seen in the US.

They don't say much about Biden but haven't noticed that he's lost his marbles.

ABC is proounced "IBC" by the way.

walter said...

Perhaps waiting for the next manufactured crisis will elicit the obvious choice.

Paul said...

Dementia Joe is in conflict. Should he pick Hunter or Jill?

He can't decide!

stevew said...

Many years ago I learned, the hard way, that when I was headed out for dinner or drinks or to a game with some friends, not including mrs. stevew, that I should never answer definitively the question, "when will you be home".

Joe sets deadlines that he really means to keep, but he doesn't realize when announcing the deadline that having not yet decided, in this case on a running mate, there is no way he will meet that deadline. He should decide then set the date for the announcement.

The guy really is a dope. The antithesis of a leader.

Craig said...

He's "deliberative". LOLOLOLOL!

Narayanan said...

"Publishers Fret Over Obama’s ‘Failure to Perform’ - Why is Obama having trouble living up to his part of their lucrative contract?"

Headline at American Spectator.
----------------===================
Now they Fret Over Obiden’s ‘Failure to Perform’

gadfly said...

Susan Rice just sold her Netflix stock where she is currently a member of the board. Apparently the upcoming Biden administration will not permit private stock and business holdings - unlike the lawbreaking Trump family and his cabinet members.

Rice is also Donald's favorite choice because she also worked in the godawful Muslim Obama administration but the Veep choice cannot effect the election as long as Biden doesn't name a Communist and Scientologist named Karen Bass.

Churchy LaFemme: said...

In the year of "Mayor Pete", I can't believe there's no black woman mayor somewhere who's well regarded and not a bomb-thrower. Why go with this upper tier pack who are all either hated by some large group of people or just crazy.

Leora said...

His background is as a Senator. Senators like to ask you to think delay in making decisions is the same as deliberation. It's why Senators make lousy Presidential candidates and when they happen to win not very good presidents - Kennedy, Johnson, Obama as examples.

Ken B said...

When the DNC decides if he will be on the ticket himself, they will tell him who he picked. That's the “decision making process”.

Gk1 said...

There is no downside if Slow Joe changes his mine and just picks the approved progressive man, woman or child. Who are we kidding? The press will cover him no matter what he does. The biden braintrust will just figure out a way of buying off the black woman vote some other way if he balks on picking a black woman. It's not that complicated. Democrats can lie to their own supporters and like an abusive relationship they will come crawling back because ORANGE MAN BAD.

Anonymous said...

I wonder if they pronounce it "processEASE."

Ooh. I am in the medical field and this is a sore toe that is frequently trod upon.

Pluralizing a Greek word that ends in “-is” should be the only time you pronounce “-es” to rhyme with “bees”. Basis/bases, parenthesis/parentheses, etc.

“Process” is a Latinate English word derived from “processus”. The Latin plural of this word is identical to the singular in the nominative case. It does not become “processes” in the plural form of ANY case.

This is an example of grammatical hypercorrection by people who want to sound smart, but sound stupid to those who really know what’s going on.

NoMook said...

Funny, I detected malarkey, not bullshit. Maybe the virus has affected my ability to smell.

Ken B said...

I think Godfather is observing that there are two possibilities. If you are deciding you make a decision. If you are dithering you have a decision making process.

lgv said...

nonlinear decision-making processes

should set off the BS detector. It isn't even necessary to debate the inclusion of "processes".

We can play a game of replacing the entire phrase with non-BS, e.g. "convoluted thought processes".

I guess Chris Dodd can't make up his mind. Maybe there is still a `bidding war over how much each faction will pay Hunter for a consulting contract. Perhaps Joe has no input, but does insist on veto power and the chosen one got vetoed by Joe to let them know he is still in charge. Maybe they can't decide if Kamala is Black enough.


Michael K said...

Joe is still not sure which office he is running for. I think he is unaware of a Vice-Senator. He is along for the ride but he may drop off before November. The Dims have the Torricelli option.

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

FFS, Pluggs isnt picking anyone.

His puppet masters are doing the picking, and it isnt for Joe.

tim maguire said...

Biden is probably realizing he's painted himself into a corner as his campaign promises have left him with no viable option.

Kamala Harris won't help with the black vote and he'll win CA anyway, so she brings nothing to the ticket. Warren is another pick for the middle and he'll win MA anyway, so she brings nothing to the ticket. Stacey Abrams can excite the base, deliver the black vote, and deliver GA and maybe the Carolinas. But she'll cost him the Midwest. Susan Rice brings intrigue and corruption and doesn't deliver anything.

He hasn't made a choice because he doesn't have a non-sucky choice to make. Thank the Clinton Machine for destroying the next generation of Democratic politicians.

tcrosse said...

OTOH he's not Trump, so there's that.

Rory said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Chuck said...

What a coincidence; because just this afternoon I was wondering why Trump has been missing his own self-proclaimed deadlines on producing a comprehensive health care reform package.

And a comprehensive immigration reform package.

And a comprehensive infrastructure package.

Things that he said would be “easy” for a great dealmaker like himself. Things that he has repeatedly said would be ready in “two weeks” or “two months.” After promising during his campaign he’d do on his first day in office.

Narayanan said...

Bill, Republic of Texas said...
Kamala would happily suck his dick to get the VP slot. Since he is dithering that means he's impotent and the little blue pills don't even work anymore.
----------============
are you depreciating her vacuum skills? - rayciss

Skeptical Voter said...

Consider the possibility that Old Joe has become so slow that he simply forgot the deadline he'd set? Just passed him by, yes it did.

Remember how Hillary campaigned on the idea that she was the person you'd want to take that 3 a.m. call where some catastrophe--or imminent war was announced? Well once Joe has had his Ovaltine or hot milk and gets tucked into bed by Dr. Jill, he's not waking up to take any call until breakfast and his bowl of porridge the next morning. The heck with any 3 a.m. call!

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

Biden cant even pick his nose, nevermind a VP

he could have picked Cory Booger, but he doesnt have a cervix...yet

JaimeRoberto said...

He's trying to convince a white guy to identify as a black woman. Swalwell keeps volunteering, but nobody wants him.

Inga said...

There were/are plenty of good choices among the black women in his list.

Narayanan said...

nonlinear decision-making processes ===?>>> - works himself into a tangle

a barrage of questions from Mr. Biden ====>>>> we have seen how those barrages go == com'on man - are you baiting me

Not Sure said...

n.n said...
Althouse sees the order in the chaos.

It's the nonlinearity

Joe Smith said...

I don't remember him promising to pick a black woman...but let's say that he did, or that it is expected that he would.

If he ends up picking a white woman, liberals will be pissed off.

I'm terrible at math, but by promising to pick a woman he completely dismisses roughly half of the candidates out of had.

By looking at only black women, he eliminates about 94 percent of the US population.

What a stupid thing to do. It looks like terrible negotiating, putting himself behind the eight-ball. Presidents are nothing if not negotiators with other nations.

On top of all of that, please name a significant foreign policy that Joe had been correct about in his career.

The left says Trump is a clown. That may be, but I wouldn't want to be on the other side of a table from him when things matter. Biden? Jeez, take whatever you want. If he's elected the Chinese will paint the White House red and put a gold star on top.

Narayanan said...

eddie willers said...
If he picked Condi Rice, I could breathe easy.
---------------============
hey I resemble that yesterday - add piano skills to VP qualifying list.

Inga said...

“...we might as well stick with the orange devil we know.”

Who is this “we”?

Senile Biden is still far better than senile Trump.

Michael in ArchDen said...

The real error is the characterization of this decision as a "critical choice" VP choices have been proven over and over again to be inconsequential...and getting less important every election.

Francisco D said...

Let's not assume that Biden (if he wins) would give up the presidency or be forced to do so.

His advisors would gladly run the country while the VP would do what all VPs do - nothing much.

rehajm said...

I'm thinking it's a standoff with lefties stalling so they don't pick a VP with an indictment. Susan is the pick but they're waiting to see if she's also facing criminal charges...

I figured they would pick her early so she wouldn't be indicted.

Patrick said...

Lol @ thinking Biden is the one choosing his running mate. I look forward to guessing who is leading the cabal when he is elected.

rehajm said...

Non-linear decision making sounds like optical regression: Yep. That looks good!

Matt Harris said...

Covid-19 problem makes it harder to meet them in person. And Joe wants a good sniff before deciding.

Birkel said...

Joe Biden cannot mull.
That skill is beyond his limited abilities.

Louie the Looper said...

Didn’t the Smithsonian tell us that linear decision making was a sign of White privilege or something?

Gahrie said...

They aren't even worrying about the VP candidate right now. They're trying to decide when/how to replace Biden with Hillary. Hillary's VP will be Abrams.

chuck said...

Nonlinear with more than three dynamic variables? Could be chaotic.

Dave Begley said...

And this guy wants to be President of the United States?

When the missals come flying in or China attacks our ships, there is no time to mull.

What a complete joke!

DanTheMan said...

" He’s deliberative, and he doesn’t mind extending his timetable — again and again"

Sounds like "chaos". Which is their go-to word for anything about any Trump decision.

iowan2 said...

The easy answer is Joe is a politician and as such has never suffered any consequences for his dithering. In the real world, if you say August 1 is the time, You have already made the decision, and the date is just the reveal. But that's real world. Nobody thinks the DC swamp operates with real world constraints.

Phil 314 said...

Non-linear thinking=confusion

tpceltus said...

Biden's camp may know that Trump will probably not unleash the full force of his campaign until a VP pick is made. The real threat to his re-election, given Biden's liabilities, is the gravitas of the VP pick. That's who Trump is probably most interested in. So, delaying the VP announcement may be seen as a tactical benefit by Biden's camp.

Mr. Forward said...

The whole Biden “is going to get step down” scenario is ridiculous. Have you never met a politician?

Jake said...

Didn’t read the article. Did it include the word “gravitas” anywhere?

BUMBLE BEE said...

There's a scientific explanation for all this. Joe is fucked in the head.

walter said...

Chuck!
Got yer Biden sign out in front of your place?
If you want packages, Team Dementia has 'em lined up and ready to go.

robother said...

Could be that Joe's in a game of chicken with the Durham investigation. He's waiting to see if Susan Rice is indicted, and Durham and Barr are waiting to see if he names her as VP>

DanTheMan said...

>>Hillary's VP will be Abrams.

Abrams is Joe's best electoral college option. She puts Georgia in play.

eddie willers said...

Stacey Abrams can excite the base, deliver the black vote, and deliver GA

Not a chance of carrying Georgia.

Mid-Life Lawyer said...

He is obviously a highly intuitive decision making genius.

rehajm said...

If he ends up picking a white woman, liberals will be pissed off

Liberals don't have values. They won't care. Those Biden supporters threatening the Democrats sure rolled over...

Michael K said...

Apparently the upcoming Biden administration will not permit private stock and business holdings - unlike the lawbreaking Trump family and his cabinet members.

Of course bribes and "Foundations" and family hangers on are excepted. Biden's entire family has lived off his corruption for 50 years.

Unknown said...

Good ol' NYT, doing their desperate best to drag Sleepy Joe across the finish line.

gilbar said...

Inga said...
There were/are plenty of good choices among the black women in his list.


name Two. I dare you!

Jupiter said...

If I found that my life had somehow, inexplicably, narrowed down to the point where I was faced with a choice between Susan Rice and Stacey Abrams, I'd be stalling too.

rcocean said...

Isn't this just a nice, NYT way of saying Biden is indecisive and can't make up his mind. What happens when he gets called at 3 AM with a foreign Policy crisis, and can't engage in "non-linear" thinking?

This is getting pathetic, and reminds me of John McCain (another terrible Senate POTUS candidate). Biden has had 4 months to pick a VP. And he needs more time?! Two possibilities. Either he can't make decisions and shouldn't be POTUS or he's purposely delaying it as part of the Democrat's "hide in the basement and let the media do our work" strategy.

Joe Smith said...

Too bad there isn't a black woman politician out there named 'Thyme.'

Biden-Thyme in 2020...isn't that what we're all doing these days? : )

Jon Ericson said...

Back when the "top DNC men" were scheming how to get the black vote back, Joe's people thought they'd like to be prescient about what the MSM was about to gin up. They jumped the gun. It's OK, MSM will cover for him.

rcocean said...

Supposedly, Susan Rice is selling her stocks and we're getting rumors she's the one. If so, who is she? this is the VP who will be POTUS if we elect Joe Biden. Slow Ol'Joe is NOT going to make through 4 years, and even if by some miracle he did, Biden certainly won't run in 2024, so Rice will be the next President.

Bruce Hayden said...

“They aren't even worrying about the VP candidate right now. They're trying to decide when/how to replace Biden with Hillary. Hillary's VP will be Abrams.”

I don’t think that is viable. The more that has come out, the more it looks like the Crooked Hillary campaign was behind SpyGate.
The dirt in the Steele Dossier (used to get 4 FISA warrants on Carter Page) apparently mostly came from former Brookings Institute researcher, Russian national, Igor Danchenko, who apparently concocted much of it sitting around drinking vodka (paid for by Clinton) in large quantities with Russian speaking friends. While some of their sources had some connections to Putin, none of them had first, or probably even second hand knowledge. He admitted that most of what he provided Steele was drunken bar talk. Brookings, of course, is maybe the preeminent Dem think tank, long run by Bill Clinton’s Deputy Sec of State, Strobe Talbutt. And notably the LawFare Group is hosted and subsidized by Brookings. There was a revolving door between LawFare, high ranking DOJ and FBI officials, and the Mueller prosecutors.

Crooked Hillary had a lot of the responsibility for illegally and immorally screwing up Trump’s first three years in office, with Crossfire Hurricane and theMueller SC investigation. If she gets the nomination, expect that it will be personal with Trump. Expect a lot of indictments, all the way up to Obama WH staff.

Jason said...

A mark of a good leader is the ability to make quick decisions. If they are right, so much the better..

No. The mark of a good leader is the ability to make both sound and timely decisions. Timely doesn't mean quick. But they're quick when they have to be.

madAsHell said...

Biden and his closest associates want to pick someone who can't be elevated to the top of the ticket in any realistic scenario.

Joe Biden would be the perfect pick.

Rob said...

It's not that he doesn't know it's August 7. It's that he doesn't know what an August is.

Sally327 said...

Isn't he the guy who made the train wait for him when he would go home to Delaware? He doesn't care about deadlines, he's Joe Biden.

I wish he would pick an Hispanic woman as his VP.

DavidUW said...

Tim is mostly right except abrams wouldn’t deliver Georgia or anywhere.

But the delay is only because the DNC is fighting over how and with whom to replace Biden.

Big Mike said...

Some people mull things over carefully, and some people dither. Biden dithers.

PS: Jason (7:08) is right.

Nicolas Darkwater said...

Biden doesn't want someone strong enough to tempt the DNC Masters to push him aside. He wants some squish who is adequate but someone who people will avoid thinking of as a natural successor.

Much the same reasoning as Obama when he picked Joe.

Dave said...

A game I like to play at Instapundit is guess the co-blogger by the description of the content to which he or she links. Glasser, Driscol, Hoyt, and Heriot I usually get pretty easily. Sometimes it's hard to discern Green or Reynolds, and Smith...well obviously.

Today I'm reading a link posted by Glenn and inside the excerpt I get to:

"I wouldn’t call that nonlinear. I’d call that disastrously linear!"

and it's an easy call that the author of that is right here.

Banjo said...

The Democrats must think they have a chance in hell, hence all the theater. They don't, as everyone knows except the media, which is always slow on the uptake.

Wikitorix said...

A potential Biden administration will be divided into two hostile camps. The one that already exists is the one who benefits from pulling the strings of the Joe Biden marionette they're currently operating. The one that doesn't yet exist are the ones who will benefit from elevating the VP to President. The first faction have an interest in making sure the second faction is as small and powerless as possible.

All of the people involved in making the decision know this. Therefore, I predict that it won't be an Obama crony - all of them come packaged with the other members of team Obama who will work to oust Biden from office. It also won't be a Clinton crony, they likewise come packaged with the rest of team Clinton. I would not be surprised if Joe's puppeteers pick a Republican, simply because Republicans are substantially less likely to launch a palace coup.

Meade said...

Why not Anita Hill? Anita Hill checks all the boxes.

chickelit said...

Perhaps he's just resisting Hillary's threats while trying to wiggle out of his promise to name a WOC.

n.n said...

Yender politics? Diversity in politics. Decaffeinated Joe is woke and drowsy.

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

I can hardly wait to find out which candidate I won’t vote for!

Bob Boyd said...

Mr. Biden has reached the final stage

Well that much is certainly true.

Narayanan said...

Meade said...
Why not Anita Hill? Anita Hill checks all the boxes.
-------------==============
Joe Biden on Anita Hill: "I owe her an apology"

as the saying goes
"For Biden so loved his country, that he gave his only Presidency, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal Democracy.

Drago said...

Inga: "Senile Biden is still far better than senile Trump."

LOL

Inga spent months and months telling us nothing was wrong with Biden....right up to the moment she knew her lies could not be sustained so now Trump has to be senile too!

Inga has become as sad and pathetic as her fellow moron marxist LLR-lefty Chuck.

In about 15 minutes Inga the Qonspiracy Queen will be claiming Steve Bannon is making Dementia Joe seem out of it.

Narayanan said...

Wikitorix said...

I would not be surprised if Joe's puppeteers pick a Republican, simply because Republicans are substantially less likely to launch a palace coup.
-------------=============
Colin Powell?

Tommy Duncan said...

"...nonlinear decision-making processes..."

Perhaps they meant "non-cognitive"?

wildswan said...

Meanwhile, the Convention in Milwaukee is in a linear shambles-making process. The number of people expected to attend is diminishing by the day and so is the number of extra people, hangers-on, who might have given a boost to Milwaukee's economy. Once 50,000 were going to be here. Now today the total of real people expected at the convention is 350 with 1,000 hangers-on. But that number is expected to fall, possibly below zero as city Dems head off for Joe's Basement. Joe isn't coming - he's making his acceptance speech from an undisclosed location, said on the right-wing radio shows to be his laundry room. (He likes to sit there and watch the news spin.) At the Arena convention site they are already packing up - today they took the media section down. Tells you something but what? Coincidentally, Milwaukee had a great Police chief, Alfonso Morales, who kept disorder to a minimum when other cities burned and Chief Morales was just demoted to Captain. The surrounding jurisdictions have refused to help maintain order at the convention because, in the battles leading up to Chief Morales firing, the lefty Police Commission put huge restrictions on his ability to protect his officers or the Dems at the Convention. So Hidin' Joe Biden needs both a VP and a site for his acceptance speech. Maybe Hunter could connect him up with a Ukrainian consulate? Or Susan Rice with the Libyan Embassy?

PS Hillary has cancelled a visit to Wisconsin as usual. Never mind

Nichevo said...

I would not be surprised if Joe's puppeteers pick a Republican, simply because Republicans are substantially less likely to launch a palace coup.

I hear Mitt Romney's favorite meat is no longer hotdog but chitlins, and The Honey Pot Organic Regular Tampons are his favorite feminine hygiene product. Since he will undoubtedly stay married to Ann, that should solidify the intermarriage and the Lesbaru vote.

He just needs...time...to get used to Biden sniffing his hair.

rcocean said...

"Why not Anita Hill? Anita Hill checks all the boxes."

Plus: Clean and articulate.

Gunner said...

The 25 year old SJWs running the NYT are pissed that you are criticizing xer word choices!

Joe Smith said...

"I wish he would pick an Hispanic woman as his VP."

The Dems will miss a huge opportunity if they are only looking at black women. A Hispanic woman would do more for them I think.

Gropin' Joe doesn't do too well with brown people, and Hispanics have been kicked to the curb amidst the BLM orgasms of the media.

Now if only Trump could find a way to dump 'Mr. Excitement' and replace him with any Hispanic. Landslide...

@Meade

What happened to Anita (even if you believe her) wasn't rape-rape, so no victim points.

Sebastian said...

His best choice is still the person I picked way back in '16: Oprah.

If he then steps down to make way for her, every Dem will rejoice, and Althouse will have an easier time rationalizing a Dem vote. Win-win-win.

Tom said...

Has anyone ever had an easier road running for president? He was completely out of it after Iowa and New Hampshire. Then he gets vouched for in South Carolina and that somehow carries into Super Tuesday. He was terrible in the debates. He’s been non-existent on the campaign trail and his only contribution to COVID 19 was to call Trump’s best ecision (china travel ban) racist.

He’s not had tough interviews (but he’s flubbed easy interviews). He’s been allowed to avoid any scrutiny.

In most sports you get better by playing tougher competition (football is the loan exception because of the injuries). In politics you get stronger by playing the game. Biden hasn’t played at all.

Trump has had to play for his life every day since he came down the escalator. He’s had no let up from the media since he became president.

Biden’s handlers better hope they can prop him up for a few more months so he can sneak in. I don’t think that’s as wise strategy but it’s all he has.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

FU Inga and your a-hole corporate-hack D-media overlords.

The collective liar left would rather see people die.

Inga said...

“Inga spent months and months telling us nothing was wrong with Biden..”

That’s a lie, liar liar pants on fire Drago. I’ve said from day one that I thought Biden was senile. I also said I prefer a senile Biden over a senile Trump any day. I never once said I thought Biden was not cognitively impaired.

Narr said...

It's simple. Slow Joe needs someone with Abrams' grasp of the issues, Rice's evenhandedness, Harris' charm, Warren's honesty, and Duckworth's legs.

Narr
I'll be here all weekend, or until the Prof gets canceled

The Godfather said...

@Althouse: I wrote above that decision-making and decision-making processes "are exact opposites." You disagreed, saying "Making is a process. Decision making is not a decision."

Quite so, but decision-making leads to a decision. "Decision-making processes" don't. The processes are intended to distract attention from the fact that no decision is being made. Every bureaucrat and every politicians knows how to defer a decision by initiating a study. Of course, eventually Biden (or whoever makes decisions for Biden) has to decide who to pick as VP. But there's no reason to think that he/they/it is actually making that decision now. In fact, it's not even clear who will decide.

Joe Smith said...

"His best choice is still the person I picked way back in '16: Oprah."

See my previous comments somewhere on some other post...Oprah has a HUGE Harvey Weinstein problem...

She was best buddies with the rapist and there are thousands of photos of them being chummy.

And again, nobody, not even white liberals, want to listen to a whiny billionaire lecturing everyone on racism...

Bay Area Guy said...

"Nonlinear decision-making processes??"

I'd settle for non-drooling decision-making processes.

Chick said...

He’s been in politics for 50 years, this VP decision should be a piece of cake.

Unknown said...

process: a series of actions or steps taken in order to achieve a particular end.

If its "non-linear" then its not a process

because its not a "series" or "steps"

Biden was always an idiot

But now he becomes

less

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

The journey of (P)rick Wislon on Biden coaster /decade 5

Chris Lopes said...

"Thank the Clinton Machine for destroying the next generation of Democratic politicians."

Obama was also less than interested in promoting anyone who wasn't him.

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

"Now if only Trump could find a way to dump 'Mr. Excitement' and replace him with any Hispanic. Landslide..."

I dunno. Pence is boring, but you kinda need a boring guy on the ticket to offset Trump.

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

The only thing Biden is picking is whether he'll have chocolate or banana pudding for dessert.

David in Cal said...

When I started reading the article, I said to myself, "That sounds like the New York Times." The Times has distinctive type of sophisticated-sounding bullsh*t.

Nichevo said...

Sebastian said...
His best choice is still the person I picked way back in '16: Oprah.

If he then steps down to make way for her, every Dem will rejoice, and Althouse will have an easier time rationalizing a Dem vote. Win-win-win.



Plausible, except that PDT would guy her like a fish.

Also I think people overestimate the desirability of the job and the willingness of people to pursue it.

PluralThumb said...

_A mark of a good leader is the ability to make quick decisions. If they are right, so much the better...

_The mark of a good leader is the ability to make both sound and timely decisions. Timely doesn't mean quick. But they're quick when they have to be.

If a quick decision leader attempts to chaotically throw off a timely decision leader. Is the order timely sound through time or forced to make chaotic descisions as chaos claims order.
Orderly chaos or chaotic order per 'unum plural' not whom. Maybe the point of proper balance start is a name for an individual. The white man picked a black man, who picked a white man, who then has to pick a black woman, who may later have to pick a white woman. Sounds like a vague recipe to cannibalism soup.
No man/woman is an island with much distraction or opinions.


Openidname said...

If there are no good black female choices . . .

Why is that?

Gospace said...

The Democrats best choice is to replace him at the convention- but they can't do it without pissing off the Bernie Bros unless they replace him with Bernie.

To many of us- he's non compos mentis now- enough so that he shouldn't be making major decisions for the nation. They're not going to be able to hide him completely until election day. If he goes out and tries to work a crowd like Trump does for 45 minutes- it will be a PR disaster. Trump after that could spend all his time propping up congressional and senate candidates.

Pundits of all stripes are currently saying Biden is a placeholder - his VP will soon be POTUS. Rabid Democrats might be OK with that, but when that thought actually filters through to the >50% of the people who don't start paying attention to presidential politics until baseball playoffs start that idea is going to float like a lead balloon. And the Bernie Bros are going to be asking "Why isn't Bernie the VP candidate then?"

A lot of Bernie Bros showed up to vote just for him. Same as in 2016 a lot of first time voters were there for Trump. I know my fair share of them. Without the Bernie Bros- Democrats lose.

With a candidate who can't, not won't, but can't make public appearances, Democrats lose. I just love the current Democrat big lie being spread- "Trump doesn't want to debate Biden!!!" Oh, really?

chickelit said...

It's going to Susan Rice because she can best speak out on the Sunday morning shows regarding the upcoming indictments against the Obama Admin cohort. How better to give her immunity and for her to immunize other Obamites?

Tina Trent said...

Why would he pick anyone until the very last minute, and only then after soaking up all the media attention for not having picked anyone yet?

The danger of playing this game too long is that the not-picked are then cancelled. He can't pick all the women, all the black women, all the women of color. This certainly isn't about linearity: it's the pickle of enforced identity politics. Or rather, enforced identity politicking.

phantommut said...

Joe Biden is older than Reagan was when he left office, and Joe has had his skull cracked open for surgery two times. This is what we want as our President?

tim in vermont said...

He is probably waiting for Obama to get around to helping him.

tim in vermont said...

The black women who would make a decent choice for V.P. are not allowed anywhere near power by the white left. I would, for example, take a random black woman off the street for SCOTUS, provided she had never been anywhere near a university. State school maybe.

“What are you trying to sell me?” Other than their complete loyalty to the Democrat party, the black women I know are more conservative than I am.

MayBee said...

I keep hearing it is Susan Rice that he wants to pick, but can't.

He needs someone very very loyal. Because he's going to be easy to stab in the back, and someone with too much ambition will be able to hurt him. Susan Rice has been part of the same team before. But what does she really bring to the ticket?

Kevin said...

The problem is Joe doesn’t see enough diversity to tell one black woman from another.

Also he keeps referring to them as Aunt Jemima.

JML said...

The military has a saying: Slow is smooth, smooth is fast. But you have to have competent and well trained people with integrity for that to work, and a clear end goal. Biden has none of that. Which leads to another military saying: Cluster f@ck.

Michael said...

All this yakking about the VP being inconsequential. Did everyone suddely forget about Dick Cheney?

Strelnikov said...

When he gets the 3AM call, President Biden will begin a lengthy nonlinear decision making process.

Joe Smith said...

"I dunno. Pence is boring, but you kinda need a boring guy on the ticket to offset Trump."

I don't so much mind the boring part, but he seems like a typical 'go along-get along,' Bush-style country club Republican.

Sam L. said...

"nonlinear decision-making processes": Darts on a dartboard...out in left field...in the rain...after dark.

SensibleCitizen said...

Slow, deliberative decision making is not usually an indication of great leadership. Obama did that. He often made no decision and just let the issue expire.

Making timely decisions with limited information requires a strategic instinct. Waiting until a decision is a foregone conclusion is the opposite of leadership and is often a sign of fear.

Trump's decision making is rapid-fire but incremental. He makes small decisions and tests the results; then he either doubles down or changes course depending on the outcome.

That's leadership.