August 7, 2020

Why did Biden say the African American community is not diverse?

Here's the full statement we've been puzzling over:
"What you all know that most people don't know, unlike the African American community with notable exceptions, the Latino community is an incredibly diverse community, with incredibly different attitudes about different things," Biden said. "You go to Florida, you find a very different attitude about immigration in certain places than you do when you're in Arizona. So it's a very different, a very diverse community."
Quoted in "Biden tries to clarify remarks suggesting lack of diversity in the Black community/The former VP said he recognizes African Americans are not a monolith — "not by identity, not on issues, not at all" (NBC News). The "clarification" is not a clarification at all, just a reversal:
"In no way did I mean to suggest the African American community is a monolith — not by identity, not on issues, not at all," Biden said in a thread of tweets. "Throughout my career I've witnessed the diversity of thought, background, and sentiment within the African American community."
I think what happened is that Biden, in cognitive decline, is losing the ability to maintain the boundary between what is said behind the scenes with his advisers and what is appropriate for speech to the general public.

An honest clarification would be something like: We're trying to win an election, and that means patching together blocs of voters, and realistically, it works to consider black voters as one big group, and it doesn't work to do that with Hispanic voters. But that's something for us to take into account as we craft our public statements, not something that belongs in the public statements.

It's a bit like George H.W. Bush running for reelection in 1992 and saying "Message: I care." It seemed to be the idea he was supposed to keep in mind, not something to say out loud. He got mixed up!

126 comments:

Fernandinande said...

"Latino" is a colonist's word and not woke at all - he should've been parroting "Latinx" ("La-tinks").

Earnest Prole said...

A gaffe is when a politician accidentally tells the truth.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Biden’s actual words: “And by the way, what you all know, but most people don’t know, unlike the African-American community, the Latino community is an incredibly diverse ..."

I'm doing the media filter.

Biden - Not only a racist but a crook. Vote for Biden!

WisRich said...

what he meant: We have AA's blindly voting for Dem's which is good because we can ignore them. The Hispanic community, they're a little more independent in their voting patterns....which is problematic.

JAORE said...

In now way did I mean exactly what I said.
- Joe Biden

The rapid cognitive decline is obvious to all and being openly spoken about by the center left.

What is scary is thy many of those admitting the decline still say they intend to vote for Biden.

Lucid-Ideas said...

Um, not cognitive decline, a Freudian slip. Mr. slipping-fingers let the cat out o' the bag. They're not diverse. They're lemmings, and anyone who tries to leave the plantation or have some kind of original thought (like Thomas Sowell) is uncle tommed like there's no tomorrow.

I mean come 'on. Anyone who doesn't follow the d-drum beat "AIN'T NO WAYS BLACK!"

gspencer said...

Maybe Bye-den has a point. In both 2008 and 2012 the percentage of blacks voting for Obama was about 93%. No diversity there. And not too much racism, "I'm voting for him because he's black."

Similarly high %s when blacks vote Democrat. You know, the party of the KKK and the black codes.

WisRich said...

The "clarification" is not a clarification at all, just a reversal:
-----------

Yes, he does nothing to explain why he made those comments. If only we had an honest news media to press him on that question.

MadisonMan said...

I thought it was La-TEEN-ex, not La-TINKS. (Not that I use the word -- but if I'm reading, that's the sound in my head)

Biden continues to crumble. Who will swoop in and replace him and save Us All from that perfidious Donald Trump!? Click here to find out!

wendybar said...

Now make excuses for all the racial gaffes he has made over the years...such as "We have this notion that somehow if you're poor you cannot do it. Poor kids are just as bright and just as talented as white kids," he said, before quickly adding, "Wealthy kids. Black kids. Asian kids."
or "You cannot go to a 7-Eleven or a Dunkin' Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent."
or he said "Obama was the "first sort of mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy."

I can go on, but show me where Trump says more racist crap than Joe....

Temujin said...

So much served up on this pitch.

"I think what happened is that Biden, in cognitive decline, is losing the ability to maintain the boundary between what is said behind the scenes with his advisers and what is appropriate for speech to the general public."

That has always been Joe Biden. The young Joe Biden, the middle aged Joe Biden, and now the cognitively impaired Joe Biden. That boundary was never apparent, not in his speech or his physical manners. Go back and listen to the Joe Biden of the 70's, 80s, 90s.

The interesting thing about Biden is that he always lets show his real thoughts. If you let Joe talk, you know who Joe is and what he stands for. And sometimes he nails it. To say that the Black American community has no diversity in thought is not an earthquake level statement. Anyone looking at the evidence of their senses can see that. What other ethnic group votes, thinks, repeats mantras, at a 96%-97% clip pace as Black America? To have thoughts outside of what Democrats/Liberals/Progressives want Black Americans to have is to be- GASP!- an independent thinker. Or worse- a Conservative!

Just ask any Black Conservative (when you find one) how they are treated within the Black community.

The thing I'll never understand for as long as I live is how and why the Black community continues to blindly vote Democrat, when Democrats continue to abuse them. The Democrats are the party of the KKK. They are the party of Jim Crow. They are the party that had to be begged, pleaded with, and coerced into voting for the Voting Rights Act (Dems held congress, yet they could not have passed it without a high percentage of Republicans voting for it- so many Democrats continued to vote against it). Democrats are the party of teachers unions, and as such- fight tooth and nail against school choice, charter schools, home schooling. Democrat policies have led to the destruction of the Black family. The worst cities in the US have been run by Democrats for generations. We're talking 50-100 years straight.

Why would anyone, let alone the Black community, vote for Democrats? But after all they have done to destroy the Black community, why would the Black community continue to vote for Democrats at a 95% clip? Certainly not because of diversity of thought.

Rory said...

A community is not diverse, because it's the things common to the group that define the community. People may be parts of multiple communities, though.

mockturtle said...

We all know that the Dems won't allow for diversity in the black community.

Nichevo said...

What would you accept as *evidence,* Emerita, that Biden is a bad guy? A liar? A racist? Feeble? Not worthy of your vote? How many excuses will you seek, make, how many offenses, such as your disqualifier months ago for Biden falsely tarring PDT with the racist brush, will you forgive or forget?

He said it because he believes it. Omigosh, a fifty year politician from a slave state, whose friends and mentors were segregationists, is at heart a racist? What are the odds?

Incidentally, re: "Mr Scranton," my mother grew up in the Wyoming Valley, and though she is very wonderful and opposes racism and is confounded by man's inhumanity to man, she will tell you that the region back then was not exactly crammed with black people.

So whatever his "working class origins," snorfle, they did not include cheek by jowl living and working and schooling with Negroes on a level playing field. Since then - servants all the way, I'm sure. Why would he NOT be racist except as Party-issue camouflage? The Crack Emcee knows this.

gilbar said...

seems like, if a ethnic group votes 90% for one party
and uniformly thinks that reading and writing are things that only OTHER ethnic groups do
and uniformly thinks that Robbing 'n' Stealing; and Raping 'n' and Killing: Are "COOL!"
and uniformly thinks that The Reason Why they don't get ahead; is that other groups are Mean!
and uniformly thinks that the government's PURPOSE is to provide for them....

Maybe, just maybe; that group ISN'T diverse

iowan2 said...

But the left treats them as a monolith. Black Lives Matter.
Hey man if you dont vote for me "you aint Black"
Michelle, Young Black men will come around and vote BLACK

Blacks identify as Blacks. Not Americans, or engineers, or Doctors, They are black doctors

They aren't Congressmen. They are the Black Caucus.

Black demand I treat them according to their Blackness, not the content of their charecter.

Lucid-Ideas said...

The only reason people are voting for Biden is because they hate Trump. There is no other redeeming reason. Voting for Biden because they don't like Trump is like eating a dog turd because they don't like broccoli. This is omni-level TDS here. Galactic level TDS.

Tommy Duncan said...

His latest gaff is no worse than this:

“I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. I mean, that’s a storybook, man.”

Fernandinande said...

"Latino community is an incredibly diverse community"

Doesn't that mean that "Latino" should NOT be capitalized?

Does a jungle dwelling, er, rain forest dwelling, South American Indian, er, South American Native American, have a shared sense of history, identity and community with a wealthy blue-eyed white guy from Spain?

Newspeak is so confusing.

And I think Biden meant correct his thoughtcrime by saying something like: "All groups of people are as incredibly wonderful as every other group of people in every way. Except Trump supporters."

Clark said...

I think that's an astute assessment and that the George H.W. Bush comparison is a good one. When looking at his comments purely from the standpoint of political strategy, it is hard to argue that there is more diversity among African Americans as a voting block than Latinos (who have the Cuban community etc... skewing their electoral preferences).

I also think he's a racist. In fact, given the mindset of his left wing base, wouldn't it be terribly inappropriate of him to claim he isn't? He is white, after all. His racism is institutional, systemic and unavoidable. Claiming not to be racist is the most racist thing he could do and indicative only of his naivete and lack of awareness of his own privilege. Their rules...

rhhardin said...

The funny part is republicans accusing Biden of not being politically correct.

Gusty Winds said...

The African-American community is a monolith. Held together by the white liberals Malcolm X warned everyone about. A lot of them live in Madison, WI, and expect inner city Milwaukee to vote as expected; as one huge block. The professor’s analysis is spot on. Biden let slip what is said behind closed doors. And, it’s due to his rapid cognitive decline.

He was correct that Latinos are diverse. Cuban-Americans don’t see socialism the same as those that have fled Latin American poverty.

The saddest and most sinister part of all this, is that liberals will not see, or will deny that this is absolutely racist. White Democrats and Liberals will continue to successfully use African-Americans to consolidate power.

Sebastian said...

"it works to consider black voters as one big group"

Biden commuted a classic Kinsley gaffe, the inadvertent expression of an inconvenient truth.

Blacks are the most homogeneous voting block. Hispanics are more diverse, partly because the category itself is made up by American progs.

Slight dilemma for progs: we are all supposed to think that all blacks are all uniquely oppressed, and in that sense undiverse, while at the same time we are all supposed to think that blacks are just as diverse as any other group, because. Not that consistency matters.

WisRich said...

Temujin said...
So much served up on this pitch.

That has always been Joe Biden. The young Joe Biden, the middle aged Joe Biden, and now the cognitively impaired Joe Biden. That boundary was never apparent, not in his speech or his physical manners. Go back and listen to the Joe Biden of the 70's, 80s, 90s.

-----------------

Agreed, now that he's 77 and in mental decline, his gaffe's are amplified.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

The country is a dumpster fire, but the problem is Biden? Go figure.

Fernandinande said...

I think what happened is that Biden, in cognitive decline

I'm imagining an inverse Sisyphus who pushes a large boulder the size of a small boulder down the decline every time someone else pushes it up the incline.

Todd said...

Why did Biden say the African American community is not diverse?

Because he is a racist Democrat like 98% of all Democrats. Next question...

Spiros said...

Black Americans overwhelmingly vote Democrat no matter who is running. Republicans point out that most Blacks are pro-Life, oppose same-sex marriage and have idiosyncratic views on government welfare (the Blacks love the idea of reparations and affirmative action, the rest of us oppose this crap). But it doesn't matter. Blacks will vote Biden. Deal with it.

You Republican turds better hope the Blacks aren't over represented at the polls again this year. If they vote, you're toast.

mockturtle said...

Gilbar 8:48, I hope you know those axioms were created by white people. And how do we know how blacks vote? Is 'race' on the ballot? Only in mostly black districts can votes be attributed to blacks. Those who live in diverse districts would likely be counted as white or Hispanic. Just sayin'.

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

just as long as you vote as one bloc.

...For Me. Or you aint black.

Earnest Prole said...

That has always been Joe Biden. The young Joe Biden, the middle aged Joe Biden, and now the cognitively impaired Joe Biden.

Exactly. Biden was a rambling wackjob when he first ran for President in 1988.

Unknown said...

Far be it from me to defend Joe Biden, but what he said was even more reasonable than your explanation suggests. It wasn't that he said aloud the quiet part, it's just the language of "diversity" has changed around him in the very recent past.

The categories of Latino and Hispanic were always made up. Hispanics are whites, but the Left wanted to divide white into preferred minorities. It kinda sorta referred to all people from Spanish soeaking countries in the Americas, except also some Creole speaking and Portuguese speaking and descendant of Nahuatl speaking and didn't count other black skinned speakers and...and Latino meant well maybe the same group but not exactly because who counts aa Latin American?

So yes, the made-up categories referred to a dozen different cultures.

But African American is another linguistic lie because it means US blacks descended from slaves of west African ethnic origins, not recent Nigerian immigrants nor Egyptians nor white South African immigrants nor Muslim Somalis.

And the politics and culture of Black Americans who are not recent immigrants has been monolithic. He was correct abiut that, and xirrect that thr xulturw and political views if the overlumped "Hispanic community" cannot explain Cuban Americans or Venezuelans voting R.

But since the word "diversity" is now a religion used to bash bad Whites, Biden got in trouble.

This was one of his more lucid comments.

Ken B said...

“With notable exceptions, like Barack Obama, who is clean”

Jeff Brokaw said...

He’s losing boundaries on that and a lot more, including reality itself.

It’s very hard to watch a person decline in public like that, and it makes me viscerally hate his wife and others who abuse him by using him politically like that, pretending nothing is wrong. And I don’t even *like* the guy.

Despicable people across the board. And they think nobody notices?!

This and so much more this year makes me despise our political leadership to a degree I never thought possible. “Evil” pops to mind.

danoso said...

This is the same Joe Biden who just a two years ago bragged about having a foreign federal investigator fired, who just happened to be looking into the company his son was getting paid a cool $1M/year to do nothing. No filter indeed.

Michael K said...

The Democrats who plan to vote for Biden don't care that he is senile. They are voting for the same people who ran Obama's administration. The faceless bureaucracy that some of us call "The Deep State." It has its own agenda and doesn't much care what voters want. Democrats have always liked being told what to do. Ever been to a union strike vote ? I have.

Joe Smith said...

First rule of holes...you fill in the rest : )

And does anybody actually think that Joe sends his own tweets, let alone writes them?

C'mon man!

Freder Frederson said...

I remember the good 'ol days on this blog when diagnosing mental illness or decline from afar was considered beyond the pale. But of course that was when we were questioning Trump's sanity.

Trump pulled this same bullshit with Hillary.

Joe Dokes said...

He meant they all look the same - but come on man - some of my beat friends are black.

Nonapod said...

it works to consider black voters as one big group, and it doesn't work to do that with Hispanic voters.

That isn't even acceptable. It might be true, but it's not something a candidate should ever actually say in public. Reducing groups of people to "voting blocks" based on race deindividualizes them (I don't even think that's a word, but whatever).

We all know that the Dem party thinks of black voters as their group that they fully own shouldn't ever have to work for. But no Dem candidate should ever come right out and say things like "You ain't black if you don't vote for me!" or whatver.

Mark said...

Why did Biden say the African American community is not diverse?

NO, not everyone has been puzzling over this.

He said it because he is and always has been racist.

I don't say that to be flippant or joking. Biden has exhibited racist attitudes and actions since before he was yelling at Cornpop to keep his nappy hair out of the pool. It is who he is. He's a plantation man.

AZ Bob said...

You go to Florida, you find a very different attitude about immigration in certain places than you do when you're in Arizona. So it's a very different, a very diverse community.

The only state with conservative hispanics would be Florida. Thank you Cuba.

Mark said...

Biden said in a thread of tweets

No Biden didn't. Biden didn't say anything of the sort.

His STAFF said it.

If it does not come directly out of Biden's mouth and without a teleprompter or notes or canned answers, it is not Biden speaking, but staff.

lgv said...

A lack of diversity within the black community goes hand-in-hand with his earlier "gaffe", "If you have a problem figuring out if you’re for me or Trump, then you ain’t black."

Dude1394 said...

What gilbar said.

Gahrie said...

What you all know that most people don't know, unlike the African American community with notable exceptions,

What he meant was, the Democratic Party can depend on Black voters, so he can safely ignore their issues. Hispanics on the other hand, you actually have to pander to. Depending on what type of Hispanic (Cuban, Puerto Rican or Mexican) you offer them different things.

I'm finally starting to see some Black leaders come to the realization that the issues of the Black community can be, and are being, ignored by both parties. The Republicans ignore Black issues, because they know no matter what the Republicans say or do, 85% to 90% of Black people will vote Democratic. The Democrats ignore Black issues, because they know that no matter what the Democrats say or do, 85% to 90% of Black people will vote Democratic. (The Black vote shifted from Republican to Democratic in the 1930's when Jim Crow was still being enforced by the Democratic Party in the South)

If 20% to 25% of Black people voted Republican, Democrats would lose badly and both parties would start paying attention to Black issues.

JPS said...

Temujin, 8:47:

"Just ask any Black Conservative (when you find one) how they are treated within the Black community."

As far as I can tell it is permitted to be small-c conservative while black, just as long as you're not *a* conservative and you're still a Democrat. I also think a lot of genuine racial tensions are being lovingly fanned this summer by Democrats who fear losing their lock on a large group of voters they have mostly been able to take for granted.

"The thing I'll never understand for as long as I live is how and why the Black community continues to blindly vote Democrat, when Democrats continue to abuse them."

I don't think it's blind. I think it's an issue of high trust / low trust societies. If you're as low-trust as black Americans have lots and lots of historical reasons to be, what are you likely to think about the Invisible Hand? About devolving as much power as practical to states and localities? I think you're going to want power to be centralized as much as possible in a place where you can keep an eye on it, where you can band together to sway it.

I think this (plus activist federal anti-poverty efforts under FDR) is why blacks started voting Democratic in lopsided numbers long before the mid-60s, back when the Democratic Party was the happy home of all those southern segregationist senators, back when Lyndon Johnson was blocking anti-lynching legislation.

Then there's the cultural aspect. Most blacks I know think Republicans don't give a crap about them. Who am I to say they're wrong?

Just trying to rationalize why several people I think know better, would only ever vote Democrat. Most blacks I know, I know through the Army, so there's some conservative-tending selection bias here. I think they're misguided for doing so, but I don't think they're fools.

Lucid-Ideas said...

Anyone remember Denzel Washington in Malcolm X? Why doesn't such a person exist today? Where is such a leader?

Someone to come out at the DNC convention and look out on the crowd and into the television camera and say, "Ya'll been hoodwinked! Bamboozled! Led around by the nose for 60 years! You don't need the DNC, the DNC needs you! You didn't land in Milwaukee for this convention, the DNC convention landed on you!"

60. F*ckin. Years of lies and racial crutches. 60 f*ckin years of lies about improving the social position of blacks in this country with a fat goose egg for a result. 60 years of racial hucksters who talk a good game and lining their own pockets. Maybe I'm wrong.

Maybe they deserve each other.

NCMoss said...

I never thought of Joe as a serious candidate for POTUS, but if a switch needs to take place doesn't it need to occur soon? And is it too cynical to imagine mass media intentionally goading Joe into an unrecoverable fall?

John henry said...

Fernandinand,

Seems like too many people of privilege are not doing the work.

Latinx is the colonists word, not Latino. Or at least not as much.

Very few Spanish speakers use Latinx. It is a bullshit word that ignores the rich and gendered history of the Spanish language. All nouns, in Spanish, have gender. La silla (feminine) el meson (masculine). And what happens when you need to use the definite or indefinite article? Is it un/el latinx or una/la latinx? If I say "La latinx" it identifies her as a woman just as much as Latina would. If I say "Los Latinxs" about a group, it identifies all as male just as "Los Latinos" would. Are there gender neutral articles? Perhaps Unx instead of un/una? Elx instead of el/la? Elxes & Unxes instead of Unos and Las?

If you want to take it to it's logical conclusion, we would have to do away with Puertoriqueño/a, Cubano/a and Mejicano/a.

It is stupidity on stilts.

Latino itself is an even more bullshit word than Hispanic. Most people who identify as Hispanic speak at least some Spanish. How many speak Latin?

If we are going to use "Latin" to refer to an ethnic group, why not use it to refer to people of Italian heritage rather than people who, theoretically, trace their heritage to Spain?

Latin would really only work with Argentines. The majority, about 60% are of Italian descent. Another large tranche, 10-20% IIRC, are German descent.

As far as Hispanic groups in the US, 90% are of one of three ethnic groups: Puerto Rican, Mexican, Cuban. Other than speaking Spanish (at least notionally. Many don't) they have very little in common. They come from different places (Many Puerto Ricans and Cubans have some or a lot of African blood. Few Mexicans do) Different foods, different customs, different music and culture, different histories, different politics both in the US and ancestry countries and different paths in getting to the US.

It is incredibly insulting to lump all together into one group. Don't talk about Hispanic-Americans. Call them Cuban-Americans, Puerto Ricans, Mexican-Americans.

Or, and I admit this is a really bizarre idea, how about just call us all Americans?

Naaaaah. That's too crazy.

John Henry

Static Ping said...

He sees them as not diverse because all he cares about is their voting habits. Whenever you dedicate your life to one particular thing, there is a real danger of not seeing people as human beings and instead seeing them as objects related to whatever your goal is. Whether you are objectifying human beings as voters or sales or sports prospects or weapons platforms or whatever, it is a real risk. Given that Biden's life has been dedicated to politics (and graft) and he was never a big thinker even in his younger days, it is not shocking he thinks this way. The only difference now is in his (even more) addled state, he does not have the awareness on what he should not say out loud.

Mark said...

The thing I'll never understand for as long as I live is how and why the Black community continues to blindly vote Democrat, when Democrats continue to abuse them.

Here is the D.C. area, they want to close polling places in Black neighborhoods; deny people in Black neighborhoods the presence of law enforcement to protect their homes, businesses and lives; close schools in Black neighborhoods and deny Black families suffering under the heavy weight of white privilege from having the same opportunity as them to send their children to non-public schools; concentrate Blacks in housing projects in limited areas of the community; and generally reduce Blacks to the status of dependent children.

But actually, the history of humanity has been to go along with or support or embrace tyrants.

Biden talking about putting "y'all back in chains" is exactly what the Dems/progressives want to do.

bagoh20 said...

Blacks seem to have the most pressure on them to stay in their lane, and that pressure comes from other Blacks as well as Whites on the left. It's all sadly reminiscent of plantation life, but many Blacks seem to be seeing the other side more clearly now, and I'm expecting black voters to educate the Dems and Biden on election day about how diverse they can be, especially when you are planing on leaving their communities undefended by simultaneously defunding cops and pushing gun control. Voting Democrat isn't worth dying for.

M Jordan said...

Good take, Professor. Let me add that Biden has always depended on his lip — the storytelling, the mean quip, the sarcasm — all seasoned with just enough positivity — the huge toothy grin, the wry look, the “Come on, man” — to win the moment in a passive-aggressive way. But he’s lost that fine edge between passive-aggressive and just plain mean.

I am truly starting to think he won’t make it to November.

John henry said...

Spanish genders can get you in trouble if you are not careful.

Back in the 70's when my Spanish was not great, I went into town on luch hour to cash my check. I went to a comevete (eat and go) next to the bank that basically a long narrow lunch counter.

I sat down at one end and the cook at the other end, perhaps 15 feet away, yelled at me "Que quieres?" (What do you want?) I yelled back, loudly over the noise, "Una Cubana caliente."

As soon as it came out of my mouth I knew I was going to regret it. A Cubano is a type of sandwhich, sort of like a sub, that be be hot or cold. I meant to order a hot one.

What I actually asked for was a hot Cuban woman.

Dead silence. Then lots of laughter.

And, OF COURSE, someone from the plant was there so when I got back from lunch everybody knew the story. It took a month or two to live it down.

John Henry

Dust Bunny Queen said...

Biden supposidly wrote "In no way did I mean to suggest the African American community is a monolith — not by identity, not on issues, not at all," Biden said in a thread of tweets. "Throughout my career I've witnessed the diversity of thought, background, and sentiment within the African American community."

Does anyone seriously think that Biden actually wrote that. Monolith. I doubt that word is even IN his vocabulary.

Here we have a preview of what a "Biden" Presidency would be. A committee of people writing and tweeting, publishing statement that THEY have concocted and using the physical Biden meat puppet as a front.

Constantly having to cover up for his foot in mouth statement and pretending his dementia riddled gibberish isn't happening. Biden will be trotted out as a prop to prove that he is still breathing (like RBG) and then put back into the closet so the real people in charge can proceed with their plans.

Biden is nothing more than a Meat Puppet.

Todd said...

rhhardin said...

The funny part is republicans accusing Biden of not being politically correct.

8/7/20, 8:57 AM


That is your bed, we just want you to lie in it. Maybe if you have to enough, you will change the sheets.

gilbar said...

a delicious soup asked...
And how do we know how blacks vote? Is 'race' on the ballot?


well, we know how they poll; which admittedly is NOT the same thing

mikee said...

Joe Biden has dementia. But he has always been a Democratic Party racist, keeping Blacks on his party's plantation whether they want to be there or not.

Balfegor said...

Biden said it because he believes it and for a politician, to a first approximation, it's true. Blacks basically all vote Democrat. Done. He doesn't need to appeal to them. His outreach is - like basically all political outreach to Blacks - mostly performative, and the audience for that performance is mostly suburban Whites. Not entirely -- when Biden puts on an accent (put "y'all" back in chains) he's probably pitching what he thinks Blacks want to hear. But he mostly treats Blacks as locked in Democrat votes, not people he has to appeal to meaningfully. And that's mostly accurate.

And he's also accurate that Hispanics are different. Despite all the efforts to paint Trump as an anti-Hispanic racist, polling in July suggested that they were one of the few groups where his polling was improving vs. 2016. That's a problem for Democrats, so Biden's minders are probably quite focused on it.

Drago said...

Field Marshall Freder: "I remember the good 'ol days on this blog when diagnosing mental illness or decline from afar was considered beyond the pale. But of course that was when we were questioning Trump's sanity."

The "good 'ol days"?

You guys never stopped doing that so your complaints and hand-wringing over the entire world seeing Dementia Joe's obvious and irrefutable mental collapse in real time is....amusing.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

No No - ARM - Wuhan Hillary virus, Private Server for Clinton Cash, Biden family graft from international boards for Hunter and his stripper fancy car fetish, and various international sources for blackmail - see Ukraine and China + and all the BS and lies from the Maddow hot garbage press = dumpster fire.

See Nick Sandman. The look on his face was enough for your Nazi leftwing press to smash him and throw him into the oven.


Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Save our children.

Demolish the Teacher's Union.

Drago said...

rhhardin: "The funny part is republicans accusing Biden of not being politically correct."

Make dems live by their own rules.

James Graham said...

Repeating my prediction, if elected, Biden will resign for "health" reasons.

Beware his VP pick.

TrespassersW said...

Pro-tip: It's not "clarifying" when you're saying the opposite of what you said the first time.

You're welcome.

DanTheMan said...

>>Trump pulled this same bullshit with Hillary.

Are you serious, Freder? You see no evidence of dementia or other mental impairment when watching Biden talk?

TrespassersW said...

Freder Frederson said...
I remember the good 'ol days on this blog when diagnosing mental illness or decline from afar was considered beyond the pale. But of course that was when we were questioning Trump's sanity.

Trump pulled this same bullshit with Hillary.


Please tell us Freder about all the times you complained about the "healthcare professionals" who were diagnosing Trump's "mental issues." Tell us about ANYBODY on the left who did this.

As for me, I'm not diagnosing anything. I'm just seeing what I'm seeing and saying Joe's not right in the head. And I'm pretty sure "not right in the head" doesn't qualify as a diagnosis.

TrespassersW said...

Here's the full statement we've been puzzling over...

Who's "puzzling over" that statement? Seems straightforward to me.

Wince said...

When coupled with the following statement, Biden has repeatedly described a monolithic belief system as central to black identity.

“If you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or Trump then you ain’t black,” Mr. Biden said.

Joe Smith said...

"I remember the good 'ol days on this blog when diagnosing mental illness or decline from afar was considered beyond the pale."

It's not diagnosis, it's simple observation. He's not even the same man he was during the primary debates...

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

blacks ARE less diverse than latinxes, which is another way of saying they’re more united. Maybe Biden would be dragged for saying blacks are not united, but he wouldn’t say that, because he’s not quite that cognitively impaired yet.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

OT:

On Thursday, after the 68th consecutive night of violent riots in Portland, Mayor Ted Wheeler (D-Portland) finally urged activists who seriously desire police reform not to join the murderous and destructive ANTIFA MOB wreaking havoc in his city. Better late than never? While Wheeler finally issued a full-throated condemnation of the violence, he also warned rioters that they are “creating the B-roll film” for the campaign to reelect President Donald Trump.

How can this be? It's Boogaloo!

rcocean said...

What Biden is saying - or trying to say - is absolutely correct. The "Hispanic" community is NOT a community. The thing they have in common is they come from south of the border. that's it. A middle class Cuban, a black Guatemalan, a working class Aztec Mexican, and a Argentinian Jew from Buenos Aries are all "Hispanic". Politically, the R's get about 25-30% of hispanics.

Black folks, OTOH, vote 80-90% in election after election. In terms of religion, culture, and historical experience, they are remarkably homogeneous. Even in terms of the economics, they are more similar than any other ethnic group in the USA.

robother said...

They all look like Corn Pop to Joe.

rcocean said...

Again, thank God for moderation, otherwise we'd have 50 comments about Feder.

Dr Weevil said...

The man with the fraudulent pseudonym writes (9:01am):
"The country is a dumpster fire, but the problem is Biden? Go figure."

If we're going to go with analogies from small-town life:
The problem is that we're electing a fire chief, one of the two candidates is not only a racist, a traitor who sold out his country for Ukrainian bribes that he extorted, and a molester of little girls, but completely senile, and (most important) it's his beloved grandkids who keep setting the damned dumpster on fire, so the incumbent fire chief has to work overtime putting out the fires that he's encouraging. Not a good prospect for fire chief.

LA_Bob said...

"I think what happened is that Biden, in cognitive decline, is losing the ability to maintain the boundary between what is said behind the scenes with his advisers and what is appropriate for speech to the general public."

I think it's more classic Biden-speak than cognitive decline. His decline, which is very real, manifests as the slower pace of his speech, phrasing in reverse order ("forward looking" vs "looking forward"), and expressing retrograde ideas, such as "make sure the record player is on."

Still beyond belief he couldn't win a primary in two presidential efforts during his best days but now he's the nominee in his twilight.

Michael K said...

Freder Frederson said...
I remember the good 'ol days on this blog when diagnosing mental illness or decline from afar was considered beyond the pale. But of course that was when we were questioning Trump's sanity.

Trump pulled this same bullshit with Hillary.


Psychiatrist Freder never fails to amuse. The loony tunes Yale psychiatrist has at least one fan in you. Neither of you have ever gotten within one mile of Trump. Slow Joe is on TV every day saying crazy stuff. Hillary's special talent was collapsing in full view and being tossed into a car like a sack of potatoes. I wonder how her Parkinson's is ? Anybody seen her in public lately ?

n.n said...

Diversity dogma is a class-based philosophy, notably low information attributes, not limited to racism, sexism, etc. His problem is not dementia, but ingrained, insidious character flaws.

James K said...

I remember the good 'ol days on this blog when diagnosing mental illness or decline from afar was considered beyond the pale. But of course that was when we were questioning Trump's sanity.

Actually the issue was not anything "we," or politicians, say. The controversy was when licensed mental health professionals did this, using their credentials to give weight to their pronouncements, while committing professional malpractice. There's obviously nothing wrong with any of us declaring "Biden is an idiot."

Yancey Ward said...

Biden let the truth, as white progressives see it, slip out.

And Biden didn't write any of those tweets clari.....er......reversing what Biden said.

RichardJohnson said...

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan .
The country is a dumpster fire, but the problem is Biden? Go figure.


The country is a dumpster fire, but Biden in cognitive decline is the solution to lead the country? Go figure.

Gahrie said...

And how do we know how blacks vote? Is 'race' on the ballot?

I usually just look at the results and compare voting districts to census data.

wendybar said...

AOC must be PISSED OFF royally at Joe Biden...since...“Latinos are black … We have to have conversations around ‘colorism,’ and we have to have conversations around the African and indigenous roots from which we come and how that’s reflected in systems of power.”

Why do Democrats judge people by the color of their skin????

Pookie Number 2 said...

The country is a dumpster fire, but the problem is Biden? Go figure.

The “brilliance” of this observation reinforces the fact that even with his obvious deterioration, Biden’s still smarter than most of his aspiring voters.

Gk1 said...

Joe was always a sloppy thinker but at least could remember his patter about 12 years ago. Now, he can't help making errors like this. He's done.

The "diminished" ad the Trump people put out shows how quickly Slow Joe has degenerated this last year.

Big Mike said...

Why did Biden say that? Perhaps because he is stupid?

I am an old man with a great memory. I can remember all the way back to when James Carville (a.k.a. "The Talking Skull") and others were talking about what a disaster it was for the Democrats that Bernie Sanders was winning so many primaries, how it was going to be terrible for the Democrat Party. And Joe Biden is better in their eyes? Does Walgreens still sell Visine? Maybe they can buy some through the Althouse Amazon portal.

n.n said...

Call them Cuban-Americans, Puerto Ricans, Mexican-Americans.

Or, and I admit this is a really bizarre idea, how about just call us all Americans?


No diversity, no 1/2 or fractional people. America is a geographical designation, an administrative district, a society of people joined on common principles. A humanist after my own heart.

Bay Area Guy said...

GHW Bush: Message, I care.

Slow Joe Biden: Message, I sniff.

Didn't African-American-Indian Senator Kamala Harris call him a racist in the early debates, because he fought busing of minority school kids, like her?

Dr Weevil said...

There actually is some diversity of thought among Black Americans, because there are actually three geographically-distinct subgroups - and I'm not talking about conservative Blacks like Clarence Thomas, Herman Cain, and Thomas Sowell vs the rest, or northern vs southern.

When I taught at a tiny private school in the south a few years back, we had 3 black students (out of 40 total): one traditional black American, post-Confederate, descendant of slaves, however you want to put it; one child of Haitian and Dominican immigrants; one child of Nigerian immigrants. They would get into long arguments as to which of them, and which group, counted as "really black", while the other students and all the teachers discreetly rolled their eyes.

I don't know how homogeneous the second and third groups - Caribbean immigrants and straight-from-Africa immigrants - are. If we had had more than one traditional post-Confederate black students, I suspect they would have stuck together against the others. (Not really against-against: all three got along well with each other and with the other students when not arguing about blackness.) However, if we had had (e.g.) a Jamaican and a Trinidadian as well as the Haitian-Dominican, and a Ghanaian and an Ethiopian as well as the Nigerian, would they have still divided three ways, or would they have divided seven ways in their arguments about who was really black?

Bilwick said...

Just spitballing here . . . but is it possible that in this one instance, Slow Joe was correct? In essence, he was saying (and I have no experience translating from Dementia to Plain English, so I could be off)) that Hispanics tend to be more independent and individualistic than Blacks. That has been my experience; and speaking politically I think it is a fact of life that Hispanics are less in thrall to the "liberal" Plantation than Blacks. In addition, the Black Left and their White Liberal "Uncle Toms" have been telling us that values of individualism and independence--along with the dreaded"R" word*--are White values, and therefore to be contemned. Maybe Crack Emcee, our resident African American scholar, can clarify, along with Howard and Inga, obviously no friends to the R-word.

*Reason

tim maguire said...

One big problem with the strategy discussion versus public statement explanation is that black people were not part of the question he was answering. It's not just, why did he say there was no diversity among blacks, but why did he say anything at all about blacks in answer to that question?

Here's something else curious--of course we remember his claim that if you even think about voting for Trump, you're not black. That was also a denial of diversity in the black community--not just a denial, but an enforced denial. In Joe Biden's America, blacks aren't even allowed to have their own personal set of values.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

rcocean said... Again, thank God for moderation, otherwise we'd have 50 comments about Feder.


LOL!!

Drago said...

Michael K: "Hillary's special talent was collapsing in full view and being tossed into a car like a sack of potatoes."

What I loved most about that incident where Hillary obviously collapsed and had to be loaded into the SUV was how lefties and LLR's spent weeks declaring that no such thing happened....then that it happened but was only because Hillary was dehyrdrated....then they admitted she was ill and needed the help........

.....then they switched back to it never happened at all!!

Which is the typical rhetorical narrative pushing modus operandi for our marxist LLR's/lefties and their media minions.

See: Riots

Drago said...

DanTheMan: "Are you serious, Freder? You see no evidence of dementia or other mental impairment when watching Biden talk?"

Freder and LLR's see precisely what they are told to see...and nothing more.

Martin said...

I am reminded of the old quip that a politician makes a "gaffe" when he tells the truth. In this case, not so much objective truth in 2020, but the truth as it was and as he remembers it ca. 1980.

Not that many of his core supporters believe in "objective truth" of course.

Bay Area Guy said...

"The country is a dumpster fire, but the problem is Biden? Go figure."

The country is a dumpster fire caused by LEFTWING violent thugs, supported and encouraged and enabled by the Democrat politicians -- all of whom, wink wink, support Biden,

Fixed it for ya.

Bilwick said...

Martin wrote: "Not that many of his [Biden's] core supporters believe in 'objective truth' of course."

There is no truth but socialist truth, comrade.

DanTheMan said...

>>The country is a dumpster fire

The United States is not a dumpster fire!!!

There are a few places like Portland that are having a very hard time figuring out how to stop a 60+ day riot without using any force whatsoever.

The rest of us are coping and working from home when we can.
That being said, there seem to be some folks who are determined to convince you that everything has gone to hell, and to do what they can to break the greatest economy the world has ever seen.

Their assumption is that this will defeat Trump, and then on November 4th they can throw the switch back to "ON" and restart everything.

What they seem to be missing is that once you destroy the machine, flipping the switch has no effect.

CapitalistRoader said...

The lack of Pomade is Joe's problem. Back when Joe was a lifeguard, many white Americans were of the opinion that all blacks looked alike. Joe could only tell them apart by the presence or absence of Pomade in their hair:

Hey, Esther, off the board or I'll come up and drag you off!
Joe Biden

John henry said...

Blogger wendybar said...

AOC must be PISSED OFF royally at Joe Biden...since...“Latinos are black

Bullshit. Cubans, Dominicanos and Puerto Ricans often have African blood from Spanish slaves.

Mexicans? Argentines? Peruvians? other Spanish speaking American countries? (Spaniards are probably not latino but it depends on who you ask.)Very few Africans there. Even Spain kicked out most of the Africans/Moors 500 years ago.

So, once again, everything AOC sees is colored brown because she is so full of shit.

And she is not even Puerto Rican. She is Nyorican.

She is also, somewhere in her past, Irish (Ocasio=O'Casey) as are so many South Americans/Puerto Ricans.

John Henry

Rory said...

"Hillary's special talent was collapsing in full view and being tossed into a car like a sack of potatoes."

Top three faves:

1. Getting tossed in the van;
2. Cutting a presser short, walking behind a pillar, and quickly coughing;
3. Going into a coughing fit while explaining that she didn't go into coughing fits.

John henry said...

Blogger Dr Weevil said...

one traditional black American, post-Confederate, descendant of slaves, however you want to put it; one child of Haitian and Dominican immigrants; one child of Nigerian immigrants.

Quite right. The biggest of the 3 groups is called ADOS, American Descendants of Slavery. The second is Caribbean black though more likely to be considered Haitian-Dominican than "black" or African-American and the third is African black.

Caribbean and African blacks do considerably better financially, educationally and by other measures in the US than do ADOS blacks. Even better, ISTR, than whites overall. They are resented by the ADOS blacks.

Harris is not thought of as "black" or even half-black. She is a half-Caribbean black half indian married, relatively recently to a white man. I wonder how much love she will get from the ADOS blacks?

John Henry

John henry said...

Blogger Drago said...

What I loved most about that incident where Hillary obviously collapsed

Yeah, good times.

But I always got a kick out of people who would argue with me that she did not have a "stroke" in 14 but an "Intracerebral hemorage" which is the 2 dollar word for a stroke.

And then they would get into an argument about whether she fell down and hit her head causing a stroke or had a stroke causing her to fall down and hit her head.

The key is how adamant they were about denying that she had a "stroke".

As for Biden, he has had the top of his skull off twice. He, himself, on various occasions, admitted that it affected him and changed him. There is pretty well documented medical literature that nobody ever comes all the way back from that kind of operation.

And he was not even all the way there before the op.

So pointing out his mental decline seems fair game.

John Henry

Michelle Dulak Thomson said...

Ann, you're right: what Biden made originally was a category error, kind of like throwing the cake recipe in the bowl along with the flour and butter and eggs. The "clarification" was, of course, nothing of the kind. And, as several above have noted, the missing word from both statements was "Cuban."

As for "latinx," if anyone of Hispanic descent actually tried to pronounce the word, it'd probably be "la-TEEN-eck-ees" "equis" being our "x" But, as someone above also stated, it's pretty useless getting around Spanish gender endings without also coming up with an ungendered article to go with your new word, so that it can be used while, y'know, speaking in Spanish.

Equipment Maintenance said...

The weird thing is that Biden's phrase, "unlike the African-American community", was completely unnecessary to the point he was trying to make, that Latin culture is diverse. He just added it because he apparently hates Blacks, deep down.

Jim at said...

Or maybe - just maybe - Biden's a straight-up racist.

JaimeRoberto said...

>90% of blacks vote for Democrats. Something like 70% of Hispanics vote for Democrats. I though by Democrat math this made blacks more diverse.

Anonymous said...

>Biden, in cognitive decline, is losing the ability to maintain the boundary between what is said behind the scenes with his advisers and what is appropriate for speech to the general public.

'It's just Joe being Joe....'

Put differently, it's not obviously a function of cognitive "decline." Mr. Biden has long (25+ years) been known as a gaffe machine, to the point where it's part of his political personae.

side note: it's also why the Obama campaign would hide Mr. Biden down the stretch.

Gk1 said...

"What I loved most about that incident where Hillary obviously collapsed and had to be loaded into the SUV was how lefties and LLR's spent weeks declaring that no such thing happened....then that it happened but was only because Hillary was dehyrdrated....then they admitted she was ill and needed the help......."

This why I think the big build up for the inevitable Biden health scare or verbal explosion during the debates will not be the coupe de grace to the Biden campaign we think it will be. When the democrats can count on the media to act as their praetorian guard 24/7 such incidents have limited immediate impact but are corrosive nonetheless.

Watching Hillary stand rigidly like a grocery store standee while waiting for the secret service van to collect her was jarring when I first saw it and was the first tip off maybe she wasn't the shoe in the media was feeding me 24/7.

Bruce Hayden said...

Interesting take: How The Political Behavior Of Black And Jewish Americans Became Their Cultural Identity - Jewish and black voters have proven to be astonishingly reliable supporters of the Democratic Party, even when it conflicts with their interests. Three new books offer some insights into why.

eric said...

Theory: It doesn't matter what Joe Biden says. He won't be the nominee.

It's going to be either Oprah or Michelle Obama.

tastid212 said...

The Professor thinks it's a case of Biden being unable to differentiate between an internal communications strategy and an external message. That would make it a Kinsley gaffe, in which Biden accidentally told the truth that African-Americans tend to be far less diverse in their political beliefs and loyalties than Hispanics, who run the political gamut from progressive to conservative on a range of issues.

btw, Rush thinks it's a case of a staffer intentionally sabotaging Biden to get him out now. Could be...I dunno.

Michael K said...


Caribbean and African blacks do considerably better financially, educationally and by other measures in the US than do ADOS blacks. Even better, ISTR, than whites overall. They are resented by the ADOS blacks.


I have seen this over and over in medical students, who should be the top 1% of American blacks. African blacks even joke about American blacks, saying they are descended from losers in tribal wars.

Michael K said...

Bruce Hayden said...
Interesting take: How The Political Behavior Of Black And Jewish Americans Became Their Cultural Identity


Bruce, who was it that said, "Jews live like Episcopalians and vote like Puerto Ricans ?"

mikee said...

Well, complain all you want about my diagnosing it without a license, and Joe Biden still has dementia. Let me say it again. Joe Biden has dementia. Even those like me, who have only been around their elderly grandparents and parents as they sank into dementia, can see the onset of dementia in Joe Biden. There is no other explanation, there is no other excuse. Joe Biden has dementia, even if it me saying so.

Joe Biden has dementia.

Iman said...

First rule of holes...you fill in the rest : )

... don’t vote for ‘em!

Iman said...

Again, thank God for moderation, otherwise we'd have 50 comments about Feder.

51... Feder can just fuck right off...

Iman said...

Again, thank God for moderation, otherwise we'd have 50 comments about Feder.

51... and Freder can just fuck right off...

Browndog said...

Africans speak perfect English.

Announciate better than the British, rival Canadians, repulsed by ebonics.

Rosa Marie Yoder said...

I think that as dementia progresses we are less able to filter our speech. So the stuff that comes out of our mouths more closely reflects thoughts that were previously only shared in private. It's risky to allow Biden to speak off the cuff.

Bruce Hayden said...

“Bruce, who was it that said, "Jews live like Episcopalians and vote like Puerto Ricans ?"”

I have seen it attributed to others, but Himmelfarb appears to be the most likely source.

“Milton Himmelfarb’s observation about the Jewish vote has been repeated frequently in books, magazines and newspapers. “

Joe Smith said...

"It's going to be either Oprah or Michelle Obama."

Oprah has a huge Harvey Weinstein problem. Besides, not even liberals like to listen to a billionaire bitch and moan.

narciso said...

norman podhoretz I think,

Nichevo said...

Dementia is a medical diagnosis outside my competency, but that mofo is senile for sure:

https://www.verywellhealth.com/what-does-senile-really-mean-98594