August 14, 2020

"Young White House aides frequently mocked Biden’s gaffes and lack of discipline in comparison to the almost clerical Obama."

"They would chortle at how Biden, like an elderly uncle at Thanksgiving, would launch into extended monologues that everyone had heard before....  Obama and [Hillary] Clinton both viewed themselves as pioneers who worked their way through America’s elite colleges. Obama went to Columbia University and Harvard Law School, where he headed the law review; Clinton went from Wellesley to Yale Law School. They shared a work style as well, always sure to do their homework and arrive at a meeting prepared to get to the crux of an issue. 'They do the reading,' said one former Clinton aide. 'In Situation Room meetings, she had the thickest binder and had read it three times.' Biden’s own academic career was unimpressive—he repeated the third grade, earned all Cs and Ds in his first three semesters at the University of Delaware except for As in P.E., a B in 'Great English Writers' and an F in ROTC, and graduated 76th in his Syracuse Law School class of [1968].... He was not a binder person, Clinton and Obama aides said.... Biden’s tendency to blurt out whatever was on his mind rankled Obama, who wasn’t afraid to needle him for it. In his first press conference in 2009, the young president quipped 'I don’t remember exactly what Joe was referring to—not surprisingly'.... Biden has long been defensive about suggestions of being dumb or a lightweight—a narrative that took hold during in his first campaign for the presidency, in 1988...."

From "'The President Was Not Encouraging': What Obama Really Thought About Biden/Behind the friendship was a more complicated relationship, which now drives the former vice president to prove his partner wrong" by Alex Thompson (at Politico). Lots more at the link.

155 comments:

SY said...

Not surprising at all!
Of course Obama and Hillary are super smart and always prepared -- as a black and a woman, they had to be that way in order to survive and rise up in the political world!
Joe Biden, on the other hand, can just be a regular white dude and succeed.

Owen said...

This portrait of Biden reminds me of the position stated by Roman Hruska, who argued that stupid Americans needed representation just as much as smart ones.

Owen said...

“Even if he were mediocre, there are a lot of mediocre judges and people and lawyers. They are entitled to a little representation, aren't they, and a little chance? We can't have all Brandeises, Frankfurters and Cardozos.”. - Roman Hruska

Nonapod said...

Let's be honest here, the "complicated relationship" was that Obama bascially tolerated Biden. I imagine that Obama thought of Biden as a boob, a buffoon. Biden brought a certain likeability and avuncular charm to the administration that Obama lacked somewhat. To certain people, Obama would often come off as pretentious and high falutin. Obama would lecture people, talk down to them, make them feel like they failed him by clinging to their guns and bibles and antiquated beliefs. Conversely Biden could be more jocular and warm with his manner.

gspencer said...

Has this article been registered with the Ministry of Truth and received its Right-to-Publish Certificate?

wendybar said...

I'm waiting for the book by Jill Bidens ex husband telling us how the two lovebirds cheated on their spouses...and some other juicy stories...Of Course...Amazon will probably block it, and you probably won't be able to buy at a book store, because we all know how they don't want the American people to know their heroes are just as corrupt morally as the man they blame everything bad that has happened for the last 40 years on, even though he has only been in office going on 4 years. And then ....there is the Durham report...that is going to be so much fun to read the truth the MSM has been hiding for the last 5 years for their masters.

Gunner said...

I am shocked that the lefties who constantly brought up McCain's low graduation rank and Dubya's alleged dumbness are hiding Slow Joe's bad record!

Skeptical Voter said...

Well Joe has a lot of gaffes, blurts, and nonsense to defend.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

And so it begins. Talk of 25th Amendment sure to follow.

Paul Snively said...

That's quite a feat, to make me feel sympathetic toward addled Joe Biden, by comparing him to vacuous wordsmiths Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

Can we please elect a haberdasher President again? Please?

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

hey man, Joe is gonna take you out back for this one, you lying dog faced pony soldiers.

Mr Wibble said...

'They do the reading,' said one former Clinton aide. 'In Situation Room meetings, she had the thickest binder and had read it three times.'

Besides the fact that I don't believe it about Obama, those kind of people were often horrible, in my experience. Generally arrogant know-it-alls who could regurgitate, but couldn't think on their feet.

gilbar said...

protip
If a person BRAGS about finishing "in the top half" of his class, as if it's an accomplishment
LOOKOUT!

If a person BRAGS about finishing "in the top half" of his class, AND IT IS A LIE!
RUN!

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

Speaking of Biden and Obama, Durham has an FBI lawyer as a cooperating witness as of today. Yep, the guilty plea plus insider testimony Mueller hunted in vain for, Durham now has in hand. This is the beginning of the end. PLEA DEAL with FBI LAWYER. Let that sink in.

Mattman26 said...

He repeated the third grade?

That's pretty awesome.

gilbar said...

a moldable lump of clay; that learns Nothing, Knows NOTHING, Is NOTHING...
The PERFECT DEMOCRAT. LITERALLY AN EMPTY SUIT

Speaking as someone that has had a traumatic brain injury;
you DO NOT WANT someone who has had a traumatic brain injury making life or death decisions

madAsHell said...

Today, I'm in central Oregon with extended family..

I took my daughter out to the rifle range on the Oregon Badlands. The range was closed because Gov. Kate Brown needs to be recalled.

When we returned to the house, all the women wanted to know about the visit to the rifle range.

I told them, "We were run off the rifle range by BLM!!"

"NO WAY!!".....they proclaimed as they all reached for their phones!!

"Bureau of Land Management, what were you thinking!!"

bagoh20 said...

Obama picked him, and as usual not on merit or ability, which is very much the Democrat way. Then the Democrats chose him again, so now you got him. All the the Democrats in the primary were crazy and silly on policy, but Biden was clearly the least intelligent, with no new ideas of his own. The ideas the candidates did propose were never things intended to really fix anything. They were all just posing positions for political gain, and they all shared the same ones, which involved more control, more spending, free stuff, and less responsibility for those getting it. It takes principle to vote against getting free stuff, and principle is not something Democrats respect anymore than merit.

Bay Area Guy said...

Sleepy Joe Biden coulda been the King of Delaware, grafting from all those corporate headquarters and groping all the gals he could find.

But now he's gotta 50-50 shot to become leader of the free world - aa the addle-minded figurehead for the hard left BLM & Antifa crowd.

Whoda thunk it?

Big Mike said...

University of Delaware doesn’t bother me. Delaware isn’t at the same level as Virginia or Wisconsin or UC Berkeley, but one can usually get a very good education at the flagship state university if one looks for good professors and challenging classes. The Cs and Ds are problematic. The F in ROTC might explain a lot about his leadership (lack thereof).

YoungHegelian said...

Obama and [Hillary] Clinton both viewed themselves as pioneers who worked their way through America’s elite colleges. Obama went to Columbia University and Harvard Law School, where he headed the law review; Clinton went from Wellesley to Yale Law School. They shared a work style as well, always sure to do their homework and arrive at a meeting prepared to get to the crux of an issue. 'They do the reading,' said one former Clinton aide. '

It takes a lot to make me sympathetic to Biden, but this sort of shit will do it. I remember Biden interviewed one-on-one in the 80s by Charlie Rose, and he didn't do badly at all. He used to have his moments in the sun, many years ago.

But this idolatry of how smart Obama & Clinton are! And, like in this article, always said in that purring voice like when a porn starlet tells her male co-star " Oh, baby, it's sooooo big!". They're lawyers, okay? That's what they were trained as in those tony schools. That means that what they know, if anything, is the law. Lawyers think that because they've learned the law, that they can easily learn anything. No one who isn't a lawyer believes that.

Notice that who's getting interviewed is some aide. Who isn't getting interviewed is the Russian expert on how the Clinton advance team mis-translated "Reset". Or, the Libya expert on how Libya turned from a stable dictatorship to an anarchic hellhole thanks to the ministrations of Obama & Clinton. You know, people who are actually, "specialists" in a subject.

rehajm said...

I think it was '68 not '85...

Lucid-Ideas said...

"Young White House Aids frequently mocked..."

That's what you get when you call young aids dog-faced pony-soldiers.

Swede said...

Maybe Biden's a late bloomer.

A really, really, really late bloomer.

Lloyd W. Robertson said...

Obama's two years at Occidental seem to be disappearing.

Odi said...

The infatuation with credentialed pedigrees among the establishment is amazing.

Fernandinande said...

They shared a work style as well, always sure to do their homework and arrive at a meeting prepared to get to the crux of an issue.

So Obama suffered from "whiteness".

Sebastian said...

"which now drives the former vice president to prove his partner wrong"

Evidence? Of anything that "drives" Joe? I call BS.

OK, so most of us here are deplorable cynics etc. etc. -- but then you look at the Dems and you realize that we are not nearly cynical enough, and not remotely as cynical as they are.

Of course, like anything else, their cynicism is calculated: by making witless, hapless Joe a figurehead, the prog PTB can more easily advance their own power.

But stories about the real Joe don't help. Nice women might get the wrong idea.

rehajm said...

If you haven't figured it out by now Obama is a jackass. A figurehead what breezes in without doing the work and collects the accolades of the people who need him. Experience that over a lifetime and think about what that would do to a man to shape his opinions of others- people with their heads down working for success...

Not that Biden is one of those people. Biden is the kid who got Cs in grade school and still can't believe the position he's is in life...

Ecept apparently Biden couldn't make C's in the important stuff. Good job in gym, though...

Birkel said...

Biden was stupid and arrogant.
Now he is stupid, senile, and arrogant.

Democratics hope Americans choose to pretend not to notice.

wildswan said...

Coma and Comma 2020

Mike Sylwester said...

Biden is rather smart in his race-baiting.

Anne-I-Am said...

Hilarious. I went to high school with Ron Klain (he pestered me for dates). To read about his naked political ambition and current pandering to Biden makes me guffaw. What a glimpse behind the curtain--these people want nothing more than power. They don't really care who is at the helm.

The phrase "power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely" refers not to the man in charge, but to those around him who will abase themselves and forfeit all principal in order to be close to that power. Klain is a perfect example.

Michael K said...

Obama "headed the law review" by means of an invented "President position created by affirmative action so the black kid got a participation trophy.

rehajm said...

I used to kid Biden was the ham sandwich candidate. I think the ham sandwich did better in school...

pacwest said...

Coma and Comma 2020

I like it!

rcocean said...

An interesting article, despite its desire to show everyone in a good light. It just fleshes out what everyone knows and thinks. Joe is a bit of a dim bulb but good at retail politics and being a "people person". That he was better than Obama at negotiating with the Senate R's shouldn't be surprising given he was in the Senate for 35 years.

But the problem with the article, is that it tries to paint Biden as a moderate, deal maker. Which is untrue. Biden bought 100% into the Obama agenda. He's bought 100% into the Bernie agenda. He's viciously attacked Trump. He's good at negotiating with the R's WHEN HE HAS TO. But that doesn't mean he WANTS to.

If Biden has a Democrat Congress he'll sign anything Pelosi/Schumer put in front of him. He's also a complete captive of his aides. Nowhere does the article show Biden disagreeing with his advisers. There's every reason to believe Biden when he asserts he will start issuing executive orders the minute he's elected. And who believes the Left-wing Judiciary will overturn them?

Sherman Broder said...

No wonder CNN chortles about Trump, the ultimate non-binder person.

Drago said...

Swede: "Maybe Biden's a late bloomer.
A really, really, really late bloomer."

Winner!

Todd said...

Obama and [Hillary] Clinton both viewed themselves as pioneers

Nuff said...

rehajm said...

...in comparison to the almost clerical Obama.

So, like a cleric? Most of his followers had him a couple more rungs higher up on the organizational chart...

PM said...

If Nancy can hold on, she and Kamala will run the country.
Well, Nancy will run the country; Kamala will cackle uncontrollably if you ask her if Nancy is running the country.

Bilwick said...

Odd that the "clerical" Obama would think there were 57 states. I guess the teleprompter was broken that day.

Lucid-Ideas said...

"Haha silly kids. I've forgotten better insults then they've hurled at me!"

- Joe Biden

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

Yes Rehajm, he was 76 out of 85 in his class, not in ‘85 class.

Mattman26 said...

Thank you for the Hruska quote, Owen. I was mentally trying to retrieve that.

Anonymous said...

rehajm said...
I think it was '68 not '85...

I took that as 76th out of 85 in the class

Sally327 said...

You can tell this is about government work, where showing up to a meeting prepared is a sign of awe-inspiring discipline and incredible brilliance.

rcocean said...

I must say that the article's bit about Obama "betraying" Biden in 2016, was rather silly. No one was pushing for Biden in 2016. No one believed he was better than Hillary in any way. Even in 2016, most thought he was too old, and too dumb to be the nominee. No Biden campaign for President had gotten any traction and he'd tried to run twice before.

Stepping, its simply incredible the D's have nominee who's 78 years old, and left political office 4 years ago. AND who failed for 32 years to be thought of as a serious POTUS candidate. Its was an insane decision to nominate him, he's senile and won't serve 4 years. Yet, he'll probably win. God what a country!

Jupiter said...

"Almost clerical"

NCMoss said...

Is it too cynical to think that Politico's buyers remorse story is simply a warm-up to "Tragedy strikes Joe again"?

bagoh20 said...

I have been wondering: why does Biden even want to be President? It sucks to live that life, and he's way past being able to handle it. He had four decades to make a difference if he wanted to, but never really tried. He's too old to be after money, but that's just my personal opinion. I see elderly people desperately trying to get rich when they are close to being done anyway, and they could never spend it if they did. I don't understand it, but it is a real drive for a lot of old people for some reason.

Trump on the other hand, never needed to be President for the monetary gain. I could see him wanting it just for the prestige, but that's more the way of Obama. Trump works too hard, and puts up with too much shit for that to be his motivation. He is not getting any prestige that could make up for all the false claims of racism and other bullshit to destroy his reputation. I think he is motivated by exactly what he says: he wants to help make America great.

Biden would be protected as president, but he is not going to get the reverent treatment Obama did. There won't be a Noble Prize just for getting elected.

Inga said...

So, how come we haven’t seen Trump’s high school or college transcripts?

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

a presidential candidate who had to repeat the 3rd grade?

Ripe for mocking.

Won't see a drop of mocking on late night TV or SNL.

Rabel said...

"He repeated the third grade?

That's pretty awesome."

Really? The guy flunked third grade?

Yancey Ward said...

And the campaign to shunt Biden aside begins in earnest.

Yancey Ward said...

"If a person BRAGS about finishing "in the top half" of his class, AND IT IS A LIE!
RUN!"


I finished 2nd at Star Fleet Academy.

Yancey Ward said...

"That's quite a feat, to make me feel sympathetic toward addled Joe Biden, by comparing him to vacuous wordsmiths Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton."

True- I had exactly the same reaction, but then you and I, Paul, are not the audience for this piece.

Dave Begley said...

This leak by the Obama people is a preface to forcing Joe off the top of the ticket and being replaced by Kamala.

I've had this belief for a long, long time. The Dems can't let Joe debate Trump. Bloodbath.

Leon said...

Obama chose Biden because Biden was less charismatic and bright than him. He chose Clinton because it was her turn next.

I'm Full of Soup said...

I got booted from Twitter for regularly calling Biden a retard who is now also senile.

Ray - SoCal said...

Thanks wendybar!

Hmm, I did not realize that about Jill Biden:
EXCLUSIVE: Jill Biden’s Ex-Husband Exposes Joe’s Adulterous Affair, Lies, And Campaign Bribery

So now on the Dem ticket both were involved in affairs.

What a strange election!

boatbuilder said...

It warms the very cold cockles of my heart to picture Obama grinding his teeth and thinking...”if he says ‘c’mon,man’ one more fucking time...”

TJM said...

Why isn't Althouse reporting the Clinesmith guilty plea in the Russian Collusion hoax? Fox is

AllenS said...

The one and only time Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (yes, there were two of them) didn't lie:

"Third grade... that was the toughest two years of my life".

Tom T. said...

These aides wouldn't have talked, and Politico wouldn't have published this article, without Obama's approval.

MadisonMan said...

It makes me wonder who will really be running the country if Biden is elected.

Chuck said...

So Biden is like Trump, without the Narcissism and the malevolence....

Original Mike said...

In my charitable moments I feel bad for the good-hearted democrats (there must be some, right?).

Rory said...

"So, how come we haven’t seen Trump’s high school or college transcripts?"

Because Trump has been out in public view for the last forty years, doing things.

Yancey Ward said...

Narcissistic and malevolent sounds like you, Chuck. Are you projecting?

Rory said...

"So, like a cleric?"

An austere cleric.

tim in vermont said...

"So Biden is like Trump, without the Narcissism and the malevolence....”

So Trump is like Biden, except that Trump is not Biden, who is a kleptocrat who wants to destroy everything that our LLR pretends to value, pack the courts, throw out the filibuster, make PR and DC states to put the Senate forever out of reach, and shut down all investigations into Democrat corruption first day. So much for a life long Republican to love about Biden.

Trump seems like the least malevolent president I can recall, BTW. Obama seems like the most malevolent since LBJ. Maybe Jimmy Carter was on a level with Trump as far as lack of malevolence goes.

tim in vermont said...

"Why isn't Althouse reporting the Clinesmith guilty plea in the Russian Collusion hoax?”

The story didn’t get past the censors at the New York Times.

effinayright said...

Owen said...
This portrait of Biden reminds me of the position stated by Roman Hruska, who argued that stupid Americans needed representation just as much as smart ones.
*************

"Speaking during March 1970 in favor of a U.S. Supreme Court nominee, Senator Roman L. Hruska of Nebraska said: So what if he is mediocre? There are a lot of mediocre judges and people and lawyers. They are entitled to a little representation, aren't they? We can't have all Brandeises, Cardozos, and Frankfurters and stuff like that there."

Fatuous, for sure, but not quite as bad as your recollection.

It's... interesting... that the legal giants he alluded to were all Jewish.

Earnest Prole said...

So Obama treated Slow Joe like an Affirmative Action hire. Call it the soft bigotry of low expectations.

NC William said...

The guy has never been able to finish a book, even when he's paid millions to do so. But sure, I fully believe he read every prep binder three times before every meeting.

Stephen said...

Mitt Romney wanted binders (full of women). Hillary and Barack studied binders. Joe "was not a binder person." Joe was ahead of his time; nobody under 30 uses binders any more.

Meade said...

"So Biden is like Trump, without the Narcissism and the malevolence...."

No, actually he's not like Trump at all, Chuck. Has Biden ever won anything? Not really. Mostly he's famous for losing. How many times has he run for president and lost? Three? He took on Clarence Thomas. And lost. He took on Tara Reade. And lost. He took on Bernie Sanders. And lost. He took on Burisma, he took on China. And lost. He took on the task of finding a cure for cancer. And lost. He took on Black Lives Matter. He lost.

But he might win in November. It could happen. If so, Biden should start plagiarizing Trump right now, before it's too late: “We’re going to win. We’re going to win so much. We’re going to win at masks, we’re going to win at racial animosity. We’re going to win so much, you’re going to be so sick and tired of winning, Chuck, you’re going to come to me and go ‘Please, please, we can’t win anymore.’ You’ll say ‘Please, Mr. President Biden, we beg you sir, we don’t want to win anymore. It’s too much. It’s not fair to everybody else. And I’m going to say to you, 'Chuck, I’m sorry, but we’re going to keep winning, winning, winning, We’re going to Build. Back. Better. Again.”

Drago said...

Gunner: "I am shocked that the lefties who constantly brought up McCain's low graduation rank and Dubya's alleged dumbness are hiding Slow Joe's bad record!"

Just wait until LLR-lefty Chuck fully spools up in his #StrongDemocratDefender mode! You ain't seen nothing yet!

LLR-lefty Chuck spent weeks and weeks lying for and defending Stolen Valor Blumenthal! Then he couldn't help himself when Garrison Keillor (Garrison Keillor!!) was properly accused of sexual harassment and fired from NPR! LLR-lefty Chuck nearly went insane with his pavlovian democrat defense antics!

Its always fun to watch LLR-lefty Chuck in real time as any democrat, and I mean ANY democrat, comes under scrutiny. He flies into spittle-flecked rages defending them.

Its fun!

Drago said...

Meade: "If so, Biden should start plagiarizing Trump right now, before it's too late:"

I kid you not. Biden has already plagiarized Reagan!!

LOL

You just knew it had to happen, didn't you?

Bay Area Guy said...

"Coma and Comma 2020"

Snow Job & Blow Job 2020

Drago said...

"Why isn't Althouse reporting the Clinesmith guilty plea in the Russian Collusion hoax?”

tim in vermont: "The story didn’t get past the censors at the New York Times."

See, now that's funny.

Meade said...

What? Let me guess — "Mr. President... tear down this wall!"

Bay Area Guy said...

During the 2020 Democrat Presidential rimary, how many delegates did Kammy actually win?

Owen said...

Speaking of the Clinesmith plea deal: https://www.nationalreview.com/news/fbi-lawyer-to-plead-guilty-of-falsifying-document-for-carter-page-fisa-warrant/

My guess is, Clinesmith has been delivering to Durham the necessary consideration under his plea deal, for days and weeks. Said consideration being a detailed account of who was doing what to whom when. Today's announcement is just a way to start beating the game toward the guns, and is coordinated with the unequivocal accusations to Maria Bartiromo today by Trump and Nunes, that Obama and Biden were in on the game and green-lighted the framing of General Flynn.

It will be interesting to hear Biden explain what really happened. Assuming anyone in the media thinks to ask him.

GingerBeer said...

Should Biden win, he's going to feel right at home in the WH with all the Obama retreads he'll stock his administration with. For Joe, January 20, 2021 is Inauguration Day. For them, January 21, 2021 will be 25th Amendment Day.

n.n said...

Young White... House aides. Diversity lurks in plain sight. Perhaps they can paint it gray in order to be inclusive.

Big Mike said...

Can you imagine the shame and humiliation for the nine people who finished below Handsy Joe in law school? They were worse students than Joe Biden! Poor them.

Original Mike said...

"My guess is, Clinesmith has been delivering to Durham the necessary consideration under his plea deal, for days and weeks. Said consideration being a detailed account of who was doing what to whom when."

Mr. "Viva le Resistance!”? I hope so, but I'll believe it when I see it.

n.n said...

re: Young White... House aides

Also, drop Young, which is Pro-Choice age discrimination, and a notorious diversitist relic from the age of progress.

Nonapod said...

Maybe it would be easier to attribute all the great quotes in history to Joe Biden.

"We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender," - Joe Biden

"The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall." - Joe Biden

"Get busy living or get busy dying." - Joe Biden

"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” - Joe Biden

Original Mike said...

"Kevin deeply regrets having altered the email,” a lawyer for Clinesmith said. "It was never his intent to mislead the court or his colleagues as he believed the information he relayed was accurate.”

Shouldn't a plea agreement include a commitment to not issue false statements?

James Graham said...

I've been predicting that if elected he'll resign for "health" but now I think the 25th is a more likely outcome.

todd galle said...

I was a proud 'Gentleman's C' man in college, as most of the courses didn't align with my interests, so really can't fault Biden there, though I did graduate 3rd Grade. But then, I didn't ever expect or plan to run for an elected office. I've done fine with that small PA college degree in History, and shall retire in the near future after a 30+ year museum career.

NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...

"Young White House aides frequently mocked Biden’s gaffes and lack of discipline in comparison to the almost clerical Obama."

Apparently they did the same thing to Bill Clinton even though the man had gotten himself elected President, twice. We see how well that worked out for Hillary!

Owen said...

Original Mike @ 2:21: "It was never his intent to mislead the court or his colleagues as he believed the information he relayed was accurate." That's the funniest thing I've read in months. Clinesmith got an email from the CIA confirming that Carter Page was a source for them. That is, "Page is one of our guys." Clinesmith altered this to mean exactly the opposite: not even that Page's status was indeterminate, but that he was NOT one of the CIA's guys. And when this deliberate falsification of a key document to the FISA Court was revealed --an obvious and conclusive fraud on the court to persuade it to issue the renewal warrant on Carter Page-- Clinesmith went on the record in his email or text account, saying "I'm f****d". In my humble opinion that utterance by Clinesmith tends to undermine his lawyer's claim that Kevin believed the information was accurate or that he lacked an intent to mislead.

As for Kevin promising not to make false statements: as a felon, he will lose his law license, so maybe his future ability to make statements that anybody cares about will be somewhat diminished.

Pass the popcorn.

hstad said...


Blogger Inga said...
So, how come we haven’t seen Trump’s high school or college transcripts?

8/14/20, 11:55 AM

Because if you have to go back that far for accomplishments why even run for office? Man you are absent of common sense! But in an entertaining and clownish way!

rehajm said...

I was a Trapper Keeper™ guy for a while. Chicks dug the Trapper Keeper...

DanTheMan said...

>>The F in ROTC might explain a lot about his leadership

ROTC was mandatory if you went to a land grant university in the 1960's or before. I've known a fair number of fairly smart folks who are about the same age as Biden and also had F's in ROTC, mostly by refusing to go to any classes.

I think they dropped the mandatory ROTC enrollment during the Vietnam war. Which is sort of ironic if you think about it....


Josephbleau said...

This would never see the light of day at Politico unless it had the approval of the committee who really runs the Democratic Party. The fact that we are reading it is good evidence that the DNC will dump Biden. Questions remain as to Before or after the convention; and if Harris will remain the VP under a bigger dog, or will get to appoint her own VP candidate. It is getting late to pull a switch. It will be seen as disorganized and disruptive.

Essentially a psyop against the voters, extremely manipulative. Will the independents like the act? Are there any independents or are all voters going with a straight ticket?

Greg The Class Traitor said...

rcocean said...
I must say that the article's bit about Obama "betraying" Biden in 2016, was rather silly. No one was pushing for Biden in 2016. No one believed he was better than Hillary in any way. Even in 2016, most thought he was too old, and too dumb to be the nominee. No Biden campaign for President had gotten any traction and he'd tried to run twice before.

In 2016, Biden would have beaten Trump, unlike Hillary. And the reality is that the only reason why Biden took the VP job with Obama was because he wanted to use that as a stepping stone to the presidency.

Obama shoving Biden aside for Hillary was just one last betrayal of the Democrat Party by Obama

Mark said...

During the 2020 Democrat Presidential rimary, how many delegates did Kammy actually win?

It's pronounced Commie, you sexist racist.

Greg The Class Traitor said...

Inga said...
So, how come we haven’t seen Trump’s high school or college transcripts?

Oh, honey, that train left the station when Obama refused to release his, or any of his college work.

We've seen Michelle's Senior Thesis, but not Barack's.

When you all let that one pass, you terminated any legitimate grounds to complain about any GOP candidate's refusal to release any data.

Enjoy!

virgil xenophon said...

"I TRY to be cynical, but I can't keep up."

---------Lilly Tomlin, great American philosopher.

Greg The Class Traitor said...

Yancey Ward said...
And the campaign to shunt Biden aside begins in earnest.

PredictIt has a market for the 2020 Presidential election
https://www.predictit.org/markets/detail/3698

"The individual identified in the question shall be the winner of the 2020 U.S. presidential general election."

Biden's currently trading around a 60% chance of winning the election. Harris is trading at a 7% chance.

If he gets pushed aside, that collapses.

Of course, if he gets pushed out after the convention, that Harris bet goes up by a factor of 6 - 8.

Leland said...

Oh geez, the typical political high schoolers talking about high school. "Joe would come in and the girls would giggle at how stupid he was, while the other boys tried to get him to shut up, especially Corn-Pop!". Well, I understand the audience Politico is trying to covet.

chuck said...

I was a proud 'Gentleman's C' man in college

I was an A or F sort of guy myself.

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

“They would chortle “ — GUFFAW!

Jupiter said...

'They do the reading,' said one former Clinton aide. 'In Situation Room meetings, she had the thickest binder and had read it three times.'

"We came. We saw. He died."

Greg The Class Traitor said...

NC William said...
The guy has never been able to finish a book, even when he's paid millions to do so. But sure, I fully believe he read every prep binder three times before every meeting.

Bingo. Obama's 2 years late on a book with a $65 million advance. His college and law school grades were so crappy that he's always refused to release them. The idea that he has an competence at that kind of academic work is simply ludicrous

Of course, I'm willing to believe that Biden's even worse

Bruce Hayden said...

“ In 2016, Biden would have beaten Trump, unlike Hillary. And the reality is that the only reason why Biden took the VP job with Obama was because he wanted to use that as a stepping stone to the presidency.

“Obama shoving Biden aside for Hillary was just one last betrayal of the Democrat Party by Obama”

I am pretty sure that the Clintons had a deal with Obama, trading Sec State for 4 years and the 2016 nomination for supporting him in 2008. Biden may not have liked it, but this is his turn. They had more to offer Obama than Biden did - a much bigger and more vicious organization under them.

gadfly said...

"They would chortle at how Trump, like an elderly uncle at Thanksgiving, would launch into extended monologues that everyone had heard before.... Obama and [Hillary] Clinton both viewed themselves as pioneers who worked their way through America’s elite colleges. Obama went to Columbia University and Harvard Law School, where he headed the law review; Clinton went from Wellesley to Yale Law School. They shared a work style as well, always sure to do their homework and arrive at a meeting prepared to get to the crux of an issue. 'They do the reading,' said one former Clinton aide. 'In Situation Room meetings, she had the thickest binder and had read it three times.

Trump's own academic career was unimpressive — he repeated a grade at New York Military Academy and fixer Michael Cohen arranged to make the Trump file disappear from academy records. In full appreciation, Trump refused a request for a $7 million donation to NYMA. Cohen said that Trump wished he had enough to buy the school so that he could burn it down. Cohen also arranged to block requests for Trump's academic transcripts at Fordham and at Penn's Wharton undergraduate program. "Donald Trump was the dumbest goddamn student I ever had" is all you need to know about Trump's excursion into academia because he has hidden everything else. One student who shared a class with Donnie said he liked him - but nobody else that knew the man were favorable to Trump talking about Trump.

Bruce Hayden said...

My view is that neither Obama nor Crooked Hillary were the smartest person (or lawyer) in the room, unless they were alone with China Joe Biden. Clinton was a humorless grind, always being the best prepared by working harder and longer than anyone else. Obama didn’t even need to work that hard - he mostly slid through life as an attractive Black man with sharp creases. And knew when to keep his mouth shut, unlike his 2008 opponent. It’s been 30 years now since I graduated from LS, and likely wouldn’t have feared any of them, if up against them, though the Hillarys can always be dangerous if you don’t prepare. You didn’t mind being up against the Obamas because hey would never risk losing by going to trial, and looking silly. But you loved the Bidens because they inevitably had no idea that they were inevitably the dumbest lawyer in the room. I would have feared a Bill Clinton, who was smart, and had more charisma than he knew what to do with. His weakness was that he slid through life on his brains and charisma, preparing as little as he possibly could. I suspect that the reason that the two of them were so successful together is that she compensated for his ill preparation by over preparing. I know a father/son (and now daughter) team of lawyers who have been unbeatable in court over the last several decades, with the charismatic, fast thinking, father sitting first chair and his over prepared son second chair.

Susan said...

Tipping off the faithful so that when good ole Joe gets shived in the back and replaced by Kamala, they won't be surprised. It's just SOP so do not be alarmed.

tim in vermont said...

"In 2016, Biden would have beaten Trump, unlike Hillary”

This is true. I would have voted for Biden. I didn’t know then what I know now.

Josephbleau said...

"In 2016, Biden would have beaten Trump, unlike Hillary."

Good point, possible. The committee that runs the DNC made an error in hindsight, they should have run Biden in 16 and Hillary in 20. Then there would have been no COVID19 or BLM/Antifa riots, (at least in the media). Hunter would have not been a real issue then,

Jim at said...

Wait a minute. He got an F in ROTC? An F?

That's like Izzy getting kicked out of Guns N Roses.
What in thee fuck do you have to do to get kicked out of Guns N Roses?

An F in ROTC. My gawd.

MayBee said...

Now I imagine Obama and Hillary had aides whose entire job it was to stuff binders full of papers so they could look like the most informed.

Joe Smith said...

"So, how come we haven’t seen Trump’s high school or college transcripts?"

To be fair, Biden is not an intellectual...he appears to be of rather average intelligence if not completely dim-witted.

Where are all of Obama's records? They are all sealed.

I'm now certain that Inga is not playing with a full deck and probably gets paid to post garbage.

AndyN said...

Am I the only one who remembers people talking about Obama adding Biden to the ticket because he added gravitas (I distinctly remember that word) on foreign policy? It's nice that everyone's finally admitting that they've known all along how dim Biden is, but it wasn't ever much of a secret. How utterly clueless does one have to be for Biden to be the person to turn to for gravitas?

Rory said...

"Obama shoving Biden aside for Hillary was just one last betrayal of the Democrat Party by Obama"

The Clintons could have wrecked Obama in the 2008 general. I've always assumed that there was a deal where the Clintons supported Obama, and got a free hand at State and a pledge that Obama wouldn't work against Hillary when she ran again

Craig said...

It's embarrassing, actually -- the way the young wokes are now all in on Joe Biden, of all people.

Jim at said...

So, how come we haven’t seen Trump’s high school or college transcripts?

The guy's been in the public eye his entire adult life as a business tycoon, multi-millionaire, pro football owner, game show host and a myriad of other things. And he's now President of the United States.

By any metric, he's one of the most successful people of the last 50 years. World-wide.

And you're stupid enough to demand his transcripts as if they mean a damn thing.

readering said...

Pretty sure Biden passed the bar exam in Delaware the first time, which beats H. Clinton (DC) and Harris (CA, admittedly a tough test).

steve uhr said...

Hard to be in the senate for 6 terms and vp for two without winning something. And don’t forget 2020

I imagine the good folks in Deleware thought he accomplished things.

The Godfather said...

I have never thought that being "intellectual" was a necessary qualification for high political office, but some degree of native intelligence is probably required. Democrats ought to remember that in 2008, in the Vice Presidential Debate, Biden was handily outsmarted by Sarah Palin.

Narr said...

AFROTC was mandatory at my overgrown normal college university (non-land grant, that's the Vols) until 1972 or so--it was the last one as far as I know to ditch the requirement.

In my class's case, arriving in fall of 1971, we could count two semesters of AFROTC as two of the four PE requirements. We didn't have to dress out or drill, just attend class and not be too disruptive. It was easy for me with my interests and experience (see below), and despite my long hair and all the pot we smoked in the admin auditorium when they showed us propaganda films from DOD.

We had mandatory JROTC (army) for two years in high school; the last city in the country to eliminate it IIRC, after I graduated.

Narr
Leadership never entered the equation, in college

Ralph L said...

president quipped 'I don’t remember exactly what Joe was referring to—not surprisingly'....

That's pretty cold.

Marc in Eugene said...

The range was closed because Gov. Kate Brown needs to be recalled.

I hadn't realized that there is in fact a recall effort underway.

Francisco D said...

Inga said...
So, how come we haven’t seen Trump’s high school or college transcripts?

Transcripts are only relevant when a person is portraying themselves (or the DNC Media is doing it for them) as some sort of great thinker or intellectual.

In my lifetime (born when Eisenhower was POTUS) the only Republican POTUS who was not considered a moron was Nixon. Of course, he had the advantage of running against clearly mediocre minds in McGovern and JFK.

BushHitler was treated as a moron although he has somewhat (but not statistically significant) higher GPAs and military entrance exams scores (good indices of intelligence) than Gore or Kerry.

The issue is not one of scholarly achievement or intelligence. It is one of constructing Media memes.

Original Mike said...

"That's pretty cold."

Obama's a prick.

Drago said...

steve uhr: "I imagine the good folks in Deleware thought he accomplished things."

Delaware was a slave state.

Drago said...

Its impossible not to picture gadfly as that little kid that is swinging wildly at the larger lad while the larger lad has his hand on gadfly's head and smiling at him in a most amused way.....

mikee said...

What Biden was, what he did, does not matter going forward, because Biden has dementia and is on an irreversible slide into mental oblivion.

Narr said...

Ah, the Dim mythology of superior intellect in all situations. No wonder they get beat so often. I can count many Dim/Leftie acquaintances, and a few friends, who have never read a book about or given serious thought to a matter, who are EXPERT when they find out whatever Trump or another Republican says about it.

The more articulate, telegenic and slatternly of such people--from more elite backgrounds than mine--get jobs in the media, of course.

Narr
If Delaware likes their senior Senator, they can keep their senior Senator

Narayanan said...

Swede said...
Maybe Biden's a late bloomer.

A really, really, really late bloomer.
--------------============
bloomer wearing bloomer

Narayanan said...

Bilwick said...
Odd that the "clerical" Obama would think there were 57 states. I guess the teleprompter was broken that day.
-------------==============
if it was not on the teleprompter - it should have been to show us all value of Harvard
education and how smarter Obama is>


Answer : 57 largest political jurisdictions of the USA?
December 01, 2014 2:47PM
The states make up fifty of the fifty-seven largest jurisdictions. The remaining seven are the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands, Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and Wake Island. The smaller jurisdictions are broken down from there.

Michael K said...

teve uhr said...
Hard to be in the senate for 6 terms and vp for two without winning something. And don’t forget 2020

I imagine the good folks in Deleware thought he accomplished things.


Naive for a lawyer, steve. MBNA thought he accomplished a lot. They are not exactly "the good folks of Delaware."

Michael K said...

Trump's own academic career was unimpressive

gadfly is about to explain to us how he made his first billion $.

And then his second billion $.

And then....

Drago said...

mikee: "What Biden was, what he did, does not matter going forward, because Biden has dementia and is on an irreversible slide into mental oblivion."

Biden's staff is clearly of that belief.

3 days in a row where the staffers basically threw a net over Biden while screaming at their "journalist" minions to get the hell out before Dementia Joe started answering any questions.

Fat!

readering said...

AA's quote skips a weird sentence. "He's the first Democratic nominee since Walter Mondale in 1984 not to have an Ivy League degree." Dukakis in 1988 was the first Democratic nominee since Kennedy in 1960 to have an Ivy League degree. In both cases, so what?

Joe Smith said...

Where is Hunter?

JaimeRoberto said...

I've been told that "doing the reading" is an aspect of white supremacy. As Joe would say, "If you do the reading, you ain't black. I'm looking at you Barack."

Nichevo said...

Narayanan said...
Bilwick said...
Odd that the "clerical" Obama would think there were 57 states. I guess the teleprompter was broken that day.
-------------==============
if it was not on the teleprompter - it should have been to show us all value of Harvard
education and how smarter Obama is>

Answer : 57 largest political jurisdictions of the USA?
December 01, 2014 2:47PM
The states make up fifty of the fifty-seven largest jurisdictions. The remaining seven are the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands, Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and Wake Island. The smaller jurisdictions are broken down from there.



Stupid and desperate is not an attractive combination, Nar.

https://www.politifact.com/article/2011/nov/30/perry-recaps-obamas-57-states-remark/

Perry’s right, though, that Barack Obama flubbed in this fashion.

It happened in May 2008 as then-Sen. Obama was closing in on the Democratic presidential nomination.

As reported by Reuters, Obama was howdying a crowd in Beaverton, Ore., on May 9, 2008, when he said: "It is wonderful to be back in Oregon. Over the last 15 months, we’ve traveled to every corner of the United States. I’ve now been in 57 states. I think one left to go. Alaska and Hawaii, I was not allowed to go to even though I really wanted to visit, but my staff would not justify it."

Thanks to Snopes.com, we corralled a YouTube video of Obama’s gaffe.

Sounding tired, Obama paused between the words "fifty" and "seven. The video shows that Obama’s "57 states" reference touched off some laughter.

Both Snopes.com and our friends at FactCheck.org later suggested that Obama meant to say 47.


Or that he had in mind the US having 60 states instead of 50. Either way, he might just have been punchy.

You pretending he was right all along, though, that's just adorable. Please let us know where you come from so we can insult your nationality/heritage.

Paul Doty said...

Obama and Clinton are lightweights, Biden is a dullard.

Tina Trent said...

No offense, but it isn't that hard to understand government policy papers.

tomfromchicago said...

A friend of mine and a supporter of HRC was also a classmate of BHO at Harvard. She told me that while BHO headed the law review, he never submitted a paper. This seems to be consistent with his inability of meet deadlines set by his publishers.

tomfromchicago said...

A friend of mine and a supporter of HRC was also a classmate of BHO at Harvard. She told me that while BHO headed the law review, he never submitted a paper. This seems to be consistent with his inability of meet deadlines set by his publishers.

Rusty said...


"Wait a minute. He got an F in ROTC? An F?"
You get that by not showing up.
He spent 4 or 5 years in military school doing JRROTC three times a week. I know from experience he was probably fed up with it and just didn't go.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Everyone knows Obama must be the center of attention. Biden was happy to be a good stooge. As long as Biden was allowed to do a Hillary and make his family rich with his powerful international connections.

But it's illegal to ask.

Big Mac said...

The end game here is easy to see if Biden is elected. The Democrats who are now protecting Biden by isolating him in his basement will be the first to switch gears and start screaming 25th Amendment. Thus, Harris, with the most liberal voting record in the Senate, becomes president, the objective all along of the progressives who maneuvered Biden into putting her on the ticket. It’s a great country: poll less than two percent in the primaries, drop out when people saw through her act, and then become president anyway.

tomfromchicago said...

A friend of mine, who was a Harvard Law classmate of BHO, told me that BHO was the first head of the law review, that did not submit a paper. This seems consistent with his inability to meet book publishers deadlines. Odd to find a lawyer that doesn't write.

tomfromchicago said...

A friend of mine, who was a Harvard Law classmate of Obama, told me that BHO was the first head of the law review that did not submit a paper. This seems consistent with his inability to meet his publishers deadlines. Odd, to find a lawyer who has difficulty writing.

ken in tx said...

As noted above, the only way to flunk ROTC was to not show up. At Alabama, in those days, it was a required course, for males, and counted as PE. Girls could take bowling, golf, swimming, tennis, etc. because those were the bad old days of male privilege.