September 17, 2020

I'm not even real sure I know what a quartermaster is, to tell you the truth.


The OED has a nautical and a military definition for "quartermaster." Nautical: "A petty or warrant officer aboard a warship responsible to the captain for stowing provisions and ensuring the correct trim of the ship, for care of navigational instruments and for steering, and (subsequently) for general discipline." Military: "A regimental officer with the duties of administering barracks, laying out camps, and looking after rations, ammunition, and other supplies." Now... just connect that to ladies clothing, and you're off to the, uh, thing.

128 comments:

Nick said...

Are we sure *Biden* remembers what a quartermaster is?

Yancey Ward said...

When I was growing up, it was the kid in charge of providing the correct-sized slugs for the videogames.

Michael said...

Dear God. Someone, please....

Michael K said...

Slow Joe was close enough to the truth for dementia. Quartermasters handle rations and quarters, plus clothing and what is usually referred to as logistics. It doesn't have much to do with running a department store, which is private enterprise, about as far from Joe's life as one can get.

Leland said...

"Q", the character from James Bond movies, is short for "Quartermaster". Usually the head of the supply department, so sure, they could run a department that provides supplies.

Rory said...

Translation: You can stock shelves for Amazon.

Assistant Village Idiot said...

I can't wait for him to negotiate on our behalf with foreign leaders.

Iman said...

ensuring the correct trim

This ties it to the ladies dept., amirite?

Lucid-Ideas said...

The Ladies Department, you know, the thing.

Biden 2020

West Texas Intermediate Crude said...

You're being intentionally obtuse if you claim you don't know what he meant.
Obviously, he meant, "I'm a delusional old man who is in the middle stages of dementia, and I'm being used as a front to ease the takeover of your government by opposition forces who could never accomplish this legitimately."

Unknown said...

I a scout troop (I'm a scoutmaster) it's a position of responsibility where the kid needs to keep track of the troop's equipment and make sure it's ready to go when needed.

tcrosse said...

In the US Navy the Quartermaster assists the Navigator.

PuertoRicoSpaceport.com said...

Naval quartermasters might be helpful to Joe. They do navigation and piloting so perhaps they could help Joe when he is lost.

They also are in charge of small craft. They commanded SWIFT boats in Vietnam (Here's to you Chief Mooney, wherever you are), landing craft, ferries and so on.

Them and Boatswains Mates.

John Henry

YoungHegelian said...

@Iman,

ensuring the correct trim

This ties it to the ladies dept., amirite?


Young man, it's right off to the confessional for you after that one!

gspencer said...

Quartermaster = parent who takes his son to the video arcade, back in those days when they had such arcades

Roughcoat said...

In the German military (Imperial and Nazi-era)the Quartermaster General (Generalquartiermeister "did not deal with supplies, but with operational command. He was the most senior officer below an Army's Chief of Staff." Wikipedia quote, but it is correct.

E.g., in World War II, Guderian was appointed to the rank of Generalquartiermeister in July 1944, after the failed attempt on Hitler's life. At the same time he was head of the Army High Command (OKH), which is indicative of the power invested in the quartermaster general position.

So there's that.

Kay said...

Because of my SO I just might have to vote for Biden anyway. The thing is, I’m 100% sure the Donald will win. I’m totally sure of this. But the only way to prove it to my SO is to vote for Biden and show that it would make no difference. Then on election night, the Donald would still come out on top and I’ll be vindicated.

JCann said...

"It's whiskey, whiskey, whiskey, that keeps us mighty frisky in the corps, in the corps, in the quartermaster corps./My eyes are dim I cannot see, I did not bring my specs with me." Quartermasters sonetimes didn't get much respect from the combat arms.

Bay Area Guy said...

Doddering old doofus. Sorry to be harsh, but he has willfully assumed role as figurehead for a buncha rabid radical leftists who hate America.

Friendo said...

What, in the actual fuck, is he mumbling about?

Eleanor said...

There's growing group of people who have had loved ones slide into dememtia who think it's time for a Joe Biden intervention out of kindness. If his wife won't do it, other wives will. Putting this man through a presidentail election is elder abuse.

stutefish said...

What's the context? Is he saying that a middle management career in the armed services prepares you for a middle management career in retail?

DanTheMan said...

He was talking about jobs for veterans, and he was trying to say that if you were a quartermaster in the military, you could easily manage a department store.

https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4906655/user-clip-biden-rambling

Of course, department stores are not generally military jobs (though some base exchanges are bigger than your local mall!)
And "Ladies department" on the 2nd floor is something out of the 1960's.

It's not completely incomprehensible, but it clearly shows him struggling to find the right words to express what he wants to say.

This will look very familiar to anyone watching a loved one fade away from dementia. His recent flubs look very much like the early stages...

Clan Biden must love their chance to be in the White House a helluva lot more than they love Joe.

Lash LaRue said...

SMOD. Please.

BarrySanders20 said...

Biden is Boomhauer from King of the Hill
boomhauer

Howard said...

Those were the days, Yancy. Growing up, there was always new home construction sites in the SF Valley for hunting quarter-sized electrical box knockouts. The little tab had to be filed down.

Bob Boyd said...

What's he getting at? Is this Joe trying to assure us of his deep respect for veterans?

Lyle said...

Biden is referring to his job profile in the Spanish American War. He was his regiment's quartermaster. He was the supply guy.

Bob Smith said...

“Ensuring the correct trim” refers to the ships stores being distributed in the hold(s) so the vessel rides as designed. Pedantic lesson over.

TreeJoe said...

I'd like to see the full commentary (and why the hell he was wearing a mask while speaking into a microphone in a large well ventilated room with no one around). I get the point: a military quartermaster certainly has a very transferrable set of skills in regards to managing various logistics of say a large department store.

But like....was this just a 5-10 second stumble in an otherwise cohesive set of comments? Cause that was just a weird statement and, um.....ladies department? Really?

I try to give Biden the benefit of the doubt but there's gotta be a reason he has so few public events and unscripted talking. And my bet is on he is both bad at it (as he has been for 30-40 years) AND he's sharply declined.

They can't keep him hidden forever. But they may be able to keep him hidden enough, and drugged up enough on occasions he needs to perform (i.e. debates), that he can get through the election.

Kathryn51 said...

Leland. . . James Bond Q was my first thought as well.

Then I watched the video. What the hell was the question?

So, at least 45% of the country is willing to vote for this because they know they aren't really voting for this. But the handful of undecideds? I don't think so.

Law Prof said...

We just have a snippet. What's the context? I can see what he might be saying: if you had a complicated job, you could do something less complicated. (Is that what he's saying? I don't know--because I don't have context.)

If we are going to treat all of Trump's ramblings, asides, and incoherence as part of some grand communicative style, it's not clear to me why Biden's less-than-clear statements are treated so dismissively. I can usually understand both of their unorthodox speaking styles.

Cruel neutrality, indeed.

Amy said...

I think he was trying to say something about retraining veterans for post-military civilian careers, maybe? MAYBE? But this was SO OUT OF TOUCH - first, the quartermaster title - not a current one, who knows what it means/is. And second, the 2nd floor ladies' department? REALLY? When departments stores are closing/filing bankruptcy in record numbers? Who even GOES to a department store (let alone one with a second floor) anymore? Trump can be criticized for his tweets but this is just out of the park ridiculous.

n.n said...

He said "master".

FullMoon said...

subtle Qanon ref for Joe's cultish followers and undecideds. Sends signal he hip, man, hip.
And that's no malarkey, number one. And, number two, uh, c'mon man, here's the deal..

Kevin said...

2nd floor. Hardware, children's wear, lady's lingerie

Oh, good morning Mr. Biden, going....down?

n.n said...

quartermaster (n.)

early 15c., "subordinate officer of a ship," from French quartier-maître or directly from Dutch kwartier-meester; originally a ship's officer whose duties included stowing of the hold; later (c. 1600) an officer in charge of quarters and rations for troops. See quarters.


He was probably thinking of a housewife. Perhaps a quartermistress.

quarters (n.)

"military dwelling place," 1590s, from quarter (n.) in sense of "portion of a town." As "part of an American plantation where the slaves live," from 1724. The military sense seems to be also the source of quartermaster and it might be behind the phrase give quarter "spare from immediate death" (1610s, often in the negative), on the notion of "provide a prisoner with shelter."

- etymonline.com

it might be behind the phrase give quarter "spare from immediate death"

Hmm, interesting. Is Biden hinting at losing his religion ("ethics")?

stevew said...

Your mistake is to attempt to find a rational idea in that mess of a statement from Biden.

Jupiter said...

Aphasia.

Gabriel said...

I think he's just trying to say that if you were a quartermaster in the military you'd be well qualified for a large responsibility in the private sector.

Honestly, I don't think this is much more difficult to interpret than stuff Trump says, and it's a lot less cryptic (though much less profound) than our fellow Althousian Narcisco.

Mark said...

Supply officer.

Everything else besides pronouncing the word is gibberish.

ga6 said...

Three Generals that won our Civil War; Grant, Sherman, and Montgomery Meigs, Quartermaster of the Army who kept Grant and Sherman in bullets, beans, shoes and horses.

n.n said...

My mom was an accountant and quartermistress. Since retiring, she still fills the primary role of the latter, and my father, sister, and I are her assistants.

wildswan said...

Ulysses Grant was a quartermaster and then led the armies that finally defeated the Confederates. (The Confederates were the side that believed that slavery was embedded in the US Constitution.) But in between he had a stint in retail in his father's leather business where he was useless.

From Wikipedia
Historians increasingly have pointed to the importance of Grant's experience as a quartermaster during the war. Although he was initially averse to the position, it prepared Grant in understanding military supply routes, transportation systems, and logistics, particularly with regard to "provisioning a large, mobile army operating in hostile territory," according to biographer Ronald White. Grant came to recognize how wars could be won or lost by crucial factors that lay beyond the tactical battlefield. His later achievements of not only maintaining his own armies' supply lines but also cutting off those of opposing forces thus became hallmarks of his campaigns in the American Civil War.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

work hard, pay taxes, Hunter Biden gets rich.

Bill Crawford said...

Isn't the quartermaster in charge of the covefe?

Wince said...

Was Biden trying to say Quartermaster skills are transferrable to civilian jobs like running a department store?

Surprised Biden didn't use the hoary term "Floorwalker".

Anonymous said...

The "you know what I mean?" kills me

Heartless Aztec said...

Q(uartermaster)-anon

Michael P said...

Did this answer have something to do with the Take Care Clause?

Ice Nine said...

Far be it from me to defend Biden or try to convince anyone that he is not addled, but this "quartermaster" snippet that is going around is baloney. It is deceptive editing out of context in order to make him look addled -- as if there weren't enough other examples that could be used. It is exactly what the Democrats do to Trump all the time, that pisses us off so.

This was a round table with veterans. And his quartermaster/department store comment made perfect sense.

Here's the question he was answering:
"I’m hoping Mr. Vice President, that you can and your team can put together something to help our veterans retool in today’s economy."

Here's the end of his long answer in which he was explaining that it is silly to waste the training of military vets (parenthetical mine):
"Because if you could take care (at which point he obviously couldn't think of an example of things that military supply types 'take care' of, so he just switched to generalizing with quartermaster), if you were a quartermaster, you can sure in hell take care of running a department store thing, and the second floor of the ladies’ department or whatever, you know what I mean? If you have been responsible for a couple of billion dollars worth of tanks, you can sure handle a distributing capacity for, I don’t know, FedEx. You can do it.."

todd galle said...

SS Ramirez was mine years ago. I'm actually currently wearing a pair of BDU trousers (black with white paint stains) he issued to me in 1984/5 or so. If you can make friends with a Quartermaster, you are golden. Plus the issue items are almost indestructible, I don't think folks understand this. I'm still wearing issue items from the Reagan Administration and wearing them to the grocery store, which I just did today for a loaf of bread and a red pepper. Should have gotten some more Lebanon Bologna, now that I think of it... Regular of course, the Sweet is horrid. Anyway, anybody who is in a position to disburse equipment should be the first on your list to be besties.

biff jupiter said...

He was given a non-controversial topic which he could have gotten excited about - it's great to see vets use transferable skills.
And he blows it.

Ryan said...

When I was a kid in Boy Scouts, the quartermaster would take care of the troop provisions and gear. Biden has apparently conflated that with the lingerie department.

Drago said...

Howard: "Those were the days, Yancy. Growing up, there was always new home construction sites in the SF Valley for hunting quarter-sized electrical box knockouts. The little tab had to be filed down."

Growing up on a sub base allowed us to raid the massive electronics shops and maintenance buildings and roll away those large wooden cable spools that were taller than we were and race them up and down the streets. Surprisingly few broken limbs.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Hey man, why can't we train your son Hunter to be the quartermaster or the dude on the 2nd floor in charge of the ladies dept?

He's admitted that he isn't qualified to be on these international boards hauling in washed clean tax payer dollars so he can live large without lifting a freaking finger.

Craig said...

This guy will be the most powerful man in the world in 4 months, thanks to the lies and distortion of the media. They are truly enemies of humanity.

JAORE said...

Members of the bomb squad can fix clocks in civilian life.

Temujin said...

I look forward to the State of the Union.

Mark said...

Biden is Boomhauer from King of the Hill

Boomhauer is sharp-minded and highly intelligent. He just speaks a peculiar dialect. Biden is nothing like him.

MayBee said...

I wonder if Biden has any idea how many department stores with ladies on the 2nd floor have filed for bankruptcy lately.

Ken B said...

Ice Nine makes an important point. If you look at what Biden didn’t say, and how he didn’t mess up what he didn’t say, it looks a lot better.

The issue isn’t whether Biden understands what quartermasters do, but whether he has mental glitches indicative of senescence.

Michael K said...

His later achievements of not only maintaining his own armies' supply lines but also cutting off those of opposing forces thus became hallmarks of his campaigns in the American Civil War.

This was true of Grant but even more so with Sherman who had run a bank and other private enterprises. Grant did have the first experience in the Vicksburg campaign of leaving his supply chain but Sherman had the most spectacular example in his march through Georgia.

BUMBLE BEE said...

Kevin: I see what you did there, passing the sniff test and all.

mockturtle said...

My younger daughter, a Trump supporter, feels sorry for Biden. We were discussing today how humiliating it is for him, in his condition, to be running for President. His family should have stopped him from making such a fool of himself. I didn't like Biden when he was healthy but I cringe every time he opens his mouth and often feel embarrassed for him.

The Godfather said...

I am almost the same age as Biden (I looked him up to be sure). He was born in Nov. 1942 and I was born in Mar. 1943. We graduated from college and law school in the same years (1965 and 1968). He got out of the draft because of asthma (Trump, because of bone spurs, I think). I was fit for service, but while I was waiting to be drafted I found an open slot in the US Army Reserves, and spent six years as a week-end warrior. I retired from full-time law practice when I was 60 (because I could) and from part-time practice when I was 73. I now have a volunteer job heading up a commission of our local government.

So: I have never been recorded blithering on the way Biden was in that video, and if I were ever to do that I would resign immediately. I think both Presidential candidates are too old, but Trump carries his years like a somewhat younger man, and Biden often performs like an older man. If you vote for Biden, you are voting for Harris, and so you should pay more attention to her.

RK said...

All Joe ever needs to say: "C'mon, man! You know what I mean?"

bagoh20 said...

If you are going to have the man cover his face with a mask while he talks, at least spend some money on a good ventriloquist. I mean, c'mon man. How hard is that to find? They're all out of work, and he doesn't even have to make the lips move.

bagoh20 said...

From combat to the ladies department at Sears and Roebuck.

"You know, we loved that Sears catalog. We used it in the outhouse too, and one time that damned Corpop put chili pepper in between the pages. Man, that made the hairs on my legs stand on end, and I damned near frost bited my balls dragging my burning ass through the snow like our old coon-hound used to do in front of the Victrola. Anyway, get on board the steam engine to the future and make a new tomorrow with the Harris/Biden/Obama/BLM/Climate Change Administration and lets put all that talk of pussy grabbing behind us. Unlike Trump, I actually do what he only talks about, if you know what I mean."

DanTheMan said...

>> And his quartermaster/department store comment made perfect sense.

Well, sort of. I know what he was trying to say, and so do you. But he couldn't get the words out.
The bit about ladies department on the 2nd floor is just weird. Joe used to be able to pull off the "folksy" bit, and this was him trying to do it again. He's just not up to it.

Thank goodness the D's stuck with Hillary in 2016. If they had dumped her, we'd all be watching President Biden, and not candidate Biden, losing his marbles.....

h said...

I agree with Leland and unknown and especially Dan the Man who provides the most generous interpretation, but also notes some caution about the mental condition. I do not suffer from dementia, but I do have a habit of joining in conversations with what others perceive as a long divigation from the topic, but which I intend to draw back into the discussion at hand, and in a way that will give others insight into the topic. I'm not a politician with aides and assistants; so my faults are pointed out to me, and I realize the legitimacy of those criticisms, and I try to do better. Biden has spent so many years with fawning staff, that he has no one to tell him to do better. "Oh yes, Senator." "That was spot on, Mr. Vice President." "You really showed him!" So yes, this is an attempt to even put a more positive spin on the Biden mental acuity question.

David53 said...

The quartermaster knew my laundry number was 107 and if I could tell him that number I got clean skivvies that fit.

Josephbleau said...

He must be referring to Captain Peacock. He must have seen an episode of Are You Being Served and absorbed the meme that ex army guys ran department store floors. Random signals echoing from neuron to neuron,

mandrewa said...

"Far be it from me to defend Biden or try to convince anyone that he is not addled, but this "quartermaster" snippet that is going around is baloney. It is deceptive editing out of context in order to make him look addled -- as if there weren't enough other examples that could be used. It is exactly what the Democrats do to Trump all the time, that pisses us off so."

I hate people taking things out of context, but I don't think this is really out of context. Knowing the context that you just explained does not really change what I see in this. I assumed in fact that there was some context in which this mention of quartermasters and department stores made sense.

The problematic thing is how he handles that topic. He fumbles and stumbles just to put some sentences and one joke together.

Phil 314 said...

And they could get a job at Gimbel's

Josephbleau said...

Yes Grant was a QM in the Mexican War. The future Confederate Gen Bragg was a company commander and the quartermaster at the same time once. He wrote to himself requesting additional supplies, then wrote himself a reply denying the request, then forwarded the controversy to his battalion commander. He replied that Bragg, after creating dissention with everyone else in the army was now left at arguing with himself.

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

we figured it out. Ol' "Squid-for-Brains Biden

.. got confused with "Old Navy" department store.

walter said...

He deserves a job in HR.
Just don't let him go sniffin' around the ladies section.

Skeptical Voter said...

Ice Nine has a point--in the army the quartermaster is in charge of supplies. Now that may be clothing, it may be food for the troops, it might be diesel fuel and lubricating oil for trucks. And I suppose these days it might include ladies clotthing--or uniforms for the ladies in the unit. So Joe's stumbling bumbling comment has a grain of reason in it.

OTOH I had a friend who had been a Marine in WW II and got called up in the Marine Reserves to fight in Korea. As the end of his life approached, he had macular degeneration, Parkinson's, a bit of hearing loss etc. One of his friends visited him in the nursing home. He though that the friend was the Commandant of the USMC who'd brought a helicopter to fly the two of them out of the nursing home. I think Joe Biden may be that far gone.

friscoda said...

n.n said...
He said "master".

9/17/20, 4:20 PM

This. He needs to be replaced by Kamala!

jaydub said...

I'm convinced Slow Joe's principal problem is his attempts to read a teleprompter instead of speaking to a concept. He apparently has trouble reading and once he gets a couple of words out of place he completely loses it. Of course, he uses the teleprompter because he is incapable of extemporaneously speaking to a concept.

God help us if this buffoon becomes our commander in chief.

eddie willers said...

"Q", the character from James Bond movies, is short for "Quartermaster".

Thanks!

eddie willers said...

I'm actually currently wearing a pair of BDU trousers (black with white paint stains) he issued to me in 1984/5 or so

Now you're just bragging.

gadfly said...

So, it is obvious to me that Biden is talking about selling petticoats supplied by a petty officer in the Ladies Department Store thingy. Joe must have gotten that information from a buzz-headed Ensign Hunter Biden before he was dishonorably discharged from the Navy for testing positive for cocaine.

gilbar said...

serious question (which i've asked before)

those of you that are going to vote for Jo Biden.... WHY are you going to vote for Jo Biden

i'm not asking Drago, or anyone else, to put words into their mouths...
i REALLY Want To KNOW... If you're going to vote for Jo Biden; WHY are you going to ?

phantommut said...

"Put on women's clothing and hang around in bars!"

Nichevo said...

In the naval sense he may have meant something more along the lines of the purser than a quartermaster, though the former was of course more senior.

But broadly, the US Armed Forces are the envy of the world in their logistics might, a rep they very definitely cemented in WWII, and a man who had done well in ensuring that the beans and bullets and fifty thousand other NSNs got where wanted when wanted in the right amounts, with lives on the line, could very likely excel as a buyer for a department store, which we know what it is without Bugs Bunny references.

The man is melting. He needs to stop doing this and play out the string of the rest of his life. Obama was quite correct, he doesn't need to do this. It's cruel to him, never mind the harm to others.

The only chance for ennoblement for Joe Biden is, when PDT wins big on the night of November 3rd, but there are still the Team D players who want to pursue guerrilla warfare a la Gen. Forrest, for him to play Robert E. Lee and accept his loss, not only conceding, but instructing his party to stand down if necessary.

Iman said...

Blogger Bob Smith said...
“Ensuring the correct trim” refers to the ships stores being distributed in the hold(s) so the vessel rides as designed. Pedantic lesson over


Hey, sailor! No shore leave for you.

Amadeus 48 said...

Call the motor pool! The wheels are coming off!

Next week Slow Joe will want to go for a naked swim in the motor pool.

Things are shaping up nicely. Joe is sniffing around in the Ladies' Department, and Kamala appeared with Gov. Gavin Haircuts in Timberland boots and the tightest tee shirt (.)(.)I have ever seen on a vice presidential/presidential candidate.

Of course, Melania wore it first and wore it better, in every sense.

Openidname said...

Well, he's not wrong.

madAsHell said...

(black with white paint stains)

yeah....that's it.....paint stains!!

madAsHell said...

They're all out of work, and he doesn't even have to make the lips move.

....and I thought the "Manchurian Candidate" was beyond the pale.

tommyesq said...

"CONTEXT" shouts the left...

(a) Trump is never given context and always taken literally, so screw you.

(b) Trump's delivery shows that he knows what he is saying, even if you do not/can't figure it out/can figure it out but pretend that you cannot for political purposes. Biden's delivery shows that he knows he is lost and can't find a way out, in a way that anyone close to someone suffering from dementia is sadly well familiar with.

Drago said...

gilbar: "i'm not asking Drago, or anyone else, to put words into their mouths..."

wth?

MadisonMan said...

As IF any Department store is hiring. They're all closing up. Could Biden be any more out of touch?

Original Mike said...

I think this is why we haven't heard from Inga or ARM recently.

minnesota farm guy said...

In context what he says makes a bit more sense, but that is because we are connecting the thoughts that he can no longer connect. The bulk of this quote is verbal garbage that demonstrates a lack of mental acuity. Joe was trying to express a really simple thought and could not do it without meandering.

Amadeus 48 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Gk1 said...

"but I don't think this is really out of context."

No, not really. What I notice is not just these daily stumbles but how foggy and slurry his words are now. He seemed much sharper even 6 or 7 months ago before the primary campaign trail was shut down in March. Now there is a noticeable drop in his energy and he's not even through the debates or campaign season yet.

"You don't have to do this Joe"~ Barack Obama 2016

Rt41Rebel said...

Joe should stick with the standard "they can write code." Far less misunderstanding in that recommendation.

JML said...

Oh, good morning Mr. Biden, going....down?

No, but Kamala does....

Narr said...

The quarter-master in early modern armies was the functionary tasked with finding shelter ("quarters") in which to billet troops. A commissary handled food and MOST important, fodder for the animules. And contrary to popular perception, armies had to move to eat as much as eat to move.

By the ACWABAWS the technology of supply allowed large armies to stand still for long periods, especially Union armies. Lee HAD to leave northern Virginia in 1862 and 1863; Grant's and Sherman's experiences before Vicksburg--and in particular Sherman's Meridian Expedition of early 1864--taught them how much living off the land was possible if the force kept moving.

That was one aspect of Sherman's close study of the 1860 census in Georgia--how much could be consumed, how much carried or driven away, how much destroyed, and how much left, county by county and town by town.

Narr
The march through Georgia was almost a chevauchee a la Hundred Years War

JML said...

Oh, good morning Mr. Biden, going....down?

No, but Kamala does....

Narr said...

Oh yeah. I have skipped the last 10-12 threads and their hundreds of comments.

Was everything resolved?

Narr
Anything?

JML said...

Todd’s Galle, I still wear a jungle boonie hat issued to me in 1987.

JML said...

Armatures study tactics. Professionals study logistics.

daskol said...

The only chance for ennoblement for Joe Biden is, when PDT wins big on the night of November 3rd, but there are still the Team D players who want to pursue guerrilla warfare a la Gen. Forrest, for him to play Robert E. Lee and accept his loss, not only conceding, but instructing his party to stand down if necessary.

That's a lovely sentiment, and it hadn't even occurred to me that Biden had a dignified exit.
I wonder if Biden has enough strength left to make a public appeal for people to stand down, even against the wishes of his backers. For all his corruption and stupidity, I always figured deep down he basically liked Americans, his suckers, and wouldn't want to see the country torn apart. But there's not much left and he has bad people behind him.

DanTheMan said...

>>Members of the bomb squad can fix clocks in civilian life.

If you see the bomb squad guys running, try to keep up.

Gospace said...

As pointed out by many, Navy quartermaster and Army quartermaster are two entirely different things. Navy QMs are part of the navigation department onboard ship. Army quartermasters (afaik never abbreviated QM) are supply officers, the Army’s Quartermaster Corps being the rough equivalent of the Navy Supply Corps. Officers in either are staff officers not line officers. Which is a distinction almost no one outside the military understands. Quick example- let’s say there was a shipboard casualty leaving a supply corps commander and a line officer ensign as the only two surviving officers- the ensign assumes command of the ship. Not sure if the Army does the same.

There are other words with different meanings between the services. There’s been a few times talking with my eldest in the Army when we realized we weren’t understanding each other because of that.

bagoh20 said...

"... for him to play Robert E. Lee and accept his loss, not only conceding, but instructing his party to stand down if necessary."him out as some kind of ma

That's when the truth will come out and Democrats with TDS will 1) lay into Biden and blame him for running at all, and simultaneously make him out to be some kind of martyr unfairly beaten by a cruel mean man. I suspect the first is more likely.

D.D. Driver said...

This election has become a choice between Mayor Quimby versus Grampa Simpson.

Paul said...

Quartermaster? Ladies Department? What the hell?

Biden sounds like he is in a shrink's office... Free association?

Quaestor said...

"Cause if you could take care, if you were a quartermaster, you can sure in hell take care runnin' a, you know, a department store uh, thing, you know, where, in the second floor of the ladies department or whatever, you know what I mean?"

Demented or drug-addled -- I'm not sure which. Did early 60s doo-wop quartets have roadies?

AllenS said...

I was a 11B2P when I was in the Army. 11B means Infantry, 2 was my rank at the time, and P stands for Paratrooper. I also did a lot of KP, which means Kitchen Police, people who wash the pots and pans, and peel the potatoes.

If my 4 color pressman job on a web offset press didn't work out, I always had the training to wash dishes in a greasy spoon restaurant.

Thanks, Joe, you sure know how to help the vets.

Gospace said...

Nichevo said...
In the naval sense he may have meant something more along the lines of the purser than a quartermaster, though the former was of course more senior.

But broadly, the US Armed Forces are the envy of the world in their logistics might, a rep they very definitely cemented in WWII, and a man who had done well in ensuring that the beans and bullets and fifty thousand other NSNs got where wanted when wanted in the right amounts, with lives on the line, could very likely excel as a buyer for a department store, which we know what it is without Bugs Bunny references.


Stories abound around WWII logistics. Artillery for one. If an Axis unit called for artillery fire on a location, they would get it, or might get it, from artillery assigned to their unit, if they had ammo to spare for an impromptu strike. If an American unit called for artillery- every artillery piece within range would fire on the target. If another allied unit called for artillery- and American artillery was in range, they'd help them out too.

My one eyed uncle was drafted and commissioned during WWII. His railroad boss was a reserve brigadier activated as the war started and assigned to the West Coast. He told the War Department they were going to draft my uncle. They said "But he only has one eye!" "He's also a g-- d--n logistics genius and I want him working for me!" So my uncle spent most of the war in Portland making sure the rail cars moved in and out smoothly to their proper destinations, and the goods got on to the right ships to head towards their Pacific rendezvouses with the sharp end of the spear. Another uncle, his brother, didn't have that experience. His vision was so bad he couldn't enlist in any branch in January 1942. He went to sea as a merchant. I never thought of asking if they met up during the war... He was in every theater of operation during the war. None of his ships was hit. One of his uncles (one of my great-uncles) was torpedoed twice during WWII. To add to the 3 times during WWI. Off topic- but interesting. Since I found this out- in the last year- I've often wondered who holds the record for most ships torpedoed out from under them. He might have it with 5.

That's another thing about American logistics. We build 2710 Liberty Ships between 1941-1945, 3 every 2 days. We built them faster than the Germans and Japanese could sink them. No other nation had that kind of industrial capacity to spare.

Rusty said...

Just remember, usual suspects, this is your guy.

tds said...

this deserves a 'word salad' tag

wendybar said...

It's sad that his wife is letting him go on. Talk about abuse. THIS is a prime example of elder abuse, and they whole left wing should be ashamed of themselves, but watching the way they conduct themselves (pelosi included) they don't know what shame is.

Mikey NTH said...

If this is stream of consciousness, it is flowing through some stagnant pools.

MayBee said...

GK1- yes, Biden's words are very slurry these days. I heard an ad for him the other day- it was him talking about COVID, and I couldn't tell if it was an ad for him or against him. Not the content, but the way he speaks.

joe said...

The Quartermaster unit is the supply unit. They make sure the boys at the front have enough guns, ammo, bombs, vehicles, food, clothing, and everything else you need to fight a war. When you hear about supply lines being cut during a war what that means is that the other guys blew up the infrastructure that the QM unit was using to move supplies to the front. I spent my time in the Reserves with the 753rd Quartermaster Company.

I think what Joe was trying to say, is if you are a trained quartermaster you could run a retail store ... but I'm not terribly sure.

Paco Wové said...

Not having watched any clips, with or without context, I can see how distributing this sort of "worst of Joe" stuff can backfire. If, in context, this is 20 seconds of brain-fart embedded in 2 or 3 minutes of basic-competency speaking, then people might tend to think "eh, he's not as badly off as I thought".

stlcdr said...

I really do not think he is fit to be President: the Kamala-Biden campaign is not looking like a joke or a gaffe anymore.

Rory said...

"As IF any Department store is hiring. They're all closing up. Could Biden be any more out of touch?"

3rd Floor: record players.

RobinGoodfellow said...

Clan Biden must love their chance to be in the White House a helluva lot more than they love Joe.

If Joe doesn’t win, DOCTOR! Jill and her spawn will have to find actual—you know—jobs. Just thinking about that must cause her to clutch her pearls and run for the fainting couch.

Nicholas said...

Biden now sounds like the poor man's Rowley Birkin from the Fast Show:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLjAmzyUf0E

Bunkypotatohead said...

A cunning linguist and a master debater.

Nichevo said...

That's another thing about American logistics. We build 2710 Liberty Ships between 1941-1945, 3 every 2 days. We built them faster than the Germans and Japanese could sink them. No other nation had that kind of industrial capacity to spare.

9/18/20, 12:49 AM

Rock and roll, Gospace! And mad props to your forebears.