September 30, 2021

"I do think it would be helpful for the president to be more engaged. I think his voice matters a lot. He’s been engaged, don’t get me wrong. But I think him becoming more personally engaged would be helpful."

Said Rep. Daniel Kildee (D-Mich.), quoted in "Biden sticks to his dealmaking strategy, as some Democrats want him to do more to bring holdouts on board" (WaPo).

He's great — don't get me wrong — I just wish he'd be a little more great.

The highest-rated comment over there is from Canadian Retired Guy: 
Politicians in the U.S. confound me. Totally self centered and desperately clinging to power. Unable to put self interest aside and do what is best for the people that put them in power. The result of this is that the Democrats will lose the House and the Senate and Trump gets positioned to win in 2024.......... and here we go again. 
America's greatest enemies and foes are not the Russians or the Chinese, but themselves and the politicians they return to office time and time again.

62 comments:

Achilles said...

America's greatest enemies and foes are not the Russians or the Chinese, but themselves and the politicians they return to office time and time again.

But most Americans have caught on.

Which is why they had to resort to massive voter fraud in 2020 to cling to power.

And why they are trying to replace citizens with serfs flooding over the open southern border.

gilbar said...

from Canadian Retired Guy:
Politicians in the U.S. confound me. Totally self centered and desperately clinging to power. Unable to put self interest aside and do what is best for the people that put them in power.


Now do Castro's son!

M Jordan said...

That Canadian guy’s comment mad me laugh. I’ve been to Canada. I’ve got relatives who are Canadian. I actually like a few Canadians. I know about their famous niceness. I once used Canadian coins to make a transaction. My Canadian bonafides are first class. And I can promise you, Canadians are just as much self-centered SOBs as us and everyone else.

Mr Wibble said...

Totally self centered and desperately clinging to power. Unable to put self interest aside and do what is best for the people that put them in power.

But enough about Pelosi and the Dems pushing this boondoggle of a spending bill.

Mr Wibble said...

I still think that all of this is part of the set up for Biden to resign early next year. It helps set the stage for him to announce in early Feb that his health is failing and he has to step aside, as commentators will look back and go, "gosh, that must be why he wasn't more engaged last year during the budget battles."

Charlie said...

News Flash: Biden is an idiot and he's also suffering from some degree of dementia......so there's that.

rehajm said...

Canadian Retired Guy fails to recognize how US Democrats have rigged the election system…

Mike of Snoqualmie said...

The only deal Joe Biden could broker would be the flavors for an ice cream social. Otherwise, he's too busy napping, accepting influence payments from our enemies, and just screwing us over.

Sebastian said...

"Totally self centered"

Not to defend Joe, of course, but they have to be: they don't have parties in the Canadian or European sense to back them.

"and desperately clinging to power"

Some of them, anyway: the pay-offs are so much greater here, it's worth a little desperation. Does any Western country have graft on the scale of the Clintons and Bidens?

Richard Dolan said...

Hilarious gaslighting. “More engaged” while Biden’s staff reacts in terror when Boris Johnson entertains questions from the press while sitting next to Biden in the Oval Office because it highlights Biden’s obvious inability to handle any such questioning?

rhhardin said...

He's returned to office by the people he pays off with goodies not to cause trouble. Mutual benefits.

Critter said...

I don’t understand the expectation that things will be the same when power shifts from one party to another. Certainly there are some characteristic policy differences in broad brush that define a party. But who can claim that this period of Democrat control, which is so socialist in the extreme for America, would unfold as it has? Likewise, if Republicans flip the power switch in the Congress in 2022 and Trump is re-elected in 2024, why would anyone expect things to play out as it did in 2016-2020? Certain fundamentals would be changed - Democrats will not have their made-up Russian collusion charges, Trump will have valuable DC experience, and there are many more people available to him for his administration without the belief that he is a traitor. Just these fundamental differences alone will change things.

Mike Sylwester said...

Since the Democrats have such tiny majorities in Congress, they should not try to pass such enormous budgets and such radical laws.

If they try anyway, then the budgets and laws might fail to get all the necessary votes.

Some Democrats are likely to lose their seats in the next election if they do vote for enormous budgets and radical laws.

That problem is fundamental. It might not be solved, no matter how much Biden engages himself.

exhelodrvr1 said...

Trump is self-centered, but his policies were very good for the United States. I'll take that combination in a politician any day. And spare me the sanctimonious crap, Canada - your pols are every bit as self-centered.

Dave Begley said...

Joe Biden appeared at the Congressional baseball game last night and was boo'd.

Imagine if he showed up at an NFL or college football game. Fuck Joe Biden.

wendybar said...

The world is laughing at us because of the incompetence of the Political parties. These are supposed to be the wisest people, and we have a bunch of biased nitwits RULING over us, whilst THEY do whatever they want to do.

MikeR said...

"Politicians in the U.S. confound me... Unable to put self interest aside and do what is best for the people that put them in power." This commenter confounds me. The reason they can't pass stuff is because there is disagreement as to what is best for the people.
Some people can't imagine that anyone disagrees with them.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

America's greatest enemies and foes are not the Russians or the Chinese, but themselves and the politicians they return to office time and time again.

I agree wholeheartedly. I wonder if Joe and Nancy are who he had in mind. That’s who I think of first.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

But he’s wrong in that he overlooks the fact both the pols i identified are in bed with China and Russia. So it’s not just the ones we elect. It’s who they really are working for that worries me.

RAS743 said...

I do not dispute the accuracy of our Canadian friend’s comment about our electorate, but I do remind him about his own electorate, after they retained the black-face boy wonder in power. The adage “Physician, heal thyself” comes to mind.

rcocean said...

What's interesting is that after you get past all the insults, hysteria, and lies, most Liberals can't explain why Trump was such a terrible POTUS. Lets see: Peace and Prosperity. Better trade deals, controls at the border, etc. All they do is have insane knee-jerk reactions.

If all they can come up with is: that we'll get more Trump, then I don't see what's wrong with that.

Amadeus 48 said...

Rep. Dan Kildee. Hmm...

You know, there used to be a US Rep. named Dale Kildee from Flint, MI, who sat in the House from 1977 until 2013, when young Dan succeeded him. Dale was a tool of the UAW and served during the collapse of both the UAW and Flint itself. Dan obviously is a slippery one.

As one of my clients once said, "What do you mean nepotism? He's my nephew!"

America's greatest enemies and foes are not the Russians or the Chinese, but themselves and the politicians they return to office time and time again...and their nephews.

Chuck said...

Meanwhile, we see what a bare majority of responsible adults are doing in Washington. A spending reauthorization bill looks to pass with bipartisan support from the moderate elements of both the Democratic and Republican parties. Representatives who face criticism from the loudest and most extreme elements of both of their respective parties. Some of them looking at primary challenges. Yet doing the right thing to prevent a government shutdown.

Big Mike said...

Anyone whose Prime Minister is Justin Trudeau has no business looking down on American voters.

Norpois said...

Biden is just following sensible, time-tested rules of engagement between the President and Congress. There are two relevant situations -- first, a strong popular President who can effectively arm-twist and hand out favors; think FDR and LBJ (at least at first); second, a weak President with little in the way of electoral coat-tails who faces dissidence from Congress people with strong local bases (e.g., Manchin) populated by voters who are not typically of his party. Its not the Senators or Congressmen in the "marginal" seats who are necessarily the problem for a President; it's the ones with impregnable local bases who can't be "primaried" and don't have to worry about losing.
Given how Biden is not exactly off to a strong start, the absolute worst thing he could do is get deeply involved, attempt to twist arms -- and NOT win. At that point, he would have zero credibility. On the other hand, if he sits back and lets the narrative sink in that maybe this (whatever the "this" is, say, the big $3.5 tn bill) will not happen -- then he can either at the very end swoop in and get the credit; or say he tried but Manchin etc killed it. Frankly, going into 2022 midterms, wouldn't Progressive democrats WANT to lose the big bill -- so they have something to motivate their base with?

madAsHell said...

But I think him becoming more personally engaged would be helpful.

I see our $3.5 trillion, and raise you $4 trillion.

Amadeus 48 said...

"Anyone whose Prime Minister is Justin Trudeau has no business looking down on American voters."

Trudeau (Where have I heard that name before? Wasn't there a guy whose wife schtupped Mick Jagger...?) just got re-elected with almost nothing changed after running against a Tory opposition that tried to out-Trudeau Trudeau. Alberta, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan have nowhere to run. If we annex them and make them states number 51, 52, and 53...

Chuck said...

Blogger Achilles said...
...
...
Which is why they had to resort to massive voter fraud in 2020 to cling to power.


That’s it. That’s what I want the 2022 and 2024 elections to be all about.

I want every single Republican candidate, in any and every primary or general election to declare themselves clearly and unequivocally on whether “massive voter fraud” was the determining factor in 2020. I do not care about anything else. Let’s get it very clear, who thinks our federal elections were stolen, and may yet be stolen. (And exactly how that was accomplished.). And then we can let general electorate voters decide how they feel about that. Everyone who believes in the Big Lie, versus everyone else. See how that works out.

Like the Georgia runoff in January.

mikee said...

God forbid we have another few years like 2017-2019! It would take a world war to disrupt the approval of the US citizenry away from another Trump term.

Interested Bystander said...

What he said is true. We keep electing the same people or people just like them over and over; expecting change. Not a good strategy.

Chuck said...

Oh, and about Rep. Dan Kildee (D-MI)...

Kildee represents the Michigan 5th Congressional district. It was his uncle's (Dale Kildee) district, and it is notably just D+1 in the Cook ratings. It's a blue collar/exurban population that also includes Flint. Kildee is a moderate Dem, and for those who read the WaPo story that Althouse linked to, the reporter went to mostly moderate Dems (with a couple of notable liberals included and identified as such) for quotes. Including Debbie Dingell (MI-12), another moderate from a blue-collar Michigan district that tilts only slightly Democratic.

The point being that moderate House Dems seem to want Biden to do a bit more personal enforcement with the House and Senate liberals. They feel like there is a deal to be made, and that making a deal will be good for the Biden Administration and for the 2024 chances of swing district House Dems in purple states.

And that is the way I see it. Congressional liberals are looking at 2021 as their big chance to make a big statement with their bare partisan majority. They reside in safe liberal precincts. But they are failing to see the risks to their party (and their majority status) in 2024 if they blow things up without getting any deal. Republicans let their extremist wing take things over, and they promptly found themselves in the minority. That is the lesson.

Narayanan said...

says Canadian ...
Unable to put self interest aside and do what is best for the people that put them in power.
------------
also thinks Trump was self interested politician ??!!

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

Chcuk-U. The GOP held together to deny the democrat's request to raise the debt ceiling.

“Schumer made one last effort to get the GOP to agree to increase the debt ceiling by including a suspension of the debt limit in the government funding bill until December of 2022, but Republicans insisted on passing a ‘clean’ funding bill and Schumer reluctantly acquiesced.”

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

Biden is a crook. He's a liar and he is, at his ripe age, also probably suffering from dementia. What a wonderful mix!

All A-OK with the hivemind.

hombre said...

Chuck Channeling Schumer blathers about “government shutdown[s]” at 9:19 apparently preferring “moderate” capitulation to profligacy and smoother sailing for the Dems.

Big surprise.

hombre said...

Can anybody really imagine QuidProJoe is capable of being “more engaged?”

The thing about modern Democrat politicians has been the difficulty in discerning whether they are liars or ignoramuses or both. Now, QPJ has added demented to the mix.

Paul said...

How do you get a senile person to be 'more engaged'?

His handlers hid him cause they know to expose him to the public to much and everyone will realize 'the king has no cloths'.

Scott Patton said...

"Totally self centered and desperately clinging to power."
A good working definition of government and the ensuing bureaucracy.

gspencer said...

"He's been engaged"

Huh? Check out all the pictures of Biden just walking away from every podium, NEVER engaging,

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/1AP30fHW-2I/hqdefault.jpg

Left Bank of the Charles said...

This is an impossible to negotiate deal. Just consider who has the power to veto it:

(1) President Biden
(2) Any one of 50 Senators
(3) Vice President Harris
(4) Speaker Pelosi
(5) Any group of 8 or more Democratic Congresspersons

The Predictit market is betting on a deal in the $1.75 to $2.75 trillion range. But no deal by 12/31 is grouped with $1.5 trillion or less, and that’s getting the most betting action.


Earnest Prole said...

Allow me a non-Canadian retort: After the failure theater is done, Republicans and Democrats will settle on $1 trillion for traditional infrastructure and an additional $1 trillion for fake infrastructure. Republicans will consider this a great victory and Democrats a great defeat, and Congress may well change hands as a result in 2022. In truth it will be a stunning Democratic victory because it will permanently and immensely expand the scope of the federal government at a moment when Democrats hold Congress by the thinnest margins in American history, when the President is deeply unpopular, and when the nation has no way to pay for the spending. As Higgs noted in Crisis and Leviathan nearly thirty years ago, the power of the federal government is a ratchet that only moves in one direction. Giving up Congress and even the Presidency from time to time is entirely worth the trade-off in exchange for big Democratic priorities like the infrastructure slush fund and Obamacare — especially since Republicans will be utterly incapable of moving the ratchet in the opposite direction once they return to power.

All of this was entirely avoidable for Republicans until the moment Donald Trump screwed the pooch in the Georgia Senate races.

Quaestor said...

Unable to put self interest aside and do what is best for the people that put them in power.

There is a glaring defect in Canadian Retired Guy's reasoning (or perhaps in trying to sound glib he tripped over his own rhetoric. What is best for the people is neither obvious or even known to exist.

Amadeus 48 said...

Earnest Prole—and Trump is still at it. I don’t bet, but if I did, I would rate Trump as the X factor in 2022. Will he hurt the GOP more than he helps? Will the Dems manage to put him on the ballot? Will he manage to put himself on the ballot? The 2022 election ought to be about Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi.

Trump ought to step back and tone it down. He isn’t doing that is he?

Chuck said...

Dave Begley said...
Joe Biden appeared at the Congressional baseball game last night and was boo'd.

Imagine if he showed up at an NFL or college football game. Fuck Joe Biden.

There’s video. Sean Hannity tried to make the case for “a chorus of boos” which was kind of nuts when you hear most of the crowd cheering enthusiastically.
Watch:
https://mobile.twitter.com/atrupar/status/1443387678750396419

Which brings me to my final point which is “Fuck Dave Begley.”

Drago said...

Pro-marxist LLR Chuck going to bat strongly for his fellow democratical Schumer is absolutely pitch perfect, particularly after LLR Chuck has embraced Pelosi's agenda, completely open borders, abortion on demand and the Green New Deal.

I suspect we will be seeing much fewer attempts at proclaiming himself the "true principled conservative" after this latest hilarious self-own.

cubanbob said...

Ernest for the win except for the Georgia part. The governor and state secretary of state managed to insure a loss. Frankly I don't care if the government shuts down. Frankly it should stay shut down until the 2022 election. The question shouldn't be how much more to tax and spend but how much in actual spending to be cut. Spending $1.5 trillion less next year than what has been spent this year would be a great start.

cubanbob said...

Synema and Manchin are "drifting" right because that is what their constituents want. The team isn't going to take one for them. In the end every member of Congress has to face the voters and the only election that counts for them is theirs.

Drago said...

pro-marxist LLR Chuck: "Which brings me to my final point which is “F*** Dave Begley.”

It is to be considered a badge of honor when LLR Chuck, a hard core leftist, racist and attacker of women and children, begins to curse you. It proves you are striking effective blows against LLR Chuck's beloved democraticals and is a signal to accelerate your activities.

Note of caution: It is always dangerous to use the term "blows" in a post about LLR Chuck given his adoration of the Lincoln Pedophile Project, but I think I'll risk it this time.

Chuck said...

T Can Of Cheese for Hunter said...
Chcuk-U. The GOP held together to deny the democrat's request to raise the debt ceiling.


That’s not what I was talking about. The interim funding bill is being voted on right now, and getting votes from both parties.

Drago said...

"I've never been a liberal in any way, shape, or form," so if progressives want a bigger reconciliation bill, "elect more liberals."
--Senator Joe Manchin

LOL

It's a direct kick to LLR Chuck's political groin!

Iman said...

Canadian Retired Guy should stick with what he knows: smoked meats, back bacon, and Molson…

Kevin said...

I want every single Republican candidate, in any and every primary or general election to declare themselves clearly and unequivocally on whether “massive voter fraud” was the determining factor in 2020.

Oh hell, let's start by asking every Democrat candidate to declare themselves clearly and unequivocally on whether there was "Russian collusion" in 2016.

Earnest Prole said...

Update: The fake infrastructure bill will be $1.5 trillion, which represents an even greater victory for Democrats (who were dealt the equivalent of the Two of Diamonds and Seven of Spades back in November 2020).

Chuck said...

Kevin said...
"I want every single Republican candidate, in any and every primary or general election to declare themselves clearly and unequivocally on whether 'massive voter fraud' was the determining factor in 2020."

Oh hell, let's start by asking every Democrat candidate to declare themselves clearly and unequivocally on whether there was "Russian collusion" in 2016.


Be my guest. I think the nearly-universal answer will be, "There was never a legal question about 'Russian collusion.' The only questions were about 'Russian interference' (and there was), other criminality (see, e.g., Paul Manafort), and whether there was 'Trump obstruction of justice' (most think so). And all of those questions were answered in the affirmative."

So go ahead. And don't forget to mention Hillary's email and Hunter Biden's laptop while you're at it. Some real election winners right there.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

Manchin is a fool. We are so screwed.

Drago said...

It's impossible not to notice how LLR Chuck's Anger Spiral is intensifying as the possibility that his beloved democraticals might end up failing to deliver on their socialist goals.

Other times when LLR Chuck went this ballistically insane, and violent, was Nov of 2016 when his beloved democraticals lost the House, Senate and White House as well as when Mueller failed to deliver on the hoaxed up fake collusion lies that LLR Chuck pushed and continues to push at Althouse blog for over 5 years running.

Can you imagine what LLR Chuck will be like if the democraticals can't pull the Socialist rabbit out of their hats?

There isn't enough gin and tonic in the world to ameliorate the LLR fallout if that were to occur.

Let's sit back and see what happens. In the meanwhile, if you have any small children in the greater Detroit MI area, you might want to keep a close eye on them in the near term...for obvious reasons.

Gk1 said...

Trump had it right over a year ago, "Joe doesn't even know he's alive". This walking vegetable can't even choose what pudding cup he'll be getting, not cutting deals where you have to remember who your talking to and what the topic is.

Chuck said...

Gk1 said...
Trump had it right over a year ago, "Joe doesn't even know he's alive". This walking vegetable can't even choose what pudding cup he'll be getting, not cutting deals where you have to remember who your talking to and what the topic is.


LMFAO. Biden beat Trump.

AMDG said...

Blogger Mr Wibble said...
I still think that all of this is part of the set up for Biden to resign early next year. It helps set the stage for him to announce in early Feb that his health is failing and he has to step aside, as commentators will look back and go, "gosh, that must be why he wasn't more engaged last year during the budget battles."

9/30/21, 8:13 AM

That might have been the plan but when the noted Stacey Abrams supporter, Donald Trump, helped get Warnock and Ossoff elected that changed the calculation.

The second Biden resigns the Democrats lose their 51st Senate vote. Cocaine Mitch would be in position to exact a heavy price for a 51st vote for a new VP.

Drago said...

AMDG: "That might have been the plan but when the noted Stacey Abrams supporter, Donald Trump, helped get Warnock and Ossoff elected that changed the calculation."

This is the fiction that supporters of Joe Biden/democrats tell themselves to justify their pseudo-republican-status-but-voting-for-democrats-who-are-socialists votes.

Now, this is different than being a complete fakecon online, like LLR Chuck who is operationally pro-marxist, but its still pathetic.

Lurker21 said...

Canada isn't less messed up than we are. It's just that the stakes are lower.

A rich and powerful country has big rocks to turn over and big creatures and big scandals underneath.

We are to Canada what Texas and New York and California are to the rest to of the country.

For better or for worse, everything is bigger here, and every trend gets taken further and has worse effects.

Also, the Canadians (in true loyalist spirit) don't like turning over the rocks.

Lurker21 said...

"I do think it would be helpful for the president to be more engaged. ... He’s been engaged, don’t get me wrong."

Another guy who, like Joe himself, probably shouldn't be speaking off the cuff.

You could call this habit of immediately contradicting yourself "Bidenspeak," except that there are so many other verbal marvels that would fall under than heading.