Biden goes a long time, speaking clearly and lucidly. I don't think he seems "exhausted." He's an old man, but he has consistent energy. Near the end, the last questioner, "Anita from VOA," says "I hope you didn't think that calling only on woman would get you softballs tonight," and he gives us a little of that old-man quasi-feminism: "Oh, I know better than that."
Corny, jaunty... whatever. It's not "exhausted." He's "rambling"... along.
Is he "mumbling"? His voice is quiet and he speaks quickly and without crisply pronounced consonants… but he's not “mumbling” like a confused person.
Here's how he speaks at the end, 23 minutes into a fast-moving performance:
[Ukraine is] not a wedge issue of the Global South. It's a wedge issue with Russia, which was present [at the G20 Summit], and with China, which was present - which was - had the representation. And so - and, by the way, I am a - my - my team, my staff still meets with President Xi's people and his Cabinet, and, in effect, I met with his number-two person here in - excuse me, in India today. So, it's not like there's a - a crisis if I don't personally speak to him. It would be better if I did, but I think -Look, this is not a criticism; it's an observation: He has his hands full right now. He has overwhelming unemployment with his youth. One of the major economic tenets of his plan isn't working at all right now. I'm not happy for that. But it's not working. So, he's trying to figure out, I suspect - I don't know - just like I would, trying to figure out what to do about the particular crisis they're having now. But I don't think it's a crisis relating to conflict between China and the United States. As a matter of fact, I think it's less likely to cause that kind of conflict. I don't - Anyway, I just think that there are other things on leaders' minds, and they respond to what's needed at the time.And look, nobody likes having celebrated international meetings if you don't know what you want at the meeting, if you don't have a gameplan. He may have a gameplan; he just hasn't shared it with me. But I tell you what, I don't know about you, but I'm going to go to bed.
I don't see a problem. Biden ought to do more news conferences and show this level of engagement and competence. It's fine. And, by the way, I think Byron York agrees with me. I took a line out of context for the headline. York's whole statement is:
Here is Biden's entire Hanoi news conference. He's clearly exhausted, mumbling, and rambling at times. At other times, fine. Not hugely different from some of his performances at home.
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Biden ought to do more news conferences and show this level of engagement and competence.
Unless, of course, this is the most he can do while holding it together. The drugs can get you only so far...
I met with his number-two person here in - excuse me, in India today.
Would Xi ever agree to meet with Harris when Biden was “too busy” to meet with him?
23 whole minutes! WOW! 23 whole minutes, what a performance! Ain't Joe grand what a leader! We LOVE Joe!!!
Fair enough but I'm old enough to remember when the optics of a major politician displaying the frailties of old age were enough to disqualify them from office, logic being you don't want your nation's representative to appear weak on the world stage as it may embolden your adversaries and negotiation opponents...
Clearly the standard of fine at times is now a high standard. I mean it wasn't long ago when some judged Ruth Baden Ginsburg to be unfit to serve because of her illness and physical failings. Clearly those people were wrong, yes? It was weeks before she died but no matter, I guess. SHe must have been sharp and lucid right till the end...
Althouse, you're serious, aren't you?
I read this thinking that you're stretching to establish a disagreement with York, and in the end, you agreed with him. You just have a different tolerance for mumbling and rambling, at least from Biden.
Laughable Althouse. He's fucking reading, and not doing a great job of it. Watch the Q&A at the end. Clearly confused, and asking for help. Couldn't handle five questions. Prepicked by staff. Not sure if they got the questions in advance...stat's happened before. Even has some retard rage when he asks staff if anyone hasn't had a chance...and all the the reporters call for him.
adderall (or any other stimulant) can Only work SO LONG. When you're pumping a geriatric case full of them, you HAVE TO Expect that he will crash at the end
Is there ANYONE out there (besides Althouse, apparently) that doesn't see that they keep Biden in a box, and when they need to show him.. They give him 3 (or FOUR!) injections of speed, which gives him a half hour or so, before he collapses ?
I don’t think we should accept the normalizing of our President - any US President - hitting a low bar of quickly reading a teleprompter speech, calling on a list of known female journalists from friendly media outfits whose questions were vetted, and answering those same questions via cue cards. But maybe that’s just me.
He looks and sounds commensurate with contemporary America… tired, deluded and off its rocker.
Breezy said...
I don’t think we should accept the normalizing of our President - any US President - hitting a low bar of quickly reading a teleprompter speech, calling on a list of known female journalists from friendly media outfits whose questions were vetted, and answering those same questions via cue cards. But maybe that’s just me.
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That sounds like what Obama did too ... but he was good at it.
After mumbling that the southern hemisphere was "third world", his staff jumped in and halted the Q&A, and played elevator music. So very lucid.
This is embarrassing. How is that old codger the leader of America? Reading that excerpt, it's impossible to ascertain what old Joe is talking about. China may as well invade Taiwan right now. The US should stop supporting Ukraine because we are clearly in way over our heads. Unless Europe gets their shit together, Ukraine is lost, so Russia may as well take it without blowing up all the buildings and killing so many people.
"exhausted?" He has 10x more vacations than anyone else in the USA.
He ain't exhausted.. he is senile.
Unprecedented to have the president cut off mid-sentence and then to play music like he overstayed the lectern at the Oscars. Even with the list (“I’m just following orders,” the president said) of pre-planned questions, including photos of the all-female reporters, and very likely bullet points to help him answer, he couldn’t help working in a rambling highly embellished story about the John Wayne movie that never was. The optics of being cut off by the press secretary was horrible. The halting gasping delivery was extremely odd. The whisper even made it into his performance. But worst of all was the substance. He went to Hanoi to allegedly demonstrate we have cooperation with other nations to counter the Chinese aggression and bullying yet used every preplanned question as an opportunity to praise China, make excuses for Xi’s behavior and inexplicably declare he wants “China to succeed economically.”
What about American and Vietnamese economic interests? Why are you there Joe? There is zero praiseworthy about his brief and bizarre performance.
Ha! You're testing to see who reads to the end!
I expected him to be worse too. But he seemed pretty coherent. He just sounds like such an old man. It's very off putting. I'd love a complete Gen X replacement of all of the legislative and executive leadership.
I think it's important to remember that all of the reporters in the pool are hand-picked, that none of the reporters are contentious - many of them are not in the least bit skeptical - and that all of the questions are pre-screened, and probably some of them come from Biden's staffers themselves, because they want to be prompted to expound on their preferred issues.
Compare this with a 30-minute on-the-feet, extemporaneous question & answer session with a pool of reporters where 95% of them hate your guts and do not mind in the least being obnoxious and disrespectful to your face - and yet you still prevail and dish it right back.
Joe did fine? Well... he made it through, but what was the adversity that he faced?
You must have been watching a different press conference than Joe's handlers and me because we both came to the same conclusion: get him off the stage ASAP before he's run over by a train of thought.
Let's stop blaming Biden's age.
He was always a phony and a subpar intellect. Now he is just and old phony and subpar intellect.
VDH talking about precedents today—
“If Joe Biden continues to decline at his present rate, will Republicans demand he be given the Montreal Cognitive Assessment? Will they subpoena Ivy League psychiatrists to testify that an intervention is needed to remove him from office? And will an FBI director and a deputy Attorney General plan to wear wires, and record Biden in his private moments of senility, as a way of convincing the cabinet or Congress that he is demonstrably mentally unfit for office?”
All of which the Dems did to Trump.
Even Mediate, a liberal website, said that Biden had "several weird outbursts" during a "troubling presser".
Examples:
Story about John Wayne and lying dog face pony soldier that he finished with his trademark stage whisper.
Referred to Native Americans as "Indians".
Said that he was just following orders as he fumbled for several seconds while trying to figure out who to call on.
At the end of the presser, said he was going to bed.
KJP ended the presser as Biden was still talking!
KJP yanked Joe from the stage. That's a first.
I am very glad to get the full video clip, which (at about 23 minutes) includes him quoting his brother quoting a John Wayne movie with the deathless epithet, "lying dog-faced pony soldier," which President Biden applies to anybody who still harbors any skepticism about global warming.
Paul: ""exhausted?" He has 10x more vacations than anyone else in the USA.
He ain't exhausted.. he is senile."
No no no!
It's just a "stutter". Remember that one?
"...a [wo]man hears what [s]he wants to hear. And disregards the rest..."
Blind [wo]men and an elephant?
Bias confirmation?
Half full or half empty?
Liking, or at least tolerating, inflation, societal division, politicized justice, war, genital mutilation, and/or racism will put one on one side or the other.
Better than nothing is a high standard.
Ground control to Dementia Joe
Ground control to Dementia Joe
Take your Adderall and put your earpiece on
Ground control to Dementia Joe
This is Dementia Joe to Ground Control
Trunalimunumaprzure
And I'm speaking in a most peculiar way
And the folks look very different today
For here am I standing at a dais
Far from the beach
Planet Earth is green
And I’m not joking Jack
Vietnam is clearly an early beneficiary of supply chain exodus from China, as is India. I agree that Vietnam needs to take steps to further its development and make it more long lasting, but I expect they will do so. Other countries in the global south should study Vietnam and India to understand what they can do to capture more of the supply chain exodus from China. Creating favorable conditions for supply chains leaving China to locate in their countries is perhaps the greatest economic opportunity of the coming decade or two.
Might be some kind of jet lag. Beyond his bedtime.
However, he is the President of the long time most important and most powerfull country in the world.
Arrangements must have been, or should have been, made for him to have been well rested.
Disrespectful to USA if accommodations were not made., and we should bomb them, or pay another country to do it for us.
Althouse:
"Is he "mumbling"? ... he's not “mumbling” like a confused person."
Yes. Mumbling has nothing to do with being confused.
mum·ble VERB
1) say something indistinctly and quietly, making it difficult for others to hear:
"he mumbled something she didn't catch" · "“Sorry,” she mumbled"
2) bite or chew with toothless gums or eat without making much use of the teeth:
"she mumbled a piece of black bread"
Maynard at 8:56 AM is spot on. This version of Biden is only different in that now he has to read his BS where before it flowed like a river.
"Biden ought to do more news conferences and show this level of engagement and competence."
The problem with that drug is that it takes two days of "calling a lid" to recuperate from a couple hours of faux animation.
Any competent corporate Board of Directors would have ousted him a long time ago were he a founding CEO.
I'm still waiting for all the usual lefty commentators here to come out with a full-throated defense of why Joe isn't rapidly slipping into senility.
But they won't, because they can't.
Their hypocrisy only goes so far...
Every time I hear him, I thank God that Mom trusted me enough to take her keys away before she got that bad.
China picked all the low hanging fruit — cheap exports, over investment in infrastructure and property on the back of debt, and copying Western technology and know how. Now its aggressive political attitude has ruined its relationship with some of its key export markets and the jobs associated with it. That market cannot be easily replaced, not the advantages it brought. If China wanted to dominate the world it played its hand much too early.
Once again, the media seems to be ignoring or minimizing the Dobbs decision. It is going to be a very big factor in 2024, and nobody should be fooled by Republicans who are now running away from the issue because it has blown up in their faces. If a Republican wins the White House, they will try to pass a national abortion ban, and then they will go after contraception.
The spring election results of 2023 in Wisconsin provides a clue. The state supreme court result of an 11 point win included a large number of previous Trump voting counties changing their votes. The general election of 2024 will prove whether it has staying power.
I watched and am curious about the environmental "project" we apparently have going on in Angola. Does anyone here know how much money we're spending in Angola and, more importantly, why?
Also, are Americans paying for a rail system that will span the continent of Africa? I follow the news and was unaware we were paying for all this.
Just wondering if others know the answer.
Also, why does he always say out loud that he's been told who he can and can't call on? I thought he was the president!
"And now, I will take your questions. Let me see. They told me — they gave me five people here."
“The spring election results of 2023 in Wisconsin provides a clue. The state supreme court result of an 11 point win included a large number of previous Trump voting counties changing their votes. The general election of 2024 will prove whether it has staying power.”
Yes indeed, you are right.
It seems like a waste of time to listen to Biden speaking when you know a day later, White House spokesdroids and the media will be telling you "Joe didn't say what you heard him say. Here's what he really said..."
The republican TV ads will be easy.
Show back-to-back clips of Biden speaking, a few years ago and now...ten seconds or so each followed by him walking off the stage.
The differences between 6 or 7 years ago and now are stark and remarkable.
He fell off a cliff cognitively and physically.
Sounds good!
Looks great!
"Biden-Harris 2024!"
"Let's find the bottom!"
Favorite movie quote from brother James:
"Show me the money!"
I do not believe anyone can watch to the end of this alleged press conference, to when the music comes up and Joe is ushered out after standing there confused by the music and being cut off, and still say "he did fine." No honest person would say that.
Maybe you've watched an edited video that cuts off early like several I saw presented today. This one on CSPAN included all 26:33 as of last viewing:
https://www.c-span.org/video/?530300-1/president-biden-holds-news-conference-vietnam
If you don't hear someone shout out a Hunter Biden question then you ain't seen the end of the video.
Did you actually listen to the questions and his largely unrelated, rambling answers?
He has, as I noted before, improved his twin teleprompter reading technique. He's no match for the master, but he doesn't lose his place as often as before.
The morning news radio here finally found a way to mention POTUS daily old age follies.
The cited a poll saying over 50% of Americans agree that there ought to be some kind of age limit on running for president. They closed with Biden is 80 and Trump is 77.
He's clearly exhausted, mumbling, and rambling at times. At other times, fine. Not hugely different from some of his performances at home.
"not hugely different from some of his performances at home"
So that's the level of competence we have sunk to?
He maybe doesn't have hundreds of terrible performances, only because he rarely engages without a detailed script, including who to call on, and when to stand and sit.
As a percentage of extemporaneous engagements, very few are without major disasters in messaging.
"Rich" seems to be filbustering but it is still all bullshit.
Dobbs returned the abortion question to the states. A few fumbled it but most are passing sensible restrictions. Aligning our laws with Europe in fact.
As for Biden, he is more pitiful every month. Nice try though, Ann.
Althouse, you're serious, aren't you?
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at least Althouse, was not bored listening to old man, aren't you?
Notice how the leftists on this board are talking about everything but the subject of the post?
.... Gandhi was practicing brahmacharya which is a Hindu religious custom that was a vow of celibacy. In order to test his own resolve and the success of his vows of celibacy, he had girls sleep with him in order to see if there was any arousal....
FullMoon said...
Might be some kind of jet lag. Beyond his bedtime.
However, he is the President of the long time most important and most powerfull country in the world.
Arrangements must have been, or should have been, made for him to have been well rested.
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could be Joe Biden made use of spa facilities frequented by Gandhi?!
no reports on arousal or not!!
"Biden ought to do more news conferences and show this level of engagement and competence. It's fine."
Now that's funny. As in, made me laugh. Althouse defending Slow Joe more than his own staff.
He ought to do more of it--more third world, more lying dog-faced whatever, more making nice to Xi while in Vietnam, etc. More! Sure.
Battle space prep for how-the-GOP-lost-me, or a sly, very sly taunt at Joe and the Dems?
Also at the G-20, while we're at it: "and the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salam, excuse me, Mohammed bin Salman ... and since he’s not speaking today, I wanted to — well maybe he is speaking today. I had a note he wasn’t speaking. Any rate, I’m gonna stop there."
Better tyranny through chemistry.
Team juice workin' hard.
Joe Biden is aging too quickly as POTUS. Why the Democrats are encouraging him to run again is wrong because he will die soon. And dementia-related symptoms are obvious in Donald Trump's inability to accept reality. Neither of these sadly incapable politicians should be pushed toward the head of the pack.
But beyond the candidates, a new direction needs to occur in our political system. John Adams worried that “a division of the republic into two great parties … is to be dreaded as the great political evil.” And that’s exactly what has come to pass!
Long ago, the parties decided that power brings control over the government, and we walked away from the rights of our citizenry. We tried to avoid government handouts that result from pure democracy, but our republic permits unfair influence to be given to favored political minorities.
So we are headed for fascist authoritarianism with nothing to prevent it.
People think this guy is in charge and makes decisions.
They really really think this.
Wanna buy a rock?
The handlers must have given Biden an extra does of amphetamine today ad he looked more perky reading his bullshit.
Ann, please post the correct link you are referring to. The one I played showed a doddering old man who had to be shut down by his handlers before he started to yell at the clouds…
Someone should’ve used the opportunity presented and requested “Free Bird”!
Gadfly said,
"So we are headed for fascist authoritarianism with nothing to prevent it."
We are if you keep voting Democrat, dumbass.
You got us into this. You owe us to do your utmost to get us out.
Try watching the unscripted parts without the low expectations we've become inured to. This president is not mentally competent.
Biden is perfect for the corrupt money whore power-elite Blackrock-Soros left. He's an empty shell.
did you miss the part where his staff had to yank him off the stage because he was talking nonsense?
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