"In interviews when he was a senator and then vice president, Biden could easily give a 45-minute answer to the first question. Heaven help anyone who tried to nix the prolix pol back then.
But now, when I watch him cut himself short, or get cut short by his staff, I get an image of a yellow Lab gamboling smack into an electric fence. When the president stops himself and says, 'Am I giving too long an answer?' or 'Maybe I’ll stop there,' or 'I’m going to get in real trouble,' he seems nervous that his handlers might yank his choke collar if he rattles on.... [H]is staff reinforces the impression of a fragile chief executive by overmanaging him and white-knuckling all his appearances. By publicly treating him as though he’s not in control of his faculties, by cutting him off mid-thought as though he’s faltering and needs caretaking, they play into the hands of Trumpsters.... But Biden needs to start looking like he’s in command. His staff is going to have to roll with him and take some risks and stop jerking the reins...."
This is similar to something I said 5 days ago,
here, after listening a speech that had been called "mumbling" and "rambling": "I don't see a problem. Biden ought to do more news conferences and show this level of engagement and competence. It's fine."
By the way, do you think Dowd is part of an effort to get Biden to bow out of the race? With his staff holding him back, he's neither here nor there. He's not impressing people enough to build the support he needs to defeat Trump, and he's also not risking making gigantic gaffes that will take him out. If he's let go, and he talks freely, he'll do one or the other. Dowd probably knows which, and maybe she's luring him out to set him up.
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"...I get an image of a yellow Lab gamboling smack into an electric fence." Modo really pulled her punch there. Because people rightly feel good about yellow Labs, and don't like to see them get hurt.
"With his staff holding him back, he's neither here nor there. He's not impressing people enough to build the support he needs to defeat Trump, and he's also not risking making gigantic gaffes that will take him out."
Seems like the exact strategy that won for him back in 2020.
Biden's brain hasn't been working at least since when he shut down the XL pipeline.
His staff isn't able to choreograph more than about a half-hour of "gab" on a teleprompter or scripted Q&As with cards in Biden's hands. They know he doesn't have that long an attention span- this is why he is rushed off the stage, and you can tell when it is about to happen- he starts to fumble with the cards and ends up to start reading the wrong answer to a question.
However, I am very amused that Althouse found that talk/presser convincing the other day. Really is a world of people watching two different movies on the same screen.
Yeah, Dowd is with David Ignatius. In order to preserve the corrupt rule of the Dems, a new puppet is needed. It will be Gretchen Whitmer or Gavin Newsom. Bobby Kennedy is not allowed.
I, for one, recall Biden being a lying shit during the Thomas hearings.
She obviously has currency with him or his staff. It was she who got him to acknowledge his previously invisible grandchild.
maybe she's luring him out to set him up.
Maybe. My first thought was either Dowd didn't get the memo or this column was written a few weeks ago, before the Times decided Joe had to go. But you're right. There is a third option--Dowd is pressuring Biden's handlers to give him the rope he needs to hang himself.
“I don’t see a problem “
Have you compared the current iteration of Biden with the previous VP version? My god. What a decline in just a few years. It’s hard to take you seriously when you say something this ridiculous unless you’re just trolling for blog traffic. If Joe Biden passes your competency test, I can’t imagine who wouldn’t.
BTW, his staff isn’t treating him the way they do because they’re reacting to other people’s opinions of his condition. They’re doing it because the see his issues 24/7 and know what a disaster it would be for the world to see Biden unchained.
I don’t give a flying rat-f*** about Joe’s speaking skills.
Wonder, instead, whether he’s an honest and honorable man. He is NOT.
Is he capable of leading and controlling his administration? He is NOT.
Is he committed to protecting and defending the constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic? He is NOT.
Does he favor merit over diversity? He does NOT.
Does he favor hard work over entitlement? He does NOT.
Does he have scientific basis for creating crisis about global warming, untested Covid protocols and replacing biology with an alphabet soup of personal grievances. He does NOT
Others can add to this list, I’m sure.
This country owes much to the French. I believe it’s time we borrowed another page from their book. They celebrate Bastille Day on July 14…. I think we should have a similar celebration. Maybe schedule it for January 6 at the DC jail. Do we need government permission to do that? Asking for a friend, of course.
His decline is precipitous and obvious.
His decline is precipitous and obvious.
I don't know much, but Biden has never struck me as "Irish" in any shape or form. I don't care what his DNA says, he isn't Irish.
I like the way she mentions the Ignatius observation that Biden should step down. She almost parenthetically notes "I don't disagree". Bury the lede before the lede gets a state funeral.....Biden shares the RBG gene. It will take something a lot less subtle to get him to reconsider. Perhaps if Congress passed a bicameral, bipartisan resolution asking him to retire, Jill might bring it to his attention.
It's more than Biden's age. Biden still gaffes after all this time. The longer he talks the danger of another gaff approaches.
Daily Mail: "White House ALTERS Biden transcript to clean up gaffe implying African American and Hispanic workers don't have 'high school diplomas'"
If re-elected, Joe Biden's second term will end in 5 years, 4 months and 3 days. He would be 86 years and 2 months old.
Where did this myth of Biden's Irishness arise? Is there a one-drop rule of Hibernian ancestry? I haven't heard of it. Nor is there an Irish gift of gab, except in the minds of racists whom we all encourage to despise by Maureen Dowd among others, unless said gift is noteworthy by its mundaneness. There was a time when writers and poets were invited to reside tax-free in the Irish Republic until someone pointed out that if the Sons of Erin were as blest with literary penchant as the Irish like to claim, then the untaxed importation of such becomes a coals-to-Newcastle endeavor. One assumes Miss Dowd considers herself similarly endowed, though her published writings suggest she wouldn't recognize genuine verbal adroitness if it fell on her from a height.
Even at his best Joe Biden had no rhetorical skills at all. His most noteworthy utterances are all braggadocious lies and plagiarisms, and his writings would comfortably fit on an average matchbook cover though minus the average matchbook cover's memorability. When not lies Biden's words amount to unfocused threats and abuses. In Joe Biden's case, the gift of gab is the curse of claptrap.
In the 2020 campaign, Trumpsters messed up big time before the first debate. They thought Biden would sound old and out of it because there were a lot of clips of him fumbling random sentences. But when you actually listened to more than just the clip of the fumbling, he sounded fine, just a little clumsy now and then. They set the bar so low that it was easy for Biden to sound competent.
Biden also prepared for the debate and had appropriate soundbites ready. Trump didn't bother to prepare and it showed.
"they play into the hands of Trumpsters"
Yup, that's the problem: mean, mean Trumpsters pouncing.
"But Biden needs to start looking like he’s in command."
Now that's funny. Let's see if he can get up and down stairs, or read a teleprompter speech, without stumbling.
"With his staff holding him back, he's neither here nor there."
His staff knows exactly what they are doing and why. They know there's less and less there there.
His handlers should turn him loose to do Trumplike impromptus. Take and answer all questions until reporters run out of gas.
Show the evil right wingers what Joe is capable of.
Dowd wrote the column about the grandkid that Biden was ignoring, and then Biden visited the grandkid. I seem to recall that.
Somehow her word packs a punch with Biden, I guess?
maybe she's luring him out to set him up
Doubtful. We all know that Biden can say anything without consequence, until the decision is made to remove him. This is just Biden's personal handlers pushing back against the party's whisper campaign and lobbying for him to stay in place, so they don't lose their jobs.
I think for folks in their 70s Biden seems okay given his age because they want the standards to be a bit more relaxed. From the perspective of a younger person, many of whom are having to cope with Dad getting all addled and Mom no longer able to stay on her own, Biden is not fit for purpose, not unless the White House should be seen as a glorified assisted living facility.
Mixing her metaphors. A lab would have his leash yanked, not his reins. Hey, she's the one who compared the POTUS to a doofy, harmless breed of dog.
Caffeine, stat!
When did 'Blowhard' become 'gift of gab'?
Biden has always been a bore/boor...
Gift of gab?
Grift of grab.
I get the image of a German Sheperd with rabies lashing out at anything that gets near it.
Joe Smith writes, "Biden has always been a bore/boor..."
Suppose Biden summons up sufficient cognizance to recognize the bum's rush. Then he'd make a fight of it. Picture a three-way primary debate between Gretchen Whitmer, Gavin Newsom, and the Resident. Would the Althouse commentariat forgive me if I christen that scenario the Bore War? (ducks)
It's just a stutter : )
“By publicly treating him because he’s not in control of his faculties, by cutting him off mid-thought because he’s faltering and needs caretaking”
FIFMD
Here's why Biden SHOULD NOT run: He's allowing himself to be held back. To be silenced. To be shut off by unnamed staffers.
Who is holding him back? Who is the REAL president? Why is Joe Biden allowing this? Why is he participating in this charade, willingly? He clearly chafes by it. There have even been stories written about how MAD he is that his staff is walking back his comments, like he's a toddler or something. But he allows this. I agree with Ann Althouse ... there's nothing wrong with Joe Biden speaking, except that maybe he reveals himself to be a blithering idiot, which I highly suspect. He'd probably turn off a lot of potential voters. But that's not the issue. The issue is why he allows this.
Joe Biden clearly isn't the President. So who is?
Does Biden hang on every word of Maureen Dowd?
If Biden looks to MoDo for advice, he really is demented.
His Irish gift of gab isn't being muzzled. His Irish, Puerto Rican, Black, Jewish, coal miner... gift of babble is being muzzled.
They are both old, and have proved useless and in the way.
Biden should stay the course and let established success carry through to a majority win in November 2024. Two predictive models for elective success bode well for Biden.
One model is that a good economy in the fourth quarter of the preceding year predicts the following November's winner. Right now it looks like Q4 for 2023 will be pretty good and probably above expectations. The world economy is continuing to integrate and trade while decoupling is smaller and more isolated than many think. In short, the tides are raising the boats.
The other model is that the public doesn't focus on the election until Labor Day 2024 and then starts to focus on choices in October while the last undecided voters don't make choices until the last 10 days. If this is the true dynamic, then broad-based success should be maintained until fall 2024 and then the campaign should sell what is working then and pitch the upsides of four more years. It probably all comes down to what the public believes about "four more years" in October 2024.
Republican efforts to "weaponize" Hunter Biden and other conspiracy theories capture base MAGA attention but have little impact on the middle. Same thing will probably occur with trying to play Biden's age issue or that the vice president is an African American from California — Republican efforts will just marginalize these issues in most voters' minds. They're not pocketbook issues.
The impact of climate change and its adverse impacts is quite likely to be a large issue in 2024 of uncertain size, force, and impact. It will probably move a lot of younger voters more than many now think. Call it the wild card hiding in plain sight.
Biden is also likely to be the only credible candidate "standing" in November 2024 as the Republicans engage in unprecedented political malpractice. Voters coalesce around Biden in the fall of 2024 while a minority of malcontents fracture and spread votes across Trump and other third party candidates.
I gave Biden the benefit of the doubt until Afghanistan, until the US military incinerated that family, including seven children, and Biden the commander-in-chief said not a word but just went home and pretended it didn't happen. The news media quickly forgot it and pretended it didn't happen too.
There is nothing poignant about Biden. There's nothing he can say now that would impress me. I am just waiting for him to leave the stage.
If he were as mentally sharp and engaged as he was 10 years ago Joe would not allow his staff to "manage" him. The argument is farcical on its face.
"While the media continues to obsess over President Joe Biden's age, Donald Trump is displaying signs of diminished cognitive ability. During his speech at the Family Research Council’s Pray Vote Stand Summit in Washington, D.C., Trump boasted that, despite his arrest, he's "leading by a lot, including Obama."
----
Please, we need to put all of our geriatric senile political leaders into nursing homes, and let them live out their lives in peace and quiet.
Are we at least done hearing that it's a stutter?
Perhaps if Congress passed a bicameral, bipartisan resolution asking him to retire, Jill might bring it to his attention.
The resolution will be addressed to the vice-president and the cabinet and will be asking them to invoke the 25th Amendment.
My wife likes "Good Morning America", and we watch it almost every morning. I don't recall ever seeing on GMA a clip of Biden stumbling over the text of a prepared speech, or stumbling over the steps onto Airforce 1. I visit a lot of "right wing" blogs, etc., and I'd have a hard time finding a day when I don't see clips of Biden stumbling over the text of a prepared speech, or stumbling over the steps onto Airforce 1. My guess is that Biden's voters get their view of their candidate from GMA-like sources.
In their one "debate" in 2020, Trump got suckered (or suckered himself) into thinking he could trust Biden to make an obvious fool of himself.
Does no one remember the end of Woodrow Wilson's second term as President? Wilson had become incompetent, and because there was no "permanent government" or "media" in those days, it was left to his wife to keep his condition secret, while she and a few loyal flunkies ran the Government. Now, with a little help from George Stephanopoulos and the Disney Co. we are seeing the same pattern in Biden's First Term. I expect we'll see it in the 2024 Campaign.
Meanwhile,the morbidly obese and cognitively impaired GOP front runner says:
‘Cognitively Impaired’ Biden May Cause ‘World War II’
There s nothing poignant about Biden.
By the way, do you think Dowd is part of an effort to get Biden to bow out of the race?
She's a leftist. She's on the emails. She is writing her OP just like Ignatious.
When Biden does let it roll, his cognitive decline is further exposed. Imagine what it's like behind the curtain. Nevertheless, Lefties will still pull the handle for him and his horrible policies. Gullible fools.
A rather wide variety of opinions among the commenters here today. Rich thinks Biden is just fine; Colonel Mustard not so much (why were you holding back Colonel? Tell us what you really think about Joe.)
But there does seem to be some greasing of the skid toward the exit door for Joe among the Democrat cognoscenti. The only problem is that I can't see much of a Democrat bench to replace Joe.
LLR lonejustice pops in a la LLR Chuck style to try and deflect for Team Dem/LLR-democratical.
As you knew he would.
The word has gone out to the Mushroom Media Conspiracy: Get rid of Biden and Harris. But, do it subtly, we don't want this effort discovered and blamed on the DNC. Can't anger the Affirmative Action contingent, nor the white liberal Karens.
If you still believe there will be a race you’re not at all impressive…
Doesn't Dowd realize "more cowbell" is a meme?
He's working up the Vincent Gigante Defense of being incompetent to stand trial.
The strongest Democratic candidate was Governor Cuomo. I don’t know why the Dems decided to eliminate him as a candidate. Rumors aside, maybe they wanted to remove Biden’s strongest opponent. I think the Dems thought they would mortally wound Trump through lawfare, DeSantis would be weakened through a tough primary fight, making the election close enough for Dem dirty tricks to insure a Biden reelection. That seems unlikely now and Cuomo no longer seems to be an option. The problem with Biden (for the Dems and really for all of us) is that Biden’s a lot more functional than he seems to be. His mental issues have sharpened his focus. Sometimes singlemindedness trumps ability and the odds.
Gerda Sprinchorn said...
“In the 2020 campaign, Trumpsters messed up big time before the first debate. They thought Biden would sound old and out of it because there were a lot of clips of him fumbling random sentences. But when you actually listened to more than just the clip of the fumbling, he sounded fine, just a little clumsy now and then. They set the bar so low that it was easy for Biden to sound competent.”
That may very well happen again. It’s not Maureen Dowd who’s setting the trap. The Biden staffers are.
Rich also makes a good case for Biden’s re-election.
We’re getting the leadership we want, and deserve apparently. We complain. We could change it all. But this is what we ultimately want. 80-year-olds with more hubris than desire for the public’s wellbeing.
Hunter Biden is a conspiracy theory? Screw you, Rich.
Joe is to far gone.... to late to get him to campaign or debate... he can't cut the mustard and will fail if he tries and just show everyone he really is senile and unfit. And his handler, Obama, wants a fourth term!
So what to do? See Joe/Obama has lots of assets.. they know where a lot of bodies are buried... who the crooks are and where the evidence is. So how does one get rid of Joe? See the DNC can't!!!
Now ain't that funny!
And Dowd is just a hack who writes.. she has no pull and she can't make 'em do squat.
When listening to Joe Biden over the last forty plus years, the first word that comes to my mind is glib.
That's rich, Rich.
crisper said...
I gave Biden the benefit of the doubt until Afghanistan,
--
Cool with his debate invite to surge the border and deeep state rebuttal/social media suppression re Hunter Biden's laptop from hell.
A bit late to the call.
LLR Rich: "One model is that a good economy in the fourth quarter of the preceding year predicts the following November's winner. Right now it looks like Q4 for 2023 will be pretty good and probably above expectations."
LOL
Its never a good idea to go Full Paul Krugman.
FYI: did you know that if you only count "123 goods and services from across the economy" but you make sure to exclude those darn "volatile food and energy goods" and those darn lagging housing (shelter) costs then inflation has been tamed and everyone is happy!
So you too can be impervious to Biden-flation by not eating, using any energy and not paying for "shelter"!
And your family as well.
This bodes well for the dems in 2024....according to LLR Rich who has of this date cannot provide a single accurate quote for any claim he makes.
"Biden ought to do more news conferences and show this level of engagement and competence. It's fine.""
I've seen little to none of this "engagement and competence" you speak of in regards to Joe Biden. Most of his comments are garbled and mumbled and he often either whispers or yells when speaking. He also forgets names, dates, and places, in addition to how to exit a stage. As his dementia advances he is only going to get worse. His staff (and adoring media) is not going to be able to cover up his "gaffs" forever---with "forever" being until November of 2024.
Drago
All anyone has to do is look around and ask themselves if they are any better off now than they were in 2019. Any honest person would nave to answer no. Even if you are a public sector employee or on a public pension you have to admit to yourself that fuel, food and housing have gotten much more expensive. If you are a regular citizen, not sucking at the public tit, you've seen your savings diminish significantly. The cost of borrowing money has doubled. Manufacturing has slowed. More jobs are part time now. We weren't in a proxy war with Russia. Lil' Kim knew his place and every where in Asia we weren't being challenged by China.
I read Rich's analysis and I have to wonder to myself: how did this person survive to adulthood ( I'm making an assumption here)?
Rusty: "Drago
All anyone has to do is look around and ask themselves if they are any better off now than they were in 2019."
True, but the buffoonish LLR Rich's really do seem to believe they can truly Jedi Mind Trick people into believing everything is going Great!
Another Summer of Recovery Baby!
Fun-flation, not inflation!
Fun-employment, not unemployment!
"Freedom from asset concerns", not "you're dead broke and cant feed the kids"!
"You'll have nothing...and be happy"!
“One model is that a good economy in the fourth quarter of the preceding year predicts the following November's winner. Right now it looks like Q4 for 2023 will be pretty good and probably above expectations.”
Only those who believe everything that the government, under their party’s control, believes that nonsense. And most people don’t vote based on government pronouncements about their well being, but on their own condition, and for those, not in the insulated elite, that means most everyone else.
"Joe is to far gone.... to late to get him to campaign or debate... he can't cut the mustard and will fail if he tries and just show everyone he really is senile and unfit. And his handler, Obama, wants a fourth term!"
Hence the telltale signs Slow Joe is getting pushed out of office much like Cuomo was. They only need have the stasi/media complex cover his influence peddling for a few news cycles. Can you imagine Biden up at the podium responding to a series of questions about Hunter and "the big guy"? He spontaneously combusts on just the one off question ever few weeks.
As I understand it, Biden had one Irish great-grandmother; the rest of his forebears were English. So where does he get all this Irishness?
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