May 10, 2024

"And yet the relentlessly wholesome story that Jill Biden tells about herself, and possibly to herself, doesn’t quite add up."

"She hitched her wagon to a man who, even when she met him in the 1970s, had world-historical ambition and was angling to become president. (Joe and his siblings openly discussed this plan, and his two brothers took Jill to dinner to be certain she was on board with it.)... In American Woman, Katie Rogers, a reporter at The New York Times, sees Jill Biden as a one-woman force sniffing out her husband’s political enemies, bearing the Biden family grudges, and weighing in on everything from campaign strategy to cabinet hires. More recently, Jill, seventy-two, was reportedly crucial in urging her eighty-one-year-old husband to run for a second presidential term.... Jill Biden has done all this without ever seeming calculating or ambitious.... Rogers depicts a harmonious codependence between the president and his wife: the couple typically spend evenings together in the White House residence reading their briefing books. She’s a confidante and gut check, though her influence has limits. 'Stop it, stop it now, Joe,' he recently said she told him about the slaughter of Palestinian civilians in Gaza."

From "Dr. B/Jill Biden is a barrier-breaking national figure. What are we to make of the wholesome, at times bland story she tells about herself?" by Pamela Druckerman(NYRB)

53 comments:

n.n said...

An Arab Spring, a Slavic Spring with benefits, Afghanistan soon forgotten, pursuit of social justice through murder, rape, and torture is no ethical vice. Excess murder and rape through immigration reform, and wholesale violation of civil rights. Diversity (e.g. DEI) breeds adversity. Throw another baby on the barbie, it's over.

NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...

What are we to make of the wholesome, at times bland story she tells about herself?

That it's complete bullshit, like most of what comes out of the mouths of the Biden clan.

tim maguire said...

She seems like a pretty run-of-the-mill scheming first lady. Of course she wouldn't describe herself that way, none of them do, none of them would.

The news is that the NYRB has decided not to play along anymore. That's the real "what are we to make of this" phenomenon. What does it mean that the firewall is breaking down?

Static Ping said...

She knows her husband is senile. She still wants him to be President, again, despite being a clear failure. Yes, of course, the wholesome story does not quite add up.

I find it hilarious that the author takes Joe's word that Jill said something. Joe says a lot of things. A large percentage of them never happened. The only question is whether he is lying or if he actually believes his own BS.

Butkus51 said...

Joe reads briefing reports like Bron Bron reads books.

Oh Yea said...

I’m sure Jill spends time consulting with the ghost of Edith Wilson.

Howard said...

This immediately came to mind

"Edith Wilson (née Bolling, formerly Galt; October 15, 1872 – December 28, 1961) was the first lady of the United States from 1915 to 1921 and the second wife of President Woodrow Wilson. She married the widower Wilson in December 1915, during his first term as president. Edith Wilson played an influential role in "President Wilson's administration following the severe stroke he suffered in October 1919. For the remainder of her husband's presidency, she managed the office of the president, a role she later described as a "stewardship", and determined which communications and matters of state were important enough to bring to the attention of the bedridden president.[1][2]"

Temujin said...

Nauseatingly sweet is what comes to mind. Not Jill Biden, EdD, but the tone of the article by the NYRB. I got stuck on "typically spend evenings together in the White House residence reading their briefing books."

Not sure the nation feels any better knowing Dr. Jill is on the case. Couldn't we have checked with my neighbor, the veterinarian, first?

Amadeus 48 said...

The lady dresses like a sofa. https://www.usasupreme.com/photos-weve-found-a-sofa-from-the-80s-and-its-made-of-the-same-fabric-like-the-dress-that-jill-biden-decided-to-wear-in-puerto-rico/

What does that mean?

Ampersand said...

Some Americans deserve a President and First Lady like Joe and Jill. Not me.

Read her doctoral thesis. I could have written something better as a 9th grader. She's an ignorant schemer and her power over Joe should strike fear in all of us.

Mason G said...

"In American Woman, Katie Rogers, a reporter at The New York Times..."

A reporter at the Times is willing to go out on a limb and identify someone as a woman, but a current Supreme Court justice declines to answer when asked to define the word. Is that where we are today?

Ice Nine said...

>a reporter at The New York Times, sees Jill Biden as a one-woman force sniffing out her husband’s political enemies<

Well, it's political enemies and not 13 y/o girls but she would seem indeed to be a kindred match for Joe.

Yancey Ward said...

Women get media fluffers, too.

Critter said...

Does her wholesome story include starting an affair with Biden when they both were married to other spouses? And when Biden had small children? Does she talk about how when her husband confronted her she unceremoniously told him to get out of the house?

Nice person that Jill Biden.

Ice Nine said...

>Jill Biden is a barrier-breaking national figure. What are we to make of the wholesome, at times bland story she tells about herself?<

I presume that the "wholesome" story she tells about herself manages to neglect the part back where she was stepping out on her husband and coinking some senator.

Cheryl said...

"Barrier-breaking?" Utter bullshit.

Any woman who could let her husband continue in the public eye as she has is contemptible.She is a schemer and man, does she love her Oscar de la Renta dresses she gets to wear in the White House.

Michael said...

She did not say stop it stop it Joe. Another Biden bs fantasy.

NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...

Now I think about this a bit more; Jill is claiming to be the Co-President that Hillary Clinton wanted to be.

Still think it's bullshit, though.

mikeski said...

Jill Biden has done all this without ever seeming calculating or ambitious

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL my sides hurt

Aggie said...

The picture that says it all, is the picture of Jill circa 2021, sitting at the President's desk on Air Force One, looking through a sheaf of briefing papers. She is a part of the Committee of the Appointed-Unelected that is presently the hand on the reins of the Administration.

NKP said...

Don't recall where I heard it but it's been suggested Dr. Jill was Tech Advisor for the film, "The Baby Sitter".

tommyesq said...

e recently said she told him about the slaughter of Palestinian civilians in Gaza."

Again with the casual, highly-slanted language. We have no real proof of exactly how many civilians in Gaza have been killed. Note that the Gaza(D. Hamas) reports generally identify 15-20-year-old males as "children," even though a significant chunk of this group is military-aged and likely taking an active role in the combat. Also note that, by all accounts, Israel is taking more steps to protect civilians than (a) is required by international law, and (b) than any other country has, including the US when it invaded Iraq and Afghanistan. So it is improper to refer to any of this as a "slaughter."

Iman said...

These people will choke down nearly anything, and expect others to, as well.

Just stick to wearing your lawn furniture outfits and keep yer yapper shut, Dr. Jill Puppetmaster. It will all be over soon.

Duke Dan said...

“Barrier breaking national figure”? Strange way to spell grifter extraordinaire

wendybar said...

Elder abuser says what?? She should be imprisoned for abusing her dementia ridden husband and forcing him to work at his age, when he doesn't even know where he is or what day it is half the time.

RBE said...

I imagine she might roll his dead body in a wheelchair into a bank to try to withdraw money. Her love for power and perks is why she encouraged him to run for President last time and again tis time.

MadisonMan said...

Jill Biden has done all this without ever seeming calculating or ambitious
If you don't look you don't see it, National Press Corps.
I am interested at how the knives seem to be coming out re: Biden. Chicago will be interesting.

mindnumbrobot said...

Gag me with a spoon.

Balfegor said...

Jill Biden has done all this without ever seeming calculating or ambitious

I wouldn't go that far . . . See, e.g. Douglas Brinkley:

So, in the Truman, I'm giving you two, Truman could have stayed on, and Johnson, and they both said, no, it's because their wives, their spouse, said enough.

That's not the case with Jill Biden. She likes power. She wants to stay. She wants some sense of revenge.


And she's obviously extremely conscious of titles and status (e.g. "Doctor" Jill Biden), which if anything makes her come off like a bit of a Hyacinth Bucket, only her husband is similar (e.g. his repeated claims that he was a professor at UPenn, and his famous claims about his class rank, numerous degrees, etc.). She absolutely comes off as ambitious, moreso than any presidential spouse since Hillary Clinton.

Breezy said...

“Stop it, Joe” — Jill

Is she responsible for the holdup of arms to Israel? Not so bland, if so.

Joe Smith said...

"Rogers depicts a harmonious codependence between the president and his wife.."

Codependent or leach?

And why the fuck does she need a briefing book?

So she can read it and tell Joe what is says, what it means, and what to do about it?

We already have the first (or second or third) female president...

Dave Begley said...

Like I wrote earlier, Joe's out. This attack on Dr. Jill Biden - a secular saint - proves Joe will not be the nominee.

gilbar said...

Jill Biden has done all this without ever seeming calculating or ambitious

seeming you keep using that word.. I no think that word Means what you think it means

AlbertAnonymous said...

Stop it. Stop it now, Joe …

She said about his hair sniffing ….

She said about his pants pooping

She said about his pets biting the help

She said about ? The border sieve? The runaway inflation? The absurd DEI picks for all these “show” positions in the government….

Jill sucks. But Whoopi thinks she ought to be Surgeon General because she’s a phenomenal doctor apparently…

rehajm said...

She’s not an elected official. She shouldn’t be deciding policy…or taking credit for it.

Old and slow said...

"The slaughter..." The actual slaughter took place on October 7. This is the proper response to that act.

Josephbleau said...

“e recently said she told him about the slaughter of Palestinian civilians in Gaza."

What does she know about the “slaughter”, that he did not already know? Is she an expert on the situation or just an uninformed blatherer? Like the phrase, opinions are like buttholes? Shouldn’t the president have better founded sources to base policy on?

Is she claiming that Beiden is ignorant of world events until informed by her?

The quote is just a cry from her ego.

Jersey Fled said...

Funny, but Jill Biden isn’t the first person that comes to mind when I think about who I hope my two little granddaughters turn out to be.

Their grandmother, yes. Jill, no.

Oh Yea said...

"...the couple typically spend evenings together in the White House residence reading their briefing books."

So Dr. Jill has the proper clearances and a need to know for the classified material in the briefing books?

Iman said...

They’re nothing, if not, a pack of fabulists. It’s as if they think people can’t remember what they had for lunch yesterday.

They are known as sleazy grifters and they should own it.

Sally327 said...

Democrat first ladies are alway amazing role models, smart and beautiful and clever, while Republican first ladies are always Stepford wives, phony, plastic robots.

We're supposed to admire the fact that Jill Biden wields her powers without appearing to be calculating or ambitious. That's so anti-feminist! I can smell the Enjoli from here (“I can bring home the bacon, fry it up in the pan, and never, never let you forget you're a man. Cause I'm a Woman!”)

JAORE said...

"Jill Biden has done all this without ever seeming calculating or ambitious."

Puuuuleeez.

JAORE said...

Does (Not That Kind of) Doctor Jill have a security clearance to read briefing papers?

Doesn't matter guess. She could go into the garage and read them in the Corvette.

Rabel said...

1. "When I was a child, my grandmother used to tell me in her South Carolinian drawl, 'If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything.'”

No. It's "If you don’t have anything nice to say [about somebody], don’t say anything."

2. "And she is now a barrier-breaking national figure: the first first lady in American history to hold a paid full-time job while in the White House, as a professor of English at Northern Virginia Community College, and the oldest first lady in US history."

The "full-time job" of teaching for $86,000/yr is just another scam that likely costs millions in additional security efforts for an occasional appearance in the classroom.

3. Digging through all the trash that accompanies the Biden family in the NYRB is not helpful to the President.

It's a good thing.

Michael K said...

Howard points out that Wilson's second wife, who he married while President, was responsible for some of the disastrous decisions of Wilson's administration. Thank God Harding and Coolidge reversed most of them.

robother said...

Like many a D.ED,Jill is a Commissar, ensuring Joe stays on the Shining Path.

loudogblog said...

"More recently, Jill, seventy-two, was reportedly crucial in urging her eighty-one-year-old husband to run for a second presidential term...."

So it's Jill's fault. Good to know.

"Jill Biden has done all this without ever seeming calculating or ambitious...."

Yeah, right.

Jim at said...

Jill Biden has done all this without ever seeming calculating or ambitious

That actually made me laugh out loud.

What fucking planet do these people inhabit?

Mary Beth said...

That actually made me laugh out loud.

Same. I mean literally laugh. Okay, more like a snort, but it was from the absurdity of it and the idea that anyone could write that and not need a long hot shower to wash off the ick afterwards.

donald said...

Does the First Whore have the necessary security clearance to read ‘briefing papers”? Is it typical for First Ladies to have those clearances?

Craig Mc said...

Do Americans remember voting for the social-climbing baby-sitter?

Tina Trent said...

When was the last time she actually taught a class by herself? Almost certainly on paid leave or they hired other people to do the actual work. I wonder what they get paid. No-show jobs, like Michelle and !Marcos.

I never thought I'd see a First Lady who actually made me miss Hillary Clinton's level of competence in politics, vile as it was. At least Clinton earned a real degree and knew what she was doing. This is a simulacrum of reality.

Iman said...

“Dr. Jill”?
IMO, if you are on a passenger jet and someone is stricken with a health issue and is down for the count in the aisle, the pilot asks, “is there a doctor on board?” and someone raises their hand and provides assistance, there’s a doctor.