He does a better job than I would have. This is from his remarks before he got on Air Force One.
The question he is responding to is an explicit variant of Kaitlan Collins’s question, to which he had responded curtly earlier. It’s a silly question, like the other “killer” question the media are obsessed with. I’ll paraphrase it: Mr. President, we just heard Vladimir Putin say the same things he always says. Why haven’t you changed his behavior? My even curter answer would be “That’s because it’s not how this works.” But Biden was much kinder. [There are cuts between the quote boxes. Bolding mine.]
I started on working on arms control agreements back all the way during the Cold War. If we could do one when the Cold War, why couldn’t we do one now? We’ll see. We will see whether or not it happens.
But what do you — I mean, the thing that always amazes me about the questions — and I apologize for having been short on this before.
If you were in my position, would you say, “Well, I don’t think, man, anything is going to happen. This is going to be really rough. I think it’s going to really be bad”? You’d guarantee nothing happens. You’d guarantee nothing happens.
There’s a value to being realistic and put on an optimistic front, an optimistic face.
He then goes through a litany (I’ve edited generously): “Look, you said the G7 wouldn’t buy my stuff. Did that happen?
When I went to meet with NATO — “Oh boy, they’re not going to be happy. They’re all going to be against Biden meeting with Putin. They’re not going to want that.” Did you hear a single, solitary syllable?
And the same way when I met with the EU. “The EU is not going to like the way Biden is operating.”
Now, what would have happen if I had said, before I went into those negotiations, “You know, I think it’s going to be really hard. I think it’s going to be really difficult. I’m not so optimistic about — I don’t see anybody really changing”?
I don’t have to trust somebody — we didn’t have to trust somebody to get START II. It wasn’t a about our trust — “Well, I trust the Russians. I can tell, man, they’re really — they’re — I can look in his eye, and they’re really very, very truthful.” It’s not that at all.
You have to figure out what the other guy’s self-interest is. Their self-interest. I don’t trust anybod- — look, I’ve got to get in the plane, but I’ll say it — you’ll hear me say this more than once.
It makes no sense for me to negotiate with you. It makes no sense for me to tell you what I’m about to do. It makes — not because I want to hide anything from you. Why would I telegraph that?
I’m of the view that, in the last three to five years, the world has reached a fundamental inflection point about what it’s going to look like 10 years from now. I mean it literally. It’s not hyperbole. It’s not like I’m trying to pump it up. I think it’s a genuine reality.
And so each of the countries in — around the world, particularly those who had real power at one time or still do, are wondering: What — how do I maintain and sustain our leadership in the world? That’s what the United States is going through right now. How do we sustain us being the leading, the most powerful, and most democratic country in the world? A lot is going on.
I don’t know about you, I never anticipated, notwithstanding no matter how persuasive President Trump was, that we’d have people attacking and breaking down the doors of the United States Capitol. I didn’t think that would happen. I didn’t think we’d — I’d see that in my lifetime. But it’s reinforced what I’ve always known and what I got taught by my political science professors and by the senior members of the Senate that I admired when I got there: that every generation has to re-establish the basis of its fight for democracy. I mean, for real, literally have to do it.
So, there’s a lot at stake. Each of the countries, we have our own concerns and problems, but we still — as long as I’m President, we are going to stick to the notion that we’re open, accountable, and transparent. And I think that’s an important message to send the world.
Open thread!
japa21
And this is why I supported him and voted for him. And he really told off the media, but with his usual Uncle Joe charm.
brantl
I liked other people better than Joe, before he was elected, I don’t believe that there is anyone I like better, now.
Baud
That’s really great. Also too, good message for Twitter. Biden isn’t going to negotiate with you or through you.
Glad he didn’t miss his flight. LOL.
David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch
Juneteenth Holiday passes House 415-14
Every Democrat voted for it. 14 republicans voted against it. BOTH SIDES!
debbie
@David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch:
Is there a list of the noes?
ETA Answers here. I’m sorry I found it.
David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch
@debbie:
The 14 no votes were all from Republican members of Congress. They include:
Omnes Omnibus
@debbie: Fucking Tom Tiffany. Voting against that from Dave Obey’s old seat. Asshole.
lollipopguild
Trump got down on his knees and kissed Putin’s ass in public, but the press thinks that Biden is not being tough enough on Putin?
Chetan Murthy
I read Joe’s comments, and …. wow, I mean, real evidence there of senile dementia …. NOT. Sigh.
debbie
@David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch:
The link I found included their reasoning behind their votes. Good god.
Mark in Algarrobos
Joe said that? I’m impressed, really. Of course the wingnuts will spin that into some shit, so he should just keep doing it. Make their stupid pinheads spin right off.
debbie
@Omnes Omnibus:
I admit to being surprised that Gym wasn’t on the list.
Wapiti
@debbie: Wow, Ronny Jackson, doctor and admiral, isn’t wasting any time in jumping on the bigot train. One wonders just how bad the command climate was in the medical units he was with.
debbie
I cannot imagine, whining that it should be named Emancipation, not Independence Day. ?
Another Scott
As I said downstairs, Biden’s really good at this public leadership stuff. Really, really good.
Maybe the press will get the message, but they didn’t when Obama tried to explain things clearly too (“Why would I do that??”). If they won’t get the message, at least the message is getting out to the public.
Thanks.
Cheers,
Scott.
Uncle Cosmo
The name that surprised me by its absence was Asshole Andy Harris (RWNJ – MD-01), anesthesiologist high on his own supply.
billcinsd
@Uncle Cosmo: and no Marjorie Taylor Greene or Lauren Boebert either
dmsilev
That’s one thing that both Obama and Biden do: give long answers that assume a certain level of maturity and intelligence from their audience,
Lets just say that there’s a certain degree of contrast with the guy who held the position in between them.
Omnes Omnibus
@billcinsd: It looks like there were six absent. I wonder who and why.
Another Scott
MVP had a meeting with Texas state legislators at the White House today.:
(Emphasis added.)
They’re continuing the very important work. Good, good.
Cheers,
Scott.
dmsilev
@debbie:
Guessing some staffer had to talk him out of the original version which used the word ‘spade’ instead.
Steve in the ATL
@billcinsd: nor Jody Hice, which means that the two most abominable reps in Georgia—possibly in Georgia history—didn’t vote against it. What the hell is going on down here?
West of the Rockies
On behalf of my CA district, I apologize for Doug LaMalfa. He is arrogant and dreadful in equal measure. He has authored no even vaguely useful bills. Yucko.
Raoul Paste
As an extemporaneous statement at the end of a long day, I thought Biden’s parting remarks were pretty remarkable
Skepticat
I was thinking very much the same thing today. As a matter of fact, I’ve thought pretty much the same thing since he took office.
Eunicecycle
It looks like my worthless congressperson Bob Gibbs voted for it. Will wonders never cease.
SiubhanDuinne
@David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch:
Did you see Sheila Jackson Lee presiding and announcing the vote count/bill passage? She was smiling so broadly I thought she’d gobble me right up through the TV screen. What a sweet, sweet moment for her as the Juneteenth bill’s chief sponsor.
rikyrah
Watching the Olympic trials.
Ledecky winning the 1500 meters. You couldn’t even see anyone in the pool as she was coming in for the win
I mean, it was like she was swimming in the pool by herself.??
I was like…’ where the phuck are the rest of the swimmers’
SiubhanDuinne
@David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch:
Andrew Clyde is the one who recently likened the January 6th insurrection at the Capitol as “a normal tourist day.”
David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch
BBC had a right of center think tank analyst on and he gave Uncle Joe highest marks on the summit.
Max Boot, similar in outlook, also tipped his hat.
Joe had a great week: G-7, Queen Elizabeth II, NATO, facing down “Pootie Poot” (as Dubya affectionately called him)
David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch
@SiubhanDuinne:
She did the late, great Barbara Jordan proud (who’s seat she currently holds)
SiubhanDuinne
@Steve in the ATL:
See my #29 above.
SiubhanDuinne
@David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch:
Not sure I knew she was in Jordan’s old seat. Lordy but I loved that woman!
H.E.Wolf
Thank you, Cheryl, for your recent posts. I’ve learned a lot! Much appreciated.
Suzanne
Joe Manchin looks freakishly like my OBGYN and every time I see his picture, I expect to put my feet in stirrups.
For that and many other reasons, I want him to find a new career in private life.
Ohio Mom
I guess voting for Juneteenth is an easy way for Republicans to
disguise the extent to which they’re in thrall to white supremacy.
They aren’t fooling me, but I’ll take them doing the right thing for the wrong reason.
NotMax
@SiubhanDuinne
Even being aware the extent of her illness at the time and thus might refuse, I so-o-o-o-o wanted Clinton to nominate her for the Supreme Court.
WaterGirl
@Wapiti:The Obama bros were talking on one of their podcasts this week about how hard trips like this are, but that they are also great.
Then I swear they started laughing and talking about they pills Ronny Jackson would give them on these long trips so they could keep going.
Another Scott
Yet more stuff happened today. brown.senate.gov:
Good, good. We’re a huge, rich country. And we will be richer when we have far fewer people suffering. It’s good politics, too, because there are lots and lots of people in Ohio (and everywhere) who could claim these benefits. Businesses would sell more goods and services to people who got more money…
(via LOLGOP)
Cheers,
Scott.
Subsole
@dmsilev: Ace of which suit, I wonder…
These people really do think they’re slick.
NotMax
@Another Scott
Cue Fox: “Brown Proposes Dearth Panels.”
//
Subsole
@Ohio Mom: Don’t kid yourself. They’ll be on Fox whining about “why we gotta teach race theory? We already gave them a national holiday!”
Or, expect Tickytuck to throw a fit about how we can give ‘the Blacks’ Juneteenth but don’t celebrate Easter, or some other asininity.
Betsy
@brantl: That is exactly what I was just about to write.
I rolled my eyes at his name eighteen months ago.
He is the best person for the job. Just right.
Ohio Mom
Another Scott @39:
And I thought I couldn’t love my Senator Brown any more than I did.
It’s a long way from introduction to passing, but Wow! Everything in that bill is NEEDED! It’s good to see it all laid out, giving the issue of support for disabled people the recognition it deserves.
In tandem with the American Jobs Plan (aka Biden’s infrastructure bill), which would increase the pay for direct support professionals (“personal aides”) — and now I am getting carried away — I could spend my final years in relative peace, knowing that that there would be a stronger safety net for Ohio Son after I’m gone.
I’ll get back to earth shortly.
AWJ
@billcinsd: There’s actually a kind of fascinating (in a train wreck way) civil war going on at this very moment on Trumpy Twitter over the Juneteenth vote. Half of the chuds (led by the likes of Nick Fuentes and Scott Greer) are roasting Greene for selling out to the libs, while the other half are defending her on grounds of “optics” and “picking the wrong hill to die on”.
zhena gogolia
Joe was great today. And so was Rachel V. Scott.
Steeplejack
The human genome.
(I love this meme in all its manifestations.)
Mike in NC
@AWJ: It costs these nitwits in the US House exactly nothing to vote on popular issues which may not be resolved for years.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch: And it passed the US Senate unamiously, so all the talk about the Republicans are going to stop socialism is just bullshit.
Tim C.
Yeah, I was very lukewarm on Joe last year. I felt he could win the November election, so I was basically “Fine… Biden…” but the dude is honestly exceeding my expectations on most levels. Also as a huge fan of electric cars, watching him drive the new Ford truck was a blast for me too.
Hell yeah, I’m now liking Uncle Joe.
NotMax
@AWJ
Anticipating The Onion.
“”Trump Announces ‘New Evidence Proves’ Birthdate of June 19th, Claims Holiday Is Really In His Honor”
Ohio Mom
Subsole:
Oh, I don’t expect Republicans to drop the rest of their hateful stuff — you are right, they’ll be moaning and groaning forever that they aren’t getting credit for being unbigoted enough to vote for Juneteenth. It will be a perverse sort of humble brag.
I’m just enjoying that they twisted themselves into pretzels just this once. In a small way, they’ve admitted they know they are on the wrong side of history and everything that is good and right.
I’m only sad that school in most places is out way before June 19 so children won’t be celebrating in class. Nobody loves making a fuss about holidays as much as an elementary school teacher.
Another Scott
@Steeplejack: +1
:-)
Cheers,
Scott.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
Or are they trying to drive them away again? It’s not like white supremacists are reliable voters. It’s like GOP really has turned into InSoc in 1984 with all the Double Speak.
Steeplejack
@Chetan Murthy:
Hell, it’s almost West Wing Josiah Bartlett-level stuff.
Chief Oshkosh
@Subsole: Actually, I always thought spade referred to shovel. In fact, I think working class Brits changed to the phrase to “call a spade a bleedin’ shovel” because only hoity-toity gardeners called the implement a spade. Come to think of it, though, my grandma called a shovels spades. She was a gardener, but pretty down to earth…
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@NotMax: Well played Sir. Golf Clap.
Steeplejack
@debbie:
Only 429 votes. Some abstentions (or “present” votes)?
NotMax
@Chief Oshkosh
Business end of a spade is pointy, that of a shovel is flat.
NotMax
Shocked, shocked.
JoyceH
Got to say that Biden certainly won the visuals this summit! That photo op in the chairs – he’s sitting upright, looking engaged and affable, while Putin is slumped in his chair looking sulky and definitely pot-bellied. What an improvement over Helsinki, when Trump comes out shuffling with his head down like he’d just been switched by the principal.
And maybe trivial, but I’m so glad that Trump left office before he could carry out his scheme to repaint AF1 in gaudy Trump colors.
Steeplejack
@Chief Oshkosh:
The etymology predates the racial slur. It was sometimes given as “Let’s call a spade a spade, not a garden implement.” Blunt, direct language.
Omnes Omnibus
@Steeplejack:
Speaking professionally, I say it is a terrible habit. Terrible.
Jackie
@JoyceH: Did Trump’s design for the new AF1get scuttled?
JoyceH
@Jackie: The last I heard, the new Trump paint job was still approved, but come on. I confidently expect that the classic paint scheme will continue.
Jackie
@JoyceH: I hope so. I love the classiness of the current color pattern. Jackie Kennedy chose it, IICR.
NotMax
@JoyceH
Not of any immediate concern (emphasis added).
PJ
@NotMax:
No. A spade can have a flat edge, and, in fact, many do. The difference between a spade and a shovel is that a spade is designed to cut (primarily into the soil) while a shovel is designed to push or carry (like a snow shovel).
NotMax
@PJ
I recline corrected.
Jackie
@NotMax: Maybe Joe will defer the final color scheme to FLOTUS?
NotMax
@Jackie
The two planes being readied are sort of factory seconds, having originally been built for but never delivered to a Russian airline which went bankrupt.
NotMax
@Jackie
“Whatever you decide on is fine, with one stipulation: no gold.”
;)
Uncle Cosmo
@brantl: @Skepticat: @David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch: @Betsy: @Tim C.: These sorts of comments are welcome, but they remind me of the famous one liner attributed (probably erroneously) to Churchill:
I don’t frequent this blog for profound political insight, as I would be repeatedly disappointed. Political capability here hovers around the level of stuffing envelopes, handing out flyers and answering the phone at campaign headquarters[1] – somewhat below “talking to and persuading other voters” inasmuch as most Jackals would quickly lose patience with people who don’t immediately see the complete correctness of their views [2, 3].
FTR I come here for Anne Laurie’s invaluable daily summations of the State of the Pandemic, outbursts of insight from the resident Subject Matter Experts[4], and the occasional post that sends me back down Memory Lane to explore a side path I’d overlooked for many years.
[1] And, most notably, raising $$$$ for organizations that (occasionally) do have the political acumen to use it to good effect. That ain’t chopped liver.
[2] Just like the radical Left I heard arguing furiously over minor doctrinal points in the Moratorium meetings of the antiwar days. I wonder how many of the more politically narrow-minded posters here are those selfsame “activists” after half a century of losing a few steps and a fistful of brain cells.
[3] Fortunately for the cause of liberal democracy, there seems to be no one here who has actually risen to a high enough level in a critical political campaign to fuck it up royally.
[4] So long as they stay in their lanes. Few are more arrogantly mistaken than SMEs certain that their acknowledged understanding of one narrow field permits them to assert authority over (and pontificate loudly about) unrelated areas of knowledge. (You know who you are, even if you’re too arrogant to admit it.)
Miss Bianca
@David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch: Honestly, kind of surprised not to see Boebert’s name among the nays.
lurkypants
@Steeplejack: Two Not Voting votes, Dan Crenshaw and Patrick McHenry. https://clerk.house.gov/Votes/2021170
I imagine there are still some vacancies yet to be filled which account for the other four.
The Senate didn’t have a roll call vote. Ron Johnson dropped his opposition to unanimous consent, though there were 60 cosponsors, so a filibuster would have not done anything but made him look more like an ass.
David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch
Alt-255