The following is from Mr. Charles P. Pierce’s Saturday newsletter, which is subscriber-only, so I’m not sure the link will work. Nevertheless, it’s a lovely essay — “President Biden’s Brass Ones”:
… The president was uninterested in doing his job, spending most of his time in the residence watching movies on television. Staffers were initialing documents on his behalf. The aide on the scouting mission wrote up a report for the people who’d dispatched him. The first item on his proposed to-do list was that the new COS consider the possibility of removing the president under the terms of the 25th Amendment to the Constitution. It might be, the aide said, the only way to safeguard the national interest. He was deadly serious.
This account comes from Landslide, a book written by Jane Mayer and Doyle McManus. The year was 1987. The president under discussion was Ronald Reagan, entering the seventh of his eight years in the White House. The new chief of staff was Howard Baker, the former Republican senator from Tennessee who, as a member of the Senate Watergate Committee, had asked the crucial question, “What did the president know and when did he know it?” Now, a cruel variation of Baker’s famous inquiry sped around Washington,
“What did the president know and when did he forget it?”…
Last week, David Ignatius, a career sobersides writing in the Washington Post, wrote that the president should step away from re-election.
Biden would carry two big liabilities into a 2024 campaign. He would be 82 when he began a second term. According to a recent Associated Press-NORC poll, 77 percent of the public, including 69 percent of Democrats, think he’s too old to be effective for four more years. Biden’s age isn’t just a Fox News trope; it’s been the subject of dinner-table conversations across America this summer. Because of their concerns about Biden’s age, voters would sensibly focus on his presumptive running mate, Harris. She is less popular than Biden, with a 39.5 percent approval rating, according to polling website FiveThirtyEight. Harris has many laudable qualities, but the simple fact is that she has failed to gain traction in the country or even within her own party.
Suffice it to say, the “controversy” over the president’s age, largely ginned up among his conservative opponents, is not going to go into eclipse the way Reagan’s possible incapacity did. It’s too politically useful, both as a way to undermine confidence in the president and as a bludgeon to be used on vice-president Harris, about whom the elite political media has had doubts since the day she was selected. In pure political terms, Ignatius’ idea is flatly bizarre. While the Republicans are unable and unwilling to cut loose from a 77-year old alleged criminal given to unhinged screeds so unmoored from reality that they are a danger to commercial air traffic, the Democrats should voluntarily decapitate their national leadership and launch a noisy, uncontrollable primary contest of their own? This is a recipe for political suicide, or for a second Trump administration, which is pretty much the same thing.
In fact, I have never seen a politician who loves even the goofier aspects of his work than this one does. In 2012, he rescued Obama from the latter’s dismal performance in his first debate against Mitt Romney because he dismantled Republican vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan with a barbed affability, He took Ryan apart because it seemed like he was having fun doing so. He used the same technique against the former president * in 2020, but there was more weight to the tactic that year. And my guess is that it will have to carry even more this time around.
It is a terrible bind he’s in, and I don’t envy him. He should be looking back on a long and distinguished career. His full-time job should be Grandfather in Chief. He should be the national equivalent of Irish president Michael D. Higgins, a keeper of the American traditions and the national stout fellow. But that isn’t the deal he made for himself. In 2019, he put himself forward for more than that because he saw what a danger the incumbent was to everything in which he believed.
This took some brass ones. So did staying in the race after the early primaries when he looked like a pile of smoking meat by the side of an Iowa highway. He’s faced down all the furies of modern Republicanism without looking like a cutthroat. Looked at from that angle, his has been the most consequential Democratic presidency since before LBJ got lost in Indochina. Looked at from another, however, that looks like a mission accomplished. That’s what Ignatius was getting at, and it is not an inconsiderable argument. But it’s also completely moot. The president is going to be the Democratic candidate for the office he now holds, and he knows how old he is. Old enough may be the best answer he has.
This absolutely never gets old.
There is factional war *within* Republican party. McCarthy can't get members to agree.
And thus we have "Congress falters," "intense partisanship," and "shutdown looms." GOP mentioned about 8 grafs in.
I think they are just trolling us now. pic.twitter.com/Q9jYiEWhOt
— James Fallows (@JamesFallows) September 16, 2023
At least John R. Parkinson was shamed into deleting his latest tweet…
Depraved bastard @jparkABC deleted his post where he proudly harasses Joe Biden by screaming at him in the cemetery where his wife and children are buried, demanding he answer a question he’d already answered.
This is what @abcnews and @Disney choose to represent them. pic.twitter.com/JQdfYNvax2
— Democrats in Array 🏳️🌈 (@DemsInArray) September 17, 2023
Another Scott
(First linky works fine for this non-subscriber.)
Thanks for the pointer.
Cheers,
Scott.
Baud
ABC = Westboro Baptist Church.
Kay
Twitter won’t die because Twitter has always been about media people promoting themselves and their companies.
Elon Musk could lead a Nazi rally down 5th avenue and these people would be still be shilling for career advancement and book and Substack sales on Twitter. Rigidly conventional careerists, all of them.
narya
I’ve been a Pierce subscriber since they started charging for it, and it’s worth every damn penny. He combines a righteous anger with an eye for the absurd, plus a love of music and dinosaurs (“they lived then to make us happy now”), and a knowledge of history, so it is entirely my jam.
As for shouting at Biden as he remembers his dead son, well, there isn’t any excuse for that. At all.
Kay
I saw the latest cable news interview of Trump was a shitshow – pure promotion and softball questions.
After 7 years I no longer believe they “don’t know how” to interview or cover Trump. No one is that slow to adopt to changed conditions and challenges. This is deliberate. They’re promoting him again because they all benefit financially when he’s in power.
Gross.
Biden will win despite them. The sleazy NYC real estate hustler and his criminal cronies won’t be President again.
narya
Also: it’s clear that TIFG is determined to keep chanting about the presidential records act, when that does not fking apply in this case. It’s squid ink, designed to make the more normal among us think maybe he is being persecuted or something something. Why in the everloving phuck doesn’t anyone actually quote the damn indictments? Also too: the PRA says exactly the opposite of what he’s claiming.
stinger
I don’t think anyone should mention Biden’s age without noting in the same sentence that Chuck Grassley is 90 years old. (As of today.) Re-elected at age 89, Grassley was older when he began his current six-year term than Biden will be when he ends his second four-year term.
Baud
Maybe Park is auditioning for his new right wing bosses.
Omnes Omnibus
Drew Barrymore has decided not to be a scab. (bsky link, so I am not sure if it will work.)
Anyway
@stinger:
But senators (esp minority party) don’t need to do much. They can coast, unlike POTUS.
moonbat
Someone has yet to explain why going after Biden over and over about his son’s past failings is fair game but no one ever asks Drumfp about his currently mentally addled, clearly coked up spawn.
Baud
@moonbat:
The Village believes it’s acceptable to be disrespectful to Democrats.
Anyway
@Baud:
Demonstrates their independence (gack) and balls. Couldn’t hate them more.
bbleh
@narya: Agree on all points. Pierce is great.
As to that “reporter,” it’s the whole transgression thing. Trump has legitimized it, cynical assholes like this guy exploit it for attention and “branding,” and the idiot cultists think it justifies any misbehavior (up to and including violent felonies) as a way to act out their grievances and frustrations. He’ll get his clicks, they’ll feel a surge of righteous anger and hatred, and then it’s on to the search for the next hit.
They’re not just deplorable; they’re literally depraved.
eclare
Someone should tell John R Parkinson that he can delete that grotesque tweet all he wants, it will live forever on the internet.
bbleh
@stinger: @Anyway: and Trump would be 79 when he began his next term, FSM forbid. Oh and by the way he never exercises, he’s obviously morbidly obese, and his diet is truly terrible. The whole “old” thing is a manufactured issue, no more relevant than Her Emails.
Geminid
@stinger: I don’t see how these comparisons help. I think that when his age comes up it would be better to talk about how Joe Biden is in such good physical condition. It’s impressive.
citizen dave
Before we shut off CBS a few minutes ago, Face The Nation came on. UAW strike; how that could put brakes on Biden’s economy; “more bad news for Biden, his son was indicted this week”; something about Biden’s age, then a clip of a woman talking about how Biden wasn’t cutting it due to age, I guess.
I would like to ask these media assholes what a person would have to do to be considered a successful President, and at what point would they ever report anything positive about said President?
Scout211
@Omnes Omnibus: Here’s an NBC link.
This is good news, even though it took her far too long.
moonbat
@Baud: Clearly. I just wish some meta-journalist would pin these reporters’ ears back and demand to know why they are so eager for ‘balance’ when it comes to all other political hot topics, but are a-okay with GOP offspring criming.
BTW, I am known for longing after things I will never have.
MattF
I was for Harris back in the 2020 primary season— and that was with knowing all too well just how Republicans defeated Clinton in 2016. But I figured Biden would do, and he has, better than I expected.
This raises questions: mainly, how does Biden do that and is there a lesson for a future-President Harris.
Baud
@citizen dave:
They’re basically trying to generate a movement.
Anyway
@bbleh:
Oh I agree. Bringing up Drumpf’s age when talking about Biden is legit — don’t think Grassley’s age adds much to the discussion.
Geminid
@bbleh: A friend said he watched some clips of Trump speaking recently. He said Trump “looked really beat, drained, exhausted.”
I think the clips were from Trump’s speech Friday at a Family Research Council “summit” in Washingto, DC. DeSantis also spoke at the event.
Honus
@narya: “the PRA says exactly the opposite of what he’s claiming.“
This. I’ve been saying this for months. I haven’t heard a single pundit or commentator point this out, and it’s not a difficult concept.
Spanky
@Baud:
Well actually,
Nukular Biskits
Good late mornin’, y’all.
Was around for the earlier threads but was in lurk mode.
Beautiful morning here on the MS Gulf Coast, 81 degrees but with low humidity and a light breeze.
Sitting on the porch, sipping on my cafe mocha and watching the hummers duke it out again … LOL!
Betty
@Scout211: Drew really is a good person. Happy to hear she reconsidered.
narya
@Honus: and the thing is, it would not be difficult! Start the question with what it fking says, don’t let him ANSWER with it! “The PRA says that presidents must turn over all materials to the national archives. Not only did you not do that, it’s alleged that you held on to classified materials, and it’s alleged you moved them around to avoid having to turn them over. The PRA does not say that you can do whatever you want.”
I’m also interested to see how Chutkan responds to Jack’s request for limited restrictions on TIFG’s speech. Jack’s team brought RECEIPTS.
WaterGirl
@Nukular Biskits: You are doing some serious porch sitting these days! Perfect time of year for that.
eclare
@Geminid:
I guess TIFG was speaking there where he kept talking about competing against Obama and Joe getting us into WW2.
Alison Rose
JFC. I’d seen Parkinson’s tweet, but I hadn’t realized Biden was there to visit the graves of his kids and first wife. What a God damn ghoul. I swear, I don’t know what happens to reporters, but it’s like as soon as they get beyond local news covering cats stuck in trees and the opening of a new skate park, they lose every molecule of their souls.
bbleh
@Geminid: I’ve seen clips of him for quite some time — including when he was in office — where he looked like that (slightly bent over, low-energy, unfocused, kinda haggard), along with contemporary ones where he’s all upright and energetic and aggressive. Combined with the multiple, generally unrefuted reports of his habitual (mis)use of Adderall, I kinda think it’s beyond a reasonable doubt.
And this adds yet another heavy weight to the scale. Even if the guy is naturally somehow very healthy — digests cholesterol just fine, etc. — that kind of long-term (mis)use takes its toll. What happens if/when something snaps?
Alison Rose
@Betty: Eh…don’t give her too much credit. She did this initially KNOWING exactly how it would look, and she stubbornly refused to reconsider for a while even as people were begging her to do so. She got all high and mighty, acting like her show was the equivalent of the sermon on the mount. She’s backing down now because of how bad the PR got.
Nukular Biskits
@moonbat:
Apropos to your well-founded complaints about our national media:
With democracy on the ballot, the mainstream press must change its ways
Omnes Omnibus
@Alison Rose: Yes, it is good that she backed down, but, from her language, it is obvious that what she did is back down rather than rethink her position.
Nukular Biskits
@WaterGirl:
It’s taken some time for me to slow down and start enjoying simple things. It doesn’t come natural to me.
But methinks today is gonna be a do-nothing day.
;>)
Geminid
@bbleh: Aside from the influence of pharmaceuticals, Trump may be reacting to the pressure he’s under now.
My friend has this Ahab/Moby Dick thing going on with Trump, and has watched him speak a lot in the last 7 years. He thought Trump also seemed listless at a speech last week in Wyoming. A pattern? Too soon to tell.
Scout211
Yep. And I wonder just how many members of the crew and production team refused to go along with crossing the picket line. I would guess most of them.
bbleh
@narya: I’m also interested to see how Chutkan responds to Jack’s request for limited restrictions on TIFG’s speech. Jack’s team brought RECEIPTS.
Me too! The correct thing obviously is to take measured steps — perhaps starting with written cautions, then in-person hearings, then carefully tailored restrictions, and finally limited sanctions — as necessary and appropriate to maintain the integrity and progress of the case. The difficulty as observed recently is that he will just blow past them if he can, because transgression is a central part of his “brand.” And that sets up a collision, because she can’t back down, and he won’t back down.
I’m sure she will act appropriately legally. But there is a purely political aspect that might coincide very nicely. For her to order him personally into court with very little notice for a very public tongue-lashing (can they allow cameras on a case-by-case basis?) would dent his aura of invulnerability considerably. It would be humiliating for him and his followers for the Mighty Trump to have to come, sit, and stand when and as ordered, and be publicly lectured, all by a Black woman. He (and they) would be angry as hell, and it probably wouldn’t change his misbehavior much (might even exacerbate it), but it would cut.
JWR
TFG just now: “Look, my instincts are what got me to where I am now.”
No sh*t, Sherlock.
Alison Rose
@Omnes Omnibus: It’s “I’m sorry people got mad at me” instead of “I’m sorry I fucked up”.
Alison Rose
@Scout211: Yeah, that’s a good point. The people who make the show happen — because of course, the host of a show like that doesn’t do jack shit of the actual grunt work — would’ve been put in a position of either having to cross the picket line or possibly being out of a job permanently. She put people in an awful position all because her head is so far up her own ass that she couldn’t listen to reason.
Omnes Omnibus
@Alison Rose: That too.
Omnes Omnibus
@Scout211: Great point.
bbleh
@Geminid: also — hahahaha full circle — he’s just getting older. The health issues, the legal pressures, the demands of maintaining his public image (he may revel in it but it takes work!), and on/off cycles on the Adderall, can all contribute to both intermittent down periods and an overall down trend, but so can the effects of age. I guess the question is, how good is the “curve fit,” and how much data is required to reduce the uncertainty bounds sufficiently? Does your friend take notes? Record “scores”? We must have data!
Another Scott
@Geminid: Kinda relatedly: A colleague at work is around a decade older than me. Runs, isn’t overweight, sees the doctor regularly. Had a stress test, came out fine, no obvious issues. His only obvious vice is being a pipe smoker (which I’ve very occasionally needled him about for decades)…
6 months later he was having emergency triple bypass surgery. He’s much, much slower at work now. :-(
Bodies can very quickly change.
TIFG may stick around for another 20 years, or he may be gone next week. Nobody knows what the future holds…
Cheers,
Scott.
Subsole
@Spanky:
No.
Bullshit.
They can make a LOT more money and generate more clicks and sell more books ripping conservatives apart, but they don’t. Ever.
What do you think would grab more eyeballs?
“President charged with multiple counts of attempted rape”
“Presidential email server security practices come under fire”
Which one did we get four hundred hrotillion headlines about?
This has nothing to do with money. Nada. Zip. This is absolutely personal.
They look down on us. Ever since Iraq, when we suggested that invading the wrong country on the back of hyperjingoism born of insecure machismo and ginned up transparent lies was a bad idea, The Village has despised us.
They have treated us like irresponsible idiot weakling traitor children ever since, and it has gotten worse year by year.
They’re not greedy. They’re not stupid.
They’re pompous, lying, utterly vacuous assholes who will not forgive us for getting it 200% right when they got it miserably and entirely wrong. On every count.
Parfigliano
@moonbat: Also if Hunter and his doings are fair game then Melania and her doing it for money are fair game.
Steeplejack
@Kay:
I watched part of Meet the Press this morning but had to tap out after half an hour. Just dreadful. Kristen Welker—with an extra layer of makeup troweled on and her eyes set to dark Brandon death gaze level 11—asked punchy, almost pointless questions designed to get one-minute clicks and retweets and still let “Mr. President” (as she kept addressing him on every question) evade the questions and rerun his usual word salad.
What finally broke me was her continued questioning on abortion. “Mr. President, would you sign a federal ban on abortion?” Repeatedly rephrased and repeated after Trump dissembled and repeatedly lied that Democrats want abortions up to “seven, eight, nine months—even after birth.”
Welker: “Mr. President, the Democrats aren’t saying that.” How about it’s a goddamn lie, Kristen? And Trump kept repeating it! That will show up in all the pro-Trump right-wing media, so thanks, Kristen, for giving him a big mainstream platform. Job well done.
And, after saying that the Democrats are “radicals” who want abortion up to (and after!) birth, Trump said that he would be “almost a mediator” who would “get both sides together” and negotiate a solution (“make a deal”) that everyone would be happy with, and we would end the tragedy of 52 years of Roe. Yes, good luck mediating with the people you have been reviling as crazy radicals.
My review of Welker: I saw her regularly when she was the White House correspondent. She wore much less makeup than she did today, and she wasn’t as amped up. Her demeanor today was like “I’m really nailing Trump to the wall.” Yeah, no. Even though White House correspondent is a prestige assignment at the networks, it’s actually pretty boring—and it should be!—but Welker struck me as always trying to put a little DougJ Pitchbot “How this is bad for Joe Biden” spin on things. Usually abetted by Andrea Mitchell on her noontime show, who is constantly resisting the idea that her job is boring too.
I’m sure social media will be shotgunned with clips from Meet the Press. There was nothing “new” in the first 30 minutes. Maybe Trump confessed to paying for some abortions himself in the second half.
ETA: Trump said he did something that got Roe overturned and sent back to the states, where it belonged, but he never said what he did. That is something that has been floating around for a while, and I haven’t seen what he did anywhere. Unless he’s talking about putting three anti-abortion moles on the Extreme Court.
Geminid
@bbleh: I don’t think my friend takes notes. He does pay a lot of attention to Trump’s legal situation. From his point of view, the walls are closing on Trump. I dont think he’s just projecting this when he says that Trump is looking less energetic and more “down” emotionally than he has in the past.
My friend also gave an analysis of Trump’s speech in Wyoming. He thought that about half was off the teleprompter, and he thought he recognized Steven Millers hand in this part. The rest was Trump riffing, talking a lot but only delivering occasional buzzword and phrases, in a meandering way.
Cliosfanboy
@narya:
is it time for dinosaur news? It’s always time for dinosaur news !
Geminid
@Another Scott: Yes, “bodies can very quickly change, and “nobody knows what the future holds.”
I would talk up Biden’s workouts and good physical condition anyway, if the question of his age was raised.
Princess
@Geminid: I keep beating this drum but I think this is why Trump won’t appear at debates or in venues where he might be challenged. I think he’s greatly diminished and I think it’s part of the reason they harp so on Biden’s age — accuse your opponent of your weakness.
Ocotillo
It is said often that polls this far out are irrelevant because so much can happen between now and the election. The age issue with Biden is coupled with the horror of MVP stepping in should something happen to the president.
Well, take into account we have the unhealthy Trump that will be selecting a running mate. Let’s say, as some rumors tout, he selects Margie three toes Green. Or some other odious vermin which is inevitable.
All of sudden, MVP looks pretty dang good in comparison to these people who have concerns.
Anyway
Dump has skillfully limited true “live” appearances making it hard to gauge how much he’s deteriorated since he
leftwas booted out of his job. His TruthSocial screeds and that awful mugshot allowed him widespread attention without really being open to the press and public. But he can’t hide forever. He’s definitely lost a number of steps and it will become evident.Kathleen
@Baud: To paraphrase, he tweeted, “I shouted as loud as I could and he answer or acknowledge me”. One of my pile on reply tweets was “Look, Mommy! I pee peed in the toilet”. It had that vibe. Disgusting and we let him have it.
Kathleen
@Baud: It’s built into their business model and it’s lucrative.
Kathleen
@bbleh: Truth!
Steeplejack
@moonbat:
Edited.
Jackie
The guest link worked for me😊 Great article to start the day with for this west coaster.
gene108
Biden’s wanted to be President for a very longtime. That’s an itch that never really goes away for some politicians. He’d have run in 2016, but he was still grieving from his oldest son’s death the year before.
Kathleen
@Subsole: I think they hate and eviscerate Democrats because Black people wield a lot of power as voters and office holders. The same energy fueling the “Biden old so That Woman Ick!”
Kathleen
@Jackie: It did for me also. Thank you, AL!
Jackie
@stinger: But but but Grassley’s a Rethug, so THAT’S DIFFERENT!🙄
mbobier
@narya: Amen on both points.
Doug R
@Omnes Omnibus: Bluesky is of course keeping the garden locked from riffraff like me but ScreenRant has the story with Drew’s Instagram post embedded:
https://screenrant.com/drew-barrymore-talk-show-return-pause-response/
bbleh
@Geminid: Very low energy, very low. Low energy. Slow speech, very boring. Seems old, slow. Low energy. Sad.
cain
@Kay: The only way to stop it isi knowing that putting that clown in chief on national media platforms means that their own reputation is shot. This woman’s reputation should be shot with the Democratic party members and to the rest of us.
You don’t have to be dramatic, simply state that giving a criminal who lead an insurrection a platform and also not asking hard questions gives us enough idea of what kind of person you are and we are disinclined to share the stage with you.
Alison Rose
@Jackie: According to the media, Democrats age in dog years, apparently.
zhena gogolia
@Geminid: Is that the one where he said we’re about to enter World War Two?
NotMax
@Kay
The normalization of treachery, mendacity, malfeasance and misfeasance continues apace.
zhena gogolia
@Geminid:
https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-mocked-biden-us-world-war-ii-obama-2024-election-2023-9
zhena gogolia
@NotMax: “Mr. President,” when he tried to overthrow the government by force.
Omnes Omnibus
@cain: I can take the killing, I can take the slaughter, but I don’t talk to Sun reporters.
gene108
@Another Scott:
Family friend, with a family history of heart problems, had a bypass a few years ago. Exercised a lot, so his sister, a doctor, told him to request an imaging scan to see if he had blockages, because his cardiovascular fitness was so good a stress test may not reveal anything.
Something I’d never heard of about the limitations of stress tests.
Geminid
@zhena gogolia: The speech at the Family Research Council event, Friday in DC? Probably.
Another Scott
Maybe, in addition to everything else, TIFG is trying to avoid people to avoid catching COVID again??
Speaking of which, (I’d missed this) – Dr. Jill tested negative on September 7, 2 days after she tested positive. And POTUS never tested positive. Good, good.
Be careful out there, everyone.
Cheers,
Scott.
gene108
@Subsole:
Yup. Those best selling Trump books pretty much revealed mind blowingly negative things about his presidency.
Formerly disgruntled in Oregon
ABC is not our friend.
Meet the Press is not our friend.
The FTFNYT is not our friend.
These institutions don’t care about our country. They care about making money.
There is no liberal media. That label was always a lie.
M$M outlets are enemies to be manipulated and mitigated. They will never be our allies.
kalakal
@Anyway: He’s shielded himself from ‘true live’ performances since at least the height of covid. When Cuomo ( yeah, I know) was doing his briefings they were a great success and Cuomo’s favourabilty ratings soared. TIFG tried the same and they bombed. It wasn’t so much his physical state as to the fact that he came across as his real self – a fucking idiot. Remember such hits as injecting bleach, and internal UV light? Those briefings were live and we were treated to an hour of TIFGs ‘thinking’ in real time. The public saw it and once they stopped laughing reacted very badly from TIFG’s point of view.
Judging by his latest attempts he can’t even function with a teleprompter let alone think on his feet. A genuine interviewer or debate would shred him. His brain, never the biglyest and bestest, is just throwing up divide by zero errors.
Scout211
Thank you to the jackals who watched the MTP interview so I don’t have to.
On the NBCNews website, they have a fact-check article up that corrects TFIG’s
liesmisstatements in his interview with Welker. It’s kind of tucked underneath the “big” story touting the interview with “11 top moments!” Ugh.So they are attempting a belated fact check, but just like all interviewers, never to his face.
Jackie
@Geminid:
I’ve noticed when the camera zooms in, TIFG’s eyes are puffy and bloodshot, and his lower eyelids are angry red-looking. He’s definitely not feeling well and undoubtedly isn’t sleeping well.🎻
Geminid
@Scout211: I listened to about ten minutes of the interview just now. Trump reminded me of Fred Boggs, Humphrey Bogart’s character in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.
But that’s how I’ve heard the guy for a while. Now I’m waiting for him to start channeling Captain Queeg. It’s coming.
Steeplejack
@Scout211:
Inorite. All of Welker’s questions were shallow, punchy one-liners crafted to get clicks, and they inevitably led to punchy (or punch-drunk) “classic” Trump bits designed to flog right-wing support. Nothing new except the same old shit rephrased in slightly different ways.
LiminalOwl
@narya: I love Charlie Pierce, but it does bother me that the price of subscription just to him is almost the same as “all access.” Which in turn is less than a digital-only subscription. I know just enough about the economics of magazine publishing to guess why that’s so, but I really don’t want the dead-tree version.
Ruckus
@moonbat:
SFB’s coked up, mentally addled son keeps his useless face right out in public for everyone to see and hear. And ShitForBrains does nothing about it because he isn’t any better. Shitty in a different way but farther along the shitty trail and he WANTS to go down that trail. Coke Son doesn’t have much ability to do anything but rant incoherently.
RaflW
I know this is total pie-in-the-sky fantasy, but the only way I could accept Biden stepping down off the ticket as president is this way: He and Harris flip spots for Nov. ’24.
We get the same talented team running the Admin and working together. Biden answers two (bullshit) calls at once. He stops being the ‘too old presidential candidate’ and all these people who say he should remove Kamala from the Veep slot get their response: she’s not the VP candidate any more!
Well, it was fun to imagine 1000 pundit heads exploding. Now back to our stupid and enraging reality…
mbobier
@Geminid: 100%!
UncleEbeneezer
Biden’s physical health and mental acuity are both far better than his opponent’s (Trump) and better than the average person of the same age. We just got done dealing with a person in their late-70’s and one in their early-80’s (both of whom passed away) and numerous times we looked at them and wished they were anywhere near as healthy and sharp as Joe Biden.
RaflW
The totally insane thing about all of this? The freakin’ NYT reported on how a free press dies under an illiberal regime. Here’s a typical story from November, 2018.
Nominally, Origo still exists, but is owned by an Orban crony and is a shill for his admin. Maybe the former journalists never got jailed, but the individuals either capitulated fully, or lost their jobs.
I think all these future consiglieres at places like the Times fail to understand how ruthless and cutthroat the GOP will be to the media people themselves, should they win an Orban-style takeover here. Even after accurately reporting on it!
Juju
@Nukular Biskits: I have random traveling hummies buzzing each other as well. I have hummies who stay during the summer, Kevin, a male bully wanna be, and the mean girls who taunt Kevin, Heather, Britany and Ashley. I love watching them and miss them until they return the following early summer. The random hummies are a good substitute though.
Ruckus
@gene108:
Many (most?) medical tests have limitations in what they do and what they tell. You do the right tests and you get a picture, and that along with experience gives an idea of what road to go down to get to better. Often it’s simple and other times it can be impossible.
SFAW
@Omnes Omnibus:
Billy Bragg!
I take back all the terrible things I’ve said about you.
Well, except for your Cheeseheadedness.
Jackie
More fodder for Jack Smith’s files:
zhena gogolia
@RaflW: I like that one! But it isn’t going to happen.
zhena gogolia
@RaflW: Yeah, they are total idiots! I agree.
bbleh
@Jackie: this is the lead on CNN too, and to this non-lawyer it would seem kinda 100% proof of intent as well as an admission that he was advised by many lawyers that it wasn’t legal and he ignored them. When I saw it, I channeled a Trump lawyer saying “what the FLYING FK did he just say?!?” But perhaps I am wrong?
smintheus
This is promoting a tired myth about Howard Baker’s supposed integrity. Sure he asked that question, but it was meant as a rhetorical question that could not be answered. At the time, he believed it would be impossible for Democrats to prove exactly when Nixon knew (or learned about) the most critical specifics related to the Watergate crime and cover up. The question blew up in Baker’s face because the investigators got hold of self-incriminating tapes whose dates were beyond dispute.