Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Disappointing to see gov. newsom with his finger to the wind.

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

Text STOP to opt out of updates on war plans.

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

Every decision we make has lots of baggage with it, known or unknown.

Not rolling over. fuck you, make me.

… gradually, and then suddenly.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

People are complicated. Love is not.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

Republicans got rid of McCarthy. Democrats chose not to save him.

I like political parties that aren’t owned by foreign adversaries.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. keep building.

The revolution will be supervised.

It’s pointless to bring up problems that can only be solved with a time machine.

This blog will pay for itself.

She burned that motherfucker down, and I am so here for it. Thank you, Caroline Kennedy.

No one could have predicted…

The real work of an opposition party is to oppose.

He really is that stupid.

Wake up. Grow up. Get in the fight.

They want us to be overwhelmed and exhausted. Focus. Resist. Oppose.

You are here: Home / Politics / Biden Administration in Action / If you’re looking for someone who’s young and athletic, go watch a fucking movie.

If you’re looking for someone who’s young and athletic, go watch a fucking movie.

by | 232 Comments

This post is in: , ,

I have been so busy with work that I don’t think I’ve looked at Balloon Juice for two days.

I don’t even know how Biden’s NATO press conference went, but I can guess that to the press it won’t matter how well Biden did – it will only matter to the press if he didn’t do well.  And even then they may make stuff up.

In any case, fuck what the media says. This is what it’s about.

Maybe this has been covered already?  If it has, it’s still worth sharing again.

EYES ON THE FUCKING PRIZE.

BrookynDad_Defiant

When I cast my vote for President Biden, I wasn’t expecting much.  I just wanted trump out of office.

I knew he was old.
I knew he had a stutter.
I knew he had a rep for “gaffes.”
I didn’t care.  Just wanted trump gone.

Four years later, things are different.
I wasn’t expecting that President Biden would be the most legislatively successful President in my lifetime.

I wasn’t expecting him to help expand NATO.
I wasn’t expecting him to lower insulin & inhalers.
I wasn’t expecting him to create & recover 15m jobs.
I wasn’t expecting him to bring manufacturing back.
I wasn’t expecting him to forgive student debt.

But he did ALL those things, and more.
He surpassed my expectations by a lot.
And he has more planned for 2025-2028.

He’s not a master orator,
He doesn’t move so smoothly
But neither did FDR from his wheelchair.

Meanwhile, trump is STILL a threat. He wants to be a dictator.
He wants to stay out of prison.
He wants revenge on his enemies.
He wants to take away from the poor and middle class and give to the ultra wealthy.
His Project 2025 will enable a national abortion ban to criminalize women seeking safe and legal abortions.
His Project 2025 will take away the rights of our LGBTQ family and friends.
His Project 2025 will transform the government into a loyalty pledge, not to America but to him ALONE.
We might never have another free election.

THAT is what is at stake in this election.

We can continue to progress with Biden policies, or we can let trump destroy democracy as we know it.

If you’re looking for someone who’s young and athletic, go watch a fucking movie.

I’ll take the old guy who needs a nap while saving democracy over the old guy trying to overthrow democracy who needs a legal team.

.

Reader Interactions

232Comments

  4. 4.

    Hildebrand

    The freakout seems to boil down to vibes and theatre criticism.  None of the ‘concerned’ people ever provide any evidence of actual cognitive decline, they just assert it, usually after pointing out that Biden looked or sounded bad.  I swear all these people really did think that The West Wing was a documentary, not a carefully scripted drama, and that if Biden just ‘performed’ better all would be right with the world.

    Welp – I think most people would rather have substance, and Biden has given that to us.  Seems like running on Biden’s substance vs. Trump’s fascism dressed up as a late-night infomercial is a good plan.

  6. 6.

    Snarki, child of Loki

    As “Pennsylvania’s Third Senator”, Biden has been on my radar for decades.  Yes, the various gaffe and verbal stumble faults. Those are MINOR; the main thing his Biden’s overall honesty and character and intelligence.

     

    You’ll NEVER find a politician that agrees with you 100%, but with honesty, good character, and intelligence, the results will be okay, and likely better than expected.

  8. 8.

    Hunter Gathers

    I cancelled my Defector subscription today.

    The site was starting to bore me, the comment section turning into a bunch of people yelling ‘Genocide Joe’ all the damn time poisoned it and Drew Magary’s slow turn into Dennis Miller with his ‘I don’t trust grown men around children’ remark in a reader funbag made me log completely off and I stayed away for a few weeks. I guess they went about two whole weeks without any posts about the immunity decision or the election and I received an e-mail a couple of days ago pretty much saying that they haven’t posted anything political lately because the comment sectioned turned toxic and that everyone needs to be nice when they do.

    Cowards.

    I am not paying that site to comment. I am paying to read the content that the writers provide. The comment section is just icing.

    Screw ’em.

    Gonna give that money to others who aren’t scared of their own readers.

  9. 9.

    bbleh

    Well but there have been DISCUSSIONS!! With (unnamed) people who (say they) are close (whatever that means) to (again unnamed) Democratic leaders!!!

    I really like that BrooklynDad rant.  Think I may forward it to some friends/relatives.

  16. 16.

    159 for the sta,ps.

    @Hildebrand: That and the FACT that the billionaire DEM donors are PAYING the Dem reps to come out against Biden.

    Fuck the lot of them with a cactus.

  17. 17.

    WereBear

    @Hildebrand: The freakout seems to boil down to vibes and theatre criticism.

     
    It was a panic reaction, which is rarely helpful and doesn’t look the problem in the face. Their face.

  18. 18.

    kindness

    The Purity folk are once again trying to shiv the Democratic Party.  I’m all in for Joe.  I trust him.  I trust his whole administration.  If Joe falls ill in the next term, I trust Kamela.  She’ll make a great President.

    The thing about the Purity folk is, it’s so important to them that they be seen as the real moral backbone of the party and no other points of view are worthy.  That’s where they’re wrong and that’s where they piss off every other Democratic constituency.

  19. 19.

    Almost Retired

    Jury duty has brought me a welcome respite from the Biden coverage – allowing me to focus on the administration of justice and the unusual smells in the downtown Los Angeles criminal law courthouse.

    I have a cautious and perhaps naive optimism that the upcoming Trump convention in Nuremberg will flip the focus and highlight the 2025 Project – which seems to be getting some belated traction – as well as the extremism of this version of the Republican Party.  If the media treats this as just another political convention, however, I reserve the right to be despondent.

  20. 20.

    john b

    The thing about the Purity folk is, it’s so important to them that they be seen as the real moral backbone of the party and no other points of view are worthy.

    In order to not make the same mistake, some folks here should remember to try to attach some good faith to the points of view that they don’t agree with. Especially from people who likely have the same ultimate goals as you.

  21. 21.

    Jackie

    Speaking of the media, Milbank has an opinion:

    Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank believes that President Joe Biden needs to drop out of the 2024 presidential race, if for no other reason than it would take away any excuse for the media to not shift focus back to former President Donald Trump’s profound unfitness for office.

    In his latest piece, Milbank reviewed Trump’s campaign rally in Florida this week and concluded that “from beginning to end, it was disqualifying.”
    He noted that Trump repeatedly seemed at odds with reality when he decried an economy “collapsing into a cesspool of ruin” despite featuring low unemployment, significantly cooling inflation, and a stock market at near record highs.

    Milbank also zeroed in on Trump’s continued tributes to the violent criminals who attacked the United States Capitol building on his behalf on January 6th, 2021.

    “Less amusingly, he said those who attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, were ‘hostages, unfairly imprisoned,’ who ‘should be out soon’ because of the Supreme Court,” writes Milbank. “And he announced that ‘we have nuclear submarines and five warships in Cuba.’ Was Trump publicly divulging the location of U.S. nuclear assets? Or when he said ‘we,’ did he mean Russia? Neither one was a good look.”

    Milbank concluded by expressing alarm that Biden and the Democrats were letting Trump off the hook by having the president stay in the race even as multiple members within his own party doubt that he’s fit to serve another four years in the White House.

    “But apparently this is not what the voters are going to be hearing about for the next four months,” he wrote. “Will Biden, the Democrats and the commentariat really allow this to happen? As a shrewd political observer once said: C’mon, man.”

    Gift link: https://wapo.st/4cP5arG

  22. 22.

    Kristine

    @159 for the sta,ps.:

    That and the FACT that the billionaire DEM donors are PAYING the Dem reps to come out against Biden.

    So what’s their real beef? That their taxes might go up? Or that Biden’s back-up is a Black woman?

  23. 23.

    EmbraceYourInnerCrone

    Thank you for this post!  I am retiring soon.  I’m a vet who now qualifies for care at the VA thanks to the PACT act, members of my extended family use insulin and need it to not cost more than they pay for a months groceries. President Biden has been a great President, and will continue to be.

    I am giving what I can to Four Directions and now trying to figure out which Dems in flippable or endangered seats I should donate to.  I have poor hand writing but it I can figure out post cards to voters I will try to do some of that too.  I have to be able to look my daughter and granddaughter in the face in November and say I did what I could to help Biden, Harris, the Dems and democracy.

    “A republic, if you can keep it.”

    –Benjamin Franklin’s response to Elizabeth Willing Powel’s question: “Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?”

  26. 26.

    WaterGirl

    @Regine Touchon:

    @everyone:

    If you guys want to post righteous push-back in the comments – I will mine the comments later in the day for good rants and people showing us how it’s done – for use in posts over the next week.

  27. 27.

    Eyeroller

    @Jackie: “We’re all trying to find the guy who did this” (insert hot-dog suit meme).  It’s sort of a reverse Murc’s Law, the press has no agency in what they cover.  We are seeing that over and over and over again now.

    If we change nominee that would result in a feeding frenzy over that and drown out Trump even more.

  28. 28.

    rikyrah

    Tristan Snell (@TristanSnell) posted at 7:48 AM on Fri, Jul 12, 2024:
    BREAKING: Joe Biden has now RETAKEN THE LEAD in the presidential race, according to multiple new polls.

    Far from a Trump win, the debate and the last 2 weeks have had a positive effect for BIDEN.

    Biden is the best candidate to beat Trump – and the only one who’s done it before. https://t.co/gFECM52Pdf
    (https://x.com/TristanSnell/status/1811744471156994373?t=9lzVyjs2xQpoJFNp0rQFug&s=03)

  31. 31.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Jackie: Clearly, the media have no agency in what they choose to cover. Fuckers. Bad faith is bad faith, and they’ve lost all respect in my eyes.

  34. 34.

    Eolirin

    @Jackie: Wow, that’s… Yes, let’s manufacture a problem to drown out all this bad stuff for Trump, and the only solution is for Biden to go away so the media stops and… Starts focusing on Trump? Instead of the next shony object that’s bad for Dems?

    Seriously? How about we hold the media to task for not doing their goddamn jobs? Why is that never the solution?

  35. 35.

    BC in Illinois

    @BC in Illinois:

    Bilques Smith continued:

    They keep asking him to speak w/o notes. They demanded he do so to show he’s not in cognitive decline 🙄 they can’t even ask one Q w/o their damn notecard or phone….In normal times it’s acceptable but if you’re attacking someone bc of notecards and u have to have one for ONE question…the attacks and hypocrisy are dangerous.

  36. 36.

    EmbraceYourInnerCrone

    @Eyeroller:  I want to ask someone smarter than me,  for all the idiot pundits saying Biden should step down, in favor of…Apparently some mystery white dude..it’s not like we don’t already have a fantastic VP (eyeroll) .  How would someone else get on the ballot as the Dem nominee in all 50 states, plus US territories? Did they forget that states control their elections?

  39. 39.

    The Thin Black Duke

    @Eyeroller: I think some folks are finding it difficult to accept that the MSM is permanently broken and there really isn’t any point to read, watch or listen to the traditional news platforms anymore. If it’s all lies, I might as well read well-written fiction instead.

  40. 40.

    M31

    @Jackie: “it would take away any excuse for the media to not shift focus back to former President Donald Trump’s profound unfitness for office”

    that is profoundly dumb on Milbank’s part, and completely dishonest

    if Biden drops out there will be a frenzy of coverage of ‘what it all means’ and ‘how will the transition work’ and ‘who gets the money’ and ‘what is the polling like now’ etc. etc. which actually would be real news and there would be even less coverage of Trump

    lol they don’t need an excuse to not do what they haven’t been doing

  41. 41.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    I am concerned Biden won’t be able to beat Trump like that fellow Biden did in 2020 when Trump was president. I think Biden should step down, and then we can run Biden, because Biden knows how to bet Trump.

  42. 42.

    lowtechcyclist

    @WereBear: ​
     

    It was a panic reaction, which is rarely helpful and doesn’t look the problem in the face. Their face.

    Yeah, but the panic should have worn off a week ago. What’s their excuse now??

  43. 43.

    rikyrah

    StudiGo

    @StudiGo_LLC

    “I think that we are highlighting one of our greatest faults as Democrats in this country, which is: when you have an op-ed piece by George Clooney, for example, but George Clooney has never talked to
    @MsLaToshaBrown
    or
    @cliff_notes
    Albright. He probably doesn’t even know who they are, from
    @BlackVotersMtr
    , who are actually doing the real work, people who are knocking on doors, who are registering voters. And what we are doing is highlighting that disconnect in our party.”

    https://x.com/StudiGo_LLC/status/1811591227948630293

  44. 44.

    john b

    @EmbraceYourInnerCrone:

    The nominee is chosen at the convention. The Democratic ticket is on the ballot in all 50 states. There could be some challenges to how individual delegates would vote based on some state laws requiring them to follow their state’s primary, but I would imagine that could be handled by Biden refusing the nomination and the convention would go to a second ballot where those laws would no longer apply.

    The campaign money would be more complicated as I understand it. If Harris were the nominee I have heard that that campaign could carry on with the Biden campaign money, but otherwise the campaign money would have to be cycled through the DNC.

  45. 45.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @john b:

    I’ve been around long enough to smell bad faith interlocutors for that they are. Commenters are given a reasonable chance to make their argument, and if they are incessantly repetitive one-note Johnnies who escalate and move goalposts with pushback and claim victimhood when others don’t agree with them, then they’ve outed themselves. I have no obligation at that point to “give them a chance.”

  46. 46.

    BlueDWarrior

    @lowtechcyclist: for some, latching onto a bad point. For others, maybe getting money from unnamed donors. For still others, just having bad tactical sense for this moment.

  47. 47.

    FastEdD

    An old friend of mine is a purity pony, but she’s not stupid. She has an earned doctorate, but her thinking is thoroughly in the vein of a tankie. She told me last week, “Why did Biden choose to prosecute the hush money case first? Aren’t the January 6th cases far more important?” It would take hours to unpack how wrong that is. Let’s see, how about a Cliff’s Notes version.

    Biden doesn’t prosecute anything, it is the DOJ. They are different.

    It isn’t about hush money and porn stars, it is about election interference and fraud.

    Yes the January 6th case in DC is more important, but SCOTUS borked the whole thing as well as others.

    The NY case was the only one allowed to continue and he was convicted. Unanimously.

    The layers and layers of dumbth peel back like an onion, and she’s someone who is “smart.”

  48. 48.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Jackie: Milbank concluded by expressing alarm that Biden and the Democrats were letting Trump off the hook by having the president stay in the race even as multiple members within his own party doubt that he’s fit to serve another four years in the White House.

    So, in other words “It’s not us the MSM fault for obsessing over Biden flaws like pack of teenage high school mean girls, while ignoring Biden’s most likely replacement is a bat shit insane fuckwit, The Democrats did it!”

  53. 53.

    Eyeroller

    @john b: That’s not 100% certain (that Harris would automatically be able to access the money).  Also the Republicans have promised to sue if anybody but Biden is nominated at this stage, and there are probably loopholes in enough states’ election laws to tie it up and enough Trumpy judges (especially at the SC) to have no D on the ballot in some swing states.

    Plus an awful lot of the ABBs want Harris gone too.

  56. 56.

    chemiclord

    @Hunter Gathers: Sure is fascinating how people with a platform tend to start thinking that courtesy should be a one way street, huh?

    Sad to have to add Defector to the ever growing list of self-sabotaging platforms, but at the same time, I’m not terribly surprised that they’ve gone straight over the edge either.

  57. 57.

    Eolirin

    @EmbraceYourInnerCrone: Until the nomination is officially Biden’s that’s not an actual problem, but there are rules for how the delegates have to behave, so Biden would absolutely need to step down. He can’t be forced out, the delegates are legally bound to him in the first round of voting. So he’d need to step down before the nomination is completed. Which is still, I think, set to be done before the convention. So there’s like two-three weeks. Doesn’t seem like he’s interested in doing that.

    Also, if it’s not Harris instead all of the campaign infrastructure, along with the hundreds of millions of dollars warchest goes up in flames, because it’s not transferable. That’s insurmountable at this point. So all of this we need a new candidate stuff is effectively fantasy.

    We’ve got who we’ve got, and we have to win with him. Fortunately it seems the debate was in fact a fluke and not the norm. With any luck that’ll remain the case between now and the election. If Biden also does a good job in the September debate, no one’s going to remember anything that happened in July.

  58. 58.

    WereBear

    @lowtechcyclist: I ran across something on Threads the other day, where people were discovering that in their very own, supposedly affluent suburbs, people were in difficulties. Kids don’t have bikes and can’t come to the fun rally kind of thing.

    Most people went through some form of hell. Which is always expensive and stressful and miserable.

    So many of them just want the disruption to END. Still not realizing, as I did in early 2020, that “normal” was never coming back.

    Good or bad, this car chase is now on the Bonneville Salt Flats.

  59. 59.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @The Thin Black Duke: I think some folks are finding it difficult to accept that the MSM is permanently broken and there really isn’t any point to read, watch or listen to the traditional news platforms anymore. If it’s all lies, I might as well read well-written fiction instead.

    Well said!

    I would like to also point out it’s also focus group designed to be  addictive.  Remember, the real function of the MSM is sell advertising, not inform the reader or viewer.

  62. 62.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @The Thin Black Duke: News-as-entertainment is quite addictive and works for all the same reasons that trashy, “reality tv” does.  I think a lot of people are struggling to come to terms with not only the fact that MSM/social-media lies and harms them, but also that they, themselves are addicted to the whole thing.  Kicking any addiction is hard and scary.  Especially when you feel like that addiction makes you a better prepared/informed person.

  64. 64.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @EmbraceYourInnerCrone:

    Partial reply. It skips over how exactly the convention would choose this mythological candidate and the chaos it would cause. Lots of other reasons a brokered convention is a profoundly bad idea, but they’ve been hashed and rehashed for two weeks now, and I have to start my daily tasks. Just a reminder that 14 million Democratic primary voters chose Joe, and to change that now would be a disenfranchising move that has a low probability of making things better.

  65. 65.

    ArchTeryx

    @kindness: The purity folk I truly resent are the expats who are across the pond screaming “Genocide Joe!” and “Vote third party!” I have a close friend who f’ed off to Norway to marry a Norwegian husband. At the time, I didn’t blame her – she lived in Texas during Ws reign. But when she started with loudly advocating for third party voting recently on Book of Faces and posting a never-ending series of Genocide Joe memes, I just told her flat out she was a Russian useful idiot and doing Trump’s work for him.

    The last few weeks have led to a full on nervous breakdown in me, and it isn’t even the end of the silly season yet. My life is at stake once again, and it’s really hard to ignore the fact that a bunch of people that are the stupidest, most bad-faith people in America are going to decide if I live or die.

  66. 66.

    rikyrah

     

    Salome Strangelove

    @salstrange

    This is no longer about Biden’s age, fitness, or capacity as president. This is about rich men using their ownership of media to install a dictator because they only see the short term profits to themselves and think they’ll always be in favor.

    11:38 PM · Jul 11, 2024

    Salome Strangelove

    @salstrange

    To a lesser extent it’s also about slightly less rich overpriviledged men acting as the useful idiots to those oligarchs because they are unable to see or admit they were wrong. Both these groups would rather see America burn rather than change.

    https://x.com/salstrange/status/1811622044871585992

  67. 67.

    lowtechcyclist

    @M31: ​
     

    that is profoundly dumb on Milbank’s part, and completely dishonest

    if Biden drops out there will be a frenzy of coverage of ‘what it all means’ and ‘how will the transition work’ and ‘who gets the money’ and ‘what is the polling like now’ etc. etc. which actually would be real news and there would be even less coverage of Trump

    All this, and of course, a whole new set of ‘concerns’ about Harris or whoever the new nominee was. A whole new set of chew toys for them to keep them talking about anyone but Trump for the next several weeks.

    At least Milbank couches his desire to see Biden replaced in the framework of Trump being totally unfit for the Presidency, so we need the Dem candidate with the best chance of beating him. But he’s crazy if he thinks changing the Dem candidate will result in the media shifting its focus to Trump. They could have done that a week ago, but they haven’t.

  69. 69.

    Jackie

    FYI, for those interested, MJ did a Deep Dive into Project 2025 on MSNBC this morning.

    The media is finally getting WOKE.👍🏻

  71. 71.

    Scout211

    @john b: The nominee is chosen at the convention

    Minor correction.  The Democratic nomination will be accomplished via virtual roll call before the convention thanks to Ohio.

    If that has changed I haven’t heard.  Jackals can correct me if I am wrong.

  72. 72.

    narya

    My friend lives in Appleton, WI, and she told  me that there’s been an ad running regularly that features a  middle-aged/old white guy saying something like “I’m a conservative, but my daughter had to go out of state to get an abortion when her life was in danger.” Any WI jackals seen it? It sounds pretty damn powerful to me. (I live in a blue corner of a blue city in a blue state, so the national ads never make it to me. Which is FINE.)

  74. 74.

    CaseyL

    A bit of an ad, here:

    Has anyone here heard of Ground News?

    It’s a news aggregation-with-bias-ratings service.  It collects news from any source it can find and presents it, by topic, with each outlet having a Left->Center->Right rating.  It’s useful for seeing how much coverage a particular story has, who is covering that story, and what their bias is.

    Dr. Becky (astrophysicist on YouTube) has recommended it.  I checked as many online reviews as I could find.  People do seem to like it very much.  The worst ratings – and there were only three bad ones across four pages of reviews – were mostly administrative (not getting a refund fast enough) and one person who said even having Fox/OANN/NewsMax as news outlets was bad because they’re nothing more than propaganda outfits.  (Which is true, but also the very point of Ground News:  See what propaganda outfits are reporting, right next to what more reliable news sources are saying.)

    It seems like a great way to see not only “what people are saying,” and not only “what biases are they coming from,” but also there’s a feature called “Blindspot” that shows you stories and sources you would not normally encounter if you curate your feed.  Which we all do.  I am concerned about being in an information bubble, but absolutely cannot bear the thought of even clicking on RW outlets – hell, I don’t even want to click on formerly-trusted MSM outlets anymore.  Blindspot gives me a look into what they’re covering, and how they’re slanting it, just by checking Ground News’ aggregation.

    Also – Ground News can give you links to the stories it finds, and analysis of the stories, but if the source isn’t free then chances are you won’t be able to read the actual article unless you have a subscription; e.g., most US newspapers.

    GroundNews doesn’t just cover political news.  You get to tell it what your interests are: politics, science, sports, lifestyle, international, whatever.

    Anyway, I decided to subscribe at the middle tier level.

    /ad

  76. 76.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @lowtechcyclist: Yeah, but the panic should have worn off a week ago. What’s their excuse now??

    Same reason many people enjoy being beaten or jumping out of airplanes, it’s fun.  The Lefty Doom Porn addict is the mirror of the eternally angry Right Winger.

  78. 78.

    WereBear

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: I noticed, years ago, how those early morning shows that played in public areas were so frenetically paced. Like the whole thing was fast-forwarded and had POP at measured intervals.

    Like it was for toddlers, but about adult stuff. So weird.

  79. 79.

    narya

    @rikyrah: Gotta say I enjoyed that. I normally watch and like Hayes–he’s been on top of Project 2025 for awhile, as well as several other important issues–and he has been more waffling about his own position, but I was pleased to see Harrison push back like that.

  80. 80.

    Hunter Gathers

    @chemiclord: It’s a damn shame.

    I friggin’ hate Magary, but Why Your Team Sucks, especially the comments, might be one of the funnist things on the web.

    Ray Ratto is a national treasure.

    Every Cybertruck article was hilarious.

    Making fun of the New York Jets is never not funny.

    It’s sad.

  82. 82.

    Kristine

    Saw a few mentions on Threads about the MSM behaving like a school of fish. They move not by looking ahead but by keeping their eyes on one another.

  83. 83.

    BlueDWarrior

    @Eyeroller: the only polling related thing that I’ve heard is that some Democrats internal polls are “bad” so therefore Biden needs to quit.

    I mean, that’s neat and all but how often is internal and external polling vastly different in the last 20 years?

  87. 87.

    ArchTeryx

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: I don’t. Doom Porn addicts have no skin in the game, they just think it’s a cute hobby, apparently. For people whose lives are actually at stake – like me, like my disabled wife, like POC – there’s nothing cute about any of this. It’s life-wrecking.

  88. 88.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: ​
      Um, jumping out of airplanes is actually fun. Just saying. OTOH, I also used to play rugby, so maybe I enjoy being beaten as well. I think I may need to go sit a dark room and think about my life choices so far.

  89. 89.

    Scout211

    All you social media jackals, spread the good news.  The Biden economy is thriving.

    WASHINGTON, July 11 (Reuters) – U.S. consumer prices fell for the first time in four years in June amid cheaper gasoline and moderating rents, firmly putting disinflation back on track and drawing the Federal Reserve another step closer to cutting interest rates in September.

    The second straight month of benign consumer price readings reported by the Labor Department on Thursday should help to bolster confidence among officials at the U.S. central bank that inflation is cooling after surging in the first quarter.

    The report also showed a measure of underlying inflation posting the smallest increase since August 2021 on a monthly basis. Financial markets saw a very high probability of the Fed starting its easing cycle in September.

    It was “Biden’s economy” when prices were rising . . .  it needs to be said that prices are now falling in BIDEN’s economy.   If he can get the blame, he can get the credit.

  91. 91.

    BlueDWarrior

    @narya: I think Chris Hayes has been my bellwether for “legit confused White liberal” for that reason. Too many podcast leftists have basically come to to the conclusion that Biden is cooked and everything needs to be thrown out. The how that happens seems not to be material.

  94. 94.

    ArchTeryx

    @rikyrah: And the Supreme Court just re-instituted non-compete agreements. They’re determined to nullify every single thing Biden tries to do. The SAVE student loan plan has also been partially nullified and they’re going after the rest. A court run 100% by Cleek’s Law.

  95. 95.

    Eyeroller

    @BlueDWarrior: ​And is there any evidence that it is related to Biden. They just assume that it is. Also when did these polls turn bad, or have they always been bad, are they changing as Biden’s polls improve, etc. A lot we don’t know.

  96. 96.

    KRK

    @FastEdD:

    More fundamentally, your “smart” friend doesn’t understand that state court trials have exactly 0% to do with anyone in the federal government, not just the president.

  98. 98.

    Mike in Pasadena

    @Almost Retired: The Beloved Clara Foltz Criminal Courts Building stinking, overcrowded, overheated, too few elevators, and don’t dare leave the building or you’ll be late for court and start jury duty over again. Expecting my summons again any day now.

  99. 99.

    Layer8Problem

    @O. Felix Culpa: Hell, some of those interlocutors are being “threatened”, with violence y’see, like Guachi and Bupalos.  They go full Dennis the Peasant (in Monty Python and the Holy Grail):  “Come and see the violence inherent in the [BJ] system! HELP! HELP! I’m being repressed!”  A couple of exasperated jackals exercising their hyperbole become the Balloon Juice torch-bearing mob of know-nothings tearing sensitive-minded people “just asking questions” or “going against the Party’s line” limb from limb.  Blood!  Gore!  Incivility!  Bad vibes!  Pieing!

    Stare at them incredulously for a beat looking for their mutilations.  They’ll probably say “I got better.”  People fight here and harsh words show up sometimes.  They must have seen it.  They read the blog, right?

    They’ve said their piece, they don’t get the desired reaction, they declare oppression and doom.  They’re not helping.  ” . . . there is always a well-known solution to every human problem — neat, plausible, and wrong.” — H. L. Mencken.  I wish he and Churchill didn’t have so many good quotes.  But yeah, the Win 2024 solution isn’t as simple as “get rid of Biden and we’re (probably) gold”  These are people seeing some extra water in the bilge deciding what’s needed is to chop a large hole in the hull to let that water out.

  100. 100.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Omnes Omnibus: Chill dude, I did full contact martial arts for years.  The difference from, say, jumping out of plane and doom porning is, a sky diver uses up that sweet, sweet adrenaline rush with physical activity and they feel awsome.  Meanwhile with the doom porner, they just sit there before the TV or the computer as the adrenaline slowly turns to poison in their blood and leaves them in pain.

  101. 101.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Eyeroller: The actual polling, such as it is, suggests that the candidate with the best chance to beat Trump is a guy named Joe Biden.

    Gash Darn it! That’s why we need Joe Biden to drop out and clear out for Joe Biden!

    (sorry for the bad language, but I am quite concerned)

  104. 104.

    Chris

    If you’re looking for someone who’s young and athletic, go watch a fucking movie.

    As long as everyone’s doing their fantasy presidencies, we should have a thread that dispenses with the pretense and just talks about who our favorite fictional president was.

    Harrison Ford?  Martin Sheen?  Dennis Haysbert?  William Devane?  Morgan Freeman?  Aaron Eckhart?

  105. 105.

    kindness

    @ArchTeryx: I’m sorry for you.  Your friend has not aged well.  It sadly happens.  On FB I have many people set to permanent ignore.  I don’t unfriend them but I’ve determined they are now nuts and I just don’t want that negative energy in my life.

    It’s similar to Bernie folk back in 2016.  They’re so determined to be right they have no problem burning down the rest of the party to prove it.

  106. 106.

    JCJ

    @narya:  It is a good ad.  I think there are two versions of it – one with just him and then another with him and his wife.  My TV viewing has mostly been Euro 2024 and Copa America lately as well as local news to check the weather so I imagine that is where I saw it.

  107. 107.

    rodwell

    I call representative (Mikie Sherrill NJ 11) and Senator Booker requesting that they both fully support President Biden and Vice President Harris.  The aid who answered for Rep Sherrill was very thankful for receiving the call and support for Biden/Harris.  NJ 11 is somewhat purple, so they are probably getting some negative calls.  Note I did not call mine other Senators because hopefully he will be convicted today.  He probably has other things to think about.

  108. 108.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Eyeroller: Of course, and throw in over sized ego billionaires who decided they are just the guy to fix the mess the peons got us in.

    But that that relationship of doom porn addict and the MSM feeding that addiction is the foundation for and give the above their opportunity.

  109. 109.

    karen marie

    @rikyrah: Two days ago I would have asked why Colbert is included but last night I watched his July 8th show. He’d been off for two weeks, so it was his first show since the debate. He basically said Biden should step down and piled on with the “he’s old” shit.  Very disappointing.

  110. 110.

    TBone

    Tired of the narrative? I get the FREE weekly newsletter emails from this alternative-to-doom source.  They’re going biweekly now.

    This is our free, weekly roundup of good news for people and the planet. If someone forwarded this, you can subscribe here. Check out the TED talk. Listen to our podcast. Our premium edition comes with energy and science news plus the best bits of the internet, and one third of our subscriber fees goes to charity. If you’d like to unsubscribe, there’s a link at the end.

    https://fixthenews.com/

  111. 111.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @O. Felix Culpa: Also, if you look at contentious threads you will see many of us making good-faith attempts to reason with them repeatedly.  There are threads with 500+ comments where almost half of them are precisely that.  They’ve been given the benefit of the doubt, over and over and over and over.  Sometimes for YEARS!!  It actually takes quite a long time before even I will move someone into permanent-troll category.  They have to show a pretty extensive pattern & practice of shit-stirring, refusing to listen, doubling down etc.  At least for long-time commenters.  New trolls, new name, just arrived during divisive times I will Pie in a heart-beat.  They have to earn the benefit of the doubt because too many trolls are drawn to this shit and being quick with the pie-trigger is the best policy for them, imo.

  114. 114.

    Lyrebird

    @rikyrah: Is George Clooney on htere?

    He is an actor, right?

     

    Also, THANK YOU for bringing these gems here onto BJ.

    I don’t know how this will come out, but even without all the disrespect to our Vice Prez, any time I hear someone cut down Biden with something petty or act like their own vote is too precious to be given to anyone not This or That, I think, sounds mighty white to me.  ETA: I will repeat to be clear yep I am a white middle-aged suburbanite

  115. 115.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @WereBear: They are in an apocalyptic death cult. Even if they don’t realize it.

    Yes, and it looks like that Project 2025 is them starting the inevitable murder/suicide stage.

    Incidentally, let me note how Brentbart died from a heart while try to walk off a flame war with another rightwinder.

  117. 117.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @BlueDWarrior: Hayes is friends with a lot of the Leftier-Than-Thou Progressives like Brian Beutler as much as he’s also friends with Wasserman, McArdle etc.  And the Leftists probably have far more influence on him based on his relatively-liberal stances.

  118. 118.

    Layer8Problem

    @kindness:  People I care about have gone nuts with fear and panic, during the FG administration and now, and I firmly believe it’s at least half orchestrated by media owners, rich narcissists, a national political party, and unfriendly nation-states acting in concert.  People are in pain and these bastards are causing it.  People have legitimate fears about what will happen to them.  My reaction is to get pissed off and obstinate, while trying to comfort as best I can.

  121. 121.

    EZSmirkzz

    Just to interject for a moment, the point of all this is win elections. You’re entitled to your opinion just as I am entitled to mine.

    The reality of this situation is if Biden stays in, he will be the nominee, no second guessing by the little people and fable objective US media will change that.

    If Trump shows up wearing pants, he’s all good with them. Deal with it. What about Hillary’s emails? Howard Deans yearg? Bill Clinton’s smoking cigars in no parking zones.  O’Bummer wore a brown suit!!!  You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but fool me twice don’t  get fooled again.

    Fuck those people and the horses they rode in on in their dirty laundry.

    We have choice between a fascist state and an old man who sounds like an old man.

  123. 123.

    narya

    @UncleEbeneezer: Well, and, his wife (Kate Shaw) clerked for a SC Justice and is extremely smart, so he’s also getting the legal end of things, from her as well as from the rest of the Strict Scrutiny crew. I don’t always agree with him, and he makes missteps (don’t we all . . .) but he also does stuff like have Judith Butler and Jason Kander on his podcast (not at the same time, LOL). He’s also really good on the climate stuff. He’s been running a series on the podcast about the stakes of this election, explicitly, not just the horserace. I don’t want to stan too much for him, but trying to find someone who’s going to actually inform me has been an adventure.

  126. 126.

    UncleEbeneezer

    Alternative: if you want someone young and athletic you can also watch Wimbledon!  It’s on right now.  And tomorrow’s Women’s Final features Italian player Jasmine Paolini who is really exciting and has a very interesting backstory:

    Who Is Jasmine Paolini, And Why Are Black People Rooting For Her?

    Heading into Wimbledon, most outside of the tennis world had probably never heard of Italian player, Jasmine Paolini.

    But after beating Donna Vekić in Thursday’s semi-final match to advance to the Wimbledon Final, people are starting to circulate her name.

    And, most are surprised, many pleasantly, to learn that the Italian player has Black roots.

    Paolini, who will make her first Wimbledon Finals appearance on Saturday, hails from Italy but her mother has Ghanaian roots.

    “People the general public who are Serena fans or Coco fans are now finding out about her roots,” said Courtside Coffee creator and First and Pen contributor, Merlisa Lawrence Corbett.

    One look at Paolini and it’s obvious she’s Black; her hair alone gives it away. But her background has more to it.

    Her father, Ugo Paolini, is Italian but her mother, Jacqueline, has Polish, Danish and Ghanaian roots as her father was from Ghana and her mother was Polish. Jasmine also speaks English, Italian and Polish.

    Her multicultural background, coupled with her diminutive height (5’4), aggressive and fearless style of play and her big smile makes her endearing to follow, especially to those looking for an underdog with a great story to follow and support.

  130. 130.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @narya: I’m not a Hayes-hater.  I think he’s gone off the deep end here, but like Ezra Klein and the PSA crew I think Hayes still does some good work but just has some of the same blind-spots and is sometimes very wrong on some stuff.  And this is one of those times when they are all deeply and embarrassingly wrong.  I’ll probably tune them out for a long time because of it though.  But they all usually have pretty good insights, on the whole, which is why their current behavior is so damn disappointing.

  131. 131.

    bbleh

    @Eolirin: I like “shony”: sort of a portmanteau of “shiny” and “phony.”

    Plus you can make jokes about “the shony you rode in on.”

  132. 132.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Layer8Problem: Actually, I have! 😀 And it does help.

    preach it then!

    You out there with anxiety attack!

    Yes, I am talking to you!

    Turn off the TV, turn off the computer, turn off the cell phone and do something!

    No I don’t mean donate, do something physical; take a walk, go to the gym, wrestle an alligator if you live in Florida, just do something requiring physical activity!

    Listen to Layer8Problem here! (warning: suggest practice may result in an  increased heart attack risk if one is a morbidly obese right wing internet troll)

  134. 134.

    rikyrah

    LadyGrey 

    @TWLadyGrey

    The media and the panickers jumped the shark and now have no credibility left to discuss this election. He clearly doesn’t have dementia. He’s not in cognitive decline. He’s not sundowning. He’s not frail. He doesn’t go to bed at 8PM and doesn’t stop functioning at 4. Liars.

    10:56 PM · Jul 11, 2024
    ·

    2,862
    Views

  135. 135.

    matt

    The press conference went great, but now they’re judging Biden like Russian gymnastics judges at the Olympics.

  136. 136.

    bbleh

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: Remember, the real function of the MSM is sell advertising, not inform the reader or viewer.

    Yes!  And also to boost the careers of self-serving “journalists,” who pursue (and embellish, and sometimes downright invent) stories they think will gain them notice, access, and admiration.

    But you’re right about the main point: they are now an industry dedicated more to entertainment than to information.

  140. 140.

    The Thin Black Duke

    “As the age of television progresses the Reagans will be the rule, not the exception. To be perfect for television is all a President has to be these days.”–Gore Vidal

  141. 141.

    scav

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: Weed! It’s practical and beneficial.  Plus, with a hori-hori, there’s a stabbing motion put to good use.  Nettles tremble before me.  Caught myself attempting to quote from Henry V this am.  No, not that one.  The stiffen up the sinews one.  Cry Harry for England and no damn weeds! Mothers shall but smile to see their seedlings etc, to jump the track a bit.  Hi ho, hi ho . . .

  143. 143.

    eclare

    @O. Felix Culpa:

    He has always come across as a Bro to me.  I don’t watch his show, that is the impression that I get seeing him on other shows.  When he is on with Seth Meyers they are insufferable.

  144. 144.

    Captain C

    @rikyrah: Perhaps having the feckless FTFNYT as a declared blood enemy is a good thing, as the FTFNYT provides a good elitist (and bullshitting) foil for Uncle Joe to push back on.

  145. 145.

    Captain C

    @BC in Illinois:

    Your reporters LITERALLY used NOTECARDS to ask questions.

    Tell me…why are you holding someone up to standards you yourself cannot achieve?

    Perhaps they think everyone is as stupid or stupider than them so they figure no one will notice.

  146. 146.

    kwAwk

    “If you’re looking for someone who’s young and athletic, go watch a fucking movie.”

     

    I find this amusing as when people say they’re looking for someone younger, they’re talking about someone in their 50’s.

    Gavin Newsom – 56
    Gretchen Witmer – 52
    Kamala Harris – 59

    People are tired of the reign of the Baby Boomers.  They have had their 34 years at the helm.  It’s time for them to bow out.   For all of you who are saying that 75 isn’t old, the average life expectancy in this country is 76.33 years.  75 is fucking old

    When Joe Biden was younger and know for making gaffes, it generally meant that he said something that he wasn’t supposed to say, like when he got out in front of Obama on gay marriage.

  147. 147.

    rikyrah

    @rodwell:

    Note I did not call mine other Senators because hopefully he will be convicted today.  He probably has other things to think about.

    BWA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA

  148. 148.

    Captain C

    @EmbraceYourInnerCrone:

    I want to ask someone smarter than me,  for all the idiot pundits saying Biden should step down, in favor of…Apparently some mystery white dude

    It’s them.  I’m starting to think each pundit has a fantasy in which they are drafted at the convention and save the world with a [predictably banal] speech.  They get to be the hero without having to do any of the work or make any of the hard choices.

  149. 149.

    Al Rennick

    First-term Rep. Brittany Pettersen (D-Colo.) became the 18th Democratic member of Congress to demand President Joe Biden abandon his reelection bid in a statement released Friday morning.

    “Joe Biden saved our country once, and I’m joining the growing number of people in my district and across the country to ask him to do it again,” she said. “Please pass the torch to one of our many capable Democratic leaders so we have the best chance to defeat Donald Trump.”

    Pettersen, who won her seat in 2022 by about 15 points, called the decision “so painful” and credited Biden as “a big reason I went down the path of public service myself” but said “my son and my constituents can’t suffer the consequences of inaction at this critical moment.”

    https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2024/07/12/congress/another-dem-wants-biden-out-00167805

  151. 151.

    Emily B.

    Clooney’s op-ed seemed fundamentally unserious to me in terms of the solution he was advocating for. Some kind of mega-debate among “several strong Democrats”? At least two of the ones he named have said they are not interested in running in 2024. And in this debate, no one criticizes anyone else—really? And then we all head off to the convention to “figure it out.” Who makes the final call?

    I feel like this script needs a little work….

  152. 152.

    oldgold

    Dow Jones just hit an all time high.

    Looks promising that it will close above 40,000 for first time.

    Biden needs to call a news conference and/or go to NYSE and ring the damn bell.

    This administration, like Obama’s, has been way too reluctant to CROW over good news.  Drive the news. Force the damnable media to cover this.

  154. 154.

    cmorenc

    What would definitively end the speculation and in-house D dissent is for Pelosi and Obama to stand literally alongside Biden at a press conference ASAP and say: he is our nominee, end of story.  Not separate comments to reporters just seemingly supportive but elliptical enough to be subject to interpretation.

  155. 155.

    Chris Johnson

    @Almost Retired: Watch for if they’re really WEIRD about it! They might need to completely edit, hide and not cover it! There’s a lot of possible conflict that wouldn’t help Trump, and drama you would not believe. Only beginning with the Veep thing.

    If I’m correct, the coverage will be suspiciously weird or totally off the wall. We’re already looking askance at the MSM. This might be a real pants-on-head moment for them.

  156. 156.

    rodwell

    @eclare:  Call directly went to voicemail.  Left a message stating that I support President Biden and VP Harris and asked that he support them also.

  157. 157.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @moonbat: Now they will move to demanding everyone memory-hole this whole affair and grant them full and immediate forgiveness.  It’s the childish, selfish, go-to move of anyone who picks a fight and then gets their ass kicked.  Almost-none of them will ever admit they were wrong or apologize for the damage they’ve done.  The onus will be on the rest of us to be the adults in the room for the sake of unity, completely erasing the fact that the shit-stirring was designed to erode said unity.  And most of us will do just that because we actually do care about unity and winning and we know to prioritize that over our own personal feelings.

  158. 158.

    moonbat

    @CaseyL: I mentioned it in a thread a week ago I think. Looks like a good way to keep yourself honest when it comes to sifting through media bias.

  159. 159.

    eclare

    @rodwell:

    Thanks!  I called my rep a few days ago, local office.  The person that I spoke with said that he would pass my comments along, although I’m not really worried.  My senators are RWNJ’s.

  160. 160.

    Chris Johnson

    @The Thin Black Duke: Getting easier for those folk to contemplate the idea, though.

    It’s deeply embarrassing how much it takes. They were kinda dead to me by ‘butter emails’, but none of us really had a sense of what it meant. Lot harder to miss, these days.

  161. 161.

    ToocanAnj

    @EmbraceYourInnerCrone: I’ve read numerous tweets from Clerks of Elections that disagree it would be an easy fix. Also, GOP AG’s will probably launch court cases to keep any replacement off the ballot.

  162. 162.

    Archon

    @Emily B.:

    This push to get Biden out does not involve giving the reins to Kamala Harris. The donor class has somebody else in mind.

  163. 163.

    Mike in NC

    The media is starting to highlight the far right’s Project 2025, the blueprint for Fat Bastard to rule us as dictator for life. Might be too little, too late. Read a scary article on how if he were back in the White House, he’d whine about being cheated in 2020, so he’ll declare being candidate again in 2028. Does anybody doubt that the fascist Supreme Court would rule him eligible?

  164. 164.

    kwAwk

    @Emily B.: Nobody is going to declare a candidacy for the nomination until it is clear that Biden is either out or throwing the nomination open.  It has to come from Biden.  As soon as a Witmer or Newsome declared interest in the nomination before Biden allowed, the Biden folks would immediately start calling them traitors, and it would lead to really bad blood.

    The final decision would be up to the delegates to the national convention just as it was up until 1972.  In historical terms, the primary system is still relatively new.

  165. 165.

    Chris Johnson

    @Eolirin: We’ve got who we NEED.

    Who among the people being put forth (against their will) could ride a malicious shitstorm like this out, and keep faith with their allies foreign and domestic, and not freak out and wreck everything?

    I’m going to remember how Kamala was as faithful as Joe was when HE was Veep. I’m going to remember how this team rode out this period, keeping nearly all the congressional Dems on board even when there’s infinite celebrity and dirty money in breaking faith.

    I’m going to remember how the radical left like AOC not only have Joe’s back, but are taking point on things like trying to impeach rogue Supreme Court justices.

    We don’t have perspective mid-battle, not when it’s this messy. I’ve felt I understood what was happening and reality has tended to confirm what I thought was going on. And now, it looks to me like the Democratic Party is in fact up to speed and aware of the same dangers. And it ain’t bloopers that is the danger.

  166. 166.

    Archon

    @kwAwk: This argument is hilarious to me. “Primary voters can’t mad we ignored their vote, in historical terms this system is new”.

    Good luck with that.

  167. 167.

    Mike E

    @Hildebrand: The freakout seems to boil down to vibes and theatre criticism.

    Say the names. I will offer one extremely disappointing standout: Rachel Maddow. MSNBC is shit, and I would advise the president to not give those hacks any more opportunities to kneecap him.

  169. 169.

    Eyeroller

    If you’re wondering what this is really all about, “donors” have now threatened to withhold $90M in donations to a SuperPAC if Biden doesn’t exit.  I’d like to know their names (we can guess at least one).

    The Supreme Court gutting campaign-finance laws started us on the path to losing our democracy.

  170. 170.

    kwAwk

    @Archon: Nobody of note challenged Joe Biden in the primaries out of respect and courtesy to him as the sitting President.  It’s not a valid argument to say his voters would be disenfranchised as they really were not given another option to vote for.

    If Biden is in a position where he become a negative to the party, it is incumbent upon him to recognize this and take appropriate action.

  171. 171.

    tam1MI

    @Eyeroller: Also, angry donors (many from the entertainment industry) and Obama boys and washed-up pundits and the “prestige” media are keeping it going for all they are worth.

    A poster on Daily Kos is calling the bedwetting Dems the Leroy Jenkins Caucus. I like that turn of phrase, I may yoink it!

  176. 176.

    Old School

    @kwAwk:

    Nobody of note challenged Joe Biden in the primaries out of respect and courtesy to him as the sitting President.

    And because they didn’t think they could win.  Don’t forget that reason.

  177. 177.

    WaterGirl

    @Eolirin: Oh my gosh, I started that post and then got so busy with work.  Thanks for the reminder!

    Hoping to come up for air this weekend. I think I have at least half a dozen posts open in tabs that I started to put together and then got too busy.

  178. 178.

    kwAwk

    @zhena gogolia: It is something that needs to be talked about.  Biden may stay in the race, he may not.

    But he needs to know that people are upset and that we’re not going to accept a sub-parr campaign.

  179. 179.

    kwAwk

    @Old School: Not necessarily.  The did it because the damage to the party would make it so that the party couldn’t win.

    Winning the nomination at the expense of winning the Presidency wouldn’t make you a very popular person in the Democratic Party.

  180. 180.

    moonbat

    Okay, that tears it.

    I just donated another $81 to Joe Biden’s re-election campaign.

  181. 181.

    BC in Illinois

    @kwAwk:

    For all of you who are saying that 75 isn’t old, the average life expectancy in this country is 76.33 years.  75 is fucking old.

    As someone born during the Truman administration, I will acknowledge the truth of that statement, though I will note that 75 is only 23.9 celsius.

    What I have pointed out to people, though, is that Joe Biden has spent his life working with people, serving on committees, learning from reports and advisors and conversations. He can circulate among the leaders of NATO and the members of congress and can listen, understand and craft a response together — a response that will be better, because he was involved. There is no indication that he cannot continue to do this for some time into the future.

    Donald Trump, on the other hand has had one year of experience, repeated 78 times. He has learned nothing and added nothing, since he was granted a pile of wealth and a kind of power, by inheritance from his father.

  183. 183.

    Eyeroller

    Without responding to a troll, I’m going to repost that the life expectancy for an American 81-year-old man is 89 according to the US Social Security Administration.  That’s from 2015 data and Covid will affect that, but the point is that life expectancy at a give age is not the same thing as life expectancy at birth, but few people understand that.

  184. 184.

    Old School

    @kwAwk:

    Not necessarily.  The did it because the damage to the party would make it so that the party couldn’t win.

    I see.  It’s not that didn’t think they could win, it’s because they didn’t think the party could win.

  185. 185.

    jimmiraybob

    Should members of the media that make on-air gaffs be taken to the gravel pile and put out of their cognitively-impaired misery?

    Discus.

  187. 187.

    rikyrah

    Biden-Harris HQ

    @BidenHQ

    Rep. Clyburn: Joe Biden is focused on the future of this country. The best predictor of future performance is past behavior. Compare the past behavior of Joe Biden to the past behavior of Donald Trump. Let that be a guide to our reactions going forward. If we do that, we will give the American people exactly what they need to make their choice. This campaign is about if we will have a viable democracy

    https://x.com/BidenHQ/status/1811763745711878318

  189. 189.

    jimmiraybob

    @rikyrah: ​
     
    At this point, Biden could climb into a fighter jet that he designed and built himself, cross the Atlantic, single-handedly win the Ukraine war against Russia’s ruthless aggression, fly back home and announce, “there ya go” and the press would say, “not enough, what else ya got?”

  192. 192.

    kwAwk

    @Old School: Yes, exactly.  Hillary and Barrack had a pretty nasty primary, and once it was over the first thing BHO did was to reach out to HRC to try to put the animosity behind them.   HRC obviously did this, but it didn’t heal everything.  There were still a lot of very angry Clinton voters who didn’t want to vote for Obama.

  194. 194.

    wjca

    @Eyeroller: I’m going to repost that the life expectancy for an American 81-year-old man is 89 according to the US Social Security Administration

    Since you are reposting, allow me to report my reply:

    It’s the “expected age at death” when you have no other information about the individual’s genetics (how long his parents lived), his current health, the health care available to him, etc.  On all of which counts, Biden is ahead of the curve.

  195. 195.

    Another Scott

    @Hildebrand: I blame Roone Arledge.

    “The thrill of victory, and the agony of defeat!!”

    Pundits and FTFNYT – “I must be inspired to take out the trash.  Why won’t Biden inspire me?  You don’t really expect me to just take out the trash without being inspired, do you???!”

    :-/

    Meanwhile, … short thread from Roger Parloff from Lawfare:

    Nitter, Twitter version

    Roger Parloff
    @rparloff
    6h

    Many conservatives now accept with bored acquiescence the near certainty that Trump, if elected, will dismiss both federal indictments against himself. Yet it would be an abuse far greater than the Saturday Night Massacre that once shocked the nation…
    1/6

    In Oct 1973, Nixon fired AG Elliot Richardson & then Dep AG Wm Ruckelshaus for refusing to fire Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox, who was subpoenaing Nixon’s White House tapes. The firings galvanized bipartisan support for impeachment proceedings …
    /2

    … which began 10 days later. Quaint though it may now seem, US District Judge Gerhard Gesell even ruled, later on, that the Cox’s dismissal had been illegal. …
    /3

    … Yet the SCOTUS majority in Trump v US contemptuously chided the bipartisan lower courts for trying to let justice be done before Trump has a chance to abuse power to derail it. They even purported to be acting expeditiously …
    /4

    … though we are, right now, pointlessly counting 32 more days off the calendar for SCOTUS’s ruling to become final, because the court declined to make it immediate. (The pause permits the losing party to seek rehearing—inconceivable here as the Court well knows.) …
    /4

    … Is the president now above the law? Half-heartedly, the majority claims (s)he is not—with asterisks galore. They say the dissents are “fear-mongering” with “extreme hypotheticals”—which they tellingly don’t deign to refute. …
    /5

    … Justice Thomas disdains that tack. He quips that the once-revered notion has been largely meaningless all along. Immunity from prosecution for official acts *is* the law, he writes, archly. Silly Nixon, silly us, silly forefathers for imagining otherwise.
    /6-end

    (Click through for images of the documents.)

    Eyes on the prizes.

    Grr…,
    Scott.

  197. 197.

    AWOL

    @O. Felix Culpa: Hayes is on record on MSNBC saying we need a strong Republican Party to keep the excesses of the Left in check.

    He’s a whore. And he didn’t grow up far from Hunts Point, so he knows the tricks.

  198. 198.

    SomeRandomFellow

    @Eolirin: We’ve got who we’ve got, and we have to win with him. Fortunately it seems the debate was in fact a fluke and not the norm. With any luck that’ll remain the case between now and the election. If Biden also does a good job in the September debate, no one’s going to remember anything that happened in July.

    I just want to mention, not all folks see the debate as a “fluke”. I, for example, saw an old man on stage who was answering questions quite well, and seemed competent and aware.

    Later, came the naked bigotry saying he had to quit, because he looked *OLD*, and OMG, one question, he didn’t answer in a complete sentence!

    Now, apparently, the bigots are still trying to push the lie that Biden is impaired, something roughly as difficult as pushing one of the Amtrak trains Joe loved to ride.

    Well, I won’t dignify bigotry by saying it occurred by a fluke – I’ll say it happened due to prejudice, because a) I saw nothing fluke-like, and b) bigotry is truly vile and disgusting.

  200. 200.

    Eyeroller

    @wjca: Yes, it’s the statistical expected value.  Biden is healthy for his age.  And he has a pretty good family history.

    I’m a broken record on this but so, so many people are saying “well, he’s already N years past life expectancy” (N=5 approximately).  No he isn’t.  That number isn’t relevant anymore.

  201. 201.

    Jackie

    @Eyeroller: I read his remarks about Biden quitting as TIC. As further down he touts his strengths vs TCFG’s need to never step foot back in the WH or have access to top secret classified docs.

  203. 203.

    AWOL

    @The Thin Black Duke: Timothy McVeigh’s snarky, pathetic, white fanboy is wrong again.

    Dead alcoholic Vidal—who did everything to destroy his cousin’s candidacy in 2000—would probably find Trump doesn’t even fit his O So Clever template.

  204. 204.

    Eyeroller

    @SomeRandomFellow: ​An actual speech therapist posted about recognizing how he was obviously (to a professional) struggling especially hard with his stuttering/cluttering disorder when he lost track of things, talked weirdly, etc. I wonder whether the time limit was causing problems. People with fluency disorders do best speaking at their own pace, particularly when tired/not feeling well/stressed.

  205. 205.

    tam1MI

    @kwAwk: Nobody is going to declare a candidacy for the nomination until it is clear that Biden is either out or throwing the nomination open.  It has to come from Biden.  As soon as a Witmer or Newsome declared interest in the nomination before Biden allowed, the Biden folks would immediately start calling them traitors, and it would lead to really bad blood.

    No one sane is going to declare their nomination if the Leroy Jenkins Caucus gets their way either. It’s a poisoned chalice, and the smart ones know it. Their political career would die the moment they said yes. This has been made clear these past few days.

  206. 206.

    Eyeroller

    @wjca: ​Well, we don’t really know. My husband seemed healthy for his age and had a pretty good, though not unusually good, family history, and he died of cancer at 63. All we can do is talk about odds and the odds are that Biden will live another 5 years at least.

  207. 207.

    eclare

    @Eyeroller:

    I used to use lfe expectancy tables for tax work (estate planning).  From birth to age one, your life expectancy goes down.  Once you make it through that first year, it starts to go back up.  Just some trivia.

  208. 208.

    me

    @rikyrah:

     So the falsifiable thing, “he has dementia”, is false so they move to the thing that cannot be proven false since “he can’t make a case again Trump” means whatever they want it to.

  209. 209.

    Eyeroller

    @eclare: That’s why “life expectancy” in the pre-modern-medicine era was so short. Infant and child mortality was huge.  If you got to adulthood it got much better.  If you made it to 65 your life expectancy was not too far off the modern numbers.

    There was a secondary peak of mortality for women due to childbearing that got much worse in at least Europe and North America when male doctors started delivering babies and using unsterilized hands and instruments.

  211. 211.

    Eyeroller

    @me: Well, sure, his command of facts and nuances of foreign policy was impressive, but he said “Vice President Trump” so he has to step aside.

    The article on the donor revolt said “After a bad debate and mixed reviews of his press conference” Jeesus what “mixed reviews.”  My sentence above is barely a parody of those “mixed” reviews.

  212. 212.

    Eolirin

    @kwAwk: Nope, he was known for saying things like FDR got on TV instead of FDR got on the radio; he has always occasionally replaced words with other words because he has a stutter. He’s been doing it forever and it’s nothing new.

    All of the clips of Biden’s supposed senility are actually clips of him struggling with a disability. The mockery of it is disgusting.

  213. 213.

    tam1MI

    Those 18 Representatives who are trying to oust Biden at large donors request are sowing division and hurting our chances in November. I think they should step aside for the good of the country. What do you all think?

  214. 214.

    SomeRandomFellow

    @Eyeroller: Yes, I recognized his stutter too – I currently have one due to my CFS (or, maybe I’ve had one all my life and compensated for it well).

    “He spoke like Joe Biden,” is not a “fluke,” you see – it’s normal, expected, and comes with the package.  This is why I used  the word “bigotry” in my response, you see – they saw what they always see, but this time, they screamed OLD MAN!!!!

    “Bigotry” is, of course, an ugly word, which is why I wait for evidence of a real problem to show up, so I could use a gentler word. So far, no dice. All the “drop out” calls are either polling related (and polls haven’t changed), or “we assume you know what I mean when I say he must drop out!” which is the hallmark of bigotry.

  216. 216.

    Captain C

    @Another Scott:

    Pundits and FTFNYT – “I must be inspired to take out the trash.  Why won’t Biden inspire me?  You don’t really expect me to just take out the trash without being inspired, do you???!”

    I gotta say, anyone with this attitude towards their own trash, I’m not ever going into their house.  I can feel the fetid ambiance just thinking about it.

  217. 217.

    bluefoot

    @rikyrah: ​
      I am amused? that it’s all these privileged white guys that are all hair on fire re Biden and EVERY SINGLE POC I know, including rich assholes, are all very clear they are backing Biden 100%. They don’t want him to, but if he steps down, it’s 110% Kamala. (The Indian people I know call them Uncle Joe and Kamala Auntie.)

  218. 218.

    Bill Arnold

    @rikyrah:
    Yep. POTUS Joe Biden handled that press conference well. No dementia.
    And on the GOP side, now-convicted-felon Donald J. Trump last answered questions from reporters in a press conference on Feb 8 2024. (He was not a convicted felon, then.)
    DJT has been avoiding hostile reporters in press conference settings for 155 days.
    ( Days Calculator: Days Between Two Dates )

  219. 219.

    different-church-lady

    I guess I’m glad to see the battlefront here on BJ has settled into a group of recognizable characters.

  223. 223.

    Al Rennick

     

    Veteran Democratic Party strategist David Axelrod warned after President Joe Biden’s Thursday night press conference that it sounded like “ Biden’s team has not been very candid with him” about his current political standing.

    “If what he said at the end of his presser is true, it sounds like Biden’s team has not been very candid with him about what the data is showing: the age issue is a huge and potentially insurmountable concern and his odds of victory are very, very slim,” Axelrod wrote after the presser.

    https://www.mediaite.com/politics/axelrod-warns-biden-press-conference-showed-no-one-is-being-candid-with-him-about-his-very-very-slim-odds-of-beating-trump/

  224. 224.

    EmbraceYourInnerCrone

    @bluefoot: Thank you! We have a good president and we have a good VP.  What the actual hell is wrong with the MSM and more importantly some of our Dem reps.  I have really disappointed with the Dems who ran to the microphones.  Jesus people, have some backbone.  I could give a shit what happened at the debate, I care about the President’s record.  Hillary did well at the debates…she was intelligent and thoughtful.  the MSM did not give a crap and apparently neither did some voters.

  225. 225.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @LNNVA: Oh I know.  I was sorta rooting for her in the French (though I love Iga too) but I’m definitely rooting for her tomorrow :)

  226. 226.

    Bill Arnold

    @kwAwk:
    Sure. I suggest honing your attacks on convicted felon and GOP candidate D.J. Trump, a pathological narcissist (demonically)manipulative man who regularly communicated with a pedophile pimp.
    And using these arguments.
    Also, regularly praise about the many amazing successes of the Biden administration.
    E.g. social media is a MAGA cesspool at the moment, with about 10 percent the needed pushback. (Personal estimate from observation.)

  227. 227.

    MinuteMan

    @Eyeroller:  ​

    The actual polling, such as it is, suggests that the candidate with the best chance to beat Trump is a guy named Joe Biden.

    I heard some buzz about a dark-horse candidate named “Brandon”.

  228. 228.

    bluefoot

    @EmbraceYourInnerCrone: ​
      You’re welcome. The Quisling media is setting the narrative then acts like they have no responsibility for setting the narrative and determining the vibes. Clouds and shadows indeed.

    Male Indian friend re Harris: If it’s not Joe then it’s Kamala Auntie and everyone know you don’t fuck with the aunties! :) You get in line or get out of the way. :)

  229. 229.

    apocalipstick

    @FastEdD: And the ‘hush money’ case was a state prosecution and did not involve Biden or the DOJ in any way, shape, or form.

    The pervasive ignorance (in the classic sense) of our systems is profound. This comment is not aimed at you or your friend; it’s a general observation.

  230. 230.

    unrelatedwaffle

    I would trust Stacey Abrams with my life, so I did a little googling to see if she had been reported on during this hullabaloo. Essence Fest just happened, and black women stood up for Joe Biden.

    When California Congresswoman Maxine “Auntie Max” Waters, D-Los Angeles, had a chance to spice things up during her time on stage, she went right to the current core subject.

    “People are talking about Biden’s too old,” Waters, 85, told a crowd. “Hell, I’m older than Biden.”
    Biden is 81.

    Congressman Troy Carter, D-New Orleans, who stood next to Waters, bowed and saluted her as the audience gave her a wild ovation that lasted several minutes.

    Former Democratic Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, the inaugural Ronald W. Walters Endowed Chair for Race and Black Politics at Howard University, gave a history lesson about how far we’ve come and how much could be lost if Trump were to win.
    MSNBC anchor and host Joy Reid rhetorically asked Abrams and an Essence audience why only White people are asking Biden to step aside. The crowd roared with laughter, recognizing a truth discussed in many Black circles.

  232. 232.

    chemiclord

    @Hunter Gathers: Well, it can be easy to forget that Defector emerged from the rubble of the lefter-than-thou segment of Gizmodo Media as it fell apart. So the energy to go over the edge had always been there.

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