Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

Roe isn’t about choice, it’s about freedom.

Republicans: The threats are dire, but my tickets are non-refundable!

Jack Smith: “Why did you start campaigning in the middle of my investigation?!”

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

The current Supreme Court is a dangerous, rogue court.

Fight for a just cause, love your fellow man, live a good life.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

Many life forms that would benefit from greater intelligence, sadly, do not have it.

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

with the Kraken taking a plea, the Cheese stands alone.

I desperately hope that, yet again, i am wrong.

People are weird.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

There are more Russians standing up to Putin than Republicans.

In after Baud. Damn.

If you still can’t see these things even now, maybe politics isn’t your forte and you should stop writing about it.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Defiantly Upbeat Open Thread: Joe Biden Is A Great President

Defiantly Upbeat Open Thread: Joe Biden Is A Great President

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Per the Hill, “Biden awards the Medal of Freedom to Cecile Richards, former Planned Parenthood president”:

… During a private ceremony, Biden said Richards has “led some of our Nation’s most important civil rights causes — to lift up the dignity of workers, defend and advance women’s reproductive rights and equality, and mobilize Americans to exercise their power to vote.”

Richards left Planned Parenthood in 2018 after leading the organization for 12 years, where she worked to increase affordable access to reproductive health care and helped push the Democratic Party to embrace abortion rights as a key issue.

After her departure, she co-founded a progressive organization called Supermajority that fights for gender equity. Richards also serves as co-chair of the super PAC American Bridge 21st Century.

Richards was diagnosed in 2023 with a glioblastoma, a rare and aggressive form of brain tumor. The average glioblastoma survival time is only 12 to 18 months…

The Medal of Freedom is given at the discretion of the president to a civilian who has made an “especially meritorious contribution” to the country.

“A leader of utmost character, she has carved an inspiring legacy that endures in her incredible family, the countless lives she has made better, and a nation seeking the light of equality, justice, and freedom,” Biden said of Richards.

Richards is the daughter of Ann Richards, who was the first woman to be elected governor of Texas.

Biden has previously awarded the medal to dozens of people, including civil rights icons, prominent political leaders like former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D), Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.), gymnast Simone Biles and actor Michelle Yeoh.

And I’m also happy to see President Biden snubbing the media ankle-biters!

Reader Interactions

84Comments

  9. 9.

    Rob J.

    Joe Biden refused and refuses to take the threat of Donald Trump and the current Republican party seriously. In 20 years, when all his positive accomplishments are wrecked, that’s the only thing he’ll be remembered for.

  10. 10.

    Ohio Mom

    I think a great birthday present Biden could give himself is pardoning Hunter.

    I imagine Biden thinks that’s not right, it’s taking advantage of the office. If so, that’s something of a false economy, the office isn’t going to be saved because Biden lived up to an ideal.

  11. 11.

    geg6

    Happy birthday, President Handsome Joe!  Just love him still.❤️

    And to those media cretins, fuck off and die.

  14. 14.

    Ohio Mom

    @Rob J.: That’s kinda churlish.

    Historians may very well conclude that Trump was overdetermined. There were a lot of malevolent forces and trends at work.

    Maybe we could say that right now, it looks like Biden might be remembered as a tragic hero.

  16. 16.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Ohio Mom:

    One thing I can’t understand is how Biden or anyone in his campaign/the WH thought he was in any shape to campaign the way he needed to. What did they think was going to happen?

    And as much as I appreciate Harris for stepping up when she was needed, I’m curious to know what she knew

    I know people aren’t going to like this, but I think Biden let his ego get in the way, and he believed that he and he alone could beat Trump

  17. 17.

    Wapiti

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Meh. The threads today have been not happy, and if a front pager puts up a respite page, and someone decides to shit on it… I don’t need to see it again. It’s not group-think, it’s protecting myself from debbie downers or worse.

  19. 19.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Archon:

    Sure, but “Vice-President Trump”, the BET interview, another interview where he was asked if he’d watched his debate performance and he said he wasn’t sure. None of it was a good look. They had to have noticed this when interacting with him. I remember reading that Biden hadn’t been shown internal polling in weeks (the polls were from May or something), and it was being shown current polling showing his path to victory had completely disappeared that finally convinced him to step down

    It’s ironic with Pelosi, I saw an interview she did with Tapper about a month ago and she didn’t sound too well herself, slurring her words

  20. 20.

    Elizabelle

    @Ohio Mom:  Tragic hero is right.

    Definitely a tragedy.  There are none so blind as those who will not see what a good President he was.  We live in uncertain times, and he does care about preserving democracy and promoting civil society.

  25. 25.

    tam1MI

    Best President of my lifetime.

    And the most ill-treated.

    Happy Birthday, Mr. President and may you outlive Donald Trump!

  26. 26.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Thinking over it, I guess Rob J was a little blunt and this was meant to be a positive post, as @Wapiti: alluded to

    Happy birthday to Biden, he accomplished quite a bit with the margins he had, along with Dems in Congress, and it’s a damn shame how things turned out

  27. 27.

    JoyceH

    The Richards medal makes me happy. MAGA will probably react how I reacted when Trump gave the medal to Limbaugh.

    And certainly pardon Hunter! Do not leave your sole surviving son to the mercy of vicious criminals!

  28. 28.

    Msb

    Best President of my lifetime.

    And the most ill-treated.

    Happy Birthday, Mr. President and may you outlive Donald Trump!

    May Joe, all of us and the Republic do so.

  31. 31.

    mrmoshpotato

    @tam1MI:

    Happy Birthday, Mr. President and may you outlive Donald Trump!

    Outlive the orange shitstain to piss on his fat, orange, fascist grave.

    ETA – and then beat the shit out of his shitbag kids at golf.

  33. 33.

    Jay

    Domestically, President Joe Biden  has been the greatest President of my life time.

    Sadly not so great on Bibi, Putin and who the ReThugs actually are.

    It’s been a really tough three days so far. T has been “managing” her medications, and not her pain, so there has been a lot of pain, to the point where she has been seriously out of it. So T2’s, 8 a day, 2 at a time, 4 hours apart. Finally, yesterday, got her to start taking her T3’s instead but,

    Prescription say’s 2 a day, (codeine addiction), and they never walked her through Pain Management, so she was waiting until she was in extreme pain, 12 hours apart, before taking another T3.

    Finally, hopefully, got it sorted today, between her useless “Telehealth” doctor and the Pharmacist,

    She’s supposed to take a T3 when the pain starts, not when she is screaming and thrashing. T3’s are less effective when you are already in severe pain. At 4 T3’s a day, she’s okay, at 5 she needs a stronger pain med, (T3’s are for mild to medium pain, not extreme pain).

    We see how it goes.

  34. 34.

    The Thin Black Duke

    Anyone who is purposely stuck in a counter-productive feedback loop blaming Joe Biden for the shitstorm heading our way instead of the motherfucking Republicans is an asshole.

  36. 36.

    Bruce K in ATH-GR

    @The Thin Black Duke: Exactly. There is a big difference between the enemy, and allies whose strategy to defeat the enemy didn’t work.

    Joe Biden: a decent human being with flaws that the enemy was able to exploit.

    21st-century GOP: the enemy.

  37. 37.

    Mr. Bemused Senior

    @Raoul Paste:I wrote Biden a thank you note months ago.

    so did I and I got a response back. “Best President of my lifetime” I wrote. I still think so.

  40. 40.

    SomeRandomGuy

    @Rob J.: Yeah, we all remember the German chancellor before Hitler, for… uh… what was the name? Damn, odd bit of history to forget, WHO DID HITLER DEFEAT? Why didn’t they take the Hitler threat seriously? All we remember about the guy  is, he didn’t stop Hitler, so…

    Damn. Does it take more than 20 years? I’m only asking, because you said something really silly, and I want to point it out.

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): You keep assuming that President Biden is a gimp, unable to function, and knows it. That is an exceptionally cruel thing to say to, or about, anyone. Not an attempt to re-litigate anything – calling out extraneous nastiness.

     

    @Jay: Good luck; pain sucks. Doctors don’t listen.
    (Can’t say more, it’s too personal. Don’t forget, caregivers need respite if they can get it – it isn’t easy to watch someone in constant pain either.)

  41. 41.

    Baud

    I wish we we’re a majority, but at least I’m proud of who we are. Happy birthday, President Biden.

  42. 42.

    Chris T.

    Nothing to do with Biden, but on the upbeat side of things, our power is back on (has been for some hours now, just now getting caught up here). Lots of people further south in Seattle are still awaiting their repairs, but things are improving pretty rapidly. The Puget Sound Energy outage map outage seems to finally be fixed…

  44. 44.

    gene108

    Happy Birthday President Biden! 🎁🎈🎂🍨🍨🍨🍨🍨

    ************************

    As gratifying as snubbing the MSM is, I do not think it is an effective long term strategy. Democrats have no other way to communicate with a mass audience.

  47. 47.

    sab

    @Chris T.: Also on rhe cheery side: wet snow for my commute this morning. ( //)

    And I found a flavor of catfood that Solomon  really likes, and I plugged a feliway in in the room where Echo still hides and sleeps under the bed and she actually came out amd crawled in my lap when a light was on. She looks a lot like Solly, only smaller.

    ETA : Will the Bidens get their dog back in January?

  48. 48.

    Betty Cracker

    @Jay: Damn, that sucks, Jay. Pain management is so difficult, sometimes needlessly so because too many doctors don’t take it as seriously as they should, IMO. Don’t forget to look after yourself too.

  49. 49.

    satby

    @Rob J.: Next to how mis/easily led a lot of voters on the other side are, the numbers of people on “our” side (scare quotes totally intended) who want Democratic leaders to toss democracy and the rule of law overboard too is depressing. Lots of people are ok with authoritarians as long as it’s their team in charge. Like you, apparently.

  53. 53.

    MagdaInBlack

    @sab: I drove home is flurries last night. Now its 31 and appears to be misting something wet. Yay for chicagoland winter commuting. ugh.

  57. 57.

    satby

    @Mr. Bemused Senior: I’m almost 70 and the first president I have any real memory of was JFK. So over the course of many presidents in my lifetime, Biden has been far and away the best. And the first who tried wholeheartedly to directly undo the damage of Reagan’s bullshit trickle down economic policies. That voters younger than 50 have absolutely no memory of how things once were better under a Keynesian economic theory of government budgeting is why we can’t have nice things; and the others who vote for vodoo economics misattribute the better past they remember to white supremacy. < which doesn’t excuse them at all.

  58. 58.

    narya

    Add me to the group who wants a full pardon for Hunter. If he wants to hold off til January 19, great, but definitely do it.

  59. 59.

    Ohio Mom

    @Jay: Staying ahead of the pain is everything. Not just for comfort (though comfort is very good) but also because pain slows healing down. It’s self-defeating to let yourself hurt while recuperating.

    Calling the doctor was the right move. People are often too shy about calling doctors. That’s their job, answering calls. It’s such an important part of their job that when they can’t answer the phone, they have substitutes.

    Good wishes to T. for a speedy, complete, and from here on in, comfortable recovery.

  60. 60.

    Princess

    I met Cecile Richards right after the 2016 election. She came to speak to the program I was running so I got to have a lot of time with her. We were all completely shattered and she bucked us all up in our small group meeting and with her speech. She’s an amazing woman; a true servant of the public good.

  61. 61.

    Soprano2

    @The Thin Black Duke: Boy is that true. Makes me think of The Monsters on Maple Street. There was a letter in Sunday’s paper that said gas was under $2 when TCFG was president. They remember that price but have forgotten why it was like that. I don’t know how you fight against that.

  65. 65.

    Betty

    @Jay: The opiate addiction fear has caused so much suffering for people in extreme situations. No reasonable judgment being used as to where abuse is likely and where more medication is essential. So sorry you are both going through this agony.

  66. 66.

    BretH

    Those with short memories about Biden not recognizing threats to democracy are feee to look up “Biden speech Philadelphia soul of the nation”.

    The MSM unfortunately has the attention span of a goldfish and therefore so do many of its consumers .

  67. 67.

    TBone

    When I absolutely required pain meds because I was absolutely required to work full time to support myself through illness, I told my prescriber that I can get Tylenol anywhere so would he please remove it from the prescription.  He immediately did so, prescribing straight dope, and I was able to get enough ahead of each morning’s pain without overdosing on acetaminophen to get up, showered, and into the office, and thereafter stay ahead of the pain so I could function until quitting time.

    Those days are long gone.  No doctor today would do for me what that wonderful doctor did – he gave me yearslong remission as well as pain relief. He literally saved my life.

    He researched ABX combos with me and we tried and tried again and finally got on a combo that worked (albeit not permanently).

  71. 71.

    Planetjanet

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): The first amendment also contains the sadly overlooked right of freedom of association.  It is also supported by the fourteenth amendment.  I do not have hang out with Nazis and we are not YET living out Orange Clockwork.

  74. 74.

    Tony G

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Well, here’s the ugly truth as far as I’m concerned: Trump was elected in 2016 and elected again two weeks ago, and got almost 47% of the popular vote  in 2020 because his ideology and his personality are very popular with the American people (especially, but not only, white men).  In a very real sense Donald Trump accurately represents the American people.  The majority of Americans are either openly fascist or are just fine with fascism as long as the people who they hate are harmed.  Speculating about One Weird Trick that Biden or Harris could have or should have done misses the point.  I wish I were wrong.

  75. 75.

    Tony G

    @stinger: Biden is an example of one of the toxic elements of American politics — the gerontocracy.  In the 2020 primary I voted for Bernie Sanders … who is about as old as Biden.

  76. 76.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @satby:

    That voters younger than 50 have absolutely no memory of how things once were better under a Keynesian economic theory of government…

    So, so true. I occasionally point this out to my mentees, admittedly, out of frustration. Certainly things weren’t better for everyone on every issue, but it was pretty clear that we’d figured out how to tamp down on gigantic economic swings and that things were heading the right direction, if only vaguely.

    Now, everyone under 50 has only experienced the craptastic outcomes of supply-side economics. The younger set I sometimes work and hang with don’t really believe that there is a better way.

    Joe gave us 4 years of reminding us of how good it could be — and for many reasons, about 50% of the voters just didn’t get it.

  77. 77.

    FDRLincoln

    Biden recognized the danger of Trump, but his theory of politics was that if you deliver for the average person economically, you will be rewarded electorally.

    The inflation bout was caused by covid, not his fault. And he has successfully navigated to a soft landing, real wages are up, and the economic boon is being shared more widely than any boon of my life (I’m 57). He has done more for labor than any president of my life. Manufacturing is reviving across the country.

    He delivered economically. But his theory of politics turned out to be wrong in the face of the cultural poisons injected into the body politic by malefactors foreign and domestic.

    In most ways he governed the way the Bernie left wanted by focusing on the needs of the average person.

    And it didn’t work. The poisoned culture is too strong, and he needed more than 4 years to undue the damage of 40 years of Reagannomics. I don’t blame Biden for this. I thought it would work too.

  79. 79.

    Bill

    Happy Birthday Joe, you were a good president.  Unfortunately for all of us you thought 82 was a good age to start a second term as President of the US.  You should pardon Hunter, they would not have gone after him but for you.

  80. 80.

    bluefoot

    @FDRLincoln: I wish I could marry this comment. The other thing about Biden is that he grew as a person, as a politician and leader. I don’t know that one can say that about many.

    Happy Birthday, Mr. President!

  81. 81.

    aaron

    Mostly Joe Biden did a fine and admirable job as president.

    Except for the genocide which he unapologetically not just enabled but armed. he gave the nazis the weapons they used to murder innocent people.

    That will be his legacy: a nazi.

  83. 83.

    Donald

    Good domestic President.   But he has supported and continues to support a genocide.  He broke the Leahy Law.  He should be in jail.

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