The Race For 2024

[Politesse]

Firing 50% of Federal workers would destroy the U.S. government and crash our economy. Absolutely nothing would break? This creature is a fool's fool. And he just lost the votes of federal workers, their families and kin. Some media interviewer should ask him, "If by some miracle, you got elected and did that and it quickly turned into the predictable disaster, would you resign and apologize for destroying America?".

And, "Have you run this by government experts to see if it would in fact be a predictable diaster? If not, why not?".

It's not a serious policy suggestion, it's more the kind of thing that a stand-up comedian says to get cheers and whoops. The kind of thing people remember later and go, "yeah, he was a funny guy, but you know George Carlin/Jeff Foxworthy made some good points!"

The problem is that Vivec himself is also in the dark about this. He's telling jokes, but he thinks he isn't. And those who like him think he isn't. This makes him incredibly dangerous.

 

[lpetrich]

RealClearPolitics - Election 2024 - 2024 Republican Presidential Nomination

Donald Trump is still the frontrunner at RCP average 59.7, and Ron DeSalntis now at 14.3 and gaining, Nikki Haley at 9.5 and also gaining, and Vivek Ramaswamy at 5.1. Chris Christie is now at 2.2, about where Mike Pence and Tim Scott were when they dropped out. Doug Burgum is at 0.7 and Asa Hutchinson at 0.5, and both of them say that they intend to keep on going.

 

[Elixir]

Look of the state of him. He's going to drop out very soon. He has to.

You find this stuff interesting for some reason.

I can't help but assume it's because Biden's performance record is so superior to any Republican administration in 40 years.
Tom

Memory fails I guess. The last great Republican President I remember was Eisenhower. Biden's performance stats are basically hall of fame, even if he can't help sounding like an enfeebled old guy.

 

[ZiprHead]

Look of the state of him. He's going to drop out very soon. He has to.

You find this stuff interesting for some reason.

I can't help but assume it's because Biden's performance record is so superior to any Republican administration in 40 years.
Tom

Memory fails I guess. The last great Republican President I remember was Eisenhower. Biden's performance stats are basically hall of fame, even if he can't help sounding like an enfeebled old guy.

Biden held a press conference last week. it was considered a rousing success. He was sharp, funny, and well prepared.

 

[Elixir]

He was sharp, funny, and well prepared.

He always is. And if you listen very very carefully, you can often pick up on that fact.

 

[TomC]

Look of the state of him. He's going to drop out very soon. He has to.

You find this stuff interesting for some reason.

I can't help but assume it's because Biden's performance record is so superior to any Republican administration in 40 years.
Tom

Memory fails I guess. The last great Republican President I remember was Eisenhower. Biden's performance stats are basically hall of fame, even if he can't help sounding like an enfeebled old guy.

I thought Reagan was damn good for a few years.
Tom

 

[Elixir]

I thought Reagan was damn good for a few years.

I thought he was okay in Bedtime for Bonzo, but he went badly downhill after that.

 

[TomC]

I thought Reagan was damn good for a few years.

I thought he was okay in Bedtime for Bonzo, but he went badly downhill after that.

Compared to what, the Bush II administration? Trump administration?
Tom

 

[Elixir]

Yeah

I thought Reagan was damn good for a few years.

I thought he was okay in Bedtime for Bonzo, but he went badly downhill after that.

Compared to what, the Bush II administration? Trump administration?
Tom

Yeah, he was also great compared to Hitler. We can thank him for a lot of the fundamentals of economic inequality (e.g. trickledown bs) that have caused the current societal ills. But he didn’t operate death camps for Jews, so there’s that.

 

[TomC]

Yeah, he was also great compared to Hitler.

I'd introduce you to Godwin's Law, but it doesn't seem worth the effort.
Tom

 

[Elixir]

Yeah, he was also great compared to Hitler.

I'd introduce you to Godwin's Law, but it doesn't seem worth the effort.
Tom

I thought you were too young to remember Godwins law!
His legacy sucks, Godwin notwithstanding.

 

[Copernicus]

Yeah, he was also great compared to Hitler.

I'd introduce you to Godwin's Law, but it doesn't seem worth the effort.
Tom

I thought you were too young to remember Godwins law!
His legacy sucks, Godwin notwithstanding.

Personally, I think it make more sense to invoke Stalin these days, what with the rise of Vlad the Defenestrating Poisoner.

 

[Copernicus]

Biden is still a gaffe machine. Right after his successful meeting with dictator Xi, he goes into a news conference and decides to respond to a shouted question about whether he still thought Xi was a dictator. Instead of simply ignoring or deflecting the question, he answered yes, leaving Blinken to be caught on camera wincing. Saturday Night live did a mockery sketch of his news conference in which they had a lot of fun with his clumsy reply.

 

[bilby]

Biden is still a gaffe machine. Right after his successful meeting with dictator Xi, he goes into a news conference and decides to respond to a shouted question about whether he still thought Xi was a dictator. Instead of simply ignoring or deflecting the question, he answered yes, leaving Blinken to be caught on camera wincing. Saturday Night live did a mockery sketch of his news conference in which they had a lot of fun with his clumsy reply.

Xi is a dictator.

Biden saying something that is factually true and known to all involved (including Xi) is hardly a "gaffe".

 

[Elixir]

The mere act that something is true, does not make it a good idea to say it. I'd be very hesitant to assign "gaffe" to that particular utterance though. I get from the whole readout (such as it is) that Xi wants to cozy up to some degree. Keeping some arm's length to the embrace is probably intentional, given the human rights issues Biden would like them to address internally. Reminding Xi that he can do that unilaterally might be well thought over. Probably not very offensive, if at all, to point out the absolute nature of his power.

 

[Patooka]

And if Biden didn't say it, the usual suspects would be up in tiki torches screeching about how Biden is weak on China. He can't win.

 

[Harry Bosch]

Biden is still a gaffe machine. Right after his successful meeting with dictator Xi, he goes into a news conference and decides to respond to a shouted question about whether he still thought Xi was a dictator. Instead of simply ignoring or deflecting the question, he answered yes, leaving Blinken to be caught on camera wincing. Saturday Night live did a mockery sketch of his news conference in which they had a lot of fun with his clumsy reply.

Xi is a dictator.

Biden saying something that is factually true and known to all involved (including Xi) is hardly a "gaffe".

Yea Continuously Biden's "gaffes" are really policy positions that he has that some don't agree with (ie: Taiwan, China, Ukraine, Israel and etc.) But all politicians make gaffes. One of our sharpest presidents, Obama, made gaffes all the time. Trump is a walking gaffe machine. Worse, he's crazy and believes in conspiracies.

 

[TomC]

Yeah, he was also great compared to Hitler.

I'd introduce you to Godwin's Law, but it doesn't seem worth the effort.
Tom

I thought you were too young to remember Godwins law!
His legacy sucks, Godwin notwithstanding.

Compared to what?
Reagan's predecessors were Carter and Nixon.

Both had their strong points. But neither were ideal. In a country like the USA, there's no ideal President.
Tom

 

[Copernicus]

Biden is still a gaffe machine. Right after his successful meeting with dictator Xi, he goes into a news conference and decides to respond to a shouted question about whether he still thought Xi was a dictator. Instead of simply ignoring or deflecting the question, he answered yes, leaving Blinken to be caught on camera wincing. Saturday Night live did a mockery sketch of his news conference in which they had a lot of fun with his clumsy reply.

Xi is a dictator.

Biden saying something that is factually true and known to all involved (including Xi) is hardly a "gaffe".

Yea Continuously Biden's "gaffes" are really policy positions that he has that some don't agree with (ie: Taiwan, China, Ukraine, Israel and etc.) But all politicians make gaffes. One of our sharpest presidents, Obama, made gaffes all the time. Trump is a walking gaffe machine. Worse, he's crazy and believes in conspiracies.

Biden has always been a gaffe machine, so this is nothing new. And it was definitely a gaffe, which was what made the SNL sendup of his press conference so funny. He had just come off of a visit with Xi. The sole purpose of the trip was to smoothe over relations with China and declare a major diplomatic victory. Those relations had been strained before, and one of the strains was caused when Biden had publicly called out Xi for being a dictator. That is exactly why the reporter fired of a "gotcha" question that got him, earning her a victory lap with her organization. It could have no other effect than to embarrass Xi, who is not going to stop being a dictator but might be forced to do something to save face because of the much-deserved insult.

There were many ways that Biden could have deflected that question without actually answering it, and that is why Blinken, who tried hard to maintain a straight face, couldn't stop himself from wincing as he saw all the hard work being undone. The art of diplomacy is often not about telling the truth but about selective mishearing of the truth and leaving hard truths unspoken in public. People don't like that, because the ideal is to "tell it like it is" and to hell with the consequences. Biden loves that kind of rhetoric. Ask him about CornPop sometime. But it is a waste of everyone's time if Biden can't keep his mouth in check.

I love the guy and will still vote for him. This doesn't mean he is senile, just the inimitable Joe Biden. I hope that Xi just ignores it, but he is a thin-skinned dictator.

 

[ZiprHead]

but he is a thin-skinned dictator.

Aren't they all?