Why I’m still with President Biden
The other guy is a menace
It would be absurd to pretend that President Joe Biden had a good debate last night. I was there — he did not.
But let’s be honest about the performance of the other person on the stage who, if the metrics by which we’re measuring success are honesty, policy, a vision for America, and the defense of democracy, had a debate so apocalyptically disastrous that I can’t believe that not one pundit, not one Republican official (at least none I’m aware of) has called on Donald Trump to drop out of the race.
But if we’re only going to count style over substance, I’ll take hoarse and halting over hate-filled and unhinged every day of the week.
But setting aside the candidates for a minute, this election isn’t about Joe Biden or my uncle — it’s about who we want to be going forward.
Are we going to choose to be a country that rewards cruelty, incompetence, and mendacity while punishing empathy, accomplishment, and experience?
While Biden’s performance is rightly being criticized, it was the debate moderators who allowed Donald to steamroll the truth with an incessant stream of increasingly bizarre and dangerous lies — that he, not President Biden instituted a cap on insulin, that blue states allow women and their doctors to commit infanticide, and that Nancy Pelosi was somehow responsible for January 6th — while refusing to answer the questions asked of him. Why Jake Tapper and Dana Bash chose to abdicate their journalistic responsibility in service to a man who is an enemy of American democracy and a free press only they know, but that abdication should be a much bigger story,
I don’t know why they focused more on inflation and immigration than Donald’s 34 felony convictions, his incitement of an insurrection, and refusal to accept the results of a free and fair election but they did.
And I don’t know why the focus after the debate has been almost exclusively on Biden’s age and not Donald’s fascism, hostility towards our allies, and embrace of authoritarian dictators, but here we are.
I do know that Biden called out my uncle for raping E. Jean Carroll and his tanking of the American economy. I do know that Joe Biden is a good man who knows the difference between allies and enemies, freedom and tyranny, and right and wrong.
It’s true that Biden had a pretty terrible 90 minutes in Atlanta. It’s also true that he has the most impressive economic record of any president of my lifetime. Also, he never attempted a coup, bragged about sexually assaulting women or overturned Roe v. Wade.
My uncle is a cruel and fundamentally dishonest man, a criminal and a traitor. He deserves no praise for lying forcefully or denigrating America with vigor or laying out a dystopian vision of American in which basic human rights are stripped from millions of women just because he did so with crystal clearly.
President Biden had a cold and stumbled badly. Donald Trump is a traitor. The former should not in any way negate the latter.
Today in Raleigh, North Carolina, Joe Biden emerged re-energized (yeah, I know — it would have been nice if that guy had showed up last night). He was funny and forceful as he called out my uncle for lying to the American people. He was right when he said that Donald is “a one man crime wave.” And he acknowledged the concerns of many when he said he doesn’t “walk as easily as I used to.”
“I don’t debate as well as I used to. But I know what I do know — I know how to tell the truth,” Biden said. “I know right from wrong. I know how to do this job.”
Joe also said that when he gets knocked down, he gets back up again.
It was a much-needed reminder that Biden is a human being who has his off days while my uncle is awful every day.
Biden did address concerns about his age at the debate. Donald, he said, is “three years younger and a lot less competent.”
Given what we’re up against and what’s at stake it’s pretty shocking how little it’s taken (90 freaking minutes) to make what seems like the entirety of the Democratic political world panic, calling on Biden to drop out, floating new tickets that don’t even include Vice President Harris and freaking out about a fight on the convention floor that is as likely to happen as Donald’s ever becoming presidential. Let them have their moment, I guess, but I’m going to follow President Biden’s advice and keep the faith.
I know who Joe Biden really is. And I know who my uncle really is.
And I’ll take the decent guy with the sore throat who believes in democracy over the rapist insurrectionist monster every single time.
Post Bombed Debate
This is directed to those who may feel dismay and those who still have hope following the debate. For those who say, “we’ve lost” or “Biden cannot stay in the race,” I hope that you will hold on a little longer. I am sorry your hope was so easily dashed. To those who are hanging on I say, it is not our hope that will keep D. J. Trump out of the presidency, it is our strength. Nobody says that this monumental campaign is going to run smoothly with no bumps in the road. President Biden, after multiple trips around the world, with a cold and a week of being subjected to his campaign staffers’ angst and push on debate issues, came and underperformed. This is one debate. Other presidents have bombed in a debate and went on to win their races. Take a breath and relax.
We all grow older; it is the human condition. It does not make us less effective in our decision making, it just takes a little more time. Biden’s decision-making strength comes from his weighing the numbers, the effects on people and our economy, and a multitude of other things. When asked a question he processes a lot, and processing and verbalizing in a two-minute window is a challenge for anyone, especially for an older individual.
Spewing lies is a much easier task. Which was done, as expected, but with no pushback from the moderators, other than a three time repeat of original, unanswered questions, by Diana Bash. I refuse to go into the fact checking Trump in this comment, I’ll leave that to the professionals.
Remember what a dark hole we are viewing in Trump’s Project 2025 plan. I plan to work for the elections of Biden and Harris, and every clear-thinking Democrat up and down the ballot. I accept the bombed debate outcome of this one debate and will move forward, as I sincerely hope all of you will as well.
NOTE: In the next debate, if it happens, I think that the inclusion of notes, on cards or paper, and a three-minute response time would be helpful. While muting the mic was a well-intended addition, it did not mute a debater from making himself be heard on the stage. This was unfortunate, particularly when someone was spewing lies, although it did make the audience’s listening atmosphere calmer.
I've posted this all day, everywhere I go. Have a good evening.
President Obama said today, "“I am unwilling,” he said, “to abandon a great president after one bad debate, any more than I wouldn’t want to be abandoned after a rough debate.” I, like you, stand with President Biden. At the NC rally today he got back up and all that powerful truth, goodness, leadershp, and love of country came pouring out of him.