Can we NOT use hypocrisy over a single act? Biden has governed decently and tried to re-establish norms. And yes, he did. An example is not firing the head of the post office - a sniveling shit of a man but.. Biden respects the terms of office.
Despite his hard work, nearly half the nations dismisses Biden as a failure. Can we accept the …
Can we NOT use hypocrisy over a single act? Biden has governed decently and tried to re-establish norms. And yes, he did. An example is not firing the head of the post office - a sniveling shit of a man but.. Biden respects the terms of office.
Despite his hard work, nearly half the nations dismisses Biden as a failure. Can we accept the Biden - with only a few weeks left in a long career - just said fuck this shit.
A hypocrite should be someone with at least a notable pattern of behavior. This is a single decision. He does not want his only remaining son to be a plaything.
I have no problem with Biden pardoning his son. Joe has been a terrific president in difficult circumstances. He's been a moral and decent man that I greatly respect. Is this act a form of nepotism, yes. Will Hunter be hounded to death for the next 4 years if he is not pardoned, also yes.The pardon is as act of realism in the face of the coming storm of retribution. I say pardon everyone on Patel and Trump's lists, if the pardoned are willing to accept. These pardons are simply a protection from the coming wave of retribution. God bless, President Biden.
Unfortunately for me, the president doesn't get to do that. The job is that everything you do for four years is for the betterment of America. That underscores every single decision. I'm ok with a reasonable choice going bad because stuff happens.
I say this as an RPCV. For more that two years, I measured the impact of every decision I made against whether it would help or hurt our interests. Lots of volunteers did not take it so seriously, and I don't judge them for it. But if part of the job is "representing America" you should take that seriously.
Well said! I told my wife yesterday that Biden should have presser and when asked why he pardoned Hunter, "Fuck you, that's why". Lets see some big fucking deal Dark Brandon for 6 weeks.
That was exactly my thought. This is probably projection of how I've been feeling myself lately, but my first reaction was: after four years of doing as many good things as he could and getting trashed for it by both Republicans and some Dems as well, Biden just might be angry enough to no longer care what the country thinks. If he's now circling the wagons to protect his family, I totally get it. If Trump weren't Trump, I would consider the pardon a wrong move, but at this point? I'm more worried every day that we may have to fight the R's on their own terms and I don't want that, but what we have been doing hasn't worked very well so far.
Agree. Some norms are already broken and others are seriously in danger. We have under six weeks to do something meaningful to save what remains of democracy, and it won't be achieved by self doubt and taking the moral high ground.
Yes to all you wrote. I had similar thoughts yesterday as I went through the day. If I were in Biden’s shoes I would be bitter. And also, imagining how much loss within his family he has already endured is epic. How he puts one foot in front of the other is a mystery.
And nobody can convince me that the gun toting MAGAs aren’t heavily populated with those who lied on gun application forms regarding illicit drug use - or even legal marijuana use.
Well he did also say he was a bridge candidate to the future and walked that back.
He’s a good man and was generally a good, underrated president. As you note, he got zero credit for much of the success, but his actions on re-election, staying in too long, and the overtop zeal of the pardon are undoubtedly hurting his legacy in ways that would even make RBG blush.
He did stay in too long, but hindsight is always 20-20. He may have even forgotten that he was planning to be a one-term president -- or more likely, he never imagined that Trump would be the nominee again in 2024. He may have stayed in thinking that because he beat Trump before he could again. There are a lot of variables here, so I do wish people would let go of this 'Biden stayed in too long' criticism. It's easy to criticize from the outside when you don't know all the details of a situation, which is the case for all of us.
Here are some details to consider: [a] The majority of his party's members did not want him to run again. [b] I was ok with him running only because he was the only Dem who could beat Trump. That was the ONLY reason in my view he should run again. I didn't think a woman [Whitmer], a gay [Pete B] a Jew [Shapiro] or a Black woman [Harris] who at the time, April '23, was not performing well, could beat him. [c] Biden also had just come off a very successful State of the Union address in February. At the end of it, I thought, "If he keeps this up, he wins reelection."
He did not keep it up.
Why did his staff keep him out of unscripted press encounters? Doesn't that imply that they knew then that he couldn't perform without a teleprompted script? If they knew that then, he couldn't beat Biden and for that reason he should not have run again.
"Never imagined". It's crazy to think that. I knew immediately after hearing about Jan 6th that it would be whitewashed, just like all of Trump's other transgressions were (the Ukraine call for example-Lindsey Graham's initial stance and then defense of Trump, or the call to straight up cheat on the election outcome) and as long as Trump was running, he was always going to be the GOP nominee.
People in a cult are not rational actors. People making money and generating power from the cult are rational actors and will perpetuate that cult's actions to enrich themselves, even if it costs wider society.
Even in late January 2020, it was plain as day to anyone paying attention. If it wasn't true, he would have been impeached post Jan 6th.
Sure he stayed too long. But after the dust settles... this big picture view of Biden will (I suggest) not be harmed by this. But who knows. But re the pardon... well I just can't see Biden letting his son become an object of fun for the right.
Can we NOT use hypocrisy over a single act? Biden has governed decently and tried to re-establish norms. And yes, he did. An example is not firing the head of the post office - a sniveling shit of a man but.. Biden respects the terms of office.
Despite his hard work, nearly half the nations dismisses Biden as a failure. Can we accept the Biden - with only a few weeks left in a long career - just said fuck this shit.
A hypocrite should be someone with at least a notable pattern of behavior. This is a single decision. He does not want his only remaining son to be a plaything.
I have no problem with Biden pardoning his son. Joe has been a terrific president in difficult circumstances. He's been a moral and decent man that I greatly respect. Is this act a form of nepotism, yes. Will Hunter be hounded to death for the next 4 years if he is not pardoned, also yes.The pardon is as act of realism in the face of the coming storm of retribution. I say pardon everyone on Patel and Trump's lists, if the pardoned are willing to accept. These pardons are simply a protection from the coming wave of retribution. God bless, President Biden.
https://open.substack.com/pub/meidastouch/p/the-big-reason-why-hunters-pardon?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=1wbr1r
Unfortunately for me, the president doesn't get to do that. The job is that everything you do for four years is for the betterment of America. That underscores every single decision. I'm ok with a reasonable choice going bad because stuff happens.
I say this as an RPCV. For more that two years, I measured the impact of every decision I made against whether it would help or hurt our interests. Lots of volunteers did not take it so seriously, and I don't judge them for it. But if part of the job is "representing America" you should take that seriously.
https://open.substack.com/pub/meidastouch/p/the-big-reason-why-hunters-pardon?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=1wbr1r
I appreciate that guy's opinion, but I don't agree. Of course, your mileage may vary.
Really, really well said, Terry.
Well said! I told my wife yesterday that Biden should have presser and when asked why he pardoned Hunter, "Fuck you, that's why". Lets see some big fucking deal Dark Brandon for 6 weeks.
I agree. Unleash the force of Dark Brandon. We have nothing to lose any more and much to gain. Even save.
Just picturing this gave me my first laugh of the day. Thank you. Yes, bring on Dark Brandon.
Think of the last seen of High Noon as the marshall walks away.
That was exactly my thought. This is probably projection of how I've been feeling myself lately, but my first reaction was: after four years of doing as many good things as he could and getting trashed for it by both Republicans and some Dems as well, Biden just might be angry enough to no longer care what the country thinks. If he's now circling the wagons to protect his family, I totally get it. If Trump weren't Trump, I would consider the pardon a wrong move, but at this point? I'm more worried every day that we may have to fight the R's on their own terms and I don't want that, but what we have been doing hasn't worked very well so far.
Agree. Some norms are already broken and others are seriously in danger. We have under six weeks to do something meaningful to save what remains of democracy, and it won't be achieved by self doubt and taking the moral high ground.
https://open.substack.com/pub/meidastouch/p/the-big-reason-why-hunters-pardon?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=1wbr1r
Yes to all you wrote. I had similar thoughts yesterday as I went through the day. If I were in Biden’s shoes I would be bitter. And also, imagining how much loss within his family he has already endured is epic. How he puts one foot in front of the other is a mystery.
And nobody can convince me that the gun toting MAGAs aren’t heavily populated with those who lied on gun application forms regarding illicit drug use - or even legal marijuana use.
Joe made his promise well before Heinrich Himmler was announced to be Trump's nominee to run the FBI.
Agree. I like to say that was then, this is now.
Well he did also say he was a bridge candidate to the future and walked that back.
He’s a good man and was generally a good, underrated president. As you note, he got zero credit for much of the success, but his actions on re-election, staying in too long, and the overtop zeal of the pardon are undoubtedly hurting his legacy in ways that would even make RBG blush.
"overtop zeal of the pardon"? Pls explain.
He did stay in too long, but hindsight is always 20-20. He may have even forgotten that he was planning to be a one-term president -- or more likely, he never imagined that Trump would be the nominee again in 2024. He may have stayed in thinking that because he beat Trump before he could again. There are a lot of variables here, so I do wish people would let go of this 'Biden stayed in too long' criticism. It's easy to criticize from the outside when you don't know all the details of a situation, which is the case for all of us.
Here are some details to consider: [a] The majority of his party's members did not want him to run again. [b] I was ok with him running only because he was the only Dem who could beat Trump. That was the ONLY reason in my view he should run again. I didn't think a woman [Whitmer], a gay [Pete B] a Jew [Shapiro] or a Black woman [Harris] who at the time, April '23, was not performing well, could beat him. [c] Biden also had just come off a very successful State of the Union address in February. At the end of it, I thought, "If he keeps this up, he wins reelection."
He did not keep it up.
Why did his staff keep him out of unscripted press encounters? Doesn't that imply that they knew then that he couldn't perform without a teleprompted script? If they knew that then, he couldn't beat Biden and for that reason he should not have run again.
"Never imagined". It's crazy to think that. I knew immediately after hearing about Jan 6th that it would be whitewashed, just like all of Trump's other transgressions were (the Ukraine call for example-Lindsey Graham's initial stance and then defense of Trump, or the call to straight up cheat on the election outcome) and as long as Trump was running, he was always going to be the GOP nominee.
People in a cult are not rational actors. People making money and generating power from the cult are rational actors and will perpetuate that cult's actions to enrich themselves, even if it costs wider society.
Even in late January 2020, it was plain as day to anyone paying attention. If it wasn't true, he would have been impeached post Jan 6th.
Sure he stayed too long. But after the dust settles... this big picture view of Biden will (I suggest) not be harmed by this. But who knows. But re the pardon... well I just can't see Biden letting his son become an object of fun for the right.