The Silence of the Joe

Andrew Donaldson

Born and raised in West Virginia, Andrew has since lived and traveled around the world several times over. Though frequently writing about politics out of a sense of duty and love of country, most of the time he would prefer discussions on history, culture, occasionally nerding on aviation, and his amateur foodie tendencies. He can usually be found misspelling/misusing words on Twitter @four4thefire and his food writing website Yonder and Home. Andrew is the host of Heard Tell podcast. Subscribe to Andrew's Heard Tell SubStack for free here:

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8 Responses

  1. pillsy says:

    I have a ton of problems Joe Biden, but he has a reputation for being dumb that simply isn’t deserved at all.

    The dude won a Senate election (like US Senate, not state Senate) when he was 30, despite being a ludicrous long shot.

    It’s hard to imagine now, what with him being old, crusty, kind of a sleaze, and having led an extremely long, accomplished, but also cynically opportunistic career as a politician, but at one point he must have seemed like an AOC-style celebrity.Report

  2. Aaron David says:

    Oh, Biden had something to say recently, to a 10-year-old girl; “If you give me (your) address, I’m gonna write you a longer answer and tell you the exact things I would do, OK?” said Biden before adding, “I’ll bet you’re as bright as you are good-looking.”

    Dude really needs to keep his trap shut.Report

  3. North says:

    I agree with you Andrew, team Biden has handled this week well, solid A- performance in my opinion though the USS McCain kerfuffle could be pointed to as an argument for upgrading it to an A.

    I am still not comfortable with Biden. His age and his history seems prohibitive. There is, however, plenty of time for him to screw up or continue to demonstrate competence. We’ll see. The first debate looms and the deep bend of candidates the Dems have are feeling the winnowing pressure. We’ll see, we’ll see.Report

  4. Doctor Jay says:

    I like that you called it “The Mendoza Line”. I wonder though. If I were to answer a poll question about impeachment, I would probably answer “not in favor”. But that’s not because I think Trump doesn’t deserve it, or because I think there isn’t plenty of reason to do it, or because I think the country needs him or something. I’d be fine with that outcome, but I answer “not in favor” because I think there’s no way the Senate convicts or even does anything but spend maybe a week on it making speeches about Spygate.

    So, that’s a strategic calculation. I wonder how many other polltakers are using the same strategic calculation.

    Sadly, I have learned that I am an outlier. I think the more typical response is that voter quoted as saying, “Wait, there’s something bad about Trump in the Mueller report?”Report

  5. Saul Degraw says:

    My comment got eaten. Damn you comment-hungry monster.

    Biden is being good here. I still think is Trump as aberration viewpoint is dead wrong but it does match the psychology of a big part of the Democratic Party base. The GOP will continue to be nihilists after Trump*. McConnell is not going to change from being a slime.

    Bernie got a big “anyone but HRC” push in 2016. That spreads out without no HRC in the race.

    *IIRC the original Fascists used an expression that roughly translated as “I don’t care.” A more accurate translation would be “I don’t give a fuck.” This translates to the “For the Lulz” nihilism of 4chan and 8chan and the “Trump 2016: Fuck Your Feelings” t-shirts. This is not going away after Trump is gone.Report

  6. Stillwater says:

    You’re right that Biden is being a Good Politician by not playing up impeachment. But that’s the whole purpose of his campaign. He has Just One Job. On the other hand, the Dems are playing with fire by *not* impeaching, short term and long term. Even if it works short term (which is a high hope of Pelosi) they’ll pay a steep price long term. Chickens come home to roost. Trump won the GOP primary in part by calling the Iraq war the greatest disaster in US foreign policy history on a national stage. He was right about that. Same thing with Dems *failing to impeach*. Where do they go from here?*

    * Dem 2024 campaign theme: “We’re the party that excused presidential misconduct and high crimes for political advantage in the moment. Vote for Us!”Report