“The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ,Democrats are frustrated. Trump might win. How can Americans possibly vote into a position of power and trust a person of such obvious bad character and behavior?
Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.”
Omar Khayyám, translated by Edward FitzGerald
Democrats made mistakes.
Democrats are getting the blame for inflation. It hurts them, but it is mostly a bad rap. It was the inevitable after-effect of Covid's disruptions and a rational, successful response to it.
Democrats are getting the blame, too, for high rents and homelessness. That, too, is a bad rap to blame on Democrats. It was and remains a bi-partisan failure. Both parties ignored very bad mortgages in the housing boom. Both parties own the housing construction bust.
But Democrats need to be honest and clear-eyed about two big mistakes that undermine the Harris candidacy. There should be a bright line difference between Harris and Trump. In fact, it is muddled. Democrats believe that Trump is so bad that the little misdemeanors of Democrats pale in comparison with Trump's. Trump is a convicted felon, for gosh sakes. He lies shamelessly
Republicans and non aligned people see it differently.
Democrats don't start from a presumption of neutrality or good faith. Harris presents herself as a "normal Democrat." That isn't good enough. This is an era of mistrust.
The public now understands that Democrats hid the ball on Biden's state of health and competence. He declined in the past three years from marginal but good-enough to something less than that. I commented on his use of teleprompters for his stump speeches back in 2019. He rambled without them. It was worse in the hour I saw him at a Portland, Oregon fundraising event in 2019. Attendees were forbidden from photographing or recording it. I think they were hiding him even then.
It is possible that in the judgment functions of a president, Biden is still fully competent. But the job of the president does not take place solely in small rooms with key advisors. It is a job of leadership, which requires word and body-language communication with the public. One can call it a conspiracy to hide the truth. Maybe it was just wishful thinking by close advisors. Maybe it was careerists pleasing a boss who wanted to stay on.The Democratic Party hid an important truth from the public.
Democrats hid Biden's condition. It was a kind of sleight of hand. I realize Trump's betrayal was worse. Trump wanted to overturn an election and defy the public will. But either way, the public wasn't getting what it thought it was getting.
Democrats can answer that they fixed it. They forced him out. No harm, no foul. But they cannot fix the fact that they hid a problem.
Democrats dithered dealing with mass uncontrolled immigration, especially at the southern border. Democrats spent three and a half years in inertia mode, still operating on knee-jerk opposition to Trump. Trump is racist, crude, and cruel. But that does not mean that he did not identify a legitimate point of concern. Democrats didn't want to offend a progressive constituency that defined border control as racist cruelty. They waited too long to do something. Democrats said everything was okay when it wasn't.
Democrats can answer that they fixed this, too. Biden issued executive orders. But they cannot make the problem go away.
Trump's betrayal is worse than Harris'. But for a great many people, the character and honesty issue is a push. They figure that everyone in politics lies. That frees a non-aligned voter to forget about character and compare issues of importance. Who is better on the economy? Who handled inflation better? Who looks stronger?
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20 comments:
It is frustrating, but I think Harris is going to win in a close one on swing states and significantly in popular vote. I even predict a surprise state win somewhere and the electoral numbers will be very good. Women and young people are going to swing the election for Harris. My prediction is democracy survives.
You can add to the list against fBiden/Harris the disgraceful, dishonorable,, and incompetent clusterfuck of our withdrawal from Afghanistan..
“The public now understands that Democrats hid the ball on Biden's state of health and competence.”
Meanwhile, Trump waddles his around for all to see, while eulogizing the late, great Hannibal Lecter.
Trump is notorious around the world for his grotesque lies, malicious crimes and evil intentions. As Mitch McConnell said, he’s “a despicable human being.” Those who support him anyway, as McConnell does, are no better than Trump. There are people who make lame excuses for his rise to power, blaming it on everything from affirmative action to the “elites” (as if Trump wasn’t one of them). In reality, his appeal is the same as that of the snake in Genesis. If he’s elected, then November 5, 2024, is a date which will live in infamy.
I love you Dave
Push non voters to not vote. My son of 50 and is wife of 52 do not vote. “They are all the same.” “Nothing Changes.” My son being an independent business man likes Trump, not the WOMAN. His wife working on her Social Working degree is too busy to read about local politics. “If you don’t know the candidates, how can you trust your judgement in choosing the right person?”
Neither read a local paper. Nor do their friends. Even my Grandson said “I would vote for Trump but the Portland crowd will cancel my vote , so why bother.” These relatives are music to my ears. It’s an age thing, friends.
20,30,40, low 50’s. Can’t be bothered. Don’t know , don’t care. Check the high school grads or drop outs in this age group that you know. Checked out, never in. And they were raised in “good” homes.
My point about the Afghanistan withdrawal is that Harris has tied herself firmly to Biden. When she was asked about the differences she had with Biden, she said there were none. That’s an implicit endorsement of the withdrawal from Afghanistan, and how it went.
Democratic mistakes include serial dishonesty which helps launder or normalize Trump's. For instance on immigration, reptilian DHS Secretary Mayorkas repeatedly assured America into this year that the border was "secure", and infamously defamed Border Patrol agents in 2021 with false accusations that they'd whipped migrants with reins from horseback (even after he'd been briefed to the contrary). Biden and Harris clutched pearls, evoking systemic racism, encouraging and praising the heavy migration and, as with Jussie Smollett's "lynching", failed to apologize or retract once the truth emerged. Eleventh-hour executive orders are election season lip service. "But Trump too...." Yes. Exactly.
Will abortion outweigh the (perceived) economy? We'll see.
For the record, Afghanistan was a "clusterfuck" for 20 years. Biden was responsible for about 2 months of it. The withdrawal was negotiated by Trump with the Taliban - a guaranteed mess.
Biden could have reversed Trump’s agreement. Biden could’ve kept Bagram Airbase, so we wouldn’t have seen desperate people falling off of the wheels of cargo planes. Biden could’ve honored our commitment to the brave Afghanis who fought beside us.
Biden did none of that. The clusterfuck we witnessed was his alone. The buck stopped with him, and his loyal lieutenant Kamala has never had a single critical thing to say about it. For the record.
For the record, Afghanistan was no different than Vietnam or Iraq. These “clusterfucks” are great for the military/industrial complex – outfits like Cheney’s Halliburton – but not so great for the troops that Trump refers to as “suckers and losers.” In fact, it’s so routine the military has an acronym for it: SNAFU.
Trump has a pattern of praising dictators like Putin and Kim Jong Un, threatening retribution against his opponents and spewing Nazi rhetoric about vermin poisoning the blood of our country etc. His lies have resulted in death and bomb threats, not to mention an attack on the Capitol Building. As his former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark Milley said, “He’s fascist to the core.” I really don’t think the Democratic lies can compare and unlike Republicans, their nominee respects the Constitution and rule of law.
When Don Old surrendered to terrorists?
Michael, if you're so upset about Don Old's surrender to terrorists you should have said something years.ago.
We know you get your excuses from Fox and Bill Meyer.
You're angry at Harris because Biden didn't repair Don Old's f-ck up?
Pretzel logic there, Michael.
There won't be a Biden to fix any more of Don Old's chaos.
Harris has never had a word of criticism for the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan. That’s what I criticize her for.
Abandoning your allies to the Taliban was dishonorable. Leaving them with hanging onto the landing gear of a cargo plane as their only option to get out was dishonorable.
Someone should ask Harris about that. If anyone does, I predict her response will be, “I was born in a middle class, family …”.
Hmmm, sounds just like Vietnam. Situation Normal, All F*CKED Up.
If "lies" is a common denominator, by necessity we have comparison. Arguing differences in degree versus kind resonates less, then, especially among the cynical and/or the relatively uninformed.
Almost all politicians exaggerate or lie to some degree, but lies that threaten people and deliberately undermine the democratic process are qualitatively worse. Any comparison between Harris and Trump is a false equivalence.
It's not equivalence, it's a spectrum. That's the point. Especially when moralizing and denouncing in politics.
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