Late on this watershed day that saw President Joe Biden judged to have been guilty of mishandling classified information, but given a pass on prosecution due to his diminished capacity, I decided to partake of some cable news.
The experience was all too predictable.
First, on Fox News, the panelists noted a man too diminished mentally to be prosecuted probably isn’t fit to be president, either now or down the line. Makes sense to me.
The Fox talking heads also thought it to be beyond the purview of a special prosecutor to decide not to bring charges because he thought a sympathetic jury might give the accused a pass due to age and some measure of likeability.
In addition, the Fox folks pointed out the hypocrisy of attempting to crucify Donald Trump on similar classified lapses, with that former president facing 37 felony counts. They highlighted that not only has Biden mishandled classified documents as president, but also, according to the report, he has done it while he was vice president and a senator.
Biden has been given some leniency for “cooperating” with prosecutors, but Trump’s lack of cooperation centered on him claiming – correctly – that a president can de-classify documents. A vice president or senator cannot do so.
And, the coup de grace was the recapping of Biden’s press conference Thursday night, when he alternated between expressing outrage at the special prosecutor questioning his mental acuity, then providing further evidence of same by confusing Mexico and Egypt and seeming to forget where he got the rosary he said he wears daily in remembrance of his late son, Beau.
It was a PR disaster for Biden to the extent that the cynics suggested it might have been just another attempt by the Deep State to get rid of Biden as the Democratic presidential candidate, and perhaps replacing him on the ballot with Michelle Obama, or any warm body other than Kamala Harris.
To get the deranged left view, I switched to MSNBC and that analysis lived down to my expectations.
The female host of the 11 p.m. hour show kept hurling loaded questions at some guy from the New York Times and he failed to foam at the mouth on command. One telling camera shot, just before cutting away, showed said host throwing her head downward into her palms in disgust because this dog had not howled on command.
A couple of female panelists – forgive me if I got the gender identification wrong – were more amenable to the host’s leading inquiries.
During a few tortured minutes they either noted Donald Trump makes just as many speaking gaffes as does Biden – clearly that’s a whopper – or questioned the need for the special prosecutor to go political in pointing out Biden’s problems with dates, times, and assorted other facts during his interviews on the subject of mishandling classified documents.
One of these partisan hacks went so far as to be enthused at the combative way Biden went after the press, particularly those asking for a response to the fact that the public is doubting his mental fitness for the job. Why this Biden testiness pleased her, I’m not sure. He came off as an angry old man, trying to dispute facts with bluster and outrage.
This is vintage Biden. When in the past people have called him out on mistakes, outright lies (recall his “Lying, dog-faced pony soldier” and “you’re a damn liar” and “fat” shouts at such people) or just inconsistencies, Biden has been vintage insecurity, lashing out with ad hominem attacks instead of rationally explaining his positions.
Biden also played the blame game, blaming his staff for the classified problem, just as he had blamed generals for blowing the Afghan pullout and has blamed Trump and Trump’s supporters for all existing problems in this country despite Biden being in his fourth year on the job.
I’m sure the majority of Republicans thought this day to be a crucial moment in undermining Biden’s re-election chances.
I’m sure the majority of Democrats thought this was no big deal and will blindly vote for Biden again, as many times as necessary.
That speaks to the dysfunctional state of the United States. Where once people could acknowledge truth even when it conflicted with their party’s narrative, now the facts can’t be allowed to get in the way of narrative.
If you think this sealed Biden’s defeat this fall, you are only kidding yourself. If he runs, he almost assuredly will win. And if the Democrats do toss him overboard, it only means they have another figurehead candidate lined up to present a more palatable face for their behind-the-scenes maneuvering.
Never underestimate what Democratic operatives are willing to do to get and keep power.
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