Meanwhile in Ukraine

 

I get so disgusted every time I think of how those people have suffered unnecessarily when Biden could have at the outset given them the equipment they needed and asked for but didn't do it.

It wasn't Biden's fault?

 

Epstein file revelations continue

 It is absolutely no coincidence.

A fucking doctor.  Do no harm.  

If, Angus.  If.

Who's Lesley?  And why hasn't she/he been picked up?

UPDATE 10:53 am:

And, in fact, that is one of the reasons they claimed there was nothing about Trump to be revealed.  Because, the claim goes, if there were, Biden would have surely used it.  

They have a point: why DIDN'T he?  Who was HE protecting?

UPDATE 05:47 pm:  Even Epstein didn't want Elon around.

And why is this person's name redacted?

UPDATE 02/02/2026:

UPDATE 02/23/2026:

"Democrats"

 

House Republicans taking care of the important stuff

 

There's your waste, fraud and abuse right there.

"The Biden stench"

AN IMPORTANT PART OF RECOVERY is owning up to mistakes and taking full responsibility for the harm they caused. And as the Democratic party tries to earn back the trust of voters, its leaders are publicly grappling with one of their biggest missteps from 2024: how they handled Joe Biden.

Nearly five months after the election, the ex-president’s legacy lingers over the party like the stench of rotting food—a reminder that while a good meal was once enjoyed, they were too late in clearing the table.

  The Bulwark

It really is a shame. His legacy might have been quite different had he stepped aside like he said he was going to do.

Party officials have grown more comfortable admitting that Biden’s decision to run again was a mistake. They feel at ease saying that his stubbornness cost Kamala Harris a chance to ramp up a better campaign. Voters, some of whom voted for Joe Biden in 2020 under the belief that he would not seek re-election, now regularly say they felt misled when he ran and gaslighted when party leaders and White House officials said Biden was capable of serving another four years, despite his visible frailty and declining faculties.

[...]

Biden recently signed with the talent agency CAA and has plans for a book, which could give him a platform to share his own point of view on that 2024 decision.

That one's going to be ghost-written, one way or another. Is Biden even still alive now? Haven't heard nor seen anything.

Although a small group of loyal aides have stuck with him to set up his post-presidential office—they’re currently working out of a small office in downtown D.C.—the ex-president has morphed into something of a lightning rod even for those who worked with him. Even those who occupied the upper echelons of White House and administration staff have copped to genuine anger and despair over his decision not to step back sooner.

[...]

A CNN survey released on Sunday found that their favorability rating among all Americans stands at just 29 percent, a record low since the network started polling in 1992. An NBC News poll also released on Sunday found that just 27 percent of registered voters have a positive view of the party, also an all-time low since they started polling in 1990.

Jeezus. I didn't realize it was THAT low.

“Democrats need to acknowledge mistakes not just from this cycle but from decades of allowing jobs to go overseas and factory towns be de-industrialized,” Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) told The Bulwark. “No one associated with these colossal mess-ups should be part of leading this party’s future.”

Another open question is how much good comes from looking backwards. Much of the polling indicates that Democratic voter dissatisfaction is driven not by anger towards Biden but by a desire to see the party push back more aggressively against Trump.

Can't we do both?

“The sad truth is, there’s not a single remaining member of Congress—not a single Democrat, not a single one, and probably not a single one that will be on that debate stage in 2028—who had the courage to point out the truth and risk their career and lead Democrats to the Holy Land,” Phillips said. “Instead, it’ll be filled with people who chose to be quiet and preserve their futures and subjugate their principles.”

Unless AOC wants to run. Or Pete Buttigieg.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who played an important part in forcing Biden to step down, was asked if he knew about “Biden’s declining faculties” before the debate. “No. . . . I didn’t realize, because my dealings with him were just fine,” Schumer responded.

I sense a contradiction there.

The ex-president’s conduct throughout the 2024 campaign is the subject of a handful of books slated to be released this spring. An excerpt published last week from one of those books—FIGHT: Inside the Wildest Battle for the White House, by Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes—detailed how Biden personally demanded Kamala Harris remain loyal to him and not criticize his presidency, setting off a fresh round of anger even among those who worked for the president.

“American democracy is supposedly on the line, and yet that’s what he focused on,” another former White House official fumed when I asked for their thoughts on the excerpt.

[...]

Schumer is still feeling the heat from his handling of the government funding bill.

[...]

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Tuesday criticized Schumer’s leadership, telling reporters, “I myself don’t give away anything for nothing” (a very Pelosi-like diss). And at a town hall on Tuesday night, Rep. Glenn Ivey (D-Md.) became the first member of Congress to call on Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to step down from leadership. Of course, it will take a lot more than that to get Schumer to give up his post. But it’s clear that the anger isn’t going to mellow over anytime soon.

Joe Biden is still - and will forever be - a dick

Biden is leaving office not only with his legacy endangered by Trump, but convinced he could have beaten him if he'd stayed in the race.

  Axios

President Biden insisted in a new interview out Wednesday that he could have beaten President-elect Trump in the 2024 election, even as he admitted he was unsure that he had the stamina for another term.

[...]

Biden's assessment that he could have beaten Trump would have required overcoming low approval ratings, a disastrous debate performance that raised questions about his mental fitness, and voters' persistently bleak views of the economy.

[...]

"It's presumptuous to say that, but I think yes," Biden told USA Today when asked if he believed he could have won.

[...]

Trump, he added, had complimented some of the Biden administration's economic achievements. "He thought I was leaving with a good record," Biden said.

[...]

In September, he told "The View" that he still believed he could have won against Trump if he'd stayed in the race.

  Axios

The fact of the matter is, someone else could have won if Joe had announced he wouldn't be running again - like he said when he was elected in 2020 - and kept out of the way.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Can he even do that?

It SHOULD be law, but I don't think Biden gets to make that call.  Just looking for last minute attaboys.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Fuck you, Joe Biden

Arrogant, self-serving prick.

Former FBI informant admits to lying about Bursima and the Bidens

James Comer’s former star witness in the Hunter Biden investigation Alexander Smirnov pled guilty today in federal court to lying about a $5 million bribe that was supposedly paid by Burisma to Joe Biden in 2015. He made the allegations during the 2020 presidential election in June of that year, which was supposed to pair up with Rudy Giuliani’s “discovery” of the Hunter Biden laptop right before the election.

  Meidas Touch

If it does, it will come to a close quietly and without a single apology.  The question is whether the Bidens will go to court to recoup damages.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Bye bye, Biden

There will, however, be no end to Biden adulation articles.  Much like Reagan - both egotistical politicians who enjoyed rose-colored glasses treatment.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Air Force One, en route to Angola, that they can expect more pardons and clemencies "at the end of this term."

  Axios

Of course, but I don't think that's going to erase the animus he's incurred.

Biden loyalists believe history will also credit Biden with his authentically historic legislative accomplishments, including gains on climate and other issues that Democrats had long fought for.

Of course, because they'll be writing the stories.

Andrew Bates, White House senior deputy press secretary, told us that Biden "continues to deliver historic progress every day, and his legacy will benefit the American people for generations."

[...]

The timing of Hunter's pardon frustrated Democrats. Biden could have waited until closer to the inauguration. But he spared Hunter from going through sentencing for his convictions that had been scheduled for mid-December.

[...]

[T]he pardon uncorked the real rage that had been brewing among many powerful Democrats: his decision to wait so long to step aside. That kept Democrats from stress-testing potential nominees, and left Vice President Harris with a tiny window to make her case.

[...]

A Biden friend said the president seems older by the day — slower in walk, more halting in talk. White House aides working with him daily on implementing the agenda dispute that characterization.

But to some Biden loyalists, his decline is a sad metaphor for his presidency: He started strong but will finish diminished.

He did it to himself.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Joe Biden: A day late and a dollar short

Could have made a difference a year ago.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Gonna need more ketchup at Mar-A-Lago

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

What the hell?

Who the hell thought that was a good idea?

“At the Shanksville Fire Station, @POTUS spoke about the country’s bipartisan unity after 9/11 and said we needed to get back to that,” White House senior deputy press secretary Andrew Bates posted on the social platform X. “As a gesture, he gave a hat to a Trump supporter who then said that in the same spirit, POTUS should put on his Trump cap. He briefly wore it.”

Biden put on the hat during a meeting with community members that was closed to the press. A photo and brief video of the moment quickly went viral among Republicans, including some who used it to attack Biden’s mental sharpness and his support for Vice President Harris.

  

Well, no shit.

Stepped right in that shit, didn't he?  Imagine if he hadn't been forced to stand down.  JFC.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Goodbye Joe, me gotta go, me-oh my-oh

Rather than trying to balance loyalty to Biden against catering to the desires of the electorate, Harris’s strategy should focus entirely on catering to the public with no attention whatsoever to Biden’s feelings.

There are certainly issues where Biden has taken a popular stance or achieved something popular that Harris can take credit for. On those issues — letting the federal government negotiate prescription-drug prices, signing a bipartisan infrastructure law, reducing health-care costs — she should proclaim her agreement and highlight her tie-breaking vote.

But there is no rule requiring Harris to own every action Biden has taken. She can even say that she disagreed with him. Her role as vice-president was to give the president candid advice in private and support him in public, but now that she is running for his job, she can advocate her own ideas.

And Biden is, on the whole, a liability for Harris.

  New York Magazine

Must agree.  Although I'm sure she will always consider Joe's feelings, she can simply state that she care deeply about him, is thankful for the opportunity he gave her, etc., while putting country first.

Exactly why Biden has proven so toxic has confounded Democrats. I sympathize with their bewilderment. The economy is excellent, and people should be crediting Biden’s management rather than blaming him for an inflation surge that was mostly beyond his control and has almost entirely receded.

At this point, alas, public opinion is what it is. And I fear that Democrats have allowed their sentiment that Biden has gotten an unfair rap to cloud their judgment.

[...]

The best data point Biden’s defenders can summon on behalf of his political viability is the party’s midterm performance, in which Democrats forfeited the House majority but lost fewer seats than a first-term incumbent typically would. But that modest success can be explained by a combination of a backlash against the Dobbs decision, the general unacceptability of the Republican opposition, and the fact that Democratic candidates for Congress had some natural distance and didn’t have to run as Biden superfans. Nothing about the 2022 midterm elections contradicts the overall fact that Biden is an unpopular president.

[...]

If Biden has an unpopular stance, Harris should simply oppose it. People understand that she couldn’t undermine her boss. Harris can say she privately disagreed with some of Biden’s positions on fiscal management and immigration enforcement but supported them because she was a good soldier. Alternatively, if she didn’t disagree with any Biden decisions at the time, she is free to say that she disagrees with them now and wants to go in a different direction.

[...]

“Kamala Harris is not the candidate for change nor is she the candidate of the future,” a Trump spokesperson tells the Times. “Kamala Harris is the vice-president right now, and whether she likes it or not, she is responsible for the economic, immigration, and foreign-policy crises over the past four years.”

Uh, no.

The vice-presidency is a strange office, lacking any formal authority. Its inhabitants have generally lamented the powerlessness of the job.

[...]

The vice-president has no constitutional power. If the president wants to do something Harris doesn’t like, Harris can’t stop him. She is therefore not responsible for any policies she doesn’t wish to associate herself with.

[...]

Kamala Harris Should Cut Joe Biden Loose

Yep.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Biden statement

The first part was never in doubt.  The last part....not so much.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE 09:30 pm:

If there was nothing to be worried about, they wouldn't have needed to do that.

UPDATE 07/04/2024:

It was an end of May interview.  

Jesus wept

Joe Biden’s family have urged him stay in the race after a disastrous debate performance last week, according to reports in the US media, as senior democrats and donors have expressed exasperation at how his staff prepared him for the event.

  Guardian

What is he? A robot? Improperly prepared. Is he a meal?

If the man can't get through a debate under his own power...

During the meeting at Camp David – which included the president’s wife, children and grandchildren – Biden’s family told him he could still show Americans that he is capable of serving another four years, according to the New York Times.

While his family was reportedly aware of how poorly he performed, they also continue to think he’s the best person to beat Donald Trump.

These people are deluded. And also, they have a personal interest in Joe clinging to power.

The Associated Press reported that the strongest voices imploring Biden to resist pressure to drop out were his wife, Jill, and his son Hunter.

Elder abuse.

On Sunday, a narrative blaming the rigorous debate prep calendar which saw Biden sequestered at Camp David for six days, began to build.

“It is my belief that he was over-coached, over-practiced,” said John Morgan, a Florida-based attorney and major Biden fundraiser.

Again, is he a robot? Or a performing dog?

House of Representatives Democratic leader, Hakeem Jeffries, acknowledged that Biden had suffered a setback, but said this was “nothing more than a setup for a comeback.”

Senator Raphael Warnock, a Georgia democrat and Baptist minister, said there had been “more than a few Sundays when I wish I had preached a better sermon,” relating the experience to Biden’s debate performance.

“But after the sermon was over it was my job to embody the message, to show up for the people that I serve. And that’s what Joe Biden has been doing his entire life,” Warnock said.

Circle those wagons in public, but you better be seriously considering how you're going to save the country from Trump.

Not all Democrats appeared to be in agreement however. Asked on Sunday whether the party was discussing a new 2024 candidate, Maryland congressman Jamie Raskin told MSNBC: “There are very honest and serious and rigorous conversations taking place at every level of our party, because it is a political party and we have differences in point of view.”

“Whether he’s the candidate or someone else is the candidate, he’s going to be the keynote speaker at our convention. He will be the figure that we rally around to move forward,” Raskin said.

Fine. He should give the keynote address. He can be celebrated for his contributions. We can name a bridge after him. Just give us someone who can actually do the job without note cards to welcome foreign leaders.  Jamie Raskin would be great.

Members of Joe Biden’s family privately trashed his top campaign advisers at Camp David this weekend, blaming them for the president’s flop in Thursday’s debate and urging Biden to fire or demote people in his political high command.

There is no immediate expectation that Biden will follow through on that advice.

[...]

“The aides who prepped the President have been with him for years, often decades, seeing him through victories and challenges. He maintains strong confidence in them,” Biden campaign spokesperson Kevin Munoz said in a statement.

[...]

Among the family’s complaints about the debate practice: that Biden was not prepared to pivot more to go on the attack; that he was bogged down too much on defending his record rather than outlining a vision for a second term; and that he was over-worked and not well-rested.

  Politico

And where were they while this was happening?

Also, don't be surprised if Biden does fire the aides and advisers if that's who his family is blaming his incompetence on.

Biden allies and staffers have sought to blame a variety of factors in the aftermath of Biden’s dismal debate performance, including that the president was ill, was over-prepared and that the CNN moderators failed to fact-check former President Donald Trump.

All bullshit. The moderators were not there to fact-check Trump. They said at the outset they weren't going to do that. And, besides, that was Joe's job. He failed.

He was ill? Too bad. So sad. Not an excuse for someone who knew what they needed to do, which he obviously didn't.

Over-prepared? Already addressed above.

The focus on the staff, however, also allowed the family to overlook Biden’s own failings in Atlanta, one of the people familiar noted.

No shit.

These people said the Biden family wanted the president to continue in the campaign rather than end his career with a calamitous debate performance against Trump, whom they all loathe.

Fine, give him a couple of days and a few happy rallies with teleprompters. Then he needs to come clean.

Biden’s campaign staff [complained] that Biden was not told which camera he’d be on when not speaking and that the makeup staff made him appear too pale, according to the three people. Biden did, however, agree to the terms of the debate before it was held.

In fact, Biden ASKED for the debate. Or at least his handlers did. If he doesn't know what they're doing, that's another sign he's incompetent.

Also, he IS pale. And it doesn't matter which camera he's on when he's not speaking. In a televised - or any - debate, you're "on" whether you're speaking or not. This is not a new concept.

Biden often consults his family on big decisions, and people close to him say that the only way he would come to the conclusion to drop out of the race would be if the first lady and members of his family encouraged him to do so.

At a fundraiser in Greenwich Village on Friday night, the first lady said that after the debate, the president came to her and said: “Jill, I don’t know what happened. I didn’t feel that great.”

Yeah, buddy. You WEREN'T that great. You were awful. Time to go back to Delaware and rest.  

“The way I’m talking to my donors is: The House is the last firewall, folks. We have to flip the House,” one frontline House Democrat told Playbook last night. “Ninety-nine percent of the people I talked to can’t get their credit card out fast enough.”

Those private discussions could eventually morph into an explicit campaign to place a Democratic check on an expected Trump presidency — much as congressional Republicans did back in 1996, when Bob Dole was on his way to a thumping.

[...]

Part of it is a collective action problem — no one wants to be first, and potentially the last — and part of it is that many believe that speaking out might only make Biden dig in further.

  Politico

That may be true, but he's dug in so far now there's no chance he's coming out.

But make no mistake: The despair and frustration are real, and it is pushing upward inside the party. It has been felt acutely by frontline members — the swing-district Democrats who would be the cornerstone of any majority. Donors blew up their phones over the weekend, with some prodding them to go public with a group letter calling for a new candidate, an idea that some discussed over the weekend.

“The leadership of the party should be going to the White House and knocking down the doors and saying, ‘Time’s up,’” an adviser to top Democratic donors said. “Anybody trying to prolong the inevitable here is just basically putting us on a giant fucking death march towards the end.”

Pretty much par for the Democratic Party.

That sense of anger is palpable among rank-and-file congressional Democrats, many of whom blame Biden and his family for hiding the reality of his condition. The House Democrat lamented defending the president on the campaign trail despite getting political advice to run away from him, only to find out how bad things were on Thursday.

“It’s just his egotism and his family’s enabling,” the person said. “Jill [Biden] of all people — she sees him every single day. She’s the one person who could end this train wreck. … This should have been a one-term president.”

[...]

“There is an enormous amount of affection and deference to the president — but nobody thinks this is sustainable,” one senior Democratic aide told Playbook.

[...]

In Pennsylvania, Republican David McCormick went live with a new ad that ping-ponged from incumbent Sen. Bob Casey expressing confidence in Biden’s leadership with the president’s halting debate performance.

“Casey knew about Biden’s condition,” the words on the screen read.

The NRCC has compiled a similar dossier and is planning to “weaponize the silence of vulnerable House Democrats … capitalizing on Biden’s political collapse to expand the map and grow the House Republican majority,” according to a new memo obtained by Playbook.

“House Democrats have stood by and enabled this crisis due to their own fecklessness and allegiance to their party over the people of this country,” the memo continues.

Can't say they haven't earned it.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Where was this Joe during the debate?

Last night it was reported he said he thought he did fine.  At least somebody convinced him he needs to clean that mess up.

Maybe the drugs last night were cold medicines that laid him low.  But, how about you show up at the debate next time, Joe.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE 05:36 pm:

OMG the debate!

Would it have been any worse if they'd just put those two old men in spandex underpants and stuck 'em in a wrestling ring?  I don't think so.

Admittedly, I only made it through the first 15 minutes and had to go read a book.  At that point, I wouldn't have made a bet that Biden would make it much past 15 minutes.  He looked like they dragged him out of the crypt, and he mumbled so badly I couldn't even catch everything he said.  The looks on his face were like even he couldn't believe he was there.  And Trump put on his mugshot face and just spouted lies, ranting random nonsense like the madman he is.  

From other people's comments, I gather it went on that way the whole time.

Before the debate I heard justification for the moderators not fact-checking Trump in real time as the debate would devolve into Jake Tapper and Donald Trump.  Good point.  But that would have been so much better for the country.

Mehdi makes many good points in this video.  But Democrats won't just offer another candidate at their convention. However, they should try to convince Joe to stand down on his own.  What I expect, though, is for Joe to start apologizing for and excusing his bad performance and promise better. (Update: see below*) 

No.  We need to thank him for his service and name a bridge after him.  This is serious.  

Guardian headlines:

And THAT is the key note.  One man would accept a loss.  The other would lie, cheat, and steal, and call out an army of lunatics to the streets.

Unfortunately, Biden had a cold and came in with a hoarse voice and low energy. For the first 45 minutes, it was rough sledding for the President, who stumbled on answers and said outloud, “we finally beat Medicare.”

Oof!

[...]

[Biden's] performance reinforces the damaging story that he’s too old to run. Mind you, Trump is 78 years old and also didn’t come off looking great, but at least he was coherent during his absurd, ugly rants.

[...]

For the next debate, A.I. should simply ask questions and play the timekeeper. That’s what these two journalists did. Trump overwhelmed them with an avalanche of bullshit, lies and absurd statements but he was never once fact checked. There was never any pushback. A few times the moderators asked him to answer the question after he went on some rant or attack, but that’s about it. How does this type of “moderation” help inform Americans ahead of a Presidential election? What does this do except just help Trump mainstream lies? This man stood on the stage and said Democrats are executing babies after birth, and no moderator checked him.

  The Left Hook

Don't blame the moderators. It wasn't their job to critique.  It's a debate.  The other guy is supposed to counter the bullshit.  AI isn't a bad idea.

Unfortunately, Biden had a cold and came in with a hoarse voice and low energy. For the first 45 minutes, it was rough sledding for the President, who stumbled on answers and said outloud, “we finally beat Medicare.”

I'm not hopeful.

Democrats were trying to soothe each other out of the gate saying every incumbent president has had a horrible first debate (Oh, lord, there are going to be more!), and Joe had a cold.  And, WHY ISN'T ANYONE FACT-CHECKING TRUMP??!!??!!

But eventually, many settled in to accept reality.

David Plouffe, a Democratic strategist and former Obama campaign official, called the debate “kind of a Defcon 1 moment”.

“The biggest thing in this election is voters’ concerns – and it’s both swing voters and base voters – with his age, and those were compounded tonight,” Plouffe said.

[...]

Maria Shriver, the former first lady of California, said she loves Biden and knows he’s a good man, but the evening was “heartbreaking in many ways”.

“This is a big political moment. There’s panic in the Democratic party. It’s going to be a long night.”

Nicholas Kristof, the leftwing political columnist, said on social media that he hopes Biden reflects on the debate and decides to withdraw from the race, letting the convention decide who should be the nominee.

[...]

Former Missouri senator Claire McCaskill said on MSNBC that Biden had one job, and he didn’t do it: He needed to “reassure America that he was up to the job at his age, and he failed”.

[...]

On the liberal network MSNBC, anchor Nicole Wallace laid out how a candidate could release their delegates, while fellow journalist Joy Reid said someone sent her the rules for doing so.

“No one is saying it’s going to happen, it’s very unlikely,” Reid said, but added that the atmosphere among Democrats was “approaching panic”.

[...]

Some Democrats laid out ways the Biden camp could turn the moment back toward him and get his performance out of voters’ minds: send out his surrogates to support him, put strong speakers like Harris or Newsom on the morning shows, or announce an initiative or endorsement or big idea in order to change the narrative.

  Guardian

Yeah, people aren't likely to forget this one. And the Republicans will be airing clips of Biden all day long until the election.

Sure.  I'll stress how absolutely necessary it is that we hold back the MAGA/Christian Nationalist surge in this country. And I'll vote for Biden. (If he lives that long - and even if he's on his deathbed in the Oval, he'll have competent people in his cabinet trying to keep this country going, which Trump absolutely will not have.)  But I'll be disgusted and depressed doing it.  That might not be great, but it's rational.

If you missed the debacle and have a desire to ruin your day, you can watch it here.  But, honestly, this captures it:

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE 08:47 am:

You know it was bad when one of Biden's most supportive teams (three of whom worked with Obama) takes him down.

*UPDATE 01:37 pm:  He's not stepping down.  He IS doing just what I suggested above that he'd do.

Last night it was reported he said he thought he did fine.  At least somebody convinced him he needs to clean that mess up.

UPDATE 06/29/2024: