The articulate Vice President Joe Biden thread

http://images.salon.com/ent/movies/review/2008/12/12/gran_torino/story.jpg

lol

sweet belt, clint

morbs this is weirdly gross even for your "everyone is the same" style? i dunno something about this thread is really vomity to me.

I wonder, Morbs, what contemporary governments we should looks to for pointers? Governments of large, world-leading, heavily-armed countries, I mean. Or even historically. Where do we find the morally unblemished examples of representative government in action that should inspire us? Not, mind you, in small bystander nations that have few concerns outside the tending of local pea-patches, but among the "superpowers" of this or that era.

I'm trolling, kinda, not cuz I don't think any such examples exist, but cuz I'm not really trying to defend what America gets wrong. The lack of a better example does not forgive us our faults. But the snarling, embittered, wounded-idealist schtick gets kind mystifying when it issues from the mouth of someone over, say, 35 years old (not that I presume to know your age). I mean, when one knows a bit of history and has had the opportunity to observe the human animal at work for a few decades, it seems to me that one more-or-less naturally comes to understand why the application of power falls so consistently short of its nobly stated ideals. I.e., the "failure" comes to seem less like hypocrisy and more like the gap that always stands between ambitions and acheivements, even when one is most successful -- and especially when action necessarily involves the cooperation of many individuals with wildly differing agendas, some much more powerful than others.

To understand is not to forgive, necessarily, but it does tend to temper judgement. Evil must be opposed, of course, but examined fairly, the action of the American government consists of a myriad sub-actions, some more evil and some more good. The trick is to work practically & pragmatically with the good to minimize the evil -- not to simplistically insist that the whole enterprise is worthless until all evil is expunged.

The thread in and of itself is unobjectionable, lord knows we're gonna need a rolling lolling Biden thread for at least 4 years

xpost

ya rly

schef, I think of it more as "every pol is not different enough."

apparently I'm not the only one who's creeped out by the new Veep even tho NO HE IS NOT CHENEY.

contenderizer, i'm tryin real hard to think of net good accomplished by the American government since Jan 1981. (and yes I voted in '80)

let me know when that democracy arrives, Mo

Democracy is relative. America is a republic but even so it is more democratic than every other republic/democracy that preceded it.

Americans are pissy enough about participating in a republic, imagine if they actually had to vote on everything!

every pol is sacred, every pol is good

Morbius, doesn't keeping millions and millions of less-well-to-do citizens (and non-citizens) fed and clothed and housed count for something? And what about countless international aid efforts? And what about bridge-building with China, regarless of the motives? And how about the slow move towards the legal validation of gay people and gay relationships? And how about Clinton-era movement towards environmental protection? Net good is subjective, I'm a progressive, and this country has been under conservative control for 20 of the last 28 years (and Clinton's administration was only nominally liberal). This means that I mostly agree with you. My vision of "the good" has been squashed by someone else's. But that doesn't justify ALL IS SHIT AND AMERICA SUCKS or some other equivalently peeved/simplistic sandwich-board sloganeering.

Over the course of its history, America has accomplished good and done evil, as most nations do, great or small. In a very broad sense, I'd say that we are now a wiser and in some ways morally "better nation" than we have been for most of our history (Dubya years notwithstanding, of course).

the steps backward in this country are fewer than the steps forward, but they tend to be louder.

dude this is a thread about biden saying dumb shit, lighten up xpost

better in many ways, worse in many, need to Rise Above.

I'm sure we share the same basic wishes and goals for our nation and world, 'tender, but 28 years of Reaganism is enough (omar -- no, backwards for 3 decades); it's chucked many powerless citizens by the wayside. I hope we see a real course change, but given the entrenchment of institutional monied interests, I'm waiting but not expectant.

Wait. Why are we telling someone calling Morbs out on his tedious bullshit to stop?

man a reunited black flag doing "rise above" woulda been sweet at the inauguration

LUGOSI: Tedious, perhaps. Bullshit...?

Alito ref was to how he's still miffed at Dems for voting against him, by the way.

Obama has warned he's walking kind of a middle path. Not as bad as Clinton, it seems.

which is why it's up to us to tell him what we think. and ignore pretty much everything Biden says.

guys, Biden exists as a laff magnet; that way no can laugh at Obama.

it's gone unmentioned, of course, that president obama doesn't hold grudges over biden's remark about him to which this thread oh-so-cleverly alludes. i wonder why morbz doesn't?!?

i'm not exactly a biden fan, either -- but why couldn't we wait till the guy actually does/says something dumb and/or offensive?!?

i think the vp should be daffy, our non-daffy vp's have been menaces. gore had a hint of daffiness about him, so did ghwb i guess. ford's daffiness was an invention, people just wanted to have it back.

spiro agnew was daffy AND menacing, though

Alben Barkley wasn't daffy – he was old.

Isn't JB's problem that he's overly honest? Most of his "gaffes" result from a lack of brain to mouth control. That's sort of different than saying he possibly wouldn't meet with the prime minister of Spain or whatever.

Why can't all of you unbelievable goddamned morons go fuck yourselves to death with a rusty piece of rebar

http://ta-nehisicoates.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/12/open_nfl_thread_3.php

I'm never shocked by trolls. I'm always shocked by the people who take the bait.

Just hit Suggest Ban and walk away. Imbeciles.

cheezit, it's the Permanent Government!

it's everyone's second-favorite politics thread troll!

Just speaking truth to Zero Power koolaid drinkers, babe

yes, that is what you do.

http://fourfour.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451b8c369e2010536ac0706970c-800wi

http://img516.imageshack.us/img516/2895/obamazf8.gif

jeez you'd think lj had started this thread or something are yall that bhurt

ITEM: Vice President Joe Biden has a new assignment: overseeing US policy on Iraq

Press Secretary Robert Gibbs confirmed Tuesday that President Obama had asked Biden to begin 'working with General [Raymond] Odierno and Ambassador [Christopher] Hill in working with the Iraqis toward overcoming their political differences and achieving the type of reconciliation that we all understand has yet to fully take place.'

"Couldn't happen to a sicker fuck.

Let's briefly review Joe Biden's take on Iraq.

First, he supported Bush's "enforcement strike," as Biden put it in 2002, talking out of both sides of his ass, authorizing the invasion while worried that, over time, it might not be as successful as he would like. Sort of like John Wayne Gacy being concerned that he might run short of crawl space to stuff bodies into. How embarrassing is that?

Once the killing commenced and all hell broke loose, Biden called for a partition of Iraq, which was already happening under the more common name of ethnic cleansing. As with any viceroy wannabe, Biden had his own concept about how the natives should be arranged, minus their direct input, of course. Again, it was all about "our" needs.

Then Biden, double-talking as usual, criticized the political side of "the surge" while championing its military aspect. So although he was fine with more Iraqi dead, Biden bitched that we were pouring money down the drain, undermining our violence in Afghanistan. "It's killing us," cried Biden on the Today show...."

http://dennisperrin.blogspot.com/2009/07/abu-biden.html

I love the first half of this thread.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afVr0Bf7_Fg

Apparently the Republican troll who assembled this did enough damage to his spelling.

http://i41.tinypic.com/2euiykh.png

:-O!!

Soldier on the left just had a red idea

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/images/gallery-joebidenshow18.jpg

i gotta say, biden bowing to jon stewart was kinda shrewd & pretty hilarious

thats awesome

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=no0e-mkhhbs

how long has it been since Stewart interviewed two cretins as vile as Biden and Lou Dobbs on consecutive nights?

Biden isn't a cretin.

No, he IS a cretin, but most of our veeps have been, and I'll take a cretin over Dick Cheney.

lowered expecretins.

joe corporate buyden

those aren't very good though

glad yer down w/ Clarence, Old Lunch

(and presumably credit-card-co whoredom)

shove "purity" where bad improv goes

Your career?

I'd prefer it if Morbs took out a list of previous Medal of Freedom winners and told us how many deaths they caused

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/19/us/politics/joe-biden-delaware.html

So the quiet life that the Bidens lived away from their official duties in Washington, and the weekend rituals that were a large part of it, will continue. On Saturday that means taking Natalie and Hunter to the Charcoal Pit restaurant, where Mr. Biden will almost certainly order his usual meal of hamburger, French fries and milk shake that he has been gobbling down for decades, according to Juan Avilez, a cook at the Charcoal Pit who has been making that meal for Mr. Biden for 26 years.

“His all-time favorite is the black-and-white,” a vanilla milkshake mixed with chocolate syrup, Mr. Avilez said.

On Sundays, the Bidens will still be in the pews of St. Joseph on the Brandywine Roman Catholic Church just as they have been for decades. After the service, their habit is to stop by Janssen’s Market, where Xavier Vega, the weekend cook there, will fix up Mr. Biden’s usual breakfast: eggs over easy with a side of dry wheat toast.

Their beloved house will continue to serve as a refuge for the entire Biden clan. The only real change will be that Mr. Biden will need a new car, since the 1967 Corvette that he got from his father and still cherishes is just for special occasions.

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/01/joe-biden-barack-obama-partnership-white-house-214662

They spoke alone at their weekly lunches and alone after the Presidential Daily Briefing on intelligence and almost every important meeting when both were in Washington. But sometimes, their most important communication was unspoken. Obama and Biden worked in wordless tandem in the Situation Room, where Biden served as what Obama told me he called “my hidden proxy.” By pre-arrangement familiar to fans of buddy cop movies, Biden posed tough questions and offered provocative ideas that Obama wanted discussed but preferred not to raise himself, for fear of tilting the debate.

liked this -

Biden likes to say that “when they call me ‘Middle Class Joe,’ they don’t mean it as a compliment.” He’s still ticked off at Eric Schmidt, the executive chairman of Google, for lobbying him on an internet piracy bill with the argument: “You understand we’re the economic engine of America. We will deluge the White House.” Biden offered respect for Google’s “value-added” but told me he felt like throwing Schmidt out of his office. He pointed out that, all together, the tech sector employed fewer workers than GM shed in a single year during the Great Recession.

yeah fuck eric schmidt

here is a horribly, horribly written story that contains a gem of clearest Joe
http://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/2017/06/23/joe-biden-s-beef-with-bill-ackman-sparks-heated-exchange-and-presidential-chatter.html

Biden explained that part of the decision stemmed from the death of his son Beau Biden, who died of brain cancer in 2015. The room grew quiet as Biden became emotional, and said: “I’m sorry…I’ve said enough.”

That’s when Ackman blurted out “Why? That’s never stopped you before.”

The formal, and understated dinner conversation suddenly turned tense, according to three people who were present and confirmed both the substance and the wording of Biden’s responses.
Biden, these people say, turned to someone seated near him, and asked, “who is this asshole?,” a reference to Ackman.

Then he turned directly to Ackman and stated: “look, I don't know who you are, wiseass, but never disrespect the memory of my dead son!” these people say.

Ackman attempted what was described as an apology, to which Biden said, "just shut the hell up."

(and here is nymag's attempt to edit it into something people would read: http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/06/biden-owned-a-billionaire-who-mocked-him-over-his-late-son.html)

fuck Joe btw

Joe Biden: "I wish I had been able to do more for Anita Hill. I owe her an apology." https://t.co/NKi2RBHm7F

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) December 14, 2017

He was the chairman of the senate judiciary committee. He was ABLE to do more than he did. Also, on "owing" her an apology...it's been 26 years, dude.

— Rebecca Traister (@rtraister) December 14, 2017

You might think having been vice president would help Joe Biden get elected, but the last Democratic Party vice president to become president (without their predecessor dying in office) was Martin Van Buren in 1836.

— Jon Schwarz (@schwarz) January 7, 2019

this balloon got mad experience in losing

The thread in and of itself is unobjectionable, lord knows we're gonna need a rolling lolling Biden thread for at least 4 years

xpost

― some dude, Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Joe Biden is who the Jon Hamm character on 30 Rock grows up into.