Great travelogue and wise political comment. I had always hoped Biden had no intention of running again but the party is at fault for not having any serious alternatives lined up long ago. Time to amend the Constitution to establish an upper age cap on the presidency in addition to the lower one. And maybe at all levels of elected office, too. Does America really need a russian-style gerontocracy?
They offered no serious challenges, so that may be why Bidem decided to run again after all. There had to be someone coming up who had a serious chance of beating trump. That's the party's job, not the president's while he's busy running the country.
I don’t share your fear (though I share your dislike) of Trump. But I think Harris and any normal centrist Democrat as vp would beat Trump IF she spends some time being Acting President. The office will elevate the public perception of her. The Dems need to 25 Biden soon if he won’t resign.
I wonder if Biden realizes that he'll go down in history as Neville Chamberlain or worse. First by encouraging aggression via his own idiotic foreign policy gambits, then by not dropping out and ensuring the damage will not be repaired by the moronic game show host he put back into office.
Hopefully he'll somehow figure this out quickly and depart, because otherwise the third world war is coming even sooner.
I could not agree more on phones and cameras. I can recall being astounded in 2016 when returning from a trip abroad and going into some Smithsonian museums and watching person after person just walk by each exhibit quickly with their phone recording a video or taking pictures, barely looking at any of them. I err on the side of not taking enough pictures and I’ve often traveled to a place and returned without any.
Mushrooms for breakfast? Why not? During our tours in Italy CDR Mongo and I learned the Italian way: Large pastry and "cafe correcto " (i.e with a dollop of brandy/Amaretto in it).
I'm a lifelong Democrat and I completely agree about Biden. I'm horrified at the prospect of the demise of US democracy because Biden won't step aside.
Has he watched the debate himself? I can't believe anyone could watch that and honestly say anything other than that Biden should step aside.
Kudos to the liberal pundits (Matt Yglesias, Ezra Klein, Tom Friedman, Paul Krugman) who respectfully called for Biden to step aside right away - they're not simply towing the party line. Greg Sargent said Biden should step aside or at least have a serious conversation with the public about what happened. It doesn't seem we'll even get that minimum.
I despair of the party or Biden doing the right thing.
To each his own: I've been masking in public spaces, including terminals and airplanes since 2020. Haven't caught Covid yet. I do hope your better half gets well soon.
The debate -- yes a truly sad state of affairs. Listening to Trump I googled around and found the term Gish Gallop "The Gish gallop is a rhetorical technique in which a person in a debate attempts to overwhelm an opponent by providing an excessive number of arguments with no regard for the accuracy or strength of those arguments. Gish galloping prioritizes the quantity of the galloper's arguments at the expense of their quality."
The Biden debate prep team should have seen this coming.
In any event if he's on the ballot I'll vote for him. If it's Newsom-Harris, I'll vote for them.
Because of Biden’s performance I’ve been looking at a Newsome-Harris ticket. But, one of them would need to change residency. State electors cast two votes for President. The Constitution specifies those votes can’t be for people from the same state. The amendment that changed how the VP is selected did not change that. With Harris and Newsome being California residents, they would lose Cali’s 54 EC votes.
I meant "looking at" as in people have talked about it. Not that it's something I would want. But that's where I ran across the rule about candidate home states. Just an interesting bit of trivia that means nothing right up until the moment it does.
Like I'm worried about that. Let's worry about Trump doing anything he feels like to ensure we look like Hungary or North Korea. It used to be that the Senate ( possibly House) could counterbalance the administration. Not sure how much that's the case after today.
If I could put a ticket together that would ensure neither house of Congress remains Democrat that might be it. Useful checks and balances except now a Newsom Presidency would be immune to criminal prosecution for anything it could make a case as being "official."
Who has been more involved with crime, Trump or Newsom? I read some biographies on Trump prior to the 2016 election and his involvement in crime, like laundering Russian mafia money through his condos, goes back to the 1980s.
Read any number of investigative pieces by the late Wayne Barrett. He covered Trump from the late seventies on... There's also Rage by Bob Woodward, but that's about his presidency.
Sorry to hear about your wife catching COVID. Hope for her speed recovery. Lucky you on seeing JC and her daughter at the airport. I am a big fan as well (at my 60th celebration party, I insisted the party organizer play that specific "Flock of Seagulls" video with JC...LOL)
Complete agreement on JC. Mine first recollection was The Rocketeer. And then Career Opportunities.
Great travelogue and wise political comment. I had always hoped Biden had no intention of running again but the party is at fault for not having any serious alternatives lined up long ago. Time to amend the Constitution to establish an upper age cap on the presidency in addition to the lower one. And maybe at all levels of elected office, too. Does America really need a russian-style gerontocracy?
You can’t blame the party for Biden’s decision to run again. But you can blame the party for the decision to run him in the first place.
They offered no serious challenges, so that may be why Bidem decided to run again after all. There had to be someone coming up who had a serious chance of beating trump. That's the party's job, not the president's while he's busy running the country.
I don't care for Donald Trump, but he was a better POTUS than Biden. Trump's lie pale in comparison to grift of the Bidens. Open your eyes.
More people should visit Central Europe, especially our NATO buddies who were once in the Warsaw Pact.
I see you're a typical husband. Everything is your fault.
Nice urinal. Mine has a figurine of Obama. (I live on a small ship)
I didn't upgrade to Biden. Joe's so far gone he'd think it's rain.
I don’t share your fear (though I share your dislike) of Trump. But I think Harris and any normal centrist Democrat as vp would beat Trump IF she spends some time being Acting President. The office will elevate the public perception of her. The Dems need to 25 Biden soon if he won’t resign.
"5th grade hilarious, the Gold Standard for male humor."- John Phipps.
I wonder if Biden realizes that he'll go down in history as Neville Chamberlain or worse. First by encouraging aggression via his own idiotic foreign policy gambits, then by not dropping out and ensuring the damage will not be repaired by the moronic game show host he put back into office.
Hopefully he'll somehow figure this out quickly and depart, because otherwise the third world war is coming even sooner.
I could not agree more on phones and cameras. I can recall being astounded in 2016 when returning from a trip abroad and going into some Smithsonian museums and watching person after person just walk by each exhibit quickly with their phone recording a video or taking pictures, barely looking at any of them. I err on the side of not taking enough pictures and I’ve often traveled to a place and returned without any.
Mushrooms for breakfast? Why not? During our tours in Italy CDR Mongo and I learned the Italian way: Large pastry and "cafe correcto " (i.e with a dollop of brandy/Amaretto in it).
I'm a lifelong Democrat and I completely agree about Biden. I'm horrified at the prospect of the demise of US democracy because Biden won't step aside.
Has he watched the debate himself? I can't believe anyone could watch that and honestly say anything other than that Biden should step aside.
Kudos to the liberal pundits (Matt Yglesias, Ezra Klein, Tom Friedman, Paul Krugman) who respectfully called for Biden to step aside right away - they're not simply towing the party line. Greg Sargent said Biden should step aside or at least have a serious conversation with the public about what happened. It doesn't seem we'll even get that minimum.
I despair of the party or Biden doing the right thing.
Did you watch his stump on Wednesday?
I did not what was notable about it? Or if you have a link I'll watch it
Whole different guy. I think some of this is the debate was after his bed time, not that it changes the relevance.
I'm more inclined to think he took some cold remedies that did what they often do. Still, I hoped he would not run a second time.
I will not waste a vote on a write in as I did in 2016. Like Randall I will vote for whomever is the Blue team until Orange is deceased
To each his own: I've been masking in public spaces, including terminals and airplanes since 2020. Haven't caught Covid yet. I do hope your better half gets well soon.
The debate -- yes a truly sad state of affairs. Listening to Trump I googled around and found the term Gish Gallop "The Gish gallop is a rhetorical technique in which a person in a debate attempts to overwhelm an opponent by providing an excessive number of arguments with no regard for the accuracy or strength of those arguments. Gish galloping prioritizes the quantity of the galloper's arguments at the expense of their quality."
The Biden debate prep team should have seen this coming.
In any event if he's on the ballot I'll vote for him. If it's Newsom-Harris, I'll vote for them.
Because of Biden’s performance I’ve been looking at a Newsome-Harris ticket. But, one of them would need to change residency. State electors cast two votes for President. The Constitution specifies those votes can’t be for people from the same state. The amendment that changed how the VP is selected did not change that. With Harris and Newsome being California residents, they would lose Cali’s 54 EC votes.
I could not support a Newsom / Harris ticket - The two of them would preside over the Kalifornication of the rest of the USA
I meant "looking at" as in people have talked about it. Not that it's something I would want. But that's where I ran across the rule about candidate home states. Just an interesting bit of trivia that means nothing right up until the moment it does.
Like I'm worried about that. Let's worry about Trump doing anything he feels like to ensure we look like Hungary or North Korea. It used to be that the Senate ( possibly House) could counterbalance the administration. Not sure how much that's the case after today.
If I could put a ticket together that would ensure neither house of Congress remains Democrat that might be it. Useful checks and balances except now a Newsom Presidency would be immune to criminal prosecution for anything it could make a case as being "official."
Who has been more involved with crime, Trump or Newsom? I read some biographies on Trump prior to the 2016 election and his involvement in crime, like laundering Russian mafia money through his condos, goes back to the 1980s.
Read any number of investigative pieces by the late Wayne Barrett. He covered Trump from the late seventies on... There's also Rage by Bob Woodward, but that's about his presidency.
That clinches it then, one changes residency or you'll never see that ticket.
They were talking about this after the debate with Rubio who would have the same problem with Trump.
Bryan,
Sorry to hear about your wife catching COVID. Hope for her speed recovery. Lucky you on seeing JC and her daughter at the airport. I am a big fan as well (at my 60th celebration party, I insisted the party organizer play that specific "Flock of Seagulls" video with JC...LOL)
Cheers,
Nigel