We have repeatedly discussed the bizarre claim of former Vice President Joe Biden that “no one has suggested my son has anything wrong.” Biden has lashed out at media for raising the dubious business dealings of his son during his tenure as vice president. That weird pathology of denial continued in an interview with Savannah Guthrie where he became clearly angry over the raising of this continuing controversy. Biden seems to expect the mainstream media to only ask such questions about the Trump family.
Guthrie actually framed the question in a clearly favorable light for Biden. Rather than treating the Biden matter as a legitimate concern (which it is), she asked about the “irony” of Trump raising such an issue. It was clearly not slanted enough for Biden who tried to end the discussion by saying “That’s a good thing and no one’s found anything wrong with his dealings with Ukraine except, that say it’s a bad image.”
What drew Biden’s ire was the audacity of Guthrie giving a follow up: “Do you agree that it sets a bad image?”
Biden responded “Yeah,” Biden said. “And my son said that.” But Guthrie persisted to ask if Biden feels that it was wrong given that his son was given the windfall contract because of his name and possible access to his father. That was when Biden got angry: “Well, that’s not true. You’re saying things you do not know what you’re talking about. No one said that. Who said that?”
When Guthrie tied to respond, Biden cut her off with “Who said that?”
That would be quite a list. Many have denounced this contract as blatant and corrupt influence peddling. Biden however continues to pretend that no one is raising this concern, which was a running narrative in the impeachment trial. Even Trump critics have acknowledged that this was an obvious effort at influence peddling.
Ma. Guthrie is lucky Joe didn’t try to grope her.
Again, the Democrats just can’t count the ballots in Iowa and tell us who won. DBB, you’ve got as much class as Nancy Pelosi.
Oh, I have much more class than Nancy Pelosi.
David Benson is the God Emperor of Making Stuff Up and owes me forty-two citations (one from the OED, one from the town ordinances and two from the Old Testament), an equation and the source of a quotation, after sixty-two weeks, and needs to cite all his work from now on. – I have dealt with you for over a year and I am with Independent Bob, “you have about as much class as Nancy Pelosi.”
PCS, are your children genetically burdened by your hubris and incompetence?
Did you notice the results of a well established poll by the Des Moines Register were roundfiled when the Booty-gag campaign complained? Did you notice the Booty-gag campaign was a contributor to the non-profit which manufactured the defective tabulating app? Did you notice the Booty-gag campaign declared itself victorious before any data was released? Did you notice that the Iowa state chairman who hired these software maroons is a pooftar? Did you notice DNC staff show up in Des Moines to take charge of the tabulation process?
One hypothesis floated: they actually caught someone at hq falsifying results, and they’ve been negotiating with the campaigns over how to handle the fallout;
Another: Bernie’s field tabulators produced data which didn’t match the preliminary data generated in Des Moines by the riggers, and his lawyers pitched a fit. The ‘software failure’ is actually an effort by Troy Price to partially walk back the falsifications and placate the Sanders campaign.
A retired USAF officer rails at the Pentagon System:
https://www.juancole.com/2020/02/pentagon-without-victories.html
More legions than we know what to do with.
Don’t notice candidates talking about this much.
They’re just trying to screw Bernie again. These boobs just can’t count the ballots and tell us who won. The Democrat establishment just can’t let go.
Just watching the state of the union address. Trump is outstanding.
Good speechwriter?
According to the AP, the speech contained several falsehoods. I don’t consider that to be “outstanding” in a positive sense, only in a negative one.
Trump is getting better at reading the teleprompter, for sure. He’s not straight up Invasion of the Body Snatchers anymore. Or reading a hostage statement.
Maybe when he grows up he’ll be, you know, approaching the low end of normal or something in terms of speech presentation.
https://www.politico.com/story/2009/03/obamas-safety-net-the-teleprompter-019663
It isn’t usual for presidents to rely on teleprompters, especially in State of the Union addresses.
I think LBJ was the first to use one when the device became available.
It’s actually become usual in this era. Obama used one. But he used it well. Trump stares at his and drones on. They’re here to stay.
Obama used one. But he used it well.
It was real cute the time his PR people set up the presidential lectern – complete with TelePrompTers in a 6th grade classroom.
I guess, Elvis, that is because like Nancy you couldn’t stand to hear such a long list of success.
They’ve been around longer than I thought. Eisenhower used one in the mid-1950s.
https://www.cartoonstock.com/cartoonview.asp?catref=CC120729
Cue cards have been around even longer, and can still be used instead of a teleprompter.
As we say in Spanish, ¡Que pena!
😉
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-iowa-caucus-fiasco-11580860817
The Iowa Caucus Fiasco
It could help Bernie Sanders and is a blow to political legitimacy.
The Democratic Party’s Iowa caucus results were delayed by the failure of an app designed to speed up the process.
There’s no shortage of mordant fun to be had at the expense of the Democratic National Committee and Iowa Democratic Party after the fiasco of the inaugural 2020 presidential contest, which has yet to yield definitive results apparently as a result of coding errors in a tabulation app created by party insiders. The college of cardinals at least lets the world know with white or black smoke how the vote for pope is going.
Here the party that waxes sanctimonious about election security couldn’t secure its own election from itself. Here the party that has spent three years questioning the legitimacy of the 2016 election will see the legitimacy of its own custom-designed process questioned. Here the party that promises technocratic management of American health care, energy and finance proved less able to tally votes even than the ancient Athenians.
Yet the incompetence and hypocrisy will have real consequences. The first and most important could be a boost for Bernie Sanders, who may be able to claim the mantle of both victor and underdog at the same time. By all accounts the Vermont socialist performed well, with he and Pete Buttigieg leading based on partial results that the party finally released late Tuesday afternoon.
Yet many of Mr. Sanders’s supporters will believe the technological snafu denied their candidate a clear-cut victory. They believe the party establishment is trying to block their candidate, who until this campaign wasn’t officially a member of the party that botched the caucuses. Even if results do finally vindicate Mr. Sanders, those who underperformed (most significantly, Joe Biden based on Tuesday’s partial results) are already trying to dismiss their significance.
One irony is that while Mr. Sanders can capitalize on anger at the Democratic establishment, that very anger may have contributed to the mess. Mr. Sanders’s supporters cried foul after Hillary Clinton beat their candidate in 2016 and demanded rules to make the caucuses more “transparent.”
Unlike in previous years, Iowa caucus sites this year had to report two counts—a “first alignment,” which reflects how many people had each candidate as a first choice, and a “second alignment,” reflecting the results after supporters of candidates below the 15% threshold moved to their second choice. This may have made tallying more difficult and would have added complexity and muddied the result even if it weren’t for the technical failure.
This is a reminder that changing electoral systems to satisfy populist demands should be done with care, because the unintended consequences can further undermine their legitimacy. Democrats have been griping about how Iowa is insufficiently diverse to hold the first presidential contest, and this may be the last time the state goes first. But let’s hope whatever comes next is geared toward producing strong candidates and reliable outcomes and not merely satisfying the demands of partisan opportunists.
On that front, we wonder if any of the Democrats who feel as if they wasted months and hundreds of millions of dollars in Iowa are having second thoughts about calls to eliminate the Electoral College. As journalist Dan McLaughlin notes, such state-level failures highlight the perils of a nationwide system for popular vote counting. At least here the failure is contained, and let’s hope it can be rectified without calling the entire presidential nominating contest into question.
The delayed results in Iowa are a reminder of other potential features of the 2020 election that could create controversy and damage its legitimacy. Recall that in California in November 2018, several Republican Congressional candidates were well ahead based on the Election Day tallies, only to see the results reversed in the following days and in some cases more than a week later as absentee ballots trickled in.
We have argued that California’s lax election rules that allow “ballot harvesting” by party activists will also lead to political mischief. But even if they don’t, tallying delays discourage the swift acceptance of outcomes that well-functioning democracies need.
In 2018 the California rules seemed to hurt the GOP, but if the state’s March primary is closely contested, then Democratic candidates could feel the sting. Meantime, if Mr. Biden’s performance was as weak as partial results showed, then perhaps Michael Bloomberg, who sat out Iowa and is spending big elsewhere, becomes the party’s best bulwark against a socialist takeover. That’s unlikely to calm the passions of Mr. Sanders’s supporters or make the 2020 contest any less heated. Buckle up.
How do we really know the delay was due to technical difficulty with an app? What if what they’re really doing is frantically changing the results?
Karen S – I second the motion. I think there was many, many, many, snakes in the grass “counting” the votes.
Karen, I fled Cuba with my family, and came to the USA legally. I am a proud American. Since my childhood, we have seen the decline of this great nation by what we feel are communists. The actions of the Dems easily since the Hillary Clinton – Bernie Sanders 2015 nomination tussle reminds me of what the Communists do in Cuba. They lie, they cheat, they use the news media, take away the rights of citizens to bear arms and they will do anything they see as justifiable to grow their power. Call me paranoid but I see the current leadership of the Democrats as being no different than Hugo Chavez, Nicolas Maduro, Manuel Noriega, Fidel and Raul Castro
At home we changed political party affiliation in early December. We were formerly Democrats but now we are Non-Party Affiliated. The Republicans dont deserve our support and the Democrats are driven to do to the USA what the Communists did to Venezuela, Nicaragua, Cuba and Panama
Of course the Iowa Dems fixed the vote. They don’t merit the benefit of the doubt. Don’t get me started!
😉
Buenas noches!
Esto,
Your gut feel the Dems & some Rinos are going Commie/Nazi is correct/
But in some states like Oklahoma we have to register Dem or Rep to vote in these coming up spring primaries.
That’s where much of the real election happens & is still why some many incumbents get re elected.
We have to vote out the bad in the primaries.
It is too often the case where those here in this country are so cavalier about tossing away their freedom and liberty because they clearly have no clue about what it actually means to lose it. They’ve enjoyed pampered and ignorant lives. Most people I have known who formerly lived under dictatorships or communism, who have expressed an opinion on the topic, take great exception to those here who tempt their fate by snuggling up to politicians who want to tear down American freedoms under dubious promises.
I’ve been to a communist country, though it was only a brief amount of time. Your experience in Cuba is certainly greater than mine in the USSR. Suffice to say I learned all I needed to know that such a system of tyranny was completely not in my interest. So when I hear about liberals and democrats who try to lead weak-minded individuals toward some communist or Hugo Chavez style socialist system, part of me is annoyed at the sheer stupidity of such pursuits. Yet the other half of me takes on a form of schadenfreude in the possibility of such people actually being forced into living under such an oppressive system that they foolishly clamored for. People who demand communism deserve communism. Cunning is not generally a trait of the sheep, and without cunning people generally fair very badly under oppressive governments. They might think they will be part of the political leadership and be safe, but that won’t happen. Once they have lost their usefulness, they are worth nothing and will be abandoned or worse.
That is the future that awaits them, should they choose to resign their freedom under false pretenses.
Hi Darren!
Your post above is good.
And like you say if people are not cunning they & their families will not fair well.
It’s nice we still have a large part of the 2nd Amendment, but we’re missing pieces of it.
What I’ve coming to believe is in the area of vaccines the 2nd will be of little use.
What I think is happening is something like Moses & Jesus stories in the bible.
The leaders were fearful of a wise one rising up out of the people so the leaders sent people out to kill them.
I’ve long thought corrupt evil people have been using the the vaccine industry/CDC/FDA/Local schools health depts to kill, injury or otherwise take super smart people & brain damage them.
Here is 3 pieces/ videos about 20 minutes a piece.
The first is a really sweet lady, head of the World Health Organisation telling the other scientist something like they’ve got to figure out a way to cover their vaccine are killing & harming people.
Maybe I heard it wrong?
The last one is a Dr explaining how we might be able to fix vaccines so they’d work or work better.
Leaked Video! Head U.N. Scientist Admits Vaccines Are Killing People
236,517 views
·Jan 10, 2020
https://banned.video/watch?id=5e191ca0b0ffe2001a9c2676
War Room with Del Bigtree
https://banned.video/watch?id=5e1fdffb3ad75f002be434c8
At least in one respect the U.S. government made a big blunder in the use of a polio vaccine drive in Pakistan which was actually more of an intelligence gathering effort to locate Usama bin Laden. The Pakistani Taliban where never open to vaccinations but after this debacle they were even more resolute in resisting vaccinations due to in large part to the USG’s comingling intelligence gathering with medical assistance.
et AL;
3 of 3
Dr Shiva Attadurai, a researcher, addresses viccines & Vax research.
https://banned.video/watch?id=5e214273f17b0c001e792f46
“Call me paranoid but I see the current leadership of the Democrats as being no different than Hugo Chavez, Nicolas Maduro, Manuel Noriega, Fidel and Raul Castro”
That is common sense, not paranoia.
KarenS: “How do we really know the delay was due to technical difficulty with an app? What if what they’re really doing is frantically changing the results?”
~+~
That is a fundamental question of politics, for which obtaining the actual truth is difficult.
Hanlon’s razor gives us, “Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.” Given many politicians’ success in achieving both polarities adeptly, we cannot always determine which element is suspect.
I was having such a conversation with a relative of mine several days ago. In the end, I found it to be more pragmatic to not try to determine with certainty if an outcome caused by politicians resulted from stupidity or malice. In essence it is irrelevant as to the how because both are devoid of any redeeming qualities. The better strategy is instead to determine the best method to remove such stupidity or malice from office, because neither is in anyone’s interest to attempt to rehabilitate it. We need to prophylactically address stupidity and malice by preventing it from achieving public office.
The caucuses adjourned 32 hours ago and they still haven’t posted results for 38% of the precincts. That includes half the precincts around Des Moines.
NB, the responsible parties here are Tom Perez, the Democratic national chairman and Troy Price, the Iowa state chairman. Perez’ nefarious qualities have been well-known for some time. Price is a much more obscure figure, but just the sort of person you don’t want in politics. He has little or no employment history outside of political staff jobs, he has no family, and he makes a great public point out of his homosexuality. (NB, the Booty-gag campaign is a donor to the company which produced this defective software).