Author Sam Harris Shows Biden Endorsers How to Apologize

 

You have probably heard of the author, entrepreneur, and atheist Sam Harris. His book, “The End of Faith,” was both interesting, illustrative, and rather depressing. It is beneficial to read books by people you disagree with, even at fundamental levels. I still respect his work. He’s brilliant and successful.

Recently, I posted about more than 70 former Republican national security advisors who signed a statement mostly in opposition to Donald Trump’s reelection last year but endorsing Joe Biden with these prescient words:

While we – like all Americans – had hoped that Donald Trump would govern wisely, he has disappointed millions of voters who put their faith in him and has demonstrated that he is dangerously unfit to serve another term.

In contrast, we believe Joe Biden has the character, experience, and temperament to lead this nation. We believe he will restore the dignity of the presidency, bring Americans together, reassert America’s role as a global leader, and inspire our nation to live up to its ideals.

While some of us hold policy positions that differ from those of Joe Biden and his party, the time to debate those policy differences will come later. For now, it is imperative that we stop Trump’s assault on our nation’s values and institutions and reinstate the moral foundations of our democracy.

To that end, we are firmly convinced that it is in the best interest of our nation that Vice President Joe Biden be elected as the next President of the United States, and we will vote for him. (emphasis theirs)

How is that working out?

After the calamitous debacle of Afghanistan these past several days, a few of them and their fellow travelers have suddenly refound their principled leadership to criticize Joe Biden’s disastrously incompetent decision making and direction. Biden endorser Kori Schake, one of the 70 who signed this statement, is an excellent example. I agree with her post, and she obviously knows her stuff. But I can’t get past the fact that she helped foist upon us the President whose disaster she now criticizes. Her criticisms ring hollow.

Not a single one of the signers that I can find has apologized for helping put forth this grotesque incompetence and misjudgment into the White House. Perhaps I’m wrong. Regardless, they should.

Sam Harris had the integrity to step forward with this post on Twitter.

Harris is obviously expressing regret for a tweet he posted on January 20th, 2021, when Biden was inaugurated, referring to him and his team as “adults in the room.” The “gratitude” is clearly gone.

I do not blame the average Biden voter, even many Republican friends who either bought a bill of goods or were clouded by Trump hate. They’re being awfully silent these days. But so-called national security experts, with full knowledge that Joe Biden has “been wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades,” as former CIA Director and Defense Secretary Robert Gates famously exclaimed? And don’t forget Barack Obama’s reputed words about his former Vice President, as reported in Politico a year before Biden’s inauguration: “Don’t underestimate Joe’s ability to f**k things up.” Indeed.

Kudos to Harris for the class and integrity to admit his error. Biden supporter Kori Schake and her ilk should follow suit. Until they do, they should exercise the right to remain silent.

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  1. Gossamer Cat Coolidge
    Gossamer Cat
    @GossamerCat

    “dangerously unfit to serve another term” .  Two interesting things about this statement:  1)  It is only signed by former officials.  I doubt one of these Republican hacks would have signed it if still in office, on the chance that Trump was elected.  2)  Their justification for this accusation:

    1. …has gravely damaged America’s role as a world leader
    2. ​…has shown that he is unfit to lead during a national crisis
    3. …has solicited foreign influence and undermined confidence in our presidential elections
    4. …has aligned himself with dictators and failed to stand up for American values
    5. …has disparaged our armed forces, intelligence agencies, and diplomats
    6. … has undermined the rule of law
    7. …has dishonored the office of the presidency
    8. …has divided our nation and preached a dark and pessimistic view of America
    9. …has attacked and vilified immigrants to our country
    10. …has imperiled America’s security by mismanaging his national security team

      If I were to give most Americans now a fill in the blank test where the answers are Joe Biden or Donald Trump, I’m guessing it would be Biden 9, Trump 1.  Maybe 8-2.   But I expect most people would stop answering after #2.  

    • #1
  2. Hang On Member
    Hang On
    @HangOn

    American foreign policy has been one disaster after another since the end of the Cold War. Most of them have been wrong on nearly every foreign policy decision as well, so it’s not that surprising. 

    • #2
  3. genferei Member
    genferei
    @genferei

    Using gc’s numbering, it’s clear points 5 and 10 are what really chapped their posteriors: “he wouldn’t do what we told him!” The rest is at best false, at worst delusional, and entirely disingenuous. 

    • #3
  4. Brian Watt Inactive
    Brian Watt
    @BrianWatt

    Harris has just run headlong into the brick wall that borders his own intellect.

    It’s at least welcome that he admits his awful mistake.

    Now if others would also declare their catastrophic folly…but not holding my breath.

    • #4
  5. JustmeinAZ Member
    JustmeinAZ
    @JustmeinAZ

    Kelly D Johnston: I do not blame the average Biden voter, even many Republican friends who either bought a bill of goods or were clouded by Trump hate.

    I do. I blame every single one with white hot fury.

    • #5
  6. EJHill Podcaster
    EJHill
    @EJHill

    Hang On: American foreign policy has been one disaster after another since the end of the Cold War.

    That’s way too generous. Start with the Bay of Pigs and work from there. Kennedy and Johnson gave us Vietnam, Nixon gave us Kissinger and started the rise of China. The clear-eyed vision of the Reagan/Thatcher alliance was an aberration. 

    • #6
  7. Bob Thompson Member
    Bob Thompson
    @BobThompson

    Kelly D Johnston: I do not blame the average Biden voter, even many Republican friends who either bought a bill of goods or were clouded by Trump hate. They’re being awfully silent these days. But so-called national security experts, with full knowledge that Joe Biden has “been wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades,” as former CIA Director and Defense Secretary Robert Gates famously exclaimed?

    I disagree. The first group, when capable, should have exercised their thought process to get to the correct answer, since it was so easy and they should be blamed. The second group is simply acting in a sinister facade for they actually operate in their self-interest instead of serving the people. The latter are truly despicable people.

    • #7
  8. Brian Watt Inactive
    Brian Watt
    @BrianWatt

    Bob Thompson (View Comment):

    Kelly D Johnston: I do not blame the average Biden voter, even many Republican friends who either bought a bill of goods or were clouded by Trump hate. They’re being awfully silent these days. But so-called national security experts, with full knowledge that Joe Biden has “been wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades,” as former CIA Director and Defense Secretary Robert Gates famously exclaimed?

    I disagree. The first group, when capable, should have exercised their thought process to get to the correct answer, since it was so easy and they should be blamed. The second group is simply acting in a sinister facade for they actually operate in their self-interest instead of serving the people. The latter are truly despicable people.

    Biden’s vile personal history was readily available for any informed voter or self-professed politically savvy person. They chose to ignore all of it and the warning signs of his cognitive decline. To articulate that they are now surprised at how Biden has behaved is simply not believable and smacks of blatant dishonesty.

    • #8
  9. TBA Coolidge
    TBA
    @RobtGilsdorf

    Hey, NTs! 

    Cut ‘n’ Paste this into your window and stop being the proverbial Pariah In The Punchbowl! 

    “I was wrong about Biden and I regret voting for him. Trump was a better choice, I see that now.” 

    This Cut ‘n’ Paste is provided completely free of charge! Do it today and feel the sweet relief of self-healing!  

    • #9
  10. Brian Watt Inactive
    Brian Watt
    @BrianWatt

    TBA (View Comment):

    Hey, NTs!

    Cut ‘n’ Paste this into your window and stop being the proverbial Pariah In The Punchbowl!

    “I was wrong about Biden and I regret voting for him. Trump was a better choice, I see that now.”

    This Cut ‘n’ Paste is provided completely free of charge! Do it today and feel the sweet relief of self-healing!

    Also makes a great tattoo.

    • #10
  11. Brian Watt Inactive
    Brian Watt
    @BrianWatt

    NeverTrumpers – Get your forehead tattoo today!

    • #11
  12. CACrabtree Coolidge
    CACrabtree
    @CACrabtree

    Brian Watt (View Comment):

    Bob Thompson (View Comment):

    Kelly D Johnston: I do not blame the average Biden voter, even many Republican friends who either bought a bill of goods or were clouded by Trump hate. They’re being awfully silent these days. But so-called national security experts, with full knowledge that Joe Biden has “been wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades,” as former CIA Director and Defense Secretary Robert Gates famously exclaimed?

    I disagree. The first group, when capable, should have exercised their thought process to get to the correct answer, since it was so easy and they should be blamed. The second group is simply acting in a sinister facade for they actually operate in their self-interest instead of serving the people. The latter are truly despicable people.

    Biden’s vile personal history was readily available for any informed voter or self-professed politically savvy person. They chose to ignore all of it and the warning signs of his cognitive decline. To articulate that they are now surprised at how Biden has behaved is simply not believable and smacks of blatant dishonesty.

    That last sentence probably describes 75% of Washington, D.C.

    • #12
  13. DaveSchmidt Coolidge
    DaveSchmidt
    @DaveSchmidt

    Brian Watt (View Comment):

    NeverTrumpers – Get your forehead tattoo today!

    If Moulton gets this tatoo, then I will take his pronouncements seriously.  

    • #13
  14. Gazpacho Grande' Coolidge
    Gazpacho Grande'
    @ChrisCampion

    Brian Watt (View Comment):

    NeverTrumpers – Get your forehead tattoo today!

    Rob’s got enough forehead for those words.

    • #14
  15. I Walton Member
    I Walton
    @IWalton

    Trump was unusual, strange, completely off the normal political rails, but please tell me, what did he do that was not necessary.  The border and the wall? Afghanistan? China ( could have been more and faster) taxes? employment? What he showed us, by being so savagely attacked and fraudulently replaced, is just how far gone the system was.  Now the only question is can it be saved from within the same 50 states or do we have to split before it’s too late?   I think those who think we’ll get it all straightened out in a few elections don’t understand the role the Chinese are playing.  

    • #15
  16. Gary Robbins Member
    Gary Robbins
    @GaryRobbins

    No.

    There are two things to be owned, one by Biden Voters, and one by Trump Voters.  Both were not readily foreseeable, but both have now occurred and need to be addressed.

    As a Biden Voter, I did not think that Biden would be as pig-headed and stubborn, and that his administration was be so incompetent.  Trump promised to leave Afghanistan but it would be hard to imagine that he could have done it worse.  (Trump also suggested that we leave Korea, and NATO.)  Every officer in the chain of command should be reverted to their last permanent rank and a letter of rebuke be placed in their file, and the most derelict face court martials.  Because Biden has called his own competence into question, then that under Section 4 of the 25th Amendment, Congress appoint a group of Psychiatrists and Psychologists to administer a Mental Status Exam, and, if needed, name the Vice President as Acting President pending a 2/3 affirming vote of the House and the Senate.

    Now to my Trump Voter friends, will you admit (1) that the “Stop the Steal” is the most outrageous promotion by any American President in our history, (2) that the Capitol Riot was seditious, (3) that all participants who entered the Capitol complex should be punished severely, and (4) that all members of Congress who supported the Stop the Steal including, but not limited to Paul Gosar, Andy Biggs, Mo Brooks, Jim Jordan, Lauren Boebert, Majorie Taylor Greene Madison Cawthorne, Matt Goetz, Louis Gohmert, Jody Hice, Scott Perry and Senator Josh Hawley all be expelled from Congress, and that the Republican Party publicly censure both Trump and them and vow to oppose them if they every run again.  If they run again, Congress should decline to seat them, and declare their seats vacant.  If Trump runs again the Republican National Committee should refuse to count voters or delegates for him.

    I have taken my step as a Biden Voter, and I would welcome fellow Biden Voters.  I urge my Trump Voting Friends to take their step.

    Edit:  I filed a post about this.  https://ricochet.com/1038929/apologies-owed-by-a-biden-and-b-trump-voters/

    • #16
  17. Roderic Coolidge
    Roderic
    @rhfabian

    Brian Watt (View Comment):
    Harris has just run headlong into the brick wall that borders his own intellect.

    Indeed.  It’s the sort of error that would lead one to assume that others who know God are wrong because their experience is hot his; to ignore their testimony.

    • #17
  18. Roderic Coolidge
    Roderic
    @rhfabian

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):
    Now to my Trump Voter friends, will you admit (1) that the “Stop the Steal” is the most outrageous promotion by any American President in our history, (2) that the Capitol Riot was seditious, (3) that all participants who entered the Capitol complex should be punished severely, and (4) that all members of Congress

    Nope.  The Capitol riot was a protest against what many thought was a stolen election.  It was an appeal to investigate the election.  With the exception of a few hot heads there was no seditious intent.  

    The protesters had every right to think that they’d be dealt with as leniently as left wing protesters had been all year, especially since there was little violence and no weapons.  

    (Yes, some left wing protestors were prosecuted and sent to prison, but only the most violent, the ones who burned down police stations and repeatedly attacked federal buildings over many days committing acts of violence and vandalism far beyond anything the Jan. 6th crowd did.}

    • #18
  19. Jager Coolidge
    Jager
    @Jager

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):
    (2) that the Capitol Riot was seditious, (3) that all participants who entered the Capitol complex should be punished severely

    Um…. so you are further out then the DOJ and the FBI.

    Look at the charging documents. No one that I am aware of has been charged with sedition or insurrection. The DOJ has not found evidence of sedition or they would charge. Prosecutors tend to over charge, not under charge. 

    The FBI has come out with a statement that there was no organized plan to over throw the government. This was all a dumb and irresponsible case of dog catches car. The “goal” was to get in the building, after that there was no plan. There was no danger of the government being overthrown, nor even a plan to attempt this.

    We have whole books and decades of research on the mentality of groups and mobs. A group can take on an identity of its own. As a member of a group, individual may do things they would never even consider outside of the group.  This was a group that went sideways. 

    Everyone should be punished for what they actually did. Attacking a police officer should be severely punished. Walking in a door that is held open by the police, walking around for a few minutes while the police watch and then leaving should not be punished at all. 

    • #19
  20. Brian Watt Inactive
    Brian Watt
    @BrianWatt

    Another candidate for the tattoo – Jim Mattis.

    From Victor Davis Hanson on the Daily Caller this morning (emphasis mine):

    Yet until Jan. 20, retired top brass had constantly smeared their elected commander in chief with impunity.

    Recently retired Gen. Michael Hayden retweeted a horrific suggestion that unvaccinated Trump supporters should be put on planes back to Afghanistan, where they presumably would be left to die. Hayden earlier had compared Trump’s border facilities to Nazi death camps.

    Other retired high-profile military officials variously called their president an emulator of Nazi tactics, a veritable Mussolini, a liar, and deserving of removal from office sooner than later. None of these retired four-stars faced the sort of repercussions that the Office of Naval Intelligence just warned about.

    The third paragraph cited is clearly a reference to Jim Mattis. One has to wonder how cordial VDH and Mattis are likely to be with each other if they happen to cross paths at the Hoover Institution on the Stanford campus. 

    And it’s quite telling that the outspoken Mattis hasn’t shot his mouth off lately criticizing Biden or his administration or the Pentagon for the massive failure (for lack of more precise language that would violate Ricochet’s CoC) of the Afghanistan surrender and retreat that left hundreds, if not thousands, of Americans behind. What’s the matter, Jim? Afraid to open your yap? Pathetic.

    • #20
  21. CACrabtree Coolidge
    CACrabtree
    @CACrabtree

    We look back at the credentials of General Hayden; Director of the NSA and Director of the CIA.  This was the best that we could do?

    And he’s not finished damaging the United Staes; he currently co-chairs the “Bipartisan Policy Center’s Electric Grid Cyber Security Initiative”.  Washington’s Circle of Losers continues merrily onward.

    • #21
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