Joe Biden’s Amazing Consistency

 

There’s an amazing sentence in a Steven Hayward post on Powerline today: “In 32 years of running for president, Joe Biden still has yet to win a single primary contest.” I find this incredible. What kind of person keeps trying, over and over again, and failing very publicly, over and over again? Wouldn’t he get tired of losing at some point? What kind of person does that? For 32 years?

To me, that moves beyond ambition, into the realm of delusion. Many politicians suffer from an inflated sense of self-importance. But Biden stands out, even in that crowd. He has always struck me as someone who has a few too many birds on his antenna. But he may have more profound issues than being a bit goofy. Thirty-two years with no wins. I’m not sure what the word for that is. That’s, um, just amazing.

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  1. Bishop Wash Member
    Bishop Wash
    @BishopWash

    Some people would bring up this statistic last year and try to figure out if things had really changed or was something else keeping Joe at the top. Turns out nothing has changed. Probably some Obama love that pushed him to front runner status. 

    • #1
  2. Bob Thompson Member
    Bob Thompson
    @BobThompson

    Take a look at Bernie’s example. Campaign financing raises a lot of money. I don’t know how much, I guess one can find that, but in Bernie’s case this is his second time of campaigning in a big way. It is my understanding that Mrs. Sanders is significantly involved in Bernie’s campaign’s media contract management. If she were essentially the ownership of that company handling campaign media contracts worth say $100 million at a 15% commission, the net after expenses is probably not too shabby. Doing that twice in 4 years can substantially improve family net worth, hardly worth a loser label. Those assumptions I made are unverified. 

    Now, about Joe Biden. He’s been at this for a long time and may not think of any of those times as having been a loser. Looks as if family members are doing all right as well. Reportedly, his brothers both have been very involved in ventures granted government contracts in the millions. It might be interesting to examine the contracting process for those awards just to see if any competitive edge was due to Joe’s influence. I have no idea if Biden has profited from campaign finance but it’s doubtful he thinks of these campaigns as losers.

     

    • #2
  3. I Walton Member
    I Walton
    @IWalton

    Somebody here must know enough about campaign finance to be able to tell us how one can siphon off from the process.  How easy it is to channel funds where one wants.    It’s difficult to imagine that Biden and everybody else but Bloomberg, isn’t able to pocket considerable sums. 

    • #3
  4. Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio… Member
    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio…
    @ArizonaPatriot

    This is pretty funny, but not actually fair to Biden.

    He announced a run in 1987, for the 1988 nomination.  There were a couple of minor scandals, and he dropped out in late 1987, before any caucuses or primaries.  So, he was 0-for-0 in 1988.

    He announced a run in 2007, for the 2008 nomination.  He was a minor candidate, behind Clinton and Obama.  He dropped out after finishing fifth in the Iowa caucus.  So, he was 0-for-1 in 2008.

    He won his first election, to the New Castle City Council in 1969, at the age of 26.

    He unexpectedly won the Delaware Senate election in 1972, at the age of 29.  (He did turn 30, the minimum age under the Constitution, before becoming a Senator in January 1973.) He won reelection as a Senator from Delaware 5 times, between 1978 and 2002.

    As Obama’s VP candidate, he won in 2008 and 2012.

    That’s nine straight election victories, from 1969 to 2012, offset by a single loss in the Iowa caucus in 2008.  So the guy won 9 of 10 elections in his life, through 2012.

    • #4
  5. Ben Sears Member
    Ben Sears
    @BenMSYS

    The question for me is how do you pitch yourself, with that albatross of a record around your neck, as a viable candidate to donors? Whoever is in charge of Biden’s fundraising should write a book, get overpaid for it and end up the subject of next cycle’s hopefuls bidding war. 

    • #5
  6. PHenry Inactive
    PHenry
    @PHenry

    Dr. Bastiat: That’s, um, just amazing.

    What is more amazing is that the eDems and their media allies are all convinced he is the most electable against Trump.  The guy that can’t even beat other Democrats in a primary is the great white hope for beating Orangeman!  It just shows that the Democrat party is in total disarray, no solid agenda, no vision, just beat Trump- and they haven’t the first clue how to go about that.

    • #6
  7. DonG (skeptic) Coolidge
    DonG (skeptic)
    @DonG

    Delaware is his firewall.    April 28th is comeback time!

    • #7
  8. JoelB Member
    JoelB
    @JoelB

    Well, he is persistent, isn’t he?

    • #8
  9. Jon Gabriel, Ed. Contributor
    Jon Gabriel, Ed.
    @jon

    “A few too many birds on his antenna” is the best phrase I’ve heard in a long, long time, sir.

    • #9
  10. PHenry Inactive
    PHenry
    @PHenry

    Jon Gabriel, Ed. (View Comment):

    “A few too many birds on his antenna” is the best phrase I’ve heard in a long, long time, sir.

    What is an antenna?  ;) 

    • #10
  11. Doug Kimball Thatcher
    Doug Kimball
    @DougKimball

    The only thing I can say about Joe Biden?  He’s a boulder among rocks.

    • #11
  12. Doug Kimball Thatcher
    Doug Kimball
    @DougKimball

    Check this out – from early on Biden’s run for the Democrat presidential candidacy in 1988.  Sounds familiar.

    • #12
  13. Franco Member
    Franco
    @Franco

    Some people fail upward. They are non threatening. They are around long enough, they don’t make real enemies because they are inconsequential and they are satisfied being a flunky. Sometimes luck is involved.

    My father worked for an architect and engineering firm. His job,  among  other things, was to entertain politicians to get school, prison, and stadium contracts. Once a Congressman from Michigan came to visit ( I don’t know the peripheral details) and he was so uninteresting and uninspiring at dinner, the members of the firm secretly drew straws because no one wanted to drive him to the airport. My father lost. That was congressman Gerald Ford who later became House Minority Leader over a compromise resolution after a bitter fight between two strong rivals, then named VP after Agnew resigned, then became President after Nixon stepped down.

    • #13
  14. JoelB Member
    JoelB
    @JoelB

    That was congressman Gerald Ford who later became House Minority Leader over a compromise resolution after a bitter fight between two strong rivals, then named VP after Agnew resigned, then became President after Nixon stepped down.

    Sometimes boring is good. We could have done worse. We have done worse.

    • #14
  15. Percival Thatcher
    Percival
    @Percival

    I’d feel sorry for Biden if he ever once evinced even a spark of likability.

    • #15
  16. Skyler Coolidge
    Skyler
    @Skyler

    It’s because Joe Biden is a truly stupid, stupid, low IQ, barely functioning man.  His IQ is likely hovering around 85 to 90 and he just simply can’t comprehend most of the complex topics he faces.  He is smart enough to regurgitate whatever someone tells him to say and that’s it.

    • #16
  17. Mister Dog Coolidge
    Mister Dog
    @MisterDog

    Doug Kimball (View Comment):

    The only thing I can say about Joe Biden? He’s a boulder among rocks.

    Reminds of a saying we had the Navy-you can pour the water of knowledge on rock, but all you get is wet rock.

    • #17
  18. Henry Castaigne Member
    Henry Castaigne
    @HenryCastaigne

    Bob Thompson (View Comment):
    Bob Thompson

    Take a look at Bernie’s example. Campaign financing raises a lot of money. I don’t know how much, I guess one can find that, but in Bernie’s case this is his second time of campaigning in a big way. It is my understanding that Mrs. Sanders is significantly involved in Bernie’s campaign’s media contract management. If she were essentially the ownership of that company handling campaign media contracts worth say $100 million at a 15% commission, the net after expenses is probably not too shabby. Doing that twice in 4 years can substantially improve family net worth, hardly worth a loser label. Those assumptions I made are unverified. 

    Now, about Joe Biden. He’s been at this for a long time and may not think of any of those times as having been a loser. Looks as if family members are doing all right as well. Reportedly, his brothers both have been very involved in ventures granted government contracts in the millions. It might be interesting to examine the contracting process for those awards just to see if any competitive edge was due to Joe’s influence. I have no idea if Biden has profited from campaign finance but it’s doubtful he thinks of these campaigns as losers.

    I know I sound like a broken record but… this is why you get Trump. 

    • #18
  19. Henry Castaigne Member
    Henry Castaigne
    @HenryCastaigne

    Why is everybody so damn old in American politics. 

    • #19
  20. Henry Castaigne Member
    Henry Castaigne
    @HenryCastaigne

    Mister Dog (View Comment):

    Doug Kimball (View Comment):

    The only thing I can say about Joe Biden? He’s a boulder among rocks.

    Reminds of a saying we had the Navy-you can pour the water of knowledge on rock, but all you get is wet rock.

    Then how the heck does he keep getting in positions of power? 

    • #20
  21. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    Jon Gabriel, Ed. (View Comment):

    “A few too many birds on his antenna” is the best phrase I’ve heard in a long, long time, sir.

    Agreed.

    • #21
  22. Skyler Coolidge
    Skyler
    @Skyler

    Henry Castaigne (View Comment):

    Mister Dog (View Comment):

    Doug Kimball (View Comment):

    The only thing I can say about Joe Biden? He’s a boulder among rocks.

    Reminds of a saying we had the Navy-you can pour the water of knowledge on rock, but all you get is wet rock.

    Then how the heck does he keep getting in positions of power?

    Because he was the designated spokesman.  He does one thing well:  He can stand up and repeat talking points with a ramrod posture and with the confidence that comes from complete stupidity and ignorance.  That what he spouts as true today he denounced yesterday doesn’t bother him because he has no idea what he’s saying.  

    That’s why he believes he should be president.  There are a lot of handlers that suck up to him and tell him he’s wonderful so that he will go on the Sunday TV shows and say what they want.   He believes their flattery.  It’s no more complicated than that.

    • #22
  23. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    Franco (View Comment):
    Once a Congressman from Michigan came to visit ( I don’t know the peripheral details) and he was so uninteresting and uninspiring at dinner, the members of the firm secretly drew straws because no one wanted to drive him to the airport. My father lost. That was congressman Gerald Ford who later became House Minority Leader over a compromise resolution after a bitter fight between two strong rivals, then named VP after Agnew resigned, then became President after Nixon stepped down.

    Given his life before Congress, I am surprised. He had a lot he could have talked about.

    • #23
  24. Kozak Member
    Kozak
    @Kozak

    Henry Castaigne (View Comment):

    Mister Dog (View Comment):

    Doug Kimball (View Comment):

    The only thing I can say about Joe Biden? He’s a boulder among rocks.

    Reminds of a saying we had the Navy-you can pour the water of knowledge on rock, but all you get is wet rock.

    Then how the heck does he keep getting in positions of power?

    He was Obamas “assassination insurance”.

    • #24
  25. Jon1979 Inactive
    Jon1979
    @Jon1979

    People forget — because the media doesn’t obsess about it — that Biden almost died 32 years ago due to a brain aneurysm, where he had to undergo emergency surgery and then a second preventive surgery when a second possible problem was discovered. 

    Biden did talk about it back in September after his bleeding eyeball incident, and it’s hard to say how much, if any, what happened in 1988 affects his abilities mentally in 2020, or if it’s simply the sign of someone who’s in his late 70s and in decline. But you could be sure you’d have more coverage of this if he was a GOP candidate or president, since the media will obsess about aging politicians there (see 25th Amendment and Donald J. Trump for the most recent example of concerns over an aging Republican’s mental state).

    • #25
  26. JoelB Member
    JoelB
    @JoelB

    Henry Castaigne (View Comment):

    Why is everybody so damn old in American politics.

    Young people are finding better options?

    Seeing that senate, senior, and senile come from the same Latin root, it’s not surprising.

    • #26
  27. Henry Castaigne Member
    Henry Castaigne
    @HenryCastaigne

    JoelB (View Comment):

    Henry Castaigne (View Comment):

    Why is everybody so damn old in American politics.

    Young people are finding better options?

    Seeing that senate, senior, and senile come from the same Latin root, it’s not surprising.

    After Trump wins in 2020 we might want to gently retire Mike Pence and get Dan Crenshaw to run. Mike Pence will be a spry 65 come 2024. That makes him fairly young compared to what we have now but Dan Crenshaw will be 39. He will still be able to have run and do push up and he will not have white hair. Amy Klobuchar might be doing better than expected just because she didn’t personally know FDR.

    • #27
  28. JoelB Member
    JoelB
    @JoelB

    Henry Castaigne (View Comment):

    JoelB (View Comment):

    Henry Castaigne (View Comment):

    Why is everybody so damn old in American politics.

    Young people are finding better options?

    Seeing that senate, senior, and senile come from the same Latin root, it’s not surprising.

    After Trump wins in 2020 we might want to gently retire Mike Pence and get Dan Crenshaw to run.

    While I have a generally positive impression of Mike Pence and I don’t know much about Dan Crenshaw, I am open to exploring the possibilities.

    • #28
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