How Do You Criticize Joe Biden?

 

When Joe Biden reads the lie in his speech off the teleprompter, is he lying? Or is it his speechwriters? Does Biden know what he is saying with his obviously diminished capacity? Does he remember enough even to know the truth?

Take the “fine people” lie. Did Biden ever listen to those words in context when Trump made it clear that he was not calling the white supremacists “fine people?”

When he accuses Trump of acting too slowly on the pandemic, does he remember that he called Trump a Xenophobe for halting flights from China? How can he not recognize that Slow Joe recommended a slower response?

Of course, he is now the standard-bearer for the party of lies and hate.

So, is he venal? Or just merely approaching senility? Or both?

When a man with diminished capacity, running for President on a major party ticket yet,  spews out lies, how does one deal with that?

Between that and the high fraud risk of widespread mail-in voting, this is the most frightening presidential election of my lifetime.

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  1. ctlaw Coolidge
    ctlaw
    @ctlaw

    Bob Mueller has not been called to plead senility for his apparent lying to Congress.

    • #1
  2. Western Chauvinist Member
    Western Chauvinist
    @WesternChauvinist

    David Carroll: So, is he venal?

    You misspelled “evil.”

    • #2
  3. Freeven Member
    Freeven
    @Freeven

    The answers to these questions are essentially unknowable and, in my analysis, not that important. That’s not to say I don’t ponder and speculate. But I’ve really taken to heart Thomas Sowell’s mantra that intentions don’t matter; results do. So whether Biden is confused, lying, or misinformed the bottom line is that he repeating lies that are being used to fuel and justify the violent overthrow of the country. At some point, it just doesn’t matter why he is doing it.

    • #3
  4. Western Chauvinist Member
    Western Chauvinist
    @WesternChauvinist

    Freeven (View Comment):

    The answers to these questions are essentially unknowable and, in my analysis, not that important. That’s not to say I don’t ponder and speculate. But I’ve really taken to heart Thomas Sowell’s mantra that intentions don’t matter; results do. So whether Biden is confused, lying, or misinformed the bottom line is that he repeating lies that are being used to fuel and justify the violent overthrow of the country. At some point, it just doesn’t matter why he is doing it.

    I agree, intentions don’t really matter. But, that doesn’t address David’s question: how do you (effectively) criticize Biden?

    Whether out of ignorance or malice, a large portion of our population doesn’t believe in objective truth. I argue those people are lost. There’s no way to point out truths about Biden’s incompetence and corruption because truth doesn’t matter to them. They are about power.

    I just ordered Evan Sayet’s new book The Woke Supremacy: An Anti-Socialist Manifesto.

    https://amgreatness.com/2020/08/21/no-laughing-matter/

    Truth and reality have a way of asserting themselves in the end, but there’s often a blood bath first. 

    • #4
  5. Dr. Bastiat Member
    Dr. Bastiat
    @drbastiat

    The Democrats have figured out a powerful tool in politics. Their last presidential candidate was a black man, who you cannot criticize without appearing racist. Now, they have a senile man. Their next presidential candidate will be a wheelchair-bound black lesbian with Alzheimer’s disease. 

    When your policies are unpopular, it’s important to squelch dissent, avoid debate, and block criticism.

    In fact, that’s your only possible hope. 

    • #5
  6. Freeven Member
    Freeven
    @Freeven

    Western Chauvinist (View Comment):
    Western Chauvinist Ricochet Charter Member

    Freeven (View Comment):

    The answers to these questions are essentially unknowable and, in my analysis, not that important. That’s not to say I don’t ponder and speculate. But I’ve really taken to heart Thomas Sowell’s mantra that intentions don’t matter; results do. So whether Biden is confused, lying, or misinformed the bottom line is that he repeating lies that are being used to fuel and justify the violent overthrow of the country. At some point, it just doesn’t matter why he is doing it.

    I agree, intentions don’t really matter. But, that doesn’t address David’s question: how do you (effectively) criticize Biden?

    That’s not the question I understood him to be asking. (I note that you didn’t answer it either. :p ) I thought he was simply looking for insight into what is going on in Biden’s head.

    As to how effectively criticize Biden, it’s just about impossible in the current environment. Between the media and the county’s extreme polarization, little of substance can get through (in either direction). That’s by design, and it’s working well. To the extent I have an answer, it is to go after the media rather than Biden. I agree with Andrew Klavan that we can live with lying, cheating, stealing politicians if we the media would play it down the middle. Trump has been surprisingly effective at exposing corruption in the media. I think it will go down as his most important accomplishment in the long term. But it’s tough for someone without his personality and position to make any headway.

    Please report back on the Sayet book if you have the time.

    • #6
  7. Western Chauvinist Member
    Western Chauvinist
    @WesternChauvinist

    Freeven (View Comment):
    I agree with Andrew Klavan that we can live with lying, cheating, stealing politicians if we the media would play it down the middle.

    Yes! When we talk to our left-leaning friends, we need to see if they’ll agree to the idea that media is supposed to be the umpire and not a player for one side or the other. If not, we’ll know they’re not persuadable and we can stop wasting our time.

    • #7
  8. Freeven Member
    Freeven
    @Freeven

    Western Chauvinist (View Comment):

    Freeven (View Comment):
    I agree with Andrew Klavan that we can live with lying, cheating, stealing politicians if we the media would play it down the middle.

    Yes! When we talk to our left-leaning friends, we need to see if they’ll agree to the idea that media is supposed to be the umpire and not a player for one side or the other. If not, we’ll know they’re not persuadable and we can stop wasting our time.

    I’ve never thought to ask that question. I’m almost afraid to hear the answer.

    • #8
  9. MarciN Member
    MarciN
    @MarciN

    David Carroll:

    When he accuses Trump of acting too slowly on the pandemic, does he remember that he called Trump a Xenophobe for halting flights from China? How can he not recognize that Slow Joe recommended a slower response?

    Of course he is now the standard-bearer for the party of lies and hate.

    So, is he venal? Or just merely approaching senility? Or both?

    When a man with diminished capacity, running for President on a major party ticket yet, spews out lies, how does one deal with that?

    There is no way to do it. No matter what Trump says, he will look like a beast to the public.

    Well, that just ruined my day. I’ve been thinking the debates would be a slam dunk for Trump.

    I can’t help thinking this was intentional. Look at what the Democrats did with FDR for his fourth term. A couple of years ago I saw some actual footage of FDR a few months before the election. He could barely stand. He looked very weak even sitting in his wheelchair. He had high blood pressure, and back then, it was hugely debilitating.

    Now I understand why everyone else except me on Ricochet was so upset about this a month ago. I did not see where this was going.

    • #9
  10. MarciN Member
    MarciN
    @MarciN

    If Biden and the Democrats win under this line of attack–that Trump waited too long and did too little to protect the country against the virus–it will empower every petty bureaucrat in the country to double down on the restrictions. Even the smart elected politicians will be afraid to go against this tide of public opinion that the Democrats are creating. 

    • #10
  11. DonG (skeptic) Coolidge
    DonG (skeptic)
    @DonG

    Based on history, where Biden claimed that Romney would “put Black people back in chains” during 2012, I am sure Biden is lying.

    • #11
  12. Jon1979 Inactive
    Jon1979
    @Jon1979

    Dr. Bastiat (View Comment):

    The Democrats have figured out a powerful tool in politics. Their last presidential candidate was a black man, who you cannot criticize without appearing racist. Now, they have a senile man. Their next presidential candidate will be a wheelchair-bound black lesbian with Alzheimer’s disease.

    When your policies are unpopular, it’s important to squelch dissent, avoid debate, and block criticism.

    In fact, that’s your only possible hope.

    I haven’t seen what the day-to-day lineup is going to be for the RNC Convention, but it does look like they are planning to do a little work-around for the Biden criticism problem, in that they may not simply go after him, but are going to go after the cancel culutre of the left that wants Joe Biden elected president.

    The speaking slots for Nick Sandmann and for Mark and Patricia McCloskey — if they’re bunded together are part of a ‘theme’ night at the convention — would make the point that the people around Joe Biden and the people supprting Joe Biden want to both destroy you if they think you hold a different opinion from them, no matter what age you are, and are willing to threaten your personal property and your lives, when they have the advantage of being part of a mob, seeking to punish people for simply living their lives.

    Done right, that would not specifically target Biden, but would make the point that the media, progressive activists and groups like Antifa and Black Lives Matter who want Biden elected president are the greatest threats to free speech. If the recent poll is accurate, showing that only the far left is now comfortable in saying what they really believe in public, that should be a powerful message in support of Trump, in that only be re-electing him can the public send a message that they will not bow to the intimidation of the mob, either the real kind armed with weapons, or the virtual kind, where the media and/or Twitter mobs ruin peoples’ lives.

    • #12
  13. David Carroll Thatcher
    David Carroll
    @DavidCarroll

    The good news, I suppose, is that the Biden partisans can’t complaint about criticism as making fun of a disability, because they can’t admit the he has a disability.

    • #13
  14. Dr. Bastiat Member
    Dr. Bastiat
    @drbastiat

    David Carroll (View Comment):

    The good news, I suppose, is that the Biden partisans can’t complaint about criticism as making fun of a disability, because they can’t admit the he has a disability.

    Very good point.

    • #14
  15. ctlaw Coolidge
    ctlaw
    @ctlaw

    David Carroll (View Comment):

    The good news, I suppose, is that the Biden partisans can’t complaint about criticism as making fun of a disability, because they can’t admit the he has a disability.

    The problem is that no matter what Biden nonsense you point to, the media will say that you are making fun of his “childhood stutter.”

    • #15
  16. Flicker Coolidge
    Flicker
    @Flicker

    MarciN (View Comment):

    There is no way to do it. No matter what Trump says, he will look like a beast to the public.

    Well, that just ruined my day. I’ve been thinking the debates would be a slam dunk for Trump.

    MarciN (View Comment):
    If Biden and the Democrats win under this line of attack–that Trump waited too long and did too little to protect the country against the virus–it will empower every petty bureaucrat in the country to double down on the restrictions.

    Firstly, I think trump has been appropriately attacking Biden, rather gently, but then again ruthlessly, saying Biden doesn’t know what he’s saying, it’s all written by his staff.

    Secondly in the debates, well, they’re not really debates anymore.  Debates are using facts to have the audience or judges take your view.  Facts are no longer “facts” but take a back seat to emotional “truth”.  Trump can play that game as well.  The problems, as I see it, is that the moderators accept whatever Biden says as truth, and it would be up to Trump himself to set the record straight, minute by minute and phrase by phrase.  Otherwise, Trump can do what he’s already doing, ignoring the preconceptions and mocking the question.  Trump’s very good at this.

    • #16
  17. MichaelKennedy Inactive
    MichaelKennedy
    @MichaelKennedy

    Flicker (View Comment):

    MarciN (View Comment):

    There is no way to do it. No matter what Trump says, he will look like a beast to the public.

    Well, that just ruined my day. I’ve been thinking the debates would be a slam dunk for Trump.

    MarciN (View Comment):
    If Biden and the Democrats win under this line of attack–that Trump waited too long and did too little to protect the country against the virus–it will empower every petty bureaucrat in the country to double down on the restrictions.

    Firstly, I think trump has been appropriately attacking Biden, rather gently, but then again ruthlessly, saying Biden doesn’t know what he’s saying, it’s all written by his staff.

    Secondly in the debates, well, they’re not really debates anymore. Debates are using facts to have the audience or judges take your view. Facts are no longer “facts” but take a back seat to emotional “truth”. Trump can play that game as well. The problems, as I see it, is that the moderators accept whatever Biden says as truth, and it would be up to Trump himself to set the record straight, minute by minute and phrase by phrase. Otherwise, Trump can do what he’s already doing, ignoring the preconceptions and mocking the question. Trump’s very good at this.

    I cannot imagine a debate with both of them live on stage.  I don’t think, even with an audio feed in an earphone, Biden can respond in a debate.

    • #17
  18. Basil Fawlty Member
    Basil Fawlty
    @BasilFawlty

    David Carroll: So, is he venal? Or just merely approaching senility? Or both?

    Venility?

    • #18
  19. Flicker Coolidge
    Flicker
    @Flicker

    MichaelKennedy (View Comment):

    Flicker (View Comment):

    MarciN (View Comment):

    There is no way to do it. No matter what Trump says, he will look like a beast to the public.

    Well, that just ruined my day. I’ve been thinking the debates would be a slam dunk for Trump.

    MarciN (View Comment):
    If Biden and the Democrats win under this line of attack–that Trump waited too long and did too little to protect the country against the virus–it will empower every petty bureaucrat in the country to double down on the restrictions.

    Firstly, I think trump has been appropriately attacking Biden, rather gently, but then again ruthlessly, saying Biden doesn’t know what he’s saying, it’s all written by his staff.

    Secondly in the debates, well, they’re not really debates anymore. Debates are using facts to have the audience or judges take your view. Facts are no longer “facts” but take a back seat to emotional “truth”. Trump can play that game as well. The problems, as I see it, is that the moderators accept whatever Biden says as truth, and it would be up to Trump himself to set the record straight, minute by minute and phrase by phrase. Otherwise, Trump can do what he’s already doing, ignoring the preconceptions and mocking the question. Trump’s very good at this.

    I cannot imagine a debate with both of them live on stage. I don’t think, even with an audio feed in an earphone, Biden can respond in a debate.

    Only my second paragraph refers to the debate.  If Biden doesn’t appear on stage with Trump it’s not because of the Chinese virus.  Biden easily shared the stage with Harris and a reporter.  He can do it with Trump and a reporter.  I think that anything short of Biden showing up in person is going to weaken his image with the swing-voters because, everyone knows he can debate in person, and that he is, or his handlers are, afraid.

    • #19
  20. Rodin Member
    Rodin
    @Rodin

    Trump should go after Harris — the person who is “one heartbeat (or brain scan) from the Presidency”. He can critique her and her record and statements (which are stand-ins for Biden’s) and emphasize how debating Biden is not really a priority because he won’t be president very long, if elected. It reminds voters that what Biden says doesn’t matter and focus attention on the real Democratic game plan: Harris and the parade of horribles that will be spread out amongst her administration.

    • #20
  21. drlorentz Member
    drlorentz
    @drlorentz

    David Carroll: When Joe Biden reads the lie in his speech off the teleprompter, is he lying?

    Yes.

    You guys are making this way too complicated. What ever happened to “the buck stops here”?

    • #21
  22. TBA Coolidge
    TBA
    @RobtGilsdorf

    David Carroll:

    When Joe Biden reads the lie in his speech off the teleprompter, is he lying? Or is it his speechwriters? Does Biden know what he is saying with his obviously diminished capacity? Does he remember enough even to know the truth?

    Take the “fine people” lie. Did Biden ever listen to those words in context when Trump made it clear that he was not calling the white supremacists “fine people?”

    When he accuses Trump of acting too slowly on the pandemic, does he remember that he called Trump a Xenophobe for halting flights from China? How can he not recognize that Slow Joe recommended a slower response?

    Of course, he is now the standard-bearer for the party of lies and hate.

    So, is he venal? Or just merely approaching senility? Or both?

    When a man with diminished capacity, running for President on a major party ticket yet, spews out lies, how does one deal with that?

    Between that and the high fraud risk of widespread mail-in voting, this is the most frightening presidential election of my lifetime.

    I don’t think a man running for President has any business being innocent. 

    • #22
  23. Old Bathos Member
    Old Bathos
    @OldBathos

    Biden has always been a malignant buffoon. I don’t mind a politician lying as much as I fear it when I think it’s likely that he just made himself believe his own lies. I always felt as if Clinton and Obama knew they were lying out of a sense of entitlement to positive public perceptions of themselves but that they were still in touch with the reality about which they just dissembled. Biden is in his own world.

    Biden does that “C’mon, man” shtick in a way that makes my skin crawl because I know he could say the opposite five minutes later in a patently false and silly context and still pass a lie detector while doing it.

    This is a weird election in that the vast majority of voters will pull the lever for someone they regard as deeply flawed just to keep something they believe to be worse from winning. Our guy is a narcissist given to crude pettiness but their guy is a senile sociopath who wants to be a tool of policy totalitarians. We deserve to win.

    • #23
  24. OmegaPaladin Moderator
    OmegaPaladin
    @OmegaPaladin

    How do you attack Biden?  Simple – you make the case that he is not competent to do the job.  Someone who is mentally handicapped or senile can be a nice person, but do you really want him in charge of the country?   I think the “What Happened to Joe Biden” ad is great on this.  It compares current Biden with previous Biden.

    It’s brilliant, but because it tells people Biden is not the wacky uncle they remember, he’s not what he used to be.

     

    • #24
  25. cdor Member
    cdor
    @cdor

    Dr. Bastiat (View Comment):

    The Democrats have figured out a powerful tool in politics. Their last pre sidential candidate was a black man, who you cannot criticize without appearing racist. Now, they have a senile man. Their next presidential candidate will be a wheelchair-bound black lesbian with Alzheimer’s disease.

    When your policies are unpopular, it’s important to squelch dissent, avoid debate, and block criticism.

    In fact, that’s your only possible hope.

    Their next Presidential candidate ( actually “acting” President ) will be Nancy Pelosi. She will be in charge for the six months or more it takes to figure out who won the upcoming election after mail-in balloting is accepted. But still, your description is close enough.

    • #25
  26. Randy Weivoda Moderator
    Randy Weivoda
    @RandyWeivoda

    OmegaPaladin (View Comment):

    How do you attack Biden? Simple – you make the case that he is not competent to do the job. Someone who is mentally handicapped or senile can be a nice person, but do you really want him in charge of the country? I think the “What Happened to Joe Biden” ad is great on this. It compares current Biden with previous Biden.

    It’s brilliant, but because it tells people Biden is not the wacky uncle they remember, he’s not what he used to be.

    Yeah, it’s time to take the car keys away from Grandpa and he wants to drive the pace car at the Indianpolis 500.

    • #26
  27. Dr. Bastiat Member
    Dr. Bastiat
    @drbastiat

    Old Bathos (View Comment):
    This is a weird election in that the vast majority of voters will pull the lever for someone they regard as deeply flawed just to keep something they believe to be worse from winning.

    That’s a pretty good description of the last election.  How many people voting for them really liked either Hillary or Trump?  Probably some.  But I think not many.

    • #27
  28. Jon1979 Inactive
    Jon1979
    @Jon1979

    OmegaPaladin (View Comment):

    How do you attack Biden? Simple – you make the case that he is not competent to do the job. Someone who is mentally handicapped or senile can be a nice person, but do you really want him in charge of the country? I think the “What Happened to Joe Biden” ad is great on this. It compares current Biden with previous Biden.

    It’s brilliant, but because it tells people Biden is not the wacky uncle they remember, he’s not what he used to be.

    I think Trump and the other people speaking at the convention should use a light touch here over the next four days, because it’s not so much that Biden’s mental decline scares swing voters — it’s Biden’s mental decline and what that might mean for the angry, mentally-unstable woke types who support Biden.

    They’re the Hillaries of 2020, where the point that needs to be hammered home is that they have the potential to run wild over the next four years, because Joe Biden’s no longer strong enough mentally to keep them from having their way with the rest of the country. That means touching on Biden’s decline, but really focusing on the recent rioting, looting and intimidation that is both physical in presence in the Democrat-run urban centers and online, where the SJW Twitter mobs have the ability to reach out and destroy anyone  in the country they decide is an Enemy of the People.

    The fact that the DNC convention totally ignored all of that is a way to say Biden can’t stand up to the angry left-wing of his party, and that’s why his mental decline matters.

    • #28
  29. MichaelKennedy Inactive
    MichaelKennedy
    @MichaelKennedy

    cdor (View Comment):

    Dr. Bastiat (View Comment):

    The Democrats have figured out a powerful tool in politics. Their last pre sidential candidate was a black man, who you cannot criticize without appearing racist. Now, they have a senile man. Their next presidential candidate will be a wheelchair-bound black lesbian with Alzheimer’s disease.

    When your policies are unpopular, it’s important to squelch dissent, avoid debate, and block criticism.

    In fact, that’s your only possible hope.

    Their next Presidential candidate ( actually “acting” President ) will be Nancy Pelosi. She will be in charge for the six months or more it takes to figure out who won the upcoming election after mail-in balloting is accepted. But still, your description is close enough.

    This could be an intent of the mail in vote nonsense.  Nancy is 80 and is showing some signs of early dementia, too.

    • #29
  30. TBA Coolidge
    TBA
    @RobtGilsdorf

    OmegaPaladin (View Comment):

    How do you attack Biden? Simple – you make the case that he is not competent to do the job. Someone who is mentally handicapped or senile can be a nice person, but do you really want him in charge of the country? I think the “What Happened to Joe Biden” ad is great on this. It compares current Biden with previous Biden.

    It’s brilliant, but because it tells people Biden is not the wacky uncle they remember, he’s not what he used to be.

    And it doesn’t actually say anything it can be attacked for, so when the left complains they’ll have to use ‘implied’ or similar weak accusations. 

    • #30
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