Ricochet is the best place on the internet to discuss the issues of the day, either through commenting on posts or writing your own for our active and dynamic community in a fully moderated environment. In addition, the Ricochet Audio Network offers over 50 original podcasts with new episodes released every day.
Tag: Joe Biden
[Member Post]
You Get What You Pay For, Including Joe Biden
In their later years, I grew to love my parents dearly, and appreciated the upbringing they provided for me. But as I grew older, I would have tense discussions with them regarding the home improvements they invested in. Having grown up during the depression, they were always frugal to a fault regarding the people they hired; they were barely interested in the recommendations that the contractors could provide, and were determined to get the best deal. Inevitably, the work was often shabby and poorly constructed, and then my parents would rant about the quality of the work. I would sometimes lecture them, trying to avoid saying, “I told you so,” but over the years, they couldn’t or wouldn’t change their choices.
Until they did. Eventually my mother registered the common sense I was sharing, and they started to be more demanding about the work they had done. And as they were rewarded with good work, they were delighted to tell me all about their experience. I, of course, congratulated them on their wise decisions, and from that point on, they began to enjoy the work they contracted.
Joe Biden – Too Old?
This is more of a rant than a commentary or request for feedback. Though I present it in part as an anecdote of why survey data should be read with skepticism.
Many “news” articles and commentaries note that some enormous percentage of Americans say President Joe Biden is “too old” to run for a second term as President of the United States. Which caused me to think, “What would I answer if I were asked by a surveyor whether Joe Biden was ‘too old’ to run for president?”
Joe Biden: “Well-Meaning”?
“A sympathetic, well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory”
Special counsel Robert Hur recommended against criminal prosecution of Joe Biden for his handling of classified documents and information. Mr. Hur said that in court Mr. Biden “. . . would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview with him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory.” Mr. Hur concluded that a jury of normal Americans would likely decline to convict that “well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory.”
Iran, Joe Biden, and World War III
As I follow the thoughtful discussions about the war in Israel here on Ricochet, I can’t figure out why more people are not speaking about Iran. Maybe the reason is that the complexities of the situation are difficult to manage. Or maybe the future looks so dismal that people are afraid to face the truth. Not like I’m a purveyor of truth! But I wouldn’t be quite so alarmed if I believed we were talking about how dangerous Iran truly is.
In researching Iran’s power, the facts are alarming. We talk about the Iranian proxies, but I never realized the pervasiveness of their power. Not only is Hamas serving them, but Iraq, Yemen, Syria, and hundreds of leaders are guiding multiple terrorist organizations within those countries. This graphic gives you a quick look at their influence.
People Say the Darndest Things…
“We have plans to build a railroad from the Pacific all the way across the Indian Ocean. We have plans to build in – in Angola one of the largest solar plants in the world. I can go on, but I’m not. I’m going off-script. I’m going to get in trouble.”
These are, of course, the words of our President, the Big Guy, Joe Biden. Such a bizarre, strange thing to say. So odd that it wouldn’t be something even a satirist would be unlikely to think of (even in the days when “Saturday Night Live” was funny, when dinosaurs ruled the world.) Even far left leaning Snopes, confronted with the video, had to admit, this is what the President said.
Non sequiturs are much more common in the real world than in fiction. Our President often says things that don’t conform to reality, because his mind doesn’t seem to be tracking with reality. It can be difficult to follow his statements. There are those in social media that try to present “Dark Biden,” an incredibly cool guy, taking down Putin, climate change, and MAGA Republicans, but not at all in that order. You can’t let “Dark Biden” say goofy stuff about building a choo-choo over the water and expect anyone to take him seriously.
Let’s Roll, Brandon
Biden’s EV Mandate Means More Dirty Mines and More Slave Labor
DC Freaks Out Over DeSantis’s Ukraine Comments; Voters Shrug
Several right-of-center politicians and commentators are outraged over Gov. Ron DeSantis’s latest statement on the war in Ukraine. The hawks accuse the Florida governor of showing American weakness. Trump accuses him of being too vague. Both claim his short statement threatens his electoral chances — a prediction which reveals a severe case of Beltway Brain.
Fox News host Tucker Carlson asked various potential presidential candidates for their positions on America’s response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. This was DeSantis’s response:
While the U.S. has many vital national interests — securing our borders, addressing the crisis of readiness within our military, achieving energy security and independence, and checking the economic, cultural, and military power of the Chinese Communist Party — becoming further entangled in a territorial dispute between Ukraine and Russia is not one of them.
Joe Selvaggi talks with constitutional scholar Ilya Somin about the merits and likely success of the two Supreme Court cases Nebraska v. Biden and Department of Education v. Brown, which challenge the President’s constitutional right to cancel more than $400 billion in student debt.
Guest:
[Member Post]
Don’t Let Biden Cancel Medicare/Social Security Reform
Joe Biden is facing a moral dilemma. Does he embrace politically unpopular reforms to Social Security and Medicare that will ensure their survival for future generations, or does he, for short-term political gain, aggressively block any changes to these iconic retirement programs?
Democrats have worked hard and successfully to make Medicare/Social Security the “third rail” of American politics. Medicare/SS reform has now such a stink about it that Republican lawmakers shouted their outrage at allegations that they were threatening Social Security in President Biden’s State of the Union address.
The only current proposal, by Florida Sen. Rick Scott, would merely require periodically reviewing Social Security and other major programs to assure that they are functioning as intended. This happens to be virtually identical to a proposal advanced in 1975, and again in 1990, by a senator with the same name as the current president.
The State of the Union Is Meaningless
The problem with a Joe Biden speech is that he doesn’t believe anything he says.
When Reagan claimed to hate the dirty red commies, his personal history and actions in office backed up the statement. When George H.W. Bush promised to spread democracy around the world, even his harshest critics knew he believed it — and shuddered.
Not so with Biden. He boasts of bipartisanship in one paragraph, then accuses Republicans of killing Social Security in the next. One sentence on unity, the next ties a lefty nudist’s attack on Paul Pelosi to January 6. He demands an end to fentanyl, then ignores the issue until the next State of the Union.
[Member Post]
The Perfect Democratic Backdrop to a ‘Hail Mary’ Pass
The trend lines are unmistakable. Democratic voters appear headed to a walloping in this election. I can’t refer to it as “Election Day” anymore. Thanks to the early and mail-in voting, it’s “Election Season.” It began in late September in some states. And we won’t know the results in many states, especially Pennsylvania, thanks to the malign, confusing manner they handle mail-in ballots.
President Joe Biden delivered his “closing message” last night for this year’s midterm election. Because his last brazenly political speech did so well. As for me, I watched the World Series even out at two games apiece as Houston Astros pitchers combined for a no-hitter over my former hometown Phillies. Even the reliably Democratic Washington Post gave the speech scant coverage, referring almost as much to his previous disaster, using Philadelphia’s Independence Hall and two US Marines as a deeply inappropriate backdrop. Dark Brandon, indeed.
Reacting to the Pelosi Assault – Here We Go Again
Dems Are Successfully Executing a Long-Range Strategy on the Border
Joe Biden Supporter Takes Action Against the MAGA Threat
Joe Biden warned that Republicans who want to make America great again are “a clear and present danger” to American democracy. That his political opponents represent “a threat to our personal rights, to the pursuit of justice, to the rule of law, to the very soul of this country.”
His message got through. A North Dakota man has been arrested and charged with vehicular homicide after intentionally killing a teenager with his vehicle just because the teen is a Republican.
Biden’s “War of the Worlds” Speech
Let me credit Hugh Hewitt, who, last Friday, briefly compared Biden’s dystopian speech last Thursday night to H.G. Well’s classic, War of the Worlds.