Republicans plan “Jan. 6 hearings” on age
Republicans plan “Jan. 6 hearings” on age
Tired: Benghazi-Benghazi-Benghazi. “But her emails.”
Wired: Ageism .
“Joe Biden is better on his worst day than Donald Trump is on his best day,” Lawrence O’Donnell noted Monday night, referencing Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s accomplishments in office and physical condition when he ran for a third presidential term.
There are serious stakes for these United States in this fall’s elections, particularly regarding who wins the White House. But Republicans are proving themselves no more serious today than they were in 2016, 2018, 2020 or 2022. They plan to campaign on ageism.
Paul Krugman wrote on Monday, Lincoln’s birthday :
But watching the frenzy over President Biden’s age, I am, for the first time, profoundly concerned about the nation’s future. It now seems entirely possible that within the next year, American democracy could be irretrievably altered.
And the final blow won’t be the rise of political extremism — that rise certainly created the preconditions for disaster, but it has been part of the landscape for some time now. No, what may turn this menace into catastrophe is the way the hand-wringing over Biden’s age has overshadowed the real stakes in the 2024 election. It reminds me, as it reminds everyone I know, of the 2016 furor over Hillary Clinton’s email server, which was a minor issue that may well have wound up swinging the election to Donald Trump.
Over the weekend, the same Trump who invited Russia to publish hacked Hillary Clinton emails in 2016 invited Russia to invade any NATO country he felt hadn’t paid enough for alliance defense (as though he was being personally cheated). Trump told a MAGA crowd in South Carolina that under a Trump presidency he would not defend that NATO country. He pledged, in essence, to violate U.S. law for which Trump has serially demonstrated his disdain. And for which Trump faces 91 felony counts in multiple jurisdictions.
Trump is “utterly deranged,” tweets Georgetown historian Thomas Zimmer.
Republicans’ “cool hand”
Cool Hand Luke once said, “Sometimes nothing can be a real cool hand.” And nothing is what Republicans have to offer. So they hope hearings on Joe Biden’s age will do to him what Benghazi and “But her emails” hearings did to Hillary Clinton.
Axios tells us what we already know about the GOP’s fall strategy :
House Republicans are activating a weekslong, perhaps monthslong, plan to keep questions about President Biden’s mental state in the spotlight, Axios has learned.
The big picture: The GOP planning includes hearings and possibly even subpoenas for documents and recordings.
Why it matters: Sources close to House GOP leaders are blunt that they don’t think it even matters what they find. These sources think that any fight will make the White House look bad — and keep a huge Biden vulnerability in the headlines.
They plan to milk the Robert Hur report on Biden’s retention of documents for all the media coverage they’re worth. And to spotlight again and again Hur’s gratuitous smears against Biden’s age.
Next, we’re told, House Republicans plan to seek testimony from Hur — and would ask him both about how Biden’s storage of sensitive documents could have hurt national security, and about the president’s mental acuity in the interview.
If I was as conspiracy-minded as MAGA Republicans, I might believe they were complicit in Hur’s dropping those comments into his report for just this purpose. They knew the press would pounce or at the very least both-sides Trump’s and Biden’s ages. The New York Times and other news outlets are today as willing to help the GOP as they were to promote George W. Bush’s disastrous Iraq invasion. It’s no wonder Krugman is worried.
Here are O’Donnell’s comments in full.
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I'm sure you will like this one....to!
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Hur should have charged Brandon to the full extent of the law; and let a judge decide if Brandon is competent to stand trial.
That would have been the legal, honorable, and ethical thing to do.
Instead Brandon and crew are acting like Hur exonerated him. Nothing could be further from the truth. Hur stated multiple times that Brandon willfully kept and held classified material. That he shared that classified material at the very least with his Ghost writer (who destroyed tapes containing evidence in an effort to protect Brandon and himself).
Hur didn't want to be Durham'd by a leftist judge and TDS driven leftist jury. Brandon violated the law, period. End of story.
Instead Hur put himself (and Brandon) above the law. Just like Comey did with Clinton.
Democrats think Republicans are calling Hur in for questioning to take a victory lap? No, they are calling Hur in to berate his sorry ass for again putting Democrats above the law.
Why I Am Now Deeply Worried for America
Until a few days ago, I was feeling fairly sanguine about America’s prospects. Economically, we’ve had a year of strong growth and plunging inflation — and aside from committed Republicans, who see no good, hear no good and speak no good when a Democrat is president, Americans appear to be recognizing this progress. It has seemed increasingly likely that the nation’s good sense would prevail and democracy would survive.
But watching the frenzy over President Biden’s age, I am, for the first time, profoundly concerned about the nation’s future. It now seems entirely possible that within the next year, American democracy could be irretrievably altered.
And the final blow won’t be the rise of political extremism — that rise certainly created the preconditions for disaster, but it has been part of the landscape for some time now. No, what may turn this menace into catastrophe is the way the hand-wringing over Biden’s age has overshadowed the real stakes in the 2024 election. It reminds me, as it reminds everyone I know, of the 2016 furor over Hillary Clinton’s email server, which was a minor issue that may well have wound up swinging the election to Donald Trump.
As most people know by now, Robert Hur, a special counsel appointed to look into allegations of wrongdoing on Biden’s part, concluded that the president shouldn’t be charged. But his report included an uncalled-for and completely unprofessional swipe at Biden’s mental acuity, apparently based on the president’s difficulty in remembering specific dates — difficulty that, as I wrote on Friday, everyone confronts at whatever age. Hur’s gratuitous treatment of Biden echoed James Comey’s gratuitous treatment of Clinton — Hur and Comey both seemed to want to take political stands when that was not their duty.
It’s a case of bureaucrats overstepping their bounds in a way that’s at best careless and at worst malicious.
Yes, it’s true that Biden is old, and will be even older if he wins re-election and serves out a second term. I wish that Democrats had been able to settle on a consensus successor a year or two ago and that Biden had been able to step aside in that successor’s favor without setting off an intraparty free-for-all. But speculating about whether that could have happened is beside the point now. It didn’t happen, and Biden is going to be the Democratic nominee.
It’s also true that many voters think the president’s age is an issue. But there’s perception and there’s reality: As anyone who has recently spent time with Biden (and I have) can tell you, he is in full possession of his faculties — completely lucid and with excellent grasp of detail. Of course, most voters don’t get to see him up close, and it’s on Biden’s team to address that. And yes, he speaks quietly and a bit slowly, although this is in part because of his lifetime struggle with stuttering. He also, by the way, has a sense of humor, which I think is important.
Most important is that Biden has been a remarkably effective president. Trump spent four years claiming that a major infrastructure initiative was just around the corner, to the point that “It’s infrastructure week!” became a running joke; Biden actually got legislation passed . Trump promised to revive American manufacturing, but didn’t. Biden’s technology and climate policies — the latter passed against heavy odds — have produced a surge in manufacturing investment. His enhancement of Obamacare has brought health insurance coverage to millions .
If you ask me, these achievements say a lot more about Biden’s capacity than his occasional verbal slips.
"Hillary Clinton’s email server, which was a minor issue" R
Really? She was running for president, and she broke the law.
"But his report included an uncalled-for and completely unprofessional swipe at Biden’s mental acuity, apparently based on the president’s difficulty in remembering specific dates — difficulty that, as I wrote on Friday, everyone confronts at whatever age."
Oh, it was much, much more than forgetting a few dates, Paul. I mean, come on, man! Hur was simply telling the truth and doing his patriotic duty to express his concern over Biden's mental state.
Paul Krugman is a far-left radical progressive, and not an unbiased source.
The idea that the mental health of a man who wants to be President isn't a huge issue is so laughably preposterous it almost makes me feel bad for those trying to make it. It's embarrassing. The thing is, all the lying, whataboutisms and other deflections Democrats have been madly trying to flood the media with since the Special Prosecutors report don't really matter. His age and condition can't be spun. Americans have been watching the train wreck play out in public the last four years and their eyes don't lie. There's no spin or legal loophole they can seize upon that will ever change the fact that Americans know he's an old man in decline who has no business being President, or even working a daily job of any sort.
Democrats will do what they always do when they need a damaged candidate to stand for re-election. In '44 FDR's Doctor would note privately what a wreck he was and then go out in public and swear he was in great health. All the party leaders and medical staff knew he was dying but protecting the party and maintaining their position was more important than being honest with the American people. Imagine how desperate you have to be to out in public and claim 30 year old staff "can't keep up" with Biden. It's no different than Kim Jong Un's minions swearing he shot a round of 25 while playing golf.
Are you going to publicly call now for Trump to drop out ? Not for voters to beat him at the GOP primary ballot box, but for him to drop out. You expect the Democrats to force Biden out but you don't call for Trump to drop out. That is not a workable position.
I would love for Trump to drop out. But who cares? I can't not vote for him more than I've already not voted for him.
And what does have to do with an infirm Biden trying to remain President?
So you wont call for Trump to drop out. So stop whining about Biden. His memory hasnt effected a damn thing during his presidency.
I literally said I'd love for him to drop out. What more do you need? Do you want me to pull the Michael Scott "bankruptcy" move and scream it out loud as if that has some actual meaning? Fine. "I HEREBY CALL FOR TRUMP TO DROP OUT"....................................................................................................................................................... ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Has he dropped out yet?
Then stop whining about Biden.
Sounds like you have an issue with the first amendment.
Why? That's a weird request.......