PRESIDENT Joe Biden: A Return to Normalcy?

[GreyhoundFan]

So very true: "Trump’s first 100 days were sheer craziness. Biden’s are sheer competence."

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When it comes to evaluating his first 100 days, Joe Biden has an unbeatable advantage: He is not Donald Trump. Simply by not inciting his supporters to attack the Capitol and not telling them to take hydroxychloroquine, President Biden looks infinitely better than his predecessor. There is, of course, much to be said in Biden’s favor beyond the obvious fact that he is the anti-Trump. But after the traumas of the past four years, I still marvel at the night-and-day differences. Even looking only at Trump’s first 100 days — and not what followed in the next 1,361 days — the comparison is lopsidedly, preposterously tilted in Biden’s favor.

Biden has been scandal-free. From the start, the Russia scandal loomed over the Trump presidency. The Kremlin had interfered in the 2016 election and the Trump campaign had extensive contacts with Russian emissaries. On March 20, 2017 — Day 60 — FBI Director James B. Comey confirmed that the FBI was investigating the Trump campaign. On May 9 — Day 110 — Trump fired Comey , leading to the appointment of a special counsel. Hard as the right may try, it hasn’t succeeded in generating any scandal for Biden — unless you’re an aficionado of impenetrable claims regarding Hunter Biden’s laptop. The 46th president doesn’t play fast and loose with the truth: The Post fact-checker counted only 67 false or misleading claims during Biden’s first 100 days compared with 511 for Trump in the same period.

Biden has picked well-qualified appointees who know what they are doing. Trump stocked his administration with relatives (Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump), far-right extremists (Stephen K. Bannon, Peter Navarro, Stephen Miller), lickspittles (CIA Director Mike Pompeo), clueless rich people (Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson) and ethical disasters (Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, EPA chief Scott Pruitt). National security adviser Michael Flynn had to resign after just 24 days for lying to the FBI. Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, has already served four times longer than Flynn. So far there isn’t a single clunker among Biden’s senior selections.

Biden is making real progress on the biggest issues facing America — the unemployment rate is declining while the number of vaccinations is skyrocketing. Oh, and the stock market has gone up more than twice as fast as it did under Trump, despite GOP predictions of doom. Biden has laid out an ambitious infrastructure plan — something that Trump never did despite years of promises. He has issued executive orders to limit gun violence instead of kowtowing to the gun lobby as Trump did. While Biden confronts real threats, Trump fixated on imaginary dangers such as caravans of Central American refugees and athletes kneeling during the national anthem — or on personal obsessions such as the size of his inauguration crowds and his TV ratings.

Biden is reasserting America’s international leadership. He reentered the Paris climate accord and put climate change back on the agenda. He has reassured democratic allies and pushed back against regimes in Moscow, Ankara and Riyadh that enjoyed a free ride under Trump. He is trying to reassemble the Iran nuclear deal that Trump foolishly exited. Trump, by contrast, trashed democratic allies and kowtowed to dictators. During his first 100 days alone, he called Canada’s trade policies a “disgrace” and erupted in a phone call with Australia’s prime minister, while praising Russia’s Vladimir Putin, Egypt’s Abdel Fatah al-Sissi and Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Biden is turning down the temperature on our politics. Although Biden is obviously no fan of Trump, he does not go out of his way to trash his predecessor the way that Trump did with Barack Obama — “Bad (or sick) guy!” Nor does Biden attack the news media when they run stories he doesn’t like; no more accusations of “fake news.” Biden’s civility hasn’t ended polarization (78 percent of Republicans say they strongly disapprove of the way he has handled his job), but it has made it a lot harder for Republican politicians and the right-wing media to attack him. They have to make up Biden plans — claiming, most recently, that he wants to cut red meat consumption by 90 percent — because the actual Biden plans are so popular.

Biden hasn’t gotten everything right. In my view, his pullout from Afghanistan and his unwillingness to rejoin the Trans-Pacific Partnership are unforced errors, his stimulus bill is larger than it needs to be, and his hesitancy to raise refugee admissions is dismaying. (I don’t hold it against him that he has struggled with a surge of asylum seekers at the southern border; no one else has done any better.)

But you have to give Biden credit: He is actually trying to do his job rather than simply drawing attention to himself. That is something we once could take for granted. Now we have to be grateful that we no longer have to wake up every day wondering what crazy, damn fool thing the president just said. As one voter told NBC News: “The best thing about Joe Biden is I don’t have to think about Joe Biden.” Amen.

 

[fraurosena]

Before the SOTU, Biden spoke to the press gaggle, telling them about the troubles he faced and what his main focus was and still is. It’s also quite interesting what he says about Xi.

You can find the unrolled version here.

[Bluebirdbluebell]

I'm so angry about the fact that Catholic bishops are debating baring Biden from communion. It deserves it's own thread. The fact the church is so politically biased is why I'm leaving the church. 

[Jana814]

59 minutes ago, Bluebirdbluebell said:

I'm so angry about the fact that Catholic bishops are debating baring Biden from communion. It deserves it's own thread. The fact the church is so politically biased is why I'm leaving the church. 

I totally get why you would leave the church. It’s mind blowing to me that they would do this. People think trump is a true man of G-d. I don’t think he has ever been in a church & wouldn’t know what to do if he ever went into one. 

[Ozlsn]

1 hour ago, Bluebirdbluebell said:

I'm so angry about the fact that Catholic bishops are debating baring Biden from communion. It deserves it's own thread. The fact the church is so politically biased is why I'm leaving the church. 

Seriously?! On what grounds?

This is the point their senior management needs to get involved, and instruct them to pull their heads in.

[smittykins]

Being pro-choice, which is one of the reasons I left the church.

Edited May 1, 2021 by smittykins

[GreyhoundFan]

The Bidens visited the Carters. Much has been made of how small the Carters look in comparison. "Are the Bidens giants? Are the Carters tiny? Or are our eyes failing us?"

Quote

On first glance, the photograph seems typical enough. President Biden and First lady Jill Biden kneel beside their predecessors in the White House, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter, during a trip to Georgia last week.

But look closer at the image — a snapshot of two Democratic leaders with a decades-long alliance — and something appears to be terribly off: Both Bidens seem to tower over the Carters and the rest of the scene, as if they had been transported into a dollhouse.

After the image was shared late on Monday by the Carter Center, puzzled observers fired off a succession of both joking and serious questions: Were the Carters tiny, or were the Bidens giants? Was the image taken on the set of “The Hobbit?” Are eyes are merely playing tricks on us?

“I’ve been staring at this photo for three hours. I’ve got to go to bed. Back at it tomorrow,” one person wrote on Twitter, seemingly capturing the mood of the Internet. As of Tuesday morning, more than 13,000 people had retweeted one of several posts with some version of that inquiry.

Never mind the many posts that riffed on the title of a 1989 science fiction comedy, declaring “Honey I Shrunk the Carters!” The explanation, according to Jonathan Alter, author of “His Very Best: Jimmy Carter, A Life,” lies somewhere in between variations in presidential height and unusual photography methods.

At 5′5″ and 5′10″, the Carters “aren’t tiny people, but they are in the medium to smaller size among presidents and first ladies,” Alter told The Washington Post. That, and “the fact that when you’re very old, you shrink.” (Joe Biden, by comparison, is just under 6 feet tall, although the first lady is about half a foot shorter.)

Marlena Sloss, a freelance photographer in San Francisco and contributor to The Washington Post, explained that the image also appeared to have been captured with strong flash and a wide-angle lens.

While President Biden is kneeling much further in front of Rosalynn Carter, the flash reduces the shadow — a key part of what allows objects to have depth — so the resulting effect is that Biden and Rosalynn Carter appear to be side-by-side on the same plane.

This illusion is magnified by the fact that the photographer likely used a very wide angle lens, which helps to capture everything in the frame from within a tight space.

Another element, perhaps, was the fact that Carter maintains a slim build and has always been in good shape, Alter said. He regularly ran long distances while living in the White House, learned to ski in his 60s, and — even well into their 90s — went fly-fishing in exotic locales like Siberia. Jimmy Carter went decades post-presidency without using a walker, beginning to use one only in 2019.

Even now, at age 96, he tries to swim most days in a pool by their modest ranch home in Plains, Ga., Alter said. When the Bidens dropped by for a visit, Carter skipped his swimming hour to have tea with them and take the photo in question.

Throughout it all, Rosalynn — a pioneering force in mental health policy who some say was the most powerful first lady in U.S. history — was right alongside him in terms of physical endurance.

That ability became clear to Alter when he joined them a few years ago at a Habitat for Humanity build in Memphis “He’s a pro,” the author said, “but she had very good hammering stroke and a lot of experience.”

Alter’s main takeaway — on the whole presidential visit to Plains — has less to do with photography or height than with Carter himself. As the author noted, Biden’s trip last week was the first time a president has visited the tiny Georgia town since Carter had left office.

“What’s just wonderful to see,” he said, “is that he’s finally getting the appreciation that he’s long deserved.”

 

[Alisamer]

On 4/29/2021 at 5:25 PM, Jana814 said:

 People think trump is a true man of G-d. I don’t think he has ever been in a church & wouldn’t know what to do if he ever went into one. 

Oh come now. He's been married a few times, weren't any of those in a church? 

Actually I think Melania used to drag him to church at Christmas, and we saw him all befuddled at Bush Sr.'s funeral at the national cathedral. 

So yeah, you're half right. He's been in churches before, but we know for sure he has no idea what to do in them. I remember seeing a clip of the funeral with all the other presidents and first ladies reciting along and him apparently unable to even mouth the words that were written right on the program in his hand.

[smittykins]

I remember him saying that he grew up Presbyterian, and “I eat the cracker and drink the wine.”

(Every Presbyterian church I’ve ever seen uses grape juice at Communion.)

[Smash!]

Sometimes I‘m wondering if Biden is underestimating the threat coming from a more and more fascist GOP and their disinformation. I think his strategy is to show ordinary Americans that he works for them, bringing relief in the pandemic and creating jobs. He probably  bets that this will be enough to sway people away from the GOP.

What if this doesn‘t work? Because the Republicans are able to spin the narrative in favor of them/against the Biden administration no matter how successful Biden is. This in combination with the voter suppression laws worries me. You can‘t do bipartisan work with a party who‘s only goal is to make sure that there won‘t be a democratic President and majority again in the foreseeable future (to put it mildly).

[fraurosena]

5 hours ago, Smash! said:

Sometimes I‘m wondering if Biden is underestimating the threat coming from a more and more fascist GOP and their disinformation. I think his strategy is to show ordinary Americans that he works for them, bringing relief in the pandemic and creating jobs. He probably  bets that this will be enough to sway people away from the GOP.

What if this doesn‘t work? Because the Republicans are able to spin the narrative in favor of them/against the Biden administration no matter how successful Biden is. This in combination with the voter suppression laws worries me. You can‘t do bipartisan work with a party who‘s only goal is to make sure that there won‘t be a democratic President and majority again in the foreseeable future (to put it mildly).

There is one imperative act that Biden and the Democrats must ensure in order to stem the tide of Q-fascism in the GOP: stop the propaganda machines masquerading as news outlets. Mandate it (once more) that when bringing news to the public both sides of the argument must be addressed, and ban opinion makers from presenting their ideas as facts. Put hefty fines in place for every transgression.

Stop propaganda from Faux News, OANN and Newsmax in its tracks. They mustn't be allowed to peddle their racist, supremacist and fascist propaganda any longer. That way the public can't be indoctrinated with divisive hatred anymore.

And no, that would not be an infringement of the First Amendment rights. Anyone can still say whatever they want. But they won't be allowed to present everything as factual news. And that distinction must be made, if American democracy is to survive.

 

[Smash!]

@fraurosena I agree. I read somewhere that there was a law who required tv stations to air facts. That law got gutted. 

[Ozlsn]

And require all states to make voter registration and access as easy as possible, even if only they can only mandate it for federal elections. 

[mamallama]

On 5/8/2021 at 6:15 AM, Smash! said:

Sometimes I‘m wondering if Biden is underestimating the threat coming from a more and more fascist GOP and their disinformation. I think his strategy is to show ordinary Americans that he works for them, bringing relief in the pandemic and creating jobs. He probably  bets that this will be enough to sway people away from the GOP.

What if this doesn‘t work? Because the Republicans are able to spin the narrative in favor of them/against the Biden administration no matter how successful Biden is. This in combination with the voter suppression laws worries me. You can‘t do bipartisan work with a party who‘s only goal is to make sure that there won‘t be a democratic President and majority again in the foreseeable future (to put it mildly).

Someone needs to do this but I don't think it should be Biden because they'll just spin it that he's the fascist.  

[Cam]

The Catholic Church is so hypocritical. It needs to take inventory of its own sins and address them.  Really, it sounds more like a cult. 

Anti-choice is all about controlling women and insisting their major role in life is motherhood. It is about keeping women oppressed.

Someone made me aware of the organization “Vote Common Good” before the last election which led a campaign stating that Trump was not who God wanted to lead the U.S. The group is comprised of many prominent religious leaders.  I’m not even “religious” any more, but their message was still a ray of hope to me during those turbulent campaign months. It showed me at least there were SOME religious people who were sane.

I still follow their Facebook page as their message is a positive one.

 

 

[AnywhereButHere]

On 5/8/2021 at 1:59 PM, Smash! said:

@fraurosena I agree. I read somewhere that there was a law who required tv stations to air facts. That law got gutted. 

I think they get around it (or did anyway) by not calling themselves "news". I know Fox has the word news in their title (which makes them conniving assholes), but it's still all opinion pieces fronted by the hosts. "Oh, we're not reporting news - we're offering commentary on the news" kind of thing. As long as they spin it that way, they were within the letter, if not meaning, of the law. That's for Fox, MSNBC (I don't think they bill themselves as a true news station, but if they did they'd be conniving assholes too - just ones I agree with... ?) , etc... If you watch network news it should be more just reporting on that actual facts. But who really watches network news anymore anyway.

I have had nowhere near enough coffee this morning, so someone may be able to say what I meant better than I just did. Or I'm completely wrong - because it's not like that has never happened before... ? Anyway, I thought I remembered hearing something like that. 

 

Edited May 10, 2021 by AnywhereButHere
Added words - may not have helped...

[HerNameIsBuffy]

5 minutes ago, AnywhereButHere said:

I think they get around it (or did anyway) by not calling themselves "news". I know Fox has the word news in their title (which makes them conniving assholes), but it's still all opinion pieces fronted by the hosts. "Oh, we're not reporting news - we're offering commentary on the news" kind of thing. As long as they spin it that way, they were within the letter, if not meaning, of the law. That's for Fox, MSNBC (I don't think they bill themselves as a true news station, but if they did they'd be conniving assholes too - just ones I agree with... ?) , etc... If you watch network news it should be more just reporting on that actual facts. But who really watches network news anymore anyway.

I have had nowhere near enough coffee this morning, so someone may be able to say what I meant better than I just did. Or I'm completely wrong - because it's not like that has never happened before... ? Anyway, I thought I remembered hearing something like that. 

 

You're right - Jon Stewart called Bill O'Reilly out on it in one of their famous interviews. O'Reilly said Fox had news and commentary and Stewart said (paraphrasing) "yeah, you're news from 7:00 - 8:30 then you're not, and on alternate parking days you're news, but on Christmas you're not." 

It seems to be that if you report something as news (with Fox that used to be Brett Baier and Shep Smith, IIRC) it needs to be technically factual, but call it commentary and you can speculate all kinds of crazy even though a good portion of your audience consider it news.  

[AnywhereButHere]

@HerNameIsBuffy Ugh, thanks Commentary - I knew there was looking for. It was RIGHT THERE, but I couldn't pull it out of the depths of my brain. ?

[47of74]

 

[WiseGirl]

Well played, Mr. President, well played.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2021/05/27/politics/biden-republicans-covid-funds/index.html

 

[Cartmann99]

 

[GreyhoundFan]

Great line.

 

[Cartmann99]

 

[47of74]

Awww someone has a sad that he doesn't have a willing fluffer in the White House anymore.

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Ahead of an upcoming meeting with Joe Biden, Russian President Vladimir Putin told NBC News on Friday that the current president is "radically different" than his predecessor.

Why it matters: Trump faced accusations of cozying up to Putin while in office while Biden has pledged to take a hard-line approach against the Kremlin.

What he's saying: "Well even now, I believe that former U.S. president Mr. Trump is an extraordinary individual, talented individual, otherwise he would not have become U.S. President," Putin told NBC's Keir Simmons.

Biden, on the other hand, knows how to play the game, Putin said. He "is radically different from Trump because President Biden is a career man. He has spent virtually his entire adulthood in politics."

Yeah, he's radically different all right.  He doesn't preen like a fucking idiot to you, Vlad and actually does right by the American people. 

[Ozlsn]

12 hours ago, 47of74 said:

President Biden is a career man. He has spent virtually his entire adulthood in politics."

And is much less easily manipulated as a result.