Biden
Watching the debate aged me 20-years
Biden’s debate performance terrified me. I’m 68-year-old man who is already fretting over the effects of entropy. Is this what is to become of me? I’m already given to staring off into space and forgetting why I entered rooms. I wish I’d forgotten why I entered our TV room to watch the debate and simply stared off into space instead.
In Joe I saw the shadow of things yet to come for myself and all old men, all of us, fated to be absent-minded shadows of our former selves. Ghastly, ghostly, slack-jawed. Wheezing. And stumbling about in search of cues.
In ninety minutes of back and forth, I lost hope for my Republic as often as Biden lost his train of thought.
For me the low point came when after being asked about being old, the candidates responded by squabbling about who had the lower golf handicap. Ask me about the debate at that point and I would have responded I’d wished they’d both drop out of the race and work on improving their game.
Biden’s performance induced a nationwide cringe that rolled west from Dixville Notch to Honolulu. It was the worst performance in a major debate since Bambi challenged Godzilla.
Within 48-hours The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and New Yorker Magazine all called for Biden to quit.
If the Democratic Party selects Joe Biden to serve as its nominee in 2025 then the Democratic Party will be engaging in elder abuse.
A grateful nation thanks you, Joe.
Once, President Biden rescued our Republic from a subsequent Trump Presidency and for that the man merits our nation’s esteem and gratitude.
President Biden has presided over the most consequential shift in economic policy since FDR and for that the man merits our esteem and gratitude.
President Biden is twelve years older than I am, working full days and for that the man merits our esteem, our gratitude, a well-deserved retirement, a lovely back porch, with bird feeders to monitor and goblets of wine to sip.
I can’t imagine myself at age eighty-one debating anything except how late to sleep in. I can imagine myself in 12-years debating the merits of Colon Broom versus Metamucil.
Biden, the old school lawmaker, struggled to recite details, facts and numbers, evidence rooted in truth, a noble habit that served him well in Congress but poorly in a national contest at a deplorable age when emotion and perception matter for more than truth.
President Biden left me with no soaring narrative, only the vision of an America where catheters will be painless. and bedpans warmer, with medicare and justice for all.
What was he thinking when his face went slack?
My own face went slack when his face went slack and my face remained that way for the entire debate and I can tell you I was thinking it was well past time for America’s political ruling classes to pass the torch. To the younger generation.
Or as those of us with hearing aids might say, “What? Gas the porch?”
Halfway through the debate I stopped listening carefully and I started doodling bumper stickers.
GAVIN NEWSOM ‘24
NEWSOM/ WHITMER
GAVIN/GRETCHEN
WHITMER-BUTTIGIEG 2024
BUTTIGIEG/ BOOKER 2024
KAMALA HARRIS/ STACEY ABRAMS 2024
TOM HANKS/THE ROCK
Taylor Swift
Anybody under 80
I googled the phrase “Open Convention” and I was so enthralled about all the possibilities I then followed that research by googling “when to apply for Canadian citizenship”.
Biden surrogate California Governor Gavin Newsom, speaking in Biden’s defense, after his debate debacle, was more articulate, mentally agile, photogenic and intellectually nimble than the man he was defending. Newsom said, “I think it’s unhelpful. And I think it’s unnecessary. We’ve got to go in, we’ve got to keep our heads high. We’ve got to have the back of this president.” What an artfully expressed dodge.
And then Newsom added,” You don’t turn back because of one performance. What kind of party does that?”
What kind of party does that? One that doe’s not want to lose the White House in these perilous times to a despot. The one performance I saw was enough. Turn back now. Rip off the band aid.
I don’t think he should do the second debate. Or bother delivering speeches the next day in a perky persona claiming he just had a cold. I think he should call for some prime time, stay up past 8 and say the following:
“Folks, I will not accept my party’s nomination for a second term. Listen, after a lifetime of public service I have no more patience for malarkey. This July In Chicago the Democratic Party will select my successor. After the nominee of our Party kicks Donald Trump’s ass and takes the oath of office on January 20th I will be going home to Scranton to live out my days in the town I love in the nation I love. God bless our troops.”
And may God bless you, Joe.
As I seldom disagree with your conclusions, this comment is hard to write. First I am 85 years old and have times that I would rather do anything but have a discussion with anyone else. Whoever thought it would be a good idea to have Pres. Biden legitimize Trump by having a debate with absurd conditions should be fired. No one should be on a stage with a rapist , felon , liar and conman as if they are equals. And it was not a debate, it was an oratory contest and Biden lost. We all agree and though the race has been close and the media has been biased for over a year, along with many of the courts, Biden has been exceptional as a President. State of the Union......Interviews overseas, bipartisan deals, no problem and with little support from those who kept giving Trump all the airtime and coverage they gave when he ran against Hillary.......because he's a showman and a cult leader and gets good ratings . The following day, Biden spoke of his age and his limitations in NC and in NYC and looked and sounded better and stronger. Little has been said of giving the stage to a convicted felon who is yet to receive his sentence for his last crime while his entire party applauds him and follows him over the cliff. If Presdent Biden thinks he is not able to be President for another 4 years, he will resign. He is a man of principal and morals and cares deeply about this country and all of its citizens. I could never think of not voting for him against Trump and I am sure many others feel the same. No one would ask Clint Eastwood to give up making films if his last one was a bomb, nor ask any other politician to leave office because they make no sense when they speak but it's okay to ask the President to quit because he had a bad night on stage. Would they have asked Teddy Kennedy to leave after Chapaquidick or Mc Cain to leave after Sarah Palin? Nope. Didn't happen and they went on to do some of their best work in politics. I'm just so angry with the lack of support Biden has gotten for one bad performance. More then 100 million voters never turned into the debacle on CNN because debates change very few minds. It didn't change mine and I didn't watch it all the way through. I too wish that there was a healthy choice besides Biden to take on the Republican Party and Trump but there isn't. When the other side gets Trump to quit running so he can stay out of jail, i will be more open to asking the the strongest Presdient we've had in years to step down. Thanks for the opportunity to vent.
Yes, it was a painful performance for a lot of reasons but I'm going to just share my response to the same question asked on historian Steven Beschloss' Substack: www.americaamerica.news/p/can-biden-still-save-america :
I'm voting for the ADMINISTRATION headed by a decent man who knows how to choose competent, intelligent people to important posts. I'm voting for the PARTY PLATFORM that will enshrine a woman's right to control her own self, to allow people to live and let live and love whomever their heart chooses, and expand Voting Rights.
In essence, I'm voting for FDR in 1940 when the conservatives are backing Hitler in 1933.
ADDITION: You don't jump the ship when you hit a gale. You batten down the hatches and weather it through. Ask Obama after his first totally disastrous debate as an incumbent in 2012. And how many people will seriously remember this in October when there is so much that can/will happen between now and then? Buckle up, buttercup!