Trump-Biden Debate

Very good performance by Trump as usual. On point, factual, energetic, manly, aggressive. We are truly blessed with such a President.

Biden looked like a dementia ridden scared old man that should be staying at home basking in the sun and enjoying his grandchildren. Had nothing, but a bunch of lies and distortion of reality, but I don't expect his base to notice since feelings are stronger than facts for them. Truth and objectivity are bad words.

Those sure are bad words for Trump and his supports my little troll.

orelsi wrote:Very good performance by Trump as usual. On point, factual, energetic, manly, aggressive. We are truly blessed with such a President.

Biden looked like a dementia ridden scared old man that should be staying at home basking in the sun and enjoying his grandchildren. Had nothing, but a bunch of lies and distortion of reality, but I don't expect his base to notice since feelings are stronger than facts for them. Truth and objectivity are bad words.

Dilandu wrote:

n7axw wrote:
Democrats will, if they win, bring competent people to govern.

You seriously believe in it? Where they would find those "competent peoples", when the best candidate they could find is a 77-years old grandpa? Seriously, gerontocracy is a clear sign of troubles: its a plain demonstration that ruling elite want nothing else than run things exactly like they accustomed to. Democrats have a full deck of bright, young candidates; they prefer the senile old men, who would be over 80 years old by next election, and who is almost certainly have troubles dealing with fast-changing international situation. "Competent people" to govern, yeah. Chernenko (who ruled from hospital bed) was probably also viewed as pretty competent by Party leadership...

Not everybody will be as old as Biden, Dilandu. Harris, to my recollection is 55 and she will be there if Biden falters, although he is fit and sharp at this point. Harris is a very sharp lady and up to the job. And Demos have a pretty deep stable from the Obama Administration of people capable of rebuilding State, Justice and defense plus the regulatory agencies. In addition to that there are the career professionals to draw on. Our bureaucracy has for the most part been both honest and competent which quite frankly has saved our bacon these past four years of political turmoil.

As for Joe Biden himself, I have followed his career for over 40 years. He has a well earned reputation for integrity, decency as well has knowing the ins and outs of government and being knowledgeable about the world as a whole. Joe has never tried to enrich himself at public expense. His empathy and compassion is exactly what is called for at the moment. I think of Joe as comfort food after a years long belly ache.

Oh, thinking of age and competence... think Nancy Pelosi, the most effective Speaker of the House since Tip O'Neal back in the early 80s. Sharp lady. Neither of us would want to try to keep up with her. At any rate, she is over 80.

Don

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Donnachaidh wrote:Is Russia's one man system better?

Of course no. Please stop trying to insist that since there are worse system, than your own is therefore fine. Between "not the worst" and "fine" there are a Very Big space.

n7axw wrote:
Not everybody will be as old as Biden, Dilandu. Harris, to my recollection is 55 and she will be there if Biden falters, although he is fit and sharp at this point. Harris is a very sharp lady and up to the job.

Question: then why she isn't a candidate?

Answer: because she is not viewed as "reliable enough" by Party power structure. She is too young, and thus "ideologically questionable", did not demonstrate long enough the kind of ideological purity that Biden demonstrated, and therefore Party leadership is not comfortable with her.

And Demos have a pretty deep stable from the Obama Administration of people capable of rebuilding State, Justice and defense plus the regulatory agencies.

Considering that Obama's rule was, frankly, not impressive - the imperial decline started during his therms, and he essentially did nothing with the exception of trying to pretend that things are fine - I really wonder where all those peoples were.

In addition to that there are the career professionals to draw on. Our bureaucracy has for the most part been both honest and competent which quite frankly has saved our bacon these past four years of political turmoil.

This is just ridiculous. Both mega-parties are filled with corruption scandals, but you insist that in some hidden city in mountains a flock of perfect bureaucrats were carefully preserved?

As for Joe Biden himself, I have followed his career for over 40 years. He has a well earned reputation for integrity, decency as well has knowing the ins and outs of government and being knowledgeable about the world as a whole.

His debates with Trump demonstrated neither of it.

Joe has never tried to enrich himself at public expense. His empathy and compassion is exactly what is called for at the moment. I think of Joe as comfort food after a years long belly ache.

Okay, I give him that: he is not greedy. Problem is, this isn't what you need from ruler.

Oh, thinking of age and competence... think Nancy Pelosi, the most effective Speaker of the House since Tip O'Neal back in the early 80s. Sharp lady. Neither of us would want to try to keep up with her. At any rate, she is over 80.

...You really did not realize, that back in 1980s she was more than thirty years younger?...

Dilandu wrote:

Okay, I give him that: he is not greedy. Problem is, this isn't what you need from ruler.

Telling statement...

Pro tip Dilandu, presidents aren't supposed to be rulers. If more people in Russia realized this Putin would have a harder time robbing the country blind.

gcomeau wrote:

Dilandu wrote:

Okay, I give him that: he is not greedy. Problem is, this isn't what you need from ruler.

Telling statement...

Pro tip Dilandu, presidents aren't supposed to be rulers. If more people in Russia realized this Putin would have a harder time robbing the country blind.

This might seem strange coming from an agnostic, but there is a bible verse that summarizes it succinctly:
…And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye,
but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
Where hypocrites are so busy denigrating minor infractions in others, while ignoring the major ones they themselves are a part of!

Dilandu, I'm not really quite sure where you are coming from. You seem to be equating our politics with your own which really doesn't work out very well. Although I will say that you are better informed about ours than I am about yours.

Finally it all comes down to the voters. Biden became the nominee because more voters voted for him than for Harris or the other alternatives. Why? In part name recognition. In part because people were comfortable with him out of familiarity and the centerist wing of the party tends to attract the most voters. Nobody, including me, is feeling very adventurous right now. There is no shadow party structure that picks the nominee in advance... No smoke filled rooms where the choices are made for the rest of us.

Actually, smoke filled rooms might have helped the Republicans in 2016. No rational person in a smoke filled room would have picked Trump!

As for Obama, given the cards he was handed, he did well. The economy was in freefall at that time. He managed things in a way that turned things around and restarted growth. As for foreign policy, Obama tried to shrink our involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq. He screwed up Lybia. Obama was seeking to extract us from the endless wars that Bush had committed us to and pivot to the Pacific. Managing our relationship with China is going to be the big challenge of the next 50 years or so.

As for scandals, are we living on the same planet, Dilandu? The scandals in this moment in time almost all have a big fat "R" behind them. That has been true for about 20 years. Usually scandal develops when one party has been around too long, although Trumps basic accomplishment in office has been to cram the maximum number of scandals into the shortest period of time.

I'll stand by my comment on our bureaucracy. I'm sure there are some rotten apples in the barrel, but right now I can't think of any scandals involving bureaucrats. They are on balance a dedicated, hardworking group of professionals...which isn't quite the same as to say that all the red tape and regulation shouldn't be trimmed. We can all roll our eyes at the bean counter mentality.

Don

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Arol wrote:
This might seem strange coming from an agnostic, but there is a bible verse that summarizes it succinctly:
…And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye,
but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
Where hypocrites are so busy denigrating minor infractions in others, while ignoring the major ones they themselves are a part of!

Arol, I know I can be a bit thick. I am familiar with the passage, where are you aiming your comment?

Don

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n7axw wrote:

Arol wrote:
This might seem strange coming from an agnostic, but there is a bible verse that summarizes it succinctly:
…And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye,
but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
Where hypocrites are so busy denigrating minor infractions in others, while ignoring the major ones they themselves are a part of!

Arol, I know I can be a bit thick. I am familiar with the passage, where are you aiming your comment?

Don

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My Bad Don!!!
It was meant as a comment to the previous poster, “Dilandu”!
Also sorry “gcmeau”!