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Biden Is the Brand
If you want some perspective on current events, try looking through old newspapers. I’ve done a few projects where I went through old newspapers looking for specific events and was struck by the fact that almost none of the issues that occupied issue after issue were remembered or discussed anymore. This too shall pass. But in my life, every now and then I have the feeling of living through something momentous—something that causes shifts in behavior and will be talked about, and written about, for a long time. Certainly the moon landing, Watergate, the fall of Communism, the 2008 financial crisis, the pandemic.
And now, the fall of Joe Biden. What has unfolded since June 27th has been quite amazing to watch, and even if he hangs on, he is wounded well beyond just being a lame duck. As someone said, no one will be listening to what he says from now on, just how he says it. Is he having a good day or a bad day? I don’t know if it is dementia or some other neurological condition, and as I said in another blog, likely the only ones who do at this point are his family and they certainly won’t talk. It is a sad fact that neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s are notoriously hard to diagnose by doctors in their early stages. I have an acquaintance who saw multiple doctors over several years before he was finally diagnosed with Parkinson’s. This difficulty is one of the reasons that pharmaceutical companies are looking so hard for early biomarkers. The cognitive and behavioral changes come on gradually and I posit that it is the family that usually notices them first and it is usually a while before they seek medical advice. Why? 1) because they are on the spectrum of normal aging: forgetfulness, irritability, repeating stories, word-finding difficulties; 2) because they fluctuate day to day. So family members anxiously look for signs that it was just a temporary blip. Or, as supporters have said about the debate: “Anyone can have a bad day.” The problem is that with aging or early neurological disease, you can’t control when those bad days show up.
When my mother started to develop clear signs of dementia, she fooled everyone who did not know her and even some family members who didn’t see her often. Her confabulations sounded plausible to her auto mechanic, her hairdresser and to the neurologist to whom I took her for an evaluation. But not to me. And, interestingly, not to her veterinarian. I got a call from her once after my mother reacted angrily to them missing an appointment she never made. She was very apologetic, but she wanted me to know that she thought my mother was showing neurological signs and that if she were her mother, she would want to be told. I thanked her and said that I knew but congratulated her that she was more perspicacious than the neurologist we had just seen. I think that may have been because as a vet, she looks at her patient’s behavior rather than listening to what they say. To be fair to the neurologist, my mother probably was having a relatively good day so her answers may have been pretty good. Just like Biden’s NATO press conference.
So unless Biden’s family is in deep denial, they know he shouldn’t run again. Whether it is dementia or just age, he is not fit. But they have a lot at stake. A lot of people have been talking about Jill Biden’s thirst for the power and perks being the First Lady brings. But we also know Hunter is coming around regularly these days. Of course, the “tight-knit family” narrative is in full swing, and I will give Hunter the benefit of the doubt that he loves his father. But I also think that there is another angle at play: the end of the gravy train. Hunter must have realized that if Biden drops out, it is the end of Biden Inc. There is no more brand to sell. Despite what everyone says about Trump’s toxicity, he raised capable children who can carry on his legacy. Biden? His legacy died with Beau. His other two children appear to be significantly damaged. So I’m speculating that it must be very hard for them all to face that the ride is over.
I don’t feel sorry for Joe Biden—I believe he is reaping what he has sown. But he is being torn apart by all the factions with which he is surrounded. And that is sad to watch.
Published in Politics
Good post! Great word…perspicacious. And yes, many times, yes. Biden deserves his family. He has been a mean, small, arrogant, and self-aggrandizing SOB all of his life. He is not finished and may do more harm yet. Compassion for him is not in my deck of cards.
Wonderful post, and spot on.
My mother could, as the staff at her nursing home use to say, confabulate for England. I’d have the most bizarre phone conversations with her while she was sitting in the community room, telling me she was in a waiting room at a train station, and painting a vivid picture of what was going on, often including sometimes raucous and rather rude commentary on her fellow travelers. Then she’d ask me, “are you in America?” “Yes, I am,” I’d reply.
Long pause. Then, a very small voice, “Where’s America?”
The late Mr. She had a long and involved story that he loved to tell anyone who’d listen, about how his grandfather had been invited by the President to come to this country and manage the coal mines in the Western United States. (Grandpa and Grandma disembarked in Galveston, Texas in 1904 and he spent the next few decades working in the mines, but not as one of the bosses.) By this time, I’d sussed out that there were often bits of truth and fact mixed into what was going on in Mr. She’s mind and I eventually concluded that he’d remembered grandpa’s naturalization certificate–which I’d found and printed out on ancestry.com, and which was very fancy and florid, and had lots of official signatures, and that in his mind it appeared as an official invitation, from very important people, to come to this country and stay. He could be quite convincing when telling this story to strangers (think Uncle Bosie and the cannibals), and I didn’t see a need to contradict him, or try to straighten things out. He wasn’t the Leader of the Free World, his meanderings didn’t have any deleterious effects on anyone else, and they made him happy, which made me happy. Also, unlike Joe Biden, he was a very good and decent man.
There is no way that Biden’s family doesn’t know. And the fact that what should be a private family story, one that millions of Americans have lived through and live through every day in their own lives, has to be played out on the world stage to the tune of embarrassment and humiliation, with possibly devastating ramifications for national security and world events because, as the OP posits (and I agree), the family doesn’t want the ride to be over, just beggars belief.
The curse of living in interesting times.
Cross-posted from the PIT. Someone noticed that the official Marine Band fanfare for the First Lady, written at Jill Biden’s request, sounds like the theme to F Troop:
The end of the Culture Wars was near
When quite providentially,
A hero First Lady seized the throne
and reversed a defeat into victory.
Her worship of power pleased and thrilled
her proud little family group.
While pinning the blame some ink was spilled
And so it was planned she’d command Dem Troop!
Where RINO fights are colorful sights
and nobody takes a lickin’
Where elephant and donkey,
Both turn chicken.
When whining and fighting get them down,
They know that their polls have drooped,
Just wait ‘till they burn Chicago down
Before they go down with a bang and a boom
Dem Troop!
I’m seeing a lot of ongoing loyal support for Biden, and Joe thinks he’s fine and says so at every opportunity. There’s not much the Republicans can do about it without looking like they are persecuting Biden for political gain. Even though Biden’s mistakes have been coming more frequently, he still has a devoted following.
Trump seems to be sticking to two issues consistently: the economy and illegal immigration. I think that’s wise on his part.
The race cannot be seen as a tit-for-tat conflict in which Trump is getting back at Biden for seven years of lawfare persecution, even though Biden et al. are guilty of doing that.
What a difficult situation the country is in.
My mother tried this with me and my family when we would visit from Colorado. She would say, “Ooohhh, look who’s here!” even though she had no idea who we were. People from her generation prided themselves on their graciousness and good manners. She maintained that well into her 80’s and when she started to lose her manners, we knew even her lifelong habits were going along with her memory.
Possibly. But, it’s also possible Hunter is exploiting his father the way his father used him as his closer all his adult life — 10% for the Big Guy. People of the Democrat persuasion have no problem exploiting people for money and power — and maybe presidential pardons, in Hunter’s case.
“Biden? His legacy died with Beau. His other two children appear to be significantly damaged.”
Biden could not competently raise a dog.
Maybe said to see, but don’t you think he deserves it? And then some.
The only problem I see is that Joe might be unaware of it.
Yes, I had said that Biden was reaping what he had sown.
Joe has an expression (“I give my word as a Biden”) that grates my nerves every time he uses it.
It just makes me want to laugh uproariously, right in his stupid face.
I give the Bidens the benefit of the doubt.
Been down this road. It’s difficult to accept.
Accepting the situation, they have an obligation, a duty, to act in the best interests of the people.
Judging from his dogs’ vicious behaviors, Biden mistreats them regularly.
Yes. I don’t know why so many consider him a decent man. Where is the evidence?
Great post, Gossamer Cat.
I have a question: What are the perks of being the First Lady ?
Swan around with celebrities, have designers send you their work in hopes you’ll help make them popular (although DR Jill seems to get mostly upholstery remnants), boss around a staff, meet world leaders as if it’s you who’s important, get on Vogue covers, have chef, drivers, etc.
What he said plus a bully pulpit for your favorite causes. Unless you are Melania-then you only get grief.
As shown by the fact that his dogs continually bit his secret service guards.
I think his frequent use of that phrase is pretty indicative of his own self image.
I watched him during the Bork and Thomas confirmation, and concluded that there is not an honest, decent or generous bone in his body.
I’ve never liked Biden, and partisanship has very little to do with it. He’s always been a lying blowhard. I have to admit, I am particularly irritated by the fawning press that calls him a “devout Catholic”, and (though you don’t see much of this anymore) “everyone’s favorite elderly Irish uncle”. I’ve never seen that written by anyone with an Irish last name.
I am an elderly Irish uncle, and I strenuously refuse to see him as one.
Outside of calling Zelensky Putin and Kamala Harris Trump.
Not much different in kind to Obama’s definition of sin.
Roman Hruska was not describing Biden, but he served in the Senate with him and could have been,“Even if he were mediocre, there are a lot of mediocre judges and people and lawyers. They are entitled to a little representation, aren’t they, and a little chance? We can’t have all Brandeises, Frankfurters and Cardozos.”
Or, in meme form: