The former vice-president, whose son died of brain cancer in 2015, told supporters on Tuesday: “I promise you if I’m elected president you’re going to see the single most important thing that changes America. We’re going to cure cancer.”
His words were met with cheers and applause at the event in the city of Ottumwa.
I know, I know…this was a statement that was meant metaphorically as in “this is the type of thing we are going to focus on” and by no means a promise to “cure cancer” (which, in and of itself, a nonsensical phrase).
And he’d be running against Trump who outright lies all of the time.
Still..if he is our nominee I’d better stock up on antacid tablets ’cause he is going to give me some serious heartburn.
But Biden being in the race has caused some shake up.
I will explain.
I remember seeing this back in 2015 and thinking “you know, what Trump says about political correctness will resonate with many and not just with Republicans.”
Notice the applause after the “politically correctness” remark.
And yes, the right wing bears much of the blame (“if you disagree you are UNAMERICAN, evil or stupid”) but they do not bear ALL of the blame; far from it.
And no, I do not approve or racial slurs, sexual harassment, etc. The things I am talking about are things like, say, the politically motivated attacks on Steven Pinker and his work in The Blank Slate, deplatforming based on disagreement with views, and yes, even some of the unfair attacks at Rep. Omar. (much from the right wing, but not ALL of it came from the right wing)
But along comes Joe Biden, and, well, he isn’t going to grovel. He isn’t going to exaggerate “past sins” to placate the self-appointed gatekeepers of liberal morality. GREAT.
Oh, the woke are clamoring at how HE is out of touch with “the base”. Of course, it appears to me that when many say “the base” they mean “people like themselves and those they swap twitter hashtags with”) and many of them become indignant when you point out that they don’t represent everyone.
Biden, whose smile is Jack Nicholson’s without the naughtiness, is not angry. His sporadic attempts at seeming so are transparently, and engagingly, synthetic. Neither, however, are most Americans angry. Rather, they are embarrassed and exhausted. Biden has a talent for embarrassing himself, but not the nation, and he probably might seem to weary voters to be something devoutly desired: restful.
And the political science professor behind Gin and Tacos..someone that I often disagree with (re: boomers vs. millennials cultural wars) makes an interesting point: (damn..can’t find the reference so I’ll attempt to paraphrase from memory): much of the Midwest is stuck in a time warp from the mid 1990’s, and that is Joe Biden’s politics. Therefore, he might do well there.
So, I will watch and wait…is it time to resurrect the old dinosaurs? Or do I feel this way because I am an old dinosaur?
Life of an old goat 