I agree with your thoughtful analysis of President Biden's stand up and be counted speech. His was a much needed and courageous call to US citizens to recognize the dangers, know the enemies, and act (i.e., vote in November) to oust from elected office those who do not value Democracy nor honor the people who gave/give their lives to support the Laws of our Nation.
If T***p still believes he won in 2020, how can he possibly believe he could run AGAIN in 2024? (rhetorical question - I know it's written into the Constitution, but the eejit believes that does not apply to HIM. DUH!)
I paused a couple days to think. I also went back and reviewed former Presidents speaking with military presence in the background. In each case, these stages were in moments of great threat to democracy, as it is now. I appreciated the honesty and forthrightness. Some comments here think there is no threat; they clearly are not directly speaking to the MAGA fanatics.
Although I voted for Biden I think the actions of MAGA followers and Republicans in the senate like McConnel will allow the left leaning democrats like Elizabeth Warren and the progressives a chance. Kamala Harris is capable but lacks the fire and charisma of an Elizabeth Warren type of candidate. Her age will be an issue the Republicans will use against her.,
I support our American Representative Republic. I do not support American Disunity.
I watched Thursday evening.
I was amazed.
I was disgusted.
I was saddened.
I was amazed that so many folks in the media actually thought this disturbing, disunifying political demagoguery constituted Presidential leadership. It did not. It reeked of phoniness, from the phony Red-Light-District staging. to the phony and improper implicit suggestion that the U.S. Marine Corps was there to cheerlead for Biden. Then there was the phony and fake alarmist notion, fresh from the worst excesses of political fundraising go-to tropes, that the Criminal Traitor and a few of his fellow-traveller loudmouths are enough to successfully end "democracy" in our land. Apparently, in Biden's view, the American people have neither resiliency nor the ability to think for themselves. All that was missing from this (pardon the pun) Trumped-Up affair Thursday evening was a phony police siren wailing in the background.
I have been disgusted at the lengths to which Biden will go in employing phony and improper props and Red Herrings to promote his career, and his ease in the use of exaggeration, the somewhat-true, the almost-true, and the outright lie. There is apparently no trench he is unwilling to climb into in order to bolster his fragile but monstrous ego or distract from his many errors of judgment. His lies have included everything from accusing an innocent truck driver of driving drunk after his first wife ran a stop sign, to denying that he was ever warned not to totally withdraw troops from Afghanistan, to claiming that he never thought sanctions would be an effective deterrent to Putin's Ukraine aggression. He is not above wearing his family tragedies about his neck, and turning what should be a private matter into an overused political stump speech. He is not above engaging in plagiarism when he calculates that its use will improve his standing. No practitioner of humility he; in his self-absorbed world, there is no room for either apology or introspection. His obduracy also never allows him to learn from his mistakes, much to the detriment of the Afghan people, the Ukranian people, and of course, the American people. Biden is no friend of democracy; anyone who disagrees with him is "outrageous." or he invites them to "step outside," or he tells them he doesn't want their vote anyway, and, like Ms Clinton's notions of The Deplorables, other views are beneath his status. At their worst, dissenters are relegated to being "Dog-Faced Pony Soldiers." In all of this, Biden acts as the flip-side of Trump while further degrading the Office he holds. His saving grace is that he has not criminally betrayed the United States, as did his predecessor. But that is not enough; our country, our times, demand so much more than Biden's shrill gloom-and-doom carnival-barking.
I am saddened that Biden used Independence Hall as just another political prop, and that he threw away American unity as so much trash to be walked on to further himself and his political party.
It could have been so different. Biden could have spoken of that which unites us all. He could have spoken of Labor Day and the dignity and value of work, of American positives, even in these times; of hope for the future, of belief in the indestructibility of both the American Experiment and the American spirit, and yes, of his absolute determination to bring American Traitors to justice -on his watch.
Biden is not enough; just not being an open criminal is not enough; being merely a partisan political hack is not enough. We need another Lincoln, another FDR, another JFK, And if we don't have one now, we need to invent another one.
Something does unite all of us who see just what the President saw: love of our democracy and country. The threat of of loss is real. The fact that you can't or refuse to see that doesn't lesson tbe fact that the rest of us do. I will not sit quietly and apathetically by while country is subverted into a fascist one. No way in hell.
Sharon, I appreciate both your taking the time to reply and the validity of your comment about not standing idly by in the face of evil. However, Biden's Administration has been standing by idly since assuming office in the matter of prosecuting Trump. Only now are some belated efforts coming to light.. Biden said in the past that he didn't think that prosecuting Trump would be good for the country. As usual, he was wrong.
Your response indicates that you do not understand the difference between what the President can do, and what is the responsibility of the Attorney General. Justice works on its own timetable. Biden cannot prosecute Trump, and the AG can only go when they have a very sound case. If you do a Google search, you will see that Biden did not say that, or I can find no quote. He did say, on 11/20/19, that he would let the Justice Department decide, which makes sense. On 11/17/20, he expressed his desire to avoid division, but he'd leave the decisions to an independent. They can only proceed if they have a very strong and documented case.
Hi again, Theresa, and thanks for your reply on my comment on Biden's inaction on prosecuting Trump. You are certainly correct to point out that the President cannot personally prosecute Trump. I would go even further and add that Biden cannot even ORDER the AG to prosecute Trump. But he could and should have attempted to PERSUADE the AG to do so--immediately, after assuming office--.following January 6, 2021. That he did not do so again illustrates Biden's personal paralysis, lack of moral clarity, and his consideration of political risk to himself above other considerations that he should more properly weigh in the decision-making process--such as doing whatever necessary to advance the Rule of Law, and fealty to the principle that no one is above the Law. Why immediately after assuming office? Because Nancy Pelosi set the table for Biden and the AG with the Second Trump Impeachment. It was at that point that Biden should have made the moral and political case for prosecuting Trump to his new AG, while making it clear to Garland that it was up to HIM to make the legal case---if the facts so dictated.
In the "Vanity Fair" article from 11/17/20 that you alluded to,Tarisai Ngangura relied heavily on NBC News reporting that Biden wanted to "move on" (from Trump) , and that in his opinion prosecuting Trump would be "bad for democracy," thus rehashing the old Nixon DOJ OLC finding by Robert Bork, as well as Ford's fatally flawed excuse in pardoning Nixon.
I'm sorry, but I disagree. If Biden interferes with a legal investigation, then he turns it into a political process. The investigation of a crime needs to be based in the law, not politics. It's important to separate the actions of the AG from the President. Biden is wise to keep distance. It is ethical clarity. Biden did want to move on from Trump, and he did want to engage moderate Republicans. But it isn't his fault in any way that the GOP has remained stuck to Trump.
Yes, certainly Biden should in no way interfere NOW, since a criminal investigation of Trump has been made public and is in progress.. The time to try to persuade Garland was before he took office, when the President-elect should have discussed his legal goals and broad priorities for the Justice Department. Investigating Trump should have been a top priority, and I believe that VP Harris would agree with me,, but she's not the boss...yet. Letting it be known publicly that Biden wanted to "move on" did not give Garland much of an incentive to investigate Trump . But then Trump made the mistake of stealing the documents, and now they've got him. As for Biden's "ethical clarity," vis a vis the DOJ--I disagree that ethics had much to do with Biden's distancing---the distancing is probably part of Biden's lifelong pattern of political risk and fallout mitigation for himself. The WH said it had no advance knowledge that Trump's Search Warrant was going to be served and executed, and that's incredible--but it follows a familiar pattern by him of didn't knows, blamed someone else, or wasn't told.
The people who worked hard for Joe Biden and elected him had and have every right to expect great things from him, but he simply has not been willing to leave his Senate comfort zone and engage. Let's be honest...the IRA fell into his lap because Manchin got what he wanted, NOT because Joe Biden persuaded anyone.
I've enjoyed our discussion today Theresa. I hope you're having a good life, and a great Sunday as well. Stay safe, be of good cheer, and May God Bless our country and your family.
Thanks for replying, Theresa! In my opinion the most overused words in other opinions commenting on Mr. Rather's essay were the words "fascism," or "fascists." I would like to suggest to you that while there ARE fascists supporting the criminal traitor Trump, most folks do NOT support his criminality., and Biden's Administration has been inexcusably slow in bringing Trump and his merry band of traitors to justice.
I said nothing about Biden that is not already a well-substantiated matter of public record, and so I certainly stand by what I wrote.
Of course this was a political speech but it was needed after months of lies and threats to this representative republic we need to call the MAGA extremists what they are! Apparently we the public can't come the conclusion that trump lost and he probably has committed crimes against this country!
Of course he has. His administration used my intellectual property on a fake website that I had no clue was Russian ran and pained those who frequented it as the cause of Blacks staying home and not voting as though we are a monolith. No, we aren't monolith, they stayed home because we saw 8 years of disrespect of one of the best leaders this country has ever had and instead of us collectively rising up in support of the Scholarly President Obama and his entire educated, experienced, credentialed, and rich background administration; we collectively refused to see him as an asset but a liability. After the college scandal, I guess I can understand why.
This was and is a defining moment in US history and will set the tone for what's to come in the next 2 years....and I for one believe that bloodshed is likely. The extremist think the country is behind them...it isn't, only parts of it..but that feeling of invincibility will cause them and us much pain. Trump's offers of a bribe if he's re-elected is the gasoline on to a smoldering fire IMO. All it's gonna take is another Charlottesville and we're off to the race war.
Why are you so confident that bloodshed is likely? O my bad WFHAS ALWAYS BEEN RIGHT AND HAD A RIGHT to be mediocre, incompetent, unprofessional, uncivilized, insolent, entitled, vicious, malicious, violent, terrors and muderous.
I have been terrified of Trumps ability to reach people… it seems I can’t turn on the tv without his mugg popping up. My hope is that the investigation into Mar-a-lago will find evidence that he should be in jail. He far surpasses everything he piled on Hilary.
I wasn’t able to watch Biden’s speech, and have only seen excerpts, but I know his mind well enough. He is a true patriot who loves his country and wants to preserve our democracy.
He is the epitome of America. He is exactly what and who America is. The only difference is this, 45 was not going to stay on script. 45 was not going to be unapologetic about his allegiance to whiteness. 45 was not going to say one thing and do or legislate another. When he said he could kill whoever he wants and nothing will be done and he would still have a large following, well millions of Americans whose blood is on his hand proved him to be correct. As one who has been here all of my life, been dedicated to the Democratic party in hopes of them honoring and respecting my humanity (OF WHICH THEY NEVER DO) and wield us the dignity we so deserve, I honestly can respect 45 for the ONE TRUTH he was able to tell.
I am a little uncomfortable that President Biden chose to give a partly political speech at Independence Hall. I feel that the speech would have been better given at a neutral location. The former guy certainly abused national sites much more egregiously, but I expect better from Democrats.
I agreed with him almost completely, but worry he was preaching to the choir. Doubtful he could change the Uber prejudiced mind of a MAGA Republican
So proud of him. His wisdom, his loyalty to our country, our democracy.
I agree with your thoughtful analysis of President Biden's stand up and be counted speech. His was a much needed and courageous call to US citizens to recognize the dangers, know the enemies, and act (i.e., vote in November) to oust from elected office those who do not value Democracy nor honor the people who gave/give their lives to support the Laws of our Nation.
I whole heartedly concur and it did my heart good to see that someone finally stood up and called this bs exactly what it is bs!!!.
Yes, I watched, and wanted to say, "Hallelujah!
If T***p still believes he won in 2020, how can he possibly believe he could run AGAIN in 2024? (rhetorical question - I know it's written into the Constitution, but the eejit believes that does not apply to HIM. DUH!)
I paused a couple days to think. I also went back and reviewed former Presidents speaking with military presence in the background. In each case, these stages were in moments of great threat to democracy, as it is now. I appreciated the honesty and forthrightness. Some comments here think there is no threat; they clearly are not directly speaking to the MAGA fanatics.
Although I voted for Biden I think the actions of MAGA followers and Republicans in the senate like McConnel will allow the left leaning democrats like Elizabeth Warren and the progressives a chance. Kamala Harris is capable but lacks the fire and charisma of an Elizabeth Warren type of candidate. Her age will be an issue the Republicans will use against her.,
What did I think?
I support our American Representative Republic. I do not support American Disunity.
I watched Thursday evening.
I was amazed.
I was disgusted.
I was saddened.
I was amazed that so many folks in the media actually thought this disturbing, disunifying political demagoguery constituted Presidential leadership. It did not. It reeked of phoniness, from the phony Red-Light-District staging. to the phony and improper implicit suggestion that the U.S. Marine Corps was there to cheerlead for Biden. Then there was the phony and fake alarmist notion, fresh from the worst excesses of political fundraising go-to tropes, that the Criminal Traitor and a few of his fellow-traveller loudmouths are enough to successfully end "democracy" in our land. Apparently, in Biden's view, the American people have neither resiliency nor the ability to think for themselves. All that was missing from this (pardon the pun) Trumped-Up affair Thursday evening was a phony police siren wailing in the background.
I have been disgusted at the lengths to which Biden will go in employing phony and improper props and Red Herrings to promote his career, and his ease in the use of exaggeration, the somewhat-true, the almost-true, and the outright lie. There is apparently no trench he is unwilling to climb into in order to bolster his fragile but monstrous ego or distract from his many errors of judgment. His lies have included everything from accusing an innocent truck driver of driving drunk after his first wife ran a stop sign, to denying that he was ever warned not to totally withdraw troops from Afghanistan, to claiming that he never thought sanctions would be an effective deterrent to Putin's Ukraine aggression. He is not above wearing his family tragedies about his neck, and turning what should be a private matter into an overused political stump speech. He is not above engaging in plagiarism when he calculates that its use will improve his standing. No practitioner of humility he; in his self-absorbed world, there is no room for either apology or introspection. His obduracy also never allows him to learn from his mistakes, much to the detriment of the Afghan people, the Ukranian people, and of course, the American people. Biden is no friend of democracy; anyone who disagrees with him is "outrageous." or he invites them to "step outside," or he tells them he doesn't want their vote anyway, and, like Ms Clinton's notions of The Deplorables, other views are beneath his status. At their worst, dissenters are relegated to being "Dog-Faced Pony Soldiers." In all of this, Biden acts as the flip-side of Trump while further degrading the Office he holds. His saving grace is that he has not criminally betrayed the United States, as did his predecessor. But that is not enough; our country, our times, demand so much more than Biden's shrill gloom-and-doom carnival-barking.
I am saddened that Biden used Independence Hall as just another political prop, and that he threw away American unity as so much trash to be walked on to further himself and his political party.
It could have been so different. Biden could have spoken of that which unites us all. He could have spoken of Labor Day and the dignity and value of work, of American positives, even in these times; of hope for the future, of belief in the indestructibility of both the American Experiment and the American spirit, and yes, of his absolute determination to bring American Traitors to justice -on his watch.
Biden is not enough; just not being an open criminal is not enough; being merely a partisan political hack is not enough. We need another Lincoln, another FDR, another JFK, And if we don't have one now, we need to invent another one.
Something does unite all of us who see just what the President saw: love of our democracy and country. The threat of of loss is real. The fact that you can't or refuse to see that doesn't lesson tbe fact that the rest of us do. I will not sit quietly and apathetically by while country is subverted into a fascist one. No way in hell.
Sharon, I appreciate both your taking the time to reply and the validity of your comment about not standing idly by in the face of evil. However, Biden's Administration has been standing by idly since assuming office in the matter of prosecuting Trump. Only now are some belated efforts coming to light.. Biden said in the past that he didn't think that prosecuting Trump would be good for the country. As usual, he was wrong.
Your response indicates that you do not understand the difference between what the President can do, and what is the responsibility of the Attorney General. Justice works on its own timetable. Biden cannot prosecute Trump, and the AG can only go when they have a very sound case. If you do a Google search, you will see that Biden did not say that, or I can find no quote. He did say, on 11/20/19, that he would let the Justice Department decide, which makes sense. On 11/17/20, he expressed his desire to avoid division, but he'd leave the decisions to an independent. They can only proceed if they have a very strong and documented case.
Hi again, Theresa, and thanks for your reply on my comment on Biden's inaction on prosecuting Trump. You are certainly correct to point out that the President cannot personally prosecute Trump. I would go even further and add that Biden cannot even ORDER the AG to prosecute Trump. But he could and should have attempted to PERSUADE the AG to do so--immediately, after assuming office--.following January 6, 2021. That he did not do so again illustrates Biden's personal paralysis, lack of moral clarity, and his consideration of political risk to himself above other considerations that he should more properly weigh in the decision-making process--such as doing whatever necessary to advance the Rule of Law, and fealty to the principle that no one is above the Law. Why immediately after assuming office? Because Nancy Pelosi set the table for Biden and the AG with the Second Trump Impeachment. It was at that point that Biden should have made the moral and political case for prosecuting Trump to his new AG, while making it clear to Garland that it was up to HIM to make the legal case---if the facts so dictated.
In the "Vanity Fair" article from 11/17/20 that you alluded to,Tarisai Ngangura relied heavily on NBC News reporting that Biden wanted to "move on" (from Trump) , and that in his opinion prosecuting Trump would be "bad for democracy," thus rehashing the old Nixon DOJ OLC finding by Robert Bork, as well as Ford's fatally flawed excuse in pardoning Nixon.
I'm sorry, but I disagree. If Biden interferes with a legal investigation, then he turns it into a political process. The investigation of a crime needs to be based in the law, not politics. It's important to separate the actions of the AG from the President. Biden is wise to keep distance. It is ethical clarity. Biden did want to move on from Trump, and he did want to engage moderate Republicans. But it isn't his fault in any way that the GOP has remained stuck to Trump.
Yes, certainly Biden should in no way interfere NOW, since a criminal investigation of Trump has been made public and is in progress.. The time to try to persuade Garland was before he took office, when the President-elect should have discussed his legal goals and broad priorities for the Justice Department. Investigating Trump should have been a top priority, and I believe that VP Harris would agree with me,, but she's not the boss...yet. Letting it be known publicly that Biden wanted to "move on" did not give Garland much of an incentive to investigate Trump . But then Trump made the mistake of stealing the documents, and now they've got him. As for Biden's "ethical clarity," vis a vis the DOJ--I disagree that ethics had much to do with Biden's distancing---the distancing is probably part of Biden's lifelong pattern of political risk and fallout mitigation for himself. The WH said it had no advance knowledge that Trump's Search Warrant was going to be served and executed, and that's incredible--but it follows a familiar pattern by him of didn't knows, blamed someone else, or wasn't told.
The people who worked hard for Joe Biden and elected him had and have every right to expect great things from him, but he simply has not been willing to leave his Senate comfort zone and engage. Let's be honest...the IRA fell into his lap because Manchin got what he wanted, NOT because Joe Biden persuaded anyone.
I've enjoyed our discussion today Theresa. I hope you're having a good life, and a great Sunday as well. Stay safe, be of good cheer, and May God Bless our country and your family.
You repeated every unsubstantiated story and rumor to justify an opinion, not a analysis. There is no reason to unite with fascists.
Thanks for replying, Theresa! In my opinion the most overused words in other opinions commenting on Mr. Rather's essay were the words "fascism," or "fascists." I would like to suggest to you that while there ARE fascists supporting the criminal traitor Trump, most folks do NOT support his criminality., and Biden's Administration has been inexcusably slow in bringing Trump and his merry band of traitors to justice.
I said nothing about Biden that is not already a well-substantiated matter of public record, and so I certainly stand by what I wrote.
I'm glad that President Biden is speaking up. It's about time. Way to go Joe. Keep speaking the truth. Hopefully it will keep us free.
#Roevember
This was an important speech. And just as important is the reiteration that we don’t paint all Republicans with the MAGA brush.
A potent reminder of the truth that “all that is needed for evil to win, is for good people to do nothing”.
Of course this was a political speech but it was needed after months of lies and threats to this representative republic we need to call the MAGA extremists what they are! Apparently we the public can't come the conclusion that trump lost and he probably has committed crimes against this country!
Of course he has. His administration used my intellectual property on a fake website that I had no clue was Russian ran and pained those who frequented it as the cause of Blacks staying home and not voting as though we are a monolith. No, we aren't monolith, they stayed home because we saw 8 years of disrespect of one of the best leaders this country has ever had and instead of us collectively rising up in support of the Scholarly President Obama and his entire educated, experienced, credentialed, and rich background administration; we collectively refused to see him as an asset but a liability. After the college scandal, I guess I can understand why.
This we have always known 45 to be a loser.
This was and is a defining moment in US history and will set the tone for what's to come in the next 2 years....and I for one believe that bloodshed is likely. The extremist think the country is behind them...it isn't, only parts of it..but that feeling of invincibility will cause them and us much pain. Trump's offers of a bribe if he's re-elected is the gasoline on to a smoldering fire IMO. All it's gonna take is another Charlottesville and we're off to the race war.
Why are you so confident that bloodshed is likely? O my bad WFHAS ALWAYS BEEN RIGHT AND HAD A RIGHT to be mediocre, incompetent, unprofessional, uncivilized, insolent, entitled, vicious, malicious, violent, terrors and muderous.
I have been terrified of Trumps ability to reach people… it seems I can’t turn on the tv without his mugg popping up. My hope is that the investigation into Mar-a-lago will find evidence that he should be in jail. He far surpasses everything he piled on Hilary.
I wasn’t able to watch Biden’s speech, and have only seen excerpts, but I know his mind well enough. He is a true patriot who loves his country and wants to preserve our democracy.
He is the epitome of America. He is exactly what and who America is. The only difference is this, 45 was not going to stay on script. 45 was not going to be unapologetic about his allegiance to whiteness. 45 was not going to say one thing and do or legislate another. When he said he could kill whoever he wants and nothing will be done and he would still have a large following, well millions of Americans whose blood is on his hand proved him to be correct. As one who has been here all of my life, been dedicated to the Democratic party in hopes of them honoring and respecting my humanity (OF WHICH THEY NEVER DO) and wield us the dignity we so deserve, I honestly can respect 45 for the ONE TRUTH he was able to tell.
I am a little uncomfortable that President Biden chose to give a partly political speech at Independence Hall. I feel that the speech would have been better given at a neutral location. The former guy certainly abused national sites much more egregiously, but I expect better from Democrats.
Speeches akin to President Biden’s are why Independence Hall is Independence Hall. It was the perfect place.
What better place than Independence Hall to give a speech about the future or fall of democracy?
They are one and the same honestly.