The received wisdom about Joe is that he is the ultimate nice man. From personal experience with him I do not think so.
At his request I took an Arab client to see Biden in his offices in the senate and found that he bristled with hostility against the man before he had said a word about anything. Biden was so clearly programmed by his staff handlers to be completely a Zionist asset and hostile to Arabs that what there was of his mind was completely unreachable.
On that occasion the Arab in my company was so bold as to express a hope that peace could be achieved through a two state solution. Biden flew into a rage and yelled at him that if he did not admit that Arab intransigence was wholly responsible for Israel's problems, he would physically throw his visitor out of the offices. Biden's staff handlers glowed with satisfaction. It was clear that the staffies wanted to expose him to Middle Easterners from time to time for the purpose of keeping him focused on the issue.
I told Biden that the man was trying to be polite and compromising and he told me to shut up. One of the staff whispered to him and he then thanked me for my service. It was clear that they had him under excellent control.
A big problem with Uncle Joe is that he ain't too bright and that unfortunate fact is sadly apparent to all who deal with him. His ridiculous public statements are legendary and caused not by clumsiness with language. No. They are caused by a basic lack of intelligence .
His habit of pawing at women, and children unlucky enough to be with him in public is also legendary. The Democrat politico in Hawaii who complained about him experienced what can only be described as his normal mode of operation. The occasion in which Jeff Sessions pushed Biden's hands away from a 12 year old girl is one of many similar spectacles available on the internet if you want to take the time to find it. The picture at the head of this piece is animated. Double click on it.
And then there was the Anita Hill hearing during Clarence Thomas's confirmation tot the Supreme Court. I happened to be in the States at the time and watched the whole show on TeeVee. It was evident that he was incapable of running the hearing in such a way as to be fair to either Thomas or Hill. It was just sad.
If the Democrats nominate this nasty chump for president they will deserve what they get, and he will probably lose. pl
leAutre, maybe? I'll think about it.
How's Brexit going? Didn't have much time to check British media like usually. Looks like Labor is as split between fringes and center as the US democrats. Relying on the Spectator's newsletter in this case.
Is this a sign of a more general trend in the "West", a cultural turn from the center towards the right. And if so, to what extend does it move "the West" and Israel closer, never mind that Tel Aviv is a gay parade heaven. Semi-Irony-Alert.
Posted by: Joanna | 01 May 2019 at 01:31 AM
Jack
Thanks. I'm a big fan of Epsilon Theory. I've had many interesting conversations with Ben & Rusty while they were at Salient. I appreciated their market analysis through the lens of game theory and history.
Ben's note "Clash of Civilizations" echoes Col. Lang. Both erudite realists. It is telling that he quoted both Samuel Huntington & Kissinger in that note.
https://www.epsilontheory.com/the-clash-of-civilizations/
Unfortunately the neocon/ziocon domination of the groupthink is as Huntington called it "dangerous". That's why I admire Tulsi's courage as she knows that she will be savaged by the so-called "serious" people who are ensconced in that groupthink.
Posted by: blue peacock | 01 May 2019 at 01:44 AM
but in my mind most of the Democrats would be better and Biden would be my choice.
This is either wonderfully cryptic/ironic while conveying reminiscences of the 2016 campaign. - At least for this language outsider.
Or you are a realistic voter. Maybe it's that. ;) How many are?
Anyway: Pretty amazing that in the US almost at the time the campaign ends the new campaign starts. Exaggerating slightly, admittedly.
Posted by: Joanna | 01 May 2019 at 07:52 AM
Learn to read Fred. He is saying Sanders' policies aren't the reason he supports him, but that doesn't mean he doesn't agree with them, he actually says he does agree with them. LOL.
Posted by: Chuck T. | 01 May 2019 at 03:53 PM
Can't say anything useful about that. That's because it's not possible to work out yet whether Westminster is colluding with Brussels to stop Brexit or Brussels is colluding with Westminster.
On matters of more immediate concern, when there's a gap in the Colonel's schedule I'm ready with some more insider information about making tea. Seems a trivial matter, but getting that right is all that's needed to make your country perfect. Almost all - I take it you're now working with Mrs Weidel to add the finishing touches to that perfection.
Posted by: English Outsider | 01 May 2019 at 06:31 PM
Ah yes. I remember seeing a map of an artfully gerrymandered boundary. Looked like Cantor dust after a heavy night out. We never gerrymander over here of course. We're good people.
It simpler just to buy the politicians, both sides. Saves a lot of fussing.
Posted by: English Outsider | 01 May 2019 at 06:52 PM
Biden is not going to bring 'calm' to the ME if that's what you're thinking.
'Biden is a self-described Zionist. During the interview conducted by the U.S. Jewish television cable network Biden said, "I am a Zionist. You don't have to be a Jew to be a Zionist."
Regarding support for Israel within the Democratic Party, Biden has stated that the Democrats' support for Israel "comes from our gut, moves through our heart, and ends up in our head. It's almost genetic."
And Biden thinks Jews invented America.
Biden: 'Jewish heritage is American heritage'
Vice President Joe Biden spoke at length Tuesday night about the influence of Judaism on the United States, dating back to the country's founding and to the present day as Jews helped shape views on gay rights.
“The truth is that Jewish heritage, Jewish culture, Jewish values are such an essential part of who we are that it’s fair to say that Jewish heritage is American heritage,” he said. “The Jewish people have contributed greatly to America. No group has had such an outsized influence per capita as all of you standing before you, and all of those who went before me and all of those who went before you.”
“You make up 11 percent of the seats in the United States Congress. You make up one-third of all Nobel laureates,” he said. “So many notions that are embraced by this nation that particularly emanate from over 5,000 years of Jewish history, tradition and culture: independence, individualism, fairness, decency, justice, charity. These are all as you say, as I learned early on as a Catholic being educated by my friends, this tzedakah.”
“The embrace of immigration” is part of that, as is the involvement of Jews in social justice movements.
“You can’t talk about the civil rights movement in this country without talking about Jewish freedom riders and Jack Greenberg,” he said, telling a story about seeing a group of Jewish activists at a segregated movie theater in Delaware. “You can’t talk about the women’s movement without talking about Betty Friedan” or American advances in science and technology without mentioning Einstein and Carl Sagan, or music and Gershwin, Bob Dylan and “so, so, so many other people.”
“I believe what affects the movements in America, what affects our attitudes in America are as much the culture and the arts as anything else,” he said. That’s why he spoke out on gay marriage “apparently a little ahead of time.”
“It wasn’t anything we legislatively did. It was ‘Will and Grace,’ it was the social media. Literally. That’s what changed peoples’ attitudes. That’s why I was so certain that the vast majority of people would embrace and rapidly embrace” gay marriage, Biden said.
“Think behind of all that, I bet you 85 percent of those changes, whether it’s in Hollywood or social media are a consequence of Jewish leaders in the industry. The influence is immense, the influence is immense. And, I might add, it is all to the good,” he said.
Jews have also been key to the evolution of American jurisprudence, he continued, namedropping Brandeis, Fortas, Frankfurter, Cardozo, Ginsberg, Breyer, Kagan. “You literally can’t. You can’t talk about the recognition of … rights in the Constitution without looking at these incredible jurists that we’ve had.”
“Jewish heritage has shaped who we are – all of us, us, me – as much or more than any other factor in the last 223 years. And that’s a fact," he said.
“We talk about it in terms of the incredible accomplishments and contributions” of Jews in America, Biden added, but it’s deeper “because the values, the values are so deep and so engrained in American culture, in our Constitution.”
“So I think you, as usual, underestimate the impact of Jewish heritage. I really mean that. I think you vastly underestimate the impact you’ve had on the development of this nation. We owe you, we owe generations who came before you," he said.''
https://www.politico.com/blogs/politico44/2013/05/biden-jewish-heritage-is-american-heritage-164525
Posted by: catherine | 01 May 2019 at 07:39 PM
I believe their point is that it is much more important to prevent Bernie from being elected that it is to get another Democrat elected. They will try to do that, but if getting Trump elected is what it takes to block Bernie, they're OK with that.
Posted by: Procopius | 02 May 2019 at 09:47 AM
The explanation at the time was that he was, indeed, bringing home the bacon, but he was also neglecting personal contacts with the people in his district, while AOC and her workers were diligent in knocking on doors and talking to people. Actually, he was a good, reasonably progressive Representative, but he became too wrapped up in his effort to become Pelosi's successor. There's an old political joke that ends up with, "Yeah, but what have you done for me lately?"
Posted by: Procopius | 02 May 2019 at 10:38 AM
[cough] Rotten boroughs [cough].
Posted by: Procopius | 02 May 2019 at 10:39 AM
Chuck T is right about what I meant to say. I could have made the point more clearly though.
Nonetheless, Fred, I am happy to defend even the position you ascribe me as holiding for the following reason. Suppose I disagree with some or all of Sanders' policies but am convinced that he holds his policies on principle and will do his best to follow through on them. I then have a fairly accurate sense of what results I can expect Sanders to work toward toward if elected. I can currently obtain no such information for any of the other candidates (excluding Gabbard.) This means that regardless of what candidate X or Y says (including Trump), I can have no way of knowing that candidate X or Y actually means what s/he says and is committed to it as a matter of principle. Hence if I am going to cast a vote at all, the only vote I can cast which is based on plausible knowledge of what I'm voting *for* is a vote for Sanders. If you vote for any other candidate you have no idea what you're voting for, only what that candidate has told you. But because of Zionism and Corporations and PACs, what s/he says cant be believed.
Posted by: Ligurio | 02 May 2019 at 07:13 PM
ligurio - You don't seem to understand that being elected does not guarantee you the power to carry out your goals.
Posted by: turcopolier | 02 May 2019 at 07:55 PM
Off-topic but worth a mention: Gavin Williamson will no longer be
required to act the part of Secretary for British Defence.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-48126974
Posted by: Mishko | 02 May 2019 at 09:53 PM
That, and the 80's hitsong by Janet Jackson.
Posted by: Mishko | 02 May 2019 at 10:01 PM
I remember very early in the Occupation period that Biden said quite a few times that the only answer will be to divide Iraq into three effectively separate countries . . . a Kurdistan, a Sunnistan and a Shiastan. Perhaps Biden's strong support for al Maliki was based on Biden having a suspicion that al Maliki would be a vicious and corrupt-enough extreme political-Shia partisan to prevent intergroup politics from succeeding and to achieve the partition of Iraq.
If so . . . way to go Joe.
Posted by: different clue | 03 May 2019 at 03:15 PM
Here is a scary photo of Biden.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/apr/30/clinton-era-politics-joe-biden#img-1
Posted by: different clue | 03 May 2019 at 03:16 PM
Was a key supporter of Mrs May but hasn't been for a while. They say he was pro EU/UK defence integration but switched to being more in favour of the American alliance. Was worried about the risk to security posed by the Chinese Huawei deal. Also that he had became concerned about inadequate UK defence expenditure.
They say.
Possibly further enlightenment will come when he makes his valedictory speech in the Commons.
I came across Mr Williamson by chance when grubbing around the videos and transcripts of the Munich Security Conference. Been puzzling about this enigmatic statement from him ever since -
"The US has been stepping up its commitment to NATO. But, as Ursula and I agreed with Pat Shanahan when we met at NATO earlier this week, Europeans should not be spending two per cent of GDP on defence for America. We should be spending it for ourselves and our security. And, I applaud Ursula’s personal efforts to drive investment in German defence."
Posted by: English Outsider | 03 May 2019 at 05:55 PM
Those were the days. And didn't they put heart and soul into it! The joyous and uninhibited corruption of parliamentary elections in 18th and early 19th Century England puts today's antics in the shade.
Posted by: English Outsider | 03 May 2019 at 06:18 PM
Biden is a disgusting phony. Having read the Colonel's experience with him I did some goggling.
Read this article by Scott Ritter on how Biden treated him....its horrible.
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/my-letter-from-joe-biden/
Posted by: catherine | 04 May 2019 at 01:19 PM