When I first saw a shorter version of this clip on national news, I was aghast. I couldn’t see or didn’t notice smiles on anyone’s face. I just heard Biden’s remark and was stunned. “You’re a lying dog-faced pony soldier.” I couldn’t believe he had said that to anyone, much less a polite young woman asking a fair question. The explanations that came later, about it being an old family joke or some such, didn’t excuse it.
And I’ve not forgotten this incident in December:
Added to his lackluster debate performances, which I have previously mentioned, my confidence in him has faded. It’s now up to Buttigieg and Klobuchar to sell me on their candidacies.
At least that’s my thinking at the moment. I have until March 3rd to make up my mind and turn in my ballot.
(Note: Biden finished fifth in New Hampshire last night, behind Sanders, Buttigieg, Klobuchar, and Warren.)
I predict that Biden will be ending his run in about a month.
Certainly he’s going to have to do much better than he has so far. His showing in NH was abysmal. A month would include Super Tuesday, and that will be a very telling day for any candidates still in the race.
That’s what I’m thinking – the show will likely be over by then. In the end, I think the front runners will end in a floor fight at the DNC.
That’s quite possible. I’d prefer having an obvious frontrunner going into the DNC, though, so as not to give the GOP any advantages. Dems need to be unified by then.
Agreed, Biden seems antiquated, even quaint, and his proclivity for gaffes is even greater. His “pony soldier” remark is, I understand, referencing a quote from an old John Wayne movie! At this point I’m not sure any of the remaining candidates can defeat Trump. Maybe Bloomberg, but a white billionaire from New York City isn’t going to excite the minority vote, especially with his baggage from stop and frisk. There’s nowhere to go but up from here.
He can defend the remark in any way he wants, but to those who hadn’t heard it before, he was still calling her a liar. Unacceptable. But every candidate has an Achilles heel. We’ll just have to see how it all shakes out (if only my primary vote weren’t due so soon!).
You do realize that Klobuchar supports fracking? We’re fighting for our lives to prevent a pipeline being built from the Canadian Tar Sands to a port near me to ship LNG, a dirty, filthy process (fracking) that makes it possible to ship “natural gas” to CHINA!!! A pipeline going through miles and miles of creeks and streams providing water to so many in our state. What could possibly go wrong there?
My decision for who to vote for has always been relatively easy… I just follow the MONEY because that seems to be what our politics amount to. You seem to worry more about how we would pay for things that would make life better for our people, while you don’t seem to have a problem with paying for endless wars and tax cuts for those who can afford to buy elections. I actually liked what Mayor Pete had to say BEFORE he was bought by Big Money interests. He’s a pretty slick salesman.
Just saying.
What ever gave you the idea I like paying for endless wars? Or tax cuts for the wealthy? Endless wars are stupid and wasteful. And I think the Trump and Bush tax cuts should be done away with. But there’s no such thing as a free lunch. Somebody has to pay. And Sanders hasn’t explained how he’s going to pay for what he’s promising.
No, I wasn’t aware that Klobuchar supports fracking. I hate everything about fracking and have said as much many times on this blog. Rest assured I’ll be looking into her position on that. But no candidate is going to bat a thousand, so decisions must be made.
A quick Google search found this on the Washington Post:
This strikes me as a realistic approach. We can’t just flip a switch and stop fracking. But we can certainly regulate it much more stringently while transitioning away from fossil fuels. (I do, however, seriously doubt her ability to review every fracking permit in her first 100 days. There are hundreds of thousands of fracking wells in the US.)
Thanks for checking this out. From what I’ve read. Fracking is actually far worse than oil because it requires pumping all sorts of mystery chemicals. We suspect it’s industrial waste products they can’t disposed of by other means – IOW too toxic for most regulations, but it’s all hush. hush, so they don’t have to reveal what they’re using. I just recently finished reading a book (“Amity and Prosperity : one family and the fracturing of America” /Griswold, Eliza). It gives quite a bit of insight into the fracking process and how easily it can get out of hand and how it can ruin people’s lives.
Fracking involves pumping liquid (a mix of water and various chemicals) into the ground under pressure, fracturing the strata where oil and gas are trapped and allowing them to be pumped out. The wastewater resulting from this process is then pumped, under pressure, into disposal wells where it will sit, or seep, as it will, endangering groundwater tables and/or causing shifts in the rock strata — aka earthquakes. Meanwhile, the drilling and disposal operations create eyesores, cause noise and light pollution, emit dangerous toxins, etc. Associated pipelines can leak, burn, or explode. It’s not the only way to get oil and gas; it’s just the cheapest.
I don’t mean stuff you take personally to appear that way. Truly. Sometimes it seems I may be talking in ‘code’… sort of like the question of how we’ll pay for the things Bernie espouses. If you look at all the wasteful things we pour money into (wars and tax breaks for those who need it the least), it seems we could divert all that wasteful spending into better things.
I still can remember the 50s and 60s when that sort of thing was possible and the rasonably wealthy paid their fair share rather than all the (tax)dodging they do these days. I also remember Eisenhower warning about letting the military-industrial complex run rampant. That’s our current state of affairs.
I see all of those things as policy choices. Sure, Bernie (or anyone else) may not be able to push his/our entire wish list through, but at the very least I see him as willing to TRY. He’s also creating an impressive coalition to change the nature of Congress as well as the Presidency. I don’t see any other candidate doing that.
Bernie makes a great point about how much more we actually pay in insurance premiums and deductibles up against Medicare for all. That comes out of pocket rather than counted as taxes. Much of that goes to the Medical Industrial Complex (for lack of a better description). Yeah, we’ll have to give up jobs with people shuffling useless papers around, but how about we start thinking about putting those folks to doing more useful things? At least make it something worth thinking about. The status quo simply isn’t working. The current situation certainly is no free lunch. We’re all paying through the nose for the greedy rich to pile up more and more of our money. That doesn’t seem like a great solution to me.
As for how Bernie will accomplish this… I see him or Warren as the only ones who have a chance since they don’t appear to be raking in the huge donations from those who think they can buy a politician.
I would dearly love to hear if you come up with any info on Klobuchar and the fracking. I wish I had saved a link and haven’t been able to find anything since then. I rather like her except for that particular issue… at least from what I’ve seen so far. Oh, and I’m not at all certain about the money supporting her run. Which reminds me…. we have to work on reversing unlimited money poured into endless campaining.
I’m glad to see some folks backing out (finally). So we can focus on those who remain. The debates so far have been pretty useless to figure out where people stand. I don’t expect a candidate to bat a thousand. I just want to know if I can trust them. For me… personally… judging by Bernie’s long record which hasn’t changed a great deal, he comes closest to what I’m looking for, but of course I’ll vote for whichever candidate gets the nomination. I just hope it isn’t Bloomberg who seems to be thinking he can BUY the election… please, not just another oligarch who can’t seem to decide whether he’s a democrat or a republican. If he wants to beat Trump (as he claims), why isn’t he running against him in the primary?
Of course, I’ll vote against Trump… but I’ll have the same problem voting for Bloomberg I did with Hillary. I simply don’t get the feeling that these folks with all that entitlement are actually out to help anyone but themselves.
End of rant!!! 😀 Glad you enjoyed my post! 😀
Well, regardless of who gets the Dem nomination, the problem with money in politics begins with Citizens United. The wealthy have always been with us. Citizens United just turned them loose to buy legislators. That decision needs to be overturned. Of course restore the Trump and Bush tax cuts. Maybe some before that, too. I don’t recall.
I’ve not researched it myself, but Sanders’ opponents say he’d need several times the amount of the current national debt (or something like that) to pay for what he’s promising. If that’s true, it’s just not workable. If it is workable, he hasn’t explained how.
Being wealthy is not a crime in itself and the 1% are easy targets. But they didn’t all start that way. The big businesses and corporations first had to be dreamed of, then started as small businesses, and built into the giants they are today. Sure, tax them some more. But remember what they’ve accomplished.
And they didn’t get free educations. How did things get so out of whack? Kids used to be able to manage their own educations — whether with scholarships, grants, part-time jobs, parents, or whatever. Why now must we give them all free educations? And “we” includes you and me. You can bet our taxes will go up. Everyone’s will.
Medicare for all? Sure. It seems to work pretty well for me. But I paid into it throughout my working years. You can’t just decide tomorrow to give it to everyone without their having paid into it for 30 years. So who’s going to pay for it? Those taxes on the rich probably won’t even come close. (Their current taxes are already committed to other govt expenses.) And then there are all the jobs that will be lost when/if our current health care system is abruptly “canceled.” Every major new government program has been full of unintended consequences. The change will have to be incremental, no matter who the Dem candidate turns out to be. A first step might be a public option like that originally proposed in the Affordable Care Act.
Meantime, the candidates themselves are pretty well off. You have to be if you’re going to run for a national office. Some DC politicians, including Sanders, are part of the infamous 1%. How much are they going to increase their own taxes? How can they rail against the 1% when they are part of it?
I’m rambling, so I’ll be quiet now. Is it any wonder I haven’t yet decided who to vote for?
Yes, I loved your post. The only thing lacking was the cool salt air.
Yep. I think both of us could ramble on about this topic for quite awhile… but do try to keep in mind that much of the coverage about Sanders comes from folks who have a distinct bias against him because he doesn’t take money from them. They don’t like not having that leverage. I have nothing against wealth as long as they’re paying their fair share.
And finally, just one of so MANY reasons I don’t see fracking as a transition optioon: http://tinyurl.com/womltlp
For me, it’s local.
Fracking is very much a local issue here, too. Drillers fighting homebuilders for the right to do their thing as the Denver metro keeps expanding. (See some of my posts about fracking.) It’s “transitional” only in that it will take some time to shut down the existing operations. I’m fine with never issuing another fracking permit. If they want to keep producing gas and oil, they can go back to the old way of doing it, and do it far away from developing urban areas, or wilderness areas, or any public lands or water supplies.
I wouldn’t vote for Trump if he was running against Satan. If Sanders is the nominee, voting Libertarian (again) won’t be (as some always say I am) throwing away my vote.
I’ll vote for the Dems’ nominee, no matter who it is. And if Trump were running against Satan, I’d vote for Satan.
Me, too.
Wow. Too bad. I think Biden had the best chance of beating trump. But he’s just not the same now. As far as the other candidates, I love Bernie, but I just don’t see him being a good president. He is too far left and too argumentative. Plus, I like having him in Congress. He gets a lot done there. Elizabeth has always been one of my favorites. I love how she’s not afraid to take on the big banks. Sadly, I just don’t think the country is ready for a woman president and we’d lose a lot of votes with her as the Dem candidate. The same thing with Buttigieg, actually even worse – the country is very far from being ready to have a gay man as president. My vote in the primaries is to select the person that is most likely to beat trump, not to vote for my favorite candidate. Biden should be far ahead of the rest, and I think he would have had the best chance of defeating trump, but not anymore. Biden just looks tired to me – like he really doesn’t want to be there but it only because of being pressured to run as (until recently) he would have been able to beat trump.
Biden was my early favorite, but yes, he does look tired. Or something. I think the knock on Buttigieg is more his age and inexperience than his sexuality. I’ve like Warren for a long time, but I think she mishandled the Indian ancestry thing and then she started in with the Medicare and free education for all and I just don’t see that working. I like having her do her thing in Congress. And I read just this morning something about Bloomberg considering Hillary as his VP!? Yikes, isn’t she gone yet?
It’s still early, but the lack of unity really has me worried. The Dems are doing Trump’s work for him.
Personally, I liked Hillary – a lot. But anyone choosing her at this point in time is asking for a death sentence to their campaign. She’s more qualified than anybody out there to be president, let alone VP, but there are just too many people that despise her – just like how I despise trump.
Can we draft Howard Dean? YEAGH!
That’s the sound I make every day when I think about politics.