“He didn’t call me boy.”
Yep nothing wrong with that at all.
Oghier
3216
I heard Bernie say to CNN that Biden was “singing the praises” of those segregationists. That’s a lie, and it pissed me off. Biden is a bottom-tier candidate for me (the, “At Least It’s Not Tulsi” tier), but Bernie needs to stop doing this kind of thing.
There’s an old criticism of liberalism that goes something like a liberal is someone who will never take his/her own side in a fight. It persists because it contains a kernel of truth: That part of liberalism is a reluctance to be in a fight at all, a view that some reasonable compromise can be achieved and that such a compromise must be better than a fight.
This from Alex Perene is quite a good analysis of how that view pervades the Democratic leadership and pushes candidates like Biden into arguing a ridiculous position, that he will be able to extract reasonable behavior and compromise from Mitch McConnell after Trump has left the stage.
The correct left political message about segregationists is that they are deplorable racist fuckers, not that they are sometimes quite reasonable fellows. I don’t know why anyone should have to be told that, least of all Biden.
One thing I love about Elisabeth Warren is that when she says she’s going to do something if elected, I believe 100% that she will do it. Or at least try her hardest.
Timex
3220
Explain what, exactly, you think is wrong with that.
When speaking about the reasonableness of a racist, it is at the very least tone-deaf. Also, too, you know that.
Yes, totally agree, she understands that it’s a fight worth having.
magnet
3223
I didn’t read all of Biden’s comments, but from what I read his point was that he disagreed with the racist guy but nevertheless worked with him to get stuff done.
Is that the wrong attitude? Because if we aren’t supposed to work together with people who are bigoted, then Trump was right to end the Iran treaty.
Timex
3224
When Biden said, “He never called me boy, he always called me son”, Biden was specifically pointing out that the dude was a racist fuck. It’s not like he used the term boy without realizing it.
And folks are getting outraged, as though Biden had called someone boy… which isn’t even remotely what happened.
Again, it’s outrage based on a ridiculously superficial parsing of the situation, where someone reads words associated with bigotry, and misses the fact that they are being said as an example of what a a bigot would say, in the process of pointing out that he’s a bigot.
And as I said, I’m not a Biden supporter. Please do not make him the nominee. But this criticism is bad.
The gist of his comments is that things were better with the racist guys in the Senate because you could work with them.
If Joe wants to sell the idea that there might be some reasonable Republicans one can work with, and that he knew some back in the day, maybe he ought come up with better examples, rather than make use of the historic Senate racist of the day news feed.
I also think that if I had Joe’s anti-civil-rights record, married to a history of lying about my pro-civil-rights record, I’d come up with a better line.
Menzo
3227
Orwell died of TB. Which we’ve cured with vaccinations.
Sharpe
3228
I’m not going to link to Rich Lowry, but he has an article on Politico right now with the headline “Is Trump Actually… Modest?” and the subhead “It’s not a word anyone associates with him. But his Presidency has an underlying caution worth taking seriously.”
I have to ask, Mr. Lowry, how exactly does your present physical position ala Trump taste? B/C it looks pretty nasty.
More important stuff to consider:
See what I mean? IMPORTANT stuff! Just how forthright are these candidates, because those three answers are absolute BS.
Timex
3232
Iced tea isn’t even a food!
Lowry was behind the National Review’s “Against Trump” cover story before Trump secured the nomination. Listening to him on Left Right & Center after the election, I could hear him normalizing Trump bit by bit while always protesting that he was a man of “low character.” That vague pusillanimity, combined with his endless do-nothingism on climate and gun control, have made it very hard for me to tolerate him these days.
Inch by inch, the “respectable conservatives” have come around to support of Trump, with a few exceptions (e.g. George Will).
Correct answer to the “comfort food” question: “Who gives a shit? I’m running to be the most powerful person on the planet and save our republic from self-immolation.”
