What to recall about Joe Biden for 2010

The old, "that is not who we are" speech, followed by bowing in submission and contrition. The key is sincerity and conviction; if you can fake it, you can make it. TD

Biden tells Europeans in Munich that America is 'an embarrassment'  "Biden’s jabs drew applause from European critics of Trump hours after Vice President Mike Pence had spoken at the conference lauding the president's efforts to press NATO allies to increase defense spending in the face of Russian aggression.

"Ironically, Biden lambasted Trump at the high-profile conference for making his grievances with allies public. “You’re never allowed to disagree with your brothers and sisters in public,” he said. “Today, because of, I think, a lack of leadership coming from the other side of the Atlantic, we find ourselves in a different place,and it’s uncomfortable.”

Toon added, TD

"Biden alluded to limbering up for a bid for the 2020 Democratic nomination, which would be his third tilt at White House, after sputtering attempts in 1988 and 2008. “I have spent the better part of the last two years traveling throughout the United States of America, from Minnesota to Texas; from Boston to Birmingham,” he said. “I can assure you, that the American people, the ultimate wellspring of power in the United States of America, remain committed to engaging the world with decency and respect.”

"He added, “Those same people who I met all across the United States, who may feel disconnected, discounted, ignored, or left behind ... They still believe, as I do, that the core values enshrined in our alliances are worth defending.' ” . . .

2012: Biden's tone, behavior are the talk of the VP debate

. . . "Vice President Joe Biden mockingly smiled, wagged his finger, and couldn't seem to stop interrupting Republican running mate Paul Ryan. 

. . . 

"Early on in the wide-ranging debate on domestic and foreign policy issues, Biden leaned back his chair and gave a big grin, often audibly chuckling at Ryan. His laughter sparked a new Twitter handle called "laughinjoebiden."

"But as the 90-minute debate pressed on, the vice president became increasingly agitated. He wagged his finger at moderator Martha Raddatz. His smile sometimes faded into a scowl." . . . 

The AP report said Ryan "settled on a smirk", but I saw nothing like that. Every reply Ryan gave to a talking point was met with rude mockery and great disrespect." I saw his drinking water as evidence of being thoroughly rattled by Biden's behavior. That was ninety minutes out of my life I'll never get back. TD

Joe became for me, "Toonman":

https://www.americanthinker.com/

Only a heckler can improve an evening with the money-grabbing Clintons

NY Post

"Now that they’ve been dismissed, defanged and declawed by their own party, Bill and Hillary Clinton are doing what comes naturally: Hitting people up for money.

"Thursday night marked the kickoff, in New York City, of their national speaking tour. Billed as “a one-of-a-kind conversation with two individuals who have helped shape our world … [and who offer] remarkable insight into where we go from here,” the event simply underscored why Hillary lost: Over-promise, under-deliver, avoid accountability, and expect the masses to nonetheless be satisfied.

"My ticket, a third-row seat in the balcony, cost $210. This bought me 90 minutes of longtime Clinton lackey Paul Begala launching such softballs as:" . . .

"Oh, and #MeToo. Not a mention of how that little movement has changed things, potentially for a one-time frontrunner. But as we know, that, to the Clintons, is a third rail.

"Coverage of this snoozefest was typically respectful and anodyne, yet the most exciting moment of the night made little if any news. Not quite halfway through the event, a man in the front row stood up and interrupted.

“ 'Bill, this is boring!” he yelled. As he tried asking his question — “Why don’t you talk about — ” Hillary immediately began talking over him, saying that the “important political conversations” they were trying to have could be difficult, especially when interrupted by such “agent provocateurs.”

“ 'Jeffrey Epstein!” shouted the man." .  . .

It seems Pete Buttigieg wants to be considered a victim for street cred

This is so puny and childish of Mayor Pete

Pence: I Worked With Buttigieg For a Long Time...What's the Problem Now? "As South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg continues to suggest Vice President Mike Pence is a bigot for his belief in traditional marriage, the latter wonders what happened to their former friendly working relationship. The two worked together when Pence was governor of Indiana, suggesting Buttigieg was clearly aware of Pence's religious beliefs. Yet, since announcing his run for president, Buttigieg has suggested that Pence's quarrel with his lifestyle is not with him, but "with my Creator."
. . . "We worked very closely together when I was governor and I considered him a friend," Pence said. "He knows I don't have a problem with him. I don't believe in discrimination against anybody. I treat everybody the way I want to be treated."
. . . Critics were ready to troll Pence last month when the openly gay prime minister of Ireland arrived at the White House with his partner. Instead, shockingly, the vice president politely greeted them with the same respect he shows any head of state. . . .

Mayor Pete Jesus-splains to me?  . . . "I am Christian, but I am also an American.  I have every right to vote in accordance with my interests, and after the last eight years of being called a bitter clinger who clings to my religion and my guns (I don't have any guns, thank you, but I sure believe you have a right to yours!) and after watching Jack Phillips being persecuted by a transgender attorney, I know where my interests lie.

"The Constitution says I have a right to practice my religion, but there are very real forces that don't want me to do so, the Democratic Party first and foremost among them.  I will vote for people who support my right to practice my religion, even if they aren't perfect people.  Politics is not the same as religion, after all.  In politics, it's okay to accept that which is less than perfect.  In my faith, I strive to be perfect even as my Father is perfect.  I know the difference.  Does Mr. Buttigieg?

"So Pete should give it up.  I know that as a Democrat, he likely would be opposed to what I believe in.  Even if he is willing to let me believe, he would likely bow to those in his party who want to crush me and prevent me from living out my faith.

"I will vote for candidates who may not be perfect but who will let me live my life, and my faith, as I desire."

Revealed: Two decades before college admissions scandal, the Clintons tried to game system for Chelsea's boyfriend

Washington Examiner "Bill and Hillary Clinton tried to bully a prestigious scholarship program into selecting Chelsea Clinton’s then-boyfriend and then sought "payback" when they were resisted, according to a former top foreign policy adviser to Barack Obama.

"The episode took place nearly 19 years ago but has fresh resonance after revelations last month of multimillion-dollar bribes paid by parents to get their children into elite colleges, including Stanford University, which Chelsea Clinton and her then-boyfriend Jeremy Kane attended. Among those recently implicated was Michelle Obama's former tennis coach." . . .

When will this nightmare end? . . .

. . . "What will it take? Another two years? Another 19 hardened Democrat lawyers and 40 professional staffers? Another 500 witnesses? Another 50 million dollars spent, 2,800 subpoenas, 500 search warrants?" . . .  ". . . The real collusion was Democrat collusion, starting with Steele's phony and salacious dossier, filled with falsehoods and a moving curtain of lies invented by the Russian FSB (AKA KGB), purchased with Clinton's $165,000 passed through a DNC Washington law firm to fool  FISA judges four times to bring innocent citizens to their knees and financial ruin.  A DOJ and FBI infiltrated by rogue high-ranking officials who were committed to doing anything in their power to change an election, and if that plan failed, they planned an "insurance policy" to have Trump impeached at worst or impeded and powerless at best." . . .

During the Obama administration was when it first dawned on me that America had become
a banana republic, putting third-world politicians into high office.TD

Rich Terrell

AG Barr: “Spying Did Occur” on the Trump Campaign  . . . "Given the players here (see also: Former FBI Director Comey, Former FBI Deputy Director McCabe, and Former FBI Agent Strzok), an investigation into the investigation will likely not bode well for those afflicted with Trump Derangement Syndrome.

"Trump fired back, calling the “illegal investigation” a “phony and treasonous hoax.' ”

The Day of Reckoning Is at Hand  . . . "Coming from Barr, a most measured and serious man, this explosive testimony portends a bleak future for all those FBI, Department of Justice, and intelligence community operatives who used their official positions and enormous — bordering on limitless — governmental powers to undermine the presidential campaign of Donald Trump, and, failing that, to undo the results of the 2016 election. So it is that Barr’s description of the possibility of such political surveillance as a “big deal” is understatement of the first order. As “big deals” go, the stakes couldn’t be any higher.

"On cue, the Democrats and their wholly owned mainstream media subsidiary have tried to dull the impact of Barr’s testimony. One bedraggled party flak claimed on network television that, since Barr merely thought spying had occurred, he had not confirmed that it had really, truly and actually happened. And, resorting to the left’s default position on all things Trump, Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin has called for Barr’s impeachment. " . . .

Focus on the Leaking, Not Just the Spying  . . . "Schiff should recalibrate his umbrage. Trump will be president until at least 2021. If Democrats see no problem with the anonymous disclosure of elements of ongoing counterintelligence investigations, or the fruits of surveillance, what is to stop Trump from doing it too? To borrow a popular slogan of the moment: This is not normal." 

Tony Branco

Barr Should Focus on 2 Questions When Investigating Spying on Trump Campaign

. . . "First, did the FBI and the Justice Department have evidence to justify opening an investigation and counterintelligence operation looking at the Trump presidential campaign? "And second, did those who authorized the spying meet the requirements of the FISA law to justify electronic surveillance?" . . .  Hans von Spakovsky

It Begins: Democrats, Media Promote Hiring Boycott Against DHS Secretary Nielsen, Other Trump Officials

Legal Insurrection
"We’ve gone beyond “you will be made to care.” Now you will suffer as a result of any political affiliations or stances that don’t properly align with The Resistance’s goals."

. . . CNN [of course!] legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin cryptically said on Monday that Nielsen will “get what she deserves”:

Kirstjen Nielsen, I think, is a great example of what happens when you go to work for Donald Trump. He is the great reputation killer. Here is this woman who was a reasonably-admired bureaucrat. And for the rest of her life, for the rest of her life, people will look at her and think, oh, that’s the woman who put children in cages. That’s the woman who broke up families across the border. And you know what? They’ll be right. Because she implemented that policy. Jeff Sessions, the Attorney General, sort of created it, but she implemented it. And, you know, she’s going to get what she deserves.

"As to what exactly Nielsen “deserves,” Toobin didn’t elaborate, but you can rest assured if a Republican had said that they would have been considered as threatening a public official. Because double standards and all that.

"Toobin’s comments and the actions of Restore Public Trust are part and parcel of the larger Democratic effort to “pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it” a la Saul Alinksy." . . .

Ken Starr says Hillary Clinton DID trigger Vince Foster's suicide when she humiliated him in front of White House staff and admits he omitted the finding in FBI report because he didn't want to 'inflict further pain' on her

UK Daily Mail

• Hillary attacked and humiliated Foster in front of other White House aides a week before he took his own life on July 20, 1993 
• 'Hillary put him down really, really bad in a pretty good-size meeting. She told him he would always be a little hick town lawyer who was obviously not ready for the big time,' former FBI agent Coy Copeland told Kessler
• 'Foster was profoundly depressed, but Hillary lambasting him was the final straw because she embarrassed him,' former FBI supervisory agent Jim Clemente said

. . . "Ken Starr deliberately left out of his final report the FBI’s finding that Hillary Clinton 'triggered' the suicide of President Clinton's Deputy White House Counsel to spare her feelings, DailyMail.com can reveal. 

"FBI agents investigating the death of Vince Foster learned he was set off after Hillary attacked and humiliated him in front of other White House aides a week before he took his own life on July 20, 1993. 

"But for what were then unexplained reasons, Starr elected to conceal the FBI's finding that Hillary's tirade triggered Foster's suicide when he wrote his final report on the matter.

"At a reception for authors participating in the 2019 Annapolis Book Festival last weekend, I asked Starr why he omitted the damaging FBI finding.

"At first, he beat around the bush, citing well-established facts indicating that Foster was already depressed before Hillary lashed into him at the White House meeting.

"But when pressed, Starr admitted he 'did not want to inflict further pain' on Hillary by revealing that her humiliation of Foster a week before he took his own life pushed him over the edge." . . .

We appreciate your courage, Mr. Starr, because we can picture what will be coming at you from Democrats now.

Hillary Clinton Bullied Vince Foster Before Suicide, Said Ex-Clinton Friend in Final Interview  "Hillary Clinton relentlessly browbeat her clinically depressed former law partner Vince Foster shortly before he committed suicide in 1993, according to notes from a final jailhouse interview with a former close business partner of the Clintons.

"Jim McDougal, a long-time member of the Clintons’ Arkansas inner circle and a central figure in the Whitewater scandal, passed away from a heart attack in prison in 1998. But he said in a final interview before his death that Hillary Clinton had a "hard, difficult personality" and was "riding [Vince Foster] every minute" about Whitewater before Foster took his own life.

"McDougal also described his ex-friend Bill as a "master con artist" who married Hillary after a "cold-blooded search" to find himself a politically beneficial wife. Bill, according to McDougal, also privately wanted to prevent Hillary from succeeding in her own political career." 

• "In the interviews with Wilkie, McDougal claimed Bill embarked on a "cold-blooded search" in the 1970s to find a wife who could help him politically—and decided on Hillary.
• "The future 42nd president was a "master con artist" who "prepped for this with girls and school teachers," he added.
• "McDougal also described Hillary as "generally a pain in the ass" and "very difficult for everyone, including Bill." He said Bill seemed to privately enjoy the Whitewater scandal because it was damaging to Hillary’s future political career."

Still want to change the Constitution, eliminate the Electoral College, and let 16-year-olds vote because of this woman?

Late update: 

Sporting cell phones, brand-name clothes — and babies, another 1,000-strong migrant caravan heads for the US

Monica Showalter

"Get ready for another migrant caravan coming up from Honduras to the U.S. border, organized by activist groups there calling for volunteers to beef up the numbers.

"OANN reports that the latest one taking off is 1,000 strong and loaded with people carrying babies.

Yet another migrant caravan bound for the U.S. is forming in Honduras.  According to reports Wednesday, at least 1,000 migrants have joined the new caravan as it prepares to depart for the United States-Mexico border.

The caravan is the fourth large group of migrants to leave Honduras since last October, and it includes families and young children. It reportedly formed as a result of a "mobilization campaign" on social media.

"It's a very good report, but perhaps the most salient point is listed in the comments section, with OANN readers commenting on the obvious prosperity of the migrants who are claiming poverty.  Some are obese, some have brand new clothes on, virtually all have expensive cell phones, and many go for brand-name traveling gear.  One other thing they would obviously have a lot of is money, to make a trip of this scale.  The very poor of countries such as Honduras (and certainly the overseas country nationals who may be joining them) do not have the means to migrate." . . .

White House wanted to release asylum seekers into Sanctuary Cities

Rick Moran:  "Now this is what I call "social justice.' "

Watch Blue Checkmarks Shower Twitter Love On Anti-Semite Louis Farrakhan

The Federalist  "For his remarks at rapper Nipsey Hussle’s funeral on Thursday, Louis Farrakhan, the virulent anti-Semite atop the Nation of Islam, earned a warm reception from a number of verified Twitter users.

"Renewed controversy swirled around Farrakhan earlier this year, as leaders of the Women’s March were finally pressed to explain their prior associations with him. Although she tried to distance herself from Farrakhan’s anti-Semitism, co-founder Tamika Mallory refused to condemn the Nation of Islam leader in January, even when confronted with a specific list of his repugnant statements by Meghan McCain on “The View.”  

"All the love blue checkmarks showed for Farrakhan on Thursday is a reminder that he’s not a random and powerless fringe actor, but someone who continues to enjoy support from plenty of prominent defenders, despite a long and indisputable record of naked bigotry. (For just a taste of his open racism and anti-Semitism, browse this list.)" . . .

On ‘The View,’ Women’s March Co-President Tamika Mallory Refuses To Condemn Louis Farrakhan’s Anti-Semitism

Friends of Farrakhan's friends:

Newsweek Profile Unapologetically Defends Ilhan Omar’s Anti-Semitism

Newsbusters  "On Tuesday afternoon, the flailing, moribund Newsweek released a 4,600-plus-word cover story for its latest issue celebrating the anti-Semitism of Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (D-MN) with the title “How Ilhan Omar Is Changing the Conversation About Israel—and Upending the 2020 Campaign.” 

"Based on the reaction on Twitter (highlighted by our friends at the Daily Caller, Daily Wire, and FoxNews.com), the syrupy Omar profile was ratio’d into oblivion. Somewhere, Chris Cillizza and Brian Stelter must have been jealous. 

Upon further examination of the magazine cover and the Newsweek tweet unveiling it, the article by Jonathan Broder was every bit as idiotic as you would have expected.

"Broder began with AIPAC 2019 and immediately began his lengthy smear by bashing the videos in between speeches as “short propaganda films about daily life in Israel” as if the reality of Israelis having to deal with terrorism caused by Hamas as debatable, fretting that the videos’ “effect was total immersion—sight, sound and speeches—in a pro-Israel experience.”

"Running defense for Omar and those on the American left that show, at minimum, a discomfort with the Jewish people, Broder complained that Republican speakers “dispensed with the usual comity” to instead assert that“anti-Semitism had infected the entire Democratic Party—one of the most toxic charges in American politics.”

"Broder then invoked Omar and here’s how he initially defended her (click “expand”):" . . .

If Arabs drive Israel into the sea, will Omar then defend them against Muslim occupation?

Ocasio-Cortez Defends Omar's 9/11 Comments By Mocking War Hero Dan Crenshaw

Daily Wire

. . . "The 29-year-old former bartender attacked Crenshaw, a decorated war hero, by suggesting that he was not fighting for the families of 9/11 victims and saying that he should "go do something" about terrorism.

"As a Navy SEAL, Crenshaw lost his eye fighting terrorists in Afghanistan and earned 2 Bronze Stars (one with Valor), the Purple Heart, the Navy Commendation Medal with Valor, and other awards.

" 'You refuse to cosponsor the 9/11 Victim’s Compensation Fund, yet have the audacity to drum resentment towards Ilhan w/completely out-of-context quotes," Ocasio-Cortez tweeted. "In 2018, right-wing extremists were behind almost ALL US domestic terrorist killings. Why don’t you go do something about that?' " . . .

This article also points out the following:

Everything Ocasio-Cortez tweeted was either an outright lie or was misleading as she defended Omar.Nothing that the New York Post or Crenshaw said used "completely out-of-context quotes" from Omar, they quoted her directly.Ocasio-Cortez did not state that Omar was only one out of 213 cosponsors of the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund Act, along with 42 Republican lawmakers.Ocasio-Cortez's claim that Crenshaw refuses to support the bill is also a lie. The bill has not even been voted on in the House and just because Crenshaw is not a cosponsor does not prevent him from voting in favor of the bill when a vote is held on it.Ocasio-Cortez's claim that Omar has "done more for 9/11 families than the GOP" is a blatant lie.

 Dem Rep. Tlaib Defends Ilhan Omar’s 9/11 Comments: “She Does Speak Truth”…

Don’t demonize the electoral college — or the framers — as racist

The electoral college is a device that balances nationalism with states’ rights and leavens democracy’s passions with deliberation and reason.

LA Times

. . . "If the American people wanted a direct election for president, they could force their states to divide their electors in proportion to the Republican and Democrat tallies, or even assign their electors to align their votes with the nationwide result. The more states that shifted from winner-takes-all, the more the electoral count would match the national popular vote. But instead, the indirect system, as the republic’s framers conceived it, has endured.

"The framers originally deliberated between selecting the president in Congress or by nationwide vote. As it turned out, the delegates to the 1787 Philadelphia Convention overwhelmingly opposed popular national elections because of the size of the new nation and its relatively poor communications. They feared two types of candidates would come too easily to the fore: “local sons” from the voters’ own state, or “pretended patriots” and “active & designing men” — demagogues who would rule through a tyranny of the majority (a la Nicolas Maduro, in Venezuela). The framers also rejected having Congress select the chief executive, as European parliamentary systems do today, because it would make the latter too dependent upon the former.

"The electoral college was proposed to be representative but also mitigate popular passions, and to prevent giving Congress too strong a hand in presidential selection. In most cases, the winning candidate has had to assemble a geographically broad, and usually ideologically moderate coalition throughout the country.

"Today’s “woke” critique, however, focuses on racism. According to some scholars and commentators, the electoral college purposefully protected slavery by allocating electors based on the number of senators (thereby giving states more voice) and representatives (the Constitution infamously allowed slaves, who could not vote, to count as three-fifths of a person, thus inflating the voting power of slave states). During the Philadelphia Convention, James Madison acknowledged that the electoral college provided a necessary compromise between free states and slave-holding states, where the popular vote was diminished because slaves couldn’t vote. But that was the only time a framer actually connected slavery and the electoral college.

"The racism critique ignores the nuances of history. When one looks closer, as Princeton historian Sean Wilentz has pointed out in disavowing his own earlier thinking, the racism charge related to the electoral college “begins to unravel.' ” . . .

Being the LA Times, one can hope ignorant leftist celebrities might possibly be enlightened. TD