It was a raucous debate. Sure it was a “High-energy performance” from a “Part angry bar-room debater.” Yes he was, “Bulldozing his way through the 90-minute debate.” Admittedly he was, “Shaking his head and scoffing pityingly.” He did keep, “Interrupting to attack.” He surely, “Let loose” and “Unleash(ed) his inner barroom brawler.” And, “His smile veered—yes—between amused and condescending.”
All true. Joe Biden’s debate performance with Paul Ryan in October of 2012, according to the actual quotes above, was all of these things…and the press loved it. “Joe Biden’s alpha-male display leaves Paul Ryan overwhelmed in VP debate,” The Guardian, 10/12/12. “Biden comes out swinging at debate,” Reuters, 10/11/12. “Joe Biden Looked Like a Deranged Bully in the Debate …”, US News 10/12/12…oops, how did that get in here?
Vice-President Biden made a few promises in the 2012 debate. On Benghazi he promised, “One, we will find and bring to justice the men who did this… And secondly, we will get to the bottom of it.” Hmmmm
He also said, about Afghanistan, “With 49 of our allies in Afghanistan, we’ve agreed on a gradual drawdown so we’re out of there by the year — in the year 2014… But we are leaving. We are leaving in 2014, period.” Really?
During the first Presidential debate of 2020, Biden said, “Here’s the deal. The fact is that everything he is saying so far is simply a lie.” Can that be accurate?
Here’s a perspective: Trump does make commitments…but he follows through. Want a partial list from Politifact?
Take no salary
Create private White House veterans hotline
Make no cuts to Social Security
Slash federal regulations
Place lifetime ban on White House officials lobbying for foreign government
Defund Planned Parenthood
Nominate someone from his list of justices to replace Antonin Scalia
Ensure funding for historic black colleges
End the defense sequester
Keep Guantanamo Bay Detention Center open
Move U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv to Jerusalem
Reverse Barack Obama’s Cuba policy
Cancel the Paris climate agreement
Ask countries we protect to pay more for joint defense
Increase veterans’ health care
Suspend immigration from terror-prone places
Limit legal immigration
Use U.S. steel for infrastructure projects
Stop TPP
Renegotiate NAFTA
Raise tariffs on goods imported into the U.S.
Save the Carrier plant in Indiana
Won’t say ‘Happy Holidays’
Create a 10-percent repatriation tax
Reverse Barack Obama’s 2016 gun executive order
Not bad for, “The worst president America has ever had.” Joe Biden, 9/29/2020
Steve Carns is a former executive with IBM Corporation and a twenty-five year resident of Talbot County. He lives in the town of Easton.
Tom Alspach says
Too bad you can’t add:
Achieved a health care plan to replace Obamacare that costs less and covers everyone
Got billions in cash from Mexico to pay for his border wall
Adopted a long promised infrastructure plan
Pushed back on Russian interference in US elections
Reduced the number of US troops abroad
Eliminated the federal debt
Put the “best people” in the Cabinet and other leadership positions
Made the China Virus cases “go to zero” and then disappear “like a miracle.”
Stayed off the golf course because he has been “so busy” in the Oval Office
Brought new respect for the US around the world
Inspired unity and harmony in our diverse society
Lowered the wealth gap between the rich and the poor
Drained the swamp
Etc., etc., etc.
But don’t despair! Soon you may be able to add:
Succeeded with his lawsuit to eliminate the only legal protection against loss of health insurance for those with pre-existing conditions.
Patricia Ann Blackburn says
Loved your Op-Ed! I believe one day you will find it it is a “treasure you just laid up in Heaven”, awaiting your arrival one day.
I’m in Lexington, KY so this was shared with me via my best friend in Easton. God bless her and you!