The Biden Presidency

[ChristianProgressive]

Are they even doing cabinet confirmations right now? I though things were kind of suspended while they handle the impeachment proceedings.

No, there have been hearings.

As someone else pointed out, you would ideally want the DoJ to be independent of the president (to prevent situations where the president uses the justice department in a biased manner.)

Calling for them to do their job and conduct fair investigations is not partisan or biased.

And Merrick Garland is still waiting confirmation. Hopefully once he is in office he will do some of those things.

Hopefully he will, but the President sets the tone, and Biden is talking too much about "healing" and "bipartisanship" and not enough about "justice" and "accountability".

I am sure there are people that need to be removed from ICE. However, according to the Wiki page, they are still functioning with an acting director. I suspect they will need to get a full time director confirmed by the senate before they do any sort of housekeeping.

ICE is corrupt and rotten to the very core of it's black heart. It is a rogue agency and needs to be held accountable by the global community. God knows US courts won't do it.

 

[Aridas]

The Biden administration met with Politico on January 21st. The fact that they basically did nothing until the story broke today is not to their credit.

Sorta begs the question... is there any reason to believe that Biden would have known about it before the story broke?

 

[Stacyhs]

Every one of the things I said is completely possible and within the President's power.

I didn't say they weren't possible or within his power. I was referring to your whining about his not doing enough according to you in his whole whopping three weeks in office.

We elected Democrats to utterly repudiate the GOP, not to "work with" them, not to "heal" the nation. We want justice and accountability to be brought upon the GOP.

Really? That's interesting because that was not Biden's campaign message at all. In fact, his entire message was to heal the nation, stop the divisiveness and try to work together. It was most certainly not about some kind of retribution that you seem to want rained down upon the GOP. This was Biden's message:

"I'm running as a proud Democrat, but I will govern as an American president," he said. "I work with Democrats and Republicans, I work as hard for those who don't support me as for those who do. That's the job of a president."

Biden promised to be a unifier-in-chief if elected, lamenting a culture where "too many among us spend more time shouting than listening" and vitriolic divisions rule political discourse.

"Many wonder, 'Has it gone too far? Have we passed the point of no return? Has the heart of this nation turned to stone?'" he asked. "I don't think so. I refuse to believe it. I know this country, I know our people and I know we can unite and heal this nation."

 

[Stacyhs]

Calling for fair investigations is not being partisan.

It is not the job of the POTUS to call for investigations. That is the job of the Attorney General who is supposed to be non-partisan. Trump treated the AG as his personal lawyer and the DOJ as his personal legal department. You're expecting Biden to do the same. NO.

Biden hasn't even gotten his nominee for AG confirmed yet. Rein it in a bit, will ya?

 

[TurkeysGhost]

Sorta begs the question... is there any reason to believe that Biden would have known about it before the story broke?

They knew on the 21st. It's plainly stated as such in the article. Politico met with the creep's bosses and complained about his behavior and they hand-waved it away with some half-assed punishment.

Whether Biden personally knew is irrelevant. It's his admin. His machine operating under his policies. He doesn't have to be personally involved for it to still reflect on his leadership, nor is it reasonable to expect the President to have to be personally involved.

 

[Stacyhs]

They knew on the 21st. It's plainly stated as such in the article. Politico met with the creep's bosses and complained about his behavior and they hand-waved it away with some half-assed punishment.

Whether Biden personally knew is irrelevant. It's his admin. His machine operating under his policies. He doesn't have to be personally involved for it to still reflect on his leadership, nor is it reasonable to expect the President to have to be personally involved.

The day after the inauguration. I'm sure this was #1 on their list of things to tackle. Can you find something else to pearl clutch over? Sheesh.

 

[TurkeysGhost]

The day after the inauguration. I'm sure this was #1 on their list of things to tackle. Can you find something else to pearl clutch over? Sheesh.

Lol. Brunch goes on. Biden can do nothing wrong.

Funny watching the principles that people were rightly outraged about during the Trump years suddenly become unimportant because it's more important to protect their own guy.

 

[Aridas]

Lol. Brunch goes on. Biden can do nothing wrong.

Funny watching the principles that people were rightly outraged about during the Trump years suddenly become unimportant because it's more important to protect their own guy.

*sigh* You're really trying to start a remarkably pointless fight with unreasonable claims, eh?

Biden can do nothing wrong? You didn't show that he actually did anything wrong in the first place! Watching principles suddenly become unimportant now that it's "our" guy? The F? You're trying to claim this without any attempt whatsoever to figure out what the actual positions of the people you accuse actually are on the matter beyond choosing not to immediately scream condemnation of Biden from the rooftops!

 

[Stacyhs]

Lol. Brunch goes on. Biden can do nothing wrong.

Funny watching the principles that people were rightly outraged about during the Trump years suddenly become unimportant because it's more important to protect their own guy.

No, you're just being ridiculously demanding. It's been three freaking weeks and you're having hissy fits because he hasn't done enough to suit your demands. Jesus H Christ on a fainting couch. First it was "Biden has dementia!" drama. It must be awfully emotionally draining living in this perpetual state of drama. Chill, dude.

 

[acbytesla]

Lol. Brunch goes on. Biden can do nothing wrong.

Funny watching the principles that people were rightly outraged about during the Trump years suddenly become unimportant because it's more important to protect their own guy.

*sigh* You're really trying to start a remarkably pointless fight with unreasonable claims, eh?

Biden can do nothing wrong? You didn't show that he actually did anything wrong in the first place! Watching principles suddenly become unimportant now that it's "our" guy? The F? You're trying to claim this without any attempt whatsoever to figure out what the actual positions of the people you accuse actually are on the matter beyond choosing not to immediately scream condemnation of Biden from the rooftops!

The absurdity is the argument that Biden did something actually wrong. We've now gone from non-existent standards to strict ridiculous standards? Seriously?

 

[TurkeysGhost]

The absurdity is the argument that Biden did something actually wrong. We've now gone from non-existent standards to strict ridiculous standards? Seriously?

These are the same standards everyone has been rightfully upset about having been flagrantly broken during the Trump years.

It's not a huge scandal, but one worth holding the administration's feet to the fire. It sets a precedent.

We have a Biden staffer being misogynistic and abusive to white house reporters, the exact type of behavior that Biden said would not be tolerated in his administration. It's being tolerated.

If a Trump staffer had done this, the libs would be crying for his head to mounted on a spike. But it's their guy, so time to circle the wagons.

 

[Steve]

Lol. Brunch goes on. Biden can do nothing wrong. Funny watching the principles that people were rightly outraged about during the Trump years suddenly become unimportant because it's more important to protect their own guy.

Do you think this type of hyperbole bolsters your argument? You could equally be accused of saying "Biden can do nothing right". What people are actually saying is be reasonable and give Biden some time. Just because his immediate priorities are not yours does not mean that yours will not be addressed in due course. 4 years of Trumpiness cannot be undone in 3 weeks.

 

[acbytesla]

These are the same standards everyone has been rightfully upset about having been flagrantly broken during the Trump years.

It's not a huge scandal, but one worth holding the administration's feet to the fire. It sets a precedent.

We have a Biden staffer being misogynistic and abusive to white house reporters, the exact type of behavior that Biden said would not be tolerated in his administration. It's being tolerated.

If a Trump staffer had done this, the libs would be crying for his head to mounted on a spike. But it's their guy, so time to circle the wagons.

No they're not. Absolute nonsense.

 

[Firestone]

Politics wise, Biden seems to be doing the right things for now, though I expected a little more sense of urgency concerning judicial nominations. Garland won't be approved by the Senate before March, and the vacancies in the courts are piling up. Come on, Biden and Durbin.

On the Ducklo affair? I agree with this assessment from Tim Alberta: "This generation has an epidemic of men who demean women for sport. If Biden keeps this clown employed it's a disgrace to his administration."
https://twitter.com/TimAlberta/status/1360341153867067394

 

[Aridas]

These are the same standards everyone has been rightfully upset about having been flagrantly broken during the Trump years.

It's not a huge scandal, but one worth holding the administration's feet to the fire. It sets a precedent.

To some extent, yes. And we'll see how it's handled as things go forward, as well as the fairly similar things that will likely inevitably happen in the future.

We have a Biden staffer being misogynistic and abusive to white house reporters, the exact type of behavior that Biden said would not be tolerated in his administration. It's being tolerated.

If a Trump staffer had done this, the libs would be crying for his head to mounted on a spike. But it's their guy, so time to circle the wagons.

Honestly, in a similar situation, given the whole "it was literally the first full day of the incoming Administration" part and all the accompanying concerns, I'd have been entirely fine with not holding it against the Trump Administration for not immediately taking strong action, too, for multiple reasons. As it happens, we actually can compare it to the last Administration to some extent, though. Spicer's inauguration crowd lies were eye-rolling, but not something that I really held against the Trump Administration. That got more attention because, obviously, they happened in plain view of a heck of a lot more people and because Spicer was obviously pandering to Trump with such brazen gaslighting.

As it stands, like with Spicer, I'm not going to immediately call for (further) punishment at this point. Still, yes, it's certainly worth keeping a closer eye on Ducklo and the superiors who were told of wrongdoing, because it's not a good sign.

 

[smartcooky]

Calling for fair investigations is not being partisan.

Actually, it will almost certainly be seen as partisan, even if it isn't. It is a very stupid, very ill-advised thing to do.

The DoJ/AG are supposed to be ENTIRELY independent of POTUS. The President nominates the AG, and if approved, that ought to be the end of ANY say POTUS has on what the AG does and how the DoJ do their jobs. As soon as a president starts "calling for investigations of the last four years", that call will be seen as political..... and rightly so!

 

[Steve]

Actually, it will almost certainly be seen as partisan, even if it isn't. It is a very stupid, very ill-advised thing to do.

The DoJ/AG are supposed to be ENTIRELY independent of POTUS. The President nominates the AG, and if approved, that ought to be the end of ANY say POTUS has on what the AG does and how the DoJ do their jobs. As soon as a president starts "calling for investigations of the last four years", that call will be seen as political..... and rightly so!

In a mere 4 years many Americans have become so inured to the Trump way of doing things that they have forgotten how things are supposed to be done. So many Paul Simon lyrics can have real world applications:

"Got a short little span of attention"

 

[ChristianProgressive]

I didn't say they weren't possible or within his power. I was referring to your whining about his not doing enough according to you in his whole whopping three weeks in office.



Really? That's interesting because that was not Biden's campaign message at all. In fact, his entire message was to heal the nation, stop the divisiveness and try to work together. It was most certainly not about some kind of retribution that you seem to want rained down upon the GOP. This was Biden's message:

We didn't vote for Biden's "message", we voted for him because he was not Trump. Progressives worked their butts off to give him his landslide and he's throwing us under the bus once again.

 

[ChristianProgressive]

In a mere 4 years many Americans have become so inured to the Trump way of doing things that they have forgotten how things are supposed to be done. So many Paul Simon lyrics can have real world applications:

"Got a short little span of attention"

"the way things are supposed to be done" have given us GOP hegemony. Time to do things differently. Us Dems need to be as nasty, and as partisan as the GOP. We need to exploit every loophole, every procedural trick to tear down the power structure that keeps them enshrined in OUR government.

 

[ChristianProgressive]

Actually, it will almost certainly be seen as partisan, even if it isn't. It is a very stupid, very ill-advised thing to do.

The DoJ/AG are supposed to be ENTIRELY independent of POTUS. The President nominates the AG, and if approved, that ought to be the end of ANY say POTUS has on what the AG does and how the DoJ do their jobs. As soon as a president starts "calling for investigations of the last four years", that call will be seen as political..... and rightly so!

Since we're getting accused of being "partisan" (as if that 's a BAD thing when it's Democrats doing it), we should do it and say to the GOP whiners "What's your point? We're following your example."

There can be no "peace" with or "unity" with the GOP. We need to vanquish them utterly, drive them from our society, and laugh at their lamentations.