Biden is stumbling/fumbling on so much

[TurkeysGhost]

It's pretty funny watching the Trumpists try to claim that Biden is particularly unfit as a geriatric after spending 4 years pretending Trump was the ideal male specimen.

There's probably something to be said that this country seems to have a generation that refuses to pass the baton, and instead we are running into the ground with a gerontocracy in charge. This doesn't really offer much opportunity for partisan attack given the crop of decrepit senior citizens both sides seem to be sending forward to champion their causes.

The Boomers seem to be determined to die in their offices rather than age gracefully. The most deranged generation.

 

[wareyin]

Yeah and like everything else how do we do that in a post-fact world where you can no longer convince ~40% of the population of something using facts nor shame them with standards?

They are wrong, they are proud of that fact, and they don't care about anything else.

What do you do when someone is standing in front of you with no pants screeching at you because your fly is down and everything in their attitude is shouting that it's an intentional trolling affect, that pointing out that they are are 1000% worse than you is exactly what they want you to do because they don't care how "bad" they are, they love it because it gives them power over us?

How do you combat wrongness when it turns into an intentional flex?

Apparently what we need to do is be more understanding and listen to them. Being told that we get them and understand their feelings is supposed to make them change their mind or something. Don't ask me how, it's just what we're supposed to be doing, because the fact that Trump got more votes after umpteen million "Trump voter in a rural diner" point of view articles is good evidence that understanding them makes them self-examine and stop harming themselves and others...

 

[Stacyhs]

It's pretty funny watching the Trumpists try to claim that Biden is particularly unfit as a geriatric after spending 4 years pretending Trump was the ideal male specimen.

There's probably something to be said that this country seems to have a generation that refuses to pass the baton, and instead we are running into the ground with a gerontocracy in charge. This doesn't really offer much opportunity for partisan attack given the crop of decrepit senior citizens both sides seem to be sending forward to champion their causes.

The Boomers seem to be determined to die in their offices rather than age gracefully. The most deranged generation.

I was with you until the second paragraph and the last is just downright ridiculous. Yes, the average age of a Congress member has gotten older but not because of the "graceless" Boomers: the age of Congress has steadily gotten older since its creation. In fact, in comparison to the age of the rest of the population, the age gap has actually gotten smaller. Has it occurred to you that people live longer, healthier, more active lives than they used to? In 1900, a person in their 60's was OLD. Not so today.

There have always been "elderly" Congress members mixed in with younger members.

In recent years commentators have increasingly weighed in on the greying of Congress. In 2010 The Hill noted that “the oldest Congress ever is getting hip to new technology.” NBC boldly declared that on Capitol Hill, “old is in.” Most observers attributed this to the power of incumbency, and to legislators deciding to stay in office longer. As Slate’s Explainer explained, “Dips and surges in the age of our legislators probably have less to do with our attitudes toward the elderly than with views about incumbents.”

While incumbency undoubtedly plays a role here, there’s an even larger – and simpler - factor at play: Congress has aged because the nation has aged with it. The chart below shows average age in the House and Senate since 1900, and adds the median age of the total population over the same period.

Average age in the House and Senate was flat for much of the century, before dipping in the 1970s and rising steadily thereafter. But the median age has been on a steady rise all along, with a small dip from the 50s to the 70s caused by the baby boom. In fact, the gap between the median age and congressional age actually shrunk over that time period, implying that Congressmen are actually younger relative to the rest of the population today than they were 100 years ago.

Here the downward trend is even more pronounced – today the average Congressman is roughly 1.5x as old as the average U.S. citizen. Again, the ratio is much smaller than it was in the early 1900s, when the average Congressman was anywhere from 2 to 2.5 times as old as the average citizen. If that same ratio held true today, the average Senator would be 93 years old! The actual Senatorial average of 63 is downright sprightly by comparison.
More to the point, this chart shows that in recent years the ratio of Congressional age to median age has been flat – today, Congress is older than the rest of us by the same amount as it was ten years ago. In the end, it’s clear that Congressmen are indeed getting older – but so is everybody else.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...s-is-getting-older-but-so-are-the-rest-of-us/

 

[TurkeysGhost]

I was with you until the second paragraph and the last is just downright ridiculous. Yes, the average age of a Congress member has gotten older but not because of the "graceless" Boomers: the age of Congress has steadily gotten older since its creation. In fact, in comparison to the age of the rest of the population, the age gap has actually gotten smaller. Has it occurred to you that people live longer, healthier, more active lives than they used to? In 1900, a person in their 60's was OLD. Not so today.

There have always been "elderly" Congress members mixed in with younger members.


https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...s-is-getting-older-but-so-are-the-rest-of-us/

Perhaps my perspective is skewed by the seeming infirmity of leadership that rewards seniority.

When you have people like Feinstein seemingly getting confused as to what is happening or McConnell who looks like a walking corpse, it's easy to get the wrong idea.

Feinstein is signaling she plans to run for re-election at 91.

ETA: A debate moderator should ask her to draw a clock if anyone primaries her.

 

[JoeMorgue]

I've said before.

Congress skewing "old" is one thing.

The average age of Congress being "statistically dead in 10 years" is another.

Long term decisions are being made by people who know full well they will not live to deal with the consequences. Even if we assume (naively) 100% good intentions you can't tell me that doesn't have a negative effect.

 

[Stacyhs]

Perhaps my perspective is skewed by the seeming infirmity of leadership that rewards seniority.

When you have people like Feinstein seemingly getting confused as to what is happening or McConnell who looks like a walking corpse, it's easy to get the wrong idea.

Feinstein is signaling she plans to run for re-election at 91.

I doubt Feinstein will run. She would not be the first member to stay in office past her expiration date nor will she be the last. However, as for her signaling that she may run again because she filed paperwork:

"In short, all senators must maintain a campaign committee, whether they plan to run again or not," Mentzer wrote. "In order to keep that account active, the senator has to maintain current filings with the FEC. The situation you wrote about was in fact a change-of-address form for the campaign committee that had already been established. It doesn’t speak to the senator’s future plans at all."

https://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/Sen-Feinstein-87-files-paperwork-to-run-for-15866190.php


McConnell may look like a walking corpse but he is still a very effective politician whether you like his politics or not.

 

[Belz...]

I've said before.

Congress skewing "old" is one thing.

The average age of Congress being "statistically dead in 10 years" is another.

Long term decisions are being made by people who know full well they will not live to deal with the consequences.

Worse: long term decisions being made by people who are no longer aligned with the culture of the day. People who don't understand a changing world.

 

[Stacyhs]

I've said before.

Congress skewing "old" is one thing.

The average age of Congress being "statistically dead in 10 years" is another.

Long term decisions are being made by people who know full well they will not live to deal with the consequences. Even if we assume (naively) 100% good intentions you can't tell me that doesn't have a negative effect.

They have children and grandchildren whom they love that will live to deal with the consequences. I think it's more a matter of political philosophy how they feel about future consequences. The GOP is far less concerned with the future than how wallets are being affected now, thus their anti-science/global warming and pro-fossil fuel/ pro-business policies.

 

[acbytesla]

You have to wonder exactly what do Republicans think there is to gain by pushing this narrative?

Seriously, Trump was a bumbling moron for 4 years and he somehow lasted a full term. Do they really want Kamala Harris as POTUS?

 

[slyjoe]

You have to wonder exactly what do Republicans think there is to gain by pushing this narrative?

Seriously, Trump was a bumbling moron for 4 years and he somehow lasted a full term. Do they really want Kamala Harris as POTUS?

One thing the Trump supporters gain is something else to hang their hat on when you ask what is wrong with Biden.

Saw this with the BIL. It was actually amazing the twists and turns he went through. Like Biden totally messed up the border? I said "in 3 months? That's quite an accomplishment."

Remember, irony and Trump's own actions are lost on these people.

 

[Stacyhs]

One thing the Trump supporters gain is something else to hang their hat on when you ask what is wrong with Biden.

Saw this with the BIL. It was actually amazing the twists and turns he went through. Like Biden totally messed up the border? I said "in 3 months? That's quite an accomplishment."

Remember, irony and Trump's own actions are lost on these people.

I can commiserate. I've got a BIL like that, too.

 

[Norman Alexander]

You have to wonder exactly what do Republicans think there is to gain by pushing this narrative?

Seriously, Trump was a bumbling moron for 4 years and he somehow lasted a full term. Do they really want Kamala Harris as POTUS?

It is exactly this: A desperate diversion from the rank corruption and failures of their own guy whom they worshiped and got grifted by. They cannot possibly have been wrong, made a mistake with him. So anyone, anything, any situation will do as an attempt at a distraction. Biden stutters? Harris is coloured? Asian? Ongoing governmental problems? Attacks on Tucker? Some Dem somewhere has not got straight teeth? Pick one. Pick any one. Pick them all. Just don't mention the T-word.

 

[acbytesla]

It is exactly this: A desperate diversion from the rank corruption and failures of their own guy whom they worshiped and got grifted by. They cannot possibly have been wrong, made a mistake with him. So anyone, anything, any situation will do as an attempt at a distraction. Biden stutters? Harris is coloured? Asian? Ongoing governmental problems? Attacks on Tucker? Some Dem somewhere has not got straight teeth? Pick one. Pick any one. Pick them all. Just don't mention the T-word.

Yeah, that makes sense. As Dems, we need to ignore it.

 

[dudalb]

At least Biden does not run away from a few peaceful protestors the way the MTG and Matt Gaetz did today.

 

[Belz...]

You have to wonder exactly what do Republicans think there is to gain by pushing this narrative?

A collective experience of an in-group, pitted against an out-group.

It's that simple, at the core.

 

[dudalb]

A collective experience of an in-group, pitted against an out-group.

It's that simple, at the core.

Yeah, pretty much.
It's a common political tactic with both parties, but the GOP Has truly taken it to extremes.

 

[TurkeysGhost]

/thread

That's really the long and the short of it.

No one here is even arguing with the subject of the thread. The response has been nothing more than a "yeah, we know."

Looking back at older footage of Biden's very long career, I think it's pretty clear that he isn't as sharp as he once was. Not to say that he's being lead around on a leash by his staffers and drooling on his desk, but the normal drop in mental acuity that comes with age is apparent.

It's pretty odd to see Trump fans trying to make a jab of this considering that Trump seems to be barely coherent sometimes. He was never an intellectual juggernaut, but comparisons to his younger days shows a real drop in his ability to banter in a coherent manner. That's not even to mention his obvious physical failings and weird habits, such as his aversion to stairs, accusations of wearing a diaper, vanity around his obvious obesity, or the speculation that he refuses to wear glasses he desperately needs to be able to read.

 

[Belz...]

Yeah, pretty much.
It's a common political tactic with both parties, but the GOP Has truly taken it to extremes.

Oh, yes. The GOP has become a cult, full stop. It's denied the primacy of facts, created a religious narrative of events, an dreadful enemy (Child-eating democrats!), a fiction of being oppressed (by Twitter and a tyrannical government hell-bent on helping you), a secret path to arcane knowledge (Q and Newsmax), symbols, mantras and rituals, and an apocalyptic prophecy.

And they have a religious experience at those rallies. It doesn't matter if what Trump says is true. It doesn't even matter that they believe it. It only matters that they have the experience together. They've created what essentially amounts to a safe space in a world that no longer fits their wishes.

 

[Thermal]

Looking back at older footage of Biden's very long career, I think it's pretty clear that he isn't as sharp as he once was. Not to say that he's being lead around on a leash by his staffers and drooling on his desk, but the normal drop in mental acuity that comes with age is apparent.

It's pretty odd to see Trump fans trying to make a jab of this considering that Trump seems to be barely coherent sometimes. He was never an intellectual juggernaut, but comparisons to his younger days shows a real drop in his ability to banter in a coherent manner. That's not even to mention his obvious physical failings and weird habits, such as his aversion to stairs, accusations of wearing a diaper, vanity around his obvious obesity, or the speculation that he refuses to wear glasses he desperately needs to be able to read.

Never understood that. I started needed reading glasses a few years ago and my wife loves them on me. Alex Trebec Effect or something.

 

[xjx388]

Shuffled off a bunch of bickering posts as well as some off-topic posts. This thread is specifically about Biden. Some drift about comparisons may be appropriate, but there are plenty of other places to talk about Trump and other politicians specifically.

And just to be clear, directly making accusations concerning trolling is against the MA. Whatever you may think in that regard, please keep to the topic at hand. Thanks.

Replying to this modbox in thread will be off topic  Posted By: xjx388