I'm a Biden electability skeptic of long standing, and recent events have only deepened my skepticism.
My old argument was that Biden was just enjoying the reflected glory of Obama, and his mediocrity would emerge as soon as he had to be his own man. He lost Democratic primaries a couple times because he's bad at campaigning. The passage of time would not make him better at this.
Now there's a big new problem. Through no great fault of his own, the right-wing smear machine has its biggest guns pointed straight at him. They have to defend Trump from the quid pro quo scandal, and the best way to do it is to shoot at Biden.
(I like calling this the 'quid pro quo' scandal. Say we discover more quid pro quos. With the Saudis? With Erdogan? With Uncle Vladimir? The name rightly weaves them into the scandal. And it supports an obviously important rule: No trading public stuff for private favors!)
If I were in charge of defending Trump, and Biden was my general-election opponent, I'd go for the 2-for-1 that defends Trump as it attacks Biden: Deep Biden skulduggery was going on in Ukraine, and Trump was heroically fighting it.
Obviously this involves making up nonsense. But Fox News can easily push made-up stories about Ukraine. Americans are not knowledgeable about matters in Ukraine. And Putin might be of assistance.
So. The right-wing noise machine getting an early start against an establishment democrat? On nonsense that Uncle Vladimir is in good position to help push? And we chose the candidate for electability! Do you know how this story ended last time?
If you don't, I can send you some emails.
My old argument was that Biden was just enjoying the reflected glory of Obama, and his mediocrity would emerge as soon as he had to be his own man. He lost Democratic primaries a couple times because he's bad at campaigning. The passage of time would not make him better at this.
Now there's a big new problem. Through no great fault of his own, the right-wing smear machine has its biggest guns pointed straight at him. They have to defend Trump from the quid pro quo scandal, and the best way to do it is to shoot at Biden.
(I like calling this the 'quid pro quo' scandal. Say we discover more quid pro quos. With the Saudis? With Erdogan? With Uncle Vladimir? The name rightly weaves them into the scandal. And it supports an obviously important rule: No trading public stuff for private favors!)
If I were in charge of defending Trump, and Biden was my general-election opponent, I'd go for the 2-for-1 that defends Trump as it attacks Biden: Deep Biden skulduggery was going on in Ukraine, and Trump was heroically fighting it.
Obviously this involves making up nonsense. But Fox News can easily push made-up stories about Ukraine. Americans are not knowledgeable about matters in Ukraine. And Putin might be of assistance.
So. The right-wing noise machine getting an early start against an establishment democrat? On nonsense that Uncle Vladimir is in good position to help push? And we chose the candidate for electability! Do you know how this story ended last time?
If you don't, I can send you some emails.
