Tag Archives: Joe Biden

political news

Not missing convention noise

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Given the nature of presidential nominating conventions and their evolution from actual conventions to televised infomercials, I am prepared to say that I do not necessarily miss all the trappings of the way the conventions used to be piped into my living room.

The Democrats have nominated Joe Biden as their 2020 presidential candidate; they’re about to select Kamala Harris as Biden’s running mate.

They’re doing all this remotely, per the conditions brought on the COVID pandemic.

We’re getting the speeches, the TV spots extolling the candidates, the testimonials. Just like before. The only thing missing is the thunderous applause in the convention hall and the sight of delegates cavorting on the floor of the place wearing the goofy hats and buttons.

I get the drift of what the Democratic Party is trying to tell us. Next week the Republican Party will do its thing. They’re both going to be “virtual” conventions. The one big difference will be that Donald Trump will make his acceptance speech in the White House, a publicly owned, federal building that is supposed to be exempt from partisan political activity. Aww, but what the heck. Trump doesn’t give a rip about risking federal employees to potential criminal liability by making them violate the Hatch Act, which prohibits them from participating in partisan activity.

But … the beat goes on. We’ll have two presidential tickets named after next week. We have broken from the normal way we usually do these things. It’s still legitimate.

Now comes the rest of it, which is the sprint to the finish.

May the better ticket win. Oh, and I hope with every fiber of my being that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris cross the finish line first.

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Why the squabble over GOP support?

I hear that some Democrats are miffed because their virtual presidential nominating committee includes testimonials for Joe Biden from, get ready for it, Republicans.

My answer: Get used to it.

The presumed Democratic presidential nominee is known as a bipartisan kind of guy. He worked across the aisle during his 36 years as a U.S. senator from Delaware. As vice president, he did the same thing, working with Republican legislators on critical fiscal matters.

That the Democratic presidential nominee would welcome the endorsement of Republicans is no surprise. One of his best friends in the Senate was the late John McCain, the Republican Vietnam War hero. McCain was no fan of Donald Trump. The late senator’s wife, Cindy, is going to line up behind her friend Joe Biden’s candidacy.

So has former Ohio Gov. John Kasich, former EPA administrator and New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman, former U.S. Rep. Susan Molinari and former Secretary of State Colin Powell.

Democrats who are grumbling about the infusion of Republicans standing up for the Democratic nominee need to get over themselves.

Their party is on the verge of nominating someone who knows the value of compromise and who uses that concept to further the cause of good government legislation.

The nation needs more of the bipartisan spirit that Joe Biden seeks to bring to the office of president of the United States.

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Trump unhinged

I am trying to fathom the reasons that millions of American voters are continuing to argue for the re-election of the man pictured here.

So help me I am at a total loss.

Donald Trump keeps threatening to do bodily harm to our democratic process if the November presidential election doesn’t turn out the way he wants.

He is indicating he might not accept the result of an election that favors Joseph R. Biden Jr. He already has said that a Biden victory would guarantee a “rigged” election. So he’ll do what? Demand a recount? Toss the ballots out? Start over?

Then he said he deserves a “do-over” because President Obama and Vice President Biden “spied” on his campaign during the 2016 election season. Spied? Oh, that was when the FBI and others reported to the Obama administration that Russians were interfering in the election, so the Obama folks wanted to take a closer look at it.

The FBI already has determined there was no “spying.” That hasn’t shut Trump’s pie hole.

The latest gem is that he might seek a third term if — and I am swallowing hard to say these next few words — he wins re-election.

Oh, but wait. The U.S. Constitution’s 22nd Amendment says a president can be elected twice. That’s it. No more. Is he going to demand an amendment to the Constitution? Good luck with that one, Donald.

Watching The Donald flail and flounder this way simply brings to mind my astonishment in the support he continues to pull from the roughly 40 percent (give or take) of the American voting public. What on Earth, in the name of political sanity, do they see in this individual?

The third term suggestion might be some sort of Trumpian joke, although The Donald seems to possess no discernible sense of humor. The “spying” allegation is just one more smear that Trump insists on leveling at Barack Obama, given what I believe is his intense envy at the sophistication his immediate predecessor demonstrated during his two terms in office.

Whether to accept the election result if former VP Biden wins? In some sort of macabre way, many of us saw that one coming long ago … about the time he rode down that Trump Tower escalator to declare his candidacy for the only public office he ever sought.

Trump is unhinged.

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The moment swept me away

I find myself at times trying to avoid getting caught up in moments when I see things occurring in real time.

It happened to me Monday night watching the opening of the Democratic National Committee’s virtual presidential nominating convention.

I have no need to stipulate that I want Joe Biden to become the next president. Oops! I just did!

Watching the assorted celebrities, politicians and oh yes, former first lady Michelle Obama make their case for why Biden is the right man at the right time to correct the wrong policies that Donald Trump has enacted almost swept me out of my chair.

The first night event was quite stirring, with testimonials from pandemic victims’ loved ones, from Republican politicians speaking on behalf of a Democratic politician. I also must give a shout out to the spine-tingling way the DNC presented the singing of the National Anthem.

I am left to wonder: How are the Republicans going to top this? How does Trump make anyone apart from the fervent base feel better about re-electing him as president? What is he going to say? How is he going to say it?

I am acutely aware that the Republican National Committee has its share of marketing geniuses and gurus. They’ll put on a show, too. Right now I am having difficulty imagining how they will top what the Democrats are prepared to deliver as the 2020 presidential campaign kicks into high gear.

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Voting early: an option for sure

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I cannot believe I am about to admit to possibly doing the following thing: voting early.

Donald Trump’s open warfare on the vote by mail process being promoted by Democrats has given me serious pause to break from my Election Day tradition.

I much prefer voting in person, at the polling place, on Election Day.

The COVID-19 pandemic, along with Trump’s campaign to dismember the U.S. Postal Service is giving me second thoughts.

I am not exactly a full-throated backer of mail-in voting. Given the threat of standing in line with dozens or hundreds of other voters while we’re battling a killer pandemic, I prefer voting by mail to the normal voting process. Trump is threatening to forestall mail-in voting by cutting funds for the USPS. He even admits to seeking to derail the Postal Service for political reasons: mail-in voting favors Democrats, Trump says, and we just cannot have that.

This is a disgraceful politicization of an agency that for many decades has been held in the highest regard by the American public.

Meanwhile, I am left to ponder whether I want to stand in line on Election Day or vote early, when the crowds traditionally are much thinner.

Given the stakes, I am leaning toward voting early. Oh, man. I cannot possibly articulate why that troubles me. It just does.

However, if the option — absent a vote-by-mail program enacted in Texas — is to wait on Election Day in a crowd of strangers while we’re all fighting a viral pandemic that could kill us … you get my drift, yes?

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Time for a vision

There won’t be cheering crowds. No balloon drops. No demonstrations of delegates wearing goofy hats and festooned with buttons of all sizes, colors and slogans.

No. The Democratic National Convention is going to be a “virtual” event with speakers talking to the nation from their own living rooms, or their dens, or their basements.

What has to happen at this event, in my humble view, is not unique to this uniquely delivered political event. What we need is to hear a vision for the future from presidential nominee Joe Biden, from vice-presidential nominee Kamala Harris and from the assortment of speakers who will talk to us over the course of the next four days.

You see, that element has existed in political conventions going back through the history of our great and beloved republic.

I do not expect to hear a futuristic vision from Donald Trump, the Republican whose party convention occurs next week. Trump is trading on division and disunity, on distrust of others and on fear. I look for him to keep beating that drum all the way to the election.

What’s left for Democrats? They have to lay out a plan for how they intend to fix what Trump has damaged. Trump has wrecked our international alliances; he was impeached over his attempts to bribe a foreign leader for dirt on Joe Biden; he has sought to dismantle environmental protections; Trump has threatened to deport U.S. residents who came here as children because their parents sneaked into the country without proper documentation.

The Democrats’ strategy is as traditional as any part of this nominating process that hasn’t been altered by the coronavirus pandemic. They need to speak plainly and honestly to Americans who will tune in.

I will be one of them. I am awaiting a message of hope and revival and I damn sure don’t need a cheering crowd to persuade me to prefer their message over the fear-mongering that will come from Donald Trump.

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Cease-fire? Really?

The Joe Biden-Kamala Harris presidential ticket has made a pledge it might have difficulty keeping.

They have declared a “partisan cease-fire” while Donald Trump is mourning the death of his brother, Robert. It’s a grand gesture, showing a brand of empathy and compassion we complain has been lacking in the current president.

But how are Joe Biden and Kamala Harris going to avoid taking shots at Trump while their political party stages its virtual convention in Milwaukee beginning on Monday?

Presidential nominating conventions by definition are the most partisan events imaginable. Speakers usually spend their podium time trashing the folks in the other party. You know?

Well, let’s just see how this plays out.

Donald Trump certainly is entitled to an appropriate amount of time to mourn his brother’s death. However, politics awaits.

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No more name-calling

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Joseph R. Biden Jr. has vowed to restore “decency” to the White House if he’s elected president of the United States.

That is a noble goal. I endorse the former vice president’s appeal to the better angels among us. He has summoned them to me.

Accordingly, I am making a command decision regarding High Plains Blogger. I hereby declare an end to the name-calling that has peppered many of my recent blog posts criticizing Donald J. Trump.

You know what I mean, right? I have at times used the term “So and So in Chief” when referring to Trump. That’s now over. Officially.

This blog will continue to criticize Trump harshly when the need arises. I figure it will arise often. So there you have it.

As for the name-calling, I won’t go there.

I figure if I am going to endorse one presidential candidate’s demand for decency, I ought to practice what my preferred candidate preaches. It’s the right thing to do.

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This is class personified

In an earlier, more genteel time this kind of message wouldn’t call much attention to itself. You can read it here.

Donald Trump’s brother died this weekend and the man against whom he will run for president sent this message to the president and his family.

It’s the kind of message that should be sent. Indeed, it should go without mentioning, but we live in callous, coarse times. Donald Trump as often as not has led the chorus of callousness with his reaction — or non-reaction — to personal tragedies that befall other politicians, particularly those with whom he has disagreements.

When the former vice president talks about “restoring decency” to the presidency, I will conclude that messages such as the one he sent to Donald Trump define what he means.

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Not so strange after all

Media pundits continue to make something of a ruckus over the recent political history involving Joseph R. Biden and Kamala Harris, that Harris roughed up Biden in a couple of debates before she dropped out of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary contest.

They’re now on the same Democratic ticket. So I am left to wonder: Why the fascination? It’s hardly the first time political rivals have hooked up, buried the hatchet and locked arms in the fight against a common opponent.

In 1960, Sens. Lyndon Johnson and John F. Kennedy fought for the Democratic nomination. They spoke harshly of each other. LBJ pulled out at the end of that primary fight. JFK was looking for someone to help strengthen him in the South. So he turned to Sen. Johnson. They won that race. Fate, though, tragically intervened when JFK died from an assassin’s bullet in November 1963.

In 1980, former Gov. Ronald Reagan and former CIA director/U.N. ambassador/former congressman/former special envoy to China George H.W. Bush butted heads for the Republican nomination. Bush chided Reagan’s fiscal policy as “voodoo economics.” Reagan survived and then selected Bush to be his VP. The two of them served together through two successful terms.

In 2008, for heaven’s sake, Sens. Barack Obama and Joe Biden fought for their party’s nomination. Biden didn’t last long. He took his shots at Obama, who fired back at his foe. Obama got nominated and had Biden at his side for two terms.

So now it’s Sen. Harris who’s being examined. Is she loyal enough? Does the presumptive nominee trust her to be a team player?

Biden has been through the VP vetting process. He knows what to ask, where to look.

Harris’s selection is historic. Many have made much of that fact, given her racial and ethnic background. Biden’s decision to select her, though, doesn’t look like much of a gamble. LBJ, George H.W. Bush and Biden himself already have blazed recent trails that led them all to the vice presidency.

Let’s worry less about the recent past between these two politicians and concern ourselves more with the policy positions they share and will take to the fight against Donald Trump and Mike Pence.

It’s game on, man!