Joe Biden should pardon Rachel Maddow on humanitarian grounds

You can take it to the bank. Joe Biden will drop out of the 2024 presidential race. The New York Times editorial calling for Joe to step aside was the death knell for his reelection campaign, and everybody knows it.

Why doesn't Joe withdraw his candidacy to preserve his dignity and enjoy his golden years eating ice cream and clam strips at Rehoboth Beach? 

I'll tell you why. Family and friends in the Biden bunker fear what will happen to them if Dr. Dementus gets hold of the Justice Department. Trump might launch criminal investigations against the Lawfare crowd and Joe's relatives--the ones who reportedly have offshore banking accounts. Therefore, some of Biden's closest family members and advisers are urging him to hang on.

I think Biden's confidants would drop their efforts to keep Biden in the White House if Joe would issue blanket pardons to everybody who was complicit in Russiagate, the Hunter Laptop scandal, and the alleged Biden influence-peddling scam.

Obviously, Joe needs to pardon family members first. Jill, Hunter, Joe's children, and grandchildren should receive blanket pardons whether or not they did anything unlawful.

Then there are the lawyers who set up the Biden family's alleged money laundering scheme. They will want pardons. And Joe should pardon all those lawfare attorneys—Fani Willis, Alvin Bragg, Jack Smith, and others. 

On humanitarian grounds, Biden should also pardon all the people who are hysterical about the possibility of Trump becoming president again. They fear mass deportations, detention camps, paramilitary groups, death squads, and draconian restrictions on abortion.

Therefore, Biden should issue sweeping pardons to all of Trump's most vicious critics, including the ladies on "The View" and all the MSNBC commentators. I don't think any of these people did anything illegal. Still, a Biden Get-Out-Of-Jail card would ease their anxieties about possibly being sent to a concentration camp in rural Arkansas where they might be forced to pluck chickens.

Some of Trump's most paranoid fault finders may fear that a Biden pardon letter might get lost or misplaced when they need it most. For example, an MSNBC reporter might get arrested while her pardon letter was being laminated at Kinko's.

To alleviate this fear, Biden should offer to tattoo his pardon letter on the recipients' butts. 

Rachel Maddow is excessively worried about what might happen to her if Trump regains the White House. However, even Rachel would probably sleep better at night if she had a sweeping and all-encompassing presidential pardon tattooed for posterity on her rump.

What can Biden do to ease Rachel's anxiety about Donald Trump?

Kamala Harris is the real-world Furiosa after Immortan Joe's bad night

 Let me begin by admitting that I had a bad night. I had a cold that I might have taken Nyquil for, and I was suffering from prolonged jet lag from a trip to Florida a couple of years ago when I crossed into the Eastern Time Zone.

I have always enjoyed dystopian stories, so I settled into my Lazy Boy recliner and rented Furiosa to watch on my home TV. It only cost $25.

Furiosa is two and one-half hours long, but it seemed interminable. I got confused and lost the plot line. The movie is a story about a bewildering cast of people obsessed with the lust for power and a thirst for revenge. There was an old white guy named Immortan Joe, who appeared to be hooked up to an oxygen machine, and a young woman named Furiosa, who seemed to be attracted to chaos and never said anything coherent.  Furiosa may or may not have been a woman of color. Furiosa spent the whole movie plotting to kill Dr. Dementus, a strangely sentimental psychopath.  (Back story: Dr. Dementus received his doctorate from Delaware State University.)

When the movie ended, I switched on to CNN, which was breathlessly reporting that Joe Biden, an old white guy on oxygen, was being pushed out of the presidential race. Kamala Harris, CNN averred, remained fiercely loyal to Biden but was waiting in the wings to replace him to fight the epic election battle against Donald Trump, our present-day Dr. Dementus.

I'm embarrassed to confess that I got Furiosa and the CNN news coverage mixed up (head cold, jet lag, etc.). 

Then I realized that the CNN news coverage was really the trailer for the sequel to Furiosa. Kamala Harris is cast in the title role. Joe Biden will play the part of Immortan Joe. and Donald Trump signed on for the role of Dementus.

Furiosa has a host of minor players who will reappear in Furiosa II. Pete Buttigieg is cast as Bommyknocker Warboy, and Alejandro Mayorkas will play Pissboy and is already rehearsing.

Immortan Joe had a bad night.

Froma Harrop says the Biden economy is "amazingly strong." Are Americans too dumb to realize they're prospering?

 Froma Harrop, a second-string cheerleader for the mainstream media's Biden cheer squad, has been called out on the field to do a rah-rah-rah for Joe Biden's disastrous presidency.  

Biden's first-string cheerleaders--Paul Krugman, Nicholas Kristof, and Thomas Friedman--are exhausted and have stumbled back to the press corps's locker room, intellectually dehydrated. Step down from the presidency, Mr. Biden, they croak before lapsing into a deep political coma.

Not Froma! She's fresh as a daisy and cheerily chirps that Biden's America is "pretty great" and "doing fabulously well."

Harrop points out that the stock market is on a roll, and Americans are spending lavishly. Inflation is under control, she avers, and gasoline prices have come down. Harrop cites Jamie Dimond, JP Morgan's CEO, as saying the average consumer is much wealthier than before the pandemic.

But note the things Harrop did not talk about. Food prices have risen almost 20  percent since Biden took office, and American consumers are not mollified by Froma's observation that inflation is "a worldwide phenomenon."  

Harrop neglected to mention the shocking rise in the cost of housing, automobiles, homeowners insurance, and auto insurance. These rising costs--by themselves--are pushing millions of Americans out of the middle class.

Nor did Harrop think it necessary to mention that the United States is in a shooting war with Russia. It is true that Ukraine, America's proxy, is doing the fighting and dying, but America is buying the missiles, tanks, and ammo. And we are doing it with borrowed money. 

And then there's Israel's savage war in Gaza. The U.S. is providing Israel with the military assets it needs to fight Hamas, and where does that money come from?  No wonder the national debt has reached a catastrophic level.

Implicit in Harrop's Panglossian puff piece is the condescending notion that Americans are too stupid to realize they are prosperous and so delusional that more voters support Donald Trump than  Joe Biden to be our next president.

I look forward to Froma's spin on Biden's presidency after the donor class and the Deep State force Biden out of the presidential race. If she's smart, she will eventually follow the New York Times's lead and urge Biden to step down. 

And Froma is smart.

Joe Biden's presidency: Rah, rah, rah

Baby, Baby, Baby, We're Out of Time: Biden or Trump--We Are Toast

You're out of touch, my baby,

My poor, unfaithful baby,

I said, baby, baby, baby,

You're out of time

Out of Time

Rolling Stones (1966)

King Kong, a symbol of brute force and unpredictability (Donald Trump), and Godzilla, a representation of experience and stability (Joe Biden), engaged in a fierce battle on an Atlanta debate stage last Thursday night. CNN declared King Kong the victor, a decision echoed by the New York Times, potentially shifting public opinion.

Regrettably, both pugilistic debaters may have run out of time to sway American voters. Trump squandered a golden opportunity to present himself as a composed and thoughtful leader, while Biden failed to instill confidence in his mental acuity.

Concerning three major issues, America is also running out of time. First, we urgently need a national leader to guide us out of our proxy war with Russia, a task that cannot be delayed.

Second, we're running out of time to secure the nation's southern border. Biden doesn't want to do it, and Trump may be so tied up in litigation and political warfare that he might be unable to do what he repeatedly promises.

Third, our president, whoever that might be, must make a rigorous effort to get our national debt under control, or the U.S. dollar, which serves as the global standard for international trade, will lose its status as the world's reserve currency. But we may be out of time on that issue as well. Commitments to Medicare, Social Security, and national defense are so overwhelming that we may never be able to balance our nation's budget.

Trump or Biden? I'm at a loss. I'm even considering throwing my vote away and casting my ballot for RFK Jr. After all, it may not matter who wins the presidential election because, baby, baby, baby, we're out of time.

• America: Running Out Of Time

If the New York Times ain't happy, ain't nobody happy: The Gray Lady throws Joe Biden under trhe bus

 Perhaps you've heard that old Southern aphorism: "If mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy."

Today, I'm modifying this ancient pearl of wisdom to reflect on the odds against Joe Biden winning a second term as the leader of the Free World: If the New York Times, a powerful voice in American politics, ain't happy, ain't nobody happy. 

And the New York Times is not happy. Less than 24 hours after Biden's dismal debate performance against Donald Trump, the Times editorial board swiftly and decisively called for Biden to drop out as the Democratic Party's nominee for President.

New York Times columnists Thomas Friedman, Paul Krugman, and Nicholas Kristof--the Democratic Party's Pretorian Guard--joined the chorus, advising Biden to step away from the vehicle.

Nevertheless, some media voices are sticking with Joe despite the glaring signs that he suffers from dementia. The going-down-with-the-ship camp bases its misplaced loyalty on one of two arguments. 

First is the Howdy Doody crowd. These are the commentators who say that Trump is so odious that a diminished  Biden is preferable. These people would vote for Howdy Doody over Trump.

A second group is sticking with Biden based on race. One writer pointed out that Biden's leading critics are white men over sixty. And we all know we can't trust those guys.

Which group will prevail? My view is this: The New York Times has decreed that Biden must glide down the exit ramp. Eventually, all of Biden's supporters will fall in line.

Why didn't Howdy Doody run for president?

The Hill's Michael Starr Hopkins calls for Plan B after Trump-Biden Debate, but he ain't got no Plan B

 I was stunned by how quickly the mainstream media threw Joe Biden under the bus after last night's presidential debate with Donald Trump. It was as if the leftist pundits awoke from a deep sleep and realized for the first time that the Emperor was wearing no clothes!

Even the New York Times's op-ed writers, reliable lap dogs for the Democratic Party, admitted Joe's debate performance was dismal.

Michael Starr Hopkins, writing for The Hill,  undoubtedly spoke for millions of progressives when he wrote today that "Democrats need a Plan B." Unfortunately for the Trump haters. Hopkins has no Plan B.

Hopkins admitted it would be "political suicide" for the Democrats to switch candidates at this late hour, and thus, they must rally around Biden despite his glaring flaws. "We can't change the quarterback," he acknowledges, "but we can improve our playbook."

In essence, Hopkins argues that Biden can still defeat Trump on election day if Democrats simply repeat the shrill mantra that Biden is better than Trump.

It's a pathetic argument, and most Americans don't buy it. They're looking for a leader who can end the Ukrainian war before it goes nuclear. They are searching for someone who can shrink the national debt, which accrues interest at a trillion dollars every 100 days. They want a secure border that will keep rapists and human traffickers out of the country.

Biden has done nothing to address these problems—in fact, he created them or made them worse. I think Donald Trump will defeat Joe Biden in November. If so, Democrats will have only themselves to blame.

"If you vote for Biden, you ain't Jewish": Biden has alienated a crucial Democratic constituency

Remember when Joe Biden chided an African American radio host during the 2020 election season? "If you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or Trump," Biden flippantly claimed, "then you ain’t Black."

It was a racist remark, stereotyping all Black Americans as Blue Dog Democrats who would be denying their own interests if they voted Republican.

Now, that phrase has been turned against him as Jewish voters recoil from Biden's betrayal of Israel. As Varda Meyers Epstein wrote on the Elders of Zyon blog site, "If you vote for Biden, you ain't Jewish." Writing last month, Epstein accused Biden of betraying Israel in its life-or-death struggle with Hamas. Biden was "withholding arms and information," Epstein charged, and concealing "critical intelligence for later leverage, and was now using it—carrot and stick—to force Israel to stand down from Rafah."

Epstein might also have mentioned that Biden undermined Israel when he implicitly endorsed Senator Chuck Schumer's speech excoriating Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and calling for his ouster. Biden called Schumer's outrageous betrayal "a good speech."

Why has President Biden stabbed Israel in the back? Some commentators say he's afraid he'll alienate Michigan's Muslim voters before the November presidential election if he doesn't take a more pro-Palestian stance in the Gaza war. Michigan, after all, is a critical battleground state.

I disagree. I think Biden's betrayal is a cowardly capitulation to a rising tide of anti-semitism in the progressive wing of the Democratic Party. Racist Democrats hate Jews, and they don't care whether they alienate Jewish voters who have traditionally voted for the Democratic ticket.

If so, Biden made a fatal miscalculation. Even if he carries Michigan in the November election (a doubtful proposition), he may lose other states with significant Jewish populations. 

Earlier this week, New York voters swept Jamaal Bowman, a pro-Palestinian Congressman, out of office, and Jewish PAC money helped defeat him. Bowman had accused Israel of committing genocide, and Jewish voters took note.

Bowman's defeat is an indication of how Jews will probably vote in November. Jewish voters may have concluded that if they vote for Biden, "they ain't Jewish." And there are 1.4 million Jews in New York City alone.

Pro-Palestinian protesters outside a Jewish synagogue in Los Angeles
Photo credit: Wall Street Journal