And that interview is a recent episode of the “Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend” podcast.
I have to admit, I was a little nervous at first to listen to it; I’ve been so inundated with depictions in the media of Biden being this doddering, semi-senile fossil. And I’m not even talking right-wing media— talk show hosts like Fallon and Kimmel love to make jokes about what an ancient, rambling, decrepit fool he supposedly is. I understand they want to be equal opportunity jokers, but their barbs at Biden seem to often cross a line and be unfair and unwarranted.
Anyway, in the half hour interview with Conan, Biden was warm, engaging, funny, smart, knowledgeable, and just an all-around great interview. He told a few long anecdotes, which concerned me that he’d get a bit rambly or lose his train of thought, but he always brought the story around deftly to a point he was making, or an amusing punchline. He comes across as a sharp and very decent person. I suppose the interview could have been edited to make him appear in the best light possible, but if so, it was very well done— there was no obvious evidence of editing that I could tell.
Anybody who can listen to that Biden interview, and then listen to equal time of any interview with trump, and come away thinking “trump’s the guy for me”, well, I do not want to know that person.
I didn’t know if it was available online without subscribing to it through a podcast app, but it turns out that it is. Here is a link to the episode that can be listened to directly on the teamcoco.com site:
I don’t doubt that Biden may still be mentally sharp, but I don’t see a reason to support him as the (D) nominee when there are many thousands of other, much-younger Democrats who are also as equally or more mentally sharp.
It’s like selling me a 30-year old Toyota that still runs well. Sure, but why should I buy it when I, for the same price, can get a 2-year old Toyota that runs equally well or better? (Maybe not the best analogy)
Would you rather have a second Biden term, or a second Trump term? Because Biden’s going to be the nominee, like it or not. And if you don’t vote for Biden because you’d rather have someone else running, that’s how we wind up with a second (and third, and fourth) Trump term.
Those other people you’d rather see nominated can have their turn after Biden is reelected.
I had already heard (and then watched) that interview, and I agree with the OP completely. Biden is sharp as a tack. Trump is an incoherent moron. Anyone viewing this election as a battle of cognitive superiority who picks Trump is living in an alternate reality.
Unfortunately, it’s not just right wing telling us that Biden sucks. MSNBC is just awful. I can’t watch much of it these days.
Lemire on Way too early can’t open his mouth without mentioning how awful the polls are for Biden.
I watched the interview yesterday and I see a good man who is up there in years but still has his wits about him. He is empathetic and kind. I do hope we will all give him another term.
A lot of leftists are upset over him not calling for a ceasefire. I can’t pretend that I know everything that’s going on in that region, but it seems to me like they have some good points, (I’m open to being corrected). I mean, there are a lot of Israeli citizens who seem to want the bombing to stop.
They’re saying, if we unilaterally say we’re all voting for Biden this early, we’ll have no opportunities to hold his feet to the fire on these issues. I’m personally voting for Biden if he’s the only one to stand in the way of Trump, but I guess I understand where these people are coming from.
I mean, the fact that the news network has to kiss Biden’s ass for people not to be upset is weird. I know the steaks are high, I just think that people should still be able to criticize people in power, and ask tough questions.
The reason to support him is that he’s the Democratic nominee. (I’m not even going to say “presumptive.”) He is the incumbent, and not running the incumbent implies your presidency was a failure. And Biden did not fail. He did better than most progressives expected, in fact. Not running the incumbent is what you do when you have a weak candidate, and thus you lose.
I don’t get the talk like this at all. All it does is help the Republican nominee by creating division. Once you know who the nominee is, that should be the end of the infighting.
Besides, experience counts. Being younger isn’t inherently better. You’d need someone younger who has the same level of experience. And we do not have that BIden won the Democratic nomination in 2020 for a reason.
It’s far better to take a perceived weakness and use it as a strength than to use it to tear down. That is, after all, what Trump has done. What we see as the reason not vote for him is exactly why his base loves him.
Not what I said, at all. I said that it’s foolish to talk about wanting to replace Biden as the nominee. It’s not going to happen, so all such talk does is hurt the Democratic chances. Especially when the reason you give is a Republican talking point that makes Biden seem unfit. It’s all harm.
That’s not the same thing as saying you can’t criticize his actual policies, and try to influence him and the party in one way or another. Those are things that could actually change something. But this talk of replacing him when it won’t happen? It’s all downside.
The above said, I don’t agree with the US leftist thought on this. I mean, I do agree that there should be a ceasefire. I agree that Israel is royally screwing this up, and only helping Hamas.
But Biden has concerns other than that. He has to say things in a way that the right wing government of Israel will listen to. There may be Israelis who want the war to stop, but they voted in this government. And that government is out for blood.
It’s like people have forgotten why being “politically correct” actually exists. It’s becasue sometimes you have to say the things you want to say in some other way. Biden is avoiding the term “ceasefire” because it’s a no-go on the national scene. That’s why he pushed the “pause,” WHICH WE GOT. And that’s how he’s going to keep pushing it that way.
We do have enough info to think that Biden is against the current Israeli policy. While most of it, like with competent foreign policy people (i.e. not Trump) will be behind closed doors, we did get a bit of a preview with a Biden official saying that Israel’s policy of wiping out Hamas will not work, and that they need more reasonable goals.
I have to admit, though, that I’m upset at how the US acted at the UN, but I have to think it’s about retaining influence. Because we know the US flat out told Israel that doing what we did in Afghanistan will not work. I have to think the US is hoping they can let Israel kill some Hamas, and calm them down enough to stop.
It just doesn’t make sense otherwise. Biden’s foreign policy people are veterans who know what they’re doing. And we know 100% that his original goal was to prevent WWIII, as he flat out said it.
Got it. interesting take. Why do we kiss the Israeli government’s butt, though? Or walk on glass with our words? It seems to me that we give them more than they give us…
By this point, nothing short of a stroke or coma will convince the DNC to run anyone other than Biden. They’re hell-bent on Biden regardless of his approval ratings or whatever their voters may complain. So yes, it doesn’t matter what we think of his cognitive assessments, we’re stuck with him.
The DNC doesn’t first look at merit, then decide on the best candidate. They first decide on a candidate, then try to figure out how to sell his/her merits to their voters.
If I go much further down this track it would derail the thread so I won’t, but - anyone who is well-accomplished in the Democratic world yet is substantially younger.
But, as someone once put it: “The Republicans are a party held hostage by their base, while the Democrats hold their base hostage.”
There were a few of them in the 2020 primaries. They didn’t do so well, and they likely wouldn’t have beaten Trump. I’ll take experience over young any day of the week.
Biden is the incumbent so he will be the nomination and when it comes to the General Election, not voting for Biden will mean supporting the Republican agenda.