Tan Suit Warning:
The morons on another site that I frequent are frothing because Joe the President signed a mask requirement order on Federal Property in the afternoon and just a few hours later was posing for a family portrait at the Lincoln Memorial in which all nine people in the picture are maskless, and thus was hypocritically going against his own EO.
I have a co-worker who is a Trump fan who spewed nonsense about the maskless appearance at the Lincoln Memorial.
While maybe not worth of the froth-spewing vitriol of the article – doesn’t the article have a point? They are maskless, on federal property, just hours after he signed an executive order requiring masks on federal property. Pskai’s response that they, “were celebrating a historic day” is particularly galling in light of all the families who’ve had to miss graduations, anniversaries, and other milestones in light of coronavirus restrictions.
Again, not impeachment material, but a short-sighted “own goal” by Biden.
In case anyone is wondering. Which I’m not.
To understand the back and forth over President Biden’s coronavirus relief bill, it helps to look back at a little history.
In Bill Clinton’s first weeks as president, he pushed for legislation meant to reduce the deficit, bring down interest rates and spark the economy. It received no votes from Republicans in the House or the Senate and passed only when Vice President Al Gore broke a 50-50 Senate tie.
In Barack Obama’s first weeks as president, he pushed for legislation to halt the financial crisis and revive the economy. It received no votes from House Republicans and only three from Senate Republicans, one of whom (Arlen Specter) soon switched parties.
This week, when I first saw the Biden administration’s unenthusiastic reaction to a coronavirus proposal from Senate Republicans, I was confused. Biden views himself as a dealmaker, and a president typically benefits from forging a bipartisan compromise.
So why isn’t Biden pursuing a two-step strategy — first pouring himself into a bipartisan deal and then following up with a Democratic bill that fills in the pieces he thinks were missing? Why does he instead seem to be leaning toward a single bill that would need only Democratic support to pass?
The answer has a lot to do with history: For decades, congressional Republicans have opposed — almost unanimously — any top priority of an incoming Democratic president. Biden and his aides believe they will be playing Charlie Brown to a Republican Lucy if they imagine this time will be different.
…Democrats’ central fear is a repeat of Obamacare, in which months of negotiation in 2009 nonetheless ended without Republican support. Biden would have then wasted his first months in office — and the country would have gone without additional money for vaccination, virus testing, unemployment insurance and more.
As Carl Hulse, The Times’s chief Washington correspondent, told me: “Democrats, including many now in the White House, remember 2009 very clearly, and they fear being strung along for months only to come away empty-handed. …”
Biden himself has made the same point in private conversations. “He said, basically, ‘I don’t want to go down the path we went down in 2009, when we negotiated for eight months and still didn’t have a product,’” Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia said on “Morning Joe” yesterday.
…
Bold in original.
There is an urgent timeline ticking away now on COVID relief, which wasn’t there with Obamacare.
I think a lot of people have been misunderstanding what Biden means by unity. He does not mean that Democrats should compromise with Republicans. By unity, Biden means that this is the Republicans’ chance to show they put country above party. He doesn’t expect Republicans to compromise their own values, but to be more than partisan obstructionists. He expects the same of Democrats–don’t compromise your values, but put country above party. We should unify around our shared values.
Unfortunately, I don’t think it’s possible for most (maybe any) Republicans to do that. They’ve become the party of stopping Democrats without any platform of their own. And the toxic radicalization of the Republican party forces Democrats to maintain their discipline simply to get anything done. And they must get things done.
At 5:30 this morning–
…
Republicans oppose the size of Biden’s proposal and have offered a smaller alternative. The president said he “will not settle” on his pandemic relief bill.
Rah-rah ree,
Kick 'em in the knee,
Rah-rah rass,
Kick 'em in the other knee!
What, you play rugby?
Biden is considering ending the intelligence briefings given to former president Trump. That sounds like a good idea, given how untrustworthy he is but to be honest, I had no idea that former presidents received intelligence briefings.
The White House has launched a weekly address from President Biden, reviving a presidential tradition that was paused under former President Trump that seeks to offer another tool to advance the administration’s agenda.
The first installment was released Saturday morning on social media, with the president using the opportunity to tout the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package he is trying get pushed through Congress.
“We’re putting together a plan that provides for emergency relief to people who are in desperate need now,” he said in the taped segment. “Everything from mortgage payments to unemployment insurance to rental subsidies to food security for children. It provides for small, medium-sized businesses to be able to open.”
…
There was no need for trump to have a weekly address, because the stream of blather that erupted from his piehole never paused.
The Democrats have been really bad at telling and selling their side of …well, anything. There are so many channels of communication available now, it’s only a matter of using them in a savvy way. Joe and the gang must aggressively get the Democratic story OUT THERE in front of people’s faces.
That story appears to be nearly 3 weeks old. The current situation is Biden washes his hands of the matter, giving the intel communities the discretion to decide how to respond to requests for intel reports. Which sounds like Individual-ONE will not be receiving reports, unless he specifically asks for specific ones.
As I said, I’m a little surprised that any former presidents get intelligence briefings.
There’s a wealth of experience there. They often provide valuable advice to current presidents, sometimes on matters involving current intelligence; in which case the advice will be better if they’re allowed access to current information.
I doubt Biden is going to ask Trump for advice about anything at all.
So where is it? I didn’t see a link in the story you cited. “Social media” isn’t a specific site.
Anybody got a link? – I’d need one accessible without signing in to facebook or whatever.
ETA: I tried googling, kept getting other speeches.
I’m guessing by the pictures it’s this. (ETA: Yep, that’s the link in the article.)
I’m not interested enough to look for it (maybe someone else will find it), but just FYI, you can read public Facebook sites without signing in to anything. I don’t have a FB account and I can see public FB pages.
Is that the whole address? It ran a bit over two minutes.
Well, sort of. A large chunk of the screen often gets covered with a box wanting me to sign up or sign in. I can make it slightly smaller, but I can’t make it go away, and it still covers a lot of the screen.
Looks like it. 2 1/2 minute video. From Politico:
I know Biden is trying to distance himself from the decision of whether Trump should get intel or not, but I don’t think he can entirely. The intelligence community isn’t going to decide whether Trump can get briefings or not – the various agencies may make a recommendation, or more likely simply raise concerns – but no bureaucrat is going to be willing to make a call this big. It will have to be the DNI, and Haines certainly isn’t going to make this decision without some consultation with the White House.
Thanks.
Makes sense, I guess. Biden’s kind of busy right now.