Pony soldier
Biden: let’s not.
The phrase immediately got attention, with many confused by Biden’s choice of words. As it turns out, “lying dog-faced pony soldier” is a phrase Biden has used before. He attributes it to John Wayne, though its actual provenance is somewhat unclear.
And whether it is John Wayne or not, why say it? When campaigning for the presidency? To a very young female voter? Don’t we have enough of that kind of thing already?
Biden has been criticized in the past for responding to questions — especially questions posed by women — in ways that seem condescending, as when he called moderator Lyz Lenz a “lovely person” after her question at a September LGBTQ rights forum. And the moment in New Hampshire was another reminder that while Biden’s responses may seem folksy or homespun to some, to others they’re a sign that he’s not always treating voters with the seriousness they deserve.
And whether they seem folksy or homespun to some or not, why say it? When campaigning for the presidency? To a very young female voter? Don’t we have enough of that kind of thing already?
Biden’s “Uncle Joe” persona (sometimes, less flatteringly, “Creepy Uncle Joe”) was the subject of jokes during the Obama years. But he’s not the vice president anymore, the older foil to a young commander in chief. Now, Biden is running to be the leader of the country, and young voters are less likely to brush it off when he answers their questions with strange movie references — at 77, he has to prove that he actually understands them and their concerns.
He also has to convince us that he actually will live another five years, which is a little tricky when you’re 77.
I just think it’s egomaniacal of him to be running when he’s such a bad candidate in so many ways. Haven’t we had enough of egomaniacs yet?
It’s not just younger voters he needs to convince that he understands their issues. It’s older voters, specifically women voters. It is voters who are not old white men. Voters who have not spent their life in a cushy position with a high paid job. Voters who might have different ideas than “Creepy Uncle Joe”. Voters who might find him amusing as the weird uncle in the attic, but might be bothered a lot more if he was the head of the household.
As a woman, I find him offputting. I also find his loudly touted centrism and “working across the aisle” as offputting. The time has come to realize that the other side of the aisle has turned malignant, and is bad for America, and working with them isn’t as good an idea as finding a way to circumvent them (without leaving the people who voted for them in really bad condition; don’t publish the local voters who thought these people would represent them well).
Isn’t it rule 101 of politics? Never insult a potential voter and especially don’t insult them in front of the cameras.
I’ve never been a fan of Biden, and I’m getting more and more frustrated with this race. Most of my favorite candidates are out, only Elizabeth Warren is left. But instead, we’re talking about:
a) an old white guy who’s arrogant and talks a load of bollocks about Obama and reaching across the aisle
b) old white guy who’s arrogant and believes the American people will rise up to support his agenda. What does this even mean? Is he imagining a mass uprising? Those don’t usually go so well
c) a young white guy whose claim to be qualified for the presidency is his military service and being mayor of a small town in Indiana where his record on minority issues of policing and housing is not exactly stellar. Yeah, he’s gay, good for him. But there are many more women in America than gay men. Apparently he’s very charming. I think he’s a wanker.
d) A billionaire egomaniac who is buying his way into the race. Because that went so well last time.
Male > female, every single damn time. I’d prefer not to have to vote for any of them (I will because I sure ain’t voting for Trump and I’m not skipping my first ever US election).
And to add to iknklast’s point, there’s no point in trying to work with the other side. They’ll refuse to work with you anyway. Bipartisan has stopped meaning what it’s supposed to mean and now means agree with Republicans.
If a single Democrat had voted to acquit Trump, Republicans would never shut up about it being bipartisan. But since it was the other way around, suddenly it no longer counts and anyway Romney is a RINO or something.
Yes, what a diseased crop of blowhards. If someone would come forward who is not being puppeteered by the Trump Way Of Campaigning (aka the WWE formula), maybe we would have a chance for an electable candidate. Hillary knew how to beat Trump, and she did, by nearly 3m votes. We need someone like that, not some insult spewing twitter troll.
My husband was saying last night he wished Hillary would run again, she is the only one he can think of who knows how to defeat Trump. He’s probably right.
Iknklast, you keep your uncles in the attic?
Claire, what about Klobuchar?
As for Biden, yeah, that was weird. He ended up being right that the questioner falsely claimed to have been to a caucus, but who cares? He should have assumed she was telling the truth and could have made the same points (“well, then you know caucuses are…”).
And if for some reason he felt he had to cast doubt on her answer, he could have done it less obnoxiously and without using a phrase that might lead people to think he’d lost his marbles.
It took until the last minute, but Biden appears to be cratering. It’s for the best. I wish him well, but he had no business running for president at this late stage of his career.
Skeleton – nothing against Klobuchar really, she wouldn’t be my first choice, but I’d take her over another white dude any day of the week and twice on Sundays. But she has the problem Warren does – icky girl cooties.
What annoys me as well is how in 2016 the media loved to showcase people saying they’d love to vote for a woman for president just not that woman. Why didn’t Warren or [insert woman politician’s name] run? Oh but now, well, they’d love to vote for a woman, just not any of the ones who are or were running.
Only the ones that are creepy. ;-)
And most of us could predict that would happen. In fact, my son and I were talking right after the last election, and we agreed the most likely scenario is that if Warren ran, all of a sudden all of these “Oh, Warren, definitely” would suddenly find she had serious flaws. And I know a few of my friends who didn’t vote for Hillary for transparently sexist reasons (she was ambitious being the biggest – WTF?) who voted for Jill Stein. There, you see, I voted for a woman. Yes, but one who clearlyhad no chance of winning, especially since she had to be written in to vote for her in this state. She didn’t make the ballot.
Girl cooties – yep.