Posted in2024 election Donald Trump Joe Biden

Trump wins big in Iowa. May he lose big to Biden.

Living as I do in a vote-by-mail state where ballots are filled out in the comfort of one's home, then put in a mailbox with postage paid by Oregon's enlightened government, it baffles me why a state would vote in any other way. Like, by traveling to a site where you may have to stand in line for a long time before being able to vote. But that makes more sense than choosing a candidate in the Republican primary for president by having people attend caucuses in bitterly cold weather in mid-January where a couple of hours of discussion precedes…
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Posted in2024 election Donald Trump Joe Biden

I’m freaking out about Biden’s weakness against Trump

With a year to go until the 2024 presidential election, is it too soon for Democrats to freak out about the horrific New York Times/Siena College poll released yesterday? President Biden is trailing Donald J. Trump in five of the six most important battleground states one year before the 2024 election, suffering from enormous doubts about his age and deep dissatisfaction over his handling of the economy and a host of other issues, new polls by The New York Times and Siena College have found. The results show Mr. Biden losing to Mr. Trump, his likeliest Republican rival, by margins…
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Posted inJoe Biden

Biden impeachment inquiry shows how crazy Republicans are

Hmmmm. The Constitution says that a president can be impeached for "high crimes and misdemeanors." So you'd think that if the House of Representatives embarks on such a serious step, there would be evidence of a high crime or misdemeanor.  But a minor detail like evidence isn't about to stop Biden-hating Republicans from initiating an impeachment inquiry, since they can't say what horrible thing Biden is supposed to have done. So they're going to act like they're in an existentialist novel where the accused is to be convicted without being told what crime they committed. "Biden must have done something,"…
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Posted inJoe Biden National politics

Marjorie Taylor Greene gives Joe Biden a gigantic gift

Watching last night's State of the Union address was highly pleasurable for me in several ways. One, Biden gave a great speech with energy belying his 80 years. Two, ultra-MAGA-crazy Marjorie Taylor Greene gave Biden a great gift when she yelled "you lie" and other things at him while doing her best angry baboon imitation. (To those who think it's insulting to baboons to pair them with Greene, the image popped up in my Twitter feed today, so complain to whoever came up with this inspired comparison -- which admittedly puts baboons in a bad light that they don't deserve.)…
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Posted inJoe Biden National politics

Biden’s classified documents screwup irritates this Democrat

Even though I'm a proud member of the Democratic "tribe," I also believe that when my political party does something wrong, I should be almost as irritated as when Republicans do that thing. I said almost because I'm a realist: even though it would be nice if I could be evenhanded when it comes to wrongdoing by Democrats and Republicans, the fact that I'm a Democrat means that I'm going to look somewhat more positively on screwups by my fellow Dems. Which is how most parents look upon their children. When your child gets into trouble, you're disturbed, but you…
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Posted inJoe Biden National politics

Bring on higher gas prices, since it punishes Putin

Nobody likes to pay more for gasoline. But we all should be pleased to do this when it keeps American money out of the hands of the Russian thug, Vladimir Putin, who is bombing residential areas in Ukraine mercilessly. Today President Biden announced that the United States won't be importing Russian oil, which accounts for 3% of our oil supply.  Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine about two weeks ago, gas prices have risen considerably. I recall that the Shell station in south Salem where I usually fill up was charging about $3.95 a gallon pre-invasion. When I drove by today…
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Posted inJoe Biden National politics

With Ukraine, I’m becoming a progressive war hawk

It's sort of a weird feeling for me, wishing the United States would get more involved in a war after being opposed to the wars in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan (I supported the initial push to get Bin Laden, but not the twenty years in Afghanistan afterward). However, Russia's invasion of Ukraine has pushed a warmonger button in my psyche.  It's been infuriating to watch Putin's army bomb residential areas in Ukraine that have no military significance. I feel for the million or so Ukrainians who have fled their country after the Russian aggression. My heart aches to watch the…
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Posted inJoe Biden National politics

Why I’m worried about Putin invading Ukraine

Most Americans don't seem to be very worried about the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, invading Ukraine, even though Putin has massed over a hundred thousand troops on the Ukraine border, along with everything needed to invade the country that used to be part of the Soviet Union. But I'm deeply concerned. Here's some reasons. First, being 73, I grew up during the height of the Cold War. Above-ground nuclear tests were being conducted in Nevada on the other side of the Sierra Nevada mountains where I lived in California. People were building bomb shelters and stockpiling supplies in case…
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Posted in2022 election Joe Biden National politics

Here’s my plan about how Biden can bounce back

Ten days ago I wrote about how bothered I am by how poorly Biden has been performing as president. Today I watched Meet the Press and saw that I'm not alone in being disappointed by Biden. But after sharing some of the bad news on Meet the Press, I'm gong to light a Biden candle instead of cursing the darkness of his dismal poll results at this point in his presidency. So scroll past the depressing (unless you're a Republican) photos I took of some survey results, and you'll find my prescription for how Biden can restore the mojo that…
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Posted inJoe Biden National politics

I’m a loyal Democrat who’s already tired of Joe Biden

Joe Biden was really appealing when the alternative was Donald Trump. But after a year of Biden's presidency, my attitude toward him ranges from grudging acceptance to outright irritation. Today I'm at the bottom of my personal Joe Biden approval rating. And there's a good chance my mood is going to darken further. I've got this theory -- not exactly original to me -- that a person's good qualities also are their bad qualities. It just depends on how those qualities are expressed, and their context. Along with lots of other people, I relished having a calm, competent, low-key president…
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Posted inJoe Biden National politics

Painful truth: Afghanistan was a mostly useless war

Recently I've seen interviews with veterans of the twenty-year Afghanistan war where the interviewer says at some point, "Thank you for your service; it wasn't in vain." Not true. It was mostly in vain. So were the 2,448 deaths of American service members, the 66,000 deaths of Afghan military and police, the 47,245 deaths of Afghan civilians, the 444 deaths of aid workers, and the 44 deaths of journalists. I realize that it's really tough to admit that a war which cost the United States over 2 trillion dollars and caused so many deaths was a big mistake -- at…
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Posted inJoe Biden National politics

Biden critics are ignoring key Afghanistan facts

It's pile-on Biden time. Naturally Republicans are criticizing how the Afghanistan pullout is being handled. That's to be expected. But many Democrats, along with mainstream media like CNN, MSNBC, and Washington Post/New York Times opinion writers, also are falling all over themselves in their eagerness to roast Biden over the Afghanistan coals. I find this unfair. Like I said a few days ago, "Afghanistan is horrible, but Biden is doing right thing." What I've learned since only makes me more confident that while our withdrawal hasn't been perfect -- what in life is? -- there's little evidence that the Biden…
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Posted in2020 election Donald Trump Joe Biden

63% of Republicans believe Biden won because of voter fraud

Today is the six month anniversary of the January 6 insurrection at the nation's capitol where Trump supporters tried to overturn Biden's free and fair election as president of the United States. Chris Hayes marked the occasion on his MSNBC show by discussing with guests the upcoming special House committee that will investigate the insurrection, and the continuing Republican inability to recognize a simple truth. Biden won the election fair and square.  No reasonable person doubts this. The Trump campaign filed about sixty lawsuits challenging the counting of votes in a number of swing states. They lost all but one,…
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Posted inJoe Biden National politics

Do away with the filibuster, or democracy will crumble

I'm happy that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were inaugurated three days ago. I'm pleased that Biden is signing a bunch of executive orders that undo the crap Trump inflicted on our nation. But a big loud flashing warning signal is going off in my brain: "Alert! Alert! Code Red! If the Democrats don't do away with the Senate filibuster, not only will Biden's presidency be severely hobbled, the foundation of our democracy will crumble into ruins." In no way is this an original idea.  Progressive political analysts who are much more knowledgeable than I am about goings-on in Congress…
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Posted in2020 election Donald Trump Joe Biden

After a Trump headache, Biden’s inauguration was my aspirin

I feel so much better today. My (metaphorical) four-year Trump headache has gone away, thanks to the healing power of watching Joe Biden being inaugurated.  It's such a relief to see truth and decency return to the White House. Also, normalcy.  Biden is going to be a great president, I'm confident of that. But even if he turns out to be only an average president, that's hugely better than the sorry excuse of a president Donald Trump was. Most Americans are going to find it easy to admire Biden's warmth, empathy, and concern for both our country and the world…
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Posted in2020 election Donald Trump Joe Biden

Coup attempt by GOP on January 6 is beyond disgusting

If you're a Republican who isn't planning to end your allegiance to the GOP, either you are unaware of the highly unpatriotic coup attempt being planned by your political party in Congress on January 6, or you're OK with this shameful effort to overthrow the lawful result of the 2020 presidential election in favor of a wanna-be authoritarian, Donald Trump. I'm hoping that the former is the case. Maybe you've been busy with Christmas and New Year celebrations and haven't paid much attention to the news. In that case, I'm sharing some Twitter tweets and a Washington Post opinion piece…
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Posted in2020 election Donald Trump Joe Biden

Trump’s last-ditch attempt to steal the election is disgusting

Trump's final attempt to steal the presidential election from Biden is based on an absurd legal suit by the Attorney General of Texas that asks the Supreme Court to not accept the electoral votes from Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Georgia that Biden won. There's essentially zero chance that the Supreme Court will agree to this, since the suit has no basis in either facts or the law . So Biden will be sworn in on January 20. That's the good news. But the bad news is that -- as shown in the tweets below -- attorneys general in 17 other…
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Posted in2020 election Donald Trump Joe Biden

Biden beat Trump by a lot in every part of Salem

lt's always a pleasure for me to get local presidential election results from a fellow political junkie. This person figures out how the candidates did in each ward of Salem. There are eight wards. Scroll down to see a map of them. In 2020 Joe Biden whipped Trump's ass (to use a non-political science term) in every ward, including Ward 4, South Salem, and Ward 8, West Salem -- which traditionally are the most conservative areas of Salem. Here's the results for Salem as a whole, plus Marion and Polk counties, and Oregon as a whole. The county-level results for…
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Posted in2020 election Donald Trump Joe Biden

Feeling bad, Trump voters? I’m here to help.

In the Peanuts comic strip, Lucy used to offer psychiatric help to Charlie Brown for 5 cents. Knowing how bad Trump voters must feel right now, I'm undercutting Lucy by offering my therapeutic advice for absolutely free.  l even have some qualifications, having earned a Master's Degree in Social Work back in 1973, a mere 47 years ago. Sure, after becoming a MSW I quickly decided that I wasn't all that social, so went into health services research and planning.  But somewhere in the recesses of my mind there's remnants of what I learned about counseling. So read on, Trump…
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Posted in2020 election Donald Trump Joe Biden

Trump ramps up effort to steal election from Biden

Donald Trump has crossed the line from lying about Biden not winning the election to actively trying to subvert the will of the voters. That's sedition, which is illegal. Here's the definition of sedition. That's exactly what Trump is trying to do. Incite his followers to overturn the lawful results of the election.  This is beyond outrageous. Trump is behaving like a third-world dictator, the only difference being that the United States, thankfully, still has enough judges who believe in the rule of law -- not Trumpism -- to stop this coup attempt. Journalists and other informed observers of Trump's…
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