CT Blue

Joe Biden, rightly anticipating some folks remembering, thought it would be a good idea to call Anita Hilland express his regrets for what she went through so many years ago, but not what he put her through. Joe was merely chair of the committee, how could he possibly prevent what happened to her? She didn’t view it as an apology, and clearly it wasn’t, because to this day Joe doesn’t see that he did anything wrong. 

Well, count me among those who think he owes her a real apology, but I don’t think he should stop there. He owes all of us an apology for letting Clarence Thomas on the Supreme Court. Anyone with a lick of sense could see the man would be a disaster on the court, and Hill’s credible allegations (particularly if buttressed by the witnesses Biden refused to call) were more than a sufficient reason to send him packing. Remember, Biden was chair of the committee, and had almost total control of the process.

Biden will tell you that it was his job was to act as an honest broker in the interest of bipartisan comity. There was still a little of that comity hanging around back then, but, among other things, the Kavanaugh hearings showed that’s not the case anymore, nor was it very much the case back then. But there was enough to think that, if Thomas was rejected, the first Bush would have nominated a not so loony replacement.

Biden’s treatment of Hill may not disqualify him as a Democratic candidate for the presidency, but what should disqualify him is the fact that to this day he does not recognize, or will not admit, that those days when reasonable men (and only men) could sit down and hash out their differences are gone. He still believes that you can achieve things in a bipartisan fashion, in the face of mountains of evidence that the Republican Party has adopted a take no prisoners, make no compromises stand ever since Newt Gingrich sent the “moderates” into political exile. It boggles the mind that Biden still does not realize this. Among other things we could expect from his presidency is a return to those days when the Democrats bent over backward to secure some Republican buy-in to any measure they try to pass, thereby neutering whatever measures they actually do pass.

Here’s a bit from Crooks and Liarsthat I read after writing the first draft of this post, which I excerpt here merely as proof that I’m not alone in this analysis:

Handsome Joe has framed his candidacy as a run against Trumpism, with an inherent promise of a return to a bipartisan normal. It’s a premise built upon nostalgia for a time long past, and not entirely dissimilar to Comrade Trump’s own campaign slogan of making America great again. It will be interesting to see how two campaigns built on different visions of nostalgia work against each other.

But here’s the thing. Biden’s message doesn’t take into account that our problem is the Republicans; Trump (while a singular vile and corrupt individual) is the product of the Republican factory, which made the rise of American Nazis not just possible but inevitable. Trump’s racism and authoritarianism are the outcome of the Republicans morphing into a party of old, white, straight male, intolerant Xristians. The fascist Republican party will be around after Comrade Trump is long gone.

This Goat Rodeo cannot just be about personalities, it must be about fixing what is wrong, and while Trump himself might be the posterboy for everything wrong, America will not return to normal with his removal. The Republicans will not be bipartisan when the smoke clears. Amply be-chinned Mitch McConnell is already proclaiming that he will block every measure, Garland-style, if the Dems win.

I firmly believe that Biden’s front runner status will be a thing of the past once he’s actually in the game. I hope I’m right, because I also firmly believe he’s almost the worst candidate we could put up against Trump. As Exhibit 1 for that assertion, I submit the fact that so many Democratic beltway insiders think he’s our best hope. I would submit that in the case of our beltway insiders, past performance does guarantee future performance.