Joe Biden Should Retire His Mouth, Then His Political Career

This piece on Buzzfeed points to everything about why Joe Biden should not be running for President, something he proved in the infamous incident from 1987 when he plagarized a speech given by Neil Kinnock, the man does stupid stuff with his mouth, both planned and, especially, off the cuff AND HE HAS LEARNED ABSOLUTELY NOTHING ABOUT NOT DOING THAT IN THE PAST 32 YEARS.   He is his own worst enemy. 

And then he told a story. Recounting a trip to Kyiv in late 2015, Biden described telling the then-president of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, that he had to fire the prosecutor general or the US would not release $1 billion in loan guarantees. “I looked at them and said, ‘I’m leaving in six hours,’” Biden told the crowd, taking a long look at his watch for effect. “‘If the prosecutor is not fired, you’re not getting the money.’ Well, son of a bitch.” Here the audience laughed. “He got fired.”

Video of his statement quickly ricocheted around Ukraine and Russia. On January 24, the day after the event, it appeared on Russia Today, the Kremlin’s main external propaganda channel and a feeding house for rightwing conspiracy in the US. One week later, it was on Sputnik. Back then, it was presented as evidence of US meddling in the internal affairs of another country. Over the next 19 months it morphed into a central pillar of a baseless conspiracy theory pushed by President Donald Trump and his allies that says Biden ordered the prosecutor’s firing because his son, Hunter, was on the board of a company the prosecutor was investigating.

Three former officials who worked closely with Biden on Ukraine said they knew as soon as they watched the appearance that Biden had not spoken well. “It was classic Joe Biden,” said one former official.

The remarks play into Biden’s desire to be the hero of the tales he tells. On the presidential campaign trail this year, he’s shown a tendency to exaggerate or conflate details. His story about pinning a medal on a Navy captain was, if well-meaning, rife with inaccuracies. He’s shared different versions of a story about how seeing two men kiss shaped his acceptance of LGBTQ people at a young age. And he has confused the Parkland and Newtown school shootings while playing up how the survivors and victims’ families turned to him for comfort. Now, this tendency is part of a conspiracy theory that led to events that launched a formal impeachment inquiry against the president of the United States.

My earliest doubts about the political wisdom of Barack Obama included him asking Joe Biden to be his Vice President (WHY DO WE STILL ALLOW THAT CHOICE TO BE MADE BY ONE MAN?).  I say that as someone who, the first time Biden ran for president thought he was one of the strongest candidates.  He, himself, dissuaded me of his qualifications to be president because the guy is a gaff machine.  

I have extreme doubts about Bernie Sanders - not least of which is that his own past of generating attacks on himself from his earlier career as a columnist and public access figure.   I have other doubts about others of the 2020 candidates, but few of them have given Republicans more ammunition against them and reasons for Democrats to be unenthusiastic as Joe Biden.   The news media will let Trump get away with everything, it won't let a Democrat get away with anything, we are already at a disadvantage with the "free press" which is free to do the bidding of its owners, Biden will make their job of sandbagging Democrats all the easier. 

Joe Biden handed Giuliani and the others who steer Trump towards the corruption so much in the news right now, some of their most powerful talking points.  

Joe Biden should retire.  He should write a few books presenting himself in the best light he can.  Note to Joe, get a really tough editor who fact checks you and take their advice and your books might be useful.   You obviously are not the best judge of what you feel like saying.