He showed up….

Of course Trump lied like a rug the whole time, and made faces and acted like the big bully that he is.  He’s awful, just awful.  I told C more than once tonight how I would JUST LOVE to slap [Trump] silly.  I tried to think of just one thing he said that was even true.  But how many Republicans do you really think are going to fact-check him?  I mean, they already know what a liar he is, so why would they be surprised?  He looked energetic and forceful, and that’s all they’ll care about.

Biden of course had facts and figures on his side.  And tonight that didn’t matter one whit.  (It also seemed that he had a lousy cold.)  He came across as intimidated and nervous plus confused – which is an awful look.  And whoever encouraged him to try to get down into the gutter with Trump should be fired.  I’m embarrassed knowing that the whole world was watching this.  I think Biden has done an excellent job – esp. given what he had to work with.  He was the person we needed at the time.  He should have stuck to his promise to be a one-term president.  He would have gone down in history as being very effective.  Looking at him tonight, NObody is going to honestly think that he can do the job for four more years.

I have never seen anybody who can handle Trump – and I’ve been waiting for a long time now.  The only way would be to have the ability, when he tells one of his whoppers, to hit a replay button and have actual video show up on a screen in real time.  Listing all his lies the day afterward doesn’t work.

Carol #2:  The NYT has a column by Nicholas Kristof saying that Biden should withdraw, plus a ton of comments agreeing.  If he did that, maybe it wouldn’t split the party apart.  Tonight was more than just having a cold, or a stutter.  It was Biden losing his way and then speaking gibberish exactly in the same manner that Trump has been mocked for recently.  Seemingly having no mental agility in responding to Trump.  I said less than 5 minutes into the debate that he had just lost the election.  And pretty much everything from then on just reinforced that.  By the time it was over, I was shaking and couldn’t stop.

From Dick:  Last night, right after the show….  The chattering class on the TV is micro-analyzing the performance (the debate, which, after all, is a show).  I like all of the chatterers, but enough is enough.  Off to bed.  90 minutes done, and 160 days left to the election, near two months before the Democratic Convention.

Most perceptive comment I heard from the chatterers was from Lawrence O’Donnell, graybeard of the bunch at 73,  who sagely observed that Warren Buffet, one of the richest of the rich, is near 93 years old, and still making wise decisions.  In other words, keep the age thing in its proper perpspective.

I look forward to the fact checking blizzard which starts in the morning.

June 28 9 a.m.: The Church Guys, regulars on Friday morning, were next table over as usual today.  No mention at all of the debate. One brought up discussion with his late 80s Dad’s about pro-life, but that’s about it.  It’s important to keep this in perspective.  Not everyone was engaged in this business of watching a debate last night.

One of my life skills, learned in the trenches of dealing with public school teacher matters for 27 years, was learning to resist jumping to conclusions.  What seemed obvious at the time was never quite so obvious weeks or months later when push came to shove.  Frequently perspective was gained driving in the car from one place to the next; or sitting with a cup of coffee in a restaurant, or on and on.  Insights need to mature.  Snap judgements are natural and even useful but not very reliable long-term.  Time tends to modify judgements, as we all know.

Twelve hours out – minutes from the initial ‘shock’ (if that’s what you felt) from the the ‘debate)’ – I find myself thinking about my cousin, Vernon Sell, who had a passion for family history.

Vernon was one of those people who showed up when something needed to be done.  He was on the Court.

Vernon had his doctorate and professorship, but all that paled against his tenacity, which culminated in presentation of a plaque to the family church in St. Lambert, Quebec, built on land donated by the ancestral family 150 years earlier.

He was literally at death’s door when he made the presentation to a packed church.  He’d had an emergency blood transfusion.  Less than a month later he died, at age 69, one of his dreams realized.  I think he literally and deliberately lived just long enough to complete his work.

June 27, 2024, and many, many times before, and Lord willing, to come, Joe Biden has showed up.  Of course, the questions now being raised are legitimate, but also they’re raised in the heat of the moment, and perspective will come only with time.  As I’ve said, Joe is just a kid in my own personal context.  I know the quandaries faced as you get older; I also know from life experience that age is only a single criteria and there are no guarantees for anyone at any time.

(If interested in seeing Vernon and his plaque and the church in question scroll down here.  The last six photos are of the occasion referenced.  I missed this reunion due to a family wedding the same weekend.)

June 29:  I’m adding an old powerful graphic someone used at a meeting I attended probably in the 1970s.  It seems to fit pretty precisely the crisis reaction of the moment:

PDF of below Crisis Sequence 1970s – what happens after  shocking event occurs.  This was a handout saved from some long ago workshop I attended.  It has always made sense.

POSTNOTE Sunday June 30, 2024: I’ll be doing a post, tentatively titled “Joe”, in the next day or two.  If you happen to see this, and can deflect some time from Jay 4 week, take a look.  I hope to have a reflective piece, largely about US.  Your choice.