85 Comments

In the 2020 primaries, Joe Biden was not my first choice, but he picked up steam after South Carolina and eventually won the nomination. 81 million people voted for him to be the president. He has done an amazing job under trying circumstances. Lincoln and FDR had their own set of trying circumstances, but they did not have a traitorous psychopathic former president, who continuously sucked all the oxygen out of the room. I will vote for this decent president who has accomplished a lot. As for George Clooney, he don't impress me much, to quote Shania Twain.

Expand full comment

George Clooney would “impress me much” if he pulled a Swiftie💃 and encouraged his fans to vote !

Expand full comment

Ditto. My choice was Elizabeth Warren. Biden was down around #5 or #6. "Amazing job under trying circumstances" -- you bet, and it has much to do with his ability to put together a great team. The team ain't going away. President ≠ king. And my #1 choice from 2020, who is also my senior U.S. senator, just came out for President Biden. Done deal. Get to work.

Expand full comment

"Remember to fly the plane." Perfect. When I was training to become a private pilot, my instructor (deliberately) went batshit crazy on me - ice water down my back, screaming "Baby vomit! Baby vomit!" and probably imitating having a stroke at the same time, he was testing me and my ability to screen out distractions.

Democrats, stay focused and fly the plane.

Expand full comment

I love that line!!

Expand full comment

Writing postcards…writing postcards…focus…fly the plane.

Expand full comment

Look at the Morning Joe actual interview. All she was saying is that he is a grown man able to make decisions and if he does change his mind before the convention she will support that. She spent the previous several minutes not just praising his record but praising his speech YESTERDAY full out.

George Clooney is a pretty face and I admire his stand on lots of issues. But a political analyst he is not. I like him as an actor. That's it.

Take a look at this, on both the reporting and the polls. https://www.muellershewrote.com/p/its-the-media/comments?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=post_viewer

Expand full comment

Thank you. My guess is that this news would burst the balloon they're trying so hard to inflate. I just sent MSNBC the entire transcript of that crazed "speech" from last night and suggested that they start reporting actual news. I'm sure no one will read it.

Expand full comment

What crazed speech? Not the address to NATO? That ended with Biden honoring Jens Stoltenberg and saying he asked Jens’s wife if he might be willing to stay on. Beautiful Biden warm smile. I think both men were trying not to get too emotional.

Expand full comment

No, no, no! I meant the sweaty old guy in the red cap! President Biden was eloquent and perfect. I actually cried, I was so touched by that honor bestowed upon a deserving good man and wonderful leader. Sorry I was confusing!

Expand full comment

Ohhhh, my mistake. I misinterpreted the quotation marks. That speech which showed why Hannibal Lechter was on Trump’s “mind.” And airports, from someone who doesn’t use airports. That one?

Expand full comment

Last night. That hate rally where he made his cult followers stand on sweltering heat, called the temperature "cold" and sweated like an orange pig. I sent the entire transcript to MSNBC but I doubt anyone will read it. He was out of his mind ("he" being the convicted felon.)

Expand full comment

yeah, the one where trump doesn't realize that airplanes are built and run by private enterprise. Not on time? Must be Biden. Coffee cold? Must be Biden. Weather issues? Must be Biden. Hannibal Lecter? Oh, Biden let him in with the tens of thousands of insane people somewhere or other is sending us.

Expand full comment

I don't always catch events live when they happen, but when President Biden announced that he was giving the Medal of Freedom to Sec. Stoltenburg,... the look of surprise on his face was priceless! ♥️

Expand full comment

Yes - the looks on both their faces.

Expand full comment

I love to watch how old people come to smile, beginning with their wrinkles collected and ending withe the radiance and joy that only can happen in the eyes and contraction of a face bearing witness to all of life events effected in the singular moment that formed across their face and in the wholeness of their standing. We saw that in the gestures performed by these two senior statesmen when the one bestowed this award on the other. Beautiful to watch, reassuring in words, the delivered message truthful, thoughtful, and provided with grace. God bless. Another reminder that it is the message that is important. The manner of delivery is secondary, so listen we must with mind, eyes, and ears.

Expand full comment

This bears repeating, so here goes:

“Look at the Morning Joe actual interview. All she was saying is that he is a grown man able to make decisions and if he does change his mind before the convention she will support that. She spent the previous several minutes not just praising his record but praising his speech YESTERDAY full out.”

Sheeesh, can the reporting please aim for accuracy? Superficial summation often misrepresents. They say the devil is in the details, but if the recipe shows all the details as ingredients, we omit or ignore at our own peril.

This is heartening. Thank you, Ms. Linehan!

And The Battle of Midway indeed! “Nobody knows the future till it gets here.” Mr. Richardson’s “God Bless Dick Best, and your column of course.” Hear hear!

Expand full comment

I am So relieved, and will go watch the Morning Joe which I hadn't so far. I reiterate that her earlier statement as quoted by WaPo was disappointing because it left too much space between her lines for them to read and imply into, and I feel like she has to know when she's being "flexibly phrased" that way. They did though, in a way that was quite offensive, read what they wanted to and put her into the list of DEMs who were questioning whether he should stay in, and you had to expand under each listed name to read what they really had said - which added quite an awkwardness factor to the article (on purpose I believe). For her to have repeated that error would have been enough to give me a crick between my eyebrows. Her opinion is highly valued in plenty of DEM voters' minds.

Expand full comment

I wish at times we had more emoticons from which to choose… Not just ‘like’

via the heart. You’re describing the very details that caught my attention here… And you remark “on purpose, I believe.“ Twisting the truth is downright dishonest. Misrepresenting? Strange formatting? Carelessness? This matters way too much for missteps on anyone’s part! Nancy Pelosi‘s opinion matters, and we all pay attention. The misrepresentation has been all over in the news. Come on, guys!

Expand full comment

And borrowed from comments following Rob Hubbell’s stellar Today’s Edition post today: from reader David Holtzman: Here's a link to a superb recommendation for Joe Biden:

https://jesspiper.substack.com/p/the-loudest-pundits-dont-talk-to

Expand full comment

Yes, I read that piece and it was very heartening.

I have dropped Chris Cillizza as though he was infected with Covid. Mr. Cillizza has reverted to type and is now--if not actually cheering for the red team--certainly doing no favors for the Dems.

I may subscribe to Ms. Piper instead.

Expand full comment

Thanks, Katherine. Jesse Piper is spot-on.

Expand full comment

!!!!!This, just now, from Symon Rosenberg, Hopium Chronicles:

Inflation FELL in June, Joe Biden Is A Successful President, Trump Is A Traitor And Putin's Lap Dog!!!!! Such a contrast to what greeted my eyes this morning, WaPo headline that more than 50% of us want Joe out of the race… Not So!!!!! He’s at the center of our successful team, the winner 11/5!!!!!!

Expand full comment

And the headlines continue today… We have to read broadly to be aware, while we focus on what we can trust. What happened across the pond is deeply encouraging, and we just need to keep strong, informed, unified, and productive toward this vitally epic goal.

Expand full comment

Yeah? Phew. I'll have to go look at the actual interview then. Feeling like Susan Collins - "disappointed" is not a favorite status.

Right after the debate I too saw several places that said the debate had not moved them much or at all. Some focus groups' results pretty much agreed.

Expand full comment

The Universally Superficial States of America, 1776-2024, murdered by its own free press acting in pursuit of a buck. Preceded in death by its Constitution.

Expand full comment

If that is now our truth the 17th century poet Misuta Masahide’s famous haiku becomes relevant:

Barn’s burnt down

Now

I can see the Moon

Expand full comment

I look at the NYT and think of Robert Frost:

'We dance round in a ring and suppose,

But the Secret sits in the middle and knows.'

Possibly not quite what Frost intended but I've always found that Secret really, really smug.

Expand full comment

Oh, I don’t know. I see what you mean now you point it out. Frost, for all his poetic genius, lived, moved and had his being in an unregenerate Puritan patriarchal social milieu🐈‍⬛

Expand full comment

I’m more a Stevens fan by far. But I’m way more in favor of supposing and seeing where that gets you. “Suppose there were ways to prevent people from getting deadly viruses” has got us a lot further than “It’s God’s Will.”

Expand full comment

Thank you. I haven't been able to watch Morning Joe for years -- I have this irresistible impulse to throw a pie in his face.

Expand full comment

I don’t watch any TV news, just clips on the internet, keeping an eye out for “cheapfaked” one. Substack is a pretty good alert system for scam news like that.

Expand full comment

I am generally a positive person and expect that everything will work out. That persona has been shaken a bit over the last week or so, not the least because my personal circumstance have been shaken by matters unrelated to politics. So, I'm working extremely hard right now to hang on to that positivity. As you've said in the past (I think), there is no other option but to keep fighting, regardless of the state of my clothing. IF (big IF) Biden steps down, I sure as hell hope that someone else will step up with the chops to beat CFDT. Likely that would be Kamala, but whoever it MIGHT be, they will absolutely have my support and my vote. I just cannot believe these Democrats who are so afraid of losing to CFDT that they are willing to throw their greatest hope for victory down the trash shoot. WTF?!?!?!

And the biggest question of all... WHY ARE WE EATING OUR OWN, INSTEAD OF POINTING OUT THE AGE AND MENTAL UNFITMESS OF CFDT? He's the one who should be stepping down.

Oh for goodness sake.... SMDH

Expand full comment

Democrats have too many spokesmodels.

Expand full comment

Loosely translated: nervous chickens with missing heads.

Expand full comment

But big mouths, an anatomical impossibility, but Dems pull it off

Expand full comment

Lol. If only I could draw . . .

Expand full comment

God Bless Dick Best, and your column of course.

Expand full comment

I have no problem letting Biden fly the plane. He did a damn good job of assembling it (luckily, his cabinet was built with NO help from Boeing).

Expand full comment

George Clooney can F off to Italy or whatever. He can ride out the consequences of a 2nd Herr Von Shitzenpants term (admittedly, moniker stolen from someone else, thank you to whoever that was). The rest of us are here for the duration, Georgie Boy.

Expand full comment

Reminds me of what Marx - Groucho, not Karl - said "Who you gonna believe? Me or your lying eyes?"

Expand full comment

That was Chico.

Expand full comment

LOL. You got the point.

Expand full comment

I like Fly. The. Plane. Which is exactly what he's doing. Bennet, on the other hand, lost, as I recall, and hasn't forgiven Joe. Clooney? Does he have another movie coming out or something? Heck, no one's called ME for MY opinion and uninformed guess. I feel left out.

Expand full comment

"In an emergency, remember to Fly. The. Plane." And don't get flustered and hit the landing brakes. The lever is not here, it's over there.

Expand full comment

For me the election is about this: Democracy and the Republic OR not. The not must be defeated. The not is the felon, project 2025, the heritage foundation, Charlie kirk, Stephen Miller, Bannon, all the corrupt attorneys etc, etc etc. As you have said TC. FLY. THE. PLANE.

Expand full comment

Amen. Amen. AMEN.

Expand full comment

As the saying goes, getting the Democrats to agree on anything is like herding cats. Yep, they're acting true to form. It's a field day for the pretend journalists of mainstream media. I have always followed my own drum, I supported Biden/Harris in 2020. They exceeded my expectations. Under no circumstance would I abandon them now,

Expand full comment

As a friend put it, organizing Democrats is like herding a swarm of bees in a blizzard with a switch.

Expand full comment

I like that even better!

Expand full comment

Whew! Thank you for the analysis, for cutting through the bs and putting things in perspective, and for the great list of fitting cliches. I read your columns aloud to my husband over morning coffee. This is going to be fun.

Expand full comment

George Clooney bought (he doesn't make it) a shitty tequila distilery with designer label bottles that sell for big bucks and is perfectly shitty tequila for name follower no nothing wanabees. I'll take his word anyday, right?

Expand full comment