Let’s point out something….
The media focus on gaff’s is pure bull shit….
EVERYBODY has them….
Everyday people….
TV anchors….
President’s….
And Joe Bide and Donald Trump…
Last week, there was a lot of discussion about Joe Biden’s gaffes — mangling his words about opportunity for “poor kids” and “white kids,” and saying that he met with the Parkland students as vice president (when that tragedy happened when he was out of office).
And gaffe patrol has been a time-honored tradition of political reporting — whether it was for Bush 43, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton or Mitt Romney.
But if Biden’s gaffes were substantial news, why wasn’t there the same level of discussion on what President Trump said yesterday in Pennsylvania?
- “That’s a lot of people back there for a — like an 11 o’clock speech. That’s a lot of people. (Laughter.) That’s a lot.” (In fact, the speech was after 2:00 pm ET.)
- “This Shell petrochemical plant in Beaver County, Pennsylvania — I did very well here. We did very well. How many points did we win by? Does anybody know? I’ll tell you. Isn’t it, I think, 28 points? That’s a lot.” (Trump won Beaver County by 19 points in 2016.)
- “I got sued on a thing called ‘emoluments.’ Emoluments. You ever hear the word? Nobody ever heard of it before. They went back. Now, nobody looks at Obama getting $60 million for a book.” (Obama signed his book deal in 2017, after leaving office.)
Trump’s two and a half years in office definitely have changed the political and media world.
Shouldn’t they also change how we cover gaffes and misstatements?
image..FoxNews.Com
Implicitly, what is being said by many is that,
Look, we all know most of Trumps supporters are ,well, to put it bluntly, either not too bright or so eaten up with a manic hatred of “ libruls,” the media and minorities that his gaffes just don’t matter to them.Probably ,a true statement.
Democrats or just anti Trumpists in general are more discerning and,to them, gaffes matter.
Ponder that for awhile and what it says about the state of today’s Republican Party.
At a Pa Hatefest Trump accused Obama of violating the “emoluments clause “for signing a book deal.
Apparently he didn’t understand that the emoluments clause doesn’t apply to private citizens.Obama signed the deal after leaving office.
And THAT wasn’t a gaff..
Trump says lies on purpose!
And people take about Biden?
Trump is pushing the narrative that Biden has become senile.
As I said, I do not believe that, at least at this point, as my perception is that Biden has always been sorta “off” (which is why he has failed to advance on his own over many decades), but the narrative is out there and the reality is that Biden has to overcome it, just like someone like Quayle had to deal with what was said about him, regardless of how unfair it might have been.
It seems like a sensitive topic for Biden since he doesn’t go out of his way to joke about it, etc.
I would suggest that,based on its level of support for the likes of Donald Trump,the most Notorious Liar in the country?
The Republican Party is “off.”
yeah, but how that does that help Biden or the Democrats?
Every single Republican primary opponent of Trump and then Hillary tried to push that he was a liar and it just didn’t matter.
A big part of the reason why is that the lies of Slick Willie were so routinely normalized under the guise of “it’s the economy stupid” and the idea that character does not have to matter.
But if the perception is that someone is not playing with a full deck (a la Perot) or was hampered by age or health (which is something that Bush 41 faced in ’92, and certainly Dole and McCain later on), voters have seemed to indicate that worries them more than a politician lying their ass off.
In fact, Trump’s lying and “high-energy anger” has served to let people forget about how old he is or how little he actually knows.
You are comparing the Trump of 2016 to a Trump with four years and thousands of lies and embarrassments down the road .
As I remember acommon refrain of Republicans was that serving as President would make him become “presidential.” It hasn’t.It won’t.Do I think this will hurt him among marginal voters who supported him because of their dislike of Hillary?
Yes.
People have largely made their peace with this though, even if it upsets or confuses us.
Trump may lose some votes he had previously (Joe Walsh, Omorosa, the Mooch, etc), but there are also people who did not vote for him last time who will this time depending on whom the Democrats nominate. To them, lies and for that matter incompetence are secondary to fear of an overly ideological agenda.
And if the shoe was on the other foot, the roles would be reversed.
Well, your party has made “peace” with it although I would say that they lavidly support it “would be a better term .
That is a good motto for the Republican Party though…
Lies and Incompetence
ReElect Trump!
They might choose to borrow a page from the Edwin Edwards playbook.
“Vote for the Liar. It’s Important.”
See, this was mitigated to an extent the last time because Hillary was seen as a liar too (and thus people did not fear her as much ideologically as some who are running now, and therefore she got a lot of previously Republican votes.)
If Elizabeth Warren gets nominated, maybe the Democrats should push that she lied too… about being Native American! If the back and forth is over that, people might forget about all her “plans.”
On the other hand, the 2016 election was very much a matter of “they are both liars, I guess that’s not even worth caring about”, for so many people that it was a greater factor than the other hypothesis.
I’ve always enjoyed that Republican thing about Warren and the Native American deal.
Does she deserve criticism for it?Sure.
Does it pale to insignificance against the 12000 or so documented lies of Trump?Of course.
As to Republicans?They couldn’t care less about Warrens lie or ideology really.
She’s a”librul” and has to be defeated even by a psychopath.To me that is much more frightening than her ideology.
I am invited to the home of some actual unrepentant Trump voters for a yearly get-together. jack may need to give me some tips about how to stay friendly with those types.
Have a few stiff ones before you go.
You arrive in a good mood and even their craziness doesn’t get to you.
By the time the buzz wears off?The political talk is over and its on to football or just general gossip.
Ha. I’ve given up drinking for health reasons, not that I was ever a huge one of those.
The last couple years the political talk only starts at the end.
When I show up.most of the boys cry out here comes the “damn librul.” I Then call them a few choice words.
Then a friendly,yet edgy banter takes place for awhile.Invariably some legal matter will come up.I give them my opinion.
Somebody offers to buy me a drink.By this time the talk has degenerated into smart alecky one liners.
Gradually ,somebody mentions football or something of local interest and the politics is over with until next time!
It’s weird enough for me I have to deal with my father being brainwashed by Trump.
I’ll call my mother in about an hour though and she will be freaking out about the stock market today.
CG?
i posted a LIST of gaffs Trump made recently….
WE KNOW Donald Trump IS a bit ‘off’ , even u have admitted that…
I think Trump is a legitimate psychopath but the bottom line is that is not going to stop people from believing that Joe Biden has mental issues.
Biden has to be better at avoiding mistakes. There is no alternative for him.