I thought that I had posted this. I texted my family at 6:17 pm Saturday. I've anonymized the name:

This is unbelievable. My Big Brother just called and he sounded EXACTLY like President Biden did Thursday night (minus the brain malfunctions). His voice was weaker than I had ever heard it and it was hoarse and raspy. He has had a virus for two weeks. Biden, supposedly, was seen by a doc at Camp David and pronounced just to have a cold. My Big Brother is 83, Biden is 81. My Big Brotherk knows he sounds terrible but swears to me he feels fine. The similarities in how these two octogenarians sounded was shocking.

When he answered the phone yesterday he said "How you doin' Ben" and it was in a far off voice, if you know what I mean.

I was concerned and called him again today at ~1:30 am. He didn't pick up.  I left a message that I wanted "to hear your voice.". At 4:08 pm he called back and we spoke for 16 mins. He sounded differently bad. I summarized for my family at 4:28:

My Big Brother's speech is slurred. He is dizzy and light-headed.

He sleeps on a mattress and box spring on the floor to avoid the fall that his wife suffered two years ago in which she suffered a concussion and cerebral hematoma that was the start of her irreversible decline and death. He does not sleep on a bed frame that elevates the bed even more. With mattress and box spring on the floor he's close to the floor. He told me that when he tried to get out of bed on more than one occasion today he fell back and had to try again, finally making it on the second or third try. I used to sleep on a mattress and box spring without bed frame also and it was difficult to get up and I hurt my knee.

After expressed concern from my daughter, I added at 4:33:

Alarming. I'm very concerned. I told him he can't drive to work tomorrow and he is considering not going.

I was so concerned that I tried to call him back at ~6:15 but figured he might be asleep and he didn't pick up. I left a message that I "wanted to hear your voice again" and hoped I hadn't interrupted his sleep.

I drew a straight line from how he presented yesterday and how President Biden presented Thursday night and told him he sounded like the president. It was indeed uncanny. My Big Brother has been under the weather, I didn't realize the toll it was taking, for about two weeks he told me today. The president allegedly had been diagnosed with a cold at Camp David during debate prep. My brother could not stand up and debate for 90 minutes starting at 9 pm for anything. He works, as a dentist, in nursing homes from 8:30 am until early afternoon, similar to the president's peak performance hours of 10-4. But my brother's is a part-time job two days a week. The president's job is very full-time, 24/7, 365. 

The point of this post is not to air my elderly brother's health. It is to cast light on the president. The symptoms are uncannily similar and my brother's have changed in 24 hours. Slurred speech is alarming indeed. Dizziness and light-headedness were different symptoms today than yesterday and equally concerning for a 83-year old who must drive a half hour or more to the nursing homes where he sees patients. As a pretty hard rule I don't give advice to adults, especially those who are my revered seniors, but today, after letting him talk and resisting interrupting him, I just listened as much as I could, at the end of which I was clear, "You cannot go to work tomorrow, you cannot drive." I told him additionally that he slurred his speech at least once and he acknowledged.

Repeating myself for emphasis, I'm not airing personal family matters to establish some faux intimacy or to indulge voyeurism. It is the similarities in age, in orientation (both Pennsylvanians), and symptoms of God knows what, and the unfitness of both of these men for work in their professions. And my purpose is to draw one contrast: my brother knows that I will always tell him the truth as I assess it on the phone by only hearing, not seeing, him over 1,200 miles. He listens to me and he trusts me. The president of the United States does not have a truth-teller in his family.

Atlanta Journal-Constitution Front Page Editorial

It’s Everybody’s Fault But The President’s🙄 That’s a BAD Look

Biden’s family privately criticizes top advisers and pushes for their ouster at Camp David meeting

They also urged the president to stay in the race.

Members of Joe Biden’s family privately trashed his top campaign advisers at Camp David this weekend, blaming them for the president’s flop in Thursday’s debate and urging Biden to fire or demote people in his political high command.

There is no immediate expectation that Biden will follow through on that advice, according to three people briefed on the family conversations but not directly involved. The three people were granted anonymity to discuss the matter.

Among the family’s complaints about the debate practice: that 1) Biden was not prepared to pivot more to go on the attack; that he was 2)  bogged down too much on defending his record rather than outlining a vision for a second term; and that he was 3) over-worked and 4) not well-rested.

He needs nannies, not staff!

…

Biden allies and staffers have sought to blame a variety of factors in the aftermath of Biden’s dismal debate performance, including that the 1) president was ill, 2) was over-prepared and that the 3) CNN moderators failed to fact-check former President Donald Trump. But as the crisis continued into a third day, the finger-pointing has turned inward toward some of Biden’s closest advisers.

…

Additionally, Biden’s campaign staff only grew angrier at CNN as to how the debate was run, according to several people familiar with the conversations. Their complaints were lengthy, including that 1) the moderators should have fact-checked Trump more often, that 2) Biden was not told which camera he’d be on when not speaking and that 3) the makeup staff made him appear too pale, according to the three people. Biden did, however, agree to the terms of the debate before it was held.

BAD old makeup staff!

…

The blame was cast widely on staffers, including: Anita Dunn, the senior adviser who frequently has the president’s ear; her husband, Bob Bauer, the president’s attorney who played Trump in rehearsals at Camp David; and Ron Klain, the former chief of staff who ran point on the debate prep and previous cycles’ sessions.

Anita Dunn, who convinced a resistant Biden to go after “MAGA extremists”; Ron Klain, who was Chief of Staff, left on his own for more lucrative private work, and was asked to come back.

If I was Dunn or Klain I’d leave and get more money and give Biden and his family a memo telling them they’re in charge now.

…

The focus on the staff, however, also allowed the family to overlook Biden’s own failings in Atlanta, one of the people familiar noted.

…First lady Jill Biden and his son Hunter Biden were the loudest voices urging the president to stay in the 2024 contest.

Memo: to Jill Biden, Hunter Biden

You’re in charge…Oh sorry, Hunter, you’re a convicted felon. Just Jill.

…

[Biden] did better in subsequent days with stronger performances at a rally and fundraisers — but those, unlike the debate, allowed him to use teleprompters.

…

At a fundraiser in Greenwich Village on Friday night, the first lady said that after the debate, the president came to her and said: “Jill, I don’t know what happened. I didn’t feel that great.”

That’s okay honey, it’s not your fault! It’s CNN’s and Dunn’s and Bauer’s and Klain’s and the cameras and the teleprompters that would have told you what to say and the makeup staff!

PA-THET-IC

For the second night in a row I've wanted to get drunk.

Biden’s Family Tells Him to Keep Fighting as They Huddle at Camp David

President Biden’s family is urging him to stay in the race and keep fighting despite last week’s disastrous debate performance…

…

One of the strongest voices imploring Mr. Biden to resist pressure to drop out was his son Hunter Biden, whom the president has long leaned on for advice, said one of the people informed about the discussions, who, like others, spoke on condition of anonymity to share internal deliberations. 

Several US military bases in Europe put on heightened state of alert, US officials say

…”intelligence is received indicating some form of terrorist action or targeting against personnel or facilities is likely."

Nothing to See Here? White House Portrays Biden’s Debate Performance as a Blip

Seventy-two hours after the debate in Atlanta last week, President Biden and those closest to him have settled on the same strategy police officers use to shoo bystanders away from a car crash: “Nothing to see here.”

Far right wins first round of France’s parliamentary election in blow to Macron, projection shows

After unusually high turnout, the [Right Wing National Rally] bloc won with 34% of the vote, while left-wing New Popular Front (NFP) coalition came second with 28.1% and President Emmanuel Macron’s Ensemble alliance slumped to a dismal third with 20.3%, according to initial estimates by Ipsos.

Projections show that, after the second round of voting next Sunday, the RN would win between 230 and 280 seats in the 577-seat lower house – a staggering rise from its count of 88 in the outgoing parliament. The NFP was projected to secure between 125 and 165 seats, with Ensemble trailing with between 70 and 100 seats.

All True!

…the Heat are no longer the top threat in the East to the defending-champ Celtics. That mantle clearly belongs to the Knicks.

The Heat could easily fall behind Philadelphia by the time free agency shakes out, and the likes of Milwaukee, Indiana, Cleveland and Orlando will all have arguments for having surpassed the Miami Heat.

Caleb Martin to Leave “Heat” for “Bigger Payday”

This one hurts.

“Premise of NBC story not accurate,” per sources, Guardian, i.e. not D-Day at Camp David.

Hell week

 

Macron on course to lose big as far right surges in French parliamentary elections first round (Noodles)

The Hardest Decision Made

I am a citizen in a democracy. I get to vote in presidential elections! I exercise that power. I believe as a reasonable man that my opinion on public occurrences is as informed, within a standard deviation or two, as that of the next imbecile, and I am generous in sharing my opinions. I even have a public forum for my opinions! I publish them to eight followers and comme ci, comme ça 1,500 daily readers (also known as lost wayfarers on the information highway). 

All of my adult life I have had the responsibility of making decisions of near life and death over others. I was a criminal law trial attorney, you see. I took that responsibility very seriously indeed, and I have carried that responsibility over into writing on the weightiest public occurrences in this here blog. 

In Public Occurrences, I make decisions as if my decisions get actuated as they were in my practice of law. I take what I write here very seriously and I have adopted a decision-making construct that I actually used as a lawyer. I divide non-trivial decisions into the "difficult and the hard". It's confusing to everyone, drawing a distinction between the difficult and the hard, but I know what I mean and it works to organize my approach to a decision. The fullest recent explanation I have given of my construct is here, on February 5, 2024:

I have always divided non-trivial decisions into the difficult and the hard. The distinction in near-synonymous terms works in my mind. The way that I think, a difficult decision is one where the right decision I must make is clear and easy to understand, but is nonetheless difficult for me because it causes me or people I care about some level of pain. A hard decision to me is one where the the right decision is not clear and I have to study the question to divine the right answer. A hard decision is not painful. Each kind of decision has to be made. The difficult decisions I make with alacrity. The hard decisions I make the moment I see the issue clearly. I am a pragmatic man.

I have used this approach to the "Joe Biden Decision,” which for the reasons aforesaid I feel a responsibility as a reasonable citizen with a reasonable citizen's minuscule blog to bloviate upon.

The Joe Biden Decision is in my hard category of decisions. It is the hardest public decision I have ever felt compelled to give opinion to. I was emotionally wrought by the debate Thursday night, in a state which I recognized was not ideal for rational decision-making. I have read, and exchanged with, other reasonable normal citizens and their opinions almost non-stop for 48 hours and these interchanges of opinions have illuminated the path to the decision that I make, which is that President Joe Biden should stay in the presidential race.

A hard decision to me is one where the right thing to do, otherwise interchangeable for me with the moral choice, is difficult for me to identify. This hard decision is harder for me than any other decision on any other public occurrence that I can remember. Nested within the first of the moral decisions is a difficult one, that is, one that causes me pain: I have concluded that Joe Biden is unfit to lead the United States as president for four more years. 

You can see the tension in the decisions I have reached.

But that does not end the moral decision-making, for there is another, the fitness of the other, Donald Trump, in this binary choice that I and all voting Americans must make. On Trump's fitness I conclude that he too is unfit. 

That then led to a comparison of unfitnesses that was a first impression for me. I concluded with alacrity that Trump was the unfittest, in fact, the unfittest in the history of our Republican democracy, and going even further, Trump would end America as we know it, as he nearly did but for his administrative incompetence as illegitimate president from 2016 to 2020, and the truncating of his illegitimate, destructive presidency by abject defeat to Joe Biden in November 2020.

So the moral had to be teased out one unfamiliar step further but it was clear to me and I have made it: Trump is uniquely unfit and uniquely dangerous in the history of the American Republic.

Then, "I am a pragmatic man", I had to consider who in an opponent to Trump gave America the best chance of surviving. This was a pragmatic component but one that maddeningly was twinned with the moral. This twinning made even the pragmatic calculus the proximate cause of the moral component of the decision. That is, the decision of who, President Biden or some other, had the best chance to save America was a moral decision too. A friend adopted an Anybody But Joe position. The New York Times Ed. Board said there were numerous Democrats that were more fit than President Biden and could as easily defeat Trump the Antichrist. 

That's bullshit, to use impolite patois. In this most momentous of practical decisions that is also the proximate cause of the existential moral decision, to not even suggest a NAME for a substitute is abdication of public service, which the august New York Times feels is their singular role as conscience and steward of the nation's opinion. The unwieldy, 14-member, McDonald's commercial, editorial "collective" of old and young, seasoned and not, insiders and outsiders, comprising every race, color and creed is the perfect body to task with creation of a horse and to produce a zebra.

We face a binary choice, we voters do, which is in fact a Hobson's choice. There is no alternative. It is Joe Biden. On both moral grounds there is no choice, it is Joe Biden. On the pragmatic issue, would Fantasy Candidate X have a better chance of beating Trump, they can't say, we can't say, nobody can say because there is no such real live person with the name of Senator Fantasy Candidate X, nor one with the mysterious initials of ABJ. Finally, there is no clear mechanism, where an actual real substitute candidate is identified by name, for him/her to get the Democratic nomination. When the ABJ'ers and the Warren-Klobuchar recommenders get their heads out of their collective ass and give us a name, we can take a stab at the practical merits or demerits and compare them with President Biden's. In the meanwhile take your heads out of your asses unless you were born with that particular arrangement, lie down and take a powder and when you are revived to a semblance of nervous equilibrium, grin and bear it and support wholeheartedly and enthusiastically the reelection of President Biden.

"I'm a pragmatic man"

Russell Riley, a presidential historian at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center, agreed that the debate’s significance will fade in weeks to come, saying, “A combination of time and the electorate’s short attention span mitigates damn near anything in presidential electoral politics.”

I think that guy is right. Trump weathered Access Hollywood in October!

The Two Joe Bidens

Beyond the politics of whether Biden can beat Trump again, the aides expressed new worries about whether the president can carry out his duties through another four-year term.

There are the twinned issues, the practical and the moral, of the hard decision. On the moral issue, the president cannot carry on the duties of the presidency for FOUR MORE YEARS!

But this is a binary choice so there is a BIGGER moral issue: the fitness of his opponent. That's a BIGGER NOT. And there's the pragmatic becomes twinned with the moral. I think the president is going to lose to Trump, but of course I don't know. The New York Times says Biden should end his candidacy and it is no longer "sufficient" to say Biden is necessary to beat Trump. Really, that's not sufficient? If Trump wins we get the BIGGEST NOT for the next four years and we lose the country. If Biden wins we get someone who "cannot carry on the duties of the presidency for four more years" but who saves the country. That is a Hobson's choice, "an apparently free choice when there is no real alternative." No, that's "sufficient", NYT EB!

What if we switched the binary? The aforementioned says there are tons of Demos who both can carry out the duties of the presidency (moral) better than Biden, and who can beat Trump (practical). 

Who? I want a name. You can't project your fantasies onto an Ideal candidate, you have to choose an actual person. It is comical that it's the aforementioned augustly dumping Biden, by name, and not suggesting an alternative, by name, since they did the same thing in 2020 when they "recommended" to Demos the non-person of Warren-Klobuchar. While we await the candidate of the aforementioned on the moral issue, we should be mindful that we then will have to assess the comparative chances of that person beating Trump compared to president Biden. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is above my pay-grade and cognitive ability. Nobody can reasonably assess the chances of Kamala Harris, Gavin Newsom, Gretchen Whitmer, to name three, defeating Trump. You would be taking a reckless leap into the unknown with the issue of literally at stake of whether America "can carry on" four more years. Thus, your pragmatic calculus cannot in the slightest be separated from your moral calculus.

Internally, many aides have seen flashes of an absent-minded Biden, but typically brush them off as ordinary brain farts because they usually see him engaged, eight current and former Biden officials told Axios.

Between the lines: Biden's miscues and limitations are more familiar inside the White House.

The time of day is important as to which of the two Bidens will appear.

From 10am to 4pm, Biden is dependably engaged — and many of his public events in front of cameras are held within those hours.

Outside of that time range or while traveling abroad, Biden is more likely to have verbal miscues and become fatigued, aides told Axios.

Thursday's 90-minute debate began at 9pm ET.

I guess they shouldn't run a campaign ad asking voters which candidate they want taking a "3 am phone call"? That's a part-time job, 10 am-4 pm is a part-time job, much the same as my Big Brother has in dentistry. President of the United States is a 24/7 365 job.

Biden Family Pow-Wow on Future Sunday

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is expected to discuss the future of his re-election campaign with family on Sunday…

The family has already arrived at Camp David. There will be no aides. This is strictly a family decision They will give the president their advice but the first among equals is Dr. Jill Biden. “The decision-makers are two people — it’s the president and his wife,” one of the sources familiar with the discussions said. If she says stay in (and all reporting elsewhere is that she will), the president will stay in. 

This account of a president and his party in crisis…is drawn from interviews with more than a dozen Democratic officials, operatives, aides and donors.

This NBC report also reveals that despite the president’s strong performance Friday in North Carolina, 

Biden was described by one person familiar with his mood as humiliated, devoid of confidence and painfully aware that [of] the physical images of him at the debate…

…

“Democrats need to take a big breath and look at that polling, look at swing voters,” said one state Democratic Party chair. 

…

Notably, however, [Biden campaign chair Jen] O’Malley Dillon nodded to the possibility that there might be some tough polling ahead — but said the blame will rest with the media: “If we do see changes in polling in the coming weeks, it will not be the first time that overblown media narratives have driven temporary dips in the polls.”

A great scoop by the Peacock.

This has been a BAAD week

Macron’s election gamble looks doomed

France’s main far right party appears poised to do well in the two-round parliamentary vote.

…

Washington has begun to accept that Macron is headed for defeat.

“People recognized from the start that the decision to have early elections was a risky one, but what is becoming more clear in the weeks since is that Macron did not have his ducks in a row to give the best possible chance of success for his bold gambit,” said Jeff Rathke, a former U.S. diplomat.

And we didn’t even get the SCOTUS ruling on Trumpian immunity!

Love declines $4M player option, is expected to stay with “Heat”

Look, I can't explain this

 President Biden Friday in North Carolina. I can't explain it but it gives me pause...again. How many times have we seen him like that; and how many times have we seen him like he was Thursday night? I don't know the numbers but a helluva lot more times like he was Friday than he was Thursday. It gives me pause to step back and stop rushing to irreversible decisions.

I started to write this at 10:03 last night

But I was running on five one-half hours sleep. And I had been thinking, writing, and texting about the debate for 18.5 straight hours. And I've had nine years of this shit. And I'm 69-years old. And it's Saturday morning. And I'm getting pissed that I have to make this decision at my age after nine years when I'm so tired of it all.

The answer to my question below is HARD, as I started to write. The hardest civics decision I have ever faced. In a text exchange with a friend last night I achieved temporary, partial clarity that my friend agreed with:

“Yeah, you can’t lie to yourself and I wrote last night, albeit under emotional duress, what I have felt for awhile, and that was that Biden should withdraw.  I couldn’t watch the last half hour I was so upset.”

But, as I started to write here last night, the right thing to do is hard all the way down. 

My friend is going to play with his cat today. I'm going to Zen out too, at least until my vitamin a kicks in.

 Is it difficult or is it hard?

 

I have always divided non-trivial questions into the difficult and the hard. The way that I think, a difficult decision is one where the right decision I must make is clear and easy to understand, but is nonetheless difficult for me because it causes me or people I care about some level of pain. A hard decision to me is one where the the right decision is not clear and I have to study the question to divine the right answer. A hard decision is not painful. Each kind of decision has to be made. The difficult decisions I make with alacrity. The hard decisions I make the moment I see the issue clearly. I am a pragmatic man.

Is the decision that Democrats have to make in re President Biden difficult or hard?

Hard. As hard as hard. Harder. viz

Do I believe Joe Biden is able enough to be president for the next four years? 

Define "able".

Smart ass. Able encompasses inter alia, the intellectual, the cognitive, the emotional, the moral, the training, the experience; able is the entire human equipage to be president.

 

But the hard is just starting.

At the present time I face a binary choice. Since I have concluded that Joe Biden is not mentally fit enough to be president I then have to decide if the binary alternative, Donald Trump, is cognitively fit enough to be president. Is Trump cognitively fit enough? No.

You see how this is hard. We have to choose between two No's. 

Okay, is one less cognitively fit than the other? 

Tunnel Vision

Washington Post

Biden rallies boisterous crowd as he tries to tamp down debate concerns

“I don’t debate as well as I used to,” Biden said, his voice rising. “But ... I know how to tell the truth. I know right from wrong. I know how to do this job.”

“Jacked Up Joe”! Chicago Sun-Times

Day after abysmal debate, "Jacked up Joe" energizes campaign rally. For panicky Democrats, will it be enough?

“And I know like millions of Americans know — when you get knocked down, you get back up,” President Joe Biden said Friday at a campaign gathering in North Carolina, following his dismal performance in his debate with Trump.

Man, these headlines are like martinis for the eyes.

He got the memo! Al Jazeera

Re-energised Biden comes out swinging after dreadful Trump debate

President Joe Biden says he ‘fully intends’ to win the November election at a fiery campaign rally in North Carolina, brushing aside calls to step down.

He held a rally! IN PERSON! He reads my blog🙄

President Biden: "something snapped" in Trump

 “You’re a whiner. You can’t stand a loss; something snapped in you when you lost last time.”

The Debate: Debacle?

I, and virtually every legal pundit I heard, felt sure that Michael Cohen's testimony on the Oct. 24, 2016, 8:02 pm phone call, in which he told Trumpie that the Stormy Daniels matter had been resolved, was a debacle that doomed the entire Manhattan D.A.'s case. It alone created reasonable doubt on the entire case we said. Well, it didn't. Trumpie was convicted of 34 felonies.

Hillary Clinton beat Trumpie in three out of three debates in 2016. Trumpie lost the popular vote, but still got 46.1% and became the illegitimate president. Joe Biden beat Trumpie two out of two in 2020. Biden won but Trumpie still got 46.8% of the vote. He has lost every presidential debate he ever had and never cracked 47% of the vote. 

The debate last night was a disturbing, depressing, forensic debacle for President Biden. But query me this: How many committed Biden voters yesterday at this time are now committed Trump voters? Not me. Not Republican Never Trumper Mike Miller. We are disturbed by what we saw last night, even shocked, we are depressed, but in November we will still march into the voter's booth and cast our ballot for the president. If President Biden loses this election on one debate, in June!, the earliest presidential debate in history, to Donald Trump!, then we're not a very responsible electorate, are we?What of the Sept. 10 debate? Should we cancel that? Insert Harris or Newsom or, or, or? 

I believed before last night that the cake was baked for Trumpie. To state the obvious, I believe that the morning after. But put it in reverse: If President Biden had smoked Trumpie last night. Would I now be writing, would the pundits be saying, that the cake was baked for Biden? No. At least I would not be. Why not? Because debates don't matter that much. Ask President Mondale. I believe the cake is baked, but the cake will not be ready for serving until November 5.

Supreme Court Nixes Obstruction Charge of Jan. 6 Convict

This will cause all 350 Jan. 6 defendants who were convicted of that charge to have their convictions on that charge thrown out. Their sentences will also be reduced accordingly.

The Debate Debacle: CNN, David Axelrod

And this is my favorite visual reaction. Axelrod has given his slightly nuanced instant take; David Urban, a former Trump campaign adviser has just said "This is an unmitigated disaster for President Biden."

 

Axelrod, in typically stained suit, can only puff his cheeks in despairing recognition of truth.

The Debate Debacle: CNN, Van Jones

This is my favorite, heartfelt spoken reaction:

"That was painful. I love Joe Biden, I worked for Joe Biden...Um, he didn't do well at all...Ah, he did not do well at all, and he looked...I'll give you the analysis of you have the old man versus the con man, I can walk you through how I'm supposed to see it and say it but I just want to speak from my heart. I love that guy.

"That's a good man. He loves his country, he's doing the best that he can, but he had a test to meet tonight, to restore confidence of the country in the debates, and he failed to do that...But that was not what we needed from Joe Biden, and it's personally painful for a lot of people. It's not just panic, it's pain of what we saw tonight."

The Debate Debacle: Politico

 

Dems freak out over Biden’s debate performance: ‘Biden is toast’

 

All Joe Biden needed to do was deliver a repeat performance of his State of the Union address.

Instead, he stammered. He stumbled. And, with fewer than five months to November, he played straight into Democrats’ worst fears — that he’s fumbling away this election to Donald Trump.

The alarm bells for Democrats started ringing the second Biden started speaking in a haltingly hoarse voice.

...

And when he wasn’t speaking, he stood frozen behind his podium, mouth agape, his eyes wide and unblinking for long stretches of time.

“Biden is toast — calling it now,” said Jay Surdukowski, an attorney and Democratic activist from New Hampshire...

In text messages with POLITICO, Democrats expressed confusion and concern as they watched the first minutes of the event. One former Biden White House and campaign aide called it “terrible,” adding that they have had to ask themselves over and over: “What did he just say? This is crazy.”

“Not good,” Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) wrote.

...

...Biden’s shaky performance reignited fears among Democrats that the octogenarian whose mental acuity and physical fitness have stood as voters’ chief concerns about returning him to the White House might not even be able to carry the party through to November.

...

...the trajectory of the race appears dramatically changed.

“My job right now is to be really honest. Joe Biden had one thing he had to do tonight. And he didn’t do it,” former Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) told MSNBC. “He had one thing he had to accomplish. And that was reassure America that he was up to the job at his age. And he failed at that tonight.”

 ...some Democrats were openly saying that Biden should end his campaign. One major Democratic donor and Biden supporter said simply: “Biden needs to drop out. No question about it.”

...

...Trump largely did what Republicans had begged him to do: show a modicum of restraint while also laying bare Biden’s weaknesses. 

...

...in a relatively staid debate, it was Biden who fell short of even the lowest of expectations.

“Biden seems to have needed a few minutes to warm up,” said one veteran Democratic operative. “Poor guy needs a tea. Maybe a whiskey.” Another suggested that Biden get a throat lozenge.

The Debate Debacle: NPR

...some people who listened to the radio in 1960 thought Richard Nixon won the presidential debate with John F. Kennedy, then maybe people reading the transcript of Thursday night’s match-up would think President Biden won.

Maybe.

But elections aren’t won in transcripts. The reality is, fairly or not, debates are often about optics — how the candidates present themselves, defend their records and parry attacks.

And that’s why so many Democrats are ringing the fire alarms after the first general-election presidential debate of 2024. The Biden campaign said the president had a cold [45 mins into the debate, long after it was clear he had been trounced] to explain why he sounded so hoarse and weak. But Biden’s stumbles right from the beginning played into his biggest vulnerability — his age and whether the 81-year-old is up to the challenge of handling four more years in office. 

Not much has changed the dynamics of this race; will anything that happened Thursday night make a difference either?

[I wrote before the debate that this cake is baked, that the race is Trump's to lose; that it wouldn't change many, if any, minds. The president, however, presented as so frail, so aged, so weak in both mind and body, that I predict he will emerge from this hole to find himself in a deeper hole.]

1. First and foremost, let’s talk about the elephant in the room – Democrats have to be wondering if they’d be better off with someone else as their nominee. (emphasis in original)

...it’s next to impossible that Democrats would replace Biden.

... he delivered the kind of performance Democrats feared, party leaders, strategists and many voters, frankly, had to be wondering during this debate what it would be like if any of a handful of other Democrats were standing on that stage.

... Biden often wasn’t able to show vigor or consistently convey what he wanted to say. 

 

“Sometimes the spin don’t spin,” one Democratic strategist texted midway through the debate when asked for reaction.

2. If how Biden sounded wasn’t bad enough, the visuals might have been equally as bad.

...what people saw — and this was predictable — was a split screen.

Biden...looked genuinely shocked and confused, which is never a good look.

 [He did. And it was a bad look, standing there gaping with his mouth open.]

...

3. The format — and hands-off moderators — benefited Trump.

The muting of the candidates was likely intended to make the debate calmer and not allow Trump to run roughshod over the moderators or his opponent. But it had the effect of making Trump seem more sedate than usual.

[I hadn't thought of that. I was impressed with how Trump presented, it was hard to see the bogeyman.]

The moderation, or lack thereof, also allowed Trump to spread falsehoods and hyperbole without being interrupted or corrected. CNN indicated before the debate that the moderators were not going to play a strong role in fact checking the candidates, and they lived up to that.

They left it to the candidates, essentially, and with Biden unable to deliver in real time and the moderators declining to, the audience was left with a salad bowl full of rotten eggs and moldy lettuce that passed for facts.

[That's a good point. Is it the moderators' job to fact-check? I don't think so. Has it ever been? Not that I recall. It is up the the opposing candidate, and the president was "unable to deliver in real time". Biden did say once that I saw, "Everything he just said were lies".]

Trump employed rounds of verbal jujitsu, in which he threw back his own vulnerabilities and directed them toward Biden.

4. This debate might not move the needle much, if at all.

Despite Biden’s struggles, which will understandably get the headlines, Trump had some difficult moments, too, especially in the second half of the debate.

In addition to spreading myriad falsehoods, he did little to credibly defend his conduct on and before the Jan. 6 siege on the Capitol; he used the kind of hyperbolic and vituperative language that has long turned off swing voters;...

So despite Biden’s shortcomings, millions will still likely vote for Biden, anyway, because he’s not Trump.

[Mike Miller spoke succinctly for anti-Trump Republicans and Democrats: "So, I will be voting for President Biden, but this was a disaster."]

The bottom line is: Americans have said they are unhappy with their choices, and, in this – the biggest moment of the 2024 presidential campaign yet — it was clear why.

Bub Carrington (Pitt) ended up with the BULLETS not Portlandia

At the persistent nudging of Princess Korat the Eleventh the undersigned has arisen.

She is so sweet in the morning. "Daddy, it's time to get up and pay attention to me BEFORE I SLEEP ALL DAY!" :) Angel kitty.

I slept well this short night. Dreamed.

Nearly an hour later I am still up. Had something to eat to make me tired. Am finally turning the lights off. It will be a long sleep I predict and a foggy, depressed state when I wake up.

There have been stumbles before: President Ford declaring Poland behind the Iron Curtain “free”; there have been lackluster performances: Nixon in 1960, Obama in 2012. There has even been one debate that raised the question of a president’s age for reelection: Reagan in 1984. However, in the history of presidential debates, there has never been as comprehensively poor a performance, and one that backfired as completely on a president, on the singular issue, mental deterioration due to age, as President Biden’s tonight. It may not lose him much support given the alternative, but he is behind and always has been, and this seriously damaged him. 

I have thought for some time, as others have, as I and they think more about it now, that the president should step aside. He is not mentally fit for another four years; he may not even have the physical and mental stamina to conclude the next four months of the campaign. I don’t know if a replacement mechanism is even in place and have no replacement in mind. I will vote for him because of the alternative. But the truth that I have suspected and now know is that he is not capable of carrying on as president.

Registered voters who watched Thursday’s debate between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump say, 67% to 33%, that Trump turned in a better performance, according to a CNN flash poll of debate watchers conducted by SSRS.

I took my sleeping pill, God, an hour and a half ago. I haven't been able to even try to sleep. A sense of doom, a nightmare. I have to force shutdown now. Good night.

The first debate was a complete disaster for Joe Biden

It was a high-stakes gamble for the president, who has consistently trailed the former president in both national and swing state polls.

It went horribly.

From the very beginning of the debate, there was an unmistakable frailty to Biden's demeanor.

Responding to the CNN moderator Jake Tapper's first question, which was about the economy, Biden appeared out of breath. He hastily began reciting facts while slurring and occasionally omitting words.

At times, Biden uttered nonsensical phrases.

On another question about the war in Gaza, Biden flubbed, saying, "We are the biggest producer of support for Israel of anyone in the world."

During another question about the national debt, Biden inexplicably concluded by saying "We finally beat Medicare."

"Well, he's right," Trump responded. "He did beat Medicare. He beat it to death."

Trump, for his part, effectively capitalized on Biden's weak performance, maintaining a calm demeanor and staying disciplined while occasionally making jabs at the president.

"I really don't know what he said at the end of that sentence," said Trump. "I don't think he knows what he said either."

Over the course of the debate, Biden's voice grew slightly less hoarse. But the incoherence in many of his responses remained.

...

Even as the former president maintained a relatively even keel at the debate, he told a litany of lies.
…
It hardly ended up mattering: Biden's poor performance outshined all of it.

…

"I think there was a sense of shock actually on how he came out at the beginning of this debate," [David] Axelrod [former senior Obama White House advisor] said on CNN, while trying to give Biden some credit for addressing issues like abortion, "how his voice sounded — he seemed a little disoriented at the beginning of the debate. He did get stronger as the debate went on, but by that time, I think the panic had set in."

Axelrod agreed with other CNN panelists that there will now be discussions on whether Biden should step aside.

The debate Democrats feared

…a raspy, seemingly sick Biden quickly overshadowed the substance, generating a fresh panic among Democrats about his age and health at the worst possible time.

Text threads lit up across Washington between Democrats within the first fifteen minutes of the debate, gauging the damage.

“It’s awful,” one veteran of two major Democratic campaigns said.

“It’s bad,” one Democrat close to the administration said.

“My non-political friends who just began tracking the election are concerned about Biden after watching this,” one senior Democratic aide said.

“If it gets Biden not to run, then it was very good,” one former Obama campaign aide darkly texted. “Otherwise it’s bad.”

‘A disaster so far': Biden freezing on stage during debate draws fire on social media

Sudiksha Kochi, USA TODAY

Thu, June 27, 2024 at 10:07 PM EDT2 min read

I concluded the same 7 mins before this article was posted.

Mike Murphy, a Republican strategist and NBC News analyst, wrote, “Sorry, I’m voting for President Biden but a disaster so far.” Stephen Hayes, editor and CEO of The Dispatch, tweeted, “Let the Dem panic begin.”

Former top Obama communications person Johanna Maska wrote, "What the hell is he saying? Dems, this doesn't work." Another Twitter user going by the handle AidanThompsonKS wrote, "Biden is freezing 10 minutes in This is embarrassing."

…

Nicholas Kristof

@NickKristof

 (https://x.com/NickKristof)

I wish Biden would reflect on this debate performance and then announce his decision to withdraw from the race, throwing the choice of Democratic nominee to the convention. Someone like @gretchenwhitmer 

or @SherrodBrown or @ SecRaimondo could still jump in and beat Trump.

10:01 PM · Jun 27, 2024

 ·

2.2M Views

Alyssa Farah Griffin, former White House director of strategic communications under the Trump administration, said, "Hearing from countless viewers of all political stripes and the consensus is Biden needs to be replaced. It’s worse than I believe most people imagined."

'Babbling' and 'hoarse': Biden's debate performance sends Democrats into a panic

ATLANTA — President Joe Biden was supposed to put the nation’s mind at ease over his physical and mental capacity with his debate showing Thursday night. 

But from the onset of the debate, the 81-year-old struggled seemingly even to talk, mostly summoning a weak, raspy voice. In the opening minutes, the president repeatedly tripped over his words, misspoke and lost his train of thought.

…

“Democrats just committed collective suicide,” said one party strategist who has worked on presidential campaigns. “Biden sounds hoarse, looks tired and is babbling. He is reaffirming everything voters already perceived. President Biden can’t win. This debate is a nail in the political coffin.“ 

…

“It’s hard to argue that we shouldn’t nominate someone else,” a Democratic consultant who works on down-ballot races added.

With the 45th pick in the NBA draft the Miami “Heat” select…

Pelle Larsson of Hairy Boner. SG, 6’5” 212 lbs.

NO! This is ATL’s pick. We swapped places with them. With the 43rd pick in the 2024 NBA draft the Miami “Heat” select…

Nikola Djurisic, because we don’t have enough Nikolas in the NBA. SG, 6’7” 209 lbs.

I can't watch anymore. It's too painful.

Trump won.

Debate Cogitate: Dictate, Hate, 34

I cogitate that this cake is baked before the debate--with one large ingredient missing: 34. Fed up with democracy? Fine. You want a 34-time convict dictating? Trump says there's a crime wave.There is: a one-man crime wave. Trump offered himself as a whore to Big Oil; he was willing to be bribed by oil execs for $1B campaign contribution. And to prostitute you. Trump blew up the Biden border deal because it help the American people, but hurt Trump politically. He is willing to hurt the American people for himself.

Hate: They're coming for you. I'm just in the way. Welcome their hate. Lean into the hate, welcome it. Biden has got to bind people to him. "Riggers"--Trump code for "Niggers". Put and keep Trump on defensive, talking about his record, his rhetoric. "Trump hates me and he hates you. He is coming for you--for people of color, for Christians and those insufficiently Christian for him, for Jews, for Muslims, for women, for the non-binary, for the middle class, for the poor, for Democrats, for Republicans, for judges, for juries, for elections--for anyone and anything that is not for Trump! His message is hate, and the messenger is a 34-time convicted felon, a rapist and convicted fraudster! Had Trump’s trial been held in the state he fled to he wouldn’t even be able to vote for himself!”

Divide: We're not the united anything. Divide. Lean into hit. MAGA violence, racism, its war on all non-whites, on all anti-Trump whites.

Truth: We are better off than we were four years, five years ago, six, seven, and eight. Lies can defeat truth if they go unanswered. Truth can defeat lies.

Joe Biden
@JoeBiden
Trump is the first president since Hoover who left office with fewer jobs than when he entered.
3:03 PM · Jun 25, 2024
·2.9M Views

Shams: Jimmy Butler Will Play Out Contract, Not Seek Extension

“Determined to have a big year” to set up massive payday in player option year, 2025-26.

“We need someone to take control!”

A few days ago, I was talking with a young conservative who admitted that Trump was an “odious thug”, in his words, but argued that the US and the world had become such a mess that we need an odious thug as president.

“Think of Putin, Xi, Kim, Ali Khamenei, Netanyahu – they’re all odious thugs,” he said. “We need our own odious thug to stand up to them.”

I demurred, saying that direct confrontation could lead to more bloodshed, even nuclear war.

He continued: “We need an odious thug to shake up Washington, stir up all the ossified bureaucracies now destroying America, do all the things no one has had the balls to do.”

When I looked skeptical, he charged: “We need someone to take control!”

As soon as he uttered those last words, he and I both knew the conversation was over. He had spilled the beans. He was impatient with the messiness and slowness of democracy. He wanted a dictator.

-Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich, recounting an encounter with a Trump supporter. 

This is the reason that I also believe that the Bidens message on democracy will not work. Too many people believe that democracy doesn’t work for them any longer.

Kel’el Ware

I’m a know-it-all, I accept that. I’m self-named Mr. Wrong, Always Certain. Fine. But I also took one look at about five minutes of Justise Winslow at Duke and knew he couldn’t play in the NBA. I saw about five mins of Jaime Jaquez Jr in the summer league at my pizza joint and pronounced him ready for the NBA, a great fit for this org. and a potential all-star. Occasionally idiot bloggers are right. 

Kel’el Ware will start his short, unhappy life as a pro with the Sioux Falls “Skyforce”. Maybe he gets a call up his first year or maybe his “motor” is so meager that he stays there. Pat Riley will push Spoelstra to bring him up, as he did with Nikola Jovic, as he did, convincing no one, but arguing publicly that Winslow could play point for the “Heat”. Riley doesn’t admit mistakes but he made a huge one tonight. He’ll force the team to stay with Ware until the last dog dies. Which it will. It was a wasted first round draft pick, as Winslow was, and eventually Riley will have to admit it and jettison Ware. The “Heat” are no better tonight, on a night when OG Anunoby re-upped with the “Knicks”, the day after New York acquired Mikal Bridges. We got no better, in fact the gulf between us and the top, Boston, New York, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, and turbo-charged Indiana, is now so wide that it is an ocean not a gulf. 

Tonight’s pick smacks of Hail Mary desperation, which the “Heat” have never been accused of. But this is now and for the foreseeable future the Miami 45’s unless a mega-trade is made. This is a gloomy night for the once glamorous Miami basketball franchise…Of course, I’m often wrong.

 Kyler Staley
@kylerstaley
Two different eras of Indiana basketball

Kel’el Ware and Thomas Bryant

Both on the Miami Heat

#iubb

Well, congratulations to Indiana! "Both on the Miami Heat". Both stiffs.

 Matt Glenesk
@MattGlenesk
Kel'el Ware going from unwanted in Oregon to the No. 15 pick in #NBADraft is a helluva advertisement for Mike Woodson, #iubb.

I don't know who Mike Woodson is. I know being "unwanted" at the school you chose to play for in college is not a good advertisement for Kel'el Ware.

I actually cannot believe this pick. It is so anti-"Heat". This has Alec Kessler written all over it.

 

 As part of the rookie scale, Ware will earn $4.2 million next season.

DON'T SPEND THE MONEY! Buy a McDonald's franchise!

 

Son, this is the first day of the end of your life.

Experts are not too excited about the newest Miami Heat draft choice. He is not drawing rave reviews from the national media. SI.com/Heat

Here's what the pundits said:

Ayrton Ostly of USA TODAY: "Ware's athleticism in a 7-foot frame with a 7-foot-4 wingspan makes him an enticing prospect as a defender and dunker. He's a prolific three-point shooter as well. He needs to improve his effort and decision maker as a passer." Grade - B.

 CBS Sports' Adam Finkelstein and Kyle Boone: "Ware is the most polarizing prospect in this class. There are a lot of those guys, but he's the most extreme. He's been that way since high school. He has every single tool in the book: size, speed, hands, touch out to the perimeter. But he's said out loud he's not sure how much he loves basketball. There have been questions about his motor, physicality, etc. But going to the Heat and Heat culture will be great for him --- unless he can't fit in." Grade - B-

He has said out loud he doesn't know how much he loves basketball??? Sounds like Ben Simmons. "Questions about his motor"? Oh yeah, GREAT fit with  "Heat" Culture!? The guy will be out of the league after his rookie contract.

Kyle Irving of The Sporting News: "Ware's mobility, athleticism and potential to stretch the floor makes him a great fit with the Heat. He's a rim protector and lob catcher with developing offensive skills." - Grade - B+

Kel’el Ware

Pre-Draft Analysis

Strengths: Ware has mobility as a rim-protector and a budding skill level in a 7-foot frame, giving him unique potential at his position. His game matured noticeably as a sophomore at Indiana after he spent a season at Oregon.

Weaknesses: He lacks ideal feel for the game and all-around consistency, even if he has made noticeable strides with his motor.

The verdict: Ware is a bouncy finisher who runs like a guard, shoots the 3 with promising mechanics and even has some coordination and skill with the ball. Talent was never a concern, but he still has questions to answer regarding his tenacity and awareness on both ends of the floor, something he did a good job of addressing last season. -- Jonathan Givony

Post-Draft Analysis

After being tied to guard prospects for much of the pre-draft process, Miami went a surprising direction with Ware, who had one of the widest projected ranges of outcomes in the draft. This proved to be the very top end for Ware, who always held lottery-level talent. Concerns about his motor and consistency, however, created some divergence of opinion on the likelihood he maximizes that ability. While this was an unexpected pick, the Heat are clearly investing in Ware's development, opting to take a chance ahead of more established prospects on the board. -- Jeremy Woo

Extremely surprising to me. The “Heat” don’t reach and this is a reach. Ke’el sounds to me like a Cleveland pick. Ware is the anti-3J. Maybe he was picked to trade? My verdict: He’ll be out of the league when his rookie contract expires. Ware is a fail.

Portlandia chose Bub Cunningham (Pitt) 14th.

“With the 15th pick in the 2024 NBA draft the Miami “Heat” select…

Kel’el Ware of Indiana. Center, 7’0”, 242 lbs.

How is the NBA draft not an unlawful restraint of trade?

(And all sports drafts.) Players drafted must sign below-market rookie contracts. When I came out of law school I was a free agent. Didn't get many takers, but my starting salary was not already set by a collective of law firms. How is the salary cap not an unfair depression of wages? Why are we protecting billionaires from paying their employees what the market for them will bear? I know the answer to all of my questions: if there's a union, courts will not disturb a collective bargaining agreement, which was just signed by the league and the players association. If I was the NBAPA head the next go-round, I would not budge from the demands of no draft, no cap, and a reduction in regular season games. And the players (average player's salary $9.6M) through the union would fire my ass the next minute.