Hur Story

Only in the Democratic Party could anyone be in political trouble by being exonerated of wrongdoing.

Independent counsel Robert Hur (above) cleared President Biden of any intentional malfeasance in having a bunch of classified government documents in his garage and made a clear distinction between his accidental retention of classified government documents and Donald Trump's deliberate retention of a number of documents so large he'd need an auto show's worth of space to store them outside Mar-a-Lago.

And then he shot a poison arrow by inserting his own personal take on Biden by concluding that he is "a well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory."

Democratic damage control was more damage and less control.  While they were correct in saying that Hur's personal observations were gratuitous and unnecessary and that they did not add anything to Biden's exoneration - indeed, it had the effect of a political, if not judicial, indictment - they sounded like a bunch of whiners and spoilsports.  No more than President Biden himself, who came out forcefully in a hastily called press conference in which he challenged Hur's assertions of his feeble-mindedness and added that "my memory is fine."

It would have had more resonance coming from a man who did not, in that same press conference, refer to the president of Egypt as the president of Mexico.   

Biden tried to show how on the ball he was by being angry and defiant.  Hmm, it sort of reminds me of that ne time an ultimately failed presidential candidate declared himself, when his integrity was questioned, to be an "angry and defiant man." 

Yeah, that worked out wonderfully, didn't it? 

What Hur, a Republican, accomplished was a well-played and well-executed political move.  By inserting the remarks about Biden's age and mental acuity, Hur took attention away from Trump's own feeble-mindedness, which has proven itself to be much more dangerous.  Notice how everyone suddenly stopped talking about Trump confusing Nancy Pelosi with Nikki Haley?  And by the way, did you also notice how people have suddenly stopped talking about Nikki Haley? 

Hur also skewered Attorney General Merrick Garland, already on Democrats' hit list for taking so damn long too start investigations against Trump to avoid looking "political."  Democrats have gone after Garland for failing to edit out the age-sensitive references toward the President before issuing the report.  But had Garland done so, he would have edited out elements of the report that would likely have been leaked to the press and made it look like he was protecting Biden for purely political reasons, damaging his reputation for being above politics.  The only way to have kept Hur's personal appraisal of Biden's mental acuity out of the report was for Hur to have kept his personal appraisal himself and not put it in writing in the first place.  

So what do Democrats do now?  An obvious answer would be to pivot to Trump's own public displays of mental breakdown, including his Pelosi-Haley mixup, as the only things Pelosi and Haley have in common is that they are female politicians whose first names begin with the later "N" who go by their married surnames.  (Aside: Pelosi ges by her married surname because she loves her husband, while Haley ges by her married surname because it sounds more American than "Randhawa."  Oh, wait, I'm getting gratuitous here!)  But that amounts to "what-about-ism," something Democrats always accuse the Republicans of doing, and that's one shoe that should not be on the other foot.  Besides, Trump neutralized the issue long ago by instigating aspersions and insinuations regarding Biden's mental abilities so that efforts to call attention to his own declining mental facilities.  It's why he highlights Democratic corruption as a counteroffensive to those who call out his own corruption - to neutralize the issue in his own favor. 

Also, there's no way you can show up Trump on the age issue because of the show Trump puts on.  Unlike Biden, who is normally quiet, measured and reserved,  Trump comes across as being feisty, animated and vigorous, a point of fact he demonstrates with his incendiary rhetoric and his expressive body language.      

Democrats have to remember that the best defense is a good offense and they have to talk up President Biden's record and how he has been not a good but a great President, as former Republican operative Stuart Stevens has suggested.  Why not?  After all, he got passed the biggest social-welfare and social-amenity legislation since Franklin D. Roosevelt, got passed the biggest infrastructure program sice Dwight D. Eisenhower, and pursued the most aggressive civil rights agenda since Lyndon B. Johnson.  But no, Democrats won't do that, since aggressiveness is not in their DNA, which means that come January, American democracy will be DOA.  Instead of looking out for number one in the campaign, Democrats are doing number one in their beds.

In 2016, the Hillary Clinton campaign had a slogan that went, "I'm With Her."  In 2024, expect the Trump campaign to have a similar slogan - "I'm With Hur." 

State of the Biden

I thought President Biden's State of the Union address was going to be a rote recitation of his accomplishments and his wish list for the new Congress, and for the most part it was.  Then it became a riot - and I don't mean on like the one that took place in the Capitol two years ago this past January 6. 

Biden referred to a plan proposed by Republican Senator Rick Scott of Florida, a man Mitch McConnell despises.  The plan that seeks to have all federal legislation, including Medicare and Social Security, sunset after five years so Congress can decide whether to renew it as a way of reforming "entitlements" (they're called entitlements because we pay into it and so we're entitled to them!).  When Biden noted in his speech that only a handful of Republicans, not all of them, support Scott's plan, a gaggle of MAGAs - including the insufferable Marjorie Taylor Greene - booed and heckled the President, much to the chagrin of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who tried unsuccessfully to silence them. 

And with that, the President showed just how vicious Republicans can be when they're confronted with the evidence of how callous and uncaring they can be . . .  when they're confronted with the truth.  He may have ended Scott's political career, a political career that should never have made it past the 2010 Florida gubernatorial election.  And he boxed the GOP into trying to find ways to cut the budget and approve a debt ceiling increase without cutting Medicare or Social Security - all while Speaker McCarthy sat silently without applauding Biden Administration initiatives that poll well with the voters.  

Well played, Mr. President, well played.

Alas, Biden's age will still be a factor in the 2024 election.  If the 2024 Republican presidential nominee is younger than even Hunter Biden (like Florida governor Ron DeSantis, who turns 45 in 2024), the President is likely to face a grueling campaign with an opponent with much more energy then either he or Hunter has.  Which is precisely why Democrats are still a little skittish about renomainting Biden.  

Well, Democrats, you might not have had to worry about having to go with Biden without any obvious Democratic presidential possibility for him to pass the torch to after you let so many Democratic rising stars flare out and burn out or you ignored up-and-coming Democrats promising new leadership (*cough cough. Martin O'Malley, *cough cough*).   Just remember, you offered up 26 presidential candidates for 2020 and Biden was the only one who had any chance of defeating Trump.  You gotta dance with he what brung ya.