Strengthening Constitutional Self-Government

No Left Turns

You Go, Joe

On a flight to Kalispell, Mont., Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., was asked by a reporter, "Do you still believe in a tripartite solution to Iraq?" His answer lasted 13 minutes, 20 seconds.

If you have the stomach to read the whole thing, click here.

Discussions - 10 Comments

The reporter timed the response to his question, thus either looking at his watch while listening or staring at Biden while artificially recording the remarks. He was probably a pool reporter from the White House. Having covered Bush for these many years, he had developed the habitual response to the staggered, choking, staccato, irrelevant responses of the president. On many respects, Bush answered press questions like someone having grown up watching television or video games, ADHD-like in halting phrase-ologies and memorized markers, and the administration organized its 'message' and weekly talking points to follow suit. The right wing tries to shore up this legacy by floating the idea of Bush as someone supremely interested in history, (similar to Reagan's brilliance being unknown to all but secretly hidden in his diaries). Maybe that is the case. Maybe Biden and Obama will be as un-listenable for different reasons. But we need to think those reasons. Technologies are habits, contractions of action, thought, and language. We grasp them as molarities. But actual human thought is made up of molecular structures that are differentiated. The wood of the handle has grains. While no intellectual, Biden's remarks are stratified. After years of habitual molar contraction under Bush, literally the cognitive social space of thought must again be pried open and new fusions be organized for the contemplating mind.

Yeah, and Lincoln would take hours to rebut Douglas. Psh. What an ass. Didn't he have any respect for the media/ the soundbyte?



This blog used to post ideological problems with the left . . . not superficial ones . . .

Stertinius for Delaware senator in 2032 after Biden retires/dies! Winning slogan: "The Wood of the Handle Has Grains!!"

Anyone who can talk for 13 minutes and 20 seconds about the issues involved in annexing a country obviously must be an idiot.

So, is Biden now comparable to Lincoln or are you attempting to say that since Lincoln and Douglas were verbose in their debates, Bidens long-winded answer to a simple question was appropriate?

Dale - I'm saying it's downright silly to criticize someone for a lack of brevity when answering a question from the media.

Why?

If the media is good at getting 'gotcha' moments, why then expose yourself when you don't have to (ie .. simple question ... simple answer)?

In my opinion, the need to say something more than you have to in this regard is indicative of something more troubling personally, especially when a simple no or yes would have sufficed.

Biden's long winded answer is essentially ... yes, I still believe in that strategy and if you look, that is what is happening.

Instead he has to 'teach' the person asking the question and, in turn, everyone else. That's a problem ... a major problem.

If you think a simple "yes" or "no" answer would have worked on that question, you have a pretty naive view of the media. They are looking to get ratings, not looking for real political discussion.



The "gotcha" moment you allude to is constant. You're damned if you give a short answer and damned if you give a long one.

It's not exactly a surprise that Stertinius defends Biden. From their styles, they are probably the same person.

I'm saying it's downright silly to criticize someone for a lack of brevity when answering a question from the media.


Calling a thirteen minute response a "lack of brevity" is like calling WW2 a "disturbance". A one minute response would have been a lack of brevity.

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