Tea at Trianon: The Ad Hominems of Joe Biden

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Thursday, October 1, 2020

The Ad Hominems of Joe Biden

I thought that Biden would be a better debater than he proved to be, in spite of his frailty, because he has been an elected official for forty-five years. From The American Thinker:

Joe Biden was in some kind of foul, putrid mode at the debate last night.

Many people have cited memorable lines from the contentious political slugfest, but the lines that stand out to me are the grotesquely disrespectful ad hominem insults Biden directed at the president of the United States.

The Rev.com transcript shows tons of them:

"He's a fool on this."

"Everybody knows he's a liar."

"Will you shut up, man?"

"Keep yapping, man."

"He's the racist."

"He's Putin's puppy."

"He never keeps his word."

"Well, it's hard to get any word in with this clown."

"You're the worst president America has ever had."

What kind of argument for 'civility' and 'decency' and 'dignity,' -- all words Biden uses ad nauseum, is that? Some kind of bottom has dropped out. Some of these insults were so disgusting they actually made viewers feel sorry for President Trump, which is frankly a feat.

Trump can give as good as he gets, but he made no such ad hominems comparable to those, there was one part of the debate where he called Biden 'not smart,' but at least he had some academic records to back it up with. In fact, in all of his oppositional statements to Biden, he had some kind of fact, he wasn't just pulling disembodied insults out as Biden did. Biden had no such backing for his insults, some of the most disgusting words hurled at a president of the United States to his face ever heard. Our worst enemies talk like that - think Nicolas Maduro, Iran's mullahs, or Kim Jong Un, pre-peace talks.

Which ultimately amounts to insults to the voters. Trump represents us and most of us (I'm not talking about California's illegals who created the popular vote majority) voted for him, so to hear those insults amounts to insults directed at us, too. Normal candidate sell themselves to voters as something better than their opponent, trying to persuade us, but Biden wasn't interested in persuading. Far from being Mr. Decency, Biden sounded like the collective demon voice of the deep state, screaming its obscenities at exorcist Trump and the voters who brought him in

Which is about par, because Biden insulted a lot of little guys out in the campaign trail, calling them names like 'damned liar,' 'hey, fat,' and 'you're full of sh**.' And of course, years back, he was the author of the kinds of uncivil hearings now taking place over the Supreme Court, introducing the U.S, to the 'Borking' of candidates. That's led him to where he is now. flinging his disgusting insults straight to President Trump. (Read more.)

Also from The American Thinker:

Joe Biden has had a 47-year political career and has served as a Democrat senator from the state of Delaware from 1972 to 2009 and served as the 47th vice president of the United States from 2009-2017. Along with his current run for president, he likewise sought that office in 1988 and 2008. During his first attempt as a presidential candidate in1988, he professed certain statements which embarrassingly proved to be outright distortions of the truth.
According to a September 21,1987 AP report, at a New Hampshire campaign appearance the previous April Biden claimed to have:
Gone to law school on a full scholarship -- the only one to have done so.
Graduated with three degrees.
Was the outstanding student in the political science department.
Sounds impressive, if only it was true. It turns out he went to school on a half scholarship, finished 76th out of 85, and has one degree, not three. Let's go to the videotape.

What’s worse, when confronted by a supporter obviously aware of his prevarications, Biden lost his temper and questioned the man’s IQ and nerve to ask such a question. He then doubled down and lied about his academic achievements. Falsehoods he was later forced to admit to:

''I did not graduate in the top half of my class at law school and my recollection on this was inaccurate.’’ Inaccurate? That’s quite a spin.

In actuality, his statements far exceeded inaccuracies and proved him a serial plagiarist, for which he was flunked from a Syracuse Law School class and almost expelled for copying speeches verbatim from the likes of: former British Labor leader Neil Kinnock, Robert Kennedy, Hubert Humphrey, and John F. Kennedy. Having been caught red-handed in this malfeasance, he went on to say ,“I’ve done some dumb things and I will do some dumb things again.” No doubt a prophetic statement. (Read more.)

From PJ Media:

While Trump and Biden both went on the offensive, Trump got in more clear statements and Biden came across as shifty, especially on packing the Supreme Court.

Wallace asked Biden if he would support expanding the Supreme Court to more than nine justices, noting that Democrats brought up the issue first. Biden refused to answer the question, and Trump pressed him.

When Trump asked, “Why aren’t you going to answer that question?” Biden shot back, “Would you shut up, man?”

After Trump pressed, “Who is on your list, Joe?” Biden responded by saying, “This is so unpresidential.”

Not only did Biden dodge the question, but he lost his cool about the issue, and then accused his opponent of being unpresidential right after he said, “Would you shut up, man?” (Read more.)

Trump had to debate two people. From The Western Journal:

“I’m trying to get them to engage, to focus on the key issue to give people at home a sense of why they want to vote for one versus the other,” Wallace said.

“If I’ve done my job right, at the end of the night, people will say, ‘That was a great debate, who was the moderator?'”

Political figures and pundits on both sides of the aisle were quick to declare Wallace had failed to live up to that standard Tuesday night, even before that interaction.

“Chris Wallace is supposed to be invisible. He isn’t,” said Richard Grenell, former acting director of the United States National Intelligence for the Trump administration. “He’s off to a terrible start.” (Read more.)

More HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE.