Hamlet’s Decision is Bad News for Janet Napolitano
Okay, I get Joe Biden’s extreme, unabated grief over the death of his son last May. But there are, in my opinion, no circumstances under which the Hamlet pose, with its many, many leaks from friends, should have gone on beyond Labor Day. There are, after all, (or should have been, anyway) some important considerations beyond his feelings and his ambition. Such as the Democratic Party’s interest in not having to deal with what became a ridiculous spectacle of sorts.
Biden would not have won the nomination, even if he had not pronounced himself the ultimate triangulator who could get triangulation things done, as he did yesterday. But he did. Which was about to prompt me to notify AB readers that Biden said two years ago that Janet Napolitano should be appointed to the Supreme Court.
Seriously. He said this. The idea of Janet Napolitano as a Supreme Court justice would have warmed the hearts of Hispanic and African-American voters, of course, given their fondness for Sheriff Joe Arpaio and 1980s-‘90s-era tough-on-crime criminal laws and still-current police tactics and outrageous prosecutor conduct. Because we don’t have enough current Supreme Court justices who are overt proxies for law enforcement folks who engage in outrageous misconduct, see.
Biden took one—and, to my knowledge, only one—important and gutsy step regarding civil rights in his entire career: In the spring of 2012 he publicly stated his support for same-sex marriage, forcing Obama to do the same. But that just isn’t enough for me, or any other progressive, to have wanted him to become the Democratic nominee. At least now we won’t have to suffer through his primary candidacy.
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UPDATE: Heather Digby Parton in an article in Salon today captures perfectly the depth of Biden’s delusions as he revealed them so stupefyingly yesterday. H/T Greg Sargent. (Her article was written before Biden’s announcement today.)
Dismaying. Just plain dismaying.
I wouldn’t want him as Potus , either , but I was kind of hoping he’d run. I wanted to see Biden and Clinton destroy each other , allowing Bernie to slip by them both at the wire.
I had thought until yesterday that a Biden candidacy would help Sanders, but after what Biden said yesterday I thought he would more likely help Clinton by making her look more progressive than she is.
I just updated my post to add a comment about a terrific commentary by Heather Digby Parton in Salon that just nails the Biden situation in light of his comments yesterday.
You’re probably right. Digby sure was about Webb and Biden being members in good standing in the “old boys club”.
I heard some of Biden’s comments on the radio last night and judging by his tone , the well-rehearsed storytelling , etc. , I would have bet money that he was getting in the race.
Oh well , Webb and Biden – that’s two lousy candidates down. Now all we need is a scandalous story ( with pics ) about Hillary and some underage cabana boy and the Democratic field will start looking pretty good.
Knowing how the Democratic machine works , however , the story will probably involve Bernie and an underage cabana boy.
Yeah. Is there really any doubt that that speech was written as the one he planned to give as his announcement-as-candidate one? It would have been a good speech. But he would have lost the nomination.