VP Biden has not lost an inch in the 12 years we have been following him here.

[Peacetrain]

Last edited Thu Nov 21, 2019, 06:14 PM - Edit history (1)

This is how he always speaks. People call it gaffes.. and that is fine. He stumbles over words with a stutter he still fights. I know other people who fight the stutter battle, and it is not that they are "slipping" when the words get stuck or turned around. It is because their thought processes are faster than their disability allows them to compensate for.

VP Biden will always get the words turned around, because he is already on to the next thought.

[pangaia]

1. Playing devil's advocate-- How did he forget Kamala Harris is black?

Well, I just read an explanation of the mis-understanding. If that is the case, I retract my question..

[Peacetrain]

3. Honestly, he has done this before, so I was not taken back.. she was the first

AA woman elected to the senate.. and he turned the words around.. He does that all the time. and he has done that as long as we have followed him here.. he is thinking one thing and it comes out that way. But if you have not followed Joe, I can see where people wonder. I am not blaming others.. but he will always do this. It is a disability he has dealt with all his political life. That is why they call him the gaffe machine. And truthfully that is pretty harsh.. But he deals with it.

[pangaia]

5. Interesting, and maybe relevant or not..

I also have been a stutterererer all my life..It was quite bad when I was a kid.

Now, and for the last 50 years or so, probably 99% unnoticeable. So, I recognize some of Joe's... speaking habits.. but other of his mechanisms are very different from mine.
When I can not remember words it is simply because I have such a small vocabulary with a guy with 3 college degrees, and my aging brain.

[Peacetrain]

7. My husband has a history of stuttering and I am dyslexic..

One day he came up with the best explanation for his stuttering issues I have ever heard. He likened it to dyslexia of the vocal chords. If you ever look at many of my posts, you will see I am constantly having to edit, because a word is missing in my post that when I reread it in a preview before I post.. my brain sees the word, but it is not there.. later I will reread and sure enough have to edit and add a word in or take one out.. because my eye slips. I catch words in the line below. The bad side of my type of dyslexia, is that I can mis read posts.. its a constant battle. So I am very sympathetic to VP Biden.

[pangaia]

8. dotn wory abtou tipos

see wath i mena? tyiopny everyhtsihj rigjt istn necessayr..

peopel cna unretsand aynywa

[Peacetrain]

9. Thank you...that is great!!! understood it perfectly

[LakeArenal]

11. Hey sister! Words move all over the page to me.

Right now I’m learning tenses in Spanish 😳😳
That being said, they will always accuse Joe of gaffes that aren’t gaffes.

Because that’s what some do.

However, despite a speech problem,
Joe is the most qualified to be the leader of the free world. Stutter, sputter or not.

[Peacetrain]

12. Could not agree more!!!

I was listening to MJ this morning and one of the panelists also said to the "concerned" this is how Joe has always been. Somewhere along the line people have built up this myth of Joe being an polished speaker years ago and that is slipping from their embraced myth.. ahhh no.. But Joe is Joe and he has dealt with this all his life.

(Crazy trying to catch those words that were there 10 minutes ago }

[LakeArenal]

14. What words? All I see is letters!!

[lark]

2. I missed part of the debate, didn't hear the Mosley-Braun comment.

However, what I did see from him was strong, IMO. I thought he did much better than he did in the previous debates, but hey, I like the guy so definitely give him the benefit of the doubt. I strongly disagree with him on marijuana, but think he's our strongest candidate. If he falters and doesn't gain traction, there are other good alternatives in the field. We'll see what happens when the votes start getting counted. My state doesn't have a primary until later in the game. If I were voting today, I'd vote Joe.

[Peacetrain]

4. See my post #3..

I hear you .. I did not get to see all the debate either, and have been picking it up. He does this, and will always do this. If he gets elected President he will do that. If we have been able to live with the biggest liar that ever existed for three years, I think we get used to VP Biden and his speech pattern ..

[pangaia]

6. Another thing is that whomever gets the nomination MUST get past trump,

or, if he is gone, whomever is next.

So for me THAT is the primary requirement.. I don't care WHO the dem candidate is.. they ALL would be great (well, with at least exceptions (LOL) but they MUST be able to win!

And I certainly have a reservation or 2 about that necessity with each candidate...

[Peacetrain]

10. Kicking back up for the usual suspects

those who come in later in the AM

[Demsrule86]

13. This is a great OP...I have to tell you my brother dated a Jamaican girl from Long Island

I think...and she became really angry with my Mother who said something about the struggle of Black women...Mom was a civil rights activist although raised in segregated Virginia...so it isn't always as clear as some think.

[Peacetrain]

15. That is such a good point that many of us do not stop to think about.

Its all perspective.. and we see things from different perspectives, not just a cultural, racial or religious homogeny .. but experience itself gives us a unique view into any subject

[Demsrule86]

16. We were all very embarrassed for my Mother...of course later we thought about and realized

she really didn't do anything wrong and meant no harm.

[Peacetrain]

17. Being sympathetic and having that unique understanding of how hard

it was for people being discriminated against that only an activist who fought for the better angels would really understand. (Your Mom) Its kind of interesting and almost applicable to older pols. They were battered while fighting the good fight, and then later battered for remembering the hard battles. You have given me a lot to think about.

[Demsrule86]

18. My Mom literally went to the march on Washington...I wasn't born.

She dragged my Dad too who also agreed with her but who worried about losing his job.

[Peacetrain]

19. Tell your Mom from an a poster on DU... THANK YOU!!

and your Dad too. Your folks are good people.. You have a lot to be proud of.

[Pisces]

20. I am for Biden because I think he can beat Trump, but I have eyes and ears and he looks like he is

Doddering. Standing next to Bernie did him no favors. Bernie sound way more cogent than Biden. He seems angry grandpa but he still seems sharp. I hold my breath every time Biden answers because I don’t trust what he’s going to say.

[treestar]

39. After the Dotard, I wonder if it matters

People who like them "telling it like it is" but think the Dotard is too much, may well like him for this. DU sometimes assumes all voters are the same as we are.

[Hekate]

21. Thanks Peacetrain

[Gothmog]

22. What Joe Biden Can't Bring Himself to Say

I was a stutter until about 4th grade. I find these attacks on Biden to be sad. This article about Joe's stuttering really hit home with me. The discussion of the movie The King's Speech was very moving for me.

Link to tweet

In Biden’s office, the first time I bring up his current stuttering, he asks me whether I’ve seen The King’s Speech. He speaks almost mystically about the award-winning 2010 film. “When King George VI, when he stood up in 1939, everyone knew he stuttered, and they knew what courage it took for him to stand up at that stadium and try to speak—and it gave them courage … I could feel that. It was that sinking feeling, like—oh my God, I remember how you felt. You feel like, I don’t know … almost like you’re being sucked into a black hole.”

Presidential candidates usually don’t speak about their bleakest moments, certainly not this viscerally. It resembles the way Biden writes in his memoir about the aftermath of the 1972 car accident that killed his first wife and young daughter and critically injured his two sons, Beau and Hunter: “I could not speak, only felt this hollow core grow in my chest, like I was going to be sucked inside a black hole.”

A few weeks later, I ask Jill Biden what she remembers about sitting next to her husband during the movie. “It was one of those moments in a marriage where you just sort of understand without words being spoken,” she says.

As he watched The King’s Speech, Biden accurately guessed that the screenwriter, David Seidler, was a stutterer. “He showed me a copy of a speech they found in an attic that the king had actually used, where he marks his—it’s exactly what I do!” Biden tells me, his voice lifting. “My staff, when I have them put something on a prompter—I wish I had something to show you.”

I agree with Joe that it would be difficult for trump to use Joe's stutter against him

In Biden’s office, as my time is about to run out, I bring up the fact that Trump crudely mocked a disabled New York Times reporter during the 2016 campaign. “So far, he’s called you ‘Sleepy Joe.’ Is ‘St-St-St-Stuttering Joe’ next?”

“I don’t think so,” Biden says, “because if you ask the polls ‘Does Biden stutter? Has he ever stuttered?,’ you’d have 80 to 95 percent of people say no.” If Trump goes there, Biden adds, “it’ll just expose him for what he is.”

I ask Biden something else we’ve been circling: whether he worries that people would pity him if they thought he still stuttered.

He scratches his chin, his fingers trembling slightly. “Well, I guess, um, it’s kind of hard to pity a vice president. It’s kind of hard to pity a senator who’s gotten six zillion awards. It’s kind of hard to pity someone who has had, you know, a decent family. I-I-I-I don’t think if, now, if someone sits and says, ‘Well, you know, the kid, when he was a stutterer, he must have been really basically stupid,’ I-I-I don’t think it’s hard to—I’ve never thought of that. I mean, there’s nobody in the last, I don’t know, 55 years, has ever said anything like that to me.”

This is an issue that I have strong feelings about.

[Peacetrain]

24. Just got in and just finished reading your op... thank you thank you

[Gothmog]

25. Interview by Stephanie Ruhl

Link to tweet

[aikoaiko]

23. Its really not the gaffes that are the problem although I think they do reveal his thoughts.

[crazytown]

26. VP Biden is more brittle and less discipled than 13 years ago.

The evidence is all over YouTube if you want to look for it. The most notable difference is that he seldom lands jokes these days. He's lost an inch or three.

[Gothmog]

28. I strongly disagree with this claim

I have met Joe in person and he is amazing. I attended a private fundraiser for Joe just after the Houston Debate and Joe was amazing.

[crazytown]

30. I was talking about performances on stage.

Under pressure, Biden is more brittle and more prone to detours than he used to be. There are no ' a noun a verb, and 9/11' jokes these days.

[Gothmog]

31. And I strongly disagree with your claims

You are wrong

[crazytown]

32. That's fine.

This is my honest personal opinion. I respect your equally strong held beliefs.

[Gothmog]

33. Again my opinion is based on meeting Joe Biden in person

He cracked a number of good jokes at this event and was very sharp. I was a delegate to the Philadelphia convention and brought back some floor signs used during the convention. Joe signed three signs used during his speech at the convention and discussed Philadelphia with me. He also took my iphone from me and did our selfie pictures himself and did a better job that I could have.

Please understand also that I strongly believe that Texas is turning blue and could be a battleground state this cycle. In 2018 we flipped two congressional seats (Colin Allred and Lizzie Fletcher) and 12 state house seats. We need 9 more state house seats to take control of the Texas House of Representatives and the DCCC is targeting 6 congressional seats. I am going to a fundraiser for one of the candidates running to flip a congressional district tomorrow and to fundraiser for two state house seats later in December. I am also going to a MJ Hegar event in early December and I would love to defeat Cornyn

I strongly believe that Joe is the best candidate to put Texas into play and that if the party nominates Warren or sanders, we can kiss Lizzie and Collin's seats goodbye and forget about picking up other seats. I am very active in Democratic politics on the ground and I really want to turn Texas blue

[crazytown]

34. LBJ's stamping ground coming home

after two generations. Yes. I have (literally) dreamed of this map, the demographic apocalypse republicans have feared for so long.



How did W, of all people, manage to cement Texas red?

On another note, you think that Warren being an Okie, who attended the University of Houston, won't count for anything? (Go Cougars!)

[Gothmog]

36. Texas is not a red state or a blue state but a non-voting state

Link to tweet

I volunteer a great deal of time on voter protection efforts. I helped run Clinton statewide voter protection efforts and have been in war rooms every cycle. Turnout in Texas is increasing and that has the GOP worried. If we can flip 9 more state house seats, we can control the Texas House and block efforts to use extreme gerrymandering in the next session. Again, I have contributed to two Texas state house seats being targeted by the party.

I am going to an open house/fundraiser for a congressional candidate who is activating the Asian vote in his district. They had a program where native language speakers called voters in 16 different languages. This candidate thinks that he will be up to 20 languages this cycle. The turnout of Asian voters greatly increased last cycle and Larry Sabato has this seat rated as a toss up.

In my opinion, Texas will not support a socialist candidate. Warren left Texas a long time ago and is now associated with Harvard and the East Coast. BTW, being an Okie is not necessarily a plus to Texas voters. It will be interesting to see how Warren does in Texas.

Under the current demographic trends, Texas should turn blue by 2024 just due to the change in the composition of the voting population. trump may accelerate this process. I plan to work my butt off to help turn Texas blue this cycle.

[crazytown]

38. "BTW, being an Okie is not necessarily a plus to Texas voters"

Tell me more

Thank you for your hard work. The most I can ever do is now is hit the phones. Much appreciated

[Cha]

35. Thank you for your real life account of meeting

Joe Biden, Goth.. I respect that.

What I do not respect is someone trying to take him down.. using words like "brittle" and gratuitous insults like that.

[Gothmog]

37. Joe is very very sharp and it not brittle

It is my belief that trump will skip the presidential debates rather than face Joe. Joe is in great shape and trump will look like a poorly dressed slob standing next to Joe

[TidalWave46]

27. That's good to know.

Sometimes old people shrink.

My grandmother lost like two inches. My mother, who is healthy, has lost almost one inch.

Note 1: My comment about Biden was a joke. It was my immediate thought when I read the subject line of the op.

Note 2: I have no clue if people actually shrink or if it's due to posture, fat or skin layers shrinking, or what the hell it is. I just know some get shorter and some don't.

[Gothmog]

29. This was brave on every level: brave of @JoeBiden to share;

Link to tweet

[Gothmog]

40. Please watch Don Lemon interview Joe tonight

Link to tweet