The Decline of Good Old Joe

BIDEN’S FADING PROSPECTS
ARE A SIGN OF THE TIMES

Drawing conclusions from early primary elections is always risky, because states vary. A candidate who flops in one region can perform impressively in another part of the country. And in politics a couple of months is an eternity.

A lot can change.

Nevertheless, after Iowa and New Hampshire, things aren’t looking good for Joe Biden. There’s enough of a geographic spread between those two states to give the impression that “momentum” — the elusive sense people impute to a politician’s progress on the campaign trail — has abandoned him.

But, even allowing for the (increasingly remote) possibility of a recovery, the results of Biden’s sputtering effort would seem to imply more than just the winding down of his long career in public life. One recent incident is suggestive.

That was the exchange with a college student who asked him if he could explain his poor performance in the Iowa caucuses. Biden’s joking response — that she was a “lying, dog-faced pony soldier” — was his attempt to deflect an embarrassing question with a laugh line and buy time to come up with a face-saving response.

The moment was captured on video, and viral distribution magnified its awkwardness. But it also underscored the change in style of political language to which Biden hasn’t quite adjusted.

There’s been much tut-tutting over his disrespectfulness toward a young girl asking a legitimate question. But he wasn’t being disrespectful. He was merely falling back on the ordinary-working-guy street talk that’s always been part of his public image: Good Old Joe from Scranton.

The “lying, dog-faced pony soldier” is analogous to a kind of insult banter you might have heard passing among a group of black kids on a city street corner back in the ’60s…

“Your momma is so ugly, she…”

Such patter always served Biden well — in the past. Actually, it was one of the strongest elements of his stump appeal. But it falls flat in our ultra-sensitive social / political atmosphere where everyone takes offense at everything.

Until recently I would have considered Good old Joe from Scranton the most formidable challenger facing Donald Trump (who wields his own somewhat different style of urban lingo to great effect).

I no longer see Biden as a potent threat. He’s been out-“woked” on every front. The old-fashioned ward-heeler corruption personified by Good old Joe from Scranton (and others of his political ilk) has lost its charm.

Today a considerable portion of our voting-age citizenry wanders dazedly in complete moral / ideological obliviousness. Thus, we find that the two contenders best positioned to challenge The Donald are a cranky old Communist and a failed mayor whose name is as unpronounceable as his inclinations are unmentionable.

At my age, I don’t worry about being around to witness total civilizational collapse. But I do pray for my children and grandchildren, since current trends are not promising.

Unless…unless…

Despite all the leftist drivel about how Evangelicals consider Trump their “savior,” The Donald surely isn’t the Second Coming. But as I have written here before, his…

“smart-ass self-confidence and shoot-from-the-hip disdain raise hopes of returning to a life that once seemed to make sense but now is out of reach. Essentially, The Donald is serving as the herald of a great restorative revolution that’s much desired and long overdue.”

Trump has done amazingly well during a presidential term marked by constant subversion and obstruction carried to near-treasonous heights. His recent State-of-the-Union performance was a dazzling contrast to the seditious antics of Nancy Pelosi and her disgruntled women in white.

His second term, should he get it, will not be (of itself) that great restorative revolution. No, I don’t have that much faith in The Donald. But Trump can help to bring it on. A bit of religious revival would be useful too.

Whether or not the decline of Good old Joe is a good thing or a bad thing remains to be seen. But it is a sign of the times, which — as the man said — “are a-changing.”

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A cute photo interprets the “lying, dog-faced pony soldier”…

Of course, there’s always Pete Buttigieg, though as this current meme suggests, he may need a little work firming up his command presence…

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If you haven’ seen the “lying, dog-faced pony soldier” incident, here’s the video from NBC News via YouTube…

 

That college student, whose name is Madison Moore, wasn’t impressed by Good Old Joe, joke or no joke. As reported by the Washington Times, she observed…

“A lot of what he’s saying seems to be really pathos-based and very sad,” she said. “We’ve heard a lot about deaths and cancer and people losing their jobs. And to me, he doesn’t really seem very solution-oriented. I don’t think he has the momentum to carry this to a national election.”

Ah, Joe…

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/feb/10/madison-moore-21-slams-joe-biden-after-he-calls-he/

 

R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr. of the American Spectator notes that a good portion of the Democratic Party leadership — not just Biden — is looking rather over the hill. In fact, Tyrrell sees a strong resemblance to another group of leaders…

“what political party does the aforementioned collection of septuagenarians and the lone octogenarian put you in mind of? Does the Communist Party of the late USSR ring any bells? Remember it just before the fall of the Berlin Wall?”

And he ponders…

“As was true back in the 1980s in Russia, the old order of the Democratic Party is now about to fade away. Who will replace it? Congressgirl Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez?”

Ooo, that’s a scary thought…

https://spectator.org/joe-bidens-my-guy/

 

More to the point, Robert Spencer, director of Jihad Watch, throws up his hands, declaring that Biden’s fading candidacy isn’t the Democrats’ only problem. Writing on PJ Media, he insists that all their current contenders are just plain crazy…

https://pjmedia.com/trending/bidens-lying-dog-faced-pony-soldier-remark-reminds-us-the-dem-candidates-are-all-crazy/