Bernie? He's completely deluded. There's no "integrity" in that.
One more time, because Bernie is promising things he cannot deliver:
Health care can NEVER be a "right" because that would COMPEL YOU to pay for the treatment of other people. If you were a health care professional or a company producing medicine, it would COMPEL YOU to work without commensurate compensation - and without realizing the very real limitation of the resources you could bring to bear.
This is tempting because those who inherit a disease, or hurt themselves as a result of ignorance, carelessness or poor judgment get "someone else" to pay for their mistake - and that is ALL they care about - yet there is a horrible, invisible corollary:

You could be *PROHIBITED* from doing "risky" things - like boating, skiing, motorcycling or anything else administrators determine loads the system too much.

Here's how that goes...
• "Right"
• "Free"
• Demand greater than supply
• Rationing.
You do NOT get treated in a timely manner - if AT ALL.

It doesn't go any other way. It's ALREADY THE CASE in countries which have "free" health care.

In the USA, the VA has LET VETERANS DIE to reduce their workload. Yet some want the GOVERNMENT to run healthcare?

I've been accused of being "evil", for insisting on establishing a system rather than just doing some sort of magic where free medicine appears.

Hey. MAGIC ISN'T REAL.

The closest we can get is to establish a system which does NOT LIE about the patient's duties in obtaining treatment while it sets up availabilities not found today.

-----

You don't want to look for Biden quotes unless you want your secret longing for G.W. Bush to reappear.

> Biden is a guy we can't
> help but like.

Aw-Contri-mundo, Mono Fryer.

> "Affable" is a word that
> comes to mind.

There are others.

> A word he seems to own.

I've never heard that he was less than high-strung and bitterly aggressive. He smiles, which is not the same as being nice.


But to your larger point, yeah, a lot of people on the national political stage are really old, but the young ones aren't very attractive either.

Biden is a guy one cannot help but like?

Jeepers! Who likes someone who gets all "grabby" with women and young girls.

Creepers! Just what we need in the white house - another Bill Clinton diddling the interns.

I don't care about a Presidential candidate's "likability" or if "he is someone you could have a beer with."

And there is NO integrity in a millionaire telling the rest of us to pay for others.

Nope, I'm for Trump - my paycheck is the reason why. I'm hoping that there are enough of us who remember the "lean years" of Bush and Obama that Trump gets re-elected.

On another note, just listen to all the political talking heads (all on the left) who say a recession would be great because it would get rid of Trump. Just proof that they really don't care about others.

The "cocker" in "alter cocker" comes from caca. So it's an "old crapper" = old fart.

The labor-union Reds of Bernie's vintage in my family have already passed. i am astounded at his popularity.

Thinking OL, perhaps part of the attraction of senior candidates in both parties is a response to the relative youth of the Obama administration. Those people were young-ish and pretty. And they made a LOT of appearances on television. Not just the usual Lincoln Center stupidities, but on most every talk show you can name, and countless skits recorded at 1600 Penn.

Trump would not have been my first choice for an adult, but he'd not have been my 200,000,000 choice for the office in any case.

Most of those polls over-sample Democrats, and nobody in the industry seems to know what to do about it. You can probably take 5 points off of all of those numbers, which puts Trump and Biden within the margin of error.

Biden seems like a nice guy... until you start studying him. Then you realize he's a smarmy asshole. But yes, he is attractive to low-information voters, and now that the candidates more willing to voice extreme positions are flaming out in the debates, media support is starting to coalesce around him. (Among other things, this means goodbye to #Metoo. We're headed back to the days of female media personalities offing blow jobs to the Democratic candidate.)

Like Biden?? Seriously? The creepy uncle you avoid at holidays??

I'm voting Trump.

Biden won't diddly the interns Charles. I don't think he is smart enough to figure that out. And even if you are a guy he will sniff your hair too. He is an equal opportunity sniffer.

As others have pointed out Biden only looks good if you don't know anything about him. Sorry Rad but Bernie has the most integrity out of any of the Democrat candidates. Though that is a pretty low bar.

By all means Democrats should focus on putting up an 'electable' candidate. One of the amazing tricks of the universe is electable candidates never seem to get elected. The fact that if enough people voted for you you would win just doesn't seem to attract votes like having an actual goal or policy you want to promote.

But to your larger point, yeah, a lot of people on the national political stage are really old, but the young ones aren't very attractive either. ~ Crid at August 22, 2019 1:39 AM

Where are the middle-aged politicians to run for office? We're left with crotchety oldsters and naive Millennials in our politics. In the past, we've had experienced and accomplished middle-aged folks ready to assume the presidential role.

The shenanigans of the younger 40-something presidents left the body politic jaded as to anyone below 50 having the gravitas and maturity for the office. And none of the under-50s vying for the office today have given anyone reason to doubt that assessment.

Where are the talented and accomplished 50-something politicians of the past? Nixon, Carter, Johnson, and GW Bush were all in their 50s when they took office. Eisenhower, Ford, and GHW Bush were in their early 60s. The only 50-somethings running today have weak resumes with few, if any, notable accomplishments.

One of the amazing tricks of the universe is electable candidates never seem to get elected. ~ Ben at August 22, 2019 6:15 AM

Because those "electable" candidates are usually milquetoasts, bland and inoffensive; with the personalities of insurance salesmen - i.e., Joe Biden.

Bernie has the most integrity out of any of the Democrat candidates. ~ Ben at August 22, 2019 6:15 AM

Three-House Bernie? Nah. Bernie's a Politburo politician. He's a socialist because he thinks he'll be on the Central Committee, not because the thinks it's the best system.

I don't think Jumpin' Joe Biden will survive the primaries. I don't know if his health will fail him before his faculties do. We're still over a year away from the general election. Then there is that whole foreign financial shenanigans his son Hunter has been involved with.

Crazy uncle Bernie is crazy. But he's popular because he promises everything to everyone for free. But hasn't got a single clue as to how to pay for any of it, other than "tax the rich". Says the man with 3 houses and whose only viable work history is in elected office.

As far as those polls go, don't believe them. As I recall, Hillary was supposed to win by double digits. How'd that work out?

Biden polls well with the general population because compared to the other primary candidates, he's a moderate.

Bernie Sanders looks like he belongs in an assisted living facility. He's crazy as hell and bits of spittle fly from his mouth when he gets excited.

Our last president was young. Where did that get us?

I don't disagree with your assessment of Bernie Conan. I said he had the most integrity out of the current Democrat candidates. You've got that one lady who was 'suddenly' photographed by her publicist at In'n'Out. With her publicist's dog of all the amazing things. Another slept her way to to top and is happy sending innocent men to prison. The fake indian? The fake christian?

As I said quite the low bar to beat.

Agreed on Biden IRA. It looks like he's lost the support of the big money democrats. So all the dirt on him is slowly getting published.

My current expectation is the democrat primaries will be spread pretty wide and then the superdelegates step in and nominate Kamala Harris. Who then loses bigly to Trump.

As to which to have a beer with: with Trump he would happily pay if you aren’t a jerk to him, Biden would conveniently forget his wallet, and Bernie would order drinks for everyone but then leave you to pay for it.

It is 1972 again, But amazingly enough, creepy Joe is a worse candidate than George McGovern.

Joe is in the pocket of the Chinese, and his pay for play is going to dirty him up good in the general if he gets that far.

I’m sure the democratic activists that pose as journalists these days are going to try and drag his sorry ass across the finish line, but I think they will fail, again.

Integrity is not something I want from a president. Jimmy Carter is the most honest and intelligent president of the past 50 years (maybe ever) and he was a failure. Clinton was a scumbag but a great president. You need nasty pragmatism to be an effective president.

Biden is, by all accounts, a nice guy, despite the unwanted touching. (Ted Cruz tells, hilariously, about being a little freaked out when he received an unexpected neck rub from Biden on the floor of the Senate). But I'm not voting for the guy I'd like to have as a neighbor.

My 2020 nightmare would be Biden choosing an extreme leftist as VP, managing to win the election, and then dying or becoming incapacitated in office, leaving us with one of the "health care for non-citizens/free college for everyone/$80 gazillion Green New Deal" proponents in charge.

"Where are the middle-aged politicians to run for office?"

You mean like... Generation X? There's no way. First of all, the generational cohort is nothing compared to either the Boomers or the Millennials, so there's no built-in base in that regard. Second, there are few X'ers who have much experience in politics, because when we were young enough to have gotten ground-floor experience, the generations before us crowded everyone else out. So there's not many viable X'er candidates.

(It can be fairly argued that another reason is that X'ers are too cynical of politics. But even that is a mutually reinforcing loop, for which GenX is only half responsible.)

Integrity is not something I want from a president. Jimmy Carter is the most honest and intelligent president of the past 50 years (maybe ever) and he was a failure. Clinton was a scumbag but a great president. You need nasty pragmatism to be an effective president.

Curtis at August 22, 2019 9:49 AM

I had a battalion commander like Carter once. Book smart, high in his class at West Point. Born again Christian. Totally clueless about human nature. He was so incredibly incompetent at decision making that it almost destroyed the unit.

Indecision is a leader most times is infinitely worse than an occasional bad decision.

Doesn't matter if Biden dies in office or not Szoszolo. Politically he is a puppet. He just does what his people tell him to do. He isn't a deep thinker (or much of a thinker period) and he doesn't have any real goals or aspirations. So he will go along with any nutty far left scheme handed to him.

Jimmy Carter is the most honest and intelligent president of the past 50 years (maybe ever) and he was a failure. Clinton was a scumbag but a great president. You need nasty pragmatism to be an effective president. ~ Curtis at August 22, 2019 9:49 AM

I had a battalion commander like Carter once. Book smart, high in his class at West Point. Born again Christian. Totally clueless about human nature. He was so incredibly incompetent at decision making that it almost destroyed the unit. ~ Isab at August 22, 2019 10:30 AM

Like too many engineers, Carter was a micro-manager. He tried to manage every detail of the White House operation himself. If you read Inside the White House by Ronald Kessler, aides had to go to Carter in order to use the White House tennis court, even when Carter was on Air Force One.

Even though he was governor of Georgia and managed the family peanut business, his management skills never developed beyond those needed to run the submarine reactor room.

I just wrote a brilliant comment: WSJ phoned, the wanted to print it tomorrow, but I closed the wrong tab. Fuck everything.

> Doesn't matter if Biden dies
> in office or not Szoszolo.

Again! The 'You're wrong_name' format (with no comma, as if to prove authenticity).

Maybe there was a scene from a TV cop show that went like that and made a big impression.

"Sorry Rad but Bernie has the most integrity out of any of the Democrat candidates. Though that is a pretty low bar."

Nonexistent.

Earnestly believing that your snake oil works doesn't cure the suffering in your audience.

There is on this blog a demand for evidence against magical thinking. If we demand it of a religious zealot... well, what else is Bernie?

> creepy Joe is a worse candidate
> than George McGovern.

That's a fun thing to think about. Biden has lips, though, even if he never says anything good with them. For all the plagiarism and deceptions and exploitations, I think his candidacy will end on the day in which he —from a tender, rearward approach— softly sniffs the clavicle of the wrong widow at the viewing of the body; she's going to whip around and turn his lights out. And on that afternoon, dear friends, you're all invited over for drinks. This guy's career should have ended well before Lauper's; why are we being put through this?

> Integrity is not something
> I want from a president.

Son, you've come to the right nation.

> Clinton was a scumbag but
> a great president.

Dafuq? Please list for us the achievements and enduring impacts to the flow of government from his 'greatness & effectiveness':

1. ___________
2. ___________
3. ___________
4. ___________
5. ___________

> managed the family
> peanut business

Billy made more money with it, and had happier customers.

I ¼-remember a passage, maybe from one of his best biographers or maybe from a Saturday editorial in the Salina, Kansas Tribune. Carter wanted to solve something big, like the Cold War or the poisoned oceans or something. So he asked his staff to clear the afternoon and hold his calls, poured a tall lemonade, and sat down with a 14" legal pad.

In the Bicentennial, even as the air still crackled with resentment of Nixon, voters stepped right up and elected another socially sketchy President. It says something about American culture in the Summer of Starbuck that they turned again to a detached personality. And it's very odd that an earnest student of Rickover could have missed the leadership lessons of personal affect: It's how he titled his book, fer Chrissake.

(And by the way, as Isab infers, McGovern had the same electably cutthroat affability.)

You could say the pattern included Johnson: I think most voters heard that Texas twang as an expression of humility, and took no notice of his saturating personal intensity… A ruthlessness which, you will recall, got people killed.

But the trend might not have survived Disco… For all the clarity of his writings and radio in the 1970s, I think the disease of Reagan's seniority was underway during his election, accelerating greatly after the shooting. Nobody well knows what was under that pompadour.

Certainly by GHWB, the sequence had broken… Poppy was famous for sending friends and aquaintences little "Attaboy!" notes from first meeting until the grave. And I wouldn't link it back to JFK, because Money Changes Everything™ and because America had fallen in love with pretty people on TV.

But that pattern of impersonal engagement may be what our political generation, or that of our parents, is remembered for.

First take was better....

A friend's father, a poorer guy, served in the Navy with JFK and got a few quick Poppy-style letters over the years, now cherished by the granddaughter. So, yeah, it woulda started with Lyndon, presuming it was a real thing.

Additionally, just listening to the Starbuck link again. I was always offended by the weakness of the synth solo, both because the marimba work was the finest lead-in imaginable, and because it was a year when eager (monophonic) synth players were doing stunning work: It felt like he'd betrayed the tribe.

This laptop sucks, but it's got a wide stereo spread, so I'm hearing all these bouncy left-side-then-right-side flourishes behind the passage that are actually pretty cool; they make the watery solo seem even worse.

I totally agree on Bernie the religious zealot thing Rad. I don't want Preacher Tim with his hellfire and damnation as a president and I sure don't want Bernie. But I do want things categorized correctly. Bernie's main selling point is he actually believes the nutty stuff he says. The rest of them lie as a matter of convenience. That is why Bernie is in the number two slot. His words actually mean something.

Even so there isn't a chance I'm going to vote for the guy.

Of course the dems are attracted to old candidates - they all want the government to parent them.

But I do want things categorized correctly. Bernie's main selling point is he actually believes the nutty stuff he says. ~ Ben at August 22, 2019 5:35 PM

Au contraire, mon ami. Principled integrity is not the vibe I get from him.

He is, as I said before, a Politburo socialist. He "believes" in socialism because he believes he'll be part of the Central Committee, telling the proles what to do.

If he found himself in the proletariat under such a system, he'd decry it as unjust.

Agree strongly with Conan— Bernie's mind is all about weenie-whining, not about principle.

(Was going to say bitch-whining, but it's important to mix it up, like we do for ocean storm names.)

Also he's a mean drunk, even if he doesn't actually drink.

I've never met a 'socialist' who wasn't most concerned with command of other's lives more than their well-being.

We'll just have to disagree Conan. He strikes me as a true believer. Though I do agree he is a whiner and a fool.

C’mon guys, Bernie totally believes what he’s preaching...as it applies to everyone else. Just like Harry and Megan!

> We'll just have to disagree Conan.

I'd call that one about 75%, summing as follows:

    (½) ✓  Absolute disagreement
   100% ✓  Absent comma

I bungled the Johnson link and will cry myself to sleep. There's even a name for it! The man was all about (inter)personal intensity.

I will admit you have a new troll pattern Crid. Try to join the conversation some day.

Crid: Bill Clinton didn't give us one of the longest economic booms in history, but he avoided effing it up - and that's a better economic record than most Republican presidents, let alone any Democrat president since the 19th Century. I also get the impression that government grew less under him than under either of the Bush's that bracketed his administration. The Republican's in Congress get most of the credit for that, but WJC wasn't pushing much for more regulation or new departments.

But what is going on with these _old_ politicians? Reagan was too old for the job in his second term. Trump was a year older at inauguration (and Hillary would have been as old as Reagan, and seemed to be in poor health). But Biden and Sanders are both several years older than Trump. I'm 65 myself, but I'm not pushing to start a new high-stress job now, let alone when I'm over 70!

Now, one of them _might_ get my vote - if he picks a good VP candidate, and promises to die faster than William Harrison.