Nov. 27, 2020
On the front lines: Doctors and nurses are running on empty. “This is my job, what I wanted to do for a living,” said a critical-care physician in Houston who brought the virus home with him, sickening his whole family. “And it could have killed my children, could have killed my wife — all this, because of me.”
Nov. 18, 2020
Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor, asked the president’s campaign to pay him $20,000 a day for legal work challenging the election results. The campaign appears to have said no, though it is unclear how much Mr. Giuliani will ultimately be compensated.
Wow, what a friend? Do you really think that he is worth $20,000 a day???
Nov. 18, 2020
(CNN)For all of the words that have been written and spoken about -- and by
-- Donald Trump, it's often difficult to put a finger on what makes his
presidency so incredibly abnormal.
Yes, he says (and
tweets) things that no past president would ever utter publicly. Yes, he
operates without any sort of blueprint or plan, choosing instead to wing it.
Yes, he takes credit for everything and blame for nothing. Yes, he has upended
decades' worth of carefully crafted relationships with friends -- and enemies
-- around the world.
But there's just SO
much to say about the radicalness of Trump that it all sort of cancels itself
out.
(It reminds me of a
Simpsons episode where ancient tycoon Monty Burns decides to get a physical. A
set of tests is run. And the doctor informs Burns he is "the sickest man
in the entire United States. You have everything." And yet, Mr. Burns is
healthy. Why? Because all of the diseases in his body are jamming each other up
as they try to attack his body. "We call it 'Three Stooges
Syndrome,'" the doctor tells Mr. Burns. Watch it here.)
Every once in a
while, however, someone is able to break through the clutter -- and nail
exactly what it is that makes Trump so unorthodox as president. Over the
weekend, Steve Schmidt, who ran John McCain's 2008 campaign for president, was
that person in an interview on MSNBC.
Here's his analysis
of Trump, which ran almost exactly two minutes (and special
shout-out to CNN's Allison Gordon for the
transcription!):
"Donald Trump
has been the worst president this country has ever had. And I don't say that
hyperbolically. He is. But he is a consequential president. And he has brought
this country in three short years to a place of weakness that is simply
unimaginable if you were pondering where we are today from the day where Barack
Obama left office. And there were a lot of us on that day who were deeply
skeptical and very worried about what a Trump presidency would be. But this is
a moment of unparalleled national humiliation, of weakness.
"When you
listen to the President, these are the musings of an imbecile. An idiot. And I
don't use those words to name call. I use them because they are the precise
words of the English language to describe his behavior. His comportment. His
actions. We've never seen a level of incompetence, a level of ineptitude so
staggering on a daily basis by anybody in the history of the country whose ever
been charged with substantial responsibilities.
"It's just
astonishing that this man is president of the United States. The man, the con
man, from New York City. Many bankruptcies, failed businesses, a reality show,
that branded him as something that he never was. A successful businessman.
Well, he's the President of the United States now, and the man who said he
would make the country great again. And he's brought death, suffering, and
economic collapse on truly an epic scale. And let's be clear. This isn't
happening in every country around the world. This place. Our place. Our home.
Our country. The United States. We are the epicenter. We are the place where
you're the most likely to die from this disease. We're the ones with the most
shattered economy. And we are because of the fool that sits in the Oval Office
behind the Resolute Desk."
Like I said: It's
brutal. But it's also a decidedly succinct assessment of what Trump's conduct
in office -- from coronavirus to protests over police brutality and back --
have meant to the Republican Party and the country.
Now, Schmidt is
without question a leading voice in the "Never Trump" movement. He is a founder of The Lincoln Project, an effort aimed
at beating Trump in November.
Let me be cynical for a moment. I hear that some people are
saying that forcing them to wear a mask and subjecting them to lockdowns is
against their constitutional rights. I think that I have to agree. There are so
many ways that this government has gotten away with controlling my life that I
really never took notice of, for example,
Forcing me to wear a safety belt and threatening me with a
fine if I don’t . I will wear a safety belt if I like and won’t wear one if I
don’t.
Another silly thing about driving on the right side of the
road that I am told to do. I will drive wherever I like. I am tired of being
pushed around.
Also, those stupid traffic lights, green go, red stop. More control. I will go
or stop when I feel like it. Why are they trying to control my life.
I could go on with many more examples, but I think you get
the idea. We have been forced against our constitutional rights to do exactly
what they say to control us or we will have to pay a penalty. I have had enough
of this stupid control. But that is enough for now. You get my point with all
these stupid masks, and physical distancing and washing hands all the time.
It’s time to put a stop to this. If people have to die, they just have to die.
That’s it.
Nov. 1, 2020 Know who you are voting for
The wounded warrior comes back to win his final battle
By J Brooks
Spector• 6 November 2020
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden
takes his face mask off as he arrives to speak one day after America voted in
the presidential election, on November 04, 2020 in Wilmington, Delaware. Biden
spoke as votes are still being counted in his tight race against incumbent U.S.
President Donald Trump which remains too close to call. (Photo by Drew
Angerer/Getty Images) Less
By the time you read this, it is possible that
former vice-president Joseph Robinette Biden Jr will have gone from being
presumed winner of the 2020 race to becoming president-elect of the United
States. He would be inaugurated as the nation’s 46th president on 20 January
2021, and, at 78, the oldest leader ever.
He was born on 20 November 1942 into a
working-class family and lived in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and then Wilmington,
Delaware. Educated at the University of Delaware and the Syracuse University
law school, he married his first wife, Neilia Hunter, several years after they
met in the Bahamas where they were both on holiday during the spring university
break.
Graduating from law school in 1968, Biden moved to
Wilmington to practise law, but soon became active in the Democratic Party. Two
years later, he was elected to the New Castle County Council, before running
and winning his Senate seat in 1972.
In 1972, still just 29 years old, and months before
he was actually eligible to become a senator (the Constitution stipulates a
senator must be at least 30), he waged an unlikely but successful campaign
against the long-serving, popular senator, J Caleb Boggs. Before he took the
oath of office, however, Neilia and their daughter Naomi were killed in a
traffic accident, leaving Biden to care for his two surviving sons as he began
his Senate career.
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Biden says of that time: “I began to understand how
despair led people to just cash in; how suicide wasn’t just an option but a
rational option … I felt God had played a horrible trick on me, and I was
angry.”
Following the tragedy, and unlike most members of
Congress, he continued to live in Wilmington, He commuted to Washington, DC, by
train, returning home at night to care for his sons.
Joe Biden, right, a Democratic senator from
Delaware and vice presidential running mate of presidential candidate Senator
Barack Obama of Illinois, walks with his son Joseph “Beau” Biden, attorney
general of Delaware, on day three of the Democratic National Convention (DNC)
in Denver, Colorado, U.S., on Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2008. The DNC ends on Aug.
28. (Photo by Matthew Staver/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Biden has regularly credited his parents with
instilling in him an inner toughness, a belief in hard work, and perseverance.
He says his father told him: “Champ, the measure of a man is not how often he
is knocked down, but how quickly he gets up.” Coming home after a fight with
other students, he says his mother told him: “Bloody their nose so you can walk
down the street the next day!”
As a child, Biden struggled with a stutter, which
he tamed by memorising long poems and repeating them to himself in front
of a mirror. One of the most affecting moments at the 2020 Democratic National
Convention came when a young man, also a stutterer, explained on national
television how he had drawn inspiration in dealing with the problem from a
meeting with the former vice-president.
Biden attended Archmere Academy, a private high
school, on a scholarship. He was too small to excel at American football,
but his coach described him as “one of the best pass receivers I had in
16 years as a coach”.
In speaking about his early university years, Biden
admits to having been a mediocre student, but says he became more assiduous
after meeting Neilia.
He has also said that like so many others of his
generation, he had been encouraged to think about a political career from John
F Kennedy’s 1961 inauguration speech: “Ask not what your country can do for you
— ask what you can do for your country.”
President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden
share a laugh as the US Senior Men’s National Team and Brazil play during a
pre-Olympic exhibition basketball game at the Verizon Center on July 16, 2012
in Washington, DC. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
In the Senate, he was a member (and chair for some
years) of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which, among other things,
supported passage of the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act. It also advocated
strategic arms limitation agreements with the then Soviet Union, encouraged
efforts towards peace and stability in the Balkans and opposed the First Gulf
War.
Later, Biden urged US action to help end the Darfur
genocide and criticised George W Bush’s handling of the Iraq War,
including the US troop surge of 2007.
During his Senate career, he was an advocate of
tougher crime legislation. The failure of Robert Bork’s 1987 nomination by
Ronald Reagan to fill a vacancy on the Supreme Court was a result of Biden’s
tough questioning as chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Seven years later, Biden sponsored the Violent
Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act to add 100,000 police officers in police
departments across the nation and to increase sentences for a wide range of
crimes. His 1991 questioning of Anita Hill, however, during her testimony
against the nomination of Clarence Thomas, was sharply criticised for its tone
and aggressiveness for decades afterwards.
Biden has acknowledged he failed a class in law
school because he did not include the proper citation of a law review article
in his written course work. In 1987 he borrowed part of a Neil Kinnock speech
to use as his own, which contributed to the collapse of his first attempt to
contest the presidency.
After dropping out of the race for the Democratic
Party nomination for the 1988 election, Biden learnt he had two brain
aneurysms. Complications from surgery meant he had to take an extended break
from his Senate activities, and after his convalescence he had to undergo lung
surgery.
In 2007, he made a second try for his party’s
nomination, but gave up after gaining less than a percentage point of the vote
in the Iowa caucus, in the face of strong efforts by Hillary Clinton and Barack
Obama.
Once the Illinois senator had secured the
nomination, Obama asked Biden to be his running mate in 2008. Observers believe
Biden, with his working-class background, helped the ticket with important blue
collar voters in the swing states of Ohio and
Pennsylvania.
As vice-president, Biden was a behind-the-scenes
adviser to Obama on Iraq and Afghanistan and he used his Senate ties to help
gain passage for the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty between the US and the
Russian Federation.
After the 2008 electoral victory, Biden said: “This
is an historic moment. I started my career fighting for civil rights, and to be
a part of what is both a moment in American history where the best people, the
best ideas, the — how can I say it? — the single best reflection of the
American people can be called upon, to be at that moment, with a guy who has
such incredible talent and who is also a breakthrough figure in multiple ways —
I genuinely find that exciting. It’s a new America. It’s the reflection of a
new America.”
Nov. 7, 2020
I put the kind of history of Biden on the blog only to say
that this is the one, who, if elected (which seems to be the case) will have
lots on his plate. He has lots of experience, after so many years of public
service as senator for 30 years and vice president for 8 yrs. to help him which
Trump never had, to his disadvantage and to our advantage. If he wins, it is my hope that because of
his years of experience in government, he will be able to connect more easily
with the non-democrats and try to bring some progress through compromise. That
seems to be the normal way of inching forward rather than going nowhere by
sticking by whatever your view was. We have had that experience for the past 4
yrs. not only of not going forward, but of going backward in so many ways,
because Trump was unfamiliar with foreign relations, that relies not just on
big money deals, but more on relationships that come in handy when problems
crop up that need the support or understanding of our friends and allies in
other countries.
I may be naïve, but it is my hope that Biden has more skill
in that department than Trump, who was more like a bull in a china shop, or the
bully who, if you don’t want to play the game his way says ok I am taking my
ball and going home.
Nov. 7, 2020 (A well known Republican)
My party is destroying
itself on the altar of Trump
A man casts his ballot on the
floor of the Forum arena in Inglewood, Calif., on Saturday. (Jae C. Hong/AP)
Opinion by Benjamin L. Ginsberg
November 1, 2020 at 11:35 p.m. GMT+2
Benjamin L. Ginsberg practiced election law for 38
years. He co-chaired the bipartisan 2013 Presidential Commission on Election
Administration.
President Trump has failed the test of leadership.
His bid for reelection is foundering. And his only solution has been to launch
an all-out, multimillion-dollar effort to disenfranchise voters — first
by seeking to block state laws to ease voting during the pandemic, and now,
in the final stages of the campaign, by challenging the ballots of individual voters unlikely to support him.
Follow the latest on Election 2020
This is as un-American as it gets. It returns the
Republican Party to the bad old days of “voter suppression” that landed it
under a court order to stop such tactics — an order lifted before
this election. It puts the party on the wrong side of demographic changes in
this country that threaten to make the GOP a permanent minority.
AD
These are painful words for me to write. I spent
four decades in the Republican trenches, representing GOP presidential and
congressional campaigns, working on Election Day operations, recounts,
redistricting and other issues, including trying to lift the consent decree.
Opinion | Trump has changed the GOP. Its future looks more like Tucker
Carlson than Larry Hogan.
The jockeying for the post-Trump
future of the Republican Party has started, says Post columnist Max Boot.
(Video: Joy Sharon Yi, Kate Woodsome/Photo: Johnathan Newton/Danielle
Kunitz/The Washington Post)
Nearly every Election Day since 1984 I’ve worked with
Republican poll watchers, observers and lawyers to record and litigate any
fraud or election irregularities discovered.
The truth is that over all those years Republicans
found only isolated incidents of fraud. Proof of systematic fraud has become
the Loch Ness Monster of the Republican Party. People have spent a lot of time
looking for it, but it doesn’t exist.
As he confronts losing, Trump has devoted his
campaign and the Republican Party to this myth of voter fraud. Absent being
able to articulate a cogent plan for a second term or find an attack against
Joe Biden that will stick, disenfranchising enough voters has become key to his
reelection strategy.
AD
Perhaps this was the plan all along. The
president’s unsubstantiated talk about “rigged” elections caused by absentee
ballot “fraud” and “cheating” has been around since 2016; it’s just increased in recent weeks.
Trump has enlisted a compliant Republican Party in
this shameful effort. The Trump campaign and Republican entities engaged in
more than 40 voting and ballot court cases around the country this year. In exactly none
— zero — are they trying to make it easier for citizens to vote. In many, they
are seeking to erect barriers.
Opinion | The U.S. election is under attack — from Trump
Wendy Weiser of the Brennan Center warns
that the president is doing the work of our foreign adversaries by undermining
the legitimacy of the U.S. election. (Video: Joy Sharon Yi, Kate Woodsome,
Danielle Kunitz/Photo: Evan Vucci/AP/The Washington Post)
All of the suits include the mythical fraud claim.
Many are efforts to disqualify absentee ballots, which have surged in the
pandemic. The grounds range from supposedly inadequate signature matches to
burdensome witness requirements. Others concern excluding absentee ballots
postmarked on Election Day but received later, as permitted under state deadlines.
Voter-convenience devices such as drop boxes and curbside voting have been
attacked.
AD
Texas Republicans even thought it was a good idea
to challenge 100,000 ballots already cast at a Harris County drive-through
voting center that they want retroactively declared illegal. Perhaps they
forgot the Republican expressions of outrage in Florida in 2000 when Democrats
sought unsuccessfully to exclude 25,000 absentee ballots in GOP counties because of administrative
error, not voter fault.
I was there, and I haven’t.
The GOP lawyers managing these lawsuits may
have tactical reasons for bringing each. But taken as a whole, they shout the
unmistakable message that
an expanded electorate means Trump loses.
This attempted disenfranchisement of voters cannot
be justified by the unproven Republican dogma about widespread fraud.
Challenging voters at the polls or disputing the legitimacy of mail-in ballots
isn’t about fraud. Rather than producing conservative policies that appeal to
suburban women, young voters or racial minorities, Republicans are trying to
exclude their votes.
AD
“We have volunteers, attorneys and staff in place
to ensure that election officials are following the law and counting every
lawful ballot,” Justin Riemer, chief counsel for the Republican National
Committee, said Friday.
That’s not precisely true. The Republican
challenging effort is focused almost exclusively in heavily Democratic areas.
Signature mismatches will go unheeded by Trump forces in friendly precincts.
This is not about finding fraud and irregularities. It’s about suppressing the
number of votes not cast for Trump.
Maybe the president foreshadowed his real purpose
at a Pennsylvania rally Saturday night, predicting “bedlam” if the results aren’t known Nov. 3. In fact,
challenged ballots aren’t reviewed until days later. So in a tight race,
Trump’s demands for a quick result could cause the very bedlam he rails
against. Or allow him to claim a false election night victory based on bad-faith challenges.
AD
How sad it is to recall that just seven years ago
the Grand Old Party conducted an “autopsy” that
emphasized the urgency of building a big tent to reach communities of color,
women and young voters. Now it is erecting voting barriers for those very
groups. Instead of enlarging the tent, the party has taken a chain saw to its
center pole.
My party is destroying itself on the Altar of
Trump. Republican elected officials, party leaders and voters must recognize
how harmful this is to the party’s long-term prospects.
My fellow Republicans, look what we’ve become. It
is we who must fix this. Trump should not be reelected. Vote, but not for him.
Nov, 8, 2020
My fellow Americans, the people of this nation have spoken.
They have delivered us a clear victory. A convincing victory. A victory for “We the People.”
We have won with the most votes ever cast for a presidential ticket in the history of this nation -- 74 million.
I am humbled by the trust and confidence you have placed in me.
I pledge to be a President who seeks not to divide, but to unify. Who doesn’t see Red and Blue states, but a United States. And who will work with all my heart to win the confidence of the whole people.
For that is what America is about: The people. And that is what our Administration will be about.
I sought this office to restore the soul of America. To rebuild the backbone of the nation -- the middle class. To make America respected around the world again and to unite us here at home.
It is the honor of my lifetime that so many millions of Americans have voted for this vision. And now the work of making this vision real is the task of our time.
As I said many times before, I’m Jill’s husband. I would not be here without the love and tireless support of my wife, Jill, Hunter, Ashley, all of our grandchildren and their spouses, and all our family. They are my heart.
Jill’s a mom -- a military mom -- and an educator. She has dedicated her life to education, but teaching isn’t just what she does -- it’s who she is. For America’s educators, this is a great day: You’re going to have one of your own in the White House, and Jill is going to make a great First Lady.
And I will be honored to be serving with a fantastic vice president -- Kamala Harris -- who will make history as the first woman, first Black woman, first woman of South Asian descent, and first daughter of immigrants ever elected to national office in this country.
It’s long overdue, and we’re reminded tonight of all those who fought so hard for so many years to make this happen. But once again, America has bent the arc of the moral universe towards justice.
Kamala, Doug -- like it or not -- you’re family. You’ve become honorary Bidens.
To all those who volunteered, worked the polls, local election officials -- you deserve a special thanks from this nation. To my campaign team, to all the volunteers, to all those who gave so much of themselves to make this moment possible, I thank you for everything. And to all those who supported us: I am proud of the campaign we built and ran. I am proud of the coalition we built, the broadest and most diverse in history.
Democrats and Republicans and Independents. Progressives, moderates and conservatives. Young and old. Urban, suburban and rural. Gay, straight, transgender. White. Latino. Asian. Native American.
And especially for those moments when this campaign was at its lowest -- the African American community.
I said from the outset I wanted a campaign that represented America, and I think we did that.
And to those who voted for President Trump, I understand your disappointment tonight. I’ve lost a couple of elections myself.
But now, let’s give each other a chance. It’s time to put away the harsh rhetoric. To lower the temperature. To see each other again. To listen to each other again. To make progress, we must stop treating our opponents as our enemy. We are not enemies. We are Americans.
The Bible tells us that to everything there is a season -- a time to build, a time to reap, a time to sow. And a time to heal.
This is that time for America. A time to heal.
Now that the campaign is over -- what is the people’s will? What is our mandate?
I believe it is this: Americans have called on us to marshal the forces of decency and the forces of fairness. To marshal the forces of science and the forces of hope in the great battles of our time.
The battle to control the virus. The battle to build prosperity. The battle to secure your family’s health care. The battle to achieve racial justice and root out systemic racism in this country. The battle to save the climate. The battle to restore decency, defend democracy, and give everybody in this country a fair shot.
Our work begins with getting COVID under control.
We cannot repair our economy, restore our vitality, or relish life’s most precious moments -- hugging a grandchild, birthdays, weddings, graduations, all the moments that matter most to us -- until we get this virus under control.
On Monday, I will name a group of leading scientists and experts as Transition Advisors to help take the Biden-Harris COVID plan and convert it into an action blueprint that starts on January 20th, 2021.
That plan will be built on a bedrock of science. It will be constructed out of compassion, empathy, and concern. I will spare no effort -- or commitment -- to turn this pandemic around.
I ran as a proud Democrat. I will now be an American president. I will work as hard for those who didn’t vote for me -- as I will for those who did.
Let this grim era of demonization in America begin to end -- here and now.
The refusal of Democrats and Republicans to cooperate with one another is not due to some mysterious force beyond our control. It’s a decision. It’s a choice we make.
And if we can decide not to cooperate, then we can decide to cooperate. And I believe that is part of the mandate from the American people. They want us to cooperate.
That’s the choice I’ll make. And I call on the Congress -- Democrats and Republicans alike -- to make that choice with me.
America’s story is about the slow, yet steady widening of opportunity. Make no mistake: Too many dreams have been deferred for too long. We must make the promise of the country real for everybody -- no matter their race, their identity, their ethnicity, their faith.
America has always been shaped by inflection points -- by moments in time where we’ve made hard decisions about who we are and what we want to be.
Lincoln in 1860 -- coming to save the Union. FDR in 1932 -- promising a beleaguered country a New Deal. JFK in 1960 -- pledging a New Frontier.
And twelve years ago -- when Barack Obama made history -- and told us, “Yes, we can.”
We stand again at an inflection point. We have the opportunity to defeat despair and to build a nation of prosperity and purpose. We can do it. I know we can.
I’ve long talked about the battle for the soul of America. Now we must restore the soul of America.
Our nation is shaped by the constant battle between our better angels and our darkest impulses. It is time for our better angels to prevail.
Tonight, the whole world is watching. I believe at our best America is a beacon for the globe. And we lead not by the example of our power, but by the power of our example.
I’ve always believed we can define America in one word: Possibilities.
That in America everyone should be given the opportunity to go as far as their dreams and God-given ability will take them.
You see, I believe in the possibility of this country. We’re always looking ahead. Ahead to an America that’s freer and more just. Ahead to an America that creates jobs with dignity and respect. Ahead to an America that cures disease -- like cancer and Alzheimers. Ahead to an America that never leaves anyone behind. Ahead to an America that never gives up.
This is a great nation. And we are a good people. This is the United States of America. And there has never been anything we haven’t been able to do when we’ve done it together.
In the last days of the campaign, I’ve been thinking about a hymn that means a lot to me and to my family. It captures the faith that sustains me and which I believe sustains America.
And I hope it can provide some comfort and solace to the more than 230,000 families who have lost a loved one to this terrible virus this year. My heart goes out to each and every one of you.
“And He will raise you up on eagle's wings,
Bear you on the breath of dawn,
Make you to shine like the sun,
And hold you in the palm of His Hand.”
And now, together -- on eagle’s wings -- we embark on the work that God and history have called upon us to do.
With full hearts and steady hands, with faith in America and in each other, with a love of country -- and a thirst for justice -- let us be the nation that we know we can be.
A nation united. A nation strengthened. A nation healed.
God bless you. And may God protect our troops.
Joe Biden
Nov. 7, 2020
I put the kind of history of Biden on the blog only to say
that this is the one, who, if elected (which seems to be the case) will have
lots on his plate. He has lots of experience, after so many years of public
service as senator for 30 years and vice president for 8 yrs. to help him which
Trump never had, to his disadvantage and to our disadvantage. If he wins, it is my hope that because of
his years of experience in government, he will be able to connect more easily
with the non-democrats and try to bring some progress through compromise. That
seems to be the normal way or inching forward rather than going nowhere by
sticking by whatever your view was. We have had that experience for the past 4
yrs. not only of not going forward, but of going backward in so many ways,
because Trump was unfamiliar with foreign relations, that relies not just on big
money deals, but more on relationships that come in handy when problems crop up
that need the support or understanding of our friends and allies in other countries.
I may be naïve, but it is my hope that Biden has more skill
in that department than Trump, who was more like a bull in a china shop, or the
bully who, if you don’t want to play the game his way says ok I am taking my
ball an going home.
The wounded warrior comes back to win his final battle
By J Brooks
Spector• 6 November 2020
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden
takes his face mask off as he arrives to speak one day after America voted in
the presidential election, on November 04, 2020 in Wilmington, Delaware. Biden
spoke as votes are still being counted in his tight race against incumbent U.S.
President Donald Trump which remains too close to call. (Photo by Drew
Angerer/Getty Images) Less
By the time you read this, it is possible that
former vice-president Joseph Robinette Biden Jr will have gone from being
presumed winner of the 2020 race to becoming president-elect of the United
States. He would be inaugurated as the nation’s 46th president on 20 January
2021, and, at 78, the oldest leader ever.
He was born on 20 November 1942 into a
working-class family and lived in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and then Wilmington,
Delaware. Educated at the University of Delaware and the Syracuse University
law school, he married his first wife, Neilia Hunter, several years after they
met in the Bahamas where they were both on holiday during the spring university
break.
Graduating from law school in 1968, Biden moved to
Wilmington to practise law, but soon became active in the Democratic Party. Two
years later, he was elected to the New Castle County Council, before running
and winning his Senate seat in 1972.
In 1972, still just 29 years old, and months before
he was actually eligible to become a senator (the Constitution stipulates a
senator must be at least 30), he waged an unlikely but successful campaign
against the long-serving, popular senator, J Caleb Boggs. Before he took the
oath of office, however, Neilia and their daughter Naomi were killed in a
traffic accident, leaving Biden to care for his two surviving sons as he began
his Senate career.
DISPLAY ADVERTS
Biden says of that time: “I began to understand how
despair led people to just cash in; how suicide wasn’t just an option but a
rational option … I felt God had played a horrible trick on me, and I was
angry.”
Following the tragedy, and unlike most members of
Congress, he continued to live in Wilmington, He commuted to Washington, DC, by
train, returning home at night to care for his sons.
Joe Biden, right, a Democratic senator from
Delaware and vice presidential running mate of presidential candidate Senator
Barack Obama of Illinois, walks with his son Joseph “Beau” Biden, attorney
general of Delaware, on day three of the Democratic National Convention (DNC)
in Denver, Colorado, U.S., on Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2008. The DNC ends on Aug.
28. (Photo by Matthew Staver/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Biden has regularly credited his parents with
instilling in him an inner toughness, a belief in hard work, and perseverance.
He says his father told him: “Champ, the measure of a man is not how often he
is knocked down, but how quickly he gets up.” Coming home after a fight with
other students, he says his mother told him: “Bloody their nose so you can walk
down the street the next day!”
As a child, Biden struggled with a stutter, which
he tamed by memorising long poems and repeating them to himself in front
of a mirror. One of the most affecting moments at the 2020 Democratic National
Convention came when a young man, also a stutterer, explained on national
television how he had drawn inspiration in dealing with the problem from a
meeting with the former vice-president.
Biden attended Archmere Academy, a private high
school, on a scholarship. He was too small to excel at American football,
but his coach described him as “one of the best pass receivers I had in
16 years as a coach”.
In speaking about his early university years, Biden
admits to having been a mediocre student, but says he became more assiduous
after meeting Neilia.
He has also said that like so many others of his
generation, he had been encouraged to think about a political career from John
F Kennedy’s 1961 inauguration speech: “Ask not what your country can do for you
— ask what you can do for your country.”
President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden
share a laugh as the US Senior Men’s National Team and Brazil play during a
pre-Olympic exhibition basketball game at the Verizon Center on July 16, 2012
in Washington, DC. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
In the Senate, he was a member (and chair for some
years) of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which, among other things,
supported passage of the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act. It also advocated
strategic arms limitation agreements with the then Soviet Union, encouraged
efforts towards peace and stability in the Balkans and opposed the First Gulf
War.
Later, Biden urged US action to help end the Darfur
genocide and criticised George W Bush’s handling of the Iraq War,
including the US troop surge of 2007.
During his Senate career, he was an advocate of
tougher crime legislation. The failure of Robert Bork’s 1987 nomination by
Ronald Reagan to fill a vacancy on the Supreme Court was a result of Biden’s
tough questioning as chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Seven years later, Biden sponsored the Violent
Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act to add 100,000 police officers in police
departments across the nation and to increase sentences for a wide range of
crimes. His 1991 questioning of Anita Hill, however, during her testimony
against the nomination of Clarence Thomas, was sharply criticised for its tone
and aggressiveness for decades afterwards.
Biden has acknowledged he failed a class in law
school because he did not include the proper citation of a law review article
in his written course work. In 1987 he borrowed part of a Neil Kinnock speech
to use as his own, which contributed to the collapse of his first attempt to
contest the presidency.
After dropping out of the race for the Democratic
Party nomination for the 1988 election, Biden learnt he had two brain
aneurysms. Complications from surgery meant he had to take an extended break
from his Senate activities, and after his convalescence he had to undergo lung
surgery.
In 2007, he made a second try for his party’s
nomination, but gave up after gaining less than a percentage point of the vote
in the Iowa caucus, in the face of strong efforts by Hillary Clinton and Barack
Obama.
Once the Illinois senator had secured the
nomination, Obama asked Biden to be his running mate in 2008. Observers believe
Biden, with his working-class background, helped the ticket with important blue
collar voters in the swing states of Ohio and
Pennsylvania.
As vice-president, Biden was a behind-the-scenes
adviser to Obama on Iraq and Afghanistan and he used his Senate ties to help
gain passage for the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty between the US and the
Russian Federation.
After the 2008 electoral victory, Biden said: “This
is an historic moment. I started my career fighting for civil rights, and to be
a part of what is both a moment in American history where the best people, the
best ideas, the — how can I say it? — the single best reflection of the
American people can be called upon, to be at that moment, with a guy who has
such incredible talent and who is also a breakthrough figure in multiple ways —
I genuinely find that exciting. It’s a new America. It’s the reflection of a
new America.”
