President Joseph Biden

[GwynnInTheHall]

I think Layla is a pretty name. I guess I’m sexist too

Eric Clapton is good company.

I have Jessie on ignore, but I can only imagine he's still whining about Biden's shortcomings.


But here it is, plain as day....

he was elected to remove Trump from office. Which he did.

Everything else is gravy.

[Teenwolf]

I think Layla is a pretty name. I guess I’m sexist too

I think my local newscaster is a pretty woman, but her name, Anita Bathe.... bad combo.

I guess a lot of people have commented on my own daughter's beautiful name many times and I never took it as sexist when they used that term, although I prefer other descriptors. "Amazing", "unique", special", etc, all positive without the baggage of the beauty connotations. Her name is Odessa, by the way.

But if an old man was calling her honey and baby and saying she had a "pretty" name, I'd certainly be keeping her out of hair sniffing distance. All of the language felt dated and rooted in patriarchal terms. Being commodified and judged, and expected to be polite. I hate all of that people pleaser bullshit, and I do find it sexist and outdated to speak that way to children. But everyone has different standards for their own children and I hold no judgment.

[Sour Masher]

Eric Clapton is good company.

IDK. He was pretty aggressively xenophobic and racist.

[Sour Masher]

How do you feel about his answer to 8 year old Layla, where he made misleading claims about the science surrounding the spread of Covid? He said that kids don't get Covid, they don't pick it up and spread it to their parents, etc. What the fuck? You appreciate him communicating this misinformation to millions of kids and parents, who will take less precautions because of this information? You're a teacher, Biden just endangered your life by lying to children.

Democrats have become the party of bearing witness to injustice and then saying their hands are tied from doing anything about it.

But I'm glad you're personally satisfied by the political theater.

I'm not gonna take the bait here. But I will point out the absurdity of you not recognizing or acknowledging he was talking to a very scared 8 year old that thought she was in imminent danger of dying, and assuring her not to be so afraid. Biden's wording, as is very often the case with him, was not ideal. But the intent and sentiment was very clear to any unbiased observer of that interaction. And his stance and statements about the seriousness and dangers of COVID are also clear, when he is talking to adults.

I will say he was way too vague on exactly what his plans were to help schools. I have the same experience as umjewman with my little ones--they do much, much better when they get to go to school.

[Teenwolf]

I'm not gonna take the bait here. But I will point out the absurdity of you not recognizing her was talking to a very scared 8 year old that thought she was in imminent danger of dying. Biden's wording, as is very often the case with him, was not ideal. But the intent and sentiment was very clear to any unbiased observer of that interaction.

Absolutely, I understand he did a fine job of comforting her, but the language and tone bothered me. You can be respectful and complimentary without the dated approach, but obviously he did his best and it doesn't bother most people. I get the context and I know it's just part of his history, how he butters up women of any age.

I would never speak to my daughter's friends that way. I think I told her friend Tzipi that it was "such a cool name", and I use non-gendered language like "hey kiddos" or "hey squiddos" or "hey everybody" or "hey team".... but I'm just hyper vigilant about not using gendered language with my daughter's friends. I found it important to differentiate intimacy being between adults and other adults, or adults and their own kids. I hope that makes sense to other parents here. But as I said before, I respect differing parental opinions.

[Sour Masher]

Absolutely, I understand he did a fine job of comforting her, but the language and tone bothered me. You can be respectful and complimentary without the dated approach, but obviously he did his best and it doesn't bother most people. I get the context and I know it's just part of his history, how he butters up women of any age.

I would never speak to my daughter's friends that way. I think I told her friend Tzipi that it was "such a cool name", and I use non-gendered language like "hey kiddos" or "hey squiddos" or "hey everybody" or "hey team".... but I'm just hyper vigilant about not using gendered language with my daughter's friends. I found it important to differentiate intimacy being between adults and themselves, or adults and parents. I hope that makes sense to other parents here. But as I said before, I respect differing parental opinions.

I think people Biden's age get a passed. I would never talk like Biden either, and if either of us did, we would be labeled as creepy, but to me, intent is what really matters, and I think his intent was good here. More broadly, there is a lot to be critical of regarding Biden, but I continue to not get the need of folks like Jimmy Dore and some other progressives to attack the man himself. I think you have called him a scumbag on more than one occasion. While he has his flaws, to me it is clear he is an empathetic and compassionate person whose primary goal is to do what he estimates to be the right thing. He has proven to be that throughout his long career. It is a stark contrast to the last guy, and I think progressives who attack Biden are on firmer ground sticking with putting him to task for the timidity and vagueness of some of his proposals, and his "let's build a consensus" strategy, in light of how poorly that worked for Obama.

[Sour Masher]

Biden is probably top 10% in terms of decency among politicians. Labeling him a scumbag seems so out of touch with my perception of the man, ,for me, it identifies whoever saying that as so biased it is hard for me to trust other criticisms of Biden's policies and positions coming from those sources. I do not get the ad hominem Yes, he has flaws. His words, divorced from intent can come off as sexist or condescending, and he sometimes does some creepy things, but taken in the context of the totality of the man, I don't see any of it is malevolent.

Does anyone, for instance think Biden would call in to MSNBC if Rachel Maddow died and when asked what kind words he wanted to share about the deceased, he'd say, well, she thought I was great, the best, and that I won. And just make it all about you? Do you think he did that when his own father died? Because that is what Trump did. Anyone surprised at how he made talking about Rush Limbaugh all about him didn't read his eulogy of his father, because he made his father's eulogy all about how great his father thought he was. It just seems so out of touch when critics of Biden attack him on character when he is a saint compared to the man he replaced.

[Teenwolf]

Biden is probably top 10% in terms of decency among politicians. Labeling him a scumbag seems so out of touch with my perception of the man, ,for me, it identifies whoever saying that as so biased it is hard for me to trust other criticisms of Biden's policies and positions coming from those sources. I do not get the ad hominem Yes, he has flaws. His words, divorced from intent can come off as sexist or condescending, and he sometimes does some creepy things, but taken in the context of the totality of the man, I don't see any of it is malevolent.

Does anyone, for instance think Biden would call in to MSNBC if Rachel Maddow died and when asked what kind words he wanted to share about the deceased, he'd say, well, she thought I was great, the best, and that I won. And just make it all about you? Do you think he did that when his own father died? Because that is what Trump did. Anyone surprised at how he made talking about Rush Limbaugh all about him didn't read his eulogy of his father, because he made his father's eulogy all about how great his father thought he was. It just seems so out of touch when critics of Biden attack him on character when he is a saint compared to the man he replaced.

I've already explained I won't be grading on a curve because of Trump being a narcissistic and totally morally bankrupt, incompetent piece of shit.

I also despise Jimmy Dore, and would have you not associate me with him. He's only elevated as a standard bearer for Progressives by the same bad actors who promoted your favorite grift, the Lincoln Project. Recognize the ruse, my friend.

[Sour Masher]

I also despise Jimmy Dore, and would have you not associate me with him. He's only elevated as a standard bearer for Progressives by the same bad actors who promoted your favorite grift, the Lincoln Project. Recognize the ruse, my friend.

This surprises me. Is this a relatively new opinion of Dore? I could have sworn you have referenced him before. In fact, I thought he first went on my radar a few years ago when you mentioned him. I checked him out, I thought, because of that, but my memory is not what it used to be. I know you are a TYT fan. What other progressive sources do you read and listen to that you do respect? Which of them call Biden a scumbag, for instance, or is that just your take? I've heard Dore attack Biden pretty viscously and folks like TYT focus more on the policies and positions, but I admit to not really knowing much about Dore at all, so forgive the insult. He was just a name of an aggressive progressive that likes to get personal on Biden. I've only heard him in sound bites. They did not make me want to listen to him more.

[GwynnInTheHall]

You have to be perfect to exist in Jessie's world

[Teenwolf]

This surprises me. Is this a relatively new opinion of Dore? I could have sworn you have referenced him before. In fact, I thought he first went on my radar a few years ago when you mentioned him. I checked him out, I thought, because of that, but my memory is not what it used to be. I know you are a TYT fan. What other progressive sources do you read and listen to that you do respect?

Oh, my bad. I thought I discussed his recent heel turn, wherein he invited a "boogaloo boy" onto his show to spread a bunch of misinformation... you could see the turn coming before that, but it was the definitive nail in the coffin for me taking him seriously in any way. He isn't malicious, but he's too naive and doesn't do enough research to give a reliable perspective. I also thought I provided some type of disclaimer, like "Jimmy Dore can be a jackass, but he makes some good points in this clip", as I've always viewed him more of the Joe Rogan strain of mentally damaged comedians taking on topics that escape them, but in ways that sometimes elicit interesting discussions because of their everyman approach.

I very rarely share the political clips anymore, but here's a good dissection of the Boogaloo Boy debacle with Dore.

I watch more of Majority Report, Secular Talk, Hasan Piker, The Serfs, Christo Availis, Rational National, Nomiki Konst, Democracy at Work, Status Coup, Redacted, many others. But I recognize a lot of their biases from years of viewing and it gives me perspective to keep my fingers on the pulse of the fringes. The latest Jimmy Dore thing has me taking a breather. Kinda like how I used to watch Bill Maher and my wife hated it, but she finally called a justifiable kibosh when he dropped the n-bomb.

[Ken]

I guess a lot of people have commented on my own daughter's beautiful name many times and I never took it as sexist when they used that term, although I prefer other descriptors. "Amazing", "unique", special", etc, all positive without the baggage of the beauty connotations. Her name is Odessa, by the way.

With regards to your daughter, you do you. Whatever you think is best for her is more than likely best, and I'd likely support any parenting approach that you deem appropriate. Cool name too.

In the general sense though, it pains me to see that we can no longer express things like beauty in a name without a sexual connotation attached. There was a time when that was not assumed to be the default. Biden lived the majority of his life in that time. It's sad that we are no longer in it apparently.

[Teenwolf]

With regards to your daughter, you do you. Whatever you think is best for her is more than likely best, and I'd likely support any parenting approach that you deem appropriate. Cool name too.

In the general sense though, it pains me to see that we can no longer express things like beauty in a name without a sexual connotation attached. There was a time when that was not assumed to be the default. Biden lived the majority of his life in that time. It's sad that we are no longer in it apparently.

I asked my wife how she felt to be called "honey", "baby", and told "that's a pretty name". She called it patronizing and belittling. Think about how he encouraged the boy with the stutter to be brave and strong and do anything, and the little girl is treated like a fragile and incapable object of beauty to be protected, which is how he commonly portrays men and women. It's just sexist language from a bygone era that I'm certainly happy is largely gone.

With names specifically, I will allow that saying it's beautiful could refer to a names musicality or any number of innocent things. However, the rest of his comments enhance the creepiness of the "pretty name".

[Ken]

I asked my wife how she felt to be called "honey", "baby", and told "that's a pretty name". She called it patronizing and belittling. Think about how he encouraged the boy with the stutter to be brave and strong and do anything, and the little girl is treated like a fragile and incapable object of beauty to be protected, which is how he commonly portrays men and women. It's just sexist language from a bygone era that I'm certainly happy is largely gone.

With names specifically, I will allow that saying it's beautiful could refer to a names musicality or any number of innocent things. However, the rest of his comments enhance the creepiness of the "pretty name".

Feels like you poisoned the well a bit by adding the "honey" and "baby" to the experiment. I was referring to "pretty name", which shouldn't be considered sexist language IMO.

But we've spent too much time on this already. Other things to focus on. We can just agree to disagree here.

[In the Corn]

Let's talk about the important stuff.

How's Biden's golf game?

Amazed that we condescend about someone trying to comfort and provide empathy to a young child. Trying to build, in 30 seconds, some trust so the words he conveys can provide comfort and assurance. While he may have been a little clumsy with his words, I'll take his intent ALL DAY LONG!