On a daily basis it seems that the Biden White House launches a new round of absurdities. Consider that they keep on insisting that they have enough votes to suspend the debt ceiling to avoid a default, but the whole thing is really Mitch McConnell’s fault. Or that in the past the Congress routinely voted to increase the debt ceiling on a bipartisan basis. Except that they didn’t. In fact, in 2006 when the government was in Republican hands, every single Democratic Senator voted against raising the debt ceiling. One of the leaders of that exercise in bipartisanship was none other than Joe Biden when he was Senator from Delaware.
Then there is the botched pull-out from Afghanistan. The Biden Administration is busy hailing it as a great success even though it is beyond dispute that American citizens and green card holders were left behind. Not to mention the airport bombing that killed 13 American soldiers and over 100 Afghans. Or the drone attack in the middle of Kabul that mistakenly targeted civilians thereby killing as many as 10 Afghan children.
The Afghan debacle, predictably enough, included President Biden’s attempt to evade responsibility by claiming that he was following the unanimous counsel of his top military advisers. Except that he wasn’t, as subsequent testimony made it clear that some advised the President to leave 2,500 troops in place.
And then there is the ongoing budget negotiation fiasco. Shortly after a bipartisan infrastructure deal was reached, Biden turned around and linked passage of the infrastructure deal to his $3.5 trillion middle class welfare bill. Incredibly enough, Biden and his team are claiming that the cost of this extravaganza is — wait for it —zero.
The rationale is that the bill is “paid for” and therefore costless. That is the equivalent of saying that if I go out and buy a $250,000 Ferrari and pay for it with cash, it costs me nothing. But if I buy it with a credit card the cost is $250,000. Same car; same price but one is “free”. The mind reels.
Almost every day the White House belches out a similar absurdity mixed liberally with mendacity. And from the polling data, it seems that the public is getting more than a little tired of it. Last November the body politic expressed its displeasure with routine displays of incompetence and dishonesty. You would think the Biden team would have gotten the message. Apparently not.
JFB
