A PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION IN THE TIME OF CORONAVIRUS

elections
elections

I am definitely showing my age, but does anyone remember when television coverage ended at midnight every night? THIS CONCLUDES OUR BROADCASTING DAY was announced, and a loud fuzzy noise emanated from the TV, which no amount of rabbit ear adjusting could eliminate. The black and white screen showed a test pattern, and a canned Star Spangled Banner began playing.  

Fast forward 70 years to 2020.  We now have virtually 24/7 “news” stations ranging from old school BBC, which is “read” with few opinions to dilute it, to C-Span where we can watch the maneuvering of our elected officials, to the much more opinionated talking heads from FOX, CNN, and MSNBC, as well as the less timeconsuming offerings from stations like ABC, NBC and CBS 

So FOX, CNN and MSNBC now have almost unlimited time to spew their poison, and not only that, but they MUST fill that time!  They can’t let the American public just sit and watch a waterfall or the rain in SpainIf there is no actual news, they must be fed a constant diet of controversy and criticism. Voices from the peanut gallery on politics, like Whoopie Goldberg and Joy Behar of “The View” just add to the circus. This week alone, Journalist Chris Wallace and Ms. Behar both chose to make an issue out of President Trump’s sarcastically ridiculous disinfectant comment, and Ms. Goldberg personally vouched for Dr. Biden as an excellent physician, when Mrs. Biden is in fact NOT a medical doctor, but a teacher with a Doctorate in Education.   

In normal times, elections and health concerns would not necessarily intersect, but in 2020, illness waits for no vote. Coronavirus is important for the world, and deserves to take center stage, but we must multitask and NOT ignore other very important issues as we look to our Presidential elections.   

It is already established that President Trump will be the gladiator for the Republicans, having almost twice the money in his coffers and being able to project from the Oval Office and the Press Room.  He is not a politician and has taken the bull by the horns AND has made his mistakes.  Some of them seem to be made as intentional misdirection, and some because he is his own worst enemy (much like the rest of us). He will do what he will do and say what he will say in his fight to become a second term President, and he is not a man known to be totally forthcoming, consistent, or predictable.  

But his opponent is a more traditionally governed politician who is off the rails at the moment, and the race, although carefully orchestrated initially to eliminate the competition, is not going as planned 

Firstly, since Senator Sanders stepped down (although he is still on the ballot), and the Democratic Convention was cancelled, Vice-President Biden is the presumptive nominee for the Democrats, making his third bid for the Presidency. But no one is discussing the elephant in the Biden basement. 

It is very obvious from old newsclips that the Joe Biden that we see from eight years ago is NOT the Joe Biden on the stage now, and his fitness for office is not going to get better with time. It will worsen, whether you see it happen or he hides out until the last minute. It certainly isn’t Joe Biden’s fault that he’s 77 years old and getting older by the day, but that issue must be addressed sooner, rather than later, because whomever he chooses as Vice-President is probably going to be moving up to President within the Biden term.  

Despite Biden’s broadcasting from the familiarity of his own basement with an obvious cheatsheet, he was still unable to handle a pre-formulated conversation with the press and Dr. Sanjay Gupta this week. Gobbledygook erupted, and he touched his face with his hand. His lovely wife is helping as much as possible lately, but some would call it elder abuse to keep placing him in front of cameras, when he is consistently unable to come up with the words or the year or the correct issue. You may recall that when President Reagan began losing his mental alertness, his wife made sure he was no longer in the public eye. That was humane.  

Secondly, Vice President Biden doesn’t actually STAND for anything! He parrots what he thinks people want to hear, but since they aren’t actually his opinions, he can change his position, and it doesn’t matter much!  His consideration of Senator Sanders’ more socialist ideas such as forgiving student debt and expanding Medicare eligibility could be a preview of his malleability.  Then there was the time early  in the coronavirus fight, when Biden declared that Trump was xenophobic because he canceled all incoming flights from China, followed by Biden and his TV team openly courting the “black vote” in the South Carolina primary, not considering his tactics to be racist.  Semantics.  

Another example was Biden stating that Dr. Fauci should be the only person to publicly address the coronavirus issue, forgetting for the time being that it was Dr. Fauci on Feb. 29 who said the risk was still low for Americans. Add that to the fact that when Biden has responded to the media questions with suggestions pertaining to corraling the coronavirus, every single item had already been initiated by Trump and was in practice 

Thirdly, but no less important, are the allegations of Tara Reade, now confirmed in a 1993 Larry King interview tape.  Anyone who has watched the numerous clips of Mr. Biden smelling the hair of a child standing in front of him, or his practically fondling of female children, would have no trouble imagining him having his hand on Ms. Reade’s shoulder and running his finger up her neck, which is the very least of her claims.  It could be argued that every President in recent memory has displayed some level of inappropriateness, but in this day and age, turning a blind eye is unacceptable, as is CNN’s lack of research into their own archives, and the lack of support by the mostly-Democratic #MeToo movement. 

Today, April 27, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, purportedly endorsed Vice President Biden.  Yes, this is the same Ms. Pelosi who was recorded on film Feb. 24, inviting everyone to San Francisco’s Chinatown because it was perfectly safe! She followed the same invitation that had been rendered by New York City Mayor de Blasio on Jan 24, when he invited the world to Manhattan, and on Feb. 13, when he went to lunch in his own Chinatown.  By this time, New Yorkers had died of the disease, and it did not spare the Democrats 

No apologies have been issued by any politician, and I submit that the Coronavirus pandemic has endured enough setbacks and errors to cover every Democratic politician in America, without even referring to China or debacles in stimulus bills and payments blocked by the Democratic party so that they could eke out a little more for the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, The Smithsonian Institution, Amtrak, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and maybe even Pelosi’s $24,000 ice cream freezer, for all I know 

The Democrats and the entire media world that mimics the Washington Post and the New York Times appear to support Biden because he will make a great puppet!  He will do what he is told, with no original thoughts, no real arguments against anything, and no long press conferences.  He will be a lame duck for as many years as he is in office, and maybe his wife will take over his job, as wives of Senators and Congressman have done in various states. I doubt that will be possible, but since Vice President Biden has suggested that President Trump is going to close down the Post Offices in order to steal the election, there are no guarantees in this climate. 

  By Barbara Walsh