a lucky man : our bigoted president

 

I read the news today oh yeah/

About a lucky man who made  the grade.

 

Ah, Biden. Who knew that inside that old body beat the heart of a huge, dangerous beast? But then again, all the American Emperors are dangerous. It is a bad business entirely.

Two news items. One is Chotiner’s interview with Aaron David Miller, a man who has an actual career as a Middle Eastern negotiator – starting in the eighties and reaching through Bush to Biden. It is the end of the interview that breaks your heart.

“ … when Biden gave the speech on October 10th, you watched the tears well up in his eyes. He talked about the black hole of loss. He’s conflated the tragedies in his ownpersonal life with what Israelis felt on that day.

Yes, that’s very moving, but there is another kind of loss going on now which he apparently can’t conflate with his own experience.

Oh, if you’re asking me: Do I think that Joe Biden has the same depth of feeling and empathy for the Palestinians of Gaza as he does for the Israelis? No, he doesn’t, nor does he convey it. I don’t think there’s any doubt about that.”

His empathy, such as it is, stops with the killing of White aid givers. The rest is dross.  https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/bidens-increasingly-contradictory-israel-policy

Two. The other less reported story is about a White House “dinner” and outreach to Americans of Middle Eastern origin.

“Dr. Thaer Ahmad, an emergency physician from Chicago who traveled to Gaza earlier this year, told CNN he abruptly left the meeting that included Vice President Kamala Harris, national security adviser Jake Sullivan, other administration officials and a small group of Muslim community leaders.”

It was a meeting mainly concentrating on optics. But the optics department in Biden’s campaign and White House is obviously concentrated on important things, not Muslims, for god’s sakes:

“CNN previously reported that what was supposed to be an iftar dinner to break the Ramadan fast was changed to a meeting because participants didn’t feel comfortable having a celebratory meal while hundreds of thousands in Gaza are on the brink of famine. It’s another example of the administration’s fraying relationship with the Muslim American community — other attempts at holding meetings in key states have been hampered by declined invitations, and relationships with important community groups have frayed since the war began.”

Well, what a group for Biden to address in his most heartfelt tones to talk about the Hamas attack on October 7. He feels it still. That 32,000 Gazans have died since then is of course all so sad, but is it really sad?

“Following the listening session, Ahmed said that Biden initially responded with a focus on the terrors of October 7.

“He kind of went back to that and said, ‘You know, I hear what everybody’s saying, but like, think about the young people that were killed on October 7.’ And it kind of dismissed the over 30,000 people dead in Palestine,” she said.

Biden went on to discuss the complexity of eradicating Hamas and ongoing talks with leaders in the region working toward a ceasefire, Ahmed said.”

And though the news was rather sad,

 Well, I just had to laugh.

I saw the photograph.