Asking that we “get over it” when Joe Biden insults Hillary Clinton is a knife that cuts both ways. Given that we’re in the middle of Constitutional crisis via the Trump *Presidency*, why is former VP Biden given a pass to join the pile-on by disparaging Hillary Clinton? Why are we humoring him instead of firmly telling this #olderwhitemale to “get over it” and let go of his ego while we resist this dumpster fire of an Administration? Ponder the jaundiced perspective that says women are supposed to be forgiving and “just let him talk” while Mr. Biden puts nails in the coffin of any woman who would step up to be President while he postures with self-serving untruths. Yes. I’m angry. Mr. Biden’s comments were careless, disrespectful and most of all, incorrect.
Former VP Joe Biden was a loyal soldier to President Obama for eight years and for that he deserves our deep appreciation. I have long wished to write an article thanking him for his steadfast service, yet Biden’s insistence that Hillary was the “wrong candidate” while he was “the right one”, and that she “never really knew why she was running” is, sadly, bruised ego twaddle. All of which compels me to write an article of a different kind. This is tough because I have great sympathy for Joe Biden’s personal tragedies. Yet this cannot stand. And, no, I will not just “let him talk” at the expense of our first ever woman nominee.
Despite horrifying, irresponsible media coverage, Russian interference, GOP smear, a rogue FBI Director breaking protocol to trash her, and a media that let Trump go with little vetting while granting him $2 Billion of free airtime, Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by nearly 3 million and Got. More. Votes. Than. Any. White. Male. In. History.
Take that in.
Then recall that VP Biden is a lifetime pol, the ultimate insider. He was a Senator for 36 years and VP for 8. So while he has long experience, his recent comments force us to take a closer look at his prior presidential runs and record. He had to end his first presidential run in 1987 because of plagiarism. His second run in 2008 garnered him 1% of the vote at the Iowa caucus where he placed fifth and then dropped out. This is the man who authored the 1994 Crime Bill (Hillary was excoriated for it, though as First Lady she had no vote. Both Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden voted for it.) There was Joe Biden’s poor treatment of Anita Hill during the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings. Then there was his vote for the 2005 Bankruptcy Bill (“The bill made it nearly impossible for average families to file Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection)”. By the way, Mr. Biden also voted for the Iraq War Resolution, although to this day, no one seemed to mind, unlike the excoriating treatment Hillary received for the same. Not to mention, Mr. Biden is older than Hillary and has suffered two brain aneurysms.
Last but not least, VP Biden is prone to “rhetorical flourishes”, as President Obama put it. The gaffe-tastic VP would likely have blurted out more than a few humdingers as the focus of the national spotlight in an endless election campaign. He would have also faced an even higher hurdle than Hillary in holding the White House for Democrats for a 3rd term since, as President Obama’s VP, there was zero daylight between them and he would be hard pressed to argue otherwise.
Yet once again, we have yet another #olderwhitemale who cannot resist the opportunity to say that he would have done it better than the woman. Despite a red-faced pundit class hungry to distract from their reckless coverage by blaming Hillary (which Mr. Biden has chosen to capitalize on), she ran an effective campaign offering great policy prescriptions and a strong message bolstering the economy, sexual and racial equality, education, criminal justice and immigration reform.
Unlike every single male candidate we have EVER seen, Hillary Clinton’s campaign trumpeted women, people of color, LGBTQ and the disabled. She trumpeted families and the need to all of us to work together to empower our economy and bring us to 100% productivity and participation. Why is that something that should be ignored or disparaged as “the wrong message”?
While women’s issues are always pushed to the back burner, Senator Barbara Mikulski noted, “Every issue is a woman’s issue.” Until we honor that truth, we’re not going to see a change in the amount of women’s representation (19%) or our ability to have female leadership in America.
No. We shouldn’t “get over it”.
If women, people of color and LGBTQ were allowed to have equal voice in this country, we would have been spared #TrumpRussia and all that goes with it. And while we know its #NotAllMen, 69% of white men chose Trump.
Furthermore, those most often telling us to “move on” are those who most resemble the talking heads on TV and in Congress. If your voice or visage is being represented (even if your politics are not), a paradigm shift may not strike you as vital. As a woman in the work force for 40 years, watching a bunch of #olderwhitemales espousing about my life choices or bloviating about what should be important to me is about as useful as pissing up a rope.
Joe Biden’s disparagement of Hillary Clinton overlooks this and minimizes the importance of a candidate who centered the needs of those not typically represented while also maintaining that men would have an equal place in that power structure.
As long as we forgive and continue to “let him talk” when Joe Biden or Bernie Sanders use Hillary Clinton as their punching bag, we are saying that the needs of the majority of our population can best be addressed by #olderwhitemales, who, you will forgive me, have repeatedly proven we are seen as an afterthought.
I was never more proud to vote for, and work on behalf of, a Presidential candidate not because she’s a woman, but because Hillary Clinton was and is prepared, experienced, strong, erudite and championed all of us.
#StillWithHer, thanks.
41 Comments
So true. What was the point? Even if he wants to try to run in 2020, it was hurtful to his own cause. And yes, he was NOT a great candidate.
Amen, Patricia. Sadly, this was about his bruised ego at feeling passed over for Pres after serving as VP. But the truth is Hillary was a powerhouse candidate in every respect compared to him and she had much stronger support.
You are a group of demented Demonkratz. Your pathetic party is driving American into hell.
Great article and nice to see truth when it comes to Hillary.
Appreciate that. Thanks, Jamesena.
Well, the chickens dey has come home ta roost!
Both of those spineless and corrupt bastards will never sit in the Oval Office. They should be wearing orange jumpsuits soon, perhaps in the same prison.
Thank you. Well said.
Thank you, Mary Ellen. Much appreciated.
How low can Joe go?
Anita, you have expressed again what so many of us feel. At the most generous, Biden’s “shoot from the lip” style has often made him look insensitive (or foolish). Yet we always chuckled at his gaffes and said “there goes Joe again “!
Can you imagine the blowback if Hillary spouted that nonsense?
I think you’re right about the old boy’s club trying to maintain the status quo, it’s so ingrained they don’t even see it.
Agree, Kathryn. Also, Joe Biden claims to be a champion of women. For him to spout self-serving, egotistical BS is monumentally disrespectful not only to Hillary and all that she achieved despite horrendous obstacles, but to all women.
No Joe iBiden you were not the better candidate and to assert such a concept after the fact does nothing to enhance your standing. Not only does she have a proven track record on national issues, she has demonstrated quality leadership internationally. She has had to endure lies and smears from weak minded white males and you Mr. Biden just put yourself in that class. Maybe you should have crossed Putin and then see if you were so strong.
I completely agree with your article. I’m extremely proud of my vote for the first woman president of the U.S.A. “I’m STILL WITH HER and always will be!!!”
Thank you for writing this article Anita. I feel the same way. I proudly voted for Hillary and would vote for her again. I still believe she is the most qualified person to run this country. I’m disappointed that Joe Biden would bad mouth Hillary. I’ve always liked him and I’m surprised that He would do such a thing.
Hillary Clinton is NOT every woman – THANK GOD!!!!!
No one said she was. Nor does she pretend to be but she is an accomplished woman worthy of respect. And what I really don’t need here is you disrespecting her.
In the same breath that Biden skewers Hillary as not really knowing “what she was running for” he provides NO INFORMATION WHATSOEVER on what he would have been “running for.” He can do that because people are so used to double standards with respect to women, most people won’t even notice that he is literally the pot calling the kettle black–after the kettle was extremely specific about what she was running for. The same things 65 million of us voted for. #olderwhitemale
Great point, Amy. Thank you.
I was appalled to read Biden’s comment about HRC initially but couldn’t believed he actually said that Subsequently there was an article which indicated that the first post purposely omitted what Biden said next that he thought HRC WAS GOING TO BE A GREAT PRESIDENT.
That hardly mitigates the ego outburst, and he has said this sort of thing multiple times. First he insults her, says she was the wrong candidate at the wrong time and that she had no reason for running and then caps it off with well she would have been great? Sadly this changes nothing. Thanks so much for commenting.
I wholeheartily agree and than you for writing othis subject so few journalists covered. Biden won my respect as VP after many years of my disappointment regardint Anita Hill. I love him to the moon but I was extremely pissed after his recent coopmments in connection to Hillary my shero. 🙁
Thanks, Rosalita. I got some grief for criticizing him but it is critical we not allow revisionist history become truth. His critique was not true but adds to the narrative of “flawed, wrong tone” and all the other sexist claptrap which demeans and distracts from the actual message of her campaign.
Thank you.
🙂 Absolutely!
I too was appalled that former VP Biden, a man who is not perfect but who I did feel was in touch with the people (women, disenfranchised, etc.), would say what he did about our first woman presidential candidate who I truly believe would have won and truly deserved to win were it not for the GOP/Russian interference. He has joined the ranks of old white men who need to be replaced with progressive, intelligent and younger men AND women who represent this country’s best hope for a country who was once a power to be reckoned with, and now is the laughingstock with the current administration doing everything in its power to reverse the Obama years of progress toward a better country and world. Mr. Biden has proved to me how irrelevant he has become by his latest remarks and I have lost respect for him. Sadly, his own words have damned him and he has only his own narcissistic WMP to blame.
He felt passed over and sadly, that took precedence for him. Unwise.
Joe you are a great guy but Hilary is the better candidate and would be a super president!
The good news is that so many Hill supporters stepped up to chastise Biden with blog posts like this one and on social media. I do hope he got the message. Loud and clear. The comments were also politically tone deaf if he does want to run again, absurd as that would be. Pissing us off is pretty counter-productive.
It is counterproductive. Most tone deaf is his saying he didn’t know why she was running when every ad she ran and speech she gave included and targeted those who most need a champion.
Totally agree with this article ,
That Bidens comments are careless,disrespectful and incorrect
Joe Biden is wrong to disparage Hillary Clinton
The truth is Hillary is a powerhouse
And will make an amazing President
Always with her
Anita…I have a personal favor to ask…If ever you meet HRC in person amd can get a few seconds of her time please let her know that I’d love to see her run again.Let her know that folk like us are begging her to run.We never got to see the end of the story.There has to be a happy ending to it.There is.For as long as that woman is still alive there is burning power in the resistance.In a way I feel she has even become the face of the resistance.I may never see her in person,talk to her or any of that.But you will.Please Anita let her know that this story goes right at the end.HRC or nothing.Russsia came in and Trump won.Every dog has its day. HRC is still the candidate to beat.
I’m sure she would be very touched by your comment, Nyasha. I don’t know that I’ll have the chance to meet her but I’m sure many of us will write to her to express our feelings on the matter. I hope you will, too.
Bottom line – I would NEVER vote for him. I thought/think he is weak and not ANYWAY up to the job. Neither was burny SCAMders
Very juvenile and disrespectful. The old “It should have been me….I could have done it better”.
No one, on that stage, was more experienced, savvy, or prepared to be one of the best presidents ever!
I’m disappointed in Biden and Sanders for their after the fact, undercutting remarks. If either one of them decides to run in 2020……don’t count on this vote.
Thank you for expressing so well, how I feel,…..keep on telling your story!!!!!!!
Thanks, Donnie. I shall!
I am saddened that Mr. Biden is taking cheap shots here, particularly because he knew the media, Russia, GOP and Comey obstacles she faced and yet still earned 66 million votes. Moreover, she fought for those who rarely get a voice or even a mention beyond lip service in the national debate. He should be fighting for them too, instead of fighting for the sliver of white male voters who haven’t voted Democrat in almost 30 years. HE should know better than to his ego rule the day here.
Thank you for this article. I never thought Joe Biden should run for president or that he would be a good president. But I always wanted Hilary to run and KNEW she would be a great president. Too many Things against her, ncluding Bernie Sanders, who bad mouthed her to the end. The only thing both men had going for them over her was that they were men. Apparently we are not progressive enough to want a woman in the White House. Let’s hope that changes SOON.
Sorry but Bernie Sanders elicited a passion and excitement during his campaign that I never saw or felt for Hillary. I worked for the campaign and it felt very Luke-warm to me for the most part. In private, quite a few admitted they were working to prevent DT from becoming president, not because they were on fire for Hillary. Quite a few employees were secretly disappointed by Sander’s treatment by the DNC and worked half-heartedly. I’ve read that, one on one, HC is very personable, but she has difficulty emotionally connecting with the masses. Is she plenty qualified and would I feel safer with her in office now? Absolutely. But a president has to be elected, and a president really has to be liked to be elected. I have no doubt that she is probably better qualified for the office than BC was. But he is smooth, charming and likable, which presidents appear to need to be, to get elected.
Elizabeth,
How can you say Hillary was not liked? She won 4 million more votes than Bernie during the primary. He won primarily in caucus states by a couple of thousand votes, while she won in almost every primary (except Vermont and Michigan) by 100,000’s of thousands of votes. She also won the popular vote again in this presidential election by 3 million votes and she had also won the popular vote in 2008 against Obama. SHE WON THE POPULAR VOTE. What about that equates to not being liked? She also had the distinction of winning by a larger margin in this last presidential election than any white man ever! I expect men to dismiss this extraordinary achievement by the “first” woman to win a major party’s nomination for the presidency, but it is very disappointing when women are willing to dismiss it too.
Neither Bernie nor trump were vetted throughout the campaign. The republicans were totally focused on the real threat, Hillary. They knew an avowed socialist like Bernie would not go over well with the majority of the American people and would have been “swift boated” had he won the primary big time because of his socialist bent. Throughout the campaign, the media was focused every day on Hillary’s e-mails despite there being no evidence of wrongdoing. They beat that poor dead horse to death again because attacking Hillary has become political blood sport which is never condemned by the media, and certainly not by her opponents. She ran against the media’s constant and unfair attacks, the entire republican party who has been out for her since her husband entered the White House back in 1992, the Russians for their spreading of false narratives about her and tampering with our election process to favor trump and she still won the popular vote.
Those who still find her to be “disliked” and unfit for public office, please tell me what has she done to hurt this country ever? Why the constant vitriol against her when, despite all of the investigations and millions of taxpayer dollars paid for these real “witch hunts” have they not been able to find her guilty of anything? Maybe it’s because there is nothing there, there and in our society today, a woman is guilty until proven innocent! So, despite the kitchen sink being thrown at her, she still won the popular vote with the American people.
Again, please explain how that translates to her not being liked by the American people?
Thanks so much for your perspective, Kathleen. The truth is Hillary was the best candidate of all of them, evidenced by her winning millions more votes both in the primaries and the general election despite horrid headwinds. I don’t know what the obsession is with destroying her, especially with propaganda that can be easily disproved. Then I remind myself, anyone can say they are anyone on the internet.
Everyone is entitled to support whom they wish obviously, but Bernie never resonated with me. I found him to be a one-trick pony, railing about the same injustice thinking one size fits all would solve everything (it won’t), and he didn’t have any track record of accomplishment about his one trick either.
I honestly do not know how Joe could ever think he would have been the better candidate over Hillary, since he never made it past the primary when he did run and he did poorly. These old white guys just think because they are males, they are “automatically” more qualified than any woman. I’m sure some of you remember in 1974 how Bobby Riggs crowed that he could beat Billie Jean King in a game of tennis at the Astrodome, despite being much older that Billie Jean. I was in college then and there was a huge divide between the female and male students – all of the women gathered in dorm rooms all over campus and you could hear us rooting for Billie Jean and, of course, all of the guys were in dorm rooms all over campus rooting for Bobby. I can’t tell you how it sounded like an explosion when Billie Jean beat him in straight sets! The women went nuts. It was a moment when we showed the men that they could no longer assume that just because they are male doesn’t automatically mean they could best a woman in a sport where the game was based on athletic skill and agility and not just brute strength!
Biden reminds me of the men of that time and how oppressed women were because of that attitude. That was 1974 and here we are in 2017 and men, particularly in Biden’s age group, haven’t changed at all. I am proud of those men who did vote for Hillary because they were not so insecure as to believe that voting for a woman because she was the better candidate would somehow lessen them as men. I will never understand how those men who voted for Trump could ever justify that vote since Trump was clearly unqualified and unfit for the Oval Office. Biden is no better than they are by his harsh words against Hillary…in fact he’s worse, because he is a hypocrite to boot.