Jul 22
2024
Joe Biden: American Patriot
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Politicians tend to be egotistical, me-first creatures. That’s what makes President Biden’s decision to withdraw as a candidate that much more remarkable. He faced facts and put his country ahead of his ego.
Good for him, and good for us.
Lindsey Graham, before he went to the dark side, described Biden as “as good a man as God ever created.”
I wouldn’t go that far, but he’s been a good president who struck me as a decent human being – Gaza notwithstanding. While his legacy is yet to be written, it will no doubt include him saving us from another four years of Donald Trump in 2020 and giving the Democrats the best chance to deny him again this year. That’s a mighty fine legacy.
There’s been a flood of coverage, so allow me to offer some tidbits:
- Politico runs down the list of possible running mates for Kamala Harris, should she be the nominee.
- Steve Kornacki of MSNBC, sans his cream colored pants, runs down the latest polling, starting at 1:39. Keep in mind that polls showing candidates within a handful of percentage points of each other fall within the margin of error, meaning the race is a toss up. Most press reports fail to mention this.
- The Washington Post reports an early tidal wave of support for Harris from Democratic leaders, although many of the big dogs have yet to weigh in, as reported by CNN.
- NBC reported on Trump ‘s reaction, which involved his typical bluster and lack of class. I imagine Trump is unhappy with Biden’s withdrawal.
My take on the race: Trump has done nothing to expand his base with the selection of J.D. Vance as his running mate. The challenge to the Democrats is to turn out their base. Consider that Democratic candidates have won seven of the last eight presidential elections.
Longtime Buffalo-area Congressman Henry Nowak has died.
It’s conventional wisdom that New York is a terrible state to do business in. But CNBC ranks us middle of the pack. Meanwhile, we’re nowhere to be found in CNBC’s ranking of the states with the worst quality of life. The Bottom 10 consists of red states. But, hey, we’ve always got corruption going for us, right?
The IDA in Amherst has joined its counterpart in Niagara County in subsidizing market rate apartments. Mind you, IDAs were established first and foremost to create jobs, particularly in the manufacturing sector, and apartment buildings generate very few jobs. But that didn’t stop the Amherst IDA from doling out $8.5 million in tax breaks for a project that was supposedly otherwise unbankable.
Ken Kruly has a comprehensive list on the size of the campaign funds of local and state politicians.
The Sabres are installing a new scoreboard in the downtown hockey arena. But nothing like what the Los Angeles Clippers are doing in their new digs. Not even close.
The Kansas City Chiefs – and Royals – don’t want to take “no” for an answer after voters turned down their request for subsidies.
My wife and I spent the day Friday at the National Comedy Center in Jamestown. I highly recommend it. Well done in every way, especially technology. I especially enjoyed the George Carlin exhibit. We could use his unvarnished observations these days, but alas, we have to settle on those archived on YouTube. Laugh away.
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