On today's Morning Joe, Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough both scoffed at the desirability of having a 40-or-50-year-old "straight-A student" as president. Makes sense: Biden's the guy who lied about earning three degrees and finishing in the top half of his law school class. In fact, he finished near the bottom: 76th in a class of 85.
Instead of smarts, Joe, Mika, and Willie touted how wonderful it is, given the current foreign policy crises, to have someone with Biden's long experience, and his "mature mind." Mature—like a banana that's been left on the shelf for two weeks. Pro Tip for Mika: when speaking about Biden, eschew any mention of his "mind." Brings bad images to the public's mind.
MIKA: Would I want a man who's got, straight-A student in his 40s or 50s out there? Or do I would I want someone with 40, 50 years of experience on the world stage? That includes decades of wins and losses, politically and geopolitically. And I can't think of somebody else out I'd want. You name 'em. Somebody name a better at this point, more mature mind that can attack these problems and address them with all the different levels of emotion that need to come to the moment. And, and he does it!
As for Biden's supposedly invaluable foreign policy experience, consider the opinion of Robert Gates. In addition to serving as the CIA director under President George H.W. Bush, Gates was Secretary of Defense under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. In that latter position, Gates was in a position to observe Joe Biden's foreign policy judgment firsthand. And Gates's opinion is that:
"[Biden has] been wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades.”
Among Biden's foreign policy blunders that Gates has pointed to were his "opposition to "every one of Ronald Reagan’s military programs to contest the Soviet Union." Reagan would no doubt be shocked to learn that Cold War peacenik Biden and the Detente Democrats support war on the Russians in Ukraine, no matter how long it takes.
More recently, of course, was Biden's precipitous, disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, leading to the immediate takeover of the country by the Taliban, the death of 13 Marines, and the abandonment into Taliban hands of $7 billion worth of military equipment.
The show displayed a curious and very telling statement from Biden in which he claimed:
"I have remained deeply engaged over the last few days" in the hostage negotiations.
That smacks loudly of the president who doth protest too much. Why would Biden feel the need to trumpet his involvement -- unless behind the scenes the likes of Blinken and Sullivan are actually carrying the load, as Biden takes his "mature mind" to the basement?
Morning Joe discounting the importance of a straight-A student as president, instead touting Joe Biden's foreign policy experience, was sponsored in part by Liberty Mutual, and AT&T.
Here's the transcript.
MSNBC
Morning Joe
11/28/23
6:01 am ETJOE SCARBOROUGH: Mika, you know, you said something yesterday that really, really struck a chord with me, and I think with a lot of people who were watching, when you said, you know what, for people who want to make age an issue, you're damn right, it is an issue. And we're getting through this process of negotiating with some very difficult, very dangerous, in some cases, very terrible people, and the process is still moving forward because Joe Biden knows all the players.
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Yeah. I mean, this is the big stage, the world stage, and with everything at stake on two separate fronts. Two wars, Ukraine and Israel, literally putting everything on the line for the rest of the world, for global security.
Would I want a man who's got, straight-A student in his 40s or 50s out there? Or do I would I want someone with 40, 50 years of experience on the world stage? That includes decades of wins and losses, politically and geopolitically. And I can't think of somebody else out I'd want. You name 'em. Somebody name a better at this point, more mature mind that can attack these problems and address them with all the different levels of emotion that need to come to the moment. And, and he does it!
. . .
SCARBOROUGH: Right. These are the days, these are the days where, actually, experience is extraordinarily important. And after it being discounted by voters for far too long, and look what we've gotten for it over the past 20 years, it's good to have somebody in the White House who knows what he's doing and knows all the players on the world stage.
WILLIE GEIST: And can project at least some sense of calm, publicly standing with the Israeli people while privately pushing Benjamin Netanyahu on the way he's prosecuting the war. Richard Haass is with us, we'll have some thoughts on that in a moment.
But to your point, more hostages expected to be released today, now that Hamas and Israel have agreed to extend the temporary truce. Qatari officials, who've been mediating the talks, announced yesterday that both sides have agreed to extend the pause in fighting for an additional two days. The original pause was set to expire today.
President Biden released a statement welcoming the new extension. He said he: remains "deeply engaged" in the deal to make sure it continues to deliver results. Adding, he will, quote, not stop until all of the hostages held by Hamas terrorists are released, end quote.
