Real estate trash! *laughs* Yes, sir.

The clumsy Swedish fiction drew an eyeball roll from Grandma, who like most native NYers of her generation, could correctly suss your ancestry 10 seconds after you opened your mouth.

Your "Grandma" sounds a lot like my "Grand" who also did not suffer lying poons and festering pond scum like the Friedrich Trumpf spawned "real estate trash" who knowingly and intentionally lied for decades -- and published in The Art of the Deal for all posterity -- regarding their heritage.

What's really pathetic is just how eager Trump is to stand in front of a group of his bleating gullible sheeple and refer to another political candidate in disparaging terms knowing full well that his family and himself knowingly lied for decades about their German heritage and called themselves Swedish!

So maybe Democrats should start referring to the hypocritical Fat Bastard as "Swedish Meatball" or something similar in order to dish up the same shit Trump and his cult of moronic minions serve up regularly; it describes him perfectly. *laughs*

Everybody actually born in NYC knows Trump's revisionist family history is daft bullshit.
Nobody is fooled, the trail of records, as you point out, is clear. Being of German extraction was bad for business in the 1930's and positively hazardous to your health after the United States joined the Allies late in World War I. My Bronx born Grandma,who rose to wealth herself (3 times!!!) considered the "Trumps" real estate trash and was not shy to say so. The clumsy Swedish fiction drew an eyeball roll from Grandma, who like most native NYers of her generation, could correctly suss your ancestry 10 seconds after you opened your mouth.

So, you would have NOT slammed President Trump if he DIDN'T ban bump stocks???

Com'on dood.. I was born AT night.. Not LAST night..

And here I have sat for over a decade listening to you people go on and on about how Democrats are better than the Republicans..

I guess that was all bullshit, eh? :D

Ya'all are saying NOW that, since the GOP was that way, ya'll get to be that way to..

OK.. I can accept your Democrats being as silly and has hateful and as hurtful and as intolerant as they accuse Republicans of being.

Democrats discard the moral high ground they claimed to have held..

Nice to finally have that admitted..

Warren fell afoul of pop culture confusion between genetics (her DNA) ancestry (her family tree) and ethnicity (her culture). If you conflate this triad - by accident or by design, you generate instant heated controversy that cannot be put back in the bottles.

Only if you're a Democrat. For instance, have you heard a single right wingnut hypocrite excoriating Donald Trump for claiming that his family is from Sweden?

His story is classic Horatio Alger. Fred Trump was born in New Jersey in 1905. His father, who came here from Sweden as a child, owned a moderately successful restaurant, but he was also a hard liver and a hard drinker, and he died when my father was eleven years old." Donald Trump, The Art of the Deal

In point of fact, Donald Trump's father, Frederick Trump, wasn't born in New Jersey, he was born in the Bronx, New York, and Trump's father's father arrived in New York City and is listed in immigration records as "Friedr. Trumpf." He was born in Kallstadt, Bavaria in 1869, which became a part of the newly formed German Empire in 1871 when he was a baby. The family's name was Drumpf but was changed by them, and Trump's father Fred denied his family's German heritage and claimed his father was from Karlstad, Sweden rather than Kallstadt, Germany.

Trump's family denied their German heritage in the 1900s for quite obvious reasons, not the least of which was to deceive the Jewish tenants in the Trump-owned apartment complexes and to get ahead in business in an America where the United States and our allies were at war with the Nazis who were insisting theirs was the "master race" and killing people by the millions.

If I were Elizabeth Warren, I wouldn't putz around with this heritage issue, I would skewer Trump in his own words from his own book and ask him to regale us all with his and his own Drumpf family's lies regarding their "Swedish" heritage that is actually straight out of Germany. It would be interesting to watch Trump and his minions flailing regarding The Donald's Drumpf family's bullshit that he repeated in writing in his book: Spin that you hypocrites. :)

Yes, there will always be some who refuse to be honest, regardless of the subject matter. But for the vast majority of Americans, Warren’s explanation and apology were enough to put the issue to rest.

Okay, first off, I'm not arguing against Warren, and I'm not someone who expects my political representatives to be superhuman or pass a purity test of my own invention while whining incessantly that no one is worthy and all elections are "the lesser of two evils." I'm one of those types that expects "humans will be humans" and who never misses a chance to exercise my right to vote for a human to represent me at the local, state, and national levels.

Now, to answer: That tooth paste isn't going to be easy to put back into the tube. While I agree that Warren's apology was enough to put the issue to rest for the vast majority of so-called "Lefties," I see nothing that she has done to mitigate the entire issue with so-called "Moderates" and so-called "Conservatives" who might consider casting a vote for a Democrat.

The good news:

* It's early, and if she's the nominee, she has plenty of time to remedy that.

* If she is the nominee, there's a high probability that her opponent will be that pathologically lying opportunist, con artist, and Putin Puppet named Donald Trump.

* The electorate won't take anything for granted this time and will turn out like democracy depends on it... because it does.

Should Obama have apologized for saying that the ACA would not cause people to lose their current plan and that they’d be able to keep their doctors? Did he not know that people like Michale would ignore his explanation and admission to being wrong and would continue to call him a “liar” for saying it? Of course Obama did, but he also knew it was the right thing to do!

I'm not judging Warren or Obama or anyone else on whether it is "right or wrong" to apologize for all manner of things... just making a comment on what the "Righties" will do with the "perceived admission of wrongdoing." Remember that Warren's taking the DNA test was roundly criticized at the time by the "Left," and Warren's climb back into contention to become leader of the same Party via her policy wonkishness and multiple "plans for that" have been an exercise in restoring her standing with "Lefties."

Might the "Moderates" and "Swing Voters" not give a hang about the perceived quality of Warren's good character based upon her detailed policy paper regarding Native Americans? Her apology for her past heritage claims leaves her open to charges of dishonesty regarding the "very core" of "who she is" no matter how you slice and dice it. She was also a conservative when she was a professor in conservative Texas and didn't become a Democrat until 1993 when she became a professor at Harvard.

Have you ever been wrong?

Nope... and also... "I will never lie to you." Oh, wait... I just did.

I have; it happens.

There goes your political career. ;)

Had Obama not apologized, then Michale would be correct to call him a liar!

Everybody is a liar regardless of whether they admit it or not, and trolls like Mike would call Obama a liar anyway and then whine incessantly like little bitches when Donald Trump is rightly called out on his many multiple demonstrable lies per day.

Doing the right thing might have costs, but in the long run it is worth it.

Define "long run." ;)

Those who claim admitting when you are wrong is a sign of weakness are simply mucking forons and should be laughed out of the room!

Well said, and I generally agree. But I also know that the GOP will use Warren's apology like a very large knife she gifted them herself.

People thought Warren was wrong to take the DNA test, I disagree. She knew Trump would attack her for lying about her heritage, and the DNA test proves she was not wrong.

* Donald Trump provided a letter from his personal physician, Dr. Harold Bornstein, stating in part: "If elected, Mr. Trump, I can state unequivocally, will be the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency"... without so much as him ever having examined the previous 43 men who had occupied the office.

* Dr. Ronny Jackson gave a briefing to the White House press corps about Donald Trump's health stating: "I told the President that if he had a healthier diet over the last 20 years he might live to be 200 years old."

Now, she can respond the next time Trump attacks her on this that he called her a liar, so she took the test and has provided the proof that he was wrong!

Like Obama's providing his long-form birth certificate because of Donald Trump's fabricated attacks on him cleared up that whole "Birther" nonsense. Of course! ;)

Hugs ----> XXX

Says the guy defending the party whose members overwhelmingly hate ObamaCare, but love the ACA! It’s this kind of “objective reasoning” that made Trump believe he’d have a better chance at getting elected if he ran as a Republican.

Exactly.

The jerry-rigged hurricane map is not any kind of new level. It is just more of the same distraction bullshit so citizens can rationalize the irrational decision to support big money candidates from their "team" over the big money candidates from the other "team".

Once again, Don: You should divest yourself of the ridiculous notion that the world revolves around Don Harris's invented parameters when almost no one thinks in those terms.

And the reality is that the Dems and Republicans both do not consider ordinary citizens part of their team and both work for the same team- the big money interests.

And again you're equating the parties as the same after repeatedly stating you don't do that... and claiming to know what they think as a whole about "ordinary citizens."

The Dems and Republicans just consider ordinary citizens to be easily to manipulate marks that will believe how beautiful the emperor's new clothes are.

You've worn out that "emperor's new clothes" bullshit of yours, Don, and that whole lumping of "Dems and Republicans" into one category and claiming they're all out to manipulate the "ordinary citizen" unless they fit into your warped worldview.

Did it never occur to you that there are "Dems" and "Republicans" who are "ordinary citizens." <--- rhetorical question

With bullshit statements like that, you need never wonder why no one here spends very much of their time taking your shit seriously... least of all the author of the blog.

yeah, that's just how politics in this country works, anyone who admits having been wrong about anything is roasted on a spit.

Exactly. You'll get criticized for not apologizing, and then if you do apologize, you'll get further criticized for not doing it correctly to meet a particular "purity" test. It's ridiculous yet reality.

the jerry-rigged alabama hurricane map sounds like a whole new level of it, though.

Altering a weather forecast in violation of federal law and obsessing for days via a multitude of tweets and expecting your administration to cover your incorrect forecast is indeed a new level of it.

Warren is a political ally to Native Americans, but as far as
I know, no tribal band has formally adopted her. That's how it works, a tribe collectively adopts you according to established protocols, not the other way around. Outsiders should respect the distinction.

56-LWYH

You can claim it, but you wiil not be recognized as sovereign by US or state governments. It helps to have writen treaties with the United States dating back to the 19th century or earlier.

Not as ridiculous as comparing President Trump to Hitler.. Something each and everyone here has done or condoned at one time or another in the last 4 years..

A con artist spewing nationalism and promising to return his country to greatness through his sheer force of will and claiming "I alone can fix it," while at the same time referring to unfavorable press as lying and demonizing the "others" and dehumanizing them by repeatedly referring to them in terms like "infestation" and "invasion" isn't exactly rhetoric the world hasn't witnessed before.

Those who'd ignore the glaringly obvious similarities in history rather than learn from them are doomed to repeat the stupid shit.

It's my understanding that Hitler ordered the brutal murder and butchery of 6 million jews..

If anyone think President Trump is even in the SAME GALAXY as that sort of evil??

Your strawman argument is an epic fail since no one here has suggested Trump has done that. However, those like yourself who endeavor to minimize/ignore the many ways in which Trump's rhetoric is repetitive of Hitler's script simply because the self-titled "Chosen One" hasn't ordered genocide are missing the big picture.

Hitler didn't kill millions of Jews on "Day 1" when he rose to power in 1933, and he certainly didn't do it without lots of help from those who bought into his ideology of national and racial superiority. The Nazis started out by passing laws and implementing policies that stigmatized and persecuted many different groups of people that they considered to be "others" and "outsiders" and thus enemies of Germany. Violence against the "others" and their property was on the rise across Germany, and the demonizing and dehumanizing certainly wasn't limited to Jews but also extended to the press, their political opponents, dissenting clergy, homosexuals, blacks, mentally disabled, physically disabled, Gypsies, Jehovah's Witnesses, Slavic peoples, artists whose opinions/work Hitler condemned, and many others.

So to recap: The beginning of the Holocaust wasn't mass genocide, and it also didn't begin in the gas chambers. The Nazis took power in 1933, and until 1941, their official policy was to encourage the "others" to leave Germany by depriving them of their human rights and making life there increasingly difficult for them via dehumanizing propaganda, the passage of laws that allowed discrimination against certain groups and the roundup, deportation, and internment of the "others." If you weren't part of the quote "master race," you were encouraged to leave the country.

So anyone who knows the actual history and/or with their head not shoved firmly up their ass is naturally going to see the similarities.

I have never understood how a non-tribal member could be allowed to claim their ethnicity is Native American. (The exception being for former tribal members who have been kicked out by the tribal elders.) Having just said this, I have to wonder what individuals whose tribes are not officially recognized by our government claim as their ethnicity. Can you claim to be a Native American if the BIA says your tribe doesn’t qualify? Your DNA may say you are full blooded Native American, but our government says that you are NOT a tribal member. The triad can get a little fuzzy it seems.

Actually, no. In fact her command of tribal issues is lauded by many in the community. Of course, politics plays a role for many.

Warren fell afoul of pop culture confusion between genetics (her DNA) ancestory (her family tree) and ethnicity (her culture). If you conflate this triad - by accident or by design, you generate instant heated controversy that cannot be put back in the bottles.

Warren's genetics support her family tree as understood by her immediate family, but her ethnicity is fundamentally middle class American out of Europe. She knows next to nothing about Native American tribal customs, including oral history, regligious beliefs etc. This is what upsets Tribal critics.

When it comes to ethnicity, marriages, religious conversions and adoptions can dramatically overide family trees and genetic makeup. Think Moses: ethnic Hebrew to Ethnic Egyptian, and back to Ethnic Hebrew again.

How about we make the damn AR-15's illegal? They serve no useful civilian purpose.

How about a bill to strengthen our elections? There's been one on Mitch McConnell's doorstep for months.

And on and on. There's no way that you'll convince me that Republicant policies can cure our ills, much less make them worse. Worse yet, policies are side-stepped in order for nonsense, like the border wall. I've got an idea: how about a comprehensive immigration policy? That'd be unique.

There would be nothing to look at! Trump is the source of the hatred, the intolerance, and the bigotry.

And do you not see how indoctrinated you’ve become to right-wing propaganda?

I am also constrained to point out that President Trump pushed thru a ban on bump stocks.. It's ridiculous and won't have ANY effect on ANYTHING...

You point to a gun control policy that Trump signed that people on both sides should agree is for the best, and immediately follow up with NRA “it won’t do any good” claims... diminishing the original point you were trying to make — that Trump has passed some good legislation! You are bashing Trump for passing worthless legislation, and I’m gonna tell him what you said! ;)

Has it perchance occurred to anyone that Warren's multiple apologies regarding her past claims of Native American ancestry leaves her open to charges of dishonesty on multiple levels? They'll claim she's admitted she lied about her entire life, her heritage, and claim she invented all manner of things that they'll fabricate out of nothing but her admission/apology.

Yes, there will always be some who refuse to be honest, regardless of the subject matter. But for the vast majority of Americans, Warren’s explanation and apology were enough to put the issue to rest.

Should Obama have apologized for saying that the ACA would not cause people to lose their current plan and that they’d be able to keep their doctors? Did he not know that people like Michale would ignore his explanation and admission to being wrong and would continue to call him a “liar” for saying it? Of course Obama did, but he also knew it was the right thing to do!

The president, through all of his actions, should be setting an example for all Americans to follow. Obama admitted that he had believed what he said was true when he said it, but then discovered that he had been wrong. Have you ever been wrong? I have; it happens. Had Obama not apologized, then Michale would be correct to call him a liar! Doing the right thing might have costs, but in the long run it is worth it. Those who claim admitting when you are wrong is a sign of weakness are simply mucking forons and should be laughed out of the room!

People thought Warren was wrong to take the DNA test, I disagree. She knew Trump would attack her for lying about her heritage, and the DNA test proves she was not wrong. Now, she can respond the next time Trump attacks her on this that he called her a liar, so she took the test and has provided the proof that he was wrong! Then she can challenge him to do the same:

“Trump claims he’s a great businessman who is extremely wealthy, but I think he is lying to America. Show us your tax returns and prove me wrong if you can!”

Biden's got one thing going for him: He's not Donald Trump. ~ Stephen Colbert

The problem for you Democrats is that there are 22 (23?? 24?? 19?? Haven't been paying any attention..) other candidates who can make the exact same claim...

That's not a problem for Democrats; it's a problem for Trump.

Ya'all didn't like that and made it out to be some abhorrent policy when it was simply politics..

Voting against the best interests of your constituents is not “some abhorrent policy”, but is “simply politics” to you?!? And it wasn’t just that, Republicans were bragging that they had to work harder to block legislation that they knew would be popular with their constituents; i.e., it benefitted their constituents! Don’t forget, this was when the recession was at its worse and people were losing their jobs, their homes, and losing hope. Try to explain it away all you want, bottom line:

They intentionally worked to prevent legislation that they admitted to believing was good for our country from passing. They were willing to hurt the country and their constituents to get rid of Obama.

If that doesn’t meet your definition for what is considered “abhorrent”, what would?

For example...???

How about when Trump demanded a list of concessions he wanted in exchange for keeping the Dreamers program in place? Pelosi and Schumer were willing to give him what he claimed he needed for his wall, only to turn down their offer and demand more. Trump ended up getting 1/4 of what they had been willing to give him freely if he had only kept his word.

Don't get me wrong.. President Trump is sometimes full of shit and I condemn him for that just as ya'all do..

You DO???!!!???

WHEN? When have you condemned any of Trump’s actions or lies? For those who were lucky enough to witness you condemning Trump, did they openly weep? Did they compare it in awesomeness to seeing their children being borne? I, myself, gave up on this dream long ago. Don’t you go and offer up hope if you know it is false!

Actually being objective??

Says the guy defending the party whose members overwhelmingly hate ObamaCare, but love the ACA! It’s this kind of “objective reasoning” that made Trump believe he’d have a better chance at getting elected if he ran as a Republican.

But ya'all don't condemn the Left Wingers that are full of shit and THAT is why your condemnations are taken with a huge grain of salt..

Because there is no credibility behind the condemnations..

It's SOLELY politically based..

We were talking about Dorian forecasters lying above..

According to Left Wing forecasters, Dorian is inches away from making landfall in SC...

Yet, real time satellite imagery shows the eye is far FAR off the SC coast...

Are ya going to castigate the forecasters for "lying" as you castigate Trump for lying??

No, the problem was that McConnell said it and the GOP followed thru with it.

Ya'all didn't like that and made it out to be some abhorrent policy when it was simply politics..

Democrats have at least been willing to work across the aisle to pass legislation for Trump to sign,

For example...???

Remember how ya'all were so hysterical that, 2 years into the Odumbo Administration, McConnell said that the GOP goal was to make Odumbo a 1 term POTUS..

Nope. The problem wasn’t what McConnell said — hell, every one says that when the opposing party wins the White House — the problem was how the GOP chose to go about their plan to get rid of Obama. The GOP chose to put getting rid of Obama before everything else — especially offensive was that they put it before the best interests of their constituents! Republicans bragged that the better a piece of legislation would be viewed by most Americans, the harder they had to work to block it from making it to Obama’s desk for him to sign into law. Stop and think about that for a bit.... they did not want Obama to get credit for legislation that THEY knew would be popular/beneficial to most Americans! Because they believed they were going to be successful, and because they wanted credit for getting Romney elected, they boasted about how far they went to get rid of Obama...only to fail at their goal!

Democrats have at least been willing to work across the aisle to pass legislation for Trump to sign, Republicans did not do that with Obama. Look at how hard the Republicans attack the ACA as being the worst legislation ever while failing to mention that they would have rolled it out as the GOP’s crown jewel piece of legislation if McCain had won the election in 2008! It’s incredibly pathetic that Republicans still claim that the best idea that they could think of is the worst policy ever to be passed.

CW gave President Trump credit for "the most impressive change in gun law since 1986" not 1994...

My mistake..

"That's the most impressive change in gun law since 1986, and -- again, to his credit -- it came from Donald Trump's administration."
-CW

I am also constrained to point out that President Trump pushed thru a ban on bump stocks.. It's ridiculous and won't have ANY effect on ANYTHING...

But is that a gun policy you oppose Balthy?? You WANT people to have access to bump stocks???

Yer weird...

If you discarded the hysteria and the hate and the intolerance and the bigotry and really sat down and took a good long OBJECTIVE look at President Trump and his actions and policies....

I would be willing to wager that you would find more to like than dislike...

But who are we kidding... Discarding the hate and hysteria and intolerance and bigotry??

Actually being objective??

That's just NEVER gonna happen... :^/

And yet, what is 90% of what we hear from ya'all about Trump???

"Character Flaws" and "Behavorial Weaknesses"...

Gun Policy,

Really?? You mean like the Gun Policy where President Trump has suggested that Social Media be part of a background check?? You mean the Gun Policy where even CW credited President Trump with the best gun control policy change since 1994??

You mean THOSE "gun policies"???

Criminal Justice,

You mean, the Criminal Justice policy that gave a second chance at a respectable life to millions of convicted felons??

You mean THAT criminal justice policy??

This is why ANY Democrat would be better than Trump!

Who you kidding, Balthy.. You would vote for Ted Bundy or Charles Manson before you would vote for Trump.. :eyeroll:

Oh, I'd have to disagree with that. With Trump, there are SO MANY substantial policy disagreements that one doesn't know where to start: Gun Policy, Global Warming, Foreign policy, Labor policy, Criminal Justice, Education, just for starters. Were he a perfectly behaved boy, I'd still have issues with him and his party.

And then on top of it all, the behavioral issues, and lack of normal civility.

This is why ANY Democrat would be better than Trump!

And yet.. For you, with President Trump, it's ONLY about "character flaws" and "behavioral weaknesses" and NOTHING "substantive"....

Rather ironic, wouldn't ya say? :D

Biden would do himself and all of us a favor if he would exercise more self-discipline and stop being inaccurate in his utterances - although one wonders if he can, even if he wants to.

It's not good that people have to decide to overlook his mistakes or argue about whether they matter. It's divisive. It weakens him.

OTOH, there will always be internal squabbles when there are multiple candidates that have to be winnowed down to one.

I'd just prefer them to be substantive rather than about "character flaws" and behavioral weaknesses.

Oh how ya'all screamed to the high heavens.. Oh how ya'all went to hysterical about it..

Then Democrats said the exact same thing about President Trump EVEN BEFORE TRUMP TOOK OFFICE.... And THAT was perfectly acceptable to everyone here..

Like I said.. Nothing but partisan white noise..

The hysteria surrounding Democrats and President Trump is NOT how this country had worked to date... That is NOT "politics as usual"...

It's 20x worse than the claims Democrats made about the GOP during the Odumbo years...

..... REGARDLESS of whether the Emperor has a -D or a -R after their name...

So when (if) President Trump does something that's really bad.. REALLY seriously frak'ed up.. no one cares..

Ya'all epitomize the story of the boy who cried wolf...

All the other forecasters "lied" about the path as well.. If you define "lying" as being wrong... Which seems to be the case ONLY when talking about President Trump. :^/

the president shouldn't be telling folks they're about to get hit by a hurricane when they're not.

Every forecaster who said Dorian was going to hit Central Florida is guilty of the same thing..

But they don't have an -R after their names, so .....
:^/

Early forecasts had Dorian moving south of FL into the Gulf Of Mexico and did indeed, have FL/MS/AL in the cross hairs..

President Trump probably caught a glimpse that and that is what stuck with him... Simple explanation..

No one here bat'ed an eye when Obama was that wrong and even wrong'er..er during his administration...

That's why I can't get excited when ya'all complain about President Trump.. It just comes across as partisan white noise..

Not really.. It's silly President Trump tried to pull it off and it's silly that Democrats make so much of it..

It's right up there with Voffee or whatever it was before..

That's the problem with Democrats and their hate.. It's not nuanced or analog..

It's ALL 1000% Fear-mongering Catastrophic Hysteria ALL the time..

It's a caricature of insane hatred..

My guess is, it's because he knows that Democrats will skewer him hysterically for every little faux pas...

If you knew you would be castrated and boiled in oil every time you made the slightest mistake, YOU wouldn't want to admit you were wrong either..

Apparently, this is a new perspective for Trump.. Because Democrats loved and honored Trump when he had a -D after his name...

I'm just sayin'....

Isn't that Biden's entire campaign?

"Touche' salesman. Do come in"
-Homer Simpson

Sounds EXACTLY like Michale.

Yes, it does...

If you ignore ALL facts and ALL reality, it sounds exactly like me, eh? :D

NOW yer just pushing Liz's buttons.. :D

If Biden is to be criticized. then go at it.

But, can we please omit the ridiculous comparisons to Trump?

Not as ridiculous as comparing President Trump to Hitler.. Something each and everyone here has done or condoned at one time or another in the last 4 years..

It's my understanding that Hitler ordered the brutal murder and butchery of 6 million jews..

If anyone think President Trump is even in the SAME GALAXY as that sort of evil??

Well, they need their frakin' head examined...

I'm just sayin'..

The problem for you Democrats is that there are 22 (23?? 24?? 19?? Haven't been paying any attention..) other candidates who can make the exact same claim...

Common campaign fact..

If yer explaining, yer losing..

And Democrats are ALL about "truth".. Not facts..

But here's the kicker.. Democrats are all about ONLY their "truth"...

"THEIR TRUTH IS NOT YOUR TRUTH!!!"
-Oracle of Yonada, STAR TREKK

We already lived thru a President like that..

Barack Hussein Obama

And yer right.. It wasn't pretty..

ALL war stories are bullshit.. Even the true ones.. ESPECIALLY the true ones..

Anyone who has served in the US military knows this..

ALL war stories are bullshit..

I think he'd like to, but can't. I know that sounds like a cop-out, but, honestly, once you start apologizing, when can you stop?

No, it doesn't sound like a "cop-out" at all. You're exactly right, Balthy, and stating the "sad but true."

As an example, one of the leading Democratic candidates who has done a fair amount of apologizing and "explaining" is Elizabeth Warren. While "Lefties" generally love this type of admission and absolution, there are many "Moderates" and "Righties" who see apologies as admissions of guilt.

Has it perchance occurred to anyone that Warren's multiple apologies regarding her past claims of Native American ancestry leaves her open to charges of dishonesty on multiple levels? They'll claim she's admitted she lied about her entire life, her heritage, and claim she invented all manner of things that they'll fabricate out of nothing but her admission/apology.

While that "apology" thing works quite well with the progressive "Left," there are a whole lot of "Moderates" who might see her as just another Harvard "elitist" who cheated the so-called "system" and now wants to raise your taxes so the other cheaters can get all kinds of socialist free stuff. Does she or does she not "have a plan for that"?

At what point then, would they allow you to stop?

They won't. They'll claim you've admitted whatever shit they'll make up about you regardless of whether or not it's true. They'll take a candidate's strength and turn it into a weakness; Elizabeth Warren's having a "plan for that" will be turned inside out. She'll be branded as the cheater with a plan to help cheaters cheat.

Now, to those who believe I am picking on Elizabeth Warren, you're wrong. She's just the candidate apologizing. They'll do the exact same thing to any candidate; it's what they repeatedly do.

We're now EQUATING Biden's gaffes with Trump's:

* Disparaging bullshit
* Intentional deception
* Self-serving fiction
* Pathological lying
* Gaslighting

Sounds EXACTLY like Michale.

You know what they say about character. If someone will lie about the small things, then they will have no pause about lying abut the big things that really matter.

The point, LIZ, is if they get something wrong, and then can't admit they were wrong and correct their mistake, whether they are Trump OR Biden OR ANY POLITICIAN running for PRESIDENT ( which is what they have in COMMON and CAN be COMPARED ABOUT ) then that puts the USA in a very dangerous position when it comes to life or death situations.

Hurricane Dorian's path is LITERALLY a life or death situation for millions of Americans which DEMANDS complete accurate, truthful information from the American government at ALL times.

This is what makes what Trump did not only ILLEGAL but so egregious. He put millions of American lives at stake for nothing more than this own ego's vanity. Is this what we want to really tolerate from a U.S. president???

Comparisons involve similarities and differences, of course. Me beef with this column is that it mistakenly put Biden in the universe that houses Trump.

But, can we please omit the ridiculous comparisons to Trump?

Quoting Stephen Colbert: "Biden's got one thing going for him: he's not Donald Trump."