Biden's long (overdue) goodbye (01-16-2025--Hour1)

[00:00:04] What's going on? Thank you so much for listening to this podcast. It is heard live every day from noon to 3 on WBT Radio in Charlotte. And if you want exclusive content like invitations to events, the weekly live stream, my daily show prep with all the links, become a patron, go to thepeekalendershow.com. Make sure you hit the subscribe button, get every episode for free, write to your smartphone or tablet. And again, thank you so much for your support.

[00:00:28] Let me start with a bit of the breaking news. And not in order of importance here. First piece of breaking news, we have an announcement from Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who is going to replace Senator Marco Rubio. Marco Rubio tapped to be Donald Trump's Secretary of State, which by the way, I watched yesterday.

[00:00:54] I watched the confirmation Q&A with Rubio in the Senate Judiciary, I think it was, or Foreign Relations, I forget. I guess it was Foreign Relations. And he did a fantastic job. And if you are interested in the geopolitical stuff, high level discussions about threats and our relations with various nations, well worth it.

[00:01:20] I mean, it runs, I mean, it runs, you know, three hours, but it did not descend into any of the sparring that we have seen in the other hearings. I suspect it's because Marco Rubio has, being in the Senate, cultivated good relations with his colleagues over there and has worked, you know, with many of them across the aisle.

[00:01:44] And so they were not interested in, you know, a slash and burn approach to him. So, yeah, he did a very good job yesterday, but he is obviously now vacating his seat in the U.S. Senate. And so the governor gets to appoint the replacement.

[00:02:01] And DeSantis said that he intentionally waited until now to make the announcement as to who would replace Rubio.

[00:02:14] So the pick would not be thrown into, as Brad Slager reports it over at redstate.com, that he would not be, that the pick would not be thrown into the media meat grinder where they're just a pinata, as DeSantis said it. He said he would make the call just ahead of the inauguration.

[00:02:36] And he told some members of Congress that he was not looking to pull a name from the Florida delegation to the U.S. House. In other words, he was not looking to name a congressman or woman, a congressperson from Florida to be the senator because when you start moving some of these people around, you're going to end up reducing the Republican majority in the U.S. House.

[00:03:04] And it's already very, very close. Republicans have like, I forget what it is exactly. Is it a two or three seat majority, something like that? And so if you pull a member out from the House to move to the Senate, then it reduces that majority in the U.S. House. And so he apparently told members of the Florida delegation he's not picking any of you.

[00:03:28] He's not moving any of you because he recognizes the impact it would have on the Republican majority in the U.S. House. So. He opted instead for the Florida attorney general. Ashley Moody. To take the Senate position. Moody, like her predecessor, Pam Bondi, who is the nominee for attorney general for Donald Trump, has been looked at favorably in the state.

[00:03:58] A twice elected attorney general who increased her support in her reelection bid, earning 60 percent voter support. So that's the first piece of breaking news. Another piece of breaking news just came out. Again, I'm not these are of equal importance.

[00:04:16] The New York Times has the New York Times has the big scoop here that the Washington Post newspaper has adopted a new mission statement and it is no longer democracy dies in darkness. It is now, quote, riveting storytelling for all of America. There you go, people. Now you can read the Washington Post again.

[00:04:46] Right. Right. Because it's for all of us. And it's storytelling. Well, not just storytelling. It's riveting storytelling. And surely the Washington Post would never lie to us about. I was going to say about the nature of their reporting. But OK, so I'm sure that's going to make all the difference. That's going to turn around the sinking ship that is the Washington Post. I am certain riveting storytelling for all of America.

[00:05:17] It's very much like Joe Biden. If we just say it, it will become true. We're going to speak it into reality, into existence. It will be riveting storytelling because we call it riveting storytelling.

[00:05:35] Although I'm not so sure storytelling is the best way to frame it, especially if you're trying to win back an audience that left you because they feel like you're making up stories, you know, because I understand news stories are stories. I understand that. But a lot of people also call fictional stories stories, too. Made up stories are also stories. Oh, there they go. Telling stories again.

[00:06:03] Or, oh, I got to make sure I get home in time to watch my afternoon stories, you know. So I'm not sure this is going to have the impact. But I guess democracy has not died. Right. Because why else would you change your mission statement of democracy dies in darkness and replace it with this one? They really it does make me kind of sad. Right. Because the New York Times, they still go by the all the news that's fit to print. Right.

[00:06:32] That's their that's their mission statement or whatever. Their branding effort. And that's been their brand for a long time. And it feels like The Washington Post just can't figure out what it wants to be or what its mission statement should be. And.

[00:06:52] It's kind of sad to me, but I mentioned Joe Biden, much like The Washington Post, trying to convince people by saying something is true when it is demonstrably not true and flies in the face of our own personal experience. And the word for that is gaslighting. So Joe Biden gave his farewell address. And my fingers are crossed that this is, in fact, the last time I ever have to hear from this man. Unless, of course, he's like being sworn in in a court proceeding. But.

[00:07:24] But I don't know, because he could come across as a sympathetic old man with a failing memory. So I don't know. But the farewell address, I watched it last night, 17 minutes of my life that I'm not getting back. And so I'm going to now rob you of your 17. No, I'm just kidding. I'm not going to play. I'm not going to play it. It was. Let me. I do have three sound bites that I did pull from the.

[00:07:49] From the legacy branding effort, from the marketing campaign to tell us that we did not just live through the four years we lived through. But I want to start with Jeffrey Blair, who is a writer over at National Review. He described it fussily.

[00:08:06] A humiliatingly garbled ramble that read like the sort of delusional self exculpatory fantasy his caretaker wife might whisper consolingly into his ear. He does have a way with words. He also hosts a podcast called Political Beats where he does like music reviews and they bring on political people and they talk music.

[00:08:33] And so it's something it really is a gift. I think people who are able to write about music. It's something I've never been able to do even to describe music. It's just like, oh, I really like that. Oh, it's got a good beat. You can really dance to it. You know, stuff like that. That's the extent of my ability to discuss music.

[00:08:57] And he is he's very good at that kind of writing and communicating what a song is in words. Right. Because think about that. You're trying to tell people what a song or an artist sounds like. And that's difficult to do because you're just writing it. They're not hearing it. So.

[00:09:19] He is sort of perfectly positioned to write this because when it's just Joe Biden sitting and staring at a camera with those dead eyes, then it so much of it is, in fact. Sort of like a song. Right. And an artist.

[00:09:35] And so he calls it humiliatingly garbled ramble that read like the sort of delusional, self-exculpatory fantasy that Dr. Jill might whisper consolingly into his ear. Right. Like you did a really good job, Joe. You did awesome. By the way, when I play these sound bites, you're going to hear the room noise again.

[00:10:05] And you're going to be wondering, what is that? That is the ambient room noise. And you normally do not hear it because people speak at a volume that the microphone captures and it doesn't pick up that ambient room noise because the controls on the mic filter it out, basically. But Joe Biden's voice is so weakened. That that's why you hear that ambient room noise in every interview he does.

[00:10:34] They've got a lapel mic on him that's about four inches from his vocal cords. And his voice is so weak that you still hear like the HVAC system running in the background. No, you'll hear it. You'll hear it. Here's a great idea. How about making an escape to a really special and secluded getaway in western North Carolina, just a quick drive up the mountain? And Cabins of Asheville is your connection.

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[00:11:54] Call or text 828-367-7068. Or check out all there is to offer at cabinsofashville.com and make memories that'll last a lifetime. Email is Pete at the Pete Calendar show dot com and on Twitter at Pete Calendar. I have a message. It's a Pete mail from Jonathan who says, there was one point from last night's debacle that Joe Biden performed,

[00:12:21] there was one point in the address last night where you could actually hear Uncle Joey swallow. Yes, that did occur. But, you know, nobody wanted to give him a water bottle lest you end up like Marco Rubio. Secretary of State? Yes. So, let me play a clip here. Let's start with a clip. Because if I just keep rambling, then I'm not going to get to the audio.

[00:12:48] And I listened to Biden's speech two times in order to pull this audio. So, dadgummit, we're going to listen to it. Although, I'm now seeing, hmm, I only have two of the cuts saved. I'm apparently missing one of my cuts. Gah! Anyway, here's the first one. It's, so he starts the wind up for his whole, in case you weren't aware of this, this tech industrial complex is what he was calling it.

[00:13:15] The tech industrial complex. Okay. Um, and so he starts this wind up, uh, uh, to this warning about three minutes into his 17 minute speech. But we know the idea of America, our institution, our people, our values that uphold it are constantly being tested. Ongoing debates about power and the exercise of power.

[00:13:41] But whether we lead by the example of our power or the power of our example. Whether we show the courage to stand up to the abuse of power or we yield to it. After 50 years at the center of all of this, I know that believing in the idea of America means respecting the institutions that govern a free society. The presidency. The Congress. The courts.

[00:14:09] A free and independent press. Ah, good one. Institutions that are rooted. Not, they just might not reflect the timeless words. But they re, they echo the words of the Declaration of Independence. We hold these truths to be self-evident. Rooted in the timeless words of the Constitution. We, the people. Yeah, you get the flavor of it there. Um, yeah, you can hear the background room noise, the ambient noise there.

[00:14:39] Uh, or as the Grateful Dead may have called it at one point in one of their recording sessions, heavy air. Uh, that's because his voice is so weak. The mic is having a difficult time picking it up. Uh, and then he, of course, talked about all of his awesome accomplishments that he had in just four years. Man, what, what he could have done with another four. We'll never know. All right. I hope you had a happy holiday season, but tell me if something like this happened at your house. Your family and friends are gathered around.

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[00:16:07] Jeff Blair at National Review saying Joe Biden concluded his career much as he began it over half a century ago as a venal, petty-souled fool in denial about his own limitations and failures. In a thick, slack-toned voice stumbling over his words from beginning to end as he squinted at a teleprompter with vacant eyes, Biden slurred through the single most incoherent speech of his life.

[00:16:37] He began by taking complete credit for the breaking Israeli hostage deal with Hamas, which was to be expected, and then launched into a sleepy lecture awkwardly framed around the Statue of Liberty and how it was built to sway in the wind, much like America was built to be flexible enough to withstand his presidency. One marble-mouthed cliché after another poured from his half-opened maw.

[00:17:03] Smooth, featureless pablum with all the texture and flavor of Gerber baby food. One of the quotes he had was... He said, shall America lead by the example of power or the power of our example? An imponderable one for the ages, as it were. I believe... Well, he says, I want to...

[00:17:29] This is what Joe Biden said last night in his warning to the country of some things that give him great concern. This is a dangerous concern, and that's a dangerous concentration of power in the hands of a very few ultra-wealthy people. The dangerous consequences if their abuse of power is left unchecked. Today, there was the swallow. An oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power, and influence that literally

[00:17:57] threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedoms, and a fair shot for everyone to get ahead. We see the consequences all across America, and we've seen it before. More than a century ago, but the American people stood up to the robber barons back then and busted the trusts. They didn't punish the wealthy. Just made the wealthy play by the rules everybody else had to.

[00:18:27] Workers want rights to earn their fair share. You know, they were dealt into the deal. And it helped put us on a path to building the largest middle class and most prosperous century any nation in the world has ever seen. We've got to do that again. Yeah! Who's with me? Who's with me? So he's talking about the...

[00:18:53] I believe that word he was trying to say was concentration. The concentration of power in the hands of an oligarchy. Right? Guys, I've been in talk radio either as a reporter or as a host since 1999. Okay? And I can assure you that this is not new.

[00:19:21] This has always been one of the criticisms in our system. And by the way, there is no system on the face of the earth, past or present, where this does not happen. Right? Power accumulates among a certain group of people until it is diffused.

[00:19:46] And that was why the founders set up the system as they did, recognizing this very real truth. And so they diffused the power systemically. That's why they made, for example, U.S. senators appointed by state legislators. But then people like Joe Biden decided, no, no, we should have them elected by the citizens in each of the states. Popularly elected.

[00:20:13] Passed an amendment to the U.S. Constitution to do just that. And my entire life, that's how U.S. senators got their seats. They win elections. But the founders set it up differently. Why? This is just an example I'm not arguing for or against this particular topic. I'm just saying the founders had a different construct. Why? Because they believed that that would protect states' powers.

[00:20:39] In other words, you put people into these positions of power and they will act as checks and balances. They will act as guardrails against other people with different powers. And so when those other people with the different powers try to encroach on your turf, you, seeking to protect your power, will fight back. And in that fight, the people's freedoms are protected. That's the idea.

[00:21:09] That was the concept. That's the federalist model. So, Dana Perino over at Fox News, she watched it and, well, here was her reaction. You know that I try to be really nice. And I intended to find something that I could say, wow, that was great. So, news of the day at the top, understandable. Big soaring attempt at a rhetorical push for unity. I'm like, okay, I'm following.

[00:21:37] And then, like, what in the world was he talking about? For example, when he talks about dark money, does he not remember that just last week he gave the Medal of Freedom Award to George Soros? They also, he talked about the fact that they had the biggest economic rebound than ever. He never mentioned COVID, which was the entire premise of his presidency. Today, I looked at a poll. Britt mentioned our poll. There was another poll, the Gallup poll.

[00:22:07] They asked about 18 issues. Which ones are you feeling better about? Only one out of 18 did people feel better about. And it was gay, lesbian, and trans issues. So, he's sitting there talking about all these things that he's done. And I'm just like, this rings hollow. To me, it felt like the speechwriters have already left the building and that they asked ChatGPT to write a speech for Joe Biden in which he doesn't remember that he was president for the last four years. If you ask people, are you better off today than you were four years ago?

[00:22:36] The answer is no, except for maybe the solar companies and the Delta smelt. Yeah. I think her assessment is spot on that the speechwriters left and ChatGPT, some AI platform, wrote this speech for him. Like, give me Joe Biden's farewell speech. And this is what it spit out. That would not surprise me. It flowed about like an AI-generated speech would. All right.

[00:23:05] If you're listening to this show, you know I try to keep up with all sorts of current events. And I know you do, too. And you've probably heard me say, get your news from multiple sources. Why? Well, because it's how you detect media bias, which is why I've been so impressed with Ground News. It's an app and it's a website and it combines news from around the world in one place so you can compare coverage and verify information. You can check it out at check.ground.news slash Pete.

[00:23:33] I put the link in the podcast description, too. I started using Ground News a few months ago and more recently chose to work with them as an affiliate because it lets me see clearly how stories get covered and by whom. The Blindspot feature shows you which stories get ignored by the left and the right. See for yourself. Check.ground.news slash Pete. Subscribe through that link and you'll get 15% off any subscription. I use the Vantage plan to get unlimited access to every feature.

[00:24:02] Your subscription then not only helps my podcast, but it also supports Ground News as they make the media landscape more transparent. So last night, Joe Biden does his farewell address. Can't come soon enough. And he goes through this laundry list of all of the things that he's done so amazingly well, like climate change. And I said there needs to be tax reform and we got to get the dark money out of politics. After he just gave George Soros the medal.

[00:24:29] Also, he said he wants there should be a ban on Congress people trading stock, which I agree with that. But he runs through all of these things. And Jeff Blair over at National Review says this warning against the new oligarchy that is taking shape, as Biden called it, before our very eyes. The tech industrial complex. He said this limp attempt to invoke Eisenhower's farewell address.

[00:24:59] Oh, by the way, everybody always forgets the second part of what Eisenhower warned against. Do you know what that was? The universities. That was the second part. It's the military industrial complex and the university industrial complex. And everybody forgets and ignores the second part. I wonder why.

[00:25:20] But he says that this this limp attempt to invoke Eisenhower was followed by an equally tired rehash of every complaint. The mainstream media and the Democrats have been rehearsing against Silicon Valley since they lost hammerlock control over it. Right. Now, all of a sudden, Joe Biden is worried that there are no, quote, fact checkers. Now, all of a sudden, there's a concern about the social media spread of misinformation.

[00:25:47] Why? Because they don't get to pressure or as Mark Zuckerberg told Joe Rogan, they don't get to yell and scream at Facebook employees to get them to take stuff down to censor people on the platform. And now it's a big problem. We're not controlling the narrative. I've talked about this before. We are in a realignment of the political system.

[00:26:11] We are also at a point now where you maybe you've heard it framed around like authenticity. Right. Like people just want somebody that's going to talk to them like normal. Right. The idea of the or the caricature of the old time politician that Joe Biden embodies and Donald Trump most certainly does not. Right. Trump is the new avatar of this and Biden is the old.

[00:26:40] People do not want these kinds of rehearsed political speech. These kinds of talking in soundbite speeches. They're not moved by them and we don't believe them. We don't believe you. And when you couple this with the behavior that we have seen. While you're telling us that you're the the opponent of the very thing you're engaged in. It's just more evidence of why we should not believe you.

[00:27:11] Blair says Biden's delivery collapsed into utter incoherence near the end of the speech as he rambled on about climate change. And artificial intelligence and giving America a fair shot. Quote unquote. Before returning clumsily to his opening Statue of Liberty metaphor. Americans will remember nothing about it a day from now. And thus ends the Biden presidency. He claimed that he had strengthened NATO.

[00:27:39] He had pulled ahead of our competition with China. Mm hmm. And created affordable high speed Internet, which actually never got built, by the way. Every president tries to give a flattering account of themselves on the way out of office. A way of contextualizing their time in power into an upbeat narrative. The problem with Biden's attempt at an apologia tonight isn't even just that he is no longer physically capable of delivering it,

[00:28:06] but rather that his account bears no relationship to the story the American people saw throughout the four years of his presidency or the threats they worry about presently. We didn't see economic competence or foreign policy strength.

[00:28:23] Instead, in four years experience with Joe Biden at the helm, we saw a venal cynic who lied about such basic matters of integrity as pardoning his son when he wasn't violating this promise to be a bridge to the future. We saw an incompetent bumbler who threw open the borders and watched the world light itself ablaze as a detached spectator.

[00:28:45] Most of all, we saw a frail, dependent old man whose mental and physical condition had weakened to the point where he allowed himself to be hidden from view and governed by a coterie of his closest advisers who sought only to please the activist groups whom they gleefully slopped favors to from America's policy trough. And finally, remember, this man, who was already collapsing in the first months of his administration, sought another four years in office.

[00:29:13] All right, that'll do it for this episode. Thank you so much for listening. I could not do the show without your support and the support of the businesses that advertise on the podcast. So if you'd like, please support them, too, and tell them you heard it here. You can also become a patron at my Patreon page or go to thepcalendorshow.com. Again, thank you so much for listening, and don't break anything while I'm gone.