WaPo, here. Ginning and spinning. Thin on actual content.
The Hur report is dissected by the EmptyWheel crowd, https://www.emptywheel.net/ who primarily favor Biden more than Trump, by a sizable majority, but the main dissection is attentive to things more material, less superficial, than WaPo might ever publish. Read the several Hur posts at EmptyWheel, and the commentary there. One quote - from commentary:
So, Hur wrote from a background. His report - in full - is online here, (document cloud), and here (pdf). Readers should at least read the cover letter and executive summary to indirectly get an idea of things.
Hur clerked for a Republican, and was appointed to DOJ by a Republican, Trump,
Garland likely appointed him to vet Biden re classified documents to avoid any calls of setting things up to exonerate Biden rather than to investigate and decide, prosecute or decline.
Hur's bottom line, don't prosecute.
But he insipidly added more, things arguably uncalled for, things hurtful toward Biden. Things likely worded from the perspective of his own background belief system. Go figure.
Strib locally reported of Minnesota politicians and their reactions, (paywalled, unfortunately). PiPress had not reported on the Hur report's release and/or implications when examined. Per Strib: Tina and Amy both said they'd spent personal time with Biden, and he is sharp and cogent and atop issues. Stauber and Emmer threw stones, but neither said he'd spent substantial time with Biden. It is unilikely either did.
The tempest rages, with Strib embedding a video on YouTube here. Strib headlining, and lead two paragraphs:
Minn. Democrats defend Biden after report questions his memory. Republicans say he's unfit to serve
U.S. Sen. Tina Smith, Rep. Betty McCollum accuse special counsel of having a political agenda.Some Democratic congressmembers from Minnesota defended President Joe Biden on Friday after a special counsel who investigated his handling of classified materials raised concerns about his memory.
Minnesota Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Emmer, on the other hand, said he thinks the report demonstrated Biden is "unfit for the Oval Office." And Democratic U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips, who's challenging Biden for the presidential nomination, said the president "cannot continue to serve as our Commander-in-Chief beyond his term."
Emmer, you expect that. Phillips, different story. Quoting coverage re Senator Smith:
"Being so blatantly disrespectful as to suggest the President misremembered the death of his son is despicable beyond imagination," Smith said. "I have 100 percent faith in the President. I spent a full day with Joe Biden less than a month ago – got on the plane with him early in the morning, had a grueling travel day, three different events, and I watched him perform at the very top of his game all the way through it, both in private and in public. Among those who actually see him in action, President Biden's ability to connect with people and stay on top of policy issues has never been in doubt for a moment."
She's a middle of the road politician, not a progressive by any measure Crabgrass would apply, while formerly heading a Planned Parenthood effort before aiding Governor Dayton and others -- that before her appointment by Dayton to fill the balance of the Al Franken term after his resignation, and her subsequent election to that Senate seat. However, in all her history nobody has suggested she does anything but honestly speak her mind when publicly speaking. In effect - What she said is how it is. She doesn't bullshit.
Phillips:
[...] who represents suburbs west of Minneapolis and is running for president, was more critical of Biden than other Democrats. Phillips said the report marks "another sad day for America and particularly for President Biden and his family."
"The Report simply affirms what most Americans already know, that the President cannot continue to serve as our Commander-in-Chief beyond his term ending January 20, 2025," Phillips wrote in a text message to the Star Tribune. "Already facing the lowest approval numbers in modern history and losing in each of the key battleground states, this Report has all but handed the 2024 election to Donald Trump if Joe Biden is the Democratic nominee — and I invite fellow Democrats to face the truth."
That's horseshit. The guess here is Phillips will bond with the No Labels crowd because as a Democrat candidate he is tanking.
Healthwise, Biden vs Trump who are contemporary in age, Trump's body mass suggests he's the more likely of the two to be unable to fulfill a full term because of demands placed on his heart to support the rest of him.
Biden's people have been infinitely better than the people Trump's utilized (Jarad Kushner, Mnuchin, need we say more). Biden gaffes often. Trump bloviates and lies.
And Trump led an insurrection - protest - conspiracy on a phony claim he'd won an election where Joe got more votes.
More popular votes for Joe. More electoral votes for Joe. Joe won. More of the nation wanted Biden, and not more Trump. Red sloganeering baseball caps do not equate in any sense with gaining a majority of votes. They identify cap wearers that way, and nothing else. That there are many such cap wearers around is unfortunate, but a fact we are forced to live with today.
IN NOVEMBER: You decide who's the more fit to lead the nation, one more term. My vote's Joe. A Republican lawyer going beyond where he needed to go in making a prosecute/decline decision declined. That's the bottom line. But he biased his reporting with slanted language beyond stating the clear fact that he found a lack of evidence that Biden had intentionally broken any law whatsoever.
Should his - Hur's - gratuitous additional impressions beyond that decision be taken seriously? You decide. This Hur report will fade into obscurity as we get closer to the general election. Decisions among voters will be based on things more immediate and less impressionistic one way or another to the mind of a Republican leaning lawyer.
__________UPDATE__________
Breitbart and Republican spin meisters are spinning. Gary Gross too, here and here. If that's your flavor, enjoy the Koolaid.
When people read that short "easy read" stuff instead of the report itself, and ignore the background of the report author, who did his share of spinning while admitting a prosecution of Biden for anything lacked any basis, and when the press takes the easy path instead of the principled analytical one, misconceptions can become entrenched.
Yes, Trump could win. The nation is resilient enough to survive four more Trump years if that is our fate. We withstood eight Reagan years, eight of little Bush, and four already of Trump. TRUMP --- Who promised a lot and delivered nothing but an inadequate pandemic response. In 2016 he touted his "health plan." He had none.
Four years of Trump later, the Obama passage of Romneycare was still all we had. Because Trump had no plan despite lying to say he did. In 2016 Trump promised a wall. Mexico would pay for it. He still promises after four years of in office doing nothing beyond pardoning crooks like Roger Stone that he will build a wall. He's dropped Mexico paying. They didn't and won't.
Now there is some prescription drug relief under Biden. Not medicare for all, but a step. Highway 10 in Ramsey where I live is being upgraded with a large part of an upgrade within Anoka County finished because Biden's administration and his congressional allies put through the funding.
Biden delivered the goods. Trump delivered bullshit, and is still at that delivery stage with a zero likelihood of anything beyond the lie. If people vote for him despite who he is, we can survive.
We will get by. We will survive. It's a song. Hopefully four more Biden years will moot the worry Trump poses. And instead of getting by - we prosper.
__________FURTHER UPDATE_________
Watching again this video, I recall Jesse Ventura's term while Governor of Minnesota. "Jackals of the Press." Yelling. The final impromptu "Over the top" characterization adding proof Biden knows Gaza, and knows Netanyahu and his cabinet.
"Over the top" is a gentle phrasing for the tactics and death rates. Shooting three escaped hostages dead, as done by the IDF, under some rule of engagement? Flesh that out in your mind.
_________FURTHER UPDATE________
Biden's biggest mistake was how he chaired the Clarence Thomas hearings. How he treated Anita Hill's revelations. Minimizing Hill, and not having her corroborating witnesse(s) testify, women who had evidence against Thomas. We got the end result we have and it's a pile on Joe's doorstep.
In a way goes around - comes around exists at play. Clarence was fed his
"high-tech lynching" line to employ and he was allowed to employ it,
and now Hur is giving Biden a "low-class ageism lynching" while admitting there
was no document crime.
Senatorial courtesy to John Danforth in place of decency toward Anita Hill ruled the day. Moreover, Thomas during his EEOC tenure suppressed age discrimination litigation. So --- Now Biden is an ongoing victim of aggressive ageism entering his mind and outlook too late.
Goes around, comes around.
Other side of the coin. Trump green lighted sulfide mining in perilous places. Federal attention since Biden took office, Corps of Engineers and EPA, has been responsible, instead.
In a Biden vs. Trump redux election, figure that issue out. Especially with Gov. Walz doing or trying to do a straddle on the sulfide mining issue. Agreeing with his friends.
BOTTOM LINE: The Boundary Waters and the Rainy River watershed need a Biden reelection.
End of story.
“Hur’s mandate ‘was to judge whether a crime was committed… not speculate on what the jury would do, not to speculate on how full or sharp Joe Biden’s mind is,’ Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) similarly said.
Garland’s special counsel Hurl [sic] damned Pres Biden with a feint and insincere praise. He didn’t charge Biden who he called a really nice man with serious memory problems; a man so nice rhe [sic] special counsel didn’t think he could get a jury to convict. Hur thinks we’re morons. The clear message is that Biden is too out of it the country and doesn’t deserve a second term.
Maybe Garland and the rest of the geniuses who made the appointment missed these obvious clues that Hur was a ringer:
Hur was a legal clerk for the ethically challenged former SCOTUS Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, a supporter of the “separate but equal” doctrine that justified school segregation.
Hur wasn’t required to clerk for Rehnquist, he chose to.
Hur was a legal clerk for disgraced Judge Alex Kozinski. The judge fled to retirement after multiple harassment and porn-related charges.
Hur wasn’t required to clerk for Kozinski, he chose to.
Hur was a senior advisor to Trump Deputy Attorney General Rod “obstruction of justice” Rosenstein.
ANOTHER VOLUNTARY CHOICE BY HUR.
Hur did his job, which was to smear Biden. Garland, his staff and the lazy faction of the corporate media failed at theirs.
The most likely reason for random classified documents ending up with Biden and Pence is that the VP’s office is a limited access area (LSA) certified for documents below SCI. Untrained staffers then packed everything, especially if the cover pages were not in place.
With Trump it appears that the removal of the documents was deliberate. A whole ‘nother kettle of fish.
The [Biden] dairy is potentially a sign of another issue: unwillingness of the staff to gently remind Biden that what goes into a SCIF doesn’t come out without classification review. If standard classification procedures were followed a derivative classifier would have checked the notes. Except for emails you don’t do the checks yourself. I’ve been in a meeting on a classified project where I took notes on schedules, the schedules were unclassified but needed to be reviewed before they could be taken out of the facility.
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This morning, on the way back home after getting the kids to school, I listened to NPR reporting on the report. It sounded extremely damaging to Biden. They said the report found evidence of willful retention of classified documents, but not enough to press charges. And then they talked a whole bunch about Biden’s health and memory. And that was NPR. Not conservative news media.
I know better than taking such report at surface value, so I got here and saw that just as I suspected, it was a bunch of baloney. But I’m afraid that in this world where fact don’t matter, only soundbites and spins, this report would be very damaging to Biden, and everything Trump wanted. It provides all the soundbites they need.