Taranto: It's telling that the "periods" of adversity he cited as examples were actually adversaries: NCPAC, the National Conservative Political Action Committee, was founded in 1975 and had its peak influence in the early 1980s; the Christian Coalition is still around but has faded in importance since the 1990s.

Interesting because it's not about outcomes for the country, but instead about who can wrest control and rule with no adversaries on the battlefield of ideas?

If Biden REALLY wanted to run as president, he should be the biggest cheerleader of 8 years of victory. Because, it's hard to run against the president when you were the vice president. Even Gore, I think, didn't disown his president like this.

"[W]hy come out and say that the change 'didn't happen'? Unless you are attempting to psychologically manipulate people into thinking that what's happening now isn't his fault…."

What IS happening now? Obama didn't change a violently racist country into a violently non-racist country.

And, obviously, that's HIS failure - as white's history of racism and violence has always been seen (by whites) as a black failure - because American whites have such a long and glorious history, of seeing their fellow citizens as they are, and being morally upright and fair-minded in their interactions with them.

Change never happened. It is still Bush's fault. Those republicans are blocking everything. Democrats are never responsible for the results of their policies. Because republicans. Higher premiums for medical, because republicans opposed Obama care. Fewer people working full time jobs since the 70s, Republicans. Half the country believing the federal bureaucracy is trying to shut them up and harass them? They shouldn't try to cut the size of government.

We would all be better off if.we just stopped fighting for what we think and just got in line for our handouts.

"What genius thought it was a good idea to put their opinion section behind a paywall? If you want to influence public opinion you should really make your editorial material public."

I'm actually glad I can't read the WSJ's Captain Obesity any longer and, have since realized, he wasn't worth it to begin with.

Who is James Taranto and why should I care if he agrees with anything?

Has he fixed America's slavery problem?

Shown an over-riding interest in justice for blacks?

Or is he another go-along-to-get-along white person, trying to protect his stolen goods, while thinking his approval is enough to inspire black allegiance after centuries of horror?

Silly, non-reparations-paying, crooked white people.

They're frustrated, as always, because they're history's ethical failures - the very bottom of the heap. Not used to that - in public (total S/M assholes, wanting to be whipped, etc., in private,....)

Listen to EDH, acting like "it's not about outcomes for the country" when any fool could look at American history and know it's NEVER been about the country because NO "COUNTRY" WOULD ABUSE IT'S OWN CITIZENS AS AMERICA HAS.

It was all smoke, mirrors and illusion from the start. Which is exactly what people like me warned people like Ann Althouse about, and were accused of being racist, sexist haters because we recognized reality at the time.

And, yes, this is all about deflecting blame from this administration. That is one of the few things in which they are really quite brilliantly competent. Of course it helps when over half of the country is basically in the position of helping to deflect the blame since they elected this disastrous administration in the first place.

Biden's simply admitting reality, which is that things are going badly for Democrats right now. Clearly that's true, and he relates it to the past when things were going badly in the 1980s. Big deal. Sure, it's an admission of failure. but anyone who can read can see the failure every day.

I like Biden because he says things that are true that are not supposed to be said in public. The hit on him that he's "always wrong" is incompatible with his "gaffes" which are always true.

Why are we so down on Biden when he's a rare source of candor in Washington?

The Vice Presidency is an elective office. Constitutionally, Biden works for no one. The President cannot fire him. In practice he's working for the Democratic Party, but he has a lot of freedom if he chooses to use it. Sometimes he does.

Well Ann, I agree with you that Taranto usually has interesting things to say.

Will also agree that Slow Joe Biden's default mode of speech is "blathering".

And it's sad that Taranto has been put behind the paywall on the digital WSJ. I've subscribed to the print WSJ for 40 plus years now, but that's not good enough to get my nose over the paywall! Aaargh!

People are literally dying to get into the United Sates. Sending their children to get a better life here. At the same time, there are some people who want a different country. I think there is a solution somewhere....We could give one way tickets for renounced citizenships that could open a new immigration channel and call it reparations.

I was with a group of African American entrepreneurs for the last two days. They have the same concerns that my white business friends have: taxes, regulations, the prospect of a rising minimum wage, the implications of ACA on their bottom lines access to capital. There were about two hundred in attendance at the conference, men and women, from their twenties to their seventies. A bunch of students were also in attendance, black students, who were there to see successful business people of their own race. I have been to this event a couple of times but was interested to see that the recovery, as tepid as it is, has lifted the spirits and the capital accounts of this group.

I have known some of the men for over twenty years and watched them catch and surpass me many times over in their achievements and, I presume, their net worths. Notwithstanding the incessant sophomoric rants of a commenter there is a very significant group of African Americans who are both doing well and doing good and have chip free shoulders.

"People are literally dying to get into the United Sates. Sending their children to get a better life here."

Because America made blacks slaves and lives off the unearned money it holds from it's violent oppression.

"At the same time, there are some people who want a different country."

Because America made blacks slaves and lives off the unearned money it holds from it's violent oppression.

"I think there is a solution somewhere…."

America should give blacks the unearned money it made off slavery, stop it's violent oppression, and tell the truth so - when people come here - they don't have to confront a 400 year old lie whites don't want to talk about because, then, they look like shitty violent liars.

"We could give one way tickets for renounced citizenships that could open a new immigration channel and call it reparations."

See? Anything but confronting your own ugliness - and you're, still, planning on doing it with our money (shakes head).

Apparently it's not for most people, because most sane people regard the idea of collective guilt repugnant. Even Nazi Germany (oh no...Godwin's Law!) had people that worked against the Third Reich so not even pre-WWII Germnan should be ascribed collective guilt IMHO.

"Hope and change" didn't happen because the guy who spouted those platitudes didn't mean it when he said it, never expected to have to live up to his words and is too goddamned lazy to actually work for anything since losing his supermajority in 2009. He's been phoning it in for 5 years now and isn't even pretending to be interested in the position of "most powerful chief executive in the world" because he can't act with absolute authority and do whatever the hell he wants to.

Slow Joe may be commended for occasionally accidentally saying the truth, but it doesn't change the fact that his policy prescriptions have been 100% wrong for his 80-year career in government. But he lies so easily and often ("I have no stocks," and "I don't invest" while having over a dozen retirement accounts are two examples from just the last week) that I cannot in good conscience give this idiot any props for acknowledging the abject face-plant his boss has done.

"Because America made blacks slaves and lives off the unearned money it holds from it's violent oppression."

And Egypt made Hebrews slaves and lives off the unearned money.. Genghis Khan made slaves out of everybody and lives off the money .. and Italy (Rome) made dang near everyone else slaves and lives off the money.. and South America made blacks slaves and lives off the money.. and many Indian tribes in the USA made slaves out of other Indians and lived off the money...

But don't worry Crack, Obama and the Democrats are importing South American illegals to take over all the lower paying jobs and then what will blacks have?