• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

West Haven Voice

West Haven’s only independent news source - By and For West Haven

  • Home
  • About Us
  • Archive
  • Advertise With Us!
  • Classified
  • Announcements
  • Contact Us
  • Web Exclusive
    • Kids Activity Pages

The ‘blowhard’ president

June 15, 2022 By whvoice

By Rich Lowry

Syndicated Columnist

The president of the United States is a blowhard — again.

If the country thought that it was getting a buttoned-up, by-the-books communicator after four wildly undisciplined years of Donald Trump, it knew nothing about Joseph R. Biden’s long career as Washington’s standout long-winded, seat-of-the-pants, poorly informed, and misleading talker.

Biden blew up two presidential campaigns with his verbal idiocy, and no one thought during his decades as a senator that he was just the statesman the country needed to handle sensitive international questions with precise, cogent communications.

Winston Churchill famously mobilized the English language and sent it into battle. Joe Biden tries to muster the English language but confuses and dispirits it, until the poor language slinks off ready to get its discharge papers and return to civilian life.

Biden’s handling of Russia and China in recent months has been marked by a basic inability to stay within the lines of U.S. policy — by seeming to give a kind of greenlight to a “minor” Russian incursion into Ukraine, by calling for Vladimir Putin to go, and by committing to defend Taiwan by force.

All these wayward statements required immediate and utterly predictable clean-up by a White House staff that must be on constant alert to explain on a moment’s notice what the president meant after he says something completely different.

Rarely have so few had to clarify so much.

Biden the other day related how a trauma doctor had supposedly told him once that a .22-caliber bullet might, say, lodge in the lung and be removable, whereas a 9 mm “blows the lung out of the body.” It should be stipulated, first of all, that all bullets are dangerous. Still, this was a ridiculous explanation of the relative dangers of the two calibers and gave the impression that Biden was moving on from seeking to ban so-called assault rifles to wanting to prohibit 9 mm pistols, too.

The gaffe joined other notable Biden miscues on guns, including his bizarre advice several years ago to shoot a shotgun in the air as a means of self-defense and his erroneous insistence that there was a prohibition on the ownership of cannons during the Revolutionary War.

Biden clearly believes that he is some sort of expert on gun policy when he has managed to demonstrate over and over again that he has no idea what he is talking about.

His anecdotes and personal stories are invariably studded with exaggerations or outright fictions. As The Washington Post wrote of a story Biden told about Afghanistan on the campaign trail in 2019, “It appears as though the former vice president has jumbled elements of at least three actual events into one story of bravery, compassion and regret that never happened.”

An NBC News report about Biden’s White House relates that — showing colossal but typical lack of self-awareness — Biden resents his staff following him around with a broom and dustpan: “He makes a clear and succinct statement — only to have aides rush to explain that he actually meant something else.” This, according to Biden, “smothers the authenticity that fueled his rise.”

Uh, no. The sentiment that motivated voters to switch to Biden in 2020 wasn’t, “We’re going to vote for this blustery guy who says anything that comes into his head because that will be such a refreshing change.” Rather, it was, “This guy in his basement seems relatively restrained compared to the blustery guy who says anything that comes into his head.”

Biden is less flagrant than Trump — he’s not firing top officials on Twitter or making pronouncements based on the last thing he saw on TV. But he’s also less entertaining. Biden imagines himself the adult in the room at the same time that he routinely beclowns himself and makes potentially consequential verbal missteps.

This is, indeed, the authentic Biden, but it’s not inspiring, praiseworthy — or reassuring.

Rich Lowry is editor-in-chief of the National Review.(c) 2022 by King Features Synd., Inc.

Filed Under: 061622, Lowry, Opinion

Primary Sidebar

Seach our site

Follow us on Facebook

Comments Box SVG iconsUsed for the like, share, comment, and reaction icons

Historian's Corner ... See MoreSee Less

Link thumbnail

Historian’s Corner

westhavenvoice.com

Historian’s Corner May 21, 2025 By whvoice Leave a Comment The West Haven Veterans Museum on Hood Terrace is making an effort to acquaint city students and youth in the history of service in the cit...
1 week ago
View Comments
  • likes Like 1
  • Comments: 0
  • Shares: 0
Share
Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email

0 CommentsComment on Facebook

Dear Felicia ... See MoreSee Less

Link thumbnail

Dear Felicia

westhavenvoice.com

Dear Felicia May 22, 2025 By whvoice Leave a Comment Howdy do, sweets! Hard to believe, but here we are at the downside of May, looking into the Memorial Day weekend already. Of course, like most thin...
1 week ago
View Comments
  • likes Like 0
  • Comments: 0
  • Shares: 0
Share
Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email

0 CommentsComment on Facebook

Pollution plant needs leadership, $$$ ... See MoreSee Less

Link thumbnail

Pollution plant needs leadership, $$$

westhavenvoice.com

Pollution plant needs leadership, $$$ May 21, 2025 By whvoice Leave a Comment By Richard Hebert and Bonnie Posick Research by Kyle Rich West Haven residents have been vocal about the city’s revaluat...
1 week ago
View Comments
  • likes Like 0
  • Comments: 0
  • Shares: 0
Share
Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email

0 CommentsComment on Facebook

HS Frosh cited by Mullins ... See MoreSee Less

Link thumbnail

HS frosh cited by Mullins

westhavenvoice.com

HS frosh cited by Mullins May 21, 2025 By whvoice Leave a Comment Steven R. Mullins presents his 10th annual awards to WHHS frosh Bibi Hadi. Steven R. Mullins presents his 10th annual awards to WHHS f...
1 week ago
View Comments
  • likes Like 0
  • Comments: 0
  • Shares: 0
Share
Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email

0 CommentsComment on Facebook

Load more

 

 

West Haven’s Calendar

Comments Box SVG iconsUsed for the like, share, comment, and reaction icons
West Haven Calendar
2 years ago
West Haven Calendar

Thursday Night Live (This one's on Friday!!!)

... See MoreSee Less

Link thumbnail

Thursday Night Live (This one's on Friday!!!)

tockify.com

Fri 23 Jun, 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM [EDT]: Event by Milford Regional Chamber of Commerce, CT Old Grove Park Public · Anyone on or off Facebook West Haven summer concerts are back! Join us in West Haven thi...
View Comments
  • likes Like 0
  • Comments: 1
  • Shares: 0
Share
Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email

1 CommentsComment on Facebook

West Haven Calendar
2 years ago
West Haven Calendar

Mark Your West Haven Calendar

tockify.com/west.haven.calendar/detail/442/1686776400000

Business After Hours West Haven Veterans Museum
... See MoreSee Less

Link thumbnail

Business After Hours West Haven Veterans Museum

tockify.com

Wed 14 Jun, 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM [EDT]: Business After Hours West Haven Veterans Museum West Haven Veterans Museum & Learning Center Event by Milford Regional Chamber of Commerce, CT West Haven Veterans ...
View Comments
  • likes Like 0
  • Comments: 0
  • Shares: 0
Share
Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email

0 CommentsComment on Facebook

West Haven Calendar
2 years ago
West Haven Calendar

Added for June 10th & 11th

tockify.com/west.haven.calendar/detail/443/1686405600000

West Haven Historical Society Open House
... See MoreSee Less

Link thumbnail

West Haven Historical Society Open House

tockify.com

Sat 10 Jun, 10:00 AM - 3:00 PM [EDT]:
View Comments
  • likes Like 2
  • Comments: 1
  • Shares: 0
Share
Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email

1 CommentsComment on Facebook

Load more

Footer

Address

West Haven Voice
840 Boston Post Road
West Haven, CT

 

Contact us

Call (203) 934-6397

Contact form

SITE NAVIGATION

HOME
ABOUT US
ARCHIVE
ADVERTISE!
CLASSIFIED
ANNOUNCEMENTS
CONTACT US
WEB EXCLUSIVE

FIND US IN PRINT

Our print edition is available each Thursday. Here is a list of locations!

Letters Policy

Information on submitting letters to us.

Our submission deadlines.

Copyright © 2025 West Haven Voice, LLC