Comedy Tonight!

 

James Howard Kunstler —

“It’s whispered that The Times was hoping to unload the tax story much later in the campaign but needed desperately to provide some ammunition for Mr. Biden’s turn in the debating ring with the president on Tuesday night, when both these matters are sure to come up for review. That is, if Mr. Biden dares to show up. Those of you with a taste for history may recall the final hours of another Democratic eminence of yore, William Jennings Bryan, when he was vivisected on the witness stand by Clarence Darrow at the Scopes Trial in Dayton, Tennessee, 1925. Five days later, Bryan dropped dead, and his reputation as a humiliated old fool is much better remembered than his moment of glory in 1896 as a 36-year-old nominee for president (youngest ever).

If Joe Biden does show up at Tuesday’s debate, it will be under at least one severe disadvantage: the contest happens at night. Through the preceding weeks, Mr. Biden’s handlers have “put a lid” on his campaign activities at ten o’clock in the morning more days than not, and sometimes at eight-thirty a.m., before the press pool has even digested its oat-milk honey lattes. “A lid” means the candidate makes no appearances nor is available to the media that day. You have to wonder whether Ol’ White Joe can even function after sundown. Senile dementia typically presents more vividly in the evening. The Biden team may seek to counter that with doses of Adderall, an amphetamine. The side-effects are interesting: “mental / mood changes (such as agitation, aggression, mood swings, abnormal thoughts) uncontrolled movements, continuous chewing / teeth grinding, outbursts of words / sounds, prolonged erections (in males).” Watch for these.”

From Seeing Through Pea Soup (9-28)

 

Pre-show – watch A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum  on line.