Patterico's Pontifications

9/7/2021

Chuck Schumer Brazenly Lies in Service of the Biden Administration’s Narrative

Filed under: General — JVW @ 7:37 pm



[guest post by JVW]

We discussed this a bit last week, that the feckless and inept Biden Administration who has embarrassed itself and our nation by its ignoble retreat from Afghanistan would likely end up pushing the idea that those American citizens who were unable to get out have themselves to blame, since apparently they didn’t work hard enough to pre-book their itinerary. Considering that reports came this past weekend — from the office of a loyal left-wing and utterly shameless Democrat Senator, no less — that the Taliban is actively preventing planes bearing U.S. citizens from taking off from Kabul, perhaps with the quiet acquiescence of our own State Department, one would think the Democrats might want to tread very lightly on this obnoxious version of what in other circumstances we like to call victim-blaming.

But nobody gave Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D – New York) the memo, I guess. As the holiday weekend dawned, in an interview with a local upstate ABC affiliate he took up the Biden Administration’s dumb refrain:

Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) claimed that all Americans who wanted to leave Afghanistan had left the country in a Friday interview with an ABC News affiliate in Syracuse, N.Y.

Schumer, who was visiting the New York State Fair in Syracuse, was asked by NewsChannel 9 reporter Andrew Donovan how the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan would affect Democrats in the 2022 midterms.

“I can’t predict that,” Schumer responded. “There’ll be a job for congressional oversight, there always is, but at the moment actual I’m still focused on trying to get some of those brave Afghans out. The Americans, all of whom wanted to come out have come out, praise God.

When members of the Senator’s staff and the Senator’s colleagues caught wind of what Mr. Schumer was claiming, there no doubt was some frenzied and panicked damage control planned out and put into place. Yesterday, the Senator “clarified” his initial comments:

Dale tweet

Unfortunately for the Senator, the two words “praise God” at the end of the original statement show pretty conclusively that Mr. Schumer sees the evacuation of Americans as having been fully completed and, indeed, fait accompli. Had he truly misspoke and meant to convey the idea that we were still working to make good on that obligation, don’t you think he might have ended with “God willing” instead? Also, why would the Senator have preceded his claim that all Americans had been evacuated (praise God) with a lamentation that we hadn’t been as successful in evacuating our Afghan allies? It just doesn’t make sense: “We haven’t been as successful in evacuating Afghans, but all Americans who wanted to leave are out (praise God). [Two day pause] Oh, I didn’t mean to imply that all Americans who want to leave have been evacuated.”

Chuck Schumer is craven, dishonest, demagogic, and unprincipled, but I have never seen him as being stupid (his admirers are, of course, quite fond of reminding all of us that he got a perfect SAT score over a half-century ago) and I find it hard to believe that he would have said what he said had he not meant to convey the notion that the only Americans who were still stranded in some backwater hellhole we just sunk a whole lot of money into are our compatriots who refuse to leave, and thus any who are rescued from here on in are done so by the merciful beneficence of the Biden Administration.

In any case, Dems might need to rethink the whole “it’s their own damn fault if they’re not home by now” narrative in light of what has been going on the past week. I continue to hope that we get all U.S. citizens out of the country, but I no longer have any faith that our Afghan allies will have a fate other than being horribly betrayed and left to the murderous hands of the Taliban.

– JVW

65 Responses to “Chuck Schumer Brazenly Lies in Service of the Biden Administration’s Narrative”

  1. Yeah, I know: a politician lying. What are the odds?

    JVW (ee64e4)

  2. In a lot of similar ways, the issues that I’ve had with Trump is the same with Schumer.

    The difference is that for as long as Schumer has been in office, he’s done way more damage to US politics than Trump did in his 4 years.

    whembly (ae0eb5)

  3. maybe schumer is only guilty of reading the news

    there may as well be zero americans left stranded, or a million

    it’s a section c page 32 story, regardless

    as are all stories that make biden look like a dementia-ridden piece of crap

    JF (e1156d)

  4. Like Joe, Schumer has Beau regard for the truth.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  5. Only God is Wise and All Knowing. We have been told more lies about the 9/11 wars than a camel has fleas. What’s one more?

    nk (1d9030)

  6. This was victim-blaming from the start. At the same time as Biden said there was no reason to fear a Taliban takeover, there were statements going around about how people should have gotten out before the May deadline. The SIV issue has always presented a similar problem, e.g. why would loyal AF’s need to leave if the country was stable and wouldn’t them leaving destabilize the country, etc.

    Reminder: this was the biggest airlift in history
    Please forget: the need for the airlift was caused by the group claiming credit for it

    I think the motto for the evac was “If you can’t make the plane you ain’t American”.

    frosty (f27e97)

  7. don’t you think he might have ended with “God willing” instead

    Again, with the subtle irony. This is basically what he said, or rather, the underlying message was Insha’Allah. In other words, since it didn’t, in fact, happen, Allah, in fact, didn’t will it and this is something you need to take up with Allah.

    frosty (f27e97)

  8. He’s praising Moloch and desiring more blood sacrifices. It’s no surprise.

    NJRob (0df545)

  9. Actual headline at The Hill:

    State Dept. voices concerns over all-male Taliban government

    Obudman (cb4106)

  10. Chuck Schumer Brazenly Lies

    How is this news?

    The sun comes up every morning in the east and that’s not news.

    BillPasadena (5b0401)

  11. “I’m supposed to stop talking and leave the room.”

    Squinty McStumblebum addressing labor leaders on government problem solving as his State Department flounders while desperate, stranded Americans he abandoned fear beheading and/or being held hostage trying to flee Afghanistan, bury the 13 dead military personnel his incompetence got killed and pick through the wreckage of their storm- damaged homes in the South and Northeast.

    Idiot.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  12. maybe schumer is only guilty of reading the news

    If the only news he reads comes from Jen Psaki, maybe. But not even the Democrat house organ newspapers are trying to push the fiction that all Americans have gotten out.

    there may as well be zero americans left stranded, or a million

    Or, maybe the 200-some that it seems everyone else is estimating.

    it’s a section c page 32 story, regardless

    Yes, it reflects badly on the Biden Administration and thus must be buried.

    as are all stories that make biden look like a dementia-ridden piece of crap

    I’m sorry that you are so deluded as to believe that Donald Trump is the only President who anyone is allowed to criticize. The guy you appear to worship is a delusional, befuddled, corrupt, and mediocre old man who is in way over his head.

    JVW (891089)

  13. The guy you appear to worship is a delusional, befuddled, corrupt, and mediocre old man who is in way over his head.

    Shorter: he’s a bum.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  14. I’m sorry that you are so deluded as to believe that Donald Trump is the only President who anyone is allowed to criticize. The guy you appear to worship is a delusional, befuddled, corrupt, and mediocre old man who is in way over his head.

    JVW (891089) — 9/8/2021 @ 10:09 am

    Why do you think he’s delusional? The rest of your description seems factual and supported by observation. Except I’d say ‘formerly mediocre’ since I feel he’s lost a step from his prime.

    Time123 (9f42ee)

  15. God is the Most Merciful Most Compassionate and He is the most Merciful of those who show mercy. I think JF meant the opposite of what I think you think he meant in that last sentence, JVW.

    nk (1d9030)

  16. Why do you think he’s delusional?

    Start w/this:

    ‘Biden claims Afghanistan withdrawal ‘extraordinary success’ in address to nation’ – https://nypost.com/2021/08/31/biden-to-address-end-of-afghan-war/

    BTW his speech plagiarized same ‘look to the future’ terms used by Gerald Ford in 1975.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  17. @13 JVW, i think i was being way too sarcastic with my @3

    i agree with your sentiments 100%

    JF (e1156d)

  18. my fairly typical biden coddling local newspaper has zero stories about afghanistan, and those people biden left stranded, which is the point i failed to make clearly

    JF (e1156d)

  19. “May teh fleas of a thousand lawyers infest your armpits”

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  20. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/05/world/europe/afghanistan-us-citizens-taliban.html

    Around 1,000 people, including dozens of American citizens and Afghans holding visas to the United States or other countries, remained stuck in Afghanistan for the fifth day on Sunday as they awaited clearance for the departure from the Taliban. The holdup reflects the challenges of foreign governments working with the group, which has yet to form a government

    1,000 people
    Dozens of American citizens and Afghans holding visas to the United States or other countries
    Mariel boatlift.

    nk (1d9030)

  21. JVW (891089) — 9/8/2021 @ 10:09 am

    as are all stories that make biden look like a dementia-ridden piece of crap

    I’m sorry that you are so deluded as to believe that Donald Trump is the only President who anyone is allowed to criticize. The guy you appear to worship is a delusional, befuddled, corrupt, and mediocre old man who is in way over his head.

    We reached two very different interpretations of JF’s comment.

    frosty (f27e97)

  22. https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/01/150A4743-FBE2-4CE5-BE01-0E207E51D783.jpeg?auto=format&fit=crop&ixlib=react-8.6.4&h=546&w=970

    The quintessential AMC used car salesman. ‘Gremlin or Pacer? Folks, here’s the deal!’

    He really does make Trump look like a Lincoln…

    Continental.

    Suckers.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  23. The Talia. Is upset that we busted a bunch of planes before we left. I don’t think this means Biden did a good job on the retreat. But it’s topical and sort of funny so I thought I’d share. I hope the idea of “topical and funny but not a major part of the what’s happening” doesn’t confuse too many people.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9950443/The-Taliban-say-angry-feel-betrayed-disabled-helicopters-planes.html

    Time123 (9f42ee)

  24. Sorry, JF. In my mind I thought that I had read some sane comments from you earlier but the guy who posted the porn spam (a comment I have since deleted) put me in a bad mood and I missed your sarcasm tag. I also thought that maybe this was a new lefty commenter who was here to vex us. My bad.

    JVW (ae9ddd)

  25. That should be “Taliban” not Talia

    Time123 (f78123)

  26. White woman in gorilla mask attacks Larry Elder. Two white men attack man who tries to intervene.

    https://twitter.com/bigrk75/status/1435715054645784585?s=21

    Obudman (6fea74)

  27. Lady sounds pretty racist.

    Time123 (f78123)

  28. Two white men attack man who tries to intervene.

    That second attacker was no dude, though she was certainly loutish and crude enough to be one. Luckily enough, Eric Garcetti’s police force apparently had the afternoon off, so no police were present to make arrests.

    JVW (ae9ddd)

  29. Monkey shines.

    Face it.

    Elder will lose because he’s little more than a radio squawker w/zero executive experience, a patent medicine peddler on the Fox TeeVee for ‘Relief Factor,’ a far-too-conservative carnival barker who believes slave owners merit consideration for reparations, too… and of course, he’s black as polluting coal. The he-she Jenner will lose because it’s another media freak show tranny. And the rest of the crumbs are stale Reagan leftovers. If the GOP really wanted to win CA back, they’d have backed one sane white guy who, for starts, would suspend the gas tax immediately for at least 18 months.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  30. In a lot of similar ways, the issues that I’ve had with Trump is the same with Schumer.

    New York values.

    Kevin M (ab1c11)

  31. Not so sure that was a genuine official ‘white’ woman. Possibly Latino w/a little caramel in the mix given that hairdo. A little chunky on the arms, too; the mask didn’t improve her looks either.

    “Last time I saw a face like that it had a hook in it!’ – Al Czervik [Rodney Dangerfield] ‘Caddyshack’ 1980

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  32. Hard to watch Elder’s TV campaign spots, too– he has that wide-eyed, ‘Rochester,’ Michele Bachmann stare askance to the prompter not looking into the camera as he reads his script. The ‘relief factor’– changing the channel.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  33. Just stick with teh Otter, DCSCA…

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  34. ‘Wide-eyed Rochester’, is that what the lady in the gorilla mask called him?

    Obudman (6fea74)

  35. @35. Have you seen his commercial? A little burnt cork and Michele Bachmann could double for him.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  36. Joe Blow is asking for $6 billion to resettle fleeing Afghans stateside????? How many abandoned Blackhawks and Humvees does that buy, Joe?

    Is he:

    [ ] dumbass mick

    [ ] brain-damaged Beau-zo

    [ ] needs fresh batteries for his calculator

    [ ] expects the kids to pick up the check

    [ X ] all of the above

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  37. “Have you seen his commercial? A little burnt cork and Michele……”

    ‘Pardon me while I continue to dig’

    Obudman (6fea74)

  38. Cantafordya has more white privilege than all 57 states.

    mg (8cbc69)

  39. @38. Rest easy; it’s why he has a face for radio.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  40. @39. Illegals and imported Afghans will tell you it’s the ‘land of the free.’ 😉

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  41. lady in the gorilla mask

    She has a face for radio, too.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  42. @38. Elder looked stymied when pelted by eggs.

    Feel better now?

    “O-tay!” – Matthew ‘Stymie’ Beard ‘Our Gang’ 1930-35

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  43. Gavin and his goons will have cover from the Federal Bureau of Instigation.

    mg (8cbc69)

  44. @44. He’s Governor Green; water beads in his shadow.

    DCSCA (f4c5e5)

  45. @25 JVW, not your bad at all

    always look forward to your posts

    JF (e1156d)

  46. Sen. Richard Blumenthal’s communications director disputed the assertion, saying that the Connecticut Democrat’s office had submitted information for passengers on two of those planes that “goes above and beyond what was required for travel out of (Hamid Karzai International Airport) just one day earlier.”

    “If what we have submitted is not adequate, then the State Department’s message is that they will not help Afghans to leave the country.

    They are actively trying to prevent it, except for pre-approved and vetted Afghans with all their papers in order. I mean Biden doesn’t want any more criticism from Stephen Miller and the like.

    The Americans, and others approved, or the people responsible for the planes on the tarmac in Afghanistan are refusing to leave without all the persons they intended to take with them.

    While those left behind will not necessarily be killed, maybe not even one of them, at least not right away, they don’t want to allow a separation to be made, beyond what separation already took place before boarding the planes.

    And the people they don;t want to leave behind may be family or relatives or close friends or associates of those the United States is prepared to take.n.

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c)

  47. They are actually happy they lost in court:

    https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/06/world/americas/mexico-migrants-asylum-border.html

    When the Supreme Court effectively revived a cornerstone of Trump-era migration policy late last month, it looked like a major defeat for President Biden.

    After all, Mr. Biden had condemned the policy — which requires asylum seekers to wait in Mexico — as “inhumane” and suspended it on his first day in office, part of an aggressive push to dismantle former President Donald J. Trump’s harshest migration policies.

    But among some Biden officials, the Supreme Court’s order was quietly greeted with something other than dismay, current and former officials said: It brought some measure of relief.

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c)

  48. “Hassan, this is America, hamdallah. First, you find the straw purchaser, inshallah. Then you get the AR-15, inshallah. Then, when you have the AR-15 and ammunition, you choose the shopping center or the gay nightclub, inshallah.” — Scarface 2021: The Afghani Airlift

    nk (1d9030)

  49. Here’s a shocker:

    Pentagon Chief Says Hopes Fading for More Open Taliban Government in Afghanistan

    KUWAIT CITY—The Taliban’s newly named interim Afghan government, which includes former leaders ousted 20 years ago by the U.S. invasion and members of the al Qaeda-linked Haqqani network, dashed international hopes of providing more representative leadership, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Thursday.

    “I think the whole international community was hopeful that they would be as inclusive as they said they would be weeks and months ago, but we’ve not seen evidence of that early on,” Mr. Austin said.

    But I bet they are still wishing.

    Kevin M (ab1c11)

  50. They are actually happy they lost in court

    Of course they are. It fixed an unforced error and did so without Biden having to dirty the hands he just got through washing. As a bonus, he gets to attack the Supreme Court for its heartlessness.

    Kevin M (ab1c11)

  51. Yeah, if I were to take to the mountains with my Koran and jezail and fight Russians, Duranis, and Americans for forty years, it would be because I wanted to be governed by Mazie Hirono and Dianne Feinstein.

    nk (1d9030)

  52. @50, If preventing the Taliban from taking over was a policy concern we would never have left. It should have been.

    Time123 (9f42ee)

  53. There is still a chance that Tink can be saved.

    Kevin M (ab1c11)

  54. Ok, ok, I’ll bite. What’s Tink?

    nk (1d9030)

  55. Tinkerbell. Peter Pan. The idea that something will exist if you believe it hard enough. Like the inclusive Taliban.

    Kevin M (ab1c11)

  56. Heh! Thank you.

    nk (1d9030)

  57. 56. Kevin M (ab1c11) — 9/9/2021 @ 7:35 am

    The idea that something will exist if you believe it hard enough.

    You actually have to do something to try to make it happen – and that has to be more than building a baseball field.

    Like the inclusive Taliban.

    They said to themselves, “it is not in the Taliban’s self-interest to bring back a government like they has before.”

    And there was a threat, too:

    https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/defence/afghanistan-would-be-pariah-state-under-taliban-takeover-antony-blinken/articleshow/84822934.cms

    Last Updated: [Wed.] Jul 28, 2021, 06:37 PM IST

    Afghanistan would become a “pariah state” if the Taliban take control of the country by force and fail to respect the rights of its people, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday.

    “An Afghanistan that does not respect the rights of its people, an Afghanistan that commits atrocities against its own people would become a pariah state,” Blinken told reporters in India.

    He said reports of “atrocities” committed by the Taliban in recent weeks as the insurgents make advances across the country were “deeply, deeply troubling” and “certainly do not speak well to the Taliban’s intentions for the country as a whole.”

    He added that the United States “remain very much engaged in Afghanistan, in support of the government through the various forms of assistance we’re providing, including to the security forces, as well as the diplomacy that we’re engaged in to try to bring the parties together in a meaningful way to resolve the conflict, peacefully.”

    He added: “The Taliban says that it seeks international recognition, that it wants international support for Afghanistan. Presumably it wants its leaders to travel freely in the world, sanctions lifted, etc.”

    “The taking over of the country by force and abusing the rights of its people is not the path to achieve those objectives,” he said.

    “There’s only one path. And that’s at the negotiating table to resolve the conflicts peacefully, and to have an Afghanistan emerge that is governed in a genuinely inclusive way, and that is representative of all its people.”

    Now his bluff has been called.

    Is the United States and NATO and others prepared to work actively to see that Afghanistan remains a pariah state so long as the Taliban rule and do not return Afghanistan to its people?

    And if so, for how long? One week, two weeks, a month, six months, a year, two years, six years, ten years, sixteen years, twenty tears, thirty years, forty years, or as long as Cuba?

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c)

  58. The illusion transcends and finally conquers the dreamer and he becomes the plaything of his own dream. — E. Hoffmann Price, “A Jest and a Vengeance”

    nk (1d9030)

  59. It’s not impossible, but the pressure and ever toughening sanctions has to be put on Pakistan.

    Something like this did happen once.

    In 1871, Germany withdrew from France. Most probably because of what Otto von Bismarck called the most significant political fact of the 19th century: that England and the United States spoke the same language.

    That is, Germany could not win a bigger war, and it would happen.

    By 1914, the German General staff had forgotten it.

    Note: I didn’t find this. I put two and two together. Bismark’s remark, told in answer to a question, after he was out of power, is given without elaboration or explanation and I didn’t find anything specific as to why Germany agreed to stop. I’m just reasoning this out.

    There were acouple of other effects, like te creation of Germany and the Paris commune

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c)

  60. 53. Time123 (9f42ee) — 9/9/2021 @ 6:30 am

    If preventing the Taliban from taking over was a policy concern we would never have left. It should have been.

    It was a policy concern, except maybe to Biden. People worked around him, like they did with Trump on some matters, except that any continued American military presence in Afghanistan was out of the question for Biden.

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c)

  61. When have the Afghanis, of every tribe and ethnicity, ever seen “the international community” as anything other than trespassers to be chased off, preferably after they’ve been robbed?

    nk (1d9030)

  62. By 1914, the German General staff had forgotten it.

    Uh, no. They just didn’t have any choice. They were faced with a 2-front war from the combination of France, England and Russia — a war they could not win, and especially if they waited for the other side to move first. So, they preempted and later got Russia out of the war via Lenin.

    Still, they lost because America. But they would have lost anyway if they’d sat and waited for the attack. By preempting and trying for a knockout of France (a plan that worked the next time around), they stood a chance.

    Kevin M (ab1c11)

  63. Germany engineered the European war in 1914. Germany assured Austria Hungary that a war between Austria Hungary and Serbia would not lead to a general European war, while their military plans called for no other outcome.

    Once Russia mobilized, Germany would start hostilities and attack France. Through Belgium.

    The plan was modified slightly in a way that made it less effective, by the way.

    If they’d sat out, there would have been no attack by Russia on Germany.

    In 1939-40, Russia negotiated a partition pf Poland and a division of other places. The plan to attack on the west was not ready in September, 1939,

    Sammy Finkelman (51cd0c)

  64. one charter flight (with pre-approved passengers) took off from Kabul airport for Qatar. That was the only flight that took off from there. It contained Americans, British and Canadians. The airport had been made operational by Turkey and Qatar. No Afghans apparently.

    It might be that the only embassies functioning in Kabul (although no country has officially recognized the new government, which is described as temporary) are those of Pakistan, Russia, China, Iran, Turkey and Qatar. India, along with all western countries including Australia (and Ukraine?) closed its embassy.

    I think that, in many ways, the Taliban were not prepared to take over the whole country right now.

    Just like North Vietnam in 1975, which had made preparation for Quang Tri province, the northernmost province in South Vietnam, (whatever its name was), and otherwise was planning for 1976.

    Sammy Finkelman (b434ee)


Powered by WordPress.

Page loaded in: 0.1201 secs.