Dancing With Who Brung Ya

You dance with them that brung ya. — An old Texas expression of loyalty

dancing with who you brung

A quick bio for those who are not aware of my background.

I am a white water river guide in Washington State. I am — also — an outfitter for white water raft trips. I’ve been floating rivers for half a century. I’ve been selling river trips and outfitting river trips for almost as long.

If I had failed at keeping this boutique adventure business alive I would probably have returned to my native state of Texas, tail between my legs, and latched on somewhere as an assistant football coach. I was never a student of the game — and my coaches would have told you I stunk at practice — but I started playing at the age of eight and a decade of playing a contact sport coupled with my competitive attitude gave me some solid footing with which to give it the college try.

All of which to say, my wisdom is limited. The multiple concussions I collected in my childhood participating in contact sports probably don’t help matters much. In other words, I’m an addle-brained former jock who casually follows politics because I know it matters.

So, let’s get down to brass tacks, shall we?

President Biden did himself no favors in the “debate” with [name redacted]. How could he? The former occupant of the White House did nothing other than spew egregious lies, avoid answering any questions and claim — once again — he would not abide by any rules and certainly wouldn’t accept the outcome of the election should he lose.

During the debate, President Biden definitely looked his age. Like a very old buck caught in the headlights of a runaway triple-length Mack truck being driven by a maniac. Not sure why anyone expected anything different.

[Name redacted] doesn’t debate or give speeches. His means of communication is to string together prevarications and non sequiturs, sprinkled with bombastic statements, in a way that makes William Faulkner’s stream of consciousness seem like Cliff Notes.

[Name redacted] strung these very fine words together at one of his Klan rallies:

So I said, ‘Let me ask you a question,’ and [a employee at South Carolinian boat company] said, ‘Nobody ever asked this question,’ and it must be because of MIT, my relationship to MIT — very smart. He goes, I say, ‘What would happen if the boat sank from its weight? And you’re in the boat and you have this tremendously powerful battery and the battery is now underwater and there’s a shark that’s approximately 10 yards over there?’

By the way, a lot of shark attacks lately, do you notice that, a lot of sharks? I watched some guys justifying it today. ‘Well, they weren’t really that angry. They bit off the young lady’s leg because of the fact that they were, they were not hungry, but they misunderstood what who she was.’

These people are crazy. He said there’s no problem with sharks. ‘They just didn’t really understand a young woman swimming now.’ It really got decimated and other people do a lot of shark attacks.

So I said, ‘So there’s a shark 10 yards away from the boat, 10 yards or here, do I get electrocuted if the boat is sinking? Water goes over the battery, the boat is sinking. Do I stay on top of the boat and get electrocuted, or do I jump over by the shark and not get electrocuted?’

Because I will tell you, he didn’t know the answer. He said, ‘You know, nobody’s ever asked me that question.’ I said, ‘I think it’s a good question.’ I think there’s a lot of electric current coming through that water.

But you know what I’d do if there was a shark or you get electrocuted? I’ll take electrocution every single time. I’m not getting near the shark. So we’re going to end that.

So, yes. President Biden did not appear fit and vigorous at the “debate” that could have passed for a verbal rage room for the candidate who likes to throw ketchup bottles at walls and ramble on tirelessly — in public no less — about sharks, dangerous solar-powered batteries and fictional cannibals.

Joe Biden’s appearance was, nonetheless, worrisome.

But — and it’s a BIG but — the overwhelming litany of what the Biden Administration has accomplished over the past four year eclipses — by itself — any reason to remove him from the Democratic ticket. As long as he’s living and breathing and cracking that million dollar Scranton smile, he’s got my vote. I think anyone who’s clamoring for his removal has a secondary agenda (like the modern day New York Times, Washington Post, insignificant Democratic representatives) or has not thought these things through.

Vice President Kamala Harris would make a fantastic POTUS. But her name, sadly, would be off the table if Joe decides to pack it in. She’s Black (but to make matters worse in the minds of your typical American voters), she’s also a woman (in case you’ve forgotten). Double whammy! Her odds of getting elected are better than mine, but that’s not saying much.

On the other hand, leaving her off the ticket or not at the top should President Biden elect to “step aside” would rankle a huge block of the Democrats’ reliable minority voters.

None of whom we can afford to lose.

On top of that, keeping her on the ticket while substituting another pasty white politician with good hair would also be a slight we cannot afford. And then imagine Democrats quickly rallying around ANYONE they could find to replace Biden…Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah! Not going to happen.

Besides, the Biden Administration looks and feels like a functioning democracy. He’s surrounded by people who know what it takes to govern. Deep-staters who have proven over and over again they have a handle on what’s going on. I want those technocrats manning those government offices and desks in order to keep my social security check coming and keep Medicare worthwhile.

We don’t have time for pollyannish, pearl-clutching behavior because, in case you haven’t been paying attention, our choice in November is fascism or democracy. Josh Hawley, GOP Senator from Missouri, has announced — proudly — that he’s a Christian Nationalist. Not only does the GOP embrace fascism, they embrace Christian fascism.

Christian Nationalists want their “empty vessel”, aka [name — gladly — redacted], to continue pushing us down the path toward full blown authoritarianism. And he will.

None of this is theoretical.

Just pay attention to the news coming out of the Supreme Court, red states and the “new” Republican platform designed to adhere closely to Project 2025.

(Don’t forget: their platform in 2020 was “whatever Dear Leader wants”.)

Another thing that comes to mind in regards to the hair-pulling frenzy folks are going through because of Biden’s “debate” performance is Ronald Reagan. Seventy-five years old in 1984 during his second campaign for the presidency and he was looking ancient compared to his opponent.

That’s when he threw out this zinger:

I am not going to exploit for political purposes my opponent’s youth and inexperience.

Ronald Reagan was less than two years from becoming a shell of his former self due to dementia and I’m betting GOP insiders knew it. They didn’t ask him to step down and, because of their malfeasance, we’re stuck with the biggest miscreant to ever dip his toes into politics — [name — happily — redacted].

I followed one maxim while stuffing people at the line of scrimmage as captain of the squad and defensive middle linebacker:

If you’re gonna make a mistake, make it 100%.

Some coach must have whispered that in my ear. The message was for me to “blow up” plays or make the next decoy regret he was chosen as the decoy. If I kept flattening him whether he had the ball or not, maybe next time he wouldn’t be as good at pretending.

That maxim doesn’t apply to anything I’ve been talking about here. (Or, maybe it does.)

But the well-worn expression commonly attributed to University of Texas coaching legend Darrell Royal (but only because he brought it out often) does:

You got to dance with the one who brung you.

This is the time Democrats need to rip a page from the Republican playbook. Fall in line. Get out the vote. And dance like you’ve never been hurt while doing it with the one who brung you.

---

Calm your nerves. Read some smarter people than me and certainly smarter people than the journalists at the New York Times, Washington Post and Epoch Times. Those are for-profit enterprises who depend on [name redacted] being in the news. They are okay with a Russian oligarchy-style of government.

Why isn’t the media reporting on Trump’s growing dementia? — Robert Reich’s substack post.

We Now Know What Really Happened in Atlanta — Seth Abramson’s usual long-winded but thoroughly researched post chock-full with solid information. It may not all be true, but it sure sounds truer than most.

Should Biden Quit & SCOTUS Wants Trump Elected. — Kareem Abdul Jabbar weighs in.

Credit: Rick Stewart