The Real Choice

 I very much appreciated Stephen Colbert's admonition to us all last week. “I know how numb we’ve become, but it’s not normal. No other candidate for the presidency has ever had to pause his campaign to defend himself in multiple courts. And I’d like to point out that in all seven of his cases, no one — no one — doubts that he did these things. We’re just sitting around patiently waiting to find out if the wheels of justice will grind fast enough for there to be any consequences.” He continued: “And the media is covering it like it’s any other political story, like it’s all horse race. But in this horse race, one of the horses is old, while one of the horses is old, has hoof-in-mouth disease, and keeps quoting horse Hitler."

It was apparent from his tone that he was not "just joking." Each day that continues with this parade of unprecedented disruptions of the normal course of our democracy is wearing us all down. Here in this quiet spot of Al Gore's Internet, I won't shut up about the ridiculousness of a presidential election in which one of the candidates has been found guilty of multiple crimes and has faced a closing circle of fate that leaves us asking the question, "Can he serve the country from a jail cell?"

With a straight face. 

Stephen's old boss, Jon Stewart, used his return to his old spot at the news desk on Comedy Central to compare Biden and this corrupt former game show host. He seemed to want to show off his legendary even-handedness by saying that both men were old and we needed someone fresh and new. I can't argue their relative age, nor their fleeting capacities in decline. But what is at stake is more about how we have come to this place in history. If the relatively benign presence of Joe Biden bothers you, please feel free to work over the next four years to find another candidate who will deliver us from same. The choice here is devestatingly clear: It's not about memory slips, it's about moral slips. Character counts, and I will continue to support the candidate who has one. This is not a contest. It is not either/or. 

I understand that this corner of ersatz wisdom is my way of preaching to the choir, but I hope that we will all take this distinction to heart and speak out about the real difference between Joe Biden and the the guy quoting Horse Hitler.