High Steaks #8: Live from D.C.

Live in DC.

By and
5

After a few rounds of drinks and a spicy panel discussion at a live Dispatch meet-up in Franklin Hall in DC, Steve and Sarah catch up on their high steaks bet amid a gaggle of eager listeners.

By and
Comments (5)
Join The Dispatch to participate in the comments.
 
  1. Avatar photo
    Seth B

    Steve protested that he didn't want this to sound like Sean Hannity, but these 10 minutes were the deepest I have ever heard the Dispatch veer into that territory. By the time Sarah was vehemently insisting that Biden is just a bad man, I felt like I might as well be listening to the Daily Wire.

    I know High Steaks is supposed to be lighthearted, and I'm willing to chalk this one up to High Spirits, but this was not the finest hour - or 1/6 of an hour - for this normally dynamic duo. It's probably good that this one isn't available to non-subscribers.

    Collapse
    1. Avatar photo
      Pastorfbt

      I'm sure I may want to assume the best about Biden because the alternative is Trump, but it's hard to argue with the substance of what was said about him. Your mileage may vary.

      Collapse
      1. Avatar photo
        Seth B

        Actually, I think it's easy to argue with the substance.

        I sought out videos of the two recent instances that Steve described, where he claimed that Biden was speaking incoherently. I will include links to them them below. Biden did not seem incoherent in them to me. Old, yes. Tired, yes. Too old to be running for president again? Almost certainly. But I heard nothing in those videos from Biden that did not make perfect sense. At times, he was almost moving. At others, he was funny. (When asked if he had any thoughts "on Jim Jordan's current predicament", he responded, with a twinkle in his eye, "I ache for him.") And tellingly, Steve didn't mention a single *specific* statement of Biden's during these supposedly incoherent discourses with which he took issue, or which he saw as indicative of failing mental capacity. Not one. And that is where I see Steve uncharacteristically drifting into Sean Hannity territory. I have come to expect better here at the Dispatch. I have come, at least, to expect specifics.

        But Steve's gripes struck me as minor compared to Sarah's. Sarah, to her credit, had a specific complaint in mind, but from it, she drew a totally unwarranted conclusion. Joe Biden is just a bad man, full stop, case closed, because he adopted - and keeps at the White House - a rescue dog with a habit of biting people? Something tells me that I should not be judging the totality of a man's long, sometimes tortured, and very complicated life on the basis of... his dog's actions. Is he exercising poor judgement with respect to his dog? Yes, almost certainly so. But "He's just a bad man!" is Ben Shapiro level hysteria. To respond in kind, one would have to say, in one's best elementary schoolyard voice, "Nuh-uh! Sarah's the bad person because she worked for the Trump administration! So there!"

        People are complicated. No doubt it would be easy to find dozens or hundreds of incidents in Joe Biden's life that show him to be a fundamentally kind, caring person. There's no shortage of legitimate criticisms one might level at Biden. I'd prefer that the Dispatch stick to those. It's one of the things that normally keeps a healthy distance between them and the usual right wing schlock.

        Biden with reporters on the way back from Israel:
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbXqKT4oFoA

        Biden with Jewish community leaders:
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-m4BpcK6OSM

        Collapse
        1. Cjonespam

          Thank you for saying this; I came here with much the same gripes, but you researched and articulated far better than I could have.

          By virtue of being a fact based publication with high journalistic standards, it's easy for a mainstream liberal like myself imagine that TD staff have similar wold views, just with a slight preference for more social conservatism, or less regulation, etc.

          But every once in a while we get something like this that reminds us the core TD staff have all been professional conservatives of one type or another for decades... and that they really, REALLY would prefer to live in an alternate reality where things are quite different. I guess this is where Steve and Sarah get to cut loose and wishcast a bit...

          Collapse
        2. Avatar photo
          Pastorfbt

          Well, I yield to your more extensive research. Perhaps in the context alcohol was involved, as the police reports always recite.

          Collapse