Why Is Joe Biden So Damn Lazy, Old, Possibly Deceased?
It's as if he parties all night and sleeps all day.
You might've noticed that last Saturday was a Saturday, and while you were working in the salt mines, looking for all the salt, our president was sunning himself on the beach.
The RNC Research Twitter account dropped the explosive video:
The caption reads with palpable irritation: "A shirtless Joe Biden enjoys a relaxing day at the beach. Biden has spent 353 days — 39.2 percent of his presidency — on vacation."
That June jobs report was off the chain! Biden deserves a celebratory Mai Tai while resting his feet in the sand.
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Saturday is the weekend. A trip to the local beach on your day off is not technically a "vacation." However, Twitter user "lasermama," bearing Elon Musk's blue checkmark of shame, accepted the Republican National Committee's absurd framing, declaring, "Holy shit! I’m 53 years old and haven’t had that many days of vacation in my life!"
Presuming this person started working full time just 30 years ago, two days off a week would come out to about 100 days off a year or 3000 "vacation" days, and the average American full-time worker receives 11 days of paid vacation each year. If you've had to work seven days a week straight for your entire working life, you should take that up with Republicans.
Even 100 years ago, before progressive victories for workers' rights, the average person worked 10-hour days six days a week. That's still better than what poor "lasermama" claims is normal.
The RNC is just spouting nonsense, of course, and trying to smear Biden as out-of-touch and shiftless. They did the same with Barack Obama while ignoring George W. Bush and Donald Trump's laidback schedules. When Obama took a vacation during the summer of 2011, Republican critics sneered that he'd forgotten all about his responsibilities as the Kenyan upstart president.
“Images of Obama fundraising, golfing and on vacation — especially in such a well-heeled location — undercut his message that the economy is his ‘singular focus,’” said Doug Heye, a Republican strategist.
Last week, a few hours after the White House announced the president would head to Martha’s Vineyard Thursday for a 10-day vacation, the Republican National Committee sent out a press release querying, “And this is the same White House that says they are focused on the economy?”
Vacations have a significant positive impact on the economy, and the millions of unused vacation time "productive" workers leave on the table actually costs the economy billions in potential revenue. Take a trip it's good for you.
Republicans lectured the first Black president about enjoying time off with his family, and the "liberal" media jumped on the bandwagon.
Republican presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich told Fox News host Sean Hannity that Obama “ought to cancel his vacation — period.” And before Tim Pawlenty dropped out of the presidential race, he also urged Obama to skip his trip, “call the Congress back into session and get to work.”
Even The Washington Post’s liberal opinion writer Colbert I. King opined last weekend that “this is no time for a president to dwell in splendid seclusion among the rich and famous.”
“No, Mr. President, Martha’s Vineyard is the last place in the world you should visit next week,” King wrote.
Americans live in Martha's Vineyard and benefit from tourism. This has always been a stupid complaint.
But perhaps not as stupid as calling out Biden's footwear.
Twitter
New York Times staff photographer Doug Mills shared a photo Sunday of Biden at Dover Air Force Base as the president prepared to leave for London. (That "vacation" was short-lived. He was already back to work.) Mills zoomed in to reveal that "Biden was not socks with his sneakers." I presume he meant that Biden was not *wearing* socks with his sneakers, but he was in such a rush to publish this relevant, breaking news that he couldn't waste time proofing his tweet.
People pointed out that Biden was probably wearing "no show socks," so it's not like he's recklessly increasing his risk of athlete's foot.
This is what Republicans and other stupid people talk about when the economy is humming along. The more stories there are about shirtless Biden and his bare ankles, the more comfortable I am investing in a vintage French leather club chair for my den.
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