ATTEMPT AT EXASPERATION, UNSUCCESSFUL.

Last week, the coot's complete failure went viral.

That was during his attempt to do the usual Democrat thing of question-motives and deploy-snark, which he used to be pretty good at.  The White House transcript of the sequence reads like this.

THE PRESIDENT:  Whoa.  Wait, wait, wait.  Let me take the one question from the most interesting guy that I know in the press.

Thank you, Mr. President.  Is that — is there — thank you.

THE PRESIDENT:  That’s you.  (Laughter.)

Q    Mr. President, there had not been a U.S. service member killed in combat in Afghanistan since February of 2020.  You set a deadline.  You pulled troops out.  You sent troops back in.  And now 12 Marines are dead.  You said the buck stops with you.  Do you bear any responsibility for the way that things have unfolded in the last two weeks?

THE PRESIDENT:  I bear responsibility for, fundamentally, all that’s happened of late.

But here’s the deal: You know — I wish you’d one day say these things — you know as well as I do that the former President made a deal with the Taliban that he would get all American forces out of Afghanistan by May 1.

In return, the commitment was made — and that was a year before — in return, he was given a commitment that the Taliban would continue to attack others, but would not attack any American forces.

Remember that?  I’m being serious.

Q    Mr. President —

THE PRESIDENT:  No, I — I’m asking you a question.  Be a — because before I —

Q    Donald Trump is not the President right now.

THE PRESIDENT:  No, no — now wait a minute.  I’m asking you a question.  Is that — is that accurate, to the best of your knowledge?

Q    I know what you’re talking about.  But, Mr. President, respectfully —

THE PRESIDENT:  What?

Q    — since — I don’t think that the issue that — do you think that people have an issue with pulling out of Afghanistan, or just the way that things have happened?

THE PRESIDENT:  I think they have an issue that people are likely to get hurt — some, as we’ve seen, have gotten killed — and that it is messy.

The reason why — whether my friend will acknowledge it and was — reported it — the reason why there were no attacks on Americans, as you said, from the date until I came into office, was because the commitment was made by President Trump: “I will be out by May 1st.  In the meantime, you agree not to attack any Americans.”  That was the deal.  That’s why no American was attacked.

Q    And you said that you still — a few days ago, you said you squarely stand by your decision to pull out.

THE PRESIDENT:  Yes, I do.  Because look at it this way, folks — and I’m going to — I have another meeting, for real.  But imagine where we’d be if I had indicated, on May the 1st, I was not going to renegotiate an evacuation date; we were going to stay there.

I’d have only one alternative: Pour thousands of more troops back into Afghanistan to fight a war that we had already won, relative — is why the reason we went in the first place.

I have never been of the view that we should be sacrificing American lives to try to establish a democratic government in Afghanistan — a country that has never once in its entire history been a united country, and is made up — and I don’t mean this in a derogatory — made up of different tribes who have never, ever, ever gotten along with one another.

And so, as I said before — and this is the last comment I’ll make, but we’ll have more chance to talk about this, unfortunately, beyond, because we’re not out yet — if Osama bin Laden, as well as al Qaeda, had chosen to launch an attack — when they left Saudi Arabia — out of Yemen, would we have ever gone to Afghanistan?  Even though the Taliban completely controlled Afghanistan at the time, would we have ever gone?

I know it’s not fair to ask you questions.  It’s rhetorical.  But raise your hand if you think we should have gone and given up thousands of lives and tens of thousands of wounded.

I've highlighted the part of the exchange where I think the coot went into that crouch.  What follows is a word salad.  What matters is this: it is after 1 May, and the Adults In Charge apparently could not come up with a better plan than what we're seeing.  Never mind that, though, there's a Crooks and Liars contributor willing to white-knight for the coot.

Biden then attempted the impossible. No, not a completely bloodless Afghanistan withdrawal, but to extract a statement of truth and accuracy from Peter Doocy.

"You know, I wish you would one day say these things. You know as well as I do that the former president made a deal with the Taliban that he would get all American forces out of Afghanistan by May 1. In return, the commitment was made — and that was a year before — in return, he was given a commitment that the Taliban would continue to attack others, but would not attack any American forces. Remember that? I'm being serious," the president asked Doocy gently, though rather pointedly.

Doocy hemmed and hawed, and of course did not answer. Instead he tried to ask another question. Biden stuck with it, though, and said, "No, I'm asking you a question, because --"

Doocy interrupted the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES again, prompting Biden to say, "No, no, wait a minute. I'm asking you a question. Is that the accurate to the best of your knowledge?"

Obviously having been raised by entitled white a$sholes, Doocy played the part to a "T", speaking over Biden again, asking the thoroughly uninspired and obtuse question, "Do you think people have an issue with pulling out of Afghanistan, or just the way that things have happened?"

At this point, President Biden put his head down on his hands in disgust at this POS. For some reason, though, he answered the question.

Turn on the smear machinery, and never mind the deflections. Donald Trump is no longer president, and the exchange took place on 26 August, the better part of a pennant race since May 1.  But Democrats have gotten away with their brand of sarcasm as a substitute for policy for years.  Mr Biden wouldn't let Paul Ryan get a complete sentence out during their 2012 vice-presidential debate, and he got cheered for saying "malarkey."  I suspect that the odd whispering "pay them more money" is more of the same trick, attempting to turn entrepreneurs' complaint about labor shortages back on their stinginess.  Populist froth.  These days, though, the one-trick pony ought be put out to pasture.