Must-see TV: Joe Biden lavishing praise on William Barr during 1991 confirmation hearing as AG

Joe Biden may be the Democrats' best hope to defeat President Trump's re-election bid, but he is an embarrassing reminder of his party's capture by the hard left. His decades of office in Congress have left a video legacy of what Democrats used to be like before the twin evil passions of Trump-hatred and socialism captured the hearts of the young and vociferous activists who nearly monopolize the party's energy these days. He is a pre-crazy Democrat who now faces the challenge of legitimizing himself in the eyes of the crazies, enough of whom would have little compunction about abandoning the party and supporting a third- or fourth-party candidacy of a genuine socialist if they feel betrayed. The current passions of TDS require the vilification of Attorney General William Barr. First and foremost, his pending investigation into the origins of the Russia hoax is a mortal threat to the conspirators that launched this corruption of law enforcement and intelligence tools in the service of the incumbent party's candidate. But that concern must be left unspoken, lest it tip off the public that a cover-up is underway.

Therefore, the vilification is targeted on his accurate summary of the Mueller Report. It is too dangerous to impugn Mueller after years of lionization. (He may also know where some bodies are buried after years of running the FBI.) An attempt to impeach Barr would also be a way of co-opting the TDS faction's energy for impeaching Trump by directing it to a lower-stakes gambit. The Democrats' establishment, having benefited from the GOP House's impeachment of Bill Clinton, understands that impeaching Trump would be a disaster for the party. But perhaps, the theory goes, the howling wolves on the Left can be satiated with a bit of meat tossed to them in the form of impeachment hearings for Barr. But Joe Biden's biggest problem as a candidate for the Democrats' 2020 nomination is that he reminds us of what the Democratic Party of the United States used to be: a partner in a bipartisan consensus to keep the institutions of government operating successfully in the interests of the American people, instead of a force bent on destroying the current president, his party, and the free-market economy. Back then, negotiations between the parties were a good-faith effort to come to a decision benefiting the country, not merely an opportunity to castigate and walk away from the evil opposition in righteous indignation. Glenn Greenwald dug up video of Biden, back in the day when presidents were assumed to have the right to appoint their own people to the Cabinet, so long as they were not disqualified for serious reasons. Biden's lavish praise of Barr was standard operating procedure for well qualified nominees of the opposition party, at least for the kind of politician Biden was — someone who valued praise from the opposition. Watch and ask yourself how the Dems can nominate Biden without sparking a revolt from its leftist base: Here's Joe Biden heaping praise on William Barr, when he presided over the Senate Committee that unanimously voted to confirm Barr in 1991 as Bush 41's Attorney General: pic.twitter.com/3BekEDSVRY — Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) April 21, 2019 Graphic credit: Twitter screen grab.