John Gruber nails it (Peter Baker)

The language of the barroom, pool hall, and street corner makes only infrequent appearances in these pages, almost always in something I’ve quoted. As will be the case here, as John Gruber comments on a passage in a New York Times article by Peter Baker.

Here’s Baker:

It is hard to think of a more bittersweet moment for a president who spent more than a half-century on the stage only now to be involuntarily shown the exit. The warm bath of affection in Chicago, real as it may have been, could go just so far to salve the wounds of the past few weeks.

Here’s Gruber:

Fuck Peter Baker. What utter bullshit the word “involuntar[il]y” plays in that lede. Of course it was voluntary. Joe Biden is the President of the United States and is comfortable with the power that title affords. He was, even after his disastrous debate performance, only a few points behind in the polls. It was his call and his call alone to step aside — for the sake of his party, and more importantly, for the sake of the country he so obviously loves. And it’s now obvious he made the right call.

Very few presidents have ever been faced with such a clear decision between the good of the nation and the drive of their personal ambition. Biden’s ambition is legendary. Biden’s response to this moment was heroic.

The Times can give Peter Baker as much ink as they want as a columnist. But they should stop calling him a “reporter”. He’s nothing of the sort, and hasn’t been for a long time.

I began reading that Baker story and gave up — I never made it to the paragraph quoted above. But I can add to what Gruber has to say. Look at Baker’s first paragraphs (which Gruber quotes but doesn’t comment on):

When the crowd members in the United Center first chanted, “Thank you, Joe! Thank you, Joe!” on Monday night, President Biden looked down, fought back tears and soaked in the admiration.

But he knew. He might not have wanted to admit it. But he knew. They were thanking him, yes, for what he accomplished during a lifetime in public service. But they were also thanking him, let’s be honest, for not running again.

How does Baker know that’s what the crowd meant? And how does he know what Biden was thinking? The ease with which Baker penetrates mental states here contrasts with his careful hesitation about hearing contempt in Donald Trump’s remarks about military service:

“Yeah, I mean, look, you know, he has continually and repeatedly said things that seem to denigrate military service” [my emphasis].

I’m not sure if I’m happy or sad about reading what John Gruber wrote. At any rate, it finally moved me to unsubscribe from The New York Times. I can read for free via my university, and in desperate circumstances, I can read via archive.today. I assume that my three-digit Wordle streak will vanish. But enough is enough.

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[I can’t believe I misspelled John Gruber’s first name. Angry typing!]