The mainstream media are overwhelmingly liberal; this is well known. Their all-out effort to portray Joe Biden as simply a good-natured older man — the nation’s Uncle Joe — is obvious and predictable. Still, there are corners of the liberal media where one can find solid reporting that rejects simple narratives.

The Intercept is one such place, and I call your attention to a piece posted there today: “Empire Politician: A Half-Century of Joe Biden’s Stances on War, Militarism, and the CIA” (Jeremy Scahill, April 28). Scahill has analyzed Biden’s paper trail and finds “a man who has often betrayed his own bedrock principles.” The presentation is so good, one can’t help but wish for similar summaries across several topics and on various high-level politicians. As usual, a link to the full article can be found at bottom. First, a few highlights:

• Biden’s record reveals “a man who is dedicated to the U.S. as an empire, who believes that preserving U.S. national interests and ‘prestige’ on the global stage outweigh considerations of morality or even at times the deaths of innocent people.”
• He initially opposed the first Gulf War, but “then he flipped positions and became a leading hawk on Iraq.”
• Biden “backed sweeping surveillance laws and the militarization of the so-called war on drugs.”
• He “served as one of the Bush-Cheney administration’s key allies in greenlighting the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq.”

Biden appears to have flip-flopped many times on matters of life or death. (This is no surprise to pro-lifers.)

The Pope and Vatican officials, not to mention some U.S. bishops, have seemed favorable toward Biden in the White House. Perhaps this history reminder will help them maintain perspective.

The link:  https://theintercept.com/2021/04/28/empire-politician-a-half-century-of-joe-bidens-stances-on-war-militarism-and-the-cia/