It has been a few years since I have returned to this series…it being a (very imperfect but sometimes informative) touchstone into the ever shrinking world of the moderately intellectually honest Democrat. Some of you with ties back to Ricochet may remember the August 2020 offering titled The Althouse Files: When Anti-Intellectualism Becomes Just Plain Insulting where Madam Althouse minced few words about the world’s most famous demagogue and plagiarist:

[Biden] was forefronting the Charlottesville “fine people” hoax. On his first day of campaigning with his running mate, he led with that. I say “he,” but I don’t really believe it’s him. I think it’s more likely that he’s a foggy-minded figurehead, and other people have decided to frame the message like that. I consider these people — whoever they are — despicable. They have chosen quite deliberately to commit to a lie that is intended to make black people feel hated and they are doing it for political gain.

As my earlier post about the tweet says, I blogged in April 2019, “If Biden does not come forward and retract [a video relying on the Charlottesville hoax] and apologize and commit himself to making amends, I consider him disqualified. He does not have the character or brain power to be President.” Now, more than a year later, Biden has done the opposite. He’s doubled down on the lie and he’s making it the centerpiece of his campaign!

…

He has decided to run on — his people have decided to run him on — fomenting racial division, fear, and hatred. He could have run on just not being Trump — the simple dream to make America normal again. But he has chosen an eyes-closed nightmare.

[Emphasis added]

Not unexpectedly, that is all the distant past and (seemingly) mostly forgotten. The open question at the moment is whether the topic is forever “old news” now, even if he repeats the story twice in the same appearance just this last week (H/T Powerline):

Remarks by President Biden at a Campaign Reception | New York, NY (SEPTEMBER 20, 2023)

But then along came, in August of 2017, Charlottesville, Virginia. You remember those folks walking out of the fields literally carrying torches, with Nazi swastikas, holding them forward, singing the same vicious, anti-Semitic bile — the same exact bile — bile that was sung in — in Germany in the early ‘30s. And a young woman was killed. A young woman was killed.

And this was — and I re- — you may remember it. There was a consequential piece of business going on. And the former guy was asked, “What do you think would happen?” He was the sitting president. And he said, “I thought there were some very fine people on both sides.”

And I mean this sincerely, from the bottom of my heart, that’s when I decided I — I was going to run again.

As of this writing, I have not seen any Althouse commentary on this once prickly subject of Biden’s “character or brain power to be President.” Did I say it was an imperfect touchstone?

Anyhow, the real reason I came back to this today is a rather simple question (via Instapundit several days ago) on a completely different Biden-related topic: Why did these “shell companies” exist? Setting aside our hard-to-ignore knowledge of a large number Suspicious Activity Reports, this question alone goes to a rather damning place:

The only answer an honest person can give is, “To conceal the bribery money.” If the millions of dollars received from foreigners by Hunter Biden and his associates had any legitimate purpose — if it were something other than bribery — they would have no need to hide it.

What I found interesting with respect to my imperfect touchstone is…just a day earlier Madam Althouse introduced her discussion about who believes what regarding the puppet president’s implication in the crime family and the coming impeachment inquiry with: Why would anyone be “convinced” at this point? Yes, sometimes it is clear that she is being intentionally opaque just to set up the conversation and here she is purposely using someone else’s specific wording so I take some of this with a grain of salt. “Convinced” may be a high bar but if she isn’t at least highly suspicious at this point then I will be very disappointed. To even leave that hanging after introducing the topic with the implication that there has not been any “concrete evidence” turned up yet…even if intentionally provocative…degrades her credibility in my eyes.

But, then again, in recent days she has insisted on ignoring much evidence of the puppet president’s mental and functional decline to cherry pick chances to tell us “I don’t see a problem. … It’s fine.” All, of course, is her prerogative but I am increasingly disappointed when my imperfect touchstone shows this intellectual amnesia regarding the unapologetic (and repeat) offender who “does not have the character or brain power to be President.”

The world of the intellectually honest Democrat is shrinking ever smaller. I sure hope this (very imperfect but sometimes informative) touchstone into that world isn’t losing touch.

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THE ALTHOUSE FILES SERIES (To-Date)

This Week Through Althouse Eyes (November 3, 2019)

The Althouse Files: When Anti-Intellectualism Becomes Just Plain Insulting (August 14, 2020)

The Althouse Files: Contemporaneous Notes on a Grade-A Jerk (October 1, 2020)

The Althouse Files: Impeach Trump for Inciting a Peaceful Protest? (January 9, 2021)