26 Comments

My 9 year-old daughter took the test with me and said: "None of these could be Joe Biden. I've never heard him properly put together that many words at once".

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One comes across as a pompous ass. The other, a sanctimonious sociopath.

Which is which, you be the judge.

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9 out of 12. give me a cabinet post

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I found myself saying "No way Biden is smart enough to say something like that, gotta be Putin" quite a bit.

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Matt, just curious. Did you translate Putin's comments from the Russian or use a translated source?

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The faux-folksiness of politicians of Biden's brand and generic American corniness sounds so different from a Russian leader like Putin. #2 is where this contrast was clearest to me. Matt probably perceives this better than most as someone who actually lived in Russia for a long time. I'm only married to someone who lived in Russia. Some of these were surprises, though.

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I think this would work better in a magazine format. It's difficult to scroll to the bottom and back to check your guesses as you read!

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But...I think Biden himself would never say "I asked their forbearance". Wouldn't it have been his ghost writer or editor who said it.? My observation: Biden does not use "big words". Not in speaking (I have not read the books but this semi-academic patrician talk is not what originated with Scranton Joe, in my humble opinion). Even if we hope Biden is "mostly OK" mentally, he gives every appearance that he was never a person would write a sentence with the word "forbearance". As for his writing "one of the postulates of legal theory"....come on man!

Heck, although of course I know what "forbearance" means, even I wouldn't write the word in a book - and I certainly did not graduate 76th out of 85 in my class, nor claim I had "three undergraduate degrees" when I had one degree with a double (not triple) major, nor claim I had a full academic scholarship when what I had was a half-scholarship based on financial need, afterwards saying I incorrectly remembered details when challenged …. but I'll stop.

Thanks for a fun quiz! I got 8 out of 12, not great - but I think it would have been 10 out of 12 without what I contend was phrasing by ghost writers :) - - (And yes, this whole post is a bit tongue in cheek because I might or might not have an excuse for missing 4 out of 12.)

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Matt - Per your discussion on the podcast last week about the mayor that hid in a coffin to avoid being caught for flaunting covid rules, as well as the rat theme of several shows. Possible test for if mayors are really dead...trigger warning....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuymGZRQxq0

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Matt, your brain must work while you sleep thinking up this stuff.

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This was hard! I missed 4. I did notice that Putin does have some self-effacing comments.

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5/12 41%

Next 4 years Oughta bee interesting ,

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In the first two, I was pretty sure that the A in both cases was Biden, so you had me thinking this is a trick: Biden is going to be the A choice all the way. And there were only a couple where it couldn't have been.

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I got 10/12 right. I basically imagined what Bill Paxton’s character in True Lies would say and that was pretty much Biden all the way.

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I can't imagine the amount of work that had to be done to find similar comments from both men. Or...is Matt a person with photographic memory who recalls everything he reads? I realize word search could be used on all books and speeches but I still think its remarkable.

Some of my "give aways"..."Grandpop" of course, and "yellow V-neck sweater" because of publications of Biden's weird way of talking about women (it gets much worse than just the cleavage being the salient thing, which in and of itself is not offensive in an isolated sentence.)

Misses - it astonishes me that Biden was not the correct answer for "I refused to sign autographs because, look man, I was there to ski." Also, words about going through caves to scatter and destroy all who were armed just sounded so similar to Biden's weird lies (like getting arrested while going to visit Mandela) so I missed that one.

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Matt, very entertaining. Might as well laugh or we'd be crying a river. I'm not attempting to match the answers, I see from the pattern it's 12-12. Tells you everything you need to know. Cornpop answers are a giveaway. Same for Rat anecdote : very Eastern European, sounds like something out of Kosinski's "The Painted Bird". Two fabulists , another bromance to come?

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