After hearing this speech from Joe Biden yesterday in Iowa, I am proud to support him for president :
“When President Trump said after Charlottesville that there were ‘very fine people on both sides,’ he gave license and safe harbor for hate to white supremacists, Neo-Nazis and the KKK. Those words stunned the nation and shocked the world.
I said at the time that we were in a battle for the soul of this nation. I said it again when I announced my campaign for president. And I say it again today. We are in a battle for the soul of this nation. It’s why I’m running for president.
Charlottesville was no isolated incident. Trump announced he was running for president by calling Mexicans ‘rapists.’ Days before the mid-terms, he fermented fears of a caravan heading to the United States — creating hysteria — saying, ‘look at what is marching up, that is an invasion… an invasion.’
How far is it from Trump’s saying that ‘is an invasion’ to the shooter in El Paso declaring ‘this attack is a response to the Hispanic invasion of Texas’?
Not far at all.
How far is it from the white supremacists and the Neo-Nazis in Charlottesville — Trump’s ‘very fine people’ — chanting ‘You will not replace us’ — to the shooter at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburg saying Jews ‘were committing genocide of his people’?
Not far at all.
In both clear language and code, this president has fanned the flames of white supremacists in this nation.
His low-energy, vacant-eyed mouthing of the words written for him condemning white supremacists this week fooled no one.
He says guns are not the problem in these mass shootings — that the issue is mental health. It’s a dodge. Hatred isn’t a mental health issue.
We have a problem with a rising tide of white supremacy in America.
And what has Trump done? Poured fuel on the fire.
He’s more concerned about losing their votes than beating back their hateful ideology.
But look — I wish I could say this hate began with Donald Trump and will end with him. It didn’t and it won’t. American history isn’t a fairytale.
For 243 years, the battle for the soul of this nation has been a constant push-and-pull between the American ideal that we are all created equal and the harsh reality that racism has long torn us apart.
The same document that promised to ‘secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity’ also allowed for slavery and included the so-called ‘Three-Fifths Compromise’ that discounted the very humanity of black people in America.
The honest truth is both elements are part of the American character. At our best, the American ideal wins out. But it’s never a rout. It’s always a fight. And the battle is never finished.
So it’s up to us. We’re living through a rare moment in this nation’s history, where our president isn’t up to the moment; where our president lacks the moral authority to lead.
We are almost 330 million Americans who have to do what our president can’t. We must stand together. Stand against hate. Stand up for what — at our best — this nation believes. We believe in honesty. Decency. Treating everyone with dignity and respect. Giving every one a fair shot. Leaving no one behind. Giving hate no safe harbor. Demonizing no one — not the poor, the powerless, the immigrant, the other.
What this president doesn’t understand is that, unlike in nearly every other nation on earth, you can’t define an American by religion or ethnicity or tribe.
America is an idea.
It’s an idea stronger than any army, bigger than any ocean, more powerful than any dictator or tyrant.
So look, we cannot — and I will not — let this man be reelected President of the United States. His incompetence, his amorality, his carnage stops with us — right here, right now.
The core values of this nation…our standing in the world…our very democracy…everything that has made America, America is at stake.
Everyone knows who Donald Trump is.
We need to show them who we are. We choose hope over fear. Science over fiction. Unity over division. And yes — truth over lies.
If we stand together, we will win the battle for the soul of this nation.
We are the United States of America. And there isn’t a single thing we can’t do. Thank you. And may God protect our troops.
NOTE : Speech video can be viewed at the link below.
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for those have not seen the video, here is a link: https://youtu.be/YiLlBJeZ1Bo
i can’t seem to embed it right into the post, sorry.
This was a presidential speech.
I also recommend Cory Booker’s equally impressive remarks in Charleston at Emmanuel AME.
Both speeches were of presidential quality. Cory Booker’s speech was very moving, indeed.
Joe also referenced some Democratic icons : ” The Presidency is preeminently a place of moral leadership.” FDR
And JFK : “Only the President represents the national interest.”
And LBJ : “Nothing makes a man come to grips more directly with his conscience than the Presidency.”
Joe even quoted Lincoln (turning over in his grave), one of the founders of the Republican party: “I believe America is the last best hope on Earth.”
“Trump offers no moral leadership. He has more in common with George Wallace than George Washington.” Joe Biden
I found this last quote interesting since Joe has to know people will dig up his old quote calling for “a liberal George Wallace”. I personally don’t care about it, but I can see his primary opponents and Trump digging it up. He has to start addressing these kinds of issues head on before his opponents do.
As in populist without the racism? If so that would probably hold up, especially against someone like Trump who has no business accusing someone else of being racist.
I’m really weary of constantly rehashing cherry-picked statements from forty years ago (the “liberal George Wallace” quote is from 1975). I also think these quotes are being taken out of context. When Mr. Biden says “liberal George Wallace”, he meant George Wallace without the racism.
Joe Biden is NOT a closet racist. He wasn’t then and isn’t now.
I figured that’s what’s he meant, but if seen some conservative pundits engage in ‘whataboutism’ with it and it seems like the kind of thing his primary opponents might bring up. To be clear, j could honestly care less about it, I just worry it’s something that’s coming up.
Bull Pucky. It’s just another lame revisionist distortion excuse used by naysayers to trash the frontrunner at any cost.
Hell, these holier than thou purists would accuse Jesus of being an alcoholic for turning water into wine.
I’ll start with the obligatory comment that “I will vote for the Democratic candidate regardless of who wins the primary” and finish by saying that when Biden said “I Don’t Think 500 Billionaires Are Reason We’re in Trouble”, he lost any chance that I would support him unless he wins the primary and with that neoliberal attitude, he will simply provide more fertile ground for Trump 2.o after his term as president ends.
Finally, we tried “Trump is a bad man, vote for a Democrats” before….it does not work.
Really, so who are you supporting in the primary?
He’s already written here that he supports Elizabeth Warren.
Oh, OK. So why can’t he tell us all the good things about Elizabeth Warren — for which there are many — without tearing down Joe Biden?
Heh. Because this thread is about Joe Biden. 🙂
John has, in fact, written at some length about why he likes Ms. Warren.
You don’t build your candidate up by tearing another Democrat down.
Then how about we go with : “Trump is a good man, vote for a Republican.”
You’re creating a false dilemma. There something on the order of two dozen choices besides Joe Biden and Donald Trump. At least half a dozen of them are, according to recent polls, also able to beat Donald Trump.
At this point Goofy could beat IQ 45.
With such a ‘sincere’ and ‘heart-felt’ endorsement from you for our eventual nominee, please don’t put yourself out to feel ‘obligated’ in any way.
This is exactly the circular firing squad that Obama warned us against that will put the Monster back in the White House.
I think the bigger issue is that the primary is being dominated by activists mulling the the question of who will govern the most progressive. I think Warren wins that hands down, which is why she has my support. Biden does himself no favors with paens to the Senate of the past and the false hope of working with Mitch McConnell. These are the issues activists in the primary care about. For the activists there is a huge distinction between single payer and a public option. Between willing to fight fire with fire on process questions like killing the filibuster and hoping that the good natured Senate returns to form after Trump is exorcised from the capital.
The problem for progressives is that most primary voters are not animated by these issues and simply want a candidate capable of beating Trump. Biden and his supporters have a point that this election will not be a referendum on single payer health care but a referendum on the indecency and danger posed by another term of Donald Trump. I think a lot of apolitical people are really revolting against this president and want him to go away. Biden and his (small-c) conservative callback to a kinder, more decent America is currently polling better against Donald Trump than the calls for radical transformation coming from Sanders and Warren.
So the trick is finding a candidate who can split the difference. Keep activists excited and happy going into the fall while also competing to win over the lower information swing voters and rank and file Democrats. None of us knows who that candidate is yet. So let’s have a robust debate to figure that out.
I think your final paragraph may best describe Warren, which is why I said on another thread she was my top bet; or possibly Harris which is part of why I also said I would not count her out.
His 2018 quote about billionaires does not make Joe Biden a “neoliberal”. The reports I’ve seen say the context of that line was a discussion about Mr. Biden vs Mr. Sanders, where Mr. Biden was attempting to contrast himself to Mr. Sanders. In that context, his reference to the “500 Billionaires” was a caricature of Mr. Sander’s campaign message. That caricature is not far away from reality.
I find Ms. Warren far preferable to Mr. Biden, and I think you share that feeling.
My take on the issue you raise in your final sentence is that running FOR something is, I think, nearly always a better campaign strategy than running against something.
What I like most about Elizabeth Warren is that her campaign continues to maintain a tight, disciplined, and very effective focus on what she is FOR. While I appreciate the oratory in the thread-starter, I still much prefer the total package offered by Ms. Warren.
Yes, I agree. And that’s why I’m supporting Joe Biden. He’s running to restore the soul of America.
He’s running to restore the America of 2008 and that simply doesn’t not cut it.
The soul of America is timeless but at this low point I’d take a restoration to 1776 America in a heartbeat.
Please see what Eddie Glaude said about our soul.
https://twitter.com/MSNBC/status/1158535659704999937
Biden revels in the “legends and myths.”
What was wrong with the Obama / Biden America of 2008? They gave us 8 friggin years of peace, prosperity and progress for all, didn’t they?
Obama / Biden are both men of character that my daughter and I still look up to as role models for decency, integrity and patriotism.
…..along with stagnant wages for the working class and an administration that bailed out Wall Street, prosecuted NO ONE for the crimes committed by Wall Street….and watched as so many working class people lost their homes….
Bull! The housing/banking crash hit in ’08 before Obama took office. Get your friggin facts straight!
Bull? That’s quite a straw man you have there. I did not assert that the crash happened under Obama.
Can you tell the readers what key figures on Wall Street were prosecuted by the Obama administration for their actions that caused the crash?
Also, can you cite real meaningful legislation from the Obama administration that led to significant wage growth for the working class?
@Can you cite…?
I think a different question is far more important: What would have happened to working class families if John McCain had won the 2008 election?
The prior administration brought us perilously close to collapse of the world’s entire financial system (as you observe, the crash happened during the administration of George W. Bush). It seems to me that the reason Mr. Obama did not put bankers in jail after taking office in 2009 was that he and we desperately needed those bankers to unwind the crash and repair the damage that was already done.
A collapse of the world’s financial system would have been FAR FAR worse for working families than what happened. Banks would have closed. People would have been taking wheelbarrows full of worthless cash from store to store in a fruitless attempt to buy milk that would not have been on the shelves. In urban areas like the Boston metro area (anywhere inside 495), we would have had food and water wars. The Boston metro area has a few days, perhaps a week, worth of food on hand at any given time. In a collapse like we’re talking about, the entire supply chain would have been destroyed. No trains. No trucks. No ships. No food to put on them, no fuel to move them.
The administration of Mr. Obama avoided that. It did so in spite of constant, relentless, and purely partisan efforts of EVERY elected GOP official to block it.
History will record the recovery from the collapse of 2008 as a huge accomplishment for the administration of Mr. Obama. All of the evidence I’ve seen compels the conclusion that Mr. McCain would have taken us from bad to immeasurably worse.
I know it’s a relatively minor point, but do you really want to suggest that Sarah Palin was a better choice than Joe Biden in 2008?
I agree that the executives whose actions caused the crash should have been prosecuted. At the same time, I think it is worth noting that as distasteful as it might be, they had a VERY valid defense — nearly all of their actions were legal when they did it. The actions of the bankers and financial system executives were LEGAL when done, that is why the crash is properly blamed on the GOP.
In America, we cannot outlaw something and then prosecute people for doing the prohibited behavior while it was legal.
@cite meaningful legislation:
Absolutely — Obamacare! Health care costs were absolutely skyrocketing for working-class families. The reason cited by numerous players inside the Barack Obama administration for pursuing the ACA when it did was that when they looked for how they could meaningfully improve the economic situation for working-class families, constraining health care costs was far and away the most important element.
Each dollar of reduced health care costs (for both health care and health insurance) is just as valuable as a dollar in increased wages. The ACA has saved tens of millions of dollars for working-class families.
Sorry, I just don;t buy the “well, Republicans would have been worse” line to defend the election of a Democrat.
@ I don’t buy …:
You’re in absolute denial of reality then.
Whether or not it’s a winning political strategy, I think it’s absurd to argue that the administration of John McCain and Sarah Palin would have been anything but DISASTROUS — especially for working-class families.
There is no denial that Republicans screw the working class., but to defend some Democrats on the idea that they too screw the working class. only not s much, is hardly a convincing argument to get working class voters in swing districts to vote Blue, as we learned the hard way in 2016.
Just keep making the perfect the enemy of the good.
And keep making good, good enough when we have great…..
@but to defend …:
That’s not what’s happening here, though.
This sub-thread began with this:
I don’t hear anybody talking here about how to “get working class voters in swing districts to vote Blue”.
This is instead a reminder that the Obama/Biden America of 2008 was WAY WAY better than the McCain/Palin America would have been, especially for the working class.
I want us to climb on the shoulders of those who came before us — like Barack Obama and Joe Biden — not walk on their toes or sweep them aside.
I think Elizabeth Warren is the best candidate in 2020 because, among other things, I think she builds on the foundations laid by Mr. Obama and Mr. Biden.
I think Mr. Biden has already made his contributions, and I respect them. I think Ms. Warren is the better candidate in 2020.
Sure. We agree. I liked Joe. I liked Obama but in the end, I was deeply disappointed with Obama and the DNC in general.
I will not agree that Warren builds on the foundations laid by Mr. Obama and Mr. Biden. Quite the contrary she is willing to attack the banks and big money – and has well thought our plans on how to do so. That is a significant difference and why she is the only candidate that gets my attention,
He’s running for something!
He’s running because “poor kids are just as bright and just as talented as white kids.” !!!!!
https://twitter.com/AndrewHClark/status/1159630998667239425
A new day a new gaffe. It’s honestly worrisome and sad.
I can’t get over the delusion of Democrats thinking that this guy is electable.
We’re the same ‘delusional’ Democrats who thought a black community organizer could be elected President, too.
Obama is one of the most charismatic figures in American history and the best communicator of any President we’ve ever had.
Biden is an old, problematic, gaffe-prone guy who seems increasingly senile and who has always lost important national elections. And his campaign is based explicitly on trying to bring us back, not provide a vision for the future and a reason to vote for him.
He referred to Theresa May as Margaret Thatcher yesterday. He also said “we choose truth over facts” yesterday. And his “Biden 3033” moment at the debate.
It’s scary.
Obama said choosing Biden as his Veep was the best decision he ever made so you can’t have it both ways.
I admire many of Obama’s skills. I don’t admire much of his judgment.
Like the Obama judgment to pass the most important healthcare legislation in 100 years?
I’m alive today because of Obama’s judgment which Joe Biden called : “A BIG FUCKING DEAL..”
A great decision in 2008 is not necessarily even a good decision eleven years later.
I don’t join the naysayers about Mr. Obama here. Like Mr. Clinton before him, I think Mr. Obama did amazing and astonishing things given the political environment of his administration. I think a retrospective review of any president must take into account the context in which that presidency occurred.
I am certainly opposed to slavery. I am not ready to dismiss the contributions of George Washington or Thomas Jefferson because each was a slave-holder.
Each time a great band puts out a new album, they risk endangering the love and respect they have created with their previous releases. The Beatles chose to break up when they felt they were no longer able to contribute to the extraordinary musicianship of their corpus of work. The Rolling Stones made the other choice.
I’ve always preferred the Beatles.
I admire and respect the contributions of Joe Biden. He was particularly helpful in getting the ACA passed into law.
I think Elizabeth Warren is the better candidate for President in 2020.
No, 4 more years of the Turd Emperor is scary.
I’ve never implied that Biden is as bad as Trump in any way. That constant rejoinder to criticism of Biden is tiresome.
I’m arguing that the best argument for Biden – that he is the most likely to beat Trump – is something I think people are getting wrong, and it’s a mistake Democrats have made many times, including the last two times a Democrat lost a general election.
I know what the polls say now. I also what they said with the previous candidates who lost, so I find little comfort in those polls.
Can you say with a straight face that Biden is the candidate most likely to do the things needed to win, which is energize young voters to come out and to get people who didn’t vote last time to come out?
From the debates and recent appearances, it’s clear that Biden has lost more than a few steps since being lovable Uncle Joe in 2008. It’s crazy that we’re just pretending he’s ok up there.
If a strong majority of voters DIDN’T think he could win he wouldn’t be kicking his opponents and Dorito Mussolini in the ass now.
Sure, they think that. I think they are wrong. Many/most of them are choosing him solely based on “most electable” and that is something Dems always get wrong.
But serious question – do you think he is sharp and has all his faculties right now?
And please don’t say “compared to Trump he is.”
What I know is that fearless ‘Joltin’ Joe’ Biden has all the faculties he needs to beat the Siberian Candidate like a rented mule.
Fasten your seatbelt. We’re in for a bumpy ride.
Sharp? Faculties?
I watched ‘Joltin Joe” work the Iowa State Fair yesterday and 18 year old kids couldn’t match his stamina.. Crowds of fairgoers and press flocked to him just trying to keep up with him. You can’t campaign like that every day if you aren’t mentally and physically strong. I know because I’ve run campaigns all my life.
As he ran through a recent parade a Trumpist wise guy called him ‘Sleepy Joe’ so Joe went right up to the coward and challenged him to run the parade route with him. The idiot response… CRICKETS !
These are same ageist naysayers arguments used to attack Speaker Nancy Pelosi. They didn’t work then and that dog won’t hunt now.
I’m getting tired of these ageist naysayers.
I don’t hear ageist naysayers attacking their ideological guru, Bernie Sanders, who is older than Joe Biden.
Sanders showed a lot more energy on the debate stage than Joe Biden did, that said, you also frequently hear former Sanders supporters say he’s too old and it’s time for someone new. I think Biden and his supporters have to recognize rather than deny it’s a legitimate issue and address it.
Sanders issue is that his message has gotten old and his campaign is superfluous to Warren’s. He’s gone from second to fourth in IA and his support is going Warren’s way.
@too old:
Please try out the following:
“Cory Booker is unelectable because he’s too black”.
“Elizabeth Warren is unelectable because she’s too female”
“Bernie Sanders is unelectable because he’s too Jewish”
I categorically reject the argument that any candidate is “too old” — it is ageist, insulting, and demeaning. “Identity politics” is just as unacceptable when it comes from Democrats as from Republicans.
It is perfectly legitimate, on the other hand, to cite concerns about specific aspects of any candidate:
– John Blow lacks energy
– John Blow appears confused and unable to follow an argument
– Mary Doe is mired in the past and unwilling to face current issues
– Any seventy-plus man or woman is far more likely to face sudden, serious, and unpredictable health consequences (stroke, heart attack, dementia) then a younger person.
Absolutely. Joe Biden is not too old for this.
He is, however, showing very concerning signs about his memory and capacities recently.
During his IA visit yesterday he claimed he was VP during the Parkland shooting. He wasn’t. That shooting was in 2018. He’s had similar slip ups in every speech he has given recently. What is scary about that is that he is actually not doing that many public events – far fewer than any of the other top tier candidates. For Biden is it just the large obligatory things like these IA events and then closed large donor fundraisers. He’s not doing the town halls or other public events day in and day out like other candidates. A slip up here and there is fine especially when you’re publicly talking for hours and hours every single day. Joe is not. He is slipping up every time he goes out there. Maybe that’s the reason he’s not out there much. Or maybe his campaign is convinced they just don’t need to campaign and can ride the name recognition and the “electability” argument to the nomination while mainly spending time building a war chest from big donors for the general.
He’ll have to campaign at some point and we disregard these signs at our peril. It looks like they aren’t just “gaffes.”
@It looks like they aren’t just “gaffes”:
Making frequent gaffes has been part of Joe Biden’s public manner for as long as he’s been in office.
For example, I thought of his famous 2008 gaffe about FDR (“When the stock market crashed, FDR got on the television …”) when Mr. Trump recently made his famous blunder about George Washington “taking the airports”.
However much these blunders are or are not an issue, they are nothing new and have nothing to do with his age (or if they do, they began more than a decade ago and did not interfere with his ability to effectively perform as Vice President).
I know his history of “gaffes.” The recent activity with a messup in every single public appearance and looking increasingly confused is very different from the Joe of the Obama years and earlier.
“Go to Joe 3 0 33 0” is different.
We talk openly about Trump’s capacities, which are clearly bad, and getting worse, and very terrifying given his embrace of cruelty and revenge (and, you know, having the nuke codes).
“How the hell can anyone say Joe Biden “blunders” are lethal to his campaign but Trump can pathologically lie & blunder & gaffe & screw up…no problem.. There is no such thing as a blunder anymore.” Malcolm Nance
Who the hell is saying it is not a problem for Trump? His blunders are scary and awful.
It’s probably best not to run another senile person against him, though.
“Senile” is not a synonym for “77 years old”.
I remember Ronald Reagan in his appalling debate performance in the 1984 campaign. Joe Biden is not there.
I really wish you’d stick to specific and defensible criticism. The “senility” thing is insulting and offensive.
Except that race and gender have ZERO relevance to the conduct and capabilities of a president while age does have relevance. Reagan’s cabinet came awfully close to invoking the 25th amendment during his second term as he exhibited early symptoms of what would later be diagnosed at dementia and Alzheimer’s.
Churchill’s return to power in the 50’s was a disaster largely because of his age and indifference to changing tides of public opinion (the first season of the Crown does an excellent job depicting this).
Now Trump would be unqualified and incapable at any age, but watch clips of him from the 1980’s and he speaks in clear and succinct sentences and not the clipped grasping for words phrases he has today. His mind has aged poorly. We don’t need a gerontocracy. Not when my cohort and the one coming after me are the most progressive in history.
On a debate stage with Trump, Biden would still do well, but one cannot help but think that a youthful president would be a better contrast to Trump going into the fall. Obama’s youth was an asset against Clinton and McCain. Clinton’s youth was an asset against Dole and HW Bush (Biden is sure to have a supermarket scanner moment). Polls shows even older voters prefer a younger candidate.
It’s also about being in step with the times. I think there are a lot of ways where Biden has old mannerisms that are cute when an older relative does it and problematic when a president does it. The line about Indians owning convenience stores and Obama being clean and articulate in 2008, calling Kamala Harris “a kid” at a recent debate, grabbing women in a friendly but condescending manner, saying malarkey and other old timey phrases, confusing a website with a text number. These are all things Joe Biden does that my dad does. Dad still says oriental too, which fortunately my wife finds hilarious but other Asians might not. Biden has been known to “you people” blacks like Perot did, as is recent comment on “white kids” instead of poor kids attested to.
Does this stuff matter against Trump? No, but I would rather have a candidate closer to my generations lived experiences who appreciates our collective trauma from mass shootings, endless war, systematic racism, or our debt load instead of using our real problems as a punchline like Biden has on several occasions. Who understands our symbiotic and at times parasitic relationships with technology. Who knows what the gender binary is and can relate to the growing population of queer people who identify as non-binary or gender fluid. So it’s about attitude as much as experience.
So again this isn’t a binary between Biden and Trump but a choice between many qualified candidates. I think the age question is relevant in that discussion.
@Except race and gender …:
I have no issue with calling out and criticizing whatever complaints somebody has — it is the explicit reference to age that is offensive.
Words like “gerontocracy” are offensive. Your generation does not have a monopoly on being traumatized by mass shootings, endless war or systematic racism, or debt load. Your generation was not the first to deal with revolutionary technology, gender identity and preference, and so on.
I also remind you that my generation famously invented the phrase “Don’t trust anybody over 30”.
It is fair to say that Joe Biden says and does offensive things, and it is fair to enumerate what those are. It is not fair to lump all that together under “too old”.
I remind you that various sources put the life expectancy at birth for someone born in 1800 at just over 40. By the standards of the day, George Washington (57), John Adams (61), Thomas Jefferson (57), etc., were all nearly a decade older when elected than the expected life expectancy of their day. The expected life expectancy in the US today is just under 80.
In short, I think you greatly exaggerate the role that age rightly plays in our selection of a nominee. The racists in Red America argue that race IS relevant and construct arguments to support that claim strikingly similar to those you make about age. The misogynists similarly make similar claims and arguments.
Cultural differences exist among a multitude of dimensions including race, gender identification, gender preference, religion, and host of other things. I reject the contention that those cultural differences are, in themselves, qualifications for or against any given candidate.
I fear that your arguments come very close to denying that ageism itself even exists. Is that what you intend?
I remind you that Bernie Sanders is 77 and Elizabeth Warren is 70. If Joe Biden is “too old”, then so are the other two front-runners.
Judge case by case on whether one’s faculties are going. This the first I’m hearing the Reagan Cabinet almost invoked 25 – do you have a cite for that? Some of your comment almost sounds like the worst stereotypes of millennials thinking the world has to revolve around them.
@strong majority of voters …:
I think a huge part of what we’re seeing is simple name recognition.
I strongly suspect — I think I’ve even seen polling data to support this — that a clear majority of that “strong majority of voters” don’t know what Mr. Biden’s positions have been on the issues they say they care about and don’t know that Mr. Biden’s positions do not align with their own.
I think we’re seeing the impact of a familiar face, name, and voice. I think that by the time we get to primary elections and convention, two or three other candidates will be just as familiar.
I also think that America needs more than a familiar face in 2020.
Well, of course they do. I’m not supporting him just because he’s a familiar face He has a vision for where he wants to take America that I share and it starts by beating the Chief Creep like a drum for the next 15 months.
I know he’s a fighter and I know Ol’ Weehands McNodick fears him like no other.
His vision seems to be to take us back to the time before Trump . . . which was the time that resulted in giving us Trump.
Oy vey ! I’m all argued out with this circular firing squad. I’m signing off now for some much needed R&R and a good stiff Vodka Cocktail. You guys wore me out.
That’s the strongest argument against Biden. I also think Biden needs to attack it head in if he wants to win this thing. It’s a fair criticism.
Regarding running for rather than running against, Sen. Warren said as much herself during the recent debate: “I don’t know why anyone goes through the trouble of running for President just to say what we can’t do and shouldn’t fight for!” IMO it was the line of the night.
It was. I think Delaney is still in the hospital from that one.
“Trump’s carnage stops with us.” Joe Biden not only defined who we are but, more importantly, who we are not!
https://truthout.org/articles/biden-is-doubling-down-on-iraq-war-lies/
Haha. Truly a disaster of a candidate.
I can’t believe we’re going to do this.
I’m mostly of he view that approximately 99.99999% of the “progressive activist” agenda that gets everyone all excited is dead on arrival, because the control of the Senate isn’t changing. I suppose Medicare for All and the Green New Deal and whatever else are super, but so would me winning Powerball every day for the rest of my life. Removing Warren from the Senate makes that problem worse, not better, and seems a bad trade.
Because I don’t see any political revolution in the making, I pretty much want what I wanted in 2016: a competent administrator who can maybe undo some of the damage done to the federal agencies, to national security, and to the nation’s standing in foreign affairs.
I’m not particularly keen on impeachment, either, because impeachment is a purely political process that pretends to be legal, and the votes aren’t there. Even if articles get out of the House, the trial in the Senate would be about 3 minutes long, and would then be a pretend-legal vindication. No thanks.
I am uprating CMD since I think a lot of voters think exactly like him. The number of voters that want a straight down the line progressive agenda approximates the Gonzalez vote in this state.
There are a lot of Baker Democrats and Clinton Republicans/Independents who make up the suburban electorate that gave us a House majority in 2018 and likes divided government on Beacon Hill.
Without getting too far in the weeds, I was at a recent parent teacher get together and the younger urban dwelling teachers were jazzed about Warren or Sanders while the parents of color and white suburban dwelling older teachers all hated Trump and longed for Biden. We blamed Baker for the T, they blamed “mismanagement fraud and abuse”.
Progressives won’t fix this in one cycle. Where I do have pause about Biden is on the stamina question. I’m a Warren supporter since I want her ideas to shape the platform and drive the debate. I voted for Sanders for similar reasons, unlike Sanders, I think she can govern. I do have doubts she can win.
So I’m hoping Harris or Booker can break up of fourth and sixth place and start to be a younger moderate progressive alternative to both Biden and Warren. Otherwise, I see the field coming down to those two.
It’s day 3 of the 10 day Iowa State Fair and long lines are forming for : Cast Your Kernel (corn) popularity contest . Results so far have ‘Joltin’ Joe Biden leading (he’s on his 2nd jar) followed by Mayor Pete and our ‘Favorite Daughter’ Elizabeth.
If Donald Trump is not impeached, or if this president is impeached and not removed from office, then Mr. Trump will have defined the new “normal” for American government.
I understand your argument, we’ve heard it many times. If the Democrats present a compelling case, and the Senate ignores it, then it will NEVER be possible to restrain ANY future President. From that point onward, each and every subpoena from Congress will be immediately discarded. Each and every attempt by Congress to provide oversight or in any way restrain the power of the President will be absolutely ignored. Mr. Trump, and any future president, will declare himself “President for life”, or will invent some pretext for cancelling elections after 2020.
These abuses are not specific to Donald Trump, and will be repeated by every executive who chooses to so whenever it suits the political convenience of that president.
The rule of law in American government will be gone. We will have created a tyrant and dictator, and given that tyrant and dictator the most lethal arsenal in human history. Mr Trump is coming for Central American immigrants today. Who knows who the next tyrant will choose to abuse.
I hope and pray that you are wrong. I hope and pray that the evidence of Mr. Trump’s criminal behavior will be front and center during the entire 2020 campaign. I hope and pray that even Red State voters will insist that the Senator they are about to elect pay attention to that evidence.
If America cannot remove this President from office, then America cannot remove ANY president from office. If America cannot remove a President from office, then there are ZERO limits on what the President can do. I hope that a majority of American voters will find that situation unacceptable.
I submit that if the scenario you describe plays out, then all bets are off about what happens to the political process after that — including martial law, assassination, utter chaos, civil war, or all of the above.
“Your patience exceeds your judgment” Joe Biden the final candidate to speak at the 2 hour Iowa State Fair Wing Ding. He was the only candidate to listen and applaud all the other candidates when they spoke. He is such a classy gentleman.
Biden calls for reinstatement of assault weapons ban…which he and Feinstein sponsored in 1994. It expired in 2004.
He outlined his plan in a NYT OP-ED today titled : Banning Assault Weapons Works.
I really don’t understand how someone who adamantly supports M4A can also support Biden, when there are several candidates who do support it. Christopher, I fully expect you to call me a purist, and guess what? I don’t give a flying f*ck. I’ll wear that badge with honor during Primary Season. 😉
Yup,
I am tired of half measures and Democratic “centrists” who compromise with Republican right wing extremists (who are the only remaining Republicans).
It’s time to make a stand.
That really wasn’t called for was it? Why do you still sound angry with me over an exchange we had months ago (and I thought had reconciled)? We are each free to support whomever we want for whichever reasons we find appropriate. I lean toward M4A as long as it doesn’t require a complete abolition of private insurance for those who like theirs, but I have said all along I tend to choose my presidential preferences based on resume and experience rather than an issue checklist, since I’m confident that if these bills ever made it through Congress a Dem President is unlikely to veto them.