“Let me explain something to you about Joe Biden and why some of the shit that he’s done in his past doesn’t matter. This old rich white man played second fiddle to a black man. Not just any black man, but a younger black man, a smart black man. Not just for a day. Not 1, not 2 but eight years. He took his cues from this black man who had more power than him and was virtually unknown when he took the presidency and Joe Biden had been around forever. He was willing and proud to be his wing man. Not once did he try to undermine him, this black man. Instead Joe walked in lockstep with him, he respected him, he loved and trusted him. He was lead by him and learned from him. And Joe did not have a problem with it. You tell me what 40+ year “establishment” white politician has ever done that. Joe Biden is cut from a different cloth. And black folks understand that and for good reason. He has shown it. This is what showing up and being an ally looks like. When black people say they know Joe, this is how we know.” Laurie Goff
Why Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) endorsed the VP today: “The answer to hatred & division is to reignite our spirit of common purpose.. Joe Biden won’t only win — he’ll show there’s more that unites us than divides us.
He’ll restore honor to the Oval Office and tackle our most pressing challenges.
That’s why I’m proud to endorse Joe.”
From a friend: When Beau became ill and Biden started to say that he was going to sell his home in Delaware to get money to pay for Beau’s cancer treatment, this is what President Obama said to him :
“Don’t sell the house. You love that house. I’ll give you the money.”
It had not occurred to me that this would be part of the dynamic, but in hindsight it makes a deal of sense. (Though, in comparison to the Obamas, no slouches themselves, or even Bernie Sanders, I wouldn’t characterize Biden as ‘rich.’ This suggests padding the stats.)
Unfortunately–and however much he may have genuinely earned with his service–the question must be asked: at 78 years of age, is the time for Biden past? He’s clearly lost more than a step and isn’t going to get it back… Will he do more damage by claiming his victory yet falling down on the actual job? What’s the alternative? To allow some unelected someone like Jill Biden or a too-clever chief-of-staff or whomever he picks as VP to decide the course of the Biden Administration?
I say this as somebody who hopes to make it to 78, and beyond, with faculties intact… but also as somebody who will never be closer to the Presidency than he is right now, that is to say, not close at all…
I suppose the response to this is that Trump has issues of senescence and so what’s your problem, Petr? My problem is that I’ve never once even so much as considered voting for Trump and, indeed, advocated against it strenuously. Therefore, I feel no complicity whatsoever in the horror-show that is his administration. I’d rather not invest in that sort of dynamic wrt a Biden administration… I like sleeping at night.
I watched the full interview that Lawrence O’Donnell did with Joe Biden this evening. I wish I hadn’t. I’m trying to stay with the program and stay positive. I think I have pretty good intuition about people and candidates. My alarm bells are all going off. I want Joe Biden to be able to do the job, and I don’t think he is able.
This is a real dilemma for me. I don’t want Bernie Sanders to be nominated (because I don’t want him to be President) and I’m gravely concerned about Joe Biden’s ability to do the job. The presidency is a physically and emotionally taxing job. Every occupant has said that except Mr. Trump.
I don’t care how many push-ups Mr. Biden can do.
I trust that Joe Biden is a true patriot that will always put the national interests of the American people first.
If and when the time ever comes that he can’t fulfill his responsibilities, I trust that he will do the right thing and relinquish power to his Vice President.
I actually thought it was a very good interview.
The Times did two looks at Michigan over the past few days. The first is the tightrope Debbie Dingell walks in her district which has the college towns and auto plants that voted for Sanders along with farms and small businesses that favored Trump and might favor Biden now.
The second is a look at Bay City, MI a blue collar industrial city north of Detroit. The young, facing a bleaker future than their parents are voting for the debt free world Sanders promises. The old, content with the factory jobs and pensions they have, favor Trump. Not a lot of Biden support in what was a solidly Obama-Biden town. NAFTA is universally unpopular there.
It’s statistically unlikely Bernie wins the nomination, and it’s likely Biden beats him like a drum in Michigan in the upcoming primary. I do wonder if any Democrat knows how to talk to these voters anymore, and it fills me with great pause. Dingell can. Their governor Gretchen Whitmer can. Can the presumptive nominee?
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer endorsed Joe Biden for a reason.
She obviously believes he can be that “bridge” to the younger generation of Democratic leaders that he spoke to yesterday.
@[Gretchen Whitmer] obviously believes [Joe Biden] can be that “bridge” to the younger generation of Democratic leaders that he spoke to yesterday.
That isn’t obvious to me.:
My sense is that she knows that Donald Trump is anathema to every thinking person with a room-temperature IQ. She knows that most MI voters are not ready to sign up for the “revolution” promised by Mr. Sanders. Mr. Biden is the only option left.
Some number of passionate supporters of Bernie Sanders will not vote for Joe Biden in November. Some number of people who have voted Republican all their lives will not vote for Donald Trump in November.
I think the outcome of the general election will be determined by which group is larger.
I believe the outcome of the general election will be determined by the vast majority of decent, rational, patriotic Americans who believe that Joe Biden will be a good president.
The number of people who think he will be a good President is exceedingly small. The number who think he will be better than Trump and can beat Trump is all that matters.
Biden admitted last night that he wouldn’t commit to even a compromise Medicare for All bill if it passed both the House and Senate. He’d be open to vetoing it!!! He will be a bad President, if he wins.
I don’t know how he is going to get any young people to vote.
After South Carolina and Super Tuesday, some Sanders supporters started to go through the five stages of grieving :
Thus far they have exhibited denial and anger.
After Super Tuesday II results tonight and beyond, we can only hope they will pass through bargaining and depression to arrive at acceptance.
Not only to unify the Democratic party but to defeat the Fascist Monster and move our country forward.
When Sanders is the leader, the question is, “how will HE unify the party?”
When Biden is the leader, the question is, “when will Sanders’ supporters come on board?”
I’d like to see Biden support a single progressive commitment. I haven’t. I’ve seen the opposite.
A “return to normal” when the normal is terrible isn’t going to sway me much.
A womans right to choose including overturning the Hyde Amendment. Bringing back DOJ consent decrees for police departments accused of racial discrimination. Equalizing funding for Title I schools and making the loan forgiveness program easier. A robust public option which even Sen. Sanders and Sen. Warren were once skeptical could pass. Comprehensive immigration reform and the end to family separations and unlawful detentions. Restoring America as a landing ground for refugees fleeing atrocities. Restoring American commitments abroad, especially to fighting climate change. An iron clad commitment to LGBT rights.
Are you seriously arguing none of that matters or that Biden is suspect on those issues? Do you honestly think Trump is better? I’m in an interracial marriage to a naturalized citizen and teach kids who’s parents are deported. It matters a lot to me that we get a new President, even a bland one like Biden. Not my first choice, but I respect the results of the primary process. He has the plurality we both argued needed to be respected.
Green New Deal
Did he sign off on that? He should-it’s incredibly popular with voters.
From his website:
I’ve also heard him say in speeches that he supports it.
Calling it “a crucial framework” is a bit of a hedge, but I’ll give it to him and his campaign. The actual legislation itself is more like a framework to begin with than a real law. It’s good enough for me, wont be for some people.
I’m at acceptance already. That does not mean I’ll pretend Biden is flawless, but he is an acceptable alternative to Trump and the clear consensus choice of the Democratic primary electorate.
Same could be said of Sanders to be honest. I guess they don’t care. Most of my students identified as centrist when we did the political quiz, and only half of them who were able to voted on Super Tuesday. Carville may have been right that relying on them for the Revolution was a fool’s errand.
Not for the Supreme Court. Not for world affairs. Not for the climate. Not for the kids in cages. I get it, not as progressive as he could be, but he is also running on a more progressive agenda than any other Democratic nominee. Same was true of Hillary.
They are stylistically far more moderate, but that is also why they might be winning elections while the liberal professor and the socialist could not even carry this blue state.
As a teacher I actually found his K-12 plan to be better than his competitors, really focused on closing Title I funding gaps and helping Title I teachers get their loan forgiveness quicker and easier. A President Biden would make a big difference in my life and the lives of my students scared of ICE, scared of climate change, and scared of gun violence. We cannot discount that.
I agree with that. For now, it looks like the latter is bigger. I hope that’s the right bet for the fall.
Michael Taylor, Republican mayor of Sterling Heights, MI, announced his endorsement of Joe Biden. A supporter of Mr. Trump in 2016, he said he was mistaken. He characterized Mr. Trump as “deranged”.
From the piece (emphasis mine):
As I suggested some weeks ago, Mr. Biden will be courting Republican voters like Mr. Taylor and his MI supporters. That’s why we won’t see him offer support for M4A or increased taxes on the wealthy.
You know who Republicans like to vote for?
Republicans.
We’ve seen this play before.
I’m acutely aware of this. They’re not going to vote for Bernie Sanders, though. Since there are precious little signs of a “revolution” at the polling places, this is what’s left.
I’m not saying I like it. It is what it is.
It’s sad to admit, but it’s clear now that a lot of the Sanders support in 2016 was due to anti-Clinton animus and a lot of the early support he saw was due to a fractured opposition and the quirky unrepresentative electorates in the first three states. He did make huge inroads with Latino voters, and it’s something the Biden campaign could still use a little help with for the general. There’s a lot that the Biden campaign can learn from Bernie.
How to raise a lot of money quickly online from small donors. Latino and youth outreach and even some popular policies he pushed they can co-opt. I think Bernie is in a more reasonable place than he was four years ago. He and Biden have a warm relationship and hopefully some real concessions can be made by both sides.
Bernie as DNC chair is not the worst consolation prize I can think of, or making him the face of a future health care reform campaign. Hopefully he has some input on VP. Debbie Dingell is my new dark horse. A consistent M4A advocate like her husband and an old school Midwest Democrat who has successfully straddled the Sanders/Trump divides in her district quite well. She’s close to both candidates.
This is interesting as a point seen worth mentioning. I’ve reported to AA supervisors without a second thought.
Setting aside this incessant garbage notion that black people are a monolithic group that all think the same way and have this apologist for Biden as their ambassador to white people on social media, (and BTW, what would you make of it if a single white person engaged in this as the spokesperson for all white people?), “JOE BIDEN WORKED TO UNDERMINE THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT’S COVERAGE OF CONTRACEPTION”, https://theintercept.com/2019/06/05/joe-biden-worked-to-undermine-the-affordable-care-acts-coverage-of-contraception/