The Defending Joe Biden Mega-Thread

[dreng3]

Being a minority is a two way street though. Harris will likely be fanatically opposed by racist and sexists, but she can also garner minority support that might have been lost if the first black/Indian VP was unceremoniously skipped.

Guess it will depend on how well she deals with the inevitable namecalling from Trump.

I must admit that I find especially the cadance of her speech somewhat annoying, a minor gripe but every little bit matter, and that her background as a prosecutor leave me with a fair disdain for her, though she'd still have my vote if I was american.

 

[Hades]

Its funny that rather than gracefully take in the news Trump took time to deem Biden the worst president in history. This being funny because Trump has always bungled in the bottom row of presidential rankings, and in some cases even being the absolute lowest.

And Biden....was not.

And its not like history will look more kindly on Trump. Why would it? Demagogues never get good press in the history books, he doesn't have any legislative accomplishments to point to, wasn't a good administrator despite his faults like Nixon nor was he even a good man failing to do the job like Grant was.

Aside from showcasing Trump's lack of character it also reeks of projection giving his own abysmal reputation

 

[Burnhardt]

That leaves the Dems to look for a replacement candidate, Harris is an obvious choice as she has VP experience and is already on the ballot, but I'm not sure she can stand up to Trump in a meaningful way and that's to say nothing of the misogyny and racism she'll undoubtedly have to deal with.

Beyond Harris the Dems are a little short on obvious candidates, I've heard som suggest Whitmer, Josh Shapiro, and Newsom, though I'm not sure how they'd fare.

Democrats for the last few weeks: Biden needs to step out of the race!
Everyone else: OK...and who should replace him?
Democrats now: (shrugging) 'dunno. But at least he's stepped down now right?

 

[Bedinsis]

Its funny that rather than gracefully take in the news Trump took time to deem Biden the worst president in history. This being funny because Trump has always bungled in the bottom row of presidential rankings, and in some cases even being the absolute lowest.

And Biden....was not.

And its not like history will look more kindly on Trump. Why would it? Demagogues never get good press in the history books, he doesn't have any legislative accomplishments to point to, wasn't a good administrator despite his faults like Nixon nor was he even a good man failing to do the job like Grant was.

Aside from showcasing Trump's lack of character it also reeks of projection giving his own abysmal reputation

It reeks of Trump's being a self-aggrandizing, hyperbolic loudmouth as usual.

 

[Worgen]

why?

In hope that he will be the replacement nominee, duh.

 

[Casual Shinji]

And its not like history will look more kindly on Trump.

Not if they ban those books. And who cares what the rest of the world thinks - this is 'murica!

Seriously though, you think Trump cares how he goes down in history? So long as he gets to wreak havoc on his enemies in life he gives zero shits how history will remember him in death.

 

[Hades]

So how fast will the Republicans suddenly switch to the stance that criticizing Trump's age is ageist and that its unethical to speculate whether he's got dementia or not?

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

Well, we've gotten one doddering old man to pack it in. How about the other one?

 

[Casual Shinji]

Well, we've gotten one doddering old man to pack it in. How about the other one?

Someone tried to pack him in, but...

 

[Chimpzy]

So how fast will the Republicans suddenly switch to the stance that criticizing Trump's age is ageist and that its unethical to speculate whether he's got dementia or not?

Soon, but not just yet. First got to ride that "Harris got the nom cuz of DEI" train

 

[Eacaraxe]

Soon, but not just yet. First got to ride that "Harris got the nom cuz of DEI" train

Which is a far cry from the train that should have left the station, which is that Harris bombed in 2020 for good reason and the same issues at play then are still at play. It's kind of hard for Harris to hit on -- and hard to defend her on -- racism grounds when she was California's AG during one of its worst stints of neoslavery in contemporary history, all while letting California residents responsible for the 2008 economic meltdown off the hook.

This was just the most expedient way to coronate Harris, without the party having to ratfuck its way through the third primary season in a row.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Friendly reminder from the outside that America is still clearly not ready to elect a female president.

 

[Hades]

Friendly reminder from the outside that America is still clearly not ready to elect a female president.

Its apparently not even ready to elect a president who isn't a traitor and a felon.

 

[Agema]

Democrats for the last few weeks: Biden needs to step out of the race!
Everyone else: OK...and who should replace him?
Democrats now: (shrugging) 'dunno. But at least he's stepped down now right?

This at least means the Democrats can go down fighting, instead of going down staring into the camera vacantly trying to remember what they wanted to say. Biden would never be able to get any message out there, because anything he could say would be an uphill slog against the constant hum of concern about his age.

The wider party is still fucked because it now has to roll the dice on a host of untested candidates, so it's dumb luck whether they can hit on one that's got the right stuff to challenge Trump and start their arguments from scratch.

 

[meiam]

Alright, so hopefully the dem will quickly and smartly find a good replacement candidate and... nvm its the dem they'll find a way to make a mess of it.

Still, nice that Biden accepted he's getting old, maybe use the last few minute of unlimited power to do some serious good before bowing out (how about forging letters from the GOP SCOTUS that they all resign effective immediately, its not a crime).

 

[laggyteabag]

I think this is the best outcome for Biden, but the "will he? won't he?" whiplash over these past few weeks has been pretty exhausting.

The thing with challenging Trump, is that you need someone to be able to call him out on his incompetence. But Biden's recent public appearances have undermined his ability to do that, because he has been constantly stumbling over his own words.

The impression that I get over American politics, is the Dems will vote for whatever democratic candidate is, the Republicans will vote for whatever Republican candidate there is, and the real battle is fought over the undecided voters. The Democrats need to field someone who is competent and stable, to contrast against Trump's unpredictability. I'm not really sure that it matters all that much as to who that is, though I am sure many Democrats would like a more ambitious candidate, rather than a safe compromise one, but whoever it is cannot have some critical controversy hanging over their head, like Biden's age.

Still though, if it does end up being Kamala, at least that will be one for the history books.

 

[crimson5pheonix]

I'm glad it's finally Joever, the discourse from Biden's supporters has been a longform strangling of their own arguments against Trump. This absolutely had to happen so that dems don't look like complete morons whenever they go after Trump.

 

[Bedinsis]

Friendly reminder from the outside that America is still clearly not ready to elect a female president.

Eh, at one point a female candidate got the most votes.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Eh, at one point a female candidate got the most votes.

 

[Eacaraxe]

The wider party is still fucked because it now has to roll the dice on a host of untested candidates, so it's dumb luck whether they can hit on one that's got the right stuff to challenge Trump and start their arguments from scratch.

With all primary dates already held (and some even canceled), and the DNC four weeks out, and three and a half months before the general election, I'd love to hear how this primary season you seem to think will only just now kick off will happen. Especially since as Biden dropped out and endorsed Harris, the 87% of pledged "delegates" already awarded to him will default to her.

This was the Democratic party's way to place Harris on the ballot without vetting her through the primary process, which the DNC knows she wouldn't win, while preventing any sort of challenge from the party's left flank. She was a single-digit-polling also-ran, who dropped out even before the first primaries of 2020.

Pure, unadulterated, undemocratic ratfucking. And to think the Democratic party's slogan this year boils down to "we have to save democracy" (by voting for our handpicked candidate candidate no one voted for in primaries).

The impression that I get over American politics, is the Dems will vote for whatever democratic candidate is, the Republicans will vote for whatever Republican candidate there is, and the real battle is fought over the undecided voters...

Well, time for this "once every four years" lecture.

Undecided voters (colloquially called "the undecided 8%") no longer exist in the US, that's a fiction perpetuated by the media and political parties themselves to justify status quo electoral politics. So-called "swing" voters no longer determine election outcomes, in swing states or not, and haven't determined election outcomes for about twenty years. Country's too damn polarized for undecided voters to determine election outcomes, and that's a byproduct of campaigning by exclusively negative partisanship.

What there are, are unmotivated voters. In other words, voters who decided which candidate they support, but haven't decided whether they're going to the polls in the first place -- or casting a vote for that candidate if they do go. That's why elections since 2008 have been turnout battles, and why predictive models working off expected turnout are far more accurate in predicting election outcomes than those working off "undecided" voter behavior.