The Democratic Primary is Upon Us! - Biden is the Presumptive Nominee

[Eacaraxe_v1legacy]

I'm surprised you haven't decided yet on a theory for how me having orange juice this morning is a conspiracy against Bernie.

It was the joke about Iowa delegate math summoning Cthulhu that angered you, wasn't it.

Look, Cthulhu can complain all he wants, but unless he can pony up the half-billion in cash like Bloomberg, he has to work the old-fashioned way to get on the Democratic ticket just like everyone else: by having a decades-long career of barely-concealed neoliberal mediocrity, multiple failed past presidential bids, and an extensive social network of party and fundraising connections. I'm sorry his worshipers don't have the massive small-dollar contribution network needed to balance out legal-maximum bundled contributions and fake a grassroots donor base, or a Super PAC, but rules are rules and Cthulhu didn't even get delegates in American Samoa. You need to understand this moving forward, and maybe your favorite candidate will be ready for prime time in 2024.

That is, if your Cthulhu Cousins can reign in their toxicity and avoid making their candidate look bad by extension. You can judge a candidate by the conduct of their supporters, and ritual sacrifice while reading from the Necronomicon is horrifically bad optics.

 

[Seanchaidh]

The media's lack of attention to this is journalistic malpractice.

[tweet t="https://twitter.com/BetaODork/status/1235674837592535040"]

 

[Marik2]

So it all comes down to Michigan?

 

[SupahEwok]

[tweet t="https://twitter.com/BetaODork/status/1235321894540324865"]

[tweet t="https://twitter.com/BetaODork/status/1235674837592535040"]

E L E C T A B I L I T Y

 

[Eacaraxe_v1legacy]

E L E C T A B I L I T Y

Charlie Sheen tiger blood electability. 100% jet fuel testosterone.

[tweet t=https://twitter.com/thedailyangle/status/1235760412735541248]

 

[Kwak]

Hmm, will it be the generic W.A.S.P., or the scruffy Jewish intellectual and socialist? Gee I wonder.

 

[Agema]

I will say again as I think I've done so before in this thread, not wanting to be ageist, but are people well past retirement age really who you should be electing president?

There's an inevitable decline in cognitive function (even leaving aside dementias) - particularly perhaps memory, which will be exacerbated by stress, tiredness, etc. The rigours of an election campaign are very likely to make anyone slip up, and someone elderly will be particularly affected. Credit to the likes of Sanders and Biden. They are - mentally and physically - in great shape for their age. But even still...

I cannot help but feel that US political parties could benefit from a system to get quality candidates in a position to be president before they hit 70. It's staggering to think that after Obama's presidency, there were no notable up-and-coming politician to take the reins after him, basically just leaving the same guys who were around in 2008. And here we are another four years down the line from 2016, and it's still the same guys.

 

[Kwak]

Maybe the world has a Freudian daddy complex? Still searching for that fatherly authority figure we never had to fix our problems and tell us it's going to be okay.
Or probably just our instinct to associate power and age and maleness. Stupid genes.

 

[Seanchaidh]

I will say again as I think I've done so before in this thread, not wanting to be ageist, but are people well past retirement age really who you should be electing president?

There's an inevitable decline in cognitive function (even leaving aside dementias) - particularly perhaps memory, which will be exacerbated by stress, tiredness, etc. The rigours of an election campaign are very likely to make anyone slip up, and someone elderly will be particularly affected. Credit to the likes of Sanders and Biden. They are - mentally and physically - in great shape for their age. But even still...

I cannot help but feel that US political parties could benefit from a system to get quality candidates in a position to be president before they hit 70. It's staggering to think that after Obama's presidency, there were no notable up-and-coming politician to take the reins after him, basically just leaving the same guys who were around in 2008. And here we are another four years down the line from 2016, and it's still the same guys.

It depends on the person. Biden is *not* mentally in great shape for his age.

The Democratic Party is turning into a gerontocracy in some respects, and that would be smart to change, yeah. But if it's a question of policy vs. age, policy should win every time.

 

[Dalisclock]

I cannot help but feel that US political parties could benefit from a system to get quality candidates in a position to be president before they hit 70. It's staggering to think that after Obama's presidency, there were no notable up-and-coming politician to take the reins after him, basically just leaving the same guys who were around in 2008. And here we are another four years down the line from 2016, and it's still the same guys.

Our political system is dominated by old fuckers, partially because Old fuckers have a massive amount of voting power but also because incumbents tend to stay that way. I honestly kinda wish there was a maximum age for president just like there's a minimum age to help get some younger blood in there. Or maybe congressional term limits to keep people from rooting in place in their congressional seats.

 

[dreng3]

I will say again as I think I've done so before in this thread, not wanting to be ageist, but are people well past retirement age really who you should be electing president?

There's an inevitable decline in cognitive function (even leaving aside dementias) - particularly perhaps memory, which will be exacerbated by stress, tiredness, etc. The rigours of an election campaign are very likely to make anyone slip up, and someone elderly will be particularly affected. Credit to the likes of Sanders and Biden. They are - mentally and physically - in great shape for their age. But even still...

I cannot help but feel that US political parties could benefit from a system to get quality candidates in a position to be president before they hit 70. It's staggering to think that after Obama's presidency, there were no notable up-and-coming politician to take the reins after him, basically just leaving the same guys who were around in 2008. And here we are another four years down the line from 2016, and it's still the same guys.

It depends on the person. Biden is *not* mentally in great shape for his age.

The Democratic Party is turning into a gerontocracy in some respects, and that would be smart to change, yeah. But if it's a question of policy vs. age, policy should win every time.

At some point the politician will, however, be too old to effectively lead, and if a president dies, or becomes incapacitated, while in office, due to old age he or she will no longer be able to implement their policies.

The main democratic nominees have already passed the life expectancy, or will do so before their term is over.

 

[Dalisclock]

I will say again as I think I've done so before in this thread, not wanting to be ageist, but are people well past retirement age really who you should be electing president?

There's an inevitable decline in cognitive function (even leaving aside dementias) - particularly perhaps memory, which will be exacerbated by stress, tiredness, etc. The rigours of an election campaign are very likely to make anyone slip up, and someone elderly will be particularly affected. Credit to the likes of Sanders and Biden. They are - mentally and physically - in great shape for their age. But even still...

I cannot help but feel that US political parties could benefit from a system to get quality candidates in a position to be president before they hit 70. It's staggering to think that after Obama's presidency, there were no notable up-and-coming politician to take the reins after him, basically just leaving the same guys who were around in 2008. And here we are another four years down the line from 2016, and it's still the same guys.

It depends on the person. Biden is *not* mentally in great shape for his age.

The Democratic Party is turning into a gerontocracy in some respects, and that would be smart to change, yeah. But if it's a question of policy vs. age, policy should win every time.

At some point the politician will, however, be too old to effectively lead, and if a president dies, or becomes incapacitated, while in office, due to old age he or she will no longer be able to implement their policies.

The main democratic nominees have already passed the life expectancy, or will do so before their term is over.

The only thing Biden has going for him on that front is that Trump ain't exactly the picture of good health or mental stability either. It's gonna be mumbly grandpa vs racist grandpa for the rest of the year, which will certainly makes the debates interesting.....probably.

 

[Agema]

The main democratic nominees have already passed the life expectancy, or will do so before their term is over.

Arguably not because they're middle class, where male life expectancy is more in the region of 85.

 

[Seanchaidh]

I think it's safe to say that Biden has not been vetted.

[tweet t="https://twitter.com/BenjaminPDixon/status/1235890961571557377"]

In other news,

[tweet t="https://twitter.com/jackallisonLOL/status/1236080852875874305"]

(A neo-Nazi unfurled a Nazi flag at a Sanders rally and was then escorted out by security, in case you hadn't heard.)

 

[Eacaraxe_v1legacy]

Our political system is dominated by old fuckers, partially because Old fuckers have a massive amount of voting power but also because incumbents tend to stay that way. I honestly kinda wish there was a maximum age for president just like there's a minimum age to help get some younger blood in there. Or maybe congressional term limits to keep people from rooting in place in their congressional seats.

One point I find interesting because I'm a Soviet history buff, is that one of the major ancillary reasons the Soviet Union collapsed was simply because they ran out of leaders. Stalin purged the party, Khrushchev consolidated and seized the government after Stalin, then Brezhnev successfully performed a coup against Khrushchev. Then within three years they went from Andropov and Chernenko who were both old guard fossils and keeled over in office, and finally Gorbachev. Gorbachev wasn't even the first choice to succeed Chernenko, it was supposed to be another septuagenarian with one foot in the grave by the name of Victor Grishin who disgraced himself making a public appearance with Chernenko to cement his "next in line" status while Chernenko was already on his deathbed.

Gorbachev, who was in his mid-50's, was actually one of the youngest if not the youngest member of the Central Committee or Politburo if I remember right, and had no younger generation of leaders to replace them. Nobody was ever willing to step down and let younger politicians learn the ropes. One of the key roles glasnost and perestroika you don't hear about, was actually to get new blood in the party and get them moving up the ranks to prevent the very ossification that had destabilized the Soviet Union since Brezhnev's death.

When you consider the...kookiness...of the last twelve years compared with the dearth of gen-X representation in Congress and gross Boomer overrepresentation, it really makes one wonder in light of that.

(A neo-Nazi unfurled a Nazi flag at a Sanders rally and was then escorted out by security, in case you hadn't heard.)

Yep.

 

[crimson5pheonix]

Oh hey, Biden's doing well with (old, conservative) black people, that must mean his supporters are very ni-

[tweet t="https://twitter.com/jaboukie/status/1235794710444326913"]

For extra reference, that white woman who won't let the black woman talk was the former head of the RIAA, an organization that cemented some of the most broken copyright laws on the books.

 

[Agema]

One point I find interesting because I'm a Soviet history buff, is that one of the major ancillary reasons the Soviet Union collapsed was simply because they ran out of leaders. Stalin purged the party, Khrushchev consolidated and seized the government after Stalin, then Brezhnev successfully performed a coup against Khrushchev. Then within three years they went from Andropov and Chernenko who were both old guard fossils and keeled over in office, and finally Gorbachev. Gorbachev wasn't even the first choice to succeed Chernenko, it was supposed to be another septuagenarian with one foot in the grave by the name of Victor Grishin who disgraced himself making a public appearance with Chernenko to cement his "next in line" status while Chernenko was already on his deathbed.

Gorbachev, who was in his mid-50's, was actually one of the youngest if not the youngest member of the Central Committee or Politburo if I remember right, and had no younger generation of leaders to replace them.

Yep.

From the 60s the Politburo was run by a load of old farts who would do anything to change nothing; persisting with Brezhnev for ten years long after his health was in freefall, up to taking an "anyone but Gorbachev" approach as long as it could. Arguably Chernenko's death did force them to consider Gorbachev, because a succession of enfeebled oldsters dying in office was destabilising and damaging public trust in the government. Although Andropov, for all his faults, did recognise the problem with a lack of younger officials in government and encouraged their advancement.

That I suspect is one of the problems with ambitious people, however. They tend to not want to give up their power, even when age had riddled them with inadequacy.

 

[Agema]

For extra reference, that white woman who won't let the black woman talk was the former head of the RIAA, an organization that cemented some of the most broken copyright laws on the books.

One might argue that when MLK criticised white moderates, precisely the sort of tactic he might mean is that they co-opt the cosy parts of what he said for warm, fuzzy, nice feelings whilst downplaying the elements of his words that asked them to reflect on and confront their actions.

 

[Eacaraxe_v1legacy]

Oh hey, Biden's doing well with (old, conservative) black people, that must mean his supporters are very ni-

I see what you did there.

Meanwhile, elsewhere on "Biden surrogates putting their best foot forward..." antisemitic oppo disinformationist unfortunate, poor, innocent victim of Bernie Bro harassment Lindy Li has a few feet to stick in her mouth [https://youtu.be/swhmkTOVt6M]:

[tweet t=https://twitter.com/aishaismad/status/1235995528288182272]

[tweet t=https://twitter.com/JordanUhl/status/1236092311328690176]

I don't know how she managed it, but she actually managed to make Linda Sarsour look good by contrast. That alone deserves a medal.

That I suspect is one of the problems with ambitious people, however. They tend to not want to give up their power, even when age had riddled them with inadequacy.

Pretty much. Ossified government led by aging people who refuse to retire is as sure a sign of impending governmental failure as any. It's pretty sad the first, and likely only, gen-X President was Obama, because after the boomer die-off really gets going people will be looking to millennials. It's honestly sad the state of affairs is such, we're trying to barely hold on long enough for the boomers to die at all.

Is it sad the last, best shot this country has of being fixed is coronavirus? I'd never say I'm low-key rooting for a highly contagious respiratory disease that rampages through boomers like a Chipotle burrito through a Crohn's disease sufferer, but on the other hand if this drums home to...cognitively-challenged...older demographics while they may have Cadillac employer-provided health care plans, paid sick leave, and job security, the people handling the food, scrubbing the floors, and stocking the shelves don't. Or if it at least keeps them indoors and far away from crowded public locations with high foot traffic like, oh say polling stations, I'll take it. The 40,000 people that die to the flu every year in this country certainly isn't doing the trick.

I'm just waiting for three months from now when Corona-chan's really working her magic on the populace, the sundowning 77-year-old Dixiecrat's secured the nomination, and buyers' remorse sets in.

And MLK was absolutely putting people like Biden's "can't we just get back to Obama normalcy?" supporters on full blast.

 

[crimson5pheonix]

[tweet t="https://twitter.com/BernieWon2016/status/1236464241508528129"]

It may or may not shift Texas overall, but we'll have to wait and see if it goes through.