# Biden's choice for vice presidential candidate **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [April 10, 2020, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bidens-choice-for-vice-presidential-candidate/851505 "2020-04-10T15:04:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 54
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2020, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bidens-choice-for-vice-presidential-candidate/851505/1063 "2020-08-14T05:02:08Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > Right wing websites are saying her great great (however many times) grandfather owned slaves in Jamaica in the early 1800’s. So did Sally Hemings’s ancestors. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2020, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bidens-choice-for-vice-presidential-candidate/851505/1064 "2020-08-14T05:05:17Z")
Yeah…they go after people who don’t think past the headline (which is, sadly, a LOT of people). ---
**Author:** ![Pantastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3bc359/32.png) [@Pantastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pantastic)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2020, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bidens-choice-for-vice-presidential-candidate/851505/1065 "2020-08-14T05:22:52Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > According to Columbia University professor John McWhorter (himself Black FWIW), he has researched the issue and found that when you control for poverty, police do not kill Black people any more frequently than White people (although they do “rough them up” more). According to other stats I’ve seen AND the personal experience of every black person I know, this is resolutely not true, so I’m not going to believe it unless there’s some really solid evidence behind it. The only article I could find by John McWhorter on the subject talks specifically about police _shootings_, which would exclude cases like George Floyd and Elijah McCain. This is a completely different claim than you made, that ‘police do not kill Black people any more frequently…’ as it’s much more specific. Even in the article, he admits that black people are arrested more often and subject to physical and verbal assault much more often. The fact that his argument completely relies on looking at only one really specific stat (police shootings) instead of the obvious one (deaths in altercations with police or of people in police custody) looks way too much like cherry picking to me. When he is deliberately ignoring deaths from choking, “excited delirium”, beatings, tasings, poisonings, forced drugging, failure to render aid and/or call EMTs, and all of the other sources of death that we routinely see the police administer, his argument simply fails to work. It’s really obvious that he’s cherry-picking one specific stat that fits his narrative, and not making the general case. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2020, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bidens-choice-for-vice-presidential-candidate/851505/1066 "2020-08-14T05:35:59Z")
> [@Pantastic](#): > > Even in the article, he admits that black people are arrested more often and subject to physical and verbal assault much more often. Didn’t I note that he specifically offered the caveat “although they do ‘rough them up’ more”? ---
**Author:** ![Iggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iggy/32/3364_2.png) [@Iggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggy)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2020, 8:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bidens-choice-for-vice-presidential-candidate/851505/1067 "2020-08-14T08:59:45Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > Other than Obama, we’ve never had a non-whte pres/VP Charles Curtis, Vice President of the United States in the Herbert Hoover administration from 1929 to 1933, was an enrolled member of the Kaw nation. His mother was of Native American ancestry. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2020, 9:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bidens-choice-for-vice-presidential-candidate/851505/1068 "2020-08-14T09:34:42Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > I didn’t see this posted yet but might have missed it: > > Eric Trump, junior asshole, liked a tweet Wednesday that said > “Raise your hand if you think Harris was a whorendous pick. May have misspelled,” Already seen “Joe & Ho” making the rounds as well. Because lies, hypocrisy and moral bankruptcy is pretty much all today’s Republican Party have to offer. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2020, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bidens-choice-for-vice-presidential-candidate/851505/1069 "2020-08-14T10:55:51Z")
It is soooo funny how Harris isn’t black enough for black people but she’s black enough to earn “Aunt Jemima ho” from racist, sexist white guys. Seriously, I can’t see how someone can tweet the shit that’s being tweeted and think to themselves, “Why, yes, I am one of the good guys!” I guess corona really has made us go back to 1918. Woodrow Wilson would be pleased to see how low the conservative discourse has fallen. But I don’t think any other conservative WH occupant of the 20th century would be, and that’s majorly fucked up. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2020, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bidens-choice-for-vice-presidential-candidate/851505/1070 "2020-08-14T11:14:33Z")
I give him 0.5 internet points for an actual apology with no “I’m sorry if I offended anyone” bullshit. ---
**Author:** ![LegendsofClear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/77aa72/32.png) [@LegendsofClear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LegendsofClear)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2020, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bidens-choice-for-vice-presidential-candidate/851505/1071 "2020-08-14T11:30:23Z")
Whoops ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2020, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bidens-choice-for-vice-presidential-candidate/851505/1072 "2020-08-14T11:37:25Z")
Predictable. I knew it was coming. > [@Biden's choice for vice presidential candidate](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bidens-choice-for-vice-presidential-candidate/851505/891): > > I don’t know where you read this. But nobody who writes this, or says this, believes it. It is simply a lie, an intentional, knowing lie. It is, of course, pure, unadulterated racism. What’s really being said is not that Senator Harris is barred from the office of the presidency because of her parents’ birth, but that she is barred because she is Black. That’s it. That’s all there is to it. There is no other possible interpretation. Nobody believes it. Nobody. Those who say, or write,… ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2020, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bidens-choice-for-vice-presidential-candidate/851505/1073 "2020-08-14T11:42:03Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > You’re serious, right? Words fail me Sorry if the nuance was lost here — I used the word “truly” unwisely. Obviously this is a complex subject. I wasn’t trying to say anything the least bit contested or controversial — just the usual, obvious observation that Harris is not descended from enslaved American Blacks (duh). Obama explores this in himself eloquently in his books, of course. Obviously, she identifies as Black, and is perceived as such, and I have no reservation whatsoever celebrating the wonderful fact that we will (inshallah) soon have a female Black VP, and quite possibly POTUS several (?) years later. I will replace “truly” with “significant portion of cultural and genetic heritage is from family with roots in African American slaves“ — SPOCAGHIFFWRIAAS for short. It’s mildly interesting that Obama married into a SPOCAGHIFFWRIAAS family, so his life has intertwined with that in certain ways. Harris did not, though she grew up in Berkeley and Montreal in diverse neighborhoods where she and her family were more or less felt to be SPOC…, so her life kind of intertwined with SPOCness in other ways Obama’s didn’t as much. And, my point was I expect and hope Biden will appoint a straight-up (and female) SPOCAGHIFFWRIAAS to the Supreme Court. Because if he doesn’t, it will (to me, and I suspect to others) reinforce the (I hope false) idea that “America isn’t ready for a SPOC… in a high position of power — we need to break America in gently by giving it Obama, Harris, and XXX first.” (Obviously we’ve had SPOC… men in the Supreme Court). I’ll never forget seeing Jesse Jackson’s tears of joy in Grant Park in November 2008. Yes, my use of the word “truly” was poorly chosen. But I’m pretty sure even Jesse looks forward to the day when we have a SPOCAGHIFFWRIAAS President. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2020, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bidens-choice-for-vice-presidential-candidate/851505/1074 "2020-08-14T12:09:08Z")
Addendum to my post above: I just came across this excellent piece on the subject, and I am appalled to realize that my poor use of the word “truly” may have reminded some of you of the filth that Dinesh D’Souza and others have been spewing these past two days. I truly (!) had no idea these particular lines of attack were being waged by Republican scum — if I had known, I would have saved my mildly interesting observation for another time. > **[Opinion | Black Like Kamala (Published 2020)](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/14/opinion/kamala-harris-black-identity.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage)** > > Republican efforts to deny Senator Harris’s identity as an African-American and turn her into a noncitizen are destined to fail. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2020, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bidens-choice-for-vice-presidential-candidate/851505/1075 "2020-08-14T12:29:46Z")
One more addendum to my above two posts: My wife is of Tamil Indian origins, so perhaps I’m a little more attuned than some to celebrating Kamala’s Blackness as being augmented by (not tempered by, but augmented by) important other parts of her heritage and experience. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2020, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bidens-choice-for-vice-presidential-candidate/851505/1076 "2020-08-14T17:13:29Z")
Fivethirtyeight report on polling about Biden’s Vice Presidential pick: > **[Biden’s Pledge To Choose A Woman For VP Was Popular — And So Is Harris](https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/bidens-pledge-to-choose-a-woman-for-vp-was-popular-and-so-is-harris/)** > > Welcome to Pollapalooza, our weekly polling roundup. Poll(s) of the week Before Joe Biden announced Sen. Kamala Harris as his running mate on Tuesday, criticism… A selected quote: > A late-July SurveyUSA/FairVote poll of Democrats and independents found that Harris [had the strongest favorability rating](https://www.fairvote.org/dem_vp_poll_aug2020#dem_vp_poll_favorability) among potential VP picks, for instance. And using ranked-choice voting, the poll also found Harris was the preferred option, beating Sen. Elizabeth Warren 55 percent to 45 percent after second- and third-choice votes were allocated. (Harris also led 26 percent to 22 percent over Warren in first-choice votes.) Edited to add a comment. The safe candidate made a safe choice for VP. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2020, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bidens-choice-for-vice-presidential-candidate/851505/1077 "2020-08-14T17:14:20Z")
Excellent! ---
**Author:** ![xenophon41](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xenophon41/32/253_2.png) [@xenophon41](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xenophon41)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2020, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bidens-choice-for-vice-presidential-candidate/851505/1078 "2020-08-15T01:18:39Z")
I am, and will likely remain, an Abrams fan. I think Harris is the smartest choice Joe could’ve made, and I will be an enthusiastic booster for the ticket. If there becomes a President Harris via circumstance, or if there’s a Candidate Harris in 2024 or 2028, I’ll probably be on board. (Of course, if there’s a Candidate Abrams in 2028, Georgia girl most probably has my vote.) ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2020, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bidens-choice-for-vice-presidential-candidate/851505/1079 "2020-08-15T02:39:15Z")
I would be very happy if President Biden chose Stacey Abrams for a cabinet position. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2020, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bidens-choice-for-vice-presidential-candidate/851505/1080 "2020-08-15T02:43:12Z")
Biden resigns, Harris nominates Abrams for veep. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2020, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bidens-choice-for-vice-presidential-candidate/851505/1081 "2020-08-15T04:12:07Z")
Not a chance in hell, and I say that as someone who likes them both (Abrams more than Harris; I only wish she was now in Congress or Governor of Georgia). ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2020, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bidens-choice-for-vice-presidential-candidate/851505/1082 "2020-08-15T11:33:41Z")
One more thing regarding the “is Kamala really Black?” Issue, and my mea culpa: That Jamelle Bouie article I cited well describes how the Jamaican experience parallels the southern US one, and so Kamala (through her father) really is descended from American slaves (“American” in the sense of the Western Hemisphere), and, that many US Blacks, including some famous as civil rights leaders, and activists in the entertainment world, have Caribbean roots. Carry on… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bidens-choice-for-vice-presidential-candidate/851505.md?page=53) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bidens-choice-for-vice-presidential-candidate/851505.md?page=55)