# Is there anything about Biden that you actually admire? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [July 11, 2020, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-about-biden-that-you-actually-admire/915047 "2020-07-11T19:41:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2020, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-about-biden-that-you-actually-admire/915047/21 "2020-07-11T22:02:50Z")
Biden knows enough to say “I don’t know” and surround himself with, and listen to, people who do know. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2020, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-about-biden-that-you-actually-admire/915047/22 "2020-07-11T23:10:43Z")
Likable. Trustworthy. Knows where all the skeletons are in the Senate. Sane. Moderate/liberal. A return to sanity. A true friend to minorities. Biden can get things done, even if the dems dont out and out win the senate. He knows each senators and what they want, and how their strings can be pulled. And you have a choice- four more years of the insanity or Mr Boring and Likable Joe. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2020, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-about-biden-that-you-actually-admire/915047/23 "2020-07-11T23:51:52Z")
Biden was my first choice, all the way back in October. He’s “middle of the road,” and doesn’t have the baggage of the progressive wing. He can win in the swing states. Plus, he’s a nice enough guy, experienced in _really_ running a country, and, like George Bush the elder, has a “magic rolodex,” i.e. lots of contacts and sources of advice. He can’t fix the country. Only a true willingness, on the part of Republicans, to put the country first and the party second, can ever do that. As long as they remain hell-bent on a religious dictatorship of white people only, the country cannot be “fixed.” For that, only We the People can act. Just maybe, we will. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2020, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-about-biden-that-you-actually-admire/915047/24 "2020-07-12T00:12:41Z")
Biden helped prevent Bork from sitting on the Supreme Court. He knew the Dems had political capital in 1987, Reagan was weakened by his 1980 coattail senators being swept out in 1986 as well as Iran Contra. Biden saw that Bork was too extreme and did his part to make sure Bork was defeated. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2020, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-about-biden-that-you-actually-admire/915047/25 "2020-07-12T00:16:05Z")
I like the fact that he’s boring. We need a boring president. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2020, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-about-biden-that-you-actually-admire/915047/26 "2020-07-12T00:17:25Z")
> [@Reply](#): > > Is there any redeeming value to this man beyond not being Trump? Who cares? Not being Trump is **HUGE** , and I daresay more than sufficient for a great many folks. > [@Reply](#): > > Voting for Biden seems like a vote of no confidence in American democracy rather than a vote for anything meaningful. I just don’t get it I don’t get why you think that. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2020, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-about-biden-that-you-actually-admire/915047/27 "2020-07-12T00:21:46Z")
> [@Reply](#): > > I just don’t understand how this is who we ended up with… leftover, weeks-old pudding forgotten at the back of the fridge. Yeah, it’s not the rotting carcass in the dumpster, but doesn’t taste much better 🤮 The primaries are over, bro. It’s Biden vs. Trump for President, pick one. If you want Trump to go down, don’t shit on Biden. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2020, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-about-biden-that-you-actually-admire/915047/28 "2020-07-12T00:27:46Z")
I admire that Biden triggers the Bernie bros and I admire that he actually won the primary. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2020, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-about-biden-that-you-actually-admire/915047/29 "2020-07-12T00:56:57Z")
Trump is stuck in a 1960’s worldview. With the exception of being Putin’s and Xi’s little bitch boy instead of being hard on commies. Biden has evolved in a good way over the past 4+ decades of public service. ---
**Author:** ![mikecurtis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikecurtis/32/3284_2.png) [@mikecurtis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikecurtis)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2020, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-about-biden-that-you-actually-admire/915047/30 "2020-07-12T01:51:41Z")
But we got Kennedy instead, not much different than Bork if you ask me. And Kennedy’s retirement begat Kavanaugh. A net loss afaic! ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2020, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-about-biden-that-you-actually-admire/915047/31 "2020-07-12T02:06:30Z")
“May you live in interesting times” ancient Chinese _curse._ ---
**Author:** ![erysichthon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d07c76/32.png) [@erysichthon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erysichthon)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2020, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-about-biden-that-you-actually-admire/915047/32 "2020-07-12T02:31:22Z")
Biden won me over when he [laughed at that pipsqueak Paul Ryan](https://youtu.be/eXfWgiaB41A) during the 2012 VP debate. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2020, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-about-biden-that-you-actually-admire/915047/33 "2020-07-12T02:40:38Z")
> [@mikecurtis](#): > > But we got Kennedy instead, not much different than Bork if you ask me. And Kennedy’s retirement begat Kavanaugh. A net loss afaic! Are you serious? Ronald Reagan was a Republican. He wasn’t gonna nominate RBG. Kennedy was much better than Bork. ---
**Author:** ![mikecurtis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikecurtis/32/3284_2.png) [@mikecurtis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikecurtis)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2020, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-about-biden-that-you-actually-admire/915047/34 "2020-07-12T02:57:36Z")
Of course he was gonna nominate a conservative judge. I’m just saying that Bork was not as bad as he was made out to be (as far as conserv judges go). And he ended up nominating Kennedy. Better than Bork? Maybe, but not by much. ---
**Author:** ![mikecurtis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikecurtis/32/3284_2.png) [@mikecurtis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikecurtis)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2020, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-about-biden-that-you-actually-admire/915047/35 "2020-07-12T03:04:24Z")
Plus, Bork died in 2012, so it woulda been an Obama appointee! ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2020, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-about-biden-that-you-actually-admire/915047/36 "2020-07-12T04:54:39Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > What’s the alternative? Destroy the Democratic Party, let the GOP rot, rewrite the Constitution, reform campaign finance, modernize the Supreme Court, democratize district mapping, prosecute everyone in the Trump administration, hand Bush over to the ICC, implement ranked choice voting, make the President symbolic and neuter the executive, remove religious influence from schools, and maybe educate our citizens and give them healthcare, for starters. All things that much of the developed world seem to handle fine 🤷‍♂️ But hey, I guess American Exceptionalism compels us towards mediocrity. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2020, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-about-biden-that-you-actually-admire/915047/37 "2020-07-12T04:57:23Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > I think the US can use a bit of boring fact-based competence and leadership right about now. That only works if the government consists of mostly well intentioned career civil servants. The Republicans have been on a decades-long quest to ensure that is no longer the case. You can’t just pray this cancer away. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2020, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-about-biden-that-you-actually-admire/915047/38 "2020-07-12T05:01:16Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > Did not cheat on his wife as far as we know, that’s rare in DC Heh. Definitely an admirable quality. Not that I think people’s sex lives are indicative of their civil service potential, but it does make me like him more. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2020, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-about-biden-that-you-actually-admire/915047/39 "2020-07-12T05:03:02Z")
> [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > It’s Biden vs. Trump for President, pick one. If you want Trump to go down, don’t shit on Biden. No thanks. I want them both to go down. Neither deserves my vote. Not that they care 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2020, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-about-biden-that-you-actually-admire/915047/40 "2020-07-12T05:04:51Z")
> [@China\_Guy](#): > > Trump is stuck in a 1960’s worldview. With the exception of being Putin’s and Xi’s little bitch boy instead of being hard on commies. You know, there is almost something refreshing about the unabashed evil that the GOP has become. It’s like they don’t even pretend anymore. It’s nice when the bad guys at least own up to it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-about-biden-that-you-actually-admire/915047.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anything-about-biden-that-you-actually-admire/915047.md?page=3)