# Joe Biden's in **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [April 25, 2019, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-bidens-in/833042 "2019-04-25T16:13:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2019, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-bidens-in/833042/81 "2019-04-26T20:19:15Z")
> [@Larry\_Borgia](#): > > I wonder what percent of his total donations came from online donors. I would assume a lot since in the first 24 hours you can only have so many $2k/plate fundraisers and aren’t recieving many checks in the mail. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2019, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-bidens-in/833042/82 "2019-04-26T21:13:04Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > I still don’t understand the appeal of Biden and how he jumps to 1# in mere hours. He is an old white man and a throwback to the 1980s-1990s instead of the 2020s. What is generating the fireworks exactly? For one thing, I am an old white man and I don’t care for people who use the term “old white man” as anything other than a demographic description. Just like “millenials,” blacks," and “women” don’t particularly like people who lump them all into a single group. Second, the current President won the three states necessary for his improbable election by less than 200,000 votes. His Democratic opponent barely won three other states by an even smaller margin. And old white Joe Biden, as clueless as he seems about women and as prone to misspeaking as he is, still shows a lot more warmth and humanity than most human beings, let alone most Democratic candidates. Contrast that to the current President, and that could be enough to win three states full of old white men while not losing the other three. ---
**Author:** ![Pantastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3bc359/32.png) [@Pantastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pantastic)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2019, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-bidens-in/833042/83 "2019-04-26T21:20:38Z")
I wonder - What if someone went back to these boards in the early 2000s and posted about recent elections. That by 2016 and 2020, Democrats would be excited about candidates who voted in favor of the the Iraq war, and that saying you won’t vote for a president who voted for the Iraq war would bring harsh condemnation and accusations that you’re a vile person. Would they be taken seriously, or would they just be called a troll for stating something that’s obviously nonsense? Because unless Biden gets knocked out early, that’s what is going to happen. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2019, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-bidens-in/833042/84 "2019-04-26T22:08:11Z")
They might be taken seriously-ish until they let slip who the current you-know-who is. Then they’d be cornfielded like a bad-tripping schizophrenic moon landing denier. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2019, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-bidens-in/833042/85 "2019-04-26T22:10:35Z")
**How we got here and why a retired politician is running for office at 76 years old.** I found this insight into Joe’s decision very well researched and interesting. [https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.sfchronicle.com/news/amp/Inside-Joe-Biden-s-decision-to-run-one-more-time-13794585.php](https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.sfchronicle.com/news/amp/Inside-Joe-Biden-s-decision-to-run-one-more-time-13794585.php) I remember when Biden retired and setup the Biden Foundation. It’s run for a couple years and stopped operation after Joe entered the race. [https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cnbc.com/amp/2019/04/25/biden-foundation-suspends-operations-effective-immediately.html](https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cnbc.com/amp/2019/04/25/biden-foundation-suspends-operations-effective-immediately.html) Btw, Joe’s sister, Valerie Biden Owens has managed all of Joe’s Senate and Presidential races. I’m interested to see if she manages this race too. > **[Valerie Biden Owens](https://www.valeriebidenowens.com)** > [@](#): > > This account of how he arrived at his decision is based on interviews with more than a dozen aides, longtime friends, advisers and family members who have discussed his deliberation over the past three years. Some requested anonymity in order to speak candidly about their conversations and observations. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2019, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-bidens-in/833042/86 "2019-04-26T22:18:30Z")
I guess the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement has to shut down too? It’s part of Penn State University. > **[Joe Biden is going to be a Penn professor](https://www.thedp.com/article/2017/02/joe-biden-penn-professor)** > > The former Vice President will lead the Washington-based Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement. [https://global.upenn.edu/penn-biden-center](https://global.upenn.edu/penn-biden-center) Joe had a full life planned after politics. Honestly I’m not sure that I would have jumped back into politics. It’s so ugly and mean spirited now. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2019, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-bidens-in/833042/87 "2019-04-26T22:30:20Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > Just got this in an email from the Biden people: > > > [@](#): > > > > we have some AMAZING news - > > > > Our campaign raised $6.3 million in its first 24 hours!! That’s more than any other presidential campaign so far!! > > > > And Happy, it’s proof we are running a truly grassroots campaign: > > > > 97% of online donations were under $200 > > We received donations from all 50 states and US territories > > The average online donation was $41 > > So thank you so much to all 96,926 people who chipped in on Day One. We couldn’t have achieved this amazing milestone without you. > > So about $200,000 more than Beto’s first 24-hour draw. “How to lie with statistics.” It’s well-crafted. Probably few will stop to realize that all the stats about online donations do NOT mean that online donations form the largest part of the total take. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2019, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-bidens-in/833042/88 "2019-04-26T22:57:29Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > “How to lie with statistics.”. That’s actually just crafting a message. Absolutely everyone who has an agenda does it, from parents talking to their kids to people running for president. It’s messaging. Sure you’re able to read between the lines, but assuming the numbers are correct, they didn’t lie. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2019, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-bidens-in/833042/89 "2019-04-26T23:01:43Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > What could be easier for the public to understand than Medicare for All? It’s right in the name and we have no shortage of experience with it. Tell them to ask grandma how she likes her Medicare. Done and done. Except that what Sanders is talking about is essentially abolishing private insurance, which is about as crazy as Ted Cruz sounded when he talked about abolishing the IRS. I mean nobody took Cruz seriously for that kind of Overton window crap, and I would hope we don’t take Bernie seriously with this nonsense either. Where does St. Bernard think he’s going to get the money to pay for this? More importantly, who pays? ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2019, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-bidens-in/833042/90 "2019-04-26T23:15:38Z")
Biden is attractive because he’s the most appealing among all the Democratic candidates in the eyes of independent voters, who generally lean away from Bernie Sanders and AOC. Like Sherrod Brown, Biden could be competitive with Trump in a general election for that reason. But the reality is, the campaign has just begun and we have a long way to go between then and now, and he first has to convince his party that he can not only beat Trump but that he’s an authentic progressive. At this stage of the race, people are just trying to get recognized. Trump started in 2015 with only 5% of the GOP behind him. Obama trailed Hillary Clinton significantly and for most of 2007. But as both races showed, pretty soon the candidates are going to get a lot of airtime and they will be exposed. People will start tuning in and the candidates will no longer be just names and sound bytes, but they will become personalities. And people will become subconsciously either drawn to or repulsed by those personalities. I don’t see how a guy who failed pretty badly in the era of cable TV gets it right 12 years later in the era of cable TV plus social media. I don’t think his opening speech yesterday was particularly bad, but what has been pretty damn bad is watching how he contorts and squirms his way through difficult questions, hedging about just how sorry he is or isn’t when it comes to his handling of Anita Hill or his past violations of personal space. On a deeper level, I subconsciously look at Joe’s expressions on TV and wonder just how badly he really wants to be there. I don’t get that feeling with Bernie or many of the others. You can tell they want this, that they want the stage, and that they believe their time has come. ---
**Author:** ![Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heffalump_and_roo/32/7691_2.png) [@Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heffalump_and_Roo)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2019, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-bidens-in/833042/91 "2019-04-26T23:28:38Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > Just got this in an email from the Biden people: > > So about $200,000 more than Beto’s first 24-hour draw. This will be interesting to dissect later, after more information is in. For now, there’s [this](https://www.newsweek.com/joe-biden-bernie-sanders-democratic-candidates-fundraising-1407433) > [@](#): > > Biden’s campaign announced Friday that 97 percent of online donations were less than $200, with an average of $41. All up, Biden received funds from 96,962 donors, but the campaign did not specify how many gave small donations. > > Although slightly outpaced by Biden, Sanders did have more donors, totaling 223,047 in the first 24 hours of his campaign, with an average donation of $27. Bernie outpaced the number of donors by twice as many. Since the average amount under $200 wasn’t double, there were more contributions of over $200. It will be interesting to see what that says about the longevity of the campaign and whether more donors or more dollars count more. My guess is that in the past, the dollars counted more. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2019, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-bidens-in/833042/92 "2019-04-26T23:50:38Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > That’s actually just crafting a message. Absolutely everyone who has an agenda does it, from parents talking to their kids to people running for president. It’s messaging. Sure you’re able to read between the lines, but assuming the numbers are correct, they didn’t lie. If someone deliberately sets out to make people think something is true that’s actually quite far from the truth, you can call it whatever you like. I call it a lie. Why deny the obvious, child? ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2019, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-bidens-in/833042/93 "2019-04-27T00:07:00Z")
Oh Ace, never change. You gotta admit though, that’s one perk – _Onion_ Biden will return. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2019, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-bidens-in/833042/94 "2019-04-27T00:18:34Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > That’s actually just crafting a message. Absolutely everyone who has an agenda does it, from parents talking to their kids to people running for president. It’s messaging. Sure you’re able to read between the lines, but assuming the numbers are correct, they didn’t lie. Yes. But that sort of thing—being deliberately misleading—is what gives politics a bad name. (And not everyone does it.) > [@asahi](#): > > …I don’t think his opening speech yesterday was particularly bad, but what has been pretty damn bad is watching how he contorts and squirms his way through difficult questions, hedging about just how sorry he is or isn’t when it comes to his handling of Anita Hill or his past violations of personal space. … My thought about today’s _The View_ Biden performance was: this is going to be the Trump campaign’s first anti-Biden ad. It’s not merely that Trump voters think “never apologize” is the best way to go through life (though most of them do); it’s that Biden was so bad at dealing with the topic. Just attack-ad-ready. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2019, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-bidens-in/833042/95 "2019-04-27T00:20:44Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > If someone deliberately sets out to make people think something is true that’s actually quite far from the truth, you can call it whatever you like. I call it a lie. Why deny the obvious, child? Where’s the lie in what the campaign said? Campaigns always spin and message to make themselves look stronger and better and more dominant. They spin poll numbers, they spin debate results, they spin their records, they spin their opponents’ records, they spin jobs numbers, they spin trends, and they spin fundraising results. They spin toward their strengths and away from their weaknesses. Sometimes they do lie, but I’m not seeing a lie here. Unless the numbers and stats they gave are incorrect. ---
**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:** [April 27, 2019, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-bidens-in/833042/96 "2019-04-27T05:42:53Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > Except that what Sanders is talking about is essentially abolishing private insurance, which is about as crazy as Ted Cruz sounded when he talked about abolishing the IRS. I mean nobody took Cruz seriously for that kind of Overton window crap, and I would hope we don’t take Bernie seriously with this nonsense either. Where does St. Bernard think he’s going to get the money to pay for this? More importantly, who pays? Really? Ok. What is lost in the discussion is people see a new tax and freak. Thing is, they are already paying for healthcare. Paying a lot. And Medicare for All is not in addition to what they pay but in lieu of what they pay. Why people do not get this simple point is beyond me. People seem to think an extra $1000 in taxes is worse than paying $2000 in insurance premiums each year. There is a reason pretty much the entire western world has socialized medicine. Do you really think they are all morons and the US has it right? Despite abundant evidence that they have lower costs, better service and better health outcomes overall? Not to mention that a study initiated by conservatives showed the US would [save $2 trillion](https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/does-bernie-sanderss-health-plan-cost-33-trillion--or-save-2-trillion/2018/07/31/d178b14e-9432-11e8-a679-b09212fb69c2_story.html?utm_term=.9d5aaf9af3f9) with a single payer plan than what we do now. So yeah, I think we can afford it. What we cannot afford is the continuous skyrocketing of healthcare costs. Really…think about it…where does that end? Biden will happily ride us down that road of ever increasing healthcare costs. Without a doubt. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2019, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-bidens-in/833042/97 "2019-04-27T11:49:04Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > Really? Ok. > > What is lost in the discussion is people see a new tax and freak. > > Thing is, they are already paying for healthcare. Paying a lot. And Medicare for All is not in addition to what they pay but in lieu of what they pay. > > Why people do not get this simple point is beyond me. People seem to think an extra $1000 in taxes is worse than paying $2000 in insurance premiums each year. > > There is a reason pretty much the entire western world has socialized medicine. Do you really think they are all morons and the US has it right? Despite abundant evidence that they have lower costs, better service and better health outcomes overall? > > Not to mention that a study initiated by conservatives showed the US would [save $2 trillion](https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/does-bernie-sanderss-health-plan-cost-33-trillion--or-save-2-trillion/2018/07/31/d178b14e-9432-11e8-a679-b09212fb69c2_story.html?utm_term=.9d5aaf9af3f9) with a single payer plan than what we do now. > > So yeah, I think we can afford it. What we cannot afford is the continuous skyrocketing of healthcare costs. Really…think about it…where does that end? Biden will happily ride us down that road of ever increasing healthcare costs. Without a doubt. I’m not necessarily saying that it can’t be done or that it’s a bad idea – I like the idea of single payer myself, but that’s not really what I’m getting at. My point is, this would be major, major change. Obama lost the Congress in 2010 because of healthcare reforms which were relatively mild but nevertheless scary to people. The changes would be much more drastic and probably much scarier for people. “Elimination of my private insurance even though I like my employer-sponsored health plan?” “Raising my taxes by how much again?” Maybe offer a public option like Obamacare was originally intended to offer, but going full-on Medicare-for-all is going to frighten a lot of people we need to defeat Trump. You won’t see that reflected in the polls now, but you’ll see it the closer we get to the general election if Bernie Sanders or someone else promoting this kinda of legislation wins. It’ll be a non-starter with independents, which means we’d lose. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2019, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-bidens-in/833042/98 "2019-04-27T12:20:39Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > Where’s the lie in what the campaign said? Campaigns always spin and message to make themselves look stronger and better and more dominant. They spin poll numbers, they spin debate results, they spin their records, they spin their opponents’ records, they spin jobs numbers, they spin trends, and they spin fundraising results. They spin toward their strengths and away from their weaknesses. > > Sometimes they do lie, but I’m not seeing a lie here. Unless the numbers and stats they gave are incorrect. Sure, _technically_ they are not lying. But I don’t hold with some “campaign exception” to right and wrong. If their intent is to get me to believe X when X is a falsehood, then they’re lying to me. I don’t care if ‘they’ is my next-door neighbor, or someone down the hall at work, or someone working for a political campaign. ---
**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:** [April 27, 2019, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-bidens-in/833042/99 "2019-04-27T14:43:27Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > I’m not necessarily saying that it can’t be done or that it’s a bad idea – I like the idea of single payer myself, but that’s not really what I’m getting at. My point is, this would be major, major change. Obama lost the Congress in 2010 because of healthcare reforms which were relatively mild but nevertheless scary to people. The changes would be much more drastic and probably much scarier for people. > > “Elimination of my private insurance even though I like my employer-sponsored health plan?” > > “Raising my taxes by how much again?” > > Maybe offer a public option like Obamacare was originally intended to offer, but going full-on Medicare-for-all is going to frighten a lot of people we need to defeat Trump. You won’t see that reflected in the polls now, but you’ll see it the closer we get to the general election if Bernie Sanders or someone else promoting this kinda of legislation wins. It’ll be a non-starter with independents, which means we’d lose. It’s all in the messaging. When conservatives can sell “death panels,” and liberals can’t shut that down, is the problem. Death panels are absurd but people bought it. I think the new crop of legislators is better at the messaging than previous ones. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has a knack for it. I think if someone tossed “death panels” at her she’d swat it down with ease. She’s just one person and it is a monumental task but gotta start somewhere. And that is really it…gotta start somewhere. If we go with your take on it then it will never happen because you will always say we need to win the next election and cannot deal with this now. If not now then when? ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2019, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-bidens-in/833042/100 "2019-04-27T15:30:17Z")
> [@Bone](#): > > It’s probably me, but I don’t really understand Biden’s appeal. He seems very bland. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him drop out by the 3rd or 4th primary/caucus. For me, Biden’s appeal is that he is the most likely candidate to ball up his fist and break Trump’s nose during a debate. Then flash a smile. And I’m pretty sure nobody will try to stop him. Biden with a knock-out in first round. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-bidens-in/833042.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-bidens-in/833042.md?page=6)