Joe Biden's in

Politics & Elections
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You’re talking about republican voters, I’m talking about republican politicians. Not the same thing. There are sane and moderate republican voters. But the political party itself has been taken over by its base who do not believe in western values (multiculturalism, liberal democracy, free press, etc). Republican politicians are getting more radicalized because their base is getting more radicalized.

If Biden thinks republican politicians are going to work with a democrat in 2020, he is dangerously naive. We already have a president who is too emotionally and mentally inept to live in reality, and its not working out. Biden walking into a gunfight with a casserole dish will get his ass outsmarted at every turn.

We need a democratic president who knows the republican party will do everything they can to not only block the democrats agenda, but to screw up the country so people are not happy when a democrat is in charge. And we need a democrat willing to use every tool they have (executive powers, budget reconciliation, legislative maneuvers, etc) to get their agenda passed.

I’m, not opposed to Bidens policy agenda. If he wants to be a moderate democrat thats fine. A moderate democrat is vastly superior to a republican politician. Joe Manchin is vastly superior to a republican senator. But if Biden is utterly clueless about the reality of politicis in 2019, he is not qualified to be president. If a more progressive president was utterly oblivious to the reality of politics and the republican party they wouldn’t be qualified either.

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Moreover, I see a fundamental weakness in his campaign that can be exploited. If Biden’s main strength is his ‘electability’, then the strategy is clear: make him less electable. I think the strategy against Biden is the same one that was used against Hillary: drown him and his supporters in bad news.

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I saw a good quote on Reddit that sums up Biden:

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In a unicorn world, I’d like a Mayor Pete/Beto (or Amy) ticket*, but to defeat Trump, Stuffed Suit Joe is our only chance. I cannot see any other dem candidate having even remotely any more success than JB particularly in WI/PA/MI (along with most deep red states). I’m hoping he’s pushing the bipartisan thing with the full knowledge that that’s the last thing he’ll get, if in office, and that he’s simply trying to reach out to the wafflers/indifferent/fence-sitters with this approach.

*Easily more than half the dem candidates I’d prefer to have in office than JB.

Wouldn’t they use that strategy against any dem?

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…Biden’s weakness is that beside “electability”: there isn’t much substance behind his campaign. Its a weakness shared by others, notably Mayor Pete, but not by all.

My biggest fear is that “our only chance” will replace “it’s her time” as the worst-unofficial-election-slogan-of-all-time.

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Already acknowledged with the Stuffed Suit Joe endearment.

Not sure I’d consider PG lacking in substance when, well, figured I’d let this second wiki paragraph concisely sum it up:

Seen several interviews of him (might have posted a PBS one here a ways back) and found him discussing many of the things from the quote above, and is in a different ball park than Biden, whose laziness at not getting down to any policy specifics is, indeed, disconcerting, and hopefully over the coming weeks he’ll get really pressed on this, and soon have something more concrete than ‘yeah I got ideas on healthcare but not right now’-like handwaving that needed to come to a grinding halt, like, a long time ago. One of the main reasons why, as previously stated, there are scads more dem candidates I’d rather see as executive-in-chief.

Yeah, you’re right - the phrase was a wee melodramatic and kinda pearl-clutch-y.
Something catchier, like, ‘In like Joe Biden’. Snazzy him up a little.

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How about “Back to the Future and Beyond!” :slight_smile:

To be honest, I wouldn’t mind Steve Bullock having a moment and catching some wind. A popular Democratic governor from a red state? Yes, please!

But I’m not holding my breath.

So for now I’m still all about Biden-Solis! or Biden-Warren! or Biden-Duckworth! or Biden-Yates!

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How about - “I’m Still Standin”

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They would, but I’m comparing him to Elizabeth Warren or Bernie Sanders, who arguably have more progressive bona fides. Biden’s polling well because he’s a household name and viewed as the great Dem hope. But what if he starts to look old and slow?

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If he is doing that, that is fine. Personally I don’t know if Biden is really that competent a strategist. I’d be fine with a democratic president who openly talked about bipartisanship but then was ruthlessly efficient behind closed doors because they were smart enough to understand what is happening in reality. But I worry Biden would be Obama all over again. His administration will be him reaching out to the GOP for bipartisanship and him refusing to use his executive powers while the GOP uses every tool they have to gum up the legislature.

I believe Obama could’ve used recess appointments to appoint judges, he could’ve used his executive powers to stop prosecutions under DADT, etc.

Biden would probably appeal to high school educated whites in the midwest more than any other candidate (Bernie would be second). I just worry Biden is too naive despite his age and experience if he believes what he is saying. Also as mentioned he has no policies and is coasting on name recognition. Warren is coming out with very good policy ideas to make up for her lack of name recognition (so is Yang IMO, and I’m not sure if I’ll support Warren or Yang in the election but it’ll probably be one of them).

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Why in the world do you believe that?

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That case was decided six years into Obama’s presidency and still allows recess appointments.

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That’s nice but denying Obama recess appointments was a bit of a story at the time. Guess you missed it but the gist is that the Republicans just didn’t call official recesses.

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As far as I remember, and I don’t have the time or energy to look up old news stories on this right now, but I believe it was Biden that was discharged to the Capitol when some bill or other had to be pushed through or negotiated. So if anyone in this pool of candidates is fully aware of the challenges presented with these GOP Assholes AND has actually accomplished getting things pushed through, it’s Biden.

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GOT author George Martin endorsed Biden

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This.

He dealt with The Party of No a lot. His optimism that a post Trump GOP may conclude that repositioning themselves into a group that is back to fighting for centrist voters, rather than doubled down on the base and the base alone, with some eagerness to show they can actually deliver in that manner, may not be completely pie in the sky.

Likely is, but it is effective campaign marketing in any case. If pie in the sky it is one less improbable to deliver on than things like Medicare for All and other campaign marketing items. Of the people running he has better odds of moving things in direction of these goals than most if not all the others.

Still hoping that we see some surge from Booker or Harris or even one of the governors before this is all done. And that any surge comes from their strengths moving them up rather than from tearing Biden down.

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What’s our objective here?

The obvious answer is “Beat Trump,” but no, that’s just a stepping-stone. The real objective of Democrats is to make America and the world a better place, with the definition of ‘better’ being a Democratic definition, of course.

So there are two steps here. The first step is having plans for making things better that can be turned into draft legislation. The second step is having plans for how you’re going to turn that draft legislation into laws passed by Congress and signed by the President.

Whatever Biden has for his first step, his second step seems to be “elect me as President, and between my schmoozing ability and a GOP epiphany, we’ll get the legislation through Congress.”

In effect, it requires Mitch McConnell to cease being the Mitch that we’ve known all too well these past dozen years. I’m not ready to put much faith in that sort of plan, and that’s my underlying problem with Biden.

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But what did he accomplish?

Sure, he was the one in the middle of the discussions, but it’s not like we didn’t get to see how things turned out.

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And what is the strategy of the Pro-demonization candidate for getting legislation through a congress that is largely made up of Republicans and of Democrats from conservative states that are hanging on by their fingernails?

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How the hell should I know? I don’t even know which candidate you’re talking about.

At any rate, if one isn’t honest with oneself about the nature of a problem, one isn’t likely to be able to come up with a solution.