I understand you can’t predict what may happen between then and now. I’m having a difficult time expressing what I’m asking for, but let’s say the election is held the day after you’re reading this; Who would be to blame for a Biden loss, and to what degree? I’m sure many of you will list multiple entities, so I’m curious as to see what amount of responsibility is placed on each.
I guess Biden would be to blame for not getting enough support?
I’m not sure what you’re asking. If Kennedy pulls a lot of potential Biden voters in swing states, then I guess those voters would be to blame for wasting their vote on a Naderesque spoiler with no chance at the White House.
If the Justice Department pulls a Comey one week before the election and sends out something silly about Hunter/Joe connections, only to come back a week after the election to say, sorry, our bad, nothing there, then I would lay some blame on them.
If Russia and China successfully interfere with our election to the point where Trump wins, I would lay some blame on them.
If Republican governors are successful in blocking likely-Democratic voters from voting, then they deserve some blame.
Ultimately, it’s on Biden to overcome these obstacles, and ultimately the blame is on him, barring some real shenanigans.
I understand. I probably should’ve put more thought into the question and how to ask it. One of the things I guess I’m wondering is if it’d be at all blamed on the voters like in previous elections. With him (seemingly) hemorrhaging vote from people who think he’s contributing to the Israel/Palestine conflict. I understand the arguments for voting for Biden, and I will, but at the end of the day, I’m having an increasingly difficult time promoting Biden to others. To be honest, I get it.
A lot of people blamed the the left after Trump won the first time, I’m wondering if people will do the same this time, or do they, like me, understand?
I also wanted to know if people would bring up Israel’s actions or Netanyahu.
I honestly apologize for the half-baked entry.
No problem. I’ve been there.
I really blamed Comey and Clinton for the last one – Comey for his October surprise that amounted to nothing (“Hey, we found a bunch more emails!..Oh, there was nothing new. My B.”), and Clinton for taking the Midwest for granted.
I definitely blamed Florida Nader voters and voters who couldn’t figure out the ballot in Florida for Bush.
I didn’t see many people blaming the Left for Clinton’s loss – mostly the stuff I mentioned above.
In order:
Those who enabled and aided Trump (including Trump himself; this could also include 3rd party candidates and enablers, depending on the details)
Those who voted for Trump, especially in swing states
Those who voted 3rd party or did not vote
Those who erred in some way in trying to achieve Trump’s defeat (possibly including Biden and his campaign team, depending on the details)
Explain that one of two people will be elected president and Biden is certainly preferable to Trump when it comes to Israel and the Middle East, even if he’s not perfect. He’s certainly less imperfect than Trump is.
Also explain that voting to send a message doesn’t work, and has never worked.
You are. I don’t mean the generic you. I mean you, personally. You know what you did. You should be ashamed.
Oh, yeah. Sorry about that.
I would put most of the blame on Democrats/DNC for not taking an urgent threat seriously.
This is like asking, “Who was to blame for Uvalde - the gunman, or the cops for not stopping it?” Sure, the gunman was the perpetrator but that’s what a perpetrator does by definition. You have to put responsibility on those who could have stopped it but refused.
“Blaming” Trump voters for Biden’s loss doesn’t make sense, as if somehow a Biden defeat runs contrary to the desire of Trump voters. A Biden defeat is exactly what Trump voters want.
This is akin to confronting the Falcons quarterback after a Saints game and saying, “I’m blaming you for throwing 5 touchdown passes that caused my Saints to lose” - as if that wasn’t the Falcons QB’s job.
If I depersonalize DocCathode’s comment, is the idea that defeatists would be to blame?
So what? OBL and those who assisted him (and those who actually executed the attacks) own the lion’s share of the blame for 9/11. Maybe security services own a tiny bit for not anticipating and preventing the attacks. But those who do a thing are responsible for that thing. If that thing is bad, then those who did it should be blamed.
ISTM that you’re trying to answer a different question than “who’s to blame if Biden loses”.
I won’t go much further since it would probably derail/hijack the thread, but given that this is a left-leaning message board, I assume the OP is asking who among “our team” (that is, Team Biden and his supporters) would have to blame for Biden losing.
It makes absolutely zero sense to confront the opposing side and say “Your actions caused our team to lose” when that’s literally their job. If my favorite football team lost a game and I went to the opposing head coach and said “Your coaching caused my team to lose,” he’d reply, “Well yes - that’s the idea.”
This isn’t football. Biden losing is an actual bad thing; a football team losing is not.
My assumption is that the OP is asking “who’s to blame if Biden loses”, and thus my answer contains those who deserve the blame.
That’s who I would blame.
Sure, politicians lie, but at the end of the day, it’s the voters who believe those lies. And when the lies are as blatant as they are in the case of Trump and the modern Republican Party, it’s the ignorant voters accepting those obvious lies that are the ultimate problem. Biden could force every American to watch his speeches A Clockwork Orange Style, and some of them would still believe the obvious Trump lies. There’s not much anyone can do to fix that. You can’t force someone to believe something they don’t want to believe.
Football is a bad analogy, any sport really, because they are set up to give each team as close to a fair shot at winning as possible. In an election, there’s no real equivalent to the impartial referees who apply the rules equally to both sides, so that the outcome depends on a combination of skills, circumstances and luck.
Elections are popularity contests, where everyone gets a vote, and there’s no mechanism for controlling why anyone votes the way they do, and there are very few rules limiting what candidates can do, and even those rules are often only weakly enforced, if they’re enforced at all.
I remember commiserating with my Dad after the 2016 election. What he said then has stuck with me: “The fault is the voters. If the voters are stupid there’s nothing we can do about it.” It’s the same now.
Depends on how far back in time you want to go. If the question assumes it is a given that Biden is the Democratic nominee, then I will second @iiandyiiii’s cogent answer.
But if I can go back in time a year or two - then I blame the Democratic Party for not facing reality and sitting down and making the necessary hard choices that put America over party, long before we got to the mess we are in now. The writing has been on the wall since forever that Biden’s candidacy would be severely weakened by his advanced age.
In my dreams, the DNC, Biden, Harris, and any other top strategists consulted each other and said, “Let’s get real. The survival of democracy in America may well depend on the outcome of this election. Biden is elderly, but so is Trump. A fresh, rather moderate Democrat with a lot of energy, no older than 65, and an enthusiastic base in his/her home state could take this election by storm. Sorry, Kamala - we luv ya, but that isn’t you. We can’t risk anyone who isn’t going to be a clear winner. Let’s start looking at our choices …Gretchen Whitmer? Pete Buttigieg? Tammy Duckworth … (and on and on).”
But that ship sailed over a year ago. And it was never going to happen, because party politics just don’t work that way. So I guess I blame the status quo.
This is what has been so frustrating about this election. Both parties have put forth extraordinarily weak candidates.
If either party were to put forth a decent-good candidate, they’d easily obliterate the other in a landslide. But they both refuse.
That’s not true, though. If even just an additional few percent of Hillary’s voters had been more motivated and shown up to the polls, the outcome would have been totally different.
And in any given election, there will always be a big portion of voters who are non-stupid.