Biden VP news megathread (pg 286 - been selected, announcement could be today)

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

Liz shouldn't be picked. I think it's better for her to stay in the senate and push for her issues. Biden should pick someone largely in line with him and who is ready to succeed him in four or eight years. Liz adds little balance to the ticket other than being a woman. She has neither a strong base among blacks, nor among Hispanics. And I think her brand could hurt in critical suburbs. It should be one of CCM, Kamala, Whitmer or Klobuchar (in that order). Not even the bros are wild about her; if Uncle Joe wants a progressive, I'd even prefer Pressley over her (big minus: she's not very experienced). Baldwin would be great, but Democrats can't risk losing her seat.

Warren appeals to progressives, unlike Harris. And I’m not sure why we’re assuming Harris has so much more of a base among black voters when she didn’t even make it to the primaries. I agree with you on Baldwin.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

Man, Warren is so desperate for centrists to like her she’s gonna lose all her progressive appeal by 2024.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

I think Lance Bottoms might be the way to go at this point. How could you find a more perfect pick?

She's only been a Mayor of a city of less than a million people. Not remotely qualified.

I think people are looking for the wrong qualities in terms of credentials here. Being a mayor of the large city is definitely helpful experience in the White House. The presidency and vice presidency are executive jobs that require an officeholder to run things smoothly. Legislative experience does count and is beneficiary as well, but being a mayor is a job that requires you to run and manage things. And to take responsibility of something goes wrong. Just being a member of congress and blowing hot air in a sub-committee isn't superior to experience on the ground and keep things going. The open question here is how Lance Bottoms performs on the campaign trail on national spotlight as well as her opinions of national and international matters.

There is never a perfect preparation for being president or vice president. Obviously, it depends on each indivudual and how he or she is able to make decisions, work with people in general, get to learn things and ready to take advice from folks who know more about a specific issue.

Joe Biden will be the oldest person ever elected. Who he picks is very important. We will also be facing off a crass, low down, con artist, habitual liar sociopath. I want someone with federal experience and that can handle the spotlight and scrutiny of a billion dollar smear campaign. We need someone who can help build a robust war chest virtually. We don’t have time for folks to learn as they go. Bottoms has never had to deal with a hostile media circus and no real fundraising prowess. She can’t handle the heat. Period.

Harris is a prosecutor and she is not a foundational black American.

Remember when Obama failed to boost black turnout because he wasn’t descended from slaves?

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

https://twitter.com/cliftonicwater/status/1266151559437537280

Dang, that Warren boost in WI, MI, and AZ. What’s this based on? Is it real data or what?

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

Yep - MC in Late Nov:

Sanders 75/19% for +56%
Biden 68/23% for +45%
Warren 63/19% for +44%
Buttigieg 49/14% for +35%
Harris 53/21% for +32%
Booker 48/16% for +32%
Yang 43/15% for +28%
Klobuchar 36/18% for +18%

Harris was always way above Klobuchar and usually around Pete/Booker.  Warren had the help of better name recognition.

Warren had higher approvals and lower disapprovals.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

Politico says Bottoms is being vetted.  When asked about it, she “deferred to the Biden campaign on questions about her prospects as a Biden running mate”:

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/06/08/biden-veep-search-304854

Bottoms is being vetted as a Biden running mate, two sources with knowledge of the discussions confirm to POLITICO. Demings, a former Orlando police chief, has previously confirmed she’s being vetted.
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In an interview, Bottoms deferred to the Biden campaign on questions about her prospects as a Biden running mate.

“I can tell you that obviously like so many mayors and governors across this country, my complete focus has been on our streets the last few days,” Bottoms said.

That article also notes that the team’s thinking on having (needing?) a black VP has “evolved” over the past two weeks.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

We can now all agree that Warren isnt gonna be picked

I disagree. There's no reason to think that Warren isn't still in the running.  What made her appealing two weeks ago still makes her appealing today.  Or do we really think Biden will make such a consequential decision based solely on today's New York Time's front page? 

I think he very well may.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

Again, for Biden the question is "is this my BEST option?"

To me, Harris appeals a lot to the urban, highly educated crowd that chose Warren in the primary but ultimately was swamped by regular suburbanites and minorities. This crowd sees America in the lens of sexism and identity and not in class based politics.

Demings, Duckworth and even Whitmer all would have much broader appeal.

To WHOM does Demings have greater appeal than Harris?

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

Again, for Biden the question is "is this my BEST option?"

To me, Harris appeals a lot to the urban, highly educated crowd that chose Warren in the primary but ultimately was swamped by regular suburbanites and minorities. This crowd sees America in the lens of sexism and identity and not in class based politics.

Demings, Duckworth and even Whitmer all would have much broader appeal.

To WHOM does Demings have greater appeal than Harris?

Harris haters.

You mean leftists who call Kamala a cop? Yeah, they’ll love *checks notes* the former Orlando police chief.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

What exactly is the argument against Duckworth at this point? Because I honestly can’t see one

Frankly, I think it’s that she’s not black.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

What exactly is the argument against Duckworth at this point? Because I honestly can’t see one

Frankly, I think it’s that she’s not black.

Neither is Warren and she has consistently been among the top tier of candidates.

She appeals to progressives. Who does Duckworth actually appeal to, besides just not being disliked by any major group within the party?

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

Duckworth just seems like such the no-brainer pick. Much like Biden, it'll be hard to get the country to viscerally hate her. The same can't be said for Warren, Harris, or Rice, for obvious reasons.

Can you elaborate on that, because saying “for obvious reasons” doesn’t make there be reasons.

Warren is already hated and viliefied by a huge chunk of the country no thanks in part to her Native American ancestry scandal, Harris is the walking caricature of everything Fox News has been portraying Democrats as for the past 40 years, and Susan Rice’s involvement in Benghazi (yet another highly polarizing event) makes it easy for large swaths of the country to hate her

A stretch but ok.

It’s funny how Kamala is this far left, cancel culture, men are trash, all white people should repent for slavery liberal and tough on crime, corporate, centrist, status quo empty suit simultaneously.

It’s almost as if there are different groups of people that have different views of her.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/07/12/tammy-duckworth-vp-contention-357234

Top story on Politico right now is all about Duckworth, focusing on her being a veteran and the clash with Tucker Carlson.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

I hate to be "that guy" constantly asking questions that have probably been answered. But assuming it is Warren, how would things look with her Senate seat? I'm not sure what Massachusetts does in a situation like that.

The governor appoints her replacement, but Democrats have a supermajority in the legislature and could force him to appoint a Democrat.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

https://twitter.com/david_darmofal/status/1285738385445920769?s=20

Is this code for not Warren?

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

https://twitter.com/david_darmofal/status/1285738385445920769?s=20

Is this code for not Warren?

He knows Warren's "socialist" background would hurt his campaign, so another white male putting himself ahead of a woman possibly having a great opportunity. Classic neoliberalism.

I think it's more code for 'pick a AA women who can give me better turnout in the Belt and Charlotte' rather than any ideological opposition - he lacks the position to argue this point.

Demings is the pick for this. Hard to argue against her helping the most in Florida, NC and GA. An actual southern African-American instead of one from SF (Harris) or DC (Rice).

Well, no one outside Orlando knows who she is. I’m not sure black Southerners will be motivated to turn out merely by a vague geographic proximity.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

Where tf are all these massive crowds of Demings-lovers who will only turn out for Demings? Her being a major candidate for VP is frankly one of the dumbest things I’ve seen this cycle.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

https://twitter.com/AvalancheInsg/status/1285933850422476805

This is interesting:

Undecideds: 24% prefer Warren, while 16% prefer Harris

Lean Biden: 25% prefer Warren, while 26% prefer Harris

Definitely Biden: 23% prefer Warren, while 30% prefer Harris

Maybe Warren isn’t gonna turn off all those swing voters after all...

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

Kamala voted against cutting military spending by 10%. Can someone please remind me why so many people want her as VP?

Because cutting military spending is bad.

You think the entire US military budget is being put to good use and couldn’t be better spent on anything else?

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

Kamala voted against cutting military spending by 10%. Can someone please remind me why so many people want her as VP?

Because cutting military spending is bad.

We spend more than the next top 10 countries combined... Why do we need to spend so much?

Our military investments pay off in more ways than war-making capacity (r&d, social progress, etc.), but even if we limit ourselves to just investments in fighting capacity, well...someone has to stand as a deterrent to Russia, China, and other aggressive, semi-fascist states.

If we’re looking to reduce the influence of “aggressive semi-fascist states” I think it’d be a good idea to look in the mirror first. And if we want to invest in social progress and R&D we can just do those directly instead of funneling more money into the Pentagon to figure out how to build more fighter jets.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

https://twitter.com/politico/status/1286624753026039808

Give me a f--king break.

Lmao, any mention of anyone else and the Atlas KHive gets all in a tizzy.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

This makes me think it's Harris. I feel like you know when the hit pieces start coming out that she's either a lock or nearly there.

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/07/27/kamala-harris-biden-vp-381829

Harris still appears to be in the pole position for the post: Interviews with more than four dozen elected officials, strategists, former Biden advisers and plugged-in donors said they think Harris is the closest Biden has to a “do no harm” option.

And people in three other competing camps privately said that while their candidates have a shot for VP, Harris is more likely to get the nod.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

Maybe they’re trying to stealth-push Rice so leftists will find Harris more amenable.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

Lol so I logged in to my account for the first time in ages to ask, is there a reason everyone is ignoring the Tony Coehlo thing about Biden's people being down to Duckworth or Bass? Seems weird if he was a plant. Is everyone just viewing him as a quack?

Because it’s a giant game of telephone that goes against all the other reporting that we’ve seen thus far.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

The OH Dem convention is scheduled for the 1st of Aug feat Harris. Hmm

IF the announcement is on Saturday, could that mean a no on Harris?

I was thinking the same thing. Or it could be their first "event" together. Who knows

So August 1 has been confirmed as the announcement? I thought it was all secondhand info.

I'd imagine a state convention in a swing state (Dependent on the individual) would be a good 'debut' event for the running mate that isn't the DNC

Seems to me like a rumor everyone’s just latched onto.