Joe Biden 2020 campaign megathread v2

[Higgins]

He looks old. He's what, 76? He's an old 76. I've seen people at the same age look a lot better. Trump and Reagan for instance or even people in real life....

[Higgins]

He looks old. He's what, 76? He's an old 76. I've seen people at the same age look a lot better. Trump and Reagan for instance or even people in real life....

He clearly looks healthier than Trump, whether that equals looking "better" overall or not.

It's not just how he looks; it's how he presents. Age to me is a very relative number. My parents are 65 but which on paper to me isn't old, but because of their physical and mental decline they present as being older than they are; in contrast, my girlfriend's grandmother is 78 and she presents very young. Trump may be obese, but he comes off young for his age with lots of energy and a high level of charisma (equally matched by a high level of ignorance). Biden, on the other hand, is obviously much more intelligent but he comes off as a tired, rather uninspiring and boring old man. Which is sad because just 7 years ago or so, he wasn't like that.

[Higgins]

Biden sucked out the air out of the room from Beto and Bernie. Once, Bernie was no longer a thread, Kamala was able to attack Biden and seize the mommfor the nomination

May Lady Reparations lose to President Trump.

[Higgins]

The ageism on the parts of some you is disgusting. The hatred and disdain for older people radiates. It's gross.

[Higgins]

Saying "this is who Biden is" is not an excuse when you're talking about handing the keys to the party and the presidency over to this guy. And anyone who has been around elderly people with these sort of problems knows that this will continue to get worse and worse.  It is very concerning.

Exactly. After years of screaming about Trump, these same people really want Biden?  The President should not be senile, and Biden's showing signs. People who just knew HRC would win are claiming that once Biden gets to the general, it'll be a breeze. But it will not. Biden will continue to slip up and piss people off, and he will lose against Trump. We have to do better.

No, I really don't want Biden to be the nominee, for a whole host of reasons. He's becoming more problematic by the week. Trying to choose between Biden and just sitting it out is a choice I do not want to have to make. My hope is that he gracefully exits (or failing that crashes out) long before Iowa (or at the very least, before Super Tuesday).

Can you lot find some other word besides problematic for everything you despise? Your overuse of the word is - puts on hipster glasses, drinks a tall glass of white guilt - problematic.

[Higgins]

Can an Atlas left-winger please tell me what I should say to be politically correct if someone asks me how many genders there are? What's the right answer?

You're not allowed to ask questions anymore. You're supposed to sit down, listen, and be educated. Asking questions is a half step away from mansplainin'

[Higgins]

Can an Atlas left-winger please tell me what I should say to be politically correct if someone asks me how many genders there are? What's the right answer?

You're not allowed to ask questions anymore. You're supposed to sit down, listen, and be educated. Asking questions is a half step away from mansplainin'

I suppose it could be considered smug right-wing masculinity to ask questions like that when I know full well they have no answer.

Masculinity is forbidden. Go and cleanse yourself of your sins.

[Higgins]

Can an Atlas left-winger please tell me what I should say to be politically correct if someone asks me how many genders there are? What's the right answer?

It's a spectrum. It's like asking "how many hair colors are there?"

There's 2.

[Higgins]

There are definitely only two genders, but some people identify as something other than the one they were born as for reasons which are not under their control (it’d be like a woman being born in a man’s body).  Those folks will sometimes try to transition to the gender they identify as; that’s my understanding, at least./quote]

Those people are essentially suffering from severe body dysmorphia, which in all other cases is termed mental illness. It should not be celebrated. We do not celebrate schizophrenics. We try to treat them.

[Higgins]

I think Warren would be a good choice for Biden as VP - female, progressive, can actually get some people excited, would probably kill it in the debates.

Warren would make a great department head, perhaps for Justice or Education. I do not think she would do well in a debate with Pence. Policy wonks aren’t cool in the age of smart phones.

[Higgins]

Obama could of done better with a different Veep, thats another reason why 2010 was such a disaster, Biden did campaign for Dems but didnt go out of his way to do anything but do what Obama asked him to do as Veep. Veep office from Cheney to Biden to Pence has been weak

2010 had nothing to do with Biden and everything to do with the perception of Obama as a radical who had been ineffective in fixing the economy. Let's not revise history.

Obama had a pretty authoritative persona. Any Veep would've stood in his shadow, and traditionally, Dem veeps are more submissive, less charismatic or more bland than the President (Humphrey being LBJ's lapdog, Mondale being boring, Al Gore having none of Bill's charisma or personal warmth, Kane being pretty unlikable, etc).

Joe Biden is probably the strongest Democratic Vice President since LBJ in terms of personality, forcefulness and overall likability (even if say, I like Al Gore more on policy issues - I'm talking about from a persona perspective).

Outside of perhaps Bill Richardson or someone I don't think of the 2008 field, Obama could've done much better in his selection than he did.

[Higgins]

Oh, come on. You’re trying to give Biden credit for Obama dragging him to the White House?

The Biden-Ryan VP debate was one of the big rebound moments that broke the tie for Obama in 2012.  Who dragged whom?

This. People tend to forget that Biden kicked that little sociopath right in the ass. Hope that's not considered profanity.

[Higgins]

"There are good Republicans" is about that close to being the last straw.

That's not a radical statement. Should he say instead "Republicans are subhumans who do not deserve life or liberty"? Would that more suit you?

[Higgins]

Socialists are such vicious little creatures, attacking Biden because he's an old white man. That's the core of the matter.

[Higgins]

Biden haters: “Get outta here mayosapien scum! It’s no longer your time white man!”

That’s what Biden hate boils down to: He’s an old straight white man, and his very existence and the fact that he’s daring to run for President offends you.

[Higgins]

Biden suffers a burst blood vessel in his left eye during CNN climate town hall:

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/bidens-eye-fills-with-blood-during-cnn-climate-town-hall

damn, some of you guys are all like "i hope y'all vote for him in november." i don't think he's going to live till next november

Comrade, we know you hope he dies. We get it. Because he represents a threat to radically transforming America and getting reparations. But calm down comrade, comrade, calm down.

[Higgins]

Watch the socialists defend Trump now because evil Joe Biden attacked him

[Higgins]

It is racist and paternalistic but older black voters are determined to force him through because they think he is the most palatable to white voters. It’s sad and frustrating.

Deeply satisfying to me, though. The sheer joy I get from seeing people like yourself bothered, people who are utterly obsessed with race and hate the hell out of white people like myself and want me to hang my head in shame and guilt, is beyond description. If Trump wins re-election it'll be a thing of pure joy just because people like yourself will dig your heels in even more and get even more bitter and moan. And I don't even support the ignorant, stupid, embarrassing moron. But the enemy of my enemy....

[Higgins]

All I know is Biden said that what is needed to heal the legacy of slavery is to send social workers into the homes of black parents because we don’t know how to raise our kids. And yes I know he will still be in the lead because most voters are myopic and don’t pay attention but it doesn’t make it any less harmful or disqualifying.

You should really get your hearing aide fixed.  

You sound like a Trump supporter. I heard exactly what he said. You’re not going to gaslight me into believing I’m crazy. Like I wanted to hear the leading Dem candidate say that on stage....

I mean, you’re the one who is shamelessly race-baiting, so if anyone is acting like a Trump surrogate, it’s you

But I’ll let you speak for yourself...

Joe Biden was not a victim in his exchange with Julian Castro. White fragility is toxic.

Can you stop Race baiting

Why? It propelled people like Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump to the presidency.

I was being sarcastic but K.

You were being sarcastic about Trump and Reagan being race-baiters?  I guess if you want to play revisionist history, I can’t stop you.

I was being sarcastic with my response when I said "Why?" which would suggest that I agree that I was race-baiting. I was not. What I said was the truth. I don't care how uncomfortable it makes Atlas posters who only give a second thought to race because it is politically advantageous to the party they support.

Here's the full quote.

The teachers are -- I'm married to a teacher. My deceased wife is a teacher. They have every problem coming to them. We have -- make sure that every single child does, in fact, have 3-, 4-, and 5-year-olds go to school. School. Not daycare. School. We bring social workers in to homes and parents to help them deal with how to raise their children.

It's not want they don't want to help. They don't -- they don't know quite what to do. Play the radio, make sure the television -- excuse me, make sure you have the record player on at night, the -- the -- make sure that kids hear words. A kid coming from a very poor school -- a very poor background will hear 4 million words fewer spoken by the time they get there.

Posting the quote of his trash statement doesn't make it less bad.

That's the quote you're all riled up about?  It certainly wasn't racist by any reasonable definition.  Disturbingly garbled and disjointed?  Sure, but it definitely wasn't racist.

That's not what he said.

Though it is true that poor education is often the number one reason people -- black and white -- often struggle to escape poverty.

That is what he said. The question was about repairing the legacy of slavery. It’s quite obvious he views black as synonymous with dysfunction and poverty. Have y’all forgotten “poor kids are just as smart as white kids...” already?

It sounds to me like you're projecting your own racial prejudices onto other people.  

No you’re tone deaf. I am not doing the work of teaching you why it was racist.

I think the part about "We need to send social workers to check up on them" was actually worse than the "Play them records every night" half.

The former half implies that black families need to be babysat by DCS all the time.

The welfare state and forcing social workers into black homes began a rapid decline in the black community too. It made me very uncomfortable. But the white dudes on Atlas who only associate with black people marginally know better than I do on what I should find racist.

Lol. Us mayos getting to you? Haha. Wait until next November.

[Higgins]

Honestly the latest debate has me a little unnerved. I’m on record here attacking posters who have said mean things about Biden and his age. I’m also on record of wanting a Biden/Gabbard ticket. I have wanted Joe to run since he was Obama’s VP. I was an enthusiastic supporter and he is the only Democratic candidate I would vote for.

However the last debate has shaken me. The fact that he seems to be stuck in another time mentally (the deeply embarrassing record player comment), the increasing gaffes which due to his age can be co strayed as evidence of senility, the way his speech has devolved in many cases to Trump-esque word salad - I feel my resolve weakening and my support declining from “enthusiastic” to “cautious.” I do not want Warren or any of the rest but I feel like if Biden is the nominee there’s a good chance he’ll lose and as someone who likes Biden personally I don’t want to see a great career like his end in defeat to Trump.

I also don’t know who else I’ll support because I feel the rest of the candidates are too far socially left for me.

Anyone else in a similar situation?

[Higgins]

Whether the person is currently running or not, if Biden is the nominee, who do you think are the most likely picks for running mate?

[Higgins]

Harris and Klobuchar. I really can’t see anyone else being his pick. Harris is more likely than most people think... Reagan and Bush’s 1980 Primary was nasty but that worked out very well.

Harris is too race obsessed to ever accept the #2 position to an old white man, and it would kill what's left of her support among younger blacks as she'd be perceived to have sold out.

[Higgins]

Biden delivers most significant speech yet on race, says silence on hate 'is complicity'

Former Vice President Joe Biden on Sunday made his most expansive speech yet on race, calling on the nation to live up to its founding ideals and saying that silence on racism amounts to complicity.

"There can be no realization of the American Dream without grappling with the original sin of slavery," Biden told churchgoers in Alabama while delivering the keynote address at services marking the 56th anniversary of the deadly bombing of Birmingham's 16th Street Baptist Church.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/biden-delivers-expansive-speech-race-says-silence-hate-complicity-n1054601

He should have given this speech at a white church. They are the ones that need to hear it.

You gotta let this chip on your shoulder go. It's giving you a sluch. I'm a white man. I'm not out to get you. Despite what the media and your nationalist professors would have you believe, I'm not the boogeyman. I, and people who look like me, we're not an evil group of parasites out to get you. I don't consume mayo by the gallon. It's okay. It's okay.

[Higgins]

The existence of "Corn Pop" isn't the question. Biden's telling of the story was utterly unintelligible. He didn't put one single coherent sentence together in that entire clip.

I understood it. Maybe you just haven't been around enough Baby Boomers. If you actually listened, the story was not at all hard to follow.

[Higgins]

The existence of "Corn Pop" isn't the question. Biden's telling of the story was utterly unintelligible. He didn't put one single coherent sentence together in that entire clip.

I understood it. Maybe you just haven't been around enough Baby Boomers. If you actually listened, the story was not at all hard to follow.

Well, my parents are boomers. Though to be fair, I don't listen to them either.

Well, they're all evil people because they're to the right of you, right, comrade?