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

[Progressive Pessimist]

Alyssa Milano just Endorsed Harris for the ticket. She has a lot of sway

About as much sway as Double Dragon had at the box office.

Hey! That movie is an underrated gem when it comes to ironic enjoyment of schlocky films!

[Progressive Pessimist]

Just pick Harris so we can have the Biden/Harris ticket everyone has been predicting since January 2018.

I've said this before, but I do think that's going to end up being the case. It's a similar situation to Clinton picking Tim Kaine in 2016: there was a lot of speculation leading up to her choice, but everyone knew deep down inside that it was always going to be Kaine who was chosen.

[Progressive Pessimist]

Just pick Harris so we can have the Biden/Harris ticket everyone has been predicting since January 2018.

I've said this before, but I do think that's going to end up being the case. It's a similar situation to Clinton picking Tim Kaine in 2016: there was a lot of speculation leading up to her choice, but everyone knew deep down inside that it was always going to be Kaine who was chosen.

Let's hope whatever choice is made doesn't get panned quite as badly as 2016's after the fact.

Was Kaine really perceived of that badly during the election? It always seemed to me that he was just irrelevant, same with Pence. 2016 was not an election where the running mates mattered much.

And today I wouldn't consider him hated. He is actually probably the best of the last three losing Democratic ticket picks, though that may not be saying much.

[Progressive Pessimist]

Yes, Demings may have broader appeal than Harris! To people here, broader appeal means appealing to Bernie's 2% hardcore most leftists. I am referring to the undecided/soft lean Biden moderates.

From what I have seen the anti-Trump Republicans like Harris just fine, despite the fact that they acknowledge she is very liberal. As a matter of fact, the only VP contender they seem to dislike is Warren.

You have a warped view of who swing voters are, most likely because as a foreigner your exposure to people outside the Democratic Party is entirely online. "Anti-Trump Republicans" aren't the concern -- it's the older, whiter, less-ideological, less-"informed", less-college-educated, less-partisan voters who've signaled in polls to be open to voting for Biden. This is a unique opportunity and there's no state in America where this isn't an important voting demographic. But I assure you Harris is poison to this group.

My opposition to Harris has less to do with the 2020 election anyway, and more to do with the consultants and political hacks, who've never won anything being rewarded with the Vice Presidency and keys to the party in four years. It's a straight-up coup. I didn't sign up for this.

Biden may have some appeal to that group but to be frank he does not generate huge enthusiasm from the Democratic base.  He won the primary because he was seen as the most electable.  He needs to get excitement from at least some part of the base.   Expecting the Democratic base to fall in line on the VP pick just to satisfy the above group is unfair not to mention a bad electoral strategy in this era of polarization.  We saw what happened in 2016.  Hatred of Trump is not enough.  And many Democrats put aside our preferred choices to accept Biden as the nominee.

Again, the base will vote for Biden no matter who he picks. The academics, insiders just love Harris style liberalism that is about social issues and is (mostly) hands off on Wall Street. You saw this with Pete, Klobuchar voters as well. It's a unique brand of liberalism to DC, NY, Silicon Valley that has a lot of media power behind it.

That's what we thought in 2016.

To be fair, I don't think anybody who was skeptical about voting for Clinton completely wrote her off because she picked Kaine. Both he, and Pence, were very incidental to that election.

It could be different this time though when considering Biden's age and what people want his running mate to offer or balance out.

[Progressive Pessimist]

Elizabeth Warren got a DNA test after Trump double dog dared her to, but sure Kamala is the one who has bad political instincts...

Let's be honest the Republican will attack Warren over the Native Americans thing far more than they would attack Harris prosecutorial record. Republicans and especially not Trump of all people are going to attack Harris on criminal justice form the left.

Actually, I think he will try that. But it will come across as the phony, contradictory opportunism that it is.

[Progressive Pessimist]

Elizabeth Warren got a DNA test after Trump double dog dared her to, but sure Kamala is the one who has bad political instincts...

Let's be honest the Republican will attack Warren over the Native Americans thing far more than they would attack Harris prosecutorial record. Republicans and especially not Trump of all people are going to attack Harris on criminal justice form the left.

Actually, I think he will try that. But it will come across as the phony, contradictory opportunism that it is.

Again its Trump the worst I see him doing is calling her a cop or Copamala. And like many people said there are many things Harris can brag about from her record. Compare that to Warren whose accomplishment will likely be overshadowed by Trump constantly saying Pocahontas, asking what was her Native American name, or performing the racist Native American war cry for the next 100+ days.

It's even more ironic because Trump is supposed to be pro-cop and "law and order."

[Progressive Pessimist]

Nope, you know exactly what I'm talking about. She took a pretty big swing at him and Trump can use it in ads.

But nobody ended up really caring about that swing on substance. Are you trying to tell me that Trump is suddenly going to champion forced busing and that it will appeal to undecided voters?

[Progressive Pessimist]

https://twitter.com/JTHVerhovek/status/1280647259869282306

https://twitter.com/SteveWCarlson/status/1280649159050235904

This is a "Democrat" Senate candidate running against Tina Smith in the primary lmao

He's an evil demon.

Seriously, what the f***!?

[Progressive Pessimist]

https://twitter.com/JoeforIndiana/status/1280924789453045760

Joe Donnelly comes to Duckworth's defence.

I guess this is one of the upsides to not being a politician anymore. I don't think we would have seen Senator Donnelly in 2018 say this.

[Progressive Pessimist]

If it's not Harris, I would be very pleased with Duckworth. Hopefully it's between these two.

Agreed. And I'm honestly under the impression that they are both at the top of the list at this point.

[Progressive Pessimist]

Has anyone taken into account the looks of the potential vp? Sexism undeniably had an impact on 2016, and will again this year. Who looks the best next to Biden on stage/campaign material etc. Harris, then Whitmer for me.

In all honesty it could be a very small positive factor. I remember that even Rush Limbaugh complimented Harris' looks during the primary. And superficiality is also probably a large part of what helped catapult Palin into becoming a Republican superstar (for awhile at least).

By the way, I'm not attributing a female politicians' success entirely to her looks, I'm just noting how my fellow male may perceive things.

It works the other way too. My mom wanted to vote for John Edwards in the 2008 Democratic primary entirely because she thought he was handsome.

[Progressive Pessimist]

If it means he doesn't pick Rice or Bass I'll become the biggest Kamala Stan on this website.

That's about where I'm at. I don't really care who picks anymore, actually. Though I do, and always have, supported Harris as Vice President. But overall I almost don't care anymore unless they're complete liabilities like Bass and Rice.

[Progressive Pessimist]

At this juncture, how reliable are election/political betting sites for something that is allegedly only known by Biden? He could very well pick Barbara Lee or someone else not on the beting list

If Barbara Lee were maybe ten years younger, she would have been perfect!