What a coward! He shouldn't be scared to say what he believes, that is the mindset of a career politician, not someone who speaks the truth. If someone won't say something due to fear of people disagreeing, why should we trust him on anything else?
As opposed to Republicans who just blatantly lie/reverse position as it favors them?
BTW - maybe he wants to think about the issue? give a reasoned answer, rather than just blurt out lies like Trump does?
Because the opposition is worse, that makes it acceptable?
These are not the words of a man who has any principles.
He doesn't need to "think about it", he already came out against court-packing in the primaries. If he's stayed true to his word, he would re-iterate it here. If he's flip flopped, then he's clearly only doing so opportunistically
I'd rather have someone who is open to changing his mind in the face of new situations and evidence than someone who dogmatically sticks to the same "principles" he had when he was a teenage hippie.
This is what I don't think Bernie disciples understand. Their constant touting of his "ideological consistency/purity" is not just something I don't find to be a positive; I find it to be an outright negative in a politician.
See, the thing about politics is that it's not actually about ideology. That is the domain of academics, pundits, and people arguing on the internet. Politics, at least in a democratic society, is about getting enough support from people to put yourself in a position where you can realistically achieve policy goals. All of this requires compromise, coalition/alliance-building, and constant awareness of how the public perceives you and your words. Things, incidentally, Bernie is terrible at; he's great at wagging his finger and loudly telling the world how things should be, but has never shown any indication he is capable of actually making that happen.
And so whatever Biden really thinks about court-packing, the politically smart thing to do here is to hedge and hold out. He doesn't want to create a headline that says "BIDEN IS FOR/AGAINST COURT-PACKING" because he doesn't want the conversation to be about court-packing at all right now. He wants it to stay focused on the GOP's hypocrisy and on COVID. Don Draper in Mad Men said "If you don't like what's being said, change the conversation" in reference to marketing, and politics is very similar to marketing.
So Biden absolutely made the right move here. I don't really care at this moment what he really thinks about court-packing, if he has in fact come to a concrete conclusion at all (and no, what he said in the primaries BEFORE RBG died doesn't necessarily mean anything now that the situation has changed completely). I don't want it to be a distraction or liability. Put all the pressure on the GOP, then cross that bridge if and when it comes to it.
