Biden / Harris Focused Discussion

[Benggaul]

Oh good, the "Biden old" bullshit is back. I see even our resident IDF supporter managed to heave himself out of the Israel thread long enough to chime in.

Yep, Biden's old. Does he have dementia? Not as far as I can tell, nope. I'm not an expert, but I've watched two grandparents go through it and Biden seems pretty fucking lucid and with it, so until he's diagnosed by an actual doctor and not just very concerned online people, I'm going to go with he's fine, just older.

Would I rather there was someone else running? Sure. But Biden won the primaries in 2020 and he's winning them now, so he's the one most people seem to want. And I'll gladly have another 4 years of Biden's administration quietly getting shit done rather than 4 years of a Trump admin smash and grab.

[alach]

They aren't running. Yet. Out of loyalty to party and Biden I imagine.
I'm sure we will see Gavin Newsom on the ticket by next cycle through.

[Orange Joe]

They aren't running. Yet. Out of loyalty to party and Biden I imagine.
I'm sure we will see Gavin Newsom on the ticket by next cycle through.

Party loyalty would be to put the best candidate possible forward. If they are "polling" as well as you say, it's their fault and their fault alone for not running.

[VMSmith]

And that is where you are wrong. The incumbency bonus always applies. Everything else you said is true, but if he weren't an incumbent, his chances would be considerably worse.

Wasn't Trump the incumbent in 2020? Did that work out for him? What about Bush I?

Incumbency is not ironclad.

[Flarelaine]

I still fancy the thought of Tammy Duckworth running.

[VMSmith]

Would I rather there was someone else running? Sure. But Biden won the primaries in 2020 and he's winning them now, so he's the one most people seem to want. And I'll gladly have another 4 years of Biden's administration quietly getting shit done rather than 4 years of a Trump admin smash and grab.

But we don't have to convince Benggaul who's in-tune with the reality of politics to vote for good 'ole Joe Biden, do we? We have to convince Bob Six-Pack American who hears daily about dementia-riddled Grampa Joe who can't remember that the leader of Egypt isn't from Mexico in a speech designed to show that he doesn't forget things.

[Benggaul]

Wasn't Trump the incumbent in 2020? Did that work out for him? What about Bush I?

Incumbency is not ironclad.

For Democrats it's been pretty solid for decades. For the GOP not so much lately.

I think Carter was the last Dem president not to win a second term. The GOP lost with Trump and Bush senior (and before that...Ford?)

[Draco-Onis]

For Democrats it's been pretty solid for decades. For the GOP not so much lately.

I think Carter was the last Dem president not to win a second term. The GOP lost with Trump and Bush senior (and before that...Ford?)

I don't think any one of us can predict the American electorate, on paper a twice impeached president with over 90 indictments who tried to overthrow democracy and told in court he is a rapist should have no shot at winning but here we are.

[Edge-]

I still fancy the thought of Tammy Duckworth running.

Part of me wants that to happen just so we can get an election cycle of Republicans repeatedly demanding she "stand up" for XYZ and having to apologize because they keep forgetting she lost her legs while serving the country (and still serves).

Because it's happened before. Multiple times rofl.

[Benggaul]

I don't think any one of us can predict the American electorate, on paper a twice impeached president with over 90 indictments who tried to overthrow democracy and told in court he is a rapist should have no shot at winning but here we are.

Oh I agree. I'm just saying in general incumbency has been a pretty solid boost.

- - - Updated - - -

But we don't have to convince Benggaul who's in-tune with the reality of politics to vote for good 'ole Joe Biden, do we? We have to convince Bob Six-Pack American who hears daily about dementia-riddled Grampa Joe who can't remember that the leader of Egypt isn't from Mexico in a speech designed to show that he doesn't forget things.

Please. There are no undecided voters to convince. With how polarized American politics has become everyone who is going to vote has known since last year who they were going to vote for. Either Biden or whomever wins the GOP primaries (in all likelihood Trump). Anyone claiming they're "undecided" is just too embarrassed to state who they're voting for publicly. The only thing that may sway some voters is whether or not Trump is actually convicted--and even then that's a pretty heavily-laden "may".

[The Stormbringer]

Wasn't Trump the incumbent in 2020? Did that work out for him? What about Bush I?

Incumbency is not ironclad.

You're misreading what I'm saying. I never said "incumbent = win", I said "incumbent = advantage". Imagine it as a buff to their gearscore. It doesn't mean they'll beat the raid, but it definitely helps.

[Elegiac]

Y’all really out here wondering why it’s mainly old rich people in politics when there is a very simple explanation.

Running for office is expensive. Challenging an established incumbent on a reform platform is even more so.

It’s the electoral system, stupid.

[Easo]

Yes Edge, it is copium. Reading this thread over the last year was eerily close to reading some repub subreddits slurping over Trump's tiny peepee. The amount of "totally fine" excuses after yet another stupid shit from Biden was amazing and everything was downplayed and excused as repub pathetic attempts to smear Biden.
FFS, he screwed up even the news briefing meant to prove the opposite.

Dementia Grandpa vs Orange Racist...

Both men could be dead in the next 4 years just because of their age.

That alone to me suggests "Hey, maybe we shouldn't be electing men in their late 70s and 80s."

This. And no, it is not "discrimination".

[Elegiac]

Yes Edge, it is copium. Reading this thread over the last year was eerily close to reading some repub subreddits slurping over Trump's tiny peepee. The amount of "totally fine" excuses after yet another stupid shit from Biden was amazing and everything was downplayed and excused as repub pathetic attempts to smear Biden.
FFS, he screwed up even the news briefing meant to prove the opposite.

Dementia Grandpa vs Orange Racist...

This. And no, it is not "discrimination".

It is, however, incredibly insulting to actual dementia sufferers to assume someone has dementia based on your pop culture diagnosis of his speech patterns.

Biden’s not going to hear you make fun of his speech impediment, but your friends and family who have them certainly will hear you.

[Odinfrost]

Yes Edge, it is copium. Reading this thread over the last year was eerily close to reading some repub subreddits slurping over Trump's tiny peepee. The amount of "totally fine" excuses after yet another stupid shit from Biden was amazing and everything was downplayed and excused as repub pathetic attempts to smear Biden.
FFS, he screwed up even the news briefing meant to prove the opposite.

Dementia Grandpa vs Orange Racist...



This. And no, it is not "discrimination".

If you have to insist on saying Biden has dimentia, then you better have to say the same about Trump who fucks up way more often than Biden

[Easo]

It is, however, incredibly insulting to actual dementia sufferers to assume someone has dementia based on your pop culture diagnosis of his speech patterns.

Biden’s not going to hear you make fun of his speech impediment, but your friends and family who have them certainly will hear you.

Someone somewhere is always offended or insulted or hurt. There isn't a single topic that cannot be laughed about, get over it.
Speech patterns, lol, what does speech paterns have to do with regularly mentioning wrong people and places?

If you have to insist on saying Biden has dimentia, then you better have to say the same about Trump who fucks up way more often than Biden

"But but Trump, he is worse!!!"
Basically what I was talking about. Jesus christ... I guess me making fun about repubs and Tramps tiny tralalaa wasn't hint enough, or calling him Orange Racist. I could also call him Orange Retard, but I am not sure if that is against rules...

[Elegiac]

Someone somewhere is always offended or insulted or hurt. There isn't a single topic that cannot be laughed about, get over it.

Pretty brave of you to admit you're just being pointlessly cruel, but it does explain an awful lot about your political views.

Speech patterns, lol, what does speech paterns have to do with regularly mentioning wrong people and places?

"What does a pattern of gaffes in a person with a well-known history of speech impediments have to do with speech patterns?" Are you fucking serious?

Dementia is a cognitive disorder; what is ultimately a harmless difficulty in communicating does not automatically imply a cognitive disorder or unfitness for a position. Saying it does is effectively a blanket commentary on the "mental fitness" of people with speech impediments.

"But it's obvious--" No it isn't. You're neither a doctor nor privy to his private conduct in such a way that would enable to you make such a diagnosis.

"It's just a joke--" To you, maybe. Biden doesn't see you being a cunt about speech impediments, but the people in your community do.

There are countless legitimate reasons to be critical of Biden, and absolutely no legitimate reason to reinforce social stigmas against disability by being a jackass about speech impediments. I'd say check yourself but you're probably just going to get huffy that someone doesn't find memeing about dementia funny so whatever.

[Endus]

But we don't have to convince Benggaul who's in-tune with the reality of politics to vote for good 'ole Joe Biden, do we? We have to convince Bob Six-Pack American who hears daily about dementia-riddled Grampa Joe who can't remember that the leader of Egypt isn't from Mexico in a speech designed to show that he doesn't forget things.

If your point is that a lot of Americans are stupid and gullible and demonstrate daily that propaganda and bullshit are very effective tools for misleading idiots, sure.

The people lying about Biden are gonna lie about whoever the candidate is. It doesn't matter whether there's anything behind the lies, just whether the idiots will gobble them down without engaging their brains, like the good mindless sheep they prove themselves to be.

[Draco-Onis]

Someone somewhere is always offended or insulted or hurt. There isn't a single topic that cannot be laughed about, get over it.
Speech patterns, lol, what does speech paterns have to do with regularly mentioning wrong people and places?

Biden has had a severe speech impediment since he was young (stuttering, blurring out the wrong words etc), he overcame that to become a politician.

[Endus]

If you have to insist on saying Biden has dimentia, then you better have to say the same about Trump who fucks up way more often than Biden

Biden accidentally says one word when he means another. I do the same thing all the time; my brain gets ahead of me and I'll be thinking one thing while saying another and then I say the first thing about the other thing. And then I correct myself. This kind of shit is entirely normal, people's brains are slippery globs of fatty tissue that evolved to figure out whether that shadow under that tree is a tiger or not and probably just panic because it might be a tiger, and running away from nothing is safer than not running away from an actual tiger. Yeah, our brains aren't perfect recall machines with photographic recall of everything that ever happened to us without any failure.

Trump regularly can't finish a sentence, because he loses his train of thought and will wander through a dozen half-phrases of gobbledygook before petering out, never actually making the point he originally set out to do.

These are not equivalent.