Is Biden ‘electable’ ?

It’s amazing to me what doesn’t make a politician unelectable.

– sexual assault
– blatant lying about easily provable facts
– using your position to gain favors for family members
– violating emoluments clauses
– blackmail
– etcetera ad Infinitum

Yes.

I think my cat Bertha is electable, but I believe it is in the Constitution that says you have to be a human to run for President.

He does have a new ad out now

Our health care workers are putting their lives on the line every day, and our president is accusing them of stealing lifesaving supplies. It's time for Donald Trump to do his job, so our heroes are able to do theirs. Lives are at stake. pic.twitter.com/qiwRjrVUYz

— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) March 30, 2020

waterfield wrote:

wv wrote:

Biden has the support of all the Rich folks, the Corporations, Big Pharma, the CIA, the MSM, Goldman Sachs…

You missed a few: He also has the support of the poor, the disenfranchised, the minorities, those in fear of what 4 more years of Trump will do to their health care, the federal courts, the electoral process, those in favor of pro-choice, those alarmed at the increased deficits, the privatization of our educational system, the separation of church and state, gun control, and-oh yes-now the economy.

I’m probably on an island here, cuz I disagree with bothya.

Trump and the GOP get the vast majority of rich folks, corporations, big pharma, the CIA and Goldman Sachs, etc. Trump/McConnell have showered American corporations and oligarchs with endless freebies, and will use the pandemic for far more. Tax cuts up the wazoo. Deregulation beyond their wildest dreams. Opening up drilling beyond even Dubya’s assault on the environment. Plus the biggest selloff of public lands since Reagan. They’ve also pretty much gutted oversight of business.

I’d say the MSM is split. Biden is dull. Trump gives ’em ratings. And the MSM’s bosses all do better with Trump and the GOP. It’s not close.

As always, yeah, the Dems give them a good deal too. That wouldn’t have been the case with Sanders. But it will be with Biden. But they get an uber-monster deal from Trump and the GOP. The most corporatist-loving Dem candidate will always be less “generous” to the richest 1% than a Trump/McConnell combo, primarily because the Dem “base” will only accept so much neoliberalism. There are no such restraints on the GOP.

The wildcard is Trump’s personality, and his incompetence, which this pandemic has exposed beyond measure. The oligarchs and plutocrats who peel off and side with Biden will be doing so, IMO, not cuz Biden gives them a better deal, but because they think Trump is dangerously incompetent and erratic.

• This reply was modified 4 years, 8 months ago by Zooey.

I’m constantly puzzled by the amount of time devoted to critiquing the Dems versus that spent on the GOP, especially given who actually holds power in America, and how that power is used. To me, as a leftist, it doesn’t add up, at all, and I think it creates a dangerously false sense of reality.

When I read or see progressive criticism of the Dems, I’m usually in agreement with it. Most of it strikes me as on the nose, and necessary to say, write, promulgate, etc. As in, it needs to be shouted from the rooftops. As Nathan Robinson mentions above, it’s wrong that some want to silence it. Let the sunshine in!!

But all too much of it also leaves out the GOP, and all too often entirely. It seems to forget that Trump is the president, the GOP has the Senate, the Supreme Court, and controls most of the states. It seems to forget that our daily life is filled with Trump/GOP scandals, power grabs, grifting, cons, endless lies, and we learn daily about these things in specific, concrete terms, though generally, unfortunately, not from those “progressive” sources.

If Americans watched nothing but, say, The Rising and a few other lefty sources on Youtube, they couldn’t help but think of the Dems as evil beyond redemption, leaving the GOP alone as the political answer — if for no other reason than they’re not talked about. That would be the “logical” deduction to make.

“They really make a great case against the Dems! They don’t say a word about Trump and the GOP, so they must love them!!”

Yeah, I know. Every now and then they’ll mention them and make some sort of obligatory comment. But with the proportion of heavy critique being so overwhelmingly one-sided, what is the the logical deduction to make from that for their audience?

In short, as a leftist, bringing a leftist critique against some leftist critiques, I want to see Sunshine bearing down on both parties (and the system that supports them), and for the relative power arrangements to factor in as well. Who holds the power, and what do they do with it? Judging from some of these sources, one would think the Dems are all alone in DC.

Speaking of Nathan Robinson — I’m a big fan, and hope to read his new book on socialism as soon as local libraries open back up — he got the Wisconsin situation all wrong. The Dems actually tried to postpone the election, sighting the pandemic. The Dem governor (Evers) tried his best to do this, but was rebuffed by the GOP.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2020/04/04/coronavirus-wisconsin-legislature-stalls-move-postpone-election/2949675001/

The GOP wants desperately to purge the voter rolls of hundreds of thousands of likely Dem voters, and hoped to win a state Supreme Court election to make sure that happened, so they blocked efforts to postpone it.

Ironically, with the election going forward, the liberal challenger won, making it far less likely that the purge will go through. It still may. Cuz the GOP still has a slight majority there. But, apparently, one of their “conservative” judges is so far going against his own team and saying no to the purge.

The DNC cleared the field for the wrong guy, again. Rinse and repeat.

The nom shoulda been Sanders, obviously. Best policies and agenda, relative to all other candidates, by light years. And he doesn’t have that ethics baggage to deal with.

Wouldn’t want to go to a second or third choice, but if forced to, it would probably be Inslee or Warren, maybe Yang. And I can think of several others who would have been better than Biden, with a better chance of beating Trump too. Harris, Klobuchar, etc.

Of course, Biden’s alleged sexual predations pale in comparison to Trump’s. It’s not close. The latter has at least 24 credible accusations of sexual assault against him, which include outright rape.

What is it about these politicians/CEOs and their predatory natures? Why do so many of them seem to fit the profile of sociopath?

My own dime-store theory is that in a capitalist society, rising to “the top” nearly always requires that. I don’t know enough about psych to say which comes first, chicken or egg . . . as in, Do they run because they’re sociopaths? or Do they win because they are? or does acquiring the power then turn them toward the dark side?

But I feel beyond certain that our system radically worsens extremely negative traits, weaponizes them, etc. We need to figure this out if we want to make it as a species into the 22nd century.