A lot of the analysis that asks "how is Biden still winning?" seems to miss a major element in his support: A lot of D voters are moderate, or "somewhat liberal" rather than "very liberal", and prefer Biden's somewhat liberal, Obama-ish policy positions to Warren/Bernie/etc.
— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) October 27, 2019
Olivia Nuzzi is a professional journalist-assassin, but some of the details here will break your heart. For NYMag, “The Zombie Campaign”:
… The pitch goes like this: Joe Biden ought to be the nominee because he’s electable, a meaningless concept if recent history is any guide, and presidential, that wonderful word — the thing Donald Trump could never be even though he literally is president — despite the fact that Biden, who appears by almost any measure to be a good man, a man whose lone sin in life is ego (and does that even count anymore?), has spent a half-century grasping for this position and watching it slip through his fingers.
To anyone paying attention — the army of political professionals more wired to observe shortcomings than are those likely to actually vote for him or for anyone else — it looks, unmistakably, like it’s happening again. His vulnerabilities are close to the surface. There’s the basic fact of his oldness and the concerns, explicit or implicit, about his ability to stay agile and alive for four more years…
But it’s not just his age itself. It’s his tendency to misspeak, his inartful debating style, and — most of all — his status as a creature from another time in the Democratic Party, when the politics of race and crime and gender were unrecognizably different. It’s not just that the Joe Biden of yesteryear sometimes peeks out from behind the No. 1 Obama Stan costume. It’s that the Joe Biden of today is expected to hold his former self accountable to the new standards set by a culture that’s prepared to reject him. And though he’s the party Establishment’s obvious exemplar, he can’t seem to raise any money — spending more in the last quarter than he brought in and moving into the homestretch with less than $9 million in the bank (roughly a third of what Elizabeth Warren or Bernie Sanders has on hand). For political reporters, marveling every day at just how well this isn’t going, watching Biden can feel like being at the rodeo. You’re there because on some level you know you might see someone get killed.
Yet Biden is still the front-runner. Volatile and potentially worthless as they may be, it’s what the polls say. Biden leads the field on average by a handful of percentage points, though his lead has trended steadily downward…Biden is aware that it’s not going well. But it’s not apparent that he knows how to fix it. Recently, according to his staff, his anxieties have manifested more visibly. If he begins to question something small, he spirals, eventually questioning everything. Should he be saying this in his speech? Wait, should he be giving this speech at all? Should he even be focusing on this group? Is this even the right position? He freaks out over minor stuff on the trail that staffers don’t believe he should be concerning himself with and yet is unable to make strategic adjustments. But the staff concern themselves with unimportant matters, too, running what they think is a general-election campaign when they need to be running a primary. Inside the campaign, the Biden brain trust seems to exist more to comfort the candidate than to compel him, and strategy meetings inevitably devolve into meandering, ruminative roundtables that feel purposeless except to fill time in the day. Nobody will tell the candidate in plain terms what they think he needs to change. Not that Biden really listens anyway.
Some on the campaign still believe he can win, in part because they believe he should win. But even to them, the path to a collapse seems clear: Biden loses in Iowa and New Hampshire, where his leads have been steadily declining for months and where, recently, Elizabeth Warren has overtaken him, and then, as a result, loses his sheer aura of electability, too. But inside the campaign, they reportedly see another path, though it might not seem, at first, an optimistic one: Okay, so he loses Iowa and then New Hampshire, but so what? Because he is who he is and represents what he represents — the embodiment of both the white-working-class model of the electorate and the glow of the Obama years — he can weather the losses and march to victory through Super Tuesday and beyond. “Their theory is a long, twilight struggle where they accumulate delegates everywhere as minority voters start playing a larger role,” Axelrod said. “But in reality, it’s tough to be a winner when you keep losing or at least appear to be.”…
For the first time, Biden leaves open the possibility of not running for a second term if he’s elected in 2020. “It doesn’t mean I would run a second term. I’m not going to make that judgment at this moment.” H/t @tylerpager https://t.co/0vhANw0H0f
— Jennifer Epstein (@jeneps) October 27, 2019
NEW: In a confidential memo, Biden’s campaign urges top bundlers to “dig deep” seeking to contain fallout from being in 5th place in cash on hand.
— Biden flips on a super PAC
— Ricchetti dispatched to shore up donor class
— Private jet grumblesMore —> https://t.co/A4jhL8CM2v
— Shane Goldmacher (@ShaneGoldmacher) October 26, 2019
Patricia Kayden
lamh36
I think it was Kay who said she loves how Kamala Harris doesn’t allow interviewers like this and obviously leading questions stop her from getting her point across.
NotMax
That distills down the Biden-as-candidate barrel of defects concisely.
lamh36
@lamh36: the entire Axios interview was a bit hostile or maybe it just me. Still Kamala handles it as well as she always does IMHO
Amir Khalid
How is Joe’s ground game this campaign? There’s a lot of talk about the candidates themselves, but primaries are won by on-the-ground campaign organisation, and the quality of such tells you a lot about the quality of the candidate and their senior people.
lamh36
Sigh… Let’s put aside the idea that Black folks are more homophobic than white folks for another conversation (it’s false BTW) the next question then if he didn’t care enough to cultivate these voters before running for POTUS ?? why do we just expect these voters to not be skeptical of a politician who does that?
Mary G
Patricia Kayden
jk
Watched Biden’s 60 Minutes interview tonight and was struck by how lethargic and uninspiring he was. I can’t imagine him having the energy and mental acuity for 4 years if he somehow were to win in 2020.
His Senate record, which no one wants to discuss, flat out sucked (the crime bill, Iraq war, treatment of Anita Hill, etc) He’s a gaffe gushering buffoon who looks and sounds about 10 years over the hill. Nominating him would be a fucking disaster.
Biden is the poster boy for white mail privilege. Does anyone seriously believe that a 76 year old profoundly inarticulate female politician who had previously withdrawn from a presidential race because of a plagiarism scandal would be embraced by Democratic party leaders and the punditocracy for another presidential run?
Ben Cisco
She could have stopped there actually. @lamh36: Rest assured, it wasn’t just you. We’re seeing this crap over and over again – I’m at the point of deciding whether it’s even worth it to consume any “liberal” media. The only thing I see flogged is anything that tears down a Dem, or in this case case ignores one completely.
Harris forced the fake ass punk ass Wussolini front group out of the Benedict College forum – a move benefitting ALL Dems BTW – and the outlets all made it look like she rolled over. They’ve become beyond tiresome.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@jk: besides what Silver says above– which I wish more people could have figured out before they went all in on maximalist sloganeering– Biden is running as Obama’s third term. Something else I wish more candidates had thought of.
James E Powell
Apparently the fans at World Series Game 5 booed Trump then started chanting “lock him up.”
The boos for Trump hit 95 decibels. The cheers for José Andrés were a touch louder at 96.6.
I’ve been watching the game and for some reason the broadcaster chose not to mention this.
clay
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Well, Hillary ran for Obama’s third term as well. Bernie attacked her for it constantly.
It sure was a mystery why he failed to attract a majority of Democratic voters! The system must’ve been rigged, I tell ya!
guachi
Finally talked to my father (who is 72 or 73 or something) tonight about the his primary vote and he said he had a soft spot for Biden because he was Obama’s VP and he’s so knowledgeable about government but will probably vote Warren because in his words “she seems like a happy warrior with endless stamina”.
He also had concerns about Biden’s and Sanders’ age, but not Warren’s.
E
Can you quote something, anything, Biden said during the Hill hearing? I’ve yet to hear what he actually said. And “White Male privilege? The guy was a Senator for like 1000 years and a VP and partner to one of the most successful administrations in history for 8 years. Some might call that working your ass off. Where exactly was any of this just handed to him?
Betty Cracker
@James E Powell: The announcers just babbled over the booing. It was weird.
The Dangerman
Huh, so you DO need a bullpen to win the World Series? Who knew??
/disgruntled Dodger fan
ETA: Yeah, leave Kershaw AND Kelly in to pitch a second inning, let’s SEE how that works, asshole
Chetan Murthy
@jk:
Indeed. But you left out “the Senator from MBNA” and the goddamn bankruptcy bill. I keep waiting for SPW to tie that around his neck like the boat anchor it is …..
Kay
I stopped reading her because I tire of what I think of as “cleverness” in political coverage- it bugs me how knowing and fake-cynical they all are. BUT, this Biden story was a good read.
I’m not a Biden supporter but he is popular among two groups who one wouldn’t think would be together- AA’s and white working class. That’s a rare thing and none of the other candidates have it. It isn’t The Obama Coalition of yore- it’s older, for one thing- much more like The Bill Clinton Coalition.
Will it be enough? I don’t know. I tend not to think so because I don’t think we can do this without young people. They don’t turn out like older people do but they’re absolutely essential.
rikyrah
@Chetan Murthy:
I have been waiting for that too. I think it’s a legitimate issue.
lurker dean
@Patricia Kayden: I can’t get enough of this.
Steve in the ATL
Football question: I don’t watch a lot of NFL as (1) I prefer the innocence and purity of the college game, and (2) we don’t have a functioning team here in Atlanta.
Green Bay is playing Kansas City. When I don’t have a dog in the fight I generally root for blue state teams over red state teams. In this case, of course, that means the Packers.
KC, however, has a compelling story in their elderly back up quarterback who has thrown two touchdown passes after being a high school coach a few months ago. And they have Mecole Hardman, one of the most exciting rookies in the league (also a Georgia Bulldog…), while GB has a fun to watch future hall of fame QB who lacks the courage to come out of the closet.
What to do?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
That’s my take too. And even after the heart attack, Bernie’s age is the least of my concerns about him (my god, they’re keeping Cheney alive). I didn’t worry about Biden’s age till I saw him in action. And from seeing what my parents when through when they buried my brother, I still wonder if that isn’t the bigger factor than his age per se.
The Hunter thing bugs me cause Biden was always so sanctimonious about the Clintons’ buck-raking, including in leaks to fucking Maureen Fucking Dowd, of all fucking people.
Edmund Dantes
@Patricia Kayden: the more I think about it.
The more I think Trump planned to go to game after announcing the killing of the ISIS leader and thinking he’d be cheered as a conquering hero.
mrmoshpotato
OT – ?Nats Park shark?
rikyrah
Black people are not revolutionaries
Revolution and us don’t mix.
There is nothing in the history of this country that would convince Black people otherwise.
Our ‘Revolutionaries ” are:
1. Dead
2. In prison
3. Exiled(both voluntary & involuntary) in another country
Pragmatism has a lane too.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
the only thing surprises me is that The Beast is better at faking being un-bothered by the boos than Melanie, though he clearly starts for a minute. You can see her dead eyes even as she fakes a smile
Matt McIrvin
The thing about Biden is, he’s not consolidating his win but he isn’t losing. The way reporters keep waiting for him to collapse feels almost like the 2016 Republican primary: the way everyone expected Trump to crater, or lose interest and quit, sooner or later and just wouldn’t accept that he was the front runner, and that collapse just never came.
Kent
@jk:
NINE YEARS FROM NOW. How energetic will he be NINE FUCKING YEARS FROM NOW.
Because a 2-term president will still be in office NINE years from now. And I have no intention of deliberately electing a one-term President.
Every intereview with Biden and Sanders should start out with the question. Do you intend to be a one-term president? If not, do you think you will have the health and energy to keep up with the job in nine years? It doesn’t matter how healthy you are today. Where will you be nine years from today?
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
#LockHimUp is trending on Twitter
HA!
SiubhanDuinne
@Patricia Kayden:
Does he live in the 1940s? What male today goes to a baseball game wearing a suit and tie? His collar isn’t even loosened. Totally apart from his myriad other failings, he has absolutely no sense of occasion or appropriate behaviour or attire. Such an embarrassment in every way.
ETA: I’m glad the home-town crowd booed him, though, and I’m glad they chanted “lock him up” and I’m very glad indeed they gave a huge warm cheer for Chef Andrés.
Kay
I also think his campaign should just let him talk. This idea that they can turn him into a completely different “disciplined” person in his 70’s is delusional. That they even spend any energy at all on that doomed effort makes me wonder about them.
And stop spending so much money. Just have ordinary expenses. They probably pay themselves too much, too. And there’s too many managers. Other than that Santa list of complaints I’m fine with them :)
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: this is one time when I’m glad The Only President We’ve Got is a twitter junkie
Kirk Spencer
@Edmund Dantes: Oddly, I can believe that. Given that it was a couple of nights ago that it was announced he’d be attending game 5. (Yes really, and the secret service was undoubtedly frantic about that specificity.) I can see him looking at the operational plan and looking around for the biggest platform for his ego boost.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@SiubhanDuinne:
Okay, I’m sure you know it, but since apparently you want me to dig up this chestnut that almost, almost, makes me feel sorry for Fredo….
Matt McIrvin
@SiubhanDuinne: In that anecdote about Trump hitting Donald Jr. hard enough to knock him down in the hallway of his college dorm, wasn’t Junior’s offense failing to dress in a suit and tie for a baseball game?
Betty Cracker
@E: It wasn’t so much what Biden said directly in the hearing that’s at issue; it’s how he ran it as chairman of the committee. Other women came forward to corroborate Hill’s testimony, and Biden chose not to include them. Republican committee members treated Hill disrespectfully, and Biden remained silent. It was infuriating.
SiubhanDuinne
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Amazed I didn’t think of that story tonight. I know it well and have cited it more than once over the last few years. That’s gotta be Fred Trump emerging to torment generation unto generation.
Kay
If you were wondering about that- and you should wonder, it makes no sense- it can be explained by “Ivanka and Jared have fancy friends in media”.
Gross.
Marcopolo
I don’t think Biden will wind up being the nominee. We are 99 days out of Iowa and his campaign is like a car that starts with a hella lot of momentum & just slowly slows and slows and slows until it finally comes to a stop. That being said, I would rather spend my time doing something enjoyable or if it is politics related helping candidates who have elections to win in 9 days than debate the merits of him & his campaign. So…
If you want to give some last minute support to 13 (this started with 14 but one candidate was doing so well raising funds they took her out) progressive candidates running to flip the VA state house and senate go here.
If you want to give some last minute support to Andy Beshear who is running for KY-Gov and trying to one-term Matt Bevin, a truly odious R asshole go here.
Have a nice night everyone.
SiubhanDuinne
@Matt McIrvin:
It sure was. See my @SiubhanDuinne response to @Jim, Foolish Literalist, who was having a GMTA moment with you, and thank you both for the reminder of that very telling anecdote.
ArchTeryx
@jk: @Chetan Murthy: It needs to be. The bankruptcy bill was one of the most toxic economic bills passed in the last several decades. And Joe Biden spearheaded it through repeatedly until it passed Congress. That one bill is a huge reason medical bankruptcies are now so prevalent and why it is so hard to get rid of medical bills.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@SiubhanDuinne:
My thought exactly. trump is so damn gross and dangerous and destructive and.. that I always feel weird saying I find him fascinating, but one of the things I find fascinating is the way he’s stuck in the past. And so much of that is the idolization of the father who only turned to his (unloved) second son when the first born was overcome with addiction issues.
ETA: Fred Jr was a disappointment to Fred Sr. See The Beast’s “What if he turns out to be a loser?” to Ivana when she suggested they have a junior. A story she told in a recent memoir as an amusing anecdote. Really, the Freudian drama of the Large Adult Offspring might as well be in permanent sky-writing over their heads.
smintheus
Biden “is still the frontrunner”? That’s news to a lot of polls that show Warren even or ahead of Biden.
As for the assertion that his supporters still support him because they are centrists, that contradicts the one thing we know most clearly about Biden’s supporters: their second choice after Biden is Sanders, has been true since Biden entered the race. IOW, his supporters gravitate toward the candidates who are better known whatever those candidates’ ideology happens to be. It’s the classic frontrunner because everyone knows he’s the frontrunner syndrome.
Marcopolo
If folks would like to see the fans at the ballgame tonight cheering wildly for someone, here is a link to a video of Chef Jose Andres throwing out the first pitch.
Kay
@ArchTeryx:
It was a terrible bill and what’s worse is student loans. Private student loans used to be dischargeable in bankruptcy until that bill made them them nondischargeable.
This is going to come up. Young people are going to come after him with pitchforks, and can you blame them? They changed the law just in time to screw them? Of all the people to pick on they chose 22 year olds?
Marcopolo
Nats fans don’t boo everyone. Here is a link to a vid of Chef Jose Andres throwing out the first pitch tonight. Not bad for a guy from Spain :)–I mean do they even play baseball in Spain?
Marcopolo
Help! I’ve tried 3 times to post a link to a video of Chef Jose Andres first pitch tonight. And each time the comment has vaporized. If any FPer sees one of them in limbo somewhere and can set it free, thanks. Otherwise, know that Chef Jose was cheered wildly.
Leaving for the evening. Have a lovely Sunday evening everyone.
Amir Khalid
@Kay:
The things that bother me about Biden are his apparent age-related decline, his coasting on Obama’s reputation, and my perception that he doesn’t score high enough on the campagn-org test.
SiubhanDuinne
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I hate thinking about Barron. There’s something about him that strikes me as both appealing and vulnerable. I’m afraid he’s going to end up as fucked up as his three eldest siblings (insufficient data on Tiffany so far) and the prospect makes me sad.
Darkrose
@The Dangerman: I get leaving Kershaw in, a little, because he’s Kershaw. There’s no excuse for leaving Joe Kelly in when Kenley Jansen was ready to go. Great, you got a good inning out of Kelly–now count that as a win and get someone else up.
And as a Giants fan, I have to say that I genuinely feel bad and don’t enjoy watching sad Kershaw. He seems to be a genuinely good guy, and that must suck for him.
Ruckus
@Kay:
Is Biden’s support truly the only choice of those 2 groups? A number of the black commenters on here don’t see it that way and say few that they know see it that way, at least as best as I can tell. A lot of the coverage is negative about KH or EW, and I think it’s primarily because they are the two best candidates. Biden is/would be OK because of his history but he’s 6-7 yrs older than EW. Olivia Nuzzi may not be the best guide to the dem candidates but she is saying exactly what I’ve been saying/thinking.
And this concept of electability is pure bullshit this far out. I’d like someone to give an actual definition of electability, one that has some meaningful concept to actual results and is static over time. Nixon was electable, Al Gore was electable, Hillary Clinton was electable. All of them got the most votes, only one of them was president. Electability is a horse race commentator line, “Blue Boy took a big dump just before the start, he’s got the best odds!” With 100+ million voters, some of them fanatics for people who may/probably won’t even be in the final race, use of the word electability is just bullshit.
Mary G
One of these things is not like the other:
Patricia Kayden
@James E Powell:
Chetan Murthy
@Betty Cracker:
Damn right, BC. Damn right. Everything you wrote. Everything. And also, at least two of those other women made the trek to DC, and were waiting in hotel rooms nearby, waiting to be called to testify. And Biden, -Biden- was the one with the power to make sure they testified.
And the fucker has the temerity to say now that Dr. Hill wasn’t well-treated, as if he had nothing to do with it.
jk
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
If someone wants a centrist, instead of Warren who I support, that person should consider Booker, Harris, or Klobuchar. Biden is clearly too old and too gaffe prone to make the case against Trump.
@Chetan Murthy:
I was in a hurry and I forgot to include it. I think Biden’s Senate record really really sucks and I’m beyond fed up that so many people are giving him a pass for his shitty decisions
@Kent:
Every interview with Biden and Sanders should open with the question When the Hell are you going to release your goddamn motherfucking medical records? The hubris and selfishness of Biden and Sanders running now when they’re clearly too old for this job is off the fucking charts.
NotMax
Is he in one of the skyboxes (or whatever they’re called)? If so, whose?
Ruckus
@Kent:
I saw on twitter that Biden was interviewed and said basically that he wasn’t saying he was running for two terms. He wasn’t saying he’s not either, but I get the impression that even he’s thinking about it.
I’m still working at 70 and I’m thinking about retirement every day and he’s just under 7 yrs older, a lifetime in geezer years. And yes we all age differently but I also know a number of people that I’ve out lived, 10 in the last 3 yrs, all younger than me.
kent
@Ruckus:
According to conventional wisdom:
Gore, McCain, Romney, Jeb Bush, and Kasich were all considered “electable” (and yes, I know Gore actually won the election. He just didn’t win it by enough to prevent the inevitable theft)
Bill Clinton, Obama, and Trump were all considered unelectable.
There’s only one test for “electablilty” and it isn’t “whichever candidate most closely matches my rich centrist east coast pundit sensibilities.”
Patricia Kayden
@Edmund Dantes: Yep. Well, he thought wrong.
sgrAstar
@Patricia Kayden: thank you for that heartwarming video! I’m relieved that the Assassination Theater isn’t selling. To Nats fans, at least.
?
Percysowner
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I really do feel sorry for anyone raised by Donald Trump. That doesn’t excuse the fact that they turned into terrible people in response, but I do realize that they had what I suspect was a pretty hellish childhood.
Betty Cracker
Kay
@Ruckus:
Well, I don’t know but he’s the only candidate who polls well with both. This is a big deal in Democratic politics! They need both of those to win. They don’t need a lot of white working class but they do need 30% or so, not because they’re sell outs who are sucking up to white working class but because, geography. They matter until they don’t matter. You’ll know they don’t matter when Democrats don’t need exactly 8k of them in certain strategic counties. It’s a coalition. A sum of parts that don’t always fit neatly together. It’s always been that. It’s a difficult thing to put together let alone hold together.
Biden is missing parts, too. He has a huge problem with young people. The age split may be the most defined and least fluid, really.
I actually worry most about him v Trump. What I have decided watching various people deal with Trump is some people are “up to it” and some are not. Pelosi is. Schumer is not. I just plain think Biden isn’t up to it.
Just choose wisely is all I ask. I’ll back the nominee, whoever it is. I just want to win. I’m not sentimental about this. About this or anything else, really :)
Keith P.
@Betty Cracker: Good for him. I’m tired of people trying to respond to these questions with long, sophisticated answers instead of nice, short, OMG-my-pearls soundbites. Take the gloves off
opiejeanne
@NotMax: I was wondering the same. The one report I saw called it the Washington Box, but it looked like he was out in the open. I’m not familiar with that park.
Amir Khalid
@Ruckus:
Not everyone ages like Mick Jagger, who is 76 and still doing the job he started in at a quarter of that age. And if you compare The Stones’ live footage from then and now, it’s obvious he’s slowed down physically although he works very hard at hiding it.
SiubhanDuinne
@Mary G:
Maybe Barron is smart enough, and has a well-developed-enough sense of self-preservation, to stay away from embarrassing public moments, such as the likelihood that his father would be booed.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Amir Khalid: and didn’t Mick just have a stent put it?
And Keith Richards “quit drinking”, by which he means he sticks to beer and wine. When Marc Maron interviewed him three or four years ago (edited) he was drinking (IIRC) vodka and Sunny D (an orange juice based drink marketed at tweens).
Gretchen
@E: Biden was chairman of the committee. There were two other women who were ready to testify to corroborate what Hill was saying, but Biden didn’t let them testify. Hill was out there alone, which let the « she’s a little bit nutty and a little bit slutty » charge stick.
sukabi
@Patricia Kayden: I’m partial to this SI write up by the nice Muslim lady.?
Yutsano
@SiubhanDuinne: As soon as the ink was dry on her divorce Marla took Tiffany to California and severely curtailed all contact with her father.I think the closest she is to his orbit is the fact that she goes to law school at Georgetown. She has done a couple of official events but nothing too serious.
Amir Khalid
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
It is public knowledge by now that Keef is immortal.
Ruckus
@Kay:
I’m so far from sentimental about this election as well that it’s immeasurable. I’m mad about it, I’m a scared about it, my future depends on it, as I get just less than enough from SS to live, so I have to work a bit longer and I get all my healthcare from the VA. I am dependent upon there being a working federal government to survive. And one that isn’t run by a moron who isn’t as smart as Bozo the clown or how Soupy Sales acted. I lost most everything from the last republican president, this one may end up screwing me – and everyone else actually worse. And here I thought that GWB was as low as republicans could get. Did I ever get that one wrong. Now tell me there isn’t an 8th circle of hell.
lgerard
@NotMax:
He made a quick retreat, leaving at 10 PM, much to the relief of the Nats
Ever since he announced he was going, they have been losing
sukabi
@E: pick any article from this google search.
Biden was chair of the committee and set the rules and called the witnesses, him claiming he wished he could have done something is disingenuous at best.
Immanentize
@E:
The Hill hearing? Hill hearing?
People do reveal themselves.
ThresherK
@SiubhanDuinne: I can see Trump holding up his son Barron as what amounts to a human shield in such a situation, then tweeting that tens of thousands of grown-ups were booing a teenager.
(Standard Barron disclaimer: He should be removed by child protective services as he’s living in an unfit environment to raise someone to be a healthy adult.)
HalfAssedHomesteader
@jk:
Absolutely. By the voting public? Not so much.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Indeed they do.
Here’s a whole bunch more doing so.
NotMax
@Igerard
Guessing then that the hamberders ran out at 9:58.
;)
lgerard
a little advertising at the game
MisterForkbeard
@Betty Cracker: Credit where credit is due. That’s pretty fantastic.
Maybe “He’s a corrupt idiot” would have been better, but I’ll take it.
Ruckus
@Amir Khalid:
Mick could be one of the exceptions, or possibly he’s the second son of god. But then you’ve got Keith so maybe the Stones are god’s band, whomever your god is. Makes about as much sense as anything else in life.
And yes I’ve actually know personally a few other exceptions in life, one lived to 104 and at 95 he looked and sounded better than either Biden or BS do now. Hell my mom hung on till the day before her 95th birthday and still had a job 3 days a week at the local police dept. at 85 yrs old. Her daughter only made it to 66.
There is no real telling but the odds are not good for Biden nor BS. Not given the stress levels that running for president in a country this big are, and that stress level is worse in office.
Another Scott
@Kirk Spencer: We saw the Braves play the Nats in June. They had bomb sniffing dogs check every car going into the stadium parking (the GEICO garage next to the stadium) even then. I was surprised, but given the stadium’s location I guess I shouldn’t have been.
I don’t think that the Secret Service had to do all that much special for Donnie – at least not that much more than for his quasi-weekly rallies.
Could be wrong though!
Cheers,
Scott.
Chetan Murthy
@sukabi:
You’re a kind, decent, and generous human being. Me, I think he was coverin’ his fuckin’ ass[1] at best, and at worst still hasn’t realized what he fuckin’ did wrong.
[1] And this isn’t some sort of “he’s evolved” thing, either. Every rapist knows it’s wrong — that’s why they do it in the middle of the night, not in broad daylight on a crowded street. He knew he was attacking Dr. Hill’s testimony, and he did it anyway. If he’d evolved, he’d have the decency to *own* his own agency in the process and outcome, and to give a fulsome and public apology to Dr. Hill, along with explaining why what he did was wrong, and what he is doing, and plans to do, to make it right for other women. He hasn’t done shit.
Ruckus
@lgerard:
That was good.
I saw on twitter, a marine vet who said he’s lost 3 followers for showing that. He’s got over twice that many new followers in the last few minutes.
sukabi
@Chetan Murthy: couldn’t agree more. ?
James E Powell
@Steve in the ATL:
1) There is no innocence or purity in organized football at any level. From Pop Warner to the NFL, it’s the most corrupt and corrupting of American sports.
2) Although there are exceptions, NFL teams represent cities, not states. Clinton got 76% of the vote in Kansas City MO.
3) Also too, Wisconsin’s blue status is currently under investigation.
Mandalay
@James E Powell:
They did. Here’s a heartwarming link: https://twitter.com/albamonica/status/1188623950743588866
Chetan Murthy
@James E Powell: I’m not a football fan, for many reasons, but …. I was under the impression that if one were going to choose a *political* reason to root for a team, the team one would pick would be the Packers? B/c they’re owned by a collective or something?
Again, not a fan, never will be one. Not a fan of anything except watching generation-defying talents demonstrate their abilities individually (so, will watch Serena, Simone, MJ, King James, but only in finals or other highest-level competitions).
Quaker in a Basement
“Joe Biden ought to be the nominee because he’s a white dude um, I mean, electable,”
jk
@E:
That’s part of the problem. Do we need a fucking nominee who has the look and energy of someone 1,000 years old. Biden treated Anita Hill like dirt and never apologized to her. I don’t give a flying fuck that he served as Obama’s VP. He’s a goddamn moron whose judgement on foreign and domestic policy has been fucking atrocious.
Greta Thunberg has a better command of the English language than Biden and is a much more eloquent public speaker.
We’re also talking about someone who thinks Dick Cheney is a swell guy. Fuck Biden.
Steeplejack (phone)
@SiubhanDuinne:
I think Trump wears a suit (partially) to disguise the fact that he probably has to wear a bulletproof vest. He doesn’t have to wear one when he’s golfing because there’s much more control of the venue. But he does have a thing about suits. Even in his ’80s New York playboy days he always seemed to be wearing a (blue) suit.
jl
Biden is still ‘winning’ only in the sense that he is ahead in national polls for first preference. I just looked at fivethirtyeight blog’s polls of the early states and there are several recent high quality polls that have Biden, Sanders and Warren all neck and neck, That includes New Hampshire once you take out M. Obama. Admittedly, Biden is still running away with it in SC.
Still way to early. I give more credence to early primary and caucus state polls since that is where voters have seen more of the candidates’ actual campaigns.
Main thing is to beat Trump, enlarge majority in the House, and win the Senate. I don’t care if Biden, Sanders, Warren or Harris does it. Or anyone, for that matter. I’d prefer it be Warren or Harris though. Biden’s campaign has disappointed me greatly. As I’ve noted, he brought more progressive economic social policy advisers into Obama administration. I thought perhaps Biden had ‘matured’ and ‘grown’ during his years a crazy uncle Joe VP, exposed to the way the master statesman Obama did things. But he is still the same semi-goofus out of, but very smart and informed on some important policy areas. Sadly, seems like stuck in 1960s on others. I’ve looked at old youtube clips of Biden, and I don’t think most of his recent wobbles can be put down to decline with age. He’s always been this way.
For me, it’s Warren then Harris, then… I dunno…. But I’ll give as much as I can and work my ass off for whoever is the nominee.
Steve in the ATL
@James E Powell:
1) yeah, I was being rather sarcastic with that one…
2) or regions. Who doesn’t love the New England Patriots? Football’s Yankees!
3) true, but I was afraid of crossing Omnes. He’s a scary dude.
Steeplejack (phone)
@Marcopolo:
That tweet has seven links in it. Way too many for FYWP.
jk
OT
RIP Paul Barrere
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTz8g8yh8GY
Villago Delenda Est
Nate needs to stick to what he’s good at, and stop trying to be a shitty pundit on the level of Chuckles the Toddler or Chris Cillizza.
Villago Delenda Est
@Steve in the ATL: He knows how to lay howitzers. Not to be trifled with.
Ruckus
@Ruckus:
Guy has gained 45 new followers. Lost 3.
Washington DC booed the president.
And chanted lock him up.
With him there.
I’m liking our chances just a bit more.
sukabi
Longer clip shows the crowd can switch from cheering to booing in an instant….????
https://twitter.com/funder/status/1188624322191069184?s=20
Aleta
Schedule of the President Sunday October 27
Watch for TV camera light
Lie, boast, lies, I am great
Lunch
Executive sleepy time
Steak and fries, ICE CREAM
Limo ride or whirlybird
Peanuts
Get booed
Watch ‘Lock Him Up’ with First Lady
Do not read Banners!
Home
Drink straight chocolate sauce
Kick cushions
Extra Cookies because No Tweeting Tonight
rikyrah
@Matt McIrvin:
That was indeed Jr’s sin??
joel hanes
in Winter
Joe Biden has had a long career in the Senate: that’s a kind of greatness, even if some of his actions were things we dislike, and even if he’s always been prone to drop a stich on occasion.
But he has never for a moment been within a light-year of Henry II.
NotMax
@joel hanes
So what? So did Strom Thurmond.
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
So he’s second guessing everything to the point that he can’t make relatively low stakes decisions about his campaign? Does not exactly fit the narrative that he’s the guy who is ready to be POTUS on day 1. There’s a vast difference between being VP and watching the guy making the decisions up close, and actually being the guy who has to make those calls. Biden seems far better equipped for the VP role based on this article. He’s still s far better option than the current occupant but I’m not seeing him as the best option amongst the primary field. But…even amongst Democrats there’s a degree of misogyny and racism, and the other candidates in the “moderate” swim lane that have gotten any traction are either non-white or women. Kinda feel like the fact that he’s a white straight male is likely to allow him to defy gravity to some extent. It really is the only explanation for why he’s still at the head of the pack. I watched the 60 Minutes interview last night and he seemed very old and not at all dynamic or inspiring, and conditions don’t get much better than those interview situations for putting your best foot forward. If that’s the best he can be I really can’t see him winning the primary in the long run.
Miss Bianca
@rikyrah: Speak it. My white liberal acquaintances always get mad at me when I talk about the fact that “progressive” doesn’t and shouldn’t mean “revolutionary”. Then they get really mad when I say, “you can AFFORD to feel like ‘burning it all down’ is an option – you’re white, you’re comfortably off, you can’t imagine anything really bad happening to you. Some folks don’t have that luxury” – and cite the reasons you speak of.
glory b
@Miss Bianca: Can I “Amen” this?
AMEN SISTER!
Brachiator
If he can’t make it through a second term, he doesn’t deserve to be elected for a first term. He should probably bow out. He doesn’t even need to throw his support to anyone else for now.
@Miss Bianca:
Some people have the luxury of dreaming about revolution. The reality of it is rarely good for anyone.
But I agree with your larger point. I probably naturally run with a moderate crowd, but I just don’t hear a lot of enthusiasm for some of the proposals being pitched by various candidates. People want to dump Trump, and hard, and get on with fixing what he has broken.
Brachiator
@Villago Delenda Est:
Yep.
jc
The more the public feels off-balance the better Biden’s chances are, IMO. Things will move fast, and March will soon be here. Biden wants to coast to success, hoping to look like a rock compared to Trump’s loose cannon. Assuming Trump even allows a free and fair election to play out. Happy to be wrong.