Joe Biden, Senator from Citibank (oops, DELAWARE), to Run for President

torn between "don't give up incumbents in vulnerable House seats when the majority is so small" and "what does it matter, all Dems in vulnerable seats are going to be wiped out in the 2022 "Biden didn't fix everything" midterm backlash so why not give good people important jobs"

I don't think the seat is that vulnerable. It's been held by Dems since 2008. Haaland won it by 22 in 2018 and by 16 in 2020.

nm isn't going back to red anytime soon imo (based on nothing but gut feeling lol)

also i'm kind of invested in secint after despising zinke so much. idk, i think it's really cool. gives me the feels. hope it happens.

OK I should have looked it up, sorry, in that case I'm 100% behind this

what a mark

― is right unfortunately (silby), Thursday, December 17, 2020 4:14 PM (yesterday)

Joe Biden, 14th May 2019:

"The thing that will fundamentally change things is with Donald Trump out of the White House. Not a joke. You will see an epiphany occur among many of my Republican friends."

Joe Biden, 6th November 2019:

“With Donald Trump out of the way, you’re going to see a number of my Republican colleagues have an epiphany. Mark my words. Mark my words.”

Joe Biden, 17th July, 2020:

"With Donald Trump gone, the fear of retribution has been taken away. If we win as big as we possibly can, there’s going to be a great, great epiphany that’s going to take place, as we Catholics say. And they’re going to begin to wonder about whether or not if they take me on and lose by just being obstructionist, whether they’re going to lose the rest of that blue-collar vote out there in the nation. It’s going to be a different time. Doesn’t mean it’s going to be, as they used to say when I was a kid, kumbaya and everyone’s happy, but it will — they know things have to be done and I think we can get a lot done."

Joe Biden, 14th Dec 2020, after 127 Republican elected reps had signed an appeal to the Suprme Court to literally overturn the election and bar his presidency:

“I may eat these words, but I predict to you: As Donald Trump’s shadow fades away, you’re going to see an awful lot change... You’re going to be surprised. We’re going to have a lot of people wanting to work with us.”

Joe Biden, 4th November, 2012:

Biden seemed optimistic that both parties would work together if Obama is re-elected, arguing the “fever will have broken” and lawmakers could focus more on passing legislation than politics.

“There are still some solid Republican conservatives who understand what principled compromise means and are not wrapped up in ideological purity,” said Biden insisting he knew a dozen Republican senators and up to three dozen House members that want to work with the Democrats.

After the election is over, Biden said members will say “'Hey man I no longer have an obligation to stick with the right of the party’…I really believe you’ll see movement. Real movement.”

You don’t see the political value in the way he’s consistently framing it there? At one point he basically gives himself the out of “now folks at the end of the day they may not be reasonable like I am but-“

Although it’s fair to say that Biden and the Obama administration shouldn’t have depended on republicans crazying themselves into unelectability without doing more to fix things like voter suppression for example.

Although it’s fair to say that Biden and the Obama admin as a whole shouldn’t have calculatedly depended on Republicans crazying themselves into unelectability without doing more to fix or even mitigate against things like voter suppression for example.

Biden was probably banking on a 'repudiation' type of election to turn things around. From his POV, getting 80 million votes, he may have convinced himself this happened and the political climate will favor moving ahead. From the congressional Republican's POV, Trump drove a massive, frenzied wave of voting among their base in favor of Trumpism. They're now pinned down by the crazies even more than before and any cooperation with Dems will earn them instant white hot wrath.

You don’t see the political value in the way he’s consistently framing it there?

otm.

also, i'm not sure what else he's supposed to do or say about that. i suppose when asked how he will pass legislation, he could just state flat-out that he expects to get absolutely zero support from the GOP on anything, and that the best case scenario is something that isn't extreme, active opposition from the GOP on absolutely everything, but that the most likely scenario is in fact extreme, active opposition from the GOP on absolutely everything. maybe that's what he should do, i don't know. a taste of the truth, or something. but the far more predictable thing is that he, as the figurehead of an institution, will say and do things that suggest that the institution and rules still exist and are relevant

but yeah, let's hope that the 'Extend the olive branch' phase of the Biden presidency ends before the end of January 2021

otm.

If it had value, would that not have been realised at some point in the eight years he's been saying it, instead of them becoming even more intractable and obstructive and petitioning the Supreme Court to cancel democracy specifically as it applies to him, Joe Biden?

I mean, this is a guy who loved Strom Thurmond. Don't really think anything can get through his thick skull. Being "moldable" and moving with the tide of the party, as so many say he's done, is actually just evidence that he's dumber than a bag of rocks.

We rejected a very stable genius in favor of a bag of rocks!

Intelligence as privilege?

Joe Biden is a sack of crap and I can’t imagine “liking” him, what a feeble creep

What a dingdong

In one month, we begin to heal.

— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) December 20, 2020

he's got healing hands

An aural transcription of Biden's upcoming presidency:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWLVBP3VrO4

Also, wtf is 'DNA Repair'?

In one month, get ready to bend the fucking knee.

You are such a weirdo

never seen wanker spelt like that before

I was going to say “monarchist”

silby lol

xxp

can i see pictures of weirdos with mike love?

https://images.findagrave.com/photos/2006/194/8138754_115292071045.jpg

No no no no no mine’s gonna include the “Big” on it.

It's also going to say "Frightful beloved SOB"

Well okay fair point that is true too.

NEW -- Biden will not immediately roll back Trump immigration and border restrictions, Susan Rice and Jake Sullivan tell Spanish news agency EFE, and Title 42, MPP etc will take time to undo, despite campaign promises for "Day One" reversals https://t.co/HcmH8cGBWx

— Nick Miroff (@NickMiroff) December 22, 2020

surprised pikachu

“We will be able to take some steps to change policies right away,” Rice said. “Others will take time to put in place, and the situation at the border will not transform overnight due in large part to the damage done over the last four years. But we are committed to addressing it in full.”

Seems sensible.

They said that about Gitmo iirc

Title 42, MPP etc will take time to undo, despite campaign promises for "Day One" reversals

Slamming out a new policy directive without laying any groundwork for implementation leads to fuck ups like having thousands of immigrant children in your care, nowhere to house them, no one qualified to care for them, and when you're successfully sued in court, finding out you have no clue who the parents of 500 of them are. Even a return to more benign policies can require some lead time to get them done correctly.

They said that about Gitmo iirc

Congress got scared stupid about closing Gitmo and threw up legal roadblocks.

Gitmo may end up like parole for Leslie Van Houten "No Manson killer 9/11 conspirator goes free on my watch!"

Speaking of Gitmo, my dear friend (and now acclaimed children's book author and dysfluency awareness advocate!?!) Jordan wrote and created this page about his visit there. https://lanternsatguantanamo.ca/

The brother of Biden's long-time right-hand-man (Chief Of Staff to him as VP, director of the Penn Biden Center for the last four years, now Counselor to the President-elect) has been hired by Amazon as a lobbyist, apparently specifically for them to get public funding for their private health-care service as part of the coronavirus relief funding.

I’m sure that kind of obvious attempt to purchase access would never work on Biden.

So, the story here is that Amazon hired a lobbyist to do some lobbying for them?

idk, tldr

"do you support the $2,000 direct payments?"

Biden: "yes" pic.twitter.com/hVTcRiKGbr

— austerity is theft (@wideofthepost) December 28, 2020

Maybe a good time to turn around talk about the importance of $2k checks?

Nah.

With just over 20 days until Inauguration Day, there’s never been a better time to stock up on @BidenInaugural gear. Head to https://t.co/j1ZK7kyMj6 to find everything you need.

— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) December 30, 2020

With a $600 relief cheque, you could buy three Joe Biden Commemorative Recycled Cotton blankets.

https://media1.tenor.com/images/a2c4be0ccd33a20dad7d856821f3f15a/tenor.gif?itemid=15714930

how's this one looking now

lol sic I had that bookmarked for posterity

Immediately following Democratic effort to beat back Republican efforts to implement a corporate liability shield for coronavirus deaths, Joe Biden taps someone who did just that as commerce secretary. https://t.co/CZg9zA1Q0S pic.twitter.com/s7UUOgZUGV

— jordan (@JordanUhl) January 7, 2021

Getting things back to normal!

Ehh “he tactically appealed to better natures in his successful race for the presidency” isn’t exactly the greatest own.

Also more importantly while the other candidates were having navel-gazy policy arms race debates irrelevant to what will actually pass the senate he launched his campaign with a focus on what happened at Charlottesville and has been effectively warning ever since about what ended up happening yesterday. Particularly in the last several weeks, his demand that Trump accept the results made reference to the consequences we saw yesterday.