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

Sometimes all your choices are bad and you have to choose the least bad.

This is... not actually true. That's the point.

You never have to vote for the lesser evil.

...and that might actually be a good move, if you're part of an organized movement of people vowing not voting for the lesser evil unless they get X Y and Z, rather than a part of non-organized movement of millions of disaffected people

not saying that's easy or that the way to do it is obvious! anyone who spent much time with Occupy can understand the difficulties of trying to get progressives to unite behind a common set of demands, or a platform

The left - as in Sanders primary voters - fell right in line in 2016, how would "losing to Donald fucking Trump" prove anything relevant here.

it goes beyond that though. the Dems were gifted the dumbest, most corrupt political opponent in US history and they still could not convince the public that incremental change/"America is already great!" was reason to keep him out of office, and they wound up losing because of narrow margins in states that Bernie won. no matter how awful your opponent is, "at least I'm not that guy!" is not a rock solid campaign strategy and it's infuriating to see them doing the same thing with an even worse candidate having only learned "well maybe we'll go to Wisconsin this time", especially since we're living a moment that should make it 1000% clear why exactly we need semi-competent leadership and the adoption of a few "socialist" policies

It's not a perfect analogy, but look at Virginia with its POS governor. He just signed legislation that at the federal level/equivalent would be impressive. Don't settle for less in the primary. But it's amazing what a legislature and governor of the same party can do if the latter signs whatever promising progressive Bill's handed to him.

Sometimes all your choices are bad and you have to choose the least bad.

This is... not actually true. That's the point.

I cannot imagine how blessed your life must be to have never been in a situation where an obviously good choice was not available to you and all you had to do was proceed from one excellent outcome to the next.

You never have to vote for the lesser evil.

This is true and correct. But you have failed to establish that this is a good choice with a good outcome.

once Trump raises the minimum voting age to 65 in his second term you won't even have to worry about having to make that choice

I cannot imagine how blessed your life must be

Does it burn calories to be so patronizing or is it just for fun?

with all due respect, milo, he's right? You've been at this all day, and I can't fathom any situation in life in which I don't contemplate choosing between two repugnant choices.

Does it burn calories to be so patronizing or is it just for fun?

Are there any mirrors in your home?

So, stop telling me Joe Biden is awful. Tell me what you're going to do about it that you think might have some net positive effect. Defining the problem over and over, that Joe is bad and you don't like or trust him, is not productive.

I agree with this post but also... if this logic were to be followed, <poof> there goes like 75% of ilx and 80% of tha interwb

why does everything have to be productive tho

xp - that's a failure of your imagination, Alfred.

You can gin up whatever mind palace suits you that you were forced to vote for the segregationist bro, the guy who doesn't think abortion is a right, the guy who voted for DOMA, the guy who gave actively helped give us mass incarceration, the student loan crisis and Iraq - but you were never forced to choose it.

A better world is possible - unless you and people like you consign yourself to voting for the Joe Bidens of the world because this time it all hangs in the crux. This is it, the last vote.

We survived Reagan and we survived HW Bush and we survived W Bush and we'll survive Trump - none of them managed to end the world. Voting for the lesser evil at each stop did give us a declining standard of living, forever war and the most imprisoned people in the 'free' world.

gave

A better world is possible - unless you and people like you consign yourself to voting for the Joe Bidens of the world because this time it all hangs in the crux. This is it, the last vote.

I did try. I voted for Warren in the primary. She lost. Now I vote for the alternative.

The lesser evil is simultaneously bad politics and bad for the world. Joe Biden isn't going to do shit about climate change or inequality. In 2024 it will be the same shit. Vice President Klobuchar is our only hope to defeat Tom Cotton, suck it up buttercup!

Until eventually we all need gills to survive.

It's not apocalypse every time. A vote for a Democrat and the most liberal options would be less of a doomsday.

The worst thing Trump did pre-pandemic was play footsie with the ghouls and monsters in the military and 'natsec' world who've had a hard-on for bombing Tehran since 1979.

― Greta Van Show Feets BB (milo z),Wednesday, April 15, 2020 2:30 PM (fifteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Milo I have been watching you do your thing and admiring it but this is looking away from...a lot.

Trump sold out the Kurds, has enabled strongmen all over the world, validated and popularized among rogue governments the "fake news" claim that absolves blame for atrocities, enagaged in a headlong effort to undermine every postwar institution meant to forestall war in Europe, cheerled Brexit, emboldened racists and nazis at home, set probably irreversible precedents in refusing to comply with congressionbal subpeonas, has blown threw emoluments laws, established that our system of checks and balances is entirely based on good faith and can be exploited at will, effectively marked the fourth estate not merely as "liberal biased" but ememy of the people, aggressively deregulated environmental and safety standards, stripped ferderal agencies bare in general, enabled a nuclear North Korea, locked children in cages, diverted funds to build a fucking wall, and on and on and on....

He is now personally, directly responsible for what will likely be tens of thousands of American deaths.

The instability that will result from just these four years will no doubt result in countless deaths the world over that can't be tracked back to a single decision as with Iraq. Donald Trump is not opposed to American military adventurism, theft of natural resources, or slaughtering brown people. It's only an accident of self-interest that he hasn't yet started another full-on war.

He is without question the worst president we've had in my lifetime. Likely the worst ever.

This thread makes sense to me:

And this is how Republicans operate. Democrats have to use their leverage in the stimulus to save a basic function of government instead of fighting for better health care or more money going to the states or hospitals. And because Republicans simply don't care, it works.

— Erik Loomis (@ErikLoomis) April 12, 2020

This is also what the left often fails to get when it complains about Democrats. Democrats aren't negotiating with a good faith opposition. Because they care about people staying alive and a basically functioning government and Republicans don't want those things, it's uneven.

— Erik Loomis (@ErikLoomis) April 12, 2020

I can't fathom any situation in life in which I don't contemplate choosing between two repugnant choices.

would you like a negroni, or a boulevardier?

https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ouxc2nytaJo/WA47FBuY3LI/AAAAAAAAKDM/ZLtbnPHUyz0tJwjyN3Uf7UBKSSov9TfBQCLcB/s1600/Wimp%2BOr%2BShrimp.jpg

Don't Blame Me, I Voted For Bill The Cat

the assertion that Democrats (assuming he means the politicians) care about people staying alive is extremely dubious

once Trump raises the minimum voting age to 65 in his second term you won't even have to worry about having to make that choice

But I am 65!

A better world is possible - unless you and people like you consign yourself to voting for the Joe Bidens of the world because this time it all hangs in the crux.

i'm just curious, though - how are you making yourself heard? your non-vote - who does it win over? how does anyone know that you voted from a progressive standpoint, that you wanted something to the left of both options? as opposed to not voting because you just don't care?

how does anyone know that you voted from a progressive standpoint,

sorry, no snark intended - i meant "how does anyone know that you non-voted from a progressive standpoint"

He is without question the worst president we've had in my lifetime. Likely the worst ever.

90% of your list is endemic to 'being a Republican' not 'Donald Trump.' They've been a party of white nationalism for almost three generations now, Trump didn't embolden racists and Nazis, they emboldened him.

His desire to personally profit from office sets him apart, yes - but that is far from the greatest crime committed by even a Democratic President in my lifetime.

xp Who's said anything about not voting?

ok, so who are you voting for

Green, most likely. I doubt Gloria La Riva gets on ballots outside of California.

The stupendous ignorance isn't endemic to presidents. We survived Andrew Johnson, Chet Arthur, Harding, Reagan after his first term, and Bush II. This bothers me less than the Emoluments Clause violations, another level of criminality.

We survived Reagan and we survived HW Bush and we survived W Bush and we'll survive Trump - none of them managed to end the world. Voting for the lesser evil at each stop did give us a declining standard of living, forever war and the most imprisoned people in the 'free' world.

That "we" stands out like a sore thumb. There were a lot of "us" who did not survive.

Nor can I see how there is a direct causal relationship between voting (eventually, in the general election) for Carter, Mondale, Dukakis, Gore, Kerry, or HRC and those outcomes, when the winners were Reagan, GHW Bush, GW Bush, and Trump. You can say one led to the other, but I notice you don't say how.

Defining the problem over and over, that Joe is bad and you don't like or trust him, is not productive.

― A is for (Aimless),Wednesday, April 15, 2020 11:39 AM (fifty-two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Joe Biden is bad

what other unproductive things can I do today

post you and Zero to "your fuckin cats" thread

A lot of cut-and-paste posts like this one. A lot of cut-and-paste posts like this one. A lot of cut-and-paste posts like this one. A lot of cut-and-paste posts like this one. A lot of cut-and-paste posts like this one. A lot of cut-and-paste posts like this one.A lot of cut-and-paste posts like this one.

don't follow US politics (because life's too short) but watching some random biden virtual town hall thing that just popped up in one of my socials... this guy seems.... uh.... not good

like, physically. why does he slur his words and not finish his sentences

lookit

lookit at his record. and if you don't like it, don't vote for him! that's number one number two

sigh

post you and Zero to "your fuckin cats" thread

― donald failson (sic),Wednesday, April 15, 2020 12:38 PM (eight minutes ago)

easier to do now I sit at my home computer every day instead of never

I doubt Gloria La Riva gets on ballots outside of California.

She was a "certified" write-in candidate in NY in 2016, and I voted for her.

When you vote third party or write-in, your "I Voted" sticker should have a little halo on it. Otherwise, why bother?

Oooh, good call. What does the Biden I Voted sticker get - a picture of a family being drone striked or like a 35-year old slitting their wrists because of student debt that can't be discharged?

"we survived reagan"

oh we did, huh

if you vote for every increasingly worse Dem candidate w/ zero qualms, perhaps a portrait of yourself eating shit is in order

xp

I prefer the smaller portion size.

gotta watch that waste