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

yer one step away from a R______ troll

I'll try to do better

it's definitely out of character for Vic Berger to be spreading clips of politicians (with lo-fi audio quality) to mock them for their fecklessness, using a flip tone to mask Berger's deep frustration or disgust

someone must have gotten to him

that's why he makes the big rubles

Reporters' irresistible impulse to bothsides everything is not gonna be as helpful to Team Trump as usual. Last night, an NBC reporter (not MSNBC, but the regular evening news) was talking about the case and when he got to Trump, said, "President Trump, who has been credibly accused of sexual assault by more than two dozen women, weighed in on the accusations, saying..."

Weird way to tell everyone that he’s never touched one

— lindsey ok (@lindseyyok) May 1, 2020

You knew this was coming: Tara Reade, not Tara Reid

Ever since Reade, a former staffer to Joe Biden, publicly accused the presidential candidate of sexual assault, Reid — as in the “Sharknado” and “American Pie” star — has seen her Twitter timeline inundated with threats, nastiness and snarky comments from people mixing them up.

“It’s so crazy. I looked at my Twitter and people were telling me ‘You’re a wrong, bad person!’” Reid told The Post. “I was like, ‘Who did what to who? You’ve lost your mind.’”

...

“I was like, no way — it’s not me! You’ve got the wrong Tara!” said Reid, who is waiting out the coronavirus lockdown in her Hollywood, California, home. “Are people that stupid? I mean, c’mon … I’ve done a lot over the years, but not this.”

Overnight, the niece of former Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell (the one who had to take out a campaign ad assuring voters that she was not a witch) claimed that Joe Biden complimented her breasts at a dinner in 2008, when she was 14.

Biden was not at the dinner.

re the video of Biden on Mexico:

He sounds so much more forceful there in 2007 than he does in recent years. Forceful and also nasty.

xp i tried to look into where that story emerged, how widespread it got, and how it got debunked, and now i'm confused and want to go back to bed

Last night I posted a tweet about Vice President Biden. The allegations in my tweet had not been vetted or put through the ABC News standards process. I have since removed the tweet and I apologize for posting it.

— Sasha Pezenik (@SashaPezenik) May 3, 2020

heh, it’d be nice if all debunked things ended with a sense of closure like that

what did she tweet? missed it.

oh that

NEW: the 90's had "soccer moms"
the 00's had "security moms"
Now the Biden campaign is going after what they call "suburban Facebook empathy moms"

Inside the effort to make the 77-yr-old, technology-challenged Biden go viral w/ Upworthy-esque contenthttps://t.co/HKV5S9vhge

— Alex Thompson (@AlxThomp) May 3, 2020

SFEMs

Biden going after moms. the jokes write themselves.

Look out for the suburbanite presumed-empathic Republican mothers; they leave a mess

Keeping America's Right Energy Now

a cynical rite of naming your moms

here's one example of some of the new digital content that's inspired by some of Biden's unscripted viral moments on the trail. This is a "virtual ropeline." pic.twitter.com/vx17Prj1NZ

— Alex Thompson (@AlxThomp) May 3, 2020

Nauseous

*shrugs* it's lachrymose but campaigns are? It looks fine to me.

I'm not the audience for that crap.

"what's going on?" <- just the kind of hard policy no malarkey engagement i was hoping for

Are people still using the word 'viral' for the Internet?

An amusing but not-wrong quote from this NYT profile of AOC:

“I think the fact that he is an older white man kind of has a Santa Claus soothing effect on a lot of traditional voters,” she said. “I’m convinced that Biden could essentially adopt Bernie’s agenda, and it would not be a factor — as long as he continued to say things like malarkey. And just not be Trump.”

^ manages at once to be both complimentary and stinging. mostly stinging.

Both about Biden and "traditional voters."

FWIW I don't think 'traditional voters' is a very good phrase here.

For lots of reasons -- for instance, as Dr Morbius would swiftly point out, most voters up to c.1980 were in many cases voting for things to the Left of what's on offer now.

Not that what I think of AOC's words matters but it's still an odd thing, politically, for her to say.

the tradition of cherishing white ascendancy has been pretty continuous since the USA began

1980 was 40 years ago.

pinefox helping make AOC’s point

manages at once to be both complimentary and stinging. mostly stinging.

I think it's mostly complimentary to Biden! She is saying he has an ability to present a progressive platform in a way that doesn't read as scary or radical, but as plain common sense. And not just because he's old and white -- Sanders is also old and white! Because of a skill he has.

I would say that Ocasio-Cortez has the same skill, and knows it, but has the good sense not to brag about it.

sounds more to me like she's saying that in a parallel universe, where Biden believed in those things, he could get them over just by being avuncular

She’s saying ideology and policy don’t matter and Biden could be a cardboard cutout that people associate with Obama and do just as well.

He’s a Thundershirt for liberals.

I think it's mostly complimentary to Biden! She is saying he has an ability to present a progressive platform in a way that doesn't read as scary or radical, but as plain common sense. And not just because he's old and white -- Sanders is also old and white! Because of a skill he has.

That's how I read it, with a cyanide capsule buried in the frosting.

Dolores Huerta (activist, co-founder of the UFW with Caesar Chavez) endorses Biden. She had previously been on team Kamala.

https://ktla.com/news/local-news/renowned-activist-dolores-huerta-endorses-joe-biden-for-president/

I think it's mostly complimentary to Biden! She is saying he has an ability to present a progressive platform in a way that doesn't read as scary or radical, but as plain common sense.

What? No. She doesn't say anything vaguely like that. She said Biden could adopt Bernie's agenda and it not matter.

AOC's not dumb enough to actually think Biden can be "pushed left."

I think maybe reread what you're quoting.

Sure he can. Garrulous hacks like Biden who slapped Good Ol' Strom's back are "transactional" to their core. The party's moved leftward, so will he (don't confuse moving left with becoming left, though). He and Elizabeth Warren published something under their own names on COVID-19 solutions, for starters. That's all it is -- a start. But it's a tremor.

xpost

eephus otm imo. the statement seems almost like an encouragement to Biden, saying that he could and should adopt some of Bernie’s positions

I think maybe reread what you're quoting.

Yeah, I did. She's not saying anything about Biden's abilities and she's certainly not suggesting he's going to "present a progressive platform" in any way.

I get that people are trying to divine tea leaves to make them feel better about voting for the senile sex criminal but it's real clear: "older white man" "Santa Claus soothing effect" "not be Trump."

You seem to be reading "has an ability" to mean something other than "could"?

Uh... could is the word I specifically used.

He ‘could’ take Bernie’s platform wholesale and it not matter because he’s a cardboard cutout that allows a lot of people to not think about politics for four years.

it would matter if he aggressively pushed for single payer and free college while in office

xp - word I specifically highlighted*

He ‘could’ take Bernie’s platform wholesale

see also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subjunctive_mood