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

bcz of this story? https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/biden-photographed-with-kamala-harris-talking-points-as-running-mate-speculation-grows-1.5043316

Ooh, hadn't seen that.

I’m with Reid. She has heavy odds but it is not a lock. Part of me tends to think that if it was going to be Harris it would already be Harris. https://t.co/VHqJJe0JHl

— Richard M. Nixon (@dick_nixon) July 29, 2020

The fellow in the article was wrong in phrasing but correct in principle; if she cannot absolutely subsume her interests to Biden’s, she doesn’t belong there. I myself did it, Bush Senior, and so forth. It must work like that. It must. And they doubt she can and that’s a problem. https://t.co/CQ1OlpKQvN

— Richard M. Nixon (@dick_nixon) July 30, 2020

seemed like those talking points Biden had were prepared in case he was asked about Chris Dodd's negative comments on Kamala--not necessarily a tip that she's the pick

Yeah that makes more sense to me

Twitter Nixon is right enough about veeps in the couple of tweets posted recently. "You want someone who can raise money, be a son of a bitch, be loyal, not leak, help you govern, and be plausible for '24" is the right laundry list. Warren is too old and white to be a good fit, even with her other strengths and the big q-mark about Harris is whether she could co-exist peacefully with Biden and swallow her tongue each time Biden does or says something she feels indignant about. Picking a veep who can't act subservient regardless of their private opinions is putting a loose cannon on deck in a rolling sea.

The fellow in the article was wrong in phrasing but correct in principle; if she cannot absolutely subsume her interests to Biden’s, she doesn’t belong there. I myself did it, Bush Senior, and so forth. It must work like that. It must. And they doubt she can and that’s a problem.

1) what a fucking dork
2) can he just give us this schtick since half the time he now doesn't even pretend to be in character?

I just had a passing thought which may be of interest. If Harris is considering being veep as a step toward a presidential run in 2024, then she would necessarily run while Biden was still in office, which, depending on Biden's record of success or failure, might put her into Hubert Humphrey's dilemma of having to run on Biden's record, even to supporting all his actions as the campaign was happening, or else force her into actively distancing herself from Biden while still being VP under him. Could get awkward.

On the one hand, the need for total loyalty is way overstated, on the other, I really doubt Kamala Harris would find herself constantly at odds with Biden and always forced to hold her tongue.

I also think if Biden wins, there's a pretty good likelihood he'll also run for re-election. I don't buy all the one term stuff.

(xpost) The Humphrey analogy is a good one; "or else force her into actively distancing herself from Biden while still being VP under him" would basically be Gore/Clinton.

This whole scenario of active distancing is wildly speculative.

Sure it is. This is the Political Speculation Room.

Are these really the calculations, though?

I kinda feel like it's all about whether the running mate gains more votes than she loses.

There's a group of voters who would think, "Good choice. Woman? Check. Woman of color? Check. Accomplished, apparently smart and savvy, charismatic? Check. We're on board."

There's another group of voters who would think, "Seriously? Read the room. In a time of utter disgust at cops of all sorts, you choose... a cop. Fuck you, Joe."

The only worthwhile calculations here are: (1) which group is bigger? and (2) where do they live?

The main reason Gore distanced himself from Clinton was the perceived lingering stain of the impeachment, and it was still a terrible strategy.

We have no reason to assume a similar situation will happen with Biden & Harris, nor that following the Al Gore playbook is a good idea.

I didn't mean to imply it was a good strategy by Gore, just observing that that's what he did.

The main reason Gore distanced himself from Clinton was the perceived lingering stain of the impeachment

"Lingering stain" is particularly apt here

"Lingering stain" "Lingering stain" "Lingering stain"

My point was that using the veep as a step to the presidency is always a career move with built in hazards. It couples your political identity with the president's and you are no longer in control of it. Veeps have no power over anything, but become appendages with no independent volition.

"Lingering stain" is an onomatopoeia.

More and more, I'm thinking that Susan Rice would be a good pick. Hard to imagine the Benghazi stuff resonates to anyone who isn't already voting for Trump.

I feel like Rice's political campaigning chops are pretty unknown. Can she get people fired up? She seems like someone more comfortable with diplomacy and the behind the scenes stuff, not so much a "personality".

it doesn't, but do you want to hear congressional republicans hammering on about it for the next 4-12 years?

They will 100% cling to Benghazi if given the chance

There's another group of voters who would think, "Seriously? Read the room. In a time of utter disgust at cops of all sorts, you choose... a cop. Fuck you, Joe."

did you see the dnc platform? none of those people are in their room.

Biden will be running headlong into the arms of cops when Trump ads are all BLM/"rioting"

There's a group of voters who would think, "Good choice. Woman? Check. Woman of color? Check. Accomplished, apparently smart and savvy, charismatic? Check. We're on board."

There's another group of voters who would think, "Seriously? Read the room. In a time of utter disgust at cops of all sorts, you choose... a cop. Fuck you, Joe."

The only worthwhile calculations here are: (1) which group is bigger? and (2) where do they live?

Group A is larger by a factor of 1000. Group B lives in the deepest of blue states and can only be described as "voters" with the greatest generosity. Also, VP choices have historically meant almost nothing, electorally speaking. Also, Joe Biden is running as "Not Donald Trump" and that's becoming a better and better strategy with each passing hour, so fuck it.

ah yes I had missed this particular flavor of doomposting

ah sorry wrong thread

Group B lives in the deepest of blue states and can only be described as "voters" with the greatest generosity.

I don't think Group B is meaningfully large at this point, given the last several months, but LOL at the idea that anti-cop people are only in the "deepest of blue states."

LOL at the idea that anti-cop people are only in the "deepest of blue states."

People are anti-cop all over. Knee-jerk "Kamala Harris is a cop" assbags, though, are mostly tweeting from the bluest states, is my guess.

hey some of us assbags aren't even in the States :)

dat assbag

I don't know a single person in my non-ILX life other than my boomer parents who refers to Harris as anything except 'Cop-mala.'

― blue light or electric light (the table is the table), Tuesday, July 21, 2020 10:47 PM (one week ago)

i still think "boring phony" is more marketable

I'm in PA btw, but a former resident of California and San Francisco, and I will tell you in perhaps a different manner: everyone I know hates Kamala Harris because she stands for everything that liberals love about our so-called justice system while quietly doing horrible, horrible shit out in the open, and no one who "matters" seems to care. It makes sense that Biden and other Dems love her, because she reminds me very much of a recent president who is very beloved...

Also she's a fucking cop.

uh oh....

We've gotten into this argument before, no need to get into it again.

a recent president who occasionally gets into Baptist cadences in church

I'm glad we can find points of agreement, Morbz. Of course our current asshole is the biggest horrorshow to ever hold the office, up there with Jackson, but I will not let Obama's legacy be recuperated just because this shit is so much worse.

It all needs to go.

Recuperated among whom exactly?

It all needs to go.

It all needs to be replaced with something better. Just sweeping everything aside is a good way to lose what little has been gained, rather than spontaneously produce something excellent. For example, good roads are pretty nice, even if combustion engines aren't. Keep libraries. Close prisons.

Are you say that picking Kamala Harris as VP will remind people they still like Barack Obama?

Recuperated among the millions of people in this country who don't give a shit about Obama's getting the deportation apparatus into shape for Trump, or for the innocent people his drones killed in the Middle East. There are, in fact, many people like this.

And also, Aimless, you are right. My hyperbole takes advantage of me sometimes.

My Hyperbole (Takes Advantage of Me -- Sometimes)

:-D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfcr6xDUu5c