There goes that Biden

[Mike]

Here's what Biden should have said about it during the debate:

"It has already been demonstrated that my son did nothing wrong and I did nothing wrong. However, the corruption of the current president and his family has demonstrated that our current system CAN be easily abused (offer a couple examples). Therefore, were I to do it again, I would handle things much differently to avoid even the merest whiff of impropriety, and as president, I will work with Congress to implement stronger rules that prevent this abuse of the public trust from happening again."

But then, you know, he'd have to actually follow up on that promise.

It's easy to imagine that Trump is this isolated case of lawlessness and if we can just get rid of him, everything will go back to normal. But the truth is that normal has been getting shittier and shittier for the bottom two-thirds of the population for a long time. Influence and corruption have been keeping the people oppressed for decades, and national level politicians have all been working that same hamster wheel together. Trump just wants to take it to its logical fascist extremes, and we're all horrified because he's so narcissistic that he does it all out loud.

Yeah, goddam right we have to take the bastard down, but just because his own people aren't outraged at his behavior doesn't give us a pass on investigating our own. That's ends-justifying-the-means bullshit, and we need to be above it even if no one else is. Yeah, Trump is evil--deal with that--but then acknowledge that his evil is resting on a giant platform of systemic corruption that both sides built together and continue to use for their own benefit.

[Phoebe]

I think you are right about how Candidate Biden should be communicating to the wider electorate, but I would push back on the idea that Trump is not radically, profoundly worse than normal.

If nothing else, that's precisely the line the WH is arguing now to excuse his actions: i.e. this kind of thing happens all the time, so as Mulvaney said, get over it! What Biden did only slightly better, if at all... Etc. But those are just straight up lies! I don't think we should give a pass to straight up lies anymore.

They have no defense of these shocking extortion attempts (or more like, extortion to personally benefit the president as our new official operating strategy), so they have to make it seem like these actions are on a continuum with everything else and that removing Trump isn't a solution.

More specifically, they want people to draw this conclusion:
"It's easy to imagine that Trump is this isolated case of lawlessness and if we can just get rid of him, everything will go back to normal."
But normal was in fact way better than what we have now! Trump really is a case of extreme lawlessness in a party that has run amok. If his whole party is corrupt with him now, that doesn't change the basic situation. The difference between extreme and profound corruption & milder, lower-level corruption is still a pretty damn big difference, and getting rid of somebody who clearly wants to be a dictator is a hell of a lot better than letting him stay in power. A president whose commitment to his stated principles and ethics is questionable might be pretty normal these days, but a President who completely throws principles and ethics straight out the window is not normal and should never be thought of as normal.

So it's not that Biden is just another beneficiary of some system of corruption shared by both parties over a long period. We don't have any evidence that Biden has done anything even remotely close to the kind of things we are seeing from Trump and his party right now. It's just false to suggest that there is an equivalence between what's happening in these cases or that they're both part of a larger schmear of corruption that we have to tolerate lately.

[Mike]

I agree with you that Trump is profoundly worse. For example, Hilary Clinton and Joe Biden did not break the law... or at least, they were cleared of the charges of lawbreaking that were leveled at them. Trump is a repeated and egregious criminal. They are very different.

On the other hand, there clearly ARE systemic issues that continually allow the rich to get richer at the expense of the not-rich. Laws leans very heavily towards protecting the rich and persecuting the poor. And if you are a minority of any sort, the problem is even more exaggerated. And big chunks of both major parties have been complicit in this for decades. Yes, I like one side much more than the other and I feel that one side has been has been much worse about this, but even while working for the greater good, most Democrats have been beholden to the "donor class" for a long time, because our system makes it very hard to get to positions of real influence without going through the monied gatekeepers.

[Phoebe]

Yep, so true, and Biden is indeed part of this. Delaware is in general a place where you don't get elected to Senate without being involved in some of this, so he must know well how to reward his patrons with political moves they seek.

This is also why I hope Bernie doesn't drop out of the race even though I also hope he doesn't win: Democrats need to keep hammering the wealth disparity issue, no matter how many times mainstream TV and newspapers cry about the supposed evils of class war. We are experiencing the class war over the last several decades and one side is losing! So sorry that it might be good to talk about it finally. It's very telling - the recent story that many on Wall Street say they will withdraw support if Warren is the Democratic nominee (and I take it Sanders goes without saying as well). Warren actually wants to hit them in the pocketbook where it hurts! They know Biden isn't really going to do that.

In general it depresses me that we're going to have yet another election where nobody offers scrutiny of any Republican idea because Republicans just don't have any positive ideas whatsoever, and meanwhile the newspapers trot out headline after headline about how some democratic proposal is just going to cost too much. If your claim is that the proposal is going to cost more than the entire nation's GDP I think there could be something wrong with the financial analysis relied upon.

[Mike]

[Phoebe]

Harris is my favorite and I suspect she is willing to play ball with the financial influencers, but I don't know. Right now to me the winning of the election is everything and I am terrified none of the D candidates have the obvious look of Winner. She comes the closest, I think. If Mayor Pete had a slightly more glamorous job like Governor Pete, I think he could win and especially against Trump because he's like the perfect foil, but I don't think he's going to turn out the votes the same way that others would.

[mimekiller]

Oh Biden, thanks for always being you

https://www.npr.org/2019/10/23/77267130 ... ng-in-1998

[Phoebe]

To be fair it's not like he can search his old tweets that far back, but he needs a staffer whose job is to find that stuff. Just keep the Washington Post archive loaded up in an open window.

[Phoebe]

Husband summed up what I take to be a common problem:
I love Uncle Joe and he's too old for two terms but I'm not excited about anyone else.
Me personally OMG my child just snapchatted my self into her Snapchat without warning or permission. Ughhhhh. I was just sitting here innocently waiting for her to eat.

[mimekiller]

a million what?

https://twitter.com/mooncult/status/1194092221420716035

[Mike]

Cute.

[mimekiller]

Well now Biden wants to lock me up!
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4 ... teway-drug

[Mike]

Damn him.

[mimekiller]

grats Biden!

https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/201 ... as-womans/

[Phoebe]

I'm going to sit on my hands an act like an adult for a change, in this moment. Maybe this is the work of antidepressants. But my sardonic laughter is still echoing on the inside.

[mimekiller]

whats up my fellow kids

https://dailycaller.com/2019/11/20/bide ... on-debate/

[Mike]

Did you watch the debate? His intent was obvious from context, and sadly this was not the most embarrassing gaff he made during the debate. He proudly referred to his endorsement from the only black woman ever elected to the Senate, while Kamala Harris is standing right in front of him.

[Mike]

Three times he repeated the phrase "punching at it" while talking about taking on domestic violence.

[Mike]

And unless something drastic happens, Biden's probably going to be the nominee. White, middle-class, educated voters have all kinds of opinions, and they'll help Warren or Buttegeig possibly take Iowa and New Hampshire, but Biden is the only one who gets enthusiastic and consistent support from the black community. He's going to sweep the south. And this fumble-mouthed debate bullshit means he won't get decisive wins over Trump based on rhetoric, but he DOES consistently appeal to uneducated white voters, who are Trump's bread-and-butter.

I still say that if he takes the nomination, Harris would be his best VP choice.

[Phoebe]

Buttigieg is like Zero with black voters. It's a problem.