this post was submitted on 14 Aug 2023
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A good in-depth discussion of media bias in political reporting, or why is it that Biden voters are encouraged to understand an empathize with Trump voters but Trump voters are never asked to understand Biden voters?

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[–] [email protected] 29 points 1 year ago (8 children)

Are there Biden voters or just Anti-Trump voters? The Biden Administration has been dealing with inflation that just now is leveling out. While his policies match what the majority of voters want, the voters don't want him. The downside is there is no one better to choose. Essentially it is meh Biden is better than anything the GOP has to offer.

[–] [email protected] 54 points 1 year ago (1 children)

There's been places that I really dislike Biden on, but overall he's been a pretty good president

[–] [email protected] 25 points 1 year ago

I have no problem with Biden. He has had a good administration. The media likes shiny objects though. This is once again why we need the Fairness Doctrine back with a 21st century spin on it including all media.

[–] [email protected] 30 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I obviously don't speak for everybody but my Biden vote in 2020 was very much a not-Trump vote. And if Trump end up against Biden in 2024 I will make that same vote a second time. Like you said, I'll take a meh Biden over the crazies in the GQP.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'd vote for Biden over anyone the GOP is running.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

I’d vote for Biden over anyone the GOP is running.

I'll die of old age before I vote R for any position at any level. They can't possibly reform themselves enough to be trusted in my lifetime.

If I see an R candidate running who doesn't seem like a whackjob I'm going to assume it's a trojan horse. They spent the past several years trying to convince me that they are a bunch of crazy bigots who will destroy civil liberties, destroy our educational system, and ban any history or books that they deem as undesirable. I have chosen to believe them.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Gotta watch out for the trojan horses running on the Democrat side as well. RFK Jr. being the perfect example.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

Agree, but he's blatantly obvious.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

If RFK is a trojan horse he's made of glass. But yes always be wary of these things

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Is Sinema running for President? Because that would be a hilarious trash fire of a campaign to watch.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

The Democrats went from racist southerners in 1960s to the modern progressives who literally drafted Civil Rights laws by the end of that decade.

The only thing that's certain in politics is change. Its surprising how quickly viewpoints can change, even for large, established parties.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

The Democrats went from racist southerners in 1960s to the modern progressives who literally drafted Civil Rights laws by the end of that decade.

I've chosen this link about the Southern Strategy because it will both debunk the overly simplistic view of it that is normally put forth, and also will debunk the usual attempts by conservatives to say it didn't happen.

I've cherrypicked this bit from its closing paragraph because I think it gets at the meat of this argument, but I also acknowledge here that the overall point of the article is that we can't ahem blame the current state of the Republican party entirely on the Southern Strategy and racism.

While the claim that the appeal of the parties on the basis of racial issues switched following the passage of the Civil Rights Act is true enough, there is a greater truth that conservatives who resist this claim often make which deserves to be acknowledged: the South changed its racial attitudes over time. It has changed, just as America has changed. Whether its overarching racial culture has changed nearly enough to meet the higher aspirations of our ideals of racial equality today is a separate question. But the South that the Republican Party represents today is not the South of George Wallace and the neo-segregationists.

Edited to add: And also, if Republicans stop being the party of hurting people I'll stop treating them like the party of hurting people. I stand by my original statement though. It's so exceptionally unlikely as to be within the realm of fiction that they will do such a thing during my natural lifespan.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

It's more like parties switched bases; see Nixon's Southern Strategy:

As the civil rights movement and dismantling of Jim Crow laws in the 1950s and 1960s visibly deepened existing racial tensions in much of the Southern United States, Republican politicians such as presidential candidate Richard Nixon and Senator Barry Goldwater developed strategies that successfully contributed to the political realignment of many white, conservative voters in the South who had traditionally supported the Democratic Party. It also helped to push the Republican Party much more to the right relative to the 1950s. By winning all of the south a presidential candidate could obtain the presidency with minimal support elsewhere.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago (2 children)

The article addresses that. Because the media doesn't report on Biden supporters, the public gets the impression that no one likes him much. I also think approval ratings are not contextualized well, because you rarely see how many people who disapprove of Biden's presidency are right-wing and how many are leftists.

From a personal perspective, while I was not a reluctant Biden voter (would have never voted for Trump), he was far from the top of my list in the 2020 primary. I think, considering the obstacles he's faced, Joe has been a much better president that I expected. That's in spite of Republicans ratfucking student loan relief and robust electoral reform.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago (2 children)

He's been actually one of the best we've had. They're never going to be perfect since you can't be an angel and get to be president, you gotta make some deals with the devils.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Not an American, but I think Biden has been the best US president since at least Clinton, and perhaps even since Carter.

(Although I do agree he is too old... Does the democratic party really not have a younger equally capable candidate?)

Obama was a very popular and charismatic guy, but I think he kind of squandered his popularity and failed to achieve results.

Obama wasn't successful with the ACA, or Iraq/Afghanistan or the Supreme Court. He didn't even achieve a minimum wage increase after 2009. Didn't tackle wallstreet.

He should have been a bit more confrontational and twisted some arms to achieve results.

Meanwhile Biden is just steamrolling a lot of successes with a razer thin Senate majority.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

We're on the same page I think, he's done some amazing things and no one talks about it. Clinton wasn't a great person but he was a good president. Carter was a great person but had some issues with being too nice for politics imo. He couldn't make any deals with the devils but he can definitely sleep at night. We have so many corrupt people in our upper government that I don't wish that job on anyone.

I hope this guy runs someday: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Swalwell

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Swalwell certainly seems like a dude whose head is attached to his ass, a rare trait in DC.

The episode where McCarthy said "Call me a ^coward^ again and I'll kick your ass," to which Swalwell replied "You. Are. A. ^Coward^," is also pretty endearing, despite his repetition of a gendered insult. (The word wasn't coward)

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

He was great during the hearings and trials as well, he seems like a real dude.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I also think approval ratings are not contextualized well, because you rarely see how many people who disapprove of Biden’s presidency are right-wing and how many are leftists.

I'm the latter

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago

My vote for Biden was an anything but trump vote, but given Biden's current record as president he has my vote again.

Still not my first choice but we live in a first past the post voting system so gotta take what you can get.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago

I was an anti trump voter in the last go around, but this time I'm voting FOR Biden. He's done a lot with a bare minimum Senate majority and a hostile supreme court. And I love his unconditional support of Ukraine.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Biden's team has handled the war in Ukraine extremely well, building up our European strategic alliances to a level we haven't seen in decades while avoiding disastrous escalation. A terrible situation but I think he's handled it better than, say, a first-term Obama or Clinton (let alone GWB) would have.

IRA & debt ceiling pwnage show he has skilled people working congress too.

On the minus side, he appointed Merrick Garland, who has been absolutely the wrong man for the job.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

the voters don't want him.

Biden was literally chosen by the voters.

Are there Biden voters or just Anti-Trump voters?

Biden rules. Absolutely nobody could have done a better job than Biden on a whole range of issues: Ukraine, jobs, reducing inflation without triggering a recession, covid, student loans, getting liberal policies thru a razor thin Dem majority etc. He has done an outstanding job on all of those things.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (3 children)

There is no one better to choose because the media and the DNC keep telling us there is no one better to choose and any time a possible person is mentioned everybody just says "They don't have Biden's name recognition so they can't win.".

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Serious liberal candidates aren't going to run against a sitting President.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Duverger's Law and US is still not there yet in the Overton window. I vote progressive to help aid in Overton window shift from something more reasonable and social democracy is arguably the system that makes the most sense.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I vote progressive to help aid in Overton window shift

A wise strategy since voting is the only way to shift the Overton window.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Who? The two main other candidates are insane pseudoscience and conspiracy theorist trash. And also basically right wingers anyways.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

You must be new to the internet.

There's nothing people like more than rehashing the 2016 and 2020 elections