this post was submitted on 30 Jun 2024
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[–] [email protected] 61 points 4 months ago (8 children)

I am voting for Biden and everyone else who doesn't want fascism should too, but I am so fucking beaten down by the Democrats hand picking terrible candidates, and our court system is already so destroyed it may not matter if Biden even wins.

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[–] [email protected] 61 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (13 children)

Heels-dug-in defiance to the idea is not reassuring.

[–] [email protected] 38 points 4 months ago (4 children)

As a Canadian watching this, knowing that his loss would accelerate the shift to a dictatorship south of the border, it's so disheartening. What is wrong with the Democrats, it's bizarre. I can't even imagine having to vote for a candidate like him, that it's even a question when his opponent is such an absolute clown. It's the dumbest timeline.

This was interesting to listen to, the only thing left is single issue voting. A vote for whatever is put across from Trump, regardless of who or what it is, opens the chance for another election to try again.

https://youtu.be/Ikm4kDl4A4A?si=B0cUpEZORixoluTY

[–] [email protected] 27 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (2 children)

On the one hand, it’s a tradition at this point to always run the incumbent. In most cases, it’s a slam dunk win unless things went really wrong. (say a pandemic)

The difference now is that I don’t think we’ve ever had presidents get this old. I think Reagan ended this old but no one has ever run for office this old. And I can’t blame a guy for getting old like I can blame a guy for spouting lies and vitriol. I do think it’s time for an upper age limit for office though. If people can be too young, they can be too old. And it seems like people are living long enough to get to test it.

But on the other hand, there just aren’t any democrats that came close to winning the primary, wether because of the first hand tradition or because they just didn’t have anything good to bring to the table I’m not sure.

And when the opposition is as sturdy as Trump, it’s not the time to play games with untested newbies, you know? So you try to bring up your battle hardened best, even if he might be getting up there in years.

That said, before the debate, I felt like he had the ability. He’s been strong at previous public appearances. I truly hope this is a fluke, and he wipes the floor with Trump at the next debate. Because otherwise we are screwed, either because Biden fades out on us or Trump gets to try for his racist autocracy.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Gonna need that debate to be at 2pm... 9pm was way past Joey's bedtime.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago (1 children)

In most cases, it’s a slam dunk win unless things went really wrong. (say a pandemic)

I think people are severely overestimating how much of an impact being an incumbent actually has with the final results. In smaller elections this definitely has a big impact, but in the entirety of the US history we've only had 27 presidents run for reelection, and 9 of them have lost.

That's a ~67% win rate for incumbent presidents, which isn't terrible, but isn't great either, and with a terrible sample size.

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[–] [email protected] 26 points 4 months ago

What is wrong with the Democrats, it’s bizarre.

The republican-adjacent wing of the party has the candidate they want, and they're so unforgivably pigheaded that they would rather lose democracy forever than change.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 4 months ago

Ever read up on the elections in Germany that led to Hitler’s rise?

The millionaires and billionaires that have paid for all these nominees think Trump will: 1. cut regulations for them, & 2. he’ll be easy to control.

Those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

(I admit, there’s also a bit of 3. help get Israel to start WWIII so all them rich white folks can get raptured, which is one of the reasons Biden also is supporting Israel.)

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[–] [email protected] 28 points 4 months ago (2 children)

I mean replacing his as the candidate this late and when he's the incumbent president is honestly madness.

The only reason the media is pushing for it is because it would generate more clicks. Bit him being replaces and the ensuing trump second term.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 months ago

I'd argue madness is sticking with a candidate who now has virtually zero chance of winning what should be an easy race with anyone else. Democrats have stuck their head in the sand way too many times. They did it with how unpopular Hillary was in 2016. They did it with RBG not retiring. And now They're doing it again.

This is the simple, undeniable truth: Biden is extremely unpopular. One could argue he might win, but that's the best you can do. A remote, unlikely possibility that he could beat what should be the least electable person in history.

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[–] [email protected] 21 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Yeah hubris probably isn't the way to go when you're losing in national polls 10 pts below where you were in 2020 at this time... And you're losing in every battleground state... And you're losing black and Hispanic voters... And the desperation play of asking for this debate to break the steady decline in polling utterly backfired.

Riddle me this: what if Biden's condition worsens from here until November and it's far past the convention to do anything? He's not getting younger. The bad days, the sundowning will only get worse.

People are itching to vote for anyone but a senile geratric and a criminal geriatric. Give the people what they want.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (5 children)

Are these Black and Hispanic voters going to the guy that talked about immigrants "taking Black jobs?" or eventually "taking Hispanic jobs too"? How can any minority vote for a man that is clearly a racist through and through. His father was a racist, arrested marching with the KKK, and they both got fined for not renting to people of color. He has a history of using minority and immigrant labor so he can threaten and cheat them out of pay. The list goes on and on. Biden may not be a saint (far from it), but he at least believes in democracy.

Also that debate was the perfect storm for Biden.

    1. He was clearly getting over a cold and sounded like he needed to clear his throat the whole time.
    1. Because of #1 it made overcoming his speech issues like his stutter all the more difficult, requiring more mental processing than normal.
    1. The debate format of no guardrails and having 2 minutes to both try and state your talking points, and also trying to counter the absolute bullshit word salad of lies Trump was spewing his way was a lot to process for anyone, let alone an 81yr old.
    1. ~~CNN gave in to the Right and dropped the fact checking that afternoon, but Biden really had no choice but to show up. Imagine what conspiracy theories would have come out of Biden pulling out last minute because his campaign knew it was going to be a shit show. You can't reason with people acting in bad faith, and once the fact checking was removed this "debate" was a lose/lose situation for Biden.~~ I read or heard this someplace around the time of the debate, but I'm unable to find it now.


I don't disagree that Biden's showing was disheartening, but I also think the fact that he was actually trying to convey a message, while having a firehouse of shit spewed at him from his right should factor into that as well. It was a "debate" with someone acting in bad faith and Joe trying to follow the rules, with basically no moderation at all. It wasn't a debate, but more like trying to have a rational talk with a kid that just keeps sticking out his tongue and making fart noises.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 4 months ago

My in-laws are 1st gen immigrants. They literally crossed the border illegally to get here. They busted their ass to become citizens, and are generally great people.

They vote Trump.

I have actually heard from their mouths that the illegals coming into this country are ruining it. BITCH YOU WERE ONE!

They think Trump is a good business man, but above all else, being Catholic, they are so anti abortion, that Biden is the spawn of Satan for suggesting that abortion is an individuals choice, and nothing else matters.

This story is repeated over and over in the Hispanic communities.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

I'm as flabbergasted as anyone that polls are this close but here we are. Right-wing media controls the narrative and has had a stranglehold on this country. The polls don't lie; they're the canary in the coal mine sounding the alarm. So let's face it: there is no datapoint you can point to that Biden where Biden isn't doing significantly-worse compared to his 2020 campaign. I don't give a fuck how you try to spin it, that's not a good sign. Face hard truths of reality. The propaganda of the right is working with key voting groups whether we like it or not.

Neither cold nor stutter causes someone to jump from abortion to immigration mid-sentence and routinely lose their train of thought. How much experience do you have being around old people? My wife and I work in a hospital, but shit you should he able to relate with grandparents in their 80s. It could even be sundowning. I also don't believe your 3rd point is doing you any favors. Biden campaigned on being a fighter to push the bully back. If he can't hold his own as an 81-year-old, then that is very clearly a problem. Someone as experienced as Biden should easily be able to hold their own in a debate, being in politics as long as he has.

Look, I voted for Biden once and if it comes down to it I'd vote for a corpse over Trump. But as I've said over and over again: it's not me you have to convince. The 2020 election was won by 40,000 votes across 3 states. And as I said, by every single metric, Biden is performing far worse than then. Not good. I hate to say it but I'd bet against Biden winning now.

Biden asked for the debate out of desperation to reach voters. They set most of the rules. Both campaigns signed off on the rules. It backfired tremendously, irreparably.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Let's make it easy for Joe. He doesn't have to counter everything. Just say, "Everything my opponent said is a lie." "Again, he's lying. Here's the truth". And then ignore it. You know T**** is going to lie. It's a given. It's a trap to try to refute, so just call it a lie and move on.

That might free up some mental power to focus on proper messaging and not melt down.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 months ago

Most people don't have a political education nor do they follow political news. They vote based in vibes and a knee-jerk reaction to the party in power. You can launder a lot of self-destructive behavior in that recipe.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (2 children)

I can't find anything to corroberate #4. Do you have a reference?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago (2 children)

I mean they didn't really correct anything that was incorrectly stated.

But if you insist.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago (2 children)

I would vote for a potato before trump. Any sane person would at this point.

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 4 months ago

From what I saw last week, he's going to pull a Feinstein.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Do the democrats actually have anyone worth putting up instead of Biden? Like what's the alternatives?

Surely they must have at least one young guy from Texas that wears a cowboy hat or something.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Sure sure, there are dozens of options. That's not the issue. IMO internal DNC power is what is at play. It doesn't matter what Biden does because he'll retire soon, but a young leader would take power away from corporate backers for decades to come.

Also, to hell with the Times.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 months ago

Any two party voting system is a terrible, terrible system. New Zealand changed theirs and it's much better now (according to Kiwis I spoke to).

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