politics

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.

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.

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.)

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.

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.
• 2. Because of #1 it made overcoming his speech issues like his stutter all the more difficult, requiring more mental processing than normal.
• 3. 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.
• 4. ~~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.

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

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).