2020 Democratic presidential primary

dude

I mean the whole point of the anecdote was to give an extreme case of someone whose politics Biden disagreed with.

right and it makes him look like a fuckin sucker, fuck getting along with racists

He's offering Democrats a clear choice. Those who prefer that their elected representative refuse to work alongside those who hold the wrong views, even on areas where there may be mutual agreement, shouldn't vote for him.

His rapid transformation from America's Uncle to America's Uncle would be fascinating to watch if I were in another country.

― brigadier pudding (DJP), Wednesday, June 19, 2019 3:25 PM (four hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

kudos

More Biden news: Mark Putnam, cinematic Dem admaker who signed on early, splits with ex-VP’s campaign

“I wish the vice president well,” Mr. Putnam said.https://t.co/Qkdhuf894c

— Alex Burns (@alexburnsNYT) June 20, 2019

He's offering Democrats a clear choice. Those who prefer that their elected representative refuse to work alongside those who hold the wrong views, even on areas where there may be mutual agreement, shouldn't vote for him.

What were some of the things they worked on and 'got done' together in civility, I wonder? CNN mentions one:

Biden in the 1970s was a staunch opponent of busing to desegregate schools; letters from the period show how he sought and received the support of Eastland, who was then the powerful chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Eastland repeatedly said he viewed black Americans as belonging to an "inferior race" and worried that desegregation would "mongrelize" white America.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/19/politics/joe-biden-senate-segregationists-civility/index.html

"He never called me 'boy,' he only called me 'Son,'" is like a Tom T. Hall lyric gone terribly, terribly wrong.

He’s like Lyndon Johnson gone horribly wrong at the moment.

"He never called me 'boy,' he only called me 'Son,'" is like a Tom T. Hall lyric gone terribly, terribly wrong.

I agree that particularly line is borderline insensitive, and a timely reminder that Biden didn't get his reputation for being gaffe-prone for nothing, but I think his overall point was valid. Apparently there were some Republicans (like Al D'Amato) at the fundraiser so perhaps that's why Biden was thinking about working across the aisle, and he's been known to use the example of working with segregationists to illustrate that point.

It's hard to judge without any context though. Was Biden responding to something someone else said? Did someone ask him if Eastland called him "boy"? This is all second-hand overheard remarks so there may be a bit of telephone game going on.

come on man

What a f'ing waste of air Joe Biden has as a legacy. To be this harmlessly, offensively impotent in everything.

wtf nate

It's hard to judge without any context though. Was Biden responding to something someone else said? Did someone ask him if Eastland called him "boy"? This is all second-hand overheard remarks so there may be a bit of telephone game going on.

― o. nate, Wednesday, June 19, 2019 9:03 PM (one minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

do you really think it's possible someone asked him this question? also, come on man

All I'm saying is I have yet to see a verbatim transcript so I don't know the context. Would they look better in context? Probably not, but were they meant maliciously? I doubt it.

his saying Cory Booker should apologize to him is so insane & i look forward to him getting absolutely eviscerated by every other candidate in the debates next week

just gonna gloss over Sund4r’s link, huh

Is there a verbatim transcript there? I haven't been able to find it.

Citing James Clyburn's defense of Biden is better than demanding a transcript, come the fuck on.

If I'm going to damn someone for an insensitive remark I'd like to know the full context of exactly what was being said. I've seen too many cases of things being taken out of context to make someone look bad.

part of what's lame about Biden's Eastland example is it doesn't even exemplify "bipartisanship." Dude was in the same party. and collaborating with a segregationist on an infrastructure bill, let's say, would be one thing, but the only thing i've heard of them collaborating on is...support for segregation!

Opposing busing is not quite the same as supporting segregation.

Anyway I'm starting to feel like the only Christian in the Colosseum here. Good night all!

we just wanna talk

i'm into everyone going after biden

Cory Booker on CNN called it "insulting'' that Biden asked him to apologize and didn't acknowledge anything wrong in what he said about segregationists. "This should not be a lesson that someone running for president of the US should have to be given.”
https://t.co/IuzNowQGlq

— Janet Hook (@hookjan) June 20, 2019

lol

Another Biden campaign source throwing shade at the boss:
"there’s only so much we can do. This is his decision." story from @MarcACaputo https://t.co/B8ZhA2hpTd

— Alex Thompson (@AlxThomp) June 20, 2019

praying this is his "please clap" moment, get this fool out of the paint forever

this feels more like the beginning of the end, not the excruciating and humiliating conclusion

I'm trying to inoculate myself against all of this furor.

I'm telling myself I don't care

its ok to care abt this shit is my opinion

Biden’s pithy summary of Bidenism.

“You beat them. Without changing the system.” pic.twitter.com/a9iPjoPf4f

— Anand Giridharadas (@AnandWrites) June 20, 2019

He's so bad it's getting awkward to watch, compounded by the lurking fear that he'll still squeak through.

I know only nerds like us care but it’s also insane how every other candidate is answering all these extensive questionnaires from nyt and wapo and Biden’s just like thanks but nah. He really is acting like he doesn’t even have to bother with this primary, like it’s beneath him.

The arrogance would be almost impressive if he wasn’t such a dumb pud.

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/449451-sanders-denies-tweet-about-corporate-democrats-was-about-warren

T/F?

i read it as a biden callout but w/e

I read it as pretty much exactly what it says - Warren is the most unpalatable candidate aside from Bernie (to the donor class) but the donors could warm to her if she's the only alternative to Bernie.
It's also so obvious that it shouldn't be remarked upon. Of course rich people are "anybody but Bernie."

I've gotten to the point where I don't care too much, I just want to support whoever is the democratic nominee

Cool story.

Opposing busing is not quite the same as supporting segregation.

― o. nate, Wednesday, June 19, 2019 10:23 PM (one hour ago)

it's...not?

Having grown up in a neighborhood known for people chucking rocks at school buses full of black kids, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say there's not a whole lot of light between those two positions.

Jonathan Chait:

By citing segregationists, [Biden] is revealing the very reason the bipartisanship he longs for can’t return. The era of bipartisanship was built on suppressing racial conflict. The white South could only be cajoled into a coalition that supported bigger government by preventing African Americans from voting and, at times, outright denying them the benefits of government altogether. He’s invoking the most unappealing aspect of the bipartisanship era. You can argue that forging American consensus was worth the cost of suppressing racial conflict, but actually highlighting the grotesque moral costs of that era is a bizarre way to advertise it.

http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/06/biden-segregationist-riff-ignorant.html

Unusually insightful take from Chait, although that last sentence is weird. How do you argue the former without highlighting the latter?

You talk a lot about the benefits and not so much about the cost?

You talk about the Marshall Plan and going to the moon - or by flipping it to include civil rights (which Biden has done in the past with the claims about marching with MLK or whatever) and hoping people are dumb enough to buy it.

Marianne Williamson: still running for President.

Marianne Williamson, one of the 20 contenders for the Democratic presidential nomination in the 2020 election, called mandatory-vaccine policies “Orwellian” at an event in New Hampshire late Wednesday. “To me, it’s no different than the abortion debate,” Williamson said of vaccinations, according to NBC News. “The U.S. government doesn’t tell any citizen, in my book, what they have to do with their body or their child.” Vaccine mandates in the United States are too “Draconian” and “Orwellian,” she said. Williamson is set to participate during night two of the Democratic debates later this month. Williamson later said in a statement to The Daily Beast: “Public safety must be carefully balanced with the right of individuals to make their own decisions. I am sorry that I made comments which sounded as though I question the validity of life-saving vaccines. That is not my feeling and I realize that I misspoke.”

LBJ always leaned across the aisle to work with segregationists by putting their peckers in his pocket.

Liberals too, for that matter.

He just liked walking around with a pocketful of peckers.