Joe Biden, Senator from Citibank (oops, DELAWARE), to Run for President

it's just unbelievable that this is the candidate we are stuck with, when there were two--two!--very inspiring ones at the outset of the primaries.

both of whom had national name recognition.

genuinely sorry to have disappointed you kate

Did anyone actually ask Tombot who he’s going to vote for or did he just volunteer that information?

The election is in six months, guys

get ready to hear a million versions of this for the next several months, if biden is the candidate:

"I believe that women deserve to be heard and I believe that they need to be listened to," Abrams said Tuesday night. "But I also believe that those allegations have to be investigated by credible sources. The 'New York Times' did a deep investigation and they found that the accusation was not credible. I believe Joe Biden. I believe that he is a person who demonstrated that his love of family, his love of our community, has been made perfectly clear through his work as a Congressional leader and as an American leader."

"I know Joe Biden and I think he's telling the truth and this did not happen," she added.

"You said you have heard her and heard enough and don't believe her. You believe Joe Biden," Lemon said.

"What I'm saying is the 'New York Times' investigation of her allegations, the 'New York Times' investigation doesn't support the accusation against the vice president," Abrams said. "I believe the Biden I know. And I think he will make women proud he will make America proud."

not just from abrams, or whoever ends up being the VP, but from everyone who is tasked with defending biden on live tv

is six months a long time or a short time i honestly can't tell anymore

now it's an eternity

Now it’s a jiffy.

if as is likely the choice is trump or biden, i know whom i'm voting for. respect though for people who sit this out. still i'll be hoping MLK day 2021 is trump's penultimate day as president

The election is in six months, guys

― The Mandymoorian (Whiney G. Weingarten), Wednesday, April 29, 2020 7:53 AM (sixteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

the election lasts 1.5 years

get ready to hear a million versions of this for the next several months, if biden is the candidate:

Yeah, these are literally the talking points.

btw, just because signals get crossed and messages get conflated, i want to be clear that i too, like the people who recently stepped forward to confirm reade's story, will be voting for joe biden if he is still the candidate this fall.

i just think there is time to select another candidate before this fall. he doesn't have the nomination yet. the convention hasn't happened. primaries are getting canceled. the presumed candidate is a sexual assaulter. let's end this shitshow and nominate someone who isn't a sexual offender.

i realize that this offends the sensibilities of the hardcore biden supporters who would feel that their legit primary votes are being canceled. but you know what? when someone you support does something awful and then lies about it, there are consequences to everyone involved, including the feelings of biden supporters.

^ Where I'm at

What is there that can be done to select another candidate? What kind of pressure do we have to put on who?

the election lasts 4 years

I plan on sending a physical letter to my congressperson. xp

Even CNN is knocking down the New York Times defense.

http://www.cnn.com/2020/04/29/politics/joe-biden-tara-reade-new-york-times/index.html

The full CNN story linked in clem's story, with new interviews: https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/28/politics/tara-reade-neighbor/index.html

Even the NYT is knocking down the NYT defense.

A New York Times spokesperson says Biden campaign talking points “inaccurately” suggest that the Times investigation found that Tara Reade’s allegation “did not happen.” Response to this scoop from @rubycramer @RosieGray https://t.co/ZUD6f2WSEE pic.twitter.com/LNaHvH0ZxF

— Jonathan Easley (@JonEasley) April 29, 2020

I guess the next logical post would be "Even Joe Biden is knocking down the New York Times defense."

i realize that this offends the sensibilities of the hardcore biden supporters

How many of those even exist? I have a feeling the majority of Democratic primary voters, and maybe even the majority of Biden voters, would be happy with somebody else (tho who exactly is obviously a big question).

based off of the 1988 and 2008 primaries, maybe 3-5% of the democratic electorate is hardcore biden? even that seems too high

he is a guy who waited his turn and stood near important people. he doesn't inspire much

yeah, exactly. and if it wasn't for covid and bernie dropping out -- i.e., if the primaries were proceeding as usual -- who knows what impact this would have had. the coverage would have been different.

I see ilxors here repeatedly referring to Biden as a rapist. Is Tara Reade's story that Joe Biden raped her in the US Capitol building? Or is rape a construction that ilxors are putting on the story, but Reade is not? I can take my answer offline.

here is the story:

https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/28/politics/tara-reade-neighbor/index.html

xpost you sure can

I had to look up "digital penetration" from her claim - it's digital in terms of his finger being a digit, not zeros and ones.

I beg you can we not start splitting hairs about what specific behaviors constitute rape

a very depressing xpost

Aimless out here 'just asking questions.'

Thoughtlording on this topic in a forum where 3/4 of the women who made it more vital just a few years ago already have stopped posting is not something we need

― silby, Wednesday, April 8, 2020 10:38 AM (three weeks ago)

Karl gave me the answer containing the kind of information I was asking for. If you want to split hairs, milo, don't expect me to follow along.

I wasn't splitting hairs about what constitutes rape either, I was confused by the use of the word digital.

I started wondering (on FB, not here) if Biden should step aside a few weeks ago, based on what I thought were obvious questions about his fitness to run. I'm not sure those questions were ever adequately resolved before they got pushed aside by the pandemic (where he was given an excuse--not a very credible one, I thought--to lay low).

Now this. Biden knows whether the allegations are true or not. If they're true, then obviously step aside immediately--he should never have ran. That part's easy. If he knows they're not true, though, it's still messy. You'll have a campaign that forces one prominent Democrat after another into taking his word for it and awkwardly defending him, and then his fitness for office is going to come back too--it's not like that's gone away for good. Whether that means Sanders or starting over, no idea. And I completely understand how that could be seen an insult to the two constituencies who supported him in the primaries, African-American and older voters. That's why it's such a mess.

I don't think I'll get much agreement here, but if you go back to 2016, I think Biden probably accepted that he wouldn't run again when he stepped aside for Clinton--even when she lost, I doubt he immediately thought about running. I think he got seduced by some early polling a couple of years ago and then hastily jumped in. How feckless his campaign was early on would support that, I think.

Biden knows whether the allegations are true or not

assuming you have faith in his current brainpower

That did cross my mind, yeah--somewhere in there he knows.

Shakey’s thread was locked and yet here we are.

OK. I read the CNN article Karl linked to. The evidence has risen to the point where it cannot be denied away. Biden stepping aside is by far the best outcome and him staying in would be a disaster. Both Obamas, both Clintons, Pelosi and every prominent and influential Democrat needs to back Biden into a corner and browbeat him until he relents. He's finished and it's his own fault. Putting the pieces of the campaign back together again would be extremely difficult, but Biden prolonging this will just make it that much harder.

Both Obamas, both Clintons, Pelosi and every prominent and influential Democrat needs to back Biden into a corner and browbeat him until he relents

that's why the timing of HRC's endorsement - yesterday - was very o_O. he's gotten other prominent endorsements, of course, even after the first wave of stories on reade. but to do so after this new information has come to light is just really shitty. it seemed like she was trying to send a signal that the establishment would continue to stand behind biden, no matter what. ew.

I wish Biden would drop out too but it seems exceedingly unlikely. imo his strength purely as a candidate has only improved since the start of the pandemic. as much as it seems obvious to all of us that this moment only reinforces the vitality of a strong social safety net, universal healthcare, etc. I fear that to the average voter the overwhelming takeaway is fear, uncertainty, and a desire to return to "normalcy" no matter how insufficient that normalcy was for millions of Americans. and if nothing else, Biden has always been the return to normalcy candidate.

Schumer and Pelosi and Obama and the Clintons don't give a fuck

i hope he is finished, and that the DNC doesn't choose instead to keep his campaign on life support until november. i don't know who is the person or group to pressure, or how exactly this works. i would hope that someone in his campaign has some sort of conscience, or maybe just understands how grueling it would be - in the years after america knowingly elected a serial sexual assaulter, a second SC justice with a history of sexual assault was confirmed, #metoo, everything - to force millions of people to knowingly choose another assaulter, this time with a D next to their name.

for people who care about this, all of our leverage to get him to drop out is right now. with every passing day it will get harder and harder.

imo his strength purely as a candidate has only improved since the start of the pandemic.

ironically, he gets stronger as he disappears more and more. what if he just...went away, and someone else was the nominee? could be a very popular move!

i don't know who is the person or group to pressure, or how exactly this works.

A critical mass of people saying "I will not vote for Joe Biden, whether I'm in Wyoming or Florida."

That assumes the party godfathers would rather win than lose without bowing to pressure, which is a big assumption.

how grueling it would be - in the years after america knowingly elected a serial sexual assaulter, a second SC justice with a history of sexual assault was confirmed, #metoo, everything - to force millions of people to knowingly choose another assaulter, this time with a D next to their name.

they know the system works against survivors and they don't give a fuck and are just delighted that's gonna swing in their favor this time

xp to Karl:

afaics, people like HRC were relying on Biden's word for this. Hard as it may be to believe, politicians rely on personal friendships and trust relationships developed in private. Biden's private denials and reassurances would carry much more weight with them that his public denials.

roxymuzak - yeah, i think you're right. and i think them not doing anything is probably what's going to happen. i'm not the most optimistic person, but the only thing i can think of that provides hope is the idea of it all imploding for biden right now, in these weeks. that seems like the only possible way that it happens. there was a time when it was looking like even brett kavanaugh was going to go down. in the end, lindsey graham and his boys shut it down. i was so filled with rage with the GOP back then, because democrats were doing the right thing and speaking up about it and saying and doing the right things, generally, which left me with the impression that perhaps something had changed in the democratic party. now democrats are the ones who hold the power to do the right thing.

everyone who "cared" about kavanaugh and christine blasey ford but is looking the other way on Reade is full of shit imo. this isn't over yet, but it's looking pretty shameful for democrats.

on the plus side, it's very good to see you here, even on a really depressing topic :)

xp aimless

yeah, i can understand that for sure. for HRC, though, there's a difference between doing the standard biden-defense talking points and deflections, and announcing your full-throated endorsement of the man on a day when it's become clear that he did something fucked up (and destroyed reade's career in addition) and lied about it