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

His best position is in the basement and he's done really well there over the last 10 weeks. Changing formation and playing him out of position just behind the microphone and camera is unfathomable

Imagine Biden talking our way into a second Trump term. (I mean, I think it's unlikely but imagine)

Not that we shouldn't all be completely terrified even if Biden does go back to his hole since he's clearly not competent to handle the challenges we're going to face over the next 24 months.

It's amusing that his instant comparison is that the TV reporter should take a test for cocaine use before coming on air.

It's very amusing that, hours before insisting that black Americans have no culture, his first thought to attack a black American with was that people should assume he does cocaine, and even more amusing that Biden doesn't know the difference between a heroin addict and a cocaine user.

Y'know, I'm getting the feeling that this Biden guy might be racist.

god, could my dad drive a car. oof

Biden sits mute as Democrats & Republicans savage Karen Bass for a few bland remarks she made about Cuba and Fidel Castro, then hires a rightwing, viciously anti-Cuba Republican hack to "rev up" Latinx for his campaign...https://t.co/5dcf9GAKVs

— Jeffrey St. Clair (@JSCCounterPunch) August 7, 2020

Ana Navarro is the pits.

If he picks Kamala it will just confirm what everyone thinks—that he is just a mannequin being propped up by the party who isn’t in control of his own campaign. If I was Biden, I would pick someone who I at least knew and liked, just to remind people I am alive.

"everyone"

itt a bunch of white guys who can't process the idea that some people actually like/respect Kamala Harris

i like her

i can process it, looking at the other con artists people like/respect

I’m not saying I mind her. I just don’t think she’s the person Biden would want to govern with. Could be wrong

So long as the pick isn't older or male-er, I don't give a damn whom Joe Biden picks tbh

sorry to say he's announced that his VP will be Norman Mailer

I would like to see him choose Kamala Harris

A shame Flannery O'Connor's dead.

I tried holding Biden at gunpoint every day but each time he just said "come on, jack..."

Oh shit I can’t believe he chose Joe Arpaio.

I definitely like/respect Kamala. She was impressive in cross-examination during the Kavanaugh and various other hearings. She's smart and she controls the witness well, which is hard to do. I think she's smart and tough. To the extent the VP job requires a hatchetwoman she will excel.

I also get some of the criticisms of her. I wish she had a better record on police reform/criminal justice, but no one with a legit record in this area is going to get picked by Biden.

Alfred is ultimately right: the VP pick is nearly meaningless.

Did I say she is smart? At least one of us is.

re Biden's video on taking a cognitive test:
It's amusing that his instant comparison is that the TV reporter should take a test for cocaine use before coming on air.
― the pinefox

Exactly what I thought--immediately--when I watched that clip. I suppose Biden's defense would be he's pointing out the perniciousness of stereotypes--black = cocaine / old = Alzheimer's--but not a helpful comparison.

(Especially when the response was so quick that he's not consciously pointing out anything, he's just reacting.)

Harris is smart, but so are plenty of people.

It's just such a drag that in order to be a successful politician in this country, you have to shred any sense of ethics or genuine compassion for other people.

if all that seemed fine for his brain to say what on earth was he teeing up before he stopped himself??

Bill Clinton was smart. What good did that do us?

Obama seemed to project genuine empathy while ordering the drone bombing of Americans. Politicians, especially good ones, aren't jus' folks.

Who are these mythical people who are uniformly empathetic towards everyone at all times? They literally don't exist.

Exactly.

If you want to see me set fire to my empathy, eavesdrop when a student asks for a Zoom conference to discuss a paper thirty minutes into the cocktail hour.

AOC gets the closest :)

set fire to my empathy

Adele's finest

and i should say, she exudes empathy toward people who seem to deserve it, at least.
xp

Who are these mythical people who are uniformly empathetic towards everyone at all times? They literally don't exist.

no one actually asked for this AFAICT

it's me, folks. i'm that guy. and fuck you if you don't believe it.

strawmanning xp

For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Treeship.

in reality though, empathy shouldn't be used as a synonym for virtue. i want a president who acts on principle and actually cares about the well-being of others, especially those who are most vulnerable in this time of pandemic and depression. whether he *really feels their pain* and can demonstrate it is secondary to what he will be willing to do for them. we're not looking for a guidance counselor here.

I'd be ok with a good guidance counselor tbh

America, show me on the doll where Trump touched you

hell, even a school nurse

define "actually"

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/fc/PetShopBoysActually.jpg

What you guys want is an avatar, not a politician

Good politics requires empathy, but it also requires compromise and decisions that might result in some people losing out. The fact that a politician's empathy can't always be maximally extended doesn't mean that she lacks it.

What you guys want is an avatar, not a politician

actually what I want is a nice michelada

xp We can, of course, argue about the nature of those compromises and where lines should be drawn and what constitutes "the greater good."

i want a nice michelada that understands people but can also kick some ass when needed

i think those arguments are what politics should be about. what are our priorities, where are we willing to compromise, what are our bedrock principles we will never violate? that stuff seems to matter more than like, to what degree can my representative feel empathic identification with so and so group. because that is--at best a starting point--people have different ideas about what policies will be good for people!

i don't think obama lacked the capacity for empathy at all. i don't think he wanted to bomb people because he didn't care about them. i think he made a bad calculation--he thought that this was the way to preserve the american empire and weaken extremist groups, and that this serves the greater global good. (i think he also believed his primary responsibility was to be a good steward of the empire, putting americans first).

empathy doesn't enter into it. it was his positions.