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

Warren is a moderate Democrat and I don't even really understand the case that she's not. She's a technocrat who believes a robust welfare state is essential to the health of capitalism, not an anti-capitalist!

There is a GREAT reason not to appoint her as Treas Sec which is the Senate appointment thing. That is reason enough!

It would be strategically unwise to put Warren in the Cabinet at the expense of her Senate seat.

Wouldn't a Massachusetts Senate seat be safe Dem? In the cabinet wouldn't she be more able to actually implement policy than just advocate for it?

The seat would be appointed by the governor, who is a Republican (Charlie Baker).

(I have occasionally wondered whether Baker could be persuaded to appoint a Democrat, since he is a relatively moderate Republican in a blue state, but it's probably not worth the risk.)

Warren is a moderate Democrat and I don't even really understand the case that she's not.

When you're standing far enough to the right...

Well, let me put it this way, I'm a moderate Democrat (I voted for Biden over Sanders in the primary), I gave money to Biden's campaign and to my state Dem party and to plenty of downballot candidates; if Warren doesn't scare *me*, indeed strongly appeals to me, who are the "moderate Democrats" she allegedly scares?

Wouldn't a Massachusetts Senate seat be safe Dem?

Even it were up to an election, it wouldn’t necessarily safe. I seem to remember a walking sexpot named Scott Brown who convince many Massachusetts patriots that he should take Ted Kennedy’s seat

xp: donors and Manchins

That Warren is moderate by the standards of party voters and to the left of Lenin in the eyes of consultants, donors and fellow Democratic politicians is the problem.

But doctor... I am a donor

How many commas tho?

Even it were up to an election, it wouldn’t necessarily safe. I seem to remember a walking sexpot named Scott Brown who convince many Massachusetts patriots that he should take Ted Kennedy’s seat

― Karl Malone, Saturday, November 28, 2020 3:39 PM (twenty minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

who got bounced two years later when the mass dems found a decent candidate

Neither Bernie nor Warren were ever going to be in the Cabinet. The Vermont gov promised to nominate a Democrat-caucusing independent but there would be a special election that might go poorly.

Wouldn't a Massachusetts Senate seat be safe Dem? In the cabinet wouldn't she be more able to actually implement policy than just advocate for it?

1. No

2. Also no - Cabinet secretaries are there to implement the President's policies (often at the expense of their own).

Executive Branch folx enforce the laws that legislators pass. Legislators can change what the law says, and that is the greater power

(at least in the original design - who tf knows what happens now that every norm and institution has been shredded)

And btw the record will show that I was and am a Liz Lad the whole way through

I gave money to Biden's campaign

Like that’s genuinely hilarious to me, that an average human would give money to Joe Biden

I assume eephus isn’t an oil baron or Pfizer executive

Tbf your brain has been somewhat broken by the narratives pushed in certain fevered conspiratorial online spaces.

But the good news is that Joe is gonna be your president too.

I guess I should say “fracking baron”

genuinely hilarious to me, that an average human would give money to Joe Biden

I tossed $10 to his campaign, because after the Dem convention he was the only candidate for president with a chance to displace Trump and I had a strong personal interest in the success of that campaign. It's not like I stuffed money directly into Biden's pocket. He spent it to get elected. Yes, I know, hilarious.

I gave x25 more than that to local races and to various political organizations working for positive change.

Wait til silby hears that Trump also had individual small-dollar donors, as well as campaign volunteers

Like, people gave $25 to a billionaire and then spent their own time working on his behalf, for free

I sent Biden money. maybe 20 because I was freaking out about something or other on ilx and then 25 for a sign because someone the block over had a Trump sign and my daughter was kinda upset about it and in kid logic wanted us to get one to balance it out

I called her a neolib melt and ordered it

That’s honestly easier to understand xp

I don't think you mocked her nearly enough, ums

later I paid Felix Biederman $100 to record a Cameo making fun of her

diy political signs are the way to go. you can use swear words and also specifically reference your neighbors, too

Every dollar donated to Joe Biden was a dollar not wasted on Amy McGrath imo

I think people should donate where they want to, but there were closer senate races than that one that could've used it.

Giving money to politicians is about the most ridiculous grift I can imagine, especially a politician with as high a stature as Biden. I know, some of you have deeper pockets than me or mine, but I will also say that I truly believe that if everyone donated the money they would donate to politicians to local homelessness organizations and/or bail funds, the world would be a much better place.

I also gave money to Jaime Harrison and Sara Gideon and Mark Kelly (back when that race looked close) and Cory Gardner (back when that race looked close) and Theresa Greenfield and Barbara Bollier and the New Georgia Project and umpteen Democratic state legislative candidates, I did that because I am lucky enough to have the money to do it and I wanted all those people to win, I just don't think it's that weird

I can't really speak to the effectiveness of political donations as the 2 donations I made this cycle were to losing campaigns. I am however considering giving to the Warnock and Ossoff campaigns.

xp and yes I also gave money to our local food bank and to a bail fund and Planned Parenthood and the ACLU and the org that pays the fees of ex-felons in Florida so they can vote, though no, not as much as in aggregate I gave to the sum of all candidates in 2020.

Like, people gave $25 to a billionaire and then spent their own time working on his behalf, for free

he's not a billionaire but tbf this is a better plan for becoming one than he has ever had before

Again, I am merely speaking as someone who lived in a truck for years while working full-time, and has been involved in advocacy for houseless people for a while, too. The amount of money that people donate to politicians could be potentially life-altering for a person living on the streets, and so those sorts of justice-based organizations are where I put my money when I can, which is rare. That isn't really a judgment— people can do with their money whatever they want, obv— but just an observation.

I suck what can I say?

p sure silby's point was just lolbiden

which is OTM

I know, just funnin

Unmentioned upthread, another Biden ploy for bipartisanship:

Breaking, per @CBSSunday: the Bidens are getting a cat

— Mike Memoli (@mikememoli) November 28, 2020

there really is no greater form of insanity than defending the US private insurance industry in 2020.

Number of citizens who lost health care coverage since the pandemic began:

14,600,000 United States
0 Australia
0 Belgium
0 Canada
0 Denmark
0 Finland
0 France
0 Germany
0 Italy
0 Japan
0 Norway
0 South Korea
0 Spain
0 UK

kinda puts it in perspective

those numbers aren't 30,000 off. they're one hundred THOUSAND off

You: I’m starving, I need food

Joe Biden: I understand the concept of hunger

— Jack Califano (@jackcalifano) December 6, 2020

Good morning!

This is an interesting article.

In the early days of his campaign, Mr. Biden’s team envisioned setting up its own digital media empire. It posted videos to his official YouTube channel, conducted virtual forums and even set up a podcast hosted by Mr. Biden, “Here’s the Deal.” But those efforts were marred by technical glitches and lukewarm receptions, and they never came close to rivaling the reach of Mr. Trump’s social media machine.

So the campaign pivoted to a different strategy, which involved expanding Mr. Biden’s reach by working with social media influencers and “validators,” people who were trusted by the kinds of voters the campaign hoped to reach.

“We were not the biggest megaphone compared to Trump, so we had to help arm any who were,” said Andrew Bleeker, the president of Bully Pulpit Interactive, a Democratic strategy firm that worked with the Biden campaign.

One validator at the top of the team’s list was Brené Brown, a popular author and podcast host who speaks and writes about topics like courage and vulnerability. Ms. Brown has a devoted following among suburban women — a critical demographic for Mr. Biden’s campaign — and when Mr. Biden appeared as a guest on her podcast to talk about his own stories of grief and empathy, the campaign viewed it as a coup.

Also high on the list was the actor Dwayne (The Rock) Johnson, whose following skews center-right and male. Mr. Johnson’s endorsement this fall of Mr. Biden and his running mate, Senator Kamala Harris, created a so-called permission structure for his followers — including some who may have voted for Mr. Trump in 2016 — to support Mr. Biden, members of the campaign staff told me.

...

A frequent criticism of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign was that it was too focused on appealing to the elite, high-information crowd on Twitter, instead of paying attention to the much larger group of voters who get their news and information on Facebook. In 2020, Mr. Biden’s digital team was committed to avoiding a repeat.

“The whole Biden campaign ethos was ‘Twitter isn’t real life,'” Mr. Flaherty said. “There are risks of running a campaign that is too hyper-aware of your own ideological corner.”

As it focused on Facebook, the Biden campaign paid extra attention to “Facebook moms” — women who spend a lot of time sharing cute and uplifting content, and who the campaign believed could be persuaded to vote for Mr. Biden with positive messages about his character. Its target audience, Mr. Flaherty said, was women “who would go out and share a video of troops coming home, or who would follow The Dodo,” a website known for heartwarming animal videos.

...

One of the biggest obstacles the Biden campaign faced was a tsunami of misinformation, much of it amplified by the Trump campaign and its right-wing media allies. There were baseless rumors about Mr. Biden’s health, unfounded questions about the citizenship of Ms. Harris and spurious claims about the business dealings of Mr. Biden’s son Hunter.

The campaign formed an in-house effort to combat these rumors, known as the “Malarkey Factory.” But it picked its battles carefully, using data from voter testing to guide its responses.

When the Hunter Biden laptop story emerged, for example, some Democrats — worried that it would be 2020’s version of the Hillary Clinton email story — suggested that the Biden campaign should forcefully denounce it. But the campaign’s testing found that most voters in its key groups couldn’t follow the complexities of the allegations, and that it wasn’t changing their opinion of Mr. Biden.

“The Hunter Biden conversation was many times larger than the Hillary Clinton email conversation, but it really didn’t stick, because people think Joe Biden’s a good guy,” said Mr. Bleeker of Bully Pulpit Interactive.

was it many times larger, though? it happened in a much more compressed period of time, was a rehash of another email controversy, and Hillary's 'email' controversy was actually somewhat based in fact and dragged on for over a year.