Biden’s VP Remark
In New Hampshire yesterday, Biden was asked if he would pick a Republican as VP. Here’s his answer, ALL of his answer:
“The answer is I would, but I can’t think of one now. I’m serious. Here’s what I mean. Let me explain that. You know, there’s some really decent Republicans that are out there still, but here’s the problem right now, with the well-known ones — they’ve got to step up. Whomever I would pick were I fortunate enough to be your nominee, I’d pick somebody who was simpatico with me, who knew what my priorities were and knew what I wanted to do. We could disagree on tactics but strategically we’d have to be on the exact same page.”
Predictably, Biden haters went apeshit, especially those pushing for unelectables like Buttigieg and Warren. I didn’t find his answer particularly controversial, and you’ll recall that McCain considered bringing a Dem on as VP in 2008. If he had, instead of screwball Sarah Palin, he could have very well beaten Obama and be known as the late President McCain. I believe that Biden is playing this campaign perfectly, going for the middle who went with Trump in 2016.
To those on the more left side of the party, repeating Republican talking points: Take a breath…he’s not playing to the Medicare-for-all-free-college-no-oil-for-nobody crowd. He’s playing to everyday Americans who want a decent person in the White House who’s not a criminal and can speak to them. And a reminder – he even said he couldn’t think of any Republican to fill that role. While Buttigieg, Warren, Sanders, Steyer crowd navel gaze and debate the finer points of granular health policy, Biden is running for President of Everybody which is a winning strategy.
I have believed from the beginning that Biden is the right person at the right time for America right now. He’ll be a one termer, so needs to pick a strong VP who can step up in 2024, but in spite of all the sniping from his left amplifying differences, he’s on the right track playing to a much broader audience. Everyone else needs to relax. Support your unelectable if you must to make your statement and make primaries more expensive. We don’t have much longer to shake all this out and get down to beating Trump, which should be the ONLY goal.
Unelectables. Is that like Deplorables?
1Biden’s proven record as a Senator in giving the banks everything they wanted is enough to keep him out of my consideration.
2@Mike – So supporting Trump is how you get back at the banks? LOL.
3EJ
4I have no support for the Tangerine Wankmaggot either.
My question in voting for the lesser of 2 evils is “At what level of evil does it become acceptable?”
I have stopped voting for corporate whores. That’s how we got into this mess, by “Not as bad as the other guy” thinking.
Since 1972 and my first Presidential vote, the person I voted for lost more often than not and have the ones that I voted for that won ended up screwing the people.
When Obama was elected, he had a 98% progressive voting record in the Senate. Yet moderates went for him, too, because he was inspiring. Joe? Not so much.
Stats show millenials are significantly more progressive, and they sure as heck ain’t inspired by hair-sniffer Uncle Joe. Add a moderate running mate (Dem or Repub) and you have low voter turnout from the youth. Not a path the Democratic party should be pursuing.
Hillary chose a running mate that guaranteed the ticket was solid but stolid and LOST. Had she chosen Bernie or even Julian Castro, she’d had a better chance of winning.
Fact of the matter is most civilized countries have socialized medicine, and some (like the UK) have privatized options as well. So while it may take awhile to get there, and Americans will get there kicking and screaming, a National Health Service is in our future. Accept it.
Also time for old white men to get out of the way (especially those who did not support banking reform) and let people who understand the social contract rule.
Biden would be a complete IDIOT to choose a Rethuglican as a running mate, or a moderate Democrat. He’d better make a choice toward at least a moderate progressive (Kamala) or Dems will alienate a whole generation from voting.
5I hope he has the wisdom to see that Kamala Harris should be his veep. The ticket must be more reflective of America, no more 2 white guys. Biden serves one term and sets Harris up for two. We’ll need those 12 years to just begin rebuilding the country from the ashes of Trump.
6That ridiculous answer almost disqualifies him. He should be pounding the Rethug party into the ground, not trying to assauge a party that is shrinking by the day. Too stupid to contemplate.
7For once I agree with you, El. I’m sorry that my candidate dropped out, I think she would have made a great president, but Biden is looking pretty good. I only hope he can sustain it.
8Biden has this idea that when he is elected, the GOP will have an epiphany and start being collegial again. It simply is NOT going to happen. His record on race and corporate regulation could easily put him in the VP slot on a Republican ticket (if the majority hadn’t already drunk the Kool-Aid.
He is going to pimp for Wall Street as much as Obama did, and he won’t have an Attorney General who’ll fight for minorities the way that Eric Holder tried to. Biden is a man bringing a marshmallow on a stick to a gunfight.
9Another old white corporate candidate is not going to beat Drumpf. Drumpf may be a criminal, but Biden is not much better as a candidate. At least Warren and Sanders are committed to doing something for average Americans and getting corporate influence out of our government. That’s why Wall St. is doing all they can to push corporate-friendly Biden (remember when he said that he wouldn’t accept super PAC money, then did– because he isn’t supported by average Americans, unlike Warren and Sanders). Until the Republican party returns to sanity, no amount of “working across the aisle” will solve our country’s problems. Biden is living in a fantasy world if he thinks he’ll be able to work with the Republican party as they are now. He talks like it’s still the early 1990s. Biden may talk a good game, but he is not my candidate of choice. I don’t trust him. That said, if he does become the Democratic candidate, I will vote for him because I trust Drumpf even less. Heck, Drumpf scares the bejesus out of me. I fear, though, that if Biden IS the Democratic candidate come next August, many Democrats will become disillusioned and just stay home on election day, regardless of the potential damage to our democracy and the world that Drumpf could (and probably would) do after securing a second term.
10Just as McCain tossing around the idea of a Dem. VP did not make me want to vote for him, no GOP voter will vote for Biden. Just as many others have said, I too will hold my nose and vote for Biden in the general election as an alternative to the current chaos. But i see several other candidates who will bring fresh Democratic ideas to DC. My concern is that others like me who loathe Biden stay home, we will continue with the POS that is in Maralago, Bedminster, Miami . . . and occasionally DC.
11Sheesh! Voted for the Iraq War, and for tightening bankruptcy just before the Global Financial Crisis! What has to happen before you stop supporting these corporate tools? Seriously, what do they have to do? Start eating your grandbabies?
12@Adam – Overreact much? I suppose you prefer Trump.
13Biden is not going to appeal to the WWC like some people seem to think.
Here’s a fine example of why:
“Anybody who can go down 3000 feet in a mine can sure as hell learn to program as well.”
The people who are least likely to fall for this vapid drivel are the ones who go into mines and do other blue collar jobs.
And Biden’s totally unfounded belief that he can work with his “Republican friends” is going to turn OFF a lot of people who the Democrats need to turn OUT and vote.
14chill El Jefe
15Biden has not been nominated yet
let’s wait until the primaries are over before demanding undivided fealty
I hope to live long enough to witness democrats becoming pragmatic.
Trump will win again because there is not enough enthusiasm
for any democratic candidate to get out the vote.
We are still stomping pissants while the elephants are running wild.
Trump didn’t win because Hillary was a bad candidate. He won because people didn’t understand the reason why a vote is important.
IMO, Trump putting Heritage selected judges will determine the direction of this nation for the next 75 years.
It’s time to stop this pissing contest.
16Biden is a rePUKAEian in his soul,his speech pattern as seen here is exactly like his hero the orange trumpkin…rambling nonsense to evade the answer. If he runs as the demoncrate I will only vote for him if trumpkin runs for office.
17Sorry, EJ, but your Biden adoration is misplaced.
If anyone is still a Republican at this point — after the GOP started locking children in cages, FFS — they aren’t going to be considering a vote for Joe, regardless of his VP pick. There is no center to appeal to anymore.
His, aw gee shucks why can’t we just work with my good Republican friends isn’t going to get Dems out to vote. He polls at less than 5% with those under 35. That is not a winning strategy for Dems.
I get it, you like corporate governance. We had that on the ticket in 2016 and here we are now. Time to move on …
18My 10 kids and grown grandkids along with partners, spouses etc just all left. They are all truly progressive. The one they all agreed on was Bernie. Biden is the establishment guy, mayor Pete is Reagan light. Offsprings ages went from 23-56. The grandkids are all in graduate studies on scholarships, no debt. Kids are well employed. just my .02.
19Badly worded. Ten total.
20I do not have 10 kids and grandkids.
I will wait for the outcome of the primaries. Then I will vote for the Democrat. I must admit to hoping that is not Biden. Not just because he is not my preference, but because I don’t think he would win. If he gets the nomination, I hope I’m wrong.
21Hi Ya Chief!
The idea that all these experts wail is each of them is the freaking expert here and you’re just jerking a chain that has nothing of value at the end is hilarious to me. Every class I’ve had in politics has stressed, ” … change comes from the edges, governance from the center, and agitprop from the extremes. The Salon has many readers in the center and a few insightful advocates, while the magpies on the extreme attempt to draw all the oxygen from the discussion by demanding a ‘perfect’ candidate.
Let’s assess:
22The center – Bullock, Biden, Mayor Pete & Klobucher.
The left – rest of ’em … all ideas on how to spend money we no longer have due to tax giveaways and no plan to recover the graft the grifters gifted the wealthy and political opportunists.
Let’s face it Sanders may never be on a Democratic Primary ballot since he’s not a registered Democrat. I’m also suspicious that if he tried to push his way onto the ballot the FEC would mysteriously find regulatory misadventures attaching to him.
The rest of the crowd is jockeying to place planks in the platform to assuage their core (corps) supporters who have hog, hound and horse in the hunt — whichever hunt there is.
Sounds like 2016 redux, just substitute Biden for Hilary.
23Talk up his useless “good” points, sabotage the rest.
I’ve had it with careful politics. Let’s elect someone to shake things.
Worked for the Repugs, who seem to have read some sociology.
Don’t see that here. What I do see is a Rethug troll.
I don’t hate Joe Biden, but I definitely don’t want him to choose a Republican as his VP. I will vote for him if he’s the nominee, but I do hate the idea of the office of the president passing to a Republican if Biden doesn’t make it through his term of office. No. Just no. Considering the destruction and chaos that Trump and his Republican cultists have brought on the US government, I don’t want a Republican anywhere in the line of succession for many years to come. These are not honest and honorable men, and they have no business being in government until the party reforms itself.
24Biden said he didn’t see any republican candidates right now. I wonder if that means anybody willing to associate with what the repugnantcan party has become.
25Because that leaves no one.
All our prognosticating about who’ll be the best to beat trump is based on our own opinions and experiances.
That used to serve us well. Trends mattered. History mattered. Not anymore. In the age of selective reality, the only thing that matters is controlling the narrative.
That’s how they’ve kicked our asses. By controlling the narrative in darkness. Targeted social media campaigns to lead apothetics to be civically aware.
26Of how libtards wanna take their guns.
And pay lazy moochers from our tax dollars. Undecideds exist. Whether because they’re too lazy to pay attention or not makes no difference.
The right wing is perfectly willing to expend every effort to reach out and guide these folks in the RIGHT direction. We’ve talked about it before in here.
Expecting our electorate to responsibly educate themselves is the equivalent of bringing a knife to a Thompson submachine gun fight.
And then continually wondering why we’re getting our asses handed to us.
Almost forgot.
27Happy New Year!
Happy Blue Year to everybody who hangs out in this esteemed establishment.
We sure as hell don’t always agree.
But family’s like that a lot.
Well said in just a few words!
And, a good way to focus on the new year and 2020 election!
28Pick an R as his Veep? Not from the crowd currently on the Hill, thats for damn sure. The ones who recognized Trump for what he is have left to save their sanity let alone their souls. They’ve had it!
29Jefe, I disagree. I think every Warren, Harris, and Sanders supporter has covered the reasons why, so I won’t bother repeating them.
30El Jefe, I also disagree with your choice of Biden. What is “Democrat” supposed to mean? IMO, he’s repub lite. Warren and Sanders are closer to Democrat than the other Democratic candidates. It may come to a Moses-in-the-desert moment where the Israelis could not enter the promised land until that generation who sinned died out.
31There must be enough pain and suffering on the repubs side to cause them to recognize
1. this as being a result of the repub policies and
2. that they acknowledge their own personal contribution.
Without this personal pain and recognition – another Yogi Berra moment.
Giving VP/Sen Biden his props, his quip this week to a heckler almost beats his metaphorical threat to take Donnie outside the schoolhouse for a beat down. BIDEN: “I released 21 years of my tax returns. Your guy hasn’t released one. What’s he hiding?” That was equally as good as the late Sen McCain telling a confused Teabagger that she was wrong about then Sen Obama not being a US citizen, a Christian and a decent man. Broken clocks do have their moments. But erasing Biden’s performance ergo the confirmation of Clarence Thomas to SCROTUS and some of his other gaffes, in a word no.
In the been there got the t-shirt department, we voted for Hilz in 2016 despite reservations. When Dotard Donnie received the Republicon nomination, we not only cancelled our reservation(s), we were ready to burn down the restaurant. But we’re only 2 of several thousands of millennials who vote. Not to relitigate 2016, think back to 2000 and the subsequent third party candidate grumbling that consumes some Democrats. Don’t look now, but someone needs to have a chat with Tulsi. She’s not a legitimate 3rd party as were either Nader or Stein.
Not to worry about alleged 3rd party spoilers nor that way far remote possibility of attracting IQ4.5 supporters with a Republican-lite candidate. That would be tripping the light fantastic. There’s a big pool of both unregistered potential Democrats and those who for a variety of their own reasons don’t vote. Excite them with a candidate who doesn’t have a track record from 1988 of losing Democratic support to Michael Dukakis. Go for change or go for broke, but for the love of Einstein stop repeating those actions that snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
Not just millennials, but others from every generation are seriously tired of hearing about the lesser of two evils. Please, for all that is worth saving in the US Constitution consider nominating a candidate who is actually good. Not one who is ‘good,’ just because the other guy is that awful.
32Biden is not going to get the nomination. Once the voting starts everything is going to change. And that Biden can think of Republicans who would be on the same page with him is disturbing. Maybe not 30 years ago, where Biden’s head is, but now, it’s very disturbing.
33I will vote for whomever the Dem nominee is but I would prefer a more progressive candidate. Or at least a more progressive VP running mate. We need someone that brings “enthusiasm” to the ticket. The key to victory is getting out the vote and I don’t find Biden that exciting. I think he would make a decent candidate but if he thinks that the GOP will cooperate with him he is delusional. The 2020 race is the Dems to lose and the way I see it if we can get people to the polls, even with the constant attempts at voter suppression, we will win simply because there are more of us than them. I have to believe that people do not like Trump no matter what the spin by the media says. But then again I would have never believed that so-called “Christians” would support such a scumbag.
34I don’t know if Sleepy Joe is serious about selecting a Repub as running mate, but I do know that I’ve voted in every election since I turned 18 in 1980.
I’ve NEVER voted for a single Republican in all these years. I’m not about to start now.
35Warren is not unelectable. Get real.
36the center are ALREADY democrats. we need to worry about getting the left to turn out.
but that would require learning from past mistakes, something el jefe appears to think beneath him.
37@Joel – “the center are ALREADY democrats”? In what country? Biden is appealing to those who don’t party identify and are more interested in The Voice and Dancing with the Stars. The race will be won by winning the votes of the uncommitted in the swing states. I’ll ignore the petty insult as you clearly don’t understand the subject you’re talking about.
38