2020 US Elections | Biden certified as President | Dems control Congress

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Raoul

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I guess realistically they will be announcing vp candidate in August?
Beginning of August is what I've heard. Realistically, it would have to be sometime during the month of August since mail in voting starts at the end of the month.
 

Beachryan

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Beginning of August is what I've heard. Realistically, it would have to be sometime during the month of August since mail in voting starts at the end of the month.
The Pod saves folks also pointed that August 2020 is 100 years since women got the right to vote - rather nice optics.
 

entropy

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Some of my US friends are telling me that there are starting to have a lot of problems with the USPS and that might be a tactic for vote suppression. is there any true on that?
I was at the post office earlier. It looked pretty bad. Endless lines and complaints about delays.
 

WI_Red

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I was at the post office earlier. It looked pretty bad. Endless lines and complaints about delays.
I think you and I can have a moment of agreement on this one. I spoke with my local carrier on this on Saturday. Normally she is Mon-Friday and another lady does Sat and Sunday package delivery, but she was out on Saturday when I was mowing the lawn. Apparently the local office is severely understaffed and they are all working (unpaid) overtime trying to get mail/packages out to everyone. She was quite distraught as she has more mail than ever to deliver due to increased route sizes and COVID sized package delivery, but no more time to do it in. The result is predictably lost or delayed mail. What both parties (although predominantly the R's) have done to the USPS is not just criminal, but also morally repugnant. They want the USPS to fail so they can get their greedy little claws into that sweet, sweet private carrier bribe money.
 

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Former Sanders campaign co-chair Nina Turner compares voting for Biden to eating 'bowl of sh--'

Former Bernie Sanders campaign co-chair Nina Turner offered a not-so-appetizing analogy when asked about voting for presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden.

Turner, who was a prominent surrogate for Sen. Sanders, I-Vt., during the 2020 Democratic primary, expressed her lack of excitement for the former VP to The Atlantic.

“It’s like saying to somebody, ‘You have a bowl of sh-- in front of you, and all you’ve got to do is eat half of it instead of the whole thing.’ It’s still sh--," Turner described to Atlantic staff writer Peter Nicholas.

Harvard University professor Cornel West, who also supported Sanders during the primary, had a similar stance in the article.

"We have to be true to ourselves and acknowledge that Biden is a mediocre, milquetoast, neoliberal centrist that we’ve been fighting against in the Democratic establishment," West said.

Guess Nina is out of the running for VP.
 

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As much as I dislike Harris, the idea that she should feel 'remorse' for her perfectly timed smackdown on Biden in the debates is laughable. If anything it just shows she has excellent political instincts.
 

Raoul

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As much as I dislike Harris, the idea that she should feel 'remorse' for her perfectly timed smackdown on Biden in the debates is laughable. If anything it just shows she has excellent political instincts.
Except it wasn’t perfectly timed. It was a rehearsed one liner that many political candidates who are losing use to help them catch up. They practice this stuff during debate prep and target it to towards the leader of the pack or else someone they can use to step over in order to climb up the pecking order (as Gabbard did against Harris). So if Harris now wants Biden to hire her after ostensibly pulling the race card on him during a national debate, she would be wise to not be flippant about it.
 

Beachryan

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I'm not sure I buy that whole line about Harris. It's a competition, for me it would be like not signing a great player from an opposition team because they'd played well against you. That, if anything, is a reason TO sign them.

Still think it'll be Harris, and we'll hear next week. Didn't Trump actually say nice things about Harris a million years ago? (more like a year)
 

sun_tzu

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Except it wasn’t perfectly timed. It was a rehearsed one liner that many political candidates who are losing use to help them catch up. They practice this stuff during debate prep and target it to towards the leader of the pack or else someone they can use to step over in order to climb up the pecking order (as Gabbard did against Harris). So if Harris now wants Biden to hire her after ostensibly pulling the race card on him during a national debate, she would be wise to not be flippant about it.
If biden wants her to pull the race (and sex) card on pence then she can be as flippant as she wants - If biden does not want that he will pick somebody else anyway
 

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Except it wasn’t perfectly timed. It was a rehearsed one liner that many political candidates who are losing use to help them catch up. They practice this stuff during debate prep and target it to towards the leader of the pack or else someone they can use to step over in order to climb up the pecking order (as Gabbard did against Harris). So if Harris now wants Biden to hire her after ostensibly pulling the race card on him during a national debate, she would be wise to not be flippant about it.
It smacked Biden down beautifully and briefly catapulted Harris in the race. She didn't capitalize on it (and I think she's pretty terrible anyway) but it was very nicely done.

Worth mentioning incidentally that her being flippant about it was to a high up Dem operative, not in a public statement. If Dodd was expecting some grovelling apology then he's pretty naive. He's helping recruit for one of the most powerful political jobs in the country, not for an intern.
 

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It smacked Biden down beautifully and briefly catapulted Harris in the race. She didn't capitalize on it (and I think she's pretty terrible anyway) but it was very nicely done.

Worth mentioning incidentally that her being flippant about it was to a high up Dem operative, not in a public statement. If Dodd was expecting some grovelling apology then he's pretty naive. He's helping recruit for one of the most powerful political jobs in the country, not for an intern.
I don’t think it did much for her. She was already among the top tier going into the campaign and the debate got her a few days worth of headlines after which she tanked because she became better known for debate one liners than substantive policy ideas.
 

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If biden wants her to pull the race (and sex) card on pence then she can be as flippant as she wants - If biden does not want that he will pick somebody else anyway
Im hearing he’s got a great relationship with Warren. She’s the only one of the group with the ideas and sensibility to actually become President.
 

sun_tzu

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Im hearing he’s got a great relationship with Warren. She’s the only one of the group with the ideas and sensibility to actually become President.
If she wasnt 71 I think she would be clear favorite - I think she would be a good pick but my gut feel is he will go with somebody younger... perhaps put her in charge of an economic recovery plan / reform?
 

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I don’t think it did much for her. She was already among the top tier going into the campaign and the debate got her a few days worth of headlines after which she tanked because she became better known for debate one liners than substantive policy ideas.
Didn't it like double her poll numbers? Kentonio already acknowledged that she didn't capitalize on it, but it put her immediately into a spot where she could have capitalized on it if she were a better candidate.
 

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Didn't it like double her poll numbers? Kentonio already acknowledged that she didn't capitalize on it, but it put her immediately into a spot where she could have capitalized on it if she were a better candidate.
It raised her numbers briefly and they went right back down once the public forgot about the debate because the next debate already took place. There was nothing she could’ve done to capitalize on it because the brief bump in polling wasn’t due to anything substantive, nor did her campaign offer anything unique that would’ve made her standout. Progressives didn’t care for her and centrists were interested in Biden, Buttigieg, Bloomberg, and Klobuchar- so there was no room for her to gain any traction.
 

nimic

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It raised her numbers briefly and they went right back down once the public forgot about the debate because the next debate already took place. There was nothing she could’ve done to capitalize on it because the brief bump in polling wasn’t due to anything substantive, nor did her campaign offer anything unique that would’ve made her standout. Progressives didn’t care for her and centrists were interested in Biden, Buttigieg, Bloomberg, and Klobuchar- so there was no room for her to gain any traction.
Okay, but now you're just arguing that she was a fundamentally flawed candidate. And while I think it's hard to disagree, that doesn't change the purpose of the attack. I think saying "there was nothing she could've done to capitalize on it" is a bit meaningless when it made her the object of public attention, which is basically step 1 for lesser known primary candidates. If she were a better candidate, or had a better strategy, she might have gone on to steps 2, 3 and so on. Either way it's silly to criticize her for taking the chance when it was her only chance to begin with.
 

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Okay, but now you're just arguing that she was a fundamentally flawed candidate. And while I think it's hard to disagree, that doesn't change the purpose of the attack. I think saying "there was nothing she could've done to capitalize on it" is a bit meaningless when it made her the object of public attention, which is basically step 1 for lesser known primary candidates. If she were a better candidate, or had a better strategy, she might have gone on to steps 2, 3 and so on. Either way it's silly to criticize her for taking the chance when it was her only chance to begin with.
Yeah, she could have used that moment to push a really strong message on racial justice and it would have probably worked very nicely. But of course she's a terrible person with a shitty record on criminal justice, so no surprises really.
 

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If she wasnt 71 I think she would be clear favorite - I think she would be a good pick but my gut feel is he will go with somebody younger... perhaps put her in charge of an economic recovery plan / reform?
Biden would be really dumb to not pick a black woman VP at this point. It would be missing a huge moment of opportunity.
 

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Biden would be really dumb to not pick a black woman VP at this point. It would be missing a huge moment of opportunity.
There is no “moment”. He needs to pick someone who has the aptitude to be President and equally someone he gets along with.
 

Raoul

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Okay, but now you're just arguing that she was a fundamentally flawed candidate. And while I think it's hard to disagree, that doesn't change the purpose of the attack. I think saying "there was nothing she could've done to capitalize on it" is a bit meaningless when it made her the object of public attention, which is basically step 1 for lesser known primary candidates. If she were a better candidate, or had a better strategy, she might have gone on to steps 2, 3 and so on. Either way it's silly to criticize her for taking the chance when it was her only chance to begin with.
There’s a big difference between delivering a well rehearsed quip during a debate and having the substance to leverage the momentary spike in attention to your advantage. Harris is a specialist in grandstanding, as evidenced by her performances at Senate hearings. She lacks any meat on the bone in terms of policy, which is clearly not a problem that Warren shares with her.
 

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If she wasnt 71 I think she would be clear favorite - I think she would be a good pick but my gut feel is he will go with somebody younger... perhaps put her in charge of an economic recovery plan / reform?
She seems to be the favorite in a number of polls. The question is who is Biden most comfortable with.

 

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There is no “moment”. He needs to pick someone who has the aptitude to be President and equally someone he gets along with.
Of course there is a moment, the whole thing is about electibility. Nonimees are picking their running mate on which states or demographics they can attract to the ticket, not on who would be a great future president or who they like to have a beer with. Presidents have picked people they hate as VP on numerous occasions.
 

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Of course there is a moment, the whole thing is about electibility. Nonimees are picking their running mate on which states or demographics they can attract to the ticket, not on who would be a great future president or who they like to have a beer with. Presidents have picked people they hate as VP on numerous occasions.
Warren is beating Harris among poor and black voters. Harris has no appeal with progressives and frankly centrists don't care about her. Therefore it would be little more than flagrant tokensim to select her.
 

berbatrick

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Didn't it like double her poll numbers? Kentonio already acknowledged that she didn't capitalize on it, but it put her immediately into a spot where she could have capitalized on it if she were a better candidate.
Yes.
 

Beachryan

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Warren is beating Harris among poor and black voters. Harris has no appeal with progressives and frankly centrists don't care about her. Therefore it would be little more than flagrant tokensim to select her.
Agree with this, and still think she'll be the nominee.

Really it isn't about electability imo, but ability to be President. You've gotta figure there's at least a 20% chance that the VP will be the P in the next 5 years.
 

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Really it isn't about electability imo, but ability to be President. You've gotta figure there's at least a 20% chance that the VP will be the P in the next 5 years.
Yep, and I think we can safely say Warren is more ready than Harris at this point. Hard to see how anyone is ready except Warren, to be honest.
 

Beachryan

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Yep, and I think we can safely say Warren is more ready than Harris at this point. Hard to see how anyone is ready except Warren, to be honest.
I agree with this. Then again, she was always my first pick for actual candidate.

My new 'up at night' worry is what that says to Zuck and how he'll react. If she's on the ticket, he's spreading the fake news himself on FB imo.
 

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Oh yeah, I had forgotten Bloomberg ran :lol:

Imagine a world where he won the nomination. I wonder if some people here would still yell at leftists for saying they're not a guaranteed vote.
Her roasting of Pete at 17 seconds was also great.
 
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