SHOULD Biden run for a 2nd term? (1 Viewer)

[SteveSBrickNJ]

Biden has lost support from many people who voted for him in the past.
He is getting up there in age.
Here are a couple of sites I'd like to share...
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Octogenarian Biden begins new year facing age-old question on 2024 race

In the coming months, Biden faces a simple question: will he seek a second term at the end of which he would be 86?

www.theguardian.com

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Biden 2024? Most Democrats say no thank you: AP-NORC poll

A majority of Democrats now think one term is plenty for President Joe Biden, despite his insistence that he plans to seek reelection in 2024. While Biden has trumpeted his legislative victories and ability to govern, the poll suggests relatively few U.S. adults give him high marks on either...

news.yahoo.com

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WHAT DO ANY OF YOU THINK?
IS THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY BEST SERVED BY HAVING PRESIDENT BIDEN RUN FOR ANOTHER TERM OR WOULD A DIFFERENT CANDIDATE BE BETTER?

 

[Dragon]

It's not just productivity related to the illness. It's also related to the hassle of dealing with the American system.

What is covered by whom, where, when, how much? Does anyone really know? No. Insurers and hospitals pay good salaries to people who's only job is to sift through a Byzantine set of rules to figure out how/who/what to charge for that Band-aid. It's $2 to you, 6$ to me and $265 to the poor schmuck who came in on a Sunday. It's insane, yet American's are so brainwashed by the "free market" that we put up with it.

I think a candidate who stresses the ease and simplicity of a single-payer system could make a lot of headway. You go in, show your card and get care. Done.

The entire Insurer Relations department can be let go or retrained into something productive.

And everyone would save a lot of money - especially if "for profit" medical services were eliminated

 

[Optimus Prime]

To the editor: Justice Department special counsel Robert Hur has training in neither psychiatry nor neurology, yet he included an assessment of President Biden's cognitive functioning in his report declining to bring charges for mishandling classified information.

Memory assessment is a complex task and cannot be undertaken over five hours in interviews with attorneys. If Hur had data that suggested Biden might be cognitively impaired, his responsibility was to halt the interview and request an emergency assessment.

He would have needed to advise Vice President Kamala Harris to act to consider removing Biden's presidential authority. He did not. Biden functioned effectively as president.

All of us, regardless of age, might have difficulty remembering events from a decade ago that were not central to our lives. Having no legal case against Biden, Hur put forth an explanation for not pursuing an indictment.

His explanation is now being used to humiliate Biden politically. Strikingly, Hur's words echo attacks by former President Trump and his MAGA faithful.

Sidney Weissman, M.D., Highland Park, Ill.

MSN

 

[UncleTrvlingJim]

Sure. And let's be clear for a moment - it's not about "what I think", it's about facts. Hopefully you're aware of that.

Here are just a few (there are many more) - relating to important middle class and high priority issues:

Climate: He promised no more drilling on public lands and went back on that for a massive billion dollar project in Alaska (Willow).
Border/Immigration: He promised to end detention of migrant children at the border (remember how big of an issue this was with Trump?) but he hasn't stopped it and is now considering reinstating family detention
Detention centers/Immigration: Promised to end for profit detention centers. Didn't do that. Private prison companies used for Immigration detention have only grown under his watch.
Affordable housing: He promised to increase access to affordable housing including a framework for direct investment in construction of affordable housing units. That didn't happen.
Criminal justice reform - elimination of cash bail: Promised to eliminate it during his campaign. Didn't do that and hasn't brought it up during his campaign.

I don't know if a more progressive president would have accomplished more. A more progressive president isn't in the WH right now. That's irrelevant. We're discussing the current POTUS.



You brought this up, not me. Completely different discussion. Don't frame it as though I am contradicting anything.



There have been some great things that Biden has done. I am not denying that.

One can strongly critique their party's candidate for one set of decisions while acknowledging and providing accolades to what they've done right.

We can walk and chew gum at the same time.

Thanks for the list...

Forgive me if I'm wrong, but weren't you saying you wouldn't vote for him b/c of these things? Doesn't that imply you think a more progressive president would have accomplished more therefore earning your vote?

You framed it as an all or nothing sort of thing - or rather there is some threshold that needs to be accomplished or you would not vote for someone - regardless if it was possible or not, right? Also regardless if that person has been the most progressive person in office on the issues you care about to date. That seems to me to be an impossible standard.

There's a difference between criticizing someone and taking a fundamentalist approach to voting. Criticize away. That's good and healthy, and I have done so about Biden myself. But you can either do something to make things better now, or you can choose not to... and you appear to choose not to try to make things better now because of a perception that this will somehow lead to some platonic ideal in the future, which IMO is self defeating and will lead to a more regressive government and farther away from your claimed goal.

If the progressive want a more progressive candidate, they need to get a more progressive candidate through the primaries or bolster another party that has a chance of winning. It should be grass roots effort that starts with more progressive people in Congress and state government. This stupid Libertarian/Green party approach to just throwing things at the Presidency is just publicity and does nothing to moving things towards the policies they claim to care about.

 

[Taurus]

Thanks for the list...

Forgive me if I'm wrong, but weren't you saying you wouldn't vote for him b/c of these things? Doesn't that imply you think a more progressive president would have accomplished more therefore earning your vote?

You framed it as an all or nothing sort of thing - or rather there is some threshold that needs to be accomplished or you would not vote for someone - regardless if it was possible or not, right? Also regardless if that person has been the most progressive person in office on the issues you care about to date. That seems to me to be an impossible standard.

There's a difference between criticizing someone and taking a fundamentalist approach to voting. Criticize away. That's good and healthy, and I have done so about Biden myself. But you can either do something to make things better now, or you can choose not to... and you appear to choose not to try to make things better now because of a perception that this will somehow lead to some platonic ideal in the future, which IMO is self defeating and will lead to a more regressive government and farther away from your claimed goal.

If the progressive want a more progressive candidate, they need to get a more progressive candidate through the primaries or bolster another party that has a chance of winning. It should be grass roots effort that starts with more progressive people in Congress and state government. This stupid Libertarian/Green party approach to just throwing things at the Presidency is just publicity and does nothing to moving things towards the policies they claim to care about.

Do it like the Tea Party did. In just a decade they've managed to capture SCOTUS, the Presidency (once) and have hamstrung Congress to a fare-thee-well.

I think there's been a decent start with AOC, Omar, etc. But, and this may sound anti-progressive, they need to recruit a charismatic white guy to be the national face.

 

[Bayouboy]

We're the richest country in the history of the world and have a middle class that is struggling more and more by the day just to get by. That delta just has to be figured out. We can't keep doing this and acting like it's fine and that our government as a function isn't rotten to the core with big money greed on both sides, which to me is one of if not THE biggest problem with the American government.

Troof

 

[CoolBrees]

Troof

Is it?

The middle class getting the shaft has little to do with the current occupant of the White House.

The middle class has been getting the shaft since the decimation of the urban manufacturing base. Once the work dried up, the CIA pushed the crack in. It is all on record.

The death knell came when you all voted for Reagan, who is the main driver for where our economy has sunk. He destroyed this country, and his believers won't hear it, at all.

Supply Side, Trickle Down, it has many names. But what is is called is irrelevant. What it has done is the problem.

Through killing the tax base by giving corporations billions in welfare, and turning around and blaming poor people. Inflation and a reversal of its ratio to wages further cut the tourniquet. It destroyed the worth of the dollar, so you need millions to compensate. Couple that with pension elimination, union busting, gutting of Medicare, SNAP and the outright refusal of Republican Governors to take federal dollars and you have a suffering middle class.

Biden being the reason why the middle class is so weak? Hardly.

 

[Taurus]

Is it?

The middle class getting the shaft has little to do with the current occupant of the White House.

The middle class has been getting the shaft since the decimation of the urban manufacturing base. Once the work dried up, the CIA pushed the crack in. It is all on record.

The death knell came when you all voted for Reagan, who is the main driver for where our economy has sunk. He destroyed this country, and his believers won't hear it, at all.

Supply Side, Trickle Down, it has many names. But what is is called is irrelevant. What it has done is the problem.

Through killing the tax base by giving corporations billions in welfare, and turning around and blaming poor people. Inflation and a reversal of its ratio to wages further cut the tourniquet. It destroyed the worth of the dollar, so you need millions to compensate. Couple that with pension elimination, union busting, gutting of Medicare, SNAP and the outright refusal of Republican Governors to take federal dollars and you have a suffering middle class.

Biden being the reason why the middle class is so weak? Hardly.

Preach!

Sometimes I wonder how much better off we'd be if Hinckley had used a .44

 

[Bayouboy]

Is it?

The middle class getting the shaft has little to do with the current occupant of the White House.

The middle class has been getting the shaft since the decimation of the urban manufacturing base. Once the work dried up, the CIA pushed the crack in. It is all on record.

The death knell came when you all voted for Reagan, who is the main driver for where our economy has sunk. He destroyed this country, and his believers won't hear it, at all.

Supply Side, Trickle Down, it has many names. But what is is called is irrelevant. What it has done is the problem.

Through killing the tax base by giving corporations billions in welfare, and turning around and blaming poor people. Inflation and a reversal of its ratio to wages further cut the tourniquet. It destroyed the worth of the dollar, so you need millions to compensate. Couple that with pension elimination, union busting, gutting of Medicare, SNAP and the outright refusal of Republican Governors to take federal dollars and you have a suffering middle class.

Biden being the reason why the middle class is so weak? Hardly.

My "troof" comment was more about big corporations and lobbyist's running this country from both sides (Republican and Democrat). Follow the money.

I'm a lifelong Republican, but I have never supported Trump. He didn't pass the smell test for me in 2016. Talk about I was in the minority as an older white dude living in South Louisiana. During Trump's Presidency and now the aftermath of the 2020 election, I reflect a lot on where he has taken politics and the Republican Party. I literally can't believe what is going on in this country. I can't understand how such a large number of the electorate still support Trump. He has singlehandedly wrecked the Republican Party. It's a forking joke now. Look at what's going on in Congress. A total clown show. It feels like it isn't real. Like how can all of this be happening without ramifications? I must change to independent. I hate the MAGA faction of the Republican Party......so that's most Republicans.

I also will agree with you about Reagan. He is celebrated as one of the best Republican Presidents of all time, but I agree his fiscal policies sent this country into peril. Trickle down economics never worked. Very few Republicans will admit this.

 

[Heathen]

Thanks for the list...

Forgive me if I'm wrong, but weren't you saying you wouldn't vote for him b/c of these things? Doesn't that imply you think a more progressive president would have accomplished more therefore earning your vote?

No, I was giving examples as to why he could reasonably be critiqued.

I think that the general rigidity to embrace more progressive policies from Democrats as a whole is a separate conversation.

Again, I'm not saying Democrats haven't implemented some progressive policies. I'm pleased with certain strides we've made and happy to list those as well.

You framed it as an all or nothing sort of thing - or rather there is some threshold that needs to be accomplished or you would not vote for someone - regardless if it was possible or not, right? Also regardless if that person has been the most progressive person in office on the issues you care about to date. That seems to me to be an impossible standard.

No. Or at least that's not what I meant to convey. It was more that the threshold for each person is and should be subjective and that's completely valid.

There's a difference between criticizing someone and taking a fundamentalist approach to voting. Criticize away. That's good and healthy, and I have done so about Biden myself. But you can either do something to make things better now, or you can choose not to... and you appear to choose not to try to make things better now because of a perception that this will somehow lead to some platonic ideal in the future, which IMO is self defeating and will lead to a more regressive government and farther away from your claimed goal.

That's valid. But would you have no issue telling this to the face of a voter who refused to vote for Biden because their people were massacred by US bombs via the IDF that they are "choosing not to make things better"?

I just see too many problems with this idea that there aren't single issues you can ever base your vote on.

If the progressive want a more progressive candidate, they need to get a more progressive candidate through the primaries or bolster another party that has a chance of winning. It should be grass roots effort that starts with more progressive people in Congress and state government. This stupid Libertarian/Green party approach to just throwing things at the Presidency is just publicity and does nothing to moving things towards the policies they claim to care about.

If candidates lose enough support based on their actions that go against the will of enough of the people, they'll be forced to change their stance one way or the other.

 

[SaintForLife]

For what it’s worth
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Vladimir Putin has said he would prefer a Joe Biden presidency to Donald Trump and mocked the former Fox News presenter Tucker Carlson for a “lack of sharp questions” during their interview at the Kremlin last week.

Asked by a Russian state journalist on Wednesday to choose between Biden and Trump, Putin said without hesitation that the current US president was “more experienced, predictable, an old-school politician”, but added: “We will work with any US president who the American people have confidence in.”

It was the first time Putin had spoken about the forthcoming US presidential elections, at a time when Kyiv waits anxiously to see if the US House of Representatives will approve a critical wartime aid package for Ukraine.

The Russian president also dismissed worries over Biden’s age and mental acuity, saying he had not noticed any issues with his American counterpart during a meeting in 2021.

“Even then [three years ago] people were saying that he was incompetent, but I did not see anything of this sort,” he said. “Yes, he kept looking at his papers, but to be honest I kept doing the same. So there was nothing peculiar.”……

Putin says he prefers Biden to Trump and mocks Tucker Carlson’s questions

Russian president says Biden is ‘more predictable’, in remarks likely to be attempt to make mischief in US election

www.theguardian.com

When it comes to Tucker we believe what Putin says, but not when he said he prefers Biden?

I can see why Putin prefers Biden

 

[MT15]

If you think Putin is telling the truth about preferring Biden over Trump, well, bless your heart. You’re probably the only one who believes that here.

Putin did this to signal his total disdain for Tucker and Trump. He finds it infinitely easier to manipulate Trump, who worships him like a dog with his master.

 

[LA - L.A.]

Preach!

Sometimes I wonder how much better off we'd be if Hinckley had used a .44

I don't think it would have made a difference, because Bush Sr. and Dick Chenney were really running things, just like when Bush Jr. was president.

 

[Taurus]

I don't think it would have made a difference, because Bush Sr. and Dick Chenney were really running things, just like when Bush Jr. was president.

Neither one of them could sell ice to Australians, though.

Without a Face, I don't think Trickle Down could have gotten the third Presidential term necessary for it to replace the New Deal as our fundamental economic paradigm.

 

[LA - L.A.]

Neither one of them could sell ice to Australians, though.

Without a Face, I don't think Trickle Down could have gotten the third Presidential term necessary for it to replace the New Deal as our fundamental economic paradigm.

I get that, but I think they would have found a new face to replace Reagan.

 

[MT15]

I get that, but I think they would have found a new face to replace Reagan.

I’m dubious. It’s not that easy to find the right combination of traits needed here.

 

[LA - L.A.]

I’m dubious. It’s not that easy to find the right combination of traits needed here.

What combination of what traits? If it's not easy to find people with these right combination of traits, why is there a constant, never ending stream of replacements for the supposedly irreplaceable?

There always has and there always will be plenty of people waiting in the wings fully capable of taking center stage when tapped to do so. Political leaders are not born, they are chosen and a aggrandized version of them is presented to us.

The cult of personality phenomenon keeps us from ever looking behind the curtain to see the leaders for who they really are, which is not as impressive as the grand illusion of smoke and mirrors shown to us.

 

[SteveSBrickNJ]

Ronald Reagan was special. There are no Ronald Reagans waiting in the wings.
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1 minute and 19 seconds video...
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[zztop]

guess I'll put this here

Rep. Rashida Tlaib urges Michigan Democrats to vote against Biden in the primary

The Michigan congresswoman urged voters to “vote uncommitted” while she stood outside an early voting site in a video posted to X on Saturday.

www.nbcnews.com

The video of Tlaib was posted to the X account of “Listen to Michigan,” a group urging voters to vote “uncommitted” in the primary.

Tlaib, who is Palestinian American, cited her dissatisfaction with the Biden administration's role in the war between Israel and Hamas as her reason for urging people to vote.

“It is also important to create a voting bloc, something that is a bullhorn, to say, ‘Enough is enough. We don't want a country that supports wars and bombs and destruction. We want to support life. We want to support life. We want to stand up for every single life killed in Gaza,’” Tlaib said.

She added, “This is the way you can raise our voices. Don't make us even more invisible. Right now, we feel completely neglected and just unseen by our government.”