• Ashyr@sh.itjust.works
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    1 year ago

    Everyone complains about Biden’s age, but this guy actually tries to primary him and it gets a collective yawn from everyone.

    I wish Biden weren’t super old, but throwing our weight behind anyone but the incumbent just seems like a bad idea to me.

    • LEDZeppelin@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Only republicans yell about Biden’s age. Everyone who’s not braindead repube cares more about democracy vs fascism than someone’s age.

      • Communist@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        I care a lot about bidens age, actually, I just care that he isn’t trump a lot more.

        • TechyDad@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Also, if Biden’s age is a factor, then Trump’s age has to be a factor too. Trump is 4 years younger than Biden. That’s nothing at their age. It would be like me saying that I’m 48 and a friend of mine is 50. All other things being equal, there would be little to no difference between us at our ages.

          Of course, all other things aren’t equal. Trump has demonstrated some worrying signs of cognitive decline. For example, claiming that he’s running against Obama or claiming that he beat Obama in 2016. Yet the media seems to keep dismissing that as “Trump says weird stuff all the time.” But if Biden has the tiniest slip-up, they’ll scream “DEMENTIA” for weeks.

          To me, there’s another factor too. Let’s say that either Trump or Biden, after winning in 2024, would have a major medical event and would be propped up Weekend At Bernie’s style. For whatever reason, they’ll still appear to be President, but the administration would actually run the show. Which administration would you want running things? Biden’s or Trump’s likely administration?

          It’s not even close in my book.

          • prole@sh.itjust.works
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            1 year ago

            Seriously… Listen to Biden’s recent interview on Conan O’Brien’s podcast. He was surprisingly lucid, and I was very impressed by how he handled himself.

      • prole@sh.itjust.works
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        1 year ago

        Unfortunately, there are a lot of younger people on the left who have latched onto those Republican talking points.

        • Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          I mean, in 2016 they were Democratic talking points and used against the 75 year old Sanders.

          Progressives remember centrists’ endless hypocrisy.

    • themeatbridge@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      It’s not just his age. I don’t like Biden as a candidate or as a president. I want to vote for someone more progressive, and I wish he were a stronger competitor who guaranteed a victory. He is supremely beatable in November.

      But hes the incumbent president, and there’s no other Democrat who would be a better choice. Unless he dies or is otherwise incapacitated, he will be the nominee, and he’s the best chance at keeping Trump, or any conservative, out of office.

      This guy in New Hampshire, I’ve already forgotten his name and it’s literally only a short scroll away, he isn’t a serious contender. I don’t care what he does because it is irrelevant.

      • ashok36@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        The best way to get more left leaning candidates is to move the Overton window left by destroying the repubs at the polls time after time.

        • TechyDad@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Right. This isn’t a sprint, it’s a marathon. One of the most frustrating things I’ve seen progressives do is not get everything they want and then rage quit politics without realizing that this is even worse than only getting some of what you want.

          In one respect, I wish progressives could be more like Republicans. After Roe v Wade, Republicans didn’t rage quit politics. They pushed for abortion bans, lost, tried again, lost, and repeated until they got some small concession. Then they used that to slowly, over 50 years, build until they overturned Roe.

          Now, obviously, I disagree with their goals. However, I can admire the long term effort put into this. If progressives could do this (with much better goals, of course), we might be able to do some amazing things. Yes, it would be slow at first and that can be frustrating, but imagine if we could have a country 30-50 years from now as far to the left as the Republicans are to the right (but much more sane).

      • I don’t like his position on Israel, but I believe any other position would be political suicide, and with fascist traitors waiting in the wings for a second try, he can’t afford to rock that boat. He’s doing pretty well, considering how divided the country is, and the hand he was dealt.

        Something has to give; our democracy is fraying. If not Orange Stalin, we are in serious danger that the next Republican will be someone more clever, but just as amoral. God forbid we see another Nixon.

        • themeatbridge@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          You’re not wrong, but I think that says more about his ability as a leader than it does about the populace. If he were stronger, had better convictions, made better arguments, he probably would not be backed into so many corners.

          But I also don’t think he has strong opinions. I think he’s an octogenarian politician who just wants to ride out the wave of circumstance into the history books. He was the right guy in the right place at the right time, offending the fewest and opposing the worst of humanity.

          • You know, I think you’re right. If it were Obama, he could afford to be stronger. Heck, if it were Bill, I wouldn’t worry as much about Cheeto Hitler. Clinton was even more centrist, and also not my favorite, but he was a charismatic fucker. And Obama was just bulletproof.

            You’re right; Biden’s a good statesman, but he just hasn’t been able to motivate people. He won only because of the two-party system, and b/c the majority were done with Drumpf, not through any great leadership.

      • Keith@lemmy.zip
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        1 year ago

        Except that Biden himself says 50 other Democrats could beat Trump.

      • NoIWontPickaName@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        That’s because you fuckers want Biden and aren’t even willing to try and get someone better.

        You guys are all so scared of what will happen when you fail that you don’t give yourselves a chance to succeed

        • themeatbridge@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          I mean, if we had a young, progressive leader with the backing of the DNC, I’d support that candidate. Is Johnny Milquetoast that candidate? This isn’t a wide open primary where there is no incumbent.

          And yes we’re scared of failure. Biden is hardly the leader we need, but Trump attempted a violent coup and sold state secrets to foreign governments. He is a racist, xenophobic fascist who has said in court that he can assassinate his political rivals with immunity from prosecution, and that fucker put 3 justices on the supreme court.

          This is not a fuck around and find out situation.

          • NoIWontPickaName@kbin.social
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            1 year ago

            Sounds like you guys should really run a good candidate instead of bypass congress twice to give weapons to israel to kill brown children.

            • ZeroCool@slrpnk.netOP
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              1 year ago

              Sounds like you’re not interested in countering their point, you just want to climb up on a soapbox and rant about “you guys” this and “you guys” that all day. Lemmy is for discussion, you’re looking for a blog.

            • themeatbridge@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              Ah, so the penny drops. You hate Biden for his support of Israel. I get that. Israel is engaged in a genocide, and I wish we had a president, or a populace, with the political will to stop it. Are any of the democratic primary challengers running on that?

              Israel should be stopped. The people of Gaza deserve the same human rights as every other human on the planet.

              But universal human rights aren’t on the table. We’re not going to stop supporting Israel. Trump won’t stop supporting Israel. Well, actually, he might if someone pays him enough, but guaranteed the resulting clusterfuck would be a disaster of at least equal proportion. And the damage Trump would do in every other aspect of human life makes that a nonstarter.

              • Zaktor@sopuli.xyz
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                1 year ago

                Are any of the democratic primary challengers running on that?

                I’d be pretty surprised if Marianne Williamson was pro-war.

                • themeatbridge@lemmy.world
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                  1 year ago

                  Is she the candidate you support?

                  Look, I agree with most of her political positions, but she’s not a viable candidate. I can’t think of a way to describe her that isn’t reductive or condescending. The kindest words that come to mind are “talk show,” “pseudoscience,” and “nutty.”

                  I welcome her support to the policies she likes, because those are the policies I like, but I don’t trust the train of thought she took to get there. If she were running for state or local government, I might vote for her, but I wouldn’t phone bank or donate to her campaign. I just don’t know how to look someone in the eye and say she’s a serious person.

                  Having said all of that, her platform is peace in general, peace as a priority. And while I can agree with that on principle, it isn’t a plan but a goal. She wants Israel and Hamas to reject the evil psychic forces drawing them to war and dismantle their bonbs to make garden planters. She isn’t running in opposition to Zionism or promoting a two state solution. She doesn’t know how to get them to heal their hearts and end the violence, but she’s sure that’s what she wants.

                  So you’re probably right, but I don’t really count that because it’s not a serious campaign. Anyone who offers criticisms without alternative solutions is just trying to get a little publicity.

                  • Zaktor@sopuli.xyz
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                    1 year ago

                    No, I don’t support Williamson. She was more coherent on some issues than I expected in 2020, but on whole she’s not a serious candidate with real solutions that should run anything. Also, for a peace candidate, Williamson actually wasn’t initially as unequivocal about the war as you’d expect. She got there eventually, but it should have been a simple answer. It’s not a complex question, cease fire and no more arms for ethnic cleansing. If they won’t stop, start the sanctions. “What about Hamas” went out the window with the 5,000th civilian casualty.

                    No one but Biden has a serious campaign on the Democratic side (and third parties have never been viable). All the people who could have put forth a serious campaign deferred to him when it wasn’t as clear how weak a candidate he was. He should have stepped aside from the start, but his extreme support for Israel’s ethnic cleansing has turned a potential for weakness into terrifying danger. However, since modern political custom dictates that incumbents should never be opposed by their own party, he gets to make the decision for all of us and we’re just stuck with him.

    • Darorad@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I mean, I don’t want biden, but Phillips is basically just biden except young, basically every policy he has the same or worse position as biden.

    • FuglyDuck@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      he’s basically a younger version of biden. keep in mind, most democrats are not complaining about his age, rather… literally everything else. though also his age is a concern in the implications. (He’s been a senator longer than I’ve been alive… he’s literally partly responsible for how we got into this mess.)