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Why Not Joe?
From David Catanese at U.S. News and World Report
:
Vice President Joe Biden has still not ruled out a 2016 presidential run and will make his intentions known by Aug. 1, according to two Democratic sources who have been in contact with his family.
Put yourself in Joe Biden’s shoes for a minute. You’re 72 years old, meaning that, barring a successful White House bid, your political career is over — and, as such, you have nothing to lose from ending up on the wrong side of the Clinton machine. You’re a guy who loves the give-and-take of retail politics at a time when the Democratic frontrunner is the Queen of Hearts. You’ve got a plausible appeal to blue-collar voters while Hillary Clinton is looking more like Leona Helmsley every day. And yeah, your foreign policy instincts may be less than stellar, but at least you never telegraphed to the public that the murder of an American ambassador abroad was tragic only insofar as it was an inconvenience for you.
My question: weighing all those factors — and recognizing the implicit discomfort with the Clinton candidacy that only seems to be growing within the Democratic Party — why on earth wouldn’t you take a flyer on this?
Published in General
I’ve always thought he would.
People treat him like a clown, but the man is a very skilled politician.
“People treat him like a clown, and the man is a very skilled politician”
Fixed it for you.
Well, the clown thing tends to obscure his skills. Thus the “but”.
I have a relative, an NPR devotee, who asked the same question. It seems the drumbeat of negative Hillary revelations has made her think twice. Why is Hillary the automatic choice, she wondered. I think she would jump at the chance to vote for Joe.
Is he clean and articulate?
My, how low we’ve sunk, that I look at the prospect of a Biden presidency with a feeling of some relief…
Impressive speaking skills, indeed.
Let be honest who would be the better president. Biden is actually able to compromise and work with a Republican congress. Hillary work with a Republican controlled congress, yay right.
It is pretty sad that Biden would actually be the lesser of all evils as president when you look at the current democrat presidential bench.
What’s that old saying, “Sixth time’s a charm”?
Well, if he doesn’t get elected president, he can always cut commercials for The Villages.
But why is he running? Besides personal ambition, of course. Is he going to run as a continuation of the Obama administration? As something different? As simply not-Hillary?
Clownishness and creepiness aside, Biden’s strength is that he at least goes through the motions of obeying America’s now lapsed commandment for aspirants to high office: Thou Shalt Appear to Be A Regular Guy. There was a time when even a leftist intent on elected god-king status in this country was required to kiss babies, shake hands, answer impertinent questions from reporters and deflect barbs from opposition supporters crashing a campaign event.
Today’s leading Democrat takes a decidedly different approach to retail politics.
I wouldn’t say “better.” The danger of Biden is that he’d get things done.
On the plus side, he’s not a super ideologue, and he’s willing to compromise. So there are certain things like entitlement reform and immigration reform that he might be able to get done.
He’s got that long-time senator mindset where accomplishing things means passing sweeping grandiose legislation.
Strange as it is, if I was forced to pick a President among the possible Democratic candidates (Clinton, Sanders, O’Malley, Chafee, Warren) I think he would be the one I would have to go with. That’s not saying much, of course. NOTE: I didn’t read Brian’s comment before I wrote that. I guess we had similar thoughts.
LITERALLY, the best Democrat option.
‘Clean’ was always the weirdest part of that formulation.
Yep. I’ve always thought it was telling that when Mitch McConnell asked the Obama Administration, “Does anyone down there know how to make a deal?” Joe was the one whose number got called.
Now that we’ve had the first black president, I don’t think the current zeitgeist of the Democratic Party will allow them to nominate an old white guy again anytime soon.
Thus, I see only one option remaining for Biden: come out as a trans-woman.
He could then claim to be both the first female president and the first trans president, making Hillary look downright reactionary with her boring cis-womanhood. Besides, wearing a dress would be far from the strangest thing Biden has ever done in public.
Yeah, I think so too. It’d probably be Jim Webb if he gets in, although he wasn’t nearly as heterodox a Democrat in the Senate as you would have expected given his rhetoric.
In the Senate, wasn’t he to the left of Hillary Clinton? I thought he and Obama were #1 and #2 with the most liberal records.
Still, Joe would certainly liven things up.
And, since many trans-types are not homo-sexual to start with, he could be the first trans-lesbian-woman President. Sorry, Jill, you’ll just have to sacrifice.
I remember after Biden made that comment Al Sharpton said, “I take a bath every day.”
Why does the idea of Joe Biden running for Prez bring up the following juxtaposition?
1.
2.
Seawriter
I’ve always wondered if that bit was staged to make older whites comfortable with Obama. Seems like a bit of a stretch, but these guys do tend to run campaigns like tv dramas, and don’t have particularly high opinions of voters.
The Biden-Trump debates would be spectacular.
Since America is toast anyway, let’s have a few laughs while we watch the Republic fade away,
Well, nothing says fresh, new and progressive like a 72 year old statist hack that I wouldn’t let within 50 yards of small children. Isn’t he busy, still, managing Recovery Summer 2009?
The Democrat Party: Yep, This Is Who We’re Going With
Approximately each day, a different Prominent Woman will speak of the necessity of ending the historic and ongoing discrimination against the American population’s majority. Joe’s a good egg, but he ain’t got no…eggs.
So, “Why Not Joe?” It’s that pesky Y chromosome.
(billboard background graphic source: dreamstime)
Would he be able to backtrack on Obamacare?
Vance Richards
I remember after Biden made that comment Al Sharpton said, “I take a bath every day.”
I never believe anything Al Shapton says and see no reason to make an exception here.
His much mocked idea if splitting Iraq into 3 parts doesn’t look quite so dumb now, does it?