President Biden: The NEW one and only politics thread

Bowman seems way too immature - the fire alarm stunt, some of his rhetoric. But it is just the latest chapter of AIPAC gutting progressive candidates from coast to coast - particularly in safe Dem districts at both the federal and state level. I think most people are "pro-peace," but the Gaza issue is a loser for Squad types. They've lost a lot of seats they could have held in a normal year - but Hamas did what it does, and the progressives rally to Gazan's defense, condemn Israel and get smashed by AIPAC money. Bernie types lost a lot of potential allies by clinging to the issue - which will only make it harder to get other progressive priorities passed.
And now we will hear all those AIPAC-endorsed candidates urge "unity" after turning off a big part of the Dem coalition by primarying incumbents who have the support of non-white and younger voters. It could be the difference between Biden winning or losing in Michigan, PA, Wisconsin, Georgia, Arizona and Nevada.

 

Everyone wants to go to sleep believing that. But it's far from over.

 

He's not capable of choosing to do the right thing, when that thing might harm him or look bad (see Covid).

He can't admit error. (See the infamous Hurricane Sharpie map)

He cares less about actual results and more about the perception of results. (See the North Korean "negotiations.")

He actively demonstrates every toxic trait every single terrible boss anyone has ever worked for.

But on the other hand, Biden is old.

 

What I took from last night is, aside from that nitwit Boebert, a big chunk of this country is tired of the far right and left. They want the lunatic fringes gone.

 

It's such a tough job. You've gotta nail all the details ...

 

Alme-
If you think half the country is full of shitbags, remember old Fred Rogers - "Look for the helpers"

 

Exactly! This election needs to be a jihad against Trump, MAGA and all it stands for. If it means holding our noses and helping Nettanyahu and/or Ukraine despite your gut feelings, so be it. If it means you don't get your freaking riblets, eff your feelings. The threat the GQP represents to our humble experiment in democracy is bigger than all of that.

 

I have a bad habit when I sit down to write columns and such of taking both sides of arguments (as evidenced by my failed attempts to win the Nobel Peace Prize in the international affairs thread). COVID only made me worse about that. I think it's reasonable, at least emotionally to be amazed that we came up with a vaccine from scratch to treat the virus and to be viscerally angry that no one could find a better solution that didn't ruin large parts of our lives and the economy for 11 months. That was a question I never heard anyone ask or answer in the 2020: "Why can't you do better than this?"

If I ever hear the phrases "out of an abundance of caution" or "postponed until next year," I'll probably strangle the person who said it.

I think we underestimate the psychological damage of all those "non-repeatable historical events" (graduations, etc.) that we lost. I know we underestimate the isolation suffered both by single people like me but also by people who were isolated from the services/tools they needed to have mentally healthy lives. And even then, I'm not sure if any of those concessions are as important as the raw and cold mitigation techniques necessary. Being sad enough to need a drink doesn't excuse you from a highly communicable disease.

I'm going to concur but not agree with Alma re: Fauci. Every country had their public health experts. Fauci was more forward facing than most, but I think the nature of media and journalism required an expert spokesperson, and if it wasn't him it would have been someone else who we never met. And I actually think that the fact we got a handful of weeks where the Trump administration convinced the American public to take this seriously, plus he was stupid enough to get it and stubborn enough to get it badly enough that people noticed. Had COVID happened under President Hillary Clinton, the "Fuck You, I Won't Do What You Tell Me" stage would have probably started earlier. If I may torture this metaphor further, Trump is more a particularly virulent strain of a disease that already existed. The American public hasn't been asked to make any significant public long-term sacrifices for anything since Vietnam. We are a spoiled people, but not because of Trump. Trump is because we're a spoiled people.

 

We treated Woodrow Wilson and Thomas Tuttle in 1918 with exactly the same anti-scientific, anti-authority contempt we treated Trump / Fauci and Biden / Fauci.

Americans, god bless 'em, don't want to be told what to do.

Even if it kills us.

 

We couldn't do better because the existing health infrastructure already sucked to begin with. 2020 was years in the making.

 

When Ukraine comes up tomorrow, I wish Joe Biden would spend the time talking specifically about why Ukraine matters, so we can contrast that with Donald Trump's non-answer.

 

Agree. Totally. The far left of my party is looney tunes, and is as ineffective as MTG or Boebert.