Joe Biden took questions from black reporters for 90 minutes. He did not disappoint.

[highplainsdem]

https://www.politico.com/story/2019/08/27/biden-black-reporters-1476637

Joe Biden’s campaign convened a dozen or so black reporters from major media outlets Tuesday for what was offered as a private, off-the-record sit-down with the Democratic front-runner.

But Biden opened the discussion allowing himself to be quoted. And then he started talking, he talked some more, and before everyone knew it, the former vice president had held forth for 90 minutes. That's an extraordinary amount of time for a major presidential candidate to meet the media in a single sitting.

Donning a blue suit and white shirt with no tie, Biden greeted each reporter and took a question — in some cases, multiple questions — from each one. He then darted off to catch a flight to Richmond, Va., where he was scheduled to hold a fundraiser before heading to South Carolina for a campaign swing on Wednesday.

Biden didn't make big news, but he offered his insights on an array of interesting topics and kept the group's attention during the marathon session. Here are some of the highlights.

-snip-

Lots more there under a variety of topics that were discussed.

[Cha]

1. I just got back.. Great Find, highplainsdem!

Mahalo.. I will enjoy reading it!

[crazytown]

2. "those who've made the most direct attacks on one another

haven’t really benefited much by it at the end of the day. So maybe there’s going to be a recognition … that maybe we should be talking about the future, what are we for, what are we going to do,”.

That's what I treasure about Joe & Elizabeth. In the end. Harris' gambit backfired.

Why spend oodles of time fouling on the field when there is a big wide open orange goal right in front, and not a keeper in sight?

[highplainsdem]

17. I hope all the other candidates will listen to him on this -- forget the attacks and focus on

the future, what they're for, and what they're going to do.

[crazytown]

18. For. example

Warren attempted to stay above the fray Friday night. “I’m not here to criticize, I’m here to talk about how we build a future,” she said when asked about Biden’s remark earlier in the day about “[t]hat kid wearing a hoodie might be the next poet laureate and not a gang banger."

That comment drew a rebuke from rival candidate Cory Booker, who tweeted that “[t]his isn’t about a hoodie. It’s about a culture that sees a problem with a kid wearing a hoodie in the first place. Our nominee needs to have the language to talk about race in a far more constructive way.”

https://www.politico.com/story/2019/06/28/warren-biden-harris-debate-1390408

[highplainsdem]

19. Booker's one of the candidates I'm worried will focus on attacking, dragging others (especially

Biden) down.

I hope Julian Castro won't do a repeat of the nailing-Biden-via-Obama route he tried last time, since he was hammered for that and even tried to blame the media for the "misunderstanding" that he was criticizing Obama.

And I wonder how much Sanders will go on the attack.

By now they should all have seen that attacking Biden tends to backfire.

They should promote themselves, rather than drag one another down.

They need to connect with voters. They need to shine.

[crazytown]

20. Che Sera Sera

Now that the polls are in, I think we can say the MSM focus on Biden's 'gaffes' have not gotten anywhere. I am seeing a teflon quality about his candidacy - founded on long standing good will. As you say, the other candidates need to connect with the voters and shine.

[still_one]

26. I agree

[oasis]

3. Joe's gonna win this thing his way. nt

[Cha]

4. I love his admitting his mistakes when he thinks he's made one..

and learns from his mistakes.

Biden is a coalition builder.

“It’s taken me, and I assume others, some time to figure out how to engage in a nondebate debate, because there’s no debate,” Biden said. He acknowledged his “mistake” in saying “my time is up” during a previous debate instead of talking over his allotted speaking time. “Turns out that’s a big mistake.”

And, that he doesn't say.. "I'm going to be the candidate." When anything can happen so no one can say that not even BS.

“By the way, that doesn’t mean it’ll stay that way,” he added. “You can go back and look: When Barack clobbered me in the campaign, you know, I had more black support in South Carolina than anybody, including him. I got blown out in Iowa and all of a sudden everything changed. Same thing could happen.”

[Hortensis]

10. His whole honest, open way of discussing what the reporters

know a great deal about, only sometimes lacking, but wanting to know, what he honestly thought. Politico is seldom as positive it was in saying, "He did not disappoint." A friendly and honest relationship with the press is hardly new for him, but this approach at this time hit it out of the park.

[Cha]

11. I know, Hortensis.. That

was surprising that politico would say.. "He did not disappoint".

Lots of surprises so far this year and we're only getting started.. fasten your seat belts and Thank you!

[highplainsdem]

14. Agree completely.

[Tarheel_Dem]

5. K&R

[Cha]

31. ..

[Thekaspervote]

6. Gosh...won't it be wonderful to have a president that is friendly and open to the media again!

Thx for posting highplainsdem

[Scurrilous]

7. K&R

[betsuni]

8. K&R

[Hortensis]

9. As I basically expected/hoped on a VP choice.

Biden said it’s important to choose a No. 2 who reflects the nation’s growing diversity, indicating he would choose a running mate who is either a woman or person of color, if not both.

“But I’m not making that commitment until I know the person I’m dealing with, I can completely, thoroughly trust, is authentic and is on the same page,” he said.

Biden said that the presidency “is too big for any one person,” insisting a president needs a vice president he or she can trust to offload big tasks. He recalled the trust former President Barack Obama had in selecting him as his running mate in 2008. Obama knew then, he said, they had the same “value set” and “political disposition.” “That’s what I most want in whomever I pick,” Biden said. “They’ve got to be simpatico with what I stand for and what I want to get done.”

Choosing VPs to do important work carrying out a president's agenda is a great development. This evolution is lead by, and confined to, the Democratic Party alone so far. It's also an important legacy of President Obama's that Trump/McConnell can't destroy.

[Cha]

12. I really like that part, too.. thanks

for bringing it on board!

[Otto Lidenbrock]

13. The Republican Party had the president carrying out the vice president's agenda from 2001-2009

[Hortensis]

24. By then they'd already become extremists, and

increasingly authoritarian, all of them, and didn't believe in rules written by others, or in any principles that would constrain them. Wonder what W knows about "the vast right wing conspiracy," and his father knew. Lawless authoritarianism was progressing in his administration back then also.

[oldsoftie]

22. My take on VP if Biden is nominee. Needs to be a strong personality; lots of charisma & knowledge

I'm thinking of the average voter who doesnt pay attention till October. These are the voters who win elections. Many will be concerned about age, right or wrong, its a fact. It was a fact when McCain ran in 08. Age IS a factor. So Biden needs to have a #2 that people with age concerns can look at and think "Well, if anything would happen to Joe Biden, we'd still be in good hands."
McCain blew that by picking Palin, who made people think "Holy shit, if anything happened to Mccain SHE would be running things? Sorry, nope"

[Hortensis]

23. I agree. VPs should always be considered that way, but

more would with a nominee Biden's age. Not just to step into the president's shoes if the worst happened but, as time went on and if needed, to be able to assist with more of the day-to-day workload and allow the president to concentrate more on top-level items.

Reminds me that Roosevelt was inexcusable with Truman. I think he had one purely social meeting with Truman, who he probably wouldn't have recognized on the street, after their election even though he knew he was dying. He kept Truman isolated from the WH and completely ignorant of everything he would need to know. While WWII was still raging in the Pacific, Europe facing mass starvation, the atom bomb developed but untried, and Stalin and China's leaders plotting takeovers of Eurasia. Nothing.

[Gothmog]

15. K&R

[Gothmog]

16. Biden's continued strength with Black voters has to be very concerning for other candidates.

Link to tweet

[Cha]

21. Thanks for Marcus, Goth!

[TomCADem]

25. State activists question inclusivity of Sanders Institute Gathering

In contrast, when Bernie Sanders hosted a racial justice event in Vermont, he forgot to invite grassroots civil rights activists in his own state. But don't worry! He invited Susan Sarandon!

https://vtdigger.org/2018/12/03/state-activists-question-inclusivity-sanders-institute-gathering/

At first, Rutland Area NAACP president Tabitha Pohl-Moore was excited about the prospect of last week’s Sanders Institute Gathering, which its publicity said would bring 250 “leading progressive minds” to Burlington “to envision — and to actualize — a better future for our country and the world.”

“A progressive agenda that promised to raise an intersectional approach to ending injustice and oppression … in our backyard?” Pohl-Moore recalls thinking. “We would finally be heard and seen here in Vermont.”

Then the Wallingford counselor, wife and mother read the guest list for the Burlington-based nonprofit think tank’s $350-suggested-donation gathering: U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders and his wife, institute co-founder Jane O’Meara Sanders, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis, Actress Susan Sarandon.

“As I neared the end of the star-laden roster,” she says, “I wondered how many justice leaders from Vermont had been invited.”

[5starlib]

27. It's cause he wants to protect Obama's legacy

and nearly all the other Dems want to trash it and act like Obama never existed.

[Kahuna7]

28. He can do that because he's authentic and knows who he is and how

he really feels.

[Cha]

30. Exacty, Kahuna!

[Gothmog]

29. Biden had a good meeting with the press yesterday

Biden was very impressive.

Link to tweet