Biden interview on Kimmel: Did he just give himself an 'out'?

[floppyboo]

And what will be his message if impeachment works?
Go to: 3:46 for why he's running. 4:29: He would not run if a decent Republican was running.
Okay, I happen to really believe Pence is Satan's spawn, so maybe he still has a reason to run?

[katmondoo]

1. What decent Republican??? They no longer exist.

[Hortensis]

24. Sadly, true enough. Honorable cons won't agree to be corrupt.

Over the past decades, as big money consolidated its control on the Republican Party, across the nation conservative families with traditions of public service stopped running for office for that reason.

[Bleacher Creature]

29. This nonsense is a huge reason why I'm having such a tough time with his candidacy.

I'll give him 100% of my support if he's the nominee, but right now he's far behind Warren, Harris, Buttigieg, and Booker right now in my eyes.

[DesertRat]

33. Sadly, that's true. nt

[samnsara]

2. yep thats what he meant.. no decent repug to run so hes in..

[DrFunkenstein]

3. The "Middle of the Road" Brought Us The Greatest Wealth Inequality Since The Depression

In 2015, the top 1% of Americans made 26.3 times as much income as the bottom 99%.

Lobbyists run Washington, stripping regulations in everything from Wall Street trading to air quality to the food we eat.

Student debt has become predatory as the credit card industry.

The military-industrial complex strips our funding of education and infrastructure.

A "decent" Republican agrees with all of these things. Humans face an existential threat from climate change. We don't have time for the half-steps of "decent" Republicans.

The system is rigged for the elite and the rest of us burn. We need someone who will clean up the mess, not fluff the pillows.

[Newest Reality]

16. That's double-plus, ++Good!

The underlying factor is about Oligarchy vs. democracy, and of course the MIC is the system for it.

While the factors involved in the Right vs. Left are often important to us, they can be just as much distractions and wedges in other ways, depending on the issue. One can note that by what gets the most press and repetition vs. knowing what critical issues really need tending to for a healthy culture.

Who is going to dig in deep or look beneath mask? Who has privy to what goes on in boardrooms and privately?

I am not paranoid about some big "they" out there, I am miffed that the system can function so easily like this with very little attention to the fundamental processes that determine how it will go. Not everything is a big secret, it is just buried by the details and the the drone of media white noise.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

19. Nothing Biden says surprises me anymore.

Bernie & Elizabeth 2020!! or
Elizabeth & Bernie 2020!!
Either way, welcome to the revolution!!!

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

28. Bernie is there best thing to ever happen to the Democratic Party...

as he is almost solely responsible for many of its current progressive agenda items, which has been adopted by most Democratic candidates.


Bernie & Elizabeth 2020!! or
Elizabeth & Bernie 2020!!
Either way, welcome to the revolution!!!

[Hortensis]

26. No. If you want to understand the big picture, you have to

read history. Real history, not articles with agendas hostile to mainstream Democrats.

The U.S.'s liberal New Deal era ended around 1978. It was followed by a big conservative era (not just in the U.S., either, but internationally). The U.S. is a representative democracy -- when the electorate shifts right, so does government. And liberal politicians have to deal with that harsh and dangerous reality.

I suspect that on its own that big conservative wave probably wouldn't have lasted really long, foreshortened by its own inadequacies. We saw many signs, such as the creation of many new democracies in the 1990s. Unfortunately, this was also an era in which new technology tripled planetary wealth (with that increase continuing since), much of it going to create new centimillionaire and billionaire classes inimical to democracy. RWers among these have long been committed to solidifying conservatism in all aspects of American life, and thus in government.

Btw, you do know that people like those in the Koch alliance, but hardly limited to them, set out decades ago to move the entire nation ideologically conservative, and specifically economically libertarian, right? 1971 was the year of the Powell memorandum. From what I've read, by earlier this century UCLA was the only major university in the nation that hadn't accepted major monetary infusion to set up schools of studies that teach the kind of libertarian theories that were once considered extremist and invalid. For decades graduates have been funneled into positions of authority and influence in all aspects of American life.

"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." Nancy Pelosi in her address to the nation at the opening of the 116th congress.

[BeyondGeography]

4. I think he confuses the people he knows with who they work for

Biden can clearly get along with pretty much anyone who’s not a total asshole. But Republicans are scared of their own voters who are basically drunk on fear and hatred. Throw in a nice big helping of Koch Bros. money and organization and you have a party that lost all decency a long time ago. It doesn’t mean individual Republicans are evil, they’ve just become incapable as a Party of doing good. It’s not complicated, Joe.

[cwydro]

5. Biden appears to have somehow missed the reality of the creeping cancer that is the dotard's base.

“A decent Republican?”

I’ve heard tell of such a thing back in the day, but I think they’re extinct.

[onetexan]

6. You're misinterpreting his comments

[cwydro]

15. Oh, ok, thanks.

Very illuminating.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

20. You nailed it actually.

Bernie & Elizabeth 2020!! or
Elizabeth & Bernie 2020!!
Either way, welcome to the revolution!!!

[Clash City Rocker]

7. I wouldn't call him decent, but Romney should run

He’s the most prominent Republican criticizing Trump right now. Unlike anyone running against Trump currently, he has name recognition. He’d win a few states, I think, and force Trump to campaign in other states he’s currently taking for granted.

[JI7]

8. he can't win the nomination now because Trump is very popular with the base

[Clash City Rocker]

10. That depends on what else comes out

The important thing is it would demonstrate Republican resistance to Trump, and force him to campaign through the primaries instead of sailing through. When the shit hits the fan and America sees the horror that was the Trump presidency, he’d be a Republican hero for resisting it.

[JI7]

14. the Trump base is happy with what Trump is doing. they are happy russia is attacking the elections

they are happy that Trump is cheating and doing anything he can to win.

they are not going to be turned off by any of this.

it would take something personally happening to them to turn against him but even then they would be reluctant to blame him.

[NYMinute]

9. lol -- still looking for a hit on Biden

1. Biden was on a comedy show
2. Biden has a wicked sense of humor
3. For those who are humor-challenged, consume an industrial strength large supply of humor from Costco and interpret it as Biden jovially saying "Republicans are not decent."
4. This was extremely skillful on another level -- he avoided saying anything negative about his Democratic challengers.

[Perseus]

12. What is the name of the product they sell at Costco that made you interpret it like that?

When you are a candidate, no matter where you are, a comedy show, a town hall, etc., your message has to be consistent, and when he talked about a "good" republican he wasn't laughing. I guess that Costco product makes people interpret things in different ways that may not match reality.

So if I take the Costco product, when I look at yellow I will see green, when I look at someone in a serious conversation I will see them doing a comedy skit...interesting product.

The questions he was asked were, for the most part, serious, and demanded serious answers, not comedy.

I don't know, if Biden's only motivation is just to take the creature out, maybe if he wins he will resign immediately?

[cwydro]

17. Well said.

[NYMinute]

23. and ... you also missed the humor in my comment

[Perseus]

11. That is an endorsement for a "good" Republican, in this case Jeb Bush?

Jeb Bush is a "decent" republican? Are you kidding me? So he is OK with another republican winning the presidency? Sorry, but this is not defensible, he is inferring that it is OK for another republican president to take over, that means he agrees with republican politics, how they govern, and he is OK with that? Nothing that comes from a republican government is good, or has been good.

And there he went again, "he can reach across the isle"...No, you can't Joe!

I won't deny he said some good things, but when you put all of it in a balance the weight shifts in the wrong direction. I specially liked his story about the relationship with Obama during their tenure as VP, very valid and very good but man, does he have difficulties staying on top with his message. I wish he would understand that you cannot be everything to everyone and specially to republicans, he needs to leave his efforts to cater to republicans out of the conversation, republicans will never support him.

If he becomes President and "Mitch" is still on top of Senate, he will oppose EVERYTHING that comes out of the WH like he did to Obama, to think he can negotiate with him and the rest of republicans is pure fantasy.

[Demsrule86]

13. More wishful thinking...Biden has wanted to president since 1988...he thought after the

death of his son that his time had passed but we need him...so no...he did not give himself an out.

[Hortensis]

18. Floppyboo, IMO this kind of thing reflects poorly on Sanders.

Your Sanders icon claims you support him.

Sanders is claiming to be a Democrat.

This is Democratic Underground.

Democrats are repelled by tactics that delight those hostile to our candidates.

This is NOT how you get Sanders' 8% up to 9%.

[BlueMississippi]

21. I think it is because Sirota sent a communique

to the faithful ... to post at least one anti-Biden OP per day ..

No wonder some are reaching... and miserably so, shutting off any sense of humor like another poster said.

[PhoenixDem]

22. I am getting a feeling that we have crossed an epoch limit

It is not about BS winning anymore ... it is about tearing down the Democratic candidates to help Trump win in order to have that "I told you so moment" with a glass of cognac ...

I have seen this movie before ....

[BlueWI]

31. How is posting an interview with Biden hostile to Biden?

And what does that have to do with Sanders? Biden is the party making quizzical statements, to be charitable, about the Republican opposition, in a highly visible television appearance. Nothing wrong with discussing that. It's the purpose of a political discussion board, one where we have common ground but we're far from identical in our thinking.

Why did Biden make these statements? Maybe he's reaching across the aisle. Maybe it's an offhand statement. But it's worth a discussion.

[Hortensis]

32. You forgot to mention the OP's theme. Vehicles for messages

are not the message. In case you somehow missed it, big clue to this one's in the headline where those who don't open the thread will be sure to get it anyway.

Btw, Biden never said there was a decent Republican who could run. Jeb's name was laughed at as a joke, and Biden certainly didn't endorse authoritarian, election-stealing, "we need to bring back shaming of pregnant teens" Jeb as one. Biden just answered with why he's running: because there is no decent Republican. We must do our best to defeat them, and many people came to him because they believe we need him to run.

[BlueWI]

35. You forgot to mention that this has nothing to do with Sanders.

It was a Sanders supporter who interpreted a statement in an interview. Your response attacked Sanders and attacked the poster. There are dozens of pro-Biden threads that lead with spin. Any problem with those?

It's perfectly legit to disagree with an interpretation IMO, and to me that is a helpful way to learn more about the campaigns without having to do independent research on every incident, especially since many OPs link to the original content. Simple and honest disagreement doesn't have to attack posters and be snarky.

[Hortensis]

36. You know, WI, the huge problem with politics is that

too many choose, not their principles, but their team to fight for and then look for weapons to attack candidates that team ranges itself against. We all need to be the solution, not the problem. That means refusing to indulge in "team jersey" politics.

I didn't mention Sanders' own position at all and confined myself to my opinion of the OP. I doubt anyone believes either Biden or Sanders is looking for a way "out," but for any presidential candidate that suggestion alone would be a smear and therefore wrong.

[BlueWI]

37. Fair enough.

And I agree that there's too much flaming of individual candidates that leads to bigger problems. It's an aspect of this site that is really unfortunate, because the site is very helpful for getting a lot of news and opinion quickly. And being a moderator for a board like this is an impossible job, so it's up to us to keep things reasonable.

So thanks for the perspective on the OP and its spin. I appreciate it

[Hortensis]

38. Lol, "moderator of this board"? What a horrible

thought to just drop out there. Thankfully, it's not right before bedtime.

[people]

30. Biden was serious about that.

Remember in October 2018 Biden gave a speech in support of a Michigan republican congressman, John Upton? The republicans used Biden’s speech in campaign ads for Upton. You can google this. Upton won that election. This was precisely when Democrats were hoping to retake the House. Biden is who he is.