My subscription to WaPo almost entirely hinges on Petri, at this point.
I didn't (wouldn't ever) watch the debate, but these seem like direct quotes to me. I was mildly interested in Vivek based solely on his work at Roivant, but I would say he's squarely disqualified in my mind at this point. Almost comes off as a joke, actually.
Jason Gilbert pointed out that the principle reason to watch the debates was schadenfreude and my wife agreed. It was pretty terrible. Now I want to say this in a tone of voice thenewgreen can hear: Ramaswamy is a soulless huckster opportunist who is utterly devoid of principle, ethics or empathy. He is the embodiment of everything that is wrong with the tech industry, everything that is wrong with hustle culture, and everything that is wrong with venture capital, everything that is wrong with entrepreneurship and everything that is wrong with mutherfucking LinkedIn. Donald Trump is a low-achieving silver-spoon racist blowhard who has farted his way to every successful position he has ever held but Ramaswamy? That specious little dipshit took one look at the past seven years and went "hey I could do that" and DID. He is a LOATHSOME human being who deliberately aped demagoguery and dysfunction because he wants nothing more than to be on the Republican ticket as VP. He is Stephen Miller if Stephen Miller were doing it for clout. He is opportunism personified, an actuarial table in slacks, the negative space left in a human husk once all morality or guidance have been blasted away by pure, naked greed. He's a shoo-in for Trump's VP because he went "hey racists, here's some racism." "Hey bigots, here's some bigotry." "What's that? You want some wonkish made up bullshit numbers to feel better about the prejudices you know you shouldn't have? Here's something straight from my ass, you're welcome!" "The Base" knows that Trump shoots from the hip; because their accelerationist nephew liked this guy's made-up bullshit policy about something he knows fuckall about, they now think Trump's got a "policy guy" to come up with numbers to own the libs. Vivek Ramaswamy is walking leprosy because he fucking knows better and he doesn't fucking care. Hear it in Trump's voice. Give it Trump's cadence. This loathsome little turd has a BA from Harvard and a JD from Yale and he's fuckin' whatabouting the Twin Fucking Towers. Why? To get those sweet, sweet QAnon votes. Kill it with fire. Slowly.“I think it is legitimate to say how many police, how many federal agents, were on the planes that hit the Twin Towers. Maybe the answer is zero. It probably is zero for all I know, right? I have no reason to think it was anything other than zero,” Ramaswamy said. “But if we’re doing a comprehensive assessment of what happened on 9/11, we have a 9/11 Commission, absolutely that should be an answer the public knows the answer to.”
Imagine being cornered at a party by a coked-up Jos A. Bank mannequin. Imagine watching Tucker Carlson at 2x speed, and his guest is your boss complaining that women shouldn’t get paid during maternity leave. Imagine being forced to sit through a timeshare pitch that was also racist.
I don’t disagree with anything you said, just wanted to take a minute to appreciate the above bit of rhetorical flourish. As he puts it, “The American Dream personified.” He is opportunism personified, an actuarial table in slacks, the negative space left in a human husk once all morality or guidance have been blasted away by pure, naked greed.
My money for Trump's eventual defamatory nickname of Vivek is on "ramma-lamma-dingdong"
Vivek absolutely approaches this entire debacle with a strategy of "look how little Mike Pence did and he rode it out. I will do only slightly more and make a lotttttttt of money". Vivek is slime. Intentionally inflammatory and knowingly false statements for press coverage. It's like 2015 and 2016 all over again. The media is obviously incapable of not seeking profit at the expense of truth and democracy. He won't be on the GOP ballot, though. VP or otherwise. There is nothing he can say to purchase whiteness.
Y'know. 'cuz it's an amusing but topical digression. One of the things that Palo Alto book focuses on is the early history of racism and eugenics in California (thanks, Leland Stanford). And while there was a lot lot of racism against the Chinese, there was also a lot of racism in favor of more-established minorities against less-established minorities. 'member Bobby Jindal? He was enough of a guiding light in the Republican Party that they had him do the response to Obama's first State of the Union. How 'bout Nikki Haley? Desi as hell but she won't rub your nose in it. Dinesh D'Souza? Mumbai, baby. And what do they hate Kamala Harris for? They hate her for being black, not because her mom is from Chennai. Do Indians get killed in hate crimes? Yes. By mistake. Them California Republicans? They totally came down on the side of South Asians against the Chinese. I think for purposes of exclusion from the master race, "India" is considered white-adjacent in ways Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia or anywhere else are not.
I think that's generally correct, but "white-adjacent" just isn't enough these days. And you know that Trump bristles even thinking about the phrase "Trump-Ramaswamy 2024". I also suspect he has enough political instinct to choose a woman for VP. Nikki Haley can pull the race card when needed, but is also granted whiteness because of her appearance and (changed) name. But it's still hella stupid that she claimed in her first campaign ad that racism is no longer a problem in America. Which was a few mass-shooting racist manifestos ago. Meanwhile, meatball Ron is using a hurricane to get off the campaign trail for a respite. The only folks stupider than all of this are the insufferable tankies on twitter trying to get people to vote Cornell West or Marianne Williamson. I think I hate them more than the MAGAts.
I watched all of it. I’ll watch every debate, I always do. But the debate I really want to see is the DNC. I want to see Newsom, Biden and Kennedy on a stage. I want to see how Biden compares. We are in a proxy war, we have major domestic and international concerns and our president has held the fewest press conferences since Reagan. Doesn’t inspire much confidence. I loathe Trump. I want him to go away. He won’t, but he should. I wish Biden would step aside too. The left has a deep bench. We can do better.
Why do you think Kennedy is a democrat? Because he says so?
Nah, you answer. Why isn’t he? What specific policies preclude him from being a democrat?
There's no credible evidence for any of these assertions or for Kennedy's longest-running false claims: that vaccines cause autism and are more harmful than the diseases they're designed to protect against. Yet Kennedy is building a campaign for the highest office around these conspiracy theories and the idea that fact-checking or criticizing them amounts to censorship. His throughline is the bedrock conspiratorial premise that "they" (the government, pharmaceutical companies, the media) are lying to you — but that he is telling the truth. RFK Jr. is building a presidential campaign around conspiracy theories Republicans have painted up the Democratic Party as the party of "big government" since before the New Deal. Huey Long, Democrat, was effectively a socialist. Eisenhower was the most leftist Republican to hold office - he effectively rebuilt Europe as semi-socialist - and his principle argument was against the 'military industrial complex.' Kennedy can't officially run as a Democrat without party endorsement and the Democratic Party is, barring catastrophe, endorsing Biden. That said, RFK's core plank has been "the government is lying to you" since 2005. Lyndon LaRouche was ostensibly a Democrat as well but no one, in the history of his political career, considered him a serious candidate for office. The difference between Lyndon LaRouche and RFK Jr. is the 'boomers still worship his parents for some reason. The Kennedys were fucking awful politicians and fucking awful people. The hagiography around them is one of the most embarrassing things about the Democratic Party - Joe Kennedy bought the 1960 election for his son, JFK slow walked the Civil Rights Act so that he'd never have to pass it, Bobby was an incompetent and unqualified attorney general, their state department launched the Vietnam War by mistake, they fomented the Cuban Missile Crisis out of sheer lethargy and their heirs are mostly known for rape and murder. Even then? if there was a single elected office on this page he might be taken more seriously. People whinged about Obama's lack of political experience yet at least that dude had spent two years as a Senator. RFK Jr. has never so much as run for dog catcher. And that, above all else, "precludes him from being a democrat." The DNC are nothing if not thorough plodders and if there had ever been any serious intent to run RFK Jr for office they would have done it in the '80s. Think about that. the '80s Democratic Party. Choosing not to groom a Kennedy.Wi-Fi causes cancer and "leaky brain," Kennedy told podcaster Joe Rogan last month. Antidepressants are to blame for school shootings, he mused during an appearance with Twitter CEO Elon Musk. Chemicals in the water supply could turn children transgender, he told right-wing Canadian psychologist and podcaster Jordan Peterson, echoing a false assertion made by serial fabulist Alex Jones. AIDS may not be caused by HIV, he has suggested multiple times.
ok c'man i dont love biden either but Kennedy? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_F._Kennedy_Jr.#Anti-vaccine_advocacy_and_conspiracy_theories_on_public_health basically his only think is being anti-vaxx with a bit of anti-trans thrown in for spice
Guys a total nut job anyone running against trump and Biden kind of has to be. Your better candidates are sitting this one out. Or maybe or system can’t produce function candidates any more. I hope that’s not the case but I’m worried it might be. It’s sad that I’d take almost any of the recent previous wash outs over the 2 we will likely have to choose from. I dare say even Hillary.
i still don't really get what everyone's problem with Hillary was. like, she's an establishment hack and not very progressive and not at all exciting, which is exactly the same as Biden I don't know either. Not really anyone I'm excited about for the presidential race. I feel like if you've gotta be low-energy, Biden hasn't been awful. I'm still mad about all the new oil pipelines, but he's at least made a halfhearted attempt at some good stuff when it doesnt get blocked by congress and the courts. Not sure what else he really can do tbh Eeeeh, everythings awful bleh Screw Kennedy Jr
Speaking as someone who voted for Clinton? Clinton is the Nixon of the left. She's eminently qualified. She's well-connected. But she's never cultivated trustworthiness or an open appeal to her enemies. Hilary Clinton has never had much use for people who disagree with her, and she's never felt much need to explain herself to people who don't already get it. Her politics and mine mostly align (mostly) but I'd read the fine print on anything she did because she's a fine print kinda girl. I think Hilary Clinton is a gifted political operative, but gifted political operatives aren't necessarily electable. They can't be much of the time. Consider how much the Left hates Kissinger, and then consider just how big of a hand-shaped welt Kissinger has left on the ass of history - that dude knew he could accomplish more by not being accountable to voters so he never ran for any elected office. Hilary won a Senate seat so obviously she's no Kissinger. But I think she's got a little too much Nixon for this political era. The thing about Biden is he inherited a tabula rasa federal government; the Trump administration cleaned house so thoroughly, on purpose and by accident, that the quiet coersion of conventional government has been borderline revolutionary behind the scenes. My perspective is that Biden is exactly the distraction the Republicans need to keep them from drawing attention to the massive economic and judicial reforms the Democrats are sneaking in during the dead of night. Government should be boring. Biden is boring. I'm ready to be bored, global warming notwithstanding.
I don’t think she would really be any different than Biden. She was just so smug and entitled, that made her so hatable as a person. Watching her fall was almost as pleasant as watching Elon lose 40 billion on twitter, but of course there is a cost and everyone suffered in the end.
Sure but omg, describing Trump as "not smug" is hilarious. You are right about some combination of the media and political system failing the country, that much is clear.
We don't have a media environment capable of relegating Trump into irrelevance. I do take some pleasure in his prosecutions, while also acknowledging that it could very well propel him into the presidency once again. Not that it really matters. Trumpism is the GOP, now. We're gonna invade Mexico, eradicate transexualism, and do whatever Putin wants. I mean... this is literally an anti-American platform. And I'm with spencerflem, yeah I'm voting for Biden b/c pragmatism, and it'll be with a very, VERY slight amount of enthusiasm, mostly based in the fact that I'm staving off fascism for one more general election cycle. The GOP needs to reinvent itself. It won't.
Because he's funded by Steve Bannon? Because he's a non-sensical anti-vaxxer? You can go read Forbes. And btw, I don't exactly adore Forbes. Where are you getting your information sources these days? PS - Kennedy is the Jill Stein (2016) spoiler candidate of 2024.
Funded by Bannon? I read the linked drivel, never saw that. Where do I get my info? Straight from the source. I do this with all of the front runners. I watch town halls, interviews, listen to podcasts. Instead of getting info from partisan sources, I make my own determinations. I’ve watched interviews and listened to podcasts with Vivek, Desantis, Kennedy, Williamson etc. The only candidate I haven’t heard from is Biden. He no longer gives long form interviews or town halls or even press conferences. Hopefully that will change. My kids asked someone who RFK Jr. Was because I have a water bottle with his name in it. They told my kids that he was a racist. That their father supported a racist. Why? Because at a dinner he referenced a peer reviewed paper that showed certain ethnicities had more resistance to Covid-19, including Ashkenazi Jews. The porpoganda machine went to work, saying he was racist against Jews. Instead of blindly believing that, I watched the video. It wasn’t even near racism. But through the media it filtered its way down to my kids. Pawns. I refuse to be one. Media is all agenda. It’s a tool (one I’ve used) that elites use to push agendas. There is no investigative journalism left out there (very little) Certainly not at TNR.
and that reference was "At a dinner event in July 2023, Kennedy said "there is an argument that (COVID-19) is ethnically targeted", adding "COVID-19 is targeted to attack Caucasians and Black people. The people who are most immune are Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese ... we don't know whether it’s deliberately targeted or not."" he said that it could be deliberately targeted to avoid jews and chinese. are you serious? you're so committed to being openminded that your brain is gonna fall out. be less concerned with somebody telling your kids you're racist and more concerned with not blindly supporting jackasses because they confirm your priors
The actual video is less than 2 minutes long. No need to quote grab. Watch in context. He pretty clearly says that he doesn’t know if it’s deliberate. I’d be shocked if nation states weren't developing targeted bioweapons. His reply and the paper he is referencing here: https://x.com/robertkennedyjr/status/1680227322509635595?s=46&t=p-FnYgUURab8KYpGK5vsZA
if it was deliberate, did the jews make it or the chinese? in your opinion. and how did the sino-hebraic alliance begin?
srsly - the context is incredibly obvious to everyone. You don't bring up that in theory a disease could be made that did that, without implying that Covid-19 was. It would be entirely irrelevant to mention otherwise. And ofc it's the Jews again. Can some other ethnicity be the target of whackjob conspiracy theories. The Dutch have had it too good too long
My gut reaction is to say "with Eva Saxl" not because I think this line of questioning should be humored, but because Eva Saxl is the best example of sino-hebraic badassery I can think of.
"The Chinese are spending hundreds of millions of dollars developing ethnic bioweapons and WE are developing ethnic bioweapons that's what all those labs in Ukraine are about, they're collecting Russian DNA, they're collecting Chinese DNA so that we can target whole people by race." Dude. "there is an argument that COVID-19 is ethnically targeted" is bad enough what he's got there is full-blown precious bodily fluids nonsense. See here's the thing. You're surrounded by smart people. You're an officer at a biomedical startup FFS. You're married to a doctor. You have, at arm's reach, a gobsmacking amount of medical expertise. Instead you are championing a guy parroting Putin's talking points. No he pretty clearly exaggerates a bunch of nonsense that not even RT was willing to fully commit to. 'k dude you know what a "targeted" disease is? SIckle-cell anemia. 93% of patients who suffer from sickle-cell disease are African American. Why? Sickle-cell trait is prophylactic against malaria. And yet. 7 percent of patients with sickle-cell disease are not African-American. bioweapons are tactically (and, frankly, strategically) useless to begin with; an "ethnic bioweapon" that affects 7% of people who aren't your targeted ethnicity is Hugo Drax nonsense. Know who COVID targets? Poor people. And not very accurately, I might add. First hiccup in my life from COVID (other than catching it) was a movie I was doing post on got pushed because one of the millionaire producers up and died within 3 days of symptoms. You're smarter than this.He pretty clearly says that he doesn’t know if it’s deliberate.
I’d be shocked if nation states weren't developing targeted bioweapons.
It’s odd to me that suggesting nations are creating bio-weapons is controversial. Not exactly new terrain This entire thread started with me wishing we had debates on the dem side. Reasonable desire. I’d love to see RFK Jr, Newsom and others debate Biden. If he’s not up to the task, we as a nation should be made aware. I know the canned reply is that no sitting President gets primaried. I don’t think I’d feel this need if we had a President that was ever in front of the press. I am not a democrat, never have been even though it’s the only party I’ve ever voted for. I feel no affiliation or loyalty to the DNC. I do feel loyalty to ideals. Ideals that have been championed by the left for decades: Freedom of speech, right to privacy, that we need to be good stewards of our planet, I believe in strong and independent media, I believe money should be kept out of politics. I believe the revolving door between policy makers and corporate lobbyists needs to close. No one candidate embodies all of these things. I’ve donated money to several politicians and even Andrew Yangs forward party and I’ve done so based on their policy stances not on the party they belong to. I think there’s a lot of, “we have to support Biden cause if not, then trump. Fuck that. I’m tired of the DNC not listening to or trusting the electorate. Any former Bernie supporters will know what I mean. A large part of my donating to Kennedy is to try and force the hand of the dnc to allow debates. I know the canned response is, “that’s exactly what the right wants.” Well, then I’m in alignment. I truly believe that if trump is the candidate he will win against Biden but would lose handedly against almost any other candidate. I’m tired. I don’t much enjoy Hubski these days. Really miss the old days. It’s a bummer. I wish you and the family well. Gonna peace out for a while. Onward!
Let's take a step back: The only criticism I leveled above is the notion that RFK's statements, in that clip you linked, are anything other than pseudoscientific dezinformatsiya straight from the Kremlin. I leveled this criticism on the idea that ethnically-targeted bio-weapons are nonsense. And I say this personally knowing people whose entire job it was to evaluate hostile foreign bio-weapons for USAMRIID. All the rest of your tag cloud here is about other stuff. It is answers to questions I didn't raise. it is attitudes about subjects I haven't brought up. I will say this: it is my measured and informed opinion that RFK Jr is the very definition of a useful idiot.. And I will say this: RFK Jr. does not share your ideals. The Kennedys are a transactional family, none more transactional than RFK Jr. He spent what, 15 years as in environmental law? Why isn't he running on the environment? Think about it for a minute. How hard would GenZ lean into a candidate who said "I am a single-issue candidate and my issue is climate change"? But that's not where he's getting his attention from. Because it's not the attention he wants. Biden will absolutely debate. He will debate any opponents, Republican or otherwise, under the terms of debate agreed upon by the opposing parties. You know that, I don't need to remind you. It's 2023, man. We're a long, long road from there. And you're giving to RFK Jr. to, I dunno, somehow alter history? Show me the debates here. Biden has not done a lot of press conferences. He's also been dealing with States of the Union where this is the standard level of decorum: All that to say, "I don't like biden because he doesn't do a lot of press conferences" is telegraphing pretty loud that you don't like Biden for _________________________ (whatever reason is convenient in the moment). I'm not going to tell you to like Biden. But I am going to tell you that you're too clever to take on RFK Jr's baggage just because you think Biden is old.
And what if? the wildfires were caused by Jewish Space Lasers
You've got a water bottle with a man's name on it who told Joe Rogan, "straight from the source", that WiFi can open the blood-brain barrier and cause cancer. I mean do I really feel like I need to spend more time talking to you? Nope.
I have no love lost for Kennedy, but he's funded by Bannon in the same way all those MAGA idiots were funded by the DNC in the last election. It's pretty common practice these days for both parties to run interference in the primary cycle to try to get the worst candidate on the ballot or at least cause some chaos and wasted funds.
That's semi-fair, the key differences being: 1) Kennedy's positions aren't remotely aligned with the democratic party vs. the ultra MAGA chuds being GOP-aligned candidates, just extreme versions, and 2) The 3rd party presidential candidates draw more democratic votes than those from the GOP. Here, I'm just (very over agressively) calling someone out for falling for it. I'm sorry, this is like, super obvious to me what's going on. RFK Jr. is a spoiler candidate promoted by fascists. Is Biden a gifted orator? At this stage of his life, nah. And his policies draw mixed reviews from me. But not being able to see through RFK is fucking weird, I'm sorry. Techbro shit. edit: many of Kennedy's stated policies are relatively democratic, but I had no idea, since he never talks about them
You never answered my question Re his policies that don’t align with the Democratic Party. He’s pro vaccine safety. Re the blood brain barrier, perhaps it’s not that crazy. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19345073/
he thinks that vaccines cause autism, brother! pro vaccine safety is a clear dogwhistle. you don't need to be pro safety on something that is near-universally safe. if you describe yourself as "pro armchair safety", that means that somebody's putting spikes on the chairs. the tactic of hiding behind "I'm just asking questions, further research is needed into the issue" is cowardly and is made without evidence on the actual position being taken. there is no evidence that vaccines cause or are linked to autism, but RFK JR has been saying it for decades. now he's repeating the canard that endocrine disruptors in the water are causing feminization and transgender-ization. there's no evidence that this is the case. why is he suggesting that "research should be done?" to seed the ground for calling transness artificial, man-made, and a medical illness. if i come out on stage and suggest that being molested as a child actually has hidden health benefits and that further research should be done, i don't get to say that I'm just asking questions. it would be obvious that i am a pedophile trying to drum up support. but it's easy to see that pedophilia is wrong, and apparently much harder to see that when it's about autists and trannies
This conversation started with someone asking why I thought Kennedy is a dem. I see no reason to think he isn’t based on his policy proposals. Anti war, anti surveillance state, pro free speach etc. Re vaccination, he’s admitted to being fully vaccinated and having vaccinated his children. From one of his town halls: He’s not wrong Re the FDA/Pharma revolving door.I’ve never been anti-vaccine, and I’ve said that hundreds and hundreds of times but it doesn’t matter,” Kennedy told NewsNation host Elizabeth Vargas in a town hall Wednesday. “Because that is a way of silencing me. Using a pejorative to describe me is a way of silencing me or marginalizing me.”
He continued: “We have a corrupt federal agency. It’s lying to the AMA, to you, to all of those agencies and all of the doctors. They believe them. Those agencies are controlled by pharma. That is the problem and that’s what I’m trying to end as president.”
if he's fully vaccinated and so are his kids, and he also believes vaccines are unsafe and cause autism, etc, doesn't that make him both a hypocrite and an idiot? using a pejorative to describe somebody? it's just what he continually and publically espouses. it's not a pejorative, it's a descriptor. if you think it makes you marginalized to have what you say be described, then that should tell you something about what you're saying
Because every other Democrat thinks that parroting insane conspiracy theories is disqualifying. And asking honestly, even if Kennedy's other policies were standard Democrat fare, what about him is better than Biden ?? How is this less baggage ??
A great example of conspiracy theories being disqualifying for dems is how nobody took Marianne Williamson seriously once all the "healing crystals" stuff hit the fan. And afaik, that was the only conspiracy-adjacent thing she espoused. For the republican party, believing in conspiracy is a requirement. The crazier, the better. I had to look up RFK's policies, because he never talks about them. They're relatively democrat-centrist, from what I can find. Some even sound progressive. But all he talks about are conspiracies. THAT is republican. And so is being "anti-war" while also advocating to bomb and/or invade Mexico. I'd love to hear RFK Jr. be asked that question. I can add legit source links to this thread all day. We can't just watch the candidates lie to us in debates or interviews and trust everyone on the basis of how charismatic they are.
I interviewed Henry Lai for an hour once. I needed information for a screenplay on how, exactly, one would communicate with the brain via non-invasive methods. He was, at the time, the guy to talk to about cell phone radiation. Might still be, I dunno; it was 20-odd years ago. And 20-odd years ago, it was an uncontested fact that radiation had an impact on the brain. What kind of impact? Inconclusive. Dude brought up a dozen studies for me, some saying it made you stupider, some saying it made you smarter. Some saying it caused headaches, some saying it cured them. Lai's spitball take was that heating up a muscle increases blood flow, heating up the brain increases blood flow, increased blood flow is a catalyst, not a reactant. Here's some science. Cell phone radiation is advertised as SAR - Specific Absorption Rate. That's a "how bright is your lightbulb" measurement; the amount of light/heat that falls on your body is a function of how far away you are. In the US, a cell phone must put out no more power than 1.6W/kg - as in, holding the phone up to your head, the whole of your brain, all 1300g of it, can absorb no more than 2W. On the other hand, your wifi router puts out about 100mW. It, of course, is subject to spherical decay and the inverse square law. Most emission is given in terms of 1w/1m and then given in dB; any given conventional loudspeaker will lose 6dB per doubling of distance. So a 120dB Marshall stack from 3 feet away? is 114dB at 6 feet, 108dB at 12 feet, etc. 3dB is a doubling of power; a 6dB loss reflects a power level 25% as strong. Of your 500W Marshall stack, 125W is there at 6 feet, 31W is there at 12 feet, 8W is there at 24 feet, etc. I am currently six feet from a Unifi hot-spot. It's prosumer/B2B shit; it puts out 200mW. Sitting here typing I am receiving 0.05 watts off it. Should my phone ring? And I hold it up to my head? I will be receiving about 1.5W. This is just algebra. It doesn't require much in the way of specialist knowledge; a little googling goes a long way. Now, you tell me - does RFK have a cell phone?
You are correct. Sadly. It’s not what’s best for the country but what’s best for the DNC. I’m not convinced Biden could beat Trump in the general and I’m def not convinced that we wouldn’t see massive civil unrest with that match up. I do think Kennedy, Newsom and perhaps even Buttigieg or Harris (among many others) could beat Trump. Lots of Dems to choose from. Even if Biden were firing on all cylinders, he’s a flawed candidate at this point. Half the country thinks he has shady business dealings with his crack head son and fixed an election. Too much baggage.
You ain’t wrong but I’m concerned that this incumbent is coming into the primary really weak and he might have a tough time even against the extremely weak republican field. The economy looks like it might be getting ready to turn again. The rate hikes are going to bite soon enough. That’s not going to help him either unless he can kick the can for 14 more months. Ukraine ain’t going great and it’s not likely to improve by next year. The very least he could do is swap Harris for someone more likeable. Maybe pull Michelle Obama or similar to boost his odds and campaign energy. I’d put 60:40 on Biden right now but I still don’t like those odds. Trump cleared the field of moderates so only the extremes are even out there
I disagree. My considered observation is that the Biden administration has kept the plates spinning for long enough that when they come crashing down, he can say "this wouldn't be happening if the Republicans let me have my way a year ago" with facts, soundbites and graphs to back him up. From a campaign standpoint, the Democrats need the business community to be lethargic. They traditionally back Republicans and being able to go "you've operated for four years under near -'70s business conditions and you're doing great" is likely to keep the wallets closed of all but the toothiest idealists. Ukraine? They've broken through the Russian defensive lines at Robotyne. They've established a beachhead on the left bank of the Dnipro They just shut down civil aviation in Russia for several hours with cardboard. And the CIA? VDV in Kyiv was Gabriel blowing his trumpet to them; this is the ratfucking they've trained for for eighty fucking years. The 2024 election is going to be very, very different from the 2020 election from the 2016 election. Kamala Harris is "unlikeable" the same way Flava Flav is unserious. It's the VP's job to be the foil for the opposing party. Look at Dan Quayle. Look at Dick Cheney. Mike Pence was brought on to make it appear as if Trump had someone other than Steve Bannon to ask questions of; we saw how well that went but fundamentally, the job of the VP is to be the un-president. That's how she ran for the job - attacking Biden during the primaries and appearing adversarial was the whole of the gig. Biden had already promised massive concessions to the SCLC in order to gain their endorsement; Kamala Harris was gonna get the gig no matter what. It's funny that you're putting Michelle Obama as somehow more electable than Kamala Harris, despite the fact that republicans ceaselessly referred to her as an ape.