2024 ELECTION THREAD
The next presidential race will be here soon! Please see current Bovada odds. Thoughts?
Never in my LIFE have I seen so many people pulled over in and around downtown Milwaukee as I did today on the way home around 7pm. The cops were out in force.
Tomorrow I'm going to take the side streets in and see if I can get my vehicle searched for bombs by Homeland Security or whoever is in charge of the checkpoint on Juneau.
Edit: These latest gaffes by Biden are meaningless in a normal political vacuum, but even apolitical people will now just see an old man actively losing his marbles in real time. They won't want to vote for that. The delivery of all these verbal mistakes makes it so much worse. He sounds tired and/or drunk.
I can’t help but think of Vance refrigeration every time I read that name
That’s not just in my head right
I get the hate on biden for not standing up to Netanyahu and what’s going on in Gaza, but the idea that it gets better under the guy who for some reason chose to call biden and schumer Palestinians using that word as an implied slur is….a choice
He's having trouble getting to the ends of his sentences and thoughts. When he loses his way his distraction now is "anyway." He then cuts off the thought that he lost the train of, trying to disguise the fade out. Many who are aged or have had serious illness robbing them of mental and physical energy have experienced this. His cause seems more chronically serious and heading south.
He does "have a little problem with his left foot."
I haven't listened to him speak for a while (if ever, TBH), including not watching any of the debate. Is the slurring (now?) so normal that I'm the only one noticing it?
The least damaging course of action at this point would probably be for Biden to come out as a closet alcoholic, step down, and check into a rehab clinic. It explains his recent performances, gives everyone else cover to say that he seemed sober enough when they interacted with him, gives him an escape route out of the spotlight, and might even drum up a modicum of sympathy.
this is a brilliant out
I haven't listened to him speak for a while (if ever, TBH), including not watching any of the debate. Is the slurring (now?) so normal that I'm the only one noticing it?
it has gotten progressively worse. it did not begin on debate night
It was interesting that biden (intentionally or unintentionally) left himself an out that he’d drop out for Harris if polls showed he had no chance (meanwhile reports before he even said this said the biden team is polling harris v trump)
Doesn’t help that he creepily started whispering into the mic ‘they won’t’ after that but still
he'd go to the whisper from time to time in the past but leaned on it heavily tonight. counted ~20 "anyway"s when he lost his train of thought and needed to abort entirely, and ~50 "by the way"s when he formed a new train of thought but it didn't remotely connect to his previous sentence. these were fine though... it at least followed normal conventions of human speech.
he's letting the haters get to him. prefaced maybe a dozen facts with "don't hold me to this" and corrected himself mid-sentence on minor glitches (australia, 1,000 volunteers) at least a dozen more times. if you don't acknowledge the mistake, 90% of people don't realize and the 10% that do don't really care, at least when it comes to minutiae ("Vice President Trump" not included). when you're constantly stumbling over your words everyone thinks you're a bumbling idiot who can't lead. fwiw this is more me giving myself pointers on my flaws than criticizing joe
Even better if he gets loaded and stinks of booze when he holds the presser to announce it. Got to go for that added touch of realism, you know.
The DNC should hire me as their crisis consultant. I'd have all this **** sorted out in time for lunch, and Harris elected pres by dinner.
I haven't listened to him speak for a while (if ever, TBH), including not watching any of the debate. Is the slurring (now?) so normal that I'm the only one noticing it?
It is widely believed he has Parkinson's, degeneration has been gradually on going for years, and where he is in disease progression now there is little optimism he will be functional at all 4 more years. Whether one believes that is a valid reason to not support or vote for him is a personal decision.
Harris did not run an effective primary campaign 4 years ago, and has had a very forgettable period as Vice President. If you dont pay attention to right wing media making fun of her, you probably haven't noticed her at all. Hard to imagine she is going to be polling great; although not a lot of "dirt" on her.
Seems the "worst" thing you can find is she jailed a bunch of drug addicts and black criminals as DA, which only progressives think is a bad thing. And they aren't going to be voting for Trump anyways, so meh.
biden's one hope does seem to be kamala somehow polling worse than him, dems deciding its not worth chancing it on a rando because it's too late, so roll the dice with joe. does feel like he'll have to roll snake eyes though. if he can transform into a viable presidential candidate between now and then it'll give new meaning to october surprise
Kamala Harris doesn’t have the negatives Biden has. Look, there is one thing and one thing only that is going to inspire people to come out to vote for whoever is the democratic nominee, and that is to stop Donald Trump from becoming our president/king for life. It’s literally what Biden ran on in 2020, that he was the man to beat Trump.
All the nominee needs is to not have reasons why the independents/low info voters can’t pull the lever for them.
HRC had had a 25 year negative ad campaign run against her, so she was impossible to vote for in the eyes of just enough people to give Trump the win.
Biden didn’t have these in 2020, but his age is now that thing. All he had to show was a decent level of non-dementia in the first debate. And he couldn’t do it.
Kamala Harris doesn’t have this negative. She can also claim “credit” for being part of the administration that accomplished what they did. She also is someone no longer impossible to vote for by the far Left who have dubbed Biden “Genocide Joe” and are too ****ing stupid to realize that Trump would be far worse for the Palestinians. Enough of them would turn out.
As far as Joe’s out, him coming out as an alcoholic would be a monstrously stupid move. There is no sympathy (and a fair bit of humor) in people’s regard for addicts (see: Biden, Hunter) and the fallout from us being led by a sloppy ass alky would be a nightmare. However, Parkinson’s is a perfect out, because it’s something completely out of his hands, and therefore worthy of our pity (in the eyes of people who don’t understand drug addiction).
Mark my words, when Biden drops out in a week or two, it will be because of some kind of medical diagnosis. It by far has much more dignity than alcoholism.
Move over Reggie Jackson, we have a new Mr. October in town
As far as Joe’s out, him coming out as an alcoholic would be a monstrously stupid move.
Yeah, well, that's just, like, your opinion, man.
Nah, for real, I only suggested it because he basically seems drunk in those clips to me. Is appearing drunk a Parkinson's thing? Also, doesn't that raise questions of everyone around him as to why they didn't speak up sooner?
Yeah, well, that's just, like, your opinion, man.
Nah, for real, I only suggested it because he basically seems drunk in those clips to me. Is appearing drunk a Parkinson's thing? Also, doesn't that raise questions of everyone around him as to why they didn't speak up sooner?
Absolutely, but imo the political fallout would be far less if the blame falls on them, his “inner circle” who felt like it would be too risky to try to run someone else so late, and have such admiration and love for him, etc. etc.
Especially if Harris was not including in that group.
FWIW this is actually most likely to actually be the truth about the situation.
Do the inner parasites on Biden's team transfer over to Kamala, or whoever replaces him?
He's gonna go "Howard Dean" in a bluff of vitality, and won't realize, won't be able to realize, how it is coming off. He's already showing hints of it. He's going orange, he's going Howard Dean, he's going unconscionable on the need and simple morality of cognitive tests, he's going dully stubborn clinging to his self-image, his inner persona, as his executive powers decline. He can do nothing else regarding this last.
Twice today, trying to hold two opposing characters in his mind and complete his thought, he said the wrong name: Trump for Kamala and Putin for Zelensky. I find it kind of bizarro that this isn't the game changer. It's pure compromised ability to hold multiples and sort. You can slip and say Stalin for Lenin, Macron for Mitterand, Thatcher for Meir, Rabin for Peres, etc. If you have command, you don't slip up Trump for Kamala or Putin for Zelensky in this situation. It's much worse than just sad if this is aloud to go to fruition.
I'm plenty cynical about politics, but I don't think it will be aloud to play out like this. Enter somebody.
I get the hate on biden for not standing up to Netanyahu and what’s going on in Gaza, but the idea that it gets better under the guy who for some reason chose to call biden and schumer Palestinians using that word as an implied slur is….a choice
This is an old argument. It's a 2 party system. On the one hand, it's optimal in the short term to vote lesser evil. On the other, if you blindly vote for a party no matter what, they will completely ignore your interests.
Gaza is too controversial. But say Democrats thought that all bald people should be exterminated, and Reps wanted all balds and all people with big ears killed.
At some point, it makes sense to tell the Dems you will not grant them power unless they stop killing balds, even if that means you get some years of even worse policy in the short term.
Harris did not run an effective primary campaign 4 years ago, and has had a very forgettable period as Vice President. If you dont pay attention to right wing media making fun of her, you probably haven't noticed her at all. Hard to imagine she is going to be polling great; although not a lot of "dirt" on her.
Seems the "worst" thing you can find is she jailed a bunch of drug addicts and black criminals as DA, which only progressives thi
Yeah. I think this is the point you're already making. But a significant number of voters can't even name the VP at any given time. So of course, her poll numbers will start of weak.
I'm sure Dem pollsters are smart enough to understand this. If they keep Joe, I guess, after they lose they can pull out those polls and pretend to think they proved Biden a stronger candidate.
At some point, it makes sense to tell the Dems you will not grant them power unless they stop killing balds, even if that means you get some years of even worse policy in the short term.
Except that it isn’t just worse policy. We’re talking about such fundamental changes to our country that there may not be an opportunity to vote again.
