The first presidential debate is done and the aftermath has not been good for the incumbent, Joe Biden.

Some Democrat politicians and operatives reportedly texted CNN commentators with hopes that Mr Biden, 81, would step aside. Some floated the possibility of going to the White House and publicly stating concerns about him remaining as candidate.

But if Mr Biden were to drop out, it would be a free-for-all. There is no official mechanism for him or anyone else in the party to choose his successor, meaning Democrats would be left with an open (Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Chicago from August 19-22.

  • Jimmybander
    294 days ago
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    You maybe should have tried this before 2024. This is gonna go on to November now. Just go vote for him. Old as he is.

    • Wes4Humanity
      63 days ago
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      Yeah We’re all going to vote for him if he’s the nominee But he’s still going to lose That’s the point, the point progressives have been making all along. BIDEN. WILL. LOSE. Like the sun will rise in the east, it’s just a fact of nature. They need to nominate someone who will get Gen z excited to come out, so at least there’s a chance of stopping Trump.

      • UnderpantsWeevil
        53 days ago
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        We’re all going to vote for him if he’s the nominee But he’s still going to lose

        The state of the election is such that turnout is going to tank. Libs and Cons are both very worried who the indie voter aligns with, but I’m betting a bunch of people simply don’t vote in November.

        • girlfreddyOP
          73 days ago
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          If the DNC would get their heads out of their asses (a longshot, ik) and voted in another viable, smart candidate they could turn voter apathy around in a heartbeat.

          Too bad they seem to be happy with the power status quo and fail to see the real danger they are in if/when Trump wins cause he would not be adverse to using guillotines or nooses to fix that ‘problem’.

        • Wes4Humanity
          23 days ago
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          People staying home historically effects Democrats far more than Republicans. That’s why Dems win when people are excited about a candidate and more people actually show up.

          • UnderpantsWeevil
            12 days ago
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            People staying home historically effects Democrats far more than Republicans.

            Trump has changed the math, somewhat. High energy elections tend to benefit Trump-y candidates and hurt the milquetoast Dems. Low energy elections favor Bidencrats.

  • anon_8675309
    324 days ago
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    There’s no time. Democrats, I swear, just can’t see past one election at a time. They’re literally not prepping someone else. What they think will happen is KH will be the next person and they’re flat wrong. She can’t win. But they’ll dig their heads in the sand and put her up anyway.

    So, now, because they put an old guy up last time they’re stuck. They have zero choice but to run what the brung.

    • tankplanker
      84 days ago
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      They do far too much of it’s their turn in the big chair and not enough who is the best candidate. They cannot see past Trump as an absolutely terrible choice and think anyone else would be the automatic winner like 2016 didn’t just happen because of that shit.

      Macron is going through the same bullshit, thinking that the electorate would rather support him than literal racists. Guess what fuck nuts, the electorate is about to call you on that, as dumb a decision as it is.

      • skuzz
        44 days ago
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        That’s an astute observation. The Democrats are like the perpetual optimist from 90s cartoons that think the story always ends happy, the good guys win, and all you need is honor and trust and a good soundbite to pull through, instead of actually playing chess, or checkers, or perhaps politics with enough forward thinking to actually plan a few moves ahead for once. Perhaps they should hire an evil person to teach them how the R’s think.

    • mysticpickle
      715 days ago
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      The guy is an effective cheerleader for any cause he really believes in. I mean he almost singlehandedly extended benefits to 9/11 first responders on the strength of his eloquence.

      Thing is he doesn’t want to do it. Which makes me want him to do it even more. Something about great leaders not seeking power but having it thrust upon them in times of need like a George Washington

      • VelvetStorm
        215 days ago
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        I know he doesn’t want to run which just like you only makes me want him to run even more. He’s smart enough to know that he doesn’t know everything and never will.So he will surround himself with people who know what they’re talking about and listen to their advice.

    • dragontamerEnglish
      195 days ago
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      Stewart (and Colbert) are literally a clown (TV Comedian) who is refusing to ever make a serious political moves. Neither of them have any legislative experience or executive experience either.

      The fact that modern people always choose TV Personalities (like Trump, Stewart and Colbert) is part of the same problem of ignorance of our Political system and what this job even freaken entails.

      • talEnglish
        335 days ago
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        Stewart (and Colbert) are literally a clown

        what this job even freaken entails.

        You know Volodymyr Zelenskyy, current president of Ukraine?

        He’s a comedian who did a political satire TV series about being president of Ukraine.

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volodymyr_Zelenskyy

        Born to a Ukrainian Jewish family, Zelenskyy grew up as a native Russian speaker in Kryvyi Rih, a major city of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast in central Ukraine. Before his acting career, he obtained a degree in law from the Kyiv National Economic University. He then pursued a comedy career and created the production company Kvartal 95, which produced films, cartoons, and TV shows including the TV series Servant of the People, in which Zelenskyy played a fictional Ukrainian president. The series aired from 2015 to 2019 and was immensely popular. A political party with the same name as the TV show was created in March 2018 by employees of Kvartal 95.

        EDIT: Darn, someone else apparently mentioned it as well, checking their link. I’m still gonna leave this text up, though.

      • Maggoty
        155 days ago
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        Modern? where do you think Reagan came from? At least Stewart and Colbert are versed in the political and policy stuff from having been immersed in it for decades.

        • DragonTypeWyvern
          14 days ago
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          Strange that an ailing old man has his administration behind him to do all the gruntwork but an actually popular candidate wouldn’t

          • Maggoty
            24 days ago
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            Why wouldn’t they have an administration? Any president will hire a cabinet and advisors.

            • DragonTypeWyvern
              04 days ago
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              Yes, indeed. So really what you need from a president is a trustworthy image and a baseline moral character, because all the actual governance minutiae is handled by the staff.

              So why is it that all these people come out of the woodwork to insist the president NEEDS to be mired in one of the most corrupt political systems in the developed world?

              • Maggoty
                14 days ago
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                Because a leader does need to be present. They aren’t just a face in front of their staff.

        • the_crotch
          95 days ago
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          Al Franken graduated cum laude with a poli sci degree from Harvard. I’ll let Jon Stewart himself tell you about his education.

          “My college career was waking up late, memorizing someone else’s notes, doing bong hits, and going to soccer practice”

          • talEnglish
            115 days ago
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            George Washington wasn’t able to attend school after the age of 11, because his father died and he had to take over running the family farm.

            https://www.georgewashington.org/education.jsp

            Despite being the Commander in Chief of the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War, the President of the Constitutional Convention, and the first President of the United States, George Washington’s level of education was far lower than any of the other Founding Fathers of the United States. In fact, he was often scorned by some of the other Founding Fathers for this inadequacy. However, this lack of education was not George Washington’s fault. Upon the death of George Washington’s father in 1743, George’s formal schooling ended. He is thought to have attended the nearby grammar school run by Reverend James Marye, the rector of St. George’s Parish, up until this time. Therefore, the extent of young George’s formal educational training was in basic mathematics, reading, and writing.

            Although his older half-brothers had the opportunity to gain a formal education over in England at the Appleby School, George was required to take on the responsibility of running the family farm after his father’s death.

            On this list, every ranking places him as the highest-ranked President to ever serve other than one that places him at #2 and one that places him at #3:

            https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_rankings_of_presidents_of_the_United_States

            • the_crotch
              14 days ago
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              That was 200 years ago. I’m comparing Jon Stewart to one of his contemporaries, in the modern era.

              This wasn’t about Stewart anyway. My point was that Al Franken is a bad example of an entertainer breaking I to politics, because with his background it was entertainment that was the abberation.

        • dragontamerEnglish
          95 days ago
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          Didn’t stop Donald Trump or Ronald Regan.

          My point is that there’s more bad examples of Hollywood Actors or Reality TV stars becoming President for the worse of America, than the reverse.

          • ZaktorEnglish
            75 days ago
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            You have two counter examples, and one of them was incredibly successful, just for the side where success is bad for the country. Reagan wasn’t ineffective, he was effective for evil purposes.

      • crusa187
        24 days ago
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        Perhaps, but even with these alleged shortcomings, either would be so much better equipped for the job than the 2 senile geezers.

      • SailorMoss
        35 days ago
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        If wielding power in our “democracy” is so complicated that we must exclude non-experts isn’t that an indictment of our democracy? What is it about the legislative and executive process that people are ignorant of?

        While I am skeptical of the celebrity as politician trend which has been prominent over the last few decades; especially on the right. I don’t think lack of experience is the problem with the trend.

        Put aside what you think about Trump’s political project for a moment. He was effective at giving conservatives what they wanted. Tax cuts and Supreme Court seats. Despite having zero legislative and executive experience. You could say the same thing about Reagan and perhaps Schwarzenegger.

        I agree, expecting a strongman to come in and save us from all our political issues is problematic. We shouldn’t recreate feudalism. We need to learn to organize ourselves into a base of democratic power that we can wield towards our broad economic interests.

        But at the same time our media apparatus runs on spectacle, it takes someone with the charisma of John Stewart to be taken seriously by mainstream power brokers. Perhaps he could breakthrough the spectacle and kickstart a new progressive era that could enable those democratic ends.

        Because the alternative to charisma for gaining political legitimacy is going through the political system. And the longer you’re in that system the more time that system has to influence you towards ends that want to stop progress. Just look at Jamal Bowman and John Fetterman.

    • charade_you_areEnglish
      105 days ago
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      very much doubt Stewart would want to finish himself off doing a presidential term

      • VelvetStorm
        115 days ago
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        I know he doesn’t want too which is another reason why I want him. He could announce himself right now and still pull tons of votes to be a threat to both parties.

    • ZaktorEnglish
      65 days ago
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      If the Democrats could ever get to that choice it would be an autowin and an instant rejuvenation for the party.

    • Xanis
      35 days ago
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      I’m tempted to really believe in Biden taking the loss and just going absolutely balls to the walls with harsh ads aimed at the GOP and Trump, hitting dozens of speaker events at high levels of energy, and becoming what we wish the Democratic party would become to win this thing.

      Realistically though, I’d prefer a sound, harder left leaning, less bipartisan nominee. It’s a safer and surer bet, unfortunately.

    • wheeldawgEnglish
      325 days ago
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      I voted for him last time. May be dumb, but I did believe in him more than Biden. I still don’t know if he could carry the party, but I’d love to watch him try.

      • errerEnglish
        14 days ago
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        If you don’t want someone who is too fucking old then don’t pick Bernie

        • Wes4Humanity
          13 days ago
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          It’s not that Biden is old, it’s that he’s senile Bernie is sound of mind, has the national name recognition, and is wildly popular

        • wheeldawgEnglish
          14 days ago
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          Old is one problem. Old and mentally disabled is a whole other problem. Plus who are you supposed to vote for here with that rule? We’ve got 2 realistic options.

          But in general you’d be correct.

  • Audacious
    415 days ago
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    Too many articles focusing on replacing Biden when they should be focusing on Trump being a federal convict walking around free.

    • Pilferjinx
      105 days ago
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      Is it too much to ask for the most important office in the world not be held by an old demented man?

    • solrize
      75 days ago
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      Not enough articles saying why Biden is so unappealing that quite a few people prefer the convict. Physician, heal thyself.

    • Maggoty
      25 days ago
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      There will be more of that around July 11th when he has his sentencing hearing. Biden shit the bed Yesterday.

  • FireTower
    635 days ago
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    Any one 40-60 yrs old with moderate politics and an unobjectionable personality supported by a major party would really cause a splash.

    • gAlienLifeform
      415 days ago
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      with moderate politics

      They’ll do great for one campaign until they actually have to govern and then it’s going to be 1996 and 2012 all over again and we’ll barely scrape by (if we’re lucky) against extremely beatable candidates. Moderates run good campaigns and terrible administrations because the average American voter has been propagandized into believing they want bipartisanship and small government when what they actually want is some affordable healthcare and housing which moderate politics are not going to deliver to them.

      e; and actually the “do great for one campaign” thing might be optimistic or antiquated thinking based on how Biden barely won in 2020

      • SOMETHINGSWRONG
        145 days ago
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        Oh they could win alright. Literally all they have to do is be leftist.

        “We’re gonna keep your kids healthy, in a good daycare while you work, educated and fed, and your fucking boss is gonna pay for it all” is a simple mantra well used by unions.

        Except they don’t do that. The purpose of a system is what it does, and liberals have done nothing but protect capital since FDR died.

      • treadfulEnglish
        45 days ago
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        Of course we want affordable health care and housing, but I’d absolutely kill for a Bill Clinton or Bush Sr over a Trump any day.

    • EmpricornEnglish
      24 days ago
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      It’s weird that you specify 40 when the Constitution says they only need to be 35. Doesn’t all of our recent political history show we need younger politicians?

  • bizarroland
    535 days ago
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    The Democrat plan is to replace him just like they did Ruth Bader Ginsburg, by waiting for him to die and then hoping for the best.

    • ZaktorEnglish
      145 days ago
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      Out of respect for a great woman/man! Not being disrespectful to important people is much more important than human rights or democracy.

      • fine_sandy_bottom
        125 days ago
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        I don’t really follow. Didn’t Obama ask RBG if she wanted to retire so he could put up a left leaning judge? That’s not disrespectful nor respectful, it’s just sensible.

        She refused, predictably precipitating the current shit show out of hubris.

        She may be a great woman deserving of respect but she fucked up, bringing harm to an entire generation of women.

        • ZaktorEnglish
          85 days ago
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          The “respect” is letting her decide and then dropping the issue. After she refused she should have received more pressure, first in private and then, if necessary, in public. She should have been disrespected for the good of the nation.

    • crusa187
      24 days ago
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      Most idiotic plan, of course it’s hatched by the Dems.

  • b161
    195 days ago
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    People will come out and vote for Bernie.

        • DragonTypeWyvern
          104 days ago
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          I’ll vote for a senile old man who wants universal healthcare and won’t help do a genocide any day of the week.

          I’ll also vote for a senile old liberal who’s the opposite of both of those things when the alternative is a fuckin Nazi, but that doesn’t mean I’ll be quiet about my displeasure.

  • Paragone
    144 days ago
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    Because it is sooo late in the arbitrary-election-cycle, no matter what the Dems do, they’re fucked.

    Go with Biden?

    Then they’re fucked.

    Go with Kamala Harris, whom the white-supremacists have been working against for years?

    Then they’re fucked.

    Find somebody else?

    There isn’t time, so then they’re fucked.


    This highlights the category of political-lesson that you have to “fail early & fail often” ( to use a phrase from successful serial-startup founders ) in order to find the robust candidates whom you can currently win with.

    UNlike the way the Dems have played.

    The CNN+NYT “shutting down” of progressive-issues & progressive-voices, in the last election, burned too much potential out of existence, and that traction is gone: non-recoverable.

    The mega-entitlement of the Biden insitution is buckling & collapsing with increasing obviousity.

    I fucking told everyone so, again & again & again, but it was all my “delusion” & “incompetence” & “defectiveness” & “lies”, was it??

    Trump is going to become the US’s dictator,

    & is going to begin the 2nd half of the US’s Civil War ( the Confederates only pretended to surrender, & now are earning a “reverse takeover” ), & the butchery will probably reduce the US’s population by 2/3rds, within 12y, counting all the consequences both direct & indirect ( complete failure to manage a hurricane’s landfall costs much more life than does managing it competently: multiply that by a dozen per year, & you’ve got human-costs up the gills, without even considering atmospheric-rivers, megadroughts, quakes, wildfires, or any other kind of disaster to multiply costs on, right? ).

    it is infuriating to see people insist that “social pressure will make this work”, millions of times,

    while it measurably, proveably, isn’t working, but that is what Natural Selection at the species-level means, isn’t it?

    Terminal Species-ending Butchery.


    Sunak’s obliteration of his own party, Kim Campbell’s obliteration of her own party, what was that Liberal premier who wiped out her own party, in Ontario, can’t remember that one’s name

    Social-pressure never acts when it is needed, it only acts when it gets around to feeling comfortable with acting, and that is consistently too-late.

    So, when will the Democratic Party admit they need to change gears??

    After they’ve fundamentally lost, is when.

    Imagine running a bunch of freight-trains that way: “oh, we’ll slow-down when we feel a collision beginning, but until then, we’re really fine, & there’s no indication of any real need to be doing anything different, is there?

    Feelings are the wrong metric for preventing this kind of catastrophy.

    frustration-rage

    Authority needs to have hard walls, bright lines, & deadly-force biting its corruptions/entitlements/dishonesties/DarkHexad enactments, etc.

    Political-process won’t ever allow any such rule, in its dominion, of course

    And that is why political-process cannot be permitted to own our world’s fate: its conflict-of-interest, & its inescapable-corruption disallow integrity from ruling, & without integrity, then only “Justice”, with falsifying-quotes, the phony version of Justice, remains


    So, The Great Filter’s going to extinguish yet another world, from this Universe, is it?

    Political-machiavellianism/dishonesty’s going to snuff all LivingPotential, LivingWorth, LivingOpportunity of this whole world, while the “social consensus” indulges in orgiastic clusterfucking, until existential-viability itself is gone??

    Ah, but at least everyone will be able to feel that they “weren’t responsible”, right?

    Social-feelings: that’s the real LORD, and so long as it’s happy, then existence, itself, isn’t actually necessary, right??


    bitterness

    • notanaltaccount
      23 days ago
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      It’s hard being intelligent enough to see the problems but lack the political will power and opportunity to change them.

      I believe you. I think Trump has a very good chance of winning and the result could be conflict among different states or groups within them. Unless the conspiracy theorists are right and the Gavin/Kamala ticket is already selected for the ballot and the win. But it seems likely Trump will win. The upper classes have engaged in price gouging because a Democrat was in office, Biden never called them out on it in aggressive way because he lacked the aggressive nature and rage and gall to do it, and an incredible number of people are feeling stressed out by price changes. There are also many swing voters unhappy with immigration policies and think they are too mild. Between the two issues, Biden would lose even if he did seem energetic and lucid.

      Do you think it’s bad enough that it makes sense to flee the US? And to where would one even flee? There are wars in Eastern Europe, it’s not even clear Western Europe is safe. I have always though Trump was likely in the pocket of Russia or an actual Russian Spy, so when Trump wins he will unequivocally support Putin, which will be a disaster because Western Europe can’t stand up to the evil of Putin and Trump alone especially not when there are Chinese and Saudi alliances that Putin has been working on.

      It’s terrible but the best option is probably for Biden to escalate the war now, which he is unlikely to do since he’s sort of become a bit of a hippy. Putin sees Biden’s hippy weakness as well. If Trump is a Russian spy, the US intel agencies likely know and have to decide whether to do something to protect the country, even something that some might seem nefarious.

      It’s a terrible situation and mostly a distraction from the environmental catastrophy on the horizon.

      Do you think it makes sense to leave the US now? I am not that attached to anything and could go anywhere. I am white but don’t like bigots, which may impact my options.

    • Shardikprime
      34 days ago
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      Bro had absolutely zero business writing this banger but he did it anyways, what a madlad.

      Respect

      • DragonTypeWyvern
        44 days ago
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        I mean, I think it devolved into a literal mental breakdown at the end. That or it was just a freeform poem all along.

        • Shardikprime
          14 days ago
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          Nah he’s basically saying people mind more to stroke their egos and what others in their in-group think of them , so much in fact, they be willing to risk humanity itself just to not give their perceived enemies the satisfaction

  • girlfreddyOP
    365 days ago
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    I’d go for Bernie myself.

    I mean just imagine that! In a year of some of the worst and craziest ‘first-time-evers’ Sanders could be the DNC’s candidate.

    • Flying Squid
      575 days ago
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      You’d go for someone older than Biden?

      I like Bernie, but that’s a ridiculous replacement.

      • Drag it thru daGardenEnglish
        375 days ago
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        I think it’s Bernie’s competency that’s appealing. Sure he’s older, but he’s in touch with reality and has never stopped fighting for tangible as well as progressive ideals.

      • ramenshaman
        185 days ago
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        Bernie is sharper on his worst day than Biden or Trump are on their best day.

      • girlfreddyOP
        205 days ago
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        I think at this point he has a lot going for him, ie: he’s recognizable, he’s popular with a large segment of Americans, he can play the game well (as seen when he graciously accepted the DNC’s bs in 2015), he’s kind, he’s rarely (if ever) been known to publically lie, he’s smarter than at least half of Congress and the House of Reps, etc etc.

        • Flying Squid
          145 days ago
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          You can’t simultaneously argue that Biden is too old to be president and that we should have someone even older instead.

            • Flying Squid
              165 days ago
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              Good luck convincing all the people who have spent months saying that Biden is too old to be president to accept someone even older.

              • imaqtpieEnglish
                25 days ago
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                You do realize that age is not a perfect proxy for mental competence? A good number of people remain mentally sharp well into their 90s, while others experience rapid dementia as early as their 60s.

                I’m not saying his age wouldn’t be a talking point, but I’m damn sure Bernie could express his platform with more clarity and vitality than Biden at this point. Unfortunately I dont think it’s a real possibility, but it’s stupid to act like the the actual birth date matters. It’s the signs of cognitive decline that are problematic.

                • Flying Squid
                  45 days ago
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                  When people are repeatedly arguing that Biden (and Trump as well) are too old to be president, I’m not sure why that wouldn’t matter.

          • girlfreddyOP
            35 days ago
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            I never argued Biden was too old.

            But if I had I would have argued that of any candidate in that age group, Bernie could defy the odds as far as ageism goes.

        • tamal3
          105 days ago
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          I hear you buddy, but I think that chance was squashed by the DNC last time around. He was old when he ran, and he’s 8 years older than that now. Besides, “the South won’t vote socialist” is still just as true now as then.

          I wish it weren’t so!

      • crusa187
        14 days ago
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        Bernie is still mentally sound. He’d make for a far better candidate, and would easily mop the floor with Trump in a debate.

      • 𝕽𝖚𝖆𝖎𝖉𝖍𝖗𝖎𝖌𝖍
        -45 days ago
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        Once again, we agree.

        Why always with the old white men, when we have prominent politicians like Yang, Buttigieg, Klobuchar? And as for Bernie, if you want a firebrand who’s going to alienate moderates, why not AOC? Well, she’s too young to run, but she’s not the only truly liberal option. Warren is old enough, progressive enough, and a woman. But, no, Bernie Bros gotta Bro.

        • Flying Squid
          75 days ago
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          I’m honestly trying to think of who they could run this late and I’m coming up short. Gavin Newsom is terrible idea in my opinion. Like you said, AOC is too young. Kamala Harris? People hate her.

          • ironhydroxideEnglish
            145 days ago
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            The age specifics might be important. AOC turns 35 in October, before she’d take office if elected. And therefore might actually be eligible.

            • Flying Squid
              05 days ago
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              That would be the sort of legal battle that I could see taking too long to resolve.

              • citrusfaceEnglish
                235 days ago
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                There’s no battle to be had. You can be elected at 34 and you have to be 35 to serve. As long as you are 35 before inauguration, you are good. There is nothing to challenge. It’s cut and dry.

          • gbuttersnaps
            35 days ago
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            Def not Kamala. A buddy and I were throwing around ideas earlier and he mentioned Michelle, which threw me off but I think she would have just as much of a chance as anyone.

          • AlligatorBlizzard
            15 days ago
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            Tim Walz. Minnesota has been kicking ass with progressive legislation these past few years, and here in Minnesota we’ve been wondering if he’s been quietly trying to get his name out there to run for President. (And the general consensus is that we don’t want to lose him as governor, but I guess we’ll give him up to save US democracy, lol.) On paper he’s fairly moderate too.

            • Flying Squid
              05 days ago
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              I’ve never even heard of him and I’m more politically in the know than a lot of people.

              • AlligatorBlizzard
                25 days ago
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                Is that really a bad thing, though? Generic Democrat polls really well against Trump. The people who know of Walz really like him, even the more reasonable rural Republicans here grudgingly admit that while they don’t agree with him politically he clearly cares about Minnesotans. Newsom doesn’t have that. The past couple of years have seen some semi-viral quotes from him poking at politicians in red states, mostly along the lines of “we fed children, what have you done?, and I’ve seen them posted here. The people who know him like him. For the people who don’t, he’s Generic Democrat. He’s well spoken enough to handle the discussions around the George Floyd protests (which already came up in the first debate but Biden didn’t address directly). He’s well spoken, smart, kind, and down to earth - everything Trump isn’t.

                Also, I hadn’t heard of Obama before he ran for president. For a sufficiently likable candidate, it’s not a deal breaker.

                • Flying Squid
                  25 days ago
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                  Then there’s this little time to campaign? I’d say yes. You had a lot more time to learn about who Obama was.

          • Agreed, and agreed.

            Why not Klobuchar? She’s got some national recognition from the 2019/20 cycle, politics are acceptable to moderates, progressive (enough), and she’d eat Trump for lunch in debates and on social media. Plus, she’s from the Midwest, and might pick up some folks for regional loyalty, and could play against the “slick New Yorker” which might still work.

            The bases are going to vote party lines. I think undecideds and wavering moderates are the pick-up points, and I think Klobuchar could do that.

            I like Yang’s politics, but he’s got a popularity problem, and Buttigieg - Trump would just harp on his sexual orientation, and I’m not confident enough that America’s ready yet to vote for a gay president. Hell, we can’t even get a woman into office.

            IMO Klobuchar’s the safest bet against Trump.

            • Flying Squid
              65 days ago
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              Klobuchar is definitely a good idea. Although I’m not convinced that replacing Biden this late in the game is going to save the presidency either. I don’t know what should be done.

              • NobodyElse
                55 days ago
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                The only reason to vote for Biden at this point is anti-Trump and Blue No Matter Who. Those still apply to anyone else that the DNC puts forward, as a base score, with any actual merits, charisma, or vigor adding to that. This should have been an easy decision six months ago and doing-nothing-and-hoping-for-the-best doesn’t seem to be making the prospects any better.

                • Flying Squid
                  -15 days ago
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                  anti-Trump sounds like a pretty damn good reason for me. Unless you think there’s a good reason to let a dictator win.

            • njm1314
              55 days ago
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              Trump won’t agree to a debate with a new candidate. I doubt that there be another debate at all as is.

              • For sure. But there will be a lot of indirect debate on social media, because Trump can’t keep his burger-hole shut, and Klobuchar’s free to murder him (metaphorically) on public platforms. Even if he only posts to TruthSocial, everything he says gets parroted on X and Facebook, and that’s still where the most eyeballs are.

                And old school public media picks this stuff up and repeats it - that’s mostly what they’ve been reduced to -but it still reaches a lot of eyes and ears.

                And: Trump refusing another debate, she could just hammer on his cowardice, over and over. That’d be a win.

                Klobuchar is tough. If nothing else, I’d love to see that fight. Only slightly less than I’d love to see an AOC v Trump fight; that’d be like watching a skinny junkie enter the MMA ring against Holly Holm. It’d be hilarious. But AOC is too young, and Trump will be either dead or in a home by the time she’s old enough to run. I just hope Bernie is still active enough by then to support her. I don’t know that she could get elected - she’s too polarizing - but it would be a marvelous spectacle.

                Anyway, I prefer Yang’s politics, and I’d be thrilled to see Buttigieg in the White House, but I stand by Klobuchar as the best bet.

                • dogslayeggs
                  45 days ago
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                  AOC turns 35 before the election, so she’s eligible. She might be “too young” to vote for but not too young to run.