Starker on 6/3/2020 at 05:15
Quote Posted by heywood
Since you asked, here’s why I think he’s weak:
He’s a lousy fundraiser
He’s not very good on the stump
He embodies “the establishment” when the voters who are up for grabs probably still lean populist
He’s carrying baggage from all those years in government
His constituency and appeal is in the party mainstream; I don’t see him bringing new voters into the party
He doesn’t have a movement or enthusiastic base behind him. Overall, his support seems soft, they walked away from him before in this campaign, and could do so again.
If he wins, what’s he going to do with the office? He hasn’t really articulated a vision for the country. What does he stand for? What are his priorities and agenda? Can he give people positive reasons to vote *for* him, or does he simply expect people to vote for him because he’s not Donald Trump?
His mental fitness seems legitimately questionable.
Oh, wow, if Bernie loses against that, he never had a chance to begin with. But are things really as bad as you think they are, though?
For example:
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He doesn’t have a movement or enthusiastic base behind him. Overall, his support seems soft, they walked away from him before in this campaign, and could do so again.
Is it really fair to compare people shopping around for the strongest candidate to what they are going to do in the general election? Did they really walk away because they lost interest or did they try to find the candidate most likely to beat Lord Dampnut? I'm inclined to think the latter is the case -- beating Lord Dampnut seems to be the number one issue for Democrats and Democrat leaning voters. And Biden is the candidate best suited to make the election a referendum on him.
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He’s not very good on the stump
...
His mental fitness seems legitimately questionable.
I have watched a little bit of his performance and no, he's no Barack Obama, that's for sure. But he didn't seem to be much worse than Bernie, from what I've seen. And he was perfectly lucid. Are you aware that he has fought stuttering for his whole life? Some of the techniques used to avoid stuttering might make a person seem weird, but it's not like it's a sudden thing. He has been like that for decades.
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https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/01/joe-biden-stutter-profile/602401/)
A stutter does not get worse as a person ages, but trying to keep it at bay can take immense physical and mental energy. Biden talks all day to audiences both small and large. In addition to periodically stuttering or blocking on certain sounds, he appears to intentionally not stutter by switching to an alternative word—a technique called “circumlocution”—*which can yield mangled syntax. I’ve been following practically everything he’s said for months now, and sometimes what is quickly characterized as a memory lapse is indeed a stutter. As Eric Jackson, the speech pathologist, pointed out to me, during a town hall in August Biden briefly blocked on Obama, before quickly subbing in my boss. The headlines after the event? “Biden Forgets Obama’s Name.”
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If he wins, what’s he going to do with the office? He hasn’t really articulated a vision for the country. What does he stand for? What are his priorities and agenda? Can he give people positive reasons to vote *for* him, or does he simply expect people to vote for him because he’s not Donald Trump?
I don't think it will come down to policy, though. Biden campaigns on a return to normalcy and his policy is fairly basic stuff -- try to improve on Obamacare and get more people covered, try to get a public option going, etc. And to me it seems like a pretty good sell in the current climate.
Also, a lot of the things people seem to want from a president do not come from the executive, but from the legislative branch. For example, Bernie has promised to legalise weed in every state and and to overturn all sentences for marijuana possession. How exactly is he going to do that without controlling the Senate as well as state legislatures?
Above and beyond all that, though, Biden seems to scare the crap out of Lord Dampnut and his henchmen:
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https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/486042-republicans-rooting-for-sanders-see-biden-wins-as-setback)
Republican lawmakers are surprised and disappointed by the results of Super Tuesday, which firmly re-established former Vice President Joe Biden as the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination and dealt Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) a major setback.
Republican senators conceded Wednesday they would rather face Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, as the opposing nominee, instead of Biden, whom they consider more mainstream and tougher to draw a contrast with.
In the battle for the Senate, Republicans would like to tie Democratic candidates to Sanders and socialism, and generally see Biden as a stronger candidate. Similarly, Democrats were uneasy about Sanders as their standard-bearer, and Biden has made this a point of attack on the campaign trail, arguing he would help Democrats take back the Senate.
“I think Bernie is the easiest to contrast with. Biden would be a little harder to contrast with,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.). “Truly, I think it’s better for us for Bernie to be the nominee in terms of down-ballot.”
The day after Biden’s big wins, Democrats received the welcome news that Montana Gov. Steve Bullock is poised to enter the race against Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.). Bullock would be a huge recruit for Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.).
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said last year he wanted to make the 2020 election a “referendum on socialism,” a plan that would be helped immensely if Democrats nominate Sanders, who advocates for “Medicare for All,” free college, student debt forgiveness and a wealth tax.
With Biden re-emerging as the favorite to win the Democratic nomination, GOP lawmakers acknowledge 2020 is likely to be more of a referendum on President Trump.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) called Biden the “safe pick” for Democrats. He said Sanders was “an easier target because he admits his socialism.”
Other Democratic candidates “believe in most of the things he believes in, but they don’t call themselves socialists,” he added.
GOP lawmakers thought they even had a chance of winning the House with Sanders as the Democratic nominee. Now that hope is fast fading, according to a GOP senator who requested anonymity to assess the presidential race.
“Anybody who wants the president to have an easier time with reelection, I think Sanders clearly helps that outcome,” said the Republican senator.
He said the speculation among Republicans on Capitol Hill on Wednesday morning was “if it’s not Sanders, Republicans probably don’t get the House back.”
“If it is Biden, that makes it a different outcome in the House,” the lawmaker added. “I don’t think the country is at all close to where Sanders is.”
It’s possible the GOP conventional wisdom, which is shared by much of the Democratic establishment, is wrong and Sanders would be a stronger candidate in the general election than Biden. Democrats in 2016, after all, thought Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton would defeat Trump.
[...]
