Joe Biden stands down as Democratic candidate • Hacker News Board

Re: Joe Biden stands down as Democratic candidate

#361

Post by mensetmanusman » Sun, Jul 21, 2024, 10:01 PM UTC

navjack27 wrote: post #120

readthenotes1 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem isn't just his age, it's his decrepitude, both physical and mental. I know people in their 90s who are able to speak clearly at any hour of the day...

Speaking clearly has nothing to do with mental fortitude. Tons of things can affect the fluency of speech. We really need to move past the days where we judge people's intelligence and competence based on how well the connections of their brain are able to influence the movement of the vocal cords and the tongue the lips and the jaw.

Speaking clearly has everything to do with mental fortitude for the most important communication job in the US.

Re: Joe Biden stands down as Democratic candidate

#362

Post by ajross » Sun, Jul 21, 2024, 10:02 PM UTC

0xcde4c3db wrote: post #349

gumby wrote: post #32

One of the most effective presidents since Johnson or Truman. But he did campaign on a single term. Let’s hope the Dem’s circular firing squad puts down its guns so they can quickly concentrate on winning the election with someone … probably Harris is the simplest answer.

[flagged]

> A fair number of Dems have seemingly engaged with the prospect of Biden stepping aside as a gateway to their wildest fantasies

Uh, who? Certainly there are people who have their own opinions out there somewhere, but virtually every name brand democrat over the past few hours has either explicitly endorsed Harris or notably avoided boosting a different candidate. And absolutely no one is going even the tiniest bit negative on Harris, at all.

No, it seems like a fait accompli at this point. Add to that her control over the almost $100M campaign warchest, and... yeah. The fight now is over who gets to be VP.

Re: Joe Biden stands down as Democratic candidate

#363

Post by vundercind » Sun, Jul 21, 2024, 10:02 PM UTC

RaftPeople wrote: post #328

HarHarVeryFunny wrote: post #318

Not going to happen, but I wonder how a mixed party ticket would do. Kamala (or whoever) + Mitt Romney as VP ? Has it ever been done? Would it work to attract the center/swing vote, or more likely to be a negative?

That's a pretty interesting thought. I read something a few years ago that said moderates/non-affiliated make up the majority of voters with only a smaller percentage on left and right tied to the parties (somewhere maybe in 15% to 20% range on each side, can't remember exactly). So it seems like a good mix of moderate could possibly win, especially when the other candidate is so polarizing.

True-swing voters are a tiny minority.

Most of the folks who say they’re unaffiliated or moderates or open to voting for either party in fact vote exactly like a self-reported partisan. They just don’t like the label.

Lots of crappy reporting doesn’t differentiate between self-reported swing/moderates and true swing.

GOTV matters more. Do your people show up at the polls?

Re: Joe Biden stands down as Democratic candidate

#364

Post by 632brick » Sun, Jul 21, 2024, 10:02 PM UTC

HarHarVeryFunny wrote: post #318

Not going to happen, but I wonder how a mixed party ticket would do. Kamala (or whoever) + Mitt Romney as VP ? Has it ever been done? Would it work to attract the center/swing vote, or more likely to be a negative?

The only example I could think of that sort of fits that bill: "National Union Party was a wartime coalition of Republicans, War Democrats, and border state Unconditional Unionists that supported the Lincoln Administration during the American Civil War. It held the 1864 National Union Convention that nominated Abraham Lincoln for president and Andrew Johnson for vice president in the 1864 United States presidential election." (wikipedia) Great success as an electoral pairing, not so much afterwards with Johnson's reconstruction policies resulting in all former Republicans leaving the National Union Party and an impeachment.

Re: Joe Biden stands down as Democratic candidate

#365

Post by taurath » Sun, Jul 21, 2024, 10:02 PM UTC

egberts1 wrote: post #34

[flagged]

> in circumventing all the Democrats' vote during primary

It wasn't really a primary, there was no actual opposition. I don't think anyone is somehow offended that they voted in a primary for a person who stepped down due to age as if their choice was taken to them.

Re: Joe Biden stands down as Democratic candidate

#366

Post by ipaddr » Sun, Jul 21, 2024, 10:02 PM UTC

Sajarin wrote: post #25

> It’s a miracle, folks. Donald told the truth for once. It’s the most important election of our lifetimes. And I will win it. Curiously, his tweet from just 18 hours ago seemed like he was still in the race. I wonder what changed.

Threat that they will use article 25 to get him removed as president if he didn't playball

Re: Joe Biden stands down as Democratic candidate

#367

Post by jiveturkey » Sun, Jul 21, 2024, 10:03 PM UTC

pan69 wrote: post #325

dbcurtis wrote: post #306

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The reality is that the campaign donations accumulated by the Biden/Harris ticket are only available to Harris. Anybody else is funding-challenged even more than Harris at this point. From the standpoint of campaign finance laws and the practical realities of fund-raising, it was Harris all along.

The Biden/Harris campaign can not donate their donations?

You think Harris would abdicate?

Re: Joe Biden stands down as Democratic candidate

#368

Post by vanattab » Sun, Jul 21, 2024, 10:03 PM UTC

karaterobot wrote: post #327

bushbaba wrote: post #291

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

It's not obvious how he could have prevented Russia from invading Ukraine, or stopped Hamas from invading Israel. Not everything comes back to the U.S. The biggest EV manufacturers in the U.S. are Tesla and Ford, as far as I can tell. No Chinese manufacturer I'm aware of has made significant inroads.

Chinese's EV's can't break into the us market. Biden put 100% special tairf on Chinese ev.

Re: Joe Biden stands down as Democratic candidate

#369

Post by smeej » Sun, Jul 21, 2024, 10:04 PM UTC

0xcde4c3db wrote: post #349

gumby wrote: post #32

One of the most effective presidents since Johnson or Truman. But he did campaign on a single term. Let’s hope the Dem’s circular firing squad puts down its guns so they can quickly concentrate on winning the election with someone … probably Harris is the simplest answer.

[flagged]

I don't know how much name recognition matters when people are SO polarized about the extremely well-known name on the other side.

It seems like this is really going to be a "for Trump" and "against Trump" election at this point. Nobody's going to leap out and knock anybody's socks off this close to the wire. All the dems need to do is present any body people are reasonably sure will still be warm in four years. The results won't differ much.

Re: Joe Biden stands down as Democratic candidate

#370

Post by C6JEsQeQa5fCjE » Sun, Jul 21, 2024, 10:04 PM UTC

nsguy wrote: post #236

_l7dh wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a very partial view. A good number of people, including American democrats were disgusted by his unwavering support to the current genocide in Gaza. Many believe he could have stopped it with a phone call and explicitly refused. I know many who swore they would not vote for him, regardless of the circumstances.

The US public is not as supportive of Israel as it used to be but support is still broad. The opinions you're reflecting are a small minority. I would expect that democrats lost votes on their "both sides" approach here since more centrists would have move to the right then people on the left who at best can not vote in protest. Stronger support for Israel would have not only reduced Palestinian suffering in the war…

> On the other hand, there is virtually no chance that the US could have forced Israel to stop the war because Israelis view this as an existential threat. No threats or measures the US would take would override that view. This is likely why Biden is not able to stop the war by making a phone call.

No chance? That's a very unimaginative view. Here's one way to do it that would have caused Israel to immediately stop: "If you keep going against what we are publicly saying, we will no longer veto security council resolutions against you, and UNGA will move forward with sanctions once they realize we're not going to protect you anymore."