What do you think about Joe Biden's second run for President?

I will vote for him, because the Republicans are all fascists, bigots, and hate-mongers.

I agree with @Hawaii_Jake but I doubt Biden will live all the way until 2028.

I agree with the above, but I was hoping another strong Democrat would run.

I will vote for anybody besides Trump except for Robert Kennedy, Jr.

I don’t vote. Never will.

As far as Biden goes. I think he’s sadly the least of the two current evils available.

I’m not a fan of the democrats’ lack of strategy, or aggressiveness in trying to develop a strong top tier few candidates. Especially when Trump will likely be the opposition. The dems seem fine with another “what, are you gonna elect Trump?” approach in 2024. With that strategy, they are 1/1…
There is so much to undo, from previous administrations, and still much that the democratic party has not came through on.

The GOP… It’s hard to think they’ve come to a point where their loudest voices, clearly shouldn’t even be leaders at any level of government.
Their positions are indefensible.
The fact that Trump will likely AGAIN be the top candidate for the GOP, tells a truly disturbing story about a tad less than half of America’s population. It’s just surreal. The end is near…

If I were the dems. I would run Biden. But. See if I could get a new VP candidate. A strong running mate would go a long way to easing concern over Biden’s age.

Likely won’t win if nominated. Big IF!

Not excited at all with this economy. A 40 year high but he keeps saying it’s great. 7.99 for one cauliflower head is great? Smh.

I think that Biden running is something that has to happen. The Dems really don’t have anyone else worth the time, not that Biden is that good. The ticket of Biden/Harris is a recipe for even more damage to this country if they were elected for a second term.

Biden was too old the last time.

From an outsider looking in Biden is still a far better choice than Trump.
As for age Trump aint that much younger than Biden and shows less signs of dementia than Trump does.

I think Biden is a walking zombie. He is not the same person we saw during his time as VP. Also speaking of V.P., Harris is about as bright as a bag of hammers. Time for a change of leadership.

I think he is the best person for the party. He already is the oldest president elected on his first term.
I think he has surrounded himself with good quality people and allowed them to do their jobs. This is the mark of a good leader.
This is something that the former President did not do.

I don’t like that any candidate has announced yet. It is ridiculous what we do in the US starting with this so far before the first primary.

I wish the Democrats were running someone younger. I wonder who Biden will choose for a running mate, will it be Harris again? If he is challenged by other Democrats I wonder what will happen. I agree with @Caravanfan that Kennedy is horrible, so forget him, but even a reasonable candidate it’s scary. Biden has been ok in my opinion, even though I don’t agree with everything he does. He is definitely better than Trump, or most any Republican at this time. Especially better than who the Republicans are likely to choose as their nominee, because they are still letting the “base” rule even if there are republicans who are reasonable out there.

I do think if the election was today Biden would win against Trump, but I think he would lose against DeSantis.

The way I remember it, Roosevelt ran a fourth time basically for the country. He was ill and four terms was a lot for him, but I think he did it out of obligation, and Biden would be similar from my perspective.

The big question is, if Biden doesn’t run who should for the Democrats?

@KNOWITALL No argument from me that there has been some inflation, but I also think companies take advantage of people’s belief that the inflation is causing high prices and especially in Republican parts of the country I think a part of the population wants to be able to complain about it. I don’t think you are like that, but there are people who are that way. Both Republicans and Democrats are complaining about inflation and getting taken advantage of. Don’t pay gouging prices. See if the price comes down in a few weeks if you stop buying it. I just bought a packaged salad for $3.50, not much more than 5 years ago, and apples for $1.79 a lb. I never bought a dozen eggs for $8, I just skipped eggs for a few weeks.

Under Trump (and other presidents) inflation and interest rates were way too low and this is the bounce back. It should never be 2% loans or .03% interest on bank accounts. That was horrible. I guess we will see if we can get back to 4%-5% loans in a year or so.

I’d vote for Biden’s 95 year old teeth for President if Republicans keep insisting on supporting douchebags and assholes.

@JLeslie I think a lot of it how much has gone to Ukraine.

@KNOWITALL What has gone to Ukraine? I’m not understanding.

Okay, please don’t listen to polls! Be very aware that they are rarely conducted in such a way that they are a true indication of how people feel. Sometimes they are even taken in such a way so that they are purposefully slanted. I honestly think that this is something that is being cultivated by the Republicans to cast doubt in people about Joe Biden running again for president, and if we’re not careful, we’re going to become victims of the old principle of divide and conquer.

I know President Biden is getting up there, and I wish he was younger, but he is the man we need in office right now. Look how much he has accomplished in the past couple years, even with having a lot of pushback from the Republican party. Don’t let these polls cast doubt on the fact that we need to be united behind President Biden.

@JLeslie I would love to Pete Buttigieg run as VP with Biden. I know he doesn’t have as much experience as we might want as of yet, but he is so bright and intelligent, and look at how many times he has been able to answer back to those criticizing him in an intelligent and thoughtful way.

And, I just want to say, that DeSantis won’t ever win. He is digging his grave deeper and deeper even now, but even discounting that, too many people have seen the fascist laws that he is passing in Florida and there is no way they are going to allow that to happen to the country.

Marianne Williamson is looking to give him a run for his money, She’s already polling about where Bernie was and doing well with the young voter demographic. Of course the “left” media is doing a blackout on her—just like they did to Bernie. She’s not my favorite, but she hasn’t sexually assaulted her staffer that I’m aware of, hasn’t help push us into war with Iraq, didn’t architect the crime bill that lead to mass incarceration of the black community, didn’t author the bankruptcy bill that fucked over working class Americans to get her relatives sweet consulting fees. Also her brain isn’t mush and she’s not telling people to lick the world.

I don’t know if Marianne can beat Trump, but I know Biden will lose to him. I hope Jon Stewart runs. I don’t think he wants to, but I know he’d wipe the floor with Republicans.

@LifeQuestioner I think DeSantis is an idiot to go after Disney. Plus, I figure his shift further right on abortion is to satisfy the billionaire White Supremacist Dominionists to get a big donation from them, but I don’t know that for sure.

I’m assuming you think DeSantis is done because you are watching MSNBC, but my feeling is MSNBC is either not understanding DeSantis’ popularity or they are being propagandists trying to get people to believe it because they say it. OR, they are hoping or trying to manipulate DeSantis to change his tactics and lay off abortion and Disney.

The liberal media was clueless and deaf when it came to Trump running the first time, and they still get it wrong regarding Republicans.

DeSantis had the perfect opportunity to back off regarding Disney, and instead he persists. DeSantis did the 15 week abortion law, and now has gone for 6 weeks. I can only assume it’s mostly for money. I hope he screwed himself for a presidential run and for ever running in FL again, but I doubt it.

@gorillapaws wow! There’s so much of what you posted that I won’t even respond to. But I will say that once again the polls are totally off if you think that Marianne Williamson has any chance of winning. She was basically a laughing stock in 2020, and I watched the debates. And not to be cruel, but she was a laughing stock. Bernie Sanders I like, but he is way too extreme to get the independent vote.

@JLeslie actually, although I like MSNBC, I spend little time watching it. That seems paradoxical, but I watch very little TV nowadays. I do however go on social media and talk to people about how they’re feeling about various candidates and I can tell you that people are determined that DeSantis not get elected. They feel that that would be just as bad as Trump becoming president, maybe worse because he at least has half a brain.

I’m beginning to wonder if all these Republican politicians, including DeSantis but in other states as well, are passing all these crazy laws because they are trying to detract from what is going on with Trump. They’re trying to draw the attention off of him so that less people are paying attention to what is happening with him.

By the way, at least for now, there is a law in Florida apparently where, if you are presidential candidate, you cannot be up for reelection as governor. So DeSantis has to keep that in mind because if he goes for the presidency, but then it doesn’t go well, then he wouldn’t be governor of Florida for the next term either.

@LifeQuestioner I do however go on social media and talk to people about how they’re feeling about various candidates and I can tell you that people are determined that DeSantis not get elected.

Are you talking to Democrats? That doesn’t mean anything if you are. You’re just in an echo chamber then.

I thought DeSantis is trying to change the law that he would have to resign to run for president, I haven’t kept up with that. If he has to resign I’m not so sure he’ll run. I think he’ll wait until 2028. I guess it depends how much money is thrown at him.

Watch the CNN Special Report titled something like Deep Pockets in Texas and you will see why Republicans go lunatic extreme right on issues. Scary stuff.

Sorry for second post.

On my facebook Republican friends are posting about staying loyal to Tucker Carlson and how wonderful he is. I’ve seen 3 posts so far with people commenting below in agreement.they probably have no idea about his lies or the Dominion settlement.

To be clear, Dominionists have nothing to do with Dominion voting machines. Dominionists are White Supremacists Christian fundamentalists.

@JLeslie actually, I talk to both sides on social media. I think the more that we can have a dialogue between the different political parties, the better it is. That being said, you generally can’t have much of a conversation with the really extreme people who only believe the conspiracy theories and the lies that Trump has fed them, along with Tucker Carlson and the like. I will occasionally start talking to them but as soon as they start spewing nonsense, I usually go on my way. But there are more reasonable people that you can have a conversation with, even if you might not agree. And a lot of them are starting to say that DeSantis s is just too much, even if they initially thought he was a viable option as opposed to Trump.

@LifeQuestioner I think you’re making the mistake that “Independents” mean halfway between Republican and Democrat. Most are usually to the far left or far right and don’t identify with the main parties for many reasons. The vast majority of working class Americans support progressive fiscal policies: Democrats, Independents and even Republicans. As for Marianne, do you have specific objections to her policies that you find so outlandish as to be outright dismissed as a “laughing stock.”

@gorillapaws I know that being independent doesn’t mean you are halfway between left and right. But I talked to a number of Independents back then who thought he was just too extreme.

As far as Marianne, I couldn’t get past her whole new-agey, almost hippie like demeanor. I will confess that I was less familiar with her policies, although I remember hearing some specific things back then that I wasn’t thrilled about. I’m sorry, it’s been too long ago and she kind of fell off my radar, but I honestly can’t believe that she has changed much since then. It probably doesn’t matter because I’m a staunch Biden supporter so I wouldn’t consider voting for her anyway. And I stand by what I said that unless we want the Republicans to totally take over our country, we need to stand behind one person and that I think that one person in the moment is Biden. I would like to see fresh blood, but right now we need experience to deal with all the many things going on in the world today, not just our country.

@LifeQuestioner “But I talked to a number of Independents back then who thought he was just too extreme.”

That’s fine, but keep in mind that Bernie polled better with independents than with Democrats.

Of course you’re entitled to dislike a candidate for having a “new-agey, almost hippie like demeanor” but I’ll take that over a guy who pushed his intern against the wall, digitally penetrated her vagina against her will and then when she rejected his assault told her “she was nothing” and then fired her. 70% of Americans don’t think he should run again. I would encourage you to reevaluate the criteria for determining the one guy you want everyone to stand behind. Biden would lose to any Republican at this point, and he would have lost to Trump had Covid-19 not happened.

@LifeQuestioner I have plenty of Republicans friends I can talk to, and a few jellies here too who are Republican or are what I would say conservative and are not off in the extremes of the party, but the “base” has a strong hold over the party unfortunately. I agree with the Republicans at times, but actually plenty of Democrats are moderate so that’s not so surprising. I’d say the majority of the country has some crossover in both directions.

@gorillapaws from NPR…

“No contemporaneous notes or documentation of the alleged incident have been found, and Reade’s account has been denied by longtime Biden staffers whom she worked for at the time.”

The article then goes on to say that her story has been inconsistent over time. She also doesn’t remember exactly where it allegedly happened, which, if that happened to me, I would remember every single detail of it and I certainly would have documented it as well. I understand that women are sometimes afraid to come forward in the moment, and for good reason, but I certainly would have written down what happened for my own records. Sorry, I’m not buying it.

@JLeslie if you’re talking about Republicans, as most of them used to be, then yeah. And there are still people with more moderate views and not following along with the extremists, but sadly, there’s an office seem to be toeing the line to support Trump or, if not him, DeSantis. As far as somebody said further up, maybe you but I’m too lazy to go back up and read all the posts, I don’t think they have that progressive of fiscal views. In general they want to cut programs at least somewhat. As someone who probably could not get by without Medicaid, I fully understand why programs like that are needed. I know there are some who take advantage of such programs, but there are plenty of people who genuinely need the help.

I’m not sure it’s the majority of the country though that agrees on things. Sadly, the divide seems to be getting wider every day.

@LifeQuestioner First, there could be records of the complaint that are being held by the University of Deleware. Biden hasn’t allowed their release.

Just because her initial complaint didn’t fully elaborate on how extreme the assault was, doesn’t mean she’s been “inconsistent.” Victims will often only reveal the full extent of an assault later on as they build courage to do so. Remember that Biden has a pattern of inappropriate touching of women.

Reade did confide in friends at the time who have confirmed the story.

Also, how did Tara Reade go back in time to have her mom phone in to Larry King Live?

Marianne Williamson is the Deepak Chopra of politics.
I win this thread.

@LifeQuestioner I understand the need for Medicaid, and am all for helping people who need it, but I would call myself fiscally moderate, because I care about a balanced budget, and hate having a huge deficit. We need to tax the wealthy more, and I would include estate taxes, which continue to have higher and higher exemptions. I think the exemption is now $12 million per person, and we have lower and middle class Republicans crying about estate taxes. They don’t come close to paying any federal estate taxes. Most Americans don’t.

Lots of people abuse Medicaid and Medicare, I actually am most upset about medical entities or medical professionals abusing them than the average individual.

I’m for funding higher education, but only if the government looks at tuitions more critically. Some tuition rates are astronomical, and I can’t understand how they are justified. I don’t believe in forgiving student loans. Also, I don’t want funding only at the community college level. Poor children should be able to go to universities too. This really needs to be done better. The way the government hands out student loans now seems terrible to me, and incentivizes universities to raise tuition costs.

ACA hands out excessive amounts of money to insurance companies that are making huge profits, I have a really big problem with that, and I am fundamentally in favor of socialized medicine, caps on medical fees, and other medical regulations to guard against gouging.

@Caravanfan She may have said some metaphysically nonsensical shit, but is it really that much crazier than the shit Catholics believe about Popes being a spiritual intermediary to God, and all of their positions on women’s bodies? I can assure you she’s never publicly said anything as nonsensical as whatever this train wreck was.

It’s just bizarre to me that the senile guy that 70% of the country doesn’t want to run, with the weird, little girl hair smelling fettish, being Weekend At Bernies across the finish like by the Democratic establishment is somehow the obvious choice from the Democratic Party. If he strokes out completely, they’re going to fill his ass up with formaldehyde and marionette him through the primaries—because let’s be honest, the main goal of the DNC/corporate media isn’t to defeat the Republicans in the General, it’s to prevent a progressive from winning the primaries and end the corruption party they’re enjoying so much.

@gorillapaws To be clear, in the highly unlikely chance Williamson can somehow beat Biden (or whoever emerges as front runner) I will vote for her over Trump. I would vote for anybody over Trump unless that person happens to have a last name of Kennedy, Jr. If you recall, I said the same thing about Bernie—I’d happily vote for Bernie over Trump.

It’s just that I think Williamson is a kook.

“Cancer and AIDS and other serious illnesses are manifestations of a psychic scream, and their message is not ‘Hate me,’ but ‘Love me.’” —Marianne Williamson.

^Sounds sane.~

@JLeslie I agree with you about the tuition aid. I think something needs to be done where universities aren’t charging such ridiculous tuition to start with. Way back when I went to school, it wasn’t anywhere near that high. I kind of feel the same way about housing. A lot of people want the government to have an input on that and to help people with housing costs, whether buying or renting, but I think we just need to do something about the extreme cost of buying and renting. I’m not sure exactly what that would be, but it’s gotten really out of hand. A person in their thirties working a reasonably good paying full-time job can hardly afford to buy a house now. I also don’t think it’s helping that you have these people that are buying houses and then flipping them for exorbitant prices, which keeps the average person from being able to afford a house.

I’m all for taxing the wealthy more. I guess in some things I am moderate too. I wish there was a way to stop those people abusing the system because I don’t want to end programs that genuinely help people, but at the same time we need to figure out how to stop the abuse.

I think if we’re looking at Biden for President 2024, we have to really consider that Harris might very well end up President at some point, because at 86 years old, Biden will very possibly end up with some medical crisis.

@jca2 Exactly, and she’s definitely not my first choice. Unfairly, it will also fire up the WS even more. Black president with a Jewish husband.

More power to him!

Not excited.

Saw an interview last night with Arnold Schwarzenegger about Trump, and he said against Biden, Biden definitely wins. He said too many people see what Trump is and what he did and does. I’m not sure if that’s being naive and idealistic or if he actually has the pulse on the situation in the US now. He basically compares Trump to Hitler, and talks about the men who are sucked into the hate. He references his father being a Nazi during WWII.

Part of what Arnold said was the farther to the left the Democrats go, the bigger the reaction to the extreme right we will get from the Republicans. That sort of touches on what I have warned against with how the Democrats campaign, and some of the policies the very progressive part of the party wants.

Here’s my Q about it. https://i.fluther.com/235992/do-you-think-arnold-schwarzenegger-is-right-about-trump-cant-win/

@JLeslie So the Republican Politician thinks the Democrats should continue to move even further to the right? Shocking.

It’s a moronic strategy. Biden is objectively one of the most conservative Democrats in the party’s history and the Right still treats him like he’s a Commie. Biden has always been in the pocket of Wall Street his entire career (being from Delaware). He’s advocated Cutting Social Security and other austerity measures. He’s been a hawk. He just fucking opened up Alaska to drilling—while we’re facing climate change. He fucked over Rail Unions. And he’s still too liberal for most conservative voters—and aways will be, because conservative voters aren’t worth chasing by continuing to move the Democratic Party to the right. Democrats even brought in several Republicans to speak at their 2020 DNC convention.

Anyone pretending that Democrats are too far left are either really confused about the facts from too much corporate media, are interested in pushing the country to the Right (thanks Arnold) or are out of their minds. Half of the country doesn’t vote. It makes more sense to go after those voters with policies that are popular like Medicare for all. 7 in 10 support it and it’s a much better way to bring Republicans to vote blue than trying to be “Republican lite” as Biden is. 4 in 10 Republicans support Medicare for all. Biden said he’d veto it.

@Caravanfan I’m not going to defend everything Marrianne has written or said. I’m not into new age spirituality. I do know she ministered to a lot of folks dying of AIDS back when nobody wanted to go anywhere near them and gave them comfort in their final days. That’s a good and noble thing. I also don’t know the timing and context of some of her statements. We evolve and mature. When I was much younger I used to be open minded about things like psychics and ghosts. Like I said, she’s not the one I would have chosen, to represent progressive policy this election cycle. But she’s the only candidate that supports Medicare for all in this race.

Something like 25k-40k Americans die every year from lack of health insurance. That’s like executing 65–100 people every day with a bullet to the head to protect the health insurance industry (who then fund the campaigns of people like Biden). It’s grotesque and Biden saying he would veto legislation to end that is way more crazy than anything Marrianne has ever said.

@gorillapaws So you are hanging your hat on only one issue. Medicare for All. Period. Yet the POTUS has to be a leader, a diplomat, a soldier, has to have a firm grasp of economics….a whole plethora of issues. Would Marianne Williamson be good at all of these other issues? Would she have support anywhere in Congress? If the answer to these questions is “No”, then she could conceivably do far more harm than good to the country and STILL not get Medicare for All to be a real live thing.

@seawulf575 In my experience most people have dealbreaker issues. For a huge portion of the country it’s abortion rights. It doesn’t mean they don’t care about other issues.

@seawulf575 Medicare for All and raising the minimum wage are issues that draw huge support across all working class voters (including conservatives). They’re winners as far as the kinds of policies to build a campaign around. It’s much more effective than running as “I’m a conservative Democrat—basically a Republican, but more woke and less crazy.”

It’s not the only issue I agree with Marianne on. There are dozens.

@gorillapaws Again, to be crystal clear (see what I did there?) in the unlikely event she were to get the nomination I would vote for her. She’s still a kook.

But I agree with you re: Arnold. And I write this as a moderate Democrat who voted for Arnold. I really liked his first term as governor. (Second, not so much). The Democrats have to get someone who is farther to the left in order to succeed. I think Biden could win again by being Not Trump, but let’s say someone like Nikki Haley were to win and fire up the right base. Biden won’t have a chance.