🇺🇸 Ridin’ with Biden: It's Joever

[Iceman]

Yeah, they have my vote. Anyone undecided needs to ask what kind of country they want. One where rights and protections get stripped away, or one where there is actual freedom?

Anyone undecided at this point is obviously cut from a different cloth and doesn’t think like us. They are those who entertain the prospect of Trump even if they aren’t necessarily enthusiastic about it. It doesn’t take as much to sway them. Trump is terrible but he’s consistent (consistently terrible). Biden’s recent deterioration is unfortunately a material difference to the status quo we had before.

 

[Lily Adler]

 

[BatLobster]

Biden misspeaks and gaffes but he still displayed substantive understanding of complex geopolitics in that presser that is eons beyond Trump's constant stream of word salad and third grade bully worldview (which was still true for the debate too). I am not buying any sort of false equivalency there. This narrative that he's a vegetable just doesn’t pass the smell test for me. He's older, and his verbal skills are shakier than when he was younger...absolutely. Everyone can see that and price that in. That is not the same as someone who is completely "gone" and unable to understand things and make informed decisions. The guy overcame a stutter as a child, and yeah, now he’s old. From what I'm seeing, there's a decent amount of "where was this guy 2 weeks ago?" talk so I think this presser potentially wins over some doubters. I thought he did good. He fired back head on, acknowledged his gaffe when pressed on it, showed strength, made the clear case for himself as a candidate. It was an overall good showing. I think this is a different story if some doctors come forward and say he failed cognitive tests and that was all concealed....that would be a drastically different situation/scandal. Guess I’m in the right thread cause I’m still ridin’.

Btw my mom accidentally calls me, her only son, by the wrong name all the time, has for years. She immediately corrects it but it still happens. She's about 20 years younger than Biden with no cognitive issues. She's a sharp person. I just laugh at it. Some people are just more prone to misspeaking than others, really. Hell, I have enough of my own brain farts when speaking. Maybe it’s some sort of mild dyslexia that runs in our family, who knows. But it's why I love the written word and chatting in forums like this, it helps me think through what I want to say with more precision than I'm often able to find in a given moment. Anyhow…I just still don’t think this is a real issue. This is an optics thing, and I’m not negating the optics battle ahead. And that can be mitigated with a strong campaign and good ground game…but this panic and doubt that is saturating the airwaves has an effect, maybe even on those within Biden’s circle. It’s just hard not to see that as a self-fulfilling prophecy. Two weeks of nonstop coverage is way out of proportion in terms of how much that single debate performance itself actually mattered to voters in the grand scheme.

 

[Lily Adler]

Macron putting the moves on Jill.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Biden misspeaks and gaffes but he still displayed substantive understanding of complex geopolitics in that presser that is eons beyond Trump's constant stream of word salad and third grade bully worldview (which was still true for the debate too). I am not buying any sort of false equivalency there. This narrative that he's a vegetable just doesn’t pass the smell test for me. He's older, and his verbal skills are shakier than when he was younger...absolutely. Everyone can see that and price that in. That is not the same as someone who is completely "gone" and unable to understand things and make informed decisions. The guy overcame a stutter as a child, and yeah, now he’s old. From what I'm seeing, there's a decent amount of "where was this guy 2 weeks ago?" talk so I think this presser potentially wins over some doubters. I thought he did good. He fired back head on, acknowledged his gaffe when pressed on it, showed strength, made the clear case for himself as a candidate. It was an overall good showing. I think this is a different story if some doctors come forward and say he failed cognitive tests and that was all concealed....that would be a drastically different situation/scandal. Guess I’m in the right thread cause I’m still ridin’.

Btw my mom accidentally calls me, her only son, by the wrong name all the time, has for years. She immediately corrects it but it still happens. She's about 20 years younger than Biden with no cognitive issues. She's a sharp person. Some people are just more prone to misspeaking than others, really. Hell, I have plenty of my own brain farts when speaking. Maybe it’s some sort of mild dyslexia that runs in our family, who knows. But it's why I love the written word and chatting in forums like this, it helps me think through what I want to say with more precision than I'm often able to find in a given moment. Anyhow…I just still don’t think this is a real issue. This is an optics thing, and I’m not negating the optics battle ahead. And that can be mitigated with a strong campaign and good ground game…but this panic and doubt that is saturating the airwaves has an effect, maybe even on those within Biden’s circle. It’s just hard not to see that as a self-fulfilling prophecy. Two weeks of nonstop coverage is way out of proportion in terms of how much that single debate performance itself actually mattered to voters in the grand scheme.

Why do you keep comparing him to Trump, when that doesn't matter in this regard?

 

[Iceman]

Biden misspeaks and gaffes but he still displayed substantive understanding of complex geopolitics in that presser that is eons beyond Trump's constant stream of word salad and third grade bully worldview (which was still true for the debate too). I am not buying any sort of false equivalency there. This narrative that he's a vegetable just doesn’t pass the smell test for me. He's older, and his verbal skills are shakier than when he was younger...absolutely. Everyone can see that and price that in. That is not the same as someone who is completely "gone" and unable to understand things and make informed decisions. The guy overcame a stutter as a child, and yeah, now he’s old. From what I'm seeing, there's a decent amount of "where was this guy 2 weeks ago?" talk so I think this presser potentially wins over some doubters. I thought he did good. He fired back head on, acknowledged his gaffe when pressed on it, showed strength, made the clear case for himself as a candidate. It was an overall good showing. I think this is a different story if some doctors come forward and say he failed cognitive tests and that was all concealed....that would be a drastically different situation/scandal. Guess I’m in the right thread cause I’m still ridin’.

Btw my mom accidentally calls me, her only son, by the wrong name all the time, has for years. She immediately corrects it but it still happens. She's about 20 years younger than Biden with no cognitive issues. She's a sharp person. Some people are just more prone to misspeaking than others. Hell, I have plenty of my own brain farts when speaking. Maybe it’s some sort of mild dyslexia that runs in our family, who knows. But it's why I love the written word and chatting in forums like this, it helps me think through what I want to say with more precision than I'm often able to find in a given moment. Anyhow…I just still don’t think this is a real issue. This is an optics thing, and I’m not negating the optics battle ahead. And that can be mitigated with a strong campaign and good ground game…but this panic and doubt that is saturating the airwaves has an effect, maybe even on those within Biden’s circle. It’s just hard not to see that as a self-fulfilling prophecy. Two weeks of nonstop coverage is way out of proportion in terms of how much that single debate performance itself actually mattered to voters in the grand scheme.

I agree with all that but it has to also pass the smell test with a subsection of neutral voters who don’t pay attention to anything except the debates and headlines. Those are the main people who might be influenced in any material degree here.

I also get brainfog every so often and lose my train of thought and even temporarily forget the names of prominent CBM actors! But that kind of meaningless fluff would still affect my will to be a CEO, public speaker or even live streamer where brainfog looks much worse than it is. These candidates are super old so it’s different to when a young person does the same as there is always a slight worry (suspicion in this case) of potential real health issues underlying (especially when there’s a change related to the prior norm).

I agree that this is all a self-fulfilling prophecy. But that is also why the importance of a competent debate performance needed to be fully recognised and fully prepped for like a sporting cup final, leaving nothing to chance. Everything is going to be hyper-scrutinised after that in combination with Biden’s age - even if there is zero underlying issue. He NEEDS to nail the next debate or it’s going to get tough, and there’s going to be significantly higher pressure for it now.

 

[samsnee]

It’s too late in the game to get a new candidate. Any other person needs a staff to hit the ground running. They need a plan to hit undecided voters in swing states. They need to pick VP candidate. Prep for debates. Oh, and Republicans will probably sue to split the ballot.

And honestly, if it’s anyone other than Kamala, you will lose black voters. She may not be well liked, but not nominating the black female VP to be your candidate isn’t a good look.

Personally think Biden needs to stop trying to win the media game. They clearly want to attack him more than report on Trump. And Biden has never been known to be an eloquent speaker, even when he was VP. His strength is connecting with everyday voters on a one on one level, something the party elites will never understand.

 

[squeekness]

Watching clips of tonight's presser, overall Biden did pretty well on the question and answer parts. He may have flushed up on a word here and there, but he spoke decently on the actual foreign policy questions.

 

[Steyin]

If I had to make a wild, wild guess:

Whether Biden drops or not will be decided within the next 1-2 weeks. If he is dropped, Kamala is the pick, but no one will have confidence in Biden staying on as President and leaving him in power while running Kamala will look really ****ing bad, so she may become interim President.

I feel Trump will choose Rubio as his VP mate, which will secure the GOP Florida. The race will come down to PA, MI, WI and probably NV.

With that in mind, I feel the Dems go with Josh Shapiro for VP, mainly to secure PA and because anyone else either doesn't hit the right demo or they hate Kamala and won't want to bother.


Keeping Biden in, I'm sure things will get worse for him if he wins and Kamala will be President anyway, so why not just skip a step.


All in all, this is a complete **** show any way you look at it, and the Dems only have themselves to blame.

 

[BatLobster]

Why do you keep comparing him to Trump, when that doesn't matter in this regard?

Because there’s still an obvious clear contrast there that we could collectively choose to focus on, and I want to talk about it because it matters to me and I know that still matters to other people too. I also think the narrative that he’s this absolute zombie is just not true and I want to speak against that. I think if he’s to step down, it should be for a clear reason. Right now there’s a real lack of clarity in terms of whether his critics actually think he’s in true rapid decline and unable to do the job he is currently doing, think he’s actually fine but are more concerned about the optics, and concern about where his general polling and approval ratings were pre-debate and are jumping on the debate as an exit ramp. I’m guessing it’s some various combos of some or all of the above for different folks. But I think the lack of clarity exposes a weakness in the overall messaging around it currently. IMO. It just reads as naked fear, which turns people off.

It was also somewhat in response to your comment about being infuriated that people who went nuts over Trump’s gaffes are supporting Biden. I mean don’t get me wrong, I loved me some covfefe memes, but that was basically emperor has no clothes sorta humor to help cope in dark times. Trump’s own gaffes are the very last item on in a multivolume encyclopedia of reasons he’s unfit for office, though I do think the media could spend more time talking about those because it could at least neutralize this false notion that it’s something unique to Biden.

I agree with all that but it has to also pass the smell test with a subsection of neutral voters who don’t pay attention to anything except the debates and headlines. Those are the main people who might be influenced in any material degree here.

I also get brainfog every so often and lose my train of thought and even temporarily forget the names of prominent CBM actors! But that kind of meaningless fluff would still affect my will to be a CEO, public speaker or even live streamer where brainfog looks much worse than it is. These candidates are super old so it’s different to when a young person does the same as there is always a slight worry (suspicion in this case) of potential real health issues underlying (especially when there’s a change related to the prior norm).

I agree that this is all a self-fulfilling prophecy. But that is also why the importance of a competent debate performance needed to be fully recognised and fully prepped for like a sporting cup final, leaving nothing to chance. Everything is going to be hyper-scrutinised after that in combination with Biden’s age - even if there is zero underlying issue. He NEEDS to nail the next debate or it’s going to get tough, and there’s going to be significantly higher pressure for it now.

I think it honestly could be a blessing in disguise that he set the bar so low with his first debate. Plenty of room for another “Comeback Joe” narrative to start forming. I mean, it’s already kinda happening depending on whose polls you’re believing. I think he can and will do better.

The months ahead are going to be insane and scary, no matter what happens. If Biden stays or drops out it’s gonna be insane and it’s going to be a tight race. I really believe we all just have to do what we have to stay sane, take care of ourselves, be discerning about which narratives we choose to integrate into our psyches and propagate. As corny as it sounds, we have to stay positive. And I mean that not just in the sense that we have to blindly support Biden, but also if he drops out and that then becomes hot new fear clickbait narrative we’re dealing with. Because believe me, as much as the press is banning the drum for him to drop out now, once he did, they’d pivot to running nonstop with “DEMOCRATS IN DISARRAY”, “TRUMP SURGING AHEAD IN POLLS”, fill in the blank on the nightmare fuel headlines. I know that may seem overly cynical read, but my point is we just have to just stay focused and remember that we the people do get a say in how these narratives unfold too. And in a broader, more hippy/woo kinda sense I really do believe in the power of positive vibes and that widespread fear will always do nothing but benefit the bad guys. I think it’s important to stay conscious of that.

On that note, here’s a shot and chaser.

 

[DKDetective]

Biden won 87% of the vote in the primaries (well above the polling averages). You don't just discard democracy like it should be an easy thing to do.

It's not democracy when you give the people only one choice and conceal all of the flaws with that choice. That is the Putin model of "democracy".

 

[blueharvest]

Joe Biden pressured to radically change platform as Democrats revolt

Progressive Democrats are pressing President Joe Biden's campaign to promote a more bold agenda to attract younger voters.

www.newsweek.com

 

[DA_Champion]

Joe Biden pressured to radically change platform as Democrats revolt

Progressive Democrats are pressing President Joe Biden's campaign to promote a more bold agenda to attract younger voters.

www.newsweek.com

What'd be better than a more progressive platform is passing some progressive legislation.

 

[Ironfan72]

Except for the gaff about Harris, that he eventually corrected, he looked pretty good overall, Trump has on numerous occasions call Biden (Obama, Hillary) just to name a few, he still says he beat Obama in 2016, a minor mistake is hardly worth even mentioning, and as i have said the voters actually are good with what they are hearing, so, calm down, the polls show Biden is still doing well and still shows he can be an effective leader.

 

[Ironfan72]

It's not democracy when you give the people only one choice and conceal all of the flaws with that choice. That is the Putin model of "democracy".

Who ran against Trump? Saying there wasnt another choice when there actually was a couple other democrats in the primary, there were more choices.

 

[Lily Adler]

What'd be better than a more progressive platform is passing some progressive legislation.

Not when most of the party won't openly support such policies.

 

[blueharvest]

At this point all I want is Trump and Project 2025 to be defeated. I don't care who runs as long as it happens.

That's where I'm at right now, too. Whichever person has the best shot at defeating Trump. If it's Biden, fine. If it's Kamala Harris, that's fine, too. Whatever keeps Trump out of the White House.

 

[Lily Adler]

That's where I'm at right now, too. Whichever person has the best shot at defeating Trump. If it's Biden, fine. If it's Kamala Harris, that's fine, too. Whatever keeps Trump out of the White House.

The real challenge is to fix SCOTUS and try to mitigate the damage Trump has done. Again once a Republican gets in the White House Project 20XX is a go and we will see the fall of the US.

 

[DA_Champion]

Not when most of the party won't openly support such policies.

IMO,

If the Democratic party doesn't offer meaningful to its base, they will lose the election, and all other discussion points are rendered pointless.

 

[BatLobster]

 

[squeekness]

Everybody needs to do what they can to defeat Trump.

 

[InCali]

Hope that inflation cools enough that we can actually feel it at the grocery store some time soon.

Some prices are actually dropping, but food increased "slightly". I'm a very careful shopper and take advantage of digital coupons all the time and find they can save me a lot of money. Recently, they had a sale on butter for $2/lb and you can buy 5 at that price. I have 2 accounts and bought 10 lbs.

Same with eggs last week. They had them on sale for $2.49/dz for the week. I bought 2 dz at the beginning of the week and 2 dz at the end. At least where I live, prices have definitely dropped (not a lot, but some). I used to get a pack of 10 hamburger patties for $10 (I cook it and give hamburger to the dogs over their kibbles and give them a little raw for snacks....and have an occasional burger myself) and noticed they made it 8 for $10 this week. Guess what? They didn't sell their "new" packaging. The dogs didn't notice the new hamburger I bought. I buy in bulk when feasible and use the freezer when necessary. For example, they had boneless chicken breasts on sale for $2.99 and this week it's buy one get one free that brings it down to about the same price. I do most of the shopping for the house and am constantly on the prowl for sales.

Produce here has pretty much stayed flat, but I live in Cali and there is a lot of agriculture very close by (esp Central Valley).

While inflation is a problem, there are things we can/do to soften the blow. I think part of the inflation is due to companies refusing to lower prices when their costs drop in order to drive up their margins, but I've noticed that some of the larger bulk type of chains started dropping some prices; which should affect the more retail oriented stores.

 

[DA_Champion]

Some prices are actually dropping, but food increased "slightly". I'm a very careful shopper and take advantage of digital coupons all the time and find they can save me a lot of money. Recently, they had a sale on butter for $2/lb and you can buy 5 at that price. I have 2 accounts and bought 10 lbs.

Same with eggs last week. They had them on sale for $2.49/dz for the week. I bought 2 dz at the beginning of the week and 2 dz at the end.

It's true that the privileged have more options to do things such as shop for coupons, wait for sales, go to different grocery stores, have both the resources and the space to buy in bulk, etc. That is due to a combination of more time, more money, and more social networks to inform them of different deals. So that can give the privileged the impression that inflation is not so bad.

But that's illusory for the majority of Americans, who don't have as many options. People who are overworked, overtired, who have long commutes, etc will not have the option to go to different grocery stores multiple times, as that takes up more time and more gas money, and options such as setting up multiple accounts on apps such as Instacart, etc will contribute to decision fatigue, or may in fact already be ruled out by decision fatigue.

By the way, I do the same trick as you, that is of buying sticks of butter en bulk when it's on sale, as the price can vary a lot over the year, I've seen it range between $2.39 for 4 sticks up to $4.99. But doing that trick doesn't imply we're smarter -- I think that most people could figure out that trick. It just means that we have enough cash flow to spend e.g. $40 on butter when it's on sale, to build up a stockpile that lasts several months or even a year. We're privileged in that sense. Most people are not. The median person is living paycheck to paycheck and will buy the minimum each week.

 

[BatLobster]

While inflation is a problem, there are things we can/do to soften the blow. I think part of the inflation is due to companies refusing to lower prices when their costs drop in order to drive up their margins, but I've noticed that some of the larger bulk type of chains started dropping some prices; which should affect the more retail oriented stores.

Bingo. I'm no economist, but it seems pretty clear to me that inflation is the initial reason for the increase in prices...and then companies just keep them up for as long as they can get away with it. Biden even talked about that in yesterday's presser. But overall, things look to be trending in the right direction and these things are never instant.

To me it's kind of similar to how tipping for everything has just remained post-Covid. During Covid it was common to add a tip for takeout orders, as a show of support and solidarity for local restaurants. But now it's kind of morphed into the norm where you're always going to be prompted to tip whether it's for a takeout order or buying a beer at a baseball game. Not exactly the same, but I think it's a similar approach of companies and businesses just doing whatever they can to drive up their margins in sometimes sneaky ways.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Fox News going hard to try and keep Biden in. If that doesn't tell you everything, I don't think anything will.