Three Biden questions
(1) Who will be Biden’s (or his handlers’) VP pick?
(2) Will Biden engage in a debate with Trump, and if so under what circumstances?
(3) Will Biden last till November as the candidate?
Of course, there’s also the question of whether Biden would win, if the answer to the third question is in the affirmative. But it’s those first three that interest me at the moment.
I think the answers will be Kamala Harris, no, and yes. But I admit I’m not confident that I’m correct. In this, the most bizarre presidential election of my lifetime, we’ve already had not just a black swan but a whole flock of them.
[ADDENDUM: See also this from Roger Kimball:
The narrative that catapulted Biden to his present subterranean eminence centered on his supposed political moderateness compared to some of the more outlandish bijoux on offer…
But what has made Joe Biden palatable to the actual power brokers in the Democratic party—far-left, woke commissars who combine a breathtaking arrogance with a deep hatred of America—was not his supposed “moderateness.” On the contrary, it was his empty vesselhood.
Biden, in short, is the toxic suppository, the smooth and unguent capsule, through which the enemies of democratic capitalism and traditional American values hope to insinuate their gospel of radical transformation into the tissues of American society…
As Joseph Simonson notes in his summary of the eighty-page document, “the party intends to circumvent Congress,” turning instead to unelected bureaucrats of the administrative state to push through its woke, politically correct goals. The fine print is disquieting to say the least.
“Racial equity” is a phrase that is repeated over and over again in this document. But what it means is the opposite of “equity” as traditionally understood, i.e., treating people the same regardless of their race…
On every contentious issue—immigration, defense spending, regulation, education, healthcare, taxes, housing policy, student debt—the Democratic platform calls for a huge increase in government intrusiveness and consequent loss of individual freedom.
Naturally, the truly radical nature of this platform is somewhat concealed by bureaucratese and a clever deployment of uplifting abstractions.
Please read the whole thing.
I believe that most people willing to vote for Biden and/or another Democrat don’t know what’s actually planned. Some of them would approve. But a very significant number would not, I believe – if they knew. They don’t.]
The push for vote my mail (my state has it – CO) does leave out one thing. To vote by mail and have the ballot in by the vote date you have a large number of votes coming in early, as soon as a household receives the ballot in some cases. What happens if say you vote Oct 15 and on Oct 25 there is a massive “October Surprise” like Biden drops dead or Trump does? Your vote is in, would have voted differently on Oct 25 than you did on Oct 15?
There is no reason for the senile Biden’s handlers to allow him to debate, considering the certainty that he would perform badly. As for the VP, he is committed to picking a black woman; Kamala may well be his choice for AG should he win, so Susan Rice is seeming more and more likely (although some have been speculating about Michelle Obama, despite all her protestations to the contrary). What is equally disturbing is the likelihood of his choosing some of the others (the truly egregious Bass and Abrams) for his cabinet.
One of the more amusing parts of the Veep hunt is the proxy warfare among the excluded (white, male) members of the Democratic establishment. These are the former governors, senators, etc. who would be the natural contestants for Joe’s Veepship in another era. The competition is oozing out of the MSM like a week-old sewage backup, especially in the Washington Post.
Our former Overlords are reduced to promoting their candidates, in full knowledge that, should another over-the-hill Democrat’s gal win, they will be S-O-L for any choice consolation prizes.
This could become as vicious as a faulty meeting to assign offices and graduate assistants.
I have no inside knowledge (never had), but found it surprising that VP announcement wasn’t made on August 1st, as it was supposed to be. That tells me that the behind the scenes wrangling among the Dems is much more heated than we’ll ever know. What it also tells me is that Bass is the Bernie bros choice, coming out of nowhere into the top three, Rice is the Obama team’s choice, and Harris is the Clinton team’s choice. Whichever one Joe’s handlers pick will tell us who won the battle to control the Democratic party for the near future.
Seems to me that if someone’s going to vote for Biden ANYWAY, then it DOES NOT MATTER who the VP will be or won’t be.
Since in any case, the Democrats will be governing by Politburo—AKA “Rainbow Coalition” (redux).
Sure, they’ll have to work out a few clever slogans (e.g., “We’re here for you—ALWAYS, ALL WAYS!!”), but in essence, the Party’s media organs and search engine algorithms are already firmly in place to control the flow of information.
Most importantly the they already have the courts packed in all the right places (well, most of them) and they have their “Goldstein” in place and “good to go”….
the party intends to circumvent Congress,” turning instead to unelected bureaucrats of the administrative state to push through its woke, politically correct goals.
Once Congress abandoned its law-making powers and handed them over to the regulatory bureaucracy, and once the Supreme Court upheld Congress’ abdication of its Constitutional duties, this “circumvention” (barely necessary) was bound to happen.
“The Constitution may not be a perfect document, but it’s better than what we have now” — I forgot who said it, but I first heard it in the early 1990s. Before the web.
I looked at the DNC draft platform. Francis Menton at Manhattan Contrarian nailed it.
“The blue state progressive political model consists of an endless list of government spending and redistribution programs, expected shortly to deliver perfect fairness and justice among all people, all financed by an assumed ever-increasing gusher of tax revenues.”
Most voters don’t know, and won’t find out about the D platform, or care.
But can Slow Joe really get away without a debate? Either way, he loses credibility. If he debates, his problems will be obvious, and if he doesn’t, he’ll be accused of hiding.
As to question 3: https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2020/08/dan_bongino_drops_a_bomb_about_biden.html
Or, as the mass murdering Lenin said of the western left:
“Useful Idiots.”
Understated, Comrade.
I’ve got a sinking suspicion that its going to be Michelle Obama. I think the delays are just wrangling behind the scenes to mollify the various, frothing lefties in each wing.
If it were any of the “official” choices (Kamala Harris, etc.) there would have been no need for delay.
I’m almost certain that there are a number of DNC strategists convinced that Michelle Obama is the magic bullet, so to speak-regarding gender, race, and comparatively ‘Rorschach’ politics, at least for Lefties- to continue Roger Kimball’s ‘toxic suppository’ analogy.
I’m almost certain that there are a number of DNC strategists convinced that Michelle Obama is the magic bullet…
Fractal Rabbit: If not the magic bullet, at least the best shot for a winning ticket and maintaining Dem unity.
As I understand things, this can only happen if Obama and Michelle believe they can win and that depends on reading the entrails of today’s polls and forecasts for the next three months.
Tricky. Very tricky.
The counter-argument against a black female VP candidate is that everybody knows Biden is senile and won’t be able to do much. In that case what we will have is a white guy sitting back and then letting a black do all the work. What was the definition of slavery again? It doesn’t augur well for the optics. Just saying.
In that case what we will have is a white guy sitting back and then letting a black do all the work.
Andy: I’d say it’s more like the white guy sitting down and letting a black woman be president. Those are excellent Dem optics these days.
Andy said,
“The counter-argument against a black female VP candidate is that everybody knows Biden is senile and won’t be able to do much. In that case what we will have is a white guy sitting back and then letting a black do all the work. What was the definition of slavery again? It doesn’t augur well for the optics. Just saying.”
The Left considers a black woman governing in a white man’s place a feature not a bug. They don’t care about the optics of breaking their own ever-shifting rules. The Left believes the rules only apply to the Right.
You have to have shame to care about the optics of breaking the rules.
Huxley,
Now that you say that, I bet a lot of the diplomatic efforts, in addition to placating the VP wannabes, convincing the Obamas it will be worth the risk. It probably sounds a lot like begging.
I kind of hope it’s Kamala. She’s pretty toxic and easily revealed to be such.
My question for Biden: what does your navel smell like?
I’ve thought for some time that Michelle is the the dominant elite’s best shot. Interesting twist is that a few months back, when I said that to a older Bernie supporter – one who clearly doesn’t believe Bernie to be a full on ownership of the means of production communist – replied: ‘Not another Neo-Liberal!” This person had earlier referred to Hillary as “Neo-Liberal scum!” Personally I tend to see Bernie as pretty much like ex-communist David Horowitz – still really more a communist than a social democrat. Still believing, probably with some modifications, in the full Marxist model as opposed to the social democratic model, with its robust private sectors, that has dominated in places like Germany or Sweden since WW2. Contrary to many of the right, I see Elizabeth Warren as not Bernie light, but as a genuine social democrat. She routinely proposes policies that I easily recognise as emerging from Western Europe and that I see as having greater influence here in Australia – which stands somewhere mid way between the US and Europe in its degree of social democracy. So I strongly agree that the delay in announcing the VP candidate is because they have to convince the Obamas it will work. Good luck to them predicting this crap shoot, but I believe it is their best shot. While I think it is inarguable that Obama and the deep state are just as guilty as Nixon of what boils down to the same crime I agree with Neo that the most voters don’t know or perhaps care – Biden and Michelle offer an apparent way back to normalcy and stability. On the other hand the reality of the total corruption that has been revealed about the dominant elite – both Republican and Democrat – has a way of seeping through to the people who don’t make up their mind until the last moment, and who also happen to be the people who decide the election. For example, a large consideration is who these late deciders think would be the best custodian of the economy and suddenly remember that Trump showed he understands how to get the economy moving and that he is really the safer choice. I think this feeling safer factor will decide the election. If the VP nominee is Michelle Obama I think it will be the black vote that decides the issue. She will hold a lot black voters, but if I were sitting there looking at what has happened to the inner cities from a black perspective, I’m not sure it would be enough. While it looks to me that Trump is the better choice and I will vote for him, politics is a funny game. Perhaps the dominant elite if they win this time will more completely discredit itself, as did the remainers, stealthily led by Theresa May in the UK. That is, in politics there is critical difference between the short game and the long game.
There’s is now a rising speculation of Biden’s VP delay occurring because Joe’s replacement is imminent.
If he won’t be the nominee, why would he select the Veep?
Sample:
https://donsurber.blogspot.com/2020/08/why-bidens-vp-pick-is-delayed.html
“If #HollowJoe does NOT select @KamalaHarris as VP, it might be because the TOP spot on the ticket is opening up before the election.
Didn’t see that coming, did you?”
Obama announced Biden as his VP on August 23rd. So Biden announcing his VP is not necessarily late. Tactical perhaps, but this makes sense because Biden’s pick will probably be the most significant VP pick maybe ever due to his age. Whomever he chooses could very well become president.
I too think the pick will be Harris. It could be Rice but that pick has baggage that Biden may not welcome.
I think there will be at least one debate. But I do find it crazy that some Democrats [a NY Times Op-ed writer anyway] wants to scrap the debates. Ha. I don’t think Biden wants that but heck he’s doing pretty well staying hidden so why not?
I’ve never believed that Biden was going to be on the ballot in November. I think the party bosses’ plan all along has been to let Biden defeat of all the more extreme candidates, then force him out (by revealing his true, appalling condition) and installing someone who they think will be viewed as sane and normal by the voting public. Of course, this sane-appearing but not well known candidate will later turn out to be at least as far left as Bernie, but they’re hoping that won’t happen until after the election.
RE: Swan Lake reference
The role of Von Rothbart the Sorcerer will be played by George Soros.