Biden clenches the nomination.

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gorfias

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Meh, that article doesn't really say anything and it doesn't really define what they mean by 'weakest' candidate. Trump was a very weak candidate and he still managed to win in enough places that mattered to end up in the white house. Hillary was a strong candidate but she didn't connect well with people and a large portion of the US hate boner for her that had been going since the 90s. If you remember to the 2000s Kerry was a pretty strong candidate who won the highest military honor in a medal of honor and they still managed to turn that into a bad thing with the swift boat idiots.
I wish it were Gabby. I think they see Biden as very weak for two reasons.
1) He is an empty vessel who will offer himself up as support for the status quo and much of his base does not want that.
2) He is going senile. He is very old. I think this line of attack can actually hurt Trump. I saw a left wing comedian, Jimmy Dore, tear Biden apart showing clips of him seemingly forgetting his points in mid sentence. (He is/was a Bernie Bro. Many Bernie Bros are angry with Bernie for a number of reasons) Then I watched the whole interview. Biden did well enough, so, regardless of his fading faculties, a very low bar has been set for Biden to hurdle and he may do so. If he really is the nominee in the general (and a lot can happen between now and then) he really could beat Trump.
 

Worgen

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Whatever, just wash your hands.
I wish it were Gabby. I think they see Biden as very weak for two reasons.
1) He is an empty vessel who will offer himself up as support for the status quo and much of his base does not want that.
2) He is going senile. He is very old. I think this line of attack can actually hurt Trump. I saw a left wing comedian, Jimmy Dore, tear Biden apart showing clips of him seemingly forgetting his points in mid sentence. (He is/was a Bernie Bro. Many Bernie Bros are angry with Bernie for a number of reasons) Then I watched the whole interview. Biden did well enough, so, regardless of his fading faculties, a very low bar has been set for Biden to hurdle and he may do so. If he really is the nominee in the general (and a lot can happen between now and then) he really could beat Trump.
How is he an empty vessel who just does the status quo? I linked the policy points that he has earlier in this thread and while some of them are, most of them aren't.

I think his age and senility is way exaggerated. I mean we see attacks like this coming from the right a lot, back in 2016 they were putting out attacks on Hillary with photoshopped images of her having pooped herself and trying to claim she was deathly ill and wouldn't even make it to the election. It seems like the Bernie or busters have decided to jump into that band wagon. Which is super weird considering we had trump pondering drinking or injecting disinfectant or trying to get someone to look into applying light or heat to the cure.

 

Asita

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Nothing about that says it has to be these two parties.
If you read my post again, you'll notice that the last paragraph actually addressed that.
 
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Schadrach

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It's why the Dems thought Clinton could win. She wasnt for much, just 'not Trump.' And the idiots are doing it again in 2020
Not looking forward to another four years of our most orange president, but it's likely coming unless Biden does something to bring out the crowds, and "he's not Trump" isn't going to be enough on it's own.

the ACA was still way better then what we had
Unless you already had insurance, in which case it meant your costs probably ballooned. Especially if just over the line where your employer no longer count as a small business.

Nothing about that says it has to be these two parties.
Momentum makes a party switch a difficult thing that usually involves multiple elections going to the one of the existing two parties you are most opposed to. Literally the reason why the Koch funded Tea Party movement was about changing the GOP rather than spinning off a new party altogether - it's both easier and less dangerous to attack things at the primary level.

At best he'll be another Obama.
I mean, a fair bit of his approach isn't too far off from selling exactly that. It's the "I have a black friend" of campaigning. I suppose more accurately it's "I used to have a black boss." :)
 

Worgen

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Whatever, just wash your hands.
Unless you already had insurance, in which case it meant your costs probably ballooned. Especially if just over the line where your employer no longer count as a small business.
I already had insurance that was just catastrophic insurance (meaning it didn't cover anything till the 3 or 4k deductible was met) and it was running me about $350 a month. After I got on the ACA I ended up with a much better insurance plan that covers a ton of stuff for way less a month.
 

Agema

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Trump was a very weak candidate and he still managed to win in enough places that mattered to end up in the white house. Hillary was a strong candidate...
In the technical aspects of political competence, Clinton is almost infinitely stronger than Trump. But a strong candidate needs a lot more than that: at least half of it "connecting" with people.

Trump may be an arsehole, but he connected with a chunk of voters open to being swayed to Republican support. Hilary came across as cold, aloof, calculating, and even untrustworthy; she had very little personal appeal and relatability.
 

Agema

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Not looking forward to another four years of our most orange president, but it's likely coming unless Biden does something to bring out the crowds, and "he's not Trump" isn't going to be enough on it's own.
It really might be enough. There may be plenty of voters who want someone who doesn't seem too pompous, aloof and elite but isn't also a chaotic, raging goon.
 

Schadrach

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I already had insurance that was just catastrophic insurance (meaning it didn't cover anything till the 3 or 4k deductible was met) and it was running me about $350 a month. After I got on the ACA I ended up with a much better insurance plan that covers a ton of stuff for way less a month.
The insurance from an employer, or were you self insured and moved to the marketplace?

For example, I work for a company that is just above the line to not be a "small business." For us, the ACA meant 20+% rate increases yearly (the employer ate the first couple, but couldn't continue to do so). I'm on my wife's insurance now, which is both fantastic and cheap by comparison, but she's a public employee. As a consequence I couldn't tell you what this year's rate is, but I know some of our employees instead of doing a family plan have done employee+spouse and applied for CHIP because the plan offered is so expensive.
 

gorfias

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How is he an empty vessel who just does the status quo? I linked the policy points that he has earlier in this thread and while some of them are, most of them aren't.

I think his age and senility is way exaggerated. I mean we see attacks like this coming from the right a lot, back in 2016 they were putting out attacks on Hillary with photoshopped images of her having pooped herself and trying to claim she was deathly ill and wouldn't even make it to the election. It seems like the Bernie or busters have decided to jump into that band wagon. Which is super weird considering we had trump pondering drinking or injecting disinfectant or trying to get someone to look into applying light or heat to the cure.

I'm sure he will sell out those policy points if his handlers tell him to do so. This is an old clip but honestly who I think this guy is and how he has acted his entire political career:
 

Saelune

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No, because if the Republicans actually went full Nazi, the Democrats would be right there to point out Jews and put down protests. They are the Vichy collaborator government and deserves no more support than the Vichy government did.
So glad you brought up Nazis so I didn't have to.

You are saying we should let the Nazis do as they please because you refuse to team up with Stalin. In fact, WW2 was very much a war of greater evils vs lesser evils. The US too had concentration camps, for Asian Americans, though without gas chambers. So should Hitler have gotten away with it because the US and USSR were also not great?
 

Saelune

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Is that what history teaches us, though? 8 years of Bill Clinton lead to Bush, 8 years of Barrack Obama lead to Trump. If a pattern can be derived from this it's that a weak Democratic presidency brings about a radical Republican presidency. Call me cynical but I doubt anyone is excited about 4 or 8 years of another empty suit warming the seat for someone like Trump, or worse. People want change. People want an end to fear, people want to break free from the constant humiliation that is Republican policy.

And after 4 years of that fear and 4 years of that humiliation, there's Joe Biden and you expect people to be hopeful? At best he'll be another Obama. He's not gonna shift the Overton Window to the left. Because the right controls the narrative and to wrestle that away from the more radical measures are needed than someone like Biden would ever be willing to take.
We both know that the motivation behind Trump and his supporters was racism against Obama being black. Obama was change. Obama is the furthest left a US President has ever been. I am not arguing he is left-wing, I am arguing that every single President before him has been further right.
 

Worgen

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Whatever, just wash your hands.
The insurance from an employer, or were you self insured and moved to the marketplace?
Self insured and at the start the insurance was cheap but it ended up growing and growing in cost without any benefit.
 

Worgen

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Whatever, just wash your hands.
I'm sure he will sell out those policy points if his handlers tell him to do so. This is an old clip but honestly who I think this guy is and how he has acted his entire political career:
Ummm, you do realize that was a joke and dig at other people there right?
 

Silvanus

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Obama is the furthest left a US President has ever been. I am not arguing he is left-wing, I am arguing that every single President before him has been further right.
Gonna need some context on that. It might be defensible in certain (quite limited) respects.

But for instance, the US had more progressive tax systems from Truman to Johnson; it introduced better workplace protections, broader regulations, and broader infrastructure investment under F. Roosevelt.

If you mean purely in terms of social policy-- discrimination, marriage equality, sex & gender stuff-- then you might be right. Though that owes more to the slow evolution of social attitudes in the US than it does to one man.
 

fOx

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You understand that's what you're doing, right? They were explicitly condemned for lying. The line "was it not your own" is there to make it clear having property wasn't the problem. Notably absent is the chapter where someone is condemned for not selling their things in the first place. But that context weakens your political argument, so you're ignoring it.

Nevermind that you still haven't grasped that supporting people by selling your possessions to someone else isn't communism. It's generosity, sure. Sharing is caring. But you'll note, the apostles didn't divvy up chores among themselves to generate a self-sustaining community of equals. No, the wealthy among them cared for the poor, leaving it to the religious authority to identify the needs. That's not communism, that's charity, and it's also system that collapses the moment you run out of rich people. You're idealizing a system that had classes and required the wealthy, and just ignoring those parts that don't suit you.



It was about money. It being a metaphor doesn't make it not about money. Do you really think Jesus would give a parable explaining what proper behavior is and choose an immoral behavior as the metaphor? The parable doesn't work if you think the literal idea of it is immoral. Jesus wasn't saying "the boss gave them money and expected them to make more out of it, and whoever best exploited the underclass was the most loved, and that's how you should use the gifts God gave you!" That's not a very good parable.
Good heavens, what a stretch. "Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal?"

He's being told that the land was his, and the money was at his disposal. Therefore he had control over it, but chose to lie about the amount he had received, and to withhold funding from the church. He's responsible for his actions, and was punished. The passages is clear. The believers shared everything. For his sins he died, and was likely sent to the great flaming gulag.

As for the second parable, your willfully ignoring the meaning of the passage. Jesus used examples that people of the time would understand. Money and interest are among them. Now, do I think the very concept of money is inherently a sin? Of course not. But it's not the ideal christian model, or even a particularly practical secular model, to base resource management on. I don't think having a human king was very practical either, and neither does God, but God still allowed the Hebrews to adopt a monarchy when asked.

I feel like Gods stance on usury is clear. Jesus threw the money lender from the temples. The bible says that when lending money to a fellow believer, you should charge no interest. The rich man asking to enter heaven was told to sell all of his possessions and follow Jesus. On and on and on it goes. Yet you have the audacity to try and argue that the parable in question was literally about the sinfulness of not sufficiently investing your financial capital? Totally haram.
 

Houseman

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Therefore he had control over it, but chose to lie
Yeah, that's the beginning and end of the problem. He lied. He lied to the congregation and he lied to God. He said "here, here's everything", but he was lying, for it was not everything. That's all. To go further and say he was executed because he wasn't communist enough is, I think, the real stretch.

If he would have said "Here's what I'm willing to give", and then gave half, I think he would have been fine.
 

Seanchaidh

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If you read my post again, you'll notice that the last paragraph actually addressed that.
The best you can hope for is trading out one of the two parties for another, but that's very much a "when the stars align" kind of thing that only really happens when one of the two parties drops the ball when reinventing itself, causing its base to flee. And even then that's largely dependent on them believing that the other party being in power for the foreseeable future is preferable to whatever their old party has become.
Yeah, this is a miss too. The actual reason it's hard to dislodge the parties is the media. Which is why tens of millions more eligible voters didn't vote than voted for either candidate for President in 2016.

He knows. He just doesn't care because it's not relevant to supporting his views.
Joke or not, he described his own behavior quite well. He wasn't called the Senator from MBNA for nothing.
 

fOx

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Gonna need some context on that. It might be defensible in certain (quite limited) respects.

But for instance, the US had more progressive tax systems from Truman to Johnson; it introduced better workplace protections, broader regulations, and broader infrastructure investment under F. Roosevelt.

If you mean purely in terms of social policy-- discrimination, marriage equality, sex & gender stuff-- then you might be right. Though that owes more to the slow evolution of social attitudes in the US than it does to one man.
Even the last claim would be tenuous at best. What did obama himself do for those groups, that others didn't? Most progress in those areas were made by the supreme court, or by congress, whose members were selected by former presidents, or elected by constituents. If gay marriage had been legalized under trump, that wouldn't make him the most left leaning president. It would make him president when that event occurred. I guess you could say that you like his private views on these issues, except he was opposed to gay marriage throughout most of his political career, and didn't change his stance until there was mounting social pressure. About the only thing he did do was repeal don't ask don't tell. Which is good, but is a pretty low bar for "most liberal president ever."
 

gorfias

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Ummm, you do realize that was a joke and dig at other people there right?
Any link to support this view? I believe I was first forwarded to this link by a leftist. (Bernie bro that does want to harm Biden though).
 
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