I’d like to think that a person interested in tackling cancer research would have enough of an understanding of the field to know that cancer is not a monolithic thing that you can just “cure” like polio. Dr. Brooke Magnanti (whose tweet @MalevolentPixy included) is an actual cancer researcher who is utterly exasperated by Biden’s pronouncement.
I’d like to have a presidential candidate who pays attention to experts in the fields they’re trying to co-opt into their campaigns.
It would certainly be nice to make this thread about people other than Biden, but he seems to be determined to keep saying and doing stupid shit, and he has a loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong record of terrible stances and takes and behaviors and policies that he’s refusing to apologize for, out of fear that when given an inch, his (many) detractors will reasonably being to demand a mile. Even as he changed his position on the Hyde amendment last week, he did so without ever once acknowledging that it’s always been a terrible thing to have supported, and that’s just the most recent thing. It’s increasingly blindingly obvious that the man has no business being president, that his go-along-to-get-along attitude toward the GOP would make him impossibly inept and incompetent in accomplishing anything, and that he needs to get his entitled ass the fuck out of the way of the rest of the field so he stops sucking up all of the oxygen in the room.
I appreciate the idea of curing cancer (or even one form of cancer) as a national aspirational goal, a moonshot for his Presidency, and I get that it’s a big symbolic thing to hang his hat on. But for the VP of the administration that brought in the ACA, which has been decimated by Trump, I’d like him to address fixing the healthcare system as a whole, and to speak about supporting science and medicine – two things also pushed aside as unnecessary by the current administration. That would be refreshingly helpful and clearheaded. Yelling that he’s going to “cure cancer” in four years is an unhelpful, unattainable campaign promise, and sounds like a lie.
My point is that it is a silly thing to attack him for. And the bigger point is that by obsessing over Biden, all the people who don’t like him are anointing him the front-runner and probably making him inevitable.
While there’s something to be said for the old saw “no publicity is bad publicity,” blaming Biden’s critics and people pointing out his flaws for promoting him is an odd thing to accuse people of.
No odder than trying to make wanting to cure cancer a flaw.
As far as a pretty big chunk of the American voting public is concerned, there is currently only one Democrat in the race right now, Joe Biden. He knows that, which is why in Iowa he’s ignoring the other candidates and going after Trump. If you’re supporter of any of the other 175 candidates and you want people to look at your choice, you’re not going to accomplish that without at least mentioning their name. And, in our electoral process, attacks based on nuance are pretty much just noise.
It’s not a flaw, it’s just a stupid, impossible campaign promise, as well as being far far far away from “the most important thing that changes America”. It’s not even in the top 100.
“Great, Joe. We have a cancer cure, but it’s $2,000,000 a dose and requires ten doses. Oh, and it’s experimental, so it’s not covered at all by insurance.”
The best way, proven to save lives when it comes to cancer? Early intervention. Best way to provide early intervention? Affordable healthcare for all. Better screening tools. More regular checkups. Robust regulations and safety nets so you can’t be fired for simply getting sick and won’t go broke while you’re off or if you can no longer work.
The great thing is that it works on more than just cancer.
This! Please, people, talk more about why a candidate is great and worth voting for, and less about why another candidate is terrible. Positivity might require a bit more effort than generic negativity, but it’s better for you and better for the discussion!
Can we just put that on billboards all over the country? This country is so focused on fixing problems that preventing them seems to be verboten. (See climate change)
Having a healthcare system that encourages people to stick with a doctor they can work with for long enough to track health issues helps too. I had three separate doctors miss my cancer and never got to see them a second time because insurance changes made it too expensive to see that doctor again. That meant I lived with it for years before I finally became so convinced I had it that I just kept going to doctors until one did a biopsy. I’d still have cancer or be dead if I didn’t force the issue, mostly because I almost never was able to see the same doctor more than a couple times for anything due to turbulent insurance changes… all each individual doctor saw each time then was an anxious woman with a perceived lump in her neck that a previous doctor didn’t think was anything. I bet a LOT of cancer gets missed this way right when it matters the most for stopping it. And this is for a cancer that’s pretty well understood and that can actually be wiped out if it’s caught. Biden, of course, is talking about the kind of cancer that usually also kills rich people.
