Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2016/10/26/clintons-camp-feared-joe-bid.html
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Biden would have sailed away from Trump much earlier and faster than Hillary Clinton did.Oh, bullshit. Up until very recently, Biden was the baffled, handsy buffoon who too frequently went off script like an addled uncle. It's only now that the Village pretends to wish that he was the Dem's nominee. If he had run and knocked out Hillary, these same people would currently be being every bit as cold and vicious to him as they've always been to her.
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My God, though, can you imagine the debates? It would have been like Bjork and Yoko Ono in a Quentin Tarantino movie, long rambling nonsensical dialog interspersed with intense violence, and steadycam wandering around the studio and out into the parking lot. It would have been like Reservoir Dogs: The Election.
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I agree. I don’t think anyone on the Dem side would have done better against Trump. She’s been masterful in keeping her cool, using surrogates, and tweaking him in ways he can’t resist responding to.
I also dispute that she couldn’t have beaten anyone else. Obama is a world-class politician, and she actually got more individual votes than he did in the 2008 primary though he did get more pledged delegates. The point is she was very close to winning against a great campaigner with a great campaign staff.
Secondly, the GOP doesn’t have anyone rational who could win the nomination. Ted Cruz is as insane as Trump with a better jaw line. Rubio can’t hold multiple thoughts in his head at once, and is a joke as a debater. Paul Ryan didn’t want it, and really wasn’t that good as VP candidate in 2012. Ben Carson? Ha ha ha ha ha. John Kasich might have had a chance, but he would have infuriated the base.
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That’s beautiful.
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Which was his role as VP. Well done Biden, not “what a goof Biden”. He’s a heck of a politician, and more likeable than either of the candidates.
I’d like to say likeability doesn’t matter, but Trumps “likability” is trumping his obvious lack of capacity and temperment for at least 1/4 of the populace, so… it does matter. And Biden has that. In spades. (See what I did there? In many games spades are the trump suit)
Yes, they would. The vicious people would be vicious, but they’d have a lot further to go to knock him down in the minds of an undecided voter.
I say this as a reluctant Clinton voter. I’d be psyched to have been able to vote for Biden as the nominee. Maybe even over Bernie.
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Do the Democrats not have anybody with leadership potential under the age of 70? There’s a lower limit of 35 on presidential candidates and I think there should be an upper limit of 60.
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Did they fear it worse than a Bernie run? Because they sure as shit made sure the party wonks killed THAT.
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What? A presidential candidate would rather that others not run against her? OMG! Someone alert the media!
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- Trump 2016!
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Huh?
Warren and Kaine come to mind after one second of thought. How many of the 17 Republican nominees would have stood a chance against either one of them? After 5 seconds of thought I can think of several more under 70 and over 35. Maybe spend 10 seconds really thinking about the answer to your question, and I bet you’ll come up with a few of the same that I did.
The (D) party doesn’t face a shortage of leadership. It faces a crisis of corporate ownership by the establishment. Fortunately that establishment (Pronounced DLC) will all age out of relevance by the end of the first or second Clinton term.
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Warren is under 70, but she won’t be by the next election.
Obama isn’t even 60 yet, but he’s term-limited.
Lessig’s the same age as Obama, but after his attempt to run as a single-issue (electoral reform) candidate no one takes him seriously.
I can’t think of any big names that have made it across your northern border as popular young Democratic Party leaders.
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Jim Webb is pretty awesome, and would make a great SecDef.
Udall, Heinrich, Klobuchar, Hickenlooper, etc etc
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“Biden would have sailed away from Trump much earlier and faster than Hillary Clinton did.”
I love Joe - but there’s just nothing supporting that assessment. No one had any yardstick to predict how any candidate would have fared against Donny.
We did learn along the way that strong women trip him up every time. But - how Joe’s mix of heart, regular guy and policy chops would have worked is anyone’s guess. Would have been interesting to watch.
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This leak lacks the juicy details, how did she persuade Biden not to run?
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As much as I dislike HRC, she is a better candidate than Biden. But the debates would have been something.
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I honestly think that no male candidate would be able to leverage Trump’s misogyny like HRC has. Even Bernie might’ve had a bigger struggle against him than this. It is immensely fitting that our first female president will be elected, almost explicitly, because we don’t like the way her opponent treats women.
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Biden may have run into the same problems that every other male candidate had with Trump - mainly that he is a loudmouth bully that throws people off their game, and dominates the discussion as much as possible.
Where Trump has stumbled is in his inability to ruffle Clinton. And the fact that he bragged about sexual assault in a video. But I think Clinton pointing out how wrong it is far outpunches another old white guy getting huffy about how Trump treats the ladies. There are more than enough white knights out there, what has inspired a lot of people is a fully armoured, badass woman knight kicking ass and mopping the floor with every move Trump makes.
That said, I have always liked Biden and think he would probably have been a solid President. But so will Clinton, if something awful doesn’t happen in the next 2 weeks.
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My $$$ are on it being a false-flag op from @Flossaluzitarin trying to discredit the competition.
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