I am a huge fan of Clinton and think she would have made an excellent president, even though she was a lousy campaigner.
Biden is a gaffe machine, but–outside of the hardened anti-moderates at both ends of the political spectrum–I think the general view of him is that he’s affable and decent. Moreover, people have now seen what four years of Trump have done to the country. And, maybe most importantly, Biden doesn’t actually have to outperform Clinton to win. He just has to have his votes distributed differently.
I was saying that as someone who is very much not a fan of Clinton, or Biden, for exactly the same reasons: their records and their policies. Despite my strong opposition to Clinton, I can still see that she is intelligent, competent, and generally had her shit together. Biden is a compulsive liar, can’t string two sentences together, and is likely going senile. I think that makes him a worse candidate than her, even though their policies and the interests they represent are identical.
At this point Bernie is my only hope but I will vote for whoever isn’t Trump again even if it’s a fucking potted plant
I would vote for a pile of steaming dogshit before I would ever vote for a republican for the rest of my life and I would vote to jump off a bridge if it meant Trump could never hold office again
Primary voters aren’t general election voters, and anyone who becomes the nominee is almost by definition going to win among the people who voted in their party’s primary.
In particular, Biden’s main selling point in primaries – that he’s the best tactical choice to get a Democrat president – is irrelevant to people who haven’t decided if they want a Democrat president. Everyone assumes Bernie is the one whose appeal won’t translate to a wider audience, but it’d be an equally valid guess about Biden.
Anyway, my prediction was based on (pessimism and) the overall impression Biden gives off right now. I think the Democratic fandom is seeing him as he was in the past – more coherent, less harried-seeming, and standing behind Barack Obama. But low-information voters aren’t going to see that halo, and I don’t think they’ll be gripped by what they do see. Whereas Bernie will make people think “I haven’t seen this before”.
Am curious - and have asked it before at random points - who would be the most electable (ie motivate the blue vote and possibly some of the purple) to go head to head w Drmpf and Co?
