Obama was seen as severely lacking in foreign policy credentials, he was only in his first Senate term and didn’t have any other national political experience before running in 2008. That was part of the reason he picked Biden for VP in the first place, it offered some reassurance for voters who thought Obama was weak on foreign policy.

Even so, when Putin invaded Crimea in 2014 Obama kind of just yawned and let him. The UN passed a few resolutions, but that was that. I don’t think Biden would have rolled over if he were President at the time. I think if you asked Biden about any major disagreements he had with Obama, that might be at the top of the list.

I also think McCain would have handled it differently, too. He would have made a good President, even if I would have disagreed with him more. He was better than the absolute trash the GOP puts up these days.

That’s how it always works. Those delegates were chosen by the campaign that won the right to name them in the Primary, so over 99% of them were chosen by the Biden campaign, and are pledged to vote for him on the first ballot if he is still in the race by the time the roll call vote happens (which will take place before the actual convention this year.)

If he backs out, they are free from their pledge. But who thinks that a bunch of hand-picked Biden delegates will vote for anyone other than who he endorses? And who thinks he will endorse anyone other than his own hand-picked understudy?

They are floating this “blitz primary” idea simply as away to make the process sound more democratic than it really is. It’s not really a “primary” at all. The only voters needing to be “influenced” are the delegates. And in the unlikely event the delegates don’t fall in line on the first vote, DNC Superdelegates can vote starting with the second vote and make sure the proper candidate wins.

On the other hand. If you are gonna have to mop the floor anyway, you can’t do much better than using whatever that thing is on Trump’s head as the mop…

They may be starting to understand that the only way to unfuck the country is to get the Presidency, House and Senate all at once, nuke the Fillibuster, and do all the things. So they’ll not only need Harris to win, but help carry the last few seats needed for both houses.

The real issue is that today’s Republican party is not based on facts at all, it’s based on a collective hallucination, wishful thinking, alternative facts, which Republicans believe instead of actual facts.

The vast majority of the lies Trump spewed during the debate are things that Republicans believe are true. When each side has their own facts, the simple act of fact checking becomes a partisan exercise. And holding their candidate to account equals a partisan witch hunt.

This forces each media outlet to choose a side. If they want any attention at all from the Right, they have to lie like them. Outlets that stick to objective facts will be immediately dismissed by half the electorate. While we’d like to think most outlets worth following will choose actual facts, alternative facts increase your base and may lead to more profits.

Ok. My bad on that. I lose track of all the unrealistic people here.

But regardless, the “mini-primary” is just branding for what the convention does anyway. Delegates have always picked the nominee. Some congressman floated that as an excuse to have a public debate, which will be held solely to show us all how awesome Harris is, and perhaps to help her pick her running mate. But the delegates will always have the last word, and they have already been chosen.

Well, the poster I was replying to (who wasn’t you) was pointing out the mini-primary as an opportunity to avoid Biden and Harris and pick someone with no chance in the general election, but who passed their Progressive purity tests. I was pointing out that the “mini-primary” is just a rebrand of the same convention roll call among delegates that the party already uses, to make it sound more inclusive. And most of those delegates were picked by the Biden campaign.

You’re missing my point entirely. The party is not going to move further left all of a sudden. Moderates get what they want because there are more of them in the party, and also the the mythical “Swing Voter” who prophecies say will swing the election will be a moderate, once we find one.

And this “mini-primary” is not really what you think it is, the delegates to the convention are already set and pledged to Biden (for now). Those delegates will be voting on the nominee, who will either be Biden or his hand-picked successor. Those delegates will not vote for Mayor Pete or AOC, no matter how badly progressives want it.

Biden’s candidacy is not in jeopardy because of his moderate policies, it’s because time has caught up with him. If he backs out, his replacement will not be any less moderate. Get over it. There will be no progressive White Knight to sweep the country out of the Jaws of Capitalism.

Obligatory XKCD:

Well, this person thinks it’s important, and it is.

Psst: a “mini-primary” is just an election among DNC delegates. You know, the thing they have to do anyway. And 99% of those delegates were named by Biden’s campaign, and will do what he directs them to do.

It might generate a televised debate, but all that will do is show off the back bench of the party for 2032 (or 2028 if Harris loses). If Biden backs out, Harris will be the nominee, and no amount of Progressive whining will change that.

Moderate Democrats are like vegetables, nobody really looks forward to them but they give you energy to fight Fascism. Eat your peas!

You know that it’s gotten bad when the GOP has adopted Dark Helmet’s platform.

Evil will always triumph, because Good is dumb.

That’s exactly what I would expect him to say, until he drops out, at which point I would expect him to say that it was his plan all along.

Definitely not Kamala fucking Harris, the most hated VP in decades.

Say what, now? All this tells me is you’re too young to remember Dick Cheney, or the other guy who failed the spelling bee. (In fairness, though, Quayle wasn’t so much hated as he was ignored, like your little brother.)

We don’t have to prepare for it, it’s already happening, at least on Lemmy.

Because they probably watched the same disaster of a debate that I did.

I guess the Tour De France likes their Swiss money

Boebert is the one calling her a DEI hire, meanwhile Jean-Pierre has a Masters degree from Columbia and years of relevant experience.

These people are committing the Cardinal Sin of interacting with Donald Trump, though: telling him what to do. There’s a tiny chance that even if he is elected, he might fully ignore this list out of spite.

If you want Trump to do something, you need to convince him that it was his idea all along.

Do you say she’s not very good because you think she’s unqualified?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karine_Jean-Pierre

It seems to me she has a well-developed resumé, she has held several key posts in Democratic campaigns before landing the Press Secretary gig. She appears to be objectively qualified for her job. Much more so than

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lauren_Boebert

Who owned a bunch of restaurants before running for office. Her main qualification semes to be that she talked some shit to an ex-member of the Cult of the Dead Cow. But the only vetting process she went through was an election.