Kaitlin Has Had Enough: Not to be rude to Michael whom I respect very much, but in 2012 Hillary Clinton was the most popular politician in the country and had a viral meme. In 2020, numerous people said that Biden was so great he should have run in 2016. The weaknesses of these candidates pale to the weakness in us.

Not to be rude to Michael whom I respect very much, but in 2012 Hillary Clinton was the most popular politician in the country and had a viral meme. In 2020, numerous people said that Biden was so great he should have run in 2016. The weaknesses of these candidates pale to the weakness in us.

I'm constantly marveling at Trump's luck as a politician. He only won in 2016 because he ran against one of the Democrats' weakest candidates. In 2024 he ends up running against someone even weaker.

This is a rant I have had for a while, but the first First Lady with a postgraduate degree, Watergate lawyer, children’s rights activist, US Senator and Secretary of State was not a weak fucking candidate. She was more progressive than Biden in every conceivable way. She got fucked over.

And, as much as I hate Joe Biden (and I do!), the man is a six term US Senator, a former VP who actually did something, and an extremely capable administrator. If we were focused on the job of president and not the spectacle of it then this would be obvious, but we keep getting caught in the circus

It took two decades of concerted DC media and Republican efforts and a racist backlash to Obama to sink Hillary’s campaign.

And faithless electors, and electoral college fuckery

It’s unilateral warfare and too many on the left keep blaming the victims and falling for it because they don’t personally like the victims.

But nothing I can say will ever convince anyone who doesn’t already see it.

and because that's common in an abusive system: blame everyone but the actual abuser, because you don't realize you've been gaslit yourself, and/or it's too scary/inconvenient to do otherwise

Exactly. And this will keep happening until the centrists and moderates are radicalized and it becomes bilateral.

she had slaves in the governor's mansion and wrote about how nice they were to her, I think people just didn't like her

What did Biden 'do' though? The Crime Bill? The RAVE Act? Getting into politics for those terms to fight bussing? Supported the wars? It seems like he was 'capable' as an administrator because he and the racists on the other side were on the same pages.

He gave people permission to vote for Barack Obama. Biden prioritized US manufacturing and renewables, growing domestic solar and wind at a record pace. He fixed public service loan forgiveness and hired aggressive regulators. Dude has never been my first choice but he's been very productive.

'he gave people permission to vote for Barack Obama' is probably one of the most racist things I've read on here, congrats. Also he's approving record oil leases and his renewable push comes with equal oil/coal/gas alotments

increasing energy exports bolstered EU resolve for UKR sanctions (we also cancelled permits for LNG terminals in the U.S., reducing the likelihood these exports grow). The IRA puts us on track, cutting GHGs by 33% by 2030. Climatologists are stoked about it. 40 GWs of solar installed in 2023 alone!

like I'm sorry but as someone who was pounding pavement hard for Obama he had massive support even in fucking Texas and shit, what Biden gave was the very racist political establishment some 'permission', not the average voter

the fact that you think those are the same groups is deeply telling

I keep thinking he's got to be the most experienced president we've ever had.

He’s lived through a lot of politics, to be sure

Why do you hate Joe Biden?

There is not enough room here, but quickly: anti-school integration in the 70s; friends with open segregationists; Clarence Thomas and Anita Hill; Crime Bill, Iraq War intelligence laundering for the Bush Admin; plagiarist; racistly assumed that what the GOP did to Obama wouldn't happen to him

I didn't rly like how he voted as a senator at times, but I voted for him cuz he was a former VP and I liked who he was picking to Rep his admin. He's also been more conservative then HK & even BO. I'm mostly disappointed w/ RvW and covid decisions. Gaza too, of course, but that's a lil diff

See, I knew he was shit from the beginning, and if he had run in the competitive open primary in 2016, it would have all gotten dragged out. He would have defended his friendships with white supremacists while John Lewis was alive. Same on busing opposition. Same on Anita Hill. Same on Iraq.

Yeah which is why he lost it Obama, a more progressive candidate! So it's interesting to see the dems pull back into a more conservative candidate. I fear it's only about winning sometimes, which bums me out. The two elected candidates we have rn are a complete joke. I feel disrespected lol

What do you mean you're "mostly disappointed with RvW"? Are you blaming Biden for the Dobbs decision?

Lol I'm disappointed that nothing was said and that RvW wasn't codified.

There’s likely never been enough votes in both chambers at the same time to codify Roe and they would have just struck down such a statute anyway.

People say it’s not she’s a woman it’s her personality but they didn’t like Warren either for equally nebulous reasons.

You know, I think many of the same people dislike Kamala as well. I guess it’s a mystery!

Yea and I bet they didn't support Sarah Palin either

🤨

why do you hate ambitious women, there's no reason to not support her unless you're mad she's a woman, it's impossible to look at a candidate's record and go 'she seems like she sucks' or her personal factors like, say, massive racist lies and being a literal Goldwater Girl.

You had me in the first half there not gonna lie

And she got more actual people’s votes. (And won the debates not that making sense and knowing things apparently matters.) I literally advocated against her policies in Latin America as Secretary of State but never denied her qualifications.

Hillary wasn't weak; she was a strong enough candidate that the Republicans had spent 25 years bashing her and scaring their base into hating her. But she was vulnerable to that. If Obama hadn't beaten her in the 2008 primary, she'd've probably won then anyway.

I agree that she was not weak, but I’ll respectfully suggest that her history as Bill’s aide-de-camp and involvement with Wal-Mart showed her to be less progressive on labor issues than Biden.

Completely agree, and yet I think her pick for labor would have been pro-labor in unexpected ways. And here’s one thing I liked about her in particular: If you complain to her, she listens and changes.

That’s how I feel about HRC as well. She’s open to listening and changing. Which is better than 98% of people who share her generation and background.

In the emailz! saga, my favorite thing was seeing how thoroughly she followed up on every single lead she got. It was the correspondence of an exceptional public servant! It was very boring! That’s why they had to make up a nebulous sinister controversy to create drama.

Exactly! She was policy wonk, constituent services, and concerned grandmother in those emails. What’s not to like?!

also had a bad habit for a politician in she'd clearly do quiet good deeds, at least once at potential risk to her life, and someone in campaign staff would find out, and she wouldn't want them publicized.

Bad trait for a politician, but ironically a good sign of character.

Perhaps, but it was reported after the election that she was considering Howard Schultz for Secretary of Labor: slate.com/news-and-pol...

If Leaked List Is Accurate, Hillary’s Cabinet Choices Would Have Enraged the Democratic Leftslate.com Former Politico staffer Mike Allen has published, via his new Axios newsletter, a list of what he says are the names of individuals who were being...

I don’t hold any credit to that for two reasons: The source The way she would have backtracked so hard once the reaction happened; she has no appetite for fighting her left when the right is gunning for her

I think the lady who bragged about turning Libya into an open air slave market and who's department fought Haiti's minimum wage because her foundation needed the cheap labor was actually a bad candidate despite having a bunch of establishment gold stars

She did get fucked over, and the hate for her was irrational. But her "weakness" was just that so many people already hated her, or were suspicious of her to the extent that the email thing could seem like a big deal to them. She was qualified and capable. And came with a lot of (unfair) baggage.

The “weakness” was that a carefully crafted propaganda campaign would spring up against her, but now that Biden is experiencing the same thing (and Obama, and Bill Clinton, and…) why is that her fault instead of just what Republicans do?

YUUUP. I love Warren and I like Harris too, but every time anyone says “We should run [woman]”, I feel a pang of sorrow and terror. 2016 taught me *just how much* this country hates women. As much as I want a woman president, I don’t want to learn that lesson again.

yep. right now people love Whitmer, and she sounds pretty great, but she'll be pilloried instantly, assuming you know we actually get another election

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