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[gab13by13]

1. It is a bullshit article.

[dalton99a]

2. It is evident that most Americans do not share DUers' adulation of Biden.

His refusal to allow a primary was a colossal mistake, as was his hesitation to shut down the border

[Jk23]

8. Popularity wise he never seemed to recover from that withdraw from Afghanistan fiasco.

And yes, I know that was Trump's deal, but new Presidents are often handed such things. Fiascos like that happen (Think Waco the first year of Clinton's) but you need to admit your mistakes and move on.

[radius777]

29. The biggest mistake was the border,

as soon as there were images of migrants streaming across, Biden's numbers plummeted and never recovered. Everything he accomplished was overshadowed by the border situation - and the R's bussing of migrants all over the country 'worked' to shift even blue areas rightward. States like NY, NJ, IL shifted 10 points to the right.

The border and inflation were the two things that hurt us most, as well as Gaza, which depressed enthusiasm amongst our base.

[grobertj]

36. Amen

Biden failed to secure the border. It’s not unreasonable for immigration grants to enter the country legally. In a way, Biden is responsible for the coming efforts at mass deportation.

[travelingthrulife]

14. You want the border shut down?? Why?

Because Republicans pretend horrific things are happening?

[Jack Valentino]

19. Biden DIDN'T 'refuse to allow a primary', we HAD a primary!!!

However, no candidate with any viability chose to run against him!

What, was he supposed to go recruit viable candidates to run against him??

This "refusal to allow a primary" is a talking point that I've heard from right-wing sources.
I'd rather not see it perhaps unwittingly parroted on this site.

[GusBob]

4. Death by a thousand cuts

Some a little deeper than others

My eyes are opening up to some of the causes

[WhiskeyGrinder]

5. The positions are not wrong. Perhaps the framing is. But backing away from equality is never right.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

16. It's not complicated and making policy around conservative parents' fears is a recipe for disaster.

Those who are trans are typically visibly identifiable. I also think trans people are unfortunately subject to a reaction similar to the 'Uncanny Valley Hypothesis'. The Uncanny Valley describes the phenomenon where people are made uneasy by something that appears human but isn't quite realistic - originally used in the context of people being unsettled by near human robots. There is a school of thought, and I do agree with it, that something similar occurs with trans people. The residual physical clues of the trans persons birth gender could cause a similar aversion because their appearance does not fully match up with the expectations of gender that are hardwired into our brains.

This is gross and you need to stop.

[Amishman]

17. It is gross and unfortunate, but it is also quite possibly true

It's been discussed for over a decade. Do some reading on the subject before you dismiss the concept.

Old discussion on it that covers it fairly well: https://www.transgenderpulse.com/forums/index.php?/topic/39095-the-uncanny-valley-and-being-trans/

[WhiskeyGrinder]

20. The day "conservatives get the ick from trans people" drives policy is the day I leave this party.

Giving it any credence implies that there are appearance standards a person has to hit before they are accepted as valid and I will reject that every goddamn day of the week.

[white_wolf]

35. Thank you for this

As a trans person, some of the takes in this thread make me feel really unwelcome here. We're not horror movie monsters trying to impersonate real humans. We're actual people and we deserve to be treated as such.

[Silent Type]

26. Yeah, that's kind of the essence of the Democratic Party to me. Unfortunately, it cost us this time.

[Ocelot II]

6. This is a lot of bollocks.

The author is a nonresident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, the right-wing think tank whose board includes Dick Cheney and Harlan Crow. So there's that.

[MustLoveBeagles]

7. What a bunch of horseshit

The media just lives to kick Biden in the balls. This was NOT his fault.

[Ferryboat]

9. " Performative wokeness"

Wonderful term.

This is what drove many to the R's.

Give marginalized groups a seat at the table, start the needed conversation.

Doing a 180* on policies to accommodate the marginalized scared many away. Too soon, to fast.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

22. "Too soon, to fast."

Please describe the ideal timeline and speed, including specific markers, for accommodating the marginalized that would keep from "driving people to the Rs," and how that timeline is then presented to the marginalized.

[violasays]

11. Perfomative wokeness is offensive

To people like me who are biracial and thinking they perhaps my gender is not as straightforward as I once thought it was. Telling people like me that our desire for the equality and chances that white people and cisgender people get is “wokeness” is actually disgusting, and to be very frank, if you agree with the toxic garbage an imbecile like Bill Maher spews then perhaps your posts deserve to be hidden.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

23. But don't you see, viola? People *here* support you; it's just that other people over *there* don't, and it's more

important to cater to *those* people than protect you. Your time will come, though! Because people *here* support you!!1!!1 Just don't get mad or uppity or anything! See my paperclip??

/s

[Ferryboat]

24. Well said

We need to recognize those outside our "bubble" get very uncomfortable, especially when it comes to their kids.

In conversations with coworkers, social issues was wedge that pushed them to R's.

[Silent Type]

28. Good point about discussion. I'm hopeful we can discuss these matters openly in coming months. With that said,

equality for everyone is pretty much the essence of the Democratic Party. I'd expect DU and Democrats to fall on that side, even if we differ on how to approach it.

[Self Esteem]

12. Joe Biden never promised to only run for one term.

There was no implicit promise of such a move. In fact, he routinely denied such claims.

So, this article is already pushing bullshit from the start.

[marybourg]

13. From the Democratic Party perfection is expected.

From the tRump party chaos insurrection bowing to fascist heads of state theft of secret papers nepotism disrespect to service members etc etc etc are rewarded.

[mcar]

18. Biden never said he would be a one-term president

This is all BS.

[Jk23]

25. He did kind of hint at it

Anf to be blunt he was extremely old when he ran the first time I think people just assumed he would run again in his eighties.

I think we can all agree that the Democratic party dropped the ball by not really pushing this issue two years ago.

[mcar]

33. I don't agree with that at all

Had he declared 2 years ago that he wasn't running, the last 2 years would have been constant campaigning by a dozen Democratic contenders.

Look at what Biden/Harris accomlished, against all odds, in those 2 years. I think we can all agree that many of those things would not have happened.

Joe Biden is the greatest president of my lifetime. His entire term is marked by huge successes that were ignored by the media in favor of a "horse race" election.

They got what they wanted.

[johnp3907]

31. Load of crap.

Trashing.

[snot]

32. Two points:

First of all, I think most people vote their pocketbooks. Americans have been struggling – for too long, and with steadily increasing difficulty and stress – to afford not just the American Dream but food, housing, and health care; and at least some of that difficulty appears due to the actions of Dem leaders (the repeal of Glass-Steagall, NAFTA, the refusal to adequately regulate credit derivatives, the refusal to prosecute bankers after 2008, expensive foreign wars that drain our resources without obviously helping anyone other than the MIC {Republicans have been as bad or worse on many of these, but the Dems used to be the ones that we looked to to help us}.) The expense of the war in Ukraine is a related concern here, one that Trump promised to fix.

Secondly, I disagree that "wokeness" per se was that big of a factor. I live in one of the most conservative states, and I literally know no middle class person, Dem or Republican, for whom economics weren't the main concern.

I think "wokeness" was more of a make-weight. (That said, I wish we'd consider resolving the controversies re- competitive sports by simply classifying athletes based on non-gender -related characteristics – i.e., why not rely instead on height, weight, or even hormone levels – whatever physical characteristics are directly related to performance in the particular sport – rather than fixating on what bits of flesh they've got in their crotches, gender preferences, or other criteria that are relatively irrelevant to athletic performance?)

[white_wolf]

34. I was waiting for these cursed takes.

I knew some people would say the Dems were too supportive of minorities. We don't need to throw trans people under the bus to win. Fuck that.

We're in an era where incumbents are losing power. We're also in an era where trust in institutions are at a low and populism is on the rise. We need to counter with leftist populism or we're going to keep losing more and more.

[LudwigPastorius]

37. "It was an egregious mistake...to allow Joe Biden to renege..."

"to allow"?

Joe wanted to run again. What did the author want the DNC to do, kick him out of the party for that? (not that they could have if they wanted to)

This is a stupid take.