And *THIS* is why Joe Biden should have run for President in 2016....

[scheming daemons]

There is innate goodness in this man.

Link to tweet

[fleabiscuit]

1. Touching. nt

[jalan48]

2. I agree, nt

[Glorfindel]

3. A great AND good man. He would have been an amazing president.

[Hortensis]

4. Innate goodness was a big part of why he did not.

He almost certainly would have lost the nomination because he lacked preparedness and almost all power blocs had already endorsed and contributed to Hillary, but in the process his candidacy would have split Democrats unnecessarily.

Also, I'm willing to listen to Obama that Biden could be a good president, but he was squishy and weak most of his time in government, including in principles. I'll never be able to forget that as chair of the senate judiciary committee it was his duty to keep a scumbag like Clarence Thomas off the Supreme Court and he failed to even try. Nor will I forget the devastating effects on lives, families, society from the true evils of the three-strikes laws that Biden also did not fight with all he had. He was a very, very bad Democrat in those years.

[tblue37]

55. And his support of depredation by credit card companies. I admire Biden in many ways,

but as senator he did not always defend the Democratic principle of fighting for the little guy against the powerful.

[Hortensis]

59. Yes. It may well be that with age and bitter experience he's

strengthened his backbone and connected it to Democratic principles, less a Mr. Nice-Biden too committed to maintaining his great relationships with Republicans to fight them. But if a new Biden did evolve, that was still unproven.

And in the process of using him to regret Hillary, Scheming chooses not to mention that, likable as Biden is, he's already run for president twice and lost twice--quickly, and that his last careful, experienced consideration caused him to back off.

[still_one]

5. No, that ISN'T the reason to vote for someone. Yes, Joe Biden has compassion, but he also has made

some significant blunders in his career, which not only inflicted unnecessary pain on people, but also show not particularly good judgement.

That being said, Biden has experienced a lot of personal loss in his life, and is able to relate to others with similar experience

[mopinko]

6. heart is the first qualification for any office, imho.

i have never voted for a rethuglican, but if i ever do, it will be because i see a big heart that i cannot resist.

[ADX]

7. If Biden had run, he would have been POTUS right now...

...He would have mopped the floor with Chump.

[lunamagica]

8. No, he wouldn't have

[ADX]

12. You're entitled to your opinion...

...and I'm entitled to mine. Have a great day...

[thesquanderer]

17. Yeah, he likely would have.

Hillary came awfully close.

I can't imagine there are too many Hillary voters who would have picked Trump if it were Trump vs. Biden. So, assume that Biden gets virtually every Hillary vote.

Now add...

...Biden didn't have Hillary's level of unfavorables outside the Dem base (i.e. such a large chunk of voters who simply hated the idea of voting for her, due to decades of attacks on her from the right)

...Biden has greater working class appeal, a place where Trump really challenged Hillary (and certainly would have helped in WI, MI, PA)

...Biden wouldn't have had to deal with the misogyny factor

...Biden wouldn't have had the last minute Comey surprise

Any one of those could have made the difference. All four? Yeah, I'd say Biden would have won.

[lunamagica]

30. He would not have gotten the support from black women that Hillary did

Remember Anita Hill? Actually, I think that many women of all races would not have supported him over that

The only thing I agree with you is the misogyny. The rest? No

[Hassin Bin Sober]

11. It wouldn't even have been a contest. Biden by 10 points.

[denvine]

22. I am not trashing Hillary but I agree with this statement!

I also believe Biden would be President now, he he had run. Again, I am not trying to start a debate that is totally counterproductive at this point. It's done! But I do believe Biden would have beat Trump!

[delisen]

34. He would have been subject to the Russian influence and

been totally unprepared for it. We would have had the plagiarism scandal ad nauseam,

Granted many persons who denounced Clinton for:

1. Iraq War resolution vote would have given Biden a pass (yes he voted for it, as did John Kerry and John Edwards)

2. crime Bill that passed in the 1990s when Clinton was not in the Senate, would have given Biden a pass(Biden not only voted for the bill, he wrote it).

3. receiving support of Wall Street (major employer of New Yorkers) would have Given Biden a pass on his Bank and Credit Card legislation and vote (Banking industry being major employer in Delaware). Credit card interest rate and Banking legislation has been a major destroyer of the middle and working class.

Personally I would like to see an end to the double standard and the search for the white male president-hero and the mythology that all we need is a guy-hero in the Oval Office-we have had a steady stream of them and we are in a mess.

We need a Congress of 50 % women

[LiberalLovinLug]

36. Sanders or Biden would have beaten the Liar in Chief

Both have better histories with the Rust Belt States. And that is all we needed was a few more votes from up there. Add into the equation the decades long onslaught against Hillary's character even before Putin started piling on. I think obviously the Clinton campaign and the DNC knew of the threat of not only the Ruskies, but RW media with their distortions of the facts. But they never knew the depth of the brainwashing especially with a few years of FB memes and fake stories spread about how criminally evil she and Bill are.

Yes, if Sanders or Biden was the nominee they'd scramble to find whatever dirt they could find or invent and blow it up. If it was Sanders, Trump would have to pivot quickly after, at least pretending, to sympathize with Sanders in regards to the DNC and Hillary. She lost (or didn't win enough) by such a small margin that in hindsight, another populist, charismatic, candidate like Sanders or Biden, I'm positive would have won, maybe not by much, against Trump.

[seaglass]

50. He lost 2 primaries. Why wouldn't Bernie have gone after him for the same things he went after

Hillary for? I mean he WROTE the Crime bill! He has always been a major supporter of financial services companies - so why wouldn't he be tagged with the same corporatist bs?

Are we pretending that Bernie wouldn't have run?

This makes no sense to me.

[nsd]

56. Biden is a better politician than Clinton.

I don't mean that he's smarter or more knowledgeable. I simply mean that he's more charismatic and better at interacting with people and on screen. He would have dispatched Sanders way earlier than Clinton did.

[seaglass]

58. He lost to Hillary Clinton. Your opinion doesn't outweight facts. n/t

[DemocratSinceBirth]

9. Hindsight is better than foresight.

[lunamagica]

10. Hillary has a HUGE heart also. Then again, I gues trump is POTUS because of

his innate goodness

[scheming daemons]

14. Hillary also had baggage she couldn't overcome.... more baggage than Biden

And yes.... enough misogyny to by enough voters to keep her from winning.

[lunamagica]

25. I agree about the msogyny...but the baggage? Everyone has baggage, but anyway, baggage

can always be made up.

Don't you think that Biden could have also ran a child pornography ring out of a non-existent basement on a pizza parlor?

Facts don't matter to those people

[scheming daemons]

35. You're right about that. Whoever our next nominee is will be subjected to that nonsense....

....hopefully we fight it better next time.

[pnwmom]

38. Biden has his Anita Hill baggage. And that affects him with millions of Democrats,

even if you don't mind.

[LanternWaste]

42. She overcame her baggage. We didn't.

She overcame her baggage. We didn't.

[SFnomad]

65. +1 .... This (n/t)

[Ferrets are Cool]

13. I will get crucified for saying this

But, if he had, we would not have this abomination as a PGIC now....IMO. And yes, this is ONLY my opinion.
And I will admit that it could still have been stolen.

[BadgerMom]

15. Thank you. Thats my America.

[Pepsidog]

16. He looks and sounds good. Dont discount Joe for 2020

[Lisa0825]

18. *sigh* I love Uncle Joe, but...

[LisaM]

19. You're saying there's NOT innate goodness in most of the Dem candidates?

I find that troubling.

I met Hillary Clinton yesterday for about two seconds at a book signing. I was with a disabled person, so was very lucky (thanks, Tom Harken) to be at the front of the line with a number of people with canes, walkers, crutches, wheelchairs, etc. Even though we weren't supposed to take up much of her time, she was breaking the rule by chatting with every single person in line, generally asking them about their disabilities and the support groups that they worked with, which she seemed really intimately familiar with. My friend had traumatic brain injury from an accident, and she told Hillary one thing that kept her going was seeing how Hillary kept dusting herself off and continuing the fight.

(I didn't take up any of HRC's time because I was overcome with emotion and started choking up and Hillary squeezed my hand and thanked me for coming).

I know that Joe Biden is a very compassionate man, but I really, really fail to understand how Hillary's empathy is not played up by the press. There are countless stories of little things she's done for people who need help, but somehow Joe Biden gets giant props for consoling Megan McCain and now it means he would have won if we hadn't nominated cold-hearted Hillary?

[bigbrother05]

23. The problem is that it wasn't played up in the press

Everyone agrees that she is very warm & approachable one-on-one. The media was able to discount that based on a public persona that had to be twice as skilled and twice as tough to get half the credit. That much armor made it extremely hard for her innate goodness to shine through.

[LisaM]

24. It's maddening.

I didn't even bother watching the news to see if they showed the person they were interviewing in line ahead of me. I've seen how the press - even in liberal Seattle - can treat Dems. When I saw Kerry speak in 2004, he was warm, witty, informed, and the crowd - which waited in a downpour - was engaged and receptive. The news? They just reported that he took his wife to a fancy restaurant for their anniversary dinner, reinforcing the Kerry is rich meme (despite the fact that, even though it was a pricey restaurant, it was also a landmark Seattle location).

ARRRRGGGGHHH.

[lunamagica]

27. Thanks for sharing your story about meeting Hillary! I know of many stories

like yours, and that's what I said she has a huge heart. Honestly, this OP reads like an attack on Hillary. It doesn't belong here.

[LisaM]

33. It was really amazing.

Everyone was thrilled to meet her and she seemed equally happy to meet everyone there. I wasn't ashamed of breaking down in front of her. It was very moving.

[lunamagica]

37. I think it would be great if you started a thread about your meeting with

Hillary.

Woud you please do it?

[LisaM]

40. Sure.

I felt like it would go nowhere, but I'll give it a go.

[lunamagica]

46. I'll reply!

[LisaM]

47. Thanks!

[Orrex]

20. He would be crucified for his treatment of Anita Hill

The Right, which has made the oppression of women into one of the main planks of its platform, would heroically paint Biden as anti-woman. The media would run with it, and the Republican will win the election (and/or would have won if Biden had run in 2016).


Big fan of Biden, but that ship has sailed.

[pnwmom]

39. I agree. And the tapes of his questioning of her still exist and would be put to use. nt

[treestar]

44. Ok but how did that compare with the pussy-grabber?

That might have been a wash.

[pnwmom]

45. No one's saying he's remotely like the pussy-grabber. In my opinion, Joe Biden's

worst flaw is that he wants everyone to like him -- and that's what led to his mishandling of the Anita Hill hearings. He also wanted the R's on the Committee and even Clarence Thomas to like him.

[Orrex]

57. Trump is a uniquely toxic monster

But we've seen how the media soft-handles him, repeating his every tweet like revealed wisdom and seldom (or never) stopping to say "you know, he sexually assaulted about two dozen women."

When the media does mention it, it's as a footnote to a story about Conyers or Franken.

If Biden were to run, his grilling of Hill would be run 24/7 to drive home the fake point that Biden hates women. Worse, they would contrast this "me too" era with Biden's frank dismissal of Hill's claims.


I like Biden a great deal, but he would be a doomed candidate.

[ucrdem]

60. Biden treated Hill no less kindly than Meghan McCain. The media narrative is a myth.

I watched the hearings at the time but I'd heard the media spin so long I was surprised to hear Biden recently say he'd supported Hill and regretted that she'd been treated badly. So I checked the record and sure enough. The CSPAN videos are out there but they're a mess so here's a WaPo clip of Biden questioning Hill and there's nothing remotely unkind or unsupportive about it:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/politics/biden-questions-anita-hill-during-thomas-clarence-confirmation-hearing/2017/11/21/75e0b742-ceed-11e7-a87b-47f14b73162a_video.html?utm_term=.87b42f0fc5d3

So I don't think Biden will have any trouble clearing his name if he needs to.

[Orrex]

64. I heard parts of the tapes last week, on NPR's Fresh Air

And I listened to others thereafter.

If Biden were to treat someone today the way he treated Hill at the time, everyone on DU would be howling about it.


He has no future on the presidential ballot, and if we nominate him, we will lose.

[NurseJackie]

21. Lord.

[murielm99]

28. This is very nice,

but it does not make Biden Presidential.

[democrank]

29. Joe Biden is the real deal. He doesn't need a focus group to tell him what to believe in.

I'm so glad he offered comfort to Meghan McCain. She and her family must be going through hell right now.

[SCVDem]

31. I love Joe.

I hope he backs Adam Schiff and Elizabeth Warren for the nom.

[Docreed2003]

32. Thats why I love him...

Joe has his many faults....he’s been torn down and trashed by many in the left for years, but that is who he is. That’s the Joe Biden I know, and I hurt for America that he’s not in the Oval at this time...again, he’s not perfect...he has many faults, but he would be lightyears better than the current occupant.

[triron]

41. Not to take anything away from Joe

but he would have been no match for Hillary in the primary.

[Joe941]

43. I might take some heat for this, but...

Compassion is a great quality but honestly the president can't care personally about each of the 300 million people in the US. The pres needs to make sure the policy passed and signed is sound and compassionate. That's how he/she can show compassion to the people.

[NCTraveler]

48. He has a huge heart.

I’m not sure how this equates to him having should have run.

People often like to talk about this aspect of Joe because it’s real. It’s at the core of who he is. The second he announced DU would then look at some of his legislative history and he would have been run out of town. Most likely by the exact same people attempting to use his name as a way to refight 2016.

[obamanut2012]

49. I will never, ever vote for him in a primary because of Anita Hill

Ever.

And, he has never properly apologized nor shown true remorse for how he treated her.

I was home sick during her entire testimony. NONE of the men who questioned her have never apologized.

[Gothmog]

51. Biden was so very sweet to Meghan McCain

[Hoyt]

52. I saw that today, it was very good and inspiring.

[jalan48]

53. Obama liked Biden a lot-his support would have helped Biden in the election.

[Bleacher Creature]

54. I won't debase this thread by using his name in this thread . . .

But compare this to the pig we have in office now.

[Ken Burch]

61. Joe's a great guy, but I doubt he'd want you doing this.

I know this isn't your intent, but it looks like you're refighting primaries Joe didn't even run in.

[susanna]

62. He was grieving his son.

I understood why he said no.

Grieving is a shitload of work on top of what you already carry as a normal human being. Worse, it's in your heart to the extent you can't be effective sometimes. Grief is work.

Biden made the right call.

People who choose not to grieve in its rightful season end up being messed up later...it catches up with you if you don't engage.

Biden is showing what dealing with grief IN ITS TIME looks like. You end up a better, more loving, and stronger person.

[JI7]

63. There is innate Goodness in Hillary also. but i agree Biden would have won but it would be because

he didn't have to deal with the Misogyny , not because of innate goodness .

but this is assuming he would have won the primary which he would not have against Hillary because of the Anita Hill thing.

and sadly some white men(and women) may actually have voted for Biden because of the Anita Hill thing and him being seen as not so sympathetic to a black woman.