What exactly made Biden change his mind?

[KayF]

Obviously he knew there would be some backlash. I figure there must have been some particular aspect of it that he didn't expect.

It's obviously not his primary opponents. He knew they would attack him and he must have been preparing his case. I saw some of the arguments here at DU.

My guess is that it was the activist groups like NARAL. I'm wondering if he expected one or more of them to give him cover, because they support him overall, or are desperate to defeat Trump and they think he's the best chance.

Or it could be something behind the scenes, like a major donor calling him about it...

[Kurt V.]

1. E.W. is my guess. 😀

[KayF]

11. maybe so

her response was especially good, and went viral.

[samnsara]

2. im sure this was his mindset all along..

..i have no doubt Joe will do the best job for women and America.

[PatSeg]

14. I agree

For years supporting the Hyde Amendment was Democrats' compromise in order to continue government funding for Planned Parenthood. Also, until recently, supporting government funding for abortions was considered political suicide. Times have changed and politicians are catching up with voters' mindset.

[JI7]

3. i think his being FOR it was the politically expedient position .

it was more about not turning off a segment of voters and not really about his own views on the issue.

the way Obama and many democrats claimed to oppose same sex marriage even though he had supported it already before .

[PatSeg]

15. Yes

And even Obama had to show support for the Hyde Amendment in order to get the Affordable Care Act passed. The Hyde Amendment has been a political issue for decades and support from the left was almost always a matter of expediency and compromise.

[MrsCoffee]

4. It was the right thing to do.

[Farmer-Rick]

5. If he wanted liberal women and their families to vote for him, he had to change his mind.

I know I would have been turned off going into the primaries with him having that stand.

Glad he changed his mind. That shows strength.

[marylandblue]

6. I think he did not realize the backlash that would occur.

He is, by nature, a moderate. So he took a moderate position that had been good for decades. He didn't realize the Democratic Party has moved on.

[ananda]

7. Biden is a fundamentally decent person.

Period

[Act_of_Reparation]

8. This isn't rocket science.

Joe's people probably crunched the numbers and found the pro-choice vote a bigger threat to his campaign than the Catholic vote he traditionally courted as Senator.

[KayF]

10. but when did they crunch the numbers?

only yesterday? Why wouldn't they have done it before then?

[Act_of_Reparation]

13. Maybe.

I can't speak to how his campaign operates. But it does seem a safe bet this sudden reversal was not the result of deep personal reflection and reevaluation of his position.

[KayF]

16. I totally agree

whatever it is, it's something that happened yesterday. Seems unlikely that it's a personal epiphany.

[Act_of_Reparation]

17. Exactly.

Joe's held elected office longer than I've been alive. He's made it this far, this long because he makes safe bets. Changing his position on Hyde, however he might have been convinced of it, must be, in his mind, the safest bet.

[watoos]

9. What made him change his mind?

Elizabeth Warren is coming on like gang busters. She moved to the top of my list. Our other candidates better start taking on Trump like she is. Mayor Pete and Kamala are on the front line, where are the rest? Biden came out of the gate then he pulled on the reins.

[dogman]

12. Reality.

He realized Scalia Law is very unpopular.