I support Joe Biden ... He is correct on bi-partisan cooperation

[PBC_Democrat]

No matter how much we hate the other side or the other people we are going to have to work with them where we have agreement to get things done.

I still expect our side to fight on issues where we don't agree -- but the bottom line is that be an absolutist is going to get our party, and our country, NOWHERE!

As much as we hate to admit it - there are millions of Americans that support the other guys. I'm not saying we should compromise on our core principals - but there are things we can agree on and move forward.

[True Blue American]

1. Working with others

Is the only way you accomplish anything Joe does that.

[delisen]

2. Have any evidence that Democrats in Congress are refusing to work

with Republicans on issues where they agree?

Has Biden presented any evidence?

[emmaverybo]

4. He has made no accusations about Dems. He is pointing out an area he's experienced in and

has been effective at.

[delisen]

12. I haven't seen any evidence that current Dems in Congress are

not working with Republicans on areas where they agree, so I am concluding that the the primary candidates currently in Congress are already experienced and effective at do this.

[R B Garr]

9. So it's not a character flaw to work with Republicans

to get things done?

Other politicians are not responsible for who constituents elect to represent them.

[zipplewrath]

3. It worked so well for Obama

Remember all the times Obama reached out and got the GOP to work with him on the serious issues of the day?

No, neither do I.

[Skya Rhen]

14. Republicans worked with Bill Clinton - fact. They did not work with Obama because he was black.

I, for one, will not pretend that we do not have racists in congress. It's delusional to believe otherwise.

[zipplewrath]

15. Actually

The didn't work with Obama because working with Clinton backfired on them so bad. Clinton's "triangulation" strategy constantly "gave them what they wanted" while also achieving some of Clinton's goals, as well as making him look effective. They weren't going to make that mistake again. So they decided literally on day one to work with him on anything, despite Obama regularly trying to entice them with their own ideas. Him being black just made it all that much easier for them.

And they won't work "with" Biden either. But they can be coerced into cooperating, which was what Hillary advised o-so-long-ago.

[Skya Rhen]

17. I won't be an apologist for the racists in congress and I will continue to call them out. They were

determined to ensure that the first BLACK President failed even if it meant destroying America and starting over again. As an AA I know exactly what they were about.

[marylandblue]

19. Problem is, McConnell has already promised to do the same to any Democrat.

It may have started because of racism, but it worked so well for them, Biden would get the same treatment. I don't think he is prepared for this because they probably are civil to him.

[joost5]

51. Exacty.

Mitch will do anything, no matter how hypocritical he is doing it, as long as he gets his way. I.e. the McConnell supreme court nomination rule, et al.

[zipplewrath]

18. And when they do the same to Biden?

What will that be?

[Skya Rhen]

20. I am sure that if Biden wears a tan suit, they will not cry shame on him and pummel him for weeks

I will not delude myself as to why they mistreated Obama and no one can convince me that they were not doing so because he was black. I know racists when I see them.

[zipplewrath]

22. Sure they will

He'll get the same treatment every democratic president gets. They'll fume if he doesn't wear a jacket in the oval. And god knows, don't let him play a sax on TV.

[Skya Rhen]

26. Wow - so they treated Obama just as they treated every other Democratic President - Just wow!

[zipplewrath]

27. No

They treated him worse. And the next one will get similar treatment. The GOP learned from their past mistakes.

[trev]

82. So what is Biden's plan, then?

How is he going to get McConnell's Senate to work with him?

No snark, it's a serious and relevant question.

[FloridaBlues]

90. Really you can ask that question for all 20 candidates not just Biden

What's their plan to get things done? I bet they say reach across the isle just like Biden has said.

[trev]

92. He's the only one who's said it so far.

So a person must assume he has something in mind. I'd like to hear what it is.

[FloridaBlues]

94. Personally I would like to hear more about how candidates can get their agenda passed.

Perhaps that will be discussed at upcoming debates. As we dems know, it's hard with these republicans. Only hope is vote all of them out!

[trev]

95. Of course, I want to know what tactics all the candidates have in mind for getting legislation

passed. But Biden is the only one so far claiming he knows how to work with recalcitrant Republicans.

[ecstatic]

86. +1000. nt

[emmaverybo]

30. Some examples:

Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010 ( resolved a taxation deadlock)
Budget Control Act of 2011 (resolved debt ceiling crisis)
American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 (addressed impending fiscal cliff)

[zipplewrath]

32. Crisis legislation

All of them basically crisis legislation, where the GOP creates a crisis (debt ceiling or something) and then is forced to ultimately pass something. And frequently it only gains a minority support from the GOP and relied upon nearly unanimous support from the democrats. That's not "working with" the GOP, that's talking them off the cliff repeatedly.

Now tell me just how many votes GOP votes Obama got for the ACA in which he had a TELEVISED negotiation session with the GOP.

[joost5]

55. Naomi Campbell's Shock Doctrine

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shock_Doctrine

[emmaverybo]

33. He did on some very important legislation. Biden was tasked with negotiations. Progressives

not always happy with the concessions made, but there were legislative accomplishments that were bipartisan. See upthread for some examples.

[treestar]

77. Then we have to be like republicans

That means getting nowhere. I’m not opposed if it breaks the Republican intransigence. But no complaints about nothing happening then.

[zipplewrath]

79. Or like Clinton

Not exactly triangulation, but you can make them offers "they can't refuse". Basically, you have to coerce them.

[LibFarmer]

5. K&R nt

[DownriverDem]

6. Absolutists/Purists

They will be our downfall. The country is not far left no matter what they say. We have to win moderate voters too. That is how you win the Electoral College.

[Farmer-Rick]

8. Only with the help of little man Putin and your daddy's supreme court.

[Skya Rhen]

11. This is why Joe is winning in the polls - because he has the moderate voters in the primaries

and will definitely have them in the general. This is the path to winning the Presidency and he is the only candidate in this lane.

[marylandblue]

21. He's actually not the only moderate candidate, he's just the best known.

If he keeps shooting himself in the foot, on of the others will replace him, even if they are polling poorly now.

[Funtatlaguy]

78. Steve Bullock.

[marylandblue]

80. Possibly. I don't know much about him. He is a little late to the party.

[Funtatlaguy]

81. If you want a smart, strong moderate, he would be that.

[Raven123]

7. Joe would be more convincing if he would cite an example of his skills while he was VP

Maybe he has. Perhaps I missed it.

[marylandblue]

23. Some of his followers here on DU have mentioned a few.

That's what's strange about Biden. He's been telling this story for years. His staff advised him to stop. So instead of replacing it with a better story, he went back to his old standby.

If he wants to sell that he can work with Republicans, wouldn't it be better to point to good legislation made with modern Republicans, not talk about some dixiecrat who spoke nicely to him 40 years ago?

[Perseus]

34. Its a fantasy that Biden supporters are trying to push

Biden was not able to work with republicans while VP, republicans WILL NOT work with Democrats, not even if Democrats try to push on a republican idea, thayt is what happened during the Obama administration, I cannot believe people are buying it.

[emmaverybo]

40. You are wrong. The Recovery Act took passing through Congress. Here's a little info

Following large-scale Republican gains in the elections and the departure of White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, Biden's past relationships with Republicans in Congress became more important.[258][259] He led the successful administration effort to gain Senate approval for the New START treaty.[258][259] In December 2010, Biden's advocacy within the White House for a middle ground, followed by his direct negotiations with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, were instrumental in producing the administration's compromise tax package that revolved around a temporary extension of the Bush tax cuts.[259][260] Biden then took the lead in trying to sell the agreement to a reluctant Democratic caucus in Congress,[259][261] which was passed as the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010.

In March 2011, Obama detailed Biden to lead negotiations between both houses of Congress and the White House in resolving federal spending levels for the rest of the year, and avoiding a government shutdown.[264] By May 2011, a "Biden panel" with six congressional members was trying to reach a bipartisan deal on raising the U.S. debt ceiling as part of an overall deficit reduction plan.[265][266] The U.S. debt ceiling crisis developed over the next couple of months, but it was again Biden's relationship with McConnell that proved to be a key factor in breaking a deadlock and finally bringing about a bipartisan deal to resolve it, in the form of the Budget Control Act of 2011, signed on August 2, 2011, the same day that an unprecedented U.S. default had loomed.[267][268][269] Biden had spent the most time bargaining with Congress on the debt question of anyone in the administration,[268] and one Republican staffer said, "Biden's the only guy with real negotiating authority, and [McConnell] knows that his word is good. He was a key to the deal."[267

From Wikipedia

[Farmer-Rick]

10. Trying to get the devil to play fair is never going to work.

Criminals don't keep their promises.

There is a reason why the RepubliCONS are always bemoaning that Democratic leaders should be bi-partisan then the RepubliCONS turn around and NEVER act bi-partisan themselves.

[TryLogic]

58. Exactly

[Perseus]

59. You are 100% correct

Republicans will NEVER work with a Democrat, and Biden should know that, he was a victim to it as a VP, I find he thinks it is a good campaign rhetoric to say the repubs will work with him, but by now we should all know better.

[Zambero]

13. AOC reached out to the likes of Ted Cruz

Yes, she took a bit of criticism for that. But at the end of the day, policy matters as does garnering the votes required to pass legislation.

[marylandblue]

24. She did but neither is particularly civil. They are both ideological,

with a pragmatic streak.

[Zambero]

36. And the pragmatism part is what gets the job done

Ted Cruz once declared that the Senate would be better served with 100 Jesse Helms types in its ranks. Given Helms' notoriety as a throwback to the Jim Crow south, not to mention blatant homophobia and misogyny, Cruz' vision of a perfect legislative body would seem to make him radioactive to any progressive. That line gets "crossed" when policy issues and the need to pass legislation enters the picture. Indeed, politics makes for strange bedfellows.

[marylandblue]

37. I agree. I just wish Biden had told a better story about that.

[Perseus]

31. And Cruz knows the moment he falters, AOC will expose him

AOC will not give a pass to any republican, she has shown that over and over, and Cruz knows that if he does something wrong AOC will have his lunch, he may be an asshole, but he is not stupid, AOC will make him walk the walk. That is not Biden.

[Zambero]

41. AOC made the overture. We know what Ted Cruz is about.

Was a line somehow crossed? Or is there a "grace period" where progressives can proceed to play policy footsie with one of the most despicable Senators to have contaminated that body? If it's OK to align with Cruz up until a point that he balks at reaching a meaningful legislative consensus, then his sordid history of hate speech and demagoguery no longer matters. And I suspect that it indeed does not. Truth be known, the pragmatism involving unsavory characters gets a lot of legislation passed. In the early 60's, Hubert Humphrey et al and Dixiecrats were at opposite ends of the spectrum regarding civil rights vs. states rights, but they joined forces for spending bills that benefited their states. Hyper-partisanship aside, some of the earlier dynamic still remains.

[R B Garr]

16. Donnie Deutsch nailed it this morning on MSNBC.

Most people aren’t going to consider it a gaffe to say that you were able to work with the most odious old time Republicans.

Trump is not civil. That is also the contrast he was drawing. It’s obvious some are working overtime to make every public comment a distraction and something Biden has to apologize for.

[onetexan]

46. K&R - yes alot of people, including the other Dems candidates, are taking Joe's comments out

of context and trying to hang him on them. He was giving an example of being able to work with even the most odious Republicans, NOT praising them or condoning what they've said or their actions.

[honest.abe]

25. Yeah, even if it doesn't work this plays well to moderates in this country.

Joe knows.

[Perseus]

28. Isn't that what the Obama administration tried during their first two years?

How did that work? Two full years wasted.

Republicans are not interested in working with Democrats. It is interesting how people have forgotten that the first day of the Obama administration (of which Biden was part of) McConnell went out on TV and said "The goal of the republican party is to make sure this administration does not win a second term", when Obama won a 2nd term the same asshole went on TV and said "the goal of the republican party is to make sure this administration becomes a lame duck on the first day." From there on they continued to oppose everything Obama and the Democrats tried to do, even when some of the ideas they were presenting were republican ideas.

What a fantasy to believe the republicans will work with Democrats, or Biden, it won't happen and that is why Biden is dreaming about something the administration he was part of was not able to accomplish.

Please, provide some example of bi-partisan accomplishments by Biden that did not benefit the republicans more than the Democrats. I like Warren's approach better, you don't want to work with me? Fine, filibuster is out, that will scare the hell out of these corrupt creatures.

[zonkers]

45. My 95-yr old friend, a German ex-pat gave me

a history lesson this morning. We agree, Republicans must be given no quarter. To do so is to be an accomplice to criminality, racism, hate & oppression. Working with them will just validate and embolden. They jumped into bed with Trump. Decisions must have consequences.

[TryLogic]

61. Damn right

[qazplm135]

29. why can't folks who support him say that AND

say, hey, that probably wasn't the best example to use?

Very Trump and Bernie like to never apologize for anything, even a little bit.

Is it an old white dude thing?

[Kurt V.]

35. i don't hate opposition party. that gets you nowhere. but this is a misread of the current

Congressional republicans. this crop needs needs burned to the ground and the ashes thrown to winds of history. in a few yrs the never trumpers can reclaim the opposition party and only then should we work with them.

[SouthernProgressive]

39. There are already a couple of them holding office.

" in a few yrs the never trumpers can reclaim the opposition party and only then should we work with them."

Why wait to work with them? Working with them doesn't mean giving up the farm. It means do the least possible for them in order to get progressive legislation moving forward.

[Kurt V.]

73. Nothing wrong with that. i don't think the numbers are there yet.

[SouthernProgressive]

74. I agree with you that the number aren't currently there.

It's somewhat close. With the current Senate we would have to give too much.

[SouthernProgressive]

38. A lot of people aren't big picture thinkers.

They react on everything emotionally and with thoughts of what is making them angry at that very moment.

One area where we can have extremely good bi-partisan legislation is immigration reform. We need to minimize Republicans input at the ballot box, not by stagnation and getting nothing done.

[TryLogic]

63. "we can have extremely good bi-partisan legislation is immigration reform"

With Republicans? You've got to be kidding.

[SouthernProgressive]

64. Not kidding in the least.

Your response isn't enough for me to draw any larger comment.

There are Republicans out there with a better voting record on a Pathway to Citizenship than Bernie Sanders. That's a fact. Because you want it to be untrue does not make it untrue.

[pangaia]

42. We need to treat the other side/all republicans,

the 'same way' we treated the enemy on June 6 1945.
Destroy any who do not surrender.

They are a vile disease. And that disease is spreading throughout the world at this moment...taking just Europe... UK, Germany, Hungary, etc etc etc... even The Netherlands...

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-36130006

And this is who republicans support and protect
https://www.csis.org/analysis/rise-far-right-extremism-united-states

[FiveGoodMen]

44. Exactly the way I feel!

[patphil]

43. As I remember, bi-partisan cooperation worked out quite well for President Obama

Not!
And, it has worked out quite well since the Democrats took control of the house.
Not!
This year the Democrats have passed perhaps a hundred pieces of legislation that the Senate hasn't even considered thanks to McConnell.
Biden's approach can't work with the current group of Republicans.
It's a good idea, but we need to have the majorities in both houses to break through the McConnell wall.

Bi-partisan requires a good faith effort on both sides.
There is no good faith effort on the Republican side. We saw that with Obama.
We are seeing it now.
We need majorities in both houses before it can even be considered.
Even then, I am pretty sure the Republican's will obstruct all Democratic efforts to govern by any means they can find.

Patrick Phillips

[infinite_wisdom]

48. Agree

..as long as the Republicans are using eliminationist rhetoric and strategies the idea of bipartisanship is a pipe dream.

The Republicans have not been operating in good faith since 1992 when Bill Clinton got elected, IMO. That was the time of Newt Gingrich and Rush Limbaugh just beginning to rev up their audiences. Then Fox News in '96. The country has been in steady decline as far as civility ever since. Joe Biden should know this but he seems to think he can fix it all. I just don't think he can.

But the media keeps pushing the "both sides are responsible" for the situation narrative so the message just doesn't get through to the public at large.

[talking-liberally]

47. Working with them doesn't work.

It's the lesson from Obama's first term and a reason not to vote for Joe.

They only cooperate when the HAVE TO.

[Liberalhammer]

49. You can't work with White Nationalist

And wannabe Nazis.

Republicans and conservatives need to be crushed.

[dlk]

50. Bi-Partisan Cooperation is a Two Way Street

Republicans must do their part. It can’t be all on the Democrats.

[aikoaiko]

52. If Joe could produce bipartisanship we'd have much more gun control

It’s as if he learned nothing from he obstructionism during the Obama years.

I particular. They shit down gun control in 2013 after Sandy Hook. That effort was the most massive gun control effort since 1968 and they shut Joe down.

And it’s only gotten worse.

[50 Shades Of Blue]

53. Tell it to Mitch McConnell.

[TryLogic]

54. Watch/Listen for Michael Bennet's description of how senate Republicans do bipartisanship.

Pay attention to how McConnell does compromise.

Bennett has been there and apparently is willing to provide some straight talk about how it works.

The first two years of the Obama/Biden administration were a total disaster because they tried to find reasonable Republicans to "bipartisan" with. Today's Republicans are not those of his earlier days. The Repub party is pretty much owned by Putin and various oligarchs. We must not be naive again.

We need fighters and we need to fight like hell.

[gibraltar72]

56. Ah yes

Those countless cooperative Republicans. How they helped when he was V.P. Sorry Joe that is an era that no longer exists.

[HopeAgain]

57. Working with others or giving up the farm?

I just don't know what Republican Party you are looking at now, but these are the guys who shut down the government because they couldn't repeal the ACA. Nobody argues that we shouldn't pass decent legislation wherever possible, but the modern Republican party is ravaging the Country like a bunch of starving hyenas.
Biden is from a time gone by where the Senate was more of a collegial body, but frankly much of that was because there wasn't such a huge difference in viewpoints. Past Republicans would at least feel a twinge of guilt for creating immigrant concentration camps, but not anymore...
My concern is that this Country desperately needs to move to the left for health care, living wages, financial regulation, environmental protection and the restoration of civil rights protections, among other progressive agenda items. The Republicans will have none of that; they need to be put on record as the obstructionists, rather than us moving further to the right while they stand still.

[MurrayDelph]

60. I believe it was Nipsey Russell who said

He who turns the other cheek

Will get hit by the other fist

[Gothmog]

62. I hate it when I agree with Morning Joe

Link to tweet

[Cha]

83. Wow.. thanks, Goth. you never

know what the "stopped clock" theory is going to present itself!

[Deb]

65. Biden knows how to successfully lead all Americans, even the worst of USA's lot.

And I believe it's part of the job, to be *every* American's POTUS.

[mudstump]

66. Biden is in lala land...

he wants to play paddy cake with people who are at war with the democrats. You don't work with people who want to destroy government, social programs and every ounce of progress we've made over the last century. NO...it didn't work for Obama and it won't work for anyone who has a D beside their name. Republicans have been radicalized and you don't work with extremists anymore than you would be successful working with the Taliban. It's dumb and naive to think the republicans will reach across the aisle. They told us they would do nothing....shouldn't we believe what they are saying?

[jalan48]

67. Working with fascists for a better America!

[PBC_Democrat]

72. I prefer to look at it as "Working with whoever we have to work with for a better America"

Work with them where we have common goals ...

Fight them with everything we have where we disagree ...

Elections have consequences, we haven't won as many as we should have of late (2018 excluded).
There are only 100 votes in the US Senate ... we have 47 of them .... That means we have to get some of the other guys to vote with us to get anything done.

Stomping our feet and holding our breath plays well with the left wing of the party and may help with fund raising -- but it gets nothing done.

The same rules apply to the other side ... passing dumbass laws that they know will be overturned is nothing but pandering to the radical right so they can say 'We Tried'

[jalan48]

84. So which republicans are you currently excited about working with right now?

[PBC_Democrat]

96. Ted Cruz found common ground on an issue with AOC ...

I believe Lindsay Graham may come around on a few issues.

It's going to take small steps to recover our government ... instead of huge bills with hundreds of items, it'll take single issue legislation.

Not ideal, but workable.

I also believe that R voters will start to demand that their elected boys and girls.

Nine states have split representation in the Senate ... I don't believe that the two senators from each of those states disagree on everything.

Small, very targeted bills should be able to garner bi-partisan support.

The alternative is to continue the 'The other team is evil' mantra ... and we all lose.

[jalan48]

97. The same Lindsey Graham that still wants to go after Hillary about her emails? I'm sure there

may be some common ground but not enough to make the changes our country needs. I think Joe is pitching an idea he hopes will get him elected whether or not it's realistic. We've got kids in cages on the border-where's the common ground on something as heinous as this?

[IronLionZion]

68. America is way more diverse now than it used to be

Demographics are on our party's side and it's foolish to alienate minorities to chase after a few racists in the south.

Have people forgotten that Obama's election included many new states that haven't gone blue for decades? Inspiring minorities to turnout is a winning strategy with long coat tails for our party's candidates in the Senate and House.

[Gothmog]

69. Joe Biden is the most electable candidate that the Democratic Party has available

[defacto7]

70. The GOP has a brick wall mentality. They are not and will not move.

Dems have negotiated and compromised for years. When there's compromise it's the Dems that give in and we end up moving slowly to the right a step at a time. The median point has changed and it's always going right.

Compromise with Reps just means moving right.

The grand old party has been dead for years. What's left in its place is far right, extremist, dumbed down, authoritarian, theocratic and un-American. You can't negociate with constitution manipulators who would just as soon ditch democracy and human rights and replace it with a theocratic oligarchy.

[PBC_Democrat]

71. So what is your solution?

We can’t just dig in our heels and refuse to play ball!

The other guys aren’t going to magically disappear.

Biden has the right idea.
Bring them around slowly

Voters will recognize who wants to move the country forward and who doesn’t

[defacto7]

99. Digging in their heels is exactly what they do.

So where would be the compromise? Logically in that case, we do the compromising while they stay dug in.

What's my solution? I don’t have one and neither does anyone else. Maybe the question should be what strategy do we choose. This is uncharted territory and it's somewhat of a crap shoot. We either move right or we don't move at all... or we dig in and fight. They won't disappear but we can break their illegal and unethical machine with the same bravado as they use against us

I think this is a war for the preservation of freedom and democracy, not your run to the mill two party election where people agree to disagree then shake hands over a martini.

[WoonTars]

76. Totally agree.

...

[WoonTars]

75. Nope. The eight years of Obama's Presidency...

... and the last two and a half years clearly point to the fact that the republicans are completely incapable of working with anyone.

That was Obama's fatal flaw: he thought he was dealing with rational human beings, and it looks like Biden is thinking of repeating the same mistake.

They need to be crushed, marginalized, and consigned to the trashheap of history for their blatant, racist obstructionism, and their obsequious enabling of the worst "president" in the history of this great country.

No more Mr. Nice Guy.

[FiveGoodMen]

85. If only Hitler had been bipartisan

He might have agreed to compromise and only murder three million Jews.

[Gothmog]

87. From Symone Sanders

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

[FloridaBlues]

93. Glad to read her response thanks

[pansypoo53219]

88. only as long as the rite goes left. we have caved enough.

[USALiberal]

89. Wow, really? Have you met Mitch McConnell???????????????????? nt

[Gothmog]

91. According to Symone Sanders, Biden did not praise a segregationist

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

[Scurrilous]

98. K&R