Democratic Primaries
In reply to the discussion: Will these attacks, mainly rumors and innuendo, hurt Joe Biden? [View all]karynnj
(59,547 posts)Until this blew up, the main source referenced was the far right former "member of Sarah Palin's posse" Peter Sweitzer, who wrote a new book that claimed to dredge up corruption by the Obama administration. When stories first came out, many flagrant "errors" (aka lies) were pointed out when facts were challenged. Even some far right sites made the corrections. However, the original stories are what continue to be out there on twitter and likely every other social media.
The Ukraine (and a similarly inaccurate China account) have since this story became dominant been debunked by several fact checks. Until it blew up, the media was dominated by the false accounts. There were a few longer articles on Hunter Biden, notably a long article in NY magazine. Had Trump's impeachable actions not happened and been exposed, I would guess that the Joe Biden helped Hunter make millions story would have bubbled in the right wing sewer - largely unrefuted.
If you consider that lies can be modeled in the same way that viruses are, the conclusion is that by next year, there would be a large pool of people who would be "infected" thinking this story - that they will have read from many sources - is true. While not all the people who believe Sweitzer will accept that they are wrong, getting this story out in the open and strongly refuted, could act to halt the spread of this lie.
Looking at this in a different way, consider that Biden's family backed him on running for President. If the lies were visible even in parts of the mainstream media that covered Sweitzer's book, summarizing this and other allegations, they HAD to know that Biden's character and integrity would be challenged. They also knew that Hunter, a clearly troubled man, would be the focus of a lot of negative attention. If anyone questioned how deeply Biden felt that he would be the best person to challenge Trump -- this shows the sacrifice that he was willing to make. He traded his position as the well loved, respected former VP for the vulnerable position of a candidate, who would be attacked on everything he ever did -- from the right or left.
At this point, we are in an almost surreal situation - far different than the norm dynamics 13 -14 months before an election. In the last few days, impeachment proceedings seem likely. If Trump is impeached and removed, Pence - if he is not himself is not impeached, would be the nominee. If Pence is involved, we don't know if - like with Agnew - he would be removed first and replaced. Imagine the confirmation process taking place in an election year! If Trump is impeached and not removed, given what we have already seen, I can't imagine he would not be weakened. (Even thinking of all scenarios makes my head spin.)
It will be weird to being having our primary happening simultaneously. Obviously, how well Biden deals with this will be one element in our party choosing its nominee.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden