US President Biden Announces He Will Not Seek Reelection (x.com) 687
"It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your President," U.S. President Joe Biden announced today. "And while it has been my intention to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term."
In an announcement posted on X.com, Biden thanked the American people. ("Together, we overcame a once in a century pandemic and the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.") The short statement also said he would "speak to the Nation later this week in more detail."
The Associated Press reports that "His wife, first lady Jill Biden, responded by reposting the president's letter announcing his decision and adding red heart emojis."
CNN reports that "most Biden campaign staff, including some senior staff, found out from the president's post on X."
In a subsequent X post, Biden endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to be the Democratic party's nominee for president.
In an announcement posted on X.com, Biden thanked the American people. ("Together, we overcame a once in a century pandemic and the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.") The short statement also said he would "speak to the Nation later this week in more detail."
The Associated Press reports that "His wife, first lady Jill Biden, responded by reposting the president's letter announcing his decision and adding red heart emojis."
CNN reports that "most Biden campaign staff, including some senior staff, found out from the president's post on X."
In a subsequent X post, Biden endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to be the Democratic party's nominee for president.
Holy shit part normality (Score:5, Insightful)
As a foreigner allow me to congratulate the United States of America for taking baby steps towards sanity. Be interesting to see both who the alternative is, and what republicans will actually campaign for now that they've lost their singular rallying cry of "the other guy is old!"
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In wit sane voters, this would now be a massive point against Trump. But voters are not sane or Trump would never have gotten elected the first time and would have zero voter support now.
Re:Holy shit part normality (Score:5, Insightful)
Same thing as when Obama was leaving office. They pledge to undo everything he accomplished. https://www.nbcnews.com/politi... [nbcnews.com]
What if they focused on making the country better?
Other than the border and abortion, what are the republican plans for:
The economy?
Inflation?
Rising healthcare costs?
If they really cared about illegal immigration they would start jailing heads of companies who employ illegal labor. But you'll never see that happen.
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What if they focused on making the country better?
Republicans are, but only for the few ...
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Re:Holy shit part normality (Score:4, Interesting)
That could happen under RICO statutes if companies and anti-immigration think tanks have been working to both keep low paid foreign workers "illegal" while simultaneously working to bring them into the country and employ them
Fun fact, that is EXACTLY what they have been doing since the Braceros program was dismantled after the SCOTUS gave foreign workers the right to strike
Do you think that the complete reliance on foreign workers in farming just disappeared the next day? They just decided that revoking their guest worker status was the easiest way to keep wages low and unions from helping the workers
Re: Holy shit part normality (Score:4, Interesting)
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Yes. It being illegal to begin with and then exploiting people who are afraid to report dangerous working conditions.
But then again it appears child labor is making a comeback. https://www.reuters.com/invest... [reuters.com]
Re: Holy shit part normality (Score:5, Interesting)
Are you in favor of jailing the heads of companies that hire illegal aliens?
Are you?
Just asking because the GOP voted against a bill that would have done quite a bit of what you all have been moaning about.
Could it be that having some ridiculous claim that the Democrats have brought in eleventy billion fund-draining blue-voters from the south is more valuable to the GOP's campaign to earn your vote than actually solving the problem in a productive way? Or will you be uncharacteristically consistent with your views and insist that the businesses carry their share of the responsibility?
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Inflation can be stopped overnight by ending all the conflicts/wars.
Good. Start with Israel. https://www.cfr.org/article/us... [cfr.org]
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Re: Holy shit part normality (Score:5, Insightful)
You are not paying for Ukraine. You are paying against Russia. Which is exceptionally obvious.
This. So much this. (Score:5, Insightful)
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Which candidate is speaking of resolving wars
Erm all of them. No one is campaigning on a war ticket. The difference is that Republicans are stupid enough to think that Trump can stop wars with a phone call, and that the EU is magically going to fund NATO to the level of American stupidity which is stupid.
and that EU should pay for NATO.
The closest countries to the Russian border in NATO are paying more than the USA wants. That's what happens when you are on the direct border. The remainder aren't too far behind, but are spending their money on munitions rather than employing people
Re:Holy shit part normality (Score:5, Interesting)
As a foreigner allow me to congratulate the United States of America for taking baby steps towards sanity. Be interesting to see both who the alternative is, and what republicans will actually campaign for now that they've lost their singular rallying cry of "the other guy is old!"
Born and raised in the USA here. I've been to over 20 foreign countries and speak more than English. No, it's not a stop towards "sanity". We may never get there, to be blunt.
Half the country thinks global warming is made up and doesn't exist, or if it actually does exist, we'll invent our way to safety or God will save us because he loves us the best of everybody in the world. Yes, half this country really believes one of those things.
Funny how the solution to all shootings is "Moar guns!" from the Republicans. Until somebody tried to kill Trump. For now - silence.
Half the country thinks Trump can unzip his pants, pull out his dick, and magically overnight all inflation problems will go away, Russia and China will be nice to us (Might be because we're sucking up to them under Trump though) and we can extend a middle finger to the rest of the world because nobody but us matters. No my friend, the Cult of Donald Trump will continue one way or another and what really scares me is that the guy that taps into this after him (because Trump will eventually die, perhaps before finishing a term as president if he wins the election) will likely be so bad and so anti-democratic that Trump will look sort of OK in comparison.
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The problem is that the Democrats are weak and ineffective.
The Republicans have been in a desperate position for some time, needing to gerrymander and lie to have any hope of winning federal elections. They will keep getting more extreme as long as it keeps working, and it will keep working because the Democrats won't be bold and actually fix stuff.
So stuff keeps getting worse, doing just okay with the economy isn't really inspiring people, and the lure of populism remains strong. Populism is what you get w
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expect the agenda to be exactly the same of those who shuffled forward biden. talking points should be reusable by the replacement, and when/if he/she gets the office clear instructions will be provided, rest assured.
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a vote for Biden was, in every way, a vote for Harris.
Speaking of recycled talking points, we heard the same thing in 2020.
Re: Holy shit part normality (Score:5, Insightful)
They do not need to re-write agenda, why do you think so?
Biden needs to focus on Presidency and highlighting successes as the fed starts dropping interest rate
The worst thing would be to let Trump's sluice of lies stand unchallenged
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Trump's sluice of lies
+1 Nicely phrased.
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[And before I get comments about how it wasn't Don's fault, I'll just say if the shoe was on the other foot, Don would most certainly blame an
Thanks for waiting until July, Joe. (Score:4, Insightful)
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That's ok. Just like Mike Pence doesn't have to certify the election results, neither does Kamala.
Oh wait is that suddenly a problem now?
Thank God (Score:3)
I wonder who broke through to him.
My bet's on Jill.
Re:Thank God (Score:4, Insightful)
Ultimately it was the donors. They were threatening to pull not only his funding but funding for Congressional candidates as well.
I hope (Score:5, Funny)
I hope before he leaves Biden orders the secret service to paintball or pie Donald Trump, then comes out to a press conference, puts on his sunglasses and says "now listen up dumbasses. This is why it's a bad idea for the commander in chief to be above the law."
Re:I hope (Score:5, Insightful)
Given the court's right-tilted makeup, anything a Republican president does will be ruled and "official act," whereas anything a Democratic president does will not be.
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I'm certain that ordering your protection detail to place whoopee cushions on the chairs of all political rivals constitutes an official act. "Sir, do you know why we're here? SIT DOWN. Listen, do you know why we're here, ... now?"
Re: I hope (Score:5, Informative)
Where do you get that nonsense.
Official acts are clearly outlined in the constitution if not granted by congress.
This is incorrect. No such thing is clearly outlined in the constitution.
The presumptive immunity for acts related to the job is also not exactly new
I thought the whole decision was politically motivated, disgusting and sleazy. They created a dangerous standard of absolute immunity from criminal prosecution out of thin air.
Then they prevented anything the president did for acts during his term in office from being used as evidence in other cases.
The presumptive immunity for related acts is effectively boundless because of the standard imposed "no danger of intrusion on the authority and functions of the Executive Branch" is practically impossible to overcome. There is no rational balancing of competing interests there is only expression of batshit insane assertions of absolute immunity.
If Biden orders the assassination or assault of a US citizen on US soil, that is still simply illegal.
Supreme court justices disagree with your legal opinion. Quoting dissenting opinion of one of the supreme court justices from the text of the decision itself:
"Orders the Navy's Seal Team 6 to assassinate a political rival? Immune. Organizes a military coup to hold onto power? Immune. Takes a bribe in ex-change for a pardon? Immune."
Would Ranked Choice Voting have made a difference? (Score:4, Interesting)
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letting people vote for 3rd parties
You are implying that Democrats want Biden to win. To be honest they don't. They are following the party line (mostly) but in both camps there's an overwhelming number of people unhappy with either candidate. This isn't just about democrats winning. The old fart, and the slightly less old dangerous dictator wannabie need to be gone, neither is fit to run the country.
There's 333million of you Americans, split somewhat evenly between republican and democrat supporters. Surely you can find someone better for b
I'd comment, but... (Score:3)
...I ain't touching this even with a 100-foot stick.
Re:The coup succeeded (Score:5, Insightful)
FWIW, NOBODY is fit for the office of president. Nobody sane would seek the job. And that's been true for at least decades.
Re:The coup succeeded (Score:5, Interesting)
FWIW, NOBODY is fit for the office of president. Nobody sane would seek the job. And that's been true for at least decades.
Perhaps the President should be chosen randomly, with anyone actually wanting the job excluded. :-)
Re:The coup succeeded (Score:5, Insightful)
FWIW, NOBODY is fit for the office of president. Nobody sane would seek the job. And that's been true for at least decades.
Perhaps the President should be chosen randomly, with anyone actually wanting the job excluded. :-)
You're close to what I've been advocating for at least a decade, but not quite. IMO, every election should work like this:
The incumbent should also be included up to the point where term limits prevent it.
With this strategy, no one can choose to run on their own, so most of the candidates statistically won't be sociopathic ladder climbers.
Re:The coup succeeded (Score:5, Insightful)
https://www.independent.co.uk/... [independent.co.uk]
If Biden rambled on for 93 minutes he would have been put in a hospital. Trump does it and MAGA does cosplay with ear bandages.
Re:The coup succeeded (Score:5, Funny)
https://www.reuters.com/world/... [reuters.com]
I thought you were kidding.
Re:The coup succeeded (Score:5, Insightful)
Signs you're in a cult...
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https://www.independent.co.uk/... [independent.co.uk]
If Biden rambled on for 93 minutes he would have been put in a hospital. Trump does it and MAGA does cosplay with ear bandages.
... ear badges and golden MAGA diapers.
Re:The guy has class (Score:5, Insightful)
History says that Nixon won after LBJ refused to run again
There _are_ differences, and I hope that they Dems can get their collective shit together and run an effective campaign
I would say best upside of this is that Biden can focus on agenda and spend the last months of his Presidency building a good case for electing Dems for POTUS as well as House and Senate majorities
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Frankly, I would vote for Alfred E. Neuman, Ficus, or a sack of straw before I would vote for Trump.
Re:The guy has class (Score:5, Interesting)
When Obama first ran, I expected American racism to ensure he never made it to the White House, and I was very surprised to be incorrect.
But if you try to tell me a significant part of Trump's success wasn't those same people finally coordinating because Obama wasn't white... I'm unlikely to believe you without a very convincing explanation that is equivalent in length and complexity to a four year university program in a hard science.
The most significant part of Trump's success these days is being slightly less senile than Biden. Now he has to compete with a Democratic candidate at least 20 years younger than him, with actual policies, who can actually form coherent sentences and string them together into a coherent narrative and that person's VP which is going to be able to can kick J.D. Vance's ass up and down the debate stage by reminding US voters at every turn that Vance has accepted a man he once called "America's Hitler," as his personal Jesus.
Re:The guy has class (Score:4, Insightful)
Senility is not the same as being elderly. We all lose a bit of our snap, crackle, pop as we get older. Things become harder to remember. Senility is when you've gone 'round the bend and spout gibberish or think you some place you are not or you fail to recognize your own family...it is not any one thing.
The former alleged president is probably not senile, but he has so many behavioral issues and lies out of 5 sides of his mouth that it makes it a bit hard at times to distinguish the old age from senility in him. A perspective juror in the felony case, when questioned about the former alleged president, said, I would not trust anything he said even if he had it tongue notarized. That about sums him up.
The former alleged president was never very bright, so him saying stupid things is not necessarily senility, but we cannot know that.
Re:The guy has class (Score:4, Interesting)
And yes, Trump has gone around the bend. Compare his ridiculous speeches from 8 years ago to his now ridiculous and confusing speeches of today. There are so many videos of him, because all his ceaseless rallies are recorded, and he's completely different. He mostly hides it because people are used to rambling speeches of his that never have focus, read a line from a teleprompter then improvise wildly for 30 minutes before reading the next line, plus rehashing the same talking points he's been using for 8 years.
Re:The guy has class (Score:5, Insightful)
Compare his ridiculous speeches from 8 years ago to his now ridiculous and confusing speeches of today.
Let's put it this way, when the Fox tabloid cuts away because of his incoherent ramblings [imgur.com], you know things are bad.
And that doesn't get into all the WTF is he talking moments such as this [imgur.com], this [imgur.com], this [tumblr.com], and this [tumblr.com].
Re:The guy has class (Score:5, Insightful)
Senility is not the same as being elderly. We all lose a bit of our snap, crackle, pop as we get older. Things become harder to remember. Senility is when you've gone 'round the bend and spout gibberish or think you some place you are not or you fail to recognize your own family...it is not any one thing.
The former alleged president is probably not senile, but he has so many behavioral issues and lies out of 5 sides of his mouth that it makes it a bit hard at times to distinguish the old age from senility in him. A perspective juror in the felony case, when questioned about the former alleged president, said, I would not trust anything he said even if he had it tongue notarized. That about sums him up.
The former alleged president was never very bright, so him saying stupid things is not necessarily senility, but we cannot know that.
Senility isn't the same as being elderly but there is also a reason that we don't pick elderly people to serve in Seal Team 6. Being POTUS is an extremely demanding and stressful job and it simply isn't a job for two old men that should have retired to pursue their hobbies 15 years ago. As for Trump not being senile, the only difference I have seen watching him and Biden speak is that Biden is slow and gets confused, Trump appears faster and more alert but he also gets confused half way through a sentence and starts talking about weird crap like the pros and cons of being electrocuted vs being eaten by a shark. Anybody who can watch him do that and conclude that Trump isn't going senile and probably needs a cognitive test for him- or herself. One of the few things that seems to unite Americans these days, across party lines, is that a lot of them think both Trump and Biden are too old and that they want younger candidates and quite frankly those American voters are right. Take a look at European leaders for example and tell me how many prime ministers you find that are around 80 years old, you won't find many. The median age of European leaders is 53, the median age of world leaders is around 60.
Re:The guy has class (Score:4, Insightful)
Witness the terrified Trump supporter...
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What should really be keeping them up at night is that while Biden was eventually convinced to step down for the good of all, there is absolutely no chance of anyone ever convincing Trump to do so, no matter how bad he eventually gets.
20% of US Senators / Congress are 70+ years old (Score:5, Interesting)
One of the negative effects of the post-war WW2 baby boom generation is that they were so much larger than the next generation (Gen X) that they were able to take over enough government positions, bureaucrat positions, media positions, ... so that they keep political/economic trends alive much longer than prior generations did.
Stagnation of discourse has a drag effect on recent and future progress due to elderly public figures needing their well polished and well rehearsed political/economic issues to exist largely unchanged for the twilight of that same elderly generation's careers.
It may be why any discussion of issues is blocked at all levels if that discussion is not aligned with the establishment delineation of which party owns which political position. Excluding US political parties getting less than 5% of the vote since their positions haven't made it into laws.
Political stagnation and the erosion of economic activity to focus increasingly on social programs and transfer payments to the elderly is not a path forward.
Factoid: Generation X's political/economic impact was likely reduced significantly because they were so fewer in number than the prior boomer generation and the later millennial generation. Generation X never will be the largest population-wise generation being book-ended between two much larger generations.
Re:The guy has class (Score:4, Insightful)
Democrats have to do better than a party shoe-in, diversity hire going forward.
Trumps first term - Neoptism-R-Us - is surely the way forward.
Re: The guy has class (Score:5, Insightful)
Democrats have to do better than a party shoe-in, diversity hire going forward.
Why is Kamala a diversity hire but Pence, hired to button down the evangelical vote isn't? They're both intended to appeal to demographic areas that the presidential candidates were weak in, but absolutely critical to each party.
Politics is all about appearances, so it's funny to see "diversity hire" thrown around.
Re:The guy has class (Score:4, Insightful)
How about his incoherent speeches at his rallies? He can't even stick to a topic until the end of a sentence.
Re:The guy has class (Score:5, Insightful)
Except that it's not a witch hunt. Trump demanded his own AGs prosecute Hillary, or to support his election fraud theories, or to recuse themselves from a case that could affect him, and they refused and resigned instead. If Trump can't get his own loyal soldiers to be unethical, why does he think Biden has total micromanagement control? Many of those cases Trump is in trouble over have nothing whatsoever to do with DOJ: State of Georgia, State of New York. Prosecutors have been eyeing Trump closely from BEFORE he ran for president in 2016. He's a convicted felon in a court not controlled by Biden or the administration or the DOJ or the FBI, and convicted by an actual JURY. This is the rule of law, and the rules of law were followed closely, no matter how much Trump appeared on the steps during recess do his appeal to the public.
Trump uses social media against his opponents nearly non-stop. His 3am tweets are legendary and full of attacks. Trump's number one hobby is bashing his political opponents, and sometimes when he's tired of it he bashes his allies who didn't jump high enough. So to accuse Biden of using social media to attack opponents is laughable. But this is the Trump strategy: accuse your opponents of having your own flaws.
The reason FBI and DOJ are going after Trump is because TRUMP BROKE THE LAW! There's clear evidence. Don't listen to Trump's PR lies about it - he does not have the ability to declassify documents without anyone knowing about it. But Trump isn't in trouble for having classified documents anyway, anyone who pays attentions knows this! He's in trouble for refusing to return the documents when asked, and lying about it, and obstructing the investigation into the documents. There is a very public and widely heard phone call to Georgia begging to "find" more votes, that's a blatant and obvious crime, whether or not Trump believed the conspiracy theory.
By using the word "lawfare" it must means you're repeating Trump's talking points, every MAGA political leader is parotting that word, because they're unable to think for themselves and feel a strange urge to butter up their Dear Leader. Think for yourself and don't let Trump do it for you.
Re:The guy has class (Score:5, Informative)
"Look, having nuclear — my uncle was a great professor and scientist and engineer, Dr. John Trump at MIT; good genes, very good genes, OK, very smart, the Wharton School of Finance, very good, very smart — you know, if you're a conservative Republican, if I were a liberal, if, like, OK, if I ran as a liberal Democrat, they would say I'm one of the smartest people anywhere in the world — it's true! — but when you're a conservative Republican they try — oh, do they do a number — that's why I always start off: Went to Wharton, was a good student, went there, went there, did this, built a fortune — you know I have to give my like credentials all the time, because we're a little disadvantaged — but you look at the nuclear deal, the thing that really bothers me — it would have been so easy, and it's not as important as these lives are — nuclear is so powerful; my uncle explained that to me many, many years ago, the power and that was 35 years ago; he would explain the power of what's going to happen and he was right, who would have thought? — but when you look at what's going on with the four prisoners — now it used to be three, now it's four — but when it was three and even now, I would have said it's all in the messenger; fellas, and it is fellas because, you know, they don't, they haven't figured that the women are smarter right now than the men, so, you know, it's gonna take them about another 150 years — but the Persians are great negotiators, the Iranians are great negotiators, so, and they, they just killed, they just killed us, this is horrible."
That was said nearly 9 years ago back in 2015. https://www.snopes.com/fact-ch... [snopes.com]
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Now he has to compete with a Democratic candidate at least 20 years younger than him, with actual policies, who can actually form coherent sentences and string them together into a coherent narrative and that person's VP which is going to be able to can kick J.D. Vance's ass up and down the debate stage by reminding US voters at every turn that Vance has accepted a man he once called "America's Hitler," as his personal Jesus.
And when he responds that, as vice president, Harris was clearly complicit in covering up Biden's senility, what then?
Biden's senility has been out there for all to see for a long time, it's not just Harris who has to answer some uncomfortable questions about that topic, it's the entire Democrat party. On the other hand, people who are genuinely concerned about that should also ask the Republicans some poignant questions on how the Republican Party allowed itself to become the political arm of the Trump Organisation. In the end people will quickly move on from such musings to a sense of relief at finally having a candidate
Re:The guy has class (Score:5, Insightful)
When Obama first ran, I expected American racism to ensure he never made it to the White House, and I was very surprised to be incorrect.
But if you try to tell me a significant part of Trump's success wasn't those same people finally coordinating because Obama wasn't white... I'm unlikely to believe you without a very convincing explanation that is equivalent in length and complexity to a four year university program in a hard science.
Your world view is so immutable that it will not change in presence of evidence to the contrary?
The US did vote to elect a black man as president. Twice. The racists, however, were able to successfully coordinate after these eight years of a black presidency to work up the moral fortitude to vote against a white woman. They then backslid, to allow the next ticket with a black candidate to be elected.
Trump gets his only general election win running against a pair of white people. He gets his only general election loss running against a ticket with a black person. Yep. Those people were able to coordinate at the most unexpected time.
Re:The guy has class (Score:5, Insightful)
When Trump first ran, I expected American basic common sense and decency to ensure he never made it to the White House, and I was totally, utterly shocked in disbelief to be incorrect.
If you look at video of Trump when he won, it appears that he felt exactly the same way.
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I guarantee at that time period Trump would have failed a freshman civics course.
Re:The guy has class (Score:5, Insightful)
Your link: "A 1991 literary promotional booklet identified Barack Obama as having been born in Kenya." How does a booklet not written by Obama the same as he wrote a book that had the claim. You do understand these are not equal?
Makes Obama look bad -- he didn't review the material.
And you are assuming that Obama had the power and ability to review something written by his agency in 1991. After all the booklet contained biographies of other authors. From your own link:
"This was nothing more than a fact checking error by me — an agency assistant at the time," Goderich wrote.
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No, it was considerably BEFORE his birth. Remember, location of birth is not the only qualifying factor. [factcheck.org] His parents, being US citizens, makes him a US citizen per a 1795 congressional act. [wikipedia.org]
Congress: “And the children of citizens of the United States, that may be born beyond sea, or out of the limits of the United States, shall be considered as natural born citizens.”
Like I said earlier, that his parents were US citizens automatically gave him citizenship by birth.
What was done was that congress declared him eligible to be POTUS, because while the 1790 act specifies "natural born citizens", the 1795 act changes it to just "citizens"
Re:The guy has class (Score:4, Informative)
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As a Californian, I'm perfectly fine with Kamala and am rooting for her to choose Newsom as a running mate. I don't want a good progressive, forward thinking candidate right now, I want a pair of attack dogs who will tear Trump and the white supremacist party new assholes.
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Newsom is like Hillary - there's a massive amount of hatred out there for them. Having Newsom on the ticket would be like having Hillary run against Trump. The left might like Newsom but it might discourage many swing voters while energizing the get-out-the-vote effort for conservatives.
My favorite would be Buttigieg (because he's smart and thinks quickly on his feet, and because it would be a comic gold mine to see Trump trying to pronounce his name so often during the campaign). But being gay that woul
Re: The guy has class (Score:3)
Re:The guy has class (Score:5, Interesting)
They should find a VP that people in places like Texas and Florida will like. Oh wait, there isn't a person in the known universe that could convince the far-right MAGA whackjobs in those states to vote for anyone but Trump.
I think Andy Beshear would. He has been governor of Kentucky since 2019, reelected by a wider margin than his original margin. His father was also governor of Kentucky for 8 years. Both got elected during periods in which Kentucky was considered a red state. As the most popular Democrat governor in the country (65% approval rating), he's an obvious choice.
Nixon didn't have 34 felony convictions (Score:3, Insightful)
As long as the dems can get their shit together and not fuck up the ballot access issues then all they need to do is keep hammering those 34 felonies and roe v Wade.
The biggest problem is to Democrats are a loose coalition party so it's extremely hard for them to act in an organized fashion. Whereas the Republicans are run entirely by about 12 billionaires so they can funct
Re: The guy has class (Score:4, Insightful)
Class has nothing to do with it. This was a result of being forced out. Everyone from Chuck Schumer to Jeffrey Katzenberg (Spielberg's buddy) told him the money was cut off and that he had no support in the party. One way or another, he wasn't going to be the nominee. It was made clear to him by Democratic Party power brokers.
This was the political equivalent of "I'm resigning to spend more time with my family" in the corporate world. It was made clear to him that he had no choice in the matter.
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I don't 100% disagree but, even without their support, they could not actually force him out against his will. He's the incumbent President, which gives him a lot of leverage. If he had decided to be resentful about it, he could have kept on running and stuck it to all those people who dropped him like a hot potato because he caught COVID-19 at the wrong moment. It would have been a pyloric victory for him, but he certainly could have done it and made them all regret. Obviously, they may all end up feeling
Re:Pelsoi was behind him (Score:5, Interesting)
Unfortunately, Mr. Biden and his campaign instead decided to keep as low a profile as possible and cruise to victory; was sort-of working, until the wheels came off during the debate. A missed opportunity I believe.
Re: Pelsoi was behind him (Score:3)
Re:The guy has class (Score:5, Insightful)
If he really had class he wouldn't have waited until the last minute, required so much cajoling, nor even considered a second term in the first place.
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Class that money can't buy. Putting his party and his country before himself.
after months of stubborn refusal in response to the party suggesting as much, then delivering the most embarrassing performance in a debate ever broadcasted against a populist demagoge who "knows words", and the suggestions becoming a clamor. a selfless soul with sharp reflexes indeed ...
Re: The guy has class (Score:4, Informative)
You do know the guy the GOP is currently running lied about the election being "stolen" to the point he incited his followers to (attempt to) force their unelected candidate into office, right?
Re: The guy has class (Score:4, Insightful)
To not incite insurrections.
Re: The guy has class (Score:4, Insightful)
point conceded :)
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Biden has always been like that; even when he was a senator ago people were mocking his tendency to misspeak. That's the result of a lifelong speech disorder and an unfortunate tendency to just talk too damn much. I don't for a minute think he confused Zelensky for Putin; the wrong word just came out.
Nonetheless 81 is pretty damned old; heck 77 was probably too old too. People who are healthy into old age don't decline gradually; they're amazing up to a point and then they fall apart, like Oliver Wendell
Re:The guy has class (Score:4, Insightful)
Class that money can't buy. Putting his party and his country before himself. That is rare in politics. History will remember it well
He's been angrily insisting he would stay in for weeks. His staff have been insisting not only that he is staying in but that it was the only possible option (lying about deadlines to choose another nominee). Democrats have been ramping up pressure the whole time to push him out, sending delegations, dropping donor funds. Schumer, Pelosi, Obama. It was leaked by other people last week that he was going to step down this weekend. He's not gracefully stepping down - he's been ungracefully forced out.
Meanwhile, up until the debate performance exposed him, his administration has been lying for years about his mental state. He's been kept on a minimal schedule, hidden from interviews except when relying on scripted questions and answers (was even photographed with a pamphlet with a picture of a reporter, the question she would ask him, and the answer he should give).
Leading up to the debate his press secretary was claiming that videos of him looking confused etc. were fakes. He slandered Robert Hur, who noted his evident decline in his special counsel investigation, accused him of maliciousness for bringing up his deceased son (Biden was the one who brought him up in the interview), and then claimed executive privilege to keep the tapes from being released to the public. (That was after the transcripts were already available, so that was obviously a political abuse to keep revealing audio out of the press and not a legitimate case of protecting privileged information.)
Because of this selfish dishonesty, Democrat voters have been denied the opportunity to choose their preferred nominee by voting for them in a primary, the country has been embarrassed, and untold damage has been done as a someone who is admittedly not in form to be the supreme executive of the country has been occupying exactly that position.
Re:The guy has class (Score:5, Insightful)
He's been angrily insisting he would stay in for weeks.
Can you link to a video showing Biden *angrily* insisting? Or to reliable sources that he said he would stay in a particularly angry manner? Beware of adverbs; there's a reason that writers are warned to use them sparingly. Superfluous adverbs usually mark a weak point that a writer is trying to shore up.
Re: The guy has class (Score:3)
History will remember Biden very well. Even as a Republican, I concede that. His faults in his early years are more than overcome with his achievements under the Obama and now his administration. Especially his foreign affairs and relationships. He is up there with Regan, Taft, Teddy, and Truman.
As for the Democratic Party, what a bunch of shitheads. They royally messed it up with Bernie and H.Clinton. Now they F'ed it with Biden. They couldn't find a candidate for the past 8 years to go against Trump. T
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Sad that less bad is the standard we have to use here.
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Re:Biden has been a complete disaster (Score:5, Informative)
You should really fact check the lies you are told; Biden has been widely criticized by dems for keeping Trump border policies in place [reuters.com] and domestic oil production is UP under Biden [reuters.com]
When somebody controls you with fear, it is up to you to make sure those are rational fears and not lies, otherwise you are just a cult member with no free will
Re:Biden has been a complete disaster (Score:5, Insightful)
OMG, when the facts do not agree with party lies, you just question the facts???
You are in a cult buddy
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Oil production is slightly up under Biden. Illegal immigration doesn't appear to be much different than it was under Trump except that it loses less children (who as a result can't be deported at all).
Might wanna look at some actual data.
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think of the clicks, you insensitive clod!
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I believe this falls under "stuff that matters" and so remains relevant. Further, the policies of POTUS and his/her party is "news for nerds" so the candidates running for POTUS is news worthy of discussion. POTUS has considerable authority to influence the technology we can get by executive orders, appointments to the cabinet and courts, and perhaps most of all the tariffs on imports.
I was not pleased with Biden making appointments based on race/gender/etc. than merit in many federal positions. Obama wa
Re:Tech news!! (Score:5, Insightful)
RFK junior's candidacy is being funded by a Trump supporter [reuters.com], I suspect that there is not a lot of love between the Dems and junior
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I believe this falls under "stuff that matters" and so remains relevant.
Sounds good if that's the actual standard. But I would have expected an article on a major party US presidential candidate getting shot by an assassin. (We only eventually got an article about breaking into the assassin's phone.) Slashdot editors clearly decide what to cover based on their personal politics.
Stuff that matters (Score:5, Insightful)
And given all that it's damned important who is going to be challenging that presidential candidate trying to install themselves as a dictator.
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I am concerned by your inattention to the active Vice Presidency of Dick Cheney, such complete loss of memory may indicate the development of dementia
Re:What's wrong with Harris? (Score:4, Interesting)
The VP has a job, just little formal responsibility. The must be fully up to date on issues just as the President does. That is a full time job.
Re:One big problem! (Score:5, Insightful)
This pretty much guarantees another Trump presidency. I don't believe anyone voted for Biden, as much as voted against Trump last time. This election, I don't see that happening again with Harris. Only the most left leaning of the Dems will vote for her, the rest probably just won't vote. I predict the lowest voter turnout in a long time. Should be an entertaining ride though, so there is that to look forward to.
I think you discount the excitement that someone who is not a tired old white guy will bring to the campaign.
Re:One big problem! (Score:5, Insightful)
>What is exciting about her or her record?
That you ask that question is itself a problem.
'Exciting' shouldn't be anywhere on your list of requirements for whom you'll vote. Competence, trustworthiness, and a platform you mostly agree with (and can live with the parts you don't) should be what you look for.
Re:We're fcuked :o (Score:5, Insightful)
President Kamala Harris :o
Still infinitely better than Trump.
Re:We're fcuked :o (Score:5, Insightful)
As a former human being on planet earth, she literally couldn't do any more damage than Trump has already done (and this time there's an actual plan to allow him to do more).
I'll take incompetent over dangerous dictator wannabie any day of the week.
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The past few months at the DNC must have been them constantly weighing switching candidates VS having Biden step down after the race. It's hard to see the future from this point. Harris is not a galvanizing candidate, but the base is already in a mode of voting against Trump rather than for someone. It might still work.
The choice having been made now, I think the next best thing is that the DNC puts intention behind it as a turning point for the party. Stop fucking up easy things. Stop letting Weekend at Be