• @[email protected]
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      201 year ago

      I used to mainly vote third party as a protest vote for both sides to do better. Didn’t matter the party, really.

      I voted for Obama out of genuinely wanting him in office. I thought he was decent overall but he did disappoint me.

      I voted for Biden purely to keep Trump out of office. Even so, I think Biden has largely been a better President than Obama was, though the Gaza/Israel thing is really testing that. I would love to have a more progressive choice, but any time I am disappointed in Biden, I just remind myself the alternative and I would crawl across a mile of broken glass to vote for him.

      So I would anecdotally say this election is outside the norm.

      • @[email protected]
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        21 year ago

        So I would anecdotally say this election is outside the norm.

        If you mean “unique in 240 years of American history” I agree.

      • @[email protected]
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        31 year ago

        So I would anecdotally say this election is outside the norm.

        I worry that it’s the new baseline.

      • @[email protected]
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        11 year ago

        So I would anecdotally say this election is outside the norm.

        as will be the next, and the one after that, as well as all of the ones following; meanwhile you’ll continue crawling over broken glass and giving a pass to ongoing genocides because you believe it’s better than the alternative somehow without realizing there’s one alternative.

        no one knows the right answer, but there are plenty of wrong answers and 2 of those have been placed before and you’re told that you must select one.

        • @[email protected]
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          1 year ago

          Told? It’s just math. If you want to change things, you have to either do it from within an existing party or wait for an existing party to implode and then maybe there is an opportunity for change.

          I’m fifty. I spent a lot of fucking elections wasting my vote on third parties, thinking I was sending some kind of message or making things better, but here we are. I wasted every single vote prior to 2008. Would anything be different if I hadn’t? No. Would anything be different if a bunch of people hadn’t? I don’t know. Maybe.

          • @[email protected]
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            1 year ago

            as i said before: no one knows the right answer, but there are plenty of wrong answers, we know they’re wrong because we’ve tried them and things don’t get better (and we sometimes try it again with the same results); we’re only allowed to pick from among those wrong answers only.

            trying anything otherwise might also be a wrong answer; but we will never know because there are plenty who will shame you if don’t pick the same wrong answer they do.

            • @[email protected]
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              1 year ago

              Fair. Government is hard. There is no such thing as a right answer. Just shit that we find out later didn’t work. I’m not happy with either of the two parties; I don’t really believe in parties anyway. But here we are.

              Fight the good fight, my friend, but just don’t let fascism take us. My grandfather fought against the fascists in WW2, and here I am doing the same (though admittedly with way less personal risk) 80 years later. I don’t like it, but it is what it is.

    • @[email protected]
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      31 year ago

      Well, millennials voted for Obama because he genuinely inspired hope. Then we saw how he governed and it killed our entire generation’s sense of hope.

      • @[email protected]
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        11 year ago

        Then you saw Biden being a better president than Obama because he was more experienced. Maybe the answer here is to pay more attention to what a politician does than what he says

        • @[email protected]
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          1 year ago

          LOL, if that were answer, then Biden would be judged on the anti-drug legislation he spearheaded in '84, '86, and '88 that gave us expanded sentences for possession, civil asset forfeiture, and the racist sentencing disparity between crack and powdered cocaine. He’d also be judged on the 1994 crime bill he co-authored that led to the largest increase in mass incarceration in 40 years. Oh, and let’s not forget the time he teamed up with Robert Byrd, a Senator and Klansman, to pass anti-bussing legislation. Point is, Biden has benefited a lot from people listening to what he says and forgetting what he’s done.

          • @[email protected]
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            11 year ago

            Biden has benefited a lot from people listening to what he says and forgetting what he’s done.

            You mean forgetting that Biden has the lowest unemployment rate since the 1960’s? Forgetting that he raised the minimum tax rate on corporations from 0% to 15%? Forgetting that that every few days there is a record stock market high? That nobody could have handled Covid or Ukraine better?

            Biden is the victim of a lot of people forgetting what he’s done.

            • @[email protected]
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              11 year ago

              I don’t think you understand my point. You made a comment about how I should judge politicians on their actions, not their words. So I pointed out that Biden’s actions before his election included anti-bussing legislation, several racist drug bills, and the worst expansion of the prison-industrial complex in history. I’m glad you’re happy with Biden’s performance as President, but you clearly ignored a lot of what he did as a Senator and listened to what he said as a presidential candidate (or you really like racist drug policies and mass incarceration).

              • @[email protected]
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                11 year ago

                I couldn’t care less what Biden did in the 1970’s. It is ridiculous to call him “racist”, as he was the running mate of the first black president.

                • @[email protected]
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                  11 year ago

                  Your original comment:

                  Maybe the answer here is to pay more attention to what a politician does than what he says.

                  Your current comment:

                  I couldn’t care less what Biden did in the 1970’s.

                  Maybe the answer here is to not leave condescending replies to other people’s comments if you’re just going to completely contradict yourself and negate your own point.

    • FuglyDuck
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      91 year ago

      40% of voting-eligible Americans simply don’t vote at all.

      • @[email protected]
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        31 year ago

        I mean Boomer Democrat voters could sit down and ask themselves “Is voting for a geriatric establishment white man really the move in the 2020 primaries if we want those “young” (read: anyone under the age of 65) voters to engage in politics”

        But they won’t because even though they vote Democrat they’re still Boomers. And Boomers can’t handle not getting their way.

    • @[email protected]
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      231 year ago

      Kinda… mostly because the best ones never become candidates. The parties push the candidates that serve the interests of the partys donors then try to convince the voters they actually care.

      Most elections are a choice between two mediocre candidates.

      With the current state of the Republican party, it’s truly about getting more of them out of power. Unless you’re a white Christofascist bootlicker.

    • @[email protected]
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      81 year ago

      If you have a non proportional system where parties don’t make coalitions, there’s no other choice (unless you live in a region where a specific party always wins with a majority of the votes, then do what you want).

    • @[email protected]
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      41 year ago

      Goddamn right…I’m got down with the dumbass ship in Florida but I’m cancelling out one vote for the end of America…

  • Verdant Banana
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    1 year ago

    Biden

    a Catholic president with a prosecutor for a vice president

    the last four years have consisted of abortion rights being stripped, Cop City built to train police to subjugate citizens by razing a national forest, workers protested and were told to stop on threat of their livelihood with no change in worker’s rights or higher wages, immigration policies have deteriorated, food cost are astronomical and inflation is rising on everything without stopping, journalism is dying due to corporate buyout with journalist being silenced

    but Biden who is a career politician going on almost half a century now who is running against a career donor is progressive

    when was he ever progressive? what about Harris? have either of these two been progressive at any point in their careers?

    Biden worked on laws and policies that would put people in jail and Harris worked her career enforcing such laws

    If a Catholic and a Prosecutor with a resume of putting the citizens in their proper places is progressive then yes we are truly fisted in the ass and gaped with no chance in hell

    • @[email protected]
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      51 year ago

      Cop city? How the hell are you managing to make your mental stretch that wide that you include local Atlanta issues to criticize president biden?

      • Verdant Banana
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        Biden during the last election said he would try to get the police under control and he ran on a green platform

        cops getting a whole city built for them so they can train to keep citizens subjugated while razing a national forest to do so with Biden not saying or even trying to do anything not even making it a talking point during speeches this current election

        not to mention this current policing and the current environmental issues that need attention in this country are in part due to bills he had a hand in such as the crime bill

        so yes him as president and before that as a career politician do criticize Biden

      • @[email protected]
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        31 year ago

        Atlanta is 1 of nearly 100 cop cities being built. All of which will be trained by the IDF

  • @[email protected]
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    281 year ago

    I know I am. I mean it it’s not like I would vote for any Republican because I have yet to see one that lines up with my philosophy. And since we have a shitty to party system, I can’t reasonably expect to be able to have a voice by voting for anybody else, so I have no choice but to compromise by voting for the lesser of two bastards. We seriously need ranked voting in this country so badly. It’s not a perfect system, but it’s so much better than what we’re doing now.

  • Verdant Banana
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    71 year ago

    and that is why we the people will lose this election as well

    we either stop supporting bad candidates from any party or we get stuck with them

    why the fuck does any want four years of Trump or Biden is wild

    Both are too old and both are set on taking us way back in time

    already lost women’s rights and worker’s rights

    how much do y’all want to lose?

    guess we will see in the next four years what we get to lose next already getting to the point crossing state borders is difficult

    • @[email protected]
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      31 year ago

      I was genuinely excited for Obama. I strongly supported him during the primary, was thrilled he won, and was very hopeful when he was elected.

      Quickly disappointed not long after, but at least when he was first being elected it was definitely a “I really like this candidate and am hopeful they’ll live up to their promises.”

    • @[email protected]
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      61 year ago

      I think as candidates Clinton, W. Bush, Gore, Obama, McCain had sincere support overshadowing the need to stop some particular bad person instead. As misguided as I think it is, Trump voters also are all about Trump less than stopping Biden. I can’t personally remember a race where “the other side must be stopped” as pretty much the sole consideration among the voters until the Trump era.

      Yes, third party candidates are dismissed in a self fulfilling prophecy, but also that reality drives most reasonable would-be third party candidates to one of the viable parties, generally leaving third party candidates that wouldn’t be that popular anyway.

      • @[email protected]
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        41 year ago

        I can’t personally remember a race where “the other side must be stopped” as pretty much the sole consideration among the voters until the Trump era.

        The Kerry '04 campaign might as well have been “Anyone But Bush”, and it went down in flames as a result. Every time Kerry was pressed on any kind of progressive-ish sounding issue, he ran to the right for fear of spooking the moderate centrist voter. Every time Bush was pressed on his conservative bona fides, he just pointed to 9/11 and said “I kept us safe” and the news media ate that shit up.

        In the end, you had the Strong MAGA Security candidate in Bush and the flaky swish liberal candidate in Kerry. Kerry lost by 3M votes and 35 ECs, dwarfing the Bush/Gore defeat. Then he slunk back to the Senate and triangulated votes with John McCain for the next eight years.

      • @[email protected]
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        81 year ago

        I think as candidates Clinton, W. Bush, Gore, Obama, McCain had sincere support

        Joe Biden was better and more progressive than literally every one of those guys. It’s not Biden’s fault that you haven’t been paying much attention.

        I can’t personally remember a race where “the other side must be stopped” as pretty much the sole consideration among the voters until the Trump era.

        I can’t personally remember a president who has achieved more progress than Joe Biden, and I can remember every president starting with Nixon.

        • @[email protected]
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          21 year ago

          Note I didn’t claim the were progressive or that Biden did nothing, I’m saying voter sentiment is basically “not trump” rather than “for Biden”. I’ll accept that Kerry was in a similar position of being the “not W” candidate, but other than that I can’t think of a candidate whose popular support was so much more about “the other guy” than the candidate themselves.

          • @[email protected]
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            11 year ago

            WTF? Dude it is not Bidens fault that Convicted Felon and Sex Offender Treason Trump has been ranked as the worst president in history by historians. That means there are lots of “Biden Republicans”. But Dems would be voting for Biden over any Republicrat.

          • @[email protected]
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            11 year ago

            You mean the people that Biden got the UN Security Council to pass a cease fire resolution for?

            Arabs are the people who aren’t doing shit for Gaza. How Egypt/Lebanon/Turkey etc aren’t taking in refuges from Gaza and shipping tons of aid in or even offering peacekeepers? Any or all of those countries could have easily done more than Biden but they didn’t lift a finger. Looks like Arabs don’t care anything at all about Palestinians judging by their actions.

  • @[email protected]
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    921 year ago

    I have never whole heartedly supported the Democratic candidate (because I’m far more left than any of them have ever been), but I’ve always voted for them, because they’re far better than the other option. This time they’re just so far better than the other option, not because they are any better, but because the other option is so astoundingly worse. So, I guess, welcome to the club.

    But I will say, Biden has been more progressive than any other candidate in my lifetime. Again, that’s not saying much, but hey, it’s better than nothing. He’s just killing himself by supporting Israel.

    (Repost of my comment from the same article in another community.)

    • @[email protected]
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      251 year ago

      The opinions of Biden seem to be all over the map, which is weird since he is the incumbent, and we all ought to know where he stands. There are lots of people (like you) who see the progressive things he has managed to get accomplished, even with a divided Congress in these past two years. Yet, there are others who perceive him as a right-of-center false choice.

      He has always had trouble defining himself, which I think is part of the reason he was a perennial Presidential Primary loser. His stutter didn’t help matters, nor his tendency to go off-script. But Trump’s ascendancy gave him the perfect opportunity to create a definition, even if that definition is “Not Trump”.

      • @[email protected]
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        81 year ago

        This is on purpose. Building confidence is hard. Destroying it is easy. Plenty of domestic and foreign actors are heavily invested in mudding Waters surrounding biden. In hopes of him failing. Their candidates getting elected. Which is turning out even easier for them seeing as our corporate publicly traded media is eagerly assisting them.

        The fascists will fall in line and vote for whoever they’re offered. Simply because they’ve been told the opposite would be worse. Unfortunately the Democratic party is much more a coalition party of many disparate groups many who don’t see a lot of representation. Preferring to fall in love rather than falling in line. And they are Their Own Worst Enemy because of that.

        And even though it’s a low bar. If I didn’t Administration has delivered some of the biggest wins for labor in the last 100 years. He certainly not perfect. But the alternatives are absolutely worse. The question is are we going to be able to get our s*** together and not let ourselves be manipulated again.

      • @[email protected]
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        231 year ago

        There is also a great deal of negative press out regarding Biden. Honestly if you look at policy and accomplishments he’s done quite a lot of good things. It is an uphill battle of course with Congress and the Supreme Court being what they are. We are a big country and it takes constant action to push it to a more equitable place for the majority of us.

        Frankly, I think Biden has done a lot to start that push. It will take a lot more though and we could backslide terribly if we don’t keep pushing.

          • @[email protected]
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            31 year ago

            I love how you all ignore all the terrible policy this man voted for as a senator.

            Like when he was one of the few senators to vote against he first Iraq War in 1993?

          • @[email protected]
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            111 year ago

            Well I guess maybe people change with maturity. He is certainly putting some good people into positions where they can do some good

            • @[email protected]
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              41 year ago

              Yeah I’m sure that comes as a huge comfort to the millions of people who’s lives he ruined with his 1994 stop and frisk crime bill.

              • @[email protected]
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                91 year ago

                So offer a solution. Who has a chance that’s currently in the running to beat Trump in November?

                Provide a name or walk away.

                • @[email protected]
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                  31 year ago

                  No I’m going to keep making it clear anybody who voted for Joe Biden in the 2020 primaries over the many superior options is a shit bag.

          • @[email protected]
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            1 year ago

            So we’re cool to bring up the past as a rebuttal to a thing someone has done in the present?

            You shit your pants when you were a baby. Should we accuse you of this every day for the rest of your life?

            We also used to prescribe cigarettes to asthmatic patients. Wonder why we don’t anymore ?

            It’s because we learned to be better at understanding the human body. Essentially… We got smarter. But reading though your comment history- you seem to be regressing, because it seems that every point you bring up is worse than the last.

            • @[email protected]
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              41 year ago

              … I’m sorry. Do you use this defense when you’re talking about Trump or are you just a blatant hypocrite?

              Biden is an evil person. Trump is an evil person. You shouldn’t defend either of them.

              • @[email protected]
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                51 year ago

                I use this defense when I see people bring up one’s past to put them back down after they’ve changed.

                I use this defense when bad faith clowns try and shit on people in rehab who are trying to turn their lives around.

                I use this defense whenever I see people that don’t know what they’re talking about, try and paint eh world as either black or white without even looking at the grey in between.

                Your move, chuckles.

              • @[email protected]
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                31 year ago

                Biden is an evil person. Trump is an evil person

                Bernie’s friend Biden is fucking awesome dude. Love the guy! Bernie likes Biden and I’ve never once noticed Bernie to be wrong about anything. The more you slander Biden the more I like Biden.

  • @[email protected]
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    101 year ago

    Only the best current reason. When frump is out of the picture for good we can focus on other things

          • @[email protected]
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            1 year ago

            You support a regressive Libertarian candidate over the most progressive candidate since FDR. And a Kremlin stooge. And a nutbag billionaire. Got it.

            • @[email protected]
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              21 year ago

              the most progressive candidate since FDR

              by what standard?!

              dude literally voted against gay marriage; gays in the military; permanent student loans; advocated against gays in federal service; racial integration; sexual harassment claims; blocked access to non-american social media platform; and blocked americans from affordable electric vehicles.

              was it the one law that passed decades after it was no longer an issue and, not only did nothing, but gave bigots legal protection for their bigotry?

              • @[email protected]
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                11 year ago

                dude literally voted against

                Presidents do not vote on anything. I said he was the most progressive PRESIDENT since LBJ/FDR.

                by what standard?!

                Raising taxes on corporations. Wealth inequality is the number 1 problem in the country. Reducing wealth inequality is the biggest thing FDR did. But also: Reducing costs of ACA and Medicare. Increasing access to health care. Lowering prices on drugs thru direct government regulation. Reducing student loans. Action on climate change. Reducing taxes on lower/middle class. That is just some of the obvious stuff.

      • @[email protected]
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        21 year ago

        Cant say. Nobody can read the future for good or bad. I just prefer to be optimistic rather than not. All i can say is that the current choices are all there is and, as always, the lesser of two evils is what we have to work with

  • Captain Aggravated
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    141 year ago

    You know what my main problem with Joe Biden is? I’m 37, he’s what? 79? I’ve been a citizen of the United States longer than he has. He’s spent the last three generations in either congress or the white house, and the people who do that don’t live in the same reality as the rest of us. Too many of the laws outright don’t apply to them, either because there are literal exceptions or “we don’t enforce that on them.” Joe Biden doesn’t know the first fucking thing about being an American because he hasn’t ever actually done it.

    • @[email protected]
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      131 year ago

      Joe Biden doesn’t know the first fucking thing about being an American because he hasn’t ever actually done it.

      His family struggled a lot when he grew up in a blue collar town, moved so his dad could find steady work, but still were definitely middle class. Then he worked his way through college and law school.

      We can say his decades in Congress and the presidency have corrupted him, but the idea that he hasn’t ever actually been “a real American” (the way you are using it) is an outright lie.

      You know who hasn’t? The billionaire who was born with a silver spoon in their mouth, schooled with other wealthy people in NYC, then was gifted a huge amount of to start, and then spent their entire career screwing the blue collar worker to line his own pockets.

      If Biden has never been a “real American,” then how do we describe Trump’s lack of real Americaness?

    • @[email protected]
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      61 year ago

      You know what my main problem with Joe Biden is?

      He’s not Putin’s choice? He gave billionaires a tax increase instead of tax cut?

      Joe Biden doesn’t know the first fucking thing about being an American because he hasn’t ever actually done it.

      You mean despite being the only US Senator who rode the bus to work every day?

      Joe Biden knows way more about being an American than you seem to.

      https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2024/06/07/remarks-by-president-biden-on-democracy-and-freedom-normandy-france/

      [Remarks by President Biden on Democracy and Freedom | Normandy, France]

      Too many of the laws outright don’t apply to them

      Which specific law does not apply to Joe Biden? You simply made that up. His son was just found guilty on a charge that almost no other person in America would even be charged with.

  • @[email protected]
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    1 year ago

    Biden has done so much fucking shit for the average american (which is saying something thanks to the Do Nothing fascists)

    First US president to join the union workers ON THE PICKET LINE In many ways we have handled this world-wide inflation shit better than any other in the G7 nations Unemployment numbers are at record lows, .01 lower than any other time in the past 10 years at one point in january and april of last year and since then has only risen around 0.3-4 points, removed healthcare related debt from credit scores

    I could go on and on, but instead, others have already done so for me (and these aren’t even super recent):

    https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2024-opinion-biden-accomplishment-data/

    https://www.whitehouse.gov/oneyear/

    https://www.npr.org/2023/01/01/1143149435/despite-infighting-its-been-a-surprisingly-productive-2-years-for-democrats

    https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/02/02/joe-biden-30-policy-things-you-might-have-missed-00139046

  • @[email protected]
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    71 year ago

    Only reason he won the primary in 2020. Idealists don’t do well against fascists but moderates are inoffensive enough to

    • @[email protected]
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      51 year ago

      It’s a dangerous game, as Biden’s not bringing anything to the table on his own. Hillary lost in 2016 with a 10-pt plunge in support, because of the Comey October Surprise. Biden could easily suffer the same fate, if his lackluster supporters get spooked a few weeks before the general election.

      • @[email protected]
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        31 year ago

        Biden’s not bringing anything to the table on his own.

        You mean, besides besides being the most progressive president since LBJ?

        • @[email protected]
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          31 year ago

          That’s a low bar. LBJ was racist,

          “During his first 20 years in Congress,” Obama said, “he opposed every civil rights bill that came up for a vote, once calling the push for federal legislation a farce and a shame.”

          • @[email protected]
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            21 year ago

            LBJ was the president who got the most important civil right bill passed. Biden was the most progressive president since LBJ and FDR.

                • @[email protected]
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                  21 year ago

                  Logical thought is essentially a process of figuring things out step by step. Think of it like putting together a puzzle where each piece must fit perfectly with the others to form a complete picture. It’s a way of thinking that helps connect ideas in a rational, sensible order. It starts with simple truths, builds on them, and leads to a solid conclusion, just like following a set of directions to get to a particular place. source

          • @[email protected]
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            11 year ago

            does repeating this lie help you believe it?

            LMFAO. I believe that Biden was the most progressive president since LBJ because I have been paying attention to politics since Nixon was in office. I can remember the end of the Vietnam War, and the minute details of every administration since. Which particular president do you think was better than Biden?

            • @[email protected]
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              11 year ago

              I can remember the end of the Vietnam War

              how do you not remember biden’s anti-gay votes or his anti-gay, anti-me2, pro-studentloandebt, or pro-isreal advocacy; like most boomers do?

              was it because none of that affects you or is it because you’re willfully ignoring the last few decades to make his presidency look better in your eyes?

              or is it simply because trump is so bad that the alternative is automatically good enough?

              • @[email protected]
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                11 year ago

                How did you not know that Biden has done way more to nullify student loan debt than every other president?

                How did you not know that Biden got a Gaza cease fire passed by the US security council?

                biden’s anti-gay votes

                The president does not vote against anything. I said Biden is the most progressive PRESIDENT.

                How can you not know that Biden has been more progressive on me2 or lgbtq THAN ANY OTHER PRESIDENT?

                or is it simply because trump is so bad that the alternative is automatically good enough?

                Well we know that Convicted Sec Offender Treason Trump was ranked worst of all presidents by historians. So a house plant would be better than Treason Trump. But doesn’t change the fact that Biden has been the most progressive president in the last 50 years.

                • @[email protected]
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                  11 year ago

                  he literally use to brag about getting the bill that created our student loan debt problem passed the senate.

                  also: he’s been in federal politics for over 50 years; but we can only judge him for 3 of them?

                  ysk that cherry picked 3 years has been hit and miss at best.