All purpose news and politics thread part v: The quickening

[Malvolio]

But then they won't have enough experience! No matter whom he chooses, they will be the 'wrong' choice.

There's a lot of space between "not enough experience" and "too old." I think both Amy Klobuchar and Gretchen Whitmer fit into that space.

[numberthirty]

https://abc7chicago.com/dr.-willie-w...*****/6139837/

Former mayoral candidate Willie Wilson bails out 12 Cook County Jail detainees amid COVID-19 outbreak

[TheDarman]

There's a lot of space between "not enough experience" and "too old." I think both Amy Klobuchar and Gretchen Whitmer fit into that space.

I think Biden is better off if he goes with the candidate closest to Obama, not just demographically, but in his relationship with them. Voters often forgot what made them not latch onto Biden the first couple times he ran when he was with Obama. He needs someone like that now, someone who can make it seem like you are voting for a team rather than an individual. I think Biden is stronger as a candidate that way.

[numberthirty]

If you're going from this...

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

I think Biden is better off if he goes with the candidate closest to Obama, not just demographically, but in his relationship with them. Voters often forgot what made them not latch onto Biden the first couple times he ran when he was with Obama. He needs someone like that now, someone who can make it seem like you are voting for a team rather than an individual. I think Biden is stronger as a candidate that way.

Biden is the Obama candidate now because of his relationship for 8 years with him, there is literally no politician in the country that could be more evocative of Obama’s admin than Biden.

[numberthirty]

To telling a reporter "I Don't Need A Lecture Or A Speech..."

[TheDarman]

To telling a reporter "I Don't Need A Lecture Or A Speech..."

Oh yay! We can just start ignoring the circumstantial discrepancies to smear Democrats as hypocrites! That didn’t take long at all.

[Gray Lensman]

Oh yay! We can just start ignoring the circumstantial discrepancies to smear Democrats as hypocrites! That didn’t take long at all.

It's 30 - only Democrats can be wrong.

[TheDarman]

Biden is the Obama candidate now because of his relationship for 8 years with him, there is literally no politician in the country that could be more evocative of Obama’s admin than Biden.

That is true. Perhaps I should’ve been clearer. Biden is not a charismatic individual. Neither was Hillary. Both were elevated by their relationship with Obama. Hillary Clinton made the mistake of picking someone like her—quieter and non-charismatic. Biden needs to pick someone who a) he has a strong, friendly relationship with, b) can look like a coordinated team on policy and execution of the office with him, and c) makes the ticket demographically diverse.

[numberthirty]

To trying not to address it the way she is from 7:30 in this video...



It doesn't work. If you were using her metric of "No Accusation Was Made At The Time...", you could have said the exact same thing about Kavanuagh up until he was accused.

[numberthirty]

Oh yay! We can just start ignoring the circumstantial discrepancies to smear Democrats as hypocrites! That didn’t take long at all.

It's not a smear when you are actually being hypocritical.

If there needs to be an investigation when an accusation is made? Great. That is a very sound approach.

If there only needs to be an investigation when you think one is warranted? Not so much.

[numberthirty]

Never mind that telling the press exactly how they should be phrasing a question is bad enough when Donald Trump is doing it.

I sure don't need Pelosi doing it too.

[TheDarman]

To trying not to address it the way she is from 7:30 in this video...



It doesn't work. If you were using her metric of "No Accusation Was Made At The Time...", you could have said the exact same thing about Kavanuagh up until he was accused.

As if it needs an explanation: Kavanaugh was not a public figure for half a century prior to his ascendancy to the highest Court. No one knew who he was until he was nominated. Ford sent a letter when he was merely a name on a list to her senator, Dianne Feinstein. Ford’s allegation was not addressed until it was leaked and she was forced to turn her life upside down, get lawyers, take a polygraph, and submit her therapist’s notes. She was missing corroboration, certainly. But Kavanaugh’s pattern of behavior while intoxicated was corroborated by many folks willing to talk to the FBI when they conducted their brief investigation. They were never contacted.

This allegation, meanwhile, is something else. It comes from a woman who was hinting at future allegations for a month with “Tick Tock Biden” tweets. She had previously praised Biden in 2017 for his work on sexual assault of all things. Then, she goes on a pro-Russia tirade that culminates in February of 2020 before abruptly stopping. She went on to say she didn’t care much for Russia after learning their history of domestic violence. (This obviously isn’t true. She was well aware of it and discussing it on her old Twitter account in 2017.) On top of not remembering when she was assaulted (which, in fairness, happened with Ford), she refused to name Biden or any of his supervisors in her police report—shielding her from legal action while still stirring up a fuss. She claims that she wasn’t wearing appropriate attire to work and, apparently, wasn’t called out for it (I know my friends who worked on the Hill as late as 2016 were told they would be sent home without proper work attire). She changed the location of the assault from a semi-public hallway to the basement. She says Biden said “C’mon man, I heard you liked me”, which isn’t something Biden said regularly until after campaigning with Obama, who himself said it regularly. Her story is right out of a fictional book her father wrote in 2010. There was no report of harassment found in the Senate office she claimed she filed it with. She does not have the report. This office is outside the Biden office and was responsible for many senators losing their jobs, like Bob Packwood. She has refused to release her therapist’s notes. Her brother was coached on what to say by a Bernie Sanders supporter. Her neighbor had to be coached by Reade herself. Reade is editing posts to remove statements like how none of the actions ever amounted to “sexual misconduct”. I could go on—the problems are so numerous.

You claim that both needed investigation. Reade’s claims have been. You can look above at what has just been uncovered so far. Do we need an FBI investigation? Perhaps. But Reade ensured that no investigation could come out of her filed police report by not naming herself, Biden, or those who were in his office. If Reade has done everything possible to avoid an investigation, why would it be necessary to call for one?

The point is: these allegations are not the same. And the insinuation is harmful.

[numberthirty]

...

You claim that both needed investigation. Reade’s claims have been. You can look above at what has just been uncovered so far. Do we need an FBI investigation? Perhaps. But Reade ensured that no investigation could come out of her filed police report by not naming herself, Biden, or those who were in his office. If Reade has done everything possible to avoid an investigation, why would it be necessary to call for one?

The point is: these allegations are not the same. And the insinuation is harmful.

Not "Perhaps..."

If you are going to sit there and run off a list of reasons why "Candidate X..." has a record that points to that you don't need an investigation by an enforcement arm that will hopefully do so as a third party outside of the politics of it?

Each of the big two is always going to have that list in their respective back pockets.

The only way for either one of those two to be able to get an investigation we can put any sort of faith in is going to be for there to just be a blanket "Accusations Get Investigated. Period." policy.

As for "If Reade..."?

Plug one of Kavanaugh's accusers in there.

What you think should have been done about getting an investigation rolling?

It's a non-issue.

A possible victim shouldn't have to come forward in a prescribed fashion in order to be taken seriously.

[Tami]

Biden set to respond to Tara Reade allegations against him tomorrow.

This will probably open the floodgates of real investigation. It has been kept on the sideline because of COVID-19 and Biden’s campaign deciding not to give it oxygen. It is clear that certain segments of the population were giving it plenty of oxygen. Biden was going to have to address this. I do wonder, though, if this means Biden’s team found the records they needed to find to at least provide a rebuttal of the timing from March to May of 1993.

All of Biden's records are at the University of Delaware. He probably needed time to retrieve them since they are still being processed and catalogued.