Danger, Will Robinson Joe Biden, America. Too many Democrats are thinking too small. If they influence Joe Biden to accept their opinion, we could lose an important result, even while Joe wins the election.
The media are awash with talking heads pushing Joe to select a Black woman as his running mate. Al Sharpton and Joy Reid on MSNBC are leading the parade. It has become rare to hear either of them, and their coterie of frequent guests, cover other topics. I get the impression that they devote more time on their shows to agitating for a Black female candidate than to the pandemic.
There are of course several months before the election. Anything could change the lay of the land. Given all that, let me make a fairly safe prediction: Joe Biden will beat Trump, regardless of who he picks for veep.
Trump only won the Electoral College, and that was close enough in at least 3 states to have easily gone the other way – if Hillary had deigned to honor them with a visit. I speak particularly of Wisconsin, Michigan and Ohio. Pennsylvania was not a landslide either.
Though Florida and Ohio are not as red as 2016, they might very well remain, barely, in Trump’s pocket. Trump has lost Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin. Arizona and even Iowa might turn on him, rather than to him. If that is the way it falls out in the Fall, Little Donny will do what he is best at – blaming everyone but himself.
So, what’s the problem? The Senate. Moscow Mitch will prevent the White House and the House from dealing with any of our multitude of problems and feel free to be even more of a loose cannon than he has been.
Joe has all the love he needs from the Black voters. Joe needs to expand his (or the Democratic) turnout. Picking a Black woman as a running mate would not expand the Democratic turnout. That will be necessary to assure flipping the Senate.
How does Biden increase the turnout? By showing some serious love to the progressives in the party. Many progressives are saying they will sit on their hands, come November. It’s hard to believe they would make us endure 4 more years of GOP control of the Senate and all that portends. But . . .
You don’t think that they are that earnest in their opposition to Biden? Sure, the Trumpers are trying to portray Biden as a serial sexual predator but they have a significant amount of help. Heavily involved in trying to tar Joe’s reputation are some die-hard supporters of Bernie Sanders.
As it presently stands, no one has a majority of delegates for the Democratic nomination. They are hoping that no one has a majority on the first ballot. That would open the door. It would release delegates bound to vote for other candidates on the first vote to change on the second.
Some states are cancelling their primary because of the pandemic and the expectation that Joe has a lock. Cancelling primaries would make it impossible for Biden to have a committed majority.
Well then, if not a Black woman, who? The best candidate would be Elizabeth Warren. Actually, she was the best candidate for president. When asked point blank whether she would accept if the job was offered, there was not a second of hesitation. It was an immediate, yes.
This choice would be enthusiastically welcomed by Bernie’s followers. There is just one problem though. Liz’s governor is a Republican and could be expected to replace her with a Republican, making it more difficult to flip the Senate.
The next choice should be Katie Porter, Congressperson from California. Sure, she doesn’t have the name recognition of Warren but she has the credentials. Just who is she?
In hearings of the Oversight Committee and the Financial Services Committee she appears to be a stern teacher. Behind that veneer lurks a pit bull. No one in Congress has been more devastating in their questioning of the clowns of the present administration. She can command the stage and any debate with Mike Pence. Such would likely appear to be more of an indictment than a debate.
She’s from a small farm in Iowa. From there she went to Yale. Next was Harvard Law School, where she was graduated magna cum laude after studying under Elizabeth Warren. Their relationship is 20 years old. After practicing at a private law firm she went on to be a professor of law at the University of Iowa. Next she became a tenured professor at the University of California. Did I mention she is a single mother of 3 and survived an abusive marriage?
She became the first Democrat ever elected in her district, beating the Republican incumbent. This happened in what was not too long ago described as THE conservative county, also known as Orange County, California.
She is very much a progressive and would please any and all of Bernie’s minions.
One of the things that prompted this post was a search to see who was being considered for Joe’s mate. In about half a dozen or so articles, Warren was in 2nd place a couple of times. More commonly, she placed 3rd behind Amy Klobuchar. Every one of the articles had Kamala Harris in 1st place.
Let’s look at these two ladies. Amy is a Democrat in name only and couldn’t stir up any excitement outside of her home state of Minnesota, which is already reliably blue. Ms. Harris has some baggage. Her only qualifications are being Black and female.
Kamala was fortunate in making a good show in the first debate. She attracted attention with that debate. Too bad. The attention brought to light her record as a prosecutor and her positions on various issues, which suddenly changed when she began a run for the Democratic nomination. Opportunist.
Neither Amy nor Kamala would excite any progressives or cause any of Bernie’s supporters to jump on board Biden’s bandwagon.
The Democrats in Kentucky have a viable candidate this time. But, even if Mitch holds on to his seat, the Democrats have the opportunity to overcome the gerrymandering, the voter suppression and the Electoral College to flip the Senate – if they maximize turnout. That only happens if the progressives accept the very real potential consequences of the same old Senate for another 4 years. For a significant number of them, that only happens with the inducement of an appreciable lean to the left by the Biden ticket.
News Alert: A new poll by the Republican National Committee shows Biden has pulled even with Trump at 43% in Texas. Little Donny, in his petulance at this news, is threatening to sue his own campaign manager – another first for the fake president.
If you found this educational, edifying, interesting or otherwise worth your time, this geezer would appreciate a little supplement to those Social Security checks, They forgot to factor in the cost of publishing a blog.
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Many thanks,
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