Ryuu96 said:
I didn't say people were suddenly talking about Biden's age, I said it was odd to worry about him dying suddenly before the election alongside saying Biden looks like he could die at any minute and that he has more chance of dying than Trump, Lol. There's really not much difference between 77 - 81 from an age standpoint so they're both probably equally as likely to die as each other but that doesn't tell us the full picture, a whole host of health questions that need answering and thus it's hard to say which is more likely to die than the other, nor do I believe either candidate looks like they could die at any minute, as unfortunate as I find that for one of them, they both appear relatively well both physically and mentally still for their age. Also...Dementia? Where is that coming from aside from conspiracy theories? Often Biden's "cognitive decline" in the past was also insultingly mistaken for his stammer condition too, I say insultingly because I have a family member with a stammer. These exact concerns were thrown at Biden last election and he still beat Trump in debates. Yes he has his gaffes but too often at these gaffes in the past been labelled as "cognitive decline" when it was his stammer. As for Bernie, the man had a heart attack, I'm not sure I'd call him more physically robust than either Biden or Trump. I am a big fan of Bernie but I do believe Biden is more electable in America, I don't think Bernie was unelectable because the DNC told me so, I think he was unelectable because I think America is still largely centrist based on what I've seen over the years, I especially think America leans on the right still in regards to economic policies. Americans constantly label Europe as a socialist hell even when almost all of them aren't socialist and many of them are led by right wing politics, Lmao. It's as if anything slightly to the left in America is labelled as socialist which is often confused with communism. I am happy to see more left wing politicians run for Presidency so that these ideas can be further put into Americans minds, explained better to hopefully push them further to the left but I don't believe any can win at this moment. Nobody is telling you to not demand change from Biden's administration. What I said about Trump in regards to Palestine is that at minimum he would be equally as bad as Biden but also add on Ukraine being thrown under the bus, America's democracy being further eroded, minorities in America being screwed over, the relationship between America and Europe souring again and NATO being at risk once again. I don't know how it's insulting to say that Trump would be as bad as Biden for Palestinians either. Trump is the same dude who abandoned our Kurdish allies, who constantly expresses xenophobia and bigotry, especially towards Muslims, who has proposed a ban on Muslims entering America in the past, 99% of the Gaza Strip is Summi Muslims. Trump has also been very friendly with Netanyahu in the past and it only soured when Netanyahu recognised Biden as the winner, Lol. Trump has also said in the past that he would reject refugees from Gaza entering the USA, called for ideological screenings for those entering the country. Released a Middle East peace plan which pissed off Palestinian leaders and largely aligned with what Netanyahu wanted. He says the current conflict has to play out but his criticism to Israel goes as far as him saying they have to do a better job in "PR", in 2018 he proposed withdrawing all aid to Palestinians (around $200m). Just the other day, every Republican in the US Senate voted to limit assistance to Palestine, every Democrat voted against it except Manchin. So I'm sorry if it's insulting but it's the truth that Trump and Republicans would be equally as bad for Palestinians as Biden and have a strong potential to be even worse. I also agree that America has no leverage over Israel, I didn't really want to say it but while I think America should stop supporting Israel, condemn them and join the calls for a ceasefire, I don't think it will change much, Netanyahu will still continue his attack and people are underestimating how powerful and large Israel's military is, that's not to say America shouldn't do those things above but I am under no illusion it will save Gaza. Israel is one of the most powerful militaries in the world versus a tiny strip of land with a population of 2m which is also one of the most densely populated areas in the world. It's partly why it's depressing to follow because I don't see any way that Gaza comes out of this with a good deal. Biden I was fine with up until his support of Israel but I can recognise that the other option is still far worse for almost the entire world and will change nothing for the Palestinians at the same time so nobody wins from a Trump win, thus I hope Biden wins but people can continue to criticise him for Israel, I never said nobody could do that, but Biden will be the nominee and it makes sense for him, the incumbent, to be the nominee at this moment in time. In the election after, I predict it will be Gavin Newsom and people can criticise him for things too, but for now it's not a competition, the Republican options are far, far worse than the Democrat options. |
I don't think talks about possible death is unreasonable for either candidate.
I didn't say Biden has dementia, I said doctors have no cure for cognitive decline or dementia (which is on the spectrum of cognitive decline). Mild cognitive decline is a global aging phenomena, it's very common after the age of 60 and it only becomes more prevalent, it's unreasonable to look at Biden and suggest the guy is going through something, this is not an insult, just like saying he can't run a marathon isn't an insult, it's an observation, an observation that matters because the polls have consistently shown the democratic base views Biden's age negatively, so it isn't just a made up concern of mine, it's what his base thinks. I think he's doing great for his age, I can only hope to have as much marbles as he does if I live that long, maybe not to run for an election though.
The heart attack argument. At that age, having a heart attack doesn't make your heart less robust than someone else from the same age group. A man with history of attacks in their 80s absolutely can have a healthier heart than another man in their 80s without history of heart attacks. Bernie is more physically and mentally robust, he campaigned more in 2020 for Biden than Biden campaigned for himself, I am sure this will be the same in 2024. Does it mean that he is less likely to drop dead tomorrow? No. Bernie's overall heath might be worse, I don't have their medical records, but perception and what we see matters, and Biden looks more frail of the 3 in question.
These days, policies don't matter. I don't believe Bernie being a socialist matters as much as people think, in many ways, Trump was more left wing than Hillary herself on issues like healthcare, bringing manufacturing back, trade deals, opposition of China, and obviously, he was more left wing on the borders (if we actually leave tribalism and the racist rhetoric out of the picture). He still outflanked every other republican who ran on a proper rightwing platform. As far as I can tell, the guy was more Pro-LGBT than Obama himself if you compare both when they were elected, yet again, republicans didn't care and chose him over Bush. (obviously, Trump lied/failed on every single on one of these issues including the border).
With the way politics is (a byproduct of under-educated public), people vote for the person they don't hate, centre, left, right, I doubt the general public is educated enough to know anything beyond who they need to vote for. As a seemingly Biden hater, I seem to have a better grasp of all of his excellent left wing internal policies that been implemented in his first term than many Biden fans. The public really seem to care about few issues, immigration is a global sore point for left wing politicians but nope, we ain't touching that because.... reasons. Besides that, I don't know if the majority cares bout anything else anymore.
Obviously, just because policies don't matter, it doesn't make Bernie the default candidate, he still needed to win. My point is that you can't have both the DNC and their massive MSM arm influence the democratic primaries negatively and then say "Bernie is unelectable", in the same breath giving us Hillary and Kamala, ok. I personally believe this is the time progressives should go all out and show the voters how genocide Joe (and Starmer) are half bowls of shit, it's a perfect opportunity to either show the difference and at the very least, exert pressure to pull Biden further to the left on more issues.
As for Trump being worse for the rest of the world, I acknowledged this repeatedly, I am not rooting for Trump to win. Even though, I personally think it would be great for Europe to stop being the USA's lapdog and become a self-sufficient continent that doesn't depend on the USA aid/help/policies etc, I still don't think this should happen because Trump may screw us over, it should happen because... logic dictates it should happen.
Forget all of the above, the last the point you make in the end, I find baffling and I don't think anyone can rationally support it. The vast majority of Israel arms come for the USA (like 90%?), to say that if "USA stops supporting Israel, not much will change" falls firmly in the objectively wrong territory. This is untested and unsupported hypothesis that is only floated around to leave a small way out for Biden from this mess. Why is AIPAC constantly influencing politicians and elections with dark money if "USA lack of support won't change much" had any merits? AIPAC seems to disagree, and they put their money where their mouth is, hundreds of millions of dollars kind of money.
Why is Biden is risking the few advantages he has and his chances of winning of his stances wouldn't change much? I don't think we'll see an eye to eye on this one.
Last edited by LurkerJ - on 25 January 2024
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