US Political Discussion: Biden/Harris Edition (Rules in OP)

[jaxadam]

 

[spudmunkey]

That would be funny if it wasn't confirmed by pretty much everyone but Russia that they have, and are, infact purposefully influencing our elections.

 

[jaxadam]

That would be funny if it wasn't confirmed by pretty much everyone but Russia that they have, and are, infact purposefully influencing our elections.

Do you think they'll influence the next one for Uncle Joe Biden?

 

[Spaced Out Ace]

Do you think they'll influence the next one for Uncle Joe Biden?

Creepy uncle touch n feely Joe. He oughta be great on the campaign trail.

 

[spudmunkey]

Do you think they'll influence the next one for Uncle Joe Biden?

Honestly, I don't know enough about international politics to know who they think would end up being better for them, or worse for us (which is just as valid of an outcome for Russia).

 

[jaxadam]

Honestly, I don't know enough about international politics to know who they think would end up being better for them, or worse for us (which is just as valid of an outcome for Russia).

Do you think North Korea or China could really be behind it?

It’s weird... I never really knew my vote was taken hostage until I look back on the day I went into the voting both. There were a lot of military style vehicles outside driven by bears wearing funny hats. Once I got inside all of the poll workers were wearing and obcene amount of Adidas and then the next thing I know I was walking out in a haze thinking I had been violated somehow but couldn’t put a finger on it. I just went home and had a nice cup or borscht and played a bunch of GTA while listening to Hammerforce.

 

[spudmunkey]

Do you think North Korea or China could really be behind it?

It’s weird... I never really knew my vote was taken hostage until I look back on the day I went into the voting both. There were a lot of military style vehicles outside driven by bears wearing funny hats. Once I got inside all of the poll workers were wearing and obcene amount of Adidas and then the next thing I know I was walking out in a haze thinking I had been violated somehow but couldn’t put a finger on it. I just went home and had a nice cup or borscht and played a bunch of GTA while listening to Hammerforce.

I think you were just imagining it. I see no references to vodka.

 

[wedge_destroyer]

I think you were just imagining it. I see no references to vodka.

There is no need to mention vodka, I mean what else would a bear driving a truck drink.

 

[Spaced Out Ace]

"Vodka"? You weirdos sure are strange. In Soviet Russia, water get you drunk!

 

[Drew]

I think you are 100% not wrong.

Snopes finds claims that this post is not fake news as "Likely True."

 

[Randy]

Honestly, I don't know enough about international politics to know who they think would end up being better for them, or worse for us (which is just as valid of an outcome for Russia).

I never believed in Manchurian Trump or a totally innocent Hillary Clinton either. If you want to know the kind of game Russia plays, just look at the picture of Putin sitting at a table with Flynn on one end of the table and Jill Stein on the other.

That's to say... Russia's two goals were 1.) hedging their bets regardless of who wins 2.) destabilize US confidence abroad to position themselves as the new top superpower (as leverage to reopen trade and roll back sanctions).

Russia was definitely working overtime to gain favor with the Democrats/Liberal/Progressives/Clintons. I say none of this for my dislike of Trump but what ultimately worked in their favor (likely better than expected) is that Trump is less concerned with optics, and in someways, prone to doing things deliberately exactly the OPPOSITE of good optics (like saying he believed Un didn't know about Warmbier's condition), such that he turned out to be a convenient heel. I have no trust of Hillary or her associates, but I DO think she'd have been more receptive to pouring cold water on Russia if she had the intel we've learned in the last 2 years, not because I expect her to do the right thing but because it becomes an untenable position.

 

[Drew]

That would be funny if it wasn't confirmed by pretty much everyone but Russia that they have, and are, infact purposefully influencing our elections.

Only caveat here is that so far no one has been willing to make the claim that Russia changed the outcome of the election. I think that's an argument that would be incredibly hard to prove, and as an unabashed liberal, even I don't think that's something I want to see someone come out and actually say, because frankly that would probably tear our democracy apart and I think dealing with another two years of Trump is the lesser of two evils compared to questioning the legitimacy of the election, short of pretty damned irrefutable evidence. Even that I don't like to think about the meltdown the Fox/Breitbart/Infowars folks would throw about a deep state coup. Fuck, as it is I saw a handful of Lyndon LaRouche supporters protesting some sort of Deep State British Coup, blaming Mueller and Obama and saying we needed to protect Trump. I thought those idiots hated everyone. Long story short, the level of crazy out there is such that even as a Democrat it'd take some convincing before I'd say it's not better to just bury any evidence that the outcome was changed by Russia.

But, at the same time... Trump is absolutely trying to spin "not enough evidence to prove collusion" as "Russia didn't try to interfere in the 2016 Presidential Election," which is an outcome that basically everyone aside from Trump and his supporters think is incontrovertible at this point. Well, them and the more militant Bernie Bros, just because it paints Clinton in a worse light to call it a made up ecuse.

 

[Drew]

...not because I expect her to do the right thing but because it becomes an untenable position.

Man, the fact that we're yearning for the days of realpolitik should make us all sad. I'm right there with you.

 

[vilk]

Creepy uncle touch n feely Joe. He oughta be great on the campaign trail.

 

[Drew]

Yeah, I'm really not sure what to make about this Biden story.

Two women have come forward, but both have explicitly said they don't think what he did was at all sexual, and that they don't think he sexually assaulted them. It's a weird story that I'm really not sure what to make of yet - depending on Biden's responses, I could actually see a nuanced, thoughtful, understanding, and reasonable reply actually helping his candidacy, especially because of the way it throws him into STARK relief with Trump. Trump can't very well attack Biden for kissing a woman on the top of her head in a gesture even she thought was friendly, when there's video evidence of him bragging about grabbing women by the pussy.

 

[G_3_3_k_]

Yeah, I'm interested in hearing how this story pans out.

 

[777timesgod]

This whole Trump and Russia issue is very funny. All politicians have allies abroad in friendly or hostile nations to their own. Hillary received funds from Saudi Arabia and several politicians (prime ministers of England and Greece come to mind) openly rooted for her during the election process. Isn't this meddling in the election of another country? Of course it is and Russia is happy to be in the epicentre of such a ruckus. The view that Russian hackers caused Republican and Democrat Americans to argue between them in a heated manner is a joke as they do that anyway and will continue to call each other names on FB and twitter in the future.

As far as impeaching Trump, the notion lost all value when it was brought up 3 seconds after he got elected by impatient democrats who were bitter of losing to a reality TV star. It is a complicated process and the Democrats are not pushing as hard for it, as they say to their supporters that they are. Such actions may cause a payback in the future and they do not want that, behind closed doors there is a much greater understanding between them and the Republicans. They attack each other on camera and hug during meetings.

The U.S.A. will definitely not humiliate themselves by admitting that other countries are involved in their election process (actually all countries are concerned with your election as it affects them and do their part to promote a candidate which suits them and it is not unreasonable) and getting rid of their elected leader a year before the next election may or may not eject him from office. Furthermore, the U.S.A. meddle in the election of most countries they are interested in, by sending funds to local parties or applying pressure to people of influence, so it is not big news in the grand scheme of politics.

 

[G_3_3_k_]

You’re 100% right. I’ve been saying this since the beginning of the investigation. The point isn’t to normalize the behavior. Just because everyone is doing it, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t make an example of it when it comes to light. All of the politicians pointing fingers about it falls on my completely deaf ears. It’s more important that the public is aware of what is happening and is willing to take politicians to task.

 

[Randy]

You’re 100% right. I’ve been saying this since the beginning of the investigation. The point isn’t to normalize the behavior. Just because everyone is doing it, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t make an example of it when it comes to light. All of the politicians pointing fingers about it falls on my completely deaf ears. It’s more important that the public is aware of what is happening and is willing to take politicians to task.

Yeah, I mean, his point is well taken but it's 'cynicism as ideology' to a degree I just won't go. That's the same kind of mindset that goes into seeing someone getting robbed or beaten in plain sight but not doing anything because "well, there's a dozen people seeing this too and not doing anything, so it must be with good reason. On my way", which is a very real societal dynamic but I think it's gutless.

It's healthy to maintain a level of skepticism about everything really, and also not deifying people (because people are imperfect) but you have to have some kind of standards or you just allow bad behavior to prevail.

 

[G_3_3_k_]

I just tend to remind myself that people really have no idea what is going on or what they are doing. We're all just stumbling around in the dark trying to figure shit out. That tendency towards leaning on the feelings of isolation we all have from each other is what causes a lot of this mess in the first place. We're all the same. We should be helping the people we bump into, or who are around us as much as possible rather than thinking, I'm gonna get mine.