Given the power to do so, I would choose Warren. But we are left with two candidates, Sanders on the left, and Biden in the middle. The elegant solution in this situation is for Sanders and Biden to throw in their lots together: Whoever wins the nomination will be president, the other vice president. They should campaign together!!! Their cooperation would lift this election contest out of the swamp and into a new and much better political terrain, and would, in my opinion, more certainly assure defeat of the incumbent demagogue/dictator-wannabe.
4
When Bernie loses, he will promise to support Biden and never show up. We have already seen this act
His supporters will take up GOP slogans and go after Biden as they did clinton
His supporters will stay home in droves as they have in the primaries
And Bernie will have gotten us another trump term as he did the last time
9
It’s becoming more evident everyday this is what’s going to happen
3
Was Biden my first choice? No. And yet after yesterday I feel a strange sense of relief that the Democrats might still nominate someone who could beat Trump rather than driving more conservative voters to Trump.
And remember: If Biden is the candidate, he will be running against Trump. Biden on his worst day is exponentially better than the current occupant of the White House. Biden admits that he can be a “gaffe machine”, but does that really matter as long as he is capable of admitting his mistakes, learning from them, and surrounding himself with people who will not be afraid of telling him when they think he’s wrong? I’ll take an unintentional gaffe over an outright lie any day.
9
@QSAT If I could agree with you more than once - I would
6
The younger generations favor Sanders. Of course.
Free college, might even include free room and board + books + pocket money. Wipe out your student debts. Free everything. Great.
What young people wouldn't vote for him; I would too.
But, sorry, I am not....
5
@John D
It's always about the buck with the GOP
You will vote again for the disease we have
caught, now hush
1
All of the 2020 Democratic candidates, including those who have dropped out, have serious flaws. None has had an inspiring campaign slogan that can generate excitement among a broad spectrum of a center-right electorate, including swing voters. Running as the anti-Trump candidate is not enough. Get ready for another four years.
5
Endless moaning from Bernie fans follows. Read at your own risk. Of boredom.
4
Tom Perez it this year's Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
5
Please retitle this article as it appears on the NYT Homepage from:
"Analysis: Democrats Decide Biden Is Safest Bet"
to
"Analysis: Democrats Decide Biden Is Safest Bet to lose in 2020."
4
I guess we've "Joe-alesced." (tm pending)
Democrats send message: we’re with stupid. Black voters decide to uphold the tradition of good bing our votes to someone who disappears on us after being elected. I find myself totally disappointed, but not surprised that yet again citizens of this country who need things to change the most can be convinced to vote against their own best interests. We are headed down the same path making sure the one percent can do business as they always have, with the rest of us scrambling to get the crumbs like roaches.
5
Better late than never for Barack to correct that horrendous succession planning.
2
"He is no safer with a microphone, no likelier to complete a thought without exaggeration or bewildering detour."
Yet...the probability - of an intentional, premeditated, baseless lie spewed out in a total jumble of incoherent rage spittle slurs of ignorant words - is zero.
So I'll take my chances with Joe.
7
All this talk of Biden's come back seems overblown to me. Who really thought that Democrats in the South were really going to vote for Bernie Sanders?
5
Paraphrasing another poster who said, "most of us aren’t ready to be whipsawed back and forth from Trump to Sanders.
I am afraid that is the feeling of a lot of people. It is why I wish Sanders could have rounded off the edges just a little. There is still time to do so as this is far from over.
The problem with wanting to avoid being whipsawed is that it may mean settling for Status Quo Joe. That will mean millions of disenfranchised Americans feeling left out yet again. They will stay at home and Trump will win another election.
This is not the time to cocoon ourselves and hope Uncle Joe can make it all better. We are in a fight for survival. It may hurt but we have to be willing to get off the couch and fight.
3
@Concernicus
It hasn't been dems taking taking HC insurance from people.
Dems sat like lumps 2x - 2010-2014 and let obama twist in the breeze.
You want to fight - stop turning on your own like a typical dem
5
I'm curious about Sanders. I think he brings some really good talking points to the table, and it's things that should be addressed. But I wonder if some of his popularity isn't, well, real. I'm not sure i can explain it without sounding like a jerk, but I'll try.
Do people just like saying they support Sanders because it makes them feel compassionate and enlightened, but then, in the dark corners of the voting booth where no one else can see what happens they let their real self vote, the one that wants expanded Obamacare rather than Medicare for All?
Or, is it the people that truly support his platform are just engaged on social media and at rallies, but don't show up to vote? I honestly expected a much bigger showing for Sanders (I think Sanders did, too, as well as a lot of other people). I'm just having a hard time reconciling the excitement for his movement and the number of votes received. Curious to know your thoughts.
6
When Bernie loses, he will promise to support Biden and never show up. We have already seen this act
His supporters will take up GOP slogans and go after Biden as they did clinton
His supporters will stay home in droves as they have in the primaries
And Bernie will have gotten us another trump term as he did the last time
2
Only a few commenting seem willing to state one of the most significant problems Biden as the Dem nominee. Besides son Hunter Biden's mega-million dollar board position on Burisma, facilitated by his dad the VP, which will now be front and center, (and flies in contrast to all that Dem philosophy about the entitled rich and powerful), there is Biden's mental state. Those of us who have watched Biden for the last year, on the campaign trail, in the news, making blunder after blunder, know exactly what we are seeing. For example- just recently:
In S Carolina he just said "My name's Joe Biden. I'm a Democratic candidate for the United State's Senate!" He said "choose truth over facts." On Sunday Chris Wallace asked him specifically about the several gaffes he has made (recently) and he laughed them all off, but at the end of the interview he says, "Thanks Chuck!"
Biden will gain exponentially more scrutiny now. And that's a big problem. Millions of people have not been paying attention. Until now. Now they will hear Biden forget what he is saying in the middle of saying it, they will see how angry he gets when anyone questions the strange things he says. They will see how difficult it is for him to speak coherently.
4
Is a Disrupter Democrat (Sanders) really better/different from a Disrupter Republican (Trump)? Seems voting democrats don't think so? Yes, Biden is stuck in the past but that past is a better place to go forward from than where we are right now.
2
I’d like to think I’m a realist firmly grounded in evidence and always willing to change my mind depending on evidence based arguments. I voted for Bernie Sanders over Hillary Clinton during previous presidential cycle because he struck me as more honest in looking after the working class and downtrodden needs. When Clinton got the nomination I supported her and argued to those who dismissed her “would you rather be slapped in the face or get a bullet through the head”. Mr Flegenheimer’s article is a beautiful analysis of our recent history and God help us all in avoiding that Trumpian bullet through our collective heads.
We have been begging for grown ups to rein in this raging dumpster fire of a President we have, for 3 years now. Yesterday, the Democratic party faithful delivered a message to our side of the aisle: Get over the notion that Bernie Sanders, and his more radical supporters, represent a sensible, competent, adoptable agenda for the electorate to consider in the fall. Sanders would be a disaster as the Democratic nominee, and 9 or 10 out of the Super Tuesday states said so, loudly. The "grown ups" of the Democratic Party have weighed in, decisively.
I voted for Bernie in a primary in 2016, mostly as a message to the Hillary Clinton campaign that they needed to conduct a better strategy for winning in November. (I did vote for her in the general.) This time, I will vote for Biden in the primary, although he was not my original preferred candidate. I agree that he is a frustrating, at times, guy to listen to, and he has quite a few judgement calls to answer for; but not near as many - or as fatal in a general election - as Sanders.
I swear, I might have a heart attack if I wake up in November on the Wednesday after the first Tuesday, and I'm looking at four more years like the last four. I'm getting too old for this crap.
10
Sanders supporters when Sanders wins: The people have spoken. The revolution is on!
Sanders supporters when Sanders loses: The DNC is up to its dirty tricks again. The system is rigged.
17
@HKGuy
And they will work against Biden.
They will recite GOP anti-Biden slogans,
They will stay home on election day
Bernie and his fools made trump president before and will do so again
6
One simple word : cowards.
2
Ugh to the Old white man race. Biden should pick Warren as VP. It is the only way that Bernie Bros would vote for him.
3
@Colleen Actually, it would do the opposite. Warren staying in the race really hurt Bernie on Super Tuesday. If she turned around and endorsed Biden after that, Bernie's supporters would never forgive her. And I say this as a "Bernie Bro".
The only way for Biden to win Bernie's supporters over is with policy. Address issues like healthcare, climate change, student debt, unaffordable housing, etc. in a way that isn't GOP-lite.
3
All I can say is that these older people of color better drag their kids and grandkids to vote in Nov or we are in real trouble here.
https://www.npr.org/2020/03/04/811942583/who-different-groups-supported-on-super-tuesday
8
thankfully, the voters are not as paranoid as flegenheimer is. every candidate has issues that are not perfect, especially trump who has nothing but demons showing complete incompetence and having a penchant for lying. but apparently those did not seem to bother flegenheimer.
1
Democrats that reason Biden is risky, but the safest bet, need to calculate in the risk of losing our two-party system if a candidate like Joe Biden is installed into this election, as well.
5
I voted for Biden because, after South Carolina, my choices had narrowed and a vote for Biden was the most likely path to avoid a contested convention. I do not think the Democratic Party could win the general with a brokered deal that left Bernie supporters complaining again about the DNC and stolen nominations. The Democrats may not be able to win with Biden as a clear nominee, if Bernie supporters don’t Vote Blue No Matter Who—which they should, if they care about the legislation getting written and passed in the next 4 years. That means progressives have a continuing ability to influence the agenda. Progressives who unite with moderates to win the WH for the Ds also can influence the results of down-ballot races, in which the people that write most of the laws get elected. It’s not just about the WH: it’s about the Senate and the House, too.
2
What on earth does “installed into” mean? Win the vote?
1
@J R
The Democratic party and the campaigns of Biden and other establishment candidates have colluded in a strategy to promote (or install) a single candidate, Joe Biden. These party politics are far from anything one could call "democratic". If Buttigieg and Klobuchar didn't bail out (the day before, no less) the delegate math would be significantly different right now.
2
Bernie's message is a young person's mantra. How will we get the under-30, non-established, too-young-to-have-voted-for-Obama voters to the polls to vote for a guy who wore "sports coats" and voted to go to war more times than he can count?
To win, we need all the people to vote no matter how hard and how long they have to wait in a gerrymandered line. New voters, young voters, voters of color, and voters with a future.
Bernie had many of these voters ready to take action, possibly to the detriment of every other voting demographic, so now how do we unite?
Maybe Biden can hire Obama's basement full of math geniuses to school a new generation of wizards. Oh, and pick Elizabeth Warren as his running mate.
1
I don't know how people don't see how Joe Biden is one of the riskiest candidates we can put forward:
1. He voted for the Iraq war
2. He voted for NAFTA, which will cost him the industrial midwest.
3. He voted for Glass-Steagall and the 2005 bankruptcy bill, empowering wall street over main street.
4. He's tried to cut social security and medicare in the past in an attempt to reach some hopeless grand bargain with republicans.
5. His son is Hunter Biden. While I recognize he did nothing wrong, Republicans will be unsparing in their accusations of corruption and the inept and gullible media will make false equivalencies.
6. He barely makes any sense ("you lying dog-faced pony soldier")
On many of the issues I listed above, Donald Trump will simply run to the left of Biden. We know Donald Trump is a liar, but people who aren't paying attention will be inclined to believe Trump because of Biden's record. Nominating Biden is a redux of Hillary Clinton and 2016. It's not gonna be pretty folks.
5
@BarneyAndFriends looks like democrats don’t care about these issues. It’s like republicans who don’t care trump is immoral adulterer liar cheat racist etc etc...
6
@BarneyAndFriends I'll concede "Hunter did nothing illegal," but what he did was wrong: Using his family name and influence to earn buckets of cash.
"Lock him up" will be the chant in Trump's 2020 rallies this year, as Joe bumbles and yells incoherently through any speech that goes longer than 3 minutes, looking frail and weak. Trump will humiliate him, gleefully. He will trumpet every nonsensical sentence and garbled thought. And general-election voters trying to make up their mind will see that and think, "you know, Joe seems nice, but he has a point. Democrats are just as corrupt as Republicans anyway. Just look at Hunter Biden."
I haven't forgotten the last years of Ronald Reagan, when dementia was setting in and he was mocked constantly for his inability to think clearly. Inauguration is still almost a year away, and Joe is already in as rough shape as Reagan was at the end of his 8 years in office.
1
@petey tonei Very true. Democrats are acting like Republicans. Huddle around the weakest candidate just to win both houses down ballot.
1
Reality Check dont believe what guys telling you .Only reason why we have problems because allowed to happen,Women need to step up to plate an vote for women power.No doubt they are more women who can vote in usa then men. Dont be fooled agun by The Who said so well in music. Time is now women need to go out an register to vote. Vote is power to voting out stupid. Other wise these guys will sell you golden gate bridge to get into office.
I filled out my ballot for Bloomberg but then I got so scared of Bernie winning that I went in person and voted for Biden.
Biden IS a good guy and now that Bloomberg will help us with $$$, we can win this thing and get the criminal out of the W.H.
5
Joe Biden was never my first choice; I was a little in love with some aspect of nearly every Democratic candidate, especially Kamala, Cory, Pete, Elizabeth and Amy. Not Biden. And yes, I'm angry that we can't seem to nominate any smart women.
The Washington Post has an interactive Q&A where you can match your opinion on 20 different issues and see which Dem candidates align with your view. Interestingly, I matched most with Bernie, but I would only vote for him if he is the nominee, and I hope he isn't. Yes, he's honest and authentic; I get it, and I appreciate it. But his declaration that he wants the Party to be the party of the working class implies that the middle class or wealthy have no place in the party he envisions.
I'm frustrated by Sanders supporters who refuse to vote in the general if he is not the nominee. The goal is to make Trump a one-term president. If most Americans feel that Biden is the one to do that, let's get on board, and push a more progressive agenda through a bluer Senate.
11
@Lynda What Middle Class?
1
I'v been a fan of Bernie for over a decade. I really, REALLY don't want to vote for Biden. To me, he represents a Democratic Party that is perfectly willing to go along to get along, to give some effort in enacting social change (only after the polling says it's safe, of course) while they let corporate/financial interests bend the economy and the law in their favor at the expense of low income workers and an over-leveraged middle class.
If the Biden camp wants my vote and the votes of people like me, you'll need to do one thing: pledge yourself to enacting a universal health care plan. It doesn't necessarily have to be M4A even, just a realistic plan that doesn't stop at a halfhearted attempt at a public option or some kind of technocratic subsidy or marketplace workaround. Not only does most of the Democratic party favor this, polls show that a majority of the broader electorate does as well.
The biggest mistake the Dems can make is to assume that 2020 is a sure lock with Biden as the general election candidate. Lots of potentially Democratic voters feel extremely demoralized to see Bernie's chances dwindle, and it's up to the eventual nominee to rally them to their cause. If beating Trump is your ultimate goal, do not take these people for granted.
8
I'm disheartened by the idea that Biden will likely end up the Democratic nominee. I'm a Sanders supporter, and I don't believe this is the "establishment" trying to cheat Bernie out of the nomination. I think it's a reflection of how fearful we are of another 4 years of Trump and the Republican party at the helm. This is a real and valid fear, but I wish that we the people would ask for more than a candidate like Biden has to offer. I understand that he feels like the safe/smart choice and will hopefully lead to voting D down the ballot. But, he represents a return to the status quo and business as usual, which isn't all that great for many Americans. When I picture a debate (aka screaming match) between Trump and Biden, it's far from inspiring. Biden has my vote, but I can't say I'll be casting it enthusiastically.
7
@kp I get a huge sense of fear from Democrats as well. They are so focused on minimizing risk that they can't understand that this is also an opportunity- Trump is a historically vulnerable candidate, and if there was ever a time where the Democrats could put someone who could really change things into the White House, this is their best chance. That's why a lot of my fellow Sanders supporters are so demoralized, this is their best ever chance of enacting the change they've wanted their whole lives and the Democratic Party as a whole has decided it's just not worth it.
4
@Greg It exposes their philosophy as firmly in the camp of republicon lite. Their paradigm is not much different than poor white share croppers voting for the "man" just to keep a job or maintain. The transformation started with the deregulation of financial markets by reagan and the off-shoring of American industry by clinton.
George the 2nd funneled them in with an deduction of the inheritance tax in 2004. Wealth transfer to the upper brackets regardless of political affiliation. This is their comfort zone. A second Depression in2007 did little to jolt their consciousness, as long as they didn't suffer in the bank account ledger.
@Greg -- Your comment reads as if there will never be another moment to enact a progressive agenda. Times and culture change, and will change in the future. We have an existential threat that needs to be addressed first, and
Democratic voters are deciding who they think will best address that threat.
3
I guess they republicans are glad they didn't go with the safest bet in the last election. If they aren't they're doing a good job hiding it.
3
..., from afar it appears that the DNC is positioning a candidate (Biden) for the nomination, who has several of the same shortcomings of the sitting POTUS; lacking critical thinking skills, lacking substantiated policies, lacking the ability to focus and lacking the memory as far topical positions staked out in the past, which the candidate now is distancing himself from.
How can this possibly go wrong ...?
8
This article reads as if a Sanders supporter wrote it. How would Biden be any riskier than Bernie?
4
@Randall Pouwels The whole Ukranian debacle drops a load of bunk on the American electorate's head, we've been corrupted by our Washington representatives behaviour overseas. It reflects badly on us as a people what they get up to, then we reward them for their big-money government arm-twisting shenanigans by nominating and electing them again.
We had a chance to change course, and we did not. Perhaps its not too late though, there are a few more primaries coming, but it looks like big media rigged the game again like they did in 2016 talking about "radicals" "socialists" Castro" Cuba" "Russian interference" some even accusing Sanders wins in Iowa, NH and NV as like the Nazis invading France in 1940 etc. Pathetic home grown media propaganda and interference.
3
And it’s always the DNC did it! I voted for Warren...blame me. Bernie is my last choice.
Let’s go joe!!!!
3
I’ll vote for Biden if his campaign stops taking his gaffes off the internet, he doesn’t sniff anyone, remembers who his wife is, doesn’t talk about his sons or the Ukraine and doesn’t mention Obama. Honestly, one more sign of dementia and I’m going to cry for him, the party that is choosing to ignore it and the country.
6
Not mention Obama? You’re not a serious person.
Biden did not thank Buttigieg and Klobuchar for letting him go through. That would have underlined the Democrat establishment strategy. Pure politics, pure hypocrisis.
4
The worst that can be said of Biden is that he stutters here and there. Well I’ll take a stuttering Biden Claudius over a Trump Caligula any day!!! Corrupt and impeached Trump and his cult followers will try to attack Biden on corruption? Let all the poison that lurks in the mud, hatch out.
7
James Clyburn took a line from Klobuchar who took this line from Lincoln: I didn't know (fill in the blank) but (fill in the blank) knew me.
Biden may know me (although I doubt it) but I'm not sure he knows his wife from his sister. When I saw him mix up the introductions on stage last night, I thought it was a purposeful joke (although to what purpose?). This morning, NPR said Biden confused the two women closest to him. If so, this is a lapse of cognition, not a simply another gaffe.
I was reminded of neurologist Oliver Sack's book, "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat." But that was a book of Sack's neurology patients.
I'm still hoping Warren emerges as the bridge between Biden and Sanders, neither of whom seem electable to me. Could the Super Tuesday voters have mistaken Clyburn rallying of older AA in South to be a sign of electability against Trump?
God help us!
4
@citizen vox
Correction: it was FDR, not Lincoln.
You sure wouldn't get the impression from reading these NYT articles that the delegate spread between Bernie and Biden is in the 60's - and there are 2,635 delegates still at play (as I calculate it).
8
The Democratic machine and TBTF who Control both parties and increasingly the judiciary through the influence of media, money and messaging have interfered in our democracy far more than Russia and Putin.
Biden's constituents have always been Wall Street (WS) and the TBTF. It's no coincidence that all the establishment democratic candidates dropped out at once along with Bloomberg and threw their support to Biden. Bloomberg is also throwing his money to Biden. The TBTF Wall Street plutocrats couldn't be happier their plan worked so well.
Bloomberg is as deeply connected to the TBTF as imaginable s and Biden's history of supporting WS friendly legislation like The Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000, which ensured that financial products called over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives were left unregulated, accelerating the collapses of major financial companies in 2008, sending citizens of the United States into a near depression, with millions losing their jobs, their homes, their life savings.
Biden signed the 2005 Bankruptcy bill that has served the TBFT financial monstrosities, coupled with his horrible record on the removal of sensible financial regulations passed after the great depression. That law largely destroyed the right to clean slate, no conditions chapter 7 bankruptcy for humans but let giant corporations keep it.
After the 2008 OTC crisis, many lost everything turning to credit to stay alive. And thanks to Joe many remain debt slaves. Justice.
5
@Tom Paine ok you hit all the new slogans
good job - take a cokie
Of course he's not the safe bet. He's among the riskiest bets out there.
It's too dispiriting to even create a list of the monumental gaffes and inexplicable comments...they're too numerous and bewildering. Everyone seemed to get hung up on the bizarreness of "'A lying, dog-faced pony soldier" (understandably) at the risk of missing the magnitude of the fact that it was snarled at a *student* asking a question. ??!!
Of all of the older candidates, Joe presents as the least fit and with it. I'm sorry. I really am, but this is NOT ageism; it's pragmatism. Next to Bloomberg, he was the weakest debater by far.
And god help us if he trots out one of his signature lines like "I'll take you out behind the bleachers and punch you" during a debate with DJT. Just what we need with a bully in the House already. When you couple these traits with his record on busing and women (his treatment of Anita Hill remains troubling) we have a burgeoning problem on our hands.
He is not up to the grueling game. Warren is. With each passing day, she looks more presidential. She has twice the energy of Biden and Bernie combined.
Will we ever think outside of the patriarchal box? I mean, many other countries in the world have now had a female leader. What is wrong with this nation that it so stubbornly refuses to make room for women at the top?
9
Black voters showed their strength. In short order, they:
. Voted in droves for Joe Biden. Big turnout.
. Forced Pete to drop out by making it clear he'd never get the black vote.
. Forced Amy out. See Pete above.
. Turned their back on Mike Bloomberg, sometimes literally, and forced him out.
. By and large didn't vote Sanders, someone they never really warmed to.
Clyburn single-handedly changed the course of history.
Biden has now the most delegates, a huge coalition behind him, millions, perhaps billions from Bloomberg in backing-- all in a few short days.
The lesson is: Democrats, ignore black voters at your own peril!!! They will always define who the Democratic candidate is.
Joe Biden is Teflon.
5
@Eric Teflon is toxic....
2
Nobody--NOBODY--is going to discount the black vote now. They lead the way on this and they better be respected from now on.
4
More accurate headline: Democrats in Super Tuesday States & the Establishment Decide Biden is Comfortable Choice
3
The Democratic Party just committed suicide. Again. 'Let's see, what other post-Hillary neoliberal can we choose who will fight universal health care, make nice with the brutes on the other side of the aisle, keep the profit wars going, outlaw abortion, and perpetuate income inequality? Joe Biden! Perfect!'
Unbelievable.
9
"Safest bet", just like Clinton!
6
Throughout the primary process I supported of Elizabeth Warren. She champions many of the same progressive policies as Bernie Sanders but for a while seemed like she could build a wider coalition. Things obviously did not pan out for Warren, and I now plan to support Sanders. He is the only candidate left who speaks to the underlying reasons that so many of us are struggling and the only one calling for big, structural changes.
If Biden receives the nomination I will undoubtedly vote for Biden in November. Trump is a danger to the foundational institutions of our democratic republic, and Biden's platform of a return to normalcy is certainly better than Trump's dictatorial alternative. So I will vote for Biden if it comes to it, but I cannot drum up much enthusiasm either. Aside from the fact that his inarticulate debate performances made me squirm with discomfort, I do not have any sense of what he stands for other than his association with Obama and being anti-Trump.
That said, I am exhausted by the repeated, increasingly enervating calls of Democratic moderates to return us to the "status quo." Like many of my millennial peers, I have no savings or job security, but I do have mounds of student debt and a deep foreboding anxiety about a future shaped by climate change, and increasing health & income inequality.
I want more than the democratic party is promising!
Whatever anyone thinks of Bernie, he is the only candidate speaking this truth.
74
@SS Please support a proposal for Sanders and Biden to jointly campaign for president. I am a priviledged elder, and I sympathize absolutely with your desire for change to improve the prospects of you and your peers for the future. Thank you for your articulate statement.
1
Sad but true that we need moderate Republican voters and they would not vote for Bernie and beating Trump is the most important goal. I am a Warren voter but I think the wisdom of the Party has spoken
4
It's unfortunate America is ruled by fear.
It could stay in the dark ages because of this.
But you can make a brave choice for progress.
Bernie Sanders 2020!
5
For me, it was Joe's decency. He's not "perfect," but he's genuine and when it came down to marking my ballot (before the SC primary), I had to vote for a decent, and moderate, candidate.
DJT has brought us corruption, a degradation of our culture and institutions and a diminution of our American heritage. Policy-wise, I don't believe in Bernie's MFA or in free college. But when Bernie praised Castro (again) and when his far-out comments about children and sexuality were raised, I thought, "How do I vote for this in the fall?" Sure, he's better than DJT, but that's a low bar.
Thank heavens for Joe. We might cringe from time to time about how he says something, but I never doubt that he has the American people foremost in his mind and in his heart.
3
Joe is a shill for predatory Capitalism!
4
@Diana joe was so decent he voted for unfounded unfunded Iraq war that killed maimed destroyed lives by hundreds of thousands, sending our young soldiers to Iraq rotation after rotation to fight a war that was baseless, based on utter lies.
4
A Biden candidacy scares me to death. Unfortunately, as a left-center Democrat, none of the alternatives ever got any traction. I don't buy Bernie's routine - so here we are. A guy who still sounds like your grandpa who should have the car keys taken away. His "policies" are a non-issue. The $64,000 question is: can simply being likable and decent be all we really need? I would really, really hope the Biden "organization" (there's an oxymoron for you) takes Bloomberg up on his offer to help, not only financially, but tap into his phenomenal campaign brain trust. Biden can no longer "wing it" or count on last minute reprieves to prop up his Keystone Cops incompetence and head scratching word salad. Just whip up the slick ads, run them on a loop and keep the exposure to a minimum & tightly controlled. Reagan's second term was basically a competent administration humming along with the age addled boss tending to the tomato plants. I'm cool with that.
1
I'll vote for Sanders when he runs as a Third party against Biden and Trump.
Biden, a far weaker candidate than Clinton, is a guaranteed loss.
At least Sanders can put a third party on the future ballot and give support to down ticket progressive candidates the DNC clearly doesn't want in their party. The progressive movement has proven it can raise its own money without corporate superpacs.
The 'Republican light' wing of the Democratic party is really playing with fire here by turning their backs on the young left... again.
PS - I'm a Sanders supporter who not only voted for Hillary in 2016, I helped organize canvases for her in PA. I wont do it again.
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
7
Yes, he is the safest bet to lose to Trump.
3
And Sanders is right back doing what he did when Hillary pulled ahead of him, using language to encourage his supporters to believe the system is rigged against him, and I think sending them a message to stay home in November if he's not the nominee. Sanders is just like Trump in this way. Trump, a lifelong Democrat, somehow knew that it would be the Republican base that would turn a blind eye and deaf ear to his crimes, vulgarity, ignorance,sociaopathy, etc., and who mindlessly buy what the con man sells, so he ran as a Republican. Sanders, and Independent, becomes a Democrat only when he wants to be president, and proceeds to trash the DNC and fill his supporters heads with visions of an evil DNC thwarting their will. Two peas in a pod.
5
I absolutely admire Bernie’s energy, his supporters, and believe his platform is not at all radical. I also admire Joe Biden and believe he is a profoundly good man. In sum, I believe we have two outstanding candidates. I just would urge everyone to abandon the circular firing squad. Let’s debate the issues, and then, at the end of the day, unite around the nominee. Examples of dangerous and stupid rhetoric are “Bernie can never win and will hand the election to Trump.” Nobody knows that unless you’re a psychic, and the data does not support it. Nor is it helpful to tear Joe Biden down with a variety of insults unrelated to policy. A respectful debate is fine, but mortally destroying either of these really good men is destructive. The imperative is winning in November, and the person I the best position to do so is whoever wins the primaries.
3
Have you ever gone to the mall to shop for eyeglasses? You didn't like the optical store on the left, so you went to the optical store on the right. They seemed more to your liking and you bought your glasses. You showed the first store that they can't fool you. But they did. Because both stores had the same owner.
And so it goes with political parties.
4
The democrats did not decide that.
They are in the process of deciding.
Bernie and Biden are basically tied for delegates as of now.
Report, don’t shill
2
Correction: democrats show that they are cowards who are all about the status quo. Hooray for corporate democrats. Bad day for any common man. Yes. they voted against their interests. I no longer care about the sensibilities of the people who refuse to take a stand.
1
“All right, we’ll take him.”
Now THAT’S a spirited Democratic Party!
2
He's not ideal but the best chance at replacing MAGA with truth, justice and the American way.
And by the way, which do you think will get more traction--sillly conspiracy theories about Burisma cooked up by Rush & Rudy or an unwavering commitment to socialism?
1
Meanwhile, as Joseph Biden celebrates his well deserved victories.
I have to wonder what Mr Guiliani and his ‘Supreme Leader,’ are up too? Is it a case of ‘all hands on deck,’ including Fox News. To do whatever it takes, to stop Mr Biden’s run for the President of these United States?
1
A November Biden landslide would be the drop-kick to the gut that Trump deserves for his attempted 2020 election sabotage using the Ukraine.
3
It’s not only uplifting to the Democrats that Biden could win the nomination, it’s also for candidates running for the senate and house.
3
Looks like the grownups in the party outnumber the college kids who want a free ride. Time for the Democrats to concentrate on real, practical issues, like income inequality, and the all-important job of returning Trump to his golf course.
4
As a 35 year old I find the support of Biden (from the older crowd and obviously the NYT) to be nauseating. The Democratic party abandoned my generation, and clearly intends to keep up with more of the same. No change. No help for those who were conned out of any savings by the student loan sharks. No spine. No integrity. Bernie Sanders heard us, and gave us hope, and we will be robbed of that hope. We are a house divided, and with every peer I speak with, I hear the wrathful rumblings of the creation of a third party, one that will align with our ideals and our interest. I'm just so disappointed.
59
@Alissa Why would you be disappointed? The race isn't over yet.
4
@Alissa As a fellow millennial (and Yinzer!), I'd note that despite your intonations, our age cohort peers already have a 3rd-party. The problem is, it doesn't vote. It just manufactures pointed political memes and strong left-wing pronouncements on Twitter. Great.
Spine, integrity, hope, grand promises? None of it worked to dislodge this "party" or hidden progressive majority from its inaction. I'm starting to think they just like wallowing in their cynicism, rather than do anything about it.
13
@Alissa Until we see who wins the nomination and whom they choose as a running mate, it's too early to be disappointed. If you pay attention, you will see that Biden is not leaving you behind. He is being pragmatic.
7
My decision to switch to Biden happened over the last few weeks. Initially, I had supported Biden, but his debate performances left me disappointed. To make a long story short, I had decided to switch to Warren until the very last debate. Her attack on Bloomberg the second time was overkill (the first attack was effective and enough). Then I thought, OK, Sanders, not my first choice, but I'll vote for him, although I don't like Medicare for all (I have insurance through my employer that I have worked hard for). Then the Coronavirus happened and President Trump's refusal to accept the truth from scientists and doctors, and his administration's dangerous decision-making made me realize that we need someone who knows how to put together an effective task force to address an issue like the Coronavirus. Someone who can hit the ground running on Day 1 in the Oval Office. Joe Biden is fits the bill in my opinion. He has experience to get the work done. Also, his speech after winning in South Carolina inspired me. I'm happy to support him.
2
I think Sanders v. Biden is a question of "how do we get out of this mess?" And there are two answers: radical change, or stabilize. I think people are voting Biden because even if they like Sanders' ideas, what they want more than anything else is to stabilize the country politically. I voted Sanders, but I have to admit... I don't think he represents the country stabilizing.
That said, I'm very concerned about Biden's ability to prosecute a general election. Sanders may be older, but he seems cognitively sharp.
If Biden wins the nomination, I think there will come a point in this election where we have two old white guys in cognitive decline incoherently ranting at each other on a debate stage. I wouldn't trust either of these guys to drive on a freeway, much less run the entire country. He needs to pick a younger running mate who can appeal to progressives like me and bring some fire to his campaign, or I think Trump will run circles around him.
3
I don’t believe Biden can beat Trump, but if he does it will be business as usual. A win for the Wall Street as Warren is out (no one told her yet) and Bernie is far too disruptive for both parties.
2
@JimH The same old propaganda from the trust fund wing of the Democratic Party that includes the Clintons, Chris Matthews, Chuck Todd, George Stephanopolous Joe Biden etc. Bernie is too radical because he wants a free and fair Democracy and not just corporate and military socialism- he wants good health care for all, living wages, rational immigration policies, more freedom for all people and not less.
That these are radical ideas, having a Scandinavian model ofr governance, Social Democracy, just proves we are a Democracy in name only, as we've taken a hard fascist turn since 2001 supported by the Trump and Biden wings of their respective parties.
It's a disgrace, why not ask foreigners how they like the Trump and Biden kids cashing in on our relationships with compromised foreign countries like the Ukraine etc.? You think the rest of the world does not see what shenanigans go on? This corrupts the American electorate too, as it drips down on our heads from the high flyers cashing in, in Washington. This will come back to bite the Democratic Party the Biden surge at the expense of a consistent forthright Sanders campaign.
1
It's time for Sanders to concede a brokered or contested convention would likely be to Trump's advantage and acknowledge his winning the nomination -- even if he were to then beat Trump -- would likely keep the Republicans in control of the Senate and may even have them win back the House, due to those moderate and conservative voters buying into the socialism-is-bad meme that both the Democratic establishment and Republicans have been propagating.
Sanders and his supporters -- me included (I'm over 65) -- know beating Trump means beating Trumpism, means ridding the Congress of Trumpists. Sure, if Sanders were to win the nomination and the presidency, Bernie's movement would have won the battle but lost the war.
I'm concerned allowing the process to go to a brokered or contested nomination might fracture the party, which will the dire consequence of 4 more years of Donald-- "Duck"-here-he-comes -- Trump.
So, it seems time for Bernie to withdraw with the progressive movement's understanding this is the best strategy to achieve the its goals. With Democratic control of the legislative and executive branches, Mr. Sanders will have immense clout in the Senate in moving the legislation necessary for improving the lives of the 99% (and thereby the lives of the 1%).
1
Unfortunately Bernie Sanders has not been facing reality regarding Medicare for All. While this should be our ultimate
goal there are just too many people who are not ready for it, and prefer to keep what they have. There are union workers who gave up higher wages for better healthcare, and until they come to realize that they can have better healthcare and better wages both, Medicare for All will just have to wait.
Without Bernie Sanders it is the lack of education reform that is most troubling. When is this country going to realize that educated people beyond high school can support them selves without welfare, food stamps and all the other handouts and less likely to end up in the prison system.
Of all industrialized countries we have the highest high school drop out rate, it's no wonder we also have the highest poverty rate and highest incarceration rate.
Socialism? Good heavens we already have socialism - Medicare, Social Security, Unemployment Benefits, billions of dollars for framers harmed by the tariffs.
Sander's anti-war stance also is extremely appealing. How can we help the people in this country if we keep spending trillions of dollars on senseless and endless wars. Also Joe Biden should face the fact that half the Democrats want what Sanders is offering.
1
Joe Biden - Hillary II Revisited.
Joe's a nice guy, but looking at the results so far (including Super Tuesday), he's not leading by much over Bernie. Furthermore, adding those who ran so far and quit, along with Bernie, Joe just isn't that popular. Add to that the blind sheep Republican voters, and we are looking at a very small percentage of those who selected Joe.
The Democrat hierarchy and the DNC have already (behind the scenes) chosen Joe (Just as they did with Hillary), and the losers in the primaries have fallen over to Joe's side.
I just hope that this is not Hillary II Revisited!
5
The early voting states in the Democratic primary process, like South Carolina and most of the Super Tuesday states, are chosen by the party for the purpose of consolidating its own power at the expense of the voters' will and democracy. Many of these states have small numbers of Democrats that have almost ZERO chance whatsoever of making ANY difference in the outcome of the general election. Electoral votes from these winner-take-all states will almost certainly be determined by the many Republicans in those states, as (unfortunately) they should in our federation's representational democracy.
So why do they have such pivotal importance in the Democratic primary process? This should be obvious. With the media's help, this small group of voters, who mostly belong to a single minority that votes faithfully with their leadership (who clearly collude with the national democratic party), are granted by the party (and media) establishment enormous power to PREVENT progressive reform (and other anti-establishment measures) that would apply to ALL Americans, regardless of their race, ethnicity, etc.. Such truly democratic initiatives are a threat to the political power and wealth of the Democratic party. This power-sharing relationship is to a large extent responsible for the country's growing, dysfunctional divide between the "haves" and "have nots". The Republican party doesn't need such corruption to do it's part in this. They can simply represent their voters, democratically.
6
Deciding to stick with Joe Biden is comparable to sticking with a par of dependable walking shoes - they are comfortable, broken in, still have plenty of life in them and they get the job done.
Sometimes fancy, flashy, exotic and provocative footwear are not what's required nor needed when walking that long, arduous road to Washington.
Joe Biden has my vote, even if he is just a plain pair of working shoes or even hiking boots.
7
@Marge Keller That's all cute and swell, but once it starts to rain, you'll get cold feet. Good old shoe Joe is strictly for sunshiny-weather, falls apart when the going gets hard.
2
Please, please. We must have an intelligent, articulate, stable and youthful VICE PRESIDENT!
Gentleman Joe has many of the essentially needed attributes, but he is 77 years old
3
Bernie supporters deride me for preferring Biden calling him a “safe choice” and “establishment”.
I don’t regard Biden as a safe choice. He is a sensible choice. My favorites were Pete and Bloomberg. Like many Americans, I like sensible people who have shown me they are able to work with people to achieve progress. You have to work with people who don’t share all your values and policy choices if you want to get anywhere.
Sanders and his supporters are dogmatic. They viciously bully anyone who disagrees with a of his positions or questions him on how he will achieve these proposals. I cannot in good conscious support their behavior and give him my vote. They shouldn’t be rewarded for authoritarian viciousness.
3
@Emily S The establishment, media, and many centrists bully progressives, too. Please keep cause and reaction apart. After decades of centrist Dem rule resulting in more and more people struggling to keep afloat, inequality has become so bad that working class folks have had enough of more of the same and protest. What does Biden offer those desperate people for their vote? No hope, no change. Not good enough.
I believe people should vote their beliefs, not based on who they think other people will vote for.
4
From here Biden goes down, they have played their best card and this was their moment. Warren covertly supporting Biden lost her home state and any trust she had, retirement looks like her only option. Good job on their part leaving Biden on the high. He will pick up delegates on Tuesday in Mississippi & Missouri and so on. But he is weak and the real question is: How soon will Biden fall apart?
3
Yet, this is the same Joe Biden that bumbled his way to big losses in Iowa, New Hampshire, and Nevada. Whatever levers and mechanisms the Democratic Party operatives can pull, push, and twist, nothing will change Joe Biden from a gaffe-prone, undisciplined, and uninspiring candidate.
The big fight going on now behind the scenes is who controls the Biden campaign: all the know-nothings who drove the campaign into the ditch who thinks that they deserve the credit for South Carolina or the brain-trust at the DNC who think they deserve credit for righting the ship or the Jim Clyburn, Mayor Pete, and Amy Klobuchar, and Beto O'Rourke who'll snatched victory from the jaws of certain defeat. Joe Biden will fall back to his normal and undoubtedly make wrong decisions and expose that he is undeserving of the victories on Super-Tuesday.
From the past two debates, it's been crystal clear that Warren and Bernie have patched their relationship: instead of taking her aim at Bernie who shares the progressive lane, Warren has gone after Bloomberg. When the debates resume, Joe Biden will fall back to his old habits of being ill-prepared and fall apart. By that point, the Democratic Party will be in full panic with no one left in the field to throw their support. This would be just desserts.
5
I fear the my fellow Democrats will support Biden over Sanders with the result being another Trump win. Most if us want real change and enough won’t hold their nose and vote for Biden.
7
"Democrats Decide That Joe Biden, as Risky as He Ever Was, Is the Safest Bet."
The establishment (this includes the media) shoved Biden in our faces and US citizens are so resigned to accepting things they don't like, that they decided this is what they are allowed to have.
Take a look at Biden's website and you'll see there's a lack of policy. There's a whole lot words on there, but you be the judge if these words actually mean anything definitive.
6
If you want things to stay the same, that is, massive income inequality, poor and unaffordable health care, prescription drugs for profit, education for profit on the backs of your kids, don't care about the environment, then by all means go ahead and pick either Biden or Trump. They are both the same.
9
Not ALL Democrats. I am neither young, nor gullible, and I'll not be swayed merely because my most trusted news sources continue to tell me that Biden has a better chance of beating that guy in the White House. The status quo isn't working and that's exactly what the "safe" candidate offers. The Establishment DOES need to be turned on its head to move the United States of America into the 21st century, so if that scares you, I can only conclude that you're concerned about losing some of your wealth/power, not that you're concerned about your country.
5
I was hopping the Dems will give me a reason to vote for their candidate. Biden is not him. No one can support the idea that Biden is capable of running a government for 4 years. He's is obviously in mental decline. What was the DNC thinking?! Bloomberg and Yang could have won my vote. No once else. Now, it looks like Trump is my only choice.
4
I agree, Biden is in a state of mental decline. Based on your comment, it sounds like that is your primary reason for not voting for him. But to say that leaves you with no choice but to go with Trump implies that you don't think Trump is suffering from the same impairment. Listen to him speak. I don't think you can point to our current Whitehouse occupant as an example of mental acuity.
2
Talking to GOP family members and friends today; they are absolutely ecstatic about Biden's showing. They as I feel that President Trump will trounce Biden in the debates, fund raising, and election.
Undoubtedly the ego and wallet of Mike Bloomberg will bring detriment to the DNC and a party who seeks to raise up the lower and middle classes. I voted for Bernie yesterday and will not cast a vote in the general election for any candidate that valued corporatism over collective bargaining, affordable healthcare, and the greater good of our society. Joe Biden and his NAFTA cohorts sicken me.
6
Biden will not inspire people to vote. I’m not excited to vote for him. None of my friends or family members are excited to vote for him.
2008 is starting to feel like an aberration. There was so much hope and I was so excited to vote. Biden 2020 is just Hillary 2016 all over again.
We are doomed.
5
Judging by the anti-Biden comments below, if any thing is going to propel trump to any win it is the "my way or the highway" Bernie Bros some of whom have stated that they would rather vote for Trump than Biden. Sad state of affairs when we have on "our" side supporters who are almost as bad and narrow minded as the Trump suporters
3
@s brady We'll vote for him which is difficult while holding ones nose. Bernie hasn't lost yet.
@s brady Votes have to be earned, not taken for granted. Aloof Biden with his "get off my lawn, kids!" attitude is the wrong guy to build an anti-Trump coalition. For many desperate folks, urgently needing Medicare for all, "no big changes" Joe would hardly make a difference.
1
African American voters in South Carolina upended the whole national picture in the Democratic primaries.
I hope the national party rewards these voters, instead of taking them for granted as so often in the past.
2
@Howard
They surely do - always have. But whether that trickles down to the people who need it is another story.
1
When I saw that Biden won Virginia and North Carolina I actually cried tears of joy. I finally experienced hope - something I have been devoid of since Trump won the election. If the Democrats ran a hamster I would vote for he/she/it to defeat Trump. The fact that Biden is a good human being who actually cares about his country makes it so much better. I really wish the press and people would stop nitpicking about his perceived shortcomings and remember the big picture here. We have to get that narcissistic sociopath out of the white house and restore sanity to our country. I was so happy when Klobuchar and Buttigieg ( and now Bloomberg) gave him their support. It gave me hope that the sane people in this country can come together to take back the White House and hopefully the Senate as well.
3
It's "Star Wars" - the Force of Light vs. the Force of Darkness.
Thank you Mayor Bloomberg for dropping out of the race and promising to support Biden. Your action shows your honest desire to rid us of Trump.
2
What most Democrats and Americans want is Trump out of office and a sense of calm, not some crazy made for TV drama.
I do not think Biden is most voters’ first choice, as much as the compromise. He may not be endorsing universal Medicare for all, but he is not going to dismantle current protections for healthcare, clean environment, and worker’s rights and protections. He is going reinstate calm and normalcy and most importantly, SCIENCE.
Biden can transition this country to more progressive policies, but most of us aren’t ready to be whipsawed back and forth from Trump to Bernie.
54
@Jane K Yes, Science is the first thing that comes to mind when I think of Joe. Maybe I was blinded by it.
5
@Jane K Sadly, Trump is all about "crazy made for TV drama". And fumbling old Joe hasn't enough fire and determination inside to succeed in that reality tv show, not even as an extra. For heaven's sake, often he can't even keep his wife and his sister apart (that happened in his Super Tuesday speech).
8
@Gray Goods So far , a pathetic flim-flam from the status quo crowd of puppeteers from wall street. Klobuchar and Beto looking like desperate minions delivering some leverage to Biden. 3% in Texas etc. SOFI student loan scams, the real estate debauchery (REITs) in the rental markets and dissolution of neighborhood valuations. At some point given the nature of economic history , there will be a reckoning. Biden was part of the sell-off of foreclosed properties from Fmae and Freddie Mac programs to private equity along with the rest of the Obama Administration. Status quo will not reclaim American's lost Wealth or recover their savings. Bernie is the only way forward for Impactful Economic Reform. I have zero confidence in Biden and his banking buddies.
12
I share people's concerns over Sanders' electability -- even as a Progressive -- however I am FAR more concerned by someone who has shown clear signs of neuro-degenerative aging.
Regardless your policy preferences or assumptions about who can best attract key constituencies in November, we should ALL be worried about his evident cognitive decline. It is near criminal that no one in the media or institutions are asking the tough questions.
We are in for a general full of attack ads of Biden mistaking his wife for his sister, calling the primary "super Thursday," and saying he is running for Senate -- not to mention his inability to stay on topic during debates.
Color me a cynic, but this doesn't strike me as electable any more than someone who self-styles themselves a Democratic Socialist. So perhaps we should all brace ourselves for some disappointment come the end of the year.
2
@MK, While Joe Biden has his share of gaffes that can be played over multiple times in political adds, I have no doubt the video clips of Trump and his bizarre statements will outnumber Joe’s.
Regardless of electability, if Trump’s legacy in office has demonstrated anything, it shows that it is not necessarily the president himself, but the people he surrounds himself with that influence policy. I trust Joe to pick the “best people” before I trust Trump.
3
@Jane K I agree with you Jane, and I hope you are right. Perhaps it would be wise for Biden to then address these health concerns outright before they manifest themselves further in the form of ads or other sabotage. Trump is still far more unqualified, saying things far more absurd than anything Biden has uttered. Still best to address what many are most concerned with at the Primary stage before we face Trump.
1
@ MK, I agree with you, too. I would like to see all the pertinent information on candidates running for office including health, financial and tax records.
I don’t feel confident about seeing Trump’s records any time soon. But I do hope Joe will be more transparent, and if Joe discloses his information it will pressure Trump’s campaign.
Again and again, not his 'fault' that he is winning. He is simply the most harmless uncle among the other uncles and aunts competing feverishly to the delight of the fun-loving audience.
1
@ss Right, it's not his fault, he probably isn't even aware that he's not capable of beating the unscrupulous manipulator Trump. The blame has to go to the Dem establushment and media who push that tragic guy in front, to safeguard their power and wealth.
Whilst I don't think a president should be chosen primarily on gender grounds, it would be wonderful if the nominee were to select a woman for his VP candidate, whether Klobuchar, Warren, Abrams, or Harris. Won't hold my breath though: America does in fact seem to be a country for old men.
1
What an odd hit-piece. Biden won because Democrats chose him last night, full stop. They chose unity and inclusiveness over divisiveness and anger. Bernie promised the young would deliver him a "movement," but he forgot that young people don't vote.
Thank god for African-Americans saving our party, and our country, hopefully, yet again. THANK YOU.
3
Keep an eye out on head to head polls going through April. Biden should start opening up his lead against Trump. Bernie should stay at 4-5+ or drop a little.
Clearly the voters are looking for a safe candidate, one that is within the establishment to offset the barbaric non-establishment now in office.
Bernie played well against Trump in 2016. But he's not the answer voters are looking for this year. 2016 super tuesday wins for Bernie were in OK, MN, VT, CO. He lost ground by losing MN and OK. On the other hand, Clinton ultimately won CA, which Sanders seems to be poised to win this time
Biden is surely among the weakest, if not the weakest, of all contenders. It'll be a great mistake for the Democratic party to back him neglecting all fairness of the process and more trouble will be during November. Only party loyalty can not help any such fiercely pro-party and status-quo candidate to win any general election now.
A significantly large section of American electorate are very frustrated against both the parties and that's why a total outsider like Trump got so much support among Republican supporters. Meterioratic rise of "independent" Bernie is another great example. Both the political parties need to introspect and reform. That would never happen if Biden, surely the weakest among two front runners, is elected and been fully controlled by party and corporate establishment that basically helped erosion of trust in Democratic party and also on democracy/Congress.
Black voters in the red states in deep South might be the biggest asset for Biden during Democratic primary, but those states are known to be very vulnerable in general elections for Democrats and Biden will never have such success there during Nov.
On the other hand, there is a very high chance that a significant number of Trump supporters, who voted for Obama/Dems before, will come back to vote for Sanders.
2
I wouldn't cast the net too wide and assert "Democrats." A small sample size of those participating in yesterday's ST, and those from exit polling, were on the fence, if not despondent about Biden. But that is his role. He is chum bait for a flanker: Bloomberg hasn't dropped out of the race; he's taking a flanking route to a negotiated convention (or rather, he assumes, a purchased one).
1
I getting sick of the idea put forward that anything that could be called socialist is a "revolution". Most people don't even know what "socialism" means. They equate it with failed authoritarian states like Venezuela and the Soviet Union.
Socialism:"a political and economic theory of social organization which advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned OR regulated by the community as a whole."
How can a dictatorship be regulated by the community as a whole? True socialism can only exist in a democratic representative governance. We are already a socialist state. We regulate many aspects of our economic and social system all the time.
Socialism is also quite compatible with capitalism and the free market. The wealthy rail against anything that they perceive to be socialist because they have been infected with the amoral values of corporate governance. Anything that might reduce their profits is bad and needs to destroyed.
7
Schools now emphasize social-emotional learning. This approach emphasizes five competencies: self awareness, self management, social awareness, relationship skills and responsible decision making. IMHO, Bernie Sanders does not excel at these traits.
Biden is not my first choice but he has these qualities. I would vote for Sanders if he is the nominee but I do not think we need a president who cannot play well with others.
5
@Gris
Biden? Really? He's far too handsy in my mind to demonstrate social awareness, self awareness, and self management.
1
There are only two things left to do. Democrats need to unite, and then show up on election day. We are as motivated as ever to do both. Biden is someone any democrat can support, and he will get the vote out, especially when Obama starts campaigning after the convention.
5
The tone of the New York Times seems more hopeful now that Biden takes the lead. It was markedly different when Sanders was. Through their opinion columnists I was lead to believe that Sanders would never gain new voters and represented a crisis for moderate Democrats. What about the crisis for a young generation of voters who want a candidate that represents hope for their concerns? For me, Biden represents an establishment that seeks compromise and not taking enough action. I’m saddened by this news.
5
Biden will return things more or less to status quo - and we all remember what that is. Lotsa problems, not many solutions, depending on how many republicans are in positions to block them. But at least the obscenity of Trump’s admin will be over.
Main thing I’m concerned about is Joe’s mental acuity at this point. Not talking about his speech per se, just his ability to distinguish one thing from another. My dad’s 15 years older than Joe and much sharper. Maybe he’s available?
3
If Democrats, liberals, progressives and anti-Trumpers simply support the Democratic nominee, this national nightmare ends. This is true whether it's Joe or Bernie, but I think Joe gives us a much better chance of an overwhelming victory - it appears the voters agree.
Joe Biden is not perfect and not exciting, but he is a decent human being with a wealth of experience. He may not be your favorite candidate, but all we need to do to destroy Trumpism once and for all is support Joe Biden with every thing we've got for the next 8 months. If for nothing else, do it for your country - the alternative is too catastrophic to contemplate.
3
After last night I once again feel left out and disappointed by the Democratic Party. There doesn’t seem to be a party for true liberals other than the Green Party. Biden’s temperament is better than Trumps but his policies really aren’t that different. He’ll start another war faster than Trump. He’ll cut taxes on the rich just not as much and as soon as the tide turns he’ll unleash the police on black and brown people. He’s a moderate, his positions moderate according to what’s popular just like his support for the Iraq war. As an African American I’m embarrassed that black people keep falling for this nonsense. Bernie or bust.
4
The boomers shoving another status quo corporate democratic candidate down the throats of the young will gurantee many of us will be staying home in November. Enjoy your four more years of Trump, but why would boomers care? They are very comfortable.
6
Alex
Boomers do care and being one them I understand your deep disappointment. Warren was my first choice and Bernie second. As a woman I wonder why we have not had a female president but to beat Trump I will vote for who ever runs against him. Please vote.
3
@Kathleen I appreciate that you care enough to be concerned about what younger voters are yearning for. For me, politics is not a team sport. I am not a Democrat and my only concern is issues. Unfortunately, the Democrats have nothing to offer me or others I care about with Joe Biden. Frankly, I do not see the difference between him and Trump. More of the same that got us Trump in the first place.
1
There are three main reasons Biden supporters support him over Sanders:
1. They don't want another four years of Trump
2. They work to earn their living
3. They don't believe in fairytales
4
Casting a vote in favor of a man who frequently forgets what he's saying, insults potential voters to their face, frequently lies about his past, and offers zero change to a country that is aching for a new turn is in no way the "safest bet". If he gets the nomination either by votes or by a brokered agreement he will lose to Trump. There can be no doubt about that.
3
On the road to defeating Trump, Joe Biden is emerging as the natural leader of a Democratic coalition that beyond hot talking points is about decency, integrity, and respect. I find it hopeful that the endorsements from Mike, Pete and Amy, each of who appeal to the different priorities that abound in our huge nation will translate into down ballot wins for Democrats.
The necessity of having a big tent, listening to idealogical differences and working to progress solutions that may require compromise, but that move the country in a direction that benefits all is paramount. The problem with elections is that competition tends to focus on black and white; win/lose; stupidly nearsighted to the detriment of us all. We are all complicit. News outlets need to sell soap. Twitter needs knee jerk reactions. Isn't it all just exhausting? I read the news feeds this morning and for the first time in three years felt hopeful. Of course there is work to do. Of course all the candidates have valid points, and ideas that I hope will have helped educate us as a nation. I hope that they are given respect as we move forward. For now, I can honestly say that there might be light at the end of the tunnel!
4
Joe wasn't just the "safest" candidate. Most democrats are not Marxists. Bernie disavows the human rights abuses by countries like Cuba, but he doesn't disavow their economic central planning that has been a failure wherever it's tried. Democrats want a bigger safety net, but enough of them instinctively know you need a vibrant private sector to improve living standards. And Bernie's base of young support isn't as idealistic as often portrayed. He's buying their vote by promising to waive their college loan obligations. This is huge especially for the ones that got worthless literature degrees and the like despite being warned by their friends and families.
1
A vote for Biden is also a vote for Obama.
Everybody knows that Gore should have gotten the promotion to #1 and that the Supreme Court tampered with the election when elections are political and the 14th Amendment was selectively applied, which showed that the Court was politically motivated.
Sander's isn't the thorn in Trump's derriere as much as Biden is, so although I am with Sanders and enjoy his temperament, if Biden can prove to me that he would use Sanders's and Warren's base to get things done, I have no problem with Obama's choice for the spot.
1
@Max Shapiro Obama didn't chose Biden, but suspiciously avoided speaking about him. And to expect progressive action from stubborn "no changes!" Joe is very optimistic.
1
Joe can do it! He appeals to independents and republicans who hate trump and will not vote for him again. Joe is smart, he has been there, is a decent human being (what a change that will be after 3.5 years of hatred), is on the correct side of all issues and brings the country back to the middle where it is very comfortable.
3
I'm a progressive democrat who would be more than willing--ecstatic, even--to vote for Biden with one proviso:
FIX HEALTH CARE
Don't tell me the ACA is working (it's not). Don't tell me you can drive down costs (you've proven you can't). Don't tell me you're going to fix the system (it's too broken to repair). Get me affordable, accessible health care. And do it now, JOE.
I am an adjunct professor who teaches at two public universities in the state of California. I teach 6 courses every semester and am not eligible for health care. My monthly premium through the ACA is $1,683 with a 7k deductible (Silver Plan). This has gone up between 15-30% every year since the ACA became law. My co-pays have also gone up. My deductible, you guessed it, has gone up. What is a Biden administration going to do to fix my health care?
5
I liked Biden as VP. I think Obama will have a real positive impact for him. Biden is safely neo con. More so than Obama. He is safely corporatist. Silicon Valley and the Health care industry detest Sanders. Biden though has Ukraine hanging over his head. A reprise of the GOPs impeachment trial attacks on Biden and his son are inevitable. Sanders' has a better organization than Biden. Biden is benefitting from a run of candidates that couldn't win the nomination endorsing him. Biden might well have to win the nomination with the help of the super delegates at the convention. Biden will have to have a major outreach to Sanders.
1
Sanders has two large impediments to winning the Presidential election. Foremost is that he arrogantly refuses to explain what his brand of "Socialism" is and secondly he has an almost nonexistent record of getting anything done in all his years of being in an elected office. OTOH, the biggest impediment to Joe Biden is that Sanders supporters will not vote for anyone but Sanders.
2
If Texas hadn't closed 750 polling stations in primarily hispanic neighborhoods we would look at a different delegate map now.
In another column (where comments aren't allowed) David Leonhardt writes that Biden's campaign is reminiscent of John McCain's in 2008. He fails to note that John McCain lost. He lost against a charismatic candidate with a tidal wave of a following unprecedented at that time, Barack Obama.
Guess what? If Biden is like McCain, the same fate will befall him because he is facing an even more formidable opponent in Donald Trump who has an entire Republican senate at his disposal to do his bidding, plus everything and everybody else.
Oh and the label "socialist" is going to be applied to Biden too. After all, Republicans think Hillary Clinton is a liberal just because she is pro choice. Every Democrat running will be tainted with the "socialist" label. Bernie at least was unfazed by that. But the quivering and groveling of the democratic centrists is no match for Donald Trump.
It is all very depressing. There really is no hope for this country, none at all.
And, mark my words, they are going to blame Bernie again when it all turns to mush.
6
You have got to be kidding about Biden. Please stop and think for a moment. Joe is going to have to debate Donald Trump. On television. How do you think that will go? Forget about Biden's past transgressions and his having to deal with them when pressed by Trump. What about his ability to communicate with coherent sentences? It's not there. The only hope the Dems have to make a respectable showing is to nominate Tulsi. It has to be done or the party risks not being taken seriously for a generation. She's young, smart, diverse, energetic and likable. She would do way better against Trump than this Fyre Festival of a candidate. Biden got lucky politically because Obama chose him as his VP. That's why he won the nomination. That's simply not good enough.
3
Voters carried Biden across the line in spite of his lousy campaign and imperfect delivery. Now he has to stay away from the geniuses who ran the HRC fiasco.
3
The DNC, jealous of the RNC's ability to absolutely purge their ranks of young, enthusiastic voters, has decided to do the same.
3
@Andrew old people rule the earth. Young people simply exist because them old people gave birth to them. Oh dear
3
So, it's "Four more years" or business as usual.
Even though Trump is a narcissistic dilettante, he did not start WW3. He did make business easier for some. And it's trickle-down, isn't it?
Uncle Joe with his huge experience in backroom dealings will bring stability, and guarantee the status quo.
Sanders and his "democratic socialism" or social democracy can wait for another generation or two. Leave that communist nonsense for the Europeans.
America was always about individualism.
Or about greed and ruthlessness.
Pick the one you like.
Calling Biden voters "center-left Democrats" is inaccurate. Biden voters fall into several categories:
(1) Center Right rich-enough Democrats who don't believe in intergenerational economic fairness and who support Biden in his stating "I don't think that 500 Billionaires is the reason we are in trouble." Biden says he'll change nothing.
(2) Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome (PTSS) in the black electorate. This needs a little explanation.
Dr. Joy DeGruy explains in her book how the black electorate stays loyal to the Democratic Party Establishment, despite believing strongly in Sanders policy positions, because to upset their white masters would invite retributions.
From a black voting perspective, this is a well-reasoned strategy. Consider: when white people started abandoning the neo-liberal, oligarchy-supporting Democratic "establishment" and cronyism of the DNC and working for the Sanders Campaign, what happened? The DNC instantly retaliated by declaring nobody who worked for Sanders as a consultant was ever going to work for the DNC again. Spiteful, severe, economic retribution.
In 2016, this same reluctance to displease the Masters translated to fealty to Clinton, epitomized by the rightly revered John Lewis in his slander of Sanders' civil rights work, only to have to "clarify" it later.
The black thinking is "we all must move to Sanders, or nobody must move." If only part of the people defect the establishment DNC will divide and massacre everyone.
6
Thank you to Donald Trump for organizing the Democratic Party!
Unfortunately, if one of the two old Democratic candidates wins in November, it will most likely be for one term, thus giving up the advantage of incumbency in 2024. Too bad there was no one younger who could catch fire this time, but so be it.
It may not be that Democrats see Biden as the "safer choice" to beat Trump. It is more likely that they view Sanders as an ideologue who, even in victory, could not attain the aims he espouses.
It would be myopic for V.P. Biden to not realize that his stated prescriptions are presently too conservative for the Sanders voters who now form the future of the Democrat Party. They"demand" redress of a system unfair to most taxpayers.
It cannot be argued that money has fatally tainted democracy, and the Biden platform should directly and unflinchingly address that issue. This can be done without the Bernie Sturm und Drang, rather with Biden approaching it as an issue of basic fairness necessary to the continuance of American democracy.
It will be difficult, if not impossible, to retain the Sanders voters if a pivot to this issue is not forcefully addressed. The "Free Everything & Soak the Rich" Sanders platform while unrealistic, is appealing to a large segment of Americans who pay their taxes, yet fall further behind.
It is not enough to win the nomination and lose the election.
That will be a likelihood unless economic remediation is rapidly addressed by V.P. Biden.
26
Kudos to the other moderate Democratic nominees - Buttigeig, Klobuchar and Bloomberg - who knew when to fold their campaigns and promptly, unequivocally support Biden in the nick of time. Bloomberg was a day late but is not dollar short, and can offer the same dollar to help get Trump out. Also the unprecedented voter turnout in some states shows the Democratic voters' enthusiasm to have a change at the White House. All around, encouraging news that is making for some sleepless nights for Trump worrying about his opponent he calls "Sleepy Joe".
3
One step at a time - I’m progressive but also realistic, esp in these times when the nation is so divided. There just doesn’t seem to be any chance (unless the economy completely tanks, millions lose jobs and health insurance) for any candidate with the slightest whiff of ‘socialism’ to win in this country. It’s still a dirty word, but perhaps not for the next generations - in which case I’d prefer a younger, fresher face than Sanders (who I never felt was truly inclusive).
Let’s hope Biden a well-chosen, younger, dynamic, articulate, more progressive VP can unseat Trump. Then we can start dreaming, after first undoing Trump’s damage (which will be a huge task in itself, esp in the Justice dept).
3
Last night I saw signs of a new constituency that Stanley Greenberg talked about in a recent book--Republican moderates that have abandoned their old party. These suburban voters drove Biden's margins in Virginia and other places. I believe they will do the same in my state of Michigan next week. Greenberg conducted focus groups that indicate up to 40% of "moderate Republicans" will go Democratic in November; what was surprising was that they also seem to be voting in the primaries, and guess what: they support the moderate, Joe Biden. Watch that demographic going forward.
2
@Alexander Beal Polls show that 90% of Republicans support Trump because of his accomplishments (tax cuts, deregulation, judges). So, those "moderate" republicans probably voted for Biden to reduce the risk of a Bernie Sanders nomination.
I'm an independent. I voted for Sanders. I will NOT vote for Biden. He has no platform - unless you count "I'm not Trump and I'm not Sanders" as a platform.
We need real change in this country, not more of the same. If it takes four more years of Trump destroying the environment and the social safety net to get people to wake up and recognize the flaws in our current system, so be it.
I won't let fear drive my decision. And I won't vote for status quo.
7
I am a Bernie supporter in my mid-60s. So much of what he says makes sense. I trust him because he has said the same thing for decades.
If I abandon him and side with Bernie, I'm giving up hope on all the marginalized citizens - the very ones who voted for Trump last time, or are falling by the way-side because they don't have the training/education or the right color of skin?
Democrats for the status quo and the center left - what progress can you promise me?
6
@EnJay Bernie is not a Democrat...He just joined the Democratic party so he can run for President. Why should I, as a Democrat, vote for him? He is a fringe candidate just like trump is a fringe Republican, no difference between the two of them. They both demonize "establishment"...NO, thank you, trump and Sanders are both the same!
2
@EnJay sorry, I meant "if I side with Biden".... not sure how to edit that for my mistake.
2
@Jaleh You are aware that Trump used to be a Dem, and Hillary, Warren and Bloomberg Republicans? But you have a problem with Bernie, who never switched sides? D'oh.
2
Dems were almost too late to get this done, but they are probably just in the safe zone or heading that way. Biden represents a real-world normalcy that most can recognize. This does not mean apathy or inactivity; it just means a general norming that doesn’t overturn everyone’s lives. Sanders offers a challenge that holds value, but his slice of the American way does not represent the majority. Does he do us a service? Ok , yeah, important issues. Should he be president or can he represent all? No and no. As for Bloomberg, I liked him and still do. I hope the party keeps him at the table because his presence and his insistence on getting rid of Trump and backing it up with money was imo a call to arms. Bloomberg made the competition more acute and I’m grateful.
5
One can interpret the 2020 presidential election as a referendum on Trump's presidency the past four years, but it's also much more than that. One can further view it as a referendum upon the Reagan Era, and the sociopolitical consensus it embraced.
In endorsing Joe Biden, the Democrats have ironically become defenders of the past forty years and the party of Reagan. Many Americans apparently don't understand the paradoxical character of Trump's presidency and populism, given how it signifies numerous things: the culmination and denouement of the Reagan Era, ALONG with being a reaction against it. By no means will I argue that Trump's populism is an adequate answer to a new sociopolitical era, but perpetuating a dying if not dead status-quo doesn't suffice, either. At some point soon, the Democrats must cease with their procrastination.
10
Biden has admitted that his vote to authorize the Bush/Cheney wars was a mistake.
If he were also to admit that the Obama/Biden tripling of troops in Afghanistan was a mistake, that would help relieve the fear that he is a jingoist.
If Trump succeeds in getting us out of Afghanistan where Obama/Biden kept us for eight years, then, despite his innumerable negatives, DJT becomes the pro-peace candidate opposed to Biden.
Sanders voted against the Bush/Cheney wars. He also would be a pro-peace candidate.
8
@Steve M We just attacked the Taliban. We're not leaving just yet.
1
USA is history. the democratic Establishment would rather give Trump another term than sanders the Chance for a real Change. sad, but it was never a democracy anyway. wealthy slaveowning landlords who refused to pay taxes founded it and their offspring will end it.
8
@swicha
Lovely to read all of this from Germany given its notorious past, and the fact that in the present it requires grand unwieldy coalitions to even have a government, given the overt fear of the AFD. Sanders proposals went even further than what Germany or nay any Western European society offers its citizens.
Dems didn't decide Joe was safe; the party elites, satiated with billionaire dollars and wanting to protect their patrons, threw their weight against Bernie, once again surrendering to the oligarchs - a trend starting with Carter. Bernie's challenge to the oligarchs, to the inequitable structure of American Society and to the exploitation of the masses has the rich and powerful scared to death, including the party elite who threw the election to Hillary last time; unfortunately, we were only provided 2 alternatives socialism and nee-liberal economics such as that exposed by Reagan and Carter; we need an economics and a politics that see there are 3 economic sectors including the non-profit social sector and that there is more than just government or business as options - for many of us, its time to burn the Democratic Party Elites
7
@David Golby Sorry, David, but Democrats chose one of their own over a decisive, elderly, angry Summer Home Socialist.
There's no conspiracy, and this wasn't the product of "party elites." Regular people chose their man, Biden, because he represents unity and cohesiveness, and can put this country back on a realistic, achievable plan of success, just like he did with Obama for eight years.
2
@Todd Trump once was "one of their own", but Hillary, Warren and Bloomberg were with the GOP. So, your purity test fails. The establishment adores money and power, not liberal values.
1
@David Golby "its time to burn the Democratic Party Elites"
I sincerely hope you don't ever need (or care about someone who needs) an abortion. Or need clean air. Or care about immigrants...
If you live in Florida and don't vote for a Democrat --ANY Democrat-- this November, you are contributing to Trump's election. And the immediate suffering of his many victims.
1
It’s lies like this, “Mr. Sanders became a mission-driven lefty, enthralled by socialist and communist governments abroad,” that Sanders has to contend with. Despite Flegenheimer ‘s deceit, all one has to do is look at Biden’s and Sanders’ funding – Biden without, except from the wealthy and corporate donors to whom I suspect he will be graciously beholding , Sanders from individuals in record breaking numbers. Maybe Biden will be able to sustain his campaign going forward now with the added billions from Bloomberg.
Corrupt corporate America and the titans of Wall Street are saved by fabrications from the likes of Flegenheimer. But still, better Biden than Trump.
6
Neither Biden nor Sanders would have been my choice, but both are decent people and either would be infinitely better than Trump. Let's let the primary process play out and get 100% behind whoever wins!
11
Well, the democrats just lost the bernie voters and the election. Between the establishment democrats and the media, who couldn't hide their joy as the results came out, everything was, is being done to stifle the rise of someone who speaks a bit more for the average American, not the dwindling middle class or the rich. Enjoy four more years it is all you deserve.
14
@arm19
The media would not have been so joyful had Sanders shown a little less hatred for every corporation on the planet. Sanders earned their glee, every second of it.
2
@calleefornia Please google "corporations are sociopaths". It's the title of an excellent, scientifically sound documentary.
We should have had this cemented in our brains in 2016--
The media, the pollsters, history and your own eyes while watching the debates--can tell you absolutely NOTHING about what is going to happen.
Every pundit remark should be required by law to be prefaced with, "I know I've been wrong about these things many times in the past and I probably shouldn't be paid anything more than minimum wage for saying this...but..."
6
I imagine that Trump can make overt overtures now to Ukraine to open investigations into Biden since he has been "exonerated" from the crime of doing so. So sad.
3
Well, Tom Perez and his DNC have outdone themselves this time around, they've managed to lose the November election, 9 months in advance.
9
Sanders’ supporters are quick to sling arrows on social media and comment boards, but yesterday’s vote showed that many have less compunction to step away from their keyboards to actually vote. Why is this?
Are they lazy?
Are they not registered voters, or even US citizens?
We have been warned of potential foreign disruption in this election. Could this be it?
7
@Dee 5 hour lines in Texas is equal to voter suppression
2
@Baruch
Agreed!
The election officials who allow this should be replaced, in every state where possible. In Texas that will not be simple because the overseer of elections, the Secretary of State, is appointed by the governor. Texas had early voting, but candidates do drop out. Absentee voting there is severely limited.
For years, Arizona had election problems that easily could be construed as suppression. Malfunctioning voting machines and/or too few voting machines routinely were placed in minority districts. The elections official is an elected position there. People became fed up and voted that official out of office. It’s about more than the candidates. We all need to be aware of how our elections are conducted and to take steps to halt suppression of any kind.
I was front row at Mike Bloomberg's rally in WPB last night. It was a great event - well organized, upbeat and direct. Mike could and should be the Democratic nominee. But he entered the race too late - albeit with good intentions. While Biden is a decent man - he doesn't hold a candle to Mike's experience, success and genuis. And Biden's voting record is highly questionable, he lacks intellectual vigor and does not have the stamina and vicious sharpness to combat a lowlife like Trump. I like Bernie and his committment to his ideals, but he's not electable. Senator Warren is brilliant, but she only sees black and white in a world full of greys. I guess we'll never know what goes on behind the scenes with the DNC. Now I will very reluctantly vote for Biden. But I do want to thank Mike. He's a class act all around including bankrolling Biden's campaign with his own campaign staffers. And Mike, I saved you a danish and glass of wine from last night's spread. Thanks and l'chayim !
6
@LisaG So you're a Wasserman-Schultz type that promotes predatory lending practices and the Payday Loan schemes ?
"Democrats Decide That Joe Biden, as Risky as He Ever Was, Is the Safest Bet"
It sounds like your definition of a Democrat is someone who voted for Biden.
7
Not "safest" bet; BEST bet. NYTimes and other Bernie-Bro-media just won't give Biden his due as someone who's actually accomplished something in the hurly-burly, complex world of POLITICS (Bernie isn't a politician; he's an ideologue screaming one shrill note from the margins--a voice sometimes needed to help set the outer boundaries, but of no use to real world problem-solvers). Biden voters are pragmatic in a rich way, where "compromise" means finding the best possible solution within a field of competing interests (what we call democratic society). NYTimes: please stop using subtle rhetorical ploys to diminish that approach and its achievements.
12
Biden is a gentleman, a decent man who has seen more than his share of pain and loss. He loves his country and has proven it time and time again as a senator and as vice president. He's measured, intelligent, kind, compassionate, and has an instinct for how to lead. Contrast that with the horrible monster in the White House now who, when he's not tweeting vindictive, imbecilic, puerile inanity, is watching cartoons or FOX news. It's time for a president who actually acts like one. We need to put this long national nightmare known as the Trump crime family behind us.
11
Democrats are not smart. They just made a huge mistake. I bet McConnell and company just ordered a case of champagne...
5
Sorry but this wasn’t “analysis”; it’s an opinion piece; thexwriter calls Biden the safe choice which is NYT slang for boring.
We moderates support Biden because he represents our values; we see not socialists; we don’t want to take away every single gun; we don’t want trillion dollar deficits where everything is “free” at a huge marginal tax rate.
Understanding there is a very vocal faction in our party that are far far left, we still have more votes and we vote our values. Don’t patronize us bu saying we are setting for Biden. We trust him and we know he can work with all Senators.
9
@Lupito
That was the greatest comment ever. Thank you for that. Biden is a train wreck. Unless we change soon, we will see 4 more years of Trump. Who knows, maybe even 8 or 12 more years of Trump?
2
@Matt
Well, lucky you. Most people don't know what tax rate is, let alone marginal tax rate, so they continue to vote for billionaires or millionaires supporting billionaires. Exploitation of poor people in USA is truly shameless.
2
I don't know how people don't see how Joe Biden is one of the riskiest candidates we can put forward:
1. He voted for the Iraq war
2. He voted for NAFTA, which will cost him the industrial midwest.
3. He voted for Glass-Steagall and the 2005 bankruptcy bill, empowering wall street over main street.
4. He's tried to cut social security and medicare in the past in an attempt to reach some hopeless grand bargain with republicans.
5. His son is Hunter Biden. While I recognize he did nothing wrong, Republicans will be unsparing in their accusations of corruption and the inept and gullible media will make false equivalencies.
6. He barely makes any sense ("you lying dog-faced pony soldier")
On many of the issues I listed above, Donald Trump will simply run to the left of Biden. We know Donald Trump is a liar, but people who aren't paying attention will be inclined to believe Trump because of Biden's record. Nominating Biden is a redux of Hillary Clinton and 2016. It's not gonna be pretty folks.
9
Biden can invite Liz Warren as VP. Woman progressive she will fulfill Sanders constituencies as well.
We love Liz Warren and Bernie Sanders both. If Bernie cannot be on Democratic ticket (cuz DNC masters of universe have stuckness), Liz should be VP.
9
@petey tonei No she won't. I'm one of that constituency and Liz is not a progressive anymore. Offering her the vp spot will just further enrage the left of the party for how she's acted the last few years.
1
@Aaron don’t categorize Liz as a moderate, her entire appeal is as a progressive. An approachable one.
1
My 39-year old white male STEM coworker just said it best a few minutes ago:
"I have nothing against Joe Biden personality-wise, but he's just another old white guy offering nothing new. It's like they (the Democratic Establishment) didn't get the memo in 2016."
Seriously, the Democratic Party is on its last legs because the past 40 years of meekness, incompetence, and tactics no less evil than the GOP's has taught almost 2 generations now that they are worthless and not to be trusted.
12
My early recommendation stands: Biden/ Harris or Biden/Patrick.
4
I don't know how people don't see how Joe Biden is one of the riskiest candidates we can put forward:
1. He voted for the Iraq war
2. He voted for NAFTA, which will cost him the industrial midwest.
3. He voted for Glass-Steagall and the 2005 bankruptcy bill, empowering wall street over main street.
4. He's tried to cut social security and medicare in the past in an attempt to reach some hopeless grand bargain with republicans.
5. His son is Hunter Biden. While I recognize he did nothing wrong, Republicans will be unsparing in their accusations of corruption and the inept and gullible media will make false equivalencies.
6. He barely makes any sense ("you lying dog-faced pony soldier")
On many of the issues I listed above, Donald Trump will simply run to the left of Biden. We know Donald Trump is a liar, but people who aren't paying attention will be inclined to believe Trump because of Biden's record. Nominating Biden is a redux of Hillary Clinton and 2016. It's not gonna be pretty folks.
6
@BarneyAndFriends
"Nominating Biden is a redux of Hillary Clinton and 2016."
Yep.
"It's not gonna be pretty folks."
With a loss in 2020, expect the Democratic party to implode.
2
Democrats coalesced quickly around Joe Biden because they like him, trust him and find his policies useful and realistic.
The New York Times’s vitriol toward this unifying and potent candidate is unbecoming and increasingly senseless.
11
Elections are always something of a gamble. The DNC and, yes, the establishment are gambling that trashing Sanders to shore up Biden was a safe bet. It may win Biden the nomination but will it win the party the election? Party solidarity is not the same as voter solidarity.
Although I'm a fan of Sanders' ideas, I am not a supporter of his campaign. The flip side of his unwavering integrity is a doctrinaire inflexibility. Which is replicated in his base. Will they be able to change allegiances, abandon their revolution to embrace reform, for the greater good defeating Trump?
Too much denigrated, flexibility and compromise are essential. The trick is balancing self identity with self sufficiency over time - staying recognizably the same while adapting to changing circumstances, holding onto one's ideals, while making strategic choices. But so much of politics has changed from 'let's get this done' to 'I hear you' - a change of emphasis from working together to being personally validated. I think it takes folks political eyes off the governmental prize. Such as the Supreme Court.
If in 2016, the predictable abuses of a Trump presidency were not sufficient to rally voters to Clinton, will Trump's appalling record unite voters behind Biden? It should.
We're generally agree on where we want to go. But first we've got to get the car out of the ditch and make repairs. While we're at it, we can figure out the road map.
4
We will remember Warren's betrayal in November when she's going to expect us to vote for a Biden/Warren ticket, she will certainly do her best to ensure a progressive nominee,
just like in 2016!
4
I've concluded, begrudgingly, that Biden is the better choice. The reason is, I think keeping the House and taking the Senate is at least as important as winning the White House. The Republicans would pound Bernie with the "socialist" label and I think it would be effective down ballot as a way of hedging bets and voting for Bernie. Four more years of Trump and a Republican Senate would be disastrous. RBG can't live forever.
7
@Michael McDaniel They're gonna do that no matter the candidate.
The best news from Super Tuesday is not about Sanders or Biden, but that Jim Clyburn was able to rouse massive African American turnout. That was in doubt and will be imperative in the general election. The bad news is that Biden is still the same policy-vague, empty-suit candidate he was from the start, well liked but, like Hillary, essentially a party hack incapable of inspiring his way out of a paper bag. With a Biden candidacy, we are looking at the possibility of a dreadful repeat of 2016. A Biden rally is a contradiction in terms. Biden has little money and little organization. It will have to be infused from the outside. But if Bloomberg is true to his word, now that he has dropped out, perhaps he can buy himself the Presidency that way.
After this explosion of pent-up fear and confusion to Biden's benefit, there were will be a more sober assessment of his policies and his electability. Call it the "morning after" effect. This radical and sudden shift has an unreal quality. A lot of the "sobering up" will depend on how Sanders pivots his campaign messaging. I, for one, hope he will dispense with the "revolution" and "billionaire" rhetoric and focus like a laser on those kitchen table issues: healthcare costs, higher education costs, housing and childcare costs, and stagnant wages. If he takes the fear factor out of his stump speeches and gets down to the nitty-gritty, he can still win the nomination and beat Trump.
2
It is a far more calmer day today in our nation.
Yesterday it looked like Sanders would be the probable Democratic candidate. And Trump would've destroyed him in the leadup to November by employing his usual tactics, fear and lies.
Of course the process is far from over and Biden hasn't locked anything up, and he may not be able to defeat Trump if he is the nominee.
But the quiet out there today is the collective sigh of relief from much of America.
8
Bernie has not been helped by the Bernie Bros. They, at least to me, appear to be toxic under 30 males suffering from testosterone filled rage. They are his public face, and I, an elderly woman, who has called herself a democratic socialist in the past, want nothing to do with them, especially if they are the sort of people Sanders will rely on in an adminstration.
I'm sure there are many others like me out there. Biden is at least "safe", and his people are polite and pragmatic.
10
@vineyridge
"Safe"? Look at the democratic party's history of "safe" candidates. They don't win.
1
@Deus When I say safe, I mean two things.
First, he is not a candidate who will drive the vast middle away. I said months ago about a Sanders nomination, that "it will be between a devil you don't know against a devil you do know" who is term limited. Trump will be gone in four years if he is re-elected, and at my age, four years is practically a blink of the eye. If Biden is the nominee, he is also a devil that we know well. The very large number of Americans who would like some calm, some rest from these hyperpartisan years, will have no reason to vote for Trump.
Because of his age, Biden, like Sanders, is unlikely to last for two full terms. The progressives will have time to find another standard bearer, either in a new Democratic Socialist party or in the Democratic party.
I lived through the 1960s, campaigned in Nebraska for Eugene McCarthy, and didn't vote for Hubert Humphrey because of the 1968 convention. I'm sure there were many millions of young people like me who did the same thing. Richard Nixon won the election, and created the racist Republican party that we have today. And then, in a party reaction to the 68 convention we got McGovern, and have been struggling as a party ever since (except for Clinton, who ran in the middle).
I've been where you are now.
If US moves toward socialism, it will be due to a bloody revolution, or Fabian Socialist tactics, or a true national crisis like the Great Depression.
Young people won't come out in spades for Biden, but they would have for Bernie perhaps. Meanwhile, moderates would not come out for Bernie. Either way you look at it, the Dems have a potential ticket that might leave many uninspired potential voters sitting home in November.
2
@JN - However, young people did not come out for Bernie - not in numbers he needed. There is no reason to believe that they would come out for him in the general election either, at least not in sufficient numbers.
4
@Marc You seem to forget that there's a difference between political party primaries and the general election. Most PEOPLE (especially the young) are Independents; they don't get to vote during the primary season but their voice is heard in November....
... and it's the lack of youth voice this November with Biden that will give us a second term of Trump.
1
@VJR - historically, they don’t bite in the general election either. It would be nice if they did but they just don’t. However, if the majority of these so-called young voters just take their marbles and stay home instead of voting for the better (maybe not the best) alternative, they will be the ones responsible for whatever comes after. There is a certain responsibility to being an adult.
1
Well, the centrists win again. I guess we still can't expect change or progressive actions from the Democratic party. I'll support Sanders in the presidential election, but not sure I'll support Biden. As horrible as Trump is, maybe things truly do have to get worse in order to put a progressive in office. We need nationalized health care, an economy not built on perpetual growth, and a government not run by corporate dollars. Is that too much to ask? Maybe start with overturning Citizens United as a first step?
71
@nemo
FACT: Centrist voters, span both parties as well as the large block of independents.
FACT: Centrists ARE a clear majority of voters, and are not strictly party line voters.
This is a democracy, and the majority should own the choice at the polls.
4 years of Sanders on one extreme, may not actually be better for the nation than 4 years of Trump on the other extreme has been.
There are other ways to realize affordable healthcare for all, and a return to what has been forcefully rolled back by conservatives in terms of social policy. It does not have to be a revolution, and in fact revolutionary movements in US politics rarely succeed.
19
@nemo Oh please. I stood beside a Bernie supporter back in 2016 who insisted he wasn't going to vote for Hillary if she won the nomination. And look what we got. This is no time to be petulant.
23
@nemo Talk about entitlement...
The mindset of "I won't vote for a Democrat unless it's X" mindset is unbelievable. Another four years means untold suffering for immigrants, elimination of environmental protection laws, permanently gerrymandered congressional districts, the appointment of at least one Supreme Court Justice, maybe two, the appointment of a litany of very conservative Federal judges, the elimination of the protection of Roe v. Wade and, perhaps, Griswald...
Politics is the art of compromise. None of us get exactly what we want. Would it be too much to ask if those sharing your views think about the immediate and long-term suffering of real people should the Dems lose?
72
“John Kerry, Al Gore and Hillary Clinton,” said Rebecca Kirszner Katz, a veteran progressive strategist. “All safe choice."
Al Gore won the popular vote and would have won Florida and the electoral vote too if the Supreme Court hadn't tipped the scales of justice heavily to the right. Hillary ran a terrible campaign with James Comey on her back. George McGovern was the radical "progressive" of his time and won one state.
Biden is not my ideal candidate--I'd have greatly preferred Senator Sherrod Brown or LA Mayor Eric Garcetti--but I think he'll beat Trump in such battleground states as Pennsylvania Michigan and Arizona and perhaps also Texas and Florida and decisively win the Electoral College.
3
@Delphi
Sorry,but with Biden's history of supporting 'free trade" deals, bankruptcy legislation and criminal justice, in the battleground sites of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, Trump will have a "feeding frenzy" on Biden's baggage on these issues.
1
To enact Medicare for All, college for all, the Green New Deal & open borders would at this point in time require a dictatorship of the Bernie Bros. Progressives face structural limits to power via the Electoral College, the Senate, the House ( thru gerrymandering & voter suppression), packed courts. It took almost 30 years after the New Deal to enact medical care for the old & poor; 80 years to add a flawed universal health care. In 2010, Dems controlled the presidency & Congress but could only pass a Republican-lite Obamacare by 7 votes. Get real. Global warming, income inequality, racial/sexual inequalities, affordable college/technical training will only be addressed in a democratic society by a large Democratic majority. Going slow with Joe is far better than continuing the dark age of Trump.
5
@GC Bagley
Americans have "going slow" on healthcare and many other issues for 100 yrs, without resolution and you wish to continue that same strategy?
You can't "go slow" on the issue of climate change.
1
The Republican party wins elections by playing to its base. Their strategists figured out long ago that the number of true swing voters was shrinking to near-nothing.When Democrats play to that near-mythical group, they sign their own death warrants.
But the problem with playing to the Dem base is that it would require moving the desires and greed of corporations out of first place. And that is surely scarier to our leaders than Donald Trump could ever be.
You can claim that Biden is electable in November. But you're ignoring the fact that "I'm not Trump" didn't work last time. You're also ignoring the Hunter Biden card --- yet Fox News will play it 24/7. Trump's energized base will turn out in droves, and he'll probably win even *more* votes this time around.
Please don't blame people who voted for progressives in the primaries when that happens.
Yes, yes, I'll vote for a hair-sniffing credit-card-company-loving dim mediocrity over Trump. But even if Biden pulls off a miracle and wins, remember that the Republicans may find an even worse candidate in 2024 --- one who will play to the desperation of Americans who will continue to labor away in the gig economy under Biden, who will continue to die for lack of health insurance, and continue to drown in student loan debt.
If you live in a state that hasn't had a primary yet, surely it's better to take a chance on fixing our problems over sure bet of maintaining an unacceptable status quo regardless of who wins.
5
Democrats:
How are you going to deal with the MILLIONS of disaffected Bernie supporters who feel like the DNC is AGAIN conspiring to steal the nomination away from Bernie? Let's face it, Bernie and Biden's supporters are not interchangeable. Bernie Bros are not going to get into line and vote for Biden. AOC said it best: 'In any other country, Joe Biden and I would not be in the same party.'
Perhaps in 2024, the Democratic party can once and for all decide what their party stands for. It can't be both Biden type policies and Bernie/AOC type polices at the same party.
7
@Eric - many of those "disaffected" Bernie supporters would not vote anyway. He certainly didn't get the numbers he needed to win on Super Tuesday. Young people rant and rave but they don't tend to vote reliably. Can't win elections that way.
1
Biden is going to loose. People don't care about decency, they care about results. That's why they're going to vote for Trump again.
4
If Biden is the selection, then the entire DOJ and unknown forces will be unleashed by trump to investigate him starting with his childhood.
I fear that selecting Biden will secure 4 more years of a monarchy and then suspension of the 22nd Amendment by 2024. trump has stacked the supreme court and congress to do ANYTHING he wants. The trial proved it.
What a mess.
3
Decent. Competent. Stable. I see Biden, imperfect as we all are, as an antidote to Trump's poison. I respect Sanders, but I think his bombastic personality will win few allies on Capitol Hill, and many of his positions are flawed or extreme. People are free to disagree, but I think a lot of Democrats (and Republicans, for that matter) feel the same way. Let's make America sane again!
84
@JM
Biden is not decent, not competent, and not stable.
4
@JM, Biden is neither decent, competent, nor stable.
The crime bill. The Iraq war. The bankruptcy bill. Hair-sniffing. His incoherence. Lashing out at people who question any of his ideas (remember the push-up challenge?).
I could go on.
Republicans won't vote for him. This is the fatal mistake that Democrats keep making: the idea that leaders who prioritize corporations over people while pretending to be "decent" gives us anything other than what we have running this country right now.
Trump plays to the worst in people, and he does so very effectively. The Dems need to play to the best in people, not hope that some milquetoast non-threatening middle will energize its base the way Trump energizes the right.
7
@JM
Flawed and extreme? Better healthcare, decent minimum wage, better access to education? I guess all of us in the rest of the outside "civilized' world are "flawed and extreme".
7
We didn’t learn anything last night that an objective viewer of the primaries thus far didn’t already know. Add the totals for Pete, Joe and Amy from the first few contests, and they beat Bernie and Liz. It’s that simple. There is a greater drive from within the party to nominate a moderate, it’s simply that prior to last night, the moderate vote was being split. Now it’s not. And with Bloomberg out that’s going to tilt things even more in Joe’s favor.
Also don’t necessarily assume that when Ms. Warren leaves the race that her votes are going to Bernie. Last night, her own home state told her to pack it in. And they did so not by voting for another progressive, but by giving a resounding victory to a moderate who spent a grand total of $11,672 in the state and never even campaigned there. That tells me the majority of her voters are going to break for Joe.
Which leaves us where we have always been. Democratic socialism and “not me, us” always sounds great at rallies and in op-eds, but let’s just be honest: it doesn’t translate to votes. Bernie didn’t win anything that mattered last night. Any Democrat is going to win California. What we need to win is states like VA, NC, PA, OH, MI.
So while I would say let’s not get ahead of ourselves and especially let the above swing states vote, unless Bernie starts getting resounding victories in crucial states, you just can’t objectively make the argument that he should be the Democratic nominee. Sorry. The voters are speaking.
7
@Mike
Yep, but, it is not the voters that are speaking, it is the corporate/establishment elite who wished to maintain the "status quo", like in 2016, will lose to Donald Trump AGAIN and even the elites won't mind that either.
1
@Deus
No, it is the voters who are speaking. You are insulting the hundreds of thousands of voters who took time out of their day yesterday to go and cast their ballot for someone you don’t like. Those people didn’t vote because of the DNC or because of the establishment. They expressed their choice. I will never be able to understand why that’s so offensive to people like you.
1
@Mike Dems can't win without Berners. If there's no changes on offer, as Biden stubbornly promised, there's no big difference to Trump for desperate people.
Sanders two selling points: that young people would come out and that there would be a surge turned out to be not true. 18-30 years olds voted below their total population while the places where voting surged--e.g. Virginia--Biden won by huge margins.
7
@Ylem Virginia win happened because Washington insiders like James comey voted for Biden.
1
This is pretty much what happened in 2016, a big win for a center-left Democrat in South Carolina and then again on Super Tuesday against left wing populist candidate Bernie Sanders. If Sanders didn't get the message in 2016 maybe he will get it this time. Most Democrats do not want him as the party nominee. And why would they want Sanders who is leading an insurrection against the center-left, the wing of the party of Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. It was the center-left that overcame Reaganism to win the presidency in 1992 and again in 1996, 2008, and 2016, and only because of a fluke election in 2000 did not continue to win the presidency for 24 straight years. Their candidate did win the popular vote in every presidential election but one since 1992. But Sanders wants to give the center-left the boot and replace with it with a party dedicated to enacting democratic socialist programs or another new deal. Many Democrats probably concluded that Biden was not only a safer choice to defeat Trump but a much safer choice to help the Democrats win the Senate and House. They also, I think,they realize the US has an awful lot of conservatives and you just cannot bulldoze through these big government programs that require both soaking the rich and raising taxes on the middle class in all probability. The Democrats rejected Sanders in 2016 and it looks like they are doing it again.
9
@Bob If you think Bernie will get the message this time, you don't know Bernie.
1
@Bob Well look how well it turned out in 2016 with the so called center left candidate.
1
@Bob And like in 2016, the "moderate" corporate sellout with no ideas or platform will lose to Trump.
1
It is time for Mr. Biden to start reminding the US public how much of his ideas/plans actually coincide with those of Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. He needs to emphasize that in large they try to accomplish the same objectives, but his approach will be different. He wants to get them done without creating economic upheavals, potentially causing large scale US job loss.
11
@Eddie B. Lol that's funny. None of his ideas align with progressive goals. Then even if they did it wouldn't matter because he won't do any of it. He is the guy who said he won't change anything after all, in between telling people not to vote for him.
3
I will vocally support Mr. Biden if he is the Democratic nominee and work to get him elected. There is no question about this. There's even a distinct possibility that I could come to support him before the convention, although he has never been my first choice.
Siding with "the safest candidate" has often backfired for Democrats: Gore in 2000, Kerry in 2004, Hillary in 2008 (when she couldn't even claim the nomination) and Hillary again in 2016.
It's difficult to gauge the significance of victories in the South in the Democratic primaries. The question hanging in the air after yesterday is, Will Joe be able to deliver any of those states in the general election?
That said, an impressive supporting cast has lined behind the former Vice President. It has the making of a Fall 2020 Blockbuster. United, the Democrats have the numbers to defeat Trump.
It seems to me, however, that we're suddenly approaching a moment when the moderates will need to reach out to their progressive friends and reassure them that this party is big enough for all of us.
There has been a considerable amount of damaging rhetoric tossed around of late, most it it directed at the left. That needs to stop. Now.
This isn't a time to be sheepish about what we believe in. The moderates desperately need the passion and the energy of the progressives.
Democrats don't have the luxury of building campaigns solely based on fear. We need to run on faith and hope. Give that to us, Joe.
10
@rjk
Everyone forgets, ultimately, it is the corporate/establishment that is pulling the strings here, NOT the candidates. Their priority is maintaining the "status quo" otherwise they would have been accepting of Sanders policies, they are NOT and never will be.
2
@rjk There is nothing center right Democrats can do to bridge that gap imo. I already left the party because of them. They've made it abundantly clear I'm not welcome in the party and neither are those who hold policy positions like mine.
Well-written article, nicely articulated. I believe either can defeat Trump; I'm rooting for Biden and voting for whoever gets the nomination.
4
I would rather Joe Biden carried the Democrat torch than Bernie Sanders. I'm an Elizabeth Warren supporter so today feels very defeating in so many ways. However, I will absolutely support whomever is the Democrat nominee, because it will take all of us standing together to defeat Trump.
18
Why is it so hard to govern from the middle. De-emphasize the ideology. Why develop policy for only half of the population.
4
@mark
For people without health insurance and those whose families would be bankrupted by paying premiums and the maximum out-of-pocket in successive years battling a major or chronic illness, Medicare for All is not ideology. Neither is a $15 minimum wage ideology for minimum wage workers. Those are life and death survival issues. Why develop policy for them, you ask? Because they are our fellow citizens.
Perhaps because Democrats have caved to the Republicans so much that the center line is far,far to the right and will only balance itself if it swings far to the left
Moderate Americans have won, it is that simple, and without early voting Biden would have won by a wider margin and more states
including CA.
It is time for Sanders to do the right thing and reign in his giant ego in check to avoid a repeat of 2015 when Sanders unwillingness to let go literally elected trump.
Keep your eyes on the price, we cannot afford 4 more years of trump.
6
It was interesting to see zero comments on CNN last night discussing the need for Senator Warren to get out of the race and clear the progressive lane, like Buttigieg and Klobuchar did for Biden. If you look at the numbers, had Warren done so Sanders would have most likely easily taken Maine, Texas, Minnesota and Massachusetts and today would be a different story. An ambitious politician Warren is probably holding out hope for a VP slot, you know the progressive balance to the ticket. Who knows what she is thinking. Old Joe's cabinet?
The Elephant in this room is Joe Biden's increasing inability to speak coherently in a public setting. Sure we want a decent man or woman to represent the movement to unseat Trump but Biden has shown very little ability to articulate policy. He is maudlin. When accepting Buttigieg's endorsement he repeated himself for almost ten minutes and seemed to get totally lost in the moment. You know what being lost is a euphemism for.
And this unprecedented anti-Bernie is a disguise for anti-progressive thinking. Watching and reading the news this past week was another reminder that many of those running the media and shaping the debate are members of the 1%...
20
@Bill Cullen, Author
But I'm going to say this again: When one shows outward contempt for the 1%, some of whom do control the media, why would one be surprised to encounter opposition? Bernie's tone was the first problem, and still is -- although not the only problem. If a candidate comes across as a destroyer, do not expect the objects of destruction to support him. If, instead, the candidate can find a way to appeal to what Obama described as "our better angels," IIOW, to appeal to the consciences of the 1% and to obtain their participation in something other than greed and domination, then structural change is more likely. There are in fact rich people with consciences and rich people who favor restraints on wealth. One thing is true about rich people: they not only love their money, they also love their influence and a sense of satisfaction that that has the power to become their legacies.
1
Super Tues results didn’t reflect an anti-Sanders bias. They were genuinely pro-Biden. For all of the media’s and pundits’ preoccupation with the Biden’s occasional bumbling and seques down side-trails, these are the very qualities that help convey his decency, his genuineness, his humanness. He’s authentic in ways that lead many people to identify with him. Couple this with his fortitude in the face of personal tragedy and deep experience in both domestic and international affairs, and you have a very appealing candidate many feel they can trust to lead this country out of the Trump nightmare. His messages and persona resonate with many more voters than the media give him credit for. A request from this reader: it would be great if commentators would refrain from superficial criticisms about his speaking manner and elder statesman status—they are offensive for their obvious ageism and bias against those who have struggled with very human challenges like childhood stuttering.
9
@SeatoShiningSea
Good points.
Are we all in favor of Sanders progressive populist policies or not? That seems to be the primary question to liberal Democrats. That's not it. It is a question of beating Donald Trump.
We also hear the fractured logic, "well, Hillary lost" to Trump with the implied conclusion that therefore a far left progressive and self acclaimed "Socialist" can win against Trump.
If the only difference in 2016 was that if Sanders "never Hillary" voters all voted for Hillary instead of not voting, she could have won. Then there was the e-mail scandal a week before the election and the fact that Hillary seemingly ignored the needs of mainstream blue collar workers instead of women't rights. Hillary had a 3M vote advantage, just not in the right states and she lost by a paltry 77,000 votes.
Why do we think "Medicare for all" will create an up-welling of support for Mr. Sanders in the general electorate. Republicans have tried 3 times to eliminate Obamacare and are close to being successful in the current federal lawsuit. They have nothing to replace it with. That actual history of Obamacare says clearly that Medicare for All will not win; it will lose.
I'm for Medicare for All 100%. But, guess what, we won't get it when Trump wins and we won't get it if Republicans continue to hold the Senate.
One little bit of encouragement for liberal voters. American demographics are swinging wildly to the left with the growth of young disaffected voters and minorities. Give it 10 years.
8
Going from one extreme to the other...exactly what will be the case if Sanders gets the nomination. I am not convinced Sanders wouldn’t beat Trump in the gen. election. However, I believe the tea leaves are indicating that most Dems, as well as any independents and moderates able to vote in these primaries, are coming to the realization that socialism is not the best answer to white nationalist extremism.
Sanders raises the flag on some important, core issues. But I believe Biden is the one that can go punch for punch with Trump, can bring some civility back to The WH, and can withstand the strong opposition the far right will put up when the Dems regain the White House. However, the campaign boxing match will be brutal, and the Dems need to consolidate their resources to fight back accordingly. The first punch Trump is going to throw will be to re-visit the Biden-Ukraine issue, and it will be no surprise if the Adminlaunches a full-fledged, formal investigation led by AG Barr, and this will be further twisted into some kind of fantasy that it was the Dems colluding with the Russians in 2016 to affect the election, and Trump will portray himself as the conquering hero fighting corruption and international interference in U.S. elections. As we all know, the preliminary groundwork is set for all of this. Biden will do well to hone in on Trump’s propensity to coddle dictators and authoritarian regimes, white nationalists, and the extreme religious right.
3
I feel sad for America.
All the major Western Nations have
National Health Care.
Perhaps Bernie could have led to the US to having the same,
whatever Biden does as President, he won't do that
and so the Elites will still dominate America
and when you are sitting at home looking at Medical Bills
that will bankrupt you, or just go off the phone to the
Insurance company that just denied payment for any
life saving treatment, even though you pay them thousands
of dollars a month...
6
28 years ago I cast my first vote in a presidential election, for Bill Clinton. My main issue then: universal health care. The Clintons said, while they were campaigning as a two-fer, that this would be their priority. I was active in two women's groups (WAC and WHAM!) that helped get out the vote on that issue and we had high hopes.
28 years later, the Democratic establishment is still saying, wait: we must move more slowly on this.
We are at least 50 years behind our peer nations on this, the only advanced industrial nation not to provide universal healthcare for all citizens or view healthcare as a human right. We have the most expensive healthcare system and are the only advanced nation with a healthcare industry that makes a profit from our citizens' health (or lack therof).
How many unnecessary deaths or permanent disabilities over the decades from lack of affordable care? How many medical bankruptcies? How much unnecessary spreading of disease?
I will vote in the primaries and then I am done with the Democratic Party. After 28 years, I will change my party affiliation to independent.
On healthcare, on climate change, we are out of time tinkering at the edges. In Biden, an insipid candidate in obvious mental decline with a lot of baggage ensures four more years of Trump and white nationalism. The Democratic Party is dysfunctional and does not learn from its mistakes. Neither does the media. As Les Moonves said, Donald Trump is bad for America but good for CBS.
8
I just hope Biden is not this rounds Hillary. I want Bernie, he is the anti-Trump.
5
I have a question while I'm still trying to discover what the single, unifying message or issue of Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign was: What's the single, unifying message or issue of Joe Biden's 2020 campaign?
Biden's "ascension" is nothing more than a kick of the can to the Obama-style of Democratic governance: platitude after platitude while being strong-armed by a GOP Senate.
Meanwhile, the gap between the Ultra Rich and the "Middle Class" advances at light speed.
Biden's emergence is far from progress. It's a Pause Button on the Trump Horror series.
6
Elizabeth Warren should also drop out of the race for the presidency. She had very nasty things to say about Michael Bloomberg, but is unable to face the fact that she does not have support to win the Democratic nomination.
1
Mr. Biden, an awesome Vice President would be Mr. Bloomberg!
2
@Patrick McGowan
I'm surprised to find myself agreeing with this, but I do, for some reason I can't quite articulate. On the other hand, that's two septuagenarians on the same ticket. How about Tulsi or Amy as VP?
The safest bet, right?
That is what they said about Hilary.
7
We're doomed.
No one really prefers Biden, but everyone over 45 thinks (incorrectly) that he's the best bet against Trump.
They are tragically mistaken.
Biden is clearly in mental decline.
Did you see him not be able to finish the sentence “All men are created...”?
https://deadline.com/2020/03/trevor-noah-confused-by-joe-biden-gaffes-1202872949/
Trump will crush him.
When we could have had Bernie — and a progressive "Morning in America" that reinvigorated the Democratic Party the way Reagan revived the GOP.
Instead, Trump will be reelected.
Over-45-year-olds' destruction of the world continues.
9
@Hmmm
"When we could have had Bernie — and a progressive "Morning in America" that reinvigorated the Democratic Party the way Reagan revived the GOP."
Very, very wrong. Reagan's ad was positive and uplifting, if slick. Bernie's message is a mix of unrestrained contempt for the rich and hysterical revolutionary rhetoric on the positive side. This is not just a problem in terms of the content of both sides of his message. It's a problem because it suggests to voters that they will never be rich themselves because wealth (1) is evil and/or (2) is impossible to attain. It is a profoundly non-idealistic message, actually, because it opposes the concept of possibility and opportunity: two central American ideals. That is why people who believe they have nothing to lose because they will never much to gain voted in mass numbers for him.
1
How many of these so-called Super Tueday states are open primaries? Is it possible these results are tainted by non-Democrats influencing the results?
2
@Tim Lynch
People always raise that specter with open primaries, citing cases here and there of mischievous intent. But the numbers are statistically insignificant. The more common reason for people to cross party lines in open primaries is that they genuinely dislike their party's candidate and would cross party lines in the general election if their preferred alternative were on the ballot. That's what open primaries are supposed to do. There were no races close enough last night for mischief-making to be a concern worth spending any time on.
2
@RRI
I wasn't implying that. Just on a procedural view when the convention convenes.
Lose again by being too timid to recognize and embrace the sort of dramatic change which is required. Aside from his very limited skills as an orator and lack of imagination, Joe Biden is the classic glad-handing shill of corporate America who has defined the descent of the Democratic Party into Reagan-lite.
3
Ths country is governed center right... not center left. It's not a difficult reach for a liberal Repub to vote for Biden. Sanders would be a reach too far.
81
The Times tried to put the best face on it for Sanders, but there’s no getting around it: this was a massive rejection of Sanders and his politics of rage, division and exclusion.
The public understands there will be no progress in this country while we remain divided. If we are to address issues of inequality, health care, gun violence and climate change, we must first come together.
There is no better candidate to begin this process of healing than Joe Biden. For that very reason, there’s no better candidate to beat Trump. And Trump knows it.
16
@Ron Cohen nope. No rejection of Sanders, he remains as popular as in 2016. Invisible to most eyes Sanders foot soldiers have won seats from town halls to school committees to county seats to state, women, people of color. Here in white Waltham you cannot fathom the effect Sanders revolution has had country wide. 2018 mid term elections were proof but it’s an on going phenomenon.
2
@Ron Cohen
This:
"this was a massive rejection of Sanders and his politics of rage, division and exclusion."
Thank you. Young people are comfortable with radical positions, including non-pragmatic ideals. The rest of the world is not.
3
Without control of Congress, there is no safe bet.
A Democrat-controlled Congress can pass good legislation, some of which Trump will sign, since he will no longer need to campaign for re-election.
A Republican Congress with the best president the Dems can get will accomplish nothing, and may produce four or eight years with eight or seven Supreme Court justices.
If Bernie is that President, the Republican governor of Vermont will appoint a Republican to replace him, costing a senate seat.
The battle for Congress is where we should focus our attention, efforts and money.
8
They hope he is the safest bet, if Biden does not win at least they have Trump and not Sanders. Biden and Trump are the choice the two party establishment allows. Biden will not fight for any change, it will just be back to normal, the corporate elite wins no matter what.
20
Remind me...what’re your objections, again, to the terrible normal Paris Accords, Iran nuke deal, improved CAFE standards and pollution control, relief on student loans, giving immigrants and refugees a break, regulating Wall Street, and all-round intelligent competence?
3
@ARL
Safe bets from the past, Hillary Clinton, Al Gore, John Kerry, Michael Dukakis, Walter Mondale, Hubert Humphrey.
Barack Obama was regarded as an outlier who offered "hope and change" and because he was also the first black candidate deemed "unelectable". "Safe" democratic candidates may be fine in front of the electorate, but, it seems they don't have much success winning.
2
Two old guys.
Both with lots of experience, but one (Biden) with a more complete resume.
One with a cranky old man personna, one with a polished, (perhaps TOO polished) personna, but who approaches the issues calmly and understands that the system must be worked from within.
One who is far more attractive on camera (yes, I think it still matters.)
One with some still shadowy baggage (Biden) which he needs to take head-on, and acknowledge ANY lapses in judgement, and apologize. Also state that any action was in tandem with official US policy.
I am feeling better today.
6
Biden isn't just the "safest" bet, but he is by far the most appropriate for these times. We (meaning the country as a whole) can ill afford to follow up Trump with a President like Sanders, who is often as bombastic and divisive as Trump himself.
Given the challenges we're facing in 2021 and going forward, having calm, steady leadership for all will prove itself to be far more important than making some symbolic and sure to fail attempt at passing Medicare for All.
7
@Kristin
It seems American have set the bar pretty low for themselves these days.
1
@Kristin He's beginning to look a lot like Dukakis.
1
@Deus - Actually, given how fractured we've become, how commonplace it has become to relate to our fellow human like drunks spoiling for a fight, I think that Joe Biden's qualities are quite rare, and valuable. If anything, those of us who hold that in high regard have far higher standards than those who just want to mow over everyone in their path to get what they want.
Politically I'm closer to Sanders.
But Biden is a good guy. Importantly, most importantly, he turned out a huge vote. People stood in line for hours.
Now - they should not have to stand in line for hours. This is voter suppression.
When we've kicked the Republicans out of office we fix that.
7
Wow, a deeply entrenched Establishment candidate with lots of personal baggage running on the idea that "everything is fine as long as I'm on the throne"? Sounds familiar. Remember how well that strategy went in 2016?
31
Yes, I do remember. If people unify behind the candidate who is left standing going into November instead of staying home in protest because they didn’t get their way, that won’t happen again. We’ll see whether or not voters who employed that strategy in 2016 have learned their lesson about choice and consequence.
12
@Blaire
I remember McGovern in 1972. He gave us Richard Nixon.
Thanks. Let's do THAT again.
2
@Christian
No, I think those voters that see the dismal direction the country is headed felt this time around, they were no longer going to be satisfied with the "lesser of two evils".
2
Finally. Well done. Good to see. There will be a lot of ugliness coming, from both the left and right, but as long as the focus remains on the goal, as it seems to be, that's all that matters.
4
Pete Buttigieg, by dropping out when he still had a full war chest and after winning Iowa, helped to make this reassuring Biden victory possible, and I and millions of his other devoted supporters will not forget Pete taking a bullet for the team.
Pete Buttigieg for VEEP.
4
Elizabeth Warren just hit the glass ceiling. She won every debate and is yet to win a single state. This is why we cannot have nice things. It is a real pity... but I guess the people will get what they deserve. If we cannot go big, I think Biden is the best "not Trump" we have to offer. I do not think that Sanders is able to build his support beyond his base... and depending on the youth vote to defeat the "red hat" crowd is not a wise gamble. They have all the skin in this game, but are just not old enough to understand the consequences of inaction.
6
@Pattonn
To dismiss the youth and their influence is to do so at your peril. In accepting the so-called "safe" corporate/establishment candidate as the answer to Trump, when it comes to dealing with the important issues of climate change, better healthcare, access to education, student debt,etc., no matter who wins the Presidency, just on these issues alone, your "safe" choice and Trump may have just led to the destruction of the future of those millions of youths who are very concerned about where it is all going to lead.
The two entities that "aren't" concerned are Donald Trump and corporate/establishment democrats of which Joe Biden is a card carrying member.
@Deus Blue no matter who... If Bernie can win the nomination, you better believe that I will vote for him, but I do not think he will. Even with the solid backing of the Kremlin and an organization that exceeds Biden's in every way he lost to a candidate that no one is very excited about. If youth could get it done it would have done so yesterday... and the one thing that I absolutely believe is that Trump voters will show up in droves on election day. If Bernie going to lead that fight, then he needs to show that he can win votes across the board. This is an election... and the best way to show that you can win is to win. Right now Biden looks like much more of a winner... even if he has a much less exciting platform for change.
Rooted for Biden last night and believe the Dems now have a fighting chance in November if they continue to coalesce around him in the remaining primaries.
But this article rightly raises the risks attendant to Biden that could erode people's confidence over the course of a grueling campaign schedule.
Borrowing from Tom Friedman's article a week or so ago, Biden needs to announce soon the people he would bring into his Cabinet and possibly even his VP pick. These picks need to appear with him on the campaign trail. Knowing he has a solid team backing him up would be a big voter-confidence booster.
3
@Maura3
Biden is almost guaranteed to select a person of color for his VP. I personally hope that he chooses Cory Booker.
4
@vineyridge
YES YES YES! My man Cory from the beginning. Thank you for mentioning this. He's younger than Biden and definitely a unifier. He could bring in some young votes, i.m.o.
3
Sanders has flat lined. The majority of his supporters live in the land of shallow dreams. The idea of free everything always draws people to his ideas. Many young kids who have not lived long enough or paid enough taxes or bills fail to understand Newton’s third law of motion, every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Ergo you can never, ever hope to get anything free anywhere. He is right, we must finally walk towards a government mandated health care. Had he focused his energies on that single point instead of being greedy, he might have made more headway with voters. But he is a divisive figure like Trump, sowing hate. I will be glad to vote Biden in, even though he was not my choice for leader. I sure hope he brings a great woman as his VP.
7
No, Corporate media and the DNC establishment has decided Biden is the safe bet.
While worlds better than Trump, he’s still in the hands of corporates America.
13
@Brett Mack He's owned by the credit card industry.
1
@Brett Mack
When you're a candidate who proudly and gleefully creates enemies, expect your enemies to come after you -- perhaps waiting for the right timing to do so.
Joe Biden has made it very clear to progressive independents like myself that we are not "true" democrats and, therefore, should give him out vote and then go to the sidelines and shut up. He claims moderation is the only path and people do not want revolution. This is a false assertion. Moderates have never given our citizens anything of consequence. Social Security and Medicare were not moderate ideas, they were radical. Civil rights and gay marriage were not moderate ideals, they were progressive. The constitution and bill of rights were not fermented by moderate Tories, rather, they were fomented by revolutionaries.
If the Democratic Party seeks safe harbor with Joe Biden I remind you of the words Benjamin Franklin once said: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
Let the revolution begin!
20
"John Kerry, Al Gore and Hillary Clinton,” said Rebecca Kirszner Katz, a veteran progressive strategist. “All safe choices.”
Gore lost because the SC negated the legitimate votes of tens of thousands of Floridians. In the incomplete total, Gore was less than 1,000 votes behind and would have easily made up that gap. Clinton won the popular vote by 3 million and lost because of an obsolete electoral system that hugely favors republicans. And who knows what voter suppression occurred in both elections. If Sanders were still to win the nomination, he'd be absolutely destroyed in the general. So spare me these sour grapes and selective memories.
2
@steve true! But this time the DNC need not repeat its mistakes. They have to make sure the VP ticket is progressive. If they can’t invite Bernie, they should ask Liz Warren or someone who fits the progressive ticket. Together a centrist plus a progressive will make a strong team and get out the vote in November.
But if DNC wants to repeat its mistake it will ignore Bernie’s supporters and pretend their voice does not exist.
2
@steve
As far as Sanders is concerned on what evidence do you base your assumption that he would be destroyed in the general? All the polls say quite different.
Just imagine how little work the pundits would have had for weeks and months had the Democratic Party foregone the ridiculous caucus in Iowa and the unrepresentative primary in New Hampshire. I sincerely hope that, going forward, the system will change so that the REAL candidate who represents to overwhelming number of votes of the Democratic Party can be defined early and clarity can be seen through the muck of these endless debates. There can be no doubt IN HONEST MINDS that Biden is the man to stand for the Democrats. Warren is a hopeless egotist and Sanders isn't a Democrat at all (and should not be allowed to call himself one under any circumstances). It was Biden who brought out record numbers of voters last night and while I absolutely had my doubts and might have called him "sleepy" in private, I am more than joyous that he's rejuvenated his campaign and I DO think that he will be able to send the gangster-president packing in November and thank heaven for that!
5
@ManhattanWilliam
Agreed, William. Now with the full support of the Bloomberg campaign behind Biden, the race will likely come down to two in NY. Always thought Biden would win NY, but maybe we’ll get to push him over the top.
1
I can see the campaign stickers now:
Biden 2020 -- He's still alive!
It's incredibly sad that we are basically down to three white men whose ages will be 74, 78, and 78 at the time of the next inauguration. This is a travesty. Warren should stay.
7
The Coronavirus is breathing down our necks and voters want a candidate who only wants to make incremental changes to healthcare. Biden will relieve the pain of Trump and make them "feel good" again.
I guess I have a different notion of "feeling good."
11
No safer with a mike than he ever was? Might make a gaffe now and then? Compared to our dear leader’s default meanness, how endearing.
It’d be worth reminding folks who question Biden’s (or Warren’s, or Sanders’) electability: Trump already lost once, and rather resoundingly, to Hillary Clinton in the popular vote.
Even with his incumbent’s advantage, Trump is wildly unpopular and could probably be beaten by Caligula’s horse — explaining why even an unlikable long-shot like Bloomberg felt it was worth his time (and a trifling half-billion of his 55 billion dollars) to take a shot at the Oval Office.
Today’s news-flavored entertainment media are so loathe to take responsibility for 2016’s debacle, they’ve created the myth of some under-reported cave-dwelling demographic just lurking until Election Day for an opportunity to re-elect Trump.
But no, if Trump is “re-elected” it’ll be due to structural imbalances still giving rabid extremists sway over the rest of us, which a single election won’t fix, combined with a repeat of 2016’s lazy reporting, which favors conflict and the outlandish over ordinary citizens’ issues or issue-driven candidates.
Lazy reporting creates an electorate who, rather than voting for what sort of country they want, vote based only on “who’s electable” — reminding me of Keynes‘ description of a strange beauty contest: judges who judge by guessing what the other judges will judge.
Perhaps that’s a good metric for optimizing short-term gain, but in a democracy it’s a sure recipe for a race to the bottom: your readers stepping over princes and princesses to instead kiss all the frogs.
2
I want Michelle Obama as his V.P. (and Barack on the Supreme Court).
3
@Sweetbetsy yes keep it all in the family Trump style...true "democracy" at work
1
Bide is the best choice. I sincerely hope he appoints Hillary Clinton as Attorney General and Comey Special
Prosecutor.
GO JOE GO
what's funny is that these columns were obviously written before results came in. ....and they are still coming in.
It shows what a folly it is to pretend to know what's going to, should, or has happened.
Accept it; we don't know because there's several more innings left to play and
'it aint over 'till it's over.'
1
Biden is the whitest bet and the dullest. He didn't win, everyone got out of his way. Bloomberg was knocked out by Warren and the others acquiesced. What about California? Sanders leads by 11%. Safe Bet? Hardly....
11
Good luck winning with Joe Biden?
10
Stacey Abrams for vice president.
3
@Don
Shouldn't she win over her own state first?
1
I think Alexandra Petri said it best in her article yesterday "I just remembered Joe Biden is fine."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/03/03/i-just-remembered-joe-biden-is-fine/
We will regret is a lot if he wins.
“John Kerry, Al Gore and Hillary Clinton,” said Rebecca Kirszner Katz, a veteran progressive strategist. “All safe choices.”
my point exactly. the timidity and flight reflex of democrats is dismaying.
republicans block judge garland and conspire with foreign nations, and democrats think "gosh, we gotta help heal this country and reach across the aisle!"
meanwhile, the stone rolled from the sepulcher, biden was raised from the dead and came forth to show his public service stigmata. bravo for the stage magic. but this was a theatrical resurrection orchestrated by every sinew of the party establishment. (guess where the superdelegates are headed.)
now it all depends on biden's choice for VP, because that person will likely end up in the oval office within the next four years.
2
When Trump gaffes and acts like an idiot, the GOP rally around him and say, "Well that's just Trump, being Trump"
So going forward into Campaign 2020.. The same deference must be granted for Joe!
"That's just Joe being Joe!"
And believe me Ole' Joe is going to need a lot of deference!
3
@Aaron does joe even remember he voted for Iraq war that just went on and on destroying what was once ancient civilization Mesopotamia?
Joe Biden and Democratic voters have defeated the Bernie Sanders "revolution." Biden pulled off upsets in the Midwest and Northeast and DOMINATED Bernie in the South! Try to find more accurate predictions than mine, it won't be easy https://realcontextnews.com/the-best-guide-to-super-tuesday-no-seriously-bidens-got-this-and-the-nomination/
So the same guy who is on video talking about he liked it when kids rubbed the hair on his legs, and how he liked it when they sit on his lap, and is on multiple different videos with his hands very creepily rubbing women and young girls, with that incessant elongated kiss while sniffing their hair - is our best hope to beat Trump?
In a great economy?
Seriously?
10
“John Kerry, Al Gore and Hillary Clinton,” said Rebecca Kirszner Katz, a veteran progressive strategist. “All safe choices.”
Hmmm. How come I don't remember a President George McGovern?
3
Since when is a Joe Biden “center left?”
1
This thing already looks like a re-tread of 2016..
Except that Joe is even more dull than Hillary (if that's possible).
7
I like Joe but I like Bernie's policies better. He just needs to turn the volume down to 6 instead of 11--which I predict he will because some of the "Bro" media outlets are asking him to.
We need change not more of the same.
5
I'm tired of Biden being called "safe". He's not safe, he's centrist.
Give voters more credit.
He's more progressive than the media seems to give him credit for. He's never said that he'd keep things "status quo", even if he does speak of the past or returning to a time of normalcy. What we're dealing with now is better?
New ideas can always be implemented, but what no one really wants to be pulled from one extreme direction to the other. The president does need to look at all sides. There's a plethora of people from all walks of life in this country and speaking of division will never be the solution even if it comes from a different side.
3
@Tiphany
Your right. He did raise his hand at that debate when asked if they would decriminalize crossing our border illegally.
Go to his website. When you get past the 7 or 8 "please donate" screens, you get to his 5 page "plan" on immigration. Filled with closing detention centers, amnesty for illegal immigrants here already, amnesty for anyone showing up at the border, retraining ICE, DACA, and every you open border policy you could imagine to incentivise every foreigner south of the border to ignore our immigration law and cross the border illegally.
Yeah, he's pretty progressive alright.
2
Biden's victory over Trump shows panic on the part of Democrats, not strength. They understand what Sander's nomination would mean: a 100 percent certain landslide victory for Trump. But they haven't dodged the bullet. All of Biden's very significant weaknesses remain: the probability of multiple brain-freezes during debates and on the stump; a very long record as a Democrat loyalist who has taken positions that are anathema to the left and to the right; his support for the Iraq war; what will be heightened scrutiny of his and his son's shady financial dealings in Ukraine, China, etc. There is also the likelihood of a bitterly fought-out convention, possibly as contentious as the one in 1968. Sanders and his supporters won't "go gentle into that good night." Only one third of the delegates were chosen last night, and it's likely that Sanders' people -- far more enthusiastic than Biden's -- will pull off more victories. If the Democrat establishment tries to deny him again --it's certain that he and his delegates will walk out of the convention and sit out the election. That rupture, on top of Biden's well-known weaknesses as a candidate, will also produce a Trump landslide.
7
Any consideration given to the possibility that non-Bernie supporters will sit out the election if he is the nominee?
3
Christian,
Excellent question. My guess is that given the yawning chasm between them ideologically and temperamentally the same phenomenon will may apply. Also, the Bernie fanatics are still furious over what they see as a rigged convention in 2016. The sense that the Establishment will gang up against them again was undoubtedly reinforced by the instant endorsements Biden got from the candidates that exited the contest. Their endorsements certainly helped Biden on Super Tuesday, but they may come to regret piling on so quickly, which reinforces paranoia about the Establishment. And let's not forget that there's a long way to go until the convention. It's a tough question with no easy answer. I think that Biden supporters -- should Sanders capture the nomination -- are going to feel stuck between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea. They don't want a socialist nor do they want Trump, whom most despise. I do think many will decide not to cast a ballot at all.
I cant bear to see whats going to happen when all those videos start getting played 24/7 showing Joe putting his hands all over women and young girls.
Eeewww
8
@SportsMedicine
I can't bear to see what happens when all those videos start getting played showing Bernie praising Fidel Castro (goodbye Florida!)
I'm in North Carolina. Biden could win NC. Bernie--not a chance.
4
@slim1921
You mean what Obama said( he said the same thing).
Trump will shred Bernie and Biden. No one wants a socialist/communist who doesn’t know how he can pay for anything and Biden can’t put a thought together.
Capitalism rules.
Trump 2020
3
@Nycdweller
Isnt it cute how some think Biden could beat Trump?
Bless their souls.
And Trump can put a thought
together!?
1
@Nycdweller:
"Biden can't put a thought together"? You wrote "Biden" instead of "Trump."
1
Cue the Senate and FBI and Justice investigation of Hunter Biden. The Dems walked right into it. Again.
10
@The Poet McTeagle We'll see. I am not sure they can play that hand again with house money like last time and expect to win--if anything, it would probably further coalesce Biden's support, as it would seem more of the same overt electoral interference they've already tried before. Not saying they won't try, anything is possible with that crowd, as we've seem the last three years.
2
It seems that Bloomberg's formidable machine will now come in play. Biden, bumbling as he is, will need to be hoisted somehow into The Oval Office; over with the malarkey...
Vote Blue!
3
Biden will be the next Dukakis, Mondale. The slid into dictatorship continues.
6
@Curry
And Bernie will be the next McGovern
See what I did there?
1
If Biden is the nominee, his Veep can be Anita Hill.
3
The establishment got their dream candidate. Replay of 2016. Another four years of Trump. At least I live in California so I don’t have to vote for this useless corporate clown.
9
Thanks to Matt Flegenheimer for an intelligent and sober look at Super Tuesday and where the Democratic party seems to be at. I would not characterize Biden as "center-left"--maybe a long time ago in the days of the public defender or the young politician. Today, I would place him, along with much of the post-Clinton Democratic Party, at solidly center-right. The post-Clinton, risk averse Democratic Party seems to be suffering (sans Sanders) from a paucity of new ideas. To the extent that Biden can articulate an agenda it's same old, same old--a return to 2008. To the extent that the Democratic Party can combat post-Reagan advances on the right, it's done little more than offer us "Republican-lite". Tragically, this has allowed the political center of gravity in this country to slide so far to the right that fascism is now viable in the U.S. and we've got Donald Trump, possibly another 4 years of him. Biden may be the "safest bet", or it may be that Donald Trump is going to mop the floor with him. I don't count Bernie out. I do wish Elizabeth Warren would bow out so that Sander can come to the convention with as many delegates as possilbe.
Again, thanks.
8
To think that the Bernie Bro’s would try to ruin it for Biden is not just un-American but it’s exactly what disqualifies Sanders as the nominee, when it’s more about him than the overall health of the country (meaning everything from getting Trump out of office to restoring the faith in our institutions and constitution).
The Sanders base may very well prove to be neither better nor more un-American than the Trump base.
7
Haven't these folks seen the numbers on how a "safe" dem fairs in national elections? Dismal numbers - guess what? We lost every time. Now, my only hope is to take the senate somehow to keep Trump from gutting our democracy even further.
2
You mean the far left Obama and (Bill) Clinton, as opposed to the safe, centrist McGovern (who I whole-heartedly supported as an all-knowing 18-year-old)?
1
Young Dems will not turn out for Biden. But, then again, when has the youth vote ever delivered on its promise?
This primary has been a catastrophe, with promising candidates dropping out in response to their loss of momentum, or some other phantasm invented by the media.
3
I Don’t normally watch tv but have been staying with friends who watch cnn and msnbc. For the past week on numerous shows the party line is that only Biden can beat trump. I think this swayed a lot of Super Tuesday voters. I also think it is putting us on the same path as the 2016 election. I will vote blue no matter what, but can only hope that if Biden, with his age -related issues and Burisma allegations, will pick the right vp to beat trump, if he is the nominee. (Like Hillary before, it seems like a done deal by the dnc.)
6
Democrats realize that Bernie Sanders is a self centered grumpy old man that cost us the last election.
As regards California, I did my best to push the Biden campaign by standing in line until 10:10 p.m. to give him my vote.
Unfortunately the young people don't realize that losing an election to the GOP won't get them any closer to resolving women's healthcare rights, solving the student debt problem, resolving immigration, etc.
10
@Steve Gabel
So, how are we, according to you, going to resolve womens healthcare rights? What rights are women being denied? I hope youre not talking about tax payer funded abortions??
And how do we "solve" the student debt problem?
Cancel all debt?
And how do we "resolve" immigration?
Amnesty? Open the border?
Well we know what Trump wants....discord and animosity between the two campaigns' supporters; and ultimately for BOTH to run, one as the Democrat nominee and one as an Independent/third party candidate.
That would definately lead to Trump's reelection; with all of us who WILL NOT vote for Trump splitting our votes.
We can not let that happen.
2
The Democrats will look back at this day and realize that today is the day that they gave the election to Trump. Sanders is the only one with a message with anything to offer. Conservatives care about guns, abortion and the economy. Biden has absolutely nothing conservatives want.
15
Yesterday's results show money can't always buy happiness in politics. Now that Bloomberg has dropped out, I hope he keeps his wallet open to support the eventual nominee and down-ballot races like the Senate.
The media blitz by Bloomberg and Tom Steyer was a public service for Democrats. They promoted Democratic causes like healthcare, climate change and defeating Trump. They didn't win, but I appreciate their participation for the greater good.
7
For all the complaints about the unrepresentative quality of the Iowa and New Hampshire Democratic electorate, the folks in those states had the opportunity--and devoted the time--to examine and discern the inherent weaknesses of Joe Biden's candidacy.
Apparently the historically astute, and often progressive, Democrats in Massachusetts and Minnesota found themselves too financially well-off to duly consider the deep-seated inequities raised and righteously addressed by Bernie Sanders' candidacy. Half a century ago Robert Kennedy identified such citizens as "too comfortable" and challenged them to be "less comfortable," to look beyond self interests and embrace issues of economic justice.
As Matt Flegenheimer makes critically clear, "risk-averse" choices for supposedly safe Democratic candidates have not done well in recent elections. The multi-tiered existential threats inherent in Trump's presidency will dutifully get out the Democratic vote. But a resounding victory, which would include winning the Senate, is not possible without passion.
And it will be difficult to generate passion for a candidate who remains "...no safer with a microphone, no likelier to complete a thought without exaggeration or bewildering detour." Be careful what you wish for.
8
@Peter Myette So your left-wing fantasy is that somehow having a declared socialist at the top of the ticket will help us win Senate seats in places like Arizona.
Where is the evidence that Bernie is bringing millions of new voters out to vote?
Where is the evidence!?!
It was a nice hypothesis. It appears to have been refuted.
Are you going to recognize reality when it's staring you in the face? Or stick to what has now been shown to be a nice little fantasy?
1
Here's the deal. Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada had processes that made it hard for the average citizen to have his/her voice heard. Then we get toe South Carolina and the floodgates opened. When there is true primary election voting, more people participate rather than motivated, hard core supporters. Biden is the choice of the people. That's the reality.
And let me point to Virginia. Turnout was at an all-time him, by far. This suggests that the motivation of the people, at least in Virginia, is to be rid of Trump. If that trend continues to other states, maybe we can clean house at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
7
The results of Super Tuesday gives the "Democratic establishment," as Bernie Sanders calls it, the perfect rejoinder to the Sanders claim that only he can defeat Donald Trump. Sanders' argument is that he would unleash a titanic surge of new voters, a previously dormant political force that only waits for the right candidate to animate it. If that were so, where was it on Super Tuesday? Sanders can only claim to be a legitimate alternative to Biden or any other traditional Democrat if he can't defeat them in the party's nominating melee contest.
80
@Fred Musante
It's not over yet.. And Joe did well, but he's still a babbling, weak candidate.
.. - Somehow the Dems dialed up the same losing scenario they had in 2016.
.. Amazing!
16
@Fred Musante
They must be in the same places the people the GOP claims do not affect the election but still work so hard to make sure they cannot vote.
4
@mike The reason we lost 2016 is because Sanders people stabbed HC in the back. Let's hope this does not happen again.
5
It's more than just having a centrist in the WH that everyone can get behind. it's also just as important to have control of Congress and the Senate. These are key to undoing the harm this current administration has done.
8
Tuesday possibly reflected the simple reality that approximately 15-20 percent of the country adores Bernie and the rest of the country neither adores nor even likes him. And, as for the writer’s apparent assessment that Biden is stumbling and blasé, it has become apparent that media election pundits often overly fixate on aspects of the race that best support bloviating (like Bloomberg ad buys and the elaborateness of candidate “ground games”) and not on a meaningful assessment of viable candidates (which likely would be less scintillating). The best debaters do not necessarily make the best presidents and, certainly, the best debaters don’t always win. We may find this time around that most Americans would be quite satisfied to have an experienced, capable and decent person as president even if that makes the life of political pundits boring.
9
@Jerome J Zaucha
Well said. As for debates, Trump has already said he may only do one debate. Voters are going to factor in a lot more than just debates.
2
This is so disappointing. Biden, God bless him, is not sharp. The funders he will owe favors to are part of a system that does not address the unsustainable and poisonous inequities that got us to Trump. Only Sanders and Warren are talking honestly about this and outlining plans and solutions to this issue. I have lost my respect for the DNC. The centrists seem simply a party of nostalgia. I'm a 'professional,' well-education woman, and in my 35 years of teaching I've never made more than 40K/year through combination of contracted social services positions teaching in hospitals and senior centers. I love my work but my income goes down significantly each year simply because of the cost of housing, health insurance, and actual health costs (which of course are on top of health insurance). They now equal 75-80% of my income. Biden can't even form a coherent sentence most of the time. I trust he'd be surrounded by smart people if he won, but I don't trust that they don't owe more to the people with deep pockets than to me and people like me. It's not that I think capitalism is inherently bad or that wealth is bad either, but it is not working as it's practiced here. I've been so grateful for Sanders and Warren putting words to this experience and tracking it to economics. I was among the few who were unsurprised by Trump's win. Not because I'm psychic but because it makes sense. So many of us are falling through the cracks. Biden is uninspired and uninspiring.
36
Sorry to hear about your plight. Biden must push more on his healthcare and housing plans. He has plans for both on his website, but they’re not catchy and are too long and detailed. Speaking more about them will raise awareness that he wants to make a difference on those topics. Maybe he needs some in-depth video interviews to lay it out.
Biden’s Texas speech on Monday and Beto’s endorsement totally changed my mind actually. Biden was very powerful, with complete sentences of inspiration. Last month, I read that Biden was “the shadow of the man he used to be”. In the NYT debates coverage. Yet I think the debates jarred him and made him stutter, because he’s a confrontation avoider and the group was going for blood.
2
i believe that he is smart enough to select an outstanding VP running mate . Maybe Harris? Booker? Klobuchar? that VP will be key. who would Bernie select?
2
@Manny You say that you have lost respect for the DNC. Let me try to break this to you gently, the DNC didn't vote on Super Tuesday. No, it was millions of ordinary Democrats.
So, have you lost respect for your fellow Democrats?
2
Just imagine the impulsive, heedless and unrestrained actions which a super puffed-up reelected Trump would be capable of. SCARIEST HORROR SHOW EVER! Therefore the Democrats must field their stronger candidate between Bernie and Biden.
Bernie's repeated mantra is that to beat Trump you need a record voter turnout and that he's the one who will drive them to the polls. Reality has repeatedly shown otherwise. In the early states like New Hampshire that he won turnout was disappointing. Biden won S. Carolina with a huge bump in turnout from 2016. Likewise in Texas where Comeback Joe won despite spending less than $9000 to Bernie's multi-millions!
The liberal positions of Biden and Bernie overlap to a greater and lesser extent in MANY crucial areas--fighting climate change, expanding healthcare access, saving women's reproductive rights, immigration reform, …. Of course, there are differences but I argue that they pale before the nightmare of a Trump reelection and not taking back the Senate. Therefore as the nominating race continues to a very likely outcome of Biden being the nominee Bernie should be extremely careful in doing nothing to undermine Biden's electability against Trump.
9
Wrong,
The primaries are not the actual elections. Voter turnout will likely smash records, but boring Biden and his corporate protectionism will not inspire many.
5
Democrats did not choose that. The media did.
The exit polls showed older voters for Biden who are near retirement or retired. They also showed they didn’t make up their mind until the last day or two. And older voters get all their news from the megaphones shouting fear about Sanders destroying society.
Imagine if the articles weren’t constantly negative. One thing is obvious this is a massive generation divide.
8
Certainly I am not the only American who applauds Michael Bloomberg for the enormous amount of money he spent conveying the message to Americans that Trump poses a terrible threat not only to all Americans, but indeed to the world.
Mayor Bloomberg's impressive spending dwarfed even that spent by other principled billionaires, Tom Steyer & Andrew Yang.
I am immensely grateful to them all. They did what some Americans would have liked to have been able to do -- and what a few who might have contributed positively, notably the Murdochs, chose not to do at all, preferring instead to serve the Putin Agenda.
Bravissimo, bravissimi Mayor Bloomberg and team! We shall never forget; we shall always appreciate and be grateful!
You have earned your place of honor in American history books, as true patriotic philanthropists!
4
In the end, it's about the party. Republicans know it. That's why they held their noses and voted for Trump, and that's why they've been rewarded with the conservatives judges, tax cuts, and immigration policies they wanted to see. Democrats are beginning to see the light.
If Biden is the nominee, the focus is on ousting Trump and gaining seats in Congress. The strategy is simple: you hold all the states Clinton won, and you appeal to moderates and independents in the swing states who are fed up with Trump. Pennsylvania is a lock. The path is clear.
If Sanders is the nominee, the election becomes a referendum on socialism. To win, you have to do something that's never been done: turn out a whole new demographic of liberals who have been alienated from the political process and don't vote. Many of these people are openly antagonistic to not only the moderate Republicans and Independents Democrats need to win over, but also mainstream Democrats. It's about Bernie, not the party, and they don't care about moderate Democrats from purple states who are trying to win or keep seats in Congress.
I'll vote for Sanders if he winds up being the nominee. But there's a reason Trump--and Putin--want to see him on the ballot. Unless Sanders achieves an unlikely transformation of the American electorate, his campaign for socialism is going to win big in California and a few other solidly blue states, yet still lose in both the Electoral College and Congress.
9
@Joe M. Exactly! Politics is a team sport.
2
With the Dem Establishment rallying behind him VP Biden is enjoying a nice political bump.
Dem Superdelegates will back him at the convention.
But as the nominee his record on bankruptcy law and the Iraq war will again come under scrutiny. Worse, he will have to weather the bullying of Donald Trump on all of that and of course Hunter.
Biden might have done ok with that years ago. But he is showing signs of confusion, cognitive decline and emotional volatility. He will lose to Trump
3
I would hope that wealthy suburbanites and older voters whom overwhelmingly chose to support Biden, take their children and grandchildren aside tonight and say to them:
"You know those issues you are really worried about, climate change, better access to education, student debt etc. etc. we don't care and we don't care about your future either".
6
@Deus
And we don’t care what Canadian voters think either.
5
@Deus OR they might tell them that if Bernie Sanders runs, they can pretty well be assured of something far, far worse in the form of another four years of Trump, because no moderates will vote for Sanders. I can imagine many moderate Republicans, however, who feel extremely uncomfortable with Trump and couuld vote for someone like Biden who would bring decency and civility back to the White House.
17
they actually showed that they cared about the outcome and results you. Bernie appeals to a percentage of the population but it's a smaller percentage than Trump appeals to. I don't know any Democrats that don't consider climate change, healthcare and income inequality as vitally important.
14
All the candidates for President should STOP shaking hands with voters and clustering in large crowds.
1
The republican party woke up this morning with some very good news....Biden is the presumptive democratic candidate. He is 77 years old, has no money or campaign infrastructure, does poorly on the debate stage, rides on the coattails of a past president, has no coherent platform, and remains vulnerable to his association with his son's involvement in the Ukraine. Whoops, I forgot, he is a decent guy!
10
@John He's not a self-declared socialist.
You and all your friends are fine with socialism. Can't say as I blame you despite my own doubts.
Can a socialist carry Pennsylvania? Arizona? North Carolina? Ohio? Michigan?
Perhaps you should get out of NYC from time to time.
1
The rise of Biden should be welcome news for the majority of Americans.
Trump and the GOP are a minority party. In fact, registered Independents recently overtook Republicans this year.
Yet, through gerrymandering, the electoral college and the absurd allocation of representation in the senate, the GOP has managed to shove their agenda down the throats of most Americans.
The GOP passed a tax cut for the rich supported by only 29%. Trump's approval has never topped 50%. The GOP wants to kill the Affordable Care Act despite widespread support. The "majority" of Republicans who voted to acquit Trump of bribery represented 15 million fewer votes than the senators who voted to convict him.
2020 is an opportunity for the majority of Americans to remove the GOP choke hold on our government.
Organize. Speak out. Donate. And for God's sake, vote blue.
6
Biden is a figurehead and this is a back door way to get the Obamas and Clintons back in the White House. And I get that, it's how this works and I will vote blue no matter who.
And as much as I have respected Sanders, I also get that he also hasn't represented his ideas in the best way.
But this is the party of FDR. We're supposed to care about regular people and not constantly threaten social security. I wish I had any real hope.
8
nobody can do something to solve those problems if they're not in power. This is a capitalist society and the way to fix it is to fix capitalism not get rid of it. a lot of people that don't like Bernie believe that he's going to trash the entire system and most Americans have had enough chaos to last for 20 years
2
@Wish I could Tell You
"...Biden is a figurehead and this is a back door way to get the Obamas and Clintons back in the White House. And I get that, it's how this works and I will vote blue no matter who."
And these incredibly low standards that have left the world to reap the effects of your statement, effects like forever wars, out of control healthcare costs, no healthcare at all, privatized education, environmental devastation, dead civilians in the middleast...it's why we will have four more years of trump and it's why the democratic party should really collapse and become extinct.
I will vote for whoever the Democrats produce as alternative to Trump, because Trump is such a threat to democracy, decency, and the planet Earth itself through his ignorance. Joe Biden is imperfect, but is not an intolerant demagogue, does not reject science, and will certainly surround himself with plenty of experts in various fields to help our country get back on track. Joe does not have to be perfect, because Trump is so far from it. And middle America is, for better or worse, not ready for a democratic socialist. Most of us have had enough overturning the apple-cart, conspiracy driven policy and lack there of.
6
Trump is throwing lit matches on piles of leaves and we need someone who can put those fires out. This isn’t time to consider who we like the most, but who can put the fires out.
If Sanders doesn’t become the Democratic candidate, he’ll have to decide if he’s going to supply water to the democrats or gasoline to Trump. If Sanders doesn’t use his full vigor to help us win, it’s because he’d rather watch the world burn.
6
@David R Bernie won't do that. He may well keep campaigning until the Convention but after that he'll be on board. Some of his supporters will sit it out. The Times wouldn't print what I have to say about them.
Sleepy Joe is Americans' best bet. To mollify them, pacify them and hoodwink them.
5
Please stop referring to Biden as the "safest bet". He's a really good candidate.
8
@AGV
How so?
The biggest surprise:
The compassionate progressive woke left is in a complete and utter rage over Sanders not winning and moderates voting Biden. Only if the moderate dem 'knew better'. The same argument employed by moderate dems against Trump supporters.
Go visit a couple of forums, some like Reddit are beyond biased for the left, and his supporters are having a meltdown, even the liberal vote treasure trove of African Americans are are getting insulted since they didn't vote for Sanders. It's a dog-eat-dog at this point.
Slacktivists are the core constituency of the Sanders' campaign is. Too lazy to vote, but enraged enough for Twitter and online forums.
3
Now that it’s a two person race, I would like the debates to focus on issues and plans. No personalities, no crazy personal charges.
Issues and plans.
My mind is not made up. However, after watching Trump for three negative years, I know what kind of behavior will turn me off.
Dump Trump 2020.
3
@PJD Google Fritz Mondale. You may understand things if you do.
Biden is not a perfect candidate; who is? We have never had a perfect candidate and never will. Remember Obama and his "clinging to their guns" statement? But our current president has rewritten the definition of "perfect." Now a normal human being who loves her/his family and country, passes muster, at least to many of us. Biden may be old and gaffe-ridden, but he is not cruel, heartless and ignorant of our country's history and the Constitution. He loves his family and his country. What more can you ask in these darkest of dark times.
6
Disappointing
This is one democratic voter who is not going to ever vote for JB
Another center right appeasing corporate pay to play neoliberal hangover from days gone by
Think he is going to win in November?
Ha
Get ready for bad Biden news
His plagiarism
His lies - (latest he got arrested in SA?! - well no, he didn't)
His relentless gaffes
His family enrichment - (did you see the article about his sister? she gets 40K to give speeches)
His shilling for and appeasing the GOP -
His support for the war in Iraq
Anita Hill
Cuts to Social Security - Grand Bargain -
He is the worst - we could do much better
8
so you would rather have Trump win another term.
2
@j You're not a Democratic voter. Go ahead and vote for Jill Stein or some other left-wing loser. We ain't gonna need you sore losers come November.
If Bernie pulls it out I will support him. I won't go sulk in the corner.
Biden is everything that Trump is not.
The choice will be crystal clear.
A referendum on Americans: 11.03.2020
5
Says the article: Biden “has not acquired new powers of persuasion or management”.
So we have the image of a Presidential debate wandering off topic to discuss Hillary’s e-mail, the value of the old tech of wheels, and anecdotes based upon imaginary events. That is a great basis for correcting America’s ills.
4
This primary feels like when you try on all the nice clothes in your closet, but then wind up wearing the same old thing you always do.
9
How'd that safe bet work for you in 2016?
5
@Jeffrey K Where's the voting surge that Bernie promised?
Where is the surge!?!
Can you answer the question?
1
I feel we lost our chance 4 years ago: Bernie would be our president now!
Well, let's just try to vote en masse in November and get the crook out of the white house!
3
Uncle Joe, Sleepy Joe, Same old, same old Joe. He fits the Democratic establishment like a pair of comfortable soft slippers fit your tired feet. He's part of the folks who brought us the Iraq War, financial deregulation, neo-liberal capitalism, the crash of 2008 and of course Donald Trump.
3
everything you enumerated was actually done by the GOP
3
Joe Biden is a decent, experienced person with the most trust of our allies. He was not my candidate, but now he is and he will know how to put this country back together on day one. AND we had one day without a single mention of Donald Trump.
Did everyone notice how calm, how "normal", how hopeful?
Not one crude comment, not one diatribe, not one ignorant appointment did we suffer. This is how it will be with competence and dignity in the White House.
338
@Old Cowgirl Sadly that is not correct, the Biden side of the party would rather lose to Trump than elect a social Democrat who would rather we be more like Scandinavia with universal healthcare, living wages and higher working and middle class standards of living, and without all the gun violence that sees our kids suffer through active shooter drills at their schools.
Biden is a good old boy Washingtonian, who will support the Status Quo, nothing will change for the better and Trump will easily defeat him in November.
57
@Old Cowgirl
He constantly has issues but if it makes you feel good. Though the consequences beyond that will be with us for generations.
The rich are celebrating because they can keep robbing us. Trump can run again as well. This isn’t over. The younger generation is angry and didn’t vote for a Biden. Boomers did.
25
@EC Speke It appears that the Biden side of the party is the majority. Just because Bernie shouts the loudest doesn't mean he's got the most support.
28
The primaries aren't over yet. Biden has no unique attributes other than he isn't Trump, and he worked with Obama. Bernie had my vote in 2016, and continues to have my vote now. In 2016 primaries, I voted for Bernie. In the 2016 general election, I voted for Hilary but held my nose as I did it. This year, I'm voting in both the primaries and the general election for who I want to see in office and who represents my values: Bernie Sanders for President. I may also change my party registration from Democratic to Independent after this election.
10
I appreciate your passion, but similar attitudes are the reason we have the president we have. The damage that has been done is immense, and four more years of the same are unimaginable. Ideological purity is a luxury we cannot afford
3
As Bernie supporters are quick to say when they are winning: this is what democracy looks like. Super Tuesday was a win for democracy and decency, and it's about time.
6
Well, will I find comments from Sanders' supporters claiming that somehow the DNC engineered Biden's success? That it's somehow, not specified really, but somehow illegitimate.
Which is, of course, exactly what Trump & his followers will say when he loses in November.
4
Senator Warren is on the “Progressive” end of the spectrum. But she is also a practical person and a proud Democrat, and wants to have a future in the Democratic Party.
Most people assume she will drop out and throw her support to Sanders. But I would argue she should throw her support to Biden. Yes ma’am, Joe Biden.
Massachusetts voted for Biden, so she can point to that fact when endorsing him. By bowing out, she can keep her Senate seat in firm Democratic control. She can join Amy and Kamala to make an appeal to women across the country to unite for Biden.
She could play a key role in uniting both factions of the party NOW, rather than waiting for the convention. I hope Senator Warren sees the writing on the wall and does the right thing for the Party and for the country.
7
@Vicki I'd love to see her keep her Senate seat. Unless she trades it for the VP gig or Secretary of HHS.
1
@Vicki Bernie and Warren's votes together would have won MA, Biden only won a plurality. I think that shows the state still in the progressive camp.
@KM
If you add the Bloomberg, Klobuchar, Buttigieg, and Patrick votes to Biden’s tally, it’s close to a split with the Sanders/Warren totals.
I was happy to see Biden revive his chances, as I believe that a moderate establishment Democrat has the best chance of defeating an incumbent during a time of relative economic stability. I'm a progressive-minded Democrat living in a red state, by the way, and feel that a self-declared Socialist would be an extremely hard sell outside of urban enclaves.
What I am NOT looking forward to is all of the grousing and "Monday-morning quarterbacking" if Biden (or Bernie) fails to defeat Trump in the general election. As far as I can see, there is NO magic candidate to whom victory is assured. We have to do our best to maintain unity and enthusiasm no matter who emerges as the candidate.
3
A week ago these results would have been unthinkable? We'd only heard from three states. why would we put so much stock in Iowa, New Hampshire, and Nevada?
2
I’m a progressive far left democrat who will vote blue no matter who, but I’d prefer Biden to Bernie. I’m definitely not what anyone would call “establishment”, for the records.
7
Have people considered that some of the hesitation around Sanders is not his policies but the man himself?
I am actually on board with the policies he promotes. And I voted for him in 2016. But I now have a number of issues with him:
1-I believe he will be an ineffective leader.
2- I the I find much of the populist movement around him to be a bit toxic, and he does little to address it.
3- I find he does a terrible job of explaining and defending these policies that I agree with him on, and which many Americans would also support if he would explain himself better. Why is he still embracing the term “socialism” when in fact what he is proposing is still capitalism (Scandinavian countries are all capitalist countries)?
Warren is a MUCH better candidate to explain, defend and deliver these policies. Unfortunately, progressives decided to go with the man who yells the same simple populist message over and over instead of a brilliant, prepared, and articulate woman proposing the same policies. The fact that she is generally viewed as a more moderate alternative to Sanders despite promoting nearly identical policies tells you what you need to know about her ability to articulate her positions.
8
The voting lines in California and other places formed on into the night. Apparently the voting procedure in this country is still overly complicated even after two hundred years of experience. Just send us a ballot in the mail.
3
@Clark Landrum it was worse in republican states apparently. They make it difficult on purpose.
If Joe Biden eventually does win the Democratic nomination, the whole ball of wax may well depend on who the Vice-Presidential pick is, because there will be a whole lot of more progressive voters "under the big tent" who will be wondering if they can trust the moderates and not get pushed out.
The VP pick will have to be demonstrably progressive--and younger--and female--and a person of color, preferably. Many may be thinking Kamala Harris, but I hope calls are going out to Stacey Abrams right now. Not only does she put Georgia, North Carolina, and maybe even Indiana in play, but her experience with fighting voter suppression and her excellent bully pulpit skills are a combination that Trump and his cronies do not want to face.
It is vitally important that the Democrats give younger and African American voters a reason to go stand in the polling line. Stacey will give them several.
6
I am dismayed by the rush to anoint Biden as the Democrat's nominee. I do not regard him as a safe choice.
His well established penchant for frequent verbal gaffes promises to set him up to be beaten like a pinata by the right wing smear machine. His lack of verbal fluency makes him poorly equipped to challenge Trump in debates. His son's Ukraine dealings prevent him from using the issue of corruption against Trump, thereby squandering what should be any Democrat's biggest advantage.
Biden may not have negatives quite as high as Hillary's in 2016, but he fails to inspire people & offers little reason for politically disengaged folks to bother to vote for him in November. All he can offer the nation is "GOP light." That's not good enough for me!
Having Biden as the nominee means pinning all of our hopes on having voters reject Trump, regardless of who the alternative actually is. That is a scary prospect. I want the Democrats to offer something better than a candidate who can say little beyond "I am not Donald Trump." That means someone other than Biden.
If Biden is the nominee, I know what I will do on Election Day. I will take a large dose of anti-nausea medication, & once it kicks n, I will go vote for Biden; then I will come home, take more of the medicine, & spend the rest of the day in the bathroom vomiting. If there is a better choice on the ballot, I'll volunteer for them & contribute money.
Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory is a Democratic specialty.
14
Democrats have once again opted to bring a butter knife to a gunfight. We've seen this movie before, in 2000, 2004, and 2016. Barring complete economic collapse (which is possible), Trump will easily win a second term. And perhaps he should, given that a majority of the Democratic Party has now demonstrated that its primary motivations are self-preservation and cowardice.
Any voter who seeks positive change in America now has nowhere to go, except for perhaps looking for opportunities to make life as difficult as possible for the milquetoast centrists. Thank goodness there's still room for mischief. In fact, the door is wide open for it.
9
Completely agree with Corvid
1
If Warren really meant she was the one to unite the Party, then there is one clear decision she should make:
Drop out and endorse Joe Biden.
3
I have to hand it to the Russian political analysts and spy masters who, what, a year ago, gave the intel to Trump that Biden was going to be the man to beat. Too bad they (the Russians and Trump) can't differentiate between being clever vs being smart and muster the morality to create a humane government.
1
Record turnout ... just not the youth voters. So, let's stick with Joe, shall we?
3
It is scary what one endorsement can do: more than ground game, local presence or unlimited funding. I hope Jim Clyburn didn't pitch black voters a penny stock. It feels like everyone is pumping up this candidacy now on momentum rather than valuation. May Biden have the substance and endurance!
Hallelujah!
This destroys what little potential there was for Sanders getting to impose an everything-for-everyone government, financially disastrous without major hikes in everybody's taxes -- not just pennies from the wealthy -- and gives us the ability to prevent Trump's reelection. The Russians supported Bernie to aid Trump, their groveling lackey, in getting a second term.
We now have hope.
Hallelujah!
3
Bidden suffers from the same problem as Hillary, he's representative of the same old same old, and benefited from what looks like a rigged Democratic party machine beholden to the wealthy and powerful on Wall Street and in Washington, exploitative of American serfs, these Dem "leaders" are in contempt of of the American working and lower-middle classes. The Democratic ex-contenders who sided with Biden are part of the problem, Buttigieg and Klobuchar too, are only in politics for the money like good ol' boy Joe.
The fact is Biden is a Republican masquerading as a Democrat, a choice between he and Trump is not a choice at all, they both shook down the Ukraine and Biden has his own problems getting handsy and nosy with the ladies.
Biden will lose against Trump, as he will lose probably half of those Bernie supporters who voted for the principled candidate, who voted against business as usual Democratic boss style corruption, as corruption is corruption and the stink now rises again in 2020. Prediction for November- easy win for Trump. If Biden somehow wins, we have a similar problem to Trump. What and who does this guy stand for? Those $80,000/month jobs in Ukraine for his son? He didn't even campaign in several states he won. The pathetic State of the Democratic Party in 2020, yuck.
4
Warren should drop out and support Biden.
Do the right thing, Liz.
We need to beat trump.
2
I really hate to see a guy like Biden even get this close. I figure anybody who voted for the Iraq War and trying to control womens' bodies for years ought to be left on a small desert island ...far from the possibility to wreak more havoc. Or let him fly to the moon on a one way ticket via a large , well-placed boot.
3
Looking forward to voting for another weak, unappealing, status quo Democratic candidate. Ugh.
3
Not sure “better safe than sorry” applies when the safe choice is also uninspiring, too old, chronically gaffe prone and with tons of baggage that the opposition can expose and exploit. We had a choice of the next JFK/Obama (Buttigieg) but went for so called “safe”. Praying we won’t rue the day.
1
If the voters knew Biden's record many would not have voted for him, look it up please.
He is not a friend of the working class, blacks, substance abusers, migrants, and many more issues important to the American left. Biden has voted against the American working poor over and over and this paper can't report on it honestly. The press is complacent in not presenting crucial information concisely.
Our voting public is, sad to say, so disengaged it can't be
bothered to read a one page report.
Check out Vote Smart, and, or Wikipedia.
2
America doesn’t want a new revolution - America wants to get rid of the dangerous incompetent that brought his own “revolution” to the White House.
Though not my first choice, I can and will support Joe Biden.
5
Everyone I know voted for Biden because they "just couldn't" vote for a socialist. Me too.
3
Biden was babbling about "unions" in his victory speech..like that it's 1950. Only about 10% of Americans are in unions..
.--Joe has no vision for the future.. and Bernie wants the U.S. to turn into Denmark.
.-- This has been the worst crop of candidates I've ever seen. None of them seem to have any common sense.
I wouldn't trust any of them to stop the toilet from running.. much less lead the country.
.-- This is the best Democrats could come up with to face Trump.???
3
Great night for moderate Democrats and Republicans.
Outside of Biden pulling out a stunning victory, it was telling that Sanders support was not as large as 2016. In 2016, he won the VT primary by garnering 85% of the vote, this year 50%. Elizabeth Warren lost her own state.
Sanders and Trump both captured some sense of dissatisfaction in 2016. The significance of yesterday's result is that Americans have grown tired of extremism, anger, and divisiveness. Doesn't bode too well for Trump in November.
117
@They Talk now is that trump will dump pence and pick Nikki Haley as his VP running mate. To give his campaign "a boost" with republican suburban housewives in the key Electoral College states.
4
@They And, just to stress the change: even if you add to bernies vote total he still was >10% off of his 2016 talley.
3
@M H
Won't work in all likelihood.
Everyone know Trump's VP is just a position for a fawning lackey and someone to take the fall for Trump.
I think Haley is too smart to do it, but she has a big ego too.
Anyway, she will not affect policy, or performance, or Trump's behavior.
Trump is Trump and will only get worse as the challenge mounts and he gets a hint of losing.
3
There's an obvious solution to unifying the Democratic Party and making sure Trump is defeated in November: a Biden/Bernie ticket.
Biden at the top of the ticket would ease the fears of 'down ticket carnage', however unfounded they may be, and give moderate voters a good option.
Bernie as Biden's VP would allow Bernie's ideas, which I think many agree with, to become more mainstream and give his supporters the chance to feel part of the Democratic establishment for once.
Many say that this will never happen. So what?! These are unprecedented times that call for unique solutions.
3
Yesterday I agonized over my choice and finally decided just as this column indicates that the only safe choice, albeit shaky safe choice is Biden. Yet as well as Biden did, I could not feel jubilant, only wary. I am heartened that Biden has the support of the Black community and older adults.
My thoughts continue to be that Sanders ideas, were he to be elected President, will remain just that as the Senate is likely to remain firmly in the clenches of Mitch McConnell. Also, Sanders is a divisive force within the Democratic Party (which he disdains and uses for his own ambitions) and he would further divide the country (IMHO). I view him as the flip side of the coin of Trump.
Never has an election been so serious as the one coming up in November. It is going to determine the fate of our Republic. I hope we get it right. Not feeling comfortable that the Democratic nomination is likely to come down to two septuagenarian men, one of whom has had a heart attack, and the other who sometimes makes incoherent remarks. I am 74, and understand the limitations of age.
Would that we had a Barack Obama whose intelligence, vitality, knowledge, and charisma led us to victory in two elections. We need a victory that will be irenic, and not pyrrhic. We need for our nation to heal.
3
Love all the negative comments from Bernie supporters about "the establishment" trying to rig the nomination process. The Democratic establishment is made up of the senators and members of the house who are hoping to get reelected this year and feel they'll be less able to with Bernie as the nominee. This race will come down to a straight choice, Sanders or Biden. The man who reflects the values of most Democrats will win. That's not a fix folks, it's democracy. Don't like it? Stay home on election day or do as some of you did in 2016 and vote for Trump out of spite. 100% of nothing is always SO much better than 20% of something, right?
3
@CritterDoc
Since you love them, here's another:
The early voting states in the Democratic primary process, like South Carolina and most of the Super Tuesday states, are chosen by the party for the purpose of consolidating its own power, at the expense of the voters' will and democracy. Many of these states have small numbers of Democrats that have almost ZERO chance whatsoever of making ANY difference in the outcome of the general election. Electoral votes from these winner-take-all states will almost certainly be determined by the many Republicans in those states, as (unfortunately) they should in our federation's representational democracy.
So why do they have such pivotal importance in the Democratic primary process? This should be obvious. With the media's help, this small group of voters, who mostly belong to a single minority that votes faithfully with their leadership (who clearly collude with the national democratic party), are granted by the party (and media) establishment enormous power to PREVENT progressive reform (and other anti-establishment measures) that would apply to ALL Americans, regardless of their race, ethnicity, etc.. Such truly democratic initiatives are a threat to the political power and wealth of Democratic party.
This power-sharing relationship is to a large extent responsible for the country's growing, dysfunctional divide between the "haves" and the "have nots". The Republican party doesn't need such corruption to do it's part in this.
1
Seriously, what does "safest bet" even mean? Biden hardly has a platform, he stutters and mumbles when trying to convey any mildly elaborate thought. Trump is going to wipe the floor with him. This article glaringly ignores the fact Bernie has the support of most young people, which Biden will never gain, isolating young voters. It's Hilary Clinton's campaign all over again, and we all know how that worked out. The only reason he is winning the nomination is that he is responding to an older generation's fears of change, which, more likely than not, will cost the Dem party the election. Welcome to Trump reloaded's second term.
7
If Warren stays in at THIS point, now that even Bloomberg is out and has endorsed Biden, it will be clear that she's been offered something very special by the establishment to stay IN the race to PREVENT progressive reform in America. If Warren doesn't whole-heartedly endorse Sanders soon I think her supporters can chalk this up to a learning experience.
3
We have 50 years of proof that the 18-24 vote never comes to the rescue in a general election. We have ongoing proof that Sanders is NOT miraculously growing the vote. We have dramatic proof from the 2018 midterms only 16 months ago that MODERATE Dems were responsible for winning the House, not progressives. On the progressive side, we have magical thinking about "energy." But you can have all of the enthusiasm in the world in Cambridge and San Francisco and Brooklyn, and it won't make a difference if you don't play to the conservative slant of the Electoral College.
12
The real mystery is why Sanders didn't seek to expand his base. He didn't just fail to do so. He rejected the very idea that he had to.
His shortsightedness is not confidence inspiring. If he truly wanted to face Trump, he would have tried to find a way to appeal to those who don't want to nationalize the health care industry. Instead, he runs on government takeover of the most pervasive industry in the country, next to energy.
Most likely, Sanders doesn't really want the nomination. Only his supporters do. He's really in it to split the Democratic party.
11
@The Way It Is and Will Be
With respect, this seems a bit simplistic. I don't think you appreciate the COSTS of expanding your base within the power structure of the Democratic party. It's a slippery slope (just ask Warren... or everyone, but Tulsi). He would either need to "sell out" to the medical/pharma industry of some other establishment enterprise or make promises to the black community's leaders, who historically have demanded these (at the expense of others). It's a hard one to square if you're committed to lifting ALL boats.
1
@carl bumba No, he just has to appeal to voters and get them to vote for him.
@The Way It Is and Will Be
It's more complicated than that. (He would be our president now, based on polls, if it was just that.) There are "closed" primaries/caucuses, a very particular sequence of primary contests, participation between the Democratic Party, some of the candidates and some of the media, and many other party tactics that support their preferred candidate(s) and, thereby, undermine the democratic will of the people.
1
@Fourteen14 "The actual winner was the anti-establishment Trump who will be re-elected in a landslide as 40% of Progressives vote against another status quo shrill." Where do you get the 40% figure from? And if it were true, what does that say about Sanders supporters? Just out of pure pique they'll vote for the "anti-establishment (?) trump"? So you are situating trump on the extreme right side of "progressive"? Interesting concept that is going nowhere: trump as a right-wing progressive. Now we really are in Orwellian double-speak territory!
2
I don't think it was about the "safest bet". I think voters rejected the divisiveness of Sanders and voted for decency and compassion. Sanders' speech at the end of the night was divisive and attacking. We have had 4 years of that from Trump. The real "revolution" was not about ideology last night, it was about decenty.
14
The phrase "Lifted by a hasty unity among center-left Democrats disinclined toward political revolution" is incomplete. Surely it should have read "Lifted by a hasty unity among center-left Democrats alarmed by the persistent and dire predictions of centrist media to be disinclined toward political revolution..."
3
My guy, Mike, just announced that he will stop his campaign and support Joe.
So will I.
Biden will be the nominee.
Bernie is finished.
Now we need to unite and defeat Trump.
See you guys in November.
12
With an machiavellian display of divisiveness, the Democratic leadership’s carefully planned roll out of Buttigieg, Klobuchar, Beto, Reid, Obama synchronous attack on Sanders, alongside a weeklong display of vicious planned attacks on Bernie Sanders in all media, organized or underwritten by the party leadership made it clear that they will not accept anyone who has progressive ideas that will actually help the working and middle class.
They don’t want Universal Healthcare or Medicare, they don’t want the New Green Deal and fight climate change,
they don’t want free education for all
low income people, they don’t want a break up of the Banking industry or Wall street, they will not support any of it nor do they favor an aggressive infrastructure rebuild or strengthen social security.
Voters have to realize that all that will be fully unavailable to them, because the power hungry Democratic leadership has dictated what they really want, no matter what the voters want or what is in their best interest.
We don’t need Russia to interfere in our election, the leaderships of both parties are fully equipped and prepared to create their own interference, dictate what their plans to the electorate and treat any meaningful other idea as being socialist and or communist.
If there is one thing clear in America that voters have no more rights, they are made to believe that the parties ideas are also their ideas, quite simple brain washing. The enemy is within the leaderships.
7
Clear and cogent analysis from Mr. Flegenheimer, well done! This is exactly why I'm a Times subscriber!
1
It really is 2016 all over. I am not a Bernie fan but while Biden has been thrust upon us as a "moderate" (as opposed to the socialist) by the Democrat Establishment, I don't see him as "electable." Rather I see him being decimated by Trump & Company. And given some of Biden's public "vulnerabilities," I fear for the man rather than embrace him. DJT's ongoing Revenge Tour demonstrated again how difficult the campaign is going to be.
6
We in a time warp with 50s style red baiting against Sanders. Markets are up because with Trump or Biden the health care industry thinks they will be able to continue to extract huge profits from all of us. Biden's victory speech last night sounded like he was having problems speaking - if he wins the candidacy we'll have a choice between two guys that seem to have issues putting sentences together unless they are making up stories. For the thinking voter, this is the worst case scenario.
8
Here’s what my Sanders-supporting millennial son told me last night:
"Your generation is doing it to us again. There is no stopping your greed, even as it hurts your own children. You make it hard and costly for us to go to school. When we’re done, we get mostly low pay, temporary employment without benefits. We’re always at the mercy of a potential health problem to take away the little that we have and worse. Many of us need to work 2 jobs to feed and clothe ourselves and share a roof above our heads. Owning a house has become a fantasy. You have messed up the environment to such an extent that many of us see no prospect for a healthy future. You even gamed the voting process to make it difficult for us to vote. Who wants to line up for 4 hours or more after a hard day’s work?
"As last night clearly showed, you’ll gang up to prevent any progressive from winning. Biden, a candidate who appears to be on the verge of senility, wants to return to the pre- Trump era. The upper classes and the mainstream media are very comfortable with him since he's unlikely to change anything. But they should know that if he becomes the Democratic candidate in November, we probably won’t show up. Maybe another 4 years of Trump will make things so bad that you'll finally understand that dramatic changes to American capitalism are badly needed."
There's a lot of anger here, but I get it.
22
@Kidcanuck
Your son is exactly right! Sometimes you have to hit rock bottom before you realize a change is necessary. 4 more years of Trump will do it. The status quo that Biden represents is why Trump was elected in the first place and is precisely why Trump will win again.
4
@Kidcanuck Your son said it. True words.
2
Why do people think a repeat of 2016 (someone who represents a return to a previous administration) will turn out any differently?
8
Virtually every poll that I've seen indicates the primary attribute Democrats are searching for is a candidate that can beat Trump. Democrats learned in 2016 that when Blacks stay home, they don't win. Now that the Black voters have demonstrated they will get out and support Biden, it has given the rest of Democrats reason to support Biden. And just as much as Blacks have demonstrated they will support Biden, they've also demonstrated Bernie is not their choice.
7
I think "safe" is the operative word here, but not in the sense of being a safe choice. My take is that Democrats voted for the candidate most capable of bringing America back to a "safe place" after these years of dangerous mismanagement under trump.
4
Fascinating.
So many people seem relieved, but they don't seem to realize that the Democratic Party just imploded.
7
Bloomberg made it clear in January that if he was not the nominee, he would throw his organization and money behind the nominee. Having endorsed Biden, it may be presumed that Biden will now have the money and the organization needed to get the job done unless Bernie makes himself competitive. And the only way Bernie can do so is to get significant demonstrated support in the key Midwestern swing states. I don’t think he can pull that off.
As far as money is concerned, once a candidate is chosen I have a feeling that money will not be an issue between Bloomberg support and a lot of angry voters who will be happy to contribute to the end of the American experiment in utterly unethical, immoral and incompetent leadership.
3
Biden is a man with a common touch, and his occasional bumbling just makes him more relatable. As against Trump's and Bernie's ideological harangues, Biden's less pointed rhetoric feels more comfortable. Most people want a pragmatist in office, a uniter not a divider.
2
@WiltonTraveler So the average American can relate to a man who struggles getting through a sentence. Seems right to me.
1
As an outsider looking in, Biden nomination will be a mistake. To his credit, Biden has a long history of service but he can hardly pull a sentence together anymore let alone stand by his record. Sanders has said the same thing for decades and still seems to have a functioning brain, unlike both Trump and Biden.
6
Biden may seem like a "good enough" choice right now, but assuming he's nominated, I will always be worried about his tin ear when it comes to sex and race. Too many insensitive off-hand comments about women, blacks, and Latinos could add up over the course of a campaign to alienate people to the point of not voting at all.
The primaries show tepid support for him; mostly he gets only some 38% of the vote. He is our best hope, but I can't help but emphasize the "hope" part. Hardly reassuring.
3
Elite Moderate democrats would rather have Trump than Sanders; they really don’t want all boats rising and they are building uncertainty for African Americans. Why else would they vote for Biden when Sanders is selling free college and medical care.
6
Well it seems the proverbial writing is on the wall. I am terribly disappointed that Bernie did not do better and sweep super Tuesday. Now it seems that Biden is the ONE. More same old same old. Groan...
Looking at the bright side Trump may well be a first term president. That thought makes it worthwhile for me. I hope it becomes reality in November.
The Russian disinformation machine will now be in full wartime mode helping the Donald. The GOP and Fox will likewise go full bore into Biden. Let's get it on. I'm ready to vote for change in November. It can't come soon enough for me.
Sorry Bernie...I supported you in 2016 and 2020. I will support you to the very end because I believe in helping working people. If Biden ultimately becomes the nominee I will vote Blue no matter who.
5
Congratulations to Biden and the Democratic party. If Biden is the candidate I will support him. Heck, if Smokey the Bear is the candidate' I'll support him, but I am not sure it will be enough to simply say " I'm not Trump" and expect to be elected. Biden will be able to call DJT a liar and and not be called one back. Trump can say Biden voted for the Iraq war, while he DJT is bringing the Troops home. Who is in worse cognitive decline DJT or Joe Biden?
I grow ever more cynical. In the end Biden is still is 'donors in charge' candidate. Even if all the candidates who dropped out end up in Bidens administration they will still have less influence than the donors. There is no shared or common purpose in the USA anymore. Americans are dying or go bankrupt, for lack of health insurance and little or nothing gets done. Very few if anyone in congress cares. Biden wants to 'tweak' the ACA? What does that mean? A tornado kills 25 in Tennessee in winter, but who cares. Big money comes first. Good luck to all.
2
Have you ever been watching a Football game? Your team has been strong aggressive and rolling up a big margin. You think hey this is now safe I can go have a beer fire up the BBQ and put on the chicken for a nice slow grill. You take a moment and remark on a lovely afternoon, and you get back to the game 3-4 minutes into the second half. What's this! your opponents have scored 10 points and their back again driving over the 50-yard line. Your coach has changed his game plan and is now playing not to lose. There you go and watch it all slip away again. Good old safe Joe he's now on his third try and we can only hope for the best, but it's kind of like watching the second half of that game. Sure I'll vote for him but I have that nagging feeling. As Howard Dean said and it's still true today "you can't beat the Republicans by being Republican Lite." I'll just have to set here on the Left Coast with my old over educated self and prey we can just survive.
5
The supporters of Saunders see this election as about healthcare, immigration, student debt and change of the status quo...the majority of Democrats, independents, and some moderate Republicans have a fear and loathing of Trump, to them priority number one is get him out of office...anything else can wait.
Hillary is as sharp as ever, but her health issues could have been the deciding issue that gave the three swing states to Trump.
Biden does not appear to have health issues, but his mental acuity has declined considerably.
The Biden from four years ago would easily have defeated Trump. Today's Biden? I don't think so. Democrats will be holding their collective breaths during the three long debates.
5
We tried safe last time. The math did not turn out (pun intended). Let’s try a candidate proposing real solutions to real problems. I challenge the nytimes and it’s affluent readership to embrace the change this country needs even if it destabilizes their current position. We cannot afford a Biden presidency even if he could win which he will not.
2
Live long enough we get to see history repeating itself.
Biden is the most vulnerable least qualified candidate the Dems could nominate
2020’s entitled Democrat: Hilary Clinton redux
I am nauseous and saddened and not terribly optimistic
5
If he ends up as the nominee, Biden's handlers need to make sure he never appears on a debate stage with Trump and need to write his responses to insults from Trump or this campaign is going to look like lunch at an assisted living facility, where two old timers are arguing over the same chair at the table. He should take Bloomberg's half a billion or so for an add blitz and hide until election day, If he wants to win, he better not pick a controversial running mate or his already bad case of mytimitis might advance on to full blown palinitis as well, which is a death sentence.
7
Having Biden run in 2020 will be like Hillary running in 2016. Voters will be uninspired, young people will feel abandoned, and we'll see the same result.
8
Whoever wins in November is going to be old , male and white. More in line with an election for a Pope than a president of U.S.A.
Leone XIII was 93 when he died , i guess that is encouraging.
Looking at today landscape , it is truly incredible that this country was able to elect a young black president not that long time ago.
Yes , we could. now, we can't.
...and who knows what miracle or superpowers it will take for a woman to be president. Maybe a little bit of time, in the next century. Indeed It wasn't a long time ago that they were allowed to vote and speak freely, so no need to hurry .
2
I feel like everyone pushing the point that'centrists' and Hilary lost 2016 forgets that she won the popular vote. It was the electoral college that cost us (and yes, James Comey's belated intervention). If Biden campaigns in the states Clinton ignored that cycle and tries to win back the working class vote (or gets a higher turnout among the members of his coalition) we win.
4
Biden reflects the other victory of Trumpism: that Democrats are so afraid of another Trump victory, that they will compromise their traditionally more progressive agenda with a candidate like Biden. My hope, though, is that Biden, free from the chance of serving two terms and already having served the majority of his life in Congress, will pivot harder left once elected and pull us on a path that is much more compassionate for the poor and restorative for the middle class, instead of another four years of pro-corporate leadership. We need more than healing, we need leadership that is people- and earth-focused.
6
Well, it is obvious that Mr. Flegenheimer does not like Joe Biden. This is not reporting, it is an editorial. And should be labelled as such. Hope Biden wins the nomination and beats Don Trump. I am pretty sure that Bernie Sanders would lose to Don Trump. And if he is the nominee and loses, the progressives in this country will be 100% responsible for four more years on Don Trump. Progressives no doubt love their progressive beliefs. But not enough voters in this country love progressive ideas.
5
I keep seeing how great BIden is doing, but I wonder if people are doing the math.
Biden: 305 delegates.
Sanders: 245 delegates.
California (which Sanders is winning): 494 delegates.
245 + 494 = 739
So, after Super Tuesday, the (most likely) count will be:
Sanders: 739
Biden: 305
I'm confused as to why that's not the story. The headlines read like Biden won it all.
Right now, it's still not even close and Sanders is going to be far ahead once California is finished counting votes.
8
@Scott
California is not winner take all. The delegate count splits proportionally among the candidates above 15%. Sanders will win the plurality of the 494 delegates but not all.
12
@Maura3 Not to mention counting the mail-in ballots takes weeks.
2
@Scott That's not how it works, it is not winner take all they split the delegates based on percentages?
3
I like to see candidates stay in the race longer ...
Even the worst usually has a good idea or two that they can bring up ...
also ...some of the younger ones will run again ...
The process is in motion, it’s a matter of faith that, if it is allowed to play out, a unified Democratic party, and platform, and a candidate will emerge. Now would be a good time for all the players to focus their energies on producing the best possible result for the nation, and not on spiteful name-calling. The campaign is about far more than the presidency.
1
In a nutshell, Biden will preserve our corporatocracy from Trump's oligarchy.
14
This primary race is far from over between Sanders and Biden. However, if Biden wins the nomination it will be another four years of Trump. Firstly, it was moderate democrats, such as Biden, who created the conditions for a Trump candidacy in the first place by not promoting and passing quality progressive policy that actually helps Americans. Secondly, to say a moderate candidate is a safer option is nonsense considering Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Obama, and Hillary were all moderate presidents or presidential candidates who either were followed by a very conservative Republican or lost to a very conservative Republican. Hillary Clinton should be a prime example because she lost to the most unpopular presidential winner in modern history. Thirdly, Biden has dementia and cannot put a coherent sentence together and will get destroyed by Trump during the debates. Sanders still has his mind, knows how to debate, and will stick to the issues that most Americans care about. In conclusion, the Democrat Party may need to learn the hard way again in 2020 that moderatism doesn't work. Old habits die hard.
20
@Demetrius Qiang
Thanks for the warning.
I choose not to heed .
Not to sound too paranoid but I can't wait to read the article the Times will write next year on this: it has smell of a dead skunk in the road. This seems to be a bushwack.
Biden and the DNC wanted to soak off votes from Sanders by way of Warren. Then, they got the so-called moderates to fold up quickly before Super Tuesday. People like me who like Warren's effective energy and age over Sanders are now a drag on the progressives while Biden benefits from Buttigieg, Klobuchar and Steyer.
Meanwhile the rich donors who back the so-called moderates (conservative democrats) who will swear not to support progressive policies and will keep their tax breaks --- no matter what get exactly what they want.
There is still the option to change your selection from Warren to Sanders and I am going to do it --- so there Joe.
30
@Rocketscientist ,
You don't have to be a rocket scientist to doubt Sanders abilities to: 1) draw out new voters, 2) win the popular vote, 3) win the electoral college even if he wins the popular vote, and 4) be an effective leader of the executive branch even if he could win. I appreciate the issues Sanders brings up, but not his all or nothing rhetoric, nor his crazy policy positions (Warren was my #1 choice because she has a pragmatism and an understanding of how things really work but she was self defeating in the last few months-she should never have insisted on eliminating private health care-a disastrous decision on her part). Biden is winning thus far because the people believe he is the better candidate--end of story.
121
@Rocketscientist The DNC didn't "get" me to vote for Biden, nor any of the other millions of voters who did the same. It's because my opinion is that Bernie has a better chance of losing the general election than Biden. That's it. We have different opinions. You Bernie/Warren folks should stop making this sound like there's some DNC conspiracy. There's not. It's just educated, well-informed citizens making up their own minds and they happen to disagree with you.
7
"Super" Tuesday was just another day that gives the jitters to a weary country that just wants its decency back. Democrats have a stronger, more focused candidate who won't stop shouting "socialist" and a weaker, rambling one who plays the safety card from his teleprompter. Either would be preferable to the Orwellian psychosis that rules the roost, but the heartland has chosen the latter. Now let's see if another sound- and reality-bite election year can support this choice. How exciting: what an alternative if it can't.
2
You cannot win the election without the African American vote and Sanders has failed miserably to do that. He was the ONLY presidential candidate not in Selma on Sunday, one more indication that he has failed to build a coalition that can beat Trump.
His campaign is built on deceit; he is a millionaire who owns three homes in a state populated by billionaires. That is right, folks. Vermont is the corridor feted by Boston fat cats wanting their own fiefdom; also including Bain Capital and the Staples heirs.
He IS the epitome of the “Washington Insider” as a senator who, for decades, has failed to build relationships across partisan lines or to pass any substantial bills over his almost four decades in Congress! His message is divisive, mean and as twisted as many in the Trump campaign. His own campaign manager says no one should make over five hundred thousand dollars a year! Well there goes Michael Moore! Their goes Public Enemy! And there goes the American dream.
His eagerness to embrace Castro’s ideology is shameful. As a liberal who has been to Cuba and seen first hand the outrageous poverty and subjugation of the population there, and who knows the Cuban American community, particularly in Florida, he has lost all of those votes.
And his constant reference to the health care systems in Sweden and Norway? Well, for anyone making over $60,000 they are taxed 55% to pay for it! We have had enough distortion of the truth from Trump!
8
@Anonymous You say that we have had enough distortion of the truth from Trump, but the content of your comment belies that. Let's do better.
2
@James
If you are challenging my facts then do so. I believe you will be unable to do so. So please sir, let us “do better” as you yourself say so.
1
So it’s probably going to be Biden or Sanders versus Trump. The campaign, one way or the other, will be very interesting, contrasting a vile bully against someone with governmental experience, civility, and a desire to represent the people of the United States rather than his own personal interests. A campaign pitting a man who favors autocracy and demagoguery against someone who favors democracy and the Constitution. Biden and Bernie, though representing different points on the Democratic spectrum, both have shown themselves to be reasonable people with beneficent views toward their fellow Americans. Their adversary pictures himself as a tough guy with all the answers, a liar who surrounds himself with toadies and right wing extremists, a follower of dictators and an enemy of his own allies. Can either Biden or Bernie win in November? Either of them can if they stop their infighting and unite their party behind them. And, heaven knows, this country needs one of those two guys badly. Our democracy will ride the coattails if either of them.
56
@Unaffiliated - to paraphrase: One small step for Democrats, one giant leap for Americans.
2
Who are and are not 'Democrats' ?
Black African Americans, particularly black African American Protestant women, are by far the most loyal and long suffering base of the Democratic Party.
Among the 66 million Americans who voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016 was 92% of the black African American voting minority including 88% of black men and 95% of black women. But black turnout and voting in 2016 was down 11% from peak Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012. 2020?
Among the 63 million Americans who voted for Donald Trump in 2016 was 58% of the white European American voting majority including 62% of white men and 54% of white women.
What happens on the Super Supreme Tuesday in November 2020 is what really matters for preserving, protecting and defending our constitutional republic of united states from any and all enemies domestic and foreign.
Donald Trump is a far graver greater domestic existential threat to America's future than Benedict Arnold, Aaron Burr, Jefferson Davis, Andrew Johnson, Woodrow Wilson and Richard Nixon combined.
31
@Blackmamba, I honestly don't understand why African-Americans favor the guy who wrote the crime bill and was buddies with southern racists over the guy who has consistently supported civil rights over corporations for his entire life.
Everything in Sanders' past is about working for the little guy. Much of Biden's past is about working *against* the interests of the little guy.
This makes no sense to me.
You know what Biden is going to do for you if he somehow manages to win in November if nominated. It's the same as he'll do for the rest of us: not much.
3
@Blackmamba Trump is horrible, indeed, but that the fear of four more years is exploited by the Dem establishment to manipulate voters into supporting lame old conservative Joe Biden, a much weaker candidate than Hillary, is cynical.
It's win/win for the elite: They'll keep their tax cuts.
4
@Blackmamba
Woodrow Wilson? Is that some kind of joke?
1
Imagine if the primaries happened by normal voting (not caucusing), all on the same day, all with ranked-choice ballots. It would be more democratic and probably would have produced a different result. The process is broken.
10
Ugh. I was for anyone but an old white guy with a B in his name. Sigh. I still haven’t gotten to vote in a primary and the candidates I like in order: Liz, Pete, Amy won’t even be on my ballot. The process is broken. That said, of the 2 Bs leading, Ill vote Biden. Hopefully he picks Liz or Amy as VP to run the country while he hides his dementia. Dog faced pony soldier indeed.
7
Let's keep our eyes on the prize please. I voted for Biden over Sanders (and Warren, my first choice, who stood no chance of winning unfortunately) because Democrats need to retake the Senate. If Mitch McConnell stays as majority leader, nothing will get done even if we have a democratic president. It was the strongest argument against Bernie for me, even if I agree with most of his positions, we need to win down ballot as well to get things done.
8
Democrats (and I quote Michael Moore) just voted based on fear. Fear of losing, fear of Trump, fear of change. Not out of a great collective love for Biden.
I personally fear that this was a mistake, rallying around a status quo candidate who is clearly aging and has not talked about his vision for the country other than decency and not being Trump.
I fear that the young will feel betrayed and may well disengage not just in 2020 but beyond.
Joe had better choose a more progressive VP, it may be his only hope.
19
Biden won the primary in states that Trump carried in 2016, and that Trump will almost certainly carry again in 2020.
Bernie won the primary in California, and other states that Democrats carried.
Bernie defeated Hillary last time in the swing states, in primaries that have not happened yet, like Michigan (voting next week Tue).
So Biden won where he can't win again, and Bernie won where he can win again.
Biden won in places that vote Republican, and think Republican. Bernie won in places that vote for Democrats.
So which should be the Democratic candidate?
9
@Mark Thomason this precisely (I think unintentionally) lays out the argument for Biden. Blue states like Cali and NY will go Democrat no matter what. Democrats need a moderate with opportunity to win Independent and Republican votes in more Republican leaning states.
3
@Mark Thomason Bernie Certainly. But it appears the Democratic Party and media would rather lose to Trump than nominate a Social Democrat that believes in living wages and healthcare for all.
2
@SC -- This reply is a serious mistake.
A Democrat, moderate or otherwise, is not ever going to win a Republican state against Trump. That would be a sweep such as is not even remotely in question this year. That is exactly why the candidate is important.
In swing states like mine, we are fed up and disgusted with the "moderates" who offer no solutions to real problems. That is why Hillary lost -- she said better just can't be done, and she clearly was not going to try. Therefore, Republicans turned out and Democrats did not. Democratic turnout in places like Detroit (Wayne County) was quite low.
To win in swing states, the Democrats must inspire voters for with real possibility for solutions that Republicans ignore, not just ignore them too.
We seem to forget that most of the Super Tuesday states are conservative states, many in the South. Sanders did poorly there too, when he ran against Hillary Clinton. So far, the swing states haven't expressed their opinion, and neither have most of the liberal states other than California.
When I visualize both candidates facing Donald Trump, I find it hard to believe that Joe Biden, who talks consistently about the past but offers no agenda for the future and who can no longer utter two coherent sentences in a row, won't be walked over by Donald Trump -- who could never utter even a single coherent sentence, but doesn't try to.
Sanders, on the other hand, would be a formidable opponent on the debating stage, despite the obvious liabilities of his socialist background and some of his more extreme positions.
10
Sanders is Trump's favorite opponent because Sanders is also Putin's favorite candidate. Russian interference helped Sanders in the primaries in 2016, and they're doing it again now.
Biden isn't the perfect candidate, but if Sanders wins the Dem nomination, Trump's victory in November is assured and the good people of the US will be more divided against each other than ever before.
28
@Astrochimp I'd feel a whole lot better about the Russian interference allegations against Sanders if they published actual evidence of it. Where is it? I'm not a conspiracy theorist, I can be persuaded, but I need something substantive to go on.
2
@Astrochimp Putin wants chaos and the US to reveal how little its processes reflect democracy. Best case scenario for Russia is a contested convention where the DNC chooses Biden, after a protracted primary where the establishment continues to alienate progressives. It looks like they're going to get their wish. Good job, Democrats.
3
After Super Tuesday, it’s pretty clear that Democratic voters want results, not a revolution.
206
And Biden is going to get those results? Please....
Enjoy 4 more years of Trump
66
@On2ndThought My concern is the "result" will be another establishment politician getting trounced by Clinton. Biden is weak on trade and he lacks the moral authority to come after Trump for his capitulation to banks and his attitudes toward women. He has no inspiring vision (other than a MAGA-reminiscent desire to turn back the clock to some better time).
The Democrats still have a chance to nominate someone who will be competitive against Trump where it matters, and who isn't suffering clear cognitive decline. Let's hope they don't blow it.
41
@On2ndThought
Nah, it's clear that southern states don't vote for liberals.
Super Tuesday is hardly representative of the country as a whole.
And let's not forget that states don't matter, delegates do -- California is huge.
23
If there is any doubt of the power wielded by the DNC and MSM, let it now and forever be dispelled. Faced with dismantling, it reacted like HAL in 2001: A Space Odyssey when the crew was trying to shut it down. From behind the scenes moves, and front page headlines, it mobilized to resurrect Joe Biden who was on life support, and breathed life into him, sending him lurching forth to do battle with the "evil socialist". The real winner on Tuesday was the "machine".
This was a clear demonstration that widespread media favor can overcome lack of advertising, public appearances, debate performances, and money. Biden lacked all of these in most states that he ultimately won. What else, besides media bias, can account for this success?
Yes, there is a large segment of the voters who either don't like Sanders's agenda or his chances of beating Trump, but three days ago they were fractured and ambivalent about any alternative. But once the DNC powerbrokers put their money on Biden, the MSM was quick to follow suit - after all, their shared vested interest in the Status Quo is no coincidence since they're backed by the same monied interests. But the results of those decisions are breathtaking in how quickly they produce the desired results. It was as stunning as seeing Frankenstein brought to live by lightening!
Now that the "monster" is stumbling forward, it will be almost impossible to stop. Torches and pitchforks will not suffice. I'm not sure Bernie will either.
19
@Kingfish52 I get that. But the MSM and DNC don't vote. Voters vote. If Bloomberg had won we'd be lamenting that money bought an election. It didn't. If Bernie had won, it would have been because of all the "free stuff" he was offering. We are down to two candidates, each with their own flaws. I did not vote fo either one of them. I do not believe Bernie has much of a chance enacting many of his agenda items, and I don't even agree with some of them. I don't like that Biden has made some bone-headed decisions in his past. But the "threat" either one of them pose to our democracy pales in comparison to the current occupant. I know it will be a tough pill to swallow, but I hope Bernie supporters will vote for Biden in the general election. I'm sure Biden supporters will vote for Bernie.
2
@Phillip Yes, "voters vote", but what influences them to vote the way they do? It's a complicated subject too deep to get into here, and frankly beyond my limited understanding of psychology, but one of the biggest motivators is "Popular perception". For example, what makes a hit song or movie a hit? Or perhaps a closer analogy is what causes fans to flock to suddenly winning team? The media plays an outsized role in this "group think", and the evidence is right before us. Prior to SC, Biden was a "dead man walking", and probably would've dropped out if he didn't win that state convincingly, and yet 3 days later he's "unbeatable". How did that happen when he had no advertising blitz, no infrastructure, had no time to make public appearances and rallies in all those states? The MSM did what he he could not: blanket the public consciousness with the message that he was the The One. This should put to rest any claims by the media that they are not biased, because this campaign season proves otherwise.
As to the common threat of Trump, yes of course I will vote for Biden if it comes to that. There can be no greater cause. That said, voting for Biden (or any "moderate") is a vote for the Status Quo that has pushed the majority of Americans backwards for 40 years. This election may be the last chance to peacefully reverse that slide.
1
Joe Biden may be a nice guy but Super Tuesday really wasn't about him. It was about millions of people across the country simultaneously reaching the same conclusion about how to defeat Trump in November. I don't think we've ever seen anything quite like it in terms of collective decision-making. It makes me hopeful, even a little inspired, that there is still a core of rational adults in this country that can pull it back from the abyss.
31
It appears that Iowa and New Hampshire do not speak for the rest of the country. A collective sigh of relief. While Bernie has passion and great ideas, our system of government is much more complex than that and Bernie’s uncompromising stance would frighten centrists and, in the end, accomplish little. Americans like evolution, not revolution. Pennsylvania will vote for Biden.
4
@fbraconi
I thought it was about was about millions of people across the country guessing at who everyone else guessed is most electable.
1
Alternative headline: the rich elite close ranks to squash Sanders.
With today's headline and analysis, The New York Times reconfirms its anti-democratic support of vested power (in this case, the Democrat machine).
24
@Jonathan S.
The American people have spoken. This is Democracy.
1
@Old Cowgirl More like an oligarchy.
Noam Chomsky breaks it down for us:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZnuc-Fv_Tc&t=780s
2
Another reminder that the liberal Twitterverse isn't real life.
6
I actually supported Bernie yesterday, but this complaining about the Establishment deciding to go against Bernie seems as off-track as the talk about the Russians winning the election for Trump. We have to accept that in a large country loads of people will - freely - vote in very different ways from us without any conspiracy. Hope we can get past that fast. Should Biden win, I hope it’s big so he’s in the position to make bigger changes than we’d expect. It happened with LBJ and no one would have expected it there.
238
@dj You're right but there aren't a lot of us left who remember when that happened.
8
@dj The Washington Post, owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, published 16 negative articles about Bernie Sanders in less than 24 hours leading up to Super Tuesday. I can understand finding Bernie's delivery off-putting, but denying entrenched interests are not investing a great deal of effort into stymying his chances is unrealistic.
24
@dj It happened with LBJ but it sure didn't happen with Obama-Biden.
7
That Biden did well on Super Tuesday is an understatement. But, it was due to clearing the field of the other moderate candidates--Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar, and Tom Steyer. If Elizabeth Warren had dropped out, as she definitely should now after finishing third in her home state, the results would be quite different with Sanders winning Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, and Texas. The Democratic party seems split down the middle between its moderate, establishment and progressive wings. It's clearly a two, old white man race that is far from over and will take considerable effort to unite the party, as it failed to do in 2016, in order to have a chance of defeating Trump.
9
@Paul Wortman I don't think we can count on Warren's supporters to move to Bernie. Their politics may be similar, but their coalitions are very different. Hers is much more similar to Biden's than to Bernie's.
2
@Phillip Medicare for All? A 2 percent wealth tax? Eliminating student debt? I don't think so.
@Phillip I hope you're wrong. I switched my support from Warren to Bernie early in the campaign, because I felt—as I still do—that his consistent track record reflected a passion and commitment that would serve him well at the bully pulpit. I would happily support Warren again if that were the best chance of a progressive in the White House. I believe her supporters also believe in an ambitious agenda to help everyday citizens.
Hopefully, if it is Biden, America's voters, especially the younger ones with decades of hope in front of them, will vote in the fall.
With Biden's more hawkish war views (than Sanders) and his support of Clarence Thomas, a Trump vs. Biden election might not hold their interest.
I hope I am wrong, but some may see the two as
Republican Right vs. Republican Lite.
Plus, the Electoral College will want their say when it is done and dusted.
12
@On the Salish Sea Bernie's tens of millions of passionate supporters will not vote for Biden. He had eight years to do something and did nothing. Prepare for Trump's coronation and prepare to defend Canada's health care system.
2
@On the Salish Sea Perfect distillation of the challenge facing Biden if he gets the nod. I hope voters see how much better things will be under Biden than under Trump, even if Biden is a very flawed candidate.
2
@Phillip No, Phillip. The sky didn't fall under Trump. It might not fall under Biden's pacification. But the impoverishment of Americans and the moral bankruptcy of America will continue apace.
1
It’s 2004 all over again. The Democrats have settled on running another John Kerry who will fail to unseat an unpopular Republican president. Mainly because his primary appeal is not being Trump, and that wasn’t enough to win in 2004 or 2016.
Really, we lost when the front runners became a pair of guys in their late 70’s. I like Sanders well enough, and at least he has people who actually want to see him in office, but if nominated he’d alienate all the independents and the handful of Republican voters who haven’t surrendered to Trump.
13
@Gus He wins overwhelmingly with Independents.
1
My personal politics are far from what Bernie Sanders stands for. I would much rather see someone, such as Bloomberg, in the presidency. However, when reflecting on these very particular times, I cannot avoid thinking that Biden is the weakest candidate against Trump. He represents a very set of ideals that helped get Trump elected. Biden is the sort of fellow who believes the election of Trump was a one-off thing, a once in a generation fluke. Regardless of ideology, what we need is someone who challenges the status quo and is willing to think outside the box and understand the discontent of a large segment of the population with where the country is going. I sincerely do hope I am wrong. Unfortunately, I suspect Joe Biden is not that person, and come November, Trump will be re-elected.
24
My personal politics are far from what Bernie Sanders stands for. I would much rather see someone, such as Bloomberg, in the presidency. However, when reflecting on these very particular times, I cannot avoid thinking that Biden is the weakest candidate against Trump. He represents a very set of ideals that helped get Trump elected. Biden is the sort of fellow who believes the election of Trump was a one-off thing, a once in a generation fluke. Regardless of ideology, what we need is someone who challenges the status quo and is willing to think outside the box and understand the discontent of a large segment of the population with where the country is going. I sincerely do hope I am wrong. Unfortunately, I suspect Joe Biden is not that person, and come November, Trump will be re-elected.
115
@Fernando
So your theory is based on what exactly?
4
@Fernando Don't underestimate the many Americans who detest Trump. They showed in 2018 they would flip "safe" Republican seats to show their detestation. Right now Trump is sowing rumors with Sanders' supporters, that the Establishment will rob him of his nomination. I hope most are smart enough to see through his lies. Conversely, if Sanders wins a plurality, he should get the nomination though I don't share his philosophy. It's critical that we Democrats don't shoot each other. Trump would win and gloat forever.
10
@Fernando Trump does think out of the box. For example he thinks he can talk the virus out of causing us any problems.
I'm ready to get back in the box!
5
Biden will win the nomination in short order now that all the other moderates have dropped out and endorsed him. Including the delegates for Buttigieg, Bloomberg, and Klobuchar, Biden has a 100 delegate lead over Sanders at the moment, and that will grow over the next two weeks - probably double.
Sanders is not doing as well as 2016, and it’s just a matter of time until he sees there is no path to the nomination now. He should drop out by the end of the month, clearing the way for Biden.
Biden will choose Amy Klobuchar as his running mate, and will become the next president-elect in November.
Congressional Republicans will be left twisting in the wind, having sold their soul to Bunko Trump, while a solid moderate ticket that will have coattails down the ballot as independents and other swing voters vote to end the Trump era.
It’s going to be a Democratic landslide in November.
12
@Warren That all sounds good if your goal is a return to pre-Trump "normalcy" and a Democratic Party with no ambition or real policy goals. If we are saddled with Biden as our nominee, I hope you are right about November. Based on the 2016 experience, the economy, and Biden's struggles to remain coherent, I am not so optimistic. We still have time to nominate someone who will win Michigan and Pennsylvania. Writing Bernie of now is conceding to Trump.
4
@Warren wow, you are so optimistic. I wish that were the case, but I feel Biden is the worst candidate to go against Trump. He barely can talk, imagine him debating with Trump? Hillary's emails were a non issue, that blew up, and Biden has Burisma, which is actually something! Trump can run with that. The only way to win in November is by not being safe. People voted for Trump because they wanted change, and I feel people would vote Bernie this time for that reason.
1
Once more, Iowa and New Hampshire are irrelevant to the bigger picture. The media give those states a seat at the table far more prominent than they deserve.
Iowans and Granite Staters will lose out on a leap year economic bonanza, but it’s time for a national primary day where a candidate’s national support, or lack of, can be decided the same as it will be in November.
6
@JPLA The media didn't decide that Iowa and NH go first.
@Ann True, they only encourage it.
With the preface that neither Biden nor Bernie are my candidates:
You win elections by addition and not subtraction.
There was a strong “bend the knee” energy amongst Bernie’s online army after winning Nevada. Not realizing that Nevada result was skewed because it was a caucus. Bernie won 34% of the vote, but due to caucus shenanigans got 46% of the delegates (I’m dinging caucuses as undemocratic which remain despite problems because they always benefit someone. Bernie in this case).
As a result, Bernie thought it product to attack the establishment, dig into (get baited to defend) his old comments on Castro. The slide started there when DNC Florida (not just individuals) complained.
The establishment realized that Florida would be lost as would down-ballot races nationwide if Bernie were the nominee.
Rather than reassure people to vote for them, the bend the knee folks decided it would be a smashing idea to add new Bernie events in MA and MN... and stick it to the women candidates.
Here’s the deal:
The turnout amongst 17-29 people didn’t materialize (outside of CA)
African Americans voted to destroy Sanders, not just defeat him. Bernie had 4 years to improve on his 2016 performance with them. He got nothing in those states.
The turnout rose in suburbs to support Joe.
These are the people we will need in November to defeat Trump.
Bernie’s worldview needs to evolve beyond that of Chapo Trap House and Jacobin to be a contender.
He’s not one currently.
26
@Patrician The people we need to beat Trump are the Obama-to-Trump voters in states like Michigan and Pennsylvania. I am not so confident that Biden's history on trade, his calls for cutting Social Security, and his troubling habit of inappropriate comments and invasive touching will play well in those states when Republicans begin their attacks. His cognitive decline and the Burisma business doesn't seem to bother Democrats either. The general electorate will not be so forgiving.
4
@Patrician Enjoy 4 more years of Trump. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different result... is it 2016 again? Sure looks like it.
5
@Patrician You are talking about Sander's not learning the lesson from 2016, but the democratic establishment had decades available and what have done to substantially improve the conditions of African Americans ?
2
At this point, I feel like we've fallen into the 2016 trap again. We're now stuck with a candidate who isn't necessarily bad but just does not inspire people to go out and vote for him and not just against Trump.
If Hillary, attempting to become the first woman president couldn't win, how is Biden who has no real special qualities other than not being Trump and reminding everyone that he worked with Obama every chance he can, going to?
I guess he'll have my vote if he ends up getting the nomination, but I'm tired of the same uninspired politicians from the Democratic establishment being thrust forward as our only "real" choice. It's disappointing.
326
@Amulya I'm with you on this. I was very disappointed in how the so-called "leaders" of this party thought Joe should be the one we should coalesce around (and made sure that happened), when only a week ago they all thought he was doomed. I thought he was from the start. My only thought about how I could become somewhat enthused is if he picks Stacy Abrams for his VP. Because no one is enthused about Biden.
45
I disagree. Biden is no Obama, but he doesn’t have the baggage and high negatives that Hilary had in 2016. He will also be helped by the big negatives Trump has.
Anti-Trump voters are not going to stay home because Biden is the choice when they have the opportunity to end the Trump era.
Biden also appeals to blue collar Obama voters who swung to Trump last time, but are ready to dump him now.
Biden will win all the swing states - Florida, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, in addition to all the traditional blue states. He may also win Texas and Arizona, which would create a blue tidal wave.
64
@Amulya
There were several younger Dems running for president. Booker, just to name one. Harris, Klobuchar. None of them did very well at all. Doesn’t that demonstrate that maybe there isn’t a younger, more experienced candidate that we Americans are ready to support? Biden will return this country to normal, get the US back into the Paris Climate accord, protect our environment, fight climate change, protect our health care. Biden will not see a 2nd term. This gives the Dems time to find that younger, stronger candidate that more of us Americans can support. As an independent voter, I will gladly vote for Biden.
52
OK, let's have a Biden-Warren ticket.
Now, if only those young voters could participate. Apparently they did not vote enough for Bernie this time either. In 2010 they stayed home and gave the House of Representatives to the GOP, which blocked or even undid all progress and raised student loan interest rates to obscene levels. When will they learn that if they don't pay attention others will rob them?
3
@Marc I suspect it will be Biden/Klobuchar. That will solidify the moderate block, and Biden owes her a favor for starting the move to coalesce. If Bernie is to have a chance at the nomination, Warren has to drop out and back him now. If she doesn't it's over.
1
@Marc In this scenario, what do you propose that Warren is bringing to the table?? She killed all of the progressive support she once had through her actions in this election cycle.
@Marc
Biden- Klobuchar
For the Midwest and never trump Republicans as well as moderate and Center left independents.
Why are the only serious candidates almost 80 years, they should be playing with there grandchildren. In a country the size of the US there must be many between 40-60 better suited for the job.
8
@N, there were several. Not anymore.
Our democracy reveals how confused America is. It’s a tough time for those who need to move forward in a progressive, intelligent way.
20
Has the Times mellowed now that a Sanders nomination isn't so certain? Is this "being gracious in victory?" This was one of the most even-handed treatments of Sanders I've read in this paper. He sounds less like an unsafe, "can't win threat to democracy" and more like a valid option here.
In general, it's been very disappointing to see corporate media more interested in influencing and managing (negative) perception of Sanders than focusing on the actual issues at stake, issues that directly impact most US citizens. If he's defeated, I'd rather it be due to arguments about real issues rather than socialist-scare propaganda.
If it's going to be Biden, I hope he'll get a new and newly energized campaign team, because his primary run so far doesn't bode well. Clinton's loss should have taught the Dems that you have to fight actively, everywhere, every step of the way to win elections. You never, ever don the "cloak of inevitability," and just assume that people will vote for you as the safe choice because the Republican candidate is insane. This is America: they won't. In this great country, you still need to sell yourself effectively even if you're the only rational choice.
Finally, whether it's Sanders or Biden, may they have a clear majority (even if it's a little short of the magic number) before the convention. Otherwise, we're headed for a shipwreck.
18
We should be concerned for Joe. So we should be concerned for us. I know Joe is tough. People like Joe. We trust Joe. In Joe we trust. But we don't trust what will happen to Joe. And we don't trust how Joe will hold up, and whether Joe will respond not only forcefully, but appropriately.
He's better when he has spokes people to speak for him. Perhaps James Clyburn should clear his schedule for the next five years so he can speak for Joe every day. Jim Clyburn for Joe's VP. We like Joe, we do. We should be concerned.
9
Beating trump is positive. I’m unsure the status quo Biden represents will be the “results” most voters want.
4
With the Democrats choosing Biden, the Trump Republicans retain the mantle of the party that stands for transformative change—the party fighting to tear down the system that leaves so many Americans dissatisfied.
The Democrats, faced with Trumpism, can only offer more Reaganism. The Democrats have become the party of yesterday's status quo.
17
The Democratic electorate spoke clearly yesterday. The next two Tuesdays will determine if they continue to believe that Joe Biden is the best candidate to defeat Trump. Meanwhile, we can expect that the full force of Trump’s perverted government to be aimed at Biden. Every political appointee in Trump world knows that there is only one mission: smear Biden. We can expect the Justice Department in particular to swing into action with the results of “investigations” and possibly indictments of people like Hunter Biden and James Comey. Trump won’t be content to wait to spring an October surprise - it’s not his style. A daily bludgeoning is where he is at. And meanwhile, the internet trolls - whether foreign or domestic, bots or humans, hoaxes or legitimate voices - will spring even more into action to push the agenda that poor Bernie is being cheated by the voters who don’t prefer him.
With the purge ongoing in all federal agencies, it will be harder to find employees willing to tell the truth about Trump’s effort to cheat his way to victory in 2020. It’s going to be difficult for the NYT and WaPo and others to ferret out and report on Trump’s corruption. I pray they can. If yes, the majority of Americans will see the man behind the curtain and vote him out of office before he completes his subversion of democracy and turns America into an autocracy in line with the others that he admires, like Putin’s.
It will be ugly, as are all things Trump, but I feel more optimistic.
2
And if he wins, has anyone stopped to think about what will change in our lives?
Yeah, pretty much what I expected to hear...........crickets.
11
@Magan You want the government to change your life for you?
@Magan
And not even crickets, what with insect Armageddon!
I love the naiveté of most people. Joe Biden will walk the same path as Hillary. It is chosen because people think he is the candidate with the best chances to beat Trump while the cruel reality is that he does not have a chance. His brain functions at low speed and he will lose to a bully sociopath.
13
The anti-Bernie forces are getting stronger by the hour. I just heard that Mike Bloomberg is suspending his campaign and may throw his support behind Biden making him the oldest nominee of the Democratic party ever. Stock market is rising on this news and also on the reduction of the interest rates. Most importantly Corona virus is no longer a credible threat to the US economy and the only pandemic currently is the panic pandemic not due to Corona virus.
2
Once again, the European-style Democratic-socialist dream in America runs into its most ardent foe: the American voter. This is a lesson for November.
Come on, Bernie supporters. Do the right thing his fall. We need you guys. Don't do what you did in 2016.
2
@Mike There is still time to nominate someone who will appeal to both progressives and working-class voters in the swing states, to the urban poor and those concerned they will have no future under climate change. Don't blame the people who will still have to ration their insulin under a Biden presidency if the Democrats choose another weak candidate and they decide to not risk missing work to vote for someone with no interest in fighting for them.
@Mike We didn't lose the race in 2016. Hillary and the neoliberal establishment did. And you'll blame us when Joe loses in 2020. So why bother voting if we'll take the blame either way??
@Jeffrey K
So you plan on electing Trump again. Well, I can’t say I’m surprised.
The media is missing the effect of the impeachment hearings. I suspect many voters were appalled by the shameless attempt to denigrate Mr Biden by Trump and what used to be the Republican party. Like me, lots of voters observed how he took such incoming fire with grace rather than complaint. Now that we are in a global health emergency, we'll take the gaffes. It sure beats the horrid clown show in the White House and the Senate.
3
Why the five hour lines for Hispanics in Texas and California?
We've been told over and over that voter suppression was supposed to be a Republican thing. But no, if an election is on the line here it is. Right there.
What's up with that?
20
@Billy
If Biden or another establishment candidate had strong Hispanic like Bernie I'm guessing things would've moved along a little faster.
1
woops... Hispanic 'support'.
Actually Bernie Sanders spouts nonsense and is not a Democrat. Democrats pick Democrat as candidate should be headline.
7
@SMS "Democrats poised to lose again by running the same playbook as 2016." There's your title.
Bloomberg just dropped out of the race. Where will his supporters go? I'm guessing Biden.
4
@dc Of course they will. Bloomberg is a billionaire who vowed to protect the banks as president. Biden has a history of doing precisely that.
I do not think Biden is the best candidate. Too many verbal stumbles. Of course, a debate between Trump and Biden will have two equally brain and tongue-tied geezers shouting at each other, bad memories on one side, outright lies on the other. Why can’t we have Elizabeth Warren? She’s sharp, knows her stuff and can finish a sentence without forgetting how she started it.
8
@Barbara Snider
Why can't we have Elizabeth Warren? You might want to ask that question of voters in her home state of Mass., where she finished 3rd in primary balloting.
1
@Barbara Snider Not enough people like her or her policies. What's hard to understand about that?
1
A Biden nomination is a layup for Trump. Simple as that.
10
@Nature A Sanders nomination is a layup for Trump. Simple as that.
Bloomberg spent, to date, almost exactly $40 million per delegate.
Nice job, Mike. Now go home and give your money to something more worthwhile than your already bloated ego.
5
@Barking Doggerel
Well, it is probably just a spare change gained from Bush's (Obama continued) tax cuts.
1
This is absurd. You've got to know that something is very fishy. Personally, I don't think things are on the "up and up" concerning Biden's winning streak (shocking, I know). What comes to mind when I picture Biden in the Oval office, is Regan's last few years, not quite fully there and easily malleable. And that's just the way the powers that be like a president.
10
Gee, it would be nice to actually have a competent, smart person as POTUS. Warren would have been effective. Bloomberg would have been effective. And Mayor Pete or Amy would be more effective than Biden, who is exhibiting evidence of a thought disorder, not just a stutter. How is he goiing to successfully debate DT (which, of course, isn't really a debate, more like fending off a monster with a hot poker)?
4
Many, like me, progressive in outlook and cautious about the likelihood of positive change emerging from a Biden presidency, will support him as he campaigns against the vile Trump administration.
But it will be unenthusiastic support.
Biden is tied to militarism, thoughtless and reflexive support for an increasingly authoritarian Israel, and he gives every indication of indifference to the rapid spread of despotism and environmental collapse around the globe.
He has never demonstrated much of an intellect or political courage; still, he isn't gleefully malevolent, as Trump and his Vichy enablers are, and he would form a businesslike administration capable of making sensible comments as the world burns.
152
@John Briggs. Given all the issues Michigan is facing, both economically and otherwise, it is a bit odd to see concern over Israel ranking so high. Rest assured, though, that Biden’s support of the only democracy in the Middle East is neither “thoughtless” nor “reflexive” simply because you apparently disagree. It may be that his general support is the result of decades of experience and of parsing information.
By way of one recent data point, the Arab Joint List is now the third largest block in the Knesset - quite a trick to pull off if Israel were as you claim “increasingly authoritarian”, let alone the apartheid, racist state others proclaim. Facts and evidence are still important. You may wish to consider that your view of Israel may not be based on a complete picture of the country.
2
@John Briggs -- true, but the short answer is that biden is a trimmer, and will only swim where the tide is coming in.
besides, there is so much vested interest and free lucre in the carbon economy and wall st. profiteering that it's unlikely we will see substantive policy on climate change or financial reform in the next four years, no matter who is elected.
5
Presidents have much more capacity to do damage than actually solve or fix problems. Examples of the latter are far fewer than of the former. If that doesn’t clarify the choice, I don’t know what will.
2
If we are going to continue using the Electoral College to elect our presidents, then this really needs to factor into how the Democrats nominate their candidate. What does it mean that Alabama, Texas, Oklahoma, Utah, and South Carolina have chosen Biden, when these states haven't voted for a Democratic candidate in 50 years, and elected Trump over Hillary by wide margins? They won't be the states electing a Democratic president. Until these states join the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, their choices should be heavily weighted to reflect their voting history. Superdelagates would be wise to step in and play that role. This is the game we're playing. And if that sounds unfair, then join the interstate compact, and let's get rid of the Electoral College once and for all.
23
It is time to respectfully demand Mr. Bloomberg to live to his words, effectively saying that the only reason he is in the race is to make sure Trump is defeated. Mr. Bloomberg needs to show that he is truly concerned about the future of democracy in the US, by taking the following crucial steps:
1. He should see the writing on the wall and drop out of the race, as soon as possible;
2. He should publicly embrace Joe Biden and ask his own supporters to support Biden;
3. He should help Biden to build a nation-wide organization similar to his own, possibly lending him some of the key professionals that have been running his campaign;
4. He needs to keep his commercials running, with laser focus on Trump's broken promises and those areas where the US public is most concerned: healthcare, economy; environment; another Middle East war;
5. As a businessman, who is trusted with economic data and economic analysis, he should go on News Networks to explain to the US public that: i) Foundations of the current US economic boom are laid largely during Obama Administration; ii) Trump's tax cuts were designed to help the rich making more money; iii) Stock market does not represent the US economy; and, iv) Many economic decisions made by Trump are tailor-made to benefit him personally.
12
Why can't you guys just acknowledge that Democrats voted for Joe Biden, not because he is the "safe candidate" but because they prefer his politics to those of Sanders. A solid, perhaps substantial, majority of Democrats sit left of center. They do not respond favorably to the harangues and unrealistic - not to say irresponsible - promises of Bernie Sanders. Give people credit for voting their preferences, not just their fears.
100
@John I would do that if it were true, but it's not. This morning on NPR, Tim Ryan was interviewed as a Biden surrogate and could not name one single appealing thing about Biden beyond his "electability," not one. Instead, Ryan listed off a number of ways in which Trump will be worse. That's what the Dems plan to use to get the youth vote out?
28
@John
Yes..let us give thanks for Joe's decisions in support of NAFTA and the Iraq War. Always fighting for the credit card companies. Preferred by whom?
16
@John Why unrealistic and irresponsible? Why don't you take a look at what advanced democracies in Europe are doing, and then talk about what can be done. Heck, just take a look at the US of the 50s and 60s and you're looking at a different country.
8
Biden surged because the other strong moderate candidates dropped out and threw their weight behind him immediately before the election. I fear for what the Trump machine (or another Comey) drops on him right before the general. I don’t know if Biden can handle what the GOP will do to destroy him. Nothing gets to Sanders...NYTimes called him the Teflon Candidate and he is...I think he’s more electable against Trump.
Regardless, whoever democrats pick as the nominee, the establishment and voters need to unite behind that person. A unity ticket is key. Sanders needs a more moderate VP and Biden needs a more liberal VP.
26
Biden arouses hopes of decency and honesty.( get ready for the honesty part to disappoint)
There is not much vision, not much dream beyond that.
Trump at least stimulates passion.
Bernie proposes a civilisational step forward , a step already taken by most advanced societies.
But Americans see it as a leap into the dangerous unknown.
Trump will win.
28
@Pref1 Not sure if Trump will win—but Biden doesn’t answer the question in which direction the party is headed. I think Bernie is that answer. People will cheer loudly if he beats Trump, and for some that’s enough, then what? A politician who entered congress during the Nixon administration? Whatever the problems this country is facing, mostly occurred during his time in office. Trump (like AOC) was a vote against Washington, as is Bernie.
2
Biden is a less intelligent version of Hillary Clinton.
Bernie is painted as an extremist and socialist when in most North Western European countries, which all score higher on the social and moral development index and which all have a high standard of living, he would be pretty mainstream. The population has been indoctrinated to believe that social programs are bad for the country, that a living wage stifles competition, that universal health care is unaffordable when in fact it should and could save money, that the US needs to spend 700 billion a year on "defense" (a misnomer if ever there was one), that for profit prisons are the best solution, that education should be a for profit business, etc. The only person who has consistently been advocating for social programs, living wages, universal health care, inexpensive or free education, proper care for the elderly and children, etc. is Bernie Sanders. Most people in the US seem to realize that there needs to be significant change but the indoctrination has been so successful that many do not think Bernie's ideas are feasible. A proper wage, would stimulate the economy in ways cutting taxes clearly has not. Yes, it has boosted the stock market but that does little to improve the lives of those living on minimum wage. Providing a reasonable minimum living wage and taking care of the elderly, children and the sick should be done as a matter of course.
57
@Lex I agree; it's very disheartening. It would help a lot if U.S. citizens were required or at least encouraged to take classes (in person or online) to learn about the detailed stances of the candidates in order to vote so they could at least vote in a fully informed and responsible way.
9
@Lex Maybe a refresh on how "ideas" become law would be helpful here. We ALL know what needs to be done. However, right now, McConnell has not brought great legislation to the floor that has already answered some of your concerns. We need to be in a position to make these changes.
1
A lot of my fellow Democrats are voting their fears. I don't agree with it, but I understand it. I seriously doubt that the Warren campaign will make it to Maryland and I can get comfortable with Biden as the nominee. What worries me about Sanders, as much as I agree with just about all of his positions, is that too many white Americans will prioritize their real or imagined money over their neighbors lives.
17
Biden is a vote for the status quo and is a win for the neo-liberal elite ruling and moneyed classes. The voters were not swayed by Trumps attack on the Bidens but were propagandized by the classes of people I have mentioned above against Bernie. Y'all deserve the government that you get.
35
Sadly, when the call went out after South Carolina, it was not if you want to beat Trump, now is the time to drop out. It was if you want to beat Sanders now is the time to "unify."
We shall see how this all plays out, but putting all the Democratic eggs in the Biden basket may prove to be a mistake. As Mr. Flegenheimer suggests, Biden is still the same candidate who failed to inspire many voters in Iowa, New Hampshire, and Nevada and I don't see that anything has changed.
This is a false momentum, artificially created. Time will tell if Biden has the stamina and skills to maintain it on his own against Trump. I have serious doubts, alas.
40
@avrds Exactly
2
This was an apparent win for the status quo beating down a populace recently turned into hand-washing Republicans by an uncontrollable virus. Rather than boldly go into the future, these fearful Americans decided to revert to the safety of the past with a comfortable grandfather tucking them in and putting them to sleep with stories that climate change is nothing to worry about.
The actual winner was the anti-establishment Trump who will be re-elected in a landslide as 40% of Progressives vote against another status quo shrill.
9
Sander's supporters would love to have the news continue to call Biden the "safe" choice. It implies compromise and allows them to bring up Hillary, Kerry, and Gore in an effort to suggest he, like them, will lose because he is the "safe" candidate. What they can't see is the voters think he is the smarter choice. Someone who is actually a democrat. Who isn't campaigning on a makeover of half our economy. Someone who isn't trading one combative and divisive incumbent for another of a different persuasion. Someone who can pull from the moderate Republicans at the polls. Joe may not be the best Presidential talent out there but he is the better of Sanders.
13
@Charlie Democrat in name only.
I find all the hand wringing on all sides dizzying. I don't really know who has the best chance to beat Trump and anyone confidently saying that "only *my* candidate can win" is simply deluding themselves. Any of these candidates could win or lose. I'll walk over glass to fight for whoever the nominee is along with down-ballot Democrats. If you support any of the remaining Democratic candidates, you should do the same if you truly believe in what those candidates stand for. We will never get anything these candidates promise with another four years of Trump turning our country into a dictatorship and installing right wing stooges to the Supreme Court. We must all be in this fight together.
7
People need to be honest with themselves about Biden being a safe bet. In Iowa and New Hampshire, his numbers collapsed when people had the chance to see him up close. If you've paid attention this campaign cycle, you've noticed that Biden is in cognitive decline.
No amount of personal decency on Biden's part will make up for that fact. Nor do his record (trying to cut Social Security, NAFTA, Iraq War, crime bill), scandals (Burisma, Anita Hill), and lack or core passionate support make him more electable.
Nominating the 'safe' Democrat has actually backfired for the entire 21st Century. John Kerry and Hillary Clinton were defeated. Obama ran as a progressive change agent his first term to resounding victory, but governed as a centrist, and Democrats suffered Senate and House losses across the board that were in no way inevitable. He did much worse in 2012.
As Democrats, we're afraid and beaten down after 40 years of shellacking. But a centrist is certainly not the safe choice, as much as MSNBC would have you believe.
21
@Ted B
It's Trump's cognitive decline I'm more worried about. Sanders didn't have a chance against him.
In 2016 we had no idea what a disaster a Trump presidency would be. As much as I love Bernie, and hope many of his ideas are considered in the Dem platform, we need to unite behind Biden, and hope his VP pick is someone who can take over on day one, because I'm not at all confident that Biden still has the stamina or mental acuity to handle to job.
8
@Paula Jo Smith
well ...this complete economic meltdown ...hasn't been that bad ...
WW3 ..also not that bad ...
the dictator still allows elections ... where he might lose.
It is nice to see the Dem's eat Bernie alive instead of us having another fit over something Trump did ...
is this the very first week of the trump presidency where we haven't had Dem's calling for some way to get rid of him (before the election)?
Women can still get abortions too ...
@ron I agree Trump gets a lot of terrible press even though maybe he is not as bad as they say...but he IS almost as bad as they say. And it's about the health of the country... health care and the environment. Wake up to who his constituency really is.
@Paula Jo Smith
I can't think of one position Joe will move left on. Not a single one.
And given the coronation the media is having for him today, I can't really think of a reason why he would.
As a Buttigieg-turned-Warren-turned-Buttigieg-turned-Sanders-turned-Buttigieg-turned-Warren supporter, the default Democratic position of Biden is a bit upsetting for me. Nevertheless, I will fall in line with the DNC come general election time.
Personally, if the DNC were to greatly enhance my enthusiasm for a Biden candidacy, they would encourage Kamala Harris or Michelle Obama to run as VP, and offer Pete Buttigieg and Elizabeth Warren cabinet positions. Buttigieg would excel as Secretary of State, and Warren would do well to head the Dept. of Labor.
7
As an committed Bernie supporter who voted for Obama twice, as well as Hillary, let’s just be clear; the DNC just handed Trump a second term. But as I have learned the hard way, the truth was always that the DNC would prefer a second Trump term over their donors being forced to pay their taxes. Now we know.
36
@Aaron
The DNC didn't vote for Biden, people did. Biden had practically no money or organization in most of the states he won. People came out in droves to vote from him.
2
@GI Worried about their money.
1
In his victory speech in South Carolina, Biden showed he has empathy for his fellow human beings. He showed why Obama picked him for Vice President. And he showed that he could provide a clear choice against a President who cares only about himself. Sure there is a lot more to being a president than just caring about others, but this is where a good presidency starts. I’ll take it.
10
Warren to stay in as a spoiler for Sanders and a non angry grumpy white old man who can get things done for the progressive part of the party.
Bloomberg to put his analytic skills and his money where his mouth is to support Biden.
Saunders to prove that he is for country and not self by supporting the best candidate for the country and not in it just for his ego.
Americans of all ages who had a tantrum in 2016 and voted for Mickey Mouse and other protest votes thinking the country would not be so rash as to elect a tv reality star and that it didn't matter to realize how important this election is and to show up in massive numbers.
3
The Democrats have never successfully offered a compelling alternative to Reaganism. And now, faced with Trumpism, the only alternative they seem able to offer is yet more Reaganism.
Biden may win. But, long term, this is a disaster. Once again, it's the Republicans who are defining for the Democrats who they are.
15
"Joe Biden, as risky as he ever was, is the safest bet."
With Democrat nominees getting less than 40% of the votes in the vast majority of super-Tuesday states , how is Biden shown to be a safer bet than any other candidate? Yes, he did get a bunch more delegates than he had before Super Tuesday. But that he's a decisively leading nominee as a safe bet?
Wishful thinking.
Lest my comment mislead, Democrats are still best served to vote blue no matter who.
1
I was opposed to the notion that Biden should choose an African American as a running mate, because basing such a choice on race seemed . . . racist.
But after yesterday, when Biden was the choice of so many African Americans, I've changed my mind. I think an African American running mate makes sense.
Michael Steele! He could sever any remaining ties to the Republican Party. He is brilliant, well-dressed (!), knowledgeable, smart, a gentleman, courteous, etc., etc.
Steele would be perfect at mending fences with insulted allies, winning back the world's respect, appealing to African American (and European American and Asian American and Latin American) voters.
That's just for starters.
This democrat will sit the election out if Biden is rigged to become the candidate. And four more years of trump. Anyone who thinks joe Biden is a safe bet just has not been paying attention.
8
@Ericka
How will it be rigged? Wining superdelegates is how the system operates.
1
@Ericka - You were saying this yesterday also. A lot has changed since then, and I believe you will reconsider.
Vote blue no matter who.
Please vote, for the sake of our country. Our real enemies are counting on voter mistrust to erode our democracy.
1
I used to think Bernie was compelling but he and his supporters are growing angrier and meaner. I’m tired of the divisiveness. Bring on a Biden-Warren ticket.
7
@Stephanie Lauren You're basically asking for 4 more years of Trump.
1
Calmer heads prevailed. We need Joe in times like this. I feel less anxiety already.
5
Biden was forced on us by the first sizable count primary states being in the South where he is associated with Obama, by the disruption of the Klobuchar Minnesota pre-Super Tuesday rally by those accusing her of something she did not do--her successor convicted and imprisoned the gang member on a second trial, and by the media leaving Warren out of most primary coverage.
4
That scene during Biden's speech last night, with protestors rushing the stage, was very troubling. These candidates need secret service protection now.
3
I would just like to point out that although the NYT is known for its thorough reporting, it has really smudged its coverage of the primaries. When Bernie won in Iowa (popular) & New Hampshire, this paper continued to emphasize the position of moderate candidates relative to each other/the wider field. Now, once there is a clear story to tell regarding the party's center last-minute endorsement of Joe Biden, we are hearing no such electoral math. How would these contests look if the progressive vote were all tallied together? This is a question asked thoroughly after Bernie's wins, and yet now we have these stories about Biden's success delivered witih an air of finality.
6
What a choice.
One a rather ordinary, decent man who has fashioned out a semi-distinguished political life for himself, now visibly tired and no great shakes as an orator, leader, teacher or molder of opinion, but much better at beating Trump than Bernie would be.
The other, something akin to a monster, oblivious to the damage he is doing to the American nation, intent on gobbling up all political power into his hands, who is skilled at pulling wool over the eyes of ignorant and desperate people.
Nations like people frequently get what they deserve.
It will be interesting to see what America decides.
I pray for a favorable outcome, and fear the worst.
5
Biden has Elizabeth Warren to thank, for exposing Bloomberg as a poor option for Democrats.
15
Why are we not hearing the never ending chorus about Russian Interference in the Elections? Is it just too early for the Sanders faithful to have their coffee and decide that Biden won for other reasons? If Russia can send a couple million bots and sway the elections for Trump why cant he do that for Ole Joe?
3
Biden dominated in the states Democrats have no chance of winning in the General Election. He did less well in the states Democrats can actually win in. The only states that matter are yet to hold a primary. If he does poorly in those, selecting him as the nominee would simply be foolish.
The Michigan primary is on the 10th. That will be the most important race.
28
@Steve ___So true. And the media chooses to overlook his lies and memory lapses. I always tell people I was arrested trying to visit Mandela. And voted for the Iraq war. And talk about CUTTING Social Security. And Anita Hill called, and it wasn't pleasant. I'm no rabid Sanders supported but Biden has a LOT MORE baggage.
2
Interesting. In this well thought out Front Page headline on yesterday’s primary, the Times has left out.....
“As Risky as he ever was” (re:Biden). This changes the Headline’s meaning. Maybe no room?
The National media and status quo democrats are trying to build a confidence in Biden that may be very misleading as well as divisive. In general, yesterdays vote, with the combination of Sanders and Warren, shows most voters want a more progressive agenda. Talk about that.
15
@PM : "Talk about that."
OK, I'll bite. Many Democrats want a progressive candidate. Sanders' platform might be a good end point, but many believe that he would push it too hard and get nowhere.
I started out supporting Warren, but she veered left instead of towards the center where I hoped she'd go. She is no longer viable.
If things continue to favor Biden, for the general election he will need to incorporate some of Sanders' agenda into his, and Sanders will need to urge his supporters to support him. Then Sanders' supporters will get some of what they wanted, in a candidate that (we hope) can get some of it done.
Then we might be able to be rid of Trump.
2
@mlbex I agree, that would be the reasonable strategy. I'm betting that Biden won't incorporate any of Sanders' agenda, though, and instead the establishment will publish lots of propaganda about how Americans didn't support any of Sanders' positions anyway, which in turn will alienate progressives and lead Biden to lose the general election.
Prove me wrong. Please.
2
@Chris : If they do that, he will lose. They need Sanders' supporters to beat Trump. That's how democracy is supposed to work.
In a proportional representation (parliamentary) system, Biden and Sanders would combine their delegates and form a coalition, and both sides would be guaranteed to get some of what they want.
There are 2 problems with this assessment. First, Sanders was close to Biden in states that are likely to vote Democratic, while Biden win big in states that won't.
Second, it appears that more Democrats voted for Sanders than Biden, especially with California and close votes in Massachusetts.
More important, the 'stop Sanders' strategy adopted by the establishment and corporate wing of the party appears to be willing to put a man who has no vision, no organization and a long record of supporting wars and promoting legislation that seriously hurt working people, minorities and more.
BIDEN CAN'T BEAT TRUMP. BIDEN WILL IMPLODE ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL. BIDEN CAN'T MOBILIZE VOTERS TO TURN OUT.
128
@J Albers
My sentiment exactly. Point by point. The feckless democratic choice demonstrates the END of that party.
Expect to hear the "Hunter Biden in the Ukraine" story over and over and over again during the election. And, Why not? Yup...the democrats are as corrupt at the Trumpians. When did Hunter Biden get so conversational in foreign languages...and expert on gas company problems? It's like HRC giving 45 minute speeches at GS for $250K. No shame...none at all.
24
@J Albers per the Wash Post:
Turnout also did not appear to grow because of a surge in young voters that Sanders keeps promising will materialize any time now. Exit polls show about 1 in 8 voters in Super Tuesday states were 18- to 29-year-olds, compared to 3 in 10 who were 65 or older. Sanders struggles with these older voters.
Instead, turnout appears to have spiked from 2016 to 2020 in key general election battlegrounds because antipathy toward President Trump continues to galvanize suburban moderates to get engaged in Democratic politics. A Washington Post statistical model suggests Biden won nearly 60 percent of voters who sat out the 2016 primary but cast ballots on Tuesday. Our turnout analysis, conducted by in-house data scientist Lenny Bronner, also shows that Biden possibly received nearly 90 percent of Clinton’s 2016 voters.
21
@J Albers
Actually Biden DID mobilize voters to turn out.
9
I found it hard to believe Biden could come roaring back, but was thrilled. it's infused new energy and focus, even his face radiates in a new way.
I'm thinking people finally really woke up to how much we miss decency, humility, and above all optimism even when things seem darkest among our elected officials. I for one was thrilled finally to cast a vote for someone I admire and respect.
82
@ChristineMcM Biden has a history of inappropriate touching and comments about women, he has told several absolute whoppers on the campaign trail, and his history as a politician—drafting the 1994 crime bill, fighting for 40 years to cut SS, slashing bankruptcy protections for the benefit of credit card companies, etc.—is shameful.
As for optimism, he has stated repeatedly that he does not believe progressive policies that are de rigueur in other developed countries are possible in the US.
He is no optimist, and he is far from decent. As for humility, just look at how he responds to citizens when he is questioned at rallies. Shameful.
32
@James "a history of inappropriate touching and comments about women"
Funny how in the "Me Too" era so many are so ready to conveniently forget about that or dismiss it as unimportant. Partisanship and power in the moment still matter more than respecting women. Perhaps once it's safe, when Biden retires from politics we'll have some righteous journalism focusing on his "history."
Biden talks about decency (instead of issues), and is good at looking and sounding decent. That's not the same thing as actually being decent.
3
I was encouraged by the turnout. My hat goes off to all those who waited in long lines to cast their ballot. Many states doubled the number of people who went to the polls. Imagine if we have the same enthusiasm in the general election.
178
Bernie was right about driving turnout.
5
@Ziggy Go back to sleep. The turnout increase was mainly in people 50 and over. The young people stayed at Starbucks drinking their $7 lattes and complaining bout how much college costs...
4
Obviously ranked choice voting would fix a lot of this uncertainty over who the democratic electorate actually want to represent them. By having people drop out I think we can better understand who the electorate actually want to nominate. Hopefully Bloomberg drops out (helps Biden of course) and Warren too (I'm guessing this will help Sanders?) and we get to see where people really stand without all the game theory that has dominated this primary thus far.
8
Although disappointing, Tuesday's results are not surprising, especially given Biden's ties to Obama and last minute high profile endorsements. Biden might promise that "nothing fundamentally would change," but at least we know his track record.
I'm not sure what Warren's plan is, but if 2016 is any indicator, Warren will also throw her support to Biden the day before the Democratic National Convention, sealing it for Biden. I tend to think she was just riding the wave of Sanders' earlier popularity, but doesn't ultimate support him. I end up questioning her commitment to progressive ideas.
As for Sanders, I will continue to support him. I have a feeling it's just not quite his time.
The younger generation likely needs another decade before they feel compelled to translate notions of ideals into real action at the ballot box. Young adults especially feel that if it's just going to be more of the same, they won't do anything--they feel that powerless. Yet power begins with the vote.
I say, for those of us who believe that America will be exponentially greater once we start actually investing in our citizens rather than enriching corporations through corporate welfare, we have to stop Trump first and foremost, then take greater action to hold our leaders accountable to us Americans and also educating them, since so many are out of touch with the lives of ordinary citizens.
We must stick together and vote Blue in November!
230
Did we think billionaires were going to just give up their power? Perhaps the lesson is that we will have to fight for it. You know, like in a way that costs us something
29
@Rhonda
Well put Rhonda. This is the exact conversation we had this morning. We have a thirteen year old. We don't like the idea of her being stuck in the future to a particular job, or type of job, because of healthcare insurance dependency on employers.
26
@E Bernie already told you the cost:"I will raise taxes significantly on the middle class" for that free health
4
If this where 4 years ago, i would be rejoicing but now seeing how Biden is cognitive declining, people should not only be worried but starting to brace themselves for a 2nd term Trump presidency.
104
@Sankento While I agree in general about the usually rapid cognitive decline when men reach 80, Biden is pretty much unchanged from 20 years ago. He's always had verbal gaffes when speaking publicly. Remember he has a severe stutter which he has to go through steps to control while answering questions.
20
@Sankento Sadly, Old Joe doesnt know where he is or what he says a lot. The Democrat Elite do not care because they will be behind the curtain pulling the strings. A win for Sanders would be the end for the Never Sanders entrenched old time Democrats in Washington and they cant have that. They saw what happened to the Never Trumpers. This is all about keeping the Status Quo on the Left and not upsetting the Apple Cart. You can bet Hillary Clinton is very very happy right now.
16
@Sankento Get real. Nothing but republican talking points. Who is in more decline than the disaster sitting in the WH? People make comments as if trump is some great mind instead of a liar with the vocabulary of a 4 year old. I say 4 year old because my 6 year old grandson has a better grasp of the English language than the so-called president of the US.
12
a lot of people voted for Bernie...please don’t report what you want to hear. yes if you look at number of states, biden got more, but in terms of delegates and people, it’s a close race.
i will vote for whom ever secures the nomination, but Biden was my second to last choice only in front of bloomberg. i hope he nominates a smart vp.
43
The Democrats would rather lose to the right than win with the left. Biden cannot beat Trump. But we’ll see.
66
@Zejee, certainly Trump doesn't think so. And certainly Putin doesn't think so. The reason they fear Biden as they do is because he is the candidate that the only GOP messaging point -- "The Democrats are crazy communists!" -- is least likely to stick to. At this point, it's difficult to see how Trump can possibly win a second term, or what he can or would be capable of doing to turn the situation around. And if we have a pandemic, even the craziest Trumpies are going to start to desert him.
8
@Zejee I think Trump et al are very very scared right now.
3
@Mark What if those Trumpies would rather die than admit they were wrong?
1
This represents the highly pragmatic assessment of black Democratic voters that Sanders is an impractical choice to head the ticket in the general election.
52
@sandgk It's only pragmatic if they're proven right in the general election. I have my doubts, but hope that they are.
5
@sandgk-Based on their selection of Hillary Clinton as the candidate in 2016, of which she won the south in the Primaries, their decision proved to be anything but pragmatic. Just like Clinton, Biden will loose in the general election because these voters select candidates who can't win in the electoral college.
6
@sandgk and if that’s true I hope all those black voters are millionaires who have lifetime healthcare guaranteed. Somehow I don’t think so and god help them and us!
3
How can the New York Times allow, tolerate, and refuse to publicize Biden's army eliminating from the Internet, as it has, Biden's filmed and recorded speech and total gaffe about the Declaration of Independence in Texas pre-Super Tuesday? Gone! The same way Stalin used to erase people from photos -- and the people themselves, too ("No person, no problem."). Or celebs married to women whose nude pictures somehow show up on the Internet, who get somebody to get rid of those this same way.
But this guy wants to be president and we're in an election, which some of us regard as more important than personal modesty about indiscreet nude pictures. That whole recorded Biden mental mess in Texas needs to be put back up. Shame on them for disappearing it!
50
@Percy41
I found videos both gaffes easily. I cut and pasted your sentence above and found both of them immediately.
1
@Iris Flag So it is! Wasn't before, but now it's back. Good.
@Percy41 Biden's gaffes would be endearing and humorous if they didn't seem to shade into a loss of cognitive ability. It's hard to determine what's just Joe Biden being himself and what's sundowning at this point. That ambiguity makes Biden's missteps worrying and saddening rather than whimsical.
3
TOLD YOU SO. Joe Biden IS the Trump Slayer. The Revolution can wait. Sanders as the nominee gives Dems NO chance of winning the Senate, and risks the House. why is that so difficult to acknowledge?
Congratulations, Joe. I never stopped believing in YOU.
Suggestions for your VP:
Amy Klobuchar
Elizabeth Warren
Stacy Abrams
Choose ONE, for the WIN.
35
You couldn’t be more wrong. Have you watched one debate? How’s Biden going to win when he can’t finish a sentence let alone speak to his beliefs and policies?
If Biden is the candidate, enjoy another 4 years of Trump. Trump is licking his lips right now at the thought of going up against Biden. The only person on record he said he fears is Bernie Sanders. Look it up.
5
@Phyliss Dalmatian
Hey, Bernie fans, His plans don't add up. Why bet on someone who promises more than he can keep.
4
This comment has all the foresight of 2016. The dem financial backers did just choose: they just chose a Trump win.
5
It appears that the God fearing citizens of the Southern Confederate slave states just voted for someone who will not improve their situation in the least. And once again, because of the antiquated undemocratic US voting system, they, the minority, along with the Democratic party apparatchiks, will decide the direction of the election for the rest of the country.
No it's not democracy. It's a rigged, flawed game.
These Southern voters chose someone who will not improve their life or situation in the least. They choose someone who
will not do anything much to change the present healthcare disaster. Who will continue to allow the insurance corporations to do business as usual taking obscene profits for the CEOs and soak the people if they have any insurance at all.
These poor and relatively poor people will be lucky to get a 50 cent raise in their minimum wages. And Biden will talk constantly how he raised the minimum wage knowing they don't have a living wage.
Democracy only works if the voters are informed. All this talk about "kind old Uncle Joe" is just stupid. He is the worst, most uninspiring candidate of the lot.
I am an American that moved to Canada a long time ago. I can tell you all that we don't have your guns insanity up here.
And affordable Universal healthcare is alive and well.
Who knew that there were so many better places to live than the USA?
158
@Bill B Actually those southern confederate voters who just voted in the primary won't choose anything. Their states will all vote Republican in the general election. Listening to them for their preferred candidate is actually harmful for Democrats.
93
@Steve Good point! Thanks.
11
@Bill B, Biden won in the south because he was the only candidate who attracted black voters. So tell me again about the "Confederate slave states." Bernie lost because after two swings at this thing he has been unable to build a broad coalition of Democratic voters. End of story.
54
What no one is talking about is the speech Joe gave last night. It was reminiscent of the Howard Dean scream. Google it, kids. Off the rails loud and crazy.
Everyone seems so relieved and giddy about Joe's big win. It's really desperate relief to finally find someone people feel safe to vote for. Is that enough?
19
@Carol Colitti Levine
We watched the speech, live. Not even Drinking. He was excited, as we all would be. Your description of “ loud and crazy “ is bizarre.
Cheers.
@Carol Colitti Levine
You know who did notice?
The GOP.
You know who will never let it go? who will have this in reruns for the next 8 months?
The GOP.
They don't even have to invent stories, they just have to quote him.
3
@Carol Colitti Levine So what?!! Here we go with the silly comparisons to try and belittle someone's accomplishments.
“Democratic Establishment and Political Elites Decide Biden is Safest Bet”. Fixed the title for you.
To ButtiWhatever, Klobachar, Warren, Beto, and everyone else who coalesced around Biden: young people will not forget this and will remember next time you make a presidential or senatorial bid. You need us. Good job alienating young Democrats. And for what? I’m calling it now, Biden will not beat Trump.
37
@Madeline N So far the battle cry has been Bernie will invigorate and increase the turnout of young voters that will turn the tide for Democrats in the general election. But as the results show it is the opposite. Record turnout by African Americans and those over 40. Please go look at the data before turning all sour grapes.
I'm glad you live in NY. It won't matter whether you vote for Biden (if he becomes the nominee) or not or even vote for Trump. There are millions of other sane voters who will vote Blue regardless of the candidate and NY will remain a blue state. Just please don't move to one of those swing states. Thank you.
4
@Madeline N Biden will beat Trump if you and others vote for him. And so will Sanders if you and others vote for him. You can’t let the disappointment of the moment keep you from voting for the Blue presidential candidate and every other Blue Senate and Congressional candidate running in 2020. Do the best with the choices you’re given. That’s just life.
3
@Madeline N Oh yes, that youth vote. It's everything. As one seasoned veteran US senator said last week: "Give me the choice of a definite old vote and a dozen possible young votes, I'll choose the old vote every time."
Let me know when you and yours bother to get out of bed and vote. Until then, what you think is of little consequence.
2
I like “Uncle Joe” but the thought of him debating Trump is awful...
15
@Brad Burns Do you think it'll make any difference Brad? I don't. The only thing that matters now is who the eventual nominee chooses to be VP. If it's Bernie, my guess would be Stacey Abrams. If it's Biden, hopefully Amy Klobuchar. Both these men will be in rapid physical and cognitive decline after reaching 80. Their VP pick is crucial for success.
@Brad Burns He would be wise not to. Biden's handlers need to keep him off that stage.
1
@Brad Burns
No Way will Trump Debate ANYONE.
Seriously.
1
"But a week ago, the result would have been something close to unthinkable." - only to journalists who put too much weight on the early primary states. Super Tuesday is a much better reflection of the Democratic Party (a split between progressives and moderates). Please remember this in 2024 so we don't have to suffer your "he's out/she's out" articles again after Iowa.
6
Biden may not be the strongest candidate but he’ll be reasonably competitive. I doubt that any of the candidates remaining will stand much of a chance against Trump in the fall.
9
@Rob Bloomberg just dropped out.
One curiosity: Assuming the Dem race is now Biden vs. Sanders, it is now virtually certain that whoever wins in 2020 will be the oldest person ever elected President. Trump is older in his first term than Reagan was in his first term; if he wins, by the end of his term he will be older than Reagan was when he left office. And both Biden & Sanders are ALREADY older than Reagan at the end of his second term.
4
It’s not the age that worries me. It’s the cognitive decline. My calc professor in college went skiing with his students in his 80’s and still hadn’t lost a beat mentally when he finally retired at 94. Joe Biden is missing enough beats often enough ti leave us questioning whether his cognition is holding up.
8
If the electorate wants someone in obvious cognitive decline, with a questionable and uninspiring record and overall low energy, as a Democrat of many decades I say, have at it!
I will vote for him in November and drop out of the party the next day.
I will then wait for the insurgency that will spring from the dissatisfaction with a moribund party that for decades has deprived us of even one burst of imagination or a tiny glimmer of hope. A party that has gifted us with one tired bureaucrat after another.
As I said, have at it and good luck.
184
@TM I've had similar thoughts. I'll vote for Biden if he's the nominee, because I have children. But my patience with the Democratic party is wearing thin, because I have children.
39
@TM And think of it...what will Slow Joe be like in 6-7 years! Talk about Putin's dream!
I will dropping out of the party two days before you do.
12
@TM
Yes, I too will cast an anti-Trump vote and then look elsewhere for an alternative party to represent my progressive views. I am tired of having to always be expected to compromise my views for the party.
And there is this: didn't Biden say he would be a "bridge" president serving just one term? That means the Democrats will have to go through this all over again in four years. It makes no sense. They will lose the incumbent advantage and give the Republicans time to regroup.
Good luck indeed.
19
I wonder what it means that thousands of voters chose candidates that had dropped out of the race,in some cases months ago.
Was it that neither Biden or Sanders is acceptable?
6
@Rit
It probably means that the voters you're talking about don't even know that their "candidate" had dropped out.
3
@Rit I would assume that the majority of these votes were from people that voted early.
4
No, most likely it’s because they voted early, by mail, before a number of candidates dropped out this past weekend.
3
If Sanders pulls another Bernie pout after he loses to Biden and sours his followers, it will be the second time he gets Trump elected.
Biden's best bet is to select Warren as VP and he'll pull Sanders people into line.
That will defeat Trump; our only real concern.
34
@Discernie Sanders' people will not "be pulled into line" -- we're quite capable of thinking for ourselves, and you may not like the results. By the way, although he was cheated by Hillary and the DNC in 2016, Bernie campaigned hard for Hillary. A higher percentage of Hillary supporters voted for Republican John McCain in 2008 than Bernie supporters went for Trump in 2016. Low-information voters will be the death of our democracy.
21
@bluewombat Oh, honey. We can't get what we want. Let your bitterness fall away and just vote Blue in November.
2
@Discernie The "Bernie pout" you mention is a myth. It is well-documented that he campaigned vigorously for Clinton after her nomination. HRC's electoral loss was more the result of taking Michigan and Wisconsin for granted.
13
It's either Trump or back to same old/same old. There are actually Democrats willing to endure another 4 years of Trump than accept the same old. These same Democrats contributed to Trump's election in 2016 by not voting at all.
5
How is Biden the safe bet when four years ago we had the same moderate candidate who cannot inspire passion, has a spotty track record amongst liberals, and only jumped into the lead when the entire party establishment mounted against his rival? The most obvious outcome of Biden being nominated is a Trump win.
91
Thank you. I’m shocked at how many people think another uninspiring old establishment candidate is the “safe”, “electable” choice. Safe for the Trump Administration...
25
@Spenser Winberry ,
You are discounting the very real sexism that was involved in the last election. As a white, Christian male, Joe will win votes that Hillary didn't. Equating their situations is unfair to both.
Oh, and ten percent of Bernie voters voted for Trump in 2016. They handed Trump the win.
See: https://www.npr.org/2017/08/24/545812242/1-in-10-sanders-primary-voters-ended-up-supporting-trump-survey-finds
3
@Spenser Winberry
The enthusiasm can emerge from whoever is chosen as the running mate, as long as it’s not another old white man.
Biden has about 1,000,000 more votes than Sanders in the primaries. How will the Bernie Bros blame that on the "establishment"? We, the Democrats, have stated our preference.
123
Of course. Wasn't it obvious with all this vicious anti-Bernie campaign by the Dem leadership? The leadership made the same mistake as in 2016 - it favored Biden too obvious.
32
I’m a Bernie supporter. Will vote for Biden.
But the establishment you talk about has produced more losing candidates than winning ones since 2000. The Democratic Party needs to dissolve or drastically shift its values to help working class Americans. If the best we can produce is a clearly in decline Biden, Trump will waltz his way to another four years. And again the clueless Democrats will wonder “what happened?”
39
@woodyrd - The votes in California are still being counted. Your vote count is premature.
17
The young supporters of Bernie didn't turn out yesterday.
And the middle-aged and old voters who aren't interested in a revolution did turn out.
106
@Pecan, A supporter that does not turn out to vote is not a supporter.
11
@Pecan That young voters don't turn out is a trend that continues.
SC African Americans led the way, leading to a whittling of the field solidifying coalition building, which an imperative for the Democrats.
Last, but certainly not least, trump tried to take out Biden for a reason - he knows he can beat him in the swing states.
59
@Pecan The young are going to have it very hard in the coming years.
4
"and triumphs in some places where he did not even campaign" But it would be interesting to see who did campaign there. I don't see this as a making of Biden's as much as a making of the leadership and special interest of the democratic party and I am including all liberal newsmedia in this. The mainstream party that handed the nomination to Hillary, have once again sided with wall street di what it needed to do to clear the way for their candidate. If Biden wins, I am sure that we will see a lt more to Amy & Pete, as that was no doubt their price for stepping aside.
3
Something that shouldn’t be underestimated when thinking about the losing moderates of the recent past -Clinton, Kerry, and Gore - a lot of people found them all really unlikeable, mostly for similar reasons of arrogance. That’s just not true for Biden. Not being likeable might not be a solid rational reason for not voting for someone, but who ever thought democracies voted rationally?
14
@dj You have a point. It's strange to find myself hoping that Biden might have a chance against Trump for such a stupid reason.
I put the importance of "likability" down to our country's excess of propaganda and under-investment in public education.
California has gone extreme left almost sinking in the Pacific. What has happened in the country is now divided between Bernie and anti-Bernie forces. Super Tuesday has clearly shown that anti-Bernie forces are gaining strength. Error prone Biden is the new messiah of the Democrats who accept him for all his flaws, his conflicts of interest while being VP, his goofiness, his creepiness and for his inability to differentiate between his sister and his wife Jill. The establishment Democratic party is clearly mobilizing against Bernie and that tells me that Bernie will never get any close to the white house.
17
Amidst the excitement over Biden, the Democratic Party is moving into a trap, an easy target for Trump and the Republic Party in the general election. Republicans will tear Joe Biden apart over Hunter Biden's involvement in the Ukraine. Why didn't father intervene at the beginning to stop it. Also, Joe Biden is part of the establishment, the swamp, which in the prior election there was much talk over draining. Yes, an easy target.
38
If you add the votes for Warren and Sanders, then Biden came in second in almost every state last night.
14
@Nick Um... you do know Bloomberg was in it too right? His votes are surely not going to progressives, and he mostly bested Warren.
2
@Nick But what if we added Bloomberg's votes to Biden's?
3
@Nick Why do you think she was asked to stay?
I don't want "Safe". I want a strong, bold, charismatic nominee, able to excite people. That describes EVERY Democratic winner since the Civil War, and most (not all) of the Republicans as well. Every single Democratic winner, from Grover Cleveland to Barack Obama, was not simply "Safe". They were strong, bold, sometimes different, most charismatic. Reformers, changers, all able to excite voters.
When Democrats go "Safe", they LOSE! Joe Biden, if he's the nominee, cannot be "Safe" and "Comfortable". He has to be bold, strong, definite, and able to convince the "Bernie Bros" he's got their back.
If Sanders is the nominee, he's GOT to be more flexible, more able to reassure more moderate Dems that he's NOT going to tax anyone but the super-rich, that he's not IMMEDIATELY going to toss out the ACA for Single Payer, but approach it incrementally. And Bernie has GOT to convince the core of the Democratic Party, African-American women, that he's got THEIR back as well. And then there's the Senate...
Being both a uniter, while bold, strong, definitive, and charismatic isn't easy, but this is THE most important election since 1864, when a loss by Lincoln meant a negotiated peace with the secessionist traitors. (OK, it's not "treason" if you win.)
21
From what I hear from Biden voters, the vast bulk of them are with Biden based on one piece of criteria: perceived electability. This is what really worries me, as we have learned from 2016 that Democrats don't really have a good gauge of what makes someone electable or not.
Biden's argument is that he is the most electable because he is reassembling the Obama coalition, but this is just not true. Yes, he has considerable support from the black voting bloc, just as Obama did- but he's missing a key piece of the coalition, and that's young voters. Not even the 30 and under crowd, he lost the 45 and under vote to Sanders by a wide margin. Biden's support is coming almost solely from voters over 50.
Biden can't win without the youth vote, and the youth don't vote unless you give them something to vote for. I don't buy the Dem establishment's assessment of Biden being the "safe" choice. They made the exact same judgment in 2016, and they ate dirt.
35
@Greg
Biden "may" lose, but Sanders' "will" lose by a greater margin. You've got to put your money on the best chance.
2
I don’t see how Biden can beat Trump. Everyone seems to have forgotten that “centrists “ brought us Trump.
32
@Zejee
Bernie is in outer space.
Rep. James Clyburn’s support pushed Biden from a modest to a runaway win in South Carolina, snowballing through the South. Buttigieg and Klobuchar, reportedly with Obama’s hidden hand, boosted Biden to unexpected wins in Minnesota and Massachusetts and big wins in Virginia and Texas. Biden did nothing different. Even voters who support Medicare for All went with Biden as the “safe” candidate to beat Trump.
When asked tough questions, especially about his son Hunter, Biden descends into rambling melt-downs. Trump will destroy him. For Bernie to convince suburbanites, older African-Americans, and other moderates only he can beat Trump, he’s going to have to stop being “friends” with Biden and tear into his vague health and education policies, belief he can return us to normalcy, faith in the Republican Party, all blame put on Trump and none on the rigged system, his promise to Wall Street “no one’s standard of living will change,” precision blows that will make him self-destruct on national TV.
14
I think Sanders supporters have to come to terms with the fact that the white working class and African Americans overall prefer Biden. This is not a conspiracy of the elites. This is democracy.
142
Why did most democrats vote for progressives ( Sanders/Warren ) in states that will actually vote Democratic?
21
@PM
Minnesota, Massachusetts, Virginia.
3
Or maybe millions of us are just attracted to Biden's innate goodness and decency, as well as his vast experience, open-mindedness and experience. People don't wait in line for 7 hours unless they have a very compelling reason.
80
@Victoria D. Yes, Biden has the exact attributes of an leader desperately needed in this darkest time. With his wealth of experience and skills, he can assemble an extraordinary cabinet to accomplish what needed for the nation!
5
@Victoria D.
Read the Atlantic monthly article: Obama's staff sidelined Uncle Joe, who spoke tangentially, off the cuff and couldn't stay focused.
2
@Victoria D.
"lying dog faced pony solider"
to a lady in his own rally who wasn't doing anything other than supporting him.
I'm not convinced he's nice at all. Plenty of people can put on a show. Even Trump is supposedly pretty easy to get along with in person...
The guy has been a different person entirely the last 4 years, and no one can really blame him. This isn't the same Biden that was VP.
2
”Democrats Decide That Joe Biden, as Risky as He Ever Was, Is the Safest Bet” so what you are saying is Democrats know he is clearly suffering from some sort of cognitive decline they just don't care?
63
@Jean-Paul Marat Biden has decency, integrity, and a wealth of experience and skills to assemble an excellent and ethical cabinet!
1
The Right apparently doesn’t care about the “cognitive decline” evidenced in Trump. Assuming that is even true (no medical substantiation for either), for the sake of argument here is my response: At least Joe has the smarts and humility to put experts around him rather than a Trump’s revolving door of sycophantic, for the most part unqualified minions.
1
@Jean-Paul Marat
Cognitive decline; prickly temperament; and--yes--a creepy history with women. (And please: Enough Obama name-checking and tearing up.)
Grrr ...
4
If you cannot complete a coherent sentence (Biden) you cannot beat Trump. It won't even be close.
139
@KW because Trump is the definition of coherence
117
@KW Well said, KW. Biden can't even distinguish his wife from his sister. The Democratic Party elite will do anything to stop Sanders -- nothing is more important to them than hanging onto their perks.
36
@KW We have a President who tweets unhinged comments. I hardly think Biden is worse than that. He has dignity.
21
Kamala Harris for VP.
Klobuchar in the cabinet (need those midwestern votes)
Warren in the cabinet (need her brains)
Sanders in the cabinet (need his supporters)
Buttigieg in the cabinet (military veteran, need LBTQ voters)
Bring the party together!
164
@Full Name Klobuchar for VP. Klobuchar, down-to-earth and gets things done! Buttigieg would make a great VP too. Kamala Harris, NO -- she is an opportunist with no plan. There are reasons why she was forced to drop out early. People saw through her hypocrisy.
16
@Full Name My ideal selection would be Biden as President, with Warren or Klobuchar as VP,
Buttiegieg would be my pick for Sec. of State, Sanders as Sec. of Labor or HUD, and Harris as Attorney General.
7
@Full Name Too many senators. Being real here, only those whose successors would assuredly be democrats should rise from the Senate to the cabinet. I voted for Biden over Sanders (and Warren, my first pick, who alas could not win in Massachusetts) because I want to see Democrats take back the Senate.
If we don't get the Senate and Mitch MccConnell stays there nothing will be done.
13