We need a complete government run health care system. Period.
We need a leader with vision.
Oh, where is Elizabeth Warren when we need her.
3
Even though I'm a Bernie supporter, it just didn't seem right when so many commenters were suddenly lining up here behind Bernie a couple weeks ago. The latest and dramatic display of 'bandwagon effect' seems far worse to me. This man has not changed an iota in the past two weeks... or at least not for the better. If the people he leads have forgotten in just two weeks about the state of his cognition maybe it doesn't matter much anyway.
1
What I want to see, instead of the next debate, is Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders sitting at a table together and telling the country what they would have done to handle the Coronavirus, what real leadership looks like and what their plans would be if either of them were president. Because they are both experienced, competent people with intelligence and integrity and neither would have spun this crisis for political reasons. Together they can show America what Democratic leadership will mean no matter which of them become the candidate and then president. That would be more valuable than anything we can learn in a debate.
8
When the Trump campaign starts showing commercials of Joe's flubs, gaffes and groping Joe will blow a fuse. Joe will face plant in this election cycle.
1
And all dems need to show are the rates of coronavirus infections and deaths, the stock market graphs, and a graph showing cur national debt Just facts.
3
I saw a terrifying segment on TV showing that in Italy medicos are forced to make decisions like "that lady over there has 3 kids and she is young and strong, we will give her the ventilator. That other lady over there is a grandmother sorry but bye bye grandma"
So when you hear that lefties are alarmist from very complacent Trumpists, think again.
9
When this article first appeared online, there was no mention of Sanders’s speech in the headline. His comments were buried in this “Biden” article.
Note that the vast majority of comments concentrate only on Biden.
This isn’t a new phenomenon, but the Times’s bias is showing more and more as the Democratic party establishment tries to force the end of the primaries.
Biden has a ways to go, delegate-wise and in terms of public scrutiny (the job of respected media like the Times). So let’s see it.
5
In Hunter S Thompson's withering obituary of Richard Nixon, he described the 37th President as having a "cruel and incompetent persona". The 45th President's speech yesterday showed he has exactly the same characteristics. What a disgrace.
4
Sheer nonsense--it is a flu like disease that cannot be controlled because we do not have a vaccination for it. Leave it to the Democrats to exploit people getting sick.
2
Trump's speech of lies, xenophobia, confusion and back patting last night was an Impeachable offense.
3
Biden, the Thursday afternoon quarterback and gaffe machine extaordinaire strikes again.
4
I will take gaffes over lethal incompetence anytime.
7
If Bernie had not hung the albatross "democratic socialism" around his own neck he would have romped it in. He was not willing to be dishonest. He did not really want to be president.
Joe really wants it.
In ancient Chinese stories, notably those of Chuang Tzu; prospective leaders tried to avoid being given the empire. There are stories of sagely figures avoiding it being conferred on them; thats why they were sages. US presidents, Trump has shown, have vast powers Only Trump is foolish enough to actually use those powers.
2
The two remaining Democratic candidates should refrain from being critical of Trump while the Party's congressmen are working out a legislative package. Now is the last time they should put political gain ahead of the public good. There is a time for politics and a time not for politics. Now most certainly is the latter.
2
I wonder how President Obama would have handled this crisis? Surely, he wouldn’t have gotten on Twitter and blamed the Republicans for this “Hoax” as President Classless did in blaming the Democrats.
7
@Mark Truslow
Remember the N1 virus ,4000 people died in the US. that is how he handled it. Also Remember that Uncle Joe was in the WH at the time. All that he is railing about now could have been put in place for the future but he didn't do it. He has been a politician for his entire career why didn't he initiate a plan then? Oh yes he wasn't running for President.
3
@Fred Of course, Obama and Biden put the Pandemic Reponse team in the NSA. That's that they did then. Trump fired them all and closed down the Pandemic Response team.
Basically, Obama and Biden HANDED TRUMP THE MEANS TO DEFEAT CORONA and look like hero. But instead of letting Obama help him be a hero, Trump fired the entire department just because Obama did it.
T00rump cut the CDC budget. Trump STILL proposes to cut CDC funding.
5
What a joke the BIden campaign is - lifting almost verbatim from our President's policies and plans in place and then using those against him. It's the best senility can offer - especially when, even under the worst of circumstances, Biden wouldn't be sworn in until 10 months from now.
Let that sink in and deal with reality for just a second: Biden's calls for doing what Trump's already doing couldn't possibly be effective ten months from now.
There is much criticism of Trump but my thought
is the arbitrary decisions displayed by government officials and business leaders.
Let's close business and large events for a certain amount of time then what?
It seems that decisions are being made to show the public, "hey were dong something because a bad or irrational idea is better than no idea."
The panic and capricious decisions are doing more harm than good.
And remember in the last 24 hours 1500 people died in the US because of tax subsidize tobacco, second hand smoke included and 800 people died in hospital due unsanitary conditions and incompetence and we did nothing.
2
Just about any Democratic nominee would handle a question of science better than any Republican. Republicans are not the party of science.
Covid-19 requires a scientific response. Facts and data matter.
Spin, lies, appeals to our baser instincts as well as downplaying the scale of the problem on Fox and by Trump can only hurt us.
Acknowledging the scope of the problem is the first step and Trump has been woefully, dangerously lethal in what steps he has taken.
Then again, he is what he is. To expect anything different is to believe that the scorpion won't behave according to character.
3
It seems that Biden just read the 'shopping list' of problems faced while Sanders also talked about the approaches to the problems we will face.
3
Sanders speech was much more inspirational, calling for a mobilization of the country comparable to World War 11, calling for a uniting, of a bipartisan approach to the crisis, and repeatedly invoking the themes of compassion and kindness, especially for those with lower incomes, and the elderly, who have limited resources with little or no insurance, whose jobs as service workers expose them more dangerously to the virus, unlike the higher paid workers who have the luxury of teleworking. I thought it was a magnificent speech,
Biden, much more political, how he would implement things
differently , as if we should forget the disastrous implementation of the ACA.
They both called for Mandatory sick leave. One major difference between the 2. Mandatory sick leave was always part of Sanders platform. Not Biden's. For Biden, I guess you need a major health crisis to develop a humane policy
6
Our centre right president Emanuel Macron announced the measures to protect not only the health/lives of the French citizens, but also their financial survival, prioritizing citizens wellbeing
to any budget or economical considerations. He told the nation that the response of the European Central Bank was weak and that the government will put any economical/budgetary/debt aside and concentrate on saving financially the French citizens and business.
And this is an ex banker, centre right neoliberal.. but also a politician who rose to the occasion and did and will do the best for his people.
And this is the only response that could save the country not only from the pandemic horror we are facing now, but also the future.That is unfortunately possible in a country in which healthcare is a fundamental right which permits the gouvernement to concentrate both on the financial survival of the people and their physical one.
In US, both Biden or Trump will be presidents who will put the economy of the country before the well being of its citizens.
The budget and debt will come before saving small business, independents,workers who will lose their job, house and life savings to pay nightmarish charges of healthcare and basic life needs when the country shuts down in the next months.
If they prioritize the economy today instead of people, the wealth inequality of now will look like a gentle dream in few years. And the backlash that will unavoidably come will be beyond imagination.
4
I live in France and yesterday night the country announced public emergency measures as closing of schools etc. I am not Macron supporter, but the decisions announced are truly coherent and daring. In his public speech yesterday evening Macron told that he consider the measures of European Central Bank insufficient and he will throw a vast part of the governmental budget to protect small business, workers in general and independents even if that mean a cancelled tax payments. He highlighted that considerations of finances/economy will be absolutely secondary to the well being of French people and sincerely , it was a powerful and inspiring message. All efforts will be concentrated in the public healthcare, preserving people from losing their jobs or going broke with no limitation to the financial length the gouvernement will go to save its citizens. Macron highlighted immense benefits of publicly funded healthcare vs private one..
I cannot imagine how US with deal with the crise with its current healthcare status or how anyone will vote for a candidate who is not fully supporting a publicly financed system.
I also ask how US people are not gathering to show their full support for the only candidate in the field that will certainly prioritize the citizens welfare before the economic status quo,despite that some will tell that one means the other. With which I disagree, especially in moment like that when what matter most is to preserve the social tissue, the people.
3
@elinak
Macron might ban for 30 days all arrivals from the USA with the exception of Hawaii and Alaska and Puerto Rico whose denizens may bring paper towels.
2
I love the instincts and imagery and feel emboldened by the fact he's doing this stark contrasting so early, it can only be a promise of more of the same to come - I sincerely hope.
3
There are about 68 million people on planet Earth that think Trump can handle this better than Biden or Sanders. The other 7 billion know they are wrong. Unfortunately, the 68 million could return Trump to power in 2020.
11
Mr. Biden and Mr. Sanders are not accountable to anyone.
Nor should they be.
Nor will they be.
That is why they will always remain Mr. Biden and Mr. Sanders.
4
Actually, it is Vice Presidential (and former Senator) Joe Biden, and Senator Bernie Sanders.
7
Pat Riot
Well, trump is responsible to us, the citizens of this country. And right now, it is in shambles.
On his watch. No excuses. The buck stops on trump’s desk.
WOAT (Worst of All Time.)
6
@Pat Riot They are former Vice President Biden and Senator Sanders. You can try to deny reality, but you'll have to take the fingers out of your ears eventually, and grow into long pants.
1
Trump’s response to this crisis has been incoherent, grossly irresponsible, and incompetent.
Trump dismissed concerns about the virus , lied about the severity and extent of the virus, embraced conspiracy theories. He blamed Democrats, China and Europe for his mid-handling of the outbreak.
People are suffering while trump lies, tweets and plays golf. Trump doesn’t care about the health of Americans. He only cares about “his numbers “. Disgusting
26
We need a capitalist not a socialist to live in the WH. Biden will do just fine.
8
@NOTATE REDMOND
The 1950s called and they want their ignorance, narrow-mindedness and fear of a "Red Scare" back.
Social Security - Socialism
Medicare - Socialism
G.I. Bill - Socialism
Interstate Highway System - Socialism
Public Schools - Socialism
Publically Funded State Universities and Community Colleges - Socialism
Yet all these programs have benefitted Americans immensely.
1
Has it ever been more clear how desperately we need what Sanders is (and Warren was) trying to provide for us?
15
How did we pick a candidate with the leadership characteristics of our front runners?
Biden was the only one on that debate stage besides Steyer that could make Dan Quayle look like a rocket scientist.
10
@Charlie: I assume you’re happy with Stable Genius at the helm then?
2
When you're paycheck to no-paycheck as millions are and will be soon, staying off the street and out of the homeless tent gets whittled down to the basics: shelter, security, heat and light.
While the Big Kahunas and wannabes talk about the Big Picture, here's Mr. Sanders speaking to a serious grassroots concern none of them deem worthy of mention: a “moratorium on evictions, on foreclosures and on utility shut offs.”
20
@Tim Clark
That is why I back Sanders. I share his morality and belief that money is a tool, not an end in itself. It is life, all of it, that is sacred.
Bernie's socialism is that of the progressive movement of the last Gilded Age. It is not ideological or dogmatic. It is pragmatic and based on a deeply held commitment to the common good. He will work with anyone to achieve that goal. It is his life's mission.
3
Any President would be challenged to handle this crisis with our obscene health care (or lack/rationing/denial of care) system. However no one but Trump would make it about them, personally.
10
Bi-partisan nonsense. How anyone can stand politics is beyond me. Whatever one party does, the other party hates it, whether it is good or not, matters not.
3
@Tom Powers it matters greatly. This pandemic is exactly why it does matter.
2
It is just crazy that our president had time to play golf while this immense crisis was unfolding. No wonder our country is not ready. In South Korea they can test 100,000 samples for corona virus a day and here, in the US, we can test no more than 5 - 10,000.
So much for KAG!
11
@Gaatul America is fallen under trump, far behind South Korea - what a shameless so-called MAGA! Wait until those MAGA trump supporters who don’t believe the existence of Coronavirus get stricken by Coronavirus - will they still support trump or remain as cult?
4
What I see beyond the 100k people infected of which half have recovered and 1 percent have died from ...is how something like this that should bring us together is being rolled right into the Political division we have seen from day one of Trump being elected....its as if this is the 4th Act of the Witch Hunt ...all these Negative comments about Trump are the EXACT opposite from Pro Trump News sources....he's approval ratings are as Great as any Democrat Politician , its as if the Vocal minority Really think if they keep up with all this False rhetoric there squeaky Door will be Opened and ? ....yea all there empty wishes that have Zero foundation or feasibility of being financed will magically appear...its Not Going to Happen...The real fact is this Virus is going to blow over come May...but the longer impact will HIT Liberal States like California like a Earthquake for it is a Trillion dollars in debt and now with the tourist economy in disarray that Fat lady is going to Sing the Blues in the Blue STATE!
2
@There for the grace of A.I. goes I
One percent have died? More like closer to 3 percent. Including over one thousand dead in Italy alone.
6
How refreshing to see actual functioning adults talking about this pandemic. They are working towards real solutions and "real world" responses to this rapidly changing crisis.
10
I remember that Biden criticized Trump as being unnecessarily cautious when Trump began travel restrictions a week after China identified the virus. Now Biden says that Trump acted too slowly. Strangely, Biden has not complained that the Democrat controlled House dallied for over three weeks after Trump asked Congress for additional funding to fight the virus. Wishy washy? We can do better than having Biden as President.
3
Trump requested 2 billion; Congress passed 8 billion. Trump had no understanding of what he was facing. Every year in office he has tried to gut the CDC. Congress restored the funding. He eliminated the global health office whose job it was to spot outbreaks and anticipate epidemics. 1600 scientists have quit the Trump administration or been squeezed out for not agreeing to downplay climate change.
7
Imagine a public health crisis where people don't go to the doctor because they can't miss work, because they have no insurance, because they're undocumented.
Imagine a public health crisis after a far right government slashed the budget for disease control in the wealthiest, most powerful country in the world. Imagine that they wouldn't provide free testing during the outbreak, even though a test exists, because they had no plan.
Imagine that even in a global emergency, it goes without saying that the private sector has to extract the full return on its investment.
Imagine the sudden reality of the crisis when government leaders and their favorite propagandists spent weeks denying it, doing nothing, calling it a hoax to hurt the leader, and comparing it to the common cold.
Now imagine that this government had two potential opponents in an upcoming election - one that wanted universal public health care, and one that did not. One that had a whole platform of thoughtful, serious, wide-ranging but specifically tailored proposals intended to address the scope of the crisis - and one that did not.
And imagine the citizens who opposed the government failing to vote for the candidate supporting universal health care at such a time. Imagine that their collective decision was based mostly on media sound bites driving their nebulous feelings about personality, electability, and leadership.
It's hard to imagine. But here we are.
19
@Bluelotus Italy that has totally botched the pandemic response and is now in throes on a full-blown crisis has a universal healthcare. It functioned pretty well in ordinary times (I know, I was there). Now it has collapsed. Why do you think that Bernie’s hare-brained M4A would be some kind of panacea? There is no cure for the virus, and the vaccines are currently being developed by private pharmaceutical companies. What we need is not socialized medicine but a steady, rational, and unifying leader on top instead of the clown we have now. Biden will do just fine.
2
@Mor
Right. Far better to have millions of people serving you daily (latte, double skinny, anyone?) who have no health care access and cannot afford to miss work. Think of millions of homeless people or of people in crowded conditions, like prisons, shelters, and detention centers on the border. Think the disease won't spread rapidly? Think you will avoid it?
The Wall is harebrained; universal health care is just ordinary everywhere else.
1
This is a public service announcement: Donald J. Trump, watch Biden speak. Listen to his words. Understand what he is saying. And take lessons. That is what a president sounds like. That's what it takes to calm markets and calm Americans - not lies, not distortions, not finger-pointing, not casting blame, not partisanship, and certainly not xenophobia.
You may not realize it, but your oath of office demands it. So go back to Biden's speech. Watch it, learn it, live it. Only then may we come out of the other end of the twin-threats to the economy and to many people's lives from the spreading pandemic and the crashing stock market.
6
Senator Sanders use of a call for stronger Coronavirus measures to promote his Medicare for All is deplorable, to say the least. It exposes his mindset as impervious to all but his own purposes. No wonder he ranks in the Senate as the Senator with least Co-sponsors of his Bills. No wonder he ranks in the Senate as the Senator with the least Leadership. No wonder Secretary Clinton noted nobody in Congress likes to work with Senator Sanders. No wonder the vast majority of Democratic voters have rejected Senator Sanders.
5
His “own purpose” is to provide health care for you.
3
Very clear that we have two potential Democratic Party presidential nominees, either of whom are far more prepared to deal with a major crisis than the malignant narcissist in the White House.
10
Trump, Pence and the rest of this administration are being criminally negligent. At this point impeachment isn’t enough. People are dying. When are we going to indict them for murder?
25
@BWCA
Great comment! You've won a slow cruise to China!
1
I'm not a Trump supporter. I am an RN. Trump adjusted and responded appropriately. Political rhetoric sounds like nails on a chalkboard to me right now. Would you all just shut up, and deal with the reality of this virus? There are not enough ventilators in our hospitals to support a big outbreak. Quit pointing fingers and support what we need to do to save lives. Keep it up, Joe and Bernie...maybe I will vote for Trump after all.
8
The Trump administration has squandered many weeks of potential response time while they downplayed the threat of the virus and disseminated incorrect and dangerous information, all while insisting that everything was under control and “airtight” (a direct quote from Larry Kudlow, the president’s chief financial advisor). In the coming weeks and months, it is likely that thousands of deaths will occur that could otherwise have been prevented had forceful and effective action been implemented earlier. It is true that Trump and his inept little band of followers didn’t create the virus, but they have created a fertile breeding ground for it by their dismissal of expertise, ignorance, and lack of effective action. And you’d still vote for the guy?
20
We need more ventilators? But Mr. President said that this wasn’t a problem at all and the number of cases was going to drop to zero in a few days? He said that it was a hoax created by media. You must have missed that update from our MAGA president. You should watch Fox TV, you will also believe that this is a hoax.
17
@Yvonne LaTurner - Trump has not responded appropriately. He claims the virus will just “go away” if we remain calm. His followers think it’s a hoax. As an RN who apparently understands the real danger an overwhelmed hospital can pose to the sick, I’m flabbergasted that you think Trump responded anywhere within the ballpark of appropriateness and that Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders are the problem. Trump deserves every finger that gets pointed at him. He’s an incompetent fool who is risking all our lives and if you vote for him after this, then you’re just as foolish.
15
Dar NYT:
Thank God Joe Biden is able to faithfully read a teleprompter and was not allowed to answer questions about his knowledge of and actual plans to fight the corona virus.
Biden is an incredible blowhard who puts Zelig to shame in his unhinged boasting.
More ominously, Biden appears to have serious and worsening cognition issues that should give us all pause before putting him in the oval office.
17
@Jorge And that proves Trump has handled this virus problem really well?
10
Honestly, I would rather have my eight year old running the country instead of the current occupant.
13
@Jorge. Trump has obvious cognition issues of his own. The man cant even complete a simple sentence. This on top of the fact that he is an incompetent, heartless, soulless, empty shelled facsimile of an actual human being. Given all that, I'll take Biden and any issues he may have any day of the week.
12
What a bunch of pure propaganda!! Ol Joe provided not a single proposal that the Trump admin is not already doing.
And Sanders offered nothing but his usual arm waving rhetoric.
Your newspaper is a joke.
9
@James "Your newspaper is a joke."
And yet, James, here you are.
And paying for it too.
19
@James - Please tell me what Trump is doing. Is he allying the nation’s fears? Ordering more tests? Making sure we even have enough tests? Listening to the CDC? Listening to scientists? Taking strong steps like Australia and South Korea to curb the virus’ spread? Telling people exactly what they will need to do to get tested? Leading in a way that’s stopping people from panicking and ripping all the hand sanitizers off the shelves? Is he? The fact that you think this man and his savage incompetence are effective during this public health crisis is the joke.
18
My God, this poor man. A rambling, incoherent screed that lets us all know he needs putting out to pasture. Sad, really...
8
@skyfiber Gee, he said Donald was making a mistake. That proves the senator is really out of it.
The Don does not make mistakes. Just ask anyone in his Administration.
4
The trump administration over the last three years has been drastically cutting budgets and gutting public health agencies, eliminating preparedness teams, and abruptly dismissing expertise. It has been a deliberate concerted effort to dismantle the important measures Obama made to effectively protect the nation from the 2014 Ebola infection crisis. And as with all things Obama, trump is doing these things vengefully and recklessly. The nation is already paying a huge price with the emergence of the COVID-19 outbreak and more is definitely on the way. Meanwhile
FOX news (essentially trump’s propaganda agency) is fully engaged in a concerted cover up to camouflage just how badly managed the COVID-19 response has been and continues to be in the US.
11
Joe Biden would succumb to the virus infection just as quickly as any other elderly person if he actually gets infected. The same is true for Bernie Sanders and Trump. It remains to be seen how many people were infected by the Brazilian official who visited the White House recently. Presumably health officials are doing contact tracing on him for his visit to the USA.
3
Being an American originally from Brazil I won’t lie, I smiled at the thought that Trump, Pence and Bolsonaro will be infected with Covid-19 at the same time. Perhaps we will finally stop the lies in the New World, even if it is just for a few weeks.
8
@Aristotle Gluteus Maximus Presumably, yes.
Now back to THIS story.
I like this 2 presidents version of reality with both Biden and Sanders as the acting president. We can subscribe to our preferred version of reality on our smartphones and then -insert president here- can read the same exact dialogue. Heck, might as well include the Trump's-second-term version sice he just keeps on winning!
In a serious note, it's nice of the NYT to have included the speech by Sanders because he is a beacon of hope to many Americans. He earned the right to be in the spotlight beside Biden during this time. We need as many good leaders as we can find. I look forward to the two of them working together.
13
A close relative got off a flight from Germany today. She arrived at Newark Airport (NJ). They did NOT even take her temperature. That says it all.
18
Joanne Klein
I had a friend fly into Atlanta from Japan on the 27th. No screening, at all. No questions, no temperature check.
9
@Joanne Klein That says it all ?
No it doesn't.
1
Trump has been calling the best economy ever. I call it KARMA!
3
@BWCA Note: THIS story was about people dying, not making money.
1
Vote Trump out, but don’t forget Senate, House, and state elections, too. Even now there are GOP senators like Lamar Alexander who oppose paid sick leave for Coronavirus victims. The Scrooge-like meanness aside, does he want contagious people forcing themselves to go to work and spread the virus? These short-sighted robber barons need to go if we want to fix this country.
19
Karma- when this president is brought down by two things he loves and hates the most- the stock market and germs....
14
Once again, events, beyond which anyone has control, much less any politician, may have delivered a change in fortunes for a politician, and a turning point in history, based on the rapidly escalating events around COVID19, and Mr. Trump's mishandling.
The person I speak of is Bernie Sanders. His only opponent now for the Democratic nomination, Joe Biden, is solidly entrenched in his position of medical care run by the insurance companies.
In the last couple of days a rising chorus of US politicians - Rep. Katie Porter being just one - https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/12/politics/katie-porter-cdc-coronavirus-testing-white-board/index.html, has been hounding the US Government to ensure that all Americans can be tested and treated for COVID19 without charge. So far, no one, has stepped up to the plate. Rep. Porter got only a wishie-washie answer from Dr. Kadlec, Head of CDC.
Now is the time for Bernie Sanders, without sounding politically opportunistic, to drive home the point that if his healthcare plan was in place no American would have to wonder if they had health care coverage for COVID19.
Bernie has been handed the "perfect storm" golden opportunity to drive his point home.
11
Biden pulls a 'Trump',.... "Bernie wants to take away your private health care, that you fought so hard to get"!
Yes Biden ! and replace it with health care that you won't lose when you no longer have a job.
Get Real Biden. Why are you on the side of the extortionists? The "Your money or your life" health scam racket?
22
Biden is a puppet of corporate America. Could care less what he says or thinks. Easy to arm chair quarterback whilst living a life of privilege for the last 4 decades in DC and public office.
20
@Nature Yes, only Donald is free of the influence of "corporate America."
2
@kenneth Bernie Sanders is in no way beholden to corporate America.
4
Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden both demonstrated presidential leadership today. Grateful to them both for addressing this crisis with clarity, gravity, and specificity.
21
Sadly, with the policies of unnecessarily cutting taxes, resulting in huge deficits in the time of relative prosperity, Trump and the GOP effectively damaged, if not destroyed, tools to deal with financial crises. This is the legacy of Trump's incompetent, self serving "presidency" and his GOP sycophants in the Congress. It will take years to repair the damage they caused through and wage earners will carry the burden.
10
To the fellow commenter who challenged me to identify a politician who isn’t corrupt: Oh, that’s easy. You can do it too. Just see if they are free from corruption to fight for the well-being of American people, and actual racial justice. If they understand and are free from being beholden to anyone other than our fellow countrymen, to act on the understanding that we are only as strong as the next generation. Right now an entire generation is held in indentured servitude to the banks, for the crime of wanting to contribute to society. No other advanced country would allow that to happen. They all already invest in their next generations by having free college. And, if they understand that we need a Green New Deal to throw our country’s great resources, energy and ingenuity into uniting and leading the world to address our global challenge of climate change, consistently, throughout their entire career. That’s how you tell a politician isn’t corrupt. You can tell too, can’t you? I know you can do it.
11
and yet you couldn't name one
1
@GMooG. Despite his faults, Bernie at least isn’t corrupt.
Also, corruption is a spectrum. Politicians sometimes have to do things they don’t want to do, in order to get something more important done, and many people would point to that as corruption. That’s a pretty different end of the spectrum from a politician who uses his office only to enrich himself and his cronies.
2
@GMooG She was referring to Bernie.
3
Neither Biden nor Bernie could handle this crisis better than Trump.
Bernie said he would still keep the borders open and Biden called President Trump a xenophobe for cancelling flights from China many weeks ago before any other country.
Trump 2020
8
I hope we can let you have more accurate information about Sanders’ policies. Open border are definitely not on the agenda, so don’t worry about that. Must needs wind down, it’s bedtime, but please look at his actual policies. Peace and stay healthy, fellow Americans!
10
@Nycdweller
You're saying that Trump is handling the situation as well as Biden or Sanders would.
So, vote for Donald because he's no worse than anybody else.
That's quite a recommendation.
1
@Lilly Huh? Who needs the wind down? What does that even mean?
To the commenter who challenged me to be able to identify if a politician was corrupt or not: Oh, that’s easy. You can do it too. Just see if they are free from corruption to fight for the well-being of American people, racial justice. If they understand and are free from being beholden to any other than our countrymen, to act on the understanding that we are only as strong as the next generation, and right now an entire generation is held in indentured servitude to the banks, for the crime of wanting to contribute to society. And, if they understand that we need a Green New Deal to throw our country’s great resources, energy and ingenuity into uniting and leading the world to address our global challenge of climate change, consistently, throughout their entire career. That’s how you tell a politician isn’t corrupt. You can tell too, can’t you?
4
The Trump campaign’s response to Vice President Biden’s speech on Coronavirus pandemic clearly exposes the effect of 4 years of Trump’s non-stop Lies, seedy Insults & blind Selfishness. Sadly, the Trump campaign would not see Towering Leadership even if it were a gale force storm blowing them off their feet.
5
This qualifies as reason to remove Chump from office ASAP!
He alone has responsibility for the many deaths coming to the US. We could and should have started testing in December.
Someone, no, many someones have to announce that by the time we have test widely available, if ever, we are going to be in very bad straights. Testing is the way we control the spread.
That so few Republicans are unwilling to speak truth as this catastrphic virus goes around the world is really sickening.
4
"'It will not stop it,' Biden Says of Trump's Coronavirus Response"
Correct, it will not. But you--Sleepy Joe--would?
How, prey tell?
4
@me Actually, me (setting aside your attempt at cuteness), the expression is "prAy tell."
It has nothing to do with slaughter.
1
Trump in his insatiable frenzy to destroy Pres. Obama's legacy, shut down his office preparing for bio threats.
Not being prepared was the Trump administration's willful and wrong headed choice. Treating the outbreak as PR problem made it worse.
We need to do some social distancing from Trump and leave his lies to the amplifiers of his delusions and echo chamber of his true believers.
We need to return to the fact based institutions and constitutional foundations of government. Imagine if we had a Biden cabinet at work for us right now.
6
pi
Trump has hollowed out all of the institutions of government. The experts, the experienced professionals, people who have been through national disasters and infectious disease outbreaks before, they are gone. They were either asked to leave, fired or their programs were cut. Now we have inexperienced, non-expert, political sycophants running the empty shells of essential government departments and agencies.
6
I agree with Lilly. Sanders is the only one fighting for US. There’s a huge difference when you are funded by millions of Americans’ lunch money. Sanders proved again you don’t need to be a tool of the oligarchy if you have policies people are literally dying to have and deserve. I know she had access to great healthcare for free, as a foreigner living in Japan and France. Tom Hanks just got free healthcare in Australia. But, in America, the land of the free and the brave... oh, no. That’s outrageous. Why? Simple question. Vote Sanders and help us in the fight join the rest of civilization. It shouldn’t really even be a fight, but here we are.
17
The Coronavirus appears to be Trump's Black Swan and there may be more on the way in a flock.
7
Joe... with his top drawer cognitive abilities would be doing such a better job if he were President.
“Running on Super Thursday for the US Senate in a State he doesn’t realize he is not in.”
Give me a break, please.
13
The Trump trolls are out. Anyone ANYONE is better than Trump.
Even though I would have voted for ANY Democrat, I am VERY HAPPY with Joe Biden. He will be. A very good President. I can hardly wait for November to vote for Joe Biden.
9
Reality check u would think our representives could cut the blame an offer assistance to our leader. Why we need women doncrat president
1
The solution should be modeled after the Force Majeure provisions, commonly found in commercial contracts. Obligations to pay should be suspended for as long as the emergency out of the control of the parties persists.
So for people out of work, they could be relieved of paying rent, interest, and other fixed monthly obligations. With the extremely low interest rates today, relief can be extended to creditors for their lost revenue.
Unfortunately, when a crisis becomes an opportunity for politicking, not much logical thinking occurs. If Pauline were hanging off a cliff in The Perils of Pauline, there would be one person in charge of the rescue, and a second one criticizing him severely. Even though both, working together, could get the job done.
4
I so wish Joe Biden, his brother, or his son were wonderful. Unfortunately, none of them are!
16
@Charlie: Biden 2020! I’d happily vote for Sanders too! Or for a Blue ham sandwich!
2
Only one candidate was ahead of the curve on the pitiful state of health care in this country and that is Sanders. I hope it's not too late for us to listen to him.
14
Keep breathing Joe, just remember to keep breathing.
6
That’s about what we’re down to expecting of him, eh? I met him in person. It’s very sad to see his decline. And terrifying what it means for the election.
14
@New World: Tell that to Trump. He’s the one with breathing difficulties, and reading difficulties, and comprehension difficulties, when reluctantly reading a speech written by others from a teleprompter.
1
@Jorge: Are you ever so concerned about Joe Biden, whom I do not believe for a moment about having met him in person.
Since Trump won’t lead, and he can’t follow, he should just get out of the way and resign. At least limit the damage to some extent, now. Allow Pence to hopefully turn over management to at least a few people who are capable; and allow the professionals and experts to do their job. Then, in November, a New Democratic administration can take over and install competent and credentialed people back into government.
6
The Trump administration recently requested $2.5 billion in emergency funds to prepare the U.S. for a possible widespread outbreak of coronavirus. Critics, though, are pointing out that money might not be necessary if the administration hadn’t spent the past two years largely dismantling government units that were designed to protect against pandemics.
"The cuts started in 2018, as the White House focused on eliminating funding to Obama-era disease security programs. In March of that year, Rear Adm. Timothy Ziemer, whose job it was to lead the U.S. response in the event of a pandemic, abruptly left the administration and his global health security team was disbanded." quote from Fortune.... This needs to be emphasized over and over - most of us are suffering in one way or other from this fact. Even when the virus broke out in China an aggressive response at that time is what should have happened if we had that department still but no it was gone.
8
What's with the continual stoking of outrage against progressives? The subtext of some of these articles is that the DNC can ignore progressive voters and compensate for the loss of them by moving the party further to the right to pick up Republicans like David Brooks and Bret Stephens and their ilk in the VA suburbs. The message is folded into articles that ostensibly have nothing to do with the primary election. This is not a good message. This is not unifying. We do not need more division in the electorate.
10
Watching Biden you could see the advantage of having a president with a background in federal government. He was involved in the effort to stop the Ebola virus and understands many of the steps that have to be taken. Candidates run against Washington but being in Washington provides good experience for president. Being a governor also providesgood experience. Trump has experience in real estate development. He seems lost a president and never seemed as lost as in this crisis.
10
Duh?? What are they going to say "oh the president's travel ban is a good thing, he's handling this we need to support him"? Yeah, right like that's going to happen. Now is the time to institute an emergency powers act and postpone the 11/2020 election and give the president an extended term to continue to deal with this with a level of consistency. Yeah, yeah, yeah we dont like him. But I dont want a big change in the middle of this.
I really hope I didn't get your sarcasm. Continuing to follow the current path will lead to ongoing chaos and failure. Continuing to do the wrong thing repeatedly is called insanity. Trump must go in November.
5
The clock is ticking on Sanders and Biden's campaigns. I appreciate this. But I would like to see them put the country first rather than their personal campaigns. Maybe a time out until things settle down. November is still a long way a way. And if you need someone to tell Benie it is over, I am available.
6
I’ll vote for either of them. They won’t sink the economy. Union workers working hours will improve. Clown school is over. Republicans at the local level, democrats in leadership and control. Let the kids be spoken to like an angry preacher. Adults need to get back in the room!
5
I remember after the towers fell how politicians pounded there chest saying they could have s done a better job. It’s amazing how nonsensical the validation of their abilities are.
Same inane comments just different players.
4
George
Our president SHOULD be doing a better job.
He is the Commander in Chief.
He should have surrounded himself with experts, and he should have LISTENED to them. Instead we are doing a worse job of screening our population during this pandemic than Vietnam and South Korea, among many other countries. And we had at least a one month head start on those countries.
It is pathetic.
4
Trump's "speech" was not 'somber'. Despite the practice, he is functionally illiterate, in that he managed to speak the words, but obviously cannot multitask enough to understand what he is saying.
Beyond that, what becomes obvious is that he is a terrible actor. No wonder his career didn't skyrocket after 'Home Alone 2: Lost in NY'.
10
Joe Biden should talk to the American people like this once a week until November - informing them about what is and what is not happening, allaying unjustified fears while pointing to important areas of concern. Just present the facts in a calm soothing manner. God knows we need someone to do that! Give helpful advice while directing scathing criticism at our Tweeter in chief and his execrable administration. Become a leader people can trust.
5
Oh no!
Biden and Sanders rebuked me!
I'm sure President Trump is shaking in his boots.
6
@Peter Rasmussen - He should be, not so much because of their very correct assessment of his lousy presidency, but because the American people, whom he works for, could very well vote him out of office in November. His handling of this outbreak has been beyond disgraceful. If this thing gets any worse, a lot of people will know someone who either died or got very sick from this, and that won’t make for happy voters. Some people might want to vote for the loudmouth, but no one wants to vote for the loudmouth who did next to nothing while their friends and relatives died or became critically ill.
5
Enough with the unreality show in DC led by the ignorant clown. Why doesn't he just step down and take the other ignorant religious extremist Pence with him?
Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar, Andrew Yang Kamala Harris Cory Booker: any of them would demonstrate real leadership in this, or other crises.
Thomas Friedman had it right in his recent column where he proposed that these Democrats band together and offer themselves as a power cabinet team.
It's time to completely outplay Trump's band of sycophant grifters.
5
You would think Trump supporters would be hiding their heads in shame as their fearless hero originally called this public health crisis a hoax just 13 days ago. Yet they're still here, now taking potshots and Joe and Bernie.
10
Thank God for the truth tellers.
1
The donor class is betting on both horses again. Revolt in the convention, here we come.
2
Can you tell me why you originally posted Bernie's full speech and then switched it to a minute and 18 seconds of it?
7
@Vanessa
They’re crooks, in nice suites.
3
FOX & Trump have accused critics of the adm response to covid-19 as causing needless alarm. Rational alarm aims at mobilizing broad free public evils with testing.Trump & Pence have earned criticism- lies & spin are neither calming nor good economic policy.
Fauci & Birx May need to keep their head down and make the best of what is now possible. It would not be helpful to focus now on the cuts and sloppy thinking that left America so vulnerable.
That analysis should be in focus before the election.
5
God I hope the debate is focused on doing what Trump has not done. If each would not attack each other but offer colaberatively their position on managing the Corona virus, with each adopting good ideas from the other, while pointing out why Republican policies have exasperated the problem. Now is the time.
9
How the trumpeted republican philosophy based on small government and deconstruction of the administrative state (right Bannon?) fits with the current situation in which a strong coordinated government response is needed?
When the 45% of the population will understand that republican mantras rooted in the 19th century, are dominated by ignorance and lack of foresight, and that the complex world we are living in today needs a different government?
Elect Democrat in 2020 for the safety and sanity of this nation.
12
"cloaked in the kind of sweeping, uncompromising proposals that have long defined his democratic socialist agenda."
Is this a news story or an opinion piece? I can't tell.
9
@AG
Its the NYT. Every article is an opinion piece. There is no objective news reporting. It's all spin and opinion brainwashing.
10
You, on the other hand, are clearly a font of sober, fact-based analysis.
2
I'm sure going to sleep better now that Joe is in charge. What's next? - Hillary in a Candy Stripers uniform?
7
A lot of cities (like NYC) are responding by limiting public events to 500 people or less.
Turns out Joe has been a forward thinking visionary, as many of his campaign events over the last few months have had attendance under 500.
Now that's the kind of leadership we need!
14
Trump simply has never faced this kind of challenge. All the trade wars, the crises with allies, the conflicts over immigration, with Iran, and scandals over his violating limits to Presidential authority were all created by Trump. This problem was from nature and he has no experience with anything like it. It's a problem which requires learning and precautions with the risks entirely unknown to anyone. It baffled him and he had no idea what to do.
6
Both Joe & Bernie need to go further: fear and confusion over this foreign virus is a godsend for the current administration, which thrives on fomenting fear. The president's message wasn't bungled. They are trying to stoke fear and confusion; that is always a goal. We'd be fools not to expect more nonsensical actions.
But for one issue: they haven't figured out how to terrify everyone except Wall Street.
Maybe this time the market will bail us out!
All kidding aside though, to the person who asked what’s the difference between Trumps wall and Sanders universal access to healthcare: if we get universal access to healthcare, then you will be able to envision the difference between a candidate who is fighting for a basic cornerstone of human decency and civilization and one who is mistaken about what constitutes effective policies and how good governance can creat a just, civil and sustainable democracy. The world is burning. That’s why we need to exploit the little time we have left to change course and reverse the damage. The virus is terrifying. That’s why we need access to healthcare for even the most vulnerable among us because this virus can spread to us all unless we do. See what I mean? Stay safe, fellow American! Vote to make our country able to join the rest of civilization!
13
When I was listening to Joe's speech with its derision and smug indignation of Trump's powerlessness over nature, I was reminded of tempting fate. Just Joe's luck that once elected the real Apocalypse comes and the damage control his team of former Obama staffers is going to have to come up with for that. When a ship is sinking what more do you want that each side bailing its water into the others.
5
“Our country is at a severe disadvantage compared to every other major country on earth because we do not guarantee health care to all people as a right,” he said."
Who said that? Was it Biden or Sanders?
6
@Lawrence Chanin
Sanders, obv.
7
Biden said last week he would veto universal healthcare even if it was passed by the Senate. Ooops! Hard to be a tool of the oligarchy and make the right decisions for the country, eh?
7
Bernie and Biden are selfish old men exercising their white privilege. They don’t care about Americans, they only care about themselves and their political ambition. Gavin Newsome, no friend of Trump but one who has actually worked with the Trump Administration on this huge challenge, gave them praise. Remember, the swine flu (H1N1) killed 12,000 people in 2009 under Obama. The hate that is in the subtext of most MSM stories was absent then. I guess the right is more compassionate and civil than the left.
4
Old men...
unlike 75-year-old "Spring Chicken" Donald.
9
Thanks for the laugh.
2
... and NOBODY should be forming any opinions based on these edited, brief clips. This is also social responsibility... so important these days.
2
Weird—neither Trump nor his gaggle of remoras and wacko-birds seem to want to deal with the substance of what Joe Biden said, let alone explain exactly what their Big Giant Plan is.
Golly, I wonder why that might be?
3
Oh sure, Joe is doing “virtual” events for the coronavirus, not because he can’t go 7 minutes without saying something stupid.
If Joe wants to gaff behind the editors of corrupt mainstream media, at least be honest about it and don’t pretend like you care about the never Trumpers at your events much less any progressive votes you think you’re gonna get without earning it.
Take it to the convention Bernie. No endorsements from Bernie voters without the strings attached like the same donor class that supports Biden and Trump puts string$ on their endorsements.
Even Bill Maher is drinking the Kool-Aid, lying to us with clever-stupid jokes like “money doesn’t know where it comes from.” Yeah, well people do, Bill, and people write NDA’s and contracts from Satan.
The coronavirus pandemic will come and go... but the pandemic of money in politics and the propaganda that comes with it is a virus that is giving our entire planet a hot fever... and until we cure this money pandemic by refusing bribes prepare for major flush down the drains from a planet fever because we’re the virus.
8
Wow, you actually mentioned Sanders today.
Yesterday it was only Biden as if he’d already been crowned by the NYT as the Democratic candidate.
Geez thanks for remembering Sanders - but only after you’ve spent the two weeks running up to Super Tuesday trashing him.
15
@Lost and now back to this story about the virus and Donald Trump.
@kenneth AND Biden THE NYT NOMINEE
1
Sanders says, "The crisis we face from the coronavirus is on a scale of a major war". There is a misleading estimate that COVID 19's fatality rate is 3.4%, dividing reported fatalities by reported infections. Inadequate testing, the USA for example, makes reported infectiona is far too small a number. So the actual fatality rate is smaller, probably much smaller.
About 3% of the Earth's population, 70-85 million people, died in WWII. From 2.3 billion total, in 1940, and over 8 years. 3-4% of Iraqsi died in the US war against Saddam Hussein and subsquent civil wars. Also over 8 years.
Perhaps President Trump, unaided, could create a disaster of that scale, Iran stands as an Awful Warning. But it takes an incompitent theocracy hell-bent on keeping power at any price. Does Sanders think we've fallen that low?
"The real answer to this pandemic should've been in place already..that is Medicare for all. Biden doesn't think that's a smart idea. I think Biden is dumb. Bernie Sanders is smarter than Biden. So I'm for Bernie Sanders. He's not dumb. He thinks we should have Medicare for all. Seems like a REALLY good idea right about now."
I shook my head in disbelief when I read this comment from a poster on this board because of how little we have learned or evolved since 2016.
How is "Build that wall!" different from "Medicare for All!"
We have two extreme factions believing that their chosen leader is Harry Potter who will miraculously make their troubles go away with a simple flick of their magic wand, while reality continues to show us that it ain't that simple.
While this nation is going up in flames around us, many still haven't been able to step out of our own ideological hothouses to see the the bigger picture beyond their own windows.
12
@PeaceForAll You are placing the blame for the non-existence of M4A at the feet of Biden, when it would
never in a million years leave the Senate. Yet, you don't blame them at all. What gives?
3
If you’re not sure what the difference is between Trumps border wall and access to healthcare, I’m not sure anyone can help you.
11
@PeaceForAll Part of the reason we're going up in flames is because we don't have universal, single payer basic healthcare for all. It'll take more than a "flick of their magic wand" but every other western democracy has achieved it and your assumption that we can not only do it, but do it better is profoundly depressing. What exactly is the "bigger picture" you see that the rest of us don't? Because, from your post, it's not a future most of us want.
10
You can be 100% sure that this 1:27 minute video is the very best of Joe Biden's press conference. Bernie's 1:18, well... it's not ridiculous. Why are there no links provided to the full press conferences (about 18 minutes and 16 minutes, respectively)? I guess, we might hurt ourselves with this much information. NYT is really no longer a news organization. Even sketches of late-nite comedians are presented as news if the political message is a good one (for them). Thank god for online sources of news and data.
17
@carl bumba Which "god" is that then? Not capitalized, so maybe one of your own making?
@carl bumba Actually, Carl, you do have the Internet...even way out yonder in Missouri. Just put down the sippy-cup and look for it.
@CritterDoc very cute. what are you trying to say?
You gotta hand it to him, he may be an oligarch tool, but he’s got his shtick down. Good ole Joe! He has that geez whiz act down and people fall for it, but Trump doesn’t though. Trump may be a malignant narcissistic personality, as George Conway said in his interview with Preet Bharara and maybe even criminally so, but he knows Biden’s corrupt. And so do we. The NYT knows too, but they don’t mind biased reporting to help him. Bottom line: Democrats shouldn’t let other Democrats vote for corrupt candidates.
12
@Jorge I'd reluctantly settle for suspicion of mild corruption (if it's really there) over obvious and total malignancy anytime.
2
@Jorge Meanwhile, back at this story about the virus.....
2
@Jorge Any wonder why voters are completely turned off by Bernie Bros? Yeah, me neither.
1
This is hilarious! All of these people drooling over Biden.
Dems started with 25 candidates and you're left with...Biden. We've seen Biden in action, cussing out auto workers. fumbling with quotes, and forgetting which state he is in.
Forget Trump. Bernie will make mincemeat out of Joe at the next and all subsequent debates. Good for Sanders to hang in there. Biden will have to stand on his own 'til July.
16
@AZPurdue Awfully good post. Really. But you're clearly voting for Trump anyway, so who cares what you think?
4
@CritterDoc Well, I for one do care what any serious commenter thinks--not just the ones who are going to vote "my way."
If you don't, that's okay too. Stick with the critters.
@AZPurdue "Forget Trump"? How ?
1
Many on this list talk about the need for calm. Trump's speech was not very good in this respect. But I am profoundly disappointed in Biden and especially Sanders, who not only did not project solidarity with the efforts of the government, they took the opportunity to take pot shots at Trump, calling the government response incompetent. How does this help calm people down? How does anything they said help anything at all in the near term?
4
@Jay Miller Could share with us what "the efforts of the government" are? They've not been merely incompetent, they've been completely absent. I'd say both Biden and Sanders were remarkably restrained in their criticism. Certainly more so than I'd be.
8
So, you expect them to lie like the President?
3
You have to search for it, but it’s comforting to watch Bernie speak. He is the only one fighting for us (and not denying us because of the super PACs that own the other candidate, no matter how he looks). America used to be the home of the free and the brave. We used to be proud we could do everything they could do, better. Unless we can give universal healthcare, like I had in Japan and France, as an American, the most basic cornerstone of civilization, and give our students free college, like they will even let Americans have in Germany, as you could get in Australia, and... every where else with an advanced society... how are we going to compete internationally, let alone get through this pandemic?
13
I have almost forgotten what real presidential leadership looks like. Three years of Trump’s “lead by tweet” has lowered the bar into negative territory, but watching Joe Biden address the realities of the situation in a calm and measured way was the first time since this crisis began that I have felt there are still real leaders out there who can help guide us through this mess. If anyone is still wondering if the emperor has any clothes now’s the time to pay attention. We need leadership and integrity, not hype and sleazy salesmanship. There’s no contest here for president in November. The choice is stark and clear cut and hopefully enough people will recognize the crossroads we’re at as a society and go out and vote to elect a real leader and fire the conman.
13
One of the issues here, is a potential shutdown and the coupled fear of not being able to go to work and therefore loosing the ability to care for one’s self and one’s family. It is the Achilles-heel of the American healthcare and job security systems. Because there is no real safety net in America!
I live in Germany and Germany has a plan for that because that’s the way Germany runs even under normal circumstances. If there is an Italian-style shutdown coming our way, America is not prepared for it on the social services and humanistic job security level and that could be devastating!
I just talked to a friend of mine living in northern Italy. The government has said people should stay at home except for basic needs, so many stores and businesses for non-essentials are closed. Can Americans survive something like that? As a country, yes! Americans are strong! But individually many people live from paycheck to paycheck and not working means collapse and getting sick means long-term destitution.
President Trump is clearly misjudging this important fact—and it makes sense too, because he’s only known the high-society world where chocolate cake is in unlimited supply and the golden toilet seat always has golden toilet paper next to it!
9
@William Perrigo (U.S. Citizen) "LOSING the ability to care..."
@William Perrigo (U.S. Citizen)
No, he's not misjudging. He's ignoring.
Those paycheck-to-paycheck people are not his people.
His are the dividend-to-dividend people.
He knows what he's (not) doing.
2
One thing is sure: he said we’d have better healthcare and more affordable healthcare in the USA! And he didn’t do anything. It was just hot air! It’s even worse now in America, I feel. Am I right?
I slipped and fell on my knee/arm/hand this week here in Karlsruhe, Germany where I live. I ripped some skin off the palm of my hand & skinned my elbow and knee. It was awful! I just have the normal run-of-the-mill health insurance. I picked a German surgeon out of the phone book, got myself over to his office quickly, got thoroughly looked over, an x-ray was taken, no broken bones or torn ligaments were found and here’s the best part: he wrote me a sick slip so I could recover at home for a few days and...drum roll if you please...I WILL NOT SEE A BILL!
I have no idea what “single payer” means in USA jargon. There are lots of health insurance companies in Germany, like sand on the beach! But they all have to play by the basic rules.
It’s just a crime that America has such excellent doctors, nurses and healthcare professionals but no well oiled healthcare system!
That’s what I like about Bernie. He’s got his hand on the heartbeat of what average people need to be more productive, and Biden is decent too!
The only thing I can’t stand about both of them is: they both vilify carbon dioxide, a gas that keeps our plants alive, because at 150ppm CO2 plants die! 415 ppm (now) is a buffer for the plants. That’s the science the left hides from us, day in and day out.
Who IS truthful?
1
Wow. He sounds downright, um, presidential.
6
More than anything, both Biden and Sanders would put competent people in place and they wouldn't act like sulking petulant children. It's not just their ineptness, but Trump's horrific behavior and immaturity is the absolute opposite of what we need in such times.
13
@jenny sulking? petulant? immature?
no, Jenny, he's not acting.
1
Resign now Trump - you're not up to the job, not that you ever were in the first place.
12
Crass political opportunism. More preaching to the same choir that already hates Trump worse than sin. What next Joe, a one armed push up?
5
@John Doe No. "What next" is the White House.
3
Sorry, no one does "crass political opportunism" better than our current President.
3
Just read Biden team's coronavirus response plan - thorough, clear, impressive.
Shows an ability to martial resources, empower experts, push for results.
Too bad he’s not President yet.
10
Here is a classic case for not having a national health care system....We turn our well-being over to a political system and not assuming responsibility for our own health. Don't speculate, don't exaggerate, just get the numbers. Great perspectives are out there on the balanced platforms. Here is one from John Hopkins.....
https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/coronavirus/coronavirus-disease-2019-vs-the-flu
My hope and prayer is that for all this energy we at least learn good hygiene.
1
@Make-it Better oh.
You gotta hand it to him, he may be an oligarch tool, but he’s got his shtick down. Good ole Joe! He has that geez whiz act down and people fall for it, but Trump doesn’t though. Trump may be a malignant narcissistic personality, as George Conway said in his interview with Preet Bharara and maybe even criminally so, but he knows Biden’s corrupt. And so do we. Democrats shouldn’t let other Democrats vote for corrupt candidates.
4
@Lilly Is there any big-name American politician that Lilly does not think is corrupt...and is willing to say so out loud?
Oh, that’s easy. You can do it too. Just see if they are free from corruption to fight for the well-being of American people, racial justice. If they understand and are free from being beholden to any other than our countrymen, to act on the understanding that we are only as strong as the next generation, and right now an entire generation is held in indentured servitude to the banks, for the crime of wanting to contribute to society. And, if they understand that we need a Green New Deal to throw our country’s great resources, energy and ingenuity into uniting and leading the world to address our global challenge of climate change, consistently, throughout their entire career. That’s how you tell a politician isn’t corrupt. You can tell too, can’t you?
1
The level of ineptitude at the Presidential level is beyond astonishing. This is what the nation gets when it elects a Republican. There hasn’t been a decent Republican President since Eisenhower. But Republicans are laughing at the American people. Inept and corrupt government is what they want so they can, for once in their miserable lives, say see we told you government doesn’t work. The level of Republican hypocrisy has long since gone beyond astonishing.
4
@DSD Oh, I see.
As long as you're here, though, anything to say about the topic actually being discussed here?
1
Come November Donald Trump will face his day of reckoning. While the MAGA crowd will support their man no matter what, it will be the rest of us who decide whether we want another four years of this.
The irony of him disbanding the government--what he foolishly calls the Deep State--has been to expose his awful weaknesses and sheer incompetence.
He alone can fix it? HAH!
Americans will judge for themselves in nine months. I hope fair minded Americans will tune him out as he yells and screams hoax and witch hunt. Fox news will spread disinformation on his behalf, while his congressional supporters will continue to wear gas masks, showing their complete insensitivity and utter stupidity.
The choice is ours. We can't blow it.
6
Joe Biden gave us Coronavirus plan that nobody asked for, contains no useful ideas (beyond that which the Feds are already trying), and makes a mockery of non-partisanship in a crisis. But the NY Times loves it. No surprise there.
7
@cleo oh.
I am one of America's 30 million uninsured. I visited Italy recently to visit my wife's family, and currently have chest pains. There's a chance I have the virus. I have no doctor and currently no access to testing. If I did test positive, I would self treat rather than pay the potentially thousands of dollars for treatment. In short, I am a public health liability. So are potentially millions of others in my position.
The only solution to pandemic threats - which will grow more frequent - is a national healthcare system in which the state can oversee the health of its people. Total coordination, immediate testing, no cost treatment. Taiwan, for example, has very few cases because it has an efficient national healthcare system that responded instantly to the threat. Germany is currently ramping up testing in every town and taking drastic and coordinated efforts.
And here in pure capitalist America? The CDC has refused to order free testing for Americans. Insurance companies are wining. And I'm on my own, perhaps spreading the virus.
Are we as a nation really willing to allow profit driven healthcare system to undermine our public safety? Taiwaan, for example, has very few cases due to their coordinated public health response - a response that is impossible in a profit driven system built by competing megacorporations.
All the pundits that have been telling us that universal health care is a foolish dream are looking pretty foolish right now.
39
Get a job. Don’t be a burden on the rest of society.
1
@josh
You still need to get checked. Contact your public health department and explain your situation and see what their solution is and then go from there. You have to try, if not for yourself then for your wife and the rest of your family. Good luck.
4
Many qualify for Medicaid or free care under the Hill-Burton Act. I am amazed how many Americans think they are being noble or smart about not seeking care if they aren’t insured or under-insured.
For heaven’s sake, do the research!! Many folks CAN qualify for free care or Medicaid or a negotiated write-off with a payment plan. But you need to do the work to get it - dying instead because you’re afraid of a hospital bill seems an absurd choice of pride over smarts.
And I completely agree we need a national health system- in the meantime, make sure you get treated.
6
I watched the whole minute and a half. I did not hear any policy recommendations. I didn't hear much substance at all. But here are my fellow readers, falling all over themselves to praise his leadership. And he's so calm! Not like that cranky guy who shouts. Of course, the cranky guy actually had policy proposals, they sounded to me like they make sense. I know people are terrified at the idea of a second term for Trump, but this is nuts. Ah, well. Guess I'm just a stranger in a strange land.
16
@Bunk McNulty No, Bunky, it's not the land that's strange.
1
Sanders is always pushing his agenda.
Trump: Me, Me, Me
Sanders: My Stuff, My Stuff, My Stuff
I am sick and tired of the both of them.
Biden is not my favorite but despite and because of all his flaws his empathy seems more genuine and humane.
10
Sanders is fighting for all of us. Not himself. Sometimes I wonder if we would recognize if Christ walked among us.
13
@Fred "Sanders is always pushing his agenda. "
Did you expect him to be selling Red Sox tickets instead?
11
@Lilly
Oh please.
1
Biden should just go pretend he's the president with more addresses to the Nation on how to people can protect themselves from COVID-19. He should inform the nation where to get help, what help is available, best practices for protection, mention first responders and how we can help protect them and ourselves. Distill what help is available from our government and represent it, even though he doesn't have the power to lead it...yet. Etc. We need a leader. We need a sane voice to help us navigate this as a nation and a planet.
Thanks NY Times for your amazing coverage. Though I miss having something like the covid-19 map from John Hopkins on your site.
8
@Anna Are you going to pay for the network air time?
@Anna Em...that's "Johns Hopkins" Anna. And your rant was on such a roll until then too.
1
One eighth of the US population lives in California. 1500 people have been tested in California. There are 8000 test kits (many are incomplete) in state . There are 39,000,000 people here. This is pitiful.
13
@RAB
Agreed. Anyone with signs of sickness should be tested and free.
1
Well Joe, so much for taking the high road! You and Bernie were divisive. You want to make Trump look bad and don't want to uplift us. So I have two words for you Joe...and you Bernie....shut up! Your speeches, riddled with self-importance, was not comforting and did not give me confidence in you!
4
@J. G. Smith Uh, Joe, you didn't convice JG.
Might as well give up.
6
Joe can’t even get a whole sentence out with out messing up, I shudder to picture him in charge.
14
@San As distinguished from our eloquent Orator-in-Chief who is, in his own words, "like a very smart person."
Emphasis on "like."
3
@San
It’s called a stutter. He has more relevant experience than anyone else.
4
@Kally
How come he doesn't stutter at his fancy fundraisers? Why don't his donors ever get called lying dog faces? Or fat? Or horse's rear ends? Or challenged to fist fights? Or have fingers jabbed in their faces?
Is the stutter to blame for his lie that he was arrested in South Africa?
Is the stutter to blame for lying about his son serving and dying in Iraq?
It's called being a bully with a mental problem.
6
It is the Democratic Party and individual members of said party are Democrats. I’m a proud Democrat. Getting fed up with cleaning up after Republicans, who are now the party of Putin’s puppet. Make sure you wear your flag lapel pin.
6
How I wish Biden was out president now
8
I certainly hope voters remember 45’s incompetent handling of the Trumparona Virus come November.
9
Let's just thank God that neither Sleepy Joe or Commie Bernie are at the helm. President Trump is doing the best anyone in his position can do at this time.
7
@TORQUEMADA maybe he should change his position and just stand up for a change.
1
Biden is now president.
7
You gotta hand it to him, he may be an oligarch tool, but he’s got his shtick down. Good ole Joe! Not my president, but then again, I did my research on his actual record.
6
@Lilly
He'll have good people around him., and we can't have T anymore.
3
@Lilly Gotta hand it to you, Lil.
Don't understand what you're trying to say, but then again.....
2
OK fine, where's your video of Sanders? Ah yes, down there, somewhere or maybe nothing at all.
13
I am curious.
How long does it take the Times to make anything into the bothsiderism horse race gossip that is its bread and butter and quid pro quo with sources?
Clearly it is in the minutes not the hours.
I begin to think the Times is so good it does so in seconds not minutes.
Everyone needs to make a living I guess.
1
I'm curious too. Just what are you trying to say?
2
@In deed Everyone needs to comment, I guess. But what are they trying to say?
Did they heap any scorn on the one who actually deserves it, the fascist dictator for life, Xi?
Or is it just empty rhetoric in the election year?
3
@True Norwegian Not only that, but they also neglected to mention any of the West African states or Lithuania.
@True Norwegian Yes, the virus story and the Biden-Sanders story are really all about Xi.
Thanks for pointing that out.
Clock is ticking, and yet you are not wearing a mask!!! What a politician and hypocrite! It’s easy to criticize others but do you have a plan? Learn something from what Asian countries has gone through in the past 2 months!!
1
@Scintilla
Masks are only for those infected w/CV19 and for health care workers.
2
@Me In some cases, yes. But in any virus-stricken venue the Health Department's advice is for everyone to mask up as a precaution.
1
@Scintilla Were you talking to Biden, Trump, or Sanders?
Where is Bernie's video on the front page?
13
@Slipping Glimpser
I hear ya, but in case you didn’t notice, Biden has been wiping Bernie out in the recent primaries. Bernie lost Michigan for Pete’s sake! Biden as the likely nominee is bigger news. Be realistic.
1
@Slipping Glimpser
Right next to Maryianne Williamson's
When a country is led by incompetence, chronic liars, religious believers, and toxic greed, then scientific solutions are ignored and economic chaos flourishes. This is what the Trump presidency has seeded on this nation.
We are swimming in a sea of debt and tax benefits for the ultra rich. Meanwhile, a virus has brought the world to a near full stop, the markets are drowning in red and the "stable genius" has failed to do anything to contain it or even acknowledge its threat.
We had good reasons and a chance to remove this incompetent crook from office, but the republican senate and only the republican senate is to blame for this failure.
Vote and provide support to get this incompetent out of office
13
“The crisis we face from the coronavirus is on a scale of a major war,” he said at a news conference in Burlington, Vt. “And we must act accordingly.”
So Bernie do we start building tanks?
1
You must be confused. Biden was the one who voted for war.
4
@Lilly and therefore...?
This is a story about a virus, Lil, not tommy guns and tanks.
@MDCooks8
The death toll has the potential to be as devastating as a war. And as a metaphors we have no tanks and weapons which would be a medical system for everyone and a plan with qualified people who can get test kits out immediately.
Apply some patriotism to fighting the virus as aggressively as we build weapons of destruction.
It’s about priorities. I thought that military was supposed to defend lives. I guess the joke is on us. It’s obviously for something else since they don’t care about our lives.
Donald Trump has fulfilled his promise - MAGA - Make America Grind-to-a-halt Again!
The country needs new leadership which places competence, expertise over political loyalty and that can be trusted to work on behalf of the American people instead of enriching himself and his family.
7
How can the New York Times print a statement from the White House that includes: "“President Trump acted early and decisively and has put the United States on stronger footing than other nations." without mentioning that Trump called the coronavirus a HOAX for weeks? Republicans will be working long and hard to rewrite the history of the coronavirus, and it's the press that must correctly set the historical record.
16
Oh no!
Biden and Sanders rebuked me!
I'm sure President Trump is shaking in his boots.
3
@Peter Rasmussen But that's the point, Peter. He simply does not listen to other points of view because he does not want other points of view.
1
Remember Y2K? At the time there was much hype, just like now. But looking back, most people would say it was overblown and all hype, nothing happened. They were WRONG! Nothing much happened only because of the amount of work and money spent mitigating the underlying issues. We have the same situation now, with some (right wing types) saying it's all a hoax and it will just go away. I hope the health care professionals and scientists do the work, like we did for Y2K, to make people feel maybe it was overhyped when we look back on what happened.
5
The good news for Democrats: Both Biden and Bernie look like they are responsible leaders trying to both address our nation's pressing problems with well-informed science.
Bernie is right that everybody being able to get health care when they need it, and being able to stay home from work when they need to, would have helped with containing the virus and also help with future pandemics. Biden is right that basic competence and supporting our medical professionals rather than undermining them is what is needed in the short-term.
In short, whoever wins the primary (and it's probably Biden), the contrast between them and the current president is blindingly obvious.
19
No, shutting down the borders will not change anything. It will not slow it down. The growth of the infected within the country is exponential. The influx through the borders is linear. It is insignificant when virus is already inside. The count of the infected within the borders multiplies every week. When you have hundreds of thousands infected within the borders even a thousand of arrived infected does not make a difference because there will be a multiple of the internal count next week until the policies change. What matters is the policy within the borders and we don't have a good one yet.
4
Just look at the plan the Democrats are offering to alleviate the crisis and the GOP's complaint about the costliness of paid sick leave(the same people who raided the treasury to offer tax cuts to millionaires and billionaires). Understanding the difference between these two approaches tells you all you need to know about whom to vote for in November.
13
Joe and Bernie lost my confidence (and my vote) today. Spreading fear and panic, knowing full well that if elected they wouldn’t be able to do anything about it until next January, is the height of irresponsibility and a clear demonstration of their ‘leadership’.
No matter if you are a Democrat or Republican or Independent, this is the moment to unify and work together, so that all of our best minds, skills and resources are marshaled. Support the administration and systems we have, or shut up and get out of the way.
4
@Miguel
Something tells me neither Joe or Bernie ever had your vote if you say this.
Okay, so then go ahead and try to help reelect that nincompoop who is doing such a great job managing this. And tell me, are you confident Trump could handle an even worse crisis than this? I certainly am not.
8
DEMOCRATS FIX THE ECONOMY.
REPUBLICANS BREAK IT.
Same cycle. Republican tax cuts for the rick soar the debt, cause a recession, and force a Wall Street bailout. And the timing. The last big recession happened at the same time as this one, right before the Democrats took back the White House. Republicans set fire to the White House before they leave, the Democrats put it out, and the Republicans criticize the Democrats for using up all of the water (money). Stop voting for Republicans.
12
Why, why , why, can't we stop attacking each other and using of all things a public health crisis to gain a political advantage. What does that do to help us overcome this almost unprecedented challenge. So many insist on casting blame, blame, blame. Every second people insist on focusing on blame takes away from focusing on a solution.
I will vote for the first candidate who repudiates exploiting this tragedy for political gain. This needs our unified cooperation now, regardless of party or ideology. Fighting over it feeds the intensity of the crisis.
If we can't cast aside politics in a crisis like this, we are doomed. Imagine if we were so divided right after 9/11. Our bickering and inaction would have invited Al Qaeda to launch more terrorist attacks.
If we can't unite in the face of this biological enemy, we will cause the self destruction of our civilization, as we know it.
2
@Gino G
I’ll vote for the person who sounds like he can handle this better and that’s everyone but Trump. Sorry—in a public health crisis, it’s okay to point out poor leadership.
1
Watching trump last night and then hearing Joe Biden speak today I had polar opposite reactions. Hearing and seeing the orange one speak in that awful monotone voice when reading from a teleprompter, sniffling, zero emotion, inserting comments about the economy, left me feeling even more despondent. Hearing Mr. Biden speak today somehow made me feel a bit better knowing that there’s hope to have a competent, caring, experienced adult poised to (hopefully) take the helm and lead this country in a time of crisis.
4
@DDD
Guess you missed Biden speaking yesterday...cussing out an auto worker.
3
Senator Sanders should lead America out of this unprecedented health crisis. As someone who has been following the downfall of Wuhan since day one, learning about the city's dire struggle directly from my friends, I find Sanders' comparison to World War II makes the most sense. Sanders understands what it takes to protect our nation. An outbreak can lead to anarchy. When a system collapses for the work force, a society's stability vanishes. The only way to contain the spread, instead of cutting our toes, closing borders or gawking at the stock market, the government must provide people with relief. Healthcare and a clear contingency plan would ensure peace of mind. Sanders' deep care for people comes through from his words. I saw panic on the faces of every shopper as I loaded the cart up at Trader Joes. I was preparing for a potential lock down of NYC. People were covering their faces with thick scarves. No matter where we come from, we need food and medical treatment. We need our questions answered—why I like his suggestion of a hotline system. Children needs to be fed and cared for while the work force continues to keep the country running. This is time to impose universal job protection, childcare, and healthcare. An unprecedented time requires unprecedented measures. We can't wait for the election to remove an incompetent administration. More than ever, we need someone who truly understands the working class to step in— and that's Senator Bernard Sanders.
7
Civilization is never more than 5 meals away from chaos
In addition to being a disaster as a world leader, Trump’s biggest problem is his lack of credibility. The hostage speech he gave last evening made an existing crisis much worst. Nobody believes a word he says. Even elements of his base are starting to see the light.
7
As is well known elections have consequences. When a country elects a president with no experience in government and no obvious qualification for the job it should not be surprising something could go wrong. Trumps' supporters are mainly interested in having a president who would represent the interests of only white people and Trump has done that which has pleased the white supremacists. Unfortunately he is not competent in many aspects of the presidency and clearly dealing with a viral epidemic is one of them.
5
I dislike Trump strongly but I doubt either Biden or Sanders could have prevented the virus from entering an open country like the US.
But Trump could have done more than showing a cavalier attitude in the beginning when the number of cases was low. His "gut feeling" that there is nothing to worry about is what infuriates me, specially since he knows nothing about viruses or anything medical.
Now we have to expand testing and take all needed preventive measures.
Is the "stable genius" going to change his attitude?
Somehow I doubt it.
5
I am a liberal Democrat and I don't think this bashing from candidates hoping to get elected is productive.
4
Don’t think Joe and Bernie are bashing. They’re just showing what mature and sensible leadership looks like.
12
@jules "I'm a liberal Democrat and I approve this message."
1
@jules
And I don’t believe you’re really a liberal Democrat.
2
Back while Trump was still running for President J K Rowling labeled him a "tiny, tiny, tiny, little man". Ever since he entered office he has been a crisis waiting to happen. Unable to listen to anyone else, and lacking the intellectual depth to formulate any workable plans, he flounders around doing the only thing he understands - attacking all those he sees as his enemies.
Though it is still too early to predict the outcome of the election this November, things do not look well for Mr. Trump and all his Republican enablers.
9
@Richard Phelps He's not "unable" to listen. He just prefers the sound of his own voice.
1
Sadly, the contrast in specificity and length of address between the two current Democratic candidates about this crisis is emblematic of the major differences between them. Bernie gave a detailed and important list of what needs to be done. Biden did not. Obviously, either would be a major improvement over the pathetic and damaging handling we have so far experienced from Trump and his administration. Good luck to all of us. Be well.
6
Bernie Sanders appeared presidential in his remarks today.
Such a pity that the corporate-oligarchical powers-that-be will prevent his ascent to the White House.
11
Where did the excellent speech from Mr. Sanders go? I do not find it anymore
10
A dire situation arises. There are some in power and some not.
Can u work together, get to the bottom, contain the situation
for the benefit of the people you represent and then work on the election?.
A voice of experienced leadership emerge with Biden speaking today. And God, do we need one.
5
While the spread of COVID-19 across the US presents a crisis for communities and healthcare workers – not to mention the economic fallout – the way that public figures respond to the pandemic and carry on their own business can be an opportunity to demonstrate leadership, caring, responsibility and accountability.
As Donald Trump and his Administration bumble, bungle and lurch to spin the facts to suit Trump’s ego or his abysmal instincts, the Democratic presidential hopefuls have an opportunity to shine by being honest, fact- and science-based, and by being examples of caring, responsible public servants.
And the beauty of this is that Biden and Sanders will shine just by being the men that they are, while Trump will be once again revealed as a sloppy, unprofessional nincompoop.
6
Maybe there is a God and maybe this virus is his way of getting rid of Donald Trump. Not that I want anyone to fall ill, but if there is any rational reason for all this chaos, I will choose to think that is the reason.
2
Thank goodness Joe Biden is acting like and sounding like the president we need right now.
249
@Asheville Resident You must be easily impressed. A man reads written talking points provided to him by staff and he's the one, true leader of the free world?
13
@Asheville Resident
He still says he'll veto MFA if passed by Congress. Millions with no healthcare coverage. With Covid-19 stalking them.
Not so presidential...
15
@Drew IF passed by Congress. It's not going to be. There will be nothing to veto.
4
Two thoughts. First, could Coronavirus and the economic damage it is creating be the disaster that might unify the country, as it was pretty much unified after WW II? Second, the virus will undoubtably affect voter turnout until a sense of control over it is established. Wouldn’t it be prudent to put the rest of the primaries and the conventions on pause for the time being?
4
No need to cancel or postponed if you vote by mail.
4
How about an article on Bernie Sanders, who doesn't need a script on a teleprompter to address this. ...because the man knows his stuff, it's close to his heart and its personal.
36
Yes, cause he has been saying the same thing for 30 years.
2
And Biden said he would veto universal healthcare even if it were passed by the Senate, which would be proof the Senate has started to represent the American people’s interests. But Biden can’t abide that...? That’s not reassuring leadership to me. That’s not acting on behalf of the people to give us the basic cornerstone of civilization the rest of the world takes for granted. Tom Hanks and his wife just experienced universal healthcare in Australia. We deserve it too! Biden stands in the way of that because he takes money from the industries who tell him what we can and can’t have. And, this isn’t smears, Biden supporters. This is called the truth.
10
@Curtis James
The mainstream media’s efforts to thwart Sanders are disgusting.
9
How exactly is this helpful? Spreading fear and creating panic is the last thing to do at this time. Biden should be ashamed of himself for doing it. Trump should be ashamed for what he's done but Biden shows himself as the same of crook that he's always been.
8
@Ross Salinger: Biden has never been a crook. Trump should not be ashamed, as he is incapable of feeling shame, but he should be impeached and removed from office for undermining the CDC to the point it cannot respond to the Corona crisis effectively, and for confusing and gaslighting the American people about the Corona crisis. Both Biden and Sanders would have responded appropriately and in a timely manner, and they would not have contradicted and muzzled the experts.
7
@Ross Salinger Biden did not spread fear and panic. His speech was calming and encouraging - just what the nation urgently need at this critical time!
7
But he has his geez whiz act down and people fall for it. Trump doesn’t though. Trump May be a malignant narcissistic personality, as George Conway told Preet Bharara and maybe even criminally so, but he knows Biden’s corrupt. And so do we. Democrats shouldn’t let other Democrats vote for corrupt candidates.
3
Just remember where trump was in the early stages of the crisis as it was developing in China. On a photo op in India, following the democratic primary around the country staging hate rallys or playing golf. All about him - worst president ever.
24
Let’s be totally honest, the Coronavirus is a euphemism for China virus, that’s where it started and let’s call it by its real name. Are we afraid of honesty?
2
Wow...the Bernie folks and/or Russians have really taken over here. Few substantive comments, a whole lot of campaign slogans and smears. So sad.
13
@Ryan
Well, no. Sanders supporters here have been correctly pointing out that having tens of millions of people in the US with no health insurance or paid sick leave means we’ll get hit hard.
And Biden has no plan to change that.
9
The truth about Biden is not sad. It’s terrifying.
3
@Ryan Thanks for pointing that out. My thoughts as well. I saw this behavior in the Washington Post comments as well. Disheartening.
1
So, Biden said pretty much what Trump said and Biden is forceful and Trump is inept. Yep, good balance from the NYT. Just say we hate Trump and we like anything but Trump. That would be truthful.
7
@Michael the difference is heaven vs hell. Only a blind cannot see it!
2
There are reasons to hate a narcissistic psychopathic pathological liar who is a conman. People will die because of his perfidy. Look at other countries, partisan bickering has been set aside. A pox on all politicians and supporters who do not support the truth!
2
The irresponsibility of the Democrat Party candidates to demonstrate no unity with this Administration in a crisis speaks volumes about their deceit for the American people and their abject moral bankruptcy. Biden and Sanders are more interested in driving up fear than offering solidarity or anything remotely efficacious toward reassuring calm. Their duplicity will end their political careers as they are wicked, narcissistic, and depraved individuals.
4
@Grant: This administration continues to confues, gaslight and divide the American people. This administration has demonstrated zilch unity with the American people. Incompetent Trump and his sycophantic enablers should be removed asap. Your description applies accurately to Trump, not at all to Biden and Sanders.
5
@ Grant
Whom do you think the Democrats are running? Snidely Whiplash and Dick Dastardly?
1
Joe Biden cannot even read off a teleprompter, saying good from Europe will be stopped along with people. The man is not capable.
9
@leaningleft it is trump could not even read teleprompter and made several serous mistakes. That’s why stock market had the worst loss today since 1987 after trump’s speech!
4
You put Biden's speech, in what looks to be an edited form, on your site as if he is some sort of official though he doesn't really give any kind of plan. Mr. Biden's address seems to be largely of the cheerleader variety with ver little substance or plan. Meanwhile, Mr. Sanders also addressed the virus at depth with a comprehensive point by point plan of action and there is no coverage of that? What is the reasoning for not covering Mr. Sanders? How was this helpful or news worthy beyond a sentence or two?
I write this as earlier this morning my Mother-In-Law, who has a fever and is displaying signs of the virus was turned away by her doctor for lack of a test and told to go to the emergency room if the temperature reached 102. It may just be the common flu but she is 70 and has a right to be concerned as does her entire community.
How is your (NYT's) handling of information any better than the Trump administration and say Fox News and why should I depend on you for information, and support you as a subscriber, if you are from the looks of it, suppressing information for what appear to be political motives?
Does someone there have the courage or sense of journalistic ethics to respond?
20
No they will not.
4
What exactly is Biden’s insight he gleamed from the Ebola issue which was basically contained in Africa.
6
Uhhhh....how to keep a disease contained, for starters?
That’s the problem with success; people who don’t know better will assume it just happened all on its own.
2
POTUS Trump stated "It's just like a cold... I'm not concerned at all". Instead of doing everything possible Trump again hurts Americans in the worse possible way.
Criminal Trump at first said the coronavirus was a "Democratic conspiracy". Don't forget this America when you vote in November.
20
So sayeth the man who called Trump's original Chinese flight ban "xenophobic" and "fearmongering".
Yet Dr. Fauci has repeatedly emphasized that this ban greatly reduced the number of cases.
Who are you with, Dr. Fauci/Trump or Joe Biden?
6
@John Who did the sayething, which Dr. Fauci, and when did the Chinese ban flying?
@John: Probably Dr. Fauci, whom I trust, advised Trump to NOT ban flights from China, so Trump felt compelled to do the opposite... I do not trust Trump at all.
1
He is in essence a politician.
I believe the White House sees Coronavirus as a tool in its war on poverty. The one where they reduce poverty by letting poor people die.
4
@LS
How horribly sad this is and I do believe true..
2
The real answer to this pandemic should've been in place already..that is Medicare for all. Biden doesn't think that's a smart idea. I think Biden is dumb. Bernie Sanders is smarter than Biden. So I'm for Bernie Sanders. He's not dumb. He thinks we should have Medicare for all. Seems like a REALLY good idea right about now.
12
???? How would Medicare for all made the current situation better?
1
Since Trump was given the profoundly immoral title by the Evangelicals i don’t watch his lying Oval Office reports or follow him . Except for what i read in the NYT’s. He was having dinner with the Brazilian leader last Saturday and his team and the leader was infected with the Coroanavirus. Why isn’t Trump put in quarantine for the mandatory 14 days. He needs to go to a Rambo rally and see how fast the crowd turns on him when he infects them.
7
I reluctantly watched the President addressed to the nation last night concerned that we may be in the midst of an outbreak. I came away empty handed with disbelief, misinformed and juberous xenophobic dog whistle "foreign virus ". I am definitely not reassured. Whenever Trump speaks, the stock market sinks 3-10 % just like today.
The outbreak has not been confirmed yet due to insufficient test being done. We are six to eight weeks behind many other countries in terms of testing despite of repeated broken promise that 1 million diagnostic kits will be available in private or local public health laboratory. It seems to align with his delusional idea that no test, no disease and therefore must be contained.
Now he bans travel from Europe except England and blamed these countries not carry out the travel ban strategy with China. Ironically, if he reads or watches news other than Fox News, he will learn Italy is the first country in Europe to ban travel with China. It is now the largest epi-center of covid-19 outbreak outside China. Prime Minister Conte has implemented the lockdown policy throughout Italy with 60 millions people.
I hope we don't have to resort to such an extreme measure. Unfortunately, we have an ignorant, self aggrandizing, inept con artist in the White House that so many people have spoken of.
6
Yeah, Biden was charged with finding a cure for brain cancer in the waning days of the Obama Administration. Did he deliver? No. Could he and Bernie, in all of their liberal brilliance, do better than Trump on this issue? I doubt it. After all, in the end, we are juts passing through. Thank you.
As of approximately 1:30 PM today and after three and a half years, we have a president!
9
Please post the full version of Biden's speech prominently on NY Times site. Everyone should spend the 18 mins needed to listen to the full version to be reminded of what a leader sounds like.
7
I find it ironic that a virulent, offensive pathogen has got the better of a virulent, offensive pathological liar.
8
Trump should be quarantined. Everyone else who has had contact with an infected individual is being quarantined. Why not the president? Is he exempt because he is the authority figure? Is he immune because he is the leader and must display the exceptional quality of being the leader and above the problems and vulnerabilities of the ignorant masses?
6
Hey guys just to let you know that as we become a more globalized economy these kind of outbreaks will happen more and more often. You can’t eliminate every disease and there will always be a new mutation that produces a new virus. You can’t shut down the economy every time there’s an outbreak and there will be one under the next president whether it be Trump or Biden or Bernie so both sides should choose their words wisely.
Also, on behalf of everyone with a recognized degree (BS MS MD PhD) in biological sciences:
We freaken told you so. We told you this would happen for the 30 decades and the public ignored us. Instead, they made memes about mitochondria and how worthless that knowledge is. This virus is only as bad as we as as humans make it and we made it bad by behaving like a bunch of idiots all around the globe.
Sorry, had to get that out of my system.
2
@Quinton
None of that is news. It's always happened as more people connect with other people. The whole "we told you so" is kinda silly. Until recently we had a pandemic department at the CDC that would have worked on testing and isolating cases right away - but we got unlucky in what President we had for this.
And shutting down is the way to deal with an epidemic, not sure what you think the alternative is here - just let people die rather than shut down the economy? Or live isolated?
2
@Susan StoHelit A whole city is about to tank because a few old people died. People are losing jobs and are already being laid off. Yes, that is exactly what I am saying should happen. Fear is going to kill a city. Give it two weeks and we'll all be fixated on how Biden is the greatest person ever and Trump is evil because... because NYT said so!!
For once, New York Times--and hang on to your hat, buster--
--for once I sympathize with Mr. Donald J. Trump.
And so--did I DISAGREE with Mr. Biden? No. Not in the least. Did I think he was WRONG to say that stuff? Well--no, not exactly. Do I think Mr. Trump's administration is an ongoing scandal--plagued by egregious inefficiency and possible corruption? Yes, I do. Do I think our President has major shortcomings--not only as a President but as a human being--that gravely impair his ability to do the job he was elected to do? Oh yes I do. In spades.
BUT--
--he is the man dealing with the problem. Along with a bunch of aides and federal government workers--"unelected bureaucrats" and "deep state operatives" the GOP would have called them. At some other time that this.
Mr. Biden--Mr. Sanders--Ms. Warren--you and me, New York Times--
--we're the guys looking on from the stadium. Booing and hooting--laughing--grimacing--hollering insults--even (maybe) throwing stuff--
--he's the guy with the job.
No, he's not done the job perfectly. Dear me, no. I'm not sure I EXPECT him to do that job--or any job--perfectly.
But maybe we should take a leaf from Ms. Pelosi's playbook--
--and pray for the President as he toils away.
Let's criticize him when the occasion offers--
--but let's not be the proverbial "peanut gallery."
THAT, New York Times, he doesn't need right now.
Neither do we.
6
@Susan Fitzwater " pray for the President as he toils away. "
Yes, I will. Just as soon as I see him "toiling."
16
@Susan Fitzwater
He is not dealing with the problem. He is denying the problem, trying to keep a sick cruise ship of American citizens at sea so their numbers won't be 'counted against' him. He is refusing to declare an emergency and saying this is like the flu and telling people it's fine to go to work with it. He is claiming there are tests available but not actually providing them.
This is not merely 'not perfect'.
He cut the budget of the CDC, eliminated the people who were there to handle this kind of problem. He is not dealing with the problem, he IS the problem, to a large degree.
6
@Susan Fitzwater Trump's behavior and inaction on this has likely already killed a lot of people.
The last thing he needs is sympathy.
What he needs is to be gone like yesterday.
4
My god, I wish Elizabeth Warren was still in the race for POTUS. She has more common sense than Biden and Sanders put together, she can speak clearly without a speechwriter or teleprompter, and she grasps the full scope of the problem. She's also a fast study and as a woman, a natural healer who doesn't have to first position herself as the alpha male.
Of course Trump and everyone in his administration have totally bungled this emergency. They are incompetent and only focused on increasing their personal wealth which has nothing to do with a pandemic viral attack.
Ask yourselves: Are you better off now than your were 4 years ago? Hint:
DJIA
1/1/17 close 11,222.96 - President Obama still in office
3/12/20 close 10,195.92 - months to sink under Trump
9
@me Well, she's not in the race so what's the point?
8
Getting rid of the pandemic response team was the usual Trump "genius".... shortsighted, as per usual. Then he said, when there were only 15 cases, that he expected this number would quickly fall to zero ....... and he said the health experts were surprised how quickly he got the virus ..... yeah, I bet they were shocked!
12
Pathetic scripted nonsense. Thank God he is not our president. Total politics. Totally NOT credible. His calls for all this testing...the CDC has said it is not how we do things here. So much for listening to the scientists. Biden condemned the travel bans in January...and the CDC said that is one of the two best things we can do. Uncle Joe is out of touch.
5
Right. Shortages, banning travel and third-world responses. That’s how we do things here.
3
Just watched the Joe Biden speech over the corona virus.
Well orchestrated and choreographed.
Do you think he remembers giving it?
6
No article on Bernie Sanders' press conference?
15
@Piero Gotta keep the man down is the NYT's motto.
11
@Piero
Hmmm, report on the person with the 99-100 odds of being the candidate - or the person whose odds per 538 are less than "Other"?
2
@Piero
Who?
1
And your plan, Boomer? You can't "beat this up"
2
Plan? Let the open borders gang have their way and see where we are with unlimited travel from countries that allow these viruses to brew as a result of leaving wild animal “wet markets” open, even after SARS.
2
I’m good with trump not being test. heck, pence too. I say don’t test the entire administration. just put bone spurs and the rest on the front line somewhere
6
The COVID-19 virus has laid bare our craven health care system in the US, greedy Big Pharma who has off shored all drugs and devices so we won't have access to them during a crisis, and Republicans who continue to twiddle their fingers and refuse to help Americans in a national health emergency.
In two weeks the US will be suffering as they are now in Italy as an American living there is warning in this article.
https://www.today.com/health/mom-quarantine-italy-i-don-t-know-what-s-going-t175819?cid=sm_npd_td_fb_pa&fbclid=IwAR0t3xH0hBlr6LD-5ZptAA3JotmBNeB_BKQKiGrfE7TyYXNWi5HP3MECuxY
4
Protecting the health of Joe Biden is the most important thing his campaign can do at this time. Let's quarantine Joe until November! ;|
His virtual campaign will be enough to defeat the imposter in chief, in fact it may be the best approach.
Trump is done and real Americans know it.
3
@Juker I wonder if their are getting odds on Biden, Sanders, and Trump survival odds. Pretty high risk group.
1
Shares in private healthcare stocks shot up following Biden's wins last Tuesday. Yes, America thinks Biden can beat this disgraceful President- but Biden has to clearly enunciate how he will deliver the healthcare that Americans are entitled to. Spell it out, Joe, Be bold!
1
Trump is a national embarrassment and should resign.
8
This what a president sounds like, Trumps lie filled
nothing burger was remarkably awful.
5
NYT: Please put Sanders' speech alongside Biden's on the phone app. Currently only Biden's is visible. People need to see both, now.
19
People have numerous options to see both speeches.
1
@jmk They won't put Sanders's speech up because it would give voters an actual side by side comparison of an empty suit reading from a teleprompter, mouthing platitudes, and the man speaking from his heart, whose ideas and solid policy prescriptions are now, in the moment of crisis, exactly what Nancy Pelosi is calling for. But the NYT would never want the rubes to see that Sanders who is only behind Biden by 154 delegates, is actually the leader we need, the peson who ideas, ideals and integrity are exactly right for this moment. It's a heartbreaking shame, but we know that power is never ceded willingly, and the comfortable just "aren't ready" for M4A, even as the uninsured die at the rate of 68,000 per year.
2
President Trump knows more about the coronovirus than all the doctors and health care professionals combined. President Trump is the Kim Jong Un of North America.
3
I almost forgot what it was like listening to someone take charge of a situation after the bumbling of Mr. Trump. Zum Glück one wants to say! Pun intended, Ms. Katie.
3
This is a flu. I'm more terrified of Trump
2
Thank you for your words, President Biden!
5
Come on, Joe. Your followers called President Trump xenophobic when he presciently banned travelers from China two weeks ago.
1
Oh how I wish the Obama Administration was still in charge.
11
Especially in times like these I miss President Obama too.
4
NYT: Please put Sanders' speech back on the app, and also make the video clickable on the main site upper homepage as it is for Biden's.
18
All this political finger pointing accomplishes nothing except allowing this pandemic to keep growing. It WILL NOT resolve what our world peoples have and will experience. As leaders and potential leaders you are projecting very little confidence in us what your are saying by your actions. Work in harmony with all your resources to get on track so this and any future virus's will be conquered.
1
Sanders doesn't belong in the same headline with Joe.
3
I agree, get Joe out of the headline!
9
Maybe Biden should hire Mike Bloomberg to run his campaign.
2
“President Trump acted early and decisively and has put the United States on stronger footing than other nations."
Trump has dithered away weeks and only took action when the stock market tanked. S. Korea has tested over 200 K. We don't even have numbers. Canada can turn around results in 6 hours and people here are now worried about the porous American border and people coming here for testing and treatment. This has been an utter failure by this administration and among the stupidest things Trump has done has been putting Pence in charge, instead of a doctor. In addition to the uselessness of this president and his equally lame administration, it has shown the gaping holes in the medical system. In addition, there are sheep in the US, who blindly believe Sean Hannity when he says it's a hoax. This is no hoax! The Republican Senate who failed to remove Trump during impeachment, have blood on their hands. They stood behind this incompetent fool.
9
Presidential enough...
1
Trump and his Republican party have failed America in so many ways, but their hateful, incompetent and lie filled response to the virus tops them all.
The virus is not their doing- but they have fed its spread in America with their lies and are keeping the nation from an effective response with their incompetence.
8
Please stay healthy , Joe Biden!
5
Ask Kushner, or Moe, or Larry.
1
Sanders is using this opportunity to make his usual long winded campaign speech. As if no one has figured out that we need more masks and ventilators. It's so like him to present a long list of needs that can be magically addressed by government decree.
To repurpose the adage about statistics: Lies, damn lies, and politicians...
2
Biden and Sanders should put politics aside at a time of health and economic crisis.
Their comments prove they are not Presidential but petty politicians.
I hope that a real leader steps up in the US or abroad to speak out to calm people and the markets. This is not the first time that the world has faced a health or financial crisis.
Fortunately, we had leaders who stepped up in the past and got us through.
Maybe someone like TonyBlair, Colin Powell or the like can address the UN to get things started.
The reaction to this crisis so far is a reflection of the “short attention span world” that we live in and wants to blame everyone else for their problems. All the major networks should stick to reporting the news and leave their agendas behind. Unfortunately they put fuel on the fire by their comments to increase viewership and ad revenue.
2
Looking pretty presidential there, Joe. Thank you. Someone needed to do this.
7
@B
How many takes were needed for that?
5
Despite all the politicking this is the moment for a national reckoning on the merits of universal health care. A nation divided up by competing healthcare megacorporations who put profit before public health is a hazard indeed.
2
I'm glad to hear from Bernie and Biden on this. Either would have taken this seriously from the start and we would be a far better position now.
I just read in the Guardian that just this week, on Tuesday, the CDC performed only eight tests for the virus. Eight! Let that sink in...I guess Trump and his buddies just don't believe this is a real crisis, which is why we are in this mess. Hence his remarks that he is not concerned about catching it despite he and Pence posing for a photo recently standing next to a gentleman from Brazil who has just tested positive.
8
Gee, someone who actually sounds presidential. Unlike the grade 8 reading of the teleprompter last night.
14
Great speech, brilliantly given, motivated by public service, conceived with political cunning to demonstrate the presidential vacuum created by Trump. Just what was needed.
9
“Public fears are being compounded by pervasive lack of trust in this president fueled by adversarial relationship with the truth that he continues to have.” Sheesh, Biden, hire a speechwriter.
'The public doesn't trust this president. Foreign leaders don't trust this president. The stock market doesn't trust this president. They don't trust him because he has lied to us--to all of us--not once but continually.'
And the next person that writes you a speech that includes any of the words "pervasive," "adversarial" or "compounded" needs to be assigned to a more suitable job.
2
@Justin
Those are not odd words - my 10 year old knows most of those.
2
@Justin
I didn’t watch the speech but that all sounds pretty good to me. Better than I’ve ever heard come out of Trump’s mouth.
@Susan StoHelit Your 10-year old is better educated than a good percentage of our population. You should be proud.
But Democrats need to learn not to talk over peoples' heads. Say things directly and simply. It's more powerful and more likely to be understood and remembered.
Can you honestly say that people will repeat the line: "public fears are being compounded by a pervasive lack of trust..."?
1
I'm so glad this won't be politicized.
A pox on both your houses.
1
@Brian
Trump's every waking thought is self serving and political.
Biden is and has for decades demonstrated compassion and responsibility. And yes, he is a politician but he is among our most decent.
Biden 2020!
ByeDon 2020!
3
I did not see Biden's speech, but the rote postings on this board by the Trump supporters show that they have settled on their campaign message: Joe is senile, Joe doesn't know where he is, etc. The perfect uniformity of the posts makes me suspect Russian bots? Or a slavish devotion to whatever message Fox News is handing out? Anyway, Goebbels could only dream of such perfect propaganda dispersion.
13
Smart readers. Why is there the hissing?
Train Wreck Trump. Hang that tag around Trump's neck and we're shed of him.
5
I see Sanders' 15 minute video here, but only 2 minutes of Biden's 18 minute speech. Why?
1
@Liz
Must have been an auto worker present.
2
Hello NYT, can you play the whole speech and not just the cuts without hesitations and other symptoms? and why not show him refusing to take questions later? Bernie convened a round table of experts on the virus a week ago. Did you provide video coverage of that? It exists. We need full medical coverage for this expensive tests and no bankruptcy from Covid-19 hospital stays. This virus will spread because pols like Biden and Trump don’t want to protect the vulnerable through government programs. Covid-19 will make socialists of even the most rabid anti-Berners.
14
Nailed it!
4
Is Biden going to plagiarize Bloomberg's speech for this?
6
@Is: If he did, that would still be soo much better than anything Trump says, uhmm, lies.
3
@Anna anyone looks great if we didn’t have to compare them to Trump
3
@Is: Yup, but we have to...
WOW!!!! What a contrast to what we have now.
No teleprompters, just STRAIGHT from the heart. Lucid, intelligent, a true leader. DT you should be more than worried. You are on a banana peal.
9
Covid 19 is Donald Trumps Benghazi, Vietnam and Katrina all wrapped into one big incompetent mess.
This is what you get America for voting to drown the federal government in the bathtub.
6
This is ridiculous. A live camera feed that has been on for at least 10 minutes, of an empty lectern with a sign just saying "BIDEN President"--why is the NYT annointing Biden king, giving him live prime time on their front page, and just staring at this lectern and sign, as if this is momentous news from an elected leader (which it is not)? Unbelievable.
7
Now that Trump and Pence have been exposed, are they going to self-quarantine like Justin Trudeau. Or do they think that Trudeau is just a silly overreacting wimp?
2
Not speaking or tweeting nonsense is itself a stark contrast! Thanks Joe!!
It time Trump heeded to Mark Twains advice “It’s better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than open it and remove all doubt”!
3
Yup, Biden will take care of it. Yeah, man, c'mon out back, virus. I'll take care of you!
7
Biden's presidency begins today.
9
Funny, a lot of these talking points seem familiar. Oh, right, here's Bernie 4 days ago: https://www.c-span.org/video/?470188-1/senator-sanders-calls-president-trumps-coronavirus-comments-reckless&fbclid=IwAR31BRMCkYOUmznYoIVCpZSgBfu4k7LbgueZy9zgpgwjvbu-Zz6IDbu6pp0
7
Just win, baby.
2
Mr. Trump....lies always catchup with you!
3
He is confusing this with the swine flu 30 years ago....sad
1
Why is everyone politicizing the coronavirus? Disgusting!
3
What am I missing? What did Biden say that isn’t already being done? Yes, there was a screw up at the CDC with the initial testing. Yes, cumbersome regulations —now bypassed—also slowed down testing and manufacture of tests by the private sector. The real question is, does anyone think Biden or Sanders would have imposed a travel ban on China in January, let alone Europe now? Of course not! That was a really tough and important decision, particularly in light of the recent trade deal. Trump made the call. Not a single democrat would have.
2
Trump dismantled the department Obama and Biden established to handle these type emergencies proactively. He did it out of spite. It’s indefensible.
2
@Anne
They may have if their experts advised it. I would trust their advisers over Trump’s any day.
Joe Biden sure is acting like our President, unlike the Grifter-in-Chief currently scamming us from the Oval Office.
6
Even in a dire crisis such as we are experiencing right now, that person in the WH can't tell the truth. He just keeps lying and lying about the testing issue. There are far from enough testing kits for anyone to be tested. To have fired some of the staff at the CDC was unfathomable under any circumstance.
Dr. Fauci seems to have a handle on what's going on and of course CNN and MSMBC. Pence has given us some sane information and does speak coherently, unlike djt. Sadly djt only thinks about himself and his investments and the rest of us be damned. This is the perfect time for him to resign.
1
Not a fan of the President, but it is easy to come up with ideas when you are not under the gun. Rather than play the game and hit on the Pres, Biden should be taking a supportive position to make sure that the people are protected.
When you are not the President, statements that start with if I was the President are useless.
3
@Thoughtful Citizen
Isn’t that what campaigning for president is all about—saying what you would do if president?
1
Judge by the results, not the rhetoric.
The US has less than ONE TENTH of the infection or death rates of the major industrialized countries. The ONLY president who took life saving decisions early on, stopping travel from China, was Trump.
Trump is the only adult in the room. Biden wanted to keep borders open, even after China itself was limiting internal travel. Biden is not smart. Add to that his senility and corruption, and you get a catastrophe in the unlikely case he would get elected...
4
@novoad
Biden corrupt and senile?? Reminds me of Trump’s rubber and glue insult style, “no, you’re the puppet.” Favorite line from the 2016 debates.
Contrast what Sanders and Biden are proposing to the what Trump is proposing. Night and day. Competency vs. incompetency.
Trump's "solutions" are akin to the Charge of the Light Brigade - British Light Cavalry sent charging against fortified Russian machine gun nests in the Crimean War. They will lead to needles and useless slaughter of Americans, both in terms of health and economically.
Given the insanely ignorant "leadership" by Trump, this ought to qualify him as unfit, and enable his Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment so that we could get someone capable of leading the nation in the crisis. But of course, this isn't going to happen. We're like the passengers on the Titanic: our "Captain" has allowed the ship to hit an iceberg and we're simply captives of his catastrophic failure.
1
Geez, just hearing two leaders who can parse several words together forming cogent sentences was refreshing.
6
It is amazing how refreshing it is to be addressed by someone who has command of the facts, and who does not spend his political capital in shameless, constant self-promotion.
3
Where's the executive order about making sure everyone has free access to testing and COVID-19 care?
President Trump, where's that executive order that needs to be enacted IMMEDIATELY and RETROACTIVELY? Go wash your hands and do something.
6
One candidate was clear as a bell and had a grasp of the detali. The other heavy on platitude and short on subject command. Look at Biden's plan. He wants you to. It's not too dissimilar from Bernie's. He wants all COVID-19 testing and treatment paid for - even people without insurance or under-insured. The difference? 1) After the virus has passed, the Public Option won't organize our health system any better than it is now to respond to this type of virus. 2) We have pay insurance companies administration- and profit-inflated rates for treatment. They'll make a bunch of money from the pandemic, wasting taxpayers money on profit. Man, this just doesn't cut it. Sunday night, I look forward to watching Biden try to explain his own programs. My guess: he's going to fumble all over the place and the MSM will ignore every bit of it.
4
@allseriousnessaside
And how long do you think it will take to reform all of America’s healthcare system—doctors and hospitals, insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies. Think that will be all lined up for the next pandemic? Here’s the answer. No.
Dear Leaders:
You can't decimate funding for the NIH and CDC on top of eliminating the pandemic response team, and then start wringing your hands when a virus magically appears, but then can't be confronted head-on.
Another one is coming. Please prepare the country this time.
It's your job.
Please do it.
6
And now Sanders? Biden and Sanders should put their campaigns on a holiday.
1
@P&L
Sure, maybe we should cancel the election too, huh?
5
I listened to Sanders's speech: same old angry generalities calling for a total reconstruction of institutions. A left-wing version of Trump.
I listened to Biden's speech: *this* is how a president should talk (and used to talk).
November 3, please come quickly!
7
@Lifelong Democrat
With Biden we’d still have tens of millions of people with no health insurance or paid sick leave.
This virus will prove those failings very deadly as it spreads faster.
8
Biden said he would veto universal healthcare even if it were passed by the Senate, which would be proof the Senate has started to represent the American people’s interests. But Biden can’t abide that...? That’s not reassuring leadership to me.
5
@Lupito
Thanks! I now see why Bernie McGovern has very little appeal to grown-ups. How sad, for him, that they are so much more likely to vote than the fervent but preoccupied BernieJugend.
1
Both Biden & Sanders are intellectually miles above Trump and in times of crisis it would help to have actual experience in governance. Why some people thought a weird real estate guy who had a reality TV show would make a great leader is still a mystery to me.
7
Senate Republicans had a chance to save the country from the cost of Trump's bungling and politicizing of this crisis. This opportunity came after there was a mountain of evidence of Trump's unfitness for and disinterest in being president. They decided the country should roll the dice that no crisis would happen for another year and that their complicity would help their re-election prospects.
They were willing to gamble with people's lives and health, and we all lost.
6
Global Pandemic declared by World Health Organization
"Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte of Italy ordered almost all businesses nationwide to close. The country has more than half of the confirmed coronavirus cases in Europe."
Where we are heading (after Italy) fast.
I don't see many signs that people are getting the full impact. They need too understand that this will be the largest impacting event since WWII.
While Trump fails to form the most rudimentary understanding the responsibility to manage the crises falls to our Governors and mayors.
2
I can't think of circumstances more suited to show that Bernie is the person best situated to handle these conditions. Everything being proposed right now from all sides, from free testing, to elimination of co-pays and deductibles, to paid sick leave, to moratoriums of mortgages/debt collections etc point straight to this man that has been talking about these kinds of solutions to our healthcare problems for years! Bernie has cared about us for his whole career and I'm glad he's around for us now.
As I've seen people say all around the Internet today.. We are all democratic socialists now.
8
As we enter a period of national and world concern over Coronavirus and the economic effects, I caution not to take our eyes off of how Russia and other adversaries will enhance disinformation to their advantage.
Bernie offered a comprehensive plan that covered all facets of society. He called for solidarity. We are in it together as EVERYONE is vulnerable to this virus.
Biden after some platitude sent people to his website for his plan.
I honestly trust both to handle this crisis. But Biden was not able to articulate his plan ...
6
That is what presidential leadership in a crisis looks and sounds like. Quite a contrast to what we saw and heard last night.
2
Bernie Sanders has a better plan and much more information in his statement than Joe Biden does in his. Listen to Sanders he addresses the needs of the American People.
7
President Trump's problem is that he has not been proactive but reactive. Now, it's almost too late to take proactive steps to reduce serious illness and death. Leadership is not reflexive. Leadership must LEAD. Mr. Trump has no idea what that means.
1
Bernie Sanders MUST be part of government in order to address the working people's life threatening problems, otherwise, it will get worse. DNC cannot ignore the majority of this country anymore. Once you get this, DNC, you will have the right to exist.
7
A C+ address from Biden. Moderation, and good intentions, but nothing in it to show actual command of pandemic-related challenges. Most disappointing? A public health advisory team with 3 members, none of whom has special expertise in infectious diseases. An oncologist and a terrorist advisor may have their places, but at this moment, they seem out of place. Not a commanding start from Joe.
Also, Joe, sober subjects go down best with sober staging. Ditch the flag backdrops for virus talks. I am with you, but let's up the game.
2
I'm humored by all the post expressing their reassurance over the smooth sounding delivery of Biden. He's a seasoned politician. That's what got him through all these years is his ability to deliver smooth sounding speeches (and in this case in a protected environment with only non-questioning reporters and a script written by his handlers barely reaching 4 minutes). Actual leading the country is something far different, especially for an elderly man with declined mental faculties.
3
Unfortunately, we have many more cases than are present known, thanks to the failure of the Trump administration to act decisively and to produce the millions of test kits that will be required. The coronavirus spreads insidiously, because people are infectious long before they are symptomatic. So the numbers are going to explode exponentially in the next couple of weeks. That is unavoidable. This is a very infectious virus with a mortality rate of about 3 per cent, rising to as high as 15 per cent among the elderly and those with compromised immune systems. To save as many people as possible from the graveyard, we are going to need a vast increase in the number of ventilators and ICUs. The administration has made ZERO efforts along these lines, which means many, many unnecessary deaths will occur, and wrenching decisions about triage will become the norm. Worse still, we don not have enough protective equipment to safeguard first responders and medical personnel, putting their lives at risk and ensuring that there will be fewer people around to minister to the sick. Trump's negligence and failure to listen to scientists are going to cost us all dearly. Thank you deplorable.
1
All that I know that when I read this morning that Mr. Biden was going to address the coronavirus it brought tears to my eyes. Everyday brings feelings of despair and fear with this incompetent president and administration. So grateful for Mr Biden, Mr Sanders to get in front of the cameras and show us what competence looks like. Brings me hope, hope in which I have lost in the last 3 1/2 years. We WILL PREVAIL. Trump MUST go.
3
This problem started when the first two Corona viruses happened and not enough was done to prepare for the future...which is now.
Is President Trump to blame? For some of his actions, yes, but for the unpreparedness—all the present old, established, seasoned candidates have to do is look in the mirror and say: It’s my fault too! I was there back then and I didn’t do enough!
The US is not prepared for this with 27 million Americans with no health insurance and many without paid sick days.
These people will tend not to get medical advice and they will tend to go to work sick.
Good luck everyone.
6
Biden has a plan.
Trump has bluff, bluster, lie & deny.
Fellow Americans... which approach is the better approach? Be honest, and objective, and set aside partisan politics in your answer.. because COVID-19 knows no party affiliation, much less any political bias or tribalism.
3
Hey, doom-lovers - It's already over in China. They're down to single-digit infection rates. That's what happens if you get it right. The "crisis" is going to take as long as it takes to do a competent job of managing it.
@Paul Wallis In what ways do you think China got it right?
@Michael Fast response, minimum irresponsible babble, and if the local authorities were quick to pass the buck and play the blame game, the directives from up the food chain are "get rolling again". The "command economy" thing may not look too pleasant, but it worked in this case. They wouldn't risk a possible re-emergence if they weren't pretty sure the peak was past and not coming back. This lockdown has cost them a lot, so the new directives are pretty indicative.
@Lupito During the Ebola outbreak, few control measures other than the most draconian could have worked. The model isn't the issue. It's containing the outbreak. Proper control means what works. Not much else is worth doing.
The Market is shouting for Trump to resign and a resignation would trigger a rally that the world desperately needs.
5
Trump would do himself a favor by watching both speeches by Biden and Sanders. This is how a president acts and speaks when he or she is addressing the nation on something as serious as a pandemic threat and not calling a Governor (Inslee) trying to deal with the outbreak by calling him a "snake"..
6
"In times like this, America needs leadership and Biden has shown none,” said Tim Murtaugh, a campaign spokesman. “President Trump acted early and decisively and has put the United States on stronger footing than other nations."
“The lack of testing in the United States is a debacle,” said Marc Lipsitch, professor of epidemiology at Harvard’s Chan School and director of the Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics. “We’re supposed to be the best biomedical powerhouse in the world and we’ve been unable to do something that every other country has been able to do.”
- Boston Globe
Choose which one you believe.
5
Where was the president last night in his overall office meeting with the American people on coronavirus 19 he missed 3 things on the virus and a day after the stock market plummeted his speechwriter streets over check his writing the merry the clarification and changes this could only help in a time of crisis?
The art of the deal cannot be done by Pres. Donald Trump but a ghostwriter has anybody asked him if he read it is questionable by now.
At no time do we need a president sarcastically act like a clown blaming the Democrats and fake news.
The Senate is going to stay back from vacation until they hammer out a deal about the coronavirus and the epidemic thank God they did the right thing this time but they need a pass the bill not shove it under desk Sen. Mitch McConnell's deaths. It is time for Pres. Donald Trump acts like a president not using his office as a political toy.
Yes, the Republicans will be blamed for this virus because CDC was a strip of their budget last year under Trump's budget plan.
As Republicans and Democrats in the Senate work out a deal for all the American people.
Pray for the people that were harmed by this virus and their family and let help protect all Americans people.
2
The level of propaganda coming out of the Trump administration is reaching North Korean levels. It was some 6 weeks ago that Trump’s Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross was going on about how the coronavirus outbreak in China would be good for the American economy. Trump and his cronies were incredibly short-sighted and ignorant, and now his propaganda ministry is telling us what a great job Trump did?
4
Trump and his cronies in congress simply don’t believe in a functioning federal government. This is what you get. Good luck all!
3
A pathological liar by definition cannot nor should not be believed, trusted or followed. If a child lied every day of his life (e..g the boy who called wolf), it would be irrational for his parents, teachers, friends etc. to believe him. Trump is such a person. No one should have any confidence in what flows from him cords. Thus, his speech is suspect.
Trump's first step to rehabilitation is to hold a press conference or a rally in which he and all the king's men formally abdicate their position, effective immediately
3
Let’s keep the messaging simple:
(1) Trump fired the pandemic response team in 2018
(2) Lack of testing allowed the virus to spread
(3) Trump has no clue: Virus is already here and he’s punishing Europe (not places where he has Trump properties) instead.
Trump is a dangerous cocktail of pure incompetence, self-serving actions, and bad faith
10
Biden's response should not be front and center. He offered nothing of substance. Bernie's response was direct, solution based, and spoke to the issues of access and affordability. And don't give me the "but, but...how do you pay for it". This is a national emergency; YOU JUST DO IT.
6
Joe Biden shows himself here to be a true leader: thoughtful, compassionate, brave, heroic, and measured.
What America now has in Trump and his GOP sycophants are kleptocrats lining their own pockets at the expense of taxpayers, inhumane, callous, and corrupt people who are completely indifferent to the welfare of ordinary Americans, and too hard-hearted to understand that everyone needs worry-free health care.
Ordinary Republican folk should remember these issues at election time!
2
After Biden left the stage Fox had one of their paid professional liars come out and basically blame Obama.
This is part of the problem, you have a network (Fox) which is oblivious to what is going on in the world as if miss leading their viewers is the most important part of their day.
It is impossible for them to be critical of the President no matter what. Trump not only fired the pandemic response team but he eliminated the positions. A simply horrible decision.
Eliminating travel from China was good but I don't know what the other good decision may have been made by him assuming there was one.
Now he may have been exposed to the virus thru a Brazilian official and feels no need to be tested. If you had a neighbor that did that you would be appalled. But the President has set the bar so low you simply end up accepting his stupidity.
Senator Scott of Florida had possible contact with this official and will self quarantine. But not our President.
He has trouble suspending a rally as there has "been a lot of requests for tickets". Well the NBA, NCAA, MLB and others have had a lot of requests for tickets, already sold tickets but are operating on the side of caution and sanity by suspending parts if not all of their remaining seasons.
But not the stable genius. If nothing else he could set an example, but perhaps his advisors at Fox would find this apprehensible.
Simply put we have leadership in the White House regardless of what Fox may think
Funny how the title of this article says Biden and Sanders but most of it quotes and covers Joe Biden. Both men have excellent ideas and intentions on how to deal with this crisis, so why not be fair about it NYT? It just helps feed the anti establishment anger for many people who are vulnerable and left wanting by politics as usual coverage.
7
Sooooo, Republicans in the Senate here's a question: Do you have regrets yet for not impeaching Trump and removing him? True, we'd be stuck with Pence now which is still a step up from rock bottom.
6
Joe Biden was refreshing in that he acted Presidential whereas Trump.....well more of the same. Lets have the election next week!
3
Biden and Sanders are correct. I see Trump doing NOTHING productive. He lies and diverts, but he is incapable of governing - and many Americans will die due to his incompetence and ignorance - not just in this crisis but as a result of all of his cumulative crimes too.
5
It is so far beyond abhorrent to read these "rebukes". It's sickening that that these two charlatans - Biden and Sanders - have the gall to parrot the efforts already in place and underway and so many here seem to completely has lost track that even should either of these two reach the Presidency, it'll be 10 months away. Does that really not hit home to anyone? There's nothing these pretenders can do but rile up hatred and division - whose America do you want?
2
For God's sake people.
Face it. Trump has no credibility, no trust, and no Plan. His henchmen and women are all dancing around the truth so he doesn't get angry. Ya know what; everything that does not glorify Trump makes him angry.
Come on Joe, Come on Bernie, Come on Congress, Come on Science, Come on America. Bring on the truth. Bring on a plan. Bring on the solutions to Make America Well Again!
And bring on the Votes for the removal of this completely unqualified administration.
7
Good job both Senator Sanders and VP Biden! We can do this!
4
“As president, I will veto any universal healthcare that gets passed by the Senate.” Biden, March 2020 (...this is not my president.)
3
Huh? Is this the same guy that accused Trump of racism and xenophobia when Trump ordered this past January when a still-unnamed flu-like virus was first reported in Wuhan barring any non-US citizen coming from China to enter the country? The same type of restriction on anyone coming to the US from 25 European nations even Democrats is now favoring? Well, Joe. If Trump's ban in January was racist and xenophobic, what do you say about the new European travel ban? And if Trump's China travel ban in January was according to you, the NY Times and the rest of the Democratic usual suspects racist and xenophobic (the usual when it comes to all things Trump among the TDS mob), since you're so sure Trump is doing a bad job and you can do better, what would you have done instead? Keeping the travel routes open, as Europe did until recently? How'd that work out? Anyone you know planning a vacation to Italy any time soon?
3
We are seeing in real time the unmasking of trump. He's taken credit for an economy that Obama built, taken credit for a house that Obama left in pristine shape. Now, we are seeing what a buffoon trump, in fact is. Left to handle a natural disaster without the advantages that his predecessor left for him, trump has no idea what he's doing. He dismantled in full a task force meant to deal with health crises like the one we're having right now. And just because Obama created it. Dealing with a crisis calls for intelligence, character, and courage. Instead, we have a POTUS that is narcissistic, uneducated, myopic, and greedy. Good luck to all of us with him trying to lead us through this mess.
2
That speech was the finest presentation Bernie Sanders ever delivered. He made the case for expanded healthcare.
He came off like the second coming of Franklin Roosevelt,
and had a tight concise plan to deal with this pandemic.
Had he edited this message to these topics, he would be the nominee.
6
Sorry, guys, it is not about you anymore. We need immediate action -- not promises of what you will do a year from now, if elected. Fact is, at least from my standpoint, we are in a pandemic, which means each of us needs to focus on what to do to save our own and our neighbors' lives. Washington has failed us and whatever is done now to reverse that will still cost of lives. With regret, I have turned a deaf ear to Washington and am only paying attention to my state and local public health officials for guidance. I prefer to put my faith in trained public health doctors, nurses and other health care staff over politicians. The latter folk will have to pick up the pieces after this is all over and put together a plan for future epidemics, which based on 20th century experience they will fail to do well.
3
Healthcare is a human right. Biden has consistently opposed Medicare For All despite the fact that a majority of Dem voters in every single primary state so far support it. He has even stated that he would veto Medicare For All as president if passed by congress.
This is a tragic and dangerous mistake -- a nation with 87 million people who lack medical coverage is in no shape to handle a pandemic.
12
@Michael With a public option and reinforced mandate, all Americans WILL be insured. The favorables for Medicare for All change drastically when people learn about the costs and the elimination of private insurance. This is a nonstarter in swing districts.
Look at Switzerland, Germany, and Australia for examples of the public option's success.
@N Look at the UK where they have a National Health Service so popular even right-wingers like Boris Johnson pledge to strengthen it. Look at Canada.
We already have a "public option" for education here -- elite private for-profit schools for the rich, and constantly underfunded and overburdened public schools for poor areas. The "individual mandate" didn't work.
Medicare works, and should be extended to all.
3
As if Biden or Sanders could have prevented the current pandemic!
Shortly after Trump's election I converted most of my equities into fixed income. I did so, not because I worried about what Trump might do but, rather, because of how irresponsible politics in America was becoming -- driven by a Trump-obsessed media. If the bar room breaks out in a vicious brawl, just leave the bar room.
We are doing this to ourselves. The coronavirus has, worldwide, killed about as many people this year as have died on America's highways. This is unfortunate -- but not the end of the world.
We should enjoy the schadenfreude because its aftermath may be like something out of "The Seventh Seal." As industries close-down, lay-offs rise, global trade and travel grind to halts and the financial markets crash it may all bring-on a global depression, the human toll of which will make losses from Covid-d look trivial.
And, all people seem to think of, at least in this forum, is how to pin all of this on Trump. The media, for its part, wishes to use the epidemic as a club with which to beat Trump and doesn't care about the panic it is spreading.
I, personally, will be quite comfy But, the Depression devastated my family and my parents could never compensate, the rest of their lives, for years of lost income and opportunity. It can happen now.
Buying toilet paper may be the least of your problems ahead.
2
@Observer Do you not understand the basic epidemiological premise of exponential growth? The high estimates of over 1m Americans dead by the time this pandemic subsides? It's not media bloviation, in fact the last 24 hours and the next 168 will make it very clear how devastating the right-wing under-reaction has been.
This is no longer speculation and is in fact verging on medical/scientific consensus. Be prepared.
2
The politicization of this crisis by politicians from both parties is doing tremendous harm, and making a horrible situation worse.
Trump did not cause the virus. The virus was an act of nature. It is spreading like wildfire in every country in reaches; with the exception of the US, these countries do not have Trump as president, so the blame cannot be laid on him.
It's possible he could do more or better; his travel ban was poorly conceived and poorly implemented, and contributed to today's stock market crash. The media didn't help.
Perhaps, as the virus spreads and herd immunity develops, the pandemic will burn itself out. The crucial question is how many deaths there will be before we get there.
I think science can help; drug companies, the NIH, and universities are developing potential drugs and vaccines that may be ready for testing in record time. We need all hands on deck.
Big pharma is likely to be part of the solution, and we need to help them with their work on potential therapies and vaccines. This means putting the brakes on American trial lawyers, who are close to bankrupting at least two major drug companies. Trial lawyers do not develop drugs or vaccines; drugs companies do.
The CDC should have done a better job in making testing kits available, and the FDA was slow to act as well. We need to ensure that sufficient testing kits are available.
What we have now is panic, pure and simple. Panic fed, in part, by political grandstanding.
2
I've seen nothing about the development of a COVID-19 antibody titer test. With these we could get a better idea who caught the disease but recovered without serious complications. I can't be the only one to bethinking about this.
5
@Rich I am thinking about it as well. This needs to be done as soon as possible.
2
@Greg
Agreed. This, after a vaccine and effective anti-virals, should be at the top of the agenda in funding and research. Sadly, most folks are unaware of what a titer test does.
I noticed Uncle Joe is promising more testing, free testing and wide-spread testing, but as is the case with the entire group of Democratic candidates, lots of promises with very little detail to back it up.
3
I would suggest he would have a plan if he were elected. Right now we have the worst president in charge at the worst possible time.
1
Details, and action, are blocked by Senate Republicans and the most incompetent presidential administration in modern history.
3
@Bo Baconator Perhaps he would have used the WHO endorsed testing kits now widely employed by South Korea in their efforts to eradicate the virus, rather than the faulty kits independently chosen by Trump. That would have been a start.
2
The contrast is fairly stunning and, frankly, saddening, given we are stuck with the current regime and their embargo on the truth and testing, for the foreseeable, barring some miracle. Thank you Joe Biden.
15
Isn't it refreshing to actually hear a responsible address to the nation that actually sounds comprehensive and presidential! It was like music to my ears even though Biden and Sanders didn't mince words about how serious a crisis we face both physically and economically. I am glad they spoke out forcefully! Americans need to see and hear what functional and intelligent leadership can and should be from a U.S. president. It's also not a time to squabble politically over what should be done to repair our broken healthcare system. Although this crisis surely emphasizes how a Universal Care system, in my opinion, is needed and inevitable, both Biden and Sanders understand that any comprehensive response requires that our government provide testing and care for all Americans, even those 87 million who either uninsured or under insured. This is what real leadership looks and sounds like!
13
P.P.S. Good, glad Bernie IS getting equal time at the NY Times. And that a Biden presidency isn't yet the fait accompli it is being presented as by mainstream Democrats and their supportive corporate media.
Why doesn't the Times host a two- or three-hour sit-down, calm, discussion with all the Democratic candidates so they can share and exchange their ideas among themselves and for us. Let's know in depth what it is they are proposing and their vision for our nation, and where and why they agree and disagree. A reasoned and comprehensive conversation, not the circus that has been much of the so-called debates. No ads, journalists on hand representing a broad spectrum of political views. The rules should be that the candidates are allowed to speak at length, a few minutes at a time if needed and without arbitrary limits, addressing each other as well as journalists and us. This is how we talk about issues when we visit with friends. Let's let the candidates do this, too, and speak as they wish for themselves and for us to see and hear and evaluate.
8
@Bob
Equal time? This article spends 90% of its length praising Biden's mediocre speech and takes cheap shots at Bernie in the one paragraph covering what he said. This type of asymmetric coverage is what we've been complaining about for months now. The agenda is clear.
5
To be reactive or to be proactive is a choice. We need proactive leadership not reactive and divisive rhetoric. This too will pass, at the very least - let's all make sure to wash our hands regularly (20 seconds)
1
Who picks up the liability for retired healthcare workers whose certifications are expired, and no longer carry liability insurance? Whose skill sets may be rusty?
1
I watched Biden speak on the corona virus and nearly burst into tears because of the stark and terrifying distance between what we can have and what we actually have. Biden wasn’t my first choice, but after listening to him today I will happily vote for him on Election Day.
I hope all of Trump’s fans are paying close attention. This pandemic is going to get very bad here in the US in the coming weeks. I hope people have sense enough to remember why when they vote in November.
12
@InterestedObserver Though I didn’t well up, I felt intense elation after listening to about three minutes of Biden speaking. Then I promptly went and made my first donation to his campaign.
1
I'm pretty sure that both the leading candidates addressed the crisis... during your broadcast of Sanders's address, the headline continued to blare "Joe Biden rebukes Trump" even as the video of Sanders was playing below, creating a hilarious tableau of the double standards applied to these two men. Now that Sanders is no longer speaking, his address has gone down the memory hole, and we are again reminded of Joe Biden's lovely address in your coverage. Thanks again for the great coverage.
12
I am really surprised by so many disparaging comments about Biden. Maybe he isn't your first choice for president, but look at the comparison between him and Trump. Biden is straightforward, understands what systems need to be tapped into within the government asap to speed things up, and has a global perspective. He didn't seem frail, bumbling, or disoriented. This is a time to come together not criticize those that are competent.
10
48% of the state governors are Democrats. 76% of the COVID-19 cases are from these states with only 34% from Republican run states. Indicative that Republicans are dealing with the virus substantially better than Democrats. Mr. Biden should talk to the Republican governors to determine what they are doing so much better than Democrats.
@INDY Sorry. Had a typo. its 76% from Democratic states and only 24% from Republican run states. That's 3 to 1.
Coastal cities are more likely to be exposed! Larger numbers of citizens! Blue states are doing an amazing job of handling this crisis without much help from Trump! WHERE are the MILLIONS of test kits Trump promised two weeks ago!
2
That’s probably because most of those democratic states contain the majority of people. It’s simple math.
2
I just read Biden's plan (thanks for the link, NY Times!) and am impressed by the well thought out, multifaceted, comprehensive approach that it takes in dealing with pandemic.
Congress needs to embrace the Biden plan or equivalent plan immediately.
It won't though because politics before people is now the American way.
4
As I read Vice President Biden’s remarks, I imagined that he was the current President and it just felt so good. I was a Warren supporter, turned to Sanders when it became apparent she was going to lose. I would prefer a more progressive candidate to Biden, but any one of the Democratic candidates is so far superior to Trump that it boggles the mind to think that come November, millions of people will give Trump their support. Listening to Donald Trump tell lie after lie about the Coronavirus while being flanked by muzzled experts who know better was the most surreal and terrible experience I can recall. Listening to Trump say that his uncle was a doctor so he understands science, and that scientists were amazed that he knew so much was like listening to Kim Jong Un talk about how he never goes to the bathroom. The election can’t come quickly enough.
7
Vice President Joe Biden is the leader our country needs and deserves. His science based approach is so much more sensible than what we are being offered by a man who thinks he understands science because his uncle studied it.
7
Right now we don't need politics, we need action and leadership. So many issues need focus: testing, treatment methods, scaling (beds, breathing machines, Purell, gloves), vaccine research. Basic guidelines and logistics of how to test people outside the hospital so they don't infect everyone.
We need leadership and organization. Candidly, this is sorely lacking today. Leadership needs to rise to the challenge. We don't have Roosevelt or Lincoln. Time for the White House to step up their game. Lives are in the balance.
Who cares about November. The urgency of now is upon us.
Trump cannot be Presidential, it's not how he can behave. Biden can offer a better example, but then he has been an outspoken Senator for decades, but only Democrats will pay attention. His statements are not going to excite the anti-establishment constituency. Sanders is unlikely to say anything that unifies, he is too committed to tearing down the establishment, at this point. He will harp on his revolutionary solutions. I had hope that Sanders would seek to retain his voice as a progressive in the national discussion but he cannot stand down from the run for President. So we are just going to have to see how this all plays out.
All these miraculous solutions from all sides of the political spectrum would be more believable if the orators would say HOW they are going to accomplish them. Yeah, chapter and verse, just like a real project manager does.
1
Okay, this was a decent speech that sounded wholly presidential. However, I am more troubled than ever at the age of the presidential field. We are looking at a disease that disproportionately kills older people with underlying health conditions. We have three 'choices' right now (Trump, Sanders, Biden) who all fit that demographic. The winner of this election may just be the last man standing, and I hate to say it, Trump appears to be the most robust of three. Mayor Pete- I hope you have your campaign manager on speed-dial, you may just need to ramp it up again.
Given the choices, I suppose I would rather have a guy that was Vice President of the United States than a reality-TV host leading the country through a pandemic. The choice is pretty clear.
4
I don't know how good Biden would be as president, but he did give us an example to see how much better a Biden Presidency would be than Trump's. In watching his latest speech I did get a glimpse of Biden's character, and his ability to convey a sense of organized, intelligent leadership based on honesty and compassion. Trump's speech Wed was just another example of someone who is grossly incompetent and appears to be emotionally and mentally detached from the reality facing us.
6
Alright Joe, start rolling out the heavy artillery. CORONA-TEST-GATE. And the House could start an inquiry into why the US is months behind in virus testing rates. Yes, it is time to be partisan. The current administration has made it clear that the November election is the only chance for regime change.
3
Why is Sanders giving his own version of a Corona Virus news conference? I think Biden did a great job of providing an alternative message to the Trump administration. It’s clear that Sanders is trying to undermine Biden.
2
@John
Despite what the NYT and its readers want you to think, there's still a primary going on. Biden isn't ahead by nearly as much as the press coverage would lead you to believe.
4
Biden today gave the powerful, reassuring speech that Trump should have delivered last night.
4
Bernie is still in socialist la-la land. We need a president who understands the issues and has a plan to address them. All Sanders is doing is providing a worn-out re-run of his useless ranting against the rich and continuing to stoke his fear-based class war. Very disappointing that he just doesn't seem to get it.
5
@Ltron
You didn't watch his speech.
5
Bernie's powerfully cogent argument for universal healthcare should earn him a top spot in a Biden administration.
9
Sanders is a Senator from Vermont, Vermont has a Republican governor, if Sanders were to leave the Senate for a job in a Biden administration the Governor would appoint a Republican until a special election could be held. This could be enough to keep the Senate in Republican hands.
1
Biden just filled the complete leadership vacuum that Trump and his GOP enablers have created. It was the right thing to say and do, and it clearly shows why we need to vote him in as president in November.
I'm saying this as someone who voted for Warren in the primary. In politics as in healthcare, you have to deal with and do your best with reality as it exists, not in what you wish it to be.
4
People continue to be shocked by Trump's handling of this pandemic. He has left a road map of incompetence for the past 40 years. Everybody had a fit to vote for him. Turns out when it comes to Covid-19, being in the white working class is no protection at all.
Maybe the lesson we'll learn after this is how much we need universal health care, a functioning and fully staffed federal government, and a president who serves the public and not his wallet.
2
Yes, delivering today's speech, Biden looked and sounded presidential, truthful, well spoken, grounded in facts, encouraging, positive. I watched with increasing admiration (and relief) via the convenient live link provided by WAPO.
He had me at coherence. Sigh. I [heart] Biden.
2
I’m already breathing easier after hearing Joe’s speech. It’s a miracle.
3
@John Doe
Ha ha! At first I thought you were serious!
2
I like Biden, but Democrats should support a cut in the payroll tax.
2
This was 'President' Trump's response to cutbacks at the CDC - no point having scientists sitting around; we'll hire them when we need them. Yes, exactly right, hire them during a crisis as if they are all sitting around waiting for his call.
The time to ramp up is not during a crisis, but well before - preparation, training, research, expertise is what is needed. And where is the US now in comparison to the responses by China, South Korea, Canada, Australia . . . way behind. Is this what Trump and his sycophants mean by leadership?
2
Oh, to be in England--where there would be an immediate vote of "No Confidence" in parliament, the incumbent and his feckless party would be out, and Nancy could send Joe to the White House to assume the office.
This is what occurred in 1940, with admirable results in the face of the greatest crises the UK and the Western World had ever faced.
For once, I actually envy the parliamentary system.
2
Are you a lord or a commoner? See the problem?
Joe's speech is garnering a ton of positive comments praising his values and compassion. Meanwhile, Bernie is addressing the media on the same issue offering his concrete vision of a country that cares for the vulnerable among us. I'll bet that the NYT commentariat either largely ignores his address or decries it as "divisive", "Trump-like", or "demagogic". There's no place quite like the comments of the NYT on a Bernie story that can so clearly illuminate the class divide in our country that he's been talking about for decades.
12
The 10th amendment states: "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people."
We have a failure of leadership in the White House. trump can bloviate all he wants, but the die has been cast. He blew it.
As others have remarked, it will be up to the States to lead the nation through this crisis. As a candidate, Biden can give voice to this.
1
Unbelievable that the NYT gave no coverage to Sanders' speech, which made proposals more far reaching and effective than Mr. Biden's. No call for any restructuring of the health care system and the pharma industry from Mr. Biden. No call for emergency expansion of Medicaid Medicare form Mr. Biden. Vague gesturing toward "relief" for vulnerable and displaced people. Contrast that with Sanders' wide reaching and aggressive proposals to make sure people are cared for, fed and not destroyed by the financial and health issues we're facing.
14
Just as we used the Army to lead the development of the atom bomb during WWII - the Army should be put in charge of fighting the virus. They have doctors, trucks, tents and men. And above all, they are dedicated to National Service.
Trump's approach? Not worth discussing. He's devoted to self service.
1
It is clear that the CDC caved to President Trump. For the past two months, the CDC controlls the supply of test kits and directly added to the suffering of the US population with their sad excuses of issues with production.
For example, if the CDC only provided 10 kits, then the President would say he's doing a outstanding job since only 10 folks have tested positive. Just amazing!
Yesterday, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia's Virology and Infectious disease finally offered a nucleic acid, "PCR-based" assay for Coronavirus. High School Biology students are proficient in this assay.
All across the country, Medical School-developed assays are finally being offered.
1
Biden easily sailed over the low bar set by Trump in terms of communication; Biden was coherent, direct, factual, and empathetic. Trump is none of those things.
5
I don't think that there is anything that the Administration can or could do that would be OK with the Democrats. Period.
2
We’re done being “flushed down the toilet” by this corrupt and incompetent Administration! Period!
The death of our democracy is found in the kernel of the "both sides" argument. No, one side is not like the other. If you equate evil with not evil, then there's nothing. But keep defending the indefensible, GOP, even in the face of a global pandemic on a scale not seen in modern times.
3
Good thing 11 years ago them democrats enacted legislation to keep hospitals, nursing homes, etc. supplied with proper items to help people during pandemics. Oops! They didn’t. See the problem there?
It was refreshing to hear Joe Biden speak. Someone needs to have a plan which sounds plausible. I think he succeeded in sounding presidential and reassuring. These "populists" always fail when there are real crises because there is no one else to blame.
1
Thank you for posting all of Bernie Sanders’ address in this article. Now THAT is what a national LEADER sounds like. Not like the incompetent man who is currently disgracing the office of the presidency.
11
Any person who is a member of an ethnic, racial or religious group that has been persecuted- and we are a large group- should be horrified by Trump’s speech and comments like those from Kevin McCarthy.
Biden is right: this is a virus that makes no distinction among rich or poor, black, white, yellow or brown, Christian, Jew, Muslim, Hindu, Agnostic, atheist and others.
How better off we would be if there was an adult in the White House and GOP leadership that believed in accountability, science, truth and the commonwealth.
1
In a time when America is in crisis Joe Biden makes a political statement. He should be standing shoulder to shoulder with the President.
Thank you, Mr. Biden. You are just what we need right now: responsible leadership. You are someone to steady the course. Right now, our country needs you. Please don't give up.
Mr. Trump clearly has no idea what he's doing. His sham presidency has finally caught up with him.
1
This morning I saw VP Pence say he's still shaking hands.
This from the member of Trump's team who is leading the coronavirus response.
The sheer incompetence and complete disregard for even the simplest evidence-based precaution is astounding.
Counting the months to President Biden's inauguration.
1
I will vote for Joe but Bernie gave a much better speech on the coronavirus.
8
More testing, what a good idea Joe! The current administration already knows this- and has acknowledged the problem with a lack of testing, but thanks for your opinion anyway. Would you have banned travel from China when Trump did? Apparently, from your past criticisms, the answer is no. That is an irreversible error in judgment on your part.
This whole crisis has laid bare a public health system that is problematic at best (paraphrasing an earlier comment) You've been in Congress (then VP) since forever, with both Democratic as well as Republican majorities. Where have you been Joe? Now we're supposed to believe you can handle this better?
65
@Jay Miller Trump fired Obama's pandemic response team and has wanted to cut funding for public health.
166
@Jay Miller
He certainly would have handled it better. No doubt at all.
135
@Jay Miller, Yes, we heard from the CDC there weren't enough test kits, yet Trump and Pence stated we'd have 4 million in distribution this week. Not so. Right now our test capacity is 23 per one million people compared to the UK with 347 per million people. As of yesterday we tested 7,695 people. The UK has tested 23,513. Maybe we would have been better prepared if Trump didn't cut back CDC funding and shut down a program dealing with worldwide pandemics. You can find more information at COVID Tracking Project.
158
No doubt about it. After watching his 15-minute video on the current coronavirus crisis facing the country, Sen. Bernie Sanders has shown for the umpteenth time why he should be in charge of our nation's complex affairs. He offered specific and wide-ranging proposals to help overcome the social and economic effects of the pandemic, and he did it in what we definitely would call "a presidential manner." Would that the American people watch this address carefully and digest its timely content with a view towards reconsidering their often superficial choices when it comes to electing their national leaders. This man truly cares about ALL OF US regardless of our political persuasion.
11
@Rafael Gonzalez
What any president needs to demonstrate is the ability to follow expert advice and delegate responsibility. Bernie, alas, is a lone wolf. He tends to be insular in his point of view, preferring fellow ideologues to anyone who might challenge one of his fixed viewpoints. Any successful president enlarges his political base to include those who are not necessarily "believers". If the president does not do this, then he is marginalizing himself as a leader. This describes Trump, needless to say. And so far, Bernie appears to be no different.
My heart beats stronger when Sanders speaks. I know he’s not corrupt. He’s never going to act against the American people for the sake of making his family or himself wealthy and I completely trust he knows how to unite the world to address climate change. The rest of the world has been praying we elect Sanders so we can unite against the common enemy of greed preventing us from acting on climate change. We can show the world we are a trustworthy, responsible friend and tough but honest world leader. Sanders 2020
4
@Bella Amen.
3
Trump cut CDC funding and key staff to manage this pandemic.
Trump’s first reaction to the coronavirus in the US was to tell Americans to buy more stocks.
He cut interest rates to try to drive up the stock market.
Trump’s CDC sent out defective test kits, then delayed replacing them for weeks.
Trump allowed Americans infected overseas to return to the US.
Trump’s HHS sent untrained and unequipped health workers to meet those Americans. They contributed to the spread of the virus.
Test kits are still in short supply. They’re necessary to reduce the spread of the disease and properly treat those who are infected.
Information about the virus coming from the Trump administration is minimal, contradictory, and plays down the disease.
This is leadership in a worldwide crisis???
389
@Barb Campbell
The budget to CDC has not been cut.
The President's budget asked for cuts but what Congress passed did not have cuts.
5
@Barb Campbell
Abject emotionally reactive nonsense.
6
@Barb Campbell
You have misrepresented each point with such deranged zeal you cannot possibly be believed.
5
Incredibly smart of Biden to take charge in this way. He looked and sounded Presidential, and I especially appreciate his "sensitivity" to those affected. This speech will help him with undecided voters in his campaign.
24
To bad he doesn’t give a damn if there are a hundred million Americans without access to healthcare. In his own words, last week... “I will veto any universal healthcare passed by the Senate that comes to my desk as president.” Come on people. Not even pointing out that he’s got dementia and will be chewed up and spit out by Trump in the first five minutes for being corrupt... are we even paying attention? He needs fossil fuel super PACS because the American people don’t believe in him. He called Black youth predators, FFS. We all know it. Are you too afraid to say it out loud? Because Trump won’t be. Democrats don’t let Democrats vote blind.
3
This is going to be the defining moment of the Trump Presidency. Impeachment, Iran, Stormy Daniels, Muller etc were not enough to bring this man down but Americans respond differently in a crisis.
The President's job is to calm the storm while the experts are delegated to solve the issue. Biden showed today that despite his age he has what it takes to guide the US in a crisis. Timely speech and a great moment to seize.
33
@Aaron
He didn't cuss out an autoworker. That's an improvement, I suppose.
1
Thank you Senator Sanders for your presidential speech focusing on what needs to done to help the American people at this time and bring economic stability to their lives! We are in this together and need to protect the most vulnerable and those impacted by the economic fallout! This will go a long way to stabilizing markets by keeping consumer demand up.
36
@Mathias speaking of which, why is NYT not giving his speech same coverage as Biden's? He addressed the issues far more comprehensively than any other US politician
3
I heard nothing reassuring in his remarks. Today, Sanders speech called for practical and urgent responses and underlined the reality that we are all in this together, that we must have solidarity.
35
@Amala Sanders’ speech was not that practical. If you remove any profit motive for development of a vaccine or treatment for Corona Virus then you set back it’s development. The amount of resources that will be put into development are proportional to the ability to recover those costs and earn a profit. I agree that price gauging should be prohibited but eliminating any profit making will not be effective. Development and manufacturing are not free.
4
@John You can't be serious. This is a global pandemic. Was the polio vaccine developed for profit? Bernie's speech was spot on, and his solutions are not only practical but humanitarian. THAT is what is needed in a time of crisis. Of course development and production have costs, but this is not the time for profiteering.
6
Sanders isn’t asking for free. That’s the propaganda hoping you’ll be too afraid to vote for what other countries take for granted. You’re smarter than that, though, right?
2
The mic check is live and the video feed is on... are biden's peopke even aware?
4
Paid sick leave for all now.
9
@Cest la Blague
Even for those who do not work. The Democrat way.
1
Hey Joe! Stop touching your face!
7
@DM and lead by example by not flying all over the country.
Phone it in as Bloomberg did.
1
Love the editing. It almost makes $tatu$ Quo "Lyin' dog faced pony soldier" O'Biden Bama seem coherent. What would the unedited version show?
12
@stewarjt Have some respect please. Name calling patriots who have devoted their lives to the United States is unnecessary. Thank You.
1
@stewarjt
Yep you are some where but not up there.
1
@Alice It was Joe who called a supporter who asked an innocent question, "a lyin' dog faced pony soldier." And he referred to the last administration as "O'Biden Bama."
1
Can we just put him in WH now? Today?
36
Tomorrow is Friday.Will the guy in the WH fly out to Florida for golf as usual?
25
@Lle
We can only hope!
@Lle Probably, unless he's too busy helping Mrs. Three oversee the building of her new tennis complex.
Biden can blow out the 2020 campaign now if he announces a Major Medical For All plan, so that everybody has universal coronavirus screening, hospital and medical benefits and access. Let’s make lemonade from this lemon: No more medical bankruptcies! Until the pandemic subsides, there should be no premiums (federal government pays for it with deficit finance, a counter-cyclical fiscal action, deficits be damned), and thereafter, there would be an income-based premium structure similar to Medicare for Major Medical benefits. In 2021 and thereafter, a millionaire surtax on incomes over $500K should help fund Major Medical for All. It's the first vital step to protect our population, eliminate medical bankruptcies, and broaden access to life-saving medical treatments for everybody regardless of income, along with Public Option. And Congress should act NOW not wait until 2021, to address the obvious crisis and the economic recession this is triggering. This should be Job #1 for the House Dems. And Biden will solidify the party behind him, with these obvious echoes from the Sanders and Warren campaigns, showing that he listened and “gets it” while still being fiscally responsible.
8
@GCM Some good ideas here, but as a wise man once said "You've got to ask for the whole loaf of bread - ask for half a loaf and you end up with crumbs."
Biden should endorse a true single-payer public plan like Medicare For All if he wants to confront the pandemic and unify the party (and win in November.)
The primary season isn't even halfway done yet. Sunday's debate should be illuminating and clarify the real differences between the candidates, as well as their shared goals and values.
3
@GCM Did you listen to Bernie's announcement? HE gets it. Biden, not so much.
3
@Michael
I will guarantee you that, unless Biden has a stroke on stage, it will be over by Tuesday night when he has swept Florida, Georgia and Arizona.
Speaking like an adult. Thank you Mr. Biden.
Trump NEVER does this. Trump is a CLOWN. An idiotic, dangerous clown for all to see.
48
For the last 3-1/2 years, we have endured a bunch of self-manufactured non-crises, all fashioned by Trump to focus people's animosity towards specific groups or individuals. And, not coincidentally, to paint himself as the can-do guy – capable of handling a non-problem that he tries to convince the gullible is a real problem.
Well, now, he's met his match: something that is a real problem and for which his brand of malignant narcissism and breath-taking incompetence are poorly suited. Simply put, he cannot reassure anyone about something that he cares nothin – and knows even less – about.
Biden, on the other hand, exudes caring and gravitas, and clearly knows what posture a president should take. His calm sincerity highlights the fact that Trump is an incompetent, evil, lying, corrupt moron who has surrounded himself with bootlickers, thugs, liars and imbeciles.
Republicans may continue to drink the KoolAid and delude themselves. The markets, which have been complacently quiet as the DJIA has climbed, have registered their disappointment with Trump's style of non-leadership and the general incompetence of his entire administration.
30
Team Trump: cranks, skanks, and grifters all--just a matter of degree.
21
Worth noting:. Biden's response offers no acknowledgment of problems of access and affordability. No solutions to those issues, which are not just problems for people without insurance (or with inadequate coverage under the undermined-ADA), but a public health problem-- people not seeking treatment that they can't afford, people going to work because they can't afford to lose wages.
Contrast that with Sanders' response, which builds up from the fundamental recognition of the immorality and pragmatic challenge of rationed healthcare in a wealthy nation.
46
@Tadidino sanders didn't provide any sort of proposal or solution to any of those underlying issues whatsoever. He just did what he always does rants about "We need to make sure... xxx" about every issue. Just throwing things out there that are systemically problematic but offering no solutions is useless. Simply saying "We need to make sure" and then fail to follow up with any rational solution is merely transferring his formulaic applause lines to what was supposed to be a serious speech.
3
@Tadidino
I have asked many of the Sanders supporters just how is he going to get it through congress. Just saying how you think he will pay for it does not get it passed in congress.
3
@Tadidino The details are in his plan: https://joebiden.com/covid19/ Seems to include same things Bernie called out including insured and non-insured people having their care provided, paid sick leave for everyone, and unemployment benefits as well.
5
Shortcomings of the current administration? Sure, no doubt. But how about the shortcomings of the entire status quo, which Biden is running to reinforce?
Funny how the health insurance companies and the government - both run by the very old and the very rich - can suddenly agree on de facto universal health care and paid sick leave policy when the laws of virology mean some poor person not getting tested or taking time off work could mean the death of THEM.
Of course, the same could be said for the “boomer” and older generations who have voted to obstructed these policies for decades (and continue to do so) on the basis that they got theirs.
Forgive me if my sympathies seem strained....
25
I currently lack the ability to forgive those who equate criminality and incompetence with earnest intent.
@HH No apologies. Stay angry! Maybe then people
@HH Hey! I'm a boomer, and I'm as much in favor of universal health care as any of you. It's not age that matters. It's ignorance.
1
Joe was not my first choice but he brought tears to my eyes. This is what a president should sound and act like. I wish November would come tomorrow.
43
@Kathy Yeah, he brought tears to my eyes too...I cry for what an utter failure this speech was and what it portends. Nothing more than status quo "thoughts and prayers"...
2
I watched this and was impressed. Joe Biden at his best and looking very Presidential. Laying out the facts, delivering a plan and doing so in a way that demonstrated leadership. In a debate he may not be as quick on his feet these days but I think in a crisis the best in Joe Biden emerges. I hope we all make it to November and vote the incompetence that is Donald Trump out of office.
41
Biden gave a powerful, clear address that should prove his capability at leading in a crisis. And this crisis is one he is uniquely equipped for among presidential aspirants. He has led the fight for a more robust response to cancer, and a beefing up of research in that field. I fully believe that with his informed advisors and willingness to follow the science, he'll take the necessary steps if elected to maximize our chances to making it through this epidemic, and the inevitable economic downturn to follow. Obama had to clean up the mess after Bush. Unfortunately, the next president will have to do the same after Trump.
31
Biden mentioned government agencies Trump either closed down or didn't even know about.
Vice President Biden has to do more than 'rebuke' Trump. He needs to immediately assert a 'counter ''presidency' speaking daily and coherently to both his supporters and the Republican base, providing both pandemic and financial policies with realistic outcomes and continuing to identify experts to assist in dealing with these crisis. Biden needs to take the 'presidential seal' from Trump.
14
I was in fact comforted by Biden's speech. Its tone and language were reassuring to me. For just a minute, it felt like someone had a plan for and was in control of our response to the outbreak.
30
"The supreme quality of leadership is unquestionably integrity. Without it, no real success is possible, no matter whether it is on a section gang, a football field, in an army, or in an office." -Dwight Eisenhower
10
This extraordinary crisis requires extraordinary measures.
First, end the primaries. Then Biden should strike a deal with Bernie on a universal health care plan (with private options included) to be enacted within 15 days of him taking office. He should also pick a VP (Warren).
Then we should demand that rNovember elections the moved April 15, no passing go.
Footnote: Move the tax deadline to May 15.
The sigh of relief in our nation and around the world would be stunning.
9
@GM
"Biden should strike a deal with Bernie on a universal health care plan (with private options included) to be enacted within 15 days of him taking office."
Huh? Two Presidential candidates do not have the authority to do anything. Are you proposing to disband Congress?
2
My only regret is that he was not speaking from the Oval Office, and is not yet empowered to act.
The contrast with the incumbent was overwhelming, if only in showing what is missing and sorely needed in this time of global crisis.
32
All of the sudden "Medicare for All" isn't too expensive for Joe...or even Trump. I guess socialism isn't so "radical" after all. They're both sounding more and more like Bernie everyday. Funny how even Republicans become socialists when there are big problems to solve.
30
Joe BIden isn't God's gift to the world. He's America's gift to the world. We need him now more than ever. We need to restore dignity, intelligence, measured wisdom and compassion to the presidency. He had all of this on display today, and more. Trump, get out of the way and let a real president guide us through this crisis!
22
@H. Clark
Ok let's settle down, just because he's not actively a lunatic sociopath doesn't mean he's some saint. He's a kind of generic semi-sleazy politician who's comfortable with a disgraceful status quo, too cozy with corporations, and showing clear cognitive decline. Yes, I'll vote for him if he's the nominee. Yes, it will be extremely comforting to not hear Trump's horrible voice on the radio. But Jesus can we please stop acting like reading from a teleprompter and lying less than 100% of the time makes Biden some kind of unique or inspiring figure? Because he's very much not.
1
What would it be like to have an actual grown up person with normal emotions and intelligence in the White House? Handling crises instead of tweeting about Fox and Friends ratings?
The best thing for the country would be for Trump and Pence to resign and, next in the succession, President Nancy Pelosi lead us to safety.
Yes, I'm dreaming, but I have asthma, so let me dream a little.
28
@ML
The way Democratic voters in particular idolize their politicians is extremely unhealthy and unhelpful. We should be holding our politicians to standards based on policy and judgment rather than their identity or which other favorite politicians they've worked with in the past. This blind idol worship is what got us Trump. We need to collectively realize that politics isn't just some game show where our favorite contestants give grand speeches or make grand, empty gestures like ripping up a copy of the SOTU on live TV. Politics can mean literal life or death to countless Americans and people around the world. It's time we started taking it seriously and putting forth serious candidates rather than our favorite political celebrities.
There is only one President of the United States at one time. Joe Biden has no power to effect any change or make any decisions to improve the government's response to the crisis. It is not only highly inappropriate, but politically inadvisable to do this. There is no question there would be public and media outrage over candidate Donald Trump taking the mic if Joe Biden was in the White House at this time.
6
@J House
So a candidate shouldn't present plans to deal with a current crisis in an election year?
4
@J House
Trump has had his opportunity to be presidential and has blown it in catastrophic dimensions. We are facing a possible massive death toll on top of economic disaster - while Trump tweets about "Fox & Friends" and sends around cartoons of himself as Nero fiddling because it's "funny." No one is laughing. You say there is only one president at a time; but we have no president at all.
2
@J House
it is entirely appropriate. That's what a candidate does when seeking election--contrast himself/herself with the opponent.
In this case, it is shooting fish in a barrel.
2
Joe Biden's long-term national experience is tackling the coronavirus crisis with calm, reasoned response; sensible procedural initiatives; and refreshing leadership.
In considerable contrast to Trump's bumbled/contradictory handling of the pandemic, Mr. Biden is working to understand the virus consummately in order to prudently address its effects on people and the nation's infrastructure through efficient quarantine management; efficient fulfillment of supply and logistics needs of health-care institutions and careworkers; efficient strategies and aid to quickly reduce the virus's adverse economic effects on business and their employees, especially workers who are hourly and low- to middle-income; etc....
In rebuking Mr. Biden and his constructive efforts, Trump campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh, by his remark, “President Trump acted early and decisively and has put the United States on stronger footing than other nations," has added more lies to the Trump Lie List (the response rate of most European nations has been quicker and more efficient) and has proved once again how little the Trump administration stands for all Americans.
11
too bad we can't remove trump right now!
people will say it's easy for an outsider to offer a plan like this because it all sounds great and he won't get blamed for doing it wrong since he doesn't have the power to activate it.
just the same, it's good to see trump's opposition point to his failures and offer something prepared by a team that includes President Obama's ebola team leader, a former surgeon general and others as opposed to an individual statement prepared without knowing the facts.
8
Finally a leader guided by actual expert advice and common sense. This stuff isn't rocket science, but for Trump making even the most basic decisions must seem like it.
6
Am I the only person who has been listening for the last 10 days or so to C-SPAN and NPR live broadcasts of the testimony on Capitol Hill of administration officials and CDC experts?
There is a huge gap between what is being reported by the Times and other online media and what is taking place in congressional hearings, as we speak.
I am no fan of Mr. Trump, but I am greatly reassured by what I have heard. Mr. Biden should stop politicizing this virus outbreak.
12
@David H Can you give an example of something CDC experts are saying which is not being reported?
@David H
You heard what you wanted to hear. No fan of Trump my left foot.
1
Biden was not my first choice for president but I will vote for him if he is the nominee.
Trump makes any Democrat look good. Trump has dragged his feet hoping he could will away the virus through insults, conspiracy theories and lies. That is not the way any decent leader would behave. Biden may be boring, but at least he understands one of the most important functions of a leader; to put in place experts. A real leader acknowledges when there are smarter people needed. Trump simply claims he is the smartest (not true by a long shot) and only he can fix a problem.
8
@Max Deitenbeck It also looks like Trump is again using travel bans as a weapon -- this time to punish our democratic allies in Europe (and possibly blue states like WA) and reward authoritarian dictatorships by exempting them
1
This situation shows how dangerous Trump is when the truth is not expendable, which is actually all the time: it’s just that now it is being made alarmingly clear.
4
Listening to Biden's address address brought into stark relief all the qualities of leadership we have been sorely lacking since Trump arrived in White House. November can't come too soon.
12
I just listened to Biden’s plan on fighting the Coronavirus here in the United States.
First of all Biden has a plan.
He is mostly concerned about the well being of our citizens. Then he addressed the economics of this virus.
Our president has failed us!
As Vice President Biden said Tax Cuts to major corporations will not help us fight the Coronavirus. We need testing and honesty now. Biden believes in science and he will listen to the doctors and scientists. Trump thinks everything is a “hoax”. We need the truth and Trump can’t and will never deliver that to the American people.
6
I just read that Trump's error-filled speech that tanked the stock market (again) was written by Jared and Stephen Miller.
Explains a lot.. These are some of those 'only the best' people Trump promised us.
13
How shortsighted of Biden to make these recommendations. Doesn't he know that whatever he says will encourage Trump to do the exact opposite?
Sure, Biden is taking the opportunity to politicize the coronavirus pandemic. But at least he offers concrete plans to control the virus and to help the people it affects. And those plans are based on science and backed by experts, some of whom were part of the pandemic response team Obama put together (and which Trump subsequently dismantled).
That starkly contrasts with Trump's bungling. Like his fellow authoritarian Xi Jianping, his first response was to protect himself and his ruling party by ignoring and downplaying the threat. Then Republicans accused Democrats of "weaponizing" the virus to bring down Trump. Now that he's seeing the booming stock market he claims to have created going down the toilet, Trump can no longer ignore the virus or call it a hoax.
So what's Trump's plan? Yet another travel ban. And a payroll tax cut that will do little for workers, and nothing for those left without a paycheck due to absence or layoff from lack of work. But the payroll tax cut will starve the Social Security trust fund, hastening its inability to meet obligations to retirees. Destroying Social Security is a longstanding goal of Republicans and their wealthy donors. It's not at all surprising that Trump would use this crisis to further the Republican agenda.
Trump and the toadies in his administration have completely failed to provide the leadership we desperately need. Biden is very smart to step in and fill the void by showing us what leadership should look like.
5
For a minute I closed my eyes and allowed myself to imagine we had a real president acting presidential and saying presidential things. Ah, what that would be like. November cannot get here fast enough.
Go get ‘em Joe!
8
The problem with everything Trump says is mostly he lies and does so with pride as a campaign plan. Trump not Biden is what makes Trump look bad.
3
@Just Me
Mostly? If his lips are moving, he is lying. Even reading a script he can't resist ad libbing lies.
1
There's a vacuum of leadership at the top. Dems must fill it. Govs Inslee, Cuomo and Newsom should move past this incompetent administration and get those tests out to people.
6
I just hope we make it to November. Biden is going to need a big shovel.
1
OMG this speech was earth shattering because it showed America what leadership looked like before 2016. Now is a time where the President ("Stable Genius") is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, so the Vice President should immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.
3
Man we could sure use a President like Hillary Clinton right now...not sure we can really afford to wait until November as this President is a disaster when times are great - but now he is a national security threat of the highers order and we will all pay dearly for his failure to lead or be led.
5
Trump acts like a dictator with his unilateral, suddenly announced, poorly reasoned travel bans.
I notice he made sure to leave the UK out of his travel ban, because he has resort properties there, and is considering banning travel to Washington state, a liberal bastion whose governor he hates.
Trump lied during his prime time speech.
I'd prefer Bernie Sanders replace Trump, but Biden for all his neoliberal faults is far better than Trump.
8
Trump will be riding out-of-town on the wave of a pandemic. Convenient for conservative historians who are loathe to acknowledge the grand scale of Donald Trump's lying, cheating, and overall lack of class.
The Republican Party is now so Fox News-centric that people, especially young people, are associating the Party with the accumulating stink from every Fox News episode of bombastic venting. The Party reeks and can't get-off the Sulpher Vape. Membership has entered its hospice phase.
2
Trump is also endangering the lives of himself and those around him by not self-quarantining himself after exposure.
People who work with him and family and friends should refuse to meet him until cleared by a doctor.
Mike Pence being exposed should also self-quarantine.
7
It appears Trump may soon be in a hospital, what with all of the recent exposures to individuals who have tested positive for the coronavirus...all while shaking hands and hugging people, left an right!
Biden must win in November!
3
“As president, I will veto any universal healthcare that gets passed by the Senate.” Biden, March 2020
9
@Bella Those weren't his actual words, but he did seem to be saying that pretty clearly. Hopefully the candidate with the actual plan will either win the primary or at least push Biden to change his tune.
2
Well played, Joe. By simply reminding the American public what leadership looks like, you expose the current inhabitant of the White House for the fraud that he is.
2
Until Biden's speech, I'd sort of forgotten what a grow-up president sounds like.
4
Biden should just stay safe. At his age, he is at high risk of catching and dying from COVID-19.
3
When Trump banned flights from China early on, Biden blasted the President for doing it, calling it racist and xenophobic. So the truth is if Biden were President now, the United States would be fat, far worse off. Absolutely shameful how Democrats are politicizing this.
9
@David T
"Italy imposed a ban on flights from China on 31 January, immediately after a Chinese couple in Rome tested positive for the virus. The U.S. began to restrict flights from China four days later. But while Italy enacted a full ban, the U.S. policy was only a restriction, with wide exemptions."
...
"Italy was the first and only EU country to have a flight ban from China, and yet the country is now the epicenter of the Coronavirus outbreak in Europe with the highest number of cases outside China."
https://www.forbes.com/sites/davekeating/2020/03/12/italy-banned-flights-from-china-before-americait-didnt-work/#3d4e1977481b
@Michael Here's what Biden said the day after Trump ordered the flight restrictions: “This is no time for Donald Trump’s record of hysteria and xenophobia — hysterical xenophobia — and fear mongering.” There is no question we would be worse off if Biden were in charge and never ordered a flight ban, even at a later date. By his own words he would never have done that, not when Trump did, and not later. It would be 'hysterical xenophobia' to ban flights from China! Meanwhile, its believed that Italy's travel ban may have encouraged travelers to come in on connecting flights without disclosing their country of departure. Some experts also believe the virus could have entered Italy before the government took action, spreading undetected throughout the country. The bottom line is if Biden and the Dems were running the country instead of Trump, we'd be in far worse shape. What Trump did with the travel ban was the right call, but Biden and the Dems typically looked to rip the administration for it. This is just the lates politcal football for the Dems after Russian "collusion" and then impeachment. Democrats are shamelessly playing politics with this pandemic, and the mainstream media is aiding and abetting that effort.
2
"' Report: Jared Kushner Is “Researching” the Coronavirus, Will Tell the Government What to Do Soon "' *
After much-misgiving, I am extremely relieved that Trump has put a highly qualified, scientifically minded, non-partisan medical professional in charge of researching Covid-19.
For a while there - I was getting worried....
* https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/03/jared-kushner-coronavirus-research
5
Promising news: My two millennial daughters, Elizabeth/Bernie progressives (but also realists...they voted for Hillary in '16), watched Biden's speech today live on NYT. They both texted me and said, "He sounds like a President."
6
@jg Bernie also sounds like a President (watch his address) but one who fully acknowledges what needs to be done. I'm looking forward to Sunday's debate.
3
Wrong again, Mr. Biden: the virus has laid bare the shortcomings of our profit-driven, inhumane healthcare system. Neither you nor President Trump would fundamentally change that in the next four years.
298
@people power And nor could Bernie.
27
@people power
Trump has isolated us from the very mechanisms needed to fight this outbreak.
He has also isolated us from our allies.
He is lying about, and censoring, critical information needed by the people of our country.
Yes there are shortcomings with the healthcare system, but conflating those issues with the Trump administration's incompetence, for this crisis, is not productive.
You are very wrong about a President not making a difference to the nation's overall health.
Having a President who would tell the truth, i.e. Biden would be a vast improvement - period.
56
@people power
No the virus has made obvious just how dangerous it is to have an ill informed narcissist as chief executive ,at this point the shortcomings of our health care delivery system has nothing to do with it. If we had a functioning ,traditional administration either red or blue we would not be staring down at the chaos and mismanagement that has the country so apprehensive.
44
That was an excellent presentation. Vice President Biden inspires confidence that we, as a nation, can combat this threat. Additionally, I know that, when he takes the office, he will be able to build an effective, professional team in his Administration. Many talented and experienced people would be happy to be part of the Biden Administration. It gives me hope for a better future.
25
Has anyone stopped to question if the draconian measures we are taking are more harmful than the alternative? Are we focusing too much on preventing something that can’t really be prevented? How many people are going to lose their jobs due to the economic consequences of travel bans and the cancellations of so many different types of events? Will it have been worth it if the virus spreads despite our best efforts?
2
@John Presidents are usually expected to care more about people whose family members are dying, rather than for-profit companies who are losing business.
3
@John
As most of the health experts have said in the last week, the focus is no longer on prevention but on slowing the inevitable spread of the virus to avoid overwhelming our health care system which is unprepared to handle the demands. The media coverage on this point has been clear.
So yes, it is worth it.
5
Shall we then just let people die so everyone can hold their jobs @John
1
He still doesn't recognize that the U.S. healthcare system is irrevocably broken and that a national healthcare plan is the only answer. Anybody who knows anything about our current system knows this is the only answer and if the members of the committee aren't telling him that then they shouldn't be trusted in their advice.
Leadership means leading, not listening to polls as to what is most likely to get you elected. When Biden shows such leadership, this Sanders supporter would consider voting for him.
11
Sanders isn’t going to be the Democratic nominee. If you don’t for Biden, you are voting for Trump.
6
@Steve Agree. Thank you for posting this.
2
@Steve The US healthcare system is one of the best in the world. What’s broken is how it’s paid for. It’s important to make that distinction.
3
I give him five stars. Compared to what we’ve got right now, I thought he sounded like a cross between Gen Eisenhower and the Pope.
89
Couldn't help but wish, as I listened to Joe Biden, that the election were tomorrow and inauguration the day after.
68
I just listened to Vice President Biden’s presentation made this afternoon.
That was a display of leadership not seen on a national level by any republican since the time Trump came to office.
53
President Biden! What a blessed relief to see the restoration of sanity, leadership, intellectual strength and the capacity to understand complex concepts-- even just that. And of course, here exhibited, the evident ability of an elder statesman to harness the power of the government for the greater good -- in the US and globally. Enough already with the talk of Biden's "gaffes"-- how can anyone honestly, seriously question VP's profound understanding of human beings, the constitution and the great ideas that power progress? So he has the courage to not dye his hair-- as every other aging leader usually does. I defy anyone to not wish this man weren't today in the Situation Room, instead of current occupant. And you know when he finally gets there and we all breath a sigh of relief, he'll be surrounded by the best, not lampoons and sycophants. People had issues with Pelosi's leadership and age too -- and I think they're now all to a man and woman eating humble pie.
29
Throughout trumps's reign of terror the GOP has backed trump in his attempt to destroy the United States' Constitution and the American people, Taking the US back to the 1920s and 1930s is not what this country wants nor needs. The US needs to rejoin and lead the World into the Modern Era. Joe Biden will do that. The Republican Party is not able to even try to accomplish those things, let alone actually do it.
15
The truth will set us free. Joe was reassuring while outraged at the irresponsibility of this corrupt president and his team of court jesters.
You could actually get a hint of what sane governance would be.
The guy earned my vote.
24
At this point there is only way that Trump and Pence can reassure or unify the nation. Resign now. I am not being facetious. That is the plain truth.
30
I’m honestly shocked it took four years for Trump to get a crisis of this magnitude. We got lucky.
17
Speech sounded like it was written by a speechwriter who was writing something out of the late 1990s.
Trump will lose to any contender at this point. It's not a question of "electability"'; it is a question of who has better ideas for a better future for our world, our children and ourselves.
If Bernie had been elected in 2016 we'd already had a platform in place to deal with the Corona Virus and a lot of other vital issues including the looming "existential crisis" of global warming.
Joe has always represented the TBTF banks and billionaires that come from Deleware, and elsewhere and I really believe he doesn't have the depth of creative intelligence or allegiance to higher principles required to save our world.
The movement of advanced, progressively minded people behind Bernie does.
It's time to decide not who is most electable but who will actually do what is right for the future of our nation, our world and our children. The choice is clear to me.
15
@Tom Paine nice reply. but my question for you is: will you support the democratic nominee for president?
2
Unfortunately millions of Biden supporters don’t agree with you. Get over it (and yourself).
3
@David
Of course I will and I believe that it will be Bernie but if its Biden, I will work tirelessly to make sure every politician understands the moral and pragmatic imperative of insights and realities that Bernie points out so eloquently as to what is necessary.
6
If Obama (or Biden) restricted travel to Europe, either one would be hailed a genius of the most stable regard. Someone please tell me I'm wrong.
7
You’re wrong. And your use of the word “restricted” reflects just the ambiguity Trump brought to his big announcement of the same.
2
@Mick you are wrong. either would have consulted with our european allies before doing anything, and as part of a rational strategy. you aren't seeing the forest for the trees.
3
Sadly, you are wrong. This travel ban is nonsensical no matter whose idea it is. The virus is already here and testing will ultimately reveal it’s already widespread. This is simply a case of shutting the barn door after the horse has already escaped.
Turn off the video during all these mic checks. It's embarrassing. Fox will have a field day.
3
After this masterful presentation, I wouldn't be surprised if Trump himself voted for Biden!
9
When there were 15 cases of COVID-19 in the U.S., Trump said soon it would be zero. He also said (based on a hunch I guess) that would go away in the Spring....
He also fired the 300 person pandemic preparedness team at the CDC.....
So far, not so great a leader as far as the pandemic goes. (His pal, Sean Hannity at Fox, is still saying its a hoax)....
Frankly, not many could do worse than Trump.
I'm voting for Biden if he is the Dem. nominee, even though my primary vote was for Bernie.
24
Mr. Biden, can you take over today? America needs your steady, competent hand NOW.
13
@Tom
Maybe put Hunter on point!
1
@Tom the hand that will rest on your shoulder while he sniffs your hair...
3
Yes, it is a “foreign virus,” right from Wuhan China. As for Biden's transparency with China - just ask Hunter!
8
@JePense Deflection, just like trump.
Well, since Biden has propagandists all over the media, of course he will get rave reviews.
12
Can we hold the election today? Thank you.
7
Joe Biden just became President.
21
Biden's speech gives you a taste of having what a real President would be like again - and not one who plays the role on TV
11
Can Joe become president today? Please.
9
Biden thinks he is president.
5
Wait— what? Are you saying someone else is? *looking around* I sure don’t see anyone else.
And you know the criteria. If it looks like a president...and it talks like a president... yep, Joe Biden’s definitely the one that’s president.
@Joe You better think you are president to have real policies happening when you get to office
A very cogent speech. Well done, Mr. Biden. The one thing I wish he'd added after saying that the travel ban won't stop the spread but might slow it down is the importance of slowing it down. We need to buy some time for the health community so they're not overwhelmed by more patients than they can handle.
13
I’m in tears. What a relief to hear a calm, adult public voice again. Thank you, Mr. Biden.
54
What Is Biden's plan? Nothing new, but to criticize Trump. One thing is clear, he would not have banned travel from China and that would have made America like Italy now. And most likely he would have banned travel from Europe even now. There is nothing to show that he would have produced more testing kits, a delay created by bureaucracy. We cannot be confident that a person who sometimes forgets about the state he is in would provide steady leadership in a crisis like Trump is doing right now. Biden should unite behind Trump right now, instead trying to lead it now.
10
@Alex K This is quite the comment Alex. Have you read any of the comments by the Trump administration that the virus is going away in spring? Maybe he's right. We just have to sit and wait for it to go.
@Alex K Facts are useful. Italy banned all flights from China on Jan 31, immediately after a Chinese couple in Rome tested positive for CoV. The U.S. began restricting entry of foreigners who had recently been to China on Feb 4, but never banned flights completely.
Biden gave a rock solid speech. He was steady and selfless. To his everlasting credit, he persists in maintaining that we are a single nation and that we are, all of us, in this together, and that we are, all of us, decent and able. He is not a great orator -- and he never will be -- but he is fully in possession of our greatest values.
56
Very impressed with Joe Biden's speech. Focused and clearly "Presidential" in the ways that Americans want, need and deserve.
38
Finally, a real president. Thank you, Joe.
31
Can't we have the election today?
As he said, if I was president today, this is what I would do. Fully admitting that 10 months from now we will be in a different situation. He isn't playing the stand-in president --though the real one is making himself irrelevant faster than I thought--, he is showing us how a president would act.
Most presidents have to take some time to be effective communicators. Some never get there. I think Joe is ready, today. But the election isn't until November, so we all have to deal with something less than is shown in this video.
21
We need sane leadership. I for one greatly appreciated Biden's speech today. He is what voters on both sides of the divide are looking for and I do believe he will united us, as much as we are able to be united.
24
Thank you Joe Biden for the reminder of what intelligent, responsive, bold and compassionate leadership looks like.
20
Will you also be livestreaming the Sanders statement at 3:00 PM? Or does this paper only cover half the news?
Joe Biden reading blandly the words written at the end of the speech should give us all pause. The whole speech was meant to be reassuring, but it felt like Biden only really understood or meant half of it.
12
@Andrew Well, dear Bernie Bro, I watched the livestream of the Sanders statement that you were so SURE wouldn't happen. What I heard was a laundry list of campaign stump statements tailored to this issue with nary a hint of a plan to make it happen. It was better than what we got last night, but the contrast between pragmatic Joe and fantasy Bernie was clear. If you and your ilk sit home in November nursing your wounds, you have nobody to blame but yourselves. Vote Blue No Matter Who, and right now, especially with this speech, that's Joe. Oh, and Bernie didn't take questions either. That was an appropriate move on his part. So don't blame Joe for that.
Let him act as our shadow President until the election. I had almost forgotten what responsible, sane leadership sounds like.
18
It is depressing to read all these comments that focus on the performative aspects of Biden's talk. WAKE UP. This is not a reality show, this is our country and democracy being destroyed by idiots -- and all some people can think about is whether Biden is boring or not. Is there one scintilla of doubt that Biden would be a vastly better President than Trump? Of course not. So stop the self-defeating nonsense, understand that we are facing existential threats (and not just poor ratings), and put your energy where it is needed. Defeating Trump and as many of his enablers as possible is the single most important thing you can do as an American citizen right now.
59
Joe Biden just reminded us what 'presidential' looks like.
27
The speech shows that's Biden can read from a tele-prompter and has good, smart people behind him. But why did he not take any questions???
6
@Rose He's already 2 ahead of tRump just on what you listed. Not bad! Go Joe!
1
@Rose Rose and it showed that Trump can't read very well from a tele-prompter and doesn't have smart people behind him.
Well if Biden is sleepy. Trump's performance last night was positively comatosed.
22
Finally, some leadership coming out of Washington!
22
He sounded presidential to me.
20
No questions taken from the press. Get used to this.
5
@Susan Trump takes questions but gives incoherent answers. What is the difference?
1
@Susan You may be right. We've paid for how many White House Communications people for the past 3+ years who have flat out lied - repeatedly - to the world and then simply quit doing their jobs altogether. No press briefings, playing favorites, spitefully affecting media jobs by pulling credentials of those who don't pretend the emperor is wearing clothes, and who have devolved into spitting out nasty statements to non-Trump supporters.
2
Coronavirus will eventually be known as Trump's Waterloo.
12
Let’s hope so!!
17,000 American deaths from H1N1 when Biden was VP straight down the memory hole. But we remember.
9
Here comes Biden's big mistake.
Sanders could have a come back.
6
Biden can barely speak a full sentence. god help us.
8
Now *that* was the speech of a President.
Holy cow, what a nightmare America has been living with.
20
The American president sounded like Marlon Brando in the Godfather. It was just a scam.
7
Tim Murtaugh is living in lala land if he thinks trump has acted strongly and decisively. When will these sheep see reality for what it is? Our nation is being led by an incompetent, uncaring, ignorant narcissist who relays no feeling of calm to a panic-stricken nation. Murtaugh's quoted statement in this article is exactly the opposite of the truth, which is, sadly, too often the case with this administration.
9
Let's move the election up to next week.
12
Politics is the art of the possible, not wish fulfillment. Today Biden is advocating truthfulness, courage, generosity, progressive programs, science, public health, and effective government--so much that's been missing for 3 years. He's proven and credible.
950
@99Percent
And leadership is the art of actually leading, not basing everything you say on what you think will get you elected.
48
@Steve Leadership, in a democracy, is following the will of one's constituents. When constituents are divided 50-50, leadership is learning to make compromises on both sides.
12
@Steve Again, BINGO. Canned staged speech and people are so amazed! Not one idea on how to deal with the issues like the homeless, hourly workers pay, etc... that Sanders covered!
13
Great speech. He is stepping up to the challenge, now that he is almost certainly the candidate. Whoever we preferred before (I supported E. Warren) we should rally behind Biden now. There is more at stake than we could have imagined months ago.
49
Today they blamed things like reagent shortages for not being able to run the tests.
I guess they should have gone with the WHO test process which apparently has no shortages of reagents.
Instead they contracted to American companies that didn't think out the process roadblocks.
10
A well re-hearsed, rational and compassionate speech by a normal human being in a time of crisis. Reminding us as well, that under the previous administration we would have been better prepare. A fine strategic move that could have been done just as well (or better?) but nearly any other primary candidate as well. Be now, we have Biden. In any case, he should now go and wash hands.
10
We need to do what China does: Rapid production of hospital facilities, but out of existing vacated infrastructure, and the retooling factories for mass manufacturing of respirators and other medical equipment.
All attention should be there.
4
@RB Unfortunately we have a dumb and narcissistic administration who only knows how to brag, deflect and does not know what to do.
I just watched Joe's talk. The contrast between that and the garbage and ignorance we got yesterday (and continues today) is just amazing. Calmness, reliance on the science, speaking the truth, identifying those who need the most assistance, and a Warren-like plan for addressing the issue that makes clear that it is not an instant cure. In short, presidential.
63
Thank you Mr. Biden; our must be next president for a presidential address. Any way we can get him into the white now? Trump should resign.
14
Every bad policy and feature of the Trump administration is coming home to roost.
ACA is currently being challenged in the Supreme Ct with backing from the Trump administration.
Trump eliminated the pandemic task force at the National Security Council that Obama created following the Ebola scare.
Trump's lies and misrepresentations number in excess of 16,000. The current crisis has not changed this pattern and the stock markets are taking note.
Tax cuts for the 1% and quantitative easing during economic expansion have left little ammo available to support the faltering economy.
Cronyism and nepotism run rampant at the highest levels of government, exposing the extreme incompetence that results. Widespread testing is still not available almost 2 months after the 1 case was identified in the US.
November 2020 can't get here soon enough.
28
What a refreshing difference. I cannot even listen to Trump anymore. Trump gives me hypertension.
30
If I feel sick and call Kaiser Permanente to make a doctors appointment I'll just tell the computer that Joe's in charge and gave a speech clearing the way and maybe I'll get one in one month rather than the usual two. Joe's got me covered, right.
3
America's delusion of exceptionalism at its finest, as evidenced by Trump. As if walling off the country will prevent the virus from spreading in the U.S. He made an exception for Great Britain when putting his travel ban into effect. Does he think now that Great Britain has left the EU, the virus will just bypass them? I love that Mexico has only had a few confirmed cases so far. If I were them, I would bar anyone travelling from the U.S. from entering their country. How appropriate that would be considering Trump's attitude toward Mexicans. it might even stop the illegal guns that they get courtesy of the U.S. from getting over there for awhile.
6
Liz and Pete were my preferred candidates. I just listened to Joe Biden. This is what a President should say and then do. I went to JoeBiden.com and made a recurring monthly donation.
36
Thank you for your commitment! It’s painful when our preferred candidates don’t win the nomination. And Liz and Pete were by far the strongest debate performers. They earned my respect. But it’s time for unity now. Thank you for what you’re doing.
5
He is the presumptive candidate and good for him.
9
It goes back to leadership (always does). trump spends two month lying about the situation, blaming the media and democrats. His only moves are to shore up the economy (failed badly). His appointment to the CDC, an anti-gay religious extremist with zero prior experience leading a public health agency at any level, fails repeatedly to get testing capability to American health care professionals. So, we're flying blind, lead by liars and anti-science zealots.
6
The whole ConVid-19 crisis has laid bare how Trump's entire administration is onion skinned window dressing. He is a leader in name only. God help us (and I'm an amethyst).
8
Atheist?
2
Well, now. That’s how it’s done. I had almost forgotten what it was like to have a sentient being at the helm. Biden certainly showed how it should sound. Near tears though, because all we got is sniffy Trump.
Wait for the sniffy one to start snarling on Twitter.
It has been my experience that we tolerate and tolerate until we can tolerate no more. And then it’s done.
Mr. Trump, the world is done with you. The markets are saying it loud and clear.
Be gone. Just go. Take Pence with you.
41
Americans will eventually do the right thing after they’ve tried everything else.
My fear is that Trump will purposely not follow any of Biden’s plan to combat the virus out of spite. He has a track record for such behaviour.
4
Finally, a qualified leader and our next president!
16
It was refreshing to hear from a real President, not a fake one.
15
I remember the swine flue, the Ebola virus, and so on. I don’t recall Obama doing anything in particular. Yet now we have Trump and the media can do nothing but condemn him. How about some objectivity? Oh, yeah, it’s Biden, Maybe he will challenge Trump to a fist fight.
6
@T Smith During those viral outbreaks, the CDC had quality leadership. The CDC got test kits out immediately. Not only to the U.S. but to the rest of the world that needed them. The government/system worked because competent leadership made it work. Now we have an anti-gay religious zealot with Zero public health agency leadership experience at the head of the CDC - put there by trump. He has failed miserably. That is why trump is to be condemned. His leadership caused this debacle to be far worse than it should have been. Heck of a job trumpie....
2
@T Smith Obama got funding increased for the CDC, listened to experts, and created a national position to lead on all future diseases. He increased funding to international agencies to help, and sent doctors to Africa to contain it there. If you didn't hear any of this, it may be because some news channels focussed on name calling and blaming rather than reporting facts.
2
Just listen to Trump. He has not the slightest idea what he is doing, and he can't even articulate his confusion. He is incompetence personified, and he already fired nearly everyone who could have prepared for this disaster. He has failed utterly in his leadership capacity (such as it was--not).
Then Sean Hannity and "Medal of Freedom" Rush Limbaugh amplify Trump's idiotic remarks. These Trump sycophants are overtly dangerous to the public. In excusing Trump, and telling the public that he is doing a great job and that that COVID-19 is not dangerous, they are putting millions of people in danger.
40% of the nation is in deep denial because they are being criminally misled by Republicans who fear some kind of infantile diatribe from Trump more than they fear mass death and destruction for the American people.
Republicans fiddle while America burns.
17
We needed an adult in the room. He was one.
9
This is what leadership looks like.
11
Biden is the one who opposed the travel ban from China early on, on January 30th. He continued to oppose it weeks after that.
It is because of that ban that we have now 10-20 TIMES less infection and deaths than in Europe and Asia.
If we followed Biden's mind we would have now ten times more infections and deaths, like they have in Europe. The man is clueless and, in times like this, dangerously clueless.
5
@novoad Just like trump, shift blames with no logical sense!
1
@novoad
There is no evidence that we have now 10-20 times less infection and deaths than in Europe and Asia because we have not been testing so we have no ability to diagnose. So we have no idea how many people have this infection or died from it. Our data is bad and your inference is nonsense.
@jnl "Biden is the one who opposed the travel ban from China"
That would have given huge rates of infection spread all over, early on. That is not shifting the blame. It just shows that Biden is hopelessly not smart, and he puts political correctness ahead of people's safety...
1
When you want to know why it's Biden over Bernie, here you go.
No bombastic rhetoric, just calm competence.
15
@Elizabeth Competence ???? He did condemn Trump imposing travel restrictions from China end of January.
Thanks to that measure we have less cases in the states and have more time to prepare...
But of course every action by Trump's critics is welcomed !
1
Just finished listening to Joe…
I go back a ways – but not all the way to FDR…
But I’ve listened to and read and watched every one of FDR’s public chats and appearances that I’d ever been able to find…
As I caught Joe’s usual stutters and hesitations – and declining to take questions, afterward…
(for clarity, thought it one of his best speeches ever – kudos as much for effort as for style)
It abruptly reminded me of how the press hid FDR’s physical frailties from the public…
From the effects of his polio to his overall health at the onset of his 4th term…
If Joe – with Mike offstage – can get our best and brightest to coalesce…
I don’t know that that would be enough…
The world is pivoting to Russia’s military and mining muscle – and to China, for mass-markets and manufacturing…
I watched Joe and his former boss get absolutely rolled on so many STEM-related topics…
Without them even realizing – or later admitting – what had gone down…
Trump talks about our revitalized fossil-fuel and agrarian segments – but the truth is that we’re not competitive, based on extraction or production costs…
And we’ve been levitating, based on our – rapidly-dwindling – legacies as global reserve currency and postwar economic altruism…
The one upside today – If I could vote for Biden’s speechwriter, for the POTUS job, I’d already have my ballot to the post office…
I have my doubts and reservations – but will stop clinging to them, for the duration…
Godspeed, Joseph Biden…
11
@W in the Middle I have full confidence in Biden. FDR's polio did not prevent him from becoming one of the greatest Presidents in US history. Biden's stuttering has made him a strong and compassionate man! Biden has a wealth of experiences and skills and will assemble an outstanding and ethical cabinet to restore our faith and move our nation forward!
2
@jnl
Would like to believe you...
How about starting with a VP pick, based on executive-branch competence and experience...
1
This was a great speech - I'm a moderate and even I've had misgivings about Biden. After that speech, not anymore.
This is the man we need as our President, NOW.
Looking forward to voting for him in November.
Bernie, get your last points in on Sunday but then please, for the love of all that is good in this world, step aside. You risk undermining the party at one of the single most important focal points in this country's history. If Trump is allowed to continue, there will be nothing left to rebuild.
Bernie supporters - time to face the math. Bernie doesn't have the broad-enough support across this nation to win. Take some time, read the numbers, but please PLEASE don't throw away your vote in November. Life on this planet is too precious to be spiteful. Continue your activism and lobbying to ensure progressive agendas are pushed forward. Run for local office. Do NOT tank this entire country because you're bitter. It's time to come together.
84
@Nick
I will vote blue but denying them a voice means you don’t deserve their vote. If you want them on board give them a voice. Biden and moderates talk about compromise but never actually do it. You spend more time walking the isle to republicans than talking to the people you want votes from. All I ever hear is bashing M4A and attacking progressives and their policy.
Yet right now that policy if in place would save lives. Period.
Zero information by the times and the corporate media on M4A being cheaper than Bidens plans. Exit polls showing large support for M4A yet zero articles on it.
Studies showing fiscal responsibility as well as life saving aspects of M4A compared to public option.
The Lancet, Annals of Internal Medicine, PLOS Medicine, Federal Reserve survey and Journal of General Internal Medicine.
6
@Nick Thanks to Trump, you will have a blue wave of many Sanders supporters for Biden. Without Trump, Biden would've been ignored this time around, because the problems of non-NYT readers (the working class) are absolutely scary and soul-crushing. All that you and other readers want is normalcy, and that is fine, but don't ignore the need for structural challenges to the oligarchy. Biden has no answers, and those problems are the cause of future outbreaks of dissent and left wing politics.
3
Listen, I was a Harris voter who turned into a Warren voter who didn't know where to go next. My beliefs line up more with Bernie's policies than Joe's. But this speech...it was incredibly strong. It was a reminder that there are capable, calm people out there who are working to make decisions that will best help people across political lines. Yes, it also acted as a call to stand beside him in the election, but compared to the conspiracy theories, xenophobia, and utter nonsense coming from the actual President, this was a much needed balm.
35
Calm, reassuring and professional...Joe Biden is double everything trump is not.
Can we move up the election?
26
Joe’s well articulated plan...
A coup d’etat? A strong contrast to he incumbents recent speeches (proposals?).
Perhaps one could only dream.
Wait for nine months and a week until Joe Biden is sworn in as president (hopefully) before his well formed ideas (assisted by Ron Klain?) can be implemented.
A fine alternative action plan vs. the incumbent’s (non-) plan.
But how to pivot from the incumbent’s non-plan to Joe’s?
...Ahh...
Will Bernie Sanders speech in an hour, an hour later, be a coup de grace argument in favor of Medicare For All, to relieve the USA coronavirus? I’m anticipating these great ideas.
Maybe just maybe the incumbent could implement them (and take credit. Who cares as long as lives are saved?).
2
How delightful to hear a measured, intelligent, embracing speech from Mr. Biden who reminded us all that everyone is important and needs to be cared for to the best of our ability.
18
Granted, Biden had the luxury of seeing Trump's address last night, but there still was no comparison. Biden was presidential, measured, frank & honest, realistic, but positive and encouraging.
Can't we just skip the rest of the primaries and the election and make Joe POTUS now?
23
This is President Biden speaking well done.
From the Financial Times;
"The US has tested fewer than 6,000 people out of a population of 327m. By contrast, the Netherlands, with 17m people, is testing that many every day. South Korea, with 51m people, is testing 10,000 a day. The shortage of US kits stems from federal bureaucratic delays. One simple fix would be to import them from Germany, which are WHO-approved. "
https://www.ft.com/content/0be9b456-6414-11ea-a6cd-df28cc3c6a68
9
If you want Biden to be the strongest candidate in November, and would like to see the US able to withstand these crises better in the future, now is the time to pressure Biden on universal healthcare. Biden's current healthcare plan would leave 10 million uninsured
7
How many people have denied tests because they can't pay? None. We need to pass legislation to fund the building of hospitals, benefit in the present emergency, zero. Pablum pure pablum.
1
@Mkm doctor here. no tests available, pay or no pay.
4
This is what 'presidential' is supposed to look like.
13
This is the speech POTUS should have had on the teleprompter last pm. A measured, concise and confident delivery from a position of empathy. And yes, critical of the failed measures so far; learning from mistakes and empowering those with the knowledge in public health to make any and all recommendations. Nothing short of full out mobilization of all federal and state resources is required for this invisible enemy.
13
This is what a president is supposed to sound like in any crisis, especially one of this magnitude.
It was truly impressive to hear Biden lay out what the stakes are here, how a pandemic viral outbreak will cross any border, and what must be done nationally, locally, and internationally to begin to truly address this pandemic and save lives.
First and foremost, as Biden repeatedly emphasized was to start by placing scientific experts at the forefront of this response, and to give whatever financial support is necessary to them, institutions, families, and individuals who will be overwhelmed by what is already a reality. As Biden correctly states, giving tax breaks to big corporations will do nothing to alleviate the suffering of this pandemic. Further as Biden stated, every single day the federal government must release the statistics of how many tests have been administered, how many are infected, and which areas are most affected. Without that information, confronting this pandemic is impossible.
I hope this dispels for any who watched Biden the difference between someone who has a speech impediment, and someone who is suffering from dementia, and also someone who is thoroughly incompetent and narcissistic and doesn't know what in the world he is saying, and couldn't care less what happens to the American people as long as he thinks he and his proxies can use disinformation to deflect blame for his total incompetence in handling a pandemic that will claim many lives.
18
The incompetent response to this pandemic crisis by the Trump Administration has crystallized what four more years of Trump could mean to this country and by extension, the world.
It is not like we do not know what competence looks like. Biden was part of one such administration.
15
@B.L. Why incompetent ?
Right On Mr Biden!
Free Paid sick leave.
In the name of Health and Welfare of the World you will become the new president of the United States.
5
A nice impulse, but I wish he wouldn't.
Listen, if Joe Biden were dead and propped up by a wooden stake on his horse, like El Cid, I'd vote for him over Trump.
2
The guy who told us to go to war in Iraq is now telling us how to go to war against the Coronavirus? Brilliant.
4