Discussion for article #240133
From the sounds of it, and I heard it last night, my feeling is, he really won’t run. He wants to, but he just doesn’t have the energy to.
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I like The Biden a lot, as pols go. I think he’d probably make Hillary a better candidate. I think his entry would create an opening for storylines about Democratic policy ideas and things other than Hillary’s email usage. I also think he’d almost certainly lose, and I wouldn’t vote for him if there’s a competent woman candidate who’s acceptably solicitous of the left in the race, because I’m kind of over white dude presidents. For his sake, I hope he doesn’t run.
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He isn’t running. I am not entirely sure why he is keeping this kabuki theater going, but its been pretty clear to me for awhile that he isn’t running.
If he wanted to run, that decision should have been made back at the beginning of the year. You don’t, at this late date, start contemplating a run while repeatedly saying you’re sure if you have the energy or the fuel for a run. To get in now he would severely disadvantaged, both in terms of organization and money. That sort of campaign requires enormous amount of personal desire or “fuel” to run. A candidate that is only half hearted into it? Not gonna happen.
@marnold I don’t see how Biden would have any impact upon Hillary from a policy standpoint. They occupy the same space on the political spectrum. He is VP in the same administration of which she was SoS. He has never voiced any particular policy differences with the Clinton campaign (which in and of itself, is a pretty big tell that he isn’t running). There may be some reasons to get behind Biden campaign, but that he will create serious policy discussions with Hillary isn’t one of them.
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I’m not sure why he would run anyway. I think Hillary Clinton is up like 40 points on the field, isn’t she?
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Not heartbreaking, but unusually candid, and IMHO he’s on the path to “Not.” The third time won’t be a charm.
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Well, Joe, I know a couple of Reich-Wing Billionaires who will hand over several million bucks to help you run.
What does that tell you?
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The talk of him running began with M. Dowd revealing his late son Beau told him to run against HRC as he lay dying. Was someone else in the room who leaked to Dowd? Or did Joe? Also, Cheney says Joe should “go for it”, and that should cause alarm.
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If he has to ask himself if he has the emotional energy, he doesn’t have it.
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and @marnold, I like Biden a lot, but I could just tell from his voice. He has no energy. He is still grieving. All other considerations aside, he just doesn’t have it in him to run again. It’s all in his voice.
I think people want him to run because they want someone who isn’t Clinton or Sanders. They don’t feel Clinton is really electable and are kind of scared of Sanders.
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Yes–he wishes he could run. He dreamed of this forever and the Veep job has given him a better platform and portfolio. But it seems he knows his time has past and his heart isn’t really in it.
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I wish that I disagreed with you, for reasons that we’ve gone back and forth about on other threads. But it’s pretty evident that he’s still deeply sad and worn down over the death of his son. I think he’s out too.
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I would think you need to be fully gung ho to endure a campaign. He knows well that he can’t half-ass this. It sounds like he shouldn’t run. He’s had a great run. He’s a great democrat. Ride off into the sunset, and enjoy your family, Joe.
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When Beau Biden passed away, it broke his heart. That’s what I hear in his voice. He doesn’t have the emotional energy to spare rebuilding his heart and running for President.
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Every time he talks about whether he has the emotional energy to run, I wonder whether he has the emotional energy to serve.
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My theory is that he’s trying to distract the press from their obsession with Hillary’s email.
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She’s up by just over 24 points (as an average) over Sanders and that’s after dropping considerably lately as he surges.
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Yeah, but remember, it ain’t about substance, it’s about the media narrative. If Biden gets in, she has a credible contender and journos will write about their minute differences on this or that, blow it up into a beef – rather than her unlikability, her emails, etc. It becomes a contest and they have to write about it. Right now, it’s not a contest and there’s no storyline except “Well, it’s Hillary and no one likes her, now what’s that wacky Trump doing?”
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Could also be he truly hasn’t decided yet. Either that or he can’t quite admit yet that he’s ready to give up that dream, even though he already probably knows it’s gone. I’m wondering if, when he finally makes the definitive announcement, he’ll use it as a platform to throw his support behind Hillary.
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Sorry, that’s a bit of snark. a few people in this thread and I have been banging heads over Clinton vs Biden on a different thread. The short of it is that the race has tightened up into an actual race and 3 months ago it was an outright corrination.
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