The Case For Biden

All somehow just not likable in ways that men candidates just don’t seem to have to measure up to.

Meghan McCain wrote:

I love God, America and the 2nd Amendment. I just also happen to love and support the LGBT community.

https://twitter.com/MeghanMcCain/status/414191710160183297

She's also an unrepentant warhawk. I don't support war at the drop of a hat.

She joined Chelsea Clinton in attacking Ilhan Omar as an antiSemite for nothing more than criticizing Israel's strong lobbying arm AIPAC. Criticizing Israel while brown is automatic antiSemitism in Meghan and Clinton's circles.

In response, Omar retweeted a post made by Medhi Hasan, an Intercept columnist and Al Jazeera host, who slammed McCain's "faux outrage" and criticized the politics and racist comments of her late father.

"Meghan's late father literally sang 'bomb bomb bomb Iran' and insisted on referring to his Vietnamese captors as 'gooks'," Hasan wrote. "He also, lest we forget, gave the world Sarah Palin. So a little less faux outrage over a former-refugee-turned-freshman-representative pls."

Though Republicans and many establishment Democrats have been quick to distance themselves from Omar's comments, others have rallied around her. On Thursday, for example, 2020 presidential candidate and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders said he fears attacks on Omar are designed to stifle debate on America's relationship with Israel.

The senator, who himself is Jewish, told The Hill, "Anti-Semitism is a hateful and dangerous ideology which must be vigorously opposed in the United States and around the world." But he added, "We must not, however, equate anti-Semitism with legitimate criticism of the right-wing, Netanyahu government in Israel."

The media-owning oligarchs will have their people lying about Bernie, “contacts with communist Russia”, blurring the lines of Democratic Socialism with Russian Communism...”

All in an effort to keep the poor poor and dying and the rich in this country completely unaccountable for whatever crimes they commit.

Tanks and people in the street.

I'm not sure that enough of the electorate see things this way for them to embrace an ideology which presents them as victims of an evil, corrupt system and promises a wide scale upending of the current political order.

This planet and 99% of its inhabitants are victims of an evil, corrupt system.

Ukraine just elected a comedian with no experience

I don’t think even the slipperiest, most disingenuous person can deny the left lurch happening across the world.

Brazil, Hungary, Poland, Egypt, Turkey — I know you already consider me one of the slipperiest, most disingenuous people on this site but I don't see the left lurch you're talking about.

Joe Biden has led nearly every Democratic primary poll without doing anything. Now, the former vice president’s team is planning to solidify his frontrunner status with a wave of high-profile organizing, fundraising and endorsement news when he enters the race.

Biden’s campaign in waiting has ramped up over the last several weeks — calling donors across the country and tapping decades-old friendships to line up support from major Democratic Party figures, organized labor, members of Congress and elected officials from early presidential states, according to people with direct knowledge of Biden’s campaign strategy. POLITICO also spoke to donors who’ve received calls from Biden’s team, potential campaign aides who have been interviewed for jobs and stakeholders in early primary and caucus states who were asked to pitch in their support.

As Biden seeks on-the-ground labor support in early primary and caucus states, he has all but locked in the endorsement of the International Association of Firefighters, the union that helped boost John Kerry to the Democratic nomination in 2004. This year, union president Harold Schaitberger said, the 315,000-member union plans to quickly deploy an organized effort to boost Biden in the early-voting states.

“I have been in touch on a consistent basis with the campaign and the vice president,” Harold Schaitberger, president of the International Association of Firefighters told POLITICO on Monday. Once Biden's announcement goes live, Schaitberger continued, “our executive board will be prepared to immediately meet and formally take a position on the primary and we’ll likely be prepared to make that announcement on the 29th.”

The early activity is fueled by Biden’s long relationships within the Democratic Party and the bonds he built as Barack Obama’s vice president, which vaulted him to the top of the primary pack this year without rushing into the race early. But Biden’s team sees an opportunity to generate something Biden hasn't yet had this year with a strong entrance: forward momentum, created by proving he has what it takes to compete in a historically large primary field before going toe-to-toe with President Donald Trump.

As Biden's team works to lock down national labor support, it is also chasing union backing in early states like Iowa, where his aides have already interviewed staff.

“I talked to his staff quite a bit,” said Betty Brim-Hunter, who was the state political director to Iowa’s AFL-CIO for 13 years. Asked if she will be with Biden: “100 percent. And I told his staff whatever I can do to help them — I just retired, they have my commitment.”

Former Nevada Democratic chairman Sam Lieberman said Biden has already won his endorsement and he expects "labor could be easily persuaded to support Joe Biden if he was in the mix."

"I have always supported him in the past and I would definitely support him now," Lieberman said. "I’m just concerned that it needs to happen fast because we in Nevada are getting inundated by all the candidates."

The long-awaited campaign is finally in the works: Biden’s team has planned for a video announcement this week. Several sources close to the campaign said previous media reports about timing and location of rallies were not accurate, though the campaign would not comment to clarify. Three people who talked to Biden or his team told POLITICO the announcement could come on Thursday, though the timing remained in flux as of late Monday.

Biden’s formal announcement is to be followed by related launch events, including a fundraiser in Philadelphia. An announcement on early presidential staffing would soon follow, and the campaign would then roll into a series of early-state visits.

“They’re going to launch strategically all over the country,” an operative with knowledge of Biden’s strategy said. “They’ll have people in place in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, South Carolina and roll out endorsements from elected officials all over the country, so when they come out they can have this show of force.”

In recent weeks, Biden’s team or Biden himself have reached out to donors around the country asking for commitments for a launch this week.

In Philadelphia, a group of donors were asking supporters to write checks even before the fundraiser slated to be held later this week, once Biden is officially in the race.

Former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, who is helping organize the fundraiser, said he’s been in contact with Biden’s team and is still awaiting final word on timing for the event, which would follow Biden’s announcement. Rendell said the fundraiser was planned for Thursday as of that moment, but he also said it could be moved to next week.

“We’re doing it on the day they tell us,” Rendell told POLITICO. “They have told us tentatively Thursday but there’s nothing in stone about that.”

Stephen Cozen, an attorney and longtime Biden ally, said the fundraising effort aims “to demonstrate to others that he’s got this very broad band of support at the lowest level, not necessarily even at the highest level, where I’m sure — I know for a fact — there are people with a lot of money sitting out there waiting for Joe to get in. That’s not what we’re concentrating on. We’re concentrating on building the bottom.”

Biden’s call for donors comes as he’s expected to be outpaced on small-donor fundraising by others in the field, including Sen. Bernie Sanders, who so far has the most consistent, highest polling aside from Biden. Small-dollar donations have been a point of emphasis for most candidates, who have sought to portray themselves as outsiders not entangled with special interests.

“It’s not an emergency but it’s a need. He’s got a list. But it’s not a Bernie list,” said a Biden campaign surrogate. “We need to push checks up as early as possible.”