Friday, October 9, 2020

I'm the world's least enthusiastic Joe Biden voter

So I've just voted by post in the American presidential election - or I should really say attempted to vote, because I discovered that my vote for the congressional primary a couple of months ago arrived late, presumably due to delays caused by coronavirus.  However, there's still the best part of a month for this one to get there, so fingers crossed.

In the end, I gave in to the inevitability of voting for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, although I don't think I've ever cast such an important vote with so little enthusiasm.  I wouldn't quite say that Biden was my last choice among the Democratic primary candidates (utterly impossible for as long as the insufferable Pete Buttigieg was there), but I always thought he was unsuitable, and his failure to pick a progressive as his running mate was the final straw.  The return to a Clintonesque centre-right Democratic ascendancy is a pretty dismal prospect, and it could last twelve years - assuming that Biden has already succeeded in stitching up the 2024 nomination for Harris.

When I look at the polls showing Biden miles ahead of Trump, my heart doesn't exactly leap in the way it ought to - in fact, in a 'gut' sense I can't totally convince myself that I even want Biden to win.  My main concern when Trump took office was that he might literally bring about the end of human civilisation by losing his rag and starting a nuclear war, but after four years I've begun to realise that he wouldn't do anything that might lead to the destruction of Trump Tower or his golf courses.  And there are actually distinct upsides to the US having a rogue leader, because it's led to a long-overdue draining away of American soft power.  However, from a rational point of view I know that considerations of that sort are vastly outweighed by the exacerbation of the climate emergency that four more years of Trump could bring about, and indeed by the damage that might be done by more lifetime conservative appointments to the Supreme Court.

I've always had a personal rule of trying not to vote for supporters of the death penalty if I could help it, which meant voting for fringe candidates in some presidential elections.  But I really wanted to vote for Trump's main opponent in 2016, and I decided that Hillary Clinton had made that just about possible by indicating that she would be happy enough if the Supreme Court eradicated capital punishment.  I assumed that Biden would present a major problem for me, because I knew he was a long-standing supporter of the death penalty, but it turns out he did a casual U-turn on the subject last year to court progressive voters in the primaries.  Which in a way is great, and it's enabled me to vote for him, but it also demonstrates that he's what Tony Benn would have called a "weathercock", rather than a "signpost".  Ideally we'd want a signpost as the leader of the free world.

Incidentally, it might amuse you to know that there were 21 candidates on the ballot paper (about twice as many as I can ever remember in the past) - Biden was listed first, and Trump was twentieth!

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No consensus emerged on the timing of the next Scot Goes Pop poll - some people said go ahead now, some said wait until Christmas, and some said do both (or even one in December and one in January).  I'm thinking what I might do is run the crowdfunder now, and then make a decision about dates if the target is reached - although it would definitely be some time over the next two months or so.

23 comments:

  1. Hillary Clinton email to Donna Brazille DNC Chair 17OCT2016
    "If that f***ing bas***d wins we're all going to hang from nooses! You better fix this sh*t"

    Very true statement. Let's hope Trump gets 4 more years.
    By ALL she means Bushs, Clintons, Bidens, Obamas, Cheney, Powell, Brennan, Comey etc etc for Crimes against Humanity, Sedition, Treason, Drug running, money laundering etc etc

    Bush Senior - note to kids sent at his funeral. "Sorry, they have it all."
    Evidence is being released now and for the next few weeks. 💣💣💣

    ReplyDelete
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    1. https://mobile.twitter.com/Qtah17/status/1314326428238790656

      Just a small taster.

      Delete
  2. Isn’t every Joe Biden voter the least enthusiastic Joe Biden voter?

    I agree about worrying that Trump could end civilisation, but then not being so worried after seeing him bumbling along ineffectually. But I’m still worried about what he might do between November and January, if he loses.

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    1. You've had 4 years of President Orange and we've managed to avoid WW3. HRC had it as a manifesto comittment.

      Meanwhile every time he does something sensible (probably by accident) like withdrawing US fores from Afghanistan, stopping funds to Al Nusra/ISIS in Syria, the Dems go mental and say it is all a plot by Putin.

      For the rest of the World, cimate change excepted, DJT is the only logical choice. Which says it all about modern Amercan politics and the state of the Democratic party.

      Delete
  3. Replies
    1. Don't mention Flies round Kameltoe. She'll be on her knees and unzipping before she remembers you're not Willie Brown.

      Pence is a hardcore Republican, unlike his boss, who is former registered Democrat and Clinton supporter. He's anti-gay and pro-war.
      However KH put hundreds of people in prison for life for 3rd strike drug possession charges while admitting to being doped out of her skull her entire life. The same woman prevented the release of prisoners so she could use them as slave labour. She also stated that Biden was a racist who prevented little brown girls like her from going to school. Right up until he picked her for VP, then none of that mattered. She's evil.

      US politic is not for the sane. You pick then best one from those two.

      Delete
    2. Peejay

      I don't care much for your style of posting so do me a favour and keep your posts away from my comments.

      Delete
  4. Sorry, you can't be the least enthusiastic. That title belongs to me.

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  5. At the time of their last chance to stop Hitler, by forming an alliance with the socialist party and others, the KPD (communist party of Germany) let the moment pass and ran with a slogan, 'After Hitler us Next'- that went well didn't it ?

    Biden is woeful and represents the return of a long running parasite elite. Trump however has made himself the boss of active fascist militias which, in office, he can use against any progressive or pro democracy forces. This strengthened with state power covering for them. He may do the same if he loses but then, at least, the forces of the state will not be at his disposal.

    It is dangerously irresponsible to suggest that the damage he does to US world hegemony is more positive than the damage that a quasi fascist US would do.

    Those who have a vote. Hold your noses and vote Biden without a shadow of doubt.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Just in case that's directed at me, I'd just point out that's pretty much what the blogpost actually says. However dire a prospect I find a Biden presidency to be, logic left me in no doubt that I had to vote for him.

      Delete
    2. None of that actually happened though. Antifa/BLM have murdered dozens of people and caused $Billions of damage and are terrorising people in cities across the USA on a nightly basis. But Orange man bad! You people are sick.

      Delete
    3. No matter how uninspiring the Dem candidate, it's incomprehensible to me that people would have to hold their nose when given the chance to vote Trump out. I'd crawl over broken glass to do so, if I had such a vote. He's a psychotic fascist in charge of the most powerful military in history and anyone given the chance to vote him out should do so with pride.

      Delete
  6. Confused, James; how do you get a vote in the US election?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The fragrant JK has dual citizenship. He used to be mocked over on PB as an OirishAmerican and told to keep his nose out of UK politics.

      Delete
    2. You seem nice, are you GWC in disguise?
      Your repugnant comments on Kamala Harris are very Cordelia-ish

      Delete
  7. I've deleted an entirely unnecessary comment. Let me just gently say this: if what I blog about doesn't interest you, there are other blogs available. Comments that attempt to tell me what subjects I can and can't blog about will *always* be deleted (or if they're not deleted it's because I didn't spot them).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. James, telling you what to blog about is of course out of order. Hopefully, when I asked you previously if you could do another article on the current state of play re the virus this was ok. I valued your previous articles on this subject very highly.

      Delete
  8. An Abuse of Power.

    The 3 year persecution of Alex Salmond by the Scottish Government continues unabated.

    Not content with spending so much money in smearing Salmond through the new Harrasment process designed to target Salmond that Evans says it is unquantifiable.

    Not content with leaking the falsified complaint details to the Daily Redcoat. Still no investigation into who leaked the details - still no reason given why there has been no investigation.

    Not content with a failed criminal trial that cost the taxpayer millions more.

    Not content with using Rape Crisis Scotland to smear Salmond after he is found not guilty. The Rape Crisis Scotland that is almost wholly funded by the Scotgov.

    Not content with colluding with the Britnat media to smear Salmond over and over again after he is found not guilty.

    The Scotgov now want to publish their report which was "struck down " by the Judicial review as being based on a procedure that was found to be unlawful, unfair and tainted by apparent bias. Just more attempts at smearing Salmond using public funds.

    No decent society would allow this to happen. No decent society would allow the perpetrators to continue to abuse their power and waste public funds.

    Is this your Scotland? SNP clean up your mess.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. What do you expect from a woman who doesn't know a Jaffa Cake is a cake?

      Sturgeon has to go. She's probably signed her own death warrant this week with her pathetic performance. But I see her loyalists are still trying to provide covering fire.

      Sturgeon acolyte, "See if YOU don't know the difference between a Cafe and a Restaurant then YOU are really Stupid! Snark, snark, snark!!"

      Normal person " Well, what's the difference then?"

      Sturgeon acolyte, " ".

      How much is the SNP vote share going to drop next opinion poll? 5%, 10% or KeziaDugdale?

      Delete
    2. Peejay

      I posted about serious concerns about the actions of our government. Not interested in silly comments about Jaffa cakes or is a cafe really a restaurant of vice Versace. Sturgeon is doing a better job on the virus than Johnson.

      Personally, I hope and think that support for independence is now solid and not dependant on any one individual. A country's freedom should not be dependant on the merits or otherwise of any one person no matter what position they hold.

      Delete
  9. Biden or Trump.

    As per 4 years ago another terrible choice. Thank goodness I don't have to make that choice. If I did I would have to go for Biden. Trump is an odious creature who only cares about himself and has absolutely ZERO redeeming qualities.

    By contrast we have a better choice in Scotland, but still not that great if you want Scottish independence. Vote SNP for procrastination and false promises about a referendum and a government who thinks it is ok to spend public funds to smear a politician and who have people in charge who do not have a moral compass at all.

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  10. The defeat of Trump is what I am looking for on 3rd November. Awful man.

    ReplyDelete
  11. The defeat of Trump is what I am looking for on 3rd November. Awful man.

    ReplyDelete