I agree completely with this assessment of VP Joe Biden by David Byler in the New York Times:
Mr. Biden is best understood not as a member of a particular ideological faction but rather as a prototypical “regular Democrat†who has continually sought to personify the existing mainstream of his party — which explains his choice of Senator Kamala Harris as vice-presidential nominee.
Mr. Biden’s 36 years of service in the Senate spanned seven presidential administrations as well as considerable change in both parties’ social coalitions and philosophical precepts. But his voting record always remained firmly at the ideological midpoint of the Democratic Party. According to a measure of congressional ideology developed by the political scientists Keith T. Poole and Howard Rosenthal, during his full tenure in the Senate, Mr. Biden’s party loyalty score was consistently high and his record right in the middle of the pack among Democrats.
Right-leaning commentators who see Mr. Biden as dashing to the left in recent months are correct to the extent that he’s dashing to the left of the Democratic Party which itself has moved to the left, pushed to no small extent by Sen. Bernie Sanders, especially in relation to the Republican Party. They’re wrong to see him as a radical leftist.
I can recognize a “regular Democrat” when I see one—it is overwhelmingly the type of the Chicago Democrat and it is very different from what a “coastal Democrat” has become these days. A regular Democrat believes in government solutions; they tend to support public employees, especially teachers, police officers, and firefighters. They always vote for the regular party candidate; they tend to disapprove of or even disdain Republicans. They are not overly scrupulous about what George Washington Plunkitt referred to as “honest graft”.
He catered to the left a bit to win the nomination. He has never behaved that way while in office.
“they tend to disapprove of or even disdain Republicans. ”
I would say that historically they just disagreed. Disappointed may be a better term for the current Republicans. For the true progressives disgusted works. (Trying hard to keep up the d words.)
Steve
Hell of a nice guy if you are in a public sector pension plan, if you are in a publicly run private sector plan not so much.
And then there’s this guy named Xi who considers him a tool.
‘And then there’s this guy named Xi who considers him a tool.’
He wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed to start with. Now all that’s left is the handle. ‘Hi, I’m Joe Biden, and I forgot what I was going to say’.
I have to agree Joe was a regular Democrat, including the ‘honest graft’ portion. His ideology was what was in it for him and his family.
I think we may have seen the plan for the November election during the Iowa caucuses. Declare victory immediately based on incomplete or deliberately inaccurate results and demand the removal of OMB from the White House ASAP, because it’s too dangerous to let him finish out his term to try to steal another election. I hope I’m wrong.
IMO the deterioration of Joe Biden’s cognitive ability is greatly exaggerated. He’s a stutterer. He has always had a certain degree of dysfluency. I think there was a small degree of impairment following his brain surgery. He may have lost a step or two with age—most of us have.
But I think the notion that he’s a doddering, drooling nonentity is a creation of what HRC used to refer to as the “Vast Rightwing Conspiracy”—an echo chamber. Be careful of believing the propaganda.
I agree about the Joe as senile meme. I think it’s a mistake. (I wonder where are the people who were buying into the Trump as deranged meme). Stay silent when it serves your motives, push back when not.
Better would be Joe has never been the brightest bulb….Because he’s not.
Anyway, I have no issue with Joe is a regular Democrat. Just be honest, both Joe and Kamala are complete political whores who will say anything to get elected. The real issue is this: people know Trump is who he is and wears it on his sleeve. He is who he is. Will the electorate go for a guy who tells you where he stands, or a couple of whores who promise things the electorate knows are total BS.
The electorate needs to sort through that. The hounds have been unleashed. Joe isn’t going to put Antifa or BLM back in the box. It is truly a movement election. This worldview or that worldview.
“The real issue is this: people know Trump is who he is and wears it on his sleeve. ”
I agree with you for a change. He is a guy who will say anything to get elected. This whole act where he pretends to identify with he evangelical Christians is so totally not believable. (OK, he does act just like some of the most famous Christian leaders with the skirt chasing and lying to the congregation, but nothing like the true believers.)
“I wonder where are the people who were buying into the Trump as deranged meme)”
Have never thought that was worth pursuing. I think that you can look at his behaviors and make just as good case for his decline as Biden, but there is really no way to be sure without testing.
“Better would be Joe has never been the brightest bulb”
Agree with that also, but then neither is Trump. However, he does seem to have a decent temperament. Has a past history of working across the aisle.
Steve