BIDEN: I knew a month before Election Day that Hillary would lose key battleground states

[Omaha Steve]

Source: Business insider via AOL

BRYAN LOGAN

Former Vice President Joe Biden had more criticism for Hillary Clinton during a private donor conference hosted by Mitt Romney on Friday. Biden was speaking at the E2 Summit in Deer Valley, Utah, where he riffed on politics, past and future.

Reflecting on the vicious 2016 election between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, Biden said he knew a month before Election Day that Clinton would lose key battleground states, based on his assessment from his own campaigning in those states, Politico's Alex Isenstadt reported.

Clinton gave up Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania — longtime Democratic strongholds — to Trump in 2016.

Last month, Biden said of Clinton's November defeat: "I never thought she was a great candidate. I thought I was a great candidate." Biden did not seek the presidency in 2016, but speculation about his potential run lingered for months.

FULL story and video at link below.

Read more: https://www.aol.com/article/news/2017/06/10/biden-i-knew-a-month-before-election-day-that-hillary-would-los/22135723/

[hrmjustin]

1. Did he warn her at the time?

[WinkyDink]

3. Seriously?! Wasn't Joe's job. Hillary was the nominee. Did she not have a team?

[cstanleytech]

36. True it wasn't his job however unless he was rooting for Trump to win rather than her I would like

to think he would have had the common sense to at least try and give her a heads up and hopefully he did at least try to do that.

[hrmjustin]

44. Really? The vice president felt his party's nominee was not going to win key states but he kept his

mouth shut because it wasn't his job?

[WinkyDink]

57. Team HRC/Mook IGNORED BILL CLINTON, and you think they might

have heeded ANYTHING Biden might have opined ON THE EXACT SAME ISSUE?!

Right.

And yes, once it was decided that, unlike usual political practice, the sitting Vice-President was basically told not to run so that we'd see history made, all bets were off.

[hrmjustin]

58. Maybe, maybe not. My point here is his point is rather self serving.

If it were me I would have made a point of being paid attention to.

[Jakes Progress]

91. Ah. More RT media info.

[Nevernose]

165. It's from the book Shattered

It's based on interviews with people in the know -- people like Bill and Hillary Clinton. It's not a Russia propaganda accusation, it's Bill's opinion that his advice wasn't taken.

[George II]

123. "told not to run"? Even today he speaks about his reasons for not running, and....

...."being told not to run" isn't among them.

[StevieM]

135. I think HRC's huge lead in the polls over him probably played a much bigger factor in his decision

not to run.

If Biden was polling at 60, with HRC at 10, at the start of 2015 I can assure you he would have been in the race.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

154. Ignore the Big Dog's advice at your own peril... the "Big Dog" bein Bernie!

Bernie & Elizabeth 2020!!!

[Skittles]

110. he is mansplaining after the fact

isn't that special

[bettyellen]

126. They can't help themselves, can they? And no awareness of how petty and bitter they sound....

It blows my mind that some people think this is being helpful. It makes him look small.

[Skittles]

136. he has never been a favorite of mine

and lately he shows me why, more and more

[bettyellen]

137. Yeah, it's tempting to forgive him about the Thomas hearings becasue he's so popular

But so many people hated HRC for Wall St and loved him even though he's had such deep ties to credit card companies. The rules are different for women.

[Skittles]

142. yes

no one called Biden a credit whore

[phleshdef]

168. You can't defend her poor campaign, so you have to drop sexist buzz words without meaning.

He isn't mansplaining shit. He is telling the truth. She lost the EC to Donald fucking Trump. Thats embarrassing and never would have happened with a competent campaign.

[hamsterjill]

65. Yes, and he was part of that team.

He was out stumping for her, at least.

[yurbud]

67. Bernie worked harder for Hillary than Joe did.

[George II]

75. Not even close.

[Trial_By_Fire]

138. What was the Sanders-Biden final score on who supporter clinton the most?

[George II]

143. Who cares?

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

158. I do... no one worked harder on the Clinton campaign than Bernie.

[George II]

164. Simply not true, no sense arguing it with you at this time.

Last edited Mon Jun 12, 2017, 02:37 PM - Edit history (1)

But here's an article from the Washington Post published on September 5, 2016.

Reminder, the Democratic National Convention ended Thursday, July 28. September 5 was 39 days later.

Edit: sorry, forgot the link:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/09/05/bernie-sanders-is-finally-campaigning-for-hillary-clinton-but-does-she-even-need-him/?utm_term=.06bcd952eaab

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

157. That's fo sho! Yet Bernie's still the subject of scorn around here... go figure!

[yurbud]

163. He's trying a save drowning party that keeps pushing him away

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

152. Apparently not... though $2 Billion in campaign contributions got eaten up...

That's alotta dough... who knows where that $$$ went!!

[karynnj]

74. The article does not say either that he did or he didn't

Not to mention, it was an opinion - not necessarily fact. All he could have told anyone was that he was concerned and stated why. He had LESS information coming in to him than the campaign had. From some accounts, they discounted the concerns of people on the ground. Not to mention, there have been many accounts that Bill Clinton had the same sense.

Not to mention, I bet if someone had posted an are you concerned threat a few weeks before the election - very few would have predicted that she could lose a big chunk of the rust belt. I suspect that if there were one now - many might say they were quietly concerned. Some really did -- others maybe saw it only after it happened.

I know of my friends and family, only one was distinctly negative and her large family originally came from Pennsylvania. She was shocked at the number of Trump signs she saw when she returned for a family reunion.

[Trial_By_Fire]

139. No need - Clinton was the most qualified person ever and forever to run for the presidency...

[hrmjustin]

140. She is highly qualified! we all voted for her on DU.

And my point still stands.

[pnwmom]

2. He's full of himself. Hasn't changed much since the Anita Hill hearings. n/t

[Jakes Progress]

12. Women who love some Biden

need to remember (or learn) of his actions during the Anita Hill hearings.

[LisaM]

35. This is so unnecessary.

Why doesn't he talk about how he knew Comey's actions would hurt her?

[karynnj]

88. A more interesting question would be what discussions he and others including Obama had on

whether HRC's actions on email were damaging her too much. the story broke out in public in March 2015. I assume that people in the Obama team knew even earlier that there was a problem there.

[Jakes Progress]

92. Just stop it.

You don't know what any of these people said or think. If Obama thought Hillary was a bad candidate and supported her, then he would be one of the worst politicos of all time. I think he knew Joe and he knew Hillary. Joe was good for a laugh and sitting in a some dinners not for leading the free world. He knew Hillary could be counted on to know what was going on in the world and do the job needed. The mail is a RT and RW propaganda piece that seemed to work successfully even with some who consider themselves Democrats. Give it up.

[karynnj]

104. The email problem was not an rt or rw propaganda piece - though the right used it

Clinton retained all her work email even though it should have been archived. Before she left, there were already FOIA and Congressional requests for email relating to certain event. Whether you like it or not, Congress and the media had a right to demand those emails. All of this is fact and did not originate as either RW or RT nonsense. Congressmen repeatedly asked Kerry and any other State Department person who appeared before them when they would get them.

You note that I don't know what any of these people said -- and you might note I did not say I did. I also suspect that Hillary was not as good or Biden as bad as you suggest as potential Presidents. Biden had outstanding foreign policy credentials and was as respected internationally as Clinton was. I would agree that Clinton likely had a better chance of winning the nomination. I also think that a race with both Biden and Clinton in it would have been a very nasty race.

[onetexan]

64. Joe is angling for a 2020 run

He will be too old. I have a feeling Bernie Sanders & Elizabeth Warren are as well.

[Freddie]

130. Completely agree!

Joe, Bernie, Elizabeth- great people but NO!! Dems win with a young exciting candidate. Like JFK, Obama, Bill Clinton in 1992, all under 50. Please can't we run someone at least under 60 next time?

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

153. 80 is the new 60... it's Bernie's turn.

Bernie & Elizabeth 2020!!!

[StevieM]

4. Hillary campaigned furiously in Pennsylvania and her ads were everywhere.

As for Wisconsin and Michigan, her lead in those states led Donald Trump to pull down his ads and focus his efforts elsewhere.

Comey's October Surprise dramatically altered the state of the race. Had it not been for that illegitimate action HRC would have won the states that Biden says he knew she would lose.

[pnwmom]

19. +1000. n/t

[FloridaBlues]

103. Agree Steve m she campaigned a lot in penn the last 3 weeks everything converged

And not for the better she had toooo many hits to late to recove
Joe speak for yourself she stood by she needed jos help not complaints

[FrodosNewPet]

109. Bernie won Michigan in the primaries

Michigan is a contrarian state which loves to throw monkey wrenches into the processes of establishment candidates.

Re: Bush/McCain 2000.

[JaneQPublic]

5. Predictions announced after the fact don't mean squat NT

[NurseJackie]

6. Yes. Thank you.

[lunamagica]

10. Exactly!

[WhiskeyGrinder]

11. This.

[melman]

26. And just how do you suppose a prediction like that would have been received beforehand?

[Lurks Often]

56. At best it would have been ignored, at worst

the person posting it would have been mocked, insulted and even alert swarmed. DU was not willing to listen to ANYTHING negative about HRC. The proof is in the responses in this thread to what Biden said.

And before people accuse me of being a Bernie supporter, I never thought Sanders could win the general election.

[NastyRiffraff]

83. Precisely

And hello to a fellow Marylander!

[delisen]

7. Thepolitical world as Biden knew it ended with 2016 election cycle.

As things stand now any entity in the world with enough money and intent plus some insider cooperation can decide the US president and legislators.

We have arrived at the global village. It is tempting to want to keep seeing the world we knew but then we may as well join the Flat Earth Society.

[padfun]

17. I'm afraid that you are right.

It's a different world, and will change even more and quickly over the next few years.

[lunasun]

23. Agree

[harun]

149. +1, Different world now.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

8. Running his mouth at the E2 Summit? Boy bye.

[JHan]

32. lol

[Jakes Progress]

9. Hosted by mitt romney?

I think that tells us what we need to know.

I kind of feel sorry for the old guy. I hope Obama gets in touch and has a nice heart to heart with Biden. He deserves a better ending than this bitterness.

[bettyellen]

34. Funny no one asks if Joe was paid to be there- or if it was just a favor. HRC goes to a funeral and

The knives came out. Double standards abound.

[suffragette]

42. Apparently Biden encouraged Romney to run for Senate while there

http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/10/politics/joe-biden-mitt-romney-senate-run/index.html

Biden spoke at Romney's ideas summit, an annual gathering of donors and business leaders in Utah.
During a private event Friday night in Park City, Biden called Romney a man of integrity and said he should mount a challenge next year, according to two people in the room.
"By the way, you should run for Senate," one attendee quoted Biden as saying. The comment was quick and off-hand, but the crowd of Romney loyalists appreciated it and applauded.

[lunamagica]

13. I don't think that someone who plagiazes can be a "great candidate"

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

155. I don't think that someone who plagiazes can be a "great candidate"...

Does this mean I'm now disqualified?!?!

(Sorry I plagiazes what you wrote.)

[bucolic_frolic]

14. Election Eve in Philadelphia

you could see the somber mood of President Obama, the fear of Michelle Obama, in the
speeches they gave at Independence Hall. They knew.

I don't know what Joe Biden is doing at a conference hosted by Mitt Romney, but if left and
right patriots want to unite to oppose Trump and authoritarianism, we really have no choice.

[helpisontheway]

16. No one needs to join with Mitt Romney..Please

Romney was ready to forget about what a horrible person Trump is when he thought he was being considered for Secretary of State. He was licking Trumps butt crack for the opportunity. He would still be doing the same if Trump offered him a job. You don't see Kasich kissing up to him for a job.

[Beartracks]

22. "You don't see Kasich kissing up to him for a job." Word. n/t

[Freddie]

131. Kasich is an Asshole regardless

I might have a little respect for him if he regarded women as anything more than breeders

[BeyondGeography]

20. Here's some back-up for that

“I’m having fun,” he told me. But, thanks in part to James Comey, the F.B.I. director, and his letter to Congress announcing that he would investigate Clinton’s e-mails again, the race tightened considerably in its final week. When Obama wandered down the aisle of Air Force One, I asked him, “Do you feel confident about Tuesday?”

“Nope,” he said.

But then, in Obamian fashion, he delved into a methodical discussion of polling models and, finally, landed on a more tempered and upbeat version of “nope.” He was “cautiously optimistic.”

https://www.google.com/amp/www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/11/28/obama-reckons-with-a-trump-presidency/amp

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

55. A lot of people knew

I know a lot of people who worked on the Clinton campaign and by January of last year a lot of them knew there was a problem, she just wasn't communicating where she needed too. By summer they were extremely concerned and by early October were resigned to the fact they were in serious trouble. Meanwhile Clinton and the Mandarins thought that they could win in Texas by reminding people that Trump was a lewd oaf, you know the very public persona that Trump himself spent thirty years honing.

[Blindingly apparent]

95. I was one of them

I hoped, prayed, and campaigned for her like I was wrong. And I did feel that she was the only qualified candidate candidate but I knew that she would never be elected

[R B Garr]

15. lol, again?! Work it!

[sheshe2]

70. Yup...

Shocked, shocked I am to see the Op once again...

[sandensea]

21. For once, I disagree with Joe Biden.

He should know by know that those battleground states - enough of them, anyway - were hacked, flipped, and stolen by Vlad's boys.

[LenaBaby61]

113. VP Biden doesn't seem to grasp your statement unfortunately....

"He should know by know that those battleground states - enough of them, anyway - were hacked, flipped, and stolen by Vlad's boys.

You know, you have DEMS--not just VP Biden--who still say that Hillary didn't communicate well enough, or that she didn't campaign enough in certain places, or that she was not a great candidate (tRump WAS ).

But, what these people don't seem to still grasp or UNDERSTAND, is that this election was in no way NORMAL, because you had MASSIVE, and I mean MASSIVE amounts of voter suppression that miraculously happed across *key* states that tRumputin HAD to win in order to get the White House, and you also had ruskie INTERFERENCE (Which has never happened ever in our nation's history) which we now know was WORSE than first thought. Just to double back a bit, you also still have some Bernie voters saying that Bernie would have wiped the floor with tRumputin. So, I guess those folks think that Bernie would have been immune to ruskie interference (Like I said, has never happened before) AND all of those massive amounts of Dem voter-suppression (Crosschecking, voter-purging) that happened across the same *key* states BERNIE would have had to have won if he were going to be president.

I wonder if or when Dems will realize that the GOP's voter suppression efforts will be worse in 2018? They don't seem to because I see FEW of them talking about it, and now that the ruskies have the lay of the land and know WHO and WHAT to meddle WITH as it relates to Dems, who knows what KIND of cheating, flipping or cyber-hacking they'll be doing to or with our out-dated, vulnerable voting machines with a guy THEY installed into the presidency who doesn't CARE (For obvious reasons--he's owned by putin) that they're still meddling with/in our elections.

Dems are in for a rude awakening if they don't at least put voter-suppression and ruskie interference in their cross hairs out there in the media and talk about it immediately. It won't matter how many Dems come out to vote--we can come out and vote in record numbers. But, if we're cross-checked, voter-purged, and voter I'd (Per Scott Walker's new voter ID law in WI.) and ruskie whatever OFF of Dem voting rolls on steroids in 2018 and in 2020, then all is lost. We see that thuglicans only care about they power they'll have in inflicting their murderous agenda onto us as in killing 24 million people who'll lose their health care, and that party-first, power-hungry bunch has NO fucks to give about anybody BUT themselves.

Instead of VP Biden continuing to run down Hillary Clinton who was CHEATED out of this presidency, he needs to start talking more about some of the reasons she LOST to treasonous tRumputin.

[sandensea]

114. I hear you.

Hillary is not the world's most charismatic politician (charisma being so important among the electorate anywhere in the world), and this may have made the election closer than it should have been.

My belief, though, is that her REAL burden as far as her public image, was the relentless, non-stop smear campaign waged against her and her husband - but particularly her - over the last 25 years.

Right-wing media, hate radio, and to some extent mainstream media, threw everything AND the kitchen sink at her - accusing her of everything from corruption, to lesbianism (a crime in the eyes of many), dementia, treason, and of course murder.

Try as anyone might, that has to have an effect on all but her staunchest supporters after a while. That, to me, is the main reason it was close enough for Putin to steal it to begin with. Not the only reason, mind you; but the principal one.

[milestogo]

24. One gaffe after another, that's our Joe.

He should retire from public speaking.

[blue cat]

25. If he runs

He has lost my vote.

[Me.]

27. UpShut Already Joe

He goes to an event full of Cons and Romney allies, urges a Con to run for Senate and steps all over the Dem nominee for prez, who by the way rec'd 3 mil more votes and was the 1st woman candidate to get that far, though a world of men made sure she didn't get the office. I have lost all respect for him and his 'I could've won' pity party.

[Mike Nelson]

28. Well...

...he should know bad Presidential candidates first hand... just sayin'...

[Lil Missy]

29. Thanks Joe. Now you're a jackass. n/t

[LisaL]

30. If he thought he was a great candidate, why didn't he run?

What is the point of this complaining now?

[bettyellen]

31. Divisive bullshit, the press still loves to get Dems to eat their own.

And some dudes are all too happy to comply.

I'm disgusted. What about some unity, dudes?

[regnaD kciN]

33. So, now Joe Biden has joined Bernie Sanders as a DU Unperson?

[pnwmom]

39. When he's bragging about what a great candidate he would have been

compared to HRC, yes.

[Plucketeer]

43. LOL - yeah

Just how badly do those big bus tires hurt???

[melman]

49. Of course

Many here find any criticism of the 2016 campaign or candidate absolutely intolerable. They still refuse to even consider that anything could have been done better. It's crazy.

[QC]

59. Why have only one Emmanuel Goldstein when you can have a whole crew? n/t

[treestar]

146. Even Bernie didn't say anything like this

That I can recall.

[Ms. Toad]

37. Three thoughts:

This is a legitimate concern
The way Biden is choosing to raise the concern is not appropriate or productive
Democrats who continue to react defensively and look everywhere BUT in the mirror do so at our own peril.

That doesn't mean that there wasn't deliberate intereference that ultimately tipped the election to Trump - but if the margin in those states hadn't been razor thin in the first place, the interference wouldn't have tipped the scales. We need to do some non-defensive introspection about why - with a blatantly unqualified buffoon like Trump - it was even a close call.

[Justice]

40. Very well said. Biden is not raising in a constructive way, even if concern is valid

[pnwmom]

41. Voter suppression made a big difference. And Russian micro-targeting

of voters from their stolen registration files also affected the election.

[Ms. Toad]

87. I'm not disageeing with that.

What bothers me is the knee-jerk reaction to point everywhere but internally.

This election should not have been close enough for any of that to tip the balance. They were running a bigoted lying moron who should not have garnered more than 10% of the vote, and that's being generous. The fact that it was close enough for that to matter indicates we need to do some introspection about why it was close enough to be disrupted by these tactics. That isn't going to happen as long as the kneejerk response whenever it is brought up is, "It's their fault."

[pnwmom]

90. The problem is that the country is divided so sharply on partisan lines

that 40%+ would vote for Frankenstein's monster if he were running as an R.

And basically that's what happened.

[treestar]

147. It was a fluke

Misogyny also played a part. No reason to blame ourselves.

And Donald getting every single swing state is highly suspicious. How did he luck out like that?

Blaming ourselves is stupid at this point. Republicans are known cheaters who will do anything for power.

[Ms. Toad]

150. That same reasoning is why I have students wbo repeatedly fail the the bar exam

By 1-5 points, while others who failed by the same margin pass by 40+ points on the second attempt.

The former blame the test, or the graders, change nothing, and are still so close to the edge that when a grader inevitably gives them a slightly lower score than they deserve, they wind up again, over and​ over failing by a razor thin margin.

The latter may be just as mad at being cheated out of getting their law license.by a rogue grader, but apply some introspection to change what they are doing so that they are not close enough to failing for a rogue grader to make difference.

We can blame the Republicans, or the Russians, do nothing, and​ the fluke will happen again, and again, or we can do a bit of introspection and change the margin so it can't.

[treestar]

159. Analogy is not good though

One individual can study harder. And the bar examiners don't cheat. We need to find a way around Republican cheating rather than see how we can change ourselves to accommodate their cheating.

[Ms. Toad]

161. Whooosh

As long as we refuse to examine our role in why the margin was close enough for Republican cheating to make a difference, the margin will always be close enough for a fluke win by the Republicans.

The Republicans didn't create the razor thin margin they took advantage of all by themselves - there is no way trump should have been close enough to win by cheating (just as there is no way my students should have been close enough to failing for a bad grader to make the difference). Voters in who voted for Obama voted for Trump, Stein, or stayed home this time. Until we examine why that happened and fix the things under our control, we risk repeatedly losing elections when Republicans who are able to make small shifts by cheating.

[treestar]

162. Voter turnout

Like that ad that Hillary had that unfortunately predicted reality, people thought she had it and so didn't bother to vote.

The polls should no longer be used to predict or feel safe on. Pollsters should be out of a job. Like Brexit, and what just happened with Theresa May, never ever again trust a poll. That's what we learned.

[Ms. Toad]

166. That's a start on the kind of intrspection I'm talking about.

Look at what went wrong:

* Polls aren't accurate - don't let up on the GOTV efforts, no matter how far ahead we appear to be.
* A second, related one, is that we need to stop fooling ourselves that voter ID laws don't hit hardest on a selected class of voters who tend to vote for Democrats. We're making progress on that front from a few years ago, but even this election season I still had numerous arguments with folks on DU who insisted that everyone could get the proper ID if they just worked hard enough, so it wasn't a battle worth fighting. Wisconsin proves that wrong (https://www.thenation.com/article/wisconsins-voter-id-law-suppressed-200000-votes-trump-won-by-23000/) We should have been fighting harder (both to identify and assist in getting voter IDs to people who are strugging, documenting the actual cost (time, $, travel) and who it impacts, both to build a legal case against those laws - and to explain to congress critters why it really is discriminatory so they don't pass them in the first place)

I'm sure there is a lot more to be learned if we're willing to dig deeper - what I'm reacting to is that we are so justifiably angry at the dirty tricks that instead of stopping to ask what we could have done to avoid being in the position where dirty tricks could succeed we're just yelling that it wasn't our fault. That's a recipe for repeating the same disaster again every election cycle.

[mountain grammy]

53. Well said.

[zentrum]

69. Yes. Valid content. Unconstructive form. nt

[Ligyron]

82. plus 1

" but if the margin in those states hadn't been razor thin in the first place"

exactly

[riderinthestorm]

96. Agreed 100%. nt

[jalan48]

38. Keep it up Joe. You will get 86'd from DU!

[zentrum]

46. How true.

We are not allowed to do an honest assessment of errors that were made. Comey and the Russians do not negate the need for this assessment.

I agree with Joe. That said, will never forgive him for Anita Hill (because, among other things, it did serious damage to the country via Thomas) and it's really not okay that he's being hosted by Mitt.

[RockCreek]

45. He did well as Obama's VP

Now that he is cut loose from Obama and on his own, he proves again and again why he was a rotten presidential candidate before he was Obama's VP.

[politicat]

47. Joe, with all due respect: How is this helping matters now?

It actually doesn't help from a donor perspective: Why would I give many thousands of dollars to a party that badmouths their own, doesn't cooperate, and doesn't fight the fight in front of us? It's not that I'd turn to the other party, but there are many other places I can put my money where I can see it doing good and achieving the goals I want.

I know there's someone at DNC/DSCC who thinks that the way to motivate voters and donors is to depress us and make us feel like everything is futile and we will always lose. I do not know why or how this idea has come into ascendency, but it's there, every election cycle. I don't know if it's causal or just correlational, but I'm pretty sure it's not moving forward.

So please, Mr Biden and everyone else in the leadership: Please, look forward. The next step matters, not the ones behind us.

[Afromania]

48. Biden needs to go somewhere and find his chill.

What's going on with some of the old guard taking up this strange position of knocking down Clinton/existing Democratic party? This isn't helping anybody, nobody at all.

[50 Shades Of Blue]

50. Put a sock in it, Joe! You are NOT helping! And what in the fuck are you doing

at a Mitt Romney conference?!

[DeminPennswoods]

51. We should admit that a lot of people

just did not like Hillary for many different reasons, including the 40 yr campaign by the rw against her and Bill, and weren't going to vote for her regardless. She just wasn't warm and fuzzy like Bill and Biden and other glad-handing, baby-kissing pols. It wasn't, and isn't, her style.

If I were to make a criticism of her campaign it would be that instead of big rallies, she'd have done like she did when she ran for senator and had a series of small group "listening events" instead of just concentrating on TV ads and GOTV in urban areas. I think she'd have won over a great many undecided/reluctant voters if they'd had the chance to talk to her in small group settings.

[NastyRiffraff]

84. Actually she did town halls

She's known to shy away from rallies, although she held some. You're correct that she's better at small group more intimate settings, but she did hold quite a few during the campaign.

[DeminPennswoods]

86. Even smaller than town halls

is what I think. If she'd have gone to the local civic club (Lions, Rotary, Kiwanas, etc) or local American Legion Post and with minimal fanfare/staff/security/etc, I think that would have helped her a lot even if it was only to meet 20 people or so.

But her election wasn't to be, so really no use beating it to death.

[JI7]

99. it was mostly white people and mainly white men who did not like her

And that had nothing to do with kissing babies which she was just fine with.

[DeminPennswoods]

106. Believe what you want,

but Hillary simply wasn't as comfortable campaigning in the same style as Bill, Biden, and the charismatic pols. Her true personality just didn't come across well.

[JI7]

107. I'm pretty sure the reason white men did not support her had nothing to do with kissing babies

Since they voted for trump.

And she is liked just fine by large majoroties of non white people.

She did better than Biden and got higher percentage of voters than bill Clinton.

[Guilded Lilly]

52. I REALLY wish he wouldn't go there. It serves absolutely NO...

Purpose. none.
I like Biden a lot.
I am still with Hillary ...even though it won't change the hellhole nightmare we are suffering with this illegitimately elected malignant waste of human flesh Cretin. What's done is done.

This is just pointless.

[erpowers]

54. She Won the Nomination; He Did Not

It should be pointed out that Joe Biden has, up to this point, never been able to win a Democratic Presidential nomination. Hillary Clinton won the nomination. It is funny when candidates who could not win their party's nomination think they would have made great candidates. It is hard to be a great candidate when you cannot convince your own party to make you their nominee. How close has Joe Biden ever come to winning the Democratic Presidential nomination? In two tries Hillary Clinton came in second the first time and first the second time. Has Joe Biden ever been able to stay in a primary fight for more than a few months?

[LenaBaby61]

60. Hold on, did VP Biden ....

KNOW about all of the GOP-lead voter-crosschecking and voter-purging that was going to happen in MI., WI., AZ, NC and his own state of PA. which removed HUNDREDS of thousands of Dems off of voting rolls in various ways and and he didn't say or DO anything about it well BEFORE the 2016 elections, and from all I know he's still never bothered to say not ONE word about it with HIM as VP, and with Pres. Obama as President.



Crosscheck Removed 450K Voters in MI, 270 K in AZ and 590 K in NC!!

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/11/14/1599330/-Crosscheck-Removed-450K-Voters-in-MI-270-K-in-AZ-and-590-K-in-NC

Also, what is or has VP Biden said & done about voter-suppression as a "loyal" Dem with the 2018 mid-terms around the corner under THIS DOJ/climate which will be OFF THE CHAIN, and where we KNOW the ruskies will be "invited" to use "NEW AND IMPROVED" meddling techniques since tRump's boss putin seems to have just as much say so as Dems do into this country's elections.

VP Biden, the ball is in your court--what are you going to do as a "loyal" Dem to stop GOP-lead voter-suppression & when are you going to comment about ruskie interference/meddling into one of our most sacred institutions, voting

[QC]

61. Meanie!!! n/t

[dalton99a]

63. Aren't there any Democrats he can hang out with?

[hamsterjill]

66. This kind of shit, even if it IS from Joe, is not productive

It's divisive and it needs to stop.

[yurbud]

68. Unless he is saying he would have won because he's a man, there aint much difference

between the two of them.

and that difference in original equipment wouldn't have made any difference to people who looked at their records.

[George II]

71. I knew the Cubs would win the World Series back in October last year.

[NurseJackie]

76. And just how do you suppose a prediction like that would have been received beforehand?

[n2doc]

73. Joe has a special superpower!

[Kleveland]

77. I love 'em both, but...

I think that was one of those Biden foot-in-mouth moments.

What is the point?

BTW, fuck Trump!

[SticksnStones]

79. Oh Uncle Joe, say it ain't so...

You've turned into another cranky old white dude.

Don't do this to your legacy, uncle Joe...it was a fine career, leave them wanting more ~

[BainsBane]

80. So much for democracy

The continual contempt for the votes of Americans is astounding. What exactly is the proposed remedy? To strip away out voting rights so that only the chosen people get to cast a vote for nominee? should we make it so only white men of means can vote so that that inferior candidates who represent the inferior peoples of America are excluded from power? But then, without we inferior Clinton voters, the women and people of color who ARE the Democratic base, there would be no Democrats in office anywhere.

Biden ran for president twice and did very badly both times. The first time he dropped out after charges of plagiarism surfaced. The second time he didn't make it past Iowa. As much as he thinks Hillary wasn't good enough, she proved herself a far more successful candidate than he ever was. Biden is no oracle of wisdom on his subject. Comments like this show exactly why.

The primary was over a year ago. Move on already. The sour grapes are unseemly.

[obnoxiousdrunk]

105. +1. N/t

[JHan]

132. same fucking double standard.. all over again and again and again.. what did we hear last year?

- that Hillary shouldn't run a second time, and she's only running because she felt entitled - yet here is Joe, who had a horrid run in 88, and couldn't even get a decent number of delegates or come anywhere to making either Obama or Clinton sweat dropping talk against a woman who nearly beat one of the most charismatic politicians in the democratic party in the 08 primary, handily beat her opponents in 2016 and won the popular vote in the GE.

Too damn ridiculous and he says this at a fucking republican summit.

[treestar]

148. [phone]

[UT_democrat]

85. should've mentioned it

Bro

[murielm99]

89. Why post this divisive BS?

If I had posted something critical of Bernie, you would be all over it.

Biden needs to go home and sit down. Rest his mouth for a bit.

[brer cat]

108. +1 nt

[obamanut2012]

116. You know why

And, agree about Biden, too. He needs to stfu and quit mansplaining.

[Omaha Steve]

119. Sanders stumps for Mello in Omaha, stirs national debate about definition of a progressive (Apr 20)

Any idea who posted this in LBN: https://www.democraticunderground.com/10141757721

Both are LBN. Both have controversy over national D's. Sanders and Joe were cast in a bad light. Joe is at the E2 Summit (and also tells Rmoney to run for US Senate in Utah) is LBN.

I don't see a single complaint for posting the Mello story from anybody!!!

OS

[murielm99]

120. This post makes no sense to me.

I don't understand how Mello came to be in this conversation.

[Omaha Steve]

124. It was just as divisive a post about D's in LBN and nobody complained about it

[murielm99]

125. So you agree that your post was divisive

and should not have been brought here!

[Omaha Steve]

127. Going by the Statement of Purpose it is LBN!

Unless we are going to censor LBN based on this story is not kind to a D, everything else is fine.

And the most read LBN op for the last few days. Second most read in the last week when considering it is less than 30 hours old.

Again strange how nobody complained when the Mello post put Bernie in a bad light, but this did!

Where does it not fit the Statement of Purpose?

Latest Breaking News (Forum): About This Forum
Statement of Purpose

Post the latest news from reputable mainstream news websites and blogs. Important news of national interest only. No analysis or opinion pieces. No duplicates. News stories must have been published within the last 12 hours. Use the published title of the story as the title of the discussion thread.

[murielm99]

128. Thanks for pointing out the rules to me, Steve.

I am putting you on ignore. Your ranting gets old after awhile.

[INdemo]

97. Give it a rest Joe..no you would not have been a good candidate

We need a new/the next generation to take over our Party with fresh leadership in every Branch.

[Skittles]

100. sick of hearing crap from him

ENOUGH ALREADY

[Kleveland]

101. Apparently, this is a divisive and non-productive thread.

Deal

Move forward.

[lapucelle]

102. Biden's remarks were made during a closed door session.

I'd love to see a transcript.

I wonder what Biden was doing at the E2 summit.

[LovingA2andMI]

111. Well, sometimes....

The Truth Hurts and Even If V.P. Biden would have said this in a room full of Democrats, it would have been those who STILL would have disagreed.

Say what you want Joe, wherever you want to say it.

[YOHABLO]

112. This is a rehash of 2016 .. I thought we declared this mute.

[Lady_Chat]

115. Think Joe is losing it, did he forget he lost 2 presidential primaries?

TO be blunt, Joe was given a gift of the vice presidency, he didn't do it on his own. And while I think Joe is basically a decent man, and I admire the way he has handled
the tragedies in his family, I'm really disappointed in his attitude. Kicking your candidate when she's down, accomplishes what? Alot of women in the Womens March,
backed Hillary, and I dont think they appreciate him trashing her. Saying he would have beat Trump? Yesterday if I had bet on Tapwrit in the Belmont Stakes, I would
have won a bundle, but I didn't..should of, could of , would of, but didn't, so stick to what is, Joe.

I'm also surprised at Joe for backing Romney. He couldn't find a Democrat to back? You know, sometimes you'll see McCain or Lindsey Graham going after Trump, but make no
mistake, republicans will always put party over country and Romney is no different.

Hindsight is always 20/20, but there is a lot that really troubles me about the 2016 election. And that's what I wish Joe would have spoken about.
Between being the 1st woman to run, Comey, the Russians, her being to "ill" to run, the endless phony investigations that went nowhere, then, there were the polls...I still
don't understand how they could have been that far off. Trump lost the Popular vote by over 3 million votes, even lost his own home state.
Something just doesn't add up.

Alot of people say, oh if we had more "progressive" candidates, but look what happened there..Russ Feingold lost in Wisconsin, Jason Kander lost in Missouri,
and basically the same conservative republicans kept their seats in Congress, after they had about a 13% approval rating. Makes no sense.

I'm also done apologizing for losses, Gore and Kerry, two decent men, lost to Bush, that was the voters choice, and look what we got...hell on earth.
When people saw what they got, they turned around and gave Obama 2 terms.
There is still hope, but not if Democrats tear each other up and dwell on the past. Maybe Trump will do our work for us, he's so god awful,
but we can't count on that, so
better to take the states where she did well and the states where Sanders did well, find candidates, new faces, to put it together
and get the message out.
Lets see what happens in Georgia, and what we can learn from it.

[joeybee12]

117. Why? Was he privy to Russia hacking those states?

What an idiot he is.

[JTFrog]

122. +1 nt

[JTFrog]

121. Did he know about the Russians then?

I guess someone had to take over Better Believe It's daily bash and trash. Contributions such as these are oh so valuable these days.

[geek tragedy]

129. Biden is helping whom exactly with these comments? nt

[FreeStateDemocrat]

133. So Comey had nothing at all to do with her defeat? Just too dumb for words.

[StevieM]

134. This was definitely the FBI's election from beginning to end. (eom)

[kwassa]

141. Joe, you are not helping. STFU.

you are missing the limelight a little too much.

[treestar]

144. He should have run then

This is useless at this point.

[Tatiana]

145. Says the person who helped give us SCJ Clarence Thomas.

Sometimes it's just better to be quiet. What's done is done. If he cares about this country, he will fight along with the rest of us to fix this mess we're in.

[Freethinker65]

151. STOP

[Chemisse]

156. He needs to shut up.

I've always liked Joe, but this doesn't help anything, except perhaps for his ego.

It's time to look forward.

[apcalc]

160. Sit down , Joe. You couldn't have beaten HRC.

Go home to Delaware, you are not helping.

[Azathoth]

167. I didn't think she was a great candidate either, but these quotes sound like they're being distorted

Especially the "I never thought she was a great candidate. I thought I was a great candidate" line, which sounds to me like an obvious, self-deprecating joke that has been stripped of its humorous inflection.

The truth is that a lot of politicos saw, or at least intuitively suspected, how bad Hillary's campaign was doing in the rust belt, and most would have been sounding the alarm if she had been running against a credible opponent like Kasich. But no one seriously believed Trump would win. It just was unthinkable, the kind of thing that simply doesn't happen in a civilized society with norms and boundaries.