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Congratulations to our presumptive Democratic nominee, Joe Biden!
Democratic Primaries
In reply to the discussion: Biden's record - video from C-span - Anyone think this is a good thing? [View all]thesquanderer
(11,954 posts)48. Sanders did not vote for the bill Biden is discussing in the OP.
He couldn't, he wasn't in the Senate then. There was a crime bill in the House that year, but Sanders voted against it. So you should "check the facts before squandering any credible argument."
But in the bigger picture, I am talking about their entire perspectives. Listen to what Biden said in that clip, talking about his own, 1991, wholeheartedly supported bill:
the Biden crime bill {that} is before us calls for the death penalty for 51 offenses...A wag in the newspaper recently wrote something to the effect that Biden has made a death penalty offense for everything but jaywalking...I am a supporter of the death penalty. I am a supporter of the death penalty without the racial justice provision in it. I think it's better with it, but I'm a supporter without it in it as well."
That's what I was talking about. You've never heard something like that from Sanders, not even in 1991. Positions and philosophical statements, not just votes. Votes can involve compromise, you vote for things that include thing you don't agree with to get the things you do. But then listen to them speak about what they agree with and what they don't. That's where Sanders has been far more consistent than Biden over the years.
So while Sanders didn't vote on that 1991 Biden bill, you're probably thinking about the later 1994 crime bill, which both Sanders and Biden voted for. But the two of them still had different perspectives. Again, Biden supported it wholeheartedly... the Senate version was actually called the Biden-Hatch crime bill. Sanders, OTOH, voted for it with major reservations. There were things he liked (he's spoken about the Violence Against Women provisions), but things he spoke against even as he voted for it, including voting for an amendment to take the death penalty out of it. Ignore the obnoxious background music, this video makes the point, comparing how the two of them discussed the 1994 bill as it was happening... one thinking it was a great bill with his name on it, the other speaking against it despite ultimately voting for it as a difficult compromise. Virtually all of what Bernie said, he'd say today. I assume/hope that's not true of Biden.
If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
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Biden's record - video from C-span - Anyone think this is a good thing? [View all]
bloom
May 2019
OP
28 years ago! Enough said. Tell the youngsters who think they'd done differently while in the womb
hlthe2b
May 2019
#1
re: "The bad politicos are those who don't change their positions and evolve."
thesquanderer
May 2019
#8
Easy to say-actually disingenuous 28 yr. later. It was a different time with different issues.
hlthe2b
May 2019
#14
Utterly ridiculous as you defend Sander's identical vote and Warren was a Republican at the time
hlthe2b
May 2019
#35
Yeah, keep digging. With supporters like you feebly attacking her opponents, Warren needs...
hlthe2b
May 2019
#46
Well, there are candidates who have never expressed regret for their Iraq intervention votes.
ehrnst
May 2019
#82
Actually - your post favors Bernie. He appears quite a bit more thoughtful in comparison
bloom
May 2019
#11
I didn't say that (throwing black men under) - he just seems to be weighing the pros and cons better
bloom
May 2019
#22
Important comment. The communities most affected were demanding stronger law
emmaverybo
May 2019
#45
Okay... but why weren't DU'ers and others attacking Biden b4 he got in the race..knowing he would
Thekaspervote
May 2019
#55
as the senator preferred to call it (as recently as 2015), the "1994 Biden Crime Bill."
bloom
May 2019
#31
No, I don't think Sanders or Biden voting for the crime bill was a good thing.
WeekiWater
May 2019
#27
How you describe that makes Sanders vote against a pathway to citizenship...
WeekiWater
May 2019
#66
Sanders signed this as well. And this sort of thing makes me vow to never vote for your candidate in
Demsrule86
May 2019
#38
re: "this sort of thing makes me vow to never vote for your candidate in a primary"
thesquanderer
May 2019
#59
Oh but it is...supporters do influence what you think about their candidates.
Demsrule86
May 2019
#74
Yes...Years ago. And Warren Wiil not win the primary and would not beat Trump.
Demsrule86
May 2019
#36
I GET it and I have seen the documentary. You didn't read my comment though
themaguffin
May 2019
#50
Even in those years, there were LOTS of people against the death penalty.
thesquanderer
May 2019
#60