BritInParis

Is it so hard to believe? He'll be 78 at the next inauguration. Reagan was 77 when he finished his second term and was already notably in decline; five years later he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. You don't need to be a doctor to watch Biden struggling through multiple soft ball interviews, garbling his sentences to the point where the interviewers look embarrassed for him. You prefer him to Trump, sure, but be honest, is it Joe Biden as he is today or the idea of Biden and nostalgia for a pre-Trump America?

I'd be genuinely interested to know who you would have picked for the Democratic nominee.

civilservant

Mayor Pete. Mostly a centrist and a fresh face, very eloquent.

Democrats win when they nominate someone younger and hopeful. Obama, Clinton, Kennedy.

It's not about him, he's just the one that's been nominated. I'd vote for a steaming pile of vomit over Trump.

The only one that ran in the D primary that I would not have voted for was Sanders. He's Trump, just on the other pole.

Former Lancastrian

The Democrats could have nominated almost anything or anybody to run against Trump. Hell many pages ago I suggested an empty bag of Walkers Cheese & Onion crisps. If he wins in November then the Dems will be celebrating but if he loses then really its another Own Goal by them and didn't learn anything from 2016.

Giantaxe

I voted for Bloomberg. I think I should have voted for Buttigieg, but by the time my primary came along he was already a no-hoper. Can't say I'm happy it's Biden - I've never rated him - but I will be voting for him, of course.

BritInParis

I think that continues to be a good choice in retrospective. I'm not sure whether he'd go on to win but at least it would offer a genuine alternative and not just the diminishing returns of continuing to put up the same old faces.

What odds would you give Biden?

Anian

Replace the XXXXX with another candidate name and it makes just as much sense. Every failing that Biden has is at least twice as bad in the other candidate that you carefully avoid mentioning in your posts.

UkWinds5353

People are assuming that other Democrats could have beaten Trump and that's a very BIG assumption considering none of the other available options have been able to poll as well against Trump as Biden has consistently done so. Trump & Co had already done their internal polling and they pretty much knew who Trump could have beaten from all the other options including Bernie and Pete Buttigieg. Hence the reason why Trump and Rudy were attempting to blackmail Ukraine. It's not surprising why Trump didn't waste a minute of his time trying to manufacture dirt on the other Democrats. They don't have the same ability to appeal to Obama voters that gave Trump a chance in 2016. Even before the coronavirus outbreak became a issue, Biden was beating Trump with older voters that normally vote for conservatives. Obama is no fool he knew making Biden his VP gained him goodwill with certain demographics.

I'm grateful that Biden is willing to put himself and his family through the hell that comes with running for and becoming President. It often times can destroy the normalcy of a person's life and upset the balance of life for the people closest to the candidate. Eric Holder would have been a brilliant potential candidate but when he asked his family what they thought about the idea of him running they all said no way in hell would they want another four years of the life that goes along with the madness of American politics. So instead of criticizing Biden for his age I am thankful the old guy is willing to saddle up again. Trump has needed to file bankruptcy with most of his undertakings and honestly I think we were going to be next if he were to get another four years. Bernie Madoff has nothing on Trump in the con-artist department.

civilservant

And you're assuming Biden can beat Trump. That remains to be seen.

Don't get it wrong, I hope you're right, but I suspect we are heading for another popular vote/electoral college split. It'll be tight, but it would not shock me at all if Biden loses the way that it shocked me when I saw in the morning after the 2016 election that Trump had won.

This far out, it's a toss up. Trump should be toast, but he's broken pretty much every other political norm, so who knows?

I wouldn't bet against him with anything more real than hope.

Jerseygirl

yes it is a miserable state of affairs for both parties and for America if Biden and Trump are the best they can come up with. Biden certainly seems to have some sort of memory problem and Trump seems to have a mouth problem. IMO Biden would be best to lay low and let Trump talk himself out of office. The worst thing Biden could do is to debate Trump on live TV.

vespucci

Yes it's a miserable state, but we should be grateful as it could've been worse. Imagine if universities were free, or if everyone could go to the doctor and pay nothing, like the NHS, if Sanders were nominated! That would be horrific!

MMcD

Imagine....
John Lennon said sang it best

nain rouge

Actually, when you think about it, Donald IS a steaming pile of vomit.

Biden is not the the candidate I voted for in the primary. Any sort of comparison of Biden's and Donald's political abilities, however, is like comparing Harry Truman to Fransico Franco.

UkWinds5353

I can understand where you're coming from. And I appreciate your cautious and pragmatic thinking. Trump scares a lot of people with his loud bombastic behavior. But please be advised that is why he conducts himself so over the top. He handles every issue like a T.V. production studio in order to shock the senses and gain the attention of all those watching. And when his ploy doesn't work as planned he dumps that particular ploy and moves on to the next distraction. It's a form of throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks.

If you want to know where Trump stands in terms of his ability to win votes in 2020, look at the data involving all the elections he has gotten involved with since 2018, by him endorsing a candidate. There have been candidates he supported with every fiber of his being (including multiple trips to campaign for that person) and that candidate still lost if that campaign was held in a purple, blue and even in conservative districts. Trump's ability to win is successful in ultra conservative states and districts, full stop.

If Trump's association is so toxic that he can't win in conservative states(like Louisiana), what chance does he have to win over voters like you and I? The answer is zero. Never mistake an aggressive bombastic in your face person for an individual that is clever lucent and can articulate convincing politician speak. Trump is his own worse enemy and you can see that fact in his poll numbers with some of the key demographics that will decide this election this fall. Even if Trump tried to do a 180 degree turn and began to behave normally after 3 1/2 years of his insane behavior no one would be believe him. The dye unfortunately for him is baked in. Joe Biden has a lot of latitude for making mistakes right now because like a great many have said he is 1000 times better than Trump. But if Biden picks the right VP candidate that will make him teflon for this election cycle at least. Then he will have to perform and deliver to earn him keep.

I am not impressed by Trump's ability to win over voters, but his ability to come up with dirty tricks is a whole other matter. Tricks like the Ukraine blackmail attempt that failed so miserably. There will be a lot of distraction ploys in the coming months including a possible war with Iran. But the clock is tick tick ticking away!

Steerpike

Sanders being nominated would be only 1 step in a long process; he'd have to have been nominated, then win the presidential election, then get his policies through the Senate and House. I don't think he had a chance in hell of doing that, and that's why he didn't get nominated by his own party (well, not even 'his' party, but let's not worry about that!).

carcajou

The NHS is not "free." Even in places where universities are "free" they are not free. They are funded through public taxation. You pay, just not then and there. It never stops staggering me how many people on this site don't understand that. I've been through the maths on this site numerous times if how much worse off financially a substantial majority of Americans would be by switching to "free" (ha!) health care. Most Americans know how to use a calculator and could figure that out. Sanders is every bit the unelectable, dead end rabbit hole that Corbyn was.