Tag Archives: Joe Biden

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Democratic establishment gets its act together

Both major political parties have “establishment” wings.

The Republican establishment, sadly, has been co-opted and corrupted by Donald J. Trump and his fanatic base, the bloc of voters who think it’s OK to lie incessantly, to hurl insults and innuendo and to mock those with whom they disagree.

The Democratic establishment is being challenged by the far-left “progressive” wing of its party seeking to launch a “movement” that wants to toss aside an economic structure that has made this country so immensely wealthy.

The far-left wing of the Democratic Party is seeking to capture the presidential nomination and send a nominee, Bernie Sanders, against the godfather of the GOP fanatical wing, Donald Trump.

But wait! The Democratic establishment is beginning to come to its senses. Two center-left candidates for POTUS, Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar have dropped out; they’re going to endorse their new main man, Joseph R. Biden Jr., tonight in Dallas.

I am hearing some chatter out there in social media land that the D establishment is trying to “steal” the nomination from Bernie. Poppycock! There is no theft involved when people are acting in good faith to back an individual they believe can actually win a political campaign against someone — namely the current president — who needs to lose the next election.

And, no, I do not include the zillionaire Michael Bloomberg among the party establishment; Bloomberg isn’t an actual Democrat. Elizabeth Warren is fading away after a stellar start.

Buttigieg’s withdrawal speech spoke to the need for unity. He spoke to the desire to return to a political structure that seeks compromise and cooperation. Does anyone believe the “movement” leader, Bernie Sanders, is able to reach across the yawning political divide to work with those on the other side? I am not one of them.

Thus, it is my considered opinion that Democratic establishment political figures know of the need that exists out there.

What’s more, both wings of the Democratic Party share a mutual desire to defeat the Republican in the White House.

My desire now is for the Democratic establishment to catch its breath and persuade the progressives to join them in the political battle they both want to win.

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Can the ‘Black Belt’ deliver for Biden in Alabama?

Take a look at this map. It is of Alabama. The blue counties depict those that Donald Trump carried in the 2016 presidential election; the counties in red show those that voted for Hillary Rodham Clinton.

The red swath across the middle of Alabama is what is known as the “Black Belt.”

Check it out here.

I became aware of the Black Belt while visiting my dear friend and former colleague, the late Claude Duncan, in 1985. I had attended a conference in Atlanta and I stopped for a brief visit in Tuscaloosa, where Claude lived. We went to the race track one evening in Green County, the heart of the Black Belt, to bet on some greyhounds. We were among the very few white guys in the crowd.

Duncan told me how this part of Alabama is as reliably Democratic as many parts of Texas used to be before the Lone Star State converted from Democrat to Republican.

I thought of Claude the Saturday night as I watched Joe Biden pile up that big win in South Carolina, carried over the finish line after lapping the field on the backs of the African-American vote that rallied to the former vice president’s cause.

And then I thought of how Biden might fare in Alabama, which is one of 14 states voting Tuesday in the Democratic Party presidential primary, aka Super Tuesday.

There was a lot of talk about Biden’s “firewall” of African-American support in South Carolina. I am wondering now if the ex-VP can parlay that black voter support into a big payoff in Alabama and in other states with large numbers of African-American voters.

Greene County voted 82 percent for Hillary in 2016, even though only 4,880 ballots were cast. The Black Belt, though, contains many other more populous counties, such as Montgomery County, that also voted heavily for Clinton over Trump.

If Joe Biden can parlay a 60 percent black vote in South Carolina into something similar in Alabama, Tennessee and Arkansas on Super Tuesday, he might be able to withstand the onslaught of delegates Bernie Sanders is slated to win in California and New England.

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Money can’t buy love … or votes?

Tom Steyer thought money could buy him a path to the White House.

He was mistaken. The billionaire folded up his campaign tent after the South Carolina votes were cast and he ended up with 11 percent of the total, several miles behind the lead piled up by Joe Biden.

What now? What lies ahead for the other billionaire in the Democratic Party presidential primary campaign, Michael Bloomberg, the ninth-richest person on Earth, who’s already spent a half-billion of his own dollars on this race?

He hopes to do well on Tuesday, aka Super Tuesday. Will he win any of the states where he’s been airing all those TV ads, such as in Texas? I doubt it.

Bloomberg ought to rethink this exercise in futility as well.

The former New York mayor entered the race vowing to defeat Donald J. Trump. The way I see it, the longer he is in the contest siphoning off votes that could go to another centrist who actually can beat DJT — Joe Biden — the more he helps Trump than hinders his path to re-election.

Bloomberg has crashed and burned at two debates. He doesn’t play well live and in person. He looks disinterested, annoyed and cannot craft anything resembling the kind of sharp rhetoric one needs to develop a message.

Furthermore, I just am one Democratic-leaning voter who doesn’t believe he is faithful to the party to which he purports to belong. He ran for NYC mayor as a Republican; then he became an independent; now he’s a Democrat. He’s good on gun issues and on climate change. What else? Who knows?

As for Bernie Sanders, I do not want a “movement” leader or a “revolutionary” to carry the banner against Donald Trump. I much prefer a seasoned, veteran politician with a record of actual accomplishment to take the fight to the carnival barker in chief.

To my way of thinking, that would be Joe Biden.

We need to cull this field down immediately to the two men left standing: Biden and Bernie. Let pragmatism prevail over passion.

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Firewall stood firm for Biden

All that talk about the Joe Biden “firewall” in South Carolina showing cracks, fissures, weakness now appears to have been, well, just talk.

It held firm as the former vice president of the United States cruised to a smashing victory today in the Democratic Party presidential primary.

More than half of the state’s primary voters are African American. Biden depended on that base of support to carry him to victory. Sen. Bernie Sanders’ early wins in New Hampshire and Nevada and his strong showing in Iowa cast doubt on whether that firewall would withstand the pressure being applied.

Commentators described African American voters as “pragmatic,” that candidates’ strength becomes a factor in how voters would cast their ballots.

Then came an apparently pivotal endorsement from U.S. Rep. James Clyburn, a South Carolina political icon and the most powerful African American in Congress.

So, the firewall — if that’s what we’ll call it — got plenty of reinforcement.

It held the former VP in good stead. Now it is time to see whether a similar firewall forms in other states with substantial numbers of African American voters. You know, states such as, let’s see … Texas!

The primary caravan is on its way here.

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Get ready, Mr. VPOTUS, for the barrage from the current POTUS

(Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Now that Joseph R. Biden Jr. has cemented a smashing victory in the South Carolina Democratic Party presidential primary, it is time for the former vice president to gird himself for the expected barrage from the current president of the United States.

Yep, it’s going to happen.

Donald John Trump and his surrogates will resume their barrage that they turned on Bernie Sanders, still the front runner for the Democratic presidential nomination.

They managed to pillory and plunder Biden’s name and reputation during the U.S. Senate impeachment trial by trying to link him to his son Hunter’s business dealings in Ukraine.

Then Biden stumbled in early primary states. Now he’s back in the game. I believe Trump and his team are most concerned about facing Biden in the fall than any other Democrat.

Thus, I believe Joe Biden needs to prepare for the onslaught.

Get ready, Joe.

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I guess endorsements do matter

It must be that some voters actually heed politicians’ endorsements of other politicians.

So it appears as the votes roll in from South Carolina polling stations. Former Vice President Joe Biden is piling up a huge victory in that state, thanks it appears in large part to an endorsement delivered Wednesday by U.S. Rep. James Clyburn, the most powerful African American in Congress and an esteemed political icon in his home state of South Carolina

Now, what does it mean for the rest of the Democratic Party primary race for the presidential nomination? I am unable to predict how it shakes out.

Here’s my sincere hope.

It is that Joe Biden can wrest the momentum away from Sen. Bernie Sanders, the frontrunner at this moment for the Democratic nomination. I do not want a far-left ideologue to run against Donald John Trump, the current president of the United States.

I want instead for Democrats to nominate a seasoned political pro, someone with mileage on his wheels, someone who can work across the political aisle. Joe Biden is that individual.

There. I’ve said yet again that Biden is my No. 1 choice. He is in the hunt as the primary parade heads to Texas and the other Super Tuesday states next week.

I remain committed to defeating Donald Trump. My desire hasn’t wavered a single bit since the moment this carnival barker declared his candidacy in June 2015. I intend to use this blog to the extent that I am able to advance that cause.

As the political junkies among us watch the results from South Carolina roll in, I am hopeful that Democrats are going to avoid driving off a cliff by nominating someone who I believe stands a frightening chance of losing to a president who never should have been elected.

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This guy has it right: All but Biden and Bernie need to bail out

Timothy Egan is a fabulous reporter and writer. I am in the middle of a book he wrote about the Dust Bowl, “The Worst Hard Time.” It’s a great read that captures the essence of the Texas Panhandle, where I lived for 23 years.

He also is an astute political observer. He has written in The New York Times that the Democratic Party primary field needs to cull itself now, get down to the two leading candidates: Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders.

The rest of ’em need to go: Tom Steyer, Mike Bloomberg, Amy Klobuchar, Pete Buttigieg … and maybe even Elizabeth Warren.

Egan thinks there’s a good chance Warren will lose to Sanders in her home state of Massachusetts, which votes on Super Tuesday. Hmm. If she can’t win there, well, where else is there?

Read Egan’s essay here.

If I were king of the world, I would strongly prefer Biden over Bernie.

My sense is that the country needs to return to an old fashioned politician — and I mean that in the good way — who knows how to govern. Someone who knows the importance of compromise. We don’t need another “revolutionary,” which is how Sanders portrays himself and his legions of supporters.

Yes, I know that both of these guys are old. They’re both pushing 80. I am not all that far behind them on the road to eternity, so I can kinda/sorta relate to them.

The country, though, needs Joe Biden to restore some values of decency, decorum, dignity to the White House. I have had enough of Donald Trump. As for the rest of the Democratic Party field, heed Timothy Egan’s advice … and stand down.

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Early voting seems less relevant than ever this election year

I am delighted to be true to my belief in voting on Election Day, that I won’t cast my vote early out of fear that my candidates will do something foolish or drop out of the running.

The Texas Democratic Party primary is coming up next Tuesday. Texas is one of 15 states casting ballots. Collectively they will select about one-third of all delegates to the Democratic National Convention this summer in Milwaukee.

My guy is still in the hunt. Except that he’s got to win bigly in South Carolina, which votes on Saturday. If you want to the truth, I wish we voted on Saturday, too, but that’s another topic for another time.

I am longing to cast my ballot for a centrist Democrat, someone who knows how to govern, someone with a public service record that demonstrates an ability and a willingness to work with politicians on the other side. Yeah, that would be Joseph R. Biden Jr.

Now, if he flames out Saturday in South Carolina, he is likely to bail sometime after the Super Tuesday balloting. His name will remain on our ballot. However tempted I might be to reconsider my own vote, I likely will continue to stand behind Joe Biden regardless of the South Carolina result.

Still, waiting until Election Day gives me a touch of flexibility in the event someone else emerges from the shrinking field of Democratic presidential contenders.

I know this with absolute certainty: I will never vote for Donald John Trump. I don’t believe we need a radical change in political direction from this clown. I do believe we need someone in the Oval Office who knows what he’s doing, someone who understands the limits of his office and someone who can restore the dignity that the office once commanded.

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Do these endorsements really matter?

Joseph R. Biden Jr. is a happy man today.

He received a ringing endorsement from a powerful South Carolina politician who said Biden is the best among the Democratic contenders running for president of the United States.

Rep. James Clyburn, a fellow Democrat, is all in with the former vice president. But I have to ask: Will it really matter?

Clyburn is the senior African American member of Congress. He is a fine fellow, from what I have been able to hear. He packs plenty of clout. It remains unclear to me whether his endorsement of Joe Biden is going to persuade South Carolina Democrats, who appear to be drifting toward Sen. Bernie Sanders in the late stages of the state’s primary campaign, to change their minds.

Which brings me to a significant point. Do endorsements of any nature really bring along votes?

There once was a time when voters waited to read what their local newspaper editorial boards thought about a campaign. They waited to see who the newspaper would endorse. They were motivated for two reasons. They either followed the newspaper’s advice, or — and this is for real — they cast their vote against the candidate the newspaper favored.

These days, with a plethora of information flooding us constantly, 24/7, nonstop, unrelentingly, many voters no longer look to those learned editors’ world views. They make up their minds, seemingly based on the views thrown at them by TV and radio blowhards.

It is becoming an exercise in futility for many politicians and others who get paid to offer their opinions on issues of the day and the candidates who are their champions.

The Dallas Morning News this year has announced it won’t endorse anyone for president. The paper’s editorial board didn’t say it, but my sense is that there is a possible back story borne of frustration that the newspaper would have little impact on its readers’ political leanings. So, why bother? The DMN instead is going to concentrate on the issues it deems critical to the voters and to the candidates who are seeking voters’ support.

I trust that Joe Biden will take James Clyburn’s endorsement seriously. He will ascribe high motivation behind it. Perhaps it’s merited. I will wait along with many other Americans to see if it translates into actual votes in a key primary state that propel the former VP back to front runner status.

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Actually, Mr. VPOTUS, you need to win … by a lot!

Joe Biden thinks he has the crucial South Carolina Democratic presidential primary in the bag.

Um, truth be told, he doesn’t. Even if he wins, it’s not tucked away. He’s got to win by a lot. You see, the one-time Democratic Party presidential frontrunner had the Palmetto State primary locked up. He was lapping the field. Then Vermont’s independent Sen. Bernie Sanders started winning the early primaries.

Now it’s neck-and-neck between the two of ’em for South Carolina’s primary vote.

Biden said that a single percentage point victory over the field is enough, although he said he expects to win by a comfortable margin. OK, but expectations and reality don’t always mesh.

The former vice president of the United States needs to win by at least double digits. It would be better for him to smoke the field, to trample the rest of the remaining contenders — and that includes Sanders — into the ground.

Anything short of a decisive win spells doom.

It saddens me to say this, as I have staked my own preference on Joe Biden. I want his candidacy to succeed. I fear it’s teetering on the brink of failure.