r/politics • u/Murky-Site7468 • 4d ago

'Chill The F**k Out': John Fetterman Urges Democrats To Stick With Joe Biden | The Pennsylvania senator reminded panicked Democrats on Friday that he too had a bad debate once, yet he went on to win his Senate seat.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/joe-biden-debate-john-fetterman_n_667ea850e4b0415858d6a2f1
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536

u/Dp04 4d ago

Fetterman was recovering from a stroke…. I don’t think comparing Biden’s performance to a recovering stroke victims is a very powerful positive message.

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u/cornflakegrl Canada 4d ago

Yes, and you can continue to improve from stroke related symptoms, age does not get better.

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u/IngsocInnerParty Illinois 4d ago

The country can also survive if one senator is incapacitated. The stakes aren’t as serious.

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u/me0w_z3d0ng 4d ago

Presidency would transfer to Kamala. It's not that big a deal if he were to pass in office. Lots of presidents died during their term.

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u/Mr_OrangeJuce 4d ago

Yeah but nobody likes her

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u/EmptyAirEmptyHead 4d ago

I'd take her over Trump ever single day and twice on a leap day.

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u/kaimason1 Arizona 4d ago

Let's reframe the issue: Kamala has always polled way worse in a one-on-one against Trump than Biden does. She never surpassed single-digit support during the 2020 primary, and her approval rating is currently ~14 points underwater (~37-38% approve to ~51-52% disapprove).

Meanwhile, Trump was already polling neck-and-neck with Biden before last night. The public isn't remotely enthusiastic about Biden's inevitable replacement and we desperately need someone on the ticket who is more electable than Biden against Trump, not less.

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u/FairPudding40 4d ago

Oh, wait, the US just... dies if the president is incapacitated? Wow. I did not know that.

Guess I'd better vote for Trump!

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u/IngsocInnerParty Illinois 4d ago

Don't be facetious. Obviously the country can go on (and has gone on) if the president is incapacitated, but you can't act like the stakes are the same as if it were a senator.

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u/Stormfin210 4d ago

Exactly, it’s not really a fair comparison. There was genuine uncertainty about the speed and depth of Fetterman’s recovery, but everyone believed he was on some kind of positive trajectory. Biden doesn’t have a disease, he’s not recovering from anything, he’s just old. He has a terminal case of mortality.

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u/vandemonianish 4d ago

Right?! Why is the false equivalency not front and centre. Disingenuous AF.

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u/GoodUserNameToday 4d ago

No but a cough drop and a glass of water helps you get better after a cold and dry mouth 

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u/Slapbox I voted 4d ago

A cold never makes someone ramble off and end a sentence nonsensically.

I'll vote for anyone over Trump, but Joe Biden is on the path to certain defeat and the only way to change course is to change candidate.

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u/seasiren_666 4d ago

i've already commented this elsewhere but infections affect the elderly different. i'm not saying Joe was suffering from cold-induced delirium but it's not at all far fetched to say that. I worked in a nursing home and even the most sane of old people would go crazy when they'd get certain infections.

is Joe probably just getting old, maybe. I don't really keep up with him so i can't say. but these dudes are super old and illnesses will affect them differently than they affect us. especially if he is already declining — sickness would only make it worse.

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u/ladyphase 4d ago

It really is wild—my dad is 73 and hallucinates when he has a UTI.

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u/seasiren_666 4d ago

it can be so scary for all parties involved. I walked in on many, otherwise, sane residents talking to themselves because of UTIs and other infections. it still scares me some of the things they would say and see.

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u/Kaprak Florida 4d ago

This actually specifically happened to Chuck Grassley some years ago IIRC.

He had a UTI and it made him seem like he was going nuts. No he's just older than dirt and sick.

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u/Holycity 4d ago

Sounds like he shouldn't be president to be honest then.

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u/seasiren_666 4d ago

I agree. elderly should not be running our country. they're susceptible to delirium.

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u/ilovecfb Tennessee 4d ago

This makes it worse, you see that right

If a cold can put him down like that, what’s the flu gonna do. This guy wants to be president til 86 guys. 86 years old

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u/seasiren_666 4d ago

per literally all of my other responses. I know. it wasn't supposed to make it better, it is just the truth. both Trump and Biden are too old to be in office. a UTI would take either of them out. Trump isn't immune to anything i'm saying here. i hate them both.

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u/[deleted] 4d ago

[deleted]

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u/seasiren_666 4d ago

illness could affect both Biden and Trump that way.

1

u/Hyndis 4d ago

A cold never makes someone ramble off and end a sentence nonsensically.

Sometimes cold medication can, but I'm just an average ordinary person who buys the OTC cold medicine at Safeway, and if I'm feeling sick like that I want the nighttime stuff to help me sleep better.

I'm sure the president has actual doctors and top notch healthcare that us average people don't have. Surely they would have known not to use the nighttime (extra drowsy) cold medicine.

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u/emh1389 4d ago

If DNC still chooses Biden, would you vote for him? Cuz I’d rather have 4 more years of the same shit than the chaos of another Trump presidency. Or are you the vote for neither and let it all fall apart?

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u/Slapbox I voted 4d ago

Did you read my comment or just kneejerk?

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u/emh1389 4d ago

It’s your defeatism is sabotaging all the good works Biden has already done. And you and others are carelessly spreading it. Biden has been old and will be old but he has been pretty fucking decent. You can call it a low bar but he has substantially increased our standing with our allies post 45. If people vote Biden regardless of his crap debate and focused on the good he’s done already and what he continues to do then he’ll win. That is the point that needs to be driven home: biden and his administration has done good work. Is it the greatest of all time, fuck no, but no one else forgave student loans. Fuck, Trump would reinstate them if he could because he’s all about reversing dem legislation and he has an ex to grind against Biden. Biden has done a lot with a slime majority. More so than Obama who was a lame duck president.

What Joe Biden and his administration has done:

Year One

Highlights from Year One

•Reversed Trump's Muslim ban

•Historic Stimulus Bill passed

•Reduction of poverty levels by 45% along with reduction of child poverty levels by 61% by the first 6 months

•5 Rounds of cancellation of student loan debt totaling almost $10 billion

•Passed largest infrastructure bill in history

•The unemployment rate dropped from 6.2% when Biden took office to 3.9%, the biggest single year drop in American history.

Year Two

Highlights from Year Two

•The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (banks agree that re are no longer in a recession)

•3 Additional rounds of student loan debt cancellation (8 rounds so far), totaling up $35 billion for 20-40 million Americans

•First major gun legislation in 30 years

•CHIPS Act to protect American supply of semi-conductor chips

•$62 billion worth of health care subsidies under the ACA (Obamacare), capping insulin at $35

•Allows Medicare to negotiate 100 drugs over the next decade, and requires drug companies to rebate price increases higher than inflation

•Unemployment at 50 year low

Year Three

Highlights from Year Three

•Got republicans to publicly take Social Security and Medicare cuts off the table by tricking them during the State of the Union

•6 More rounds of student loan debt cancellation (14 rounds so far), totaling up to $127 billion

•As of October 2023, 34 straight months of job growth, longest stretch of unemployment below 4% since the 1960s

•Child poverty rates fall from 12.6% to 5.8% due to Biden's Expanded Child Tax Credits, 2.9 million kids escape poverty

•World's best post-pandemic recovery, doubles all nations except Japan

•Created 14 million jobs since he took office - More than any president in history did in four years (and its only been 3 years)

•Black unemployment rate lower under Biden than any other administration (4.7%) - Compared to black unemployment under Trump was 2nd worst number in history, reaching over 16%

•Diversity in justice: Majority of Biden’s appointed judges are women, racial or ethnic minorities – a first for any president

•Rail companies grant paid sick days after administration pressure in win for unions. Most people will only remember that he forced rail workers to go back to work in December 2022, even now that will be the top answer if you google "Biden Railworker Deal". But most people do not know that the Biden administration continued to pressure the rail corporations and work with the unions so that in June 2023, the corporations capitulated and gave the rail workers what they wanted. Biden knows how to work politics and knows that the real work isn't done with the cameras on you for a soundbite, but in the background where people can debate without a fickle public watching every move.

Year Four (so far)

Highlights from Year Four

•Another round of student loan cancellation, $1.2 billion this time, 15 rounds so far, totaling more than $128 billion

•Growth shatters expectations: GDP expands 3.1% - a year beginning with heavy odds of a recession

•Post-pandemic recover still leading the world by far

•Plan to modernize American ports

•Rescinds Trump-era "Denial of Care" rule that allowed health care workers to deny medical care to patients because of their personal religious or moral belief

•Violent crime drop significantly since 2020

•$5.8 billion to clean up nation’s drinking water and upgrade infrastructure

1

u/Slapbox I voted 3d ago

It’s your defeatism is sabotaging all the good works Biden has already done.

No.

Nothing he's done gives anyone confidence in what he will do, and I'm not the person who needs convincing. You will not convince his skeptics to support him unless you convince them Trump is a danger, and undecided voters are too oblivious to be convinced of that. Biden will lead us all to our ends if he insists on staying in the race. It's been clear for a year and now it's glaring.

18

u/Few-Peanut8169 4d ago

Oh my god I didn’t know that some people actually believed them when they said that???? That’s crazy for real

10

u/Rodsoldier 4d ago

It was the cough making him stutter every 5 words too btw lmao.

It would be every 10 words but he simply skipped half of the words on any given phrase.

0

u/ReddittorMan 4d ago

You’d be surprised how gullible people can be.

4

u/PolicyWonka 4d ago

That’s BS. Biden’s voice isn’t something temporary from illness. It’s been like that for months now. Maybe the coughing is from a cold, but he really struggles to project his voice.

2

u/bytethesquirrel New Hampshire 4d ago

https://youtu.be/HYghfyxtZnc?t=601

That doesn't sound like struggling to me.

2

u/thereddituser2 California 4d ago

This nonsense again. You are just blue maga. We constantly criticize and call them cult members, while you ignore how horrible his age is and find some bullshit excuses like cold. You are also in a cult.

1

u/Gliese2 4d ago

That was full on NyQuil

1

u/SpaceTimeinFlux 4d ago

But dementia gets worse faster.

Trump absolutely has dementia.

Biden is just old.

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u/CaveRanger 4d ago

A stroke victim who abruptly decided to be a conservative after his recovery.

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u/GoodUserNameToday 4d ago

Yeah this guy is definitely a troll. Fetterman is to the left of Warren on a lot of issues but because he thinks Israel should defend itself, he’s suddenly conservative. 

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u/In_Formaldehyde_ 4d ago

He called himself a progressive while campaigning (his Tweets are literally still up and haven't been deleted yet) and now spends his time badmouthing progressives than he does critiquing the other side.

Also, he's going in heavy on the border drama despite the fact his own wife is a former illegal from Brazil. The hypocrisy is what's being called out.

5

u/sideAccount42 California 4d ago

Linking the twitter note to make it easier for people to see.

https://twitter.com/i/birdwatch/n/1736812614447988768

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u/9bpm9 4d ago

You guys sure love to identify anyone who supports Israel as a right wing conservative.

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u/whomstc 4d ago

go ahead and ignore his anti immigrant and anti climate stances that he flipped on as well

0

u/kongenavingenting 4d ago

anti immigrant

Allright?

Unchecked immigration does not work. As a neighbour to Sweden, I should know. Christ sake yesterday Sweden's former PM publicly apologised to us for the mess they've made for us in Scandinavia with their immigration bullshit.

What kind of purist lunacy is this? He's dissenting on immigration so he's not leftist? That's like trumpists shouting RINO. You're that person.

anti climate

A quick search tells me he's concerned about energy security, not anti-climate.

Here's a helpful perspective: if you don't have energy security, you don't have a functioning society. At the end of the day, your comfortable reddit-posting ass isn't going to give up any of your (many!) privileges, so how about don't be a hypocrite and realise you and him have the same policy stance. He's just honest.

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u/whomstc 4d ago

lol cool bud i'm glad "a quick search" was all it took for you to come back here and be confidently wrong

1

u/DWGrithiff 4d ago

Unchecked immigration does not work. As a neighbour to Sweden, I should know.

You mean there are racists in northern Europe ???? 😲 

Assuming you're about 12 (based on the rest of your post), I'm surprised you're not more concerned about a future with runaway climate change. Stay in school.

-1

u/kongenavingenting 3d ago

Ah yes, calling others a racist and then trying to insult them. Telltale signs of internet brain rot.

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u/Antique_Cricket_4087 3d ago

Nah, I am in Denmark and there are plenty of racists here.

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u/kongenavingenting 3d ago

There are racists everywhere.

Denmark, as with Scandinavia in general, is one of the countries with the least amount of racism.

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u/Antique_Cricket_4087 3d ago

Denmark, as with Scandinavia in general, is one of the countries with the least amount of racism.

😂 That's hilarious.

-1

u/DWGrithiff 3d ago

Unless you were implying that Norway should build a wall to keep those damn Swedes out, yes, I'm comfortable attributing anti-immigrant sentiment to blatant racism. At your tender age, though, you have time to broaden your horizons and grow out of this 🤞 

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u/kongenavingenting 2d ago

There's this thing called nuance.

Speaking of age, it's something adults typically allow for.

And speaking of Sweden, ask them how unchecked immigration is going.

Ideals are all well and good, but as anyone can tell you filling a glass from a faucet is preferable to filling it with a water jet. It's all water, but one will destroy the glass due to other circumstances unrelated to it being water.

Just in case the analogy doesn't compute: it's the same with immigration, it's all well and good but if it's not done in a controlled manner something gets destroyed. It has nothing to do with skin color. The Americas had uncontrolled immigration before, you know. Tell me, what happened to the native population then? (Rhetorical question.)

Ps. Notice how I'm able to interact with you respectfully? You should try it, it's awesome. If you can't or won't that's strictly a personal failing, it's straight up ugly soul territory.

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u/DWGrithiff 2d ago

I don't respect you at all, so treating you with false respect would demean the ideal of honesty. Anyway i don't get paid to educate Norwegians or whatever, so I'll leave you to your native school system and hope some immigrant teacher is able to work some sense into you. 

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u/In_Formaldehyde_ 4d ago

This sub is for US politics, don't bring your bile in here. The party clamoring for mass deportation already exists if that's your biggest issue. People aren't just voting on economic policies, social policies also matter. Not to mention Fetterman himself is married to a formerly illegal Brazilian woman.

0

u/Antique_Cricket_4087 3d ago

quick search tells me he's concerned about energy security, not anti-climate

So you were nosing in and commenting about something before even looking into it... That's odd

And the last line is basically the same as saying "he tells it like it is."

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u/kongenavingenting 3d ago

So you were nosing in and commenting about something before even looking into it... That's odd

It's called "updating yourself".

I checked if there was anything I was unaware of, before replying.

Jesus Christ the sheer inability to offer the absolute barest of understanding is insane.

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u/SwindlingAccountant 4d ago

And his position on banning lab grown meat is what?

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u/9bpm9 4d ago

How in God's name is that even a left or right wing issue at this point. It isn't beneficial to the environment yet because of the resources it uses and can not even be done at a large scale.

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u/SwindlingAccountant 4d ago

SO why ban it if its still in the research phase? Is it because Mister Sad Guy gets a lot of money from the Beef Industry like he takes a lot of money from AIPAC?

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u/Chellhound 4d ago

Anyone who supports Israel is a right-wing conservative. There is no way to support genocide from the left.

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u/CatD0gChicken 4d ago

/politics doesn't understand that we have 1.87 right wing parties

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u/UnlawfulStupid 4d ago

There is no way to support genocide from the left.

Wikipedia: Mass killings under communist regimes

1

u/Chellhound 4d ago

I should clarify: there's no way to support genocide from an ideologically left position. Anyone can call themselves a leftist and then do a genocide.

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u/UnlawfulStupid 4d ago

Wikipedia: "Communism is a left-wing to far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement"

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u/Antique_Cricket_4087 3d ago

Ideology. In practice, it hasn't been. Same way that the GOP claim to be conservative but their actions don't actually align with the ideology

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u/Chellhound 1d ago

Obviously. And?

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u/Silly_Shoe268 4d ago

Supporting a ethnostate and a genocide makes you far right

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u/[deleted] 4d ago

[deleted]

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u/klubsanwich America 4d ago

John Fetterman does

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u/[deleted] 4d ago

[deleted]

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u/klubsanwich America 4d ago

John Fetterman openly and enthusiastically supports an ethnostate and a genocide

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u/[deleted] 4d ago edited 4d ago

[deleted]

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u/Antique_Cricket_4087 3d ago

And if the ICJ find that they are committing genocide? Will you admit you were wrong or just call the ICJ anti-semitic?

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u/HardcoreKaraoke 4d ago

That's a big narrative that I think people are underselling about Biden. Even before last night it seemed obvious that he's going to lose a lot of voters who will abstain because of Israel.

Commenters like that other person might not be the majority but they don't have to be. Idiots like that abstaining is a massive blow.

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u/sideAccount42 California 4d ago

I find being called an idiot and anti-semitic very compelling reasons to vote for Biden. It may be personally cathartic to you but do you think it's actually helpful?

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u/kvlt_ov_personality 4d ago

No true Scotsman!

0

u/KloppOnKloppOn 4d ago edited 4d ago

supporting a right wing israeli government that at best has flirted with genocide sure sounds like a lefty position

edit- you aren't wrong though about people doing this too often though in general

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u/aidanmurphy2005 4d ago

Awww yes and Gaza is the pinnacle of liberal and progressive ideals

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u/sideAccount42 California 4d ago

If we're just gonna put words in people's mouths why do you think Israeli settlers should be able to steal Palestinian homes in the West Bank?

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u/aidanmurphy2005 4d ago

I don’t think they should be able to. Israel isn’t a moral country but they are a hell of a lot better than the governing body of the West Bank which are literal terrorists

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u/sideAccount42 California 4d ago

August 28, 2023 - West Bank: Spike in Israeli Killings of Palestinian Children

I don't even know what to say to you when this is what you think should continue. I don't know how to not see the Israeli government as terrorists as well. I don't know how to not question the unequal designations from internation bodies, groups, and governments on this.

0

u/KloppOnKloppOn 4d ago

never said it was

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u/RagingInferrno 4d ago

The far left accuses anyone who isn't on the far left of being a Republican or a nazi.

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u/whomstc 4d ago

how dare lefties label politicians by their stances

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u/RagingInferrno 4d ago

You mean mislabel.

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u/Goldentongue 4d ago

...because they are.

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u/blueclawsoftware 4d ago

You can recover from a stroke not everyone does. And Fetterman looked way worse in his debate than Biden looked last night.

1

u/Stormfin210 4d ago

It likely was a genuinely bad night for him and not representative of “normal” functioning, but does anyone really believe there is a consistently positive trajectory for his functioning looking ahead to the next 4 years? The only question is how long it will take for his performance last night to become his new “normal.”

To be fair, Trump was his typical awful self and wasn’t always coherent either. Last night just reinforced the belief that we’re likely stuck with two bad options. They might not be equivalently bad options, but it’s not looking good either way.

1

u/WretchedHog 4d ago

If I've learned anything from watching my old relatives going through dementia, it's that it typically gets better with age. Biden should be ready to go by the next debate and by January of 2029 when he's set to retire I'm sure he'll still be very capable!

-2

u/GentleOmnicide 4d ago

I’m starting to think these elections are about what these “news” entertainment networks want you to know.

Biden for 2 years has been doing some weird things but media was saying all is good. He’s strong and healthy so people would tell you what you saw was wrong. Fetterman had problems and the media still supported him and his condition. They could have said “we don’t know if he will recover and not sure he’s fit for office”, changing opinion, but they rallied behind him.

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u/carissadraws 3d ago edited 3d ago

If Biden was recovering from a stroke y’all wouldn’t be nearly as understanding. Hell you somehow acted better when Bernie had his heart attack

At what age does a candidate’s physical or mental ailments become a liability rather than a part of who they are?

Would anyone be as critical of a 45 year old candidate with cerebral palsy / some other condition and their ability to govern if they acted the exact same way Biden did? Come the fuck on now.

I know I’ll probably get downvoted for this comment

-2

u/Objective-Giraffe-27 4d ago

Meanwhile Biden looked like he was having one