Paid Members LaGoosh Posted August 31, 2020 Paid Members Share Posted August 31, 2020 2 hours ago, wordsfromlee said: One thing I noticed today is that the average life expectancy in the USA is 78. Joe Biden turns 78 about two weeks after the election. What a weird country. Donald Trump is 74 and obese and by all accounts lives off fast food and an insane amount of coca cola every day. The crazy yanks don't seem to care. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Carbomb Posted August 31, 2020 Paid Members Share Posted August 31, 2020 It strikes me that, the more unsettled and discontent a populace gets, with the loss of peace of mind and/or prosperity, the more it tends towards gerontocracy. Lister will probably have better figures for this, but it makes sense that, when people are looking for someone to "take charge" or "take a firm hand" or "restore normality" (as opposed to the younger Obama who ran on a message of hopeful change), they elect an older candidate because they see them as more "old school", i.e. authoritarian. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 31, 2020 Share Posted August 31, 2020 All the frontrunners for the Democratic candidacy that come to mind are in their 70s (Biden, Sanders, Warren - even Clinton in that alternative timeline where she's running for re-election). I look forward to the day the country that elected a reality TV host deems Ocasio-Ortez to have the necessary experience, as she's terrific but has only spent two more years in Congress than Trump's zero, and that won't do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fog Dude Posted August 31, 2020 Share Posted August 31, 2020 7 hours ago, Carbomb said: It's a country whose population were convinced that a New York millionaire who frequently flaunts his wealth on TV is "one of them" and "outside the establishment". Prior to that, they were convinced that a rich, stupid Texan from a political dynasty was "folksy and homespun". And of course that "Texan" was actually from Connecticut. The 'W' in his name stood for Walker, in honour of an ever wealthier New England family the Bushes had married into. 2 hours ago, Uncle Zeb said: I look forward to the day the country that elected a reality TV host deems Ocasio-Ortez to have the necessary experience, as she's terrific but has only spent two more years in Congress than Trump's zero, and that won't do. It's not about how long she's been in Congress. The Constitution says you have to be 35 to run for President (because it was written by rich white men in the 18th century, when life expectancy was barely 38 years if you weren't rich or white) and she'll only be 31 at the time of this year's election. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 31, 2020 Share Posted August 31, 2020 5 minutes ago, Fog Dude said: It's not about how long she's been in Congress. I would say it's not only about how long she's been in Congress. The age limit might be what legally prohibits her from running, but even if she were 35 today with the same tenure, I don't think she'd be taken seriously by enough voters. That's what I meant more than any official red tape. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fog Dude Posted August 31, 2020 Share Posted August 31, 2020 Yeah, fair point. If she tries to put herself forward in 2024 I can well imagine they'll go looking for every reason possible that she's supposedly unsuitable, including lack of experience after (presumably) a whole 6 years in the House by that point. The same goes for anybody from the radical wing of the Democrats, really. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CavemanLynn Posted September 1, 2020 Share Posted September 1, 2020 8 hours ago, Uncle Zeb said: I would say it's not only about how long she's been in Congress. The age limit might be what legally prohibits her from running, but even if she were 35 today with the same tenure, I don't think she'd be taken seriously by enough voters. That's what I meant more than any official red tape. This is half the problem with any election - as much as people say they want change, they actually want someone to keep things as they are but only a little bit better. Young leftwing Latina AOC isn't cutting it with white middle class male America. Nope, better have someone who's spent 40 years in the existing system, not rocking the boat. Bernie as nominee with her as VP might've been a dream team a year or so ago, but even then "dream" is the operative word. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WyattSheepMask Posted September 1, 2020 Share Posted September 1, 2020 “Bags of Soup” Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members JNLister Posted September 3, 2020 Paid Members Share Posted September 3, 2020 It's going to be a total shitshow. Trump's 33% ahead in people who plan to vote in person. Biden's 68% ahead in people who plan to vote by mail. Because the US setup means they don't count all the votes the same way/at the same time, it's almost certain that Trump will be way ahead in most states among votes counted and reported on the night (and on exit polls). Biden will catch up and likely overtake as they count the mail votes but by then Trump will have declared victory and laid the groundwork for claiming bogus mail votes stole the election. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 3, 2020 Share Posted September 3, 2020 So it's a good thing his supporters aren't prone to acts of sectarian violence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Hannibal Scorch Posted September 9, 2020 Paid Members Share Posted September 9, 2020 Don’t worry, Trumpers are already crying these tapes are fake news Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Surf Digby Posted September 9, 2020 Paid Members Share Posted September 9, 2020 Where do the dates lie at the point when he said there was no virus, and that it was a "democrat hoax"? There's downplaying it, and there was the point where he was outright denying it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Jazzy G Posted September 10, 2020 Paid Members Share Posted September 10, 2020 What do we reckon to this Nobel Peace Prize nomination? Apparently because he's ended a 39 year streak of not leading America into a war or armed conflict. Presumably being on the brink of a civil war doesn't count. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members JNLister Posted September 10, 2020 Paid Members Share Posted September 10, 2020 45 minutes ago, jazzygeofferz said: What do we reckon to this Nobel Peace Prize nomination? Apparently because he's ended a 39 year streak of not leading America into a war or armed conflict. Presumably being on the brink of a civil war doesn't count. It's virtually meaningless. Any politician in a national parliament can nominate for the prize and in this case it's been done by a "far right" politician in Norway who also nominated him in 2018. There's no shortlisting, so it's no more meaningful than any other nomination. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Hannibal Scorch Posted September 10, 2020 Paid Members Share Posted September 10, 2020 Well, that wasn’t the angle I was expecting Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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