Biden's refuses to debate so he can win the primary, even if it re-elects Trump.

By Marc Bochner
4/1/20

The 12th and final debate was scheduled for today. But obviously, that isn't going to happen and maybe shouldn't have on this date. But Joe Biden agreed to 12 debates and given all the new information with the crisis and how policy agendas look in this new COVID-19 world it should happen, perhaps a 13th even. Despite what the media and party goons would have you believe, more debates where the Democrats lay out their visions could only help whoever becomes the nominee because it lays out an alternative vision for the best pathway forward. Otherwise, people are getting all that information from Trump.

Joe Biden claimed to be a big play by the rules guy. Remember when Biden joined everyone but Bernie on the debate stage declaring that the party bosses should be allowed to choose someone other than the frontrunner if nobody gets to 1991 delegates? He declared that we should follow the rules that we all agreed to in the beginning. So refusing to appear at a 12th debate goes against that play by the rules commitment... More than that, it denies voters a chance to process what it would mean to have each of the candidates as the person navigating us through the new world with the new realities. A possible 13th probably should happen as well because while the debate moderators wasted everyone's time through the first 10 with nonsensical questions, including many of the same ones over and over again as if they were never answered or those answers would change (like how are you going to pay for it?), we rarely if ever got to meaningful discussion of what each candidates presidency would look like, how they would be different and how capable is each one for one of the most important jobs on the planet.

As a jumping off point for this conversation it must be noted that since the last debate nearly everything in the world, our lives and the race has changed. Nobody is wanting to rehash everything that has been done wrong so far. Nobody wants dishonest media pundits and party bosses playing gotcha with the populist and trying to talk the working class out of policies that will make their lives better. The crisis has definitively shown us that all those times Biden declared we couldn't afford like Medicare for All, paid medical leave, free public college and wiping out both student and medical debt he was wrong. Everytime he declared all of those policies to not be pragmatic along with a living wage, affordable housing, federal jobs guarantee he was wrong. Remember Hillary claimed Bernie was just trying to bribe people with free ponies? Throughout the campaign the media repeated all these disingenuous narratives and during the debates framed the questions from the perspective of Bernie and his crazy ideas will never come to pass, now let's have the others act like the adults in the room and tell us how things really work. the first 10 debates wasted everyone's time with that framing and what can only be described as journalistic malpractice from the moderators. The 11th debate was better questions, more policy discussion but featured Trump like dishonesty from Biden about nearly everything with no fact checking til days after 3 states went to the polls with those lies.

The 12 debate schedule for Democratic primary

Well, now the current crisis showed us a few things that have never been allowed into the national conversation...  Bernie's ideas are doable, the money to make them happen is there when you shift priorities and had we already implemented Bernie's policies we would be infinitely better equipped to handle this disaster, the next disaster, and people's personal disasters. And that his policies are the most pragmatic, not the least pragmatic. So now with all this new information, the people need one or two more debates to process all of this. If we are to choose our next president on who will be best for the American people and the nation as a whole, we need to have all these conversations again... and have them in a productive way without dishonest framing, and with all the new information that has come to light in the past few weeks.

Bernie is anxious to have these conversations. Joe Biden is not. People should both be concerned with not having them be a part of the electoral process AND why Joe Biden is refusing to have them. (Artwork by Humanist Report)

Debate Bernie you coward - Humanist Report

Joe Biden Desperately tries to shut down debate - The Hill TV Rising

The embarrassment of treating our electoral process as a team sport where the only things that matter

are who we are told can win, and what letter is next to the name on the ballot need to end. We need to be having real conversations with real facts and context. We have seen nothing good comes of ripping honest and meaningful conversations from the process. It has instead led us to an endless string of lesser evil elections where each election cycle what we are willing to settle for as lesser gets worse. It has led to two broken parties both of whom work for the people with all the money and power and nobody is really representing best interests of the people, the country or the planet. It has given us a swamp on both sides of the aisle that is allowed to persist simply because our votes we are told have to be cast to stop the other team, not to actually improve our lives or the country in any meaningful way. That old system has led never led to fixing any problems, because populist solutions are virtually never the goal and nobody is held to account.

It took flipping our whole world upside down to expose these realities... and now that we know, there is no going back. These conversations have to happen now, shut up and fall in line is no longer an option. These elections can not stay red, blue and purple or twisted ideas of conservative, moderate, liberal and progressive. The conversations need to be about putting the needs of people ahead of money, evening the playing field and letting honesty and trust into the process.

Now I get it. The past few weeks have been an utter disaster for Joe Biden. After the party orchestrated a coup on his behalf to secure him the nomination, Biden built a sizable lead that the media declared as insurmountable even when it was still pretty close. That lead grew solely on the narrative that Joe was winning and we need to fall in line so he can beat Trump. It got quite large after the last three primaries which should have been postponed but were forced by team Biden and the party anxious to put Biden into hiding before people noticed what a train wreck he was.

Then the pandemic hit our shores and life as we knew it changed within a week. Everything we thought was important was shown not to be. Everything we were told was possible, probable, pragmatic or even desirable was turned upside down. The compassionate policies turned out to be way more than pie in the sky, they turned out to also be the most pragmatic and the ones that could have eliminated a lot of the fear, desperation and lessened the severity of the crisis to begin with.

Bernie has led through the crisis laying out plans for moving forward that were later repeated by others on TV (remember the media doesn't like to cover Bernie so all his solutions, planning and comforting was done online). He then added a very significant amendment to the final bill to allow gig and freelance workers to qualify for unemployment and not be left as collateral damage, while tipped workers can include the tips in their income for determining how much they qualify for. Then there was Bernies epic floor speech when he shamed the Republicans into agreeing to the worker aid parts of the bailout which is what ultimately helped it pass. Sure there was a lot of terrible corporate giveaways and an unaccountable slush fund, but the people had to get aid immediately for survival and let's not kid ourselves to prevent the economy from collapsing without consumers or bills getting paid. Bernie isn't done as he continues to fight for more aid to the working class along with systemic change moving forward.

While Bernie was leading Biden was in hiding. The only calls he was making was to donors. He made no public appearances, put out no ideas on how to move forward, made no statements to help people understand the gravity of the situation. He didn't interview experts, doctors or scientists to help people understand why this is so significant and how they can help protect themselves and their community. (While Biden did none of these things, Bernie did all of them). When Biden finally surfaced he took a few shots at Trump but still offered no plans, no vision, and no leadership. He repeated a couple things Bernie had called for days earlier like shifting production from non-essential items to essential items like medical supplies, test kits, ventilators, etc. Then came a series of really bad TV and internet appearances where he seemed lost, gave confusing and disjointed non-answers to important questions and put his apparent dementia on full display leaving people to wonder if he was fit to even campaign any longer let alone to serve in the office of President. But his historically bad week didn't end there. His #MeToo problem resurfaced this time with a credible former staffer accusing him of sexually assaulting her and then demeaning her when she pulled away from the assault.

So we get why that Joe Biden would not want to make are another debate let alone for people to have another look at his plans next to Bernie's for which were the best and most pragmatic. We understand why he would want the rest of the states to cast their votes based upon what they believed pre crisis without having new conversations with the new realities to base their decisions on moving forward. He wants the primary campaign frozen in time to that time when he was winning and people were falling in line behind him.

Biden's last 5 appearances embarrass him and the Democratic party

Biden's terrible TV appearances show he is unfit for office - Hill TV, Rising

But let me explain why this is a terrible idea for everybody... for him, for the Democratic party, for the country and for the people. If he doesn't allow these new conversations we as a people will not have any power in holding our government to account in fixing them in a way that benefits all of us, not simply the people with all the money and power already. If we don't get to judge the candidates on their policy positions, what they will and won't fight for and who we trust most to fight for us then we will not be able to make good or informed choices which is more critical than ever given the enormity of the work the next President will have to do.

Specifically why this is a terrible idea for Biden and the Democratic party, sure putting him into hiding and backing into the nomination is the most likely path for him, in fact, becoming the nominees. But it would also guarantee his loss in November. By not having these conversations now with Bernie who will treat him gently and with respect, he would be leaving them to be had with Trump who will not be so nice and will not be honest with his answers and assertions. Biden will look terrible, unfit, weak, without leadership skills and with a mind that is failing. Nobody will want to vote for Biden who left all those conversations on the table to be had with Trump instead of with Bernie.

Another reason why this will make Biden unelectable is that over 40% of the voters have not had a chance to participate in the nominating process yet. Cheating them of the opportunity to participate in the nomination process and I promise you, they will not be motivated to support the nominee. A big part of participating is 1) not declaring the race over before it is. While Bernie needs 62% of the remaining delegates to get to the 1991 delegates needed to win the nomination, but Biden still needs to get 46% of them. Neither of those outcomes is a guarantee despite what the media and party would have you believe.  So refusing to discuss important issues AND denying the remaining states the ability to help decide who will be the nominee and ultimately who will be the President is the surest way I know to build resentment rather than goodwill.

Finally, if you want to unify the party, don't tell the half of the party you will need to win a general election that you don't intend to go along with any rules that might not benefit you. And that you no longer feel we need to let their half of the party participate in any policy discussions. I promise you, that is how your declaration that we don't need any more debates landed with practically every voter under the age of 50 and most independent voter. If you think you can win without them, your dementia is even worse than we the people think it is... and yes we are talking about your dementia. If you don't want us having that conversation then debates might be a good time for you to make the case that you don't.

Why Younger Voters Are Overwhelmingly Rejecting Biden - FiveThirtyEight

Biden slaps Sanders supporters in the face with rejection of Medicare For All - Hill TV Rising

Should the Bernie supporters stay home in November if populist policy continues to get blocked by Democrats? - Prof. Harvey Kaye? 

The most electable is not who the party and media tells you it is. They are simply telling you who they want to be the nominee. The most electable is the one who inspires confidence that they will make the best President. The one who inspires the most voters is your winner. The one who shows the most leadership is your winner. And speaking in terms of the current broken party politics game, the one who can get the best voter turnout from their base and win the independent voters. Bernie wins the independent voters by HUGE margins, he makes the best case to voters what he will do to help them and inspires the most voters... that is your most electable... If Joe Biden wants to have a chance in the general he needs to do a much better job of building those relationships and that excitement. That can only happen if he doesn't prematurely claim victory and shut down the rest of the primary without debate and without meaningful discussion of the problems we face and how to best address them.

Do the right thing. Even if you don't want to do it for us, do it for yourself. Because you really don't want to be the guy that gave Trump 4 more years at one of the most crucial times in history. All that death, destruction and insanity that would result will forever be linked to your legacy. Fight a fair fight and if you win, good for you, if you lose but Bernie stops Trump then good for everyone, especially the working class you claim to care about.