Biden says Democratic millennials are not 'a generation of socialists,' draws distinction with

[TexasTowelie]

Biden says Democratic millennials are not ‘a generation of socialists,’ draws distinction with Sanders on health care


Former Vice President Joe Biden, asked at a downtown Las Vegas event on Saturday how to get a younger generation of Democratic voters on board his presidential campaign who want “radical, revolutionary change,” dismissed the premise outright.

“They’re looking for somebody who, in fact, can articulate what they believe and who is in the mainstream,” Biden said. “They’re not all — and this is not a hit on Bernie, my word — but this is not a generation of socialists.”

Biden’s remarks come amid a week-long health care battle between Biden and Sanders that represents a microcosm in the fight over what the future of the Democratic Party should look like. Addressing Democrats at a Local Brews + National Views event hosted by the state Democratic Party, Biden drew a careful distinction between his recently-released health care plan building on the Affordable Care Act and the sweeping reform backed by Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Biden sought to put Sanders — who supports a single-payer health care system — in the same camp as Republicans lawmakers who have tried to do away with President Barack Obama’s landmark health-care law. It’s an approach the former vice president has taken this week after releasing his health-care plan, which would create a public health insurance option but otherwise leave the broad contours of the health-care system intact.

Read more: https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/biden-says-democratic-millennials-are-not-a-generation-of-socialists-draws-distinction-with-sanders-on-health-care

[ucrdem]

1. Yep. Good assessment.

Before Bernie, Ron Paul was the talk of the town on college campuses, some campuses anyway. Not saying they're the same at all, except that they're both perceived as truth-tellers who cut through the political double-speak. That's attractive when you're just starting out!

[Cha]

2. Biden's Health Care Plan is Popular!

Link to tweet

[onetexan]

5. Oh i like this!

[BeyondGeography]

3. Well that's better than this

[TexasTowelie]

8. So you are using a video from Liberty Daily?

The caption for the YouTube video states:

Former Obama regime Vice President Joe Biden insults Millennials in an interview with the L.A. Times on Jan. 10, 2018.
Sick of Drudge? Check out THE LIBERTY DAILY, your conservative alternative to Drudge: https://thelibertydaily.com/

[BeyondGeography]

10. Is that Joe talking?

There are plenty of clips showing the same comment. That was the shortest and without comment. A ten-minute Jimmy Dore clip work better for you?

Here’s a shorter example with a shameless Bernie plug at the end which would get a lot of people upset:

Btw, I saw this clip for the first time at an apolitical business conference talk on multi-generational management. It was used as an example of boomer/older-gen tone-deafness. Sorry, but it’s out there.

[TexasTowelie]

11. I was pointing out the right-wing source that you were linking to.

Biden's words are his own.

I'm not interested in watching a 10 minute video from Jimmy Dore because I'm not interested in watching Jimmy Dore at all.

[BeyondGeography]

12. See, I had your viewing comfort in mind

Last edited Tue Jul 23, 2019, 05:47 AM - Edit history (1)

I switched the original clip so as not to lose focus.

[betsuni]

13. "I had your viewing comfort in mind."

What does that mean? Now suddenly questioning a source is bad? Are you implying that TexasTowelie is a right-winger? Why?

[BeyondGeography]

14. One minute compared with ten

Nice try.

[betsuni]

17. I have no idea what you're talking about.

What is the try I did nicely? I'm a Democrat posting on a forum for Democrats.

[Demit]

28. The video is the same, regardless of what source posted it.

Questioning the source in this case is absurd.

[betsuni]

33. LOL

Kill the Messenger is on auto-play for anti-Democrats.

[SouthernProgressive]

15. Jimmy Dore?

Seeing the go-to sources for people is Illuminating. When Jimmy Dore is the follow up to a right wing source....

[BeyondGeography]

16. Ah yes, let's discuss anything but the substance of the quote

Good morning to you too.

Joe Biden trashes Millennials: 'Give me a break'

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.sfgate.com/politics/amp/Joe-Biden-Millennials-2020-interview-book-tour-12494099.php

[SouthernProgressive]

19. I don't find his comments to be that bad.

And I directly discussed the go-to sources for the quote. As I said, i find it to be very good to know who people’s first sources for information are. Your little gotcha is nothing to the point the sources are a bigger story.

[BeyondGeography]

20. I question your political acumen if you don't see the problem here

Joe Biden gets roasted after saying he has ‘no empathy’ for millennials

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.indy100.com/article/joe-biden-millennials-2020-us-election-democrat-reaction-8900286%3fam

Link to tweet

[SouthernProgressive]

22. Understood.

Maybe is because I haven’t built my thought process up from extremist sources. Jimmy Dore is Some Info Wars level competency. It only makes sense you would question my political acumen.

[BeyondGeography]

24. Here's a third mainstream source for you to ignore

Thanks for the opportunity:

BIDEN DOESN'T WANT TO HEAR MILLENNIALS COMPLAIN: 'GIVE ME A BREAK'

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.newsweek.com/joe-biden-says-millennials-dont-have-it-tough-780348%3famp=1

Whether Biden agrees or not, there is evidence to support the idea that millennials, the generation born between the early 1980s and mid-'90s, have inherited a slew of problems that have put them at an economic disadvantage compared to previous generations. Millennials are more likely to have advanced college degrees, but earn 20 percent less than baby boomers when they were the same age. Healthcare, housing and education are more than five times more expensive than they were just a few decades ago, writer Michael Hobbes tells NPR. Student debt has skyrocketed, making homeownership unrealistic for many, reports Bloomberg. And the struggle to advocate for civil rights continues today, as recent movements like #MeToo, #BlackLivesMatter and #TimesUpNow have demonstrated.

[Demit]

29. How did you like the "Kent State, 17 kids shot dead" part of Biden's recollections of his era?

I thought that was a little startling, myself.

[SouthernProgressive]

31. I don't think much about it at all.

Maybe he doesn’t listen to Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young.

[Demit]

32. Maybe the deaths weren't as traumatic to him as he implies here.

If you lived through the event, it was a shocking thing. We didn't need a song to know it.

The fact that you use a rolling-on-the-floor-laughing emoji in talking about four kids being killed is shocking, too. What an awful thing to do.

[SouthernProgressive]

34. Sorry I'm not as worked up about it as you are.

Yeah. I’m laughing at four dead kids. You got it.

Some of the things I read here are amazing. That is one of the tops.

Maybe you are just making assumptions about SOME people in the worst possible light you can see them. Yeah, that’s it.

[Demit]

37. You're as worked up about it as Joe Biden is, that's clear.

He couldn't remember how many students were killed, and you think that's funny.

It is funny—in a sad way—the way Biden trips himself up when he's reminiscing. Here, wanting to be all dramatic about the sixties so that he could put down today's young people and their problems, then screwing up the central fact of a seminal event from the times. Seventeen instead of four? That's not a slip of the tongue. That's something else. I don't know what light you put THAT in.

[SouthernProgressive]

38. Glad you now think it's funny as well.

There is a smile around every corner.

[Demit]

39. The gaffes Biden makes are piling up. They're creating a cumulative effect.

At some point you're going to have to take that seriously.

[SouthernProgressive]

40. That's funny.

It’s really going to upset you when Kent State doesn’t catch on.

[highplainsdem]

43. Oh, good grief. Obama said in 2008 that while campaigning he'd been to 57 states and had one to go.

And he also misstated the number of victims when talking about a cyclone in Burma.

Snopes article with video:

On the campaign trail in Beaverton, Oregon, in May 2008, an obviously tired Barack Obama mistakenly told a crowd that over the course of the long campaign he had been to fifty-seven states in the U.S., with one left to go:

“… it is just wonderful to be back in Oregon, and over the last 15 months we’ve traveled to every corner of the United States. I’ve now been in fifty …. seven states? I think one left to go. One left to go. Alaska and Hawaii, I was not allowed to go to even though I really wanted to visit but my staff would not justify it.”

Talking with reporters at a later campaign stop, Senator Obama expressed concern that he’d recently misstated both the number of potential victims of a recent cyclone in Burma and the number of states he’d visited, saying: “I hope I said 100 thousand people the first time instead of 100 million. I understand I said there were 57 states today. It’s a sign that my numeracy is getting a little, uh …”

I don't know how many similar mistakes about details YOU might make if you were campaigning and talking much of the day. Possibly, unless you're perfect, people might be able to look carefully through every single word you said and find some detail to attack you for.

They might even claim your misstatement was "not a slip of the tongue."

For the record: although 4 students were killed at Kent State, 9 others were shot and survived. It's quite possible Biden was thinking of the higher number, got it wrong as 17 instead of 13, and misstated that as the number killed and not the total number shot.

If you think that's disqualifying, so were Obama's misstatements.

If you're trying to insinuate that Biden's mistake there was something more serious than a slip of a tongue -- I'm guessing you're trying to insinuate that it shows some mental deficiency -- then I hope for your sake that you're either perfect in everything you say, or at least surrounded by people more understanding and forgiving of slips of the tongue than you apparently are.

[Demit]

45. Impressive! Now explain the time Biden said FDR went on tv when the stock market crashed.

“When the stock market crashed, Franklin D. Roosevelt got on the television and didn’t just talk about the, you know, the princes of greed.”

You have a few things to untangle there.

I don't know what happens between what he's thinking and what comes out of his mouth, but something strange does. And it's been happening for a long time.

[highplainsdem]

46. It's obvious he meant to say "radio" rather than "television." You've never made a slip of the

tongue yourself? Always get every word perfect?

Btw, the reason it's obvious he'd meant to say "the radio" was his using the word "the" in that sentence. If he was actually thinking of TV, he'd have said "on TV" or "on television."

Daily Kos piece at the time:

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2008/9/23/607828/-

The wing-nuts are up in arms about a statement Senator Biden made during his recent interview with Katie Couric, where Biden states that FDR went on TV in 1929 after the stock market crash to tell the people what happened. Biden was using the example to demonstrate what true leadership looks like, and contrasting McSame’s negativity and attacks on Obama. Biden, simply, misspoke, but the rest of his statement about FDR and true leadership was dead on, as I will demonstrate after the jump.

Here is the full Biden quote:

"Part of what being a leader does is to instill confidence is to demonstrate what he or she knows what they are talking about and to communicating to people ... this is how we can fix this," Biden said. "When the stock market crashed, Franklin Roosevelt got on the television and didn't just talk about the princes of greed. He said, 'look, here's what happened.'"

Of course, Biden meant radio, instead of television, but the rest of Biden’s statement was true. (As I demonstrate below). The gaffe-attacking, wing-nuts need to stop. Enough! This election is too important. They are not going to keep knocking Obama off message with this nonsense! They will not keep distracting people during this prime "silly season." We will not let them!.

-snip-

In 1929 FDR was Governor of NY and he WAS already using radio at that time to bring his fight directly to the people. Nowhere in his quote does Biden claim FDR was President at the time, like many wing-nuts are also claiming. FDR honed his radio skills at that time and later used these skills to reassure the country during the great depression during his "fireside chats."

-snip-

"As governor of New York he had used radio broadcasts to reach many -- and to do so over the heads of the state legislature when he became annoyed by its rejection of his proposed bills. His first radio address was broadcast in 1929 as a means to battle "a recalcitrant legislature." He opted to "take the issue to the people," and radio was the perfect medium for such a strategy.

-snip-

[Demit]

49. Actually, Biden didn't say the "the." Watch the clip:

I had initially copied the quote from a written source, but after reading your post I decided to look up the video. Nope, no "the" before the word television. So now you're going to have to argue that he meant to say "Franklin Roosevelt got on radio..." which to my ears would sound strange. I agree with you, we commonly say "on the radio" and "on television" ("I heard a new song on the radio the other day" and "what's on tv tonight?" )

I'm not going to belabor the point. I understand your desire to defend your favored candidate, so I'll leave it go. But to answer your question: No, I don't think I'd ever mistakenly say television when I meant radio. The two mediums are so different.

[highplainsdem]

50. Agree the quote I was using was wrong, but that doesn't change the fact it was a slip of

the tongue. (I do appreciate your posting the video, though.)

Haven't you ever been talking about, say, sports teams you like, and you accidentally named one team or one player rather than another one that you really meant?

That kind of thing happens all the time, to most people if not all people.

Much of the time, in everyday life, the person who makes the slip will be corrected by someone else, immediately, and they'll agree: "You're right -- I meant _____."

Biden wasn't interrupted during this interview. Possibly out of respect. I doubt Katie Couric believed for a second that Biden believed FDR ever went on television, and she probably assumed everyone else would just ignore that slip of the tongue.

But because Biden's a target, of RWers years ago and Democratic supporters of his rivals now, people go after every trivial slip of the tongue.

Again, if this is disqualifying, so was Obama saying he'd gone to 57 states while campaigning in 2008.

[Perseus]

30. I think he was comparing the tough times then and now

The real problem with Biden has constantly been his delivery of the argument he is trying to make.

"Give me a break, I have no sympathy"...that is all the opposition needs to make a negative meme out of it.

Biden has a problem with his messages, his mouth is his worst enemy. I do like Biden, he is not my choice for 2020 but if he becomes the nominee he will have my vote, no doubt about, but we all need to be clear about his weaknesses, and his mouth is one.

Is it unfair to take this comment and use it against him? I think so, but then again, he needs to think before he speaks to make sure this doesn't happen. He has been apologizing from the moment he announced his candidacy, and the reason is because he tends to say the wrong things at the wrong time, republicans will not forgive any of it, they will basque in the glory of what they hear and run with it, even ridicule him.

[highplainsdem]

44. With the full context, I don't see anything wrong with what he said. Basically, every generation

faces challenges. And the people who claim their generation is facing the worst challenges usually just show their lack of awareness of what other generations went through.

I thought the Sixties were a challenging time. My parents had to deal with the Depression and World War II.

I'm glad you at least didn't post the very short clip of only a sentence or two that RW smear artists and many Biden critics used to attack him.

Unfortunately, even people posting more of the context tend to focus on just a few words there, rather than the entire statement.

I believe all of us could have our views badly misrepresented if only a few select words are taken out of context or emphasized much more than they should be.

[BeyondGeography]

47. I agree; the full clip leavens it out pretty well

And I am glad I switched it. Still, he lacks discipline. Which is part of his charm of course but some age cohorts are more accepting of the full Joe than others and he did hurt himself some here.

[highplainsdem]

48. Well, I remember HRC being criticized for apparently weighing everything she said too carefully,

and supposedly not being spontaneous or genuine.

So being very careful of what you say can lead to attacks, too.

Sigh.

I'd hate to see Biden obviously carefully weighing every word he says out of fear of how someone might twist it.

I'd also hate to see him delivering rehearsed lines instead of spontaneous remarks. Sounding like just one more untrustworthy glib politician.

People like Biden because they consider him genuine, authentic. They feel he speaks from the heart, not a script. People who speak from the heart don't always say everything perfectly, especially not the first time.

[gordianot]

4. Most of the real Socialist get are obscene Republican tax breaks.

The rest of us pay for what we get. Our hobbies when you can afford one are not Space Programs. What funds we have for subsistence are taxed. When people complain about Socialism I wish they would identify who gets the real breaks.

[onetexan]

6. Agree, its also the cut in tax breaks for working families

Such as perdiem for truck drivers, etc that hurts them further. The GOP tax reform hurt middle class families alot more than they help.

[Vegas Roller]

7. Perfectly laid out!! K&R nt

[NYMinute]

9. Biden is right

Most of the younger generation is not radicalized and wants changes without going full-blown socialist. Nationalizing health care would be a tremendous shock to a very complex system which creates hundreds of thousands of jobs.

MFA is a good slogan … but the transition would be catastrophic. Just printing 350 million cards would take months. Then the infrastructure to maintain all that data would require square miles worth of servers. Then handling all the payments and claims.

ACA + Public option is the way to go.

[roscoeroscoe]

18. I often think

Those who push for radical change don't understand how the unintended consequences and shock wave cause suffering

[Perseus]

25. What unintended consequences could free education and universal health care have?

That the country would become better educated? That the citizens of the USA would become healthier?

Of course that it is not an easy path from what we have today to what the country wants, lets not forget that more than 70% agree with those two issues. But can it be done? of course it can, we need to stop spending money on things that do not help the citizenry, such as excessive and uncontrolled military spending, waste in government, eliminate charter schools which are taking from public schools funds and not providing anything of better value, many times just serving as a money pot for the corrupt, change the tax system to make those who make millions pay more, close tax loop holes.

There is so much that can be done to institute both universal health care and free education. The only reason politicians don't want to do it is because they see all that money they can profit from, that is the main reason for charter schools.

Take away the free healthcare for politicians, the salaries for life and you will see changes almost immediately.

[comradebillyboy]

42. It's not free; lots of people will pay a lot of money in

new taxes and fees wile having their own health care seriously disrupted.

[Perseus]

26. I don't think people are naive to believe these changes can happen in one year

Most people I talk to about this understand that it is a slow process, which the ACA paved the road for, but people understand that it can and should eventually happen.

Obama never intended to go the full mile when they brought the ACA, of course they wanted to go further than what republicans allowed, but it has proven successful, it is something that the majority of citizens want. If presented well, people will understand and accept that as long as we are moving in that direction, it will take some time to accomplish it.

Why would people complain about losses of jobs in the insurance industry when there are other, more important jobs that are disappearing? What have insurance companies done for the good of the country, besides providing jobs? I know how much money these insurance companies make, I managed the development of an Insurance system as a contractor and I was able to see how the money flowed, how they beef up their prices, and how it makes healthcare more expensive.

Take a look at the French universal healthcare system, the Canadian, and any of the Scandinavian countries and see if there have been any unintended consequences. The answer is NO, people are very happy with the healthcare, with free education. We are the greatest country in the World? Really? And we have to struggle for basic rights?

The reason politicians do not want free education is because they want an ignorant population, just take a look at those who support the creature, how easy it is to manipulate them. The creature said at one of his many rallies that "he loved the uneducated", and they cheered him, and of course republicans want the uneducated.

I think Biden is painting the wrong picture on these two issues, and he is telling us that he is very happy with the status quo, so his presidency doesn't promise any real changes? Is he offering more of the same? I don't know.

[TexasTowelie]

35. There were unintended consequences in Sweden.

Take a look at the French universal healthcare system, the Canadian, and any of the Scandinavian countries and see if there have been any unintended consequences. The answer is NO, people are very happy with the healthcare, with free education. We are the greatest country in the World? Really? And we have to struggle for basic rights?

Maternity wards closed, longer wait times for ambulances, people being trained to deliver babies in vehicles in Sweden. The people were not as happy as some would have us believe. I could provide the source, but it would be hidden.

[bucolic_frolic]

21. Biden's candidacty is not all about politics

He really does have political skills in the extreme. He is perhaps the last sane candidate from the Watergate generation that held office at that time. He is reasonable, he builds consensus, coalitions. Common sense and wisdom are part of his very being, his method of analyzing and presentation, his appeal to voters. He has political stature, and not just because he is a former VP.

I have worries. He will have to be bold and unrelenting in the attack against Trump. Message and avoiding gaffes, which will be minor but the media will magnify, will be a weekly challenge. His experience on the stump cannot be underestimated.

There are many days I feel, this is the guy.

[Perseus]

23. "this is not a hit on Bernie, my word -- but this is not a generation of socialists."?????

This is not a hit on Bernie????
Is Biden calling "a single-payer health care system" socialism???

This framing of what IS a human right, something that is good for the country, such as free education, and universal healthcare are not socialist ideas, none of the Scandinavian countries are socialists, they are capitalists societies with well run capitalism and good social programs.

Biden just opened the door to republicans to attack Sanders and all other Democrats who support free education and universal health care.

"It’s an approach the former vice president has taken this week after releasing his health-care plan, which would create a public health insurance option but otherwise leave the broad contours of the health-care system intact."
MORE OF THE SAME? What is new here? Isn't this what many call "keeping the status quo intact"?

[myohmy2]

27. attack, attack...

" Biden sought to put Sanders — who supports a single-payer health care system — in the same camp as Republicans..."

...

[mtnsnake]

36. The gaffe machine continues to roll

leaving Biden once again vulnerable to similar comparisons between him and Trump when it comes to health care. He would have been much better off to say millennial music sucks, rather than get into discussing whether they are socialists or not. At least everyone would have agreed with him on that.

[brooklynite]

41. But Bernie Sanders gets such large rally crowds...

They must represent almost.....0.0017% of the millennial population.