From RationalWiki

"I just came back from grabbing your wife's ass." A smile which says,

“ ” You've got the first sort of mainstream You've got the first sort of mainstream African American who is articulate and bright and clean and nice looking guy. I mean that's a storybook man. —Joe Biden referring to Barack Obama in 2007[1] Now that's progressive!'

“ ” Poor kids are just as bright and just as talented as white kids —[2]'

Joseph R. "Literally"[3] "Big Fucking Deal" "Amtrak Joe" "Gates of Hell" "Uncle Joe" "Come Hell or High Water" "Diamond Joe" Biden, Jr. is the conservative's false prophet former in a long list of gaffe-prone Vice Presidents of the United States[4][5] who, at the same time, managed to be one of Barack Obama's most important negotiators.[6] He got nominated by the Democratic Party in the 2020 U.S. presidential election because he had more name recognition than his moderate rivals and he could count on Sanders overestimating his reach outside of his core supporters.[7]. However, there was definite voter suppression from the Republican party involved in a lot of cases[note 1].

2020 Presidential Campaign [ edit ]

Campaign logo after selection of Harris as running mate

Biden's 2020 presidential campaign began on 25th April 2019 after he announced his candidacy for 2020 Democratic Party presidential nomination.

As a former Vice President, Biden joined the race with high name recognition. While he was leading the national polls, he did not win early democratic contests of Iowa or New Hampshire. Then came the South Carolina Democratic primary which resulted in a landslide victory for Joe Biden. This gave a new life to the campaign, and in March he was endorsed by ten of his opponents. On Super Tuesday (March 3rd), Biden got enough delegates to pull ahead of Senator Bernie Sanders. After Joe Biden's victory and the path to nomination become clear, Sanders suspended his presidential campaign on 8th April. Bernie endorsed Biden 5 days later. In June, Biden passed the threshold of 1991 delegates required to become the Democratic presidential nominee.

On 11 August, Biden announced that Senator Kamala Harris would be his running mate.

The DNC officially nominated Joe Biden for President and Kamala Harris for Vice-President on August 18 and 19. [8]

Campaign Pledges [ edit ]

Health [ edit ]

Biden has come out in favor of a public option for covering health insurance and outlawing the non-compete clause. [9]

Biden has called for increasing funding for hospitals in rural areas and communities. [10]

Environment [ edit ]

Embracing the framework of the Green New Deal, his campaign launched a $1.7 trillion climate plan. If implemented the plan outlines the goal for the US to reach 100% clean energy and net-zero emissions by the year 2050. [11]

The campaign also promises to rally world leaders to meet the threat of climate change.

Minimum Wage [ edit ]

Biden campaign has called for $15/hour minimum wage. [12][13]

Education [ edit ]

Biden's platform includes support for universal pre-kindergarten. [14]

In October 2019, Biden released an education plan which includes guaranteed free 2 years of community college and easing student loans. [15]

Another Biden's education plan includes 4 years of free public colleges & universities for families that make less than $125,000 per year. [16]

Infrastructure [ edit ]

On 4th November 2019, Biden released a plan calling for $1.3 trillion investments on infrastructure. This includes plans for housing, roads, pipes, bridges, highways, rails, electric vehicles, broadband, and schools. [17]

Cannabis [ edit ]

Biden believes that no one should be in jail for cannabis use. He's come out in favor of decriminalizing the recreational use of cannabis, but not legalizing it. [18]

LGBTQ issues [ edit ]

While delivering a keynote in early June 2019, Biden said that one of his administration's top priorities would be to pass the "Equality Act". [19]

Immigration [ edit ]

Biden's plan for immigration includes enabling a pathway to citizenship for undocumented migrants, expansion of work visas, and reversal of Donald Trump's deportation policies. [20]

2008 B.B. (Before Biden) [ edit ]

His entire life has been marked by tragedy. He lost his wife and infant daughter in a car crash in the 1970s, and his eldest son died in 2015 of cancer.

He was a U.S. Senator for Delaware from 1973-2008. He also kicked the Sarah Palin's and the Paul Ryan's asses in debates.[citation needed] Sadly, he is also a lobbyist for Delawarean credit card firms and was a cheerleader for the Iraq War.[citation needed]

He has boasted about his relationship with segregationist senator Strom Thurmond (which is not actually bad for those who still believe bipartisanship was once good or is still possible, but is bad if you care about racism in the USA and would rather not see someone who filibustered the civil rights act treated like a "friend").[21] Furthermore, Biden supported legislation that would have prevented federal courts from ordering public school busing,[22] something Kamala Harris called him out for in the 2020 presidential debates.[23]

Biden in the past has called for cuts to Social Security and Medicare.[24]

Biden was also instrumental in passing the incredibly racist 1994 Crime Bill which has overwhelmingly negatively affected the African-American community. He has also in the past advocated for segregation, saying it was "good for black people."[25]

Amtrak Joe [ edit ]

See the main article on this topic: Amtrak

Since first becoming a Senator in 1973, Biden has ridden the train between his state and DC on Amtrak almost every week. One of his frequent trainmates was Senator Arlen Specter whom he first converted into a fellow train enthusiast and later made switch parties from (moderate) Republican to Democrat. As a frequent rider on Amtrak it should come as no surprise that Biden is a fan of rail as a mode of transportation and he has consequently been called "railfan in chief" and "Amtrak Joe" among other things. The Obama administration's ambitious high speed rail plan that was unveiled in 2009 is believed to be mostly thanks to his influence and when a train derailed on the Northeast Corridor a visibly shaken Biden spoke to media, that he himself had been on the same route numerous times and that more investments in Amtrak is needed now more than ever. The Republicans of course voted to cut Amtrak funding on the very same day.[26]

Gay marriage should be legal... oops [ edit ]

In May of 2012, right in the middle of the re-election campaign, Biden misspoke (or maybe not), saying that "I am absolutely comfortable with gay marriage."[27] This gaffe forced Obama to have to actually address the gay marriage issue head on. The President said he had evolved and now accepted gay marriage. This was one of several turning points in the campaign, so thank him for that. (There's some not-entirely-unfounded speculation that Biden's "gaffe" was a trial balloon for a planned announcement by the President: if the media didn't make too much of a fuss about Biden's statement, or made a fuss in a positive direction, it was safe for the Prez to, um, come out.)[28]

“ ” I'm a tactile politician. —Joe Biden, March 2019[29]

“ ” Not once — never — did I believe I acted inappropriately. —Joe Biden, March 2019[30]

There are several videos and pictures of Biden engaging in what commentators consider to be inappropriate proximity to women and children, including kissing and or touching.[31][32][33] Biden described himself as a "tactile politician", admitting this behavior caused trouble in the past.[34]

In March 2019, Lucy Flores, former Nevada assemblywoman, accused Biden of having kissed her without her consent at a 2014 campaign rally in Las Vegas. Flores wrote that Biden walked up behind her, put his hands on her shoulders, smelled her hair, and kissed the back of her head, in "an intimate way reserved for close friends, family, or romantic partners – and I felt powerless to do anything about it."[35][36] Few days later, three additional women came forward with allegations of inappropriate conduct. Amy Lappos, a former congressional aide, accused Biden of having crossed a line of decency when he touched her in a non-sexual, but inappropriate way by holding her head to rub noses with her at a political fundraiser in Greenwich in 2009.[37] Another woman said that Biden ran his hand from her shoulder down her back, and the other said that he placed his hand on her thigh.[38][39] By April 2019, a total of seven women accused Biden of inappropriately touching them.[40]

Tara Reade [ edit ]

Tara Reade has accused Biden of making inappropriate physical contact with her in 1993 when she worked in the then-Senator's office during the period December 1992 to August 1993.[41] Reade has given many interviews about this incident, including multiple interviews with The Washington Post.[41] Lucy Flores' story of Biden's inappropriate touching inspired Read to initially allege that Biden had inappropriately touched her, which was published in her hometown newspaper, The Union, on April 3, 2019.[42] In that article, Reade's accusation at that time was:<[42]

“ ” He used to put his hand on my shoulder and run his finger up my neck,” Reade said. “I would just kind of freeze and wait for him to stop doing that.

This was similar to what other women have accused Biden of doing, and it was reported that Reade did not consider that behavior sexualization.[42]

Reade told The Union that she left her job with the Senator because she refused to serve drinks at a fundraiser, and because she felt sidelined because of that.[42] In a 2019 interview with The Washington Post, Reade laid blame for her leaving Senator's office for "bullying" by the Senator's staff rather than by Biden himself:[41]

“ ” This is what I want to emphasize: It’s not him. It’s the people around him who keep covering for him… For instance, he should have known what was happening to me… Looking back now, that’s my criticism. Maybe he could have been a little more in touch with his own staff.

By her differing accounts, Reade either left voluntarily because she felt sidelined, or she was forced out by Ted Kaufman, Biden's chief of staff.[43]

As recently as 2017, Reade tweeted positively about Biden.[41] But starting in January 2020, Reade began publicly supporting Bernie Sanders' presidential campaign, and called Biden "a misogynist pred".[41] In March 2020, Reade gave an interview with Katie Halper, a Bernie supporter,[41] in which she changed her story that Biden had sexually assaulted her in the Senate.[44][45] In a subsequent interview with The Washington Post, Reade could not remember where in the Capitol she was allegedly sexually assaulted by Biden.[41] Reade’s younger brother, Collin Moulton, confirmed Reade's initial story of inappropriate touching but then revised his story to conform to Reade's revised story.[41]

Biden's presidential campaign has called this sexual assault allegation false:[41]

“ ” He firmly believes that women have a right to be heard — and heard respectfully. Such claims should also be diligently reviewed by an independent press. What is clear about this claim: It is untrue. This absolutely did not happen.

Marianne Baker, who was one of Reade's supervisors, also denied Reade's claim of having made a formal complaint of the assault:[41]

“ ” In all my years working for Sen. Biden, I never once witnessed, or heard of, or received, any reports of inappropriate conduct, period — not from Ms. Reade, not from anyone. I have absolutely no knowledge or memory of Ms. Reade’s accounting of events, which would have left a searing impression on me as a woman professional, and as a manager. These clearly false allegations are in complete contradiction to both the inner workings of our Senate office and to the man I know and worked so closely with for almost two decades.

Two of Reade's other supervisors, Dennis Toner and Ted Kaufman, also flatly denied that the complaint was made, and both stated that they would have remembered it if such a complaint had been made.[41][43]

Reade had told The Washington Post that she had confided in her mother, who later died in 1993, regarding the allegations.[41] Subsequently, Reade told The Intercept that her mother had made a phone call to Larry King Live some time in 1993 which referenced her daughter's experience at The Capitol.[46] The Intercept was able to find a recording of the radio conversation, the complete transcript of which is:[46]

King: San Luis Obispo, California, hello.

Caller: Yes, hello. I’m wondering what a staffer would do besides go to the press in Washington? My daughter has just left there, after working for a prominent senator, and could not get through with her problems at all, and the only thing she could have done was go to the press, and she chose not to do it out of respect for him.

King: In other words, she had a story to tell but, out of respect for the person she worked for, she didn’t tell it?

Caller: That’s true.

Assuming that the anonymous caller was Reade's mother, one does not know what exactly the issue was that her mother was referring to. Was it the inappropriate touching that Reade had initially alleged, was it her difficulties with the Senator's office staff, or was it the sexual assault that she is currently alleging?

Believe all women [ edit ]

“ ” "What we are witnessing is another instance of the right decrying what it imagines the American women’s movement to be." — Susan Faludi [47]

Concomitant with Reade's 2020 accusation against Biden, the phrase "Believe all women" began cropping up.[48] It is noteworthy, because the phrase "Believe women" (without the 'all') began in 2016 with Harvey Weinstein's downfall, and rose to prominence with the #MeToo hashtag that began in 2017.[48]

“ ” "Believe women" was a reminder, not an absolute rule; the beginning of a process, not an end. It was flexible enough to apply to various contexts: Believe women … enough to seriously investigate their claims. Believe women … when they tell you about pervasive indignities — catcalling, leering — that happen to them and their friends when you’re not around. —Monica Hesse (ellipses hers)[48]

"Believe all women" is a phrase that is generally used to taunt Democrats by the right-wing, who seek to make a straw man argument against concerns over sexual abuse and sexual harrassment of women, using the original "Believe women" slogan that originated with the #MeToo movement.[48][47] In this specific case (utilized by the usual right-wing suspects such as Glenn Beck,[49] Megyn Kelly,[50] and Fox news anchor Martha MacCallum[51]) the flawed argument concerns the assertion that they're not going to believe this woman, Tara Reade, so Democrats are hypocrites.[48] The problem with the phrase "Believe all women" is that it is inherently contradictory (or paradoxical): it's not unrealistic that two women could have contradictory opinions about something, and so it would be irrational to believe both of them. The phrase "Believe all women" is in fact used as a straw man and a gaslighting technique — an intentional misrepresentation of "Believe women" to try to trip up people who might want to give Biden the benefit of the doubt.[48] It is used just like "All Lives Matter." was used to misrepresent "Black Lives Matter."[48]

Women's issues [ edit ]

Biden's support of women's rights is broad and consistent. Even feminist men, like Biden, can be tone-deaf, and that is how Biden appeared when questioning Anita Hill regarding her accusations of sexual harassment against Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas during his Senate confirmation hearings.[52] In 1994, Biden authored and strong-armed the passage of the Violence Against Women Act (as part of a larger bill, Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, also known as the Biden Crime Act) which among other things, aids women in cases of domestic assault and for the first time, provided a way for victims of rape or domestic assault to find redress in civil courts if the State or District prosecutor choose not to try a case.[citation needed]

Despite personally following his Catholic faith in the belief that life begins at conception, Biden is strongly pro-choice. In the 2012 Vice-Presidential debates, he stated his own view (and challenged all lawmakers):[citation needed]

With regard to abortion, I accept my church’s position … life begins at conception. … But I refuse to impose it on equally devout Christian and Muslims and Jews, and I just refuse to impose that on others.

I do not believe that we have a right to tell women, that they can’t control their body. It is a decision between them and their doctor. I am not going to interfere with that.

See also [ edit ]

For those of you in the mood, RationalWiki has a fun article about Joe Biden.

Dick Cheney: Joe Biden's predecessor.

Al Gore: Cheney's predecessor and the dude who should've been president instead of Cheney Cheney's boss.

Cheney's boss. Mike Pence: Biden's successor.

Notes [ edit ]