Sleepy Joe's Biggest Mistake

[Elixir]

Just my opinion. But I feel strongly about it so I shared it with the campaign...

PLEASE, Joe - talk less about masks and mask mandates, and more about testing. Including testing for infection and for antibodies.
People are more afraid of the unknown than they are of the Trump Virus.
Testing holds the power of knowledge, the power to dispel the unknown.
Mask mandates are the most polarizing COVID-related political football that exists.
The desire for knowledge is a unifying principle.
What you should be saying:

"Trump wants less testing to keep the NUMBERS down. I want MORE testing to keep CASES down.
People aren't dying from "the numbers", they're dying from the DISEASE."

Hold out the positive vision of how quickly the disease can be conquered if we know where it's hiding. How quickly the economy can open - without new record spikes in new cases recurring.
Etc, etc... (I went on about it a little)

Get elected, Joe.
THEN you can start talking about mask mandates.

 

[Harry Bosch]

Just my opinion. But I feel strongly about it so I shared it with the campaign...

PLEASE, Joe - talk less about masks and mask mandates, and more about testing. Including testing for infection and for antibodies.
People are more afraid of the unknown than they are of the Trump Virus.
Testing holds the power of knowledge, the power to dispel the unknown.
Mask mandates are the most polarizing COVID-related political football that exists.
The desire for knowledge is a unifying principle.
What you should be saying:

"Trump wants less testing to keep the NUMBERS down. I want MORE testing to keep CASES down.
People aren't dying from "the numbers", they're dying from the DISEASE."

Hold out the positive vision of how quickly the disease can be conquered if we know where it's hiding. How quickly the economy can open - without new record spikes in new cases recurring.
Etc, etc... (I went on about it a little)

Get elected, Joe.
THEN you can start talking about mask mandates.

Yea, you're right. I don't disagree. But it's damn sad that some people have such little regard for others that they won't wear a mask. The other day I was shopping with my family and an unmasked asshole was walking towards us. I was prepared to direct him into a wall when he veered at the last minute down a separate isle. To me, it's similar to snowboarders barrelling down a mountain out of control. These people don't give a shit about others. Maybe we all need ski poles to direct these inconsiderate assholes out of our danger zones?!

 

[crazyfingers]

Just my opinion. But I feel strongly about it so I shared it with the campaign...

PLEASE, Joe - talk less about masks and mask mandates, and more about testing. Including testing for infection and for antibodies.
People are more afraid of the unknown than they are of the Trump Virus.
Testing holds the power of knowledge, the power to dispel the unknown.
Mask mandates are the most polarizing COVID-related political football that exists.
The desire for knowledge is a unifying principle.
What you should be saying:

"Trump wants less testing to keep the NUMBERS down. I want MORE testing to keep CASES down.
People aren't dying from "the numbers", they're dying from the DISEASE."

Hold out the positive vision of how quickly the disease can be conquered if we know where it's hiding. How quickly the economy can open - without new record spikes in new cases recurring.
Etc, etc... (I went on about it a little)

Get elected, Joe.
THEN you can start talking about mask mandates.

I agree. Testing is still for shit.

As an example my daughter is at college. They will stop Testing the week before Thanksgiving and unless a student is granted an exemption (criteria for granting an exemption is unknown), must vacate the dorms. So these kids mostly all go home and no way to have any sense if they are one of the 30-50% who are asymptomatic. Same deal for the winter/Xmas break that's 4 weeks long.

What do we do with my daughter?

We'd all like to gather and have Thanksgiving at my mother's old house and spring mom from Assisted Living. But without testing, can we really risk that? I really have my doubts.

Without testing, it's a risk and I don't think that I'd want to take it. Of course by the end of November the state may have reimposed restrictions on assisted living and we may not be able to get mom out.

The only good thing is that we do have an extra house were my daughter can stay. A couple of her friends would probably join her so she'd be OK. But not what we would hope if testing was what it should be.

But can you even imagine Trumpinions and anti-science goons actually even worrying about this? I'd expect that Thanksgiving and Xmas will see additional accelerated spikes without free and quick testing.

 

[Elixir]

We'd all like to gather and have Thanksgiving at my mother's old house and spring mom from Assisted Living. But without testing, can we really risk that? I really have my doubts.

Right. If you could all quarantine for a few days while testing throughout, you could do that.
The pitchlines are endless: "Testing can give you your family back!"
Who doesn't want that?
Same for jobsites:"Go to work. drive the economy, feel safe - and proud of it!"

The contrast with Trump could be so much more stark and inarguable.

 

[Rhea]

Geat ideas. I agree.

 

[fromderinside]

So set up for contact tracing. Provide those who want to protect loved ones with location positive case apps. That should be enough to assure pretty good tracking network support to assist those actually tasked with contact tracing. After elements are in place Two weeks isolation should do it.

We'll help the non-masker freedom types get their economy back in spite of their foolishness.

 

[Ford]

The desire for knowledge is a unifying principle.

If only it were that easy.

I've been going back and forth with a few people on the Facebook who are insistent that the key to solving this whole thing is to reopen the economy and return to "normal." That the economic impact of the shutdowns are the real problem, and the "collateral damage" to the economy is what we need to focus on.

The number of cases? The number of deaths? Irrelevant. People on the Trump side of the ledger want to go back to "normal" so they can go to (insert mass sporting event here) or happy hour or the latest blockbuster movie. They don't grasp the simple fact that there will likely never be a return to what they think of as "normal."

We're a little over 19 years past the last time "normal" stopped on 9/11/2001. We never really went back entirely. Airport security has changed forever. The government asserted surveillance and detention powers they're never going to give up. The "War on Terror" fundamentally changed the balance of power in the Middle East and it's never going back to "normal." The US - which was scaling back it's worldwide military presence in the aftermath of the Cold War - has a military presence (and active combat operations) in more countries than before.

The world changed then, and it is changing again right now in ways that haven't even manifested yet. Being able to sing "take me out to the ball game" in a stadium won't bring it back to "normal." What Biden really needs to do is come clean with the American people and tell the truth. This is another 9/11. Another Pearl Harbor. Moving forward, our nation is going to change. Not out of desire, but out of necessity. Even after the pandemic subsides and we have a vaccine, it will always be there. You'll have to get your annual COVID shot just like the flu shot and that will never go away.


Yes, Trump is an idiot for pretending this isn't a problem and it will just vanish. Biden is being a helluva lot more prudent by saying it's serious but we can get through it, but the reality is that this pandemic is an existential crisis to not just the US, but the world, and there are precious few "world leaders" who are willing to admit that fact let alone elicit a policy response. What we need is someone who says "keep your hands and feet inside the ride at all times...it's gonna get really bumpy."

 

[Elixir]

If only it were that easy.

It can be easy, if the only immediate "it" is getting Biden elected. The appearance of a unifying principle is just as good as the real thing - just ask Trump.
Of course Electing Joe isn't going to "fix" things back to some kind of previous normal. Nothing ever does, as you point out:

We're a little over 19 years past the last time "normal" stopped on 9/11/2001

We knew it on that very day. You can't "go back".

Even after the pandemic subsides and we have a vaccine, it will always be there.

So will other virii new and old, natural catastrophes and social upheavals. C'est la vie. Right now, getting Biden elected - or more importantly getting rid of the Trump Crime Family - will vastly improve the outcomes for most Americans when those things happen.

 

[starwater]

It's hypocritical of the anti-maskers that are also pro life to not wear masks. thou shalt have any child that is conceived. When born - I can breathe on it and cause it to die from COVID because I am too selfish to wear a mask.

 

[Shadowy Man]

It's hypocritical of the anti-maskers that are also pro life to not wear masks. thou shalt have any child that is conceived. When born - I can breathe on it and cause it to die from COVID because I am too selfish to wear a mask.

Pro-lifers are hypocrites?? Holy shot!

 

[fromderinside]

It's hypocritical of the anti-maskers that are also pro life to not wear masks. thou shalt have any child that is conceived. When born - I can breathe on it and cause it to die from COVID because I am too selfish to wear a mask.

NO-ah shoot that libiril!

 

[Elixir]

Just my opinion. But I feel strongly about it so I shared it with the campaign...

PLEASE, Joe - talk less about masks and mask mandates, and more about testing. Including testing for infection and for antibodies.
People are more afraid of the unknown than they are of the Trump Virus.
Testing holds the power of knowledge, the power to dispel the unknown.
Mask mandates are the most polarizing COVID-related political football that exists.
The desire for knowledge is a unifying principle.
What you should be saying:

"Trump wants less testing to keep the NUMBERS down. I want MORE testing to keep CASES down.
People aren't dying from "the numbers", they're dying from the DISEASE."

Hold out the positive vision of how quickly the disease can be conquered if we know where it's hiding. How quickly the economy can open - without new record spikes in new cases recurring.
Etc, etc... (I went on about it a little)

Get elected, Joe.
THEN you can start talking about mask mandates.

I agree. Testing is still for shit.

Whether or not testing is crap wouldn't bear on the electorate's reaction.
If Biden loses this thing, I blame it on his tone-deafness to the reaction to masks.
PEOPLE DON'T LIKE THEM. Even people like me who wear them religiously DON'T LIKE THEM.
Nobody objects to testing - except Cheato.
It is looking at this hour like this has been an epic and ongoing blunder, as I feared the first time Biden made me cringe with his talk about "mask mandates".
He might as well have waxed prolix about the joys of sniffing strange women's hair.
Leave it to Democrats... I do hope Biden will send Uncle Vlad a congratulatory note if he is declared the loser.

 

[Derec]

His biggest mistakes were not distancing himself from socialism forcefully enough (doomed him in FL due to all the Cubanos), and for advocating "fracking ban lite" (may doom him in PA although that is not over).

What also harmed him in PA was offering support for a violent felon who attacked police with a knife.
[TWEET]<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Our hearts are broken for the family of Walter Wallace Jr., and for all those suffering the emotional weight of learning about another Black life in America lost.<br><br>Walter’s life mattered. <a href="https://t.co/mGki28Cpyr">https://t.co/mGki28Cpyr</a></p>— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) <a href="https://twitter.com/JoeBiden/status/1321216353164931072?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 27, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>[/TWEET]
A complete own goal that.

 

[Elixir]

A complete own goal that.

Let's see if being a racist bastard is now a prerequisite for the presidency.
I don't think a single tweet (or even treading too close to the sacred fracking line) carries nearly the weight of a campaign gaffe that is repeated ad nauseum like the mask mandate trope.

 

[Derec]

Let's see if being a racist bastard is now a prerequisite for the presidency.

How is it "racist" to not support a knife-wielding maniac who attacked police with a knife? The same guy who burst into a woman's house and held a gun to her head during a robbery?
Oh, the guy is black. So he automatically is an innocent victim of police brutality? What a load of BS!

I don't think a single tweet (or even treading too close to the sacred fracking line) carries nearly the weight of a campaign gaffe that is repeated ad nauseum like the mask mandate trope.

It's not a single tweet. Biden/Harris had several of them. Like when Kamala falsely called Michael Brown's killing "murder" even though she knows full well (being a former prosecutor) that it wasn't.

 

[Elixir]

How is it "racist" to not support a knife-wielding maniac who attacked police with a knife?

I'd say it's racist as hell to characterize what's in the video as an "attack".
I'd also estimate that there is approximately zero chance that a white person in a white neighborhood acting exactly the same way after a call was placed for help regarding a mental health crisis, would have been summarily executed like Walter was.

 

[Derec]

I'd say it's racist as hell to characterize what's in the video as an "attack".

He was armed with a lethal weapon, he refused to drop it, and he came at the police officers coming as close as 10', which is a very short distance.
It's certainly parsecs closer to being an attack than a "summary execution".

I'd also estimate that there is approximately zero chance that a white person in a white neighborhood acting exactly the same way after a call was placed for help regarding a mental health crisis, would have been summarily executed like Walter was.

Your estimate would be off. Don't believe me? I assume you are white. So maybe you should try it for yourself. Go to a white neighborhood and try coming at police officers with a knife. Would you risk your life for the accuracy of your estimate?