11 Comments

An invaluable reality check, as always. If more progressives thought like you, maybe we WOULD have a serious and viable Left in this country.

Expand full comment

A younger version of me would have done (did do) the same -- although I would argue that the way Gore played his campaign made the choice between him and Bush seem less stark. And I wasn't in a swing state -- if I had been, I would have thought differently. But man, oh man, the Republican party doesn't even bother to conceal their racism and anti-LGBTQ-ism and their ardent desire to control women's bodies (to have more children to put to work in meat-packing plants, perhaps)? I felt solidarity and catharsis reading your post. Which is these days all *I've* got.

Expand full comment

Absolutely right. I’d never voted for Biden until 2020 (I voted for Obama, not Biden). He has been a better president than we had any right to expect. Nothing he has done in the job indicates that he is in the throes of mental decline. He has not embarrassed the US in his visits to other countries, something Trump did routinely. The threat to democracy is real and menacing. Biden and his appointees stand as an imperfect bulwark against that threat. Vote for him.

I acknowledge, as you did, that a younger me would have argued otherwise. Perhaps then we thought we had plenty of time to recover and advance ahead of political disaster. Now, whether due to nearness of our own end or to our clarity resulting from 70 years of political stops and starts, or both, we see re-electing Biden as imperative. Do it.

Expand full comment

A well written opinion, Coop. Love you.

Expand full comment

Thank you for sharing your words on this. Biden is the obvious choice, even as frustrating a limitation that is. But, for example, when a majority of the country believes abortion should be legal (according to Pew Research Center's latest data) while a small group of Conservative Supreme Court justices — made a majority because of Trump — vote against this, you know we have a large problem on our hands. The power, in other words, dangerously shifts. Yes, presidential candidates bring a whole entourage with them.

Expand full comment

Hi Marc !

Biden’s age , I don’t feel is an important issue as his decline mentally. Having said that, yes,there is no one to vote for....Neither Trump or Biden. I am sitting this one out.

Expand full comment

You're not sitting it out. Read the article, Marc clearly says:

'Doesn’t matter what you tell yourself because the single stark reality is that elections are zero sum deals. If you don’t vote for Joe Biden, you will effectively be voting for Donald Trump.'

So you're voting for Donald Trump. Congratulations. I hope you deserve what you get.

Expand full comment

I am not voting period. I value Marc’s opinion, but I refuse to vote for a lunatic (Trump) or a case of Alzheimer’s (Biden). Think what you want Keith, I have every right to take a hard pass.

Expand full comment

1. Upon what evidence do you base your assertion that Biden has Alzheimers? 2. The consequence of choosing to exercise the "right" to take a "hard pass," is the erosion of democracy, thereby impinging on the rights of others.

Expand full comment

How do you justify the fact that "sitting out" is a vote for Trump?

Expand full comment

If Trump and Biden are tge nominees. If you are NOT a Trump voter but you sit if out cuz Biden doesnt meet ur standards, then ylu are witholding one potential for him. That is an OBVIOUS advantage for Trump who escapes having ur bote go against him.

Expand full comment