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© Thomson Reuters 2020.Biden urged to pick black VP, not Klobuchar as Minneapolis killing stokes racial tensions
By Joseph Ax and Richard Cowan WASHINGTON©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.
53 Comments
Strangerland
He's the most qualified out there. He's just not eligible.
Strangerland
Of course. That's why they need to choose someone qualified as well. That way people that don't look like Biden and Trump can see qualified leaders who look like them, and can give them more inspiration to vote.
mmwkdw
Obama was coloured - and was President. Did that magically put an end to what is seemingly ingrained within US Society ?
Choosing a VP based purely upon their skin tone or background simply in order to grab votes is not good for the Country - just as when running a Business, you need to choose someone who can do the job and do it well regardless as to their Skin tone, Ethnicity, Religious believes - though as soon as you make it a condition, then there's now a problem.
arrestpaul
Biden-Abrams will create the best chance the Democrat Party has for making America greater in 2021. (insert smiley face here)
arrestpaul
Obama is not qualified to be President. Them's the rules.
WilliB
The Chinese call them "baizuo". Alas, they are produced en masse by our education system.
Wolfpack
I once saw a social science study that rated people’s affinity for in group vs out group individuals. Liberal Whites were the only demographic combination that rated an affinity for the out group higher than there own.
I think Obama’s mixed race heritage was key to his success with the Liberal White elites that formed the core of his support even before black Americans came around to support him in 2008. He was considered the first clean and articulate black presidential candidate in American history. It should not be lost on anyone that this cohort shares an odd association with others who see the world through a racially tinged lens.
Ah_so
Thanks for this. I just needed the "black lesbian in a it wheelchair" to complete my right-wing cliché bingo quiz.
WilliB
Scott Adams has been predicting for months that Biden will pick Harris. She checks all the boxes that the identity crowd wants.
Strangerland
How did choosing Biden, VP for eight years, under one of the most successful administrations in American history, happen?
Um...
Mr Kipling
Biden really needs to pick a female, preferably a black lesbian in a wheelchair...cover all those PC bases.... Democrats... You had 4 years, four long years to find someone to beat trump in the swing states.... You ended up with Joe Biden.
How did this happen?
Strangerland
And the Republicans are focused on pretending there are no racial issues whatsoever ("we elected a black president proving there is no racism in America"), and minimizing the feelings and experiences of minorities in America. This is no different than at any other point in the history of the party.
Wolfpack
The Democrats are laser focused on racial and other differences over those things that people have in common. This is no different than at any other point in the history of the party.
Using racial and also gender differences as a political strategy is malicious and divisive. But Biden is in a box. He will suffer politically if he does not select a black person for vice president. He will pay a price for breaking his promise to select a female VP candidate. Biden is an old white man who spent time in his past opposing policies to promote racial integration. He worked proudly hand-and-hand with fellow Democrats who were segregationists. He still makes racially tinged comments in public and on camera.
Wolfpack
Would you rather the law be changed so that conviction comes first? I agree that there is a huge problem with government officials being provided with excessive protections as a part of performing their official duties. A good recent example is Gov. Cuomo’s policy of sending elderly covid patients back into elder care homes for recovery. Thousands of deaths occurred as a result of the viruses spread but Cuomo cannot be charged with a crime of any kind for the thousands who have died due to Cuomo’s policy. There is always extra protections for governments. This is actually supported by the Left because of their general support for government intervention in society. Why?
Strangerland
Martin Luther King Jr.:
Strangerland
Unfortunately, that doesn't mean much to people, since being charged hardly ever means being convicted, and not (none?) of murder.
https://www.11alive.com/article/news/local/police-shootings-numbers/85-d8861f64-e1ae-4cbb-9734-d69c0e34ca32
Wolfpack
The really sad part about this entire incident is that everyone is in favor of providing justice for the wrongful killing of an innocent man by a member of the Minneapolis police. The policeman was fired and arrested. He will undoubtedly be charged with murder. Protest is fine and Constitutionally protected. Further death, injury, destroyed businesses, and violence is pointless and counterproductive.
Strangerland
The Senate has given Trump immunity from prosecution.
He is literally above the law. Only person in America who has received a blank permission slip.
Strangerland
This is such an American attitude that it has to be either/or.
Why can't a minority with a declared agenda and good abilities be chosen? Your post implies that being a minority means one does not have a declared agenda nor the capabilities to lead the nation.
A smart leader will pick someone the people can find hope in. It's easy as a majority member of society to say 'who cares if they are ethnic'. That's easy to say when your politicians almost all look like you. For minorities however, it can be motivational to see someone who looks like them. So why not find a capable, viable candidate who can appeal to them? Unless your saying that minorities do not have these traits, your argument is binary hyperbole.
lincolnman
Biden hasn't even made his selection yet, and Trump supporters are already bringing up race...figures....
There just echoing what David Duke said in 2016 - he of the "very fine people" category...
“We are determined to take our country back,” Duke said from the rally, calling it a “turning point.” “We are going to fulfill the promises of Donald Trump. That’s what we believed in. That’s why we voted for Donald Trump, because he said he’s going to take our country back.”
There's a reason so many Confederate flags are waved along with Trump 2020 banners...
B. Jay
This is the year that Andrew Cuomo, the New York Governor would have been a perfect choice for VP for the Democrats. Biden has boxed himself into a corner.
Ah_so
Can anyone point out why Trump cannot be sued for libel for this tweet? After all, repeating a libel is still libel.
Ah_so
Generally you only get the job if you are a white male, yet I don't see others ashamed of being a white male or saying things like "I wouldn't have got the job if I hadn't been a white male."
Yet as soon as it looks like there is any risk that the bias might go the other way, it is an embarrassment.
Even if Biden restricted his search to a black woman, that would narrow his pool to 20 million people - about as many women as there are in Spain. Surely there is one amongst them who is sufficiently competent to undertake this relatively minor role? Even if we have this number to remove the young and elderly, we will still have a pool of candidates larger than countries like Holland, Switzerland or the Nordics, the latter of which finds it quite easy to have female leaders.
Or are blacks so downtrodden that there are no suitable candidates among them?
ulysses
I hope President Biden picks up the right candidate, irrespective of gender, race or sexuality.
Not that he has to worry about picking a better candidate than the do nothing, know nothing , see nothing Pence.
Peter Neil
I think people in the US are longing for a president and Congress who can stay away from TV cameras, stay away from Twitter and just shut the heck up and let the people get on with their lives without them.
kazetsukai
Sad when elections are based on "racial" lines rather than 1) declared agendas for the nation and 2) the abilities of candidates that are able lead the nation to carry out such programs. The problem is not just the presidency, but the vice-presidency, especially with Biden who is much older and with very high possibility of the Vice-President taking over for incompetency. That Vice-President MUST be able to "face" the now very dangerous threat from China, Islamic States, Iran, N Korea and now silent Russia. On top of that, it is the next 4 to 6 years that the US economy and the world economy MUST recover from the COREVID-19 pandemic which may still continue on for the next unknown years. Or sooner, if China or any other country releases another pandemic level bio-weapon.
To even hint that the VP candidate must be black just to get votes or to equalize racial representation in government, just as having "equal" numbers of female and male politicians in office or to even have a female President just to have one, is ludicrous at best. The most capable "candidate" must be selected on abilities and not to get votes. The entire nation and the world depends on a "reliable" and "effective" US Presidency.
The Minneapolis situation has nothing to do with VP selection or the election, except on "how" either Biden and Trump may "handle" the final outcome of the Minneapolis problem now being handled by the City and the State. Both Biden and trump can only comment till the results are available.
lincolnman
Biden could pick Maryanne Williamson as his VP and still crush Trump in Nov (that's if the hydro hasn't sidelined him by then)...
Over 100K Americans dead, over 41 million unemployed, an economy in tatters, and all he does is urge on his white supremacist supporters with race-baiting tweets. Oh, and falsely accuse an innocent person of murder in a death 20 years ago that was ruled as heart trouble related.
The Emperor has lost his clothes, if he ever had any. And the clothes were no doubt Trump Collection items made in Communist China...
Ah_so
If race and gender don't matter, why are leaders nearly always white males?
Ah_so
Agree, we shouldn't. Yet every vice President to date has been a white male. How do you account for that?
It's almost as though there is bias in favour of white males and positions of power.
And generally those who speak in favour of the status quo are white males.
What a coincidence!
commanteer
Oh, the naivety. How about Cersei Lannister?
onedragon
so true.
Artemis Rogers
It is a testament to the stupidity of voters that picking a leader by race and gender is a sound strategy for victory. SMH
bass4funk
As will Trump.
Blacklabel
Many people voted for an “image” of Obama that we were presented. The great Uniter, etc
A lot of people didn’t even know what Obama stood for outside of hope and change as he was barely known as politician at the time.
he was a community organizer and we had a community that needed organizing so it made sense at the time.
Jimizo
You said Obama was against these things but he won twice.
Vernon Watts
I think Biden should make his son, Hunter the VP choice; he has lots of experience in the Ukraine and knows how to get a good deal from the Chinese. AND he will work tirelessly to may crack cocaine legal in the US...
fxgai
How about Condeleeza Rice, she was awesome.
bass4funk
No one is? Racism will always be with us until the end of time.
As you said, Biden is definitely not up for this.
Then start from the very beginning, start with the Democrats in each city and each State that have for years legislated policies that created these situations
Toasted Heretic
Biden has a lot to address, not just including any of his own dubious past, but rather the whole political and social situation that have helped sparked these riots/risings to occur. That includes the number of racist killings, minorities incarcerated, mass unemployment, voter supression etc.
Toasted Heretic
As long as they can dismantle the apparatus that enables racism, whoever. Although I fear Biden isn't up to it.
In the meantime, the very best of luck to the protesters and camera crews out today who are taking part and recording the (hopefully) end of a very bad era.
Blacklabel
I do not agree with Biden stating he will only consider female VPs. But it’s the position he has talked his way into.
now what his comments and these riots have ensured Is to have any chance to win, the choice has to be black female. Limited choices when you restrict by race and gender. Those should have no impact on who gets a job.
pointofview
For the most part America is not a racist country.
bass4funk
As long as Dems are for regulation, anti-small business, against the 2nd amendment, late term abortion, anti-religion, they’ll never get the Swing States and especially with Harris as the VP pick as bad as she is will hurt Biden more than he already is.
onedragon
Americans don’t seem to understand the difference between riots and protesting.
otherworldly
Talk about politically correct. Couldn’t have picked a better time for the puppet to put on a show.
Hiro S Nobumasa
Keisha Lance Bottoms!
TheLongTermer
Lets vote in Biden, with a female VP. All the corona will be gone, Trumps economy will even be better and all the racial tensions...just vanish!
Our new moto will be MCGA...make China great again!
TheLongTermer
Not me. Watching this Minn scene sums up why I will never vote Dem. , and their reaction and blame during the corona. Those Dem traits are constants, and will never change.
On another thread, Seth summed it up quite nicely about the effects of the looters, and the town response.
Dems are opportunist. Thats all. Only intellectually lazy people cant see that.
wtfjapan
MAGA 2020 vote Trump out vote for your lives
The Avenger
Kamala's fine, Amy's fine. So are a dozen other VP choices. All of them would make a sterling replacement for the nightmare we have in office now.
But the problem Dems must NEVER LOSE SIGHT OF is that a tiny collection of swing states will determine the election.
WHATEVER YOU DO, find a candidate who can help carry WI, MI, PA, NC, AZ and FL. Or it doesn't matter who the VP pick was.
FAIL TRUMP 2020 Vote for your life.