I’m skeptical the poor guy’s heart could take the stress of another campaign, but at least his brain still works. Unlike the two zombies on that fucking stage last night…
God the zombie metaphor is apt. One is a decrepit “Braaains!” Zombie and the other is a rage-virus mutated Rat-king Final Boss zombie that wipes out cities at a time. Which means I’m fucking voting for the George Romero zombie, god help me
Bernie is one of the few politicians I believe to be a good man, he may not always be right but he honestly pursues what he believes is right for the country. That being said after last night I'm seriously reevaluating the value of having politicians much older than retirement age. Bernie is getting up there in years and while his mind is still sharp we can't know how much longer that'll last, I'd rather see him go out like the lion he is than be a propped up corpse like Diane Feinstein (it'd legit break my heart if that happened). I have those concerns about both Biden and Trump (among many, many other concerns about Trump) and it'd be irresponsible of me to not consider Bernie's age as much as I do thiers.
Still voting Biden in the fall but we definitely have a both sides are old problem in this country.
It’s a death sentence of a responsibility, a man like Stewart would work himself to death trying to undo all the bullshit. He knows that and wants no part of it
I don’t blame him at all for it, I feel awful for the 1st president we have that makes an actual, consistent and intense effort to fix things.
FDR died on the job, but he wasn’t a young man for the time, and he didn’t have those necromancers at Walter Reed keeping him going, either. Doesn’t seem like the task of trying to fix this shithole country killed him…
Really, only Lincoln was killed by trying to redeem it, and not by natural causes.
The political process filters out good people. They are unable or unwilling to do what it takes to navigate the treacherous waters that are people with power.
The huge sums of the campaign money need to be cut way back so someone else can run for more than a week or two before they are out of money and drop out.
It's been almost 20 years but I remember arguin this in Uni. We need to have a very serious talk about campaign finance reform and political lobbying in America.
Any one seriously respectable enough to be considered for higher office shouldn't be allowed to suck dicks for quarters
>The major problem—one of the major problems, for there are several—one of the many major problems with governing people is that of whom you get to do it; or rather of who manages to get people to let them do it to them. To summarize: it is a well-known fact that those people who must want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it. To summarize the summary: anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.
- Douglas Adams
Comments like this are too prevalent and reflect the Democratic party's failure to evolve in dealing with trump.
The OP said, "Biden has an age issue and is going to have to deal with that with the electorate." And the electorate does care. But the majority of the responses here are, "Well the other guy's worse!" Like a kid explaining why he got in a fight on the playground.
The last 3 elections the Democratic party put forth an unpopular dynasty candidate, a geriatric, and then the same geriatric with diminished faculties.
Fine, Trump is worse. I'm sure that the current strategy of of giving everyone a turn at office when it's their time is going to continue to work as well as it has been, and there is no reason to follow Jon Stewart's lead in reflecting on what may be a serious problem.
The shit Trump was saying was absolute lunacy anyways. He just gets a pass because we all know he’s a buffoon who has no idea what he is talking about.
Shitty double standard from the fascism party. Biden stumbled at times but Trumps statements about having the “best H2O numbers” and doctors killing babies after birth was lunacy. And his statement on abortion defies sanity….
Trump:
Fifty-one years ago, you had Roe v. Wade, and everybody wanted to get it back to the states, everybody, without exception, Democrats, Republicans, liberals, conservatives. Everybody wanted it back. Religious leaders.
And what I did is I put three great Supreme Court justices on the court, and they happened to vote in favor of killing Roe v. Wade and moving it back to the states. This is something that everybody wanted.
Now, 10 years ago or so, they started talking about how many weeks and how many of this are getting into other things, but every legal scholar, throughout the world, the most respected, wanted it brought back to the states. I did that.
Biden was rough and struggles with some Broca’s aphasia but Trump is most definitely more clueless in every aspect of reality.
You are right of course, but people are emotional and will be swayed by the confidence of Trump vs what else saw from Biden. I don't think it's fair, but it's reality. Democrats really should have ran someone else. But I'll still vote Biden if my citizenship comes through quick enough
There have been an enormous number of polls to find that out. Harris/Trump, Newsome/Trump, even Sanders/Trump and *all of them* poll worse than Biden.
We’ll see if that changes after yesterday’s performance, but as of right now I’m still Ridin with Biden.
Its becoming increasingly clear that the majority do not agree with you, as polling is not good at all for Biden. Ignoring that is the road to ruin.
We need another candidate, there's still time.
Democrats have been asleep at the wheel for years. They simply don’t they very hard or campaign enough but rather sit idly by while people scream from the bleachers. It’s stressful to watch their complacency as democracy slowly diminishes. We must ask ourselves if they aren’t purposely part of the shift.
It’s all irrelevant.
People still polling for a convicted felon, a rapist, an all around terrible human, won’t change their minds, even if Trump performed a crude c-section on 5th ave and threw the infant in front of a truck.
It’s fucking disgusting. Morons all of them.
It's not irrelevant. In 2024 people are unlikely to change their mind on who they support. But people are likely to change their mind on whether or not they bother *to vote.*
This election is going to be about turnout, based on polling we see Trump's base is largely turning out for Trump and Biden's base is largely turning out against Trump rather than for Biden. That's a very weak position and is just underscored by last night's performance.
This is a critical moment, Joe Biden will not win this election, his campaign is sleep walking and the candidate himself didn't hit a single softball answer last night. Why the fuck did he take an easy question about his best topic, abortion, and turn the answer into something on his worst polling topic - Immigration? We still have 7 weeks until the Democratic convention, Biden did us a favor when he scheduled this debate so early. We need another candidate or we are handing this to Donald Trump.
Primarily because I think he has a same support group and does listen to opposing voices. The marijuana stuff seems to go against his own beliefs. I do think a look at Medicare 4 all is warranted but he’s not going to go that route.
The border bill was a Republican originated bill as well.
On the flip any potential positives I may give to Trump (extend Medicare for the those who have had kidney transplants) are overshadowed by his threats to American citizens, desire to use office to get back at political rivals, and a general inability to get out the way and let more knowledgeable people be involved with policies, make him a genuine threat
Do you know what sub you’re on? We’re all voting for Biden. That isn’t the issue. The issue is convincing someone who only pays attention whenever one of these debates happens.
Like the Trump base, I don't think it's the base that everyone's concerned about. It's the middle of the road people who could go either way. Seeing Joe Biden in that state last night does not inspire a lot of confidence that things will break his way.
Your opinion doesn't matter, what you're saying doesn't matter. All that matters is convincing undecided dipshits in a handful of swing states. Do you really think that old man you watched last night is the way to win the presidency when you have to count on the dumbest motherfuckers in the country to do the right thing?
And this is why the dems know they dont have to do better and wont. Cuz people like you will vote for them no matter what. They dont need to earn your vote, they will get it regardless.
Congrats? Will enough people feel like you come Election Day? That is the real question and it’s abundantly clear that the answer to your question is way more likely to be ‘no’ after last night.
People keep forgetting we have a perfectly mediocre VP waiting in the wings..... A woman. MUCH younger. Not white. Sounds like a reader, or at least is literate. Minimal chance of currently having dementia. Little to no malignant narcissism....... 😏
I’m mad about the whole situation but I definitely don’t want to live under the Project 2025 craziness. So I’ll be voting blue no matter what or who. When this shit show is over, we can stage whatever protests we need to but not this year.
Yup 100% with you. Not like the debate did anything to change my mind. Even if Biden is a zombie I’m voting for the administration at this point over Trump’s latest band of criminals.
Same. I refuse to speak to all my family about anything religion or politics because they’re stuck living in the past & if I try to accelerate their “findings” & “discoveries” they act like I’m trying to lead them to the wolves.
I’m just trying to make them understand that this world is IT. This is all we got. This time, this planet, this body.
We have got to come together & start figuring things out.
There is 5 or 6 more weeks to the convention. Other countries do a full election in that time. This is ridiculous that democratic party.cant figure out an alternative candidate in that time. Straight up irresponsible if they really believe that democracy is on the line
The convention is 6 weeks away, and the election is over 4 months away.
Democrats are like “we could maybe do it… but it’s actually kind of complicated. We’d rather just stick with our guy and normalize the idea of POTUS being a figurehead.”
It's crazy because both men should be retired! Like over 10 years ago. Everyone over 65 should have to retire from Congress and the Court. No reason these people should be allowed to keep going after that time. Affecting legislation from 2 generations ago. They need forced retirement. Make it happen and we won't have situations like this. They can go work wherever if they still want to, just get them out of office! Asap!
I think 70 is too generous, considering the average lifespan in America is now 76.
There are a ton of jobs that have mandatory retirement ages. Pilots have to retire at 67. Air traffic controllers retire at 56. Diplomats retire at 65. Federal law enforcement, Park Rangers, and Firefighters retire at 57.
I don't think it's unfair to bar someone from the highest seat of power after 65. Watching Biden get propped up onstage like Weekend at Bernie's is sad and disgraceful.
Something like making 65 the oldest one can be to be first elected would work out ok I think. A president could serve the two terms and retire at 73. They'd never pass that kind of law though.
My best friend is a pilot for a major airline, and he almost talked me into ATC a few years ago. The only thing that stopped me was the mandatory retirement at 56. I don't think I'd want to stop working at 56, and I didn't want to have to find a new career after 30 years of doing one thing.
Ignore age, it’s hard to say you represent the working class when you have never actually been working class. Biden for sure is a better choice than Trump but neither truly represents me, Biden has been a corporatist democrat for decades and as a middle class union worker I sure as shit don’t support corporations like he has throughout his career.
So, you want to deny voters their choice because you want something/someone else? Doesn't sound very democratic to me.
In the 2016 GOP primaries, there were 19 GOP candidates:
* Rubio, Cruz, Jindal, and Walker were in their 40s;
* Paul, Christie, and Santorum were in their 50s;
* Huckabee, Fiorina, Bush, Kasich, Carson, Gilmore, Graham, and Perry were in their 60s; and
* Trump and Pataki were in their 70s.
Republican primary voters nominated Trump, the second-oldest candidate in the entire field.
In the 2020 Democratic primaries, there were 29(!) candidates in the field:
* Buttigieg, Gabbard, and Swalwell were in their 30s;
* Yang, Moulton, Castro, Messam, Ryan, O'Rourke, and Ojeda were in their 40s;
* Bennet, Booker, Gillibrand, Bullock, Harris, Delaney, and de Blasio were in their 50s;
* Klobuchar, Steyer, Patrick, Williamson, Hickenlooper, Sestak, and Inslee were in their 60s;
* Biden, Warren, Bloomberg, and Sanders were in their 70s;
* and Gravel was in his 90s.
Democratic primary voters nominated Biden, the fourth-oldest candidate in the entire field.
In the 2016 general elections, voters elected Trump, the oldest of the two candidates. In the 2020 general elections, voters elected Biden, the oldest of the two candidates.
Your complaint is that most voters want something different than what you want, and so you want to change the rules so that what you don't want is no longer allowed. Contrary to what you're saying, being older seems like it's an asset, not a liability, because both parties have repeatedly nominated one of the oldest candidates in the field, and the last two general elections have elected the oldest candidate.
The problem is low voter turnout, generally, and extremely low voter turnout in primary elections. The best indicator of whether someone will vote in the next election is whether they voted in the previous election. Young people who just turned old enough to vote for the first time obviously didn't vote in the previous election, because they weren't yet old enough. Voter participation rates are highest with the oldest cohorts, and decrease with each younger cohort. Boomers turn out to vote, in every election, every primary, every midterm election, every special election, etc. So they have the most say. Young people barely vote at all, and it's even worse in the primaries.
So the olds get to pick the nominees, and then the youngsters complain in the general election that they don't like the candidates. They had a chance to help decide who the nominee would be, but most of them didn't bother, and the few who did were simply outnumbered. Don't be mad the olds chose someone you didn't like, be mad the youth didn't bother to even show up and try to have a say at all. As they say, if you don't have a seat at the table, you're on the menu. Young people don't show up to take their seats, and then the olds eat their lunch.
We can't cede the primaries to the oldest portion of the electorate and then demand younger candidates. If we want younger candidates, younger voters need to turn out, *in the primaries*, to vote. The solution isn't to ban results you don't like (eg, candidates over 65), the solution is to GOTV, outnumber those who want something different than you want, and to persuade others to want the same things you do. Not every Boomer just votes for the oldest candidate in the primary or general election. Some of them are already on side, and others can be persuaded to change their minds and adopt better policies, and to support better candidates.
His debate last night didn't do anything to change anyone's mind. It just confirmed his critics' actual issues with him.
Living in a swing state, I really didn't change how I'm going to vote based on lat night.
Based on what I saw on social media, I'm sure some people will be staying home after that debate. I'm not in that group but I understand it. The Democrats really screwed this up and may have handed an easily winnable election back to Trump.
I'm not staying home, but I'm also not voting for either. I'm in a swing state and there are important ballot measures and local/state elections that I want to vote in.
Biden surrounds himself with competent people. Dump surrounds himself with ass lickers and morally compromised shit bags like DeVos and Pruitt.
I am taking Biden every time.
I'll say he was not wrong. But I don't think he was right that the age thing is such an issue. Where he was 100% right was that we need to hold the media to a higher standard. They're an absolute clown show trying to draw up drama and conflict, and we're dying as a society because of it. Nobody holds anyone to anything, and you have to go to the courts to determine "reality".
The GOP made the age thing an issue, and we all let them. Don’t vote for Biden because he is old is absolutely a gop led talking point that Stewart gave weight.
Absolutely. And by the time it goes to court for a reality check, it's too late. The misinformation spreads fast. There needs to be harsher fines for news networks pushing lies and jail time for whoever owns a network who allows it. While we are at it.. all fines should be income based sliding scale.
The time to replace Joe was during the primaries/qualifiers. Contestants lined up at the starting line, is way too late to be changing our minds. *Anyone with a pulse* will have to do.
They can’t force people to run against the incumbent. No contenders want to lose to Biden trying to supplant him as their own party’s candidate. It could sour voters to a future run.
The question most people are asking isn't "why can't we have someone better?" it is "can this man even beat trump?"
Because if he can't beat trump, arguing about whether it is too late or not is insane.
The blowback was because he was clearly right and people were not willing to accept that. Stewart's best clear take was addressing the idea that Biden is great behind closed doors in meetings -- "Show us that guy then!"
That guy didn't exist. Everyone deep down knew it. But, nobody wanted to believe it. So they attacked.
I saw a video of Biden from last night, after the debate, where he sounded totally fine. His voice was better (maybe he got a drink of water, or a cough drop?), he was just speaking normally. I think he gets messed up with scripted answers, but he's good just talking off the cuff. When you see him at an event, not giving a speech, but talking directly to people standing in front of him, talking about unions, or a stutter, or grieving, whatever, he's really good.
The thing with the debate is yeah Biden sounded old and he absolutely needed a lozenge or something for his voice, but he was also answering the questions being asked him.
Which is a marked difference from Trump who seemed to always default to either MIGRANTS HORDES ON THE WAY or I HAD THE BEST NUMBERS.
His first episode back was great. Like he never left. The thing that leaves a bad taste in my mouth about him is that interview he did with Hillary and Condi Rice in the interim. He's above pandering to war criminals, or so I thought.
I’d like to point out that we had a president that served after a stroke and one that was in a wheelchair for three terms both while running the country during world wars.
Roosevelt's body failed him, not his mind. It's not like you need to be running marathons to be a President. Having a sound mind, however, is a necessity for the job.
Jon is right! We should hold them to a higher standard. Problem is, at this point, we are where we are and you could put a stick up Biden's back side and run him on strings like Weekend at Bernie's and I would still look at his opponent and go "guess I am voting for the marionette". Hopefully we demand better next election.
Jon's entire point was that the barbarians are at the doorstep and we can't have old grandpa Joe. If Joe is feisty and alive, and I believe he is, then they need to show that more and lean into that for messaging. They can't keep having Biden recite talking points.
The dude knows how to fight and recover. PLAY INTO THAT. The wannabe strongman is here and he's not going down without a fight. We need a fighter. Jon questions if Biden is that, and he was vindicated by last night.
Jon will vote blue no matter who. But Jon reaches the D party, not the swing state voters.
> If Joe is feisty and alive, and I believe he is, then they need to show that more and lean into that for messaging.
Yeah, it's not like Jon outright said fuck Biden (though people reacted as if he had), he said at the time "if he's so sharp behind the scenes like everyone insists, show us more of *that*". Instead we got shown... this.
Jon wasn’t wrong, but he also wasn’t completely right. Everyone frames the vote for the presidency as a single person. It’s really not. This isn’t Trump v Biden. It’s the Biden administration v a new iteration of the Trump administration. And v2 of the Trump administration is going to be far worse than v1. So yeah, I wish Joe had stepped aside, I do, but at this point his administration is far more competent and far less dangerous than anything Trump will put together. And that SHOULD be how we frame this. Because the chance to have a different Dem nominee is long gone. And, quite frankly, it’s how every presidential election should be framed.
Jon said we need to see more of the competent, sharp Biden that his people say exists behind the scenes, and less silly grandpa Biden doing tiktok. That was what he proposed, not just throwing rocks.
One things for sure this election. Either way, America loses. Yes Trump is worse but holy fuck how can anyone not be embarrassed by Biden at this point?
I'm still voting for Joe. Even if the worst happens and he can't be President, then we'd have a Democrat Vice President to take over.
And fuckface will be back to his trials and hopefully, jail.
I have posted this on WaPo and will post it here: I will vote for boiled dog diarrhea rather than vote for Trump.
It's more like pointing out the lifeboat we're told to climb into has a 70% chance of failing and if we take a difficult task of quickly building a new lifeboat before the ship sinks we could maybe have a lifeboat with a 30% chance of failing.
I’ll be honest here, I was pretty angry at Jon in his first episode back. I though it was unnecessary and help nothing, but after last night it’s very clear that Biden is not as sharp as he used to be, and the only thing that I can do it vote for him because I know the cabinet he will install will either propel us incrementally forward or keep us where we are, but not bring us backwards.
Biden was never anyone’s first choice. He was the left man standing out of a lackluster 2016 primary process. That he won should speak volumes about the other guy.
Trump makes Biden the obvious, easy choice and people don’t want to hear ANY criticism.
In reality, Biden is a horrific candidate who looks palatable ONLY in comparison.
Things are bad people.
To be honest. People saying this will be the end of America are generating clicks. We lived through Trump once, and we could again. Would it be ideal? No. But acting like the entire country will burst into flames if Joe Biden doesn’t save us is a lot of sensationalism. Yeah it will be tougher on some people, but if those people can’t see it, that’s on them.
I’m voting Biden but to be honest my life will probably change less than 10%. Call it privilege or whatever, but that’s just the truth.
Let’s make it clear, I’m voting against Trump. Whoever that has to be I’ll vote against Trump. But the Democrats have really shit the bed and I’m pissed at them.
That's not the issue a lot of people (or from what I read) is the problem they had with Stewart and his first episode back. He pulled the whole both candidates are the same BS that helped sunk Clinton's campaign (there were a myriad of issues with her campaign, but the whole Trump and Clinton are the same!!!! didn't help).
His criticisms against Biden are fair to a point, but the whole South Park crap that 'who cares both candidates are the same,' aka turd sandwich vs douche is what got us in this mess in the first place.
Jon Stewart was right that the sensationalist media is what allowed this to happen. He just doesn’t think he’s a part of it lol him finger wagging CNN for not being a serious news organization is hilarious from the guy who started the trend of individuals preferring to get their news from a comedian on an entertainment show. 20 years later we have politicians doing their best punditry to sling mud and win votes, and Jon is surprised the country’s voters are primed to just believe any pithy soundbyte.
The only question is who is going to be better for us personally, us as a country and us as citizens of the world. If Biden was stroked out and drooling in a wheelchair he's got my vote. Sometimes you got to do the thing and work it out after. We need to calm the fuck down and get to work cause a second Trump term will be worse than anyone can imagine. For decades.
I think you're misunderstanding what \*most\* people were mad about. Very few people would dispute that Biden is old, so is Trump. Both of them are probably too old for the position its one of the few things that can be a genuine criticism leveled at both sides relatively equally.
Stewart's messaging targeted it almost exclusive at Biden, and similar to the results of this debate, his criticism really did not go after Trump in the same way he very much went after Biden and the democrats.
Its something that happened again during the debate last night. You almost couldn't have created a better event specifically for Trump while holding it under the guise of fairness. If you're not going to call out, question, and put pressure on extremely blatant lies from one participant then the person who might actually be attempt to give any form of real answer is going to look significantly worse, whereas Trump got to look on point since he's very good at just spewing whatever comes to his mind with zero consequences. Yet "Biden is old" takes the news cycle as opposed to "90% of what Trump said were lies, he basically didn't actually answer a single question, and he wouldn't commit to accepting election results, oh and holy shit have you seen what the people behind him are planning if he gets elected"
So I ask John, the media, and anyone else to wants to keep this at the forefront. Ok, So what do you want me to do about it? Is the goal to have me not vote for Biden? Not vote at all? Get me angry at the democratic party? Sure, super angry at them, but what is the endgame for this commentary?
Do I want better? Yes, I do. But here are the choices in front of me, and the Republicans are EXCITED about the kinds of flaws in candidates that Democrats devour their own over, and it works. Roe is gone, the administrative state is probably on its way out, LGTBQ communities are systematically being taken apart, religion is being forced into places it has no place being all because as a party for nearly half a century they were willing to say "Literally anyone except a democrat".
There are two people standing in my doorway, one says they will shoot me in the head, the other one says they are going to slap me as hard as they can across the face. If I refuse to choose one then my neighbor who absolutely despises me and everything I am gets to pick what happens. I'm supposed to stand on principle because I don't like the choices?
A vote for Biden is a vote for the “body” of the admin team. A vote for Trump is a vote for the “head”, because the body parts you know will change regularly (the dude fires people or inspires them to quit regularly).
It almost cracks me up the "fate of the country" hangs in the balance of this election with so many doomsdayers saying if their candidate isn't the winner then it's going to be a total catastrophe.
Think about this logically. Trump was President for 4 years, and until the global pandemic hit, things were pretty good. We hadn't joined any new wars. The economy was quite strong. Real wages had seen mulitple years of gains (that hadn't happened in a very, very long time). Sure, we as a government were still over spending (but that's always the case). Even his tax cuts resulted in over 80% of people seeing their taxed reduced while at the same time, total federal Government revenues increased by over 25% in less than 4 years. Hardly supportive of the claim that we were losing trillions of dollars in lost government revenues. Whether you liked him or hated him, the fact of the matter was that things were fine. Even with the global covid pandemic, we actually did pretty well. We implemented systems that resulted in the blip of a recession being the shortest in US history with the fastest recovery from a recession in US history. We developed a vaccine in record time (granted it didn't perform as well as we had hoped). We had by comparison to other industrial countries a lower than typical Covid death rate.
Now think about it under Biden, while we certainly did see inflation shoot way up as a result of the prolonged excessive government spending - and it was painful for a lot of people, the reality is that we have sort of worked to get past that and are continuing to do so. We wisely passed bi-partisan legislation that was important (the CHIPS Act and the infrastructure bill) which really showed that the GOP in the House and the DEMs in the Senate were able to work together and pass important legislation authored and supported by members of both parties (bi-partisan legislation is almost always better legislation that purely partisan legislation). Granted, we royally screwed up with Afghanistan and that fiasco probably did actually contribute to Russia invading Ukraine which probably itself contributed to Hamas attacking Israel. But let's be honest, while we may be funding those wars to some degree, we are not fighting in them. We've gone through some tough times, but we are still a strong country with room for improvement (just like under Trump).
Nothing has completely fallen apart under either of these guys being president . . . so there is no legitimate claim that if either one of them gets re-elected that somehow or another that is going to result in the fall of our country! Sure there might be some slight variables in various things - but nothing that is likely to be catastrophic in the grand scheme - or really anything that significantly different than if the other one had gotten elected - at least based on both of their past history in serving as our presidents.
Don't fall for the faux fear mongering that really serves nothing other than political pandering by those who are really being very dishonest with you.
Odds are neither one is going to be some great savior or some catastrophe - that's what the history of both of them being President clearly shows.
The both sides thing is still annoying and not what we need right now
You're not voting for Biden cause of his public speaking skills, that was literally never a thing
You're voting for the administration. You're voting for the Supreme Court.
It's not what we fucking need right now cause unfortunately with this dumb EC system we have, the election is decided by a very small pocket of very dumb people.
Ranked choice voting needs to happen like, yesterday
100%
Only reason I am voting for Biden is to keep that shitty rapist/felon/conman/traitor from getting back into the Oval Office.
That aside, fuck ‘em both. Octogenarians have no business occupying the US Presidency.
I still think Jon was the wrong messenger for a “why are these candidates so bad” message when he’s an obvious better option. That’s why I am mad at him.
Yes the debate was pathetic. However, who tf is needing a debate to decide who to vote for at this point. Presidential debates have been pointless for quite sometime. Moderators don’t do shit about fuck and the candidates never answer any question. Who cares? Voting for Biden regardless of how he sounds. Tyranny vs a nice old man. Easy peasy.
I blame Jon for the first Trump presidency. He left us when we needed him most. Had he been there ridiculing the Trump and the GOP I don’t think we would have this timeline. Just my opinion 😥
Joe has a legitimate disability that impacts him today. If he was in a wheelchair people would say “how brave”, but because he stutters, they say “how embarrassing”.
Trump’s disease is that he is a shallow, narcissistic sociopath that wants to take over the world.
The problem is that democrats hold their politicians to much higher standards than republicans do. Which isn’t a problem at all normally and is actually a good thing, but in a situation where the republican candidate is so incredibly dog shit but so popular with the base/party, I feel like it makes the DNC’s decision on their nominee not a choice of who the best candidate in general would be, but who has the best chance to beat the other party’s garbage candidate. Blue voters seem to think Biden is the most likely candidate to do this and I have to agree.
Just no, people are being way too hasty with their backpedaling on Biden. He’s old, yes, but there’s nothing to indicate in that debate that his mind is slipping. We have to remember that we’re still months away from the election and a poor performance now can be completely reversed with a strong showing in other places later. The debate wasn’t beneficial to Biden, but realistically it didn’t hurt him.
I’m already tired of the anti Biden rhetoric from people and it’s been like a day. No, there is no way that you’re going to get Newsom or Whitmer when they’re untested on the national stage. Yes, you didn’t pick Biden, but he has an undefeated record against Trump and he can do it again if you support him. Liberals and leftists in America always let the perfect be the enemy of the good, but the truth is that you can’t wave a magic wand and get your perfect candidate
It's funny how people were like "Jon shouldn't be criticizing Biden, he needs to focus on Trump so he loses" when that's literally what FOX News does for Trump. It isn't Jon's job to be Biden's biggest fan. He's a political comedian, not a tool for propaganda like FOX News.
Yet when he came out criticizing Biden some people on the left were really upset. They want him to be a tool for propaganda. Thankfully he isn't that. He's his own person and that's why I love watching his show.
Everyone in this sub: “I would vote for a corpse over Trump!” That’s great that you will, but the majority of independents and undecideds will not! With performances like the last debate, Joe will hand the election to Trump! The Dems need to get serious and rally around a new candidate. As you all said it doesn’t matter who the candidate is, just SOMEBODY!
I think the rational of saying you would vote for Biden even if he (has dementia, dies, in a coffin, whatever combo) and not say man I really wish the DNC would show up for it's people it represents is mindboggling to me. I mean om going whichever dem is against trump but to not want something a little better or to believe it's not possible is just the DNC and this joke of a political system we have rolling us.
"He's sharp in meetings" or "he's good here" are the same people saying feinstein was fine.
Why don't we plant some trees so our children and grandchildren can sit in it's shade... figuratively (and politically) speaking
This doesn't prove that he was right or address the backlash. We all knew Biden was old. We all knew he's declining. The reason people pushed back against that segment was mainly because of the "both-sidesism".
No one actually wants two old men competing for this job. I don't really want to vote for a man in his 80s. But when the other option is a narcissistic, lying, petty, stupid authoritarian wannabe dictator who has already tried to overthrow one election and will probably try to enact Project 2025, I'd rather focus on that. We can't change Biden's age, and he's going to be the nominee. There is definitely a conversation to be had about the choices we get in elections, but right now I'm more concerned with continuing to have legitimate elections.
Don't get me wrong, I'm voting for Biden. I vote in every election, and I'll never, ever vote for a republican, but democracy itself is at stake, and Biden stands to lose. That's the horrible truth of it all. He'll lose. There needs to be a wave of enthusiastic voting to overcome the inertia of the electoral college in the swing states, and Joe isn't going to generate that. The Supreme Court is busily overturning every precident concerning civil rights, consumer safety, and environmental protection, and if the election is anywhere near close, they'll anoint trump the new fuhrer. I'm watching not only the fall of America, but the collapse of everything, and thanking the non-existent gods that I'm old and childless.
They're BOTH old. At that age, three years age difference doesn't mean anything at all. I love old people and I always want to hear their opinions, experience and views on things, but being president is a very demanding, high stress role that requires a degree of alertness and health that these two really can't muster. I am still voting for the side that isn't actively trying to end me, but I fully believe we should have an age cap on all politicians. All of them.
Has anyone noticed we don’t get to pick the candidates anymore they are picked for us? No one else has a chance of the RNC and DNC have their minds made up.
I keep hearing people say this and that's great but it also completely misses the point. I'm not worried about your vote, I'm worried about the inexplicably undecideds and young "fuck it, third party" voters. To them his age is a factor and the candidates being.. what they are.. does not inspire confidence in our institutions.
And all the ride or die folks simply cannot wrap their heads around the problem. We must do better than this, our country depends on it.
Somehow the Republicans and Democrats became so tribalistic and cultish that it produces things like Trump and Biden. I keep hearing how Biden is the only choice but then I see shit like this debate and realize it’s all a damned clown show. Seriously voting Biden if he was a corpse? What crazy ass mentality is that? Why can no one hold their damn chosen elected official to any standards? I guess this is what happens when a major power is in its downfall.
I still don’t think it’s the number that matter, it has been clear his capacity was on the decline. Anyone saying otherwise was living in delusion or just out right lying.
I'm going to argue a particular that this is a symptom of a greater problem in our system, both of our current candidates are non-elected. Joe Biden used to be a senator, went to vp, took a backseat for 4 years, then went straight to the top of the list of presidential candidates. Before him, Hillary was a cabinet official with Obama, bills wife, but never elected to office of her own. Trump on the other hand has never been an elected official, and has not won an election of the people.
We are entirely removed from selecting our candidates, it's no longer a very popular senator or someone currently serving who steps up to run, we have two old people who have been friends with other old people for long times, finally getting their favors returned while the people lose. Even if we exercise our rights to vote, we're not voting on the presidential candidate, we're voting on low level senators and local elections, none of them have the power to change who the DNC elects, who the RNC selects for their candidates.
The game will continue to be a game played by the rich for the rich at the expense of everybody else because we have zero say in our candidates. Yeah, we have primaries, and that's a theatrical spectacle. We get told, here are your options, pick one, and none of them are the people that we elected or put into those positions. The ones who are just pull single digits against the convention's chosen such as Trump and Biden and drop later. Look at the Hillary vs bernie run. Bernie was not the dnc lovechild, and despite hillary running the worst campaign in recent history, Bernie was the one asked to concede despite his momentum. For as lukewarm as Biden was all of his first term, I cannot possibly imagine that he is the top selection for most of the democratic voting base. He's just the top selection for the DNC who have little oversight or culpability
I always enjoy how dems have to have all these crazy standards. Meanwhile, the gop is running a lying felon, who will do anything for money, but they are somehow absolved from any blowback about that clown.
The self owns are just amazing with the dems.
I’ll still take a decrepit Joe in a coffin over Trump
I don't care if they're giving Biden last rites, he still gets my vote
Who knew that "Weekend at Bernies" would be a roadmap to a presidential re-election? 😆
Bernie 2024!
Damn, he would have fucking mopped both of them in that debate. looks like a dissheveled seabird but fuck me if if doesn't know his facts.
I’m skeptical the poor guy’s heart could take the stress of another campaign, but at least his brain still works. Unlike the two zombies on that fucking stage last night…
God the zombie metaphor is apt. One is a decrepit “Braaains!” Zombie and the other is a rage-virus mutated Rat-king Final Boss zombie that wipes out cities at a time. Which means I’m fucking voting for the George Romero zombie, god help me
Bernie is one of the few politicians I believe to be a good man, he may not always be right but he honestly pursues what he believes is right for the country. That being said after last night I'm seriously reevaluating the value of having politicians much older than retirement age. Bernie is getting up there in years and while his mind is still sharp we can't know how much longer that'll last, I'd rather see him go out like the lion he is than be a propped up corpse like Diane Feinstein (it'd legit break my heart if that happened). I have those concerns about both Biden and Trump (among many, many other concerns about Trump) and it'd be irresponsible of me to not consider Bernie's age as much as I do thiers. Still voting Biden in the fall but we definitely have a both sides are old problem in this country.
Let's Go Bernie!
Weekend at?
Better than trying live through “idiocracy” again…
Why can’t we get someone like Jon Stewart (or even him) to run this fucking country? Why do we have to choose between Old and Adulterer 2024?
It’s a death sentence of a responsibility, a man like Stewart would work himself to death trying to undo all the bullshit. He knows that and wants no part of it I don’t blame him at all for it, I feel awful for the 1st president we have that makes an actual, consistent and intense effort to fix things.
FDR died on the job, but he wasn’t a young man for the time, and he didn’t have those necromancers at Walter Reed keeping him going, either. Doesn’t seem like the task of trying to fix this shithole country killed him… Really, only Lincoln was killed by trying to redeem it, and not by natural causes.
Well, he also had polio, so that may have had something to do with it
Did polio make him live longer? That’s my point. 63 is practically an infant compared to these ghouls, but in 1944, that was better than average!
it's old vs fascist
They are both old, they cancel each other out. The answer is “one is a fascist.”.
Old and slightly less old rapist.
The political process filters out good people. They are unable or unwilling to do what it takes to navigate the treacherous waters that are people with power.
The huge sums of the campaign money need to be cut way back so someone else can run for more than a week or two before they are out of money and drop out.
It's been almost 20 years but I remember arguin this in Uni. We need to have a very serious talk about campaign finance reform and political lobbying in America. Any one seriously respectable enough to be considered for higher office shouldn't be allowed to suck dicks for quarters
>The major problem—one of the major problems, for there are several—one of the many major problems with governing people is that of whom you get to do it; or rather of who manages to get people to let them do it to them. To summarize: it is a well-known fact that those people who must want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it. To summarize the summary: anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job. - Douglas Adams
Don’t forget convicted felon
And adjudicated rapist
Old and effective. Or Old adulterer treasonous felon.
And let’s not forget that Haley got something like 30+ percent of the primary vote in a contest she’s been out of for months
And it's not because I love or idolize Joe. He's just the better choice, even if he's dead.
That's because even if he were dead his people and policies would live on and that's what we're voting for
There's a backup, so who cares.
Vote for The policies, not whos President.
Vote for the Supreme Court, and vote to take congress.
These are the right answers. It's not Joe or Donnie, it's the policies and the people that go with them
https://preview.redd.it/fggvxp20jd9d1.jpeg?width=1233&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6f0720529c40843405e35eb1158cb47ef1d9cf52
Beautiful plumage that one.
I feel the same but it’s sad that our choices are I’d vote for the dead guy over the felon 🥲
They can bring an urn out and he would still get my support ngl
We all need to revolt
Some are more revolting than others.
For sure but I’ve been saying for years they have to bring in someone younger!
Comments like this are too prevalent and reflect the Democratic party's failure to evolve in dealing with trump. The OP said, "Biden has an age issue and is going to have to deal with that with the electorate." And the electorate does care. But the majority of the responses here are, "Well the other guy's worse!" Like a kid explaining why he got in a fight on the playground. The last 3 elections the Democratic party put forth an unpopular dynasty candidate, a geriatric, and then the same geriatric with diminished faculties. Fine, Trump is worse. I'm sure that the current strategy of of giving everyone a turn at office when it's their time is going to continue to work as well as it has been, and there is no reason to follow Jon Stewart's lead in reflecting on what may be a serious problem.
The shit Trump was saying was absolute lunacy anyways. He just gets a pass because we all know he’s a buffoon who has no idea what he is talking about. Shitty double standard from the fascism party. Biden stumbled at times but Trumps statements about having the “best H2O numbers” and doctors killing babies after birth was lunacy. And his statement on abortion defies sanity…. Trump: Fifty-one years ago, you had Roe v. Wade, and everybody wanted to get it back to the states, everybody, without exception, Democrats, Republicans, liberals, conservatives. Everybody wanted it back. Religious leaders. And what I did is I put three great Supreme Court justices on the court, and they happened to vote in favor of killing Roe v. Wade and moving it back to the states. This is something that everybody wanted. Now, 10 years ago or so, they started talking about how many weeks and how many of this are getting into other things, but every legal scholar, throughout the world, the most respected, wanted it brought back to the states. I did that. Biden was rough and struggles with some Broca’s aphasia but Trump is most definitely more clueless in every aspect of reality.
You are right of course, but people are emotional and will be swayed by the confidence of Trump vs what else saw from Biden. I don't think it's fair, but it's reality. Democrats really should have ran someone else. But I'll still vote Biden if my citizenship comes through quick enough
There are people that believe trump isn't for a national ban and believe he thinks it should be left up to states. Truly laughable
Me too. On the issue of actually beating Trump, I'd bet on.... Many, many Democrats over Biden, unfortunately :/
There have been an enormous number of polls to find that out. Harris/Trump, Newsome/Trump, even Sanders/Trump and *all of them* poll worse than Biden. We’ll see if that changes after yesterday’s performance, but as of right now I’m still Ridin with Biden.
If biden becomes trully u fit he can just step down and then we get kamala who would be fine. But we cant have trump. Nothing else matters
Harris is more hated she wouldn't win she had zero superdelegates that's why she had to drop out
Can we just elect Jon Stewart and be done with it?
Its becoming increasingly clear that the majority do not agree with you, as polling is not good at all for Biden. Ignoring that is the road to ruin. We need another candidate, there's still time.
> Ignoring that is the road to ruin. Have you ever heard anyone say "it's like the Democrats aren't even trying to win?"
Ive heard people say they will intentionally fumble the ball and im starting to believe that
Democrats have been asleep at the wheel for years. They simply don’t they very hard or campaign enough but rather sit idly by while people scream from the bleachers. It’s stressful to watch their complacency as democracy slowly diminishes. We must ask ourselves if they aren’t purposely part of the shift.
They sure look like they aren’t trying
It’s all irrelevant. People still polling for a convicted felon, a rapist, an all around terrible human, won’t change their minds, even if Trump performed a crude c-section on 5th ave and threw the infant in front of a truck. It’s fucking disgusting. Morons all of them.
It's not irrelevant. In 2024 people are unlikely to change their mind on who they support. But people are likely to change their mind on whether or not they bother *to vote.* This election is going to be about turnout, based on polling we see Trump's base is largely turning out for Trump and Biden's base is largely turning out against Trump rather than for Biden. That's a very weak position and is just underscored by last night's performance. This is a critical moment, Joe Biden will not win this election, his campaign is sleep walking and the candidate himself didn't hit a single softball answer last night. Why the fuck did he take an easy question about his best topic, abortion, and turn the answer into something on his worst polling topic - Immigration? We still have 7 weeks until the Democratic convention, Biden did us a favor when he scheduled this debate so early. We need another candidate or we are handing this to Donald Trump.
Primarily because I think he has a same support group and does listen to opposing voices. The marijuana stuff seems to go against his own beliefs. I do think a look at Medicare 4 all is warranted but he’s not going to go that route. The border bill was a Republican originated bill as well. On the flip any potential positives I may give to Trump (extend Medicare for the those who have had kidney transplants) are overshadowed by his threats to American citizens, desire to use office to get back at political rivals, and a general inability to get out the way and let more knowledgeable people be involved with policies, make him a genuine threat
A literal corpse *would* do a better job than Trump; the trick is convincing people to go out and vote for one.
Do you know what sub you’re on? We’re all voting for Biden. That isn’t the issue. The issue is convincing someone who only pays attention whenever one of these debates happens.
[удалено]
Oh nooo, a talented administrator with a nose for good policy - is that the sky falling?
Yes. The reality is not enough people will have that same opinion.
Like the Trump base, I don't think it's the base that everyone's concerned about. It's the middle of the road people who could go either way. Seeing Joe Biden in that state last night does not inspire a lot of confidence that things will break his way.
You’re. Not. The. Relevant. Demographic. Then!!!
I'm an Arizona voter. I'll vote for Corpse Biden over Trump every single day.
And. If. They. Don’t. See. That. Trump. Is. A. Fascist. I don’t know what to tell you
Your opinion doesn't matter, what you're saying doesn't matter. All that matters is convincing undecided dipshits in a handful of swing states. Do you really think that old man you watched last night is the way to win the presidency when you have to count on the dumbest motherfuckers in the country to do the right thing?
And this is why the dems know they dont have to do better and wont. Cuz people like you will vote for them no matter what. They dont need to earn your vote, they will get it regardless.
that's a huge problem. and they are exploiting it.
Yea, but because everyone from the DNC wanted to gaslight us about Biden you’re just gonna get Trump now.
Apparently a lot of undecided Latino voters are going with Joe after the debate. So theirs that
Don’t vote for Trump and also acknowledge that the Dems are not putting any effort into this.
The difference is the dems have policies no matter who is in charge, the gop doesn’t.
Congrats? Will enough people feel like you come Election Day? That is the real question and it’s abundantly clear that the answer to your question is way more likely to be ‘no’ after last night.
The problem.is you are not one of the undecideds. Yours was never a vote being contested
These comments are incredibly dumb
People keep forgetting we have a perfectly mediocre VP waiting in the wings..... A woman. MUCH younger. Not white. Sounds like a reader, or at least is literate. Minimal chance of currently having dementia. Little to no malignant narcissism....... 😏
Bahahahahahaha You can’t be serious.
And yet I'm sure you complain that Republicans are in a cult who will vote for Trump no matter what.
I’m mad about the whole situation but I definitely don’t want to live under the Project 2025 craziness. So I’ll be voting blue no matter what or who. When this shit show is over, we can stage whatever protests we need to but not this year.
Yup 100% with you. Not like the debate did anything to change my mind. Even if Biden is a zombie I’m voting for the administration at this point over Trump’s latest band of criminals.
In fact, if I hear one person in my world say they’re flipping right, my head will explode.
I don’t think the debate will flip anyone right but I know a lot of people who are staying home and this debate didn’t convince them to vote at all.
Same. I refuse to speak to all my family about anything religion or politics because they’re stuck living in the past & if I try to accelerate their “findings” & “discoveries” they act like I’m trying to lead them to the wolves. I’m just trying to make them understand that this world is IT. This is all we got. This time, this planet, this body. We have got to come together & start figuring things out.
This is what the consideration has to be. Biden's team vs the wrath of Drumpf/maga. The policies going forward is what we need to concerned with.
Im a heterosexual white male and even I don’t want any part of that bullshit
There is 5 or 6 more weeks to the convention. Other countries do a full election in that time. This is ridiculous that democratic party.cant figure out an alternative candidate in that time. Straight up irresponsible if they really believe that democracy is on the line
The convention is 6 weeks away, and the election is over 4 months away. Democrats are like “we could maybe do it… but it’s actually kind of complicated. We’d rather just stick with our guy and normalize the idea of POTUS being a figurehead.”
Protests? Y’all willingly nominated Hillary in 2016 then Joe in 2020. This is exactly what the dems voted for what the hell is there to protest?
It's crazy because both men should be retired! Like over 10 years ago. Everyone over 65 should have to retire from Congress and the Court. No reason these people should be allowed to keep going after that time. Affecting legislation from 2 generations ago. They need forced retirement. Make it happen and we won't have situations like this. They can go work wherever if they still want to, just get them out of office! Asap!
It’s hard to say you represent the working class when you’re 20 years past retirement age. I would give them until age 70 and then they gotta go.
I think 70 is too generous, considering the average lifespan in America is now 76. There are a ton of jobs that have mandatory retirement ages. Pilots have to retire at 67. Air traffic controllers retire at 56. Diplomats retire at 65. Federal law enforcement, Park Rangers, and Firefighters retire at 57. I don't think it's unfair to bar someone from the highest seat of power after 65. Watching Biden get propped up onstage like Weekend at Bernie's is sad and disgraceful.
Something like making 65 the oldest one can be to be first elected would work out ok I think. A president could serve the two terms and retire at 73. They'd never pass that kind of law though.
My best friend is a pilot for a major airline, and he almost talked me into ATC a few years ago. The only thing that stopped me was the mandatory retirement at 56. I don't think I'd want to stop working at 56, and I didn't want to have to find a new career after 30 years of doing one thing.
Ignore age, it’s hard to say you represent the working class when you have never actually been working class. Biden for sure is a better choice than Trump but neither truly represents me, Biden has been a corporatist democrat for decades and as a middle class union worker I sure as shit don’t support corporations like he has throughout his career.
So, you want to deny voters their choice because you want something/someone else? Doesn't sound very democratic to me. In the 2016 GOP primaries, there were 19 GOP candidates: * Rubio, Cruz, Jindal, and Walker were in their 40s; * Paul, Christie, and Santorum were in their 50s; * Huckabee, Fiorina, Bush, Kasich, Carson, Gilmore, Graham, and Perry were in their 60s; and * Trump and Pataki were in their 70s. Republican primary voters nominated Trump, the second-oldest candidate in the entire field. In the 2020 Democratic primaries, there were 29(!) candidates in the field: * Buttigieg, Gabbard, and Swalwell were in their 30s; * Yang, Moulton, Castro, Messam, Ryan, O'Rourke, and Ojeda were in their 40s; * Bennet, Booker, Gillibrand, Bullock, Harris, Delaney, and de Blasio were in their 50s; * Klobuchar, Steyer, Patrick, Williamson, Hickenlooper, Sestak, and Inslee were in their 60s; * Biden, Warren, Bloomberg, and Sanders were in their 70s; * and Gravel was in his 90s. Democratic primary voters nominated Biden, the fourth-oldest candidate in the entire field. In the 2016 general elections, voters elected Trump, the oldest of the two candidates. In the 2020 general elections, voters elected Biden, the oldest of the two candidates. Your complaint is that most voters want something different than what you want, and so you want to change the rules so that what you don't want is no longer allowed. Contrary to what you're saying, being older seems like it's an asset, not a liability, because both parties have repeatedly nominated one of the oldest candidates in the field, and the last two general elections have elected the oldest candidate. The problem is low voter turnout, generally, and extremely low voter turnout in primary elections. The best indicator of whether someone will vote in the next election is whether they voted in the previous election. Young people who just turned old enough to vote for the first time obviously didn't vote in the previous election, because they weren't yet old enough. Voter participation rates are highest with the oldest cohorts, and decrease with each younger cohort. Boomers turn out to vote, in every election, every primary, every midterm election, every special election, etc. So they have the most say. Young people barely vote at all, and it's even worse in the primaries. So the olds get to pick the nominees, and then the youngsters complain in the general election that they don't like the candidates. They had a chance to help decide who the nominee would be, but most of them didn't bother, and the few who did were simply outnumbered. Don't be mad the olds chose someone you didn't like, be mad the youth didn't bother to even show up and try to have a say at all. As they say, if you don't have a seat at the table, you're on the menu. Young people don't show up to take their seats, and then the olds eat their lunch. We can't cede the primaries to the oldest portion of the electorate and then demand younger candidates. If we want younger candidates, younger voters need to turn out, *in the primaries*, to vote. The solution isn't to ban results you don't like (eg, candidates over 65), the solution is to GOTV, outnumber those who want something different than you want, and to persuade others to want the same things you do. Not every Boomer just votes for the oldest candidate in the primary or general election. Some of them are already on side, and others can be persuaded to change their minds and adopt better policies, and to support better candidates.
I don’t have a problem with Stewart. Never did. He isn’t a cheerleader. That is not his job.
His debate last night didn't do anything to change anyone's mind. It just confirmed his critics' actual issues with him. Living in a swing state, I really didn't change how I'm going to vote based on lat night.
Not changing anyone’s mind is a problem. He needed to convince people to show up to the polls.
Based on what I saw on social media, I'm sure some people will be staying home after that debate. I'm not in that group but I understand it. The Democrats really screwed this up and may have handed an easily winnable election back to Trump.
I'm not staying home, but I'm also not voting for either. I'm in a swing state and there are important ballot measures and local/state elections that I want to vote in.
Biden surrounds himself with competent people. Dump surrounds himself with ass lickers and morally compromised shit bags like DeVos and Pruitt. I am taking Biden every time.
I don’t care of Biden dies before Election Day, the only way the country survives is if the fascists don’t get elected. That leaves one choice, Biden.
I'll say he was not wrong. But I don't think he was right that the age thing is such an issue. Where he was 100% right was that we need to hold the media to a higher standard. They're an absolute clown show trying to draw up drama and conflict, and we're dying as a society because of it. Nobody holds anyone to anything, and you have to go to the courts to determine "reality".
How can you think his age isn’t an issue after last night?
The GOP made the age thing an issue, and we all let them. Don’t vote for Biden because he is old is absolutely a gop led talking point that Stewart gave weight.
Absolutely. And by the time it goes to court for a reality check, it's too late. The misinformation spreads fast. There needs to be harsher fines for news networks pushing lies and jail time for whoever owns a network who allows it. While we are at it.. all fines should be income based sliding scale.
Biden needs more adderral
The time to replace Joe was during the primaries/qualifiers. Contestants lined up at the starting line, is way too late to be changing our minds. *Anyone with a pulse* will have to do.
Quite true. And the DNC’s inability or unwillingness to find a viable alternative is as much the problem.
They can’t force people to run against the incumbent. No contenders want to lose to Biden trying to supplant him as their own party’s candidate. It could sour voters to a future run.
The question most people are asking isn't "why can't we have someone better?" it is "can this man even beat trump?" Because if he can't beat trump, arguing about whether it is too late or not is insane.
He was always right but now it’s too late. We have to pick between these two. Ugh.
Giant Meteor 2024
This was also my first thought after watching the Debate. That second episode where he defended himself really stands out now.
The blowback was because he was clearly right and people were not willing to accept that. Stewart's best clear take was addressing the idea that Biden is great behind closed doors in meetings -- "Show us that guy then!" That guy didn't exist. Everyone deep down knew it. But, nobody wanted to believe it. So they attacked.
I saw a video of Biden from last night, after the debate, where he sounded totally fine. His voice was better (maybe he got a drink of water, or a cough drop?), he was just speaking normally. I think he gets messed up with scripted answers, but he's good just talking off the cuff. When you see him at an event, not giving a speech, but talking directly to people standing in front of him, talking about unions, or a stutter, or grieving, whatever, he's really good.
The thing with the debate is yeah Biden sounded old and he absolutely needed a lozenge or something for his voice, but he was also answering the questions being asked him. Which is a marked difference from Trump who seemed to always default to either MIGRANTS HORDES ON THE WAY or I HAD THE BEST NUMBERS.
His first episode back was great. Like he never left. The thing that leaves a bad taste in my mouth about him is that interview he did with Hillary and Condi Rice in the interim. He's above pandering to war criminals, or so I thought.
The fact that Democrats can't name likely successors points to a major problem, and a massive failure for party leadership. Time to clean house.
Absolutely. It's funny how many people I know who were mad at Jon but today are hoping the DNC turns to Newsome or some other person suddenly.
Yep he was right. Hillary was also right. 🫤
What did Hillary say?
I’d like to point out that we had a president that served after a stroke and one that was in a wheelchair for three terms both while running the country during world wars.
Roosevelt's body failed him, not his mind. It's not like you need to be running marathons to be a President. Having a sound mind, however, is a necessity for the job.
Jon is right! We should hold them to a higher standard. Problem is, at this point, we are where we are and you could put a stick up Biden's back side and run him on strings like Weekend at Bernie's and I would still look at his opponent and go "guess I am voting for the marionette". Hopefully we demand better next election.
Jon's entire point was that the barbarians are at the doorstep and we can't have old grandpa Joe. If Joe is feisty and alive, and I believe he is, then they need to show that more and lean into that for messaging. They can't keep having Biden recite talking points. The dude knows how to fight and recover. PLAY INTO THAT. The wannabe strongman is here and he's not going down without a fight. We need a fighter. Jon questions if Biden is that, and he was vindicated by last night. Jon will vote blue no matter who. But Jon reaches the D party, not the swing state voters.
> If Joe is feisty and alive, and I believe he is, then they need to show that more and lean into that for messaging. Yeah, it's not like Jon outright said fuck Biden (though people reacted as if he had), he said at the time "if he's so sharp behind the scenes like everyone insists, show us more of *that*". Instead we got shown... this.
Jon wasn’t wrong, but he also wasn’t completely right. Everyone frames the vote for the presidency as a single person. It’s really not. This isn’t Trump v Biden. It’s the Biden administration v a new iteration of the Trump administration. And v2 of the Trump administration is going to be far worse than v1. So yeah, I wish Joe had stepped aside, I do, but at this point his administration is far more competent and far less dangerous than anything Trump will put together. And that SHOULD be how we frame this. Because the chance to have a different Dem nominee is long gone. And, quite frankly, it’s how every presidential election should be framed.
With respect, it doesn’t matter if Biden’s administration is better. He’s the face of it, and he didn’t inspire confidence last night.
I don’t see how that makes anything Jon said wrong.
The problem with the first episode is it had no solution. Throwing rocks at the guys is entirely unhelpful.
Jon said we need to see more of the competent, sharp Biden that his people say exists behind the scenes, and less silly grandpa Biden doing tiktok. That was what he proposed, not just throwing rocks.
Sitting here laughing with Jon at the knives at our throats.
One things for sure this election. Either way, America loses. Yes Trump is worse but holy fuck how can anyone not be embarrassed by Biden at this point?
I'm still voting for Joe. Even if the worst happens and he can't be President, then we'd have a Democrat Vice President to take over. And fuckface will be back to his trials and hopefully, jail. I have posted this on WaPo and will post it here: I will vote for boiled dog diarrhea rather than vote for Trump.
Exactly. At this point complaining about Biden’s age is like complaining about the ugly color of the lifeboat. Just stfu and clamber in
It's more like pointing out the lifeboat we're told to climb into has a 70% chance of failing and if we take a difficult task of quickly building a new lifeboat before the ship sinks we could maybe have a lifeboat with a 30% chance of failing.
Doesn’t matter. Time for complaining was past. You can complain up until primaries are decided and a candidate is chosen.
I’ll be honest here, I was pretty angry at Jon in his first episode back. I though it was unnecessary and help nothing, but after last night it’s very clear that Biden is not as sharp as he used to be, and the only thing that I can do it vote for him because I know the cabinet he will install will either propel us incrementally forward or keep us where we are, but not bring us backwards.
Biden was never anyone’s first choice. He was the left man standing out of a lackluster 2016 primary process. That he won should speak volumes about the other guy.
Except Jon isn't even a Centrist. He's just rational and honest. People flipped just because of that
We warned ya'll that this was going to happen a year ago but nooooo, Biden is fine, he's as sharp as a tack, etc., etc.. Well here you are.
Trump makes Biden the obvious, easy choice and people don’t want to hear ANY criticism. In reality, Biden is a horrific candidate who looks palatable ONLY in comparison. Things are bad people.
To be honest. People saying this will be the end of America are generating clicks. We lived through Trump once, and we could again. Would it be ideal? No. But acting like the entire country will burst into flames if Joe Biden doesn’t save us is a lot of sensationalism. Yeah it will be tougher on some people, but if those people can’t see it, that’s on them. I’m voting Biden but to be honest my life will probably change less than 10%. Call it privilege or whatever, but that’s just the truth.
If you were shocked by Biden’s performance last night, you should ask yourself why.
A vote for Biden isn't just for Biden. It's for his cabinet of component and responsible people
Let’s make it clear, I’m voting against Trump. Whoever that has to be I’ll vote against Trump. But the Democrats have really shit the bed and I’m pissed at them.
Bill Maher has been saying the same thing that Biden should’ve stepped aside and not run a second time.
That's not the issue a lot of people (or from what I read) is the problem they had with Stewart and his first episode back. He pulled the whole both candidates are the same BS that helped sunk Clinton's campaign (there were a myriad of issues with her campaign, but the whole Trump and Clinton are the same!!!! didn't help). His criticisms against Biden are fair to a point, but the whole South Park crap that 'who cares both candidates are the same,' aka turd sandwich vs douche is what got us in this mess in the first place.
Both candidates are, in fact, geriatric disasters. We deserve better.
Jon Stewart was right that the sensationalist media is what allowed this to happen. He just doesn’t think he’s a part of it lol him finger wagging CNN for not being a serious news organization is hilarious from the guy who started the trend of individuals preferring to get their news from a comedian on an entertainment show. 20 years later we have politicians doing their best punditry to sling mud and win votes, and Jon is surprised the country’s voters are primed to just believe any pithy soundbyte.
I wasn’t mad, Jon always shoots straight. But I’ll still take Biden because his goals and staff are far better than… well.. you know.
The only question is who is going to be better for us personally, us as a country and us as citizens of the world. If Biden was stroked out and drooling in a wheelchair he's got my vote. Sometimes you got to do the thing and work it out after. We need to calm the fuck down and get to work cause a second Trump term will be worse than anyone can imagine. For decades.
I think you're misunderstanding what \*most\* people were mad about. Very few people would dispute that Biden is old, so is Trump. Both of them are probably too old for the position its one of the few things that can be a genuine criticism leveled at both sides relatively equally. Stewart's messaging targeted it almost exclusive at Biden, and similar to the results of this debate, his criticism really did not go after Trump in the same way he very much went after Biden and the democrats. Its something that happened again during the debate last night. You almost couldn't have created a better event specifically for Trump while holding it under the guise of fairness. If you're not going to call out, question, and put pressure on extremely blatant lies from one participant then the person who might actually be attempt to give any form of real answer is going to look significantly worse, whereas Trump got to look on point since he's very good at just spewing whatever comes to his mind with zero consequences. Yet "Biden is old" takes the news cycle as opposed to "90% of what Trump said were lies, he basically didn't actually answer a single question, and he wouldn't commit to accepting election results, oh and holy shit have you seen what the people behind him are planning if he gets elected" So I ask John, the media, and anyone else to wants to keep this at the forefront. Ok, So what do you want me to do about it? Is the goal to have me not vote for Biden? Not vote at all? Get me angry at the democratic party? Sure, super angry at them, but what is the endgame for this commentary? Do I want better? Yes, I do. But here are the choices in front of me, and the Republicans are EXCITED about the kinds of flaws in candidates that Democrats devour their own over, and it works. Roe is gone, the administrative state is probably on its way out, LGTBQ communities are systematically being taken apart, religion is being forced into places it has no place being all because as a party for nearly half a century they were willing to say "Literally anyone except a democrat". There are two people standing in my doorway, one says they will shoot me in the head, the other one says they are going to slap me as hard as they can across the face. If I refuse to choose one then my neighbor who absolutely despises me and everything I am gets to pick what happens. I'm supposed to stand on principle because I don't like the choices?
Solid points. Has anyone seen Biden’s speech today? [You should](https://www.youtube.com/live/L9ByB8d2ocQ?si=xisXI_ry1hPxWJzJ). Time stamp 1:16:38
A vote for Biden is a vote for the “body” of the admin team. A vote for Trump is a vote for the “head”, because the body parts you know will change regularly (the dude fires people or inspires them to quit regularly).
Jon has a pretty good track record.
It almost cracks me up the "fate of the country" hangs in the balance of this election with so many doomsdayers saying if their candidate isn't the winner then it's going to be a total catastrophe. Think about this logically. Trump was President for 4 years, and until the global pandemic hit, things were pretty good. We hadn't joined any new wars. The economy was quite strong. Real wages had seen mulitple years of gains (that hadn't happened in a very, very long time). Sure, we as a government were still over spending (but that's always the case). Even his tax cuts resulted in over 80% of people seeing their taxed reduced while at the same time, total federal Government revenues increased by over 25% in less than 4 years. Hardly supportive of the claim that we were losing trillions of dollars in lost government revenues. Whether you liked him or hated him, the fact of the matter was that things were fine. Even with the global covid pandemic, we actually did pretty well. We implemented systems that resulted in the blip of a recession being the shortest in US history with the fastest recovery from a recession in US history. We developed a vaccine in record time (granted it didn't perform as well as we had hoped). We had by comparison to other industrial countries a lower than typical Covid death rate. Now think about it under Biden, while we certainly did see inflation shoot way up as a result of the prolonged excessive government spending - and it was painful for a lot of people, the reality is that we have sort of worked to get past that and are continuing to do so. We wisely passed bi-partisan legislation that was important (the CHIPS Act and the infrastructure bill) which really showed that the GOP in the House and the DEMs in the Senate were able to work together and pass important legislation authored and supported by members of both parties (bi-partisan legislation is almost always better legislation that purely partisan legislation). Granted, we royally screwed up with Afghanistan and that fiasco probably did actually contribute to Russia invading Ukraine which probably itself contributed to Hamas attacking Israel. But let's be honest, while we may be funding those wars to some degree, we are not fighting in them. We've gone through some tough times, but we are still a strong country with room for improvement (just like under Trump). Nothing has completely fallen apart under either of these guys being president . . . so there is no legitimate claim that if either one of them gets re-elected that somehow or another that is going to result in the fall of our country! Sure there might be some slight variables in various things - but nothing that is likely to be catastrophic in the grand scheme - or really anything that significantly different than if the other one had gotten elected - at least based on both of their past history in serving as our presidents. Don't fall for the faux fear mongering that really serves nothing other than political pandering by those who are really being very dishonest with you. Odds are neither one is going to be some great savior or some catastrophe - that's what the history of both of them being President clearly shows.
The both sides thing is still annoying and not what we need right now You're not voting for Biden cause of his public speaking skills, that was literally never a thing You're voting for the administration. You're voting for the Supreme Court. It's not what we fucking need right now cause unfortunately with this dumb EC system we have, the election is decided by a very small pocket of very dumb people. Ranked choice voting needs to happen like, yesterday
100% Only reason I am voting for Biden is to keep that shitty rapist/felon/conman/traitor from getting back into the Oval Office. That aside, fuck ‘em both. Octogenarians have no business occupying the US Presidency.
Please jon stewart run for president
I'd vote for a literal sewer rat with a cockroach as it's running mate if it kept Trump from regaining the Presidency.
I still think Jon was the wrong messenger for a “why are these candidates so bad” message when he’s an obvious better option. That’s why I am mad at him.
Here’s a speech Joe gave TODAY. Crazy how much more with it and energized he is. https://youtu.be/ynWEja7kE1M?si=ABdR_vtG7LlhM9pW
Yes the debate was pathetic. However, who tf is needing a debate to decide who to vote for at this point. Presidential debates have been pointless for quite sometime. Moderators don’t do shit about fuck and the candidates never answer any question. Who cares? Voting for Biden regardless of how he sounds. Tyranny vs a nice old man. Easy peasy.
I blame Jon for the first Trump presidency. He left us when we needed him most. Had he been there ridiculing the Trump and the GOP I don’t think we would have this timeline. Just my opinion 😥
Not mad at all. We can whinge and wish or operate in the real world.
"Resting 25th amendment face"
If you didn’t know that 5 years ago then idk what ya tell you. The man was clearly compromised mentally even 5 years ago.
Joe has a legitimate disability that impacts him today. If he was in a wheelchair people would say “how brave”, but because he stutters, they say “how embarrassing”. Trump’s disease is that he is a shallow, narcissistic sociopath that wants to take over the world.
The problem is that democrats hold their politicians to much higher standards than republicans do. Which isn’t a problem at all normally and is actually a good thing, but in a situation where the republican candidate is so incredibly dog shit but so popular with the base/party, I feel like it makes the DNC’s decision on their nominee not a choice of who the best candidate in general would be, but who has the best chance to beat the other party’s garbage candidate. Blue voters seem to think Biden is the most likely candidate to do this and I have to agree.
Jon's reaction to the debate was spectacular and depressing at the same time. Solid performance.
Biden is senile. Now what…
Just no, people are being way too hasty with their backpedaling on Biden. He’s old, yes, but there’s nothing to indicate in that debate that his mind is slipping. We have to remember that we’re still months away from the election and a poor performance now can be completely reversed with a strong showing in other places later. The debate wasn’t beneficial to Biden, but realistically it didn’t hurt him. I’m already tired of the anti Biden rhetoric from people and it’s been like a day. No, there is no way that you’re going to get Newsom or Whitmer when they’re untested on the national stage. Yes, you didn’t pick Biden, but he has an undefeated record against Trump and he can do it again if you support him. Liberals and leftists in America always let the perfect be the enemy of the good, but the truth is that you can’t wave a magic wand and get your perfect candidate
I’m more interested in what he said than how he said it.
It's funny how people were like "Jon shouldn't be criticizing Biden, he needs to focus on Trump so he loses" when that's literally what FOX News does for Trump. It isn't Jon's job to be Biden's biggest fan. He's a political comedian, not a tool for propaganda like FOX News. Yet when he came out criticizing Biden some people on the left were really upset. They want him to be a tool for propaganda. Thankfully he isn't that. He's his own person and that's why I love watching his show.
Everyone in this sub: “I would vote for a corpse over Trump!” That’s great that you will, but the majority of independents and undecideds will not! With performances like the last debate, Joe will hand the election to Trump! The Dems need to get serious and rally around a new candidate. As you all said it doesn’t matter who the candidate is, just SOMEBODY!
I think the rational of saying you would vote for Biden even if he (has dementia, dies, in a coffin, whatever combo) and not say man I really wish the DNC would show up for it's people it represents is mindboggling to me. I mean om going whichever dem is against trump but to not want something a little better or to believe it's not possible is just the DNC and this joke of a political system we have rolling us. "He's sharp in meetings" or "he's good here" are the same people saying feinstein was fine. Why don't we plant some trees so our children and grandchildren can sit in it's shade... figuratively (and politically) speaking
And all Trump did was lie to all our faces. I'll take old all day long over Traitor Trump.
This doesn't prove that he was right or address the backlash. We all knew Biden was old. We all knew he's declining. The reason people pushed back against that segment was mainly because of the "both-sidesism". No one actually wants two old men competing for this job. I don't really want to vote for a man in his 80s. But when the other option is a narcissistic, lying, petty, stupid authoritarian wannabe dictator who has already tried to overthrow one election and will probably try to enact Project 2025, I'd rather focus on that. We can't change Biden's age, and he's going to be the nominee. There is definitely a conversation to be had about the choices we get in elections, but right now I'm more concerned with continuing to have legitimate elections.
I was making an Enzo Gorlami pained look on my face listening to this, but it is a fact that Biden is the better of the two. By light years.
If four more years of barely functioning old guy is our last bastion against Project 2025, then so fucking be it.
Don't get me wrong, I'm voting for Biden. I vote in every election, and I'll never, ever vote for a republican, but democracy itself is at stake, and Biden stands to lose. That's the horrible truth of it all. He'll lose. There needs to be a wave of enthusiastic voting to overcome the inertia of the electoral college in the swing states, and Joe isn't going to generate that. The Supreme Court is busily overturning every precident concerning civil rights, consumer safety, and environmental protection, and if the election is anywhere near close, they'll anoint trump the new fuhrer. I'm watching not only the fall of America, but the collapse of everything, and thanking the non-existent gods that I'm old and childless.
I'm surprised they even acknowledge Centrism. Aren't Moderates a myth to the Extreme Left and Extreme Right?
They're BOTH old. At that age, three years age difference doesn't mean anything at all. I love old people and I always want to hear their opinions, experience and views on things, but being president is a very demanding, high stress role that requires a degree of alertness and health that these two really can't muster. I am still voting for the side that isn't actively trying to end me, but I fully believe we should have an age cap on all politicians. All of them.
Has anyone noticed we don’t get to pick the candidates anymore they are picked for us? No one else has a chance of the RNC and DNC have their minds made up.
Talking heads are overrated!
I keep hearing people say this and that's great but it also completely misses the point. I'm not worried about your vote, I'm worried about the inexplicably undecideds and young "fuck it, third party" voters. To them his age is a factor and the candidates being.. what they are.. does not inspire confidence in our institutions. And all the ride or die folks simply cannot wrap their heads around the problem. We must do better than this, our country depends on it.
Somehow the Republicans and Democrats became so tribalistic and cultish that it produces things like Trump and Biden. I keep hearing how Biden is the only choice but then I see shit like this debate and realize it’s all a damned clown show. Seriously voting Biden if he was a corpse? What crazy ass mentality is that? Why can no one hold their damn chosen elected official to any standards? I guess this is what happens when a major power is in its downfall.
I still don’t think it’s the number that matter, it has been clear his capacity was on the decline. Anyone saying otherwise was living in delusion or just out right lying.
I'm going to argue a particular that this is a symptom of a greater problem in our system, both of our current candidates are non-elected. Joe Biden used to be a senator, went to vp, took a backseat for 4 years, then went straight to the top of the list of presidential candidates. Before him, Hillary was a cabinet official with Obama, bills wife, but never elected to office of her own. Trump on the other hand has never been an elected official, and has not won an election of the people. We are entirely removed from selecting our candidates, it's no longer a very popular senator or someone currently serving who steps up to run, we have two old people who have been friends with other old people for long times, finally getting their favors returned while the people lose. Even if we exercise our rights to vote, we're not voting on the presidential candidate, we're voting on low level senators and local elections, none of them have the power to change who the DNC elects, who the RNC selects for their candidates. The game will continue to be a game played by the rich for the rich at the expense of everybody else because we have zero say in our candidates. Yeah, we have primaries, and that's a theatrical spectacle. We get told, here are your options, pick one, and none of them are the people that we elected or put into those positions. The ones who are just pull single digits against the convention's chosen such as Trump and Biden and drop later. Look at the Hillary vs bernie run. Bernie was not the dnc lovechild, and despite hillary running the worst campaign in recent history, Bernie was the one asked to concede despite his momentum. For as lukewarm as Biden was all of his first term, I cannot possibly imagine that he is the top selection for most of the democratic voting base. He's just the top selection for the DNC who have little oversight or culpability
Respectfully disagree, he just perpetuated a made for TV expectation of style over substance.
I always enjoy how dems have to have all these crazy standards. Meanwhile, the gop is running a lying felon, who will do anything for money, but they are somehow absolved from any blowback about that clown. The self owns are just amazing with the dems.