Senate "Biden Beats Trump" - The 2020 General Election Presidential Thread

All of the most well liked presidents
George Washington, Lincoln, FDR all had demons in their presidential closet.
FDR his Japanese internment camps
George Washington and slavery
Lincoln and laying down the law a little to thick and not being a great president for Native relations.

 

At one point, yes.
But the outstanding moment for me was when he was clearly going to lose the 1864 election to McClellan, and he was asked to drop the whole bothersome concept of 'emancipation' to increase his odds:
“And the promise being made, must be kept. . . . Why should they give their lives for us, with full notice of our purpose to betray them? . . . I should be damned in time and in eternity for so doing. The world shall know that I will keep my faith to friends & enemies, come what will.”

 

FYI, the hurricane is not poised to hit Texas... just everywhere else in the geographic south for the most part...



Taking out the entire Panhandle might be good too...

 

Zeta already? Before we've even reached the tail-end of the season?

 

We tend to talk about these men as "great men" not because they were perfect or even particularly enlightened by our modern standards, but because they were a little less awful than their contemporaries in some way. And yes, unlike the GOP of today, they tried at least some of the time to do the right thing.

 

In the Census election prediction thread, I made an outlandish (and only partially joking) attempt at a prediction, turning every state red that had even the remotest chance of being carried by Trump.

Here's my actual genuine prediction (at least for 49 out of the 50 states):


I believe this entire race is going to hinge on Pennsylvania. I don't trust Arizona, Texas, Florida, or North Carolina to go blue--I kind of feel like those are pipe dreams at this point. Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if Trump pulled off surprise upsets in Nevada, New Mexico, or Minnesota. (To say nothing of Wisconsin or Michigan!) Even Virginia--people forget that Virginia almost went to Trump in 2016. That state was a nail biter that wasn't called for Clinton until late that night (or early the next morning?), despite her running mate himself being from Virginia.

Next Tuesday night is not going to be fun.

 

Yep, we're tied with the most named storms in the history of reporting Atlantic hurricanes - and the other time, Zeta showed up at the very end of December.

 

However on Lincoln I do agree it’s not the best to judge people from over a hundred years ago with the standards of today. However I can still judge some of his mistakes as even by 1860 standards they were bad.

 

If you're worried about Illinois you might as well actually be worried about Trump's brilliant strategy to win California.

 

It's clear it's not going to stay a tie...

 

What about the wackos who think Massachusetts and New York are in play this election

 

Crap! I meant Michigan, not Illinois. (I was referring back to 2016 when those two states were thought to be part of Clinton's firewall.)

 

That makes a little more sense, yes.

 

Wisconsin is pretty safe by poll standards I’ll check Michigan

 

The thing with Lincoln on that, is yeah, it was a pretty awful view. But, to his credit, he actually listened to what Douglas had to say, changed his opinion, and that was the end of it. Not a lot of people, particularly American politicians, are capable of that.

 

That’s what I’m saying. It’s why I wonder if he doesn’t finally get abandoned if things go badly enough for him at the polls.

 

My main worry about Michigan is attempted intimidation at polling places now that the NRA has stepped in to protect our fundamental right to brandish weapons at polling places in addition to Trump calling on all rednecks to monitor the vote.

 

I know I'm pessimistic and all, but if I genuinely thought Illinois was going to go red, y'all would have my full permission to hook me up with a sweet and shiny tinfoil hat to call my own.

 

Young people are turning out on droves this election and unless your some insane person who thinks this is the year young people vote Republican that isn’t a good thing

 

In a similar vein, I’ve gotten radio ads here in Minnesota from the state attorney general gently reminding us that voter intimidation is illegal.

I didn’t realize they were anticipating it being that much of a problem here. But I guess if they feel they have to remind people of that, it might be.

 

Look the trump cronies will try to win this election no matter what

 

My sister will be in Michigan on election day this year as a volunteer for an organization that monitors and reports polling place problems on election day. The organization lost half its volunteers this year relative to 2016 because of fears about actual physical violence. I don't know if the concern was legitimate, but Trump's calls for voter intimidation have an effect. It is, itself, a form of intimidation, and a significant one.

 

That’s good we need volunteers all over the country

 

Bloomberg pumping money into OH and TX I heard this morning on NPR. Doubling down on his strategy of forcing Trump and the RNC to play defense (like he did with FL).

 

No worries, people, Bloombito to the rescue!!