You can't blame voters for not feeling enthusiastic. It is the fault of the party for nominating a candidate who is'nt capable of exciting and motivating them.

@RoboGraham that is certainly an understandable view. Biden didn't/doesn't excite me, either, but that is what primaries are for. We only have two parties that stand any chance of fielding a winning presidential candidate.
Primaries are for voting your ideals. General elections are for keeping the worst choice out. As Joe rightly said, this isn't about him. It is bigger than he is. Biden, old white man that he is, traditional as he is, at least can work with people, is not an egomaniac, does not seek to blow up the planet, imprison immigrants, sack the social security fund, destroy the free press, etc. etc. That alone is more than Trump can honestly claim.

@MikeInBatonRouge

Biden is better than Trump but far from good enough.

When the party nominated a republican lite, they lost a large portion of the progressive vote in favor of chasing moderates and republicans who dislike Trump. Let's hope it works out for them.

@RoboGraham well I disagree that he is Republican light, but that is a matter of perspective more than of fact. I agree we need better, but I am hopeful he at least knows how to work with good people. Trump has dismantled and crippled so very much of governmental agencies across the board, that a ton will need to be rebuilt. Joe's massive experience in government will help that process move more efficiently. He won't be learning as he goes. Yes, I would like more progressive, but there are silver linings to Biden, and the alternative isn't even anxalternative; it is just nihilism.

Ah, but voting this time specifically to remedy the current situation is not the same thing as "...no matter who over and over." Actually voting for Trump or abstaining again, or protest voting a third party candidate, if that was your 2016 approach, ...THAT would be insanity.

@MikeInBatonRouge

When both of the major party candidates are right wingers, I've no other choice than to vote for the progressive. It's not a protest, it's siding with the candidate who is closest to representing my values and supports policies that are critical for earning my vote.

@RoboGraham ...which is great, except for reality. The reality is our democracy structure sucks. It is a two party system, whether we like it or not. There is no proportional respresentation for the administration. It is winner take all. If we had a parliamentary system with coalition governments, I would always vote for the progressive. But we don't. Equating Biden with Trump and pretending they are equally bad is truly delusional.

@MikeInBatonRouge

They aren't the same, far from it.

If you and everyone else who would support a progressive but won't out of fear of what might happen if they don't surrender their votes to the lesser evil, would spawn some courage and refuse to play that game, they would be forced to actually earn people's votes and that would create some real, tangible, positive change.

@RoboGraham that isn't how it works in a two party system. I DID support a progressive in the primaries. She didn't win. I accepted that reality and shifted gears for the general election, which is about damage control. You didn't get that memo. Punishing the Dems now isn't teaching anyone anything. You seem to think there are more closet progressives than there really are. Unless the majority of left of center voters learn to compromise enough to coalesce around a chosen candidate, the Right, which is an actual minority, will keep winning elections they have no right to. And now, with Orange Twitler, that has become more dangerous a situation than ever before.

@MikeInBatonRouge

You're right, that's not how it works. We need to coalesce around a single candidate. That candidate is never a progressive and they know that progressives have nowhere else to go so they feel totally free to ignore us and count on our support anyway.

But there is a way to create a coalition in a system like this. If the establishment's chosen corporatist candidate were to champion some progressive policies and put actual progressives in leadership positions within the administration, we could all unite. But that isn't what they do. They shit on us and demand our votes anyway. If we don't vote for them, we get the blame for the loss of their undesirable candidate. But if we were to demonstrate to them that we will not hand over our support to them if they do not fight for what is right, they will have no choice but to compromise.

So when Biden loses, I'll take all the blame they have to throw at me. It was all my fault and if they would like to regain my vote, we can negotiate next time. This is how we have leverage.

@RoboGraham and again, you delude yourself by thinking you (we) have the progressive voter numbers to pull off such a tactic. The way we get taken more seriously is by building the progressive wing of the party. Until that happens, centrists will rightly calculate that to win the "honor" of having your vote, they likely lose at least one, if not more, vote(s) of indepentents and Dems to the right of you. I would LOVE to see AOC be the heart of the Dem party, but she's not there yet. You seem to expect to grab the brass ring before having an adequate team in place.

@RoboGraham trump's continued administration is a dire threat to democracy itself. He is, infact and by definition, a fascist who is trying to grab dictatorial powers for himself. And you and other prima donnas dither about Biden not being progressive enough. This isn't a game.

@MikeInBatonRouge

This is why we need ranked choice voting. It would solve this problem.

@RoboGraham i absolutely agree with that! Yay, Ireland! Democracy 2.0.

@Fred_Snerd There shouldn't be. In a fair system the notion of winners and losers goes on the dog pile of stupid ideas like religion, disco, and war bonds. The tax system was fair in the 1970's, Reagan began dismantlement of Western Civilization when he destroyed the balance that had led to prosperity for over fifty years. Many were still in trouble then but for more systemic racist reasons rather than systemic tax inequality, now we suffer from both and it's far worse.

@Willow_Wisp will you marry me?

@Willow_Wisp I liked disco......

i don't agree I think they are ready to rock

@whiskywoman
Biden and rock? Hard to imagine.