Discussing issues == unduly influencing elections
Published by marco on
The article The First Rule of Court Packing is you do not talk about Court Packing by Josh Blackman (Reason) discusses the recent presidential debate.
When Biden was asked about ending the filibuster or packing the court (two highly relevant election issues), he responded,
“Whatever position I take on that, that’ll become the issue. The issue is the American people should speak. You should go out and vote. You’re voting now. Vote and let your Senators know strongly how you feel.”
What the hell does that even mean? I thought it was just wishy-washy dementia-talk. It’s not just that (because it is incoherent; read it again). He doesn’t think he has to address issues because there’s an election on. He is anti-campaigning. He’s like someone involved in a court case saying that they can’t talk about the court case.
His running mate answered in just as confused a manner, but with the same sentiment, Here’s a Kamala Harris (cited from the article above).
“You know, let’s. I think that — first of all — Joe has been very clear that he is going to pay attention to the fact, and I’m with him on this 1,000 percent, pay attention to the fact that right now, Lawrence, people are voting,”
So, no talking about issues before or during an election. For Democrats, the message is:
Biden/Harris Campaign Message
Shut up and vote for me and I’ll let you know what I stand for after I’m elected. Why do you need any more information, man? What’s the problem? Can’t you see what a monster Trump is? Why do I have to justify anything beyond that? We’ve already engineered things so that I’m the only other viable alternative, so why don’t you shut the fuck up and vote for me? What makes you think you get to pipe up when the adults are talking? SMH.
Obviously, this not only has massive appeal to any voter, it’s bound to swing a ton of voters away from Trump. Are they not even trying anymore? What the hell is this campaign about other than “we’re not Trump”?
Alternatively,
Conversation with Biden/Harris Campaign
Biden/Harris: The sidewalk’s on fire, so just get in the van.
Voter: But…where are you taking me? What are you going to do with me?
Biden/Harris: Shut up and get in the van.
Biden/Harris: What choice do you have? I have a van to get away from the fire. You don’t want to burn to death. I can’t make it any plainer than that. You’re just going to have to trust me. I don’t have to justify myself to you … because you have no choice. Try not to think about how we’ve engineered things so that we think we have you over a barrel.
Voter: It’s pretty dark in there; what are you going to do to me in there? That van looks pretty shabby; can it even get away from the fire? Are we going somewhere better?
Biden/Harris: *Tap feet impatiently* Remember those people who jumped out of the World Trade Center on 9/11? That’s you. Shut. The. Fuck. Up. And. Get. In. The. Van.
Voter: You know what? Fuck you, creeps. I’d rather burn alive.
We’ll see. It could go either way, but the lessons of 2016 are lurking out there, waiting to be learned again.