2024 General Election Thread

I'm pretty sure that the WSWS wouldn't have advocated a vote for Biden at any time. So no, you're not getting it.

Yeah, Rick's gone a little bye-bye since you were gone...

I barely remember him, but I usually associated him with other hyper-left wing Europeans I think. Am I recalling him correctly?

Does that timeline line up with your guy being in office - at which point you miraculously stop criticising and start making excuses for the same actions you yelled at the Republicans for?

No, everyone here is getting it Rick. There is no chance someone comes to power that is more liberal on Gaza that Biden. NONE.

So because you don't like Biden, you are rooting for fascism to take over the US.

You are a shit human being.

Hmm. Did Biden call for the government to be overthrown if he loses? Has he vowed to prosecute political enemies? Has he openly tried to remake the Justice System to benefit him?
No?
Okay then.

Basically.
At least Cass was consistently anti-war, and not taking sides.
As far as I recall.
I don't recall this bloodthirsty streak in our lefties before.
I could be misremembering.

No, Biden and the Democrats keep their abuses nice and quiet, couched in peachy PR rhetoric and national security concerns. Much of the problem with Trump is that he's too obvious with it, says the quiet parts out loud. And the establishment can't have that. But he's a symptom, not a cause.

And it's not me that you need to convince. Keep telling yourself that the problem is Trump - it's not going to fix the fact that Biden's popularity is at historic lows, and he can't even be sure of beating such a buffoon.

Sorry, what now? I'm "taking sides" in a way that's not "anti-war", am I? Whose blood am I thirsting for?

"....and when Trump kills you all, I'll hose your graves with my potato scented spoonk!!!".

...is all that's missing there.

I won’t argue with kids on SM because they’re kids and 280 characters but calm the fuck down.

Israel is not committing a genocide. There is circumstantial evidence that could lead some to believe there is a potential ethnic cleansing in Gaza in the works. But genocide is an actual thing with an actual definition and not just a catch all for ‘doing things I don’t like’. Check out what your buddies in Ukraine are trying to do for an example.

All that aside. How is Biden doing it you fucking numpty? He get appointed head of the IDF and no one told me?

It's almost like all of the stuff explaining to you why it manifestly is a genocide went straight through your head and out the other side, isn't it?

And now I'm pro-Putin too? Wow. These smears are weak as fuck.

"Corned beef" is Leprechaun meat, you sonofabitch.
We see you!

Not going to even try to stand over your accusation then? Just making shit up and leaving it at that. Ok then.

What happened, man? You used to be cool.

Don't worry, you'll think I'm cool again as soon as a Republican is in office. I've always been like this, I'm not aligned with liberalism.

Stanning Putin and his proxy Assange was never cool.

Oh, and for those who missed it, here's the President of the International Court of Justice when it made it's ruling on South Africa's petition to investigate Israel that the court did not decide that it was plausible that genocide was being committed. Only that it was plausible that SA had the right to petition, and that if it was true that the rights of Palestinians would be harmed.

Joan Donoghue was the one who delivered the interim ruling on the case.

Again, despite all the bullshit we saw in the media, that wasn't the ruling, per the person who oversaw the trial and was responsible for that ruling.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_Donoghue

It's tedious hairsplitting and as usual, you're less than honest. What the court found was that there was a plausible case that Palestinian rights under the genocide convention were being infringed, plausible enough to warrant trying Israel for genocide. "Plausible genocide" is just shorthand.

Rick and a few others around here like to live in an "ideal world", where anything is possible. So those of us who say that the US election is going to come down to a choice between Trump and Biden are wrong, because we just don't "believe" hard enough. Nevermind that the US election system is structured so that any election we have (in the 99% of the country that doesn't have things like RCV) is going to favor just two parties, the entire lobbying effort of nearly every organization and corporation props up just two parties in the US. Additionally, when it comes to Presidential elections, there are literally billions of dollars being thrown behind the candidates of the two major parties. Yet, somehow, the majority (or a large enough number of people in various states, who can tip the EC vote) are supposed to reject this and vote for somebody else.

Most Americans have no idea that there's anyone running for President other than Trump and Biden, and that even if people are aware that other candidates are on the ballot, they probably have no clue as to what those candidates stand for, and even if they do, they automatically assume that those other candidates have no chance of winning. For someone outside of the two main parties to actually win the election in 2024, both of the major candidates would have to implode in a spectacular fashion on live TV. We're talking Monty Burns spitting out Blinky the three-eyed fish while going all Senator Stillson, and possibly blowing the other candidate on stage. Or at least giving him a handy.

To think that a third-party political candidate stands a chance of winning a Presidential election in the US without a significant change to the election laws in this country, or billions of dollars behind them, and a network of supporters organized to do things like going door-to-door to campaign is as delusional as thinking that someone could build a full-scale replica of the Great Pyramid in their backyard in just a few months, with no help, and no money.

However, it is easier to pretend that this is possible, than it is to do the real work needed to change things so that third-party candidates stand a chance of winning. Or accepting the fact that no matter which candidate one picks or supports, they're invariably going to do something utterly shitty once they get elected, because that's the nature of politics, no matter where you are. It's like they're pacifists who are opposed to war under any circumstances, who also refuse to aid any innocent civilians injured in those works because, "This will only encourage people to continue to fight wars." They also, naively, believe that regardless of the outcome of the election, their lives will remain basically the same. If Biden wins, that might very well be true. If Trump wins, it certainly will not.

Well, at least that's a tad more considered than labelling me a Hamas, Putin and Trump supporter all at once. (That's a really great way to convince people who don't like Biden guys!) But no, I don't think that a third party will magically win the election.

You do seem to think that it is possible, however. Like when you defended Assange for releasing the DNC material and saying words to the effect that you hoped it would shift us to picking someone other than Hillary.

It's literally a talking point on the left that the ICJ has stated that it is plausible that Israel is currently committing a genocide, and it's repeated ad nauseum.

And it's clearly not true, as I showed.

How convenient that the shorthand just happens to fit your preferred narrative and makes people think you are correct, when that's not at all what was ruled.

You'd need to find the quote, but I doubt it was in the context of the general election. I mean, it might be possible some day and it's important to do the long-term work towards that, which includes voting for third parties. But your description of how rigged the system is is unfortunately accurate for the time being. And it gives rise to the current situation with two candidates who are utterly unacceptable.

I'm not standing for Biden. Of course he's struggling. He only got elected because he was running against Trump.
I'm not trying to fix anything. I'm certainly not trying to convince you of anything. But you're putting the two on an equal pedestal, which is intellectually dishonest at best.

Ah yes, Biden is every bit as bad as Trump.

Again, you are a piece of shit human being.

And you are absolutely repeating right wing propaganda points that align with Putin's narrative. Don't vote, they both are utterly unacceptable - that just helps the fascists, because one is definitely better on scores of issues than the other.

Even the single issue you are basing that decision on.

You know, unlike others here who want to turn a blind eye to it or maybe wish Biden would change tack to help himself, you're unique in vocally supporting what the IDF are doing in Gaza, characterising it as the people there "getting exactly what they deserve".

So I'll take no lectures on being a piece of shit from you, you pondlife scum.

It might as well have been, since by the time of the release, the DNC had selected Hillary and all that remained was the convention for her to announce her running mate.

The two candidates might be "utterly unacceptable," but they're who we've got. The best we can hope for is being able to select one who does the least damage, and whose negative attributes are easier to mitigate.

And by the way, I'm not going to make the deciding factor of my presidential choice dependent on how he deals with Israel.
But even if I did, Mr. "Shithole Countries" sure as hell wouldn't be my first choice.

But Trump and abortion is the Democratic Party’s only play. That’s how bad they are.