August 8, 2020

"Why We’re Demanding No Cops for Veep/If Joe Biden wants to signal his commitment to the message of the Black Lives Matter movement, he shouldn’t pick a former police officer or prosecutor."

Headline at The Nation.
Since its inception, our policing system has been used to terrorize, subjugate, and, when necessary, kill Black people.... Finally, space is opening up for real, substantive change to systemic racism and policing in America.... Former vice president Biden must stand with this movement, including the Black women who propelled him to the Democratic nomination, and make clear through policy and his VP choice that he is on the right side of justice and will put in place policies that protect Black people. This means he cannot have someone who has been a top cop or in the pocket of the police on the ticket, because doing so would not only signal that he is not committed to protecting Black lives but also might discourage the voters he needs to defeat Donald Trump....
Excluded by this demand — as detailed in the article — are Senator Amy Klobuchar, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Senator Kamala Harris, and Representative Val Demings. Acceptable are: Senator Elizabeth Warren, Representative Barbara Lee, Representative Karen Bass, and Stacey Abrams.

66 comments:

Michael K said...

The Nation is pretty much the soul of the Democrat party these days.

mezzrow said...

Ctrl + F 'Rice' on that article returns 0.

Phil 314 said...

How fractious is the "Black" vote?

Gahrie said...

By the stated standard, Biden should be unacceptable to them.

Mike Sylwester said...

Whenever I want a political opinion, I turn first to The Nation magazine, which is read by hundreds of people.

Scott Gustafson said...

So once again they are looking for dis-qualifications rather than qualifications. What have you done wrong rather than what have you done right? Much like their reasons for pulling down statues. Will any remain?

Birkel said...

None of those people will be VP.
Democratics are going to lose in November.

Mary Beth said...

I wish them luck in their endeavors. If the Democrats had a compelling candidate for president, the VP nominee would be mostly irrelevant - like it was when Obama picked a VP.

Browndog said...

Obama deep state Intel continuing it's one and only mission of destroying political enemies.

Gotta go with the "whisper campaign" so it's not so obvious you're taking out members of your own team.

Don't kid yourself. It was always going to be Susan Rice. There's too much clean up to do on the MAGA front-

When they say if you strike at the king, you better not miss, most people assume they're talking about Trump. In reality, it's about Obama and his deep state operatives.

Probably should have indicted a person or two when you had the chance. If Biden wins Flynn/Manafort/Stone are going to look like child's play.

Sebastian said...

"Since its inception, our policing system has been used to terrorize, subjugate, and, when necessary, kill Black people."

OK, let's just accept this and be done with it.

No more police in predominantly black neighborhoods. Let freedom reign.

On the conditions that 1. we keep police in all other neighborhoods; 2. no more blacks moving to the other neighborhoods, to avoid oppression of course.

Marshall Rose said...

Does Susan Rice qualify as law enforcement?

JAORE said...

C'mon man...you know the unspoken demand the VP also be black.

BarrySanders20 said...

Poor leftists. Do not even try to understand.

"This means [Biden] cannot have someone who has been a top cop or in the pocket of the police on the ticket, because doing so would not only signal that he is not committed to protecting Black lives but also might discourage the voters he needs to defeat Donald Trump."

Do they know who suffers the most from black crime? Do they know who lives in the neighborhoods where most of the crime is being committed? Support for the police, many of whom are black or hispanic, at least in the urban areas, is support for black lives. The blacks serving time for violent crimes either plead guilty or get convicted juries with at least some, and in many cases a majority, of blacks. Maybe we need jury reform.

The people who are not committed to black lives are those who look at the surge in urban crime and think the answer is fewer police. Only a leftist could think this way. Make real people suffer for the sake of "sending signals" and keeping people encouraged to vote for democrats.

Temujin said...

Democrats ard their pretzel logic keep twisting and twisting. One wonders if any of them every stop to realize that there is no finish to this, no acceptable answer. There will always be a grievance, a victim, a calling for reparations or justice. And of course, justice is whatever one wants it to be. So twist away. Twist again like we did last summer.

GatorNavy said...

Has the Nation dismissed all the African American police chiefs and the rank and file African American police officers?

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

Why are there so many VP articles when we are all so sure the P slot is still a question?

Bill, Republic of Texas said...

Why isn't Susan Rice on the list of not excluded.

I think it will be Rice. Biden can't stand the idea of a black calling him on his racism. That excluded Harris.

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

Never before has the criminal lobby had such clout.

gilbar said...

i don't understand?
The democrats are trying So Hard to beat President Trump (including destroying our economy)
But; they refuse to have Anyone run, that isn't a scum bag piece of shit/

They could have this completely wrapped up; if they'd pick a Human for pres (or vp)
But NO!

Nichevo said...

What's always this "demand" every time? Who taught them that?

"Who the fuck are you? I'll kill you! GFY!" is my reaction to "demands" being made of me.

I demand that you make no more demands!

Columbia betrayed this country back in the 60s. Those student sit-ins should have been swept out like the garbage, complete with expulsion and blackballing of their families.

jaydub said...

This highlights the crucial mistake Biden made in limiting the field when he promised a black female VP candidate in order to secure the Black vote during the nominating process. He's left (no pun intended) with options that run the Democrat gamut all the way from radical left to Marxist because there just aren't any Black female Democrat politicians who are even close to centrist. BTW, interesting that The Nation must have found Susan Rice to be insufficiently Red since she checks the other boxes as regards skin color and policing experience.

Nichevo said...

Blogger gilbar said...
i don't understand?
The democrats are trying So Hard to beat President Trump (including destroying our economy)
But; they refuse to have Anyone run, that isn't a scum bag piece of shit/

They could have this completely wrapped up; if they'd pick a Human for pres (or vp)
But NO!


The poison pill in your latter assumption is that non garbage people wouldn't have operated against the President this way. Garbage people gotta garbage.

Lucien said...

How much of this would have heaven if George Floyd hadn’t OD’d on Fentanyl?

Tom T. said...

"Defund the Police" polls terribly among Black voters. It's hugely unpopular. The writers at the Nation are extremists and flirting with racism.

rcocean said...

I agree with the Nation. Lets get an HONEST Democrat as Veep. Someone who won't pretend to be in favor of law and order and supports Antifa. Personally, I'm hoping for Abrams. She's what the D Party wants, and she's honest.

Browndog said...

Personally, I'm hoping for Abrams. She's what the D Party wants, and she's honest.

Agreed.

Despite the highest black voter turnout in the history of Georgia, she'd be the governor of Georgia if it wasn't for the GOP suppressing the black vote. That's the exact kind of honesty democrat voters are looking for.

Jupiter said...

You left out Susan Rice. She has never held any job except despicable, lying political fixer. She's perfect!

RNB said...

Why all these negative criteria? Just specify that the Dem VP nominee be a woman POC with a felony conviction.

Michael said...

The reason Black women supported Biden for the nomination was that he claimed not to be as gonzo Leftist as the other guy. I think they are beginning to realize their mistake, and would find a law-and-order type reassuring. But then, why not go for the real thing?

walter said...

"Come on, man!"
If only Dr. Jill Biden was black. She could keep him on a harness.

Nichevo said...

Maybe not black-black; I'm sure The Nation would just eat up Tulsi Gabbard. Then again if you asked them, the P slot should be Bernie Sanders, so...

D.D. Driver said...

Did Biden ever commit to selecting a women *with a cervix*? I don't think he did.

Ball's in your court, Cory Booker.

Fernandinande said...

How much of this would have heaven [happened?] if George Floyd hadn’t OD’d on Fentanyl?

The U.S.'s collective insanity and inanity is amazing and embarrassing.

Youtube seems to be doing it's part in "making the ignorant more ignorant and the crazy crazier":

Tucker Carlson Announces George Floyd Fatally Overdosed with Fentanyl...
"Here is Tucker Carlson’s report**: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eg4vfcdITw"

"Video unavailable
This video is no longer available because the YouTube account associated with this video has been terminated."


** This *might* be the video that youtube deleted - Carlson doesn't actually say that Floyd OD'd, but pretty close.

NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...

Phil 314 said...

How fractious is the "Black" vote?

100% rock solid! Remember; those of a darker hue that don't vote for Joe Biden aren't officially "Black". Therefore Joe will receive 100% of the "Black" vote.


At least that's what Joe says....

Not Sure said...

Too bad Tulsi was an MP. She's colorful enough.

Joe Smith said...

@Gahrie

Winner, winner, chicken dinner.

That also leaves out 'Super Predator' Hillary as a late inning pinch hitter.

Kamala 'lighter than most Italians' Harris put a lot of brothers behind bars for smoking dope. That hasn't aged well...

NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...

Susan Rice?

PJ said...

Why has Titania McGrath been left off the "acceptable" roster? Or has she already declined?

stevew said...

Reminds me of that old Imus bit, "Which doesn't belong, and why?". Stacey Abrams, she is the least accomplished, and so least qualified, of the bunch.

You can offer your own.

Caligula said...

I see no evidence that Black Lives Matter wants to eliminate police. What they want to eliminate is the police. And replace them with something more in tune with Black Lives Matters.

Such as, perhaps, Venezuelan-style Colectivos:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colectivo_(Venezuela).


Biden presumably would not support that, but then one can hardly expect him to understand much of, well, umm, anything of any complexity?

bgates said...

our policing system has been used to terrorize, subjugate, and, when necessary, kill Black people

I am forward looking to hear a Democrat say "our policing system must never kill BL*CK! people, even when it is necessary to do so".

Gk1 said...

I'll never forget the time the Nation and David Corn was pushing the russian-pee gate-collusion story during the election of 2016 till that rag sinks to the bottom of the ocean.

Who bothers to read the Nation anymore even amongst so-called progressives? It's just a mouthpiece for the wackier fringes of DNC and nothing more. I sure hope Slow Joe takes their advice and picks Angela Davis so the democratic party can also lose all of their downstate voters in tight races.

Balfegor said...

Why did the mayors of DC and Atlanta drop off the list? If he's down to considering ordinary congresswomen, DC and Atlanta are roughly the same population as a congressional district (somewhat smaller, but not by much), and the mayors have actual executive responsibilities, unlike congressmen.

That said, Harris is probably the most credible political figure amongst the current crop of candidates. Susan Rice is, eh, no Metternich, but by the standards of late Obama foreign policy advisers, she's a titan (i.e. at least she wasn't a joke like Ben Rhodes). Neither of them are great choices, but the Democrats don't exactly have a deep bench. They're probably the best they've got, given the constraint that Biden needs to pick a Black(ish) woman. A process that ends up with the two of them as the finalists seems like it actually worked pretty well.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

The radical left have poor old Biden by the short hairs.

Francisco D said...

Mary Beth (the commenter) said...
If the Democrats had a compelling candidate for president, the VP nominee would be mostly irrelevant - like it was when Obama picked a VP.

Precisely so.

The Biden advisors and DNC have not picked a Veep candidate because they have yet to figure out how or when to replace Biden on the ticket.

People who think Biden's Veep would run things are way wrong. The Veep has a mostly ceremonial job. That will not change.

n.n said...

Some, Select Black Lives Matter is diversitist and Pro-Choice sect of the Progressive Church, another ostensible civil rights movement founded on a false lead.

That said, is the AG the head of law enforcement? Do they approve their methods and procedures?

William said...

When did it become the conventional wisdom that police are routinely brutish and bigoted in their interactions with the black community? I think that if you interact with the police for some type of offense on a repeated basis you're pretty much certain to have some unpleasant experiences with the cops, but that's an argument for not interacting with the cops as opposed to abolishing them.....Every morning on the news, there's video of some criminals committing monstrous acts. Their violence is far more wanton than anything I've seen the police inflict. Except for immediate family members of the victims, the community response to these crimes is mostly stoic acceptance, rather like Midwesterners after a tornado.....The NY AG is going after the NRA. That's the current liberal explanation for gun violence. It's the inevitable result of America's gun culture. If we restrict guns and the police, we'll have the kind of tranquillity and peace they experience in Mexico and the West Indies. Oh, happy day when that happens. It will be like the fall of the Bastille or the storming of the Winter Palace where The People took out the trash and insured the bliss of future generations.

Tomcc said...

I confess to being rather un-supportive of the BLM movement. I do believe that people, unarmed and irrespective of their skin tone, should not die while being take into custody by authorities. I just don't see it as the most significant issue within the AA community. Maybe not even in the top five.

Douglas B. Levene said...

FWIW, I think the smear move for Biden is to pick the most cop-like of these candidates and tell the far left to stuff it. That would be a Sister Souljah move out of Bill Clinton’s playbook - it would signal sanity to the middle class and the left would have to suck it up because they’ve got no options.

Josephbleau said...

“Never before has the criminal lobby had such clout.”

It is well known that Mexican cartels “finance” local politicians in blue cities.

Bushman of the Kohlrabi said...

I’m sure Joe will end up being just as surprised as the rest of us no matter who is selected.

David Duffy said...

Angela Davis will fire up the base.

Bay Area Guy said...

I endorse the idiotic proclamations by The Nation here, only because it'll keep Kanala "BJ" Harris away from the ticket and the White House.

Tyrone Slothrop said...

Interesting to note that The Nation believes that it is sometimes necessary to kill black people.

Bruce Hayden said...

“Tucker Carlson Announces George Floyd Fatally Overdosed with Fentanyl...”
"Here is Tucker Carlson’s report**: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eg4vfcdITw"

Or, you could attribute his death to COVID-19.

Seriously though, if you watch the police body cams with the view of a fentanyl OD, it looks quite plausible that that is what killed him. They start with him foaming a bit at the mouth, then he has a harder and harder time breathing, when he is upright, then prone. The police suspected a drug OD, but guessed wrong about the drug. His apparent fentanyl level was maybe half the normal lethal level, but three times that which has killed in the past. One of the effects that fentanyl often has is the reduction of breathing (by not responding appropriately to low O2/high CO2) Compounding his problems is that he recently had had COVID-19, and may have had some lung damage. When he was complaining about not being able to breath, he said it was like COVID again. Then, the final straw, I think, was that the ME identified that he had significant sickling of his red blood cells, which apparently happens under stress (and low O2/high CO2 levels), and severely impacts blood flow (sickled red blood cells apparently lose their flexibility, and can no longer fit through the smallest arteries and veins), and thus O2 transport (apparently compounding the problem). I think that he may have survived if he had promptly been given Nalaxone to counteract the fentanyl, and been hydrated, to counteract the sickling (neither of which could probably be expected of the four police officers involved). Maybe (MDs here welcome to jump in). The officers had called for paramedics, but they were apparently still a couple blocks away when he went into cardiac arrest. One of the officers apparently was performing CPR when they arrived.

A couple of takeaways from this. First, don’t take fentanyl outside of a clinical/hospital situation. It’s apparently worse than heroin, as to the variability of its potency. Secondly, don’t take fentanyl, without physician oversight, if you have Sickle Cell Disease. Third, even with a heavily stacked jury, the chances of a 2nd Degree Murder conviction of the lead officer are probably near zero, and fairly close to that for 3rd Degree Murder, assuming decently competent defense counsel.

Bilwick said...

Meanwhile, from "America's new Newspaper of Record" (as Instapundit calls the Babylon Bee):


"Biden Tells Staffers To Pick Any Black Person For VP 'Since They All Think The Same Anyway'

WILMINGTON, DE—According to sources within the Joe Biden campaign, staffers have been instructed to pick "any black person" for vice president, "since they all think the same anyway."

He made the comment while in a strategy meeting with aides in his basement.

"Just nab any old black person -- they're all pretty much interchangeable," Biden reportedly told his aides. "That Stacey chick, the Kamala cop lady, heck, get Denzel Washington for all I care. Any of them are fine. And poor VP candidates are almost as bright as white ones."

"I had a black friend once, you know. Barry. Really great guy. Very clean and articulate."

Aides were then able to distract him by giving him a paddleball to play with while they went upstairs to try to do some damage control from whatever the latest racist or sexist thing he said was.

At publishing time, aides said they felt sorry for Biden, since he was under the mistaken impression that he gets to pick the VP candidate himself.

Joe Smith said...

"The radical left have poor old Biden by the short hairs."

Not if he shaves, they don't. Kinky! : )

Ken B said...

Tara Reade. He picked her once before.

Michael K said...

Third, even with a heavily stacked jury, the chances of a 2nd Degree Murder conviction of the lead officer are probably near zero, and fairly close to that for 3rd Degree Murder, assuming decently competent defense counsel.

They might find a jury in Minneapolis with all the leftist voters that would convict but I doubt it would stand on appeal. I assume the overcharging was to stir up more riots.

Maybe a venue change but I assume Keith X will fight that.

Nichevo said...

Neither of them are great choices, but the Democrats don't exactly have a deep bench. They're probably the best they've got, given the constraint that Biden needs to pick a Black(ish) woman.


TBH if he could pick a white, or a male, or a white male, how much better does his talent pool get?

D.D. Driver said...

"Neither of them are great choices, but the Democrats don't exactly have a deep bench."

Deep *bench*? The starting lineup ain't so hot either.

Tom said...

Warren designed and temporality lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau - that makes her a regulatory cop.

Assistant Village Idiot said...

Whenever a political argument starts with "since its inception," or another hearkening back to the Bad Old Days, it's because they haven't got a good argument that's current. If they had one, they would go with that.

BTW, I think that applies to another post today, in which you quote Matthew Parris accusing Christians of a bad thing "for centuries." That's a lot of historical context in a hundred times and places to put into one basket, isn't it? Tell me sir, what you think Christians are doing wrong this year, are at most, in this generation. If you've got anything, then historical context might be valuable. If there's nothing current worth mentioning, then I have to conclude it's just bombast. (I usually like Parris, BTW)

rhhardin said...

Speaking of VP, Extracurricular Activities (2019) has Veep's Jonah typecast playing a Jonah-type role. Free on Amazon Prime. Startlement of recognition. Like finding Hoyle of Hoyle's war cast as a bad guy in another series, except sort of the opposite.

rhhardin said...

Neither of them are great choices, but the Democrats don't exactly have a deep bench.

The dems' problem is that the structures that they propose can't work. This won't bother women, who will go for whoever seems to mean well, but it loses votes from guys. Linear reasoning - if the structure won't work then it doesn't matter how nice the guy is. Nonlinear reasoning - if the guy means well, he's the best for the job.

SensibleCitizen said...

Police officers are the only men in many underclass communities who are are protecting women.