What's worse is the way the presidency is being fought over by two old men. Back in the day the western media made much of eg brezhnev being succeeded by andropov and chernenko, being rather rude about the gerontocracy of the ussr. Yet look at Biden, trump, Pelosi, mitch McConnell. What a shower
He dosesn't have either of those, he's just old, which leaves him low on energy and prone to lapses of memory, especially under great stress during an election cycle. I've said before I don't think he's capable of the role, but that's not the same thing as being totally incapable, which he clearly isn't - he's perfectly able to give reasoned answers to questions, moves around under his own steam and seems about as healthy as any guy in their 80s. If he was my dad doing his own thing as a retiree I'd not be in the slightest bit worried about him. Discussion around his suitability doesn't have to be either he's fine or he's a vegetable in a suit - leave the hype to the media eh?
Yeh it's always a really good idea to base your political demands on the back of bookies' odds
It's always wise to acknowledge that the betting markets are one of the better predictors. Certainly better than most pundits.
unfortunately, i think this is true. people bet large quantities of real money on these sorts of things every day
Apparently one issue they have is that if anyone other than Biden or Harris stands all the funds they have raised so far become unusable. So I expect they really want to stick with one of them.
That's true with Betfair. It's political markets are usually spot on with prices set by gamblers not bookies. Before the debate Biden was only slightly behind Trump but now he's a long shot. It's sad that his career ends this way but I'm far more concerned about the damage a second Trump term will cause, and Biden should be too.
Thing is you dont chose, and Trump is ahead in the polls. So....?
Yep this is a very real risk. Underlined by Clooney’s article (he’s one of the biggest fundraisers for the slate)…
If Biden is replaced, I don't see how it could possibly be by anyone other than Harris
On the good side, the bookies setting their odds based on bets already placed has two effects:
Chernenko was dead on the Soviet Union's male life expectancy at the time. Biden (and Trump, for that matter) is well past the USA's.
This is what feels so strange about this whole affair. The aged, decrepit soviet leaders were such a visible representation of a failing, sclerotic system. It was so obviously bizarre that a world power was being run in this way.
In terms of Parkinson's I have a slight suspicion, particularly seeing his walk (having seen it in my Dad). But yeah, ultimately, I don't really give a shit if he's stumbling over words or getting forgetful. Equally, when in office there will be plenty of 'workarounds' if he ceases to function. As you say, an old bloke prone to gaffes and fumbling over his words and that's about it. The only time it's important is over the next few weeks and months against Trump. It's hard to see this doing anything other than help the orange fascist rapist get back into power. And that starts to ramp up as the calls for him to go from his own side increase. He's close to dead in the water now.
Of course, Andropov was 68/69.Chernenko was dead on the Soviet Union's male life expectancy at the time. Biden (and Trump, for that matter) is well past the USA's.
Edit: No, Andropov was dead on, memory confusing the two. Chernenko was 73 and well past the 69.5 average. Breszhnev was 75 when he died, so about as far past average as Biden is now. So we can expect Joe to drop dead any day now.
