Well, I guess we know the answer now, the VP is not going to run. I don't think he had family support for entering the race. He also has had an anuresym in the past, so maybe he needs to protect his health as well. I think his wife did not want him to run, and for someone his age maybe retirement and playing with the grand kids is the best thing for all. He can make speeches for other candidates if he wants to, and be a retired elder statesman.
http://thehill.com/opinion/columnists/257687-farewell-but-not-goodbye A.B. Stoddard of The Hill (http://thehill.com) writes a story that additionally suggests Biden is ready to step in should Hillary implode. The eighth paragraph opens "But should Clinton collapse, Biden sounds like he will be ready for a rescue effort. There is nothing inevitable about a candidate in a general election in the middle of a self-inflicted scandal under investigation by the FBI."
I sometimes have wondered seriously if any of the Republicans in high office haven't been blackmailed or otherwise convinced to act in certain ways at the behest of people like the Clintons or their operatives, Harry Reid, higher ups the Obama admin, etc. I sometimes seriously wonder about people like Mitch McConnell and a few other RINOs.
Biden was never a contender to begin with. There was never any actual hope of him being able to get the nomination as it is and I'm fine with it. As for democrats being in control, I'm not foolish enough to confuse party affiliations with with what is good or bad for business in general. The business of governance on either side is business. It is all a matter of what business you are in. Any politician that has been around for a while is there to make deals regardless of their party. Why do you think there is so much money tied up in politics? These folks don't care about issues, they care about the money to be made or lost when it comes to an issue.
I'm glad he finally ended any speculation that he was going to run. I never saw him as a contender, especially with Clinton and Sanders already in the limelight and with high public profiles. Obama had to back him, but I think people are relieved he isn't going to run. I do think he would have lost again, so at his age, it's best to have a legacy and go out that way. There are reports it is because of his son's death, but even so his campaign never got off the ground. I think he was looking at funding and when it wasn't going to happen, you can only enter a race when you are equipped. He should have done it sooner, before the debates because no one would have taken him seriously. Either you do or do not, there is no think about it.
Of course every citizen in the US who hasn't somehow lost the right to vote has a voice. It doesn't matter whether you've got $100 billion dollars, or zero - your actual vote counts the same as anyone else's. In fact most voters have little or no net worth, and the median income is now ~ $30k in this country. I think that what is disturbing about money in politics is the ability to use lots of money to spread propaganda and mislead people. The left has advantages these days in elections in that they promise those eligible for entitlements that they will get more of them... and that those who are not eligible for entitlements but are not wealthy will get more $ via things like unrealistically higher minimum wages, government forced profit sharing, paid time off, pensions, and other perks. The left has convinced a good portion of the lower and even middle classes that it's a zero sum game, and that government forced redistribution (rather than economic growth) via higher taxes, increased regs, etc - is the only thing that works. This has also gotten into academia in a big way over the years, unfortunately. The left also is advantaged in that they have most of the media on their side to help them spread misinformation even without those on the left spending money in many cases. It seems as though businesses who contribute to the left's political campaigns or otherwise endorse or favor them are either doing so because their particular interests (such as alt energy, govt contracting, etc) benefit from leftist policies and a bigger govt... or because they are perhaps hedging or going with who they believe will win. And I think that businesses are often being publicly supportive of the left or their policies frankly out of fear - see Brendan Eich as an example of what happens to those who go against the PC police - even though his stance at that time on gay marriage was the same that both Obama's and Hillary's supposedly were at that time. The policies of the left in general are anti-business overall. Of course a federal reserve keeping interest rates at zero for 7+ years can certainly enable asset bubbles. And it's mainly the small businesses like mine and millions of others who are harmed so much by the left's increased taxes and regs. Big corps can afford to hire more admin and compliance/regulatory people to deal with it all.
Pretty surprising news that Joe Biden isn't running. I guess they are clearing the deck for Hillary. She's the only serious candidate they seem to have, however awful and flawed she may be. So they are going all in, it appears. I think Biden would have been a decent competitor. Kind of pathetic how Dems aren't really challenging Clinton at all. She has plenty of weaknesses but nobody appears to want to take on the Clinton machine.
Biden admitted that he quit because he was sure he could not win the elections nor get the Dem nomination. It was a smart move on his part. No point in wasting time knowing it would all end in failure.
I do think he'd have a better chance with the American people. But they're still all puppets with one agenda. They don't care about the people below them.
