Joe Biden is all over Tinder
March 27, 2019 7:44 AM   Subscribe

My thumb tacked from left to right as I swiped mindlessly through Tinder. Then I saw him: His white teeth shone. His eyes sparkled. He was tall. He was distinguished. He was former vice president Joe Biden. As far as I know, Joe Biden is not on Tinder himself. But in typical Biden fashion, he is somehow always there. (SLWP)
posted by numaner (14 comments total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 


I don't much care for the public embrace of a fictional persona created purely for entertainment by The Onion. It's too reminiscent of how many people think of Trump as actually being the persona created for him by The Apprentice.

Meanwhile, Biden is trying to retcon his inexcusable actions toward Anita Hill during Clarence Thomas's confirmation hearing [Lisa Lerer, NYT]:
“She faced a committee that didn’t fully understand what the hell this was all about. To this day, I regret I couldn’t give her the kind of hearing she deserved,” he said, at an event in New York City honoring students who helped fight sexual violence on college campuses. “I wish I could have done something.”

His lament rang hollow to some on social media Tuesday night, who noted that Mr. Biden, as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, had considerable influence over how the hearing was conducted.
He ultimately voted not to confirm Thomas, and he's done some good things since then, for which he was rewarded with multiple terms in the Senate and the Vice Presidency. But we have plenty of presidential candidates who don't have that kind of egregious misstep in their past.
posted by jedicus at 8:07 AM on March 27, 2019 [34 favorites]


It really just feels like it's only a matter of time before he does face some allegations. :-/ At the very least, if someone does come forward to say that he harassed them, I'm not going to be very surprised.

I'm trying to imagine how I would react if I was on Tinder and saw somebody posing with Biden. But I'm not really sure how I would act on Tinder, at all, so I think I'm just glad I don't have to date anymore.
posted by Made of Star Stuff at 8:18 AM on March 27, 2019 [3 favorites]


Tinder is fine, Grindr would disturb some folks.
posted by sammyo at 9:07 AM on March 27, 2019 [2 favorites]


Swiper! No swiping!
posted by loquacious at 9:12 AM on March 27, 2019 [3 favorites]


There are some things I really like about Joe Biden! But there are lots of reasons why he wouldn't be my in my top choices for president.

I'm not on any dating apps, but I live in DC and lots of my friends are. As she mentions in the article:

When daters are swiping through profiles quickly, a picture with a politician can be shorthand for signaling a person’s values. Posing with Biden is more subtle than putting “Trump supporters, swipe left” in a bio, as some daters do.

Photos with political figures are fairly common among a certain subset of young people in DC. Though something she doesn't mention in this article - I know some people who will reject anyone with a politician photo, no matter what side they're on. Their reasoning is, they don't want to date the type of person who would put a photo with a politician in their profile (contrary to popular belief, District residents are not all politics-obsessed).
posted by everybody had matching towels at 9:29 AM on March 27, 2019 [9 favorites]


Does the Biden photo mean they're going to wax fondly about old, dead segregationists on each date?
posted by Dark Messiah at 9:34 AM on March 27, 2019


The sad and annoying thing about the Biden quote on the Hill hearing is that he reaches right for the concept of such importance to the left, the problem of white guys failing to understand the experiences of others, then blithely ignores the meaning behind it, preferring to just spout the words as if that's sufficient.

Joe, you wish there was more you could have done to help the women and people of color? Great! You've got a second chance! Step aside and let someone who does know how to deal with these things be president. Thanks!
posted by gusottertrout at 10:04 AM on March 27, 2019 [20 favorites]


we have plenty of presidential candidates who don't have that kind of egregious misstep in their past.

We do? Name them because as far as you can can tell they are all humans.
posted by fshgrl at 12:43 PM on March 27, 2019 [1 favorite]


Is it weird that I love Diamond Joe Biden but wish Real Joe Biden would just go the fuck away?
posted by Rev. Syung Myung Me at 1:28 PM on March 27, 2019 [5 favorites]


> Joe, you wish there was more you could have done to help the women and people of color? Great! You've got a second chance! Step aside and let someone who does know how to deal with these things be president. Thanks!

Thissssssssssssss.

Why is it so goddamn hard for him to connect a few already-lined-up dots to get to this? Use your powers for good, Joe. Help all of those white people who are dying to vote for you feel more comfortable voting for someone who is Not You.
posted by desuetude at 2:01 PM on March 27, 2019 [7 favorites]


I just cannot get interested in Joe Biden. And then there's the creepin'.
posted by jenfullmoon at 6:28 PM on March 27, 2019 [2 favorites]


Paul Blest: Another Giant Self-Own for Joe Biden
Biden, whose first term in the Senate was partially characterized by his fierce objection to desegregation busing and who later went on to be the driving legislative force behind the 1994 crime bill, is likely to face a steady stream of attacks from the plethora of other Democratic candidates over these issues, as well as his disastrous handling of the Anita Hill hearings.

It’s easy to see who would’ve gotten the better end of this deal, and it’s not the rising star who has her pick of the litter of what she wants to do next—another run for governor in 2022, a run for Senate next year, or even a run for president herself. Vice president to a man in his mid-seventies whose politics are painfully out of touch with the Democratic Party of today, who has a history of working with people like Jesse Helms and Storm Thurmond on issues surrounding desegregation? Is it any wonder Abrams is already going to great lengths to stamp out these rumors?

Anyway, because this is a Biden story, it came with more leaks:
Two sources close to Biden’s political team told BuzzFeed News that Biden also plans to meet next month with Andrew Gillum, the former mayor of Tallahassee who was Democratic nominee for Florida governor in 2018. Russo declined to comment on that, and a Gillum spokesperson could not be reached for comment.
Gillum, by the way, has already announced that his 2020 plans are to focus on voter registration efforts in Florida.
I don't know which is worse: that Biden thinks finding himself a pet minority is a good campaign strategy, or that there's a disturbingly high possibility that he might be right.
posted by zombieflanders at 12:48 PM on March 28, 2019


I felt him get closer to me from behind. He leaned further in and inhaled my hair. I was mortified. I thought to myself, “I didn’t wash my hair today and the vice-president of the United States is smelling it. And also, what in the actual fuck? Why is the vice-president of the United States smelling my hair?” He proceeded to plant a big slow kiss on the back of my head. My brain couldn’t process what was happening. I was embarrassed. I was shocked. I was confused. There is a Spanish saying, “tragame tierra,” it means, “earth, swallow me whole.” I couldn’t move and I couldn’t say anything. I wanted nothing more than to get Biden away from me. My name was called and I was never happier to get on stage in front of an audience.

- by Lucy Flores, at the time the 35-year-old Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor in Nevada. Read the whole thing.
posted by splitpeasoup at 2:36 PM on March 29, 2019 [1 favorite]


« Older Birds on film   |   When you feel lousy, puppy therapy is indicated. Newer »


This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments