If Democrats are confused about how to handle tough questions about their nominee's fitness for office, they can just look at the thousands of examples of Republicans avoiding, deflecting, and redirecting similar questions about Trump over the past 8 years.
Leftists for the record have been agitating against Biden as the nominee for a long time and intensified efforts during the primary
It's the center-left elites that were fine with Biden up until the second the media began asking them hard questions
I do wonder if the way the Democratic Party picks potential presidential nominees is part of the problem. Long before the primary process, there's often a presumptive nominee (the VP of the previous Dem president or someone in their cabinet)
That makes it tough for ambitious Dem senators or governors to get elite partisan buy-in to a potential nomination run, which could breed resentment of the eventual nominee and make it more likely people will leak damaging shit to the press
I hope the Biden campaign has reached out to Warner et al with promises of appointments, bridges, back massages, whatever to get them to publicly deny the leaks and strongly support his candidacy. Malpractice otherwise.
I do really think this plays a big role in Democratic dysfunction.
Derek Kilmer for one example took office a young man, tried to reform caucus seniority and create new opportunities for junior members.
And he's now walking away from a safe seat frustrated at having changed nothing.
Yes GOPers have been dodging and deflecting but it does come at the cost of looking ridiculous.
I'm not sure the press won't lean more into that ridicule with Dems than they did with the GOP and dem voters won't like the deflection/ridicule.
Remember when a Republican senator was found to dress in a big diaper while patronizing prostitutes?
He and his wife called a press conference to say fuck you we're not going anywhere.
And he remained a senator for ten more years.
It's unheard of for an incumbent to be challenged during the primary, and other than his age, Biden's done a pretty good job. The VP is the presumptive next in line, but the primary is more robust. They still have to more or less earn it.
