There is a point at which we would all agree that Biden needs to step down, right? Like, if he was suddenly Dianne-Feinstein-at-the-end levels of visibly too old, I could call for him to step without being lumped in with Trump supporters, right?
And there's obviously a point at which the question would go away, right? Like, if he miraculously improves to even Joe-Biden-in-2012 levels of sharp and energetic, and shows this in every public appearance, calls for more debates, etc.
The current reality is decidedly in between those two extremes. So what we're arguing about is whether his actual mental state is close enough to the first one that he should call it and step down. My position is that the debate showed it is. That doesn't make me a Trump supporter.
Here's the thing: Every leftist and liberal should be united in beating Trump. Biden's mental health is completely irrelevant except to the effect it has on the election. If his campaign can get a corpse elected, then he shouldn't step down. If an energetic Biden will lose, we need a new candidate.
Worrying about the candidate's capacity to be president, whoever that candidate is, is something we can address on January 20th. Until then, the only consideration is getting Trump's opponent elected.
One way or another, all of us will leave the Democratic convention in August as allies, fiercely determined to get Trump's opponent elected. Maybe I should just be focusing on that, since neither of us have much say in what Biden decides right now anyway.
So, you mention getting a corpse elected. Can we take that literally for a second? What if Biden died? Is your position that the campaign should then try to elect his corpse, instead of trying to elect Kamala Harris? As long as the polls showed the corpse still had a chance?
To be clear, I would vote for his corpse!!! But I'd hope the party would replace him with a living person instead. My current position is the same. Biden is a good man and has been a good president. I will fight hard to elect him if he's the nominee. But I think he has passed an age limit.
No. My position is that I have no earthly idea what the right thing to do is, and I pretty immediately distrust anyone who thinks they do.
I'll vote for Biden, I'll vote for Harris. But every argument I've seen for making a switch seems pretty flawed to me.
I'll fully embrace agreement on uncertainty about the best course of action. It sounds like you and I come down on opposite sides of whether saying or switching is wiser, but we agree that it's a hard question and we don't know for sure. And we agree that regardless of what happens, Trump must lose.
