@deeceeisme.bsky.social: I am livid at the DNC for letting this happen. They’ve been downplaying and apparently bold face lying about Biden’s health. I don’t care what anyone says I’ve been around enough loved ones with cognitive issues that last night breaks my heart.

bouie is literally the only person on the NYT board who is behaving and responding to the debate like a professional that has followed and covered a presidential election. i mean that seriously, i'm not being snarky.

if you actually get *paid* to write about politics for a living, screaming that the nominee has to drop out after one bad debate *in june* (and one in which the challenger did not do well, either), you are unqualified for your job and your salary

He had freaks melting down in his replies simply from asking “why wouldn’t it be Kamala then?”

Because she polls even worse than Biden. Do you want to win or be politically correct?

Biden steps down. Harris is muscled aside in favor of Andy Beshear. Jim Clyburn and other high ranking blacl Democrats says “wait a sec, why are we elevating Harris?” what happens next?

“buh you just love identity politics” doesn’t get around the fact that parties are coalitions, Harris has a real and influential constituency, and ignoring it could prove a problem.

(also, no real evidence that a non-Harris Democrat would not also be saddled by the unpopularity of the Biden administration)

right, like, the natural question to this hypothetical replacement candidate is "what would you, as president, do differently than the biden administration has done", and i doubt you find anyone willing to discuss that

people want to believe that you can just swap out biden no harm no foul, but there is nothing about this system as constituted that allows that. but rather than grapple with this, the response is basically to scream “nuh uh”

I am livid at the DNC for letting this happen. They’ve been downplaying and apparently bold face lying about Biden’s health. I don’t care what anyone says I’ve been around enough loved ones with cognitive issues that last night breaks my heart.

i must ask again what people think the DNC is

The same people who brought us the primary debates. You know that process where we could have seen this train wreck 3 months ago?

3 months ago, 6 months ago, the outcome is the same: Biden steps aside and endorses Harris for President. No other scenario is remotely possible. That's not some conspiracy, it's because of constitutional structure, incumbency, and how demoralizing it'd be to the base if Harris was ditched.

I really don't like Harris, but if anybody tries to take her off the ballot it would be political suicide

No. LOL, no. Her numbers are worse than Biden’s. She’s been kept back, probably to prevent her from making Biden look old and frail by comparison, and because of that, she is a practical non-entity.

Really, which people in “the DNC” were responsible for that, can you name one and articulate how?

This has already been quote-skeeted by a coward who implied I was a moron and then instantly deleted his post. Love these folks.

Who decides the rules for primary presidential debates? Take your time I’ll wait.

No one stopped anyone from having a debate. No one worth debating ran.

The DNC could have pressured Biden into debating. They hold the purse strings and set the rules for the primary debates. Let’s quit pretending they don’t have absolute power to force this issue.

“Why didn’t Biden debate Marianne Williamson, RFK Jr, and Dean Phillips?”

Because we would have seen what we just witnessed last night and freaked the fuck out and picked another candidate

The DNC has zero power to push around a sitting president, not sure what world you’re living in

Members of the DNC are elected by county committees, which are also elected. There’s a little bit more to it, but it’s a pretty straightforward and boring process. In most places, not a lot of people are interested or even know about these volunteer positions, so you, too, can be on the DNC.

Delegates to the democratic convention are also elected by your precinct & county level democratic organizations. They’re committed to a candidate, this year it’ll be Biden, so he won’t be replaced. They’ll also vote on the platform proposed by the elected members of the DNC. It’s not shadowy.

The meetings are probably on cspan and democrats.org It’s super boring, unless you’re into people arguing over parliamentary procedure even more than congress in which case you’re in the right place (I love it more than John Oliver).

We are the Democratic Party - DemocratsArrowArrowArrowPlay Buttonclosedemocrats.org Democrats are fighting for a better, fairer, and brighter future for every American: rolling up our sleeves, empowering grassroots voters, and organizing everywhere to build a better America.

This is incredible. You have done fine work. Shutting down internet whiners with boring facts is priceless.

Mom and Dad. They are still incoherently mad at their parents and the DNC is an easy replacement.

They think it’s the Illuminati

They didn’t know in 2016 and they don’t know now.

It is the DNC’s fault that the person with the most votes is the nominee! And for that matter, these are undoubtedly the same people who didn’t like the undisputed winner of the 2008 & 2016 debates because she was “over-prepared,” “shrill,” and “basically a Republican.”

Who could have predicted that he would be 81 today when he *checks notes* won the 2020 primary at the age of 77?

They're the people that prioritized the Democratic candidate over the Independent candidate in 2016. Not sure what the 'D' stands for though.

It stands for DEEZ NU- sorry, never mind

I keep coming back to this.

The thing that kept Bernie from winning, duh!

They took the lesson of RBG to be “we should definitely let the egos of geriatric leaders determine the fate of millions.”

The other issue of course is “if they can come after Biden for his age, they can come after any of us!”

There was a primary and Biden won it handily

Yes who could ever forget his dominating debate victory. That’s the real crime here. The DNC knew this storm was brewing and hid it from us by not allowing a real primary process to unfold 🤬

There was a primary! Millions voted in it!

Without any debates. The DNC made certain that we never saw what we saw last night until it couldn’t be reversed.

What did the DNC do, specifically, to prevent strong challengers from entering the race against Biden?

Who would you prefer replace him

Biden speaks publicly many times per week. You and millions of other voters can watch any of his public appearances. He did a big one in March that was televised in primetime and everything.

There is typically a polling threshold that candidates have to meet to qualify for a debate (which is why Kennedy didn't qualify for this last one), and even if the DNC had planned one, no challenger polled well enough to justify one.

If the DNC had scheduled debates there's no reason to believe Biden would have participated in them any more than Obama would have participated against John Wolfe. The debates are a function of a realistically contested primary, they don't create one

how many primary debates did Donald Trump participate in during the 2020 primary. how many primary debates did Barack Obama participate in during the 2012 primary. how many primary debates did George W Bush participate in during the 2004 primary.

Can you be specific about what “the DNC” did here?

it has been extraordinarily clear for years that biden is senile

I’m curious. Can you think of a time when an incumbent president had primary challengers with debates? I’m sure it’s happened sometime but I can’t think of any recent examples. This seems to be the norm, so no need for conspiracies to explain it.

Was the state of union AI? I don’t think it was AI but what do I know.

What was the manner in which the DNC did this. Who did they prevent from running?

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