Sticking with Biden or running Harris would be *far* less risky than dedicating two of the next four months to Democrat infighting, followed by an unprecedented delegate voting process and dubious chances of even getting on the ballot. Knowing this shit is supposed to be these people's job
If you're so concerned about the stakes of this election you could just... spend the next four months writing about the stakes of this election. A constant drip of articles calling the Democratic nominee unfit is also not a great strategy for winning!
"They can't even pick a nominee who doesn't have dementia! His VP pick was so bad they skipped her and had en entire second primary. And we're supposed to trust these people to run the country?"
bsky.app/profile/kami...
I actually think people are getting a bit over their skis on freaking out over Biden! We're talking about one terrible debate performance, something that can be turned around with a few good TV appearances. And bowing out could hurt Dem polling more than it helps.
bsky.app/profile/bikm...
Giving up the incumbent advantage because a bunch of disingenuous and/or nihilistic journos have condemned Biden like he's an old building seems the dumbest thing imaginable. Biden wasn't my choice in the 2020 primaries, but he's the president now, and just being the president is a big advantage.
I tend to agree with this, but I also wonder whether the incompetent advantages just a species of low N. These things happen so infrequently I’m not sure you can derive any implications from “data”
this "one terrible debate performance" was the realization of concerns that had been around for years over something which typically does not get better with time
What I see in front of my face is hysteria. The problems with Biden appear almost entirely aesthetic. No stories of significant missteps in dealing with policy questions or world leaders, only anecdotes about brief memory lapses or verbal fumbles. Still way less demented than his opponent.
They're going to do this to every candidate.
And when Republicans use every major outlet to smear them, you'll be back here yelling that we picked the wrong one.
There is no scenario in which this doesn't happen.
Bro it's ok to admit that Biden fucking sucks but he's better than the alternative. You don't have to keep up the Emperor's New Clothes routine and pretend like he's not also a sundowning Boomer whose most pressing task every day should be the Wordle
It is literally one bad debate performance. Biden has had other public appearances in which he was fine.
The fact that people were already concerned about his frailty and he seemed frail helps explain the lack of a big polling shift, not this overreaction.
he did a media. he did sound bites. the sound bites were not able to be pushed back on in real time did to the conventions of the debate, which were disastrously favorable to his tendency to lie and create soundbites with confidence.
it didn't matter if he lied or dodged questions. he said "that's right, Joe Biden did beat Medicare" when Joe Biden said he beat Medicare. He said "I don't know what he just said, and he doesn't either" when the audience heard Joe ramble. he said babies are killed post birth, and the mods rolled on.
the point is ”will people vote for Trump of Biden” it’s ”will everyone who voted for Biden last time bother to show up” and public confidence that he can actually the job he’s running for kinda matters
*is not ”will people…
dropped a word there. but basically polling doesn’t really reflect people so much changing their vote, but rather who on either side plans to vote or not.
“We’ve been waiting for him to look out of sorts and semi-hoarse in public - even though he speaks in public literally multiple times per week while looking fine - and GUESS WHAT MOTHERFUCKERS”
He literally does. He takes questions from reporters, he did an hour with Howard Stern just last month, he’ll be on with George Strephanoupolos on Sunday etc etc.
People just don’t want to believe it and don’t care what he says if it’s not feeding so “senility” narrative
This ageism thing is ridiculous when it's the people who are the supposed victims who have an iron grip on pretty much every lever of power in the country, truly their plight is most mournful. The Constitution specifically bars anyone too young from running.
The whole country is going to suffer because old people are shut away or separate themselves, so others have little to know experience with what a healthy old person looks like. so when they see an old person, they think how they look or sound is an indicator of cognitive capacity. It’s BS.
The gerontocracy point has merit, though not where Biden is concerned, considering that his presidency has been the most successful in young progressives, interest, and priorities of probably any president. This is a textbook case of ageism, one of the few remaining socially acceptable prejudices.
the problem is not age
they want to make it about age so they dont have to address what's on the ground
of course age was a very real concern back before biden got the nom in 2020 for some reason and then suddenly it wasnt
People should watch the debate with an open mind. If they have open eyes that aren’t filled with prejudice and stupidity about what healthy old people are like, they’ll realize that it’s all BS.
The problem isn’t age. He’s fine. The debate didn’t show any significant degree of cognitive decline. People are just pushing this because they want to do what’s happened in four of the last five presidential elections — Democrats trying to erase the results of the primaries.
Also, the “concerns” over years are really, just a long-term agitprop campaign, perpetrated by the political horseshoe of right wing and left-wing people. People had their expectations fulfilled, but the debate doesn’t support any of the wild claims being made. Your grievance doesn’t address that.
No, the problem of gerontocracy is separable from whether Biden has or does not have cognitive capacity. Are you doing the generational agitprop thing and rather than seeing the textbook prejudice in people who have no knowledge of Biden’s cognitive condition opining as if they are experts.
