Courtney Milan: (This isn’t serious. I don’t really believe in threatening people with camps. This is only for people who regularly do it to others.)

It definitely feels weird having spent months occasionally saying “not super enthusiastic about Biden because (genocide / excess institutionalism not bringing him to tackle myriad SCOTUS issues), big sigh” and having people yell at me to enjoy the Trump camps, but…

Now some of those same “enjoy the camps” people are like “oh no Biden was not sufficiently sharp in a debate! Replace him immediately!” Ok

I dunno guys. Suck it up or enjoy the camps, I guess?

(This isn’t serious. I don’t really believe in threatening people with camps. This is only for people who regularly do it to others.)

Anyway I personally think it would have been better for the Democratic Party to have had a vigorous primary this year just so we could have, you know, ferreted out this specific issue, AMONG OTHER SPECIFIC SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES, before the actual general. Having not done that, we suck it up.

This is pretty much where I land.

Yeah Throwing it into disarray right now is just unserious chaos and smells of throwing the election

What infuriates me is how they also want to bail on Kamala. She's been an outstanding VP and they want to pretend she isn't in the room. (Yeah, she has issues. My trans kid reminds me, so you don't have to.) She would be far better than Trump or any Republican.

The Republicans basically canceled their primary in 2020, and now the Democrats did in 2024. This shows weakness in both camps, I feel.

You don't primary an incumbent. That's ridiculous.

If you don’t primary an incumbent, you suck it up and accept that is your goddamn nominee

If you think there is something that would make you want to change your mind, you have a primary. It’s that simple.

Among other things, a primary might have helped Biden successfully message about his age, and it’s FUCKING RIDICULOUS that he can’t vigorously do that given it’s what the media has been harping on for years.

Every time an incumbent has been primaried, their party loses the WH. Unless Biden gave a one-term promise in 2020, this was always going to happen. (I would have been a fan of that, tbh)

Two years ago, or at the outside right after the midterms, you could have reasonably written an op-ed saying Biden shouldn’t be the nominee. You’d have been wrong but not unreasonable. Writing one after the primaries & 4 months before the general is either a joke, provocation, or ignorance.

Agree. But with an *: it is possible to have new data come out after a primary, no? (The big question being, has anything new come out.)

You absolutely do, in order to identify if an incumbent is weak for the main election. Bush Sr.'s poor showing in the '92 primary foreshadowed his loss in the fall. Reagan's strong showing in the '84 primary foreshadowed his sweep that November.

He's been a successful President. A primary would weaken him more than the traditional incumbent screwing up the 1st debate. You remember Obama did that, too, right?

I remember Obama had a primary when running as an incumbent. Those commercials by Randall Terry are hard to forget. If a primary would weaken him, it is more important to hold it.

Ford, Carter, and Bush I were all primaried, won the nomination, and lost the election, mainly for the reasons they were primaried in the first place.

Reagan, Clinton, and Obama were also all primaried, handily crushed their opponents, and won re-election. This is exactly why it is important.

Tell that to Lyndon Johnson.

The idea of throwing out my primary vote…in order to defeat the forces of antidemocracy…cannot be explained.

In NC our options were Biden or "no preference." I find it significant that "no preference" got a percentage in the teens.

democrats: we very nearly lost to a rapist crimonal who'd spent 4 years encouraging fascism because we chose biden over bernie. democrats: so who shall we put forward this time to ensure we don't lose to disenchantedment and disenfranchisement? democrats: pffffffffft... biden?

Bernie NEVER had the votes. He didn't even increase his base from 2016. This is a ridiculous take that ignores the party's base in lieu of a guy who isn't even a Democrat.

ok

If Bernie never had the votes, if he was then never a threat, why did the Democratic Party burn an entire election cycle of potential nominees before Super Tuesday to make sure Bernie wasn't going to win? If Bernie never had the votes why does he scare you so?

I voted for Bernie in the 2020 primary bc Warren had already dropped out and I'm closer to him on policy. Voted uncommitted this yr. I wish ppl would stop thinking Bernie didn't win bc the party prevented it. Bernie didn't get enough votes from primary voters. That's the sole reason.

Never forget

Unfortunately we use the First Past the Post system for elections, and not ranked choice. As such, with the Moderated having an average of 17.7% of the vote each, Sanders is highly placed to win in such a race.

Why did Bernie think there was going to be a contested convention? That was his plan! We don't have those. The field narrows, and Bernie NEVER HAD THE VOTES. You sound like you think all those candidates were out to get Bernie: they weren't. They read their polls and did deals.

You know we aren't that far from a MTG presidency, but Dems can't suck it up and get past some delivery issues and the inability to effectively counter attack on responses in the 1st debate. WTH

That's not done when an incumbent is running, tho.

*checks the democracy rule book* Whoa it turns out we can in fact primary incumbents.

Have you heard the story of the Bull Moose Party?

I have.

Project 2025 is fucking terrifying but I would never discourage people from criticizing Biden. It's good when you can criticize your leader. It's good when your president doesn't have a literal cult at their beck and call.