In the ever-more noxious New York Times, @jbouie.bsky.social is the singular voice of sanity, context, and intelligence, here defending each against the onslaught of Times columnists looking for blood. Skip over everybody else and read him. Gift link.
www.nytimes.com/2024/06/28/o...
@jbouie.bsky.social: I’ll be the fly in the ointment...I don’t think one has to excuse or apologize for the president’s poor debate performance to also observe that the hyperventilating panic obscures the extent to which there are serious, perhaps fatal downsides to Biden leaving the race...
@jbouie.bsky.social: And should Harris be muscled out, how does this affect a new nominee’s relationship with key parts of the Democratic base, specifically those Black voters for whom Harris’s presence on the ticket was an affirmation of Biden’s political commitment to their communities?
Poorly. A black friend of mine said the following on this topic: “Cause the community would be like, how they gonna pick him and skip over the black lady who's been 2nd in command for 4yrs.”
Being a foreigner with no “skin in the game” so to speak, I’m finding it interesting that the attention given to Biden’s age mirrors the well-known Dem (and general worldwide left) tendency to shoot itself in the foot regularly by being unable to unify its messaging and rally behind the standard. 1/
It seems that the left is unable to present a united front, and that its desire to retain the moral high ground against an adversary who has no such qualms puts it at a disadvantage that becomes their blind spot, assuming that people will see the light. Spoiler alert: they don’t. 2/
There are serious points to be made about Biden’s debate performance, but by focusing on its negative press coverage we may just be stoking the fire further when what’s needed is to rally round the flag. We are at a decisive moment and what’s needed now is not hand-wringing or second-guessing. 3/
If the polls did say that the debate didn’t really make voters change their vote, and if a lot can still happen in the next six months, the discussion of its aftermath may be more devastating than the debate itself. I think it’s time for the Dems to step up, and I’m hoping they can. /end
Bouie points out the evergreen temptation of comparing an imaginary boyfriend to your actual boyfriend. Anyone you actually marry turns out not to be Darcy! (As he puts it: “the fast food burger may look better in your imagination than it does on the plate.”)
I also raised some skepticism about the idea in my piece, though I'm a bit more in the camp that the Bidens really need to take the question of whether he should withdraw a lot more seriously and let the country know that they have done this: bsky.app/profile/greg...
Unlike many others On Here, I don't think there's a way for Biden to bow out without it leading to extreme risks of a very different kind. We need more of an acknowledgment from the replace-Biden camp that this is not a remotely easy dilemma.
newrepublic.com/article/1832...
