I think the freakout has been absurd and overblown and far more damaging than the debate itself, which would have been survivable if everyone had been willing to circle the wagons and push back on it
I am, from a purely pragmatic standpoint, extremely concerned that the damage cannot be overcome
Breaking news: President Biden and his senior team said they accepted the grim ultimatum they’ve been hearing from almost all quarters of the Democratic Party — to demonstrate his fitness for office or face a significant effort to force him to step aside.
I may well be wrong about this - it's still the beginning of July, and a number of people I respect have a different view of the situation
but at this point the only thing that matters to me is beating Trump in November and I don't think Biden can do that without full support from his party
the Times and the rest of the media ratfuck are one thing, but it's beyond obvious at this point that the calls are coming from inside the house, and the Biden folks have failed to contain the party-level freakout
either that needs to be fixed, and very soon, or you tag in Kamala
I'm convinced that if you "Tag in" Kamala she gets max one positive news cycle & then they tear into her, whining how much better a different candidate would be, meaning you lose incumbency and gain nothing.
Given that they're already ragging on her, one positive cycle seems like wishful thinking.
This is where I keep landing. I'm not really in either camp, I genuinely don't know what's best, but I do feel like a lot of people are underselling that Dems' caving to pressure is itself a story, and one the media will be only too happy to focus on.
Setting aside ultra-cynical: "they're doing this for clicks because print media is dying"
It seems that the pundits are having a panicked meltdown. So many dismiss Kamala & envision a fantasy do over primary is evidence against rational thinking. Why would the rest of their thoughts be different?
I dunno, I think if Thomas fucking Friedman tells you to do something, then that's a pretty clear hint that the opposite course of action is the one to take.
There is no planet in which replacing Biden solves Democrats' media problem. It will just result in more cycles wasted on "Dems in disarray" instead of Trump's fitness for office.
It's Hillary's fucking emails all over again.
Oh no, old ass Biden might hand the white house to a couple technocrat chief of staff types who think climate change exists and health care should be legal? And? And?
Even if they 'prove' that he is fit, he can't have one more bad day and, well, he's going to have more bad days because that's just how getting old works. When you pile on stress the chances are you get more and more bad days.
If I’m on the team, we pitch a plan to comfort the party *by* handing off to Kamala, but keep it locked down by doing a press blitz to demonstrate competence. Get all the major players to say, “We trust Joe’s judgment” and make the convention the big switch. But that’s just me.
I’d do it 2 days post-GOP convention, steal their thunder, and then have a coordinated month-long roll-out, culminating in the convention. Take the lead, never look back.
A major problem being that if they tag in Kamala, the chance they lose goes up significantly.
Despite being upset Biden is running when evidence of age-related impairment is obvious every time he’s on camera, I don’t think there’s anyone else that will build a coalition as well.
But that would create new problems. Will Kamala be supported in a unified way? I’ll believe it when I see it, but even to see how some have passed right over her…does not bode well.
Democrats have to decide now if the want to beat Trump. Biden can do it, but can the Dems?
This is the real thing. I thought by now they would’ve figured out some kind of containment strategy and put it into place but they clearly haven’t - which means there isn’t one. And that can only be because it is as bad or worse than it seems. Or not! But silence is not a strategy.
I think the party level freak out is because they all believed what the Biden ppl were saying about his ability in private. The debate completely shattered that story. The Biden campaign can't contain it bc it's true and it's public now.
That’s the real hell of it, there’s no way to tag another candidate in that easily.
For obvious reasons a candidate can’t transfer pledged delegates to someone else, only release them to be unpledged.
At that point it’s a free-for-all at the convention.
tbh i think it just requires biden doing an interview, spouting off some of his malarkey talk, and making a few disparaging jokes about the nyt and it'll be fine
I hope you're right, I really do, and I guess we'll see how this weekend's interviews go
but I am not convinced, not with the depth of worry across the party
I would be absolutely delighted to eat shit here
I think seriously underestimating how poorly this can go considering what we saw during the debate. I don’t think there was any way to convince anyone but the most committed partisans that there’s no reason to worry even if everyone decided they’d just push that line. He was obviously struggling.
yeah, kinda feel the worst case for this stuff looks a lot like that Times poll - not bad enough to force him out, but nothing to suggest a candidate who can close the gap.
Yeah, it'd have to be a real doozy, something that dramatically makes ppl talk about the real-world implications. Luckily, I have a suggestion! Stop sending weapons and $$ to Israel.
