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
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.
I’m torn on this question and think you’re making a compelling serious argument. But I will say the one bit of evidence we *do* have that a non Biden D would not be saddled with the unpopularity is that D’s are polling like 5-7 points ahead of Biden in basically every statewide race.
Why are people even considering this? It's bizarre to me. Biden's been perceived as a shambling corpse for basically his entire presidency, but there's also no clear substitute that can be produced at this time. I assumed everyone understood that a Guy Who Acts Old is what we were getting?
