the Mountain Goats: look - I'm receptive to both "no, it's gotta be him" arguments and "he's gotta step aside" arguments. not to be wishy-washy but both arguments have merit. "then we do a tourney" is OTOH flatly hilarious. yeah that'll go great. there will much much unity in the wake of the electoral deathmatch

look - I'm receptive to both "no, it's gotta be him" arguments and "he's gotta step aside" arguments. not to be wishy-washy but both arguments have merit. "then we do a tourney" is OTOH flatly hilarious. yeah that'll go great. there will much much unity in the wake of the electoral deathmatch

To save democracy, the Democratic party may resort to deploying the greatest concept of all time: a political version of the NBA In-Season Tournament

Surely everyone who set aside their personal ambitions in 2020 will line up in an orderly fashion and behave like little gentlemen and gentleladies when the press gives Biden one final whack and the candy spills out

it's basically be a bridge game. just people getting together to agree on having a good time

If Biden stays in I support Biden-Harris. If he withdraws I support Biden-Harris. Simple, easy. But so many people think high stakes should entail high drama.

This. It doesn’t have to be this huge deal. He’s wildly competent & has a wildly competent VP.

https://bsky.app/profile/missingthept.bsky.social/post/3kwpst3wkgp23

In my Amazing Primary Race, teams of two Democratic candidates would race across America, learning about our great country along the way through a series of adventures, with the first team to reach Washington DC declared the party's presidential ticket.

Great. Our best idea is a nominee scavenger hunt.

A last-minute primary is completely nuts. Anybody supporting that is not serious (and I include some people I really have respected, there). It's Biden. If he really, truly can't handle it, he needs to step down and let Harris be sworn in, and then she's the candidate. That's it.

this is correct but wow I have some people truly wilding in my mentions

The "you would have to be blitzed to think this is a good idea" primary

GO KAMALA HARRIS! 👍👍

😨😭

With 130 days left?? Wtaf are these people smoking?

the democrats are just making sure there will be plenty of blame to go around when Trump wins

Biden or Kamala, that's it. These people are fucking morons.

Harris was a great choice a year ago but unless Biden claims a sudden stroke or something she'll be dogged with "When did you learn the president was unable to fulfill his duties and why didn't you act then?" It would sink her chances.

So? She'll face worse and tough titty.

It's Biden or Harris. We have no need to trip ourselves up.

bsky.app/profile/seth...

Nothing supports your argument about how dangerously radical your opponents are better than activating a never-before-used provision in the Constitution to remove a sitting President against his will. Brilliant strategy.

bsky.app/profile/karl...

gosh they also probably realize that a president is an ideological figurehead, delegates 95% of the work, and if he dies america gets its first black woman president, so shoveling his bones over the finish line may make more sense than blowing up the party nom and starting over with a 4 month runway

Harris is the ONLY other logical choice but, barring a "sudden" Biden health catastrophe, she has no chance of winning. They'll just paid the Dems as liars who left America vulnerable with a feeble POTUS and that she knew.

Any elected Democrat you've ever heard of has a chance against Trump if the party can consolidate behind them. This is not to say that they are strong but that Trump is weak.

If wishes and buts... That so many immediately jumped on the No Biden train in like, a day, tells you that this would never happen.

As does Biden. He probably has the best chance to win.

This is just nonsense. He doesn't need to resign! He'd say "I won't be fit for this job in 2028" and drop out of the race, and she's the nominee. (he _can't_ resign, because the House won't approve a replacement VP)

"When did you realize you weren't fit for the job? When did you inform the VP? Why didn't you act sooner?" etc. It, again, will sink the Dems. It needs to be a sudden "illness" or not at all. The entire GOP campaign will be "The Democrats lied to you and left the country without a strong leader"

Why can’t Biden just say, “I’m fit now, and my record demonstrates it, but I hear voters’ concerns about the next four years and am ready to pass the torch”?

There’s no candidate the GOP won’t attack. It’s how survivable those attacks are.

Why now? Why did you decide to wait this late to decide? It shows a weakness in the party and the GOP will rip it open. There's no need to give them more.

The argument is that the weakness is already there, so stepping aside is the best path forward. I think there are good arguments for staying, too, but the concern shouldn’t be with what the GOP will say. It’ll be with what resonates with swing voters.

I mean you can believe whatever, but this is just political fanfic?

Yes. And frankly, there are *way* worse things they'll come after her (or anyone else) with, so this is the least of things to worry about.

Dropping your candidacy with 4 months to the election and thinking it's a good idea is pure fantasy.

I had better ideas passing a bowl while sucking back blackberry brandy in a parking lot with my high school buddies.

I think voters would be a lot more interested in the electoral process if candidates had to do a few rounds in the ring /not joking

It worked pretty well for Justin Trudeau nationalpost.com/news/canada/...

The fight: How Justin Trudeau outclassed Patrick Brazeau five years ago in a boxing match for the agesnationalpost.com The Liberal MP and Conservative Senator were squaring off for charity that night: March 31, 2012. But their motives were not entirely pure

tournament arcs are always the best part of anime and wrestling tho

To fight the reality tv president they follow the reality tv playbook? My head hurts

I think there'd be merit to "he's gotta step aside" if the vast majority of those calling for that didn't follow it up with "and then the Dems do the most politically suicidal thing imaginable". Like every one of them who brushes off the sitting vice president is clearly not thinking rationally.

It’s not just about the guy we elect, it’s who they bring with them to run the country. At this point they could be Weekend at Bernie’s-ing Biden and i’d still vote for him because the people in his staff aren’t Stephen Miller and those other fart-licking fashy annihilationist ghouls.

I don't know if Biden or Harris is likelier to win (and, ideally, to have longer coattails, because Congress is going to matter a lot too), and I'm pretty skeptical of anyone says they do know for sure. But I'm certain that "someone else, after messy party infighting" is much likelier to lose.

fanfic is not policy oh, but this worked really well on “The West Wing” (apparently—I have never seen “The West Wing”)

I've heard a lot of people saying things like, "did Sorkin write this?" but I don't recall any of these shenanigans from Our President Jed Bartlett

"electoral deathmatch", hmm, maybe a Quake III Arena match isn't the _worst_ way to choose a new candidate

Heck, let’s just settle all elections Deathrace 2000 style. 🙄

On the other hand, politicians bungie chainsaw battling to mass chant of "TWO CANDIDATES ENTER, ONE CANDIDATE LEAVES!" would make for great tv.

I don't see how having Biden step aside does anything other than dividing donations among a handful of candidates and resulting in votes being siphoned to 3rd party candidates like the gop hoped would happen with RFK. Rebuild a voter base in 4 months around a candidate with currently no campaign?

We automatically lose Ohio (won't be on the ballot) and certainly won't be in other states considering the GOP and courts. Fundraising for Biden doesn't automatically go to someone else (maybe Harris). I would /assume/ these people know this but do not take it and other technicalities into account.

People need to keep in mind this guy worked for Chuck Todd and is worse than the times op-ed section

This adolescent fantasy match game is getting to be dangerous

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