Tom Scocca: I think there’s a difference between the widespread longstanding belief that Biden’s too old and a sudden elite panic about how propping him up seems to have failed so now it’s time for smart people to pick a new winner in a brokered convention

I think what's being swatted down as "elite opinion" from NYT/Crooked types is actually the piercing of a bubble from below. Most voters haven't wanted Biden to run again for literally years.

I think there’s a difference between the widespread longstanding belief that Biden’s too old and a sudden elite panic about how propping him up seems to have failed so now it’s time for smart people to pick a new winner in a brokered convention

Fair though CBS poll this morning says 45% of Dems want him off the ticket. That's not a constituency that can be disregarded as "bedwetters"

I think we’re talking about two different questions here—people who think Biden is shot and would be OK with an abrupt but logical switch to his elected VP vs. people who see it as a chance to jam through their pet theory of what would be popular while magically not tearing the party apart

The latter group seems to be the people who were in denial there was any problem till Thursday night, which is to say they’re lurching from one untenable fantasy to the opposite untenable fantasy

Oh I totally agree with that. The idea they're going to shoehorn a Whitmer or Newsom in is fantastical. It's either Harris or Biden

It is Biden.

one of the things keeping my reaction calm is that for years and years I knew we were screwed with no better option than crossing fingers

We absolutely demanded this octogenarian anti-busing stutterer be president, but now that we see direct evidence that he is an octogenarian stutterer (anti-busing still great) we need to find another candidate to put into position in defiance of all law and custom, maybe Joe Manchin...

why do I feel like these same people felt Hilary was an awesome candidate?

That might be similar to questions about do you want another (generic) Democrat to run. The main inciting piece here is Democratic House members, DNC delegates and donors going on background to reporters.

Right but is that because 1) they could no longer ignore what voters were seeing all along and 2) the debate made apparent how it could cost them their *own* seat? Has Biden been saved this whole time by the fact most down ballot Dems are polling ahead of him?

the panic has the weird feel of a group text that I'm not a part of

it’s literally what Kamala’s there for and if elites don’t like that they should have considered that in 2020

Meanwhile, the people who will actually decide the outcome of the election have no idea any of this is happening.

I just feel like the elite 180 can be both annoying and too late, and also a correct reflection of the situation that meets what voters have been feeling for years

Ideally voters would have liked to have a primary election

They had one, though. And the candidates weren’t great. If we are mad at anyone, shouldn’t it be the potential candidates who didn’t run out of deference to Biden? They are the ones who didn’t give the primary voters a real choice.

Finally, some salient post #debate numbers: l.smartnews.com/p-yj5Ei/bwDeZ9 #Biden #Trump

Poll: After debate, higher numbers of voters don't think Biden should be running (CBS Boston)l.smartnews.com For months before the first debate, the nation's voters repeatedly expressed doubts over whether President Biden had the cognitiv...

That difference is precisely the problem!

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