It’s maddening to see skepticism of ejecting Biden treated like cultish loyalty. Some of us have been out here saying Biden’s too old for years. The problem is that what is being proposed is a shocking, almost unheard-of remedy, and every historic precedent tells us it’ll end in catastrophe.
It’s very, very clear that the loudest voices calling most excitedly for this remedy are not especially politically sophisticated or even worried about Biden losing - that’s why they didn’t freak for the months of lagging polls and why they’re doing nonsense fantasy-draft replacement picks.
Many people are feeding this frenzy because they love the drama or think it makes good TV or have hated Biden as a neolib sellout for years or have some score to settle, and thus haven’t even ATTEMPTED to step back and understand the larger context, or next step.
In other words the hysteria is being largely fed by reckless people whose objective isn’t beating Trump, but tanking Biden, and are thus being totally uncautious with their words, claims, and accusations. E.g., is Biden just old, or does he have dementia? Many people don’t seem to care, really.
Then there’s the other class of people, real Democrats, who are just scared. I talk to dozens of these people every day on the doors in my district. They don’t know what the best path is, they’re desperate to win, and it’s not making them reckless, it’s making them CAUTIOUS.
Some of these people want Biden to go, others are scared, many aren’t sure. But they’re not going online or in the newspaper and gleefully spinning stories about his infirmity because they don’t want to make the damage worse.
The problem is, among many folks spun up on anti-Biden revolutionary zeal, the confused and worried are now being treated as the hopeless old guard, who can’t see the old order must be destroyed. To these types, the solution is so obvious and anyone standing in the way is part of the problem.
Anyway, I don’t know what the right solution is. The debate was bad but the hysteria has transformed it from a half hour of jumbled answers from an old man with a raspy voice to 90 minutes of on-air catatonia. That never happened. I certainly want to see how Biden handles his interview tomorrow.
I will vote 🔵 no matter who. However, #Biden has little to no upside unless he uses his new #officialact powers - 😳😤which he clearly states he won't. Yes, change at this late date is risky, but so is "staying the course", 1 term loser GHW Bush's bland, ineffective strategy.
It made sense to stick with the successful incumbent & avoid a contested primary. Made sense to believe that although inflation & bad vibes were hurting him, his coalition would re-coalesce in the face of the unacceptable alternative. Until it didn’t, bc of what was revealed abut his condition
He was unintelligible. He was meandering. He was tangential. He routinely mixed up millions billions and trillions. He said “we crushed Medicare.” Sometimes his jaw was slack and his mouth ajar. And then he went into hiding for a week, coming out only to deliver brief teleprompter remarks.
I'm sure nothing bad can happen if we let the NYT editorial board override Democratic primary voters any time they feel shameless enough. Certainly this will be fine.
Are we going to lose our last, providentially provided opportunity -- to undo the tragic mistakes made in the 2016 and 2020 Democratic nomination process?
Is government of the podcasters, by the podcasters, for the podcasters, to perish from the earth?
Adding to this, what else is notably absent is any real attempt to bring in a grasp of neuropsychology, neurology, or speech-language pathology despite this all being about what Biden's debate performance tells us about his health. It's *still* in "You know... Do you deny it?" mode.
Countless hours and column inches and I don't think anyone glued to it would walk away with a better understanding of what supposedly is the central topic. It's lurid, suggestive, and largely empty of meaningful content.
Doctors won't diagnose Biden from afar because you can't, it is unethical to do so, and it's professionally frowned upon. Soliciting that kind of opinion is begging for Leana Wen types to come out of the woodwork. But you *could* have more responsible coverage of what symptoms do and don't mean.
I guess I'm a weird case because I do think there's a strong case to make that Harris is the better car. But people who say their only concern is beating Donald Trump haven't made that case and have instead made arguments that would be *fatal.*
at this point I’m willing to believe Harris might be a better candidate but you do kinda have to add a grain of salt to account for the negative campaigning that right now is mostly not happening against her
yeah, I mean that the car is "Biden might resign", F=ma is "Harris is next up". You've been consistent on that, these jokers think she should interview for it with The Donors or some shit
A bunch of self important white writers decided that the president who won the primary with black voters support and his black VP need to step down so they can pick a new candidate.
Hi there, as someone who wants Biden to drop out I want to say that I have no problem with Harris, who's mostly the same as Biden but better on some things (and not worse on any that I'm aware of)
Oh, I'm not referring to the Internet. The Internet seems like a big fan of switching out for Harris! I'm referring to elites (donors and mainstream pundits) who have ignored her or even undermined her during this cycle.
Which is to say: the direction they point in isn't totally uncorrelated with where they should be but they have a tendency to dig, be at a weird angle, update slowly and then wildly overcorrect
It's not too weird. People wanting to try to walk down a certain path while simultaneously being incapable of understanding and/or refusing to acknowledge where that path is most likely to go isn't particularly uncommon.
Maybe the most excited calls are made in bad faith or by political neophytes, but prominent, smart pols and political operators have been loudly raising the alarm and the need to do something other than stay the course.
Congressman Doggett
Congressman Moulton
Governor Healey
Former Congressman Tim Ryan
Other more prominent Dems are signaling—without explicitly saying—it is a real issue. That list includes Nancy Pelosi.
I can't speak for anyone else-but the reason I wasn't freaked was because I thought Biden's argument capabilities weren't this bad, and that when it came time for the debates, people would remember Trump was crap. But the opposite occured.
No contradiction.
