William Adler: That I agree with. But it feels like Democrats aren't just freaking out because the media is freaked - they are legitimately questioning his ability to be reelected under these conditions.

Holy moly www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

Sen. Mark Warner works to gather Senate Democrats to ask Biden to exit racewww.washingtonpost.com Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) is attempting to assemble a group of Democratic senators to go to the White House on Monday and ask that Joe Biden exit the presidential race, according to two people with dir...

Jesus fucking Christ this is collective insanity

I'd like to believe that but honestly I think it seems like Biden is too risky now.

I think they’re falling for a gigantic rat fuck both of mass hysteria, personally.

Agreed.

It’s a self fulfilling prophecy. Biden’s risky because everyone thinks he’s risky. We’re all in a Schelling tipping point game.

That I agree with. But it feels like Democrats aren't just freaking out because the media is freaked - they are legitimately questioning his ability to be reelected under these conditions.

"can the biden campaign survive my worry about the biden campaign" is some really self defeating stuff

I don't know that it's SELF-defeating. It's doing exactly what the people saying it want it to do. We just can't take it seriously or let it work.

Yup. And it’s exactly where we’re at.

Yeah it's unbelievable how people WILLINGLY give up their space to rightwing propaganda. TWICE.

Exactly. “Ability to be reelected” is directly linked to what everyone is saying about the risks of him staying in the race. Perception is creating reality.

But it's linked to the reality we all saw of him faltering at the debate. Beginning to feel like we have to choose between what they say or our lying eyes.

I mean, Trump is an insane felon rapist and a lot of people still voted for him. There’s no rule that says we have to honorably give a shit about if our candidate comes off as slightly addled, especially when we’ve got a perfectly good VP who can take over as soon as he makes it past the post.

I could not give less of a shit about Biden or his mental abilities, but I do care about winning, and I am not sold that ditching him improves our odds of winning

People keep saying to me, "WOULD YOU RATHER HAVE BIDEN?" as though I give a fuck. He can swear in on the Bible and immediately walk to a separate podium to resign for all I care.

Like, is Biden's age damaging? Sure seems to be! Is it as damaging as pausing active campaigning for a couple weeks a few months from election day so we can re-tool and launch a new candidate who may not be legally entitled to use the resources he's gathered? Who's to say, not me.

This is the interesting twist in my conversations with Trump voters. They talk to me as if I support Biden in any meaningful way. No, fuck that guy, but fuck your guy infinitely more.

😄 Well, sure. But also, yes. Of course Biden is preferable. He can be in office for five minutes and be a better President than Donald. That's a bar so low an ant couldn't shimmy under it.

to a separate *lectern

It really does entirely boil down to “how much does this stuff sway people other than me, because I absolutely do not fucking care but other people might”

Exactly, and personally, I think we can sell this if we just *nut the fuck up and stop running around pissing ourselves in fear in public*

I just can't get behind ditching the guy who has been the most effective president in my lifetime because a bunch of candy asses have their panties in a twist.

The NYT ownership clearly wants trump to win because they hate Biden. There's no other possible explanation.

It’s all a big game to them

I strongly doubt ditching him and throwing everything into disarray would improve our odds of winning. Did I vote for him in 2020 thinking he'd remain President the entirety of his first term? No. That's why we have a Vice President. Nothing has changed.

With the exception of Blinken, Biden has a great cabinet and VP.

Eh….Garland sucks. Still, they are mostly good.

Biden already beat Don the Con when he was an incumbent! And he will do it again…but Media gonna do their thing.

I mean this, and also at the point I'm even more invested in him staying in and winning because it would make A. G. "Dick in the Pickle Jar" Sulzberger have a sad.

Same. I just think it's a whole big unknown and that sounds like too much risk this close to the GE.

I wish I had the certainty of some people though, since I'm up to 5 changes of mind in the last 3 days.

I don’t think enough attention is focused on young voters. The youngs I know are telling me they will *not* vote for Biden (because Gaza) — but they *will* hold their noses and vote for Harris.

Meaning they think Trump getting in is less of a bad thing than them voting for Biden.

Hey, I'll vote for a literal puppet on a stick if that's who the Democrats nominate. They can weekend at Bernie's him for all I care. But will everyone, is the question.

Well, they sure as hell won’t if we continue to publicly hand wring about it, which is pretty much what I’ve been saying comes down to. We have to sell it.

I'll try but I don't know how to convince people they didn't see what they saw

"The ticket is Biden/Harris, the same ticket that defeated Trump in 2020. If for any reason Biden is unable to carry out his duties in a second term, VP Harris is prepared to serve ably as his successor."

This is the essential thing. We need to suck it up and think of the alternative.

Yeah like Agree or disagree with him (I honestly don't know which camp I'm in yet!), I'm pretty sure that what's motivating Mark Warner of all people is genuine, honest panic that Biden isn't up to winning this election He's not someone who like, has axes to grind with Biden

OK but if Warner is worried about Biden losing (or Trump winning), where’s he been? He’s been more vocal about the threat of Tik Tok than the threat of Trump. He’s willing to go to the extraordinary measure of pushing out the Dem candidate last minute, but court expansion was too drastic for him.

I don’t think he has an ax to grind with Biden. I do think that jumpy Democrat politicians in the DC bubble aren’t exactly immune to mass hysteria.

Remember Aesop's fable about the frogs who wanted a king? They got a log as king, and were fine, but it was boring. So they asked for an active king, and they got a stork, and were eaten.

for real. if biden is as bad as everyone who wants him to quit thinks, harris would be the fucking president anyway. like, do any of us really think biden is too old to run, or are we letting the media freak us out? when does everyone stop giving a shit what the NYT thinks?

like, harris *is* running, already. biden being really old isn't an issue in terms of policy. she would accept the baton. i worry that we're psyching ourselves out.

There's no *rule*, but Trump's voters don't care because they're cultists and Biden's do because they're pragmatists. Comparisons between the two voter bases are mostly pointless.

What’s pragmatic about very publicly freaking out, fueling an even bigger panic, then having a chaotic (at best) convention, having coalitions fracture over who becomes Pres and VP, all while Republicans use rigged courts to try to screw them, and the media breathlessly covers every second of it?

In the first place, actual Democrats are mostly holding ranks (for now) and it's just anonymous leaks, probably from low-level dorks trying to feel important. In the second place: over eighty percent of Americans say they're concerned, and saying "his age doesn't matter" doesn't address that.

And Trump couldn't stand working more than 3 hours a day, nor could he work a five day week without having to take a golfing vacation. He famously spent more time on Twitter than he spent governing.

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