From raising alarm to backing Biden, Democrats in Congress grapple with debate aftermath
From raising alarm to backing Biden, Democrats in Congress grapple with debate aftermath
President Joe Biden’s disastrous debate demeanor last week has reverberated across the Democratic Party.
I think the most interesting thing about the debate fallout is that republicans, who usually will pile on and gaslight and push the Overton window to the right no matter what the reality is, are basically impossible to even hear over the distress and doomsaying on the left wing.
That's because we're doing their job better than even they could.
Look, it was a bad debate performance, but this is 2016 replaying all over again, and these repeated commentary cycles are overkill. We're focusing all our attention on a non-representative bad detail for a democratic nominee. Republicans love that for us, and it's fantastic for them. We are letting a less-than-two-hour block consume us, our momentum, and drain our morale. And every second we're not focusing on Trump and him being a (thanks to the Supreme Court) literal king, and what that could mean for us, is another shovelful of dirt out of democracy's growing grave.
I get it - everyone is screaming "Biden should drop out" with the best intentions (mostly). Trump is the anti-Democracy. He needs to be stopped. But I actually don't think the debate was bad enough to warrant all this desperate doomsaying. I know what Biden is. He's a well-meaning but old guy who probably needs time and the support of his staff to understand every issue. But - sorry if this pegs me as crazy - that doesn't really bother me.
And Republicans have been spending the last 8 years learning to distort Trump-related reality - not only ignoring inconvenient truths about Trump, but actively Orwellian double-speaking ahead of time. They are much much better at this, even without this unforced error. So unless we're ready to get out in the streets to demand Biden step down (which republicans certainly have wet dreams about), or can personally call up Biden to convince him to drop out, I'd suggest we stop feeding these self-destructive news cycles.
You say it's a non-representative performance for Biden but that's not really true. Biden has not been doing many interviews. He does prescripted events where he can use a teleprompter.
You have to go back to Regan to get fewer press conferences. He even skipped the traditional superbowl interview that is a notorious softball.
This all suggests that his team knows he can't handle an interview and are avoiding it. If they thought he could handle it with his polling they would have him doing them all the time.
After the debate performance he needs to do something to show he can string some thoughts together in a coherent way. I think this Fridays interview is a desperate last shot to do that.
Look, it was a bad debate performance
But this isn't the only example...
And his age and the effects it's having on him isn't the only complaint.
He has a 37% approval rating.
That's bad, the closest Dem incumbent to that was Carter, who lost his re-election even tho he was a good president.
People just didn't like him.
People keep saying this election is 2016 all over again like that means anything anymore. Newsflash, every election from here on out will be 2016 all over again because it's to the current DNCs benefit. As long as the republicans keep pushing fascists like trump and like desantis after trump croaks, the the DNC can put forward whoever they want and just keep saying "Vote for our genocidal police state endorsing corporate ass kissing old man or else you're causing facism!"
Something needs to be done about it. I don't know what but this can't keep happening. And before anyone asks if I'm voting biden, my presidential vote literally doesn't matter in my state other than for maybe sending a message. The last time MN voted for a republican president was in 1972. Maybe a low amount of votes for biden in a democrat stronghold will send a message to the DNC because MN is going blue regardless.
I thought you were going to say California or New York. If you think Minnesota won't be in play in November, you haven't been paying attention to 2016 and 2020. Minnesota is not immune to rural grievance demographic shifts and it's been too close for comfort lately. Please vote like your vote will actually affect the election.
Something will. The DNC may become illegal. Or something.
Remember, being a liberal, according to the plan, is un-American.
President Joe Biden’s disastrous debate performance has reverberated across the Democratic Party, forcing lawmakers to grapple with a crisis that could upend the presidential election and change the course of American history.
The Democratic president has signaled he has no intention of dropping out of the race against Donald Trump despite the halting and uneven debate delivery that threw a spotlight on questions about Biden’s age and capacity to be president. But as Democrats make the case that the stakes of the election are momentous — challenging no less than the foundations of American democracy itself — they are wrestling with how to approach the 81-year-old who is supposed to be leading the charge for their party.
Biden's complete refusal to step aside or even open a dialog about it is a terrible sign...
This is how he's reacting to everything. If someone doesn't agree with Biden, he doesn't give a fuck what they have to say.
This is also another normal part of aging, and gets most people long before theyre in their 80s.
That doesn't mean it's acceptable for a president though, it means this isn't just about his energy level. Biden's age makes him less capable to hold office in multiple ways. But refusing to acknowledge reality is a pretty fucking big one.
Its not going to get better over the next four years.
Biden today is better than any day for the next four years he's saying he'll be able to hold office, shit won't magically get better.
I agree with your post, except for the part where he needs to "open up a dialog" about it. There is a dialog going on about it, it's just out of public view. As far as the public is concerned, all the major power brokers in the Democratic Party are 100% behind Biden, unless something changes, then they'll be 100% behind the next one. But privately, there are a lot of really consequential conversations going on.
Yes, it sucks that we didn't have an actual primary to sort this out. But here's my current conspiracy theory: the same puppeteers who orchestrated Hillary in 2016 and Biden in 2020 really want Harris in 2024. But they were throw for a loop when Biden decided to stay in the race. You can't very well have the sitting VP run against the sitting President in a primary, can you? So, they were reduced to waiting until after the primary for to convince Biden to back out. It's a wild one, but not the wildest plot the writers for this season have come up with.
I continue to believe that if Biden resigns, and hands Harris the keys to the country, she will trounce Trump. I am so looking forward to her debating Trump.
It also has come out that Trump is delaying his VP announcement, because he doesn't want this focus on Biden's weaknesses to leave the news cycle. But I think it's really because he will make a different choice if that VP nominee debates Harris than if that person debates someone else.
I don't think it was explicitly for Harris...
They just knew if a primary happened, a progressive would have wiped the floor with Biden, but moderates would just pull votes from Biden.
They still could have ignored the primary results, but it would piss off most voters.
So we get this shit show where are only option is Biden or likely another moderate that Biden's people at the DNC pick, and who will keep Biden's people running the DNC.
The best we can hope for is that his small inner circle of people he actually listens to can be convinced to convince him to step down. Which looks to be happening maybe.
I've seen it suggested that probably the best way of doing that would be flattering his ego about his accomplishments and giving him a narrative he can follow that makes him feel like a victor as he leaves. "Good job, you defeated Trump like you said you would and carried the party through a difficult time!" That kind of bullshit. He's a racist mass murderer and needs to go obviously, but I think his belief about his legacy is maybe one of his weak points that should be leveraged.
It's far too late for him to step aside. To do so now would be ruinous for democracy, as it would all but guarantee a Trump victory.
Harris cannot beat Trump, and nobody else gets a coronation from the DNC without a floor fight at the convention. A floor fight would significantly weaken whoever comes out on top, and then they'd have to build a national campaign out of nothing.
It’s far too late for him to step aside
If it was too late to change candidates, why did Biden's people at the DNC set the date for naming a candidate at the convention convention a month from now?
Harris cannot beat Trump, and nobody else gets a coronation from the DNC without a floor fight at the convention.
The DNC can name literally anyone the candidate, it's a private party unbeholden to voters or primary results...
The DNC itself has been saying that openly for almost a decade...
and then they’d have to build a national campaign out of nothing.
Biden has a 37% approval rating, and the most common reason for voting for him is "he's not trump".
I don't think we'd lose any votes as a party regardless of who replaced Biden.
And whoever does will have national name recognition in under 48 hours.
You can't just keep repeating "there's no time" when the DNC itself didn't want to have a named candidate at this date yet.
I mean. You can keep repeating it, it just doesn't make any logical sense.
Incorrect. Plenty of time.