Biden Told Ally That He Is Weighing Whether to Continue in the Race
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Thank fuck. This man can go down in history as the savior of the Republic if he fucks off and endorses someone else.
I do not give a fuck who is D on the ticket. I'm still voting D because the alternative is disastrous. If Biden stays, I am voting for him. With the exception of the Israeli genocide of Palestinians, the administration has been very competent. Remember, that old man doesn't do much. The work is done by his team. Now think back on the work and damage the Trump team did. The choice is easy.
The work is done by his team
And this is really important. He's got some kickass people he's appointed. Id vote for Joe just to keep Lena Khan at the FTC. All those people get replaced by fascists in the event Trump wins again. Unlike last time, every single member of his administration is going to be a loyalist.
I’ll vote d no matter what. I’d take a dead d over a live r.
Thank you! It drives me nuts that this isn't the key takeaway in every post and article I see. On one hand we an amped up old man who would sell out his family for a dollar, let alone the rest of us who is friends with dictators and thinks they're really sharp people with good ideas, and is also a convicted felon who surrounds himself with other current or future convicted felons, and has been saying for years he wants to imprison or hurt his critics. On the other hand, we have a barely older, regular old man who at least has good intentions, hires competent people, and who makes mistakes but admits to them and learns from it, who happens to be very stereotypically old man. How people are making this an apples to apples comparison is insane.
This behavior with Joe didn't start at the debate. It's the same Joe we've had for years. And this isn't new, even for people younger than Biden is.
Guardian, 2008: Fatigue and racism threaten to knock Obama bandwagon off the road
Barack Obama was showing signs of campaign fatigue. Sitting on a picnic bench in a park on Pagoda Street, Indianapolis, in discussion with a group of 30 supporters, he told a story about the "modest" background of himself and his wife, Michelle. And 10 minutes later, seemingly having forgotten, he told them it all again.
It is hardly surprising, given that he has been on the road almost non-stop since Christmas, battling Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination. In recent weeks, he has often seemed absent-minded, forgetting the names of the towns he is in.
Tiredness is the least of Obama's problems. After a relatively smooth and well-planned march towards the Oval Office, his campaign is facing its greatest crisis. "He is in the middle of a shit storm," one of the journalists travelling with him said.
With the exception of the Israeli genocide of Palestinians, the administration has been very competent.
Two exceptions: Biden's refusal today to use the power the SCOTUS decision gave him to rein in the court is also incompetent (not to mention, suicidal).
Is that the buccee's squirrel? That place is amazing.
Yep. I used to live in Austin, plus I don't fly so I drive everywhere. Buc-Cee's and Cracker Barrel are my refuge on the road.
What if it's Manchin or Sinema?
And genocide is just an american government thing. You don't become president of the US if you aren't willing to play ball.
But if you don't become president then you don't have the power to enact that change.
First and foremost: The New York Times has a very well known anti-Biden bias https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/04/25/new-york-times-biden-white-house-00154219
Second: While it is very important to understand that not all sources can go "on the record" this... is purely a rumor from an unattributed source "close to the president".
So can we please stop cheering on russian/ccp/trump propaganda?
Absolutely true. But they also understand running this particular story isn’t their usual, harping, crypto-republiQan article.
I think (unless they’ve decided to go full evil), they actually have this source who actually heard Biden say that. That’s really all we need to know.
Oh, are we allowed to point out media bias now that it's against neoliberals? I can't keep up with the rule changes, progressives have always been attacked for pointing that out.
If Joe Biden sticks around and manages to win, he'll be remembered as a pretty average president. If he sticks around and loses, he'll be remembered as a politician whose arrogance hurt the whole country.
If he withdraws without more fuss, he'll be remembered as an extraordinarily decent and humble man, especially among politicians, regardless of the results of the election.
If He steps side and the next D loses, it would also be biden's fault for throwing away his encumbancy advantage.
Remember, whoever gets chosen to replace Biden, even if it were Ronald Reagan, or mitt Romney, Trump and company will say they are even more liberal than Biden and will take away guns, force all women to get post 9 month abortions etc. And Maga, conservatives will believe it since there's no evidence to the contrary. With Biden, he hasn't fine those things these past 4 years. He's Only "done a bag job"
I feel like Biden is in a difficult situation and voters are partially to blame for electing Biden in 2020 over another younger/healthier candidate (i voted Bernie who is old, but seems healthier than Biden in some ways).
(i voted Bernie who is old, but seems healthier than Biden in some ways).
Because Bernie has universal healthcare in his heart
If Joe Biden sticks around and manages to win, he'll be remembered as a pretty average president.
Hardly. What is that based on? Are his accomplishments boring to you?
Oh, I see you’re just making the case for him to withdraw. Eh, fair enough.
Well, yeah, I am making the case for him to withdraw. I think he's a very good president and if he remains the Democrat candidate I'll vote for him. I just don't think enough people feel the same way for him to win.
His accomplishment are, indeed, boring to the average voter. His agenda was the Democrat agenda. It was the right agenda, in my opinion, but any Democrat president would have been about the same. Willingly stepping aside, on the other hand, would be a noteworthy gesture of humility that we don't see often.
I mean whether it's true or not is one thing but there are plenty of articles about how poor his administration has been at communicating victories. That would prolly play into it.
I'd vote for a bag of Biden's toenail clippings over Trump. Stay in the race or leave, I don't really care, so long as they've got a winning strategy to follow. Trump has done enough damage to this country - let's not give him another round.
I wish only the best to not-Trump, whoever that ends up being.
If he bows out, I'll breathe a sigh of relief. In a way, it doesn't matter if he had a cold and jet lag during the debate, and he's tip-top now. In fact, I've watched footage of him since the debate, and it seems to be true. He's back to his normal self.
But the political damage could be too much, regardless of his actual health.
At the same time, if he doesn't bow out, I will gladly crawl through broken glass to vote for him.
It's July. Who the fuck is supposed to replace him? These articles are fuckin pointless.
Actually pointless. Like, not a figure of speech. It’s too late to legally position a new candidate. It would be challenged. The Heritage foundation is already priming legal challenges, and who was that who owned the courts, again?
Let’s imagine that he does step down. How would everyone agree on where to vote next? What’s the process to get them in the running again? What’s your guess on the timeline to do that unassailably vs serious legal opponents?
I wonder what I would do if I were running a campaign for a felon and I needed to make it happen no matter what. I don’t have a good candidate but I do have propaganda networks and I do own judges everywhere, and my opposition has a hard time agreeing with each other, and they crumple apart like tissue paper on basic purity tests, and their candidate is old and has a stutter- his only seeming drawbacks that play to the media.
I wonder what I could do to improve my position and involve my only remaining power assets.
Why would it be too late to position a new candidate?
Because it takes time to build a national campaign. You need 50 different states to sign off on the ballots. The DNC can basically hand-pick a candidate, but they would basically be telling every primary voter to get fucked.
There would be legal challenges in 50 different states, and the GOP only needs one activist judge (and they have 6 on the SCOTUS).
The last time there was a brokered convention was 1952.
Plus, who? Who is the dream candidate? Who is so widely appealing that they would be unanimously accepted by the Democratic party leadership and the voters? Who has the leadership qualities, the experience, the confidence, the name recognition, and the credentials to beat the shit out of Trump? And where the fuck have they been?
Because it’s a huge undertaking and there are different times for ballot eligibility in every one of the 50 states. When do you think the candidate would be chosen? This week? Ready in the wings already and on the ballots?
These bureaucracies move at such a slow pace there was legitimate concern that BIDEN wouldn’t be on the ballot in time because the DNC wasn’t moving quick enough. That was months ago.
Furthermore there’s the wheels of public opinion and moving those in lockstep with the speed it would take to create an alternative is something that takes so long that candidates often begin campaigning the year before the primaries.
There is no other candidate and this is not a personal take but a logistical one. It’s too late.
You convince the other side to replace their candidate extremely late in the race. Its a psyop, and if its not its exactly what the Rubes need anyway. Vote Biden, and let's get some ranked choice in this bitch.
My concern with him leaving is who would replace him???
My worst nightmare, is the hag from 2016 returns. She'd lose again, guaranteed, and before you say no. The signs are there, she's been getting her face out there and testing the waters. And she still likely has the money/clout to buy another DNC nomination.
I think that even the fucktards at the DNC realize that we need a fresh face.
One can hope, but really have my doubts.
Too late. This entire system has been based on taking away your choice. No primary in my state because there's only one candidate. Can't possibly outraise the incumbent.
"Who else would you pick?"
We will never fuckin know because choice was taken from us.
Many, many shitty scenarios. No clear answer as to what the right choice is and if we lose well always be second guessing what could've been.
Anyone telling you this is an easy choice, or is speaking with absolute confidence is full of shit.
All we need is a charismatic person and the country will vote for them. The American people can not stand uncharismatic blowhards and yet Dems keep trying to shove them in our faces. They are obsessed with tradition and this “my turn” bullshit. Enough is enough already.
Newsome is charismatic but would be a hard sell to Georgia and the Midwest.
Whitmer would be good since she'd motivate more women to vote and would do will in the Midwest.
Harris is right out. She has negative charisma.
Raskin has charisma but he's an old ugly white guy. Wouldn't turn out the youth vote.
Jeffries would be a good pick if he had started campaigning a year ago.
Stacy Abrams is in the same boat. If she had a year to get more name recognition she'd have a chance.
Aoc, Crockett, and moskowitz are good back benchers but won't be ready for a few more years yet, if ever.
If I had to choose it'd be Whitmer. She has the fewest negatives, as long as there are no skeletons in the closet waiting to come out.
Here's a recent poll where Michele Obama came out more than two margins of errors of ahead of Trump.
Also, here's a pile of salt.
All solid names. Any one of them has my vote.
I may be 100% wrong, but this feels like a leak that’s meant to buy time.
Pure speculation, but I could see them asking Democrats to withhold judgment on calling for him to withdraw just for a short time in order to give him a chance to change the perception.
And stories like this are a way to signal to the rest of the party to hold their fire … for now.
It has a certain bullshitty smell, but maybe Brandon will come through.
To be asked to step away after one bad debate performance is a shitty pill to swallow. Especially for a guy like Biden, whose performance in office has been outstanding IMO.
I think he's holding on for the Stephanopoulis interview on Friday. He'll either announce it then or hold that up as a "See! See! Paw Paw still has it".
If the goal is to have the party hold their fire, I think you can see how it’s working in this thread. It makes people talk about it more, not less. Why would they want that if they don’t want to withdraw?
The New York Times? Running a story about something that makes Biden look bad? Anonymous Source?
It all checks out. The bots have received their programming and we will all be getting pummeled with this shit for the next week or until their programming changes.
We were gonna get pummeled with it for the next week regardless.
Dear Joe,
You made it. You ran for president for decades, and you finally did it. On top of that, you did the best you could dealing with some genuinely absurd and unprecedented issues, and all told did a completely acceptable if not a pretty good job.
Now, if you actually care about the country you’ve spent your entire life serving, it’s time to resign, let Kamala finish out your term, and give her the opportunity to run the race as an incumbent. There is no shame in recognizing the time has come. Literally everybody gets old, it’s kinda fundamental. To be clear, I don’t like Kamala one bit, I think she’s a problematic candidate with a problematic record, and a terrible communicator. But she’s an intelligent and vital human being with relevant experience. Stress on the vitality, meaning she’s not in her final months of life.
Sorry, but your age really does matter. Frankly, you have one of the only jobs in the world where your age matters so much. Kamala won’t embarrass us nearly as much as you did during the debate. There’s nothing you can say that will convince me that you’ll magically get younger and more vital in the next few months, so again, if you care about this country, you need to step aside immediately, and put all of the party’s establishment support behind Kamala. Anything less is selfish. If Kamala, as an incumbent president, can’t beat Trump—a man who promises to use his new immunity in the worst ways possible—I don’t think you would again either.
Sincerely, An exhausted patriot
I mostly agree with you. That said I don’t think Harris should be considered a replacement. Who I want to see is some combination of Gretchen Whitmer, Elizabeth Warren, AOC and Pete Buttigieg. I do recognize none of those are likely to run and I’m no expert on who should.
I’m with you, I’m not a fan of Kamala. I think any of your suggestions would be a way better candidate than her if she hadn’t already won on the current administration’s ticket. The fact that Kamala’s name was on the winning ticket is huge. Incumbency is so important, arguably way more important than it should be, but even a few months of being president would give her a huge leg up over any candidates who might look better on paper. It would take a ton of humility on Joe’s part for this to be a viable plan, but I think he’s capable of it.
Nothing about this situation is ideal, so I’m prepared to settle for pretty much anyone other than Trump.
I also don't want Harris, but pushing out the only black person on the ticket for a bunch of honkeys might irritate some voters. I don't see why she can't stay as the VP candidate. It'll just take some coordination.
Please not kamala.....she has no chance
I'm really glad to see he's recognizing the reality of the situation... unlike, say, the economy or Gaza.
If he goes forward with the notion of "What are you talking about, Jack? I can still win!" then it's over.
There is no way to undo people seeing his mental decline for over an hour in real time. But even if he steps aside, it is pretty late in the game to put resources and spreading the word about who is running and getting people out there to vote for them.
We don't have time for people to talk him into doing the right thing...
He needs to step out ASAP so the party can move on and unite under a candidate that doesn't have such shit polling numbers if we want to beat trump.
Who is that going to be, I've not seen any polls that show potential candidates doing better.
Leaked internal memo with post-debate polling data showing a strong preference for Biden alternatives (especially Whitmer and Buttigieg) in key swing states: https://puck.news/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/SUNDAY_Post-Debate_Landscape_2024_06_30__1_-1.pdf
...
You expect someone that doesn't have an active campaign to have better numbers than someone with the full weight of the DNC behind them?
Whitmere has the best approval numbers of anyone the DNC would let run. 69% of voters have neither a positive or negative opinion of here, and in 2024 that's pretty fucking good.
Eh. If it takes 1 or 2 weeks, so be it. As things stand, we’re getting trump and America is gone.
Eh.
I think even with Biden it's close to a 50/50 shot of beating trump.
I just don't like those odds and don't understand why we're plowing ahead with two candidates no one really wants as president.
I just wish Biden and the DNC were taking this election seriously. This could be a walkin victory with AOC or even Whitimere.
"That's the problem with old men. You can kick 'em down the stairs and say it's a accident but you can't just shoot 'em."
-John Ruth
Regardless of one's opinion of the current situation, that he is considering it is a good thing. There are probably no good options, but if the pros and cons are weighed and the conclusion is that Biden endorsing someone else is the better choice, then that's what should be done.
Regardless, voting this November is about voting against fascism, regardless of who the Dem candidate is.
I still want him to go full Dark Brandon and save his race by being a complete and unmitigated lunatic pointed at Trump and the GOP.
BUT...
...if you all want him to drop out, you need to push collectively. He has given in before.
I'd prefer him to stay in if, realistically speaking, he is capable of doing so.
However, I also recognize that, even if he IS capable of doing so, he has not inspired confidence in the electorate in being capable of doing so. That alone may mandate his replacement even if all it was was a bad night.
I don't think he's in rapid decline - but if he is, or if he isn't but feels he cannot convincingly portray himself as well going forward, stepping down might be the right choice.
The dark Brandon stuff is 98% fluff, talk, and meme. Biden has already said that they're going to take the high road on the presidential immunity matter. So, we're going to high road all the way to fascism while waiting for Biden to do the meme.
He should do both. Abuse his new powers to somehow cause a sever detriment to Trump or Fascism or both, then be like 'Oh im not the guy for the next four years.' It would literally be having your cake and eating it two. Biden actual having balls and Biden stepping aside are both moves that will more than likely track super hard with anyone who's not already locked for Trump.
Scorch Trumps earth then drop the mic and the chances they call for a Democratic encore will skyrocket I'd bet.
If he steps down it would be the perfect time for him to be dark brandon because of he's attacking in the right ways trump couldn't help by focus on bidden and not the new guy, trump might even take resources meant to attack the new guy to hit back at bidden
I really want biden to dangle a parden over trump's head and call him out for taking oil money because he poor
stepping down would be the ultimate dark brandon move. he could honestly become vice president instead
Michigander here to tell you that Whitmer is a fantastic option.
She is almost exactly 8 years younger than Harris. If Biden flat-out resigns over this, I expect President Harris to nominate Whitmer as her VP. I look forward to that hearing in the House (since they have to approve the appointment too, although they will likely just sit on it.)
Imagine Harris-Whitmer for 8 years, then Whitmer-someoneyounger for 8 more
I'm glad he's taking it seriously. It looks like the next few events he does are going to be really important in determining his next steps. If they go badly, I think he drops. If they go well, he'll probably stay in.
I also 100% believe that Biden is fully aware of this article and likely encouraged the NYT's source to approach the media. Part of evaluating this whole thing is going to be gauging public opinion and testing the waters.
The only way it can possibly go down is to pick Harris. Biden already picked Harris as his understudy. And all those votes for Biden in the primaries were also implicitly for Harris, given Biden's age.
Harris doesn't inspire confidence for me, but she may still be the better choice. Regardless, if she's the Dem candidate, she has my total support for this election, because I would very much like a choice in every election of my life going forward.
Fat chance, but Harris could be selfless and participate in the pragmatic realpolitik that we need in order to save the country. I am not sure who’s the best candidate, but I imagine that someone not directly tied to the Israel debacle would be good.
Harris has too much baggage and is outright hated, even by her own staff. If she wasn't VP, she wouldn't even be considered, and picking her for VP was a bad call.
https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article233375207.html
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/06/30/kamala-harris-office-dissent-497290
https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/people-really-really-do-not-want-to-work-for-kamala-harris/
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/06/12/kamala-harris-favorability-poll-00162093
No.
Michelle Obama could drop in and win in an instant in a landslide.
8 more years of Obama is music to the world's ears.
No she couldn't. Voters like her now because they don't know her as a politician. They would find issues as the campaign progressed.