The old rope-a-dope strategy. Put out an old feeble conservative democrat to lull the opponent into a false sense of security. Let the conservative opposition nominate a dog-eating couch-fucker as VP. Then yank the geriatric coot off stage and replace him with someone 30 years younger and normal looking who can string a full sentence together without drooling.
Rock bottom expectations are fully exceeded. Right-wing oppo strategists are sent scrambling for a new messaging game. The median American voter fully forgets these two people were part of the same administration and excitedly claps at the jangling keys.
Not since Reagan cut a deal with the Ayatollah of Iran has any presidential candidate so effortlessly hoodwinked their rivals. Truly a master class in winning elections. We hope.
This is the first time the Democratic strategy hasn't disappointed me in years. Nealy everyone is pushing in the same direction, and the messaging has been nearly flawless.
Everyone is pushing in the same direction because everything is continuing to slide to the right. People want policy from the left, not this neolib right-of-center crap
I'd like to think there is a strategist in her camp who urged Biden to stay in for as long as he did, and only swap out after the first debate, closer to the 3 month runway mark. And that strategist is just waiting until after the election to gloat publicly about the scheme.
I've had a similar thought about it. The timing of him dropping out was near perfect in hindsight, right after the Republicans locked Trump and Vance in and taking all of the wind out of their sails right when they were eyeing the finish line. If someone planned that far in advance they'll definitely deserve to gloat!
Oh she did that for me practically on day one of announcing her candidacy.
She is obviously intelligent and has very good political ideas.
But something hit me recently, with George Bush it was said he was the kind of person people would like to have a beer with. Which was allegedly a big reason he won.
But I certainly see that with Kamala Harris much more. Kamala Harris seems like such a genuinely nice person, who can also have a bit of fun.
So Kamala if you find yourself in the neighborhood, feel free to pop in, my treat. 😀 🍺
Walz is the first vp candidate that I think actually brings significant number of voters to the table. Perhaps I'm biased because he's been an amazing governor.
Yes that's what my wife (and many others) say, I just haven't seen any interviews with him yet, I've just seen pictures of him on stage with Harris, and a video of him buying donuts.
Everything I read about him is good though, so I believe you. I'll take the chance and say he can come along too. 😋
otoh I like John Cleese's line. He said he wanted a candidate so brilliant that he, Cleese, would be afraid to sit at the same table, lest he be proven a complete dunce.
I like to think that Biden not being sick would help him, and he'd mop the floor with Trump if they had a 2nd debate. I think Trump would just say I already debated him, I'm not doing it again because he "won" that one.
We would be listening to a brand new raft of excuses for his second debate performance. Instead of watching Republicans make up conspiracies about bluetooth earrings.
She's certainly exceeded my expectations, and Trump has not met mine, either.
I thought the GOP would have made more out of the lack of primary voting, and been prepared for Harris. The way they were pushing Biden out of the race, I thought for sure they had a strategy to capitalize on the chaos of switching candidates this late in the seasons.
But Harris herded the kittens in the DNC, and came out swinging. Trump, meanwhile, was clearly unprepared for any of it. I'm very happy to have been completely wrong about it.
“Harris’ popularity is astounding and could very well beat out Biden’s support in 2020…
Now, to the polls. Both candidates are NECK AND NECK it’s gonna be a DEAD HEAT until November Trump could very possibly WIN OVER ALL THE SWING STATES.”
That's unfortunately not really a contradiction though, given the electoral college --- I think Harris will obliterate Trump in the popular, but that's sadly not what matters.
If The Superbowl had a roughly 1/5 chance of the winner being declared the loser because of a technicality, we would burn this shit to the ground. Yet, here we are with roughly 1/5 of all presidential elections being overturned by the EC.
I remember that tons of people were super apprehensive to change the candidate with such little time left. I'm glad Biden's campaign didn't listen to that, because Kamala is way better in every way.
I was one of those. And never knew much about Harris before so I was doubly apprehensive. But she really is a solid choice and what the world needs right now, namely someone who can beat Trump. And maybe, just maybe she might be a tiny slither more progressive than Uncle Joe too, but now I'm probably dreaming. I'll settle for not getting the fascist again, though.
And maybe, just maybe she might be a tiny slither more progressive than Uncle Joe too, but now I’m probably dreaming.
Ironically (in light of your comment) her clear conservative lean really concerns me. She's backtracked on literally every progressive stance she held in 2020. This is the reason for her "my values haven't changed" soundbite. Yes, R is trying to paint her as a flipflopper. I'm not doing that, I think she leaned into the social impact of BLM and the pandemic in 2020, and is now back to her conservative self.
She seems like a decent person, but unless this is all an act to get elected (and if it isn't her statements during the runup to the 2020 election were) she's just going to pull us to the right slower than Trump would.
Nothing would make me happier than to be wrong. Let's see what she does on healthcare, UBI, police reform, corporate greed (price gouging grocery stores anyone?), and marijuana legalization. We already know she's not going to do anything differently than Biden on gaza, which is to say continue to support Israel unconditionally.
100% better than trump, and I will vote for her without hesitation on that alone. But we still don't have a President on the horizon who will do more than tolerate the progressive left in their party. At least that's how I see it.
And maybe, just maybe she might be a tiny slither more progressive than Uncle Joe too, but now I’m probably dreaming.
I remember lemmy's centrists losing their fucking shit at the suggestion that Biden should step aside. And they're the same people who scream "Russian bot!" at anyone who disagrees with them, especially from the left. Don't revise history. Lemmy's centrists were all-in on losing with Biden.
TIL I'm a Russian bot for showing valid concern. The fears that Biden dropping out could cause chaos for the Dems were not unfounded, but I was glad to be proven wrong.
No need to imagine. It was barely a bit more than a month ago.
And to be clear, those who are trying to beat people into submission in the issue of genocide were the same who tried to beat people into submission on the issue of Biden s ability to win. They where wrong them. They're wrong now.
The people who were shitting blood over how anyone who wants Biden to step down is a Russian agent will unfortunately learn absolutely nothing from these events.
She crushed the debate. She learned from the mistakes that Hillary made IMO and handled him like the child he is. The fact that she managed to hook him with the rallies was fantastic.
No one inside the donor's circle liked Biden. That's why his fundraising tanked out in those last months. Kamala's surge in donations was in large part the mega-donor class sitting on their wallets until Biden was ushered off the ticket.
He was a chump block to the progressives & the left
He was a chump block to keep Bernie off the ticket in 2020. But there was no real risk of a Berniecrat running for office in 2024. The party has been moving steadily to the right since Carter and spent this primary cycle knocking out any half-decent progressive without a seven figure war chest.
Now he's just dead weight. Everyone is happy he's gone.
I put up a comment about it yesterday, but I'm predicting Oct 12- 16th for a pivot.
Specifically, these debates mostly nothing
At this point, if you were going for Trump, there is no debate performance that is going to change that. Likewise for Harris voters. As well, we're just about past the point where voter registration is going to change anything. Just about the last 2 weeks of September and the state which matter won't be accepting new registrations.
So it's down to people that are likely voters who are still withholding for some policy positions.
Realistically she's got quite a few of those, but when given a bad but not fundamentally different from what one had before option, and a make everything far worse option, and a situation that makes trying to choose a third option an exercise in futility, the choice is a no-brainer.
Before getting the nod, the narrative was "everyone hates her".
I fully expected her numbers to be worse than Biden and while they're currently dropping to Biden-ish levels, she's doing better than anyone really expected.
TBH - I still don't believe she'll beat Trump. I'd LIKE her to, but the numbers she's putting up in Pennsylvania and Michigan aren't encouraging.
I dont think people really started liking her. Biden just made himself that much more unlikable. When he stepped down Kamala got a massive swing because the DNC actually listened to us for once and made an actual fucking change. People saw hope for something better the first time in years.