I may have mentioned this before. The alternative to bad isn’t necessarily good. It can always get worse. But President Joe Biden cannot run for re-election. Few expected that to be the takeaway from the debate, but outside of the most partisan holes of denial, last night made two things clear. Biden cannot win. Biden is no longer capable of serving as president.*
Assuming there are people around Biden who will inform him that his Waffle House assessment of his debate performance might not be accurate, what then?
There’s Kamala Harris, about whom no less an astute political pundit than Rachel Maddow gushed after the debate. Outside of the Harris stans, for whom her race and gender are more than enough to commend her, would she have any possibility of winning? Would a majority of Americans want Harris to be president? They certainly didn’t when she ran on her own accord, but now that she’s vice president, is she not “next in line”?
Then there’s the unduly passionate, for whom Biden was at most a bad alternative to the even worse alternative. They see this as their moment, the opportunity they’ve long awaited to finally seize control of the party and put their ideal candidate in the mix against the only pariah against whom they could prevail.
YOU people brought this on yourselves. The left has been BEGGING you not to pick Biden: Because he's old. Because he's unpopular. Because he supports a genocide. Because he's to the right of the electorate. And you ignored us. This is YOUR mess. Not ours. https://t.co/yvKetyCE38
— Briahna Joy Gray (@briebriejoy) June 28, 2024
Everybody in the echo chamber suffers from the same delusions, so how could Brie Brie be wrong that they aren’t the majority of Americans, or at least first-time keffiyeh buyers?
But if not Biden, if not Harris, if not whomever the left fringe sees as the new Che/Sinwar mashup, then who?
Thomas Friedman calls for an open Democratic Convention.
If Vice President Kamala Harris wants to compete, she should. But voters deserve an open process in search of a Democratic presidential nominee who can unite not only the party but the country, by offering something neither man on that Atlanta stage did on Thursday night: a compelling description of where the world is right now and a compelling vision for what America can and must do to keep leading it — morally, economically and diplomatically.
There is a “free-market” assumption here, that out of chaos will come a hero to save us from ourselves. Maybe Pennsylvania’s Josh Shapiro will emerge as the savior. Or Michigan Governor Gretchen Witmer. Maybe Jared Polis of Colorado will get the nod. If so, will they be positioned to win the race? Will they be the president America wants and needs? Will the hivemind of the Democratic party do a better job of picking a candidate this time then they did last time? Maybe they will compromise on Bernie to avoid making the convention 1968 redux?
If there was ever a time that the world needs an America at its best, led by its best, it is now — for great dangers and opportunities are now upon us.
Is the Democratic Party up to the task? Will Biden admit the reality that’s now obvious to everyone outside the oval, that he’s too old to do the job? Is America up to the task of being “at its best”? Who is that person who will be the best to lead America?
Yesterday, the presidential race was in flux, hanging by a thread but still within the parameters of plausible possibility. Last night put an end to that possibility. Now what?
*Some will retort, “but what about Trump?” This is about Biden, not Trump.
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The Democrats are going to have to use the next four years to repair themselves as a national party. They will have to reach across to moderate Republicans in Congress to fix the mess left by the radical left, and to temper the next administrations policies.
I’m one of those moderate republicans you speak of. I was a swing voter. You might recognize me, I’m the guy that’s been told he’s a maggot, a fascist, a Nazi.
Assuming you think that’s true, I don’t work with Nazi sympathizers.
Assuming you were lying, go CENSORED yourself.
Not a chance in hell I’ll ever work with, or support, a democrat again. Obama was my last time I will vote blue.
My professional insurance policy requires me to have both a professional (files) & financial (dollars) succession plan, in which a lawyer not named me is obligated to put me into guardianship if she cannot cajole or talk or walk me into the pasture herself. Beyond elections, we have nothing like that for POTUS. We have no one sufficiently fearless to take that suicidal role? Or are those folks now locking arms and preparing to do just that? I mean, I answered all the questions. I knew all the facts. Until I didn’t.
There’s an amendment to the Constitution written exactly for this purpose. If he’s mentally unfit to be POTUS next January, he’s likely unfit now.
Joe Biden proved himself to be unelectable at the debate.
Maybe this is what DNC super delegates are for?
Replace him or brace for president Trump (-) 2.0
Last night was a dumpster fire. Just epically, painfully bad. Unfortunately, I agree completely w/ your assessment.
WARNING! Tummy rubs ahead.
@ Howl,
Great choice! Love that song.
@ Scott,
“First time keffiyah buyers” made me laugh. No easy task this AM
Agreed.
SNL skit idea: a political ad where the Democrats use their binary logic to reach out constructively to voters unhappy with their candidate instead of trying to alienate them even further. “We stand by Joe Biden against Donald Trump. You can too by voting for Jill Stein. Or better yet just stay home.”
Realpolitik: Four years ago, Dem primary voters chose the most centrist candidate on the stage, and he just squeeked through. Dems need to take voters from Trump and that includes some too right wing to vote for a black woman or a gay man.
How to proceed: Biden should ask for a open convention, I.e. allow nominations from the floor.
Biden shouldn’t have car keys let alone keys to the oval office. Fuck. There’s no way to get him off the ticket without him voluntarily resigning. I don’t think he’s going to do that, and the Dems seem to be content with fettering themselves to a corpse. I’m going to go scream into a pillow again.
This elephant in the room here is the pile of unvarnished lies that have been manufactured by the Democrat machine and neatly stacked as a facade by completely willfully gullible (if not out-right co-conspiratorial) members of the media.
Whomever put out the spin last night (mid-debate) that Biden had a cold should be shamed to the point that they couldn’t run for clerk in a backwater county in Kentucky. And that goes for everyone else who covered up what has been obvious to those of us on the right for about the last four years.
This is the real root of the problem — and actually most of our national problems. A wholly partisan media that is uninterested in truth. (And, yes, that exists on both sides).
Biden won’t get out of the race until Dr. Jill is willing to give up the perks of first lady.
All the other bloviating is just hot air.
They knew! They all knew! And they have been lying about it for at least two years. The MSM was the real looser in the debate last night.
Senator Tammy Duckworth for President.
My vote still hasn’t changed. I’m of the Monty Brewster party and will be voting None of the Above.
The Democrats need to get rid of Biden and Harris without pissing off women and blacks. I see two alternatives. Most likely is arranging a ticket of Gretchen Whitmer and Cory Booker. The other is that Biden resigns and Harris says she is too busy to run allowing an open convention. The US gets a black woman as president without her having to run.
My takeaways are that Biden’s inner circle should be charged with elder abuse. The mute switch is a good idea and should be continued. And maybe CNN made a mistake in not having an audience.
First, it’s not really a case of “too old.” Not every elderly person is non compos mentis, and that, rather than “age” is the root of Biden’s most evident deficiency.
Second, what the exposure really means is simply that he is now revealed as a malleable puppet, the figurehead behind whom shadowy party handlers are actually running the country. This is not new information to those who have been paying attention, and it remains a party option to continue running him with the open admission that others are actually making all material policy decisions. In short, “relax, because the people actually running things are functional, even though he is not”
Is that how we protect democracy? By having unelected, mostly unconfirmed, and mostly unknown people at the real helm of the ship of state?
Perhaps I am old, but I remember a time when Edith Wilson”s antics were deplored by historians and students of government. But we should now continue them into a second term?
It appears today that Biden and the Dems have decided that to claim that last night was just an anomaly and he can get past it. So the new strategy is pretend it never happened and hand the election to Trump.
I nominate SCOTT H. GREENFIELD for President!!
What did he ever do to you?!?
Colorado Senator Michael Bennet would make a good president.