https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/28/us/politics/biden-rally-debate.html
President Biden tried to minimize concerns about his fitness for office, saying he would not be running if he didn’t think he was up to the job.
And…the rest of us have to pay the price of his hubris. Just like we’re paying the price for Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s hubris. And Feinstein’s hubris. And Hillary’s hubris.
The Republicans are pure, self-interested evil. But, all of consequences of their awfulness is actively fueled by the Democratic Party’s unwillingness to mount a meaningful opposition.
The only silver lining to Biden’s pathetic display yesterday, is the prospect that this moment may represent the last few stammering gasps of boomer domination in the US. Thanks for the music and the computers, now get the fuck out of the way so younger people can start cleaning up the mess you made.
This is the actual problem. Boomer voters (who are pathologically trapped in adolescence; look at how they projected views of eternal childhood onto Millennials) would only feel safe with the last of the ancient preceeding generation. "Save us elder daddies, we have no minds to think but can't trust the 'children' younger than us to know anything!"
Seems to me like they're unreliable voters. Seems to me if the party is abandoning its (alleged) principles to court unreliable voters, it should have a better justification for ignoring progressives than "they're unreliable voters."
You’re joking, right? They’re the majority of the active voters on the left. It’s progressives that protest by abstention and vote third-party when they don’t get an ideal candidate. Turnout cost Democrats the election in 2016, then we got Biden, not Sanders in 2020.
Those polls are exactly why the DNC keeps moving candidates toward center. They try to capture the reliably active voters rather than roll the dice on the inconsistent participation of the far left.
I voted for Bernie in the primary, and Hillary in the election. I know many who did the former, but did not do the latter.
It’s progressives that protest by abstention and vote third-party when they don’t get an ideal candidate.
In 2008, when centrists didn't get their absolute very first choice, they formed a PAC to get McCain elected. A greater percentage of Sanders supporters came out to vote for Clinton than Clinton supporters came out to vote for Obama.
Turnout cost Democrats the election in 2016,
Running the single worst candidate who ever drew breath did that. Clinton earned her loss.
The DNC moves to the right, not the center.
Your justification for abstention has no bearing on the repercussions of the action.
Progressives felt rightfully disenfranchised by the DNC’s support of Hillary over Bernie, so many abstained in the November election.
The DNC looked at active voter demographics from 2016, and backed Biden over Bernie in 2020.
Abstention does not make your voice heard. It’s just forgoing your say in our current election and potential next candidate.
Your justification for abstention
Stop lying about my position just because you are completely incapable of defending yours.
You justified the voter abstention in 2016 by stating that Hillary was the worst candidate that ever drew breath. I’m not citing your actions, but your stated opinion.
Twist the narrative any way you want. At the end of the day, it’s a simple numbers game. If Democrats show up, a Democrat is elected. If not, candidates move more towards the active voter demographics, which would be right from their previous candidate.
Studies have shown younger generations have basically said "fuck it we're going out in style" and are choosing to spend money on luxuries outside of their means because they don't see a future.
Trump is three years younger than Biden. We only talk about Biden's age because he just looks older. They both have mental problems.
Okay, so he's still able to read off a teleprompter and seem "forceful". Now put him in front of the editorial board of any major newspaper for an hour long interview.
You think that if I were too old for this job I would have been able to beat healthcare?
The Biden we saw at the debate is the Biden at the dnc has known all along, yet they pushed him as the incumbent, refusing to primary him and telling the public this is your only choice because they knew that voters would come out and vote for him regardless of what he has done or who he is or what he is incapable of doing. This is the exact same Biden that leftist told liberals back in 2019 2020 of who Biden actually is and they kept writing it off as a stutter
Setting aside November for a moment, shouldn't we be having a discussion about whether Biden is fit to be president right now? It can't be good for all of the nation's enemies to know the US of A has an addled president, can it?
He should be stepping aside and letting Kamala take over.
Let Democrats see how President Harris fares for a couple months before the Democrat convention has to decide in August whether to run a different candidate or stick with Harris.
That way, if they do decide to run with Harris, she'll be entering the election as an incumbent.
The incumbent advantage really doesn't apply if it's not who was elected in the first place. The only real advantage would be having a (short) record to run on. Even that assumes that (1) she would have one worth promoting, and (2) that people would care.
The bigger concern is that Harris really, REALLY is not popular. It would take a long time to convince people otherwise, if it could even be done. Hillary spent decades trying to build her image, including a full election cycle in earnest, and failed so miserably that we ended up with Trump.
But he is very obviously fit to be president. One single bad debate and suddenly we just throw in the towel? After everything he's already accomplished, and the dangers that Trump represents, the complete unwillingness to rally behind the candidate who already beat Trump once is insane. I don't know what happened in the debate, nobody does really, but his performance afterwards and the day after price pretty clearly that it wasn't senility. He's obviously still perfectly coherent, the debate was just really bad.
Immediately after the debate, when people were dooming out of their fucking minds, there were still undecided voters being interviewed who said Biden won on substance, and that they would vote for him after the debate. Of course maybe fewer than we would like, but people still recognized that Trump was just a bullshit spewing hose of idiotic nonsense and Biden was bringing some receipts.
What Trump brought was an overblown ego and a fountain of lies and vitriol that his idiot followers eat up like candy.
Turn back before its too late. Biden deserves to be trounced after that performance. Next gaff could be worse. Too late to give him more chances, pivot or lose. We cannot afford to Weekend at Bernies a presidential candidate. Yes. Throw in the towel, that is the only way to face reality.
I upvoted you because you got downvoted for some reason even though you are spitting facts.
At least the trump campaign has to come up with some new tactics, since Biden obviously wasn't on uppers during the campaign as they suggested, and the "Biden is old" is pretty much effect less these days with trumps mental decline on display.
I think that analysis is missing an important fact: Yes, Trump's mental decline is visible to anyone taking a closer look. He is a liar who just as much as Biden, more even, can just get things wrong unintenionally on top of that. But one thing that is important about him, is that he is a narcissist. Projecting charisma and using bullshit to shield himself is literally what his pathology and the very core of his unconscious mind is built on, it will be the very last thing to go. That is why the "Biden is old" narrative is still working with people - both are old, both are showing signs of it, but Trump can keep up the optics, because that is the very essence of what his life and psyche is revolving around.
I had a very quick look at post-debate rallies of both Trump and Biden. (Sidenote - where was that energy during the debate, Biden? Your voice actually had proper inflection and power, what happened there?) Trump spewed bullshit, of course, lies, falsehoods, nonsense. But he knew how to interact with the crowd, he knew how to speak, he knew how to adjust his message and demeanor between talking to his supporters and talking to a more general audience. Biden was competent enough with his speech - more competent than during the debate for sure - but he still felt like someone who had lacking dynamism. And in light of the debate that just happened, his enthusiastic supporters and his hype-people trying to build him up felt... surreal to be 100% honest. The chants of "You can do it" did not feel like a powerful message of competence, but like cheering someone on out of pity. His message in light of the current situation also felt confused. Saying both (not direct quotes, from memory) "I know I am not the youngest", semi-acknowledging that there were problems, while also saying that "Trump is too dangerous" - that definitely sparked the immediate thought of "Yes, Trump is genuinely dangerous. So why are we running with you as our only hope of defeating him?"
I understand, talking about things right now is also about optics, it's about trying to convince others, and yourself, to go vote, to believe in your chosen team and candidate and all that. But lets not delude ourselves, because that idea of Biden beating Trump on the sole basis of being not Trump has led to this situation. The optics of the mental decline of both candidates are different, and the pushed narrative of Biden being old is far from effectless.
That's a good analysis, and I would usually fully agree. I may still do, but it doesn't shake my gut feeling it was deliberate. He was sharp the day before and the day after, but not during the 1 hour that mattered. I don't think it was an accident.
Now Harris uses the opportunity to get into the spotlight and get some symphaty. While it looks disastrous at the moment, I think it will have a positive effect on the campaign. If it were 2 month until elections I would be worried, 4 month out there's enough room to use it as an advantage that it's more powerful than "It isn't Trump"
But yeah, I might just be making the word how I want it to be.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Speaking to a boisterous crowd of 2,000 people, Mr. Biden, 81, directly confronted questions about his age and insisted that he would never have run for re-election if he didn’t think he was up to the job of being president.
Delivering his remarks from a Teleprompter, and freed from rules that required him to hold his own, without notes, for 90 minutes, the president appeared to find the energy and clarity that had eluded him in the Atlanta debate.
Instead, Mr. Biden kicked off what aides described as a messaging blitz aimed at repairing the obvious political damage less than five months from Election Day.
Vice President Kamala Harris had a rally planned in Las Vegas and a flurry of campaign surrogates were sent to the closest television cameras available armed with talking points about Mr. Trump.
“His age has concerned me from the very beginning,” said Amanda Robertson, a Democratic candidate for a county commission seat in North Carolina who attended Mr. Biden’s rally.
The president’s aides churned out optimistic election data points and said the campaign had raised $14 million on Thursday, including what they claimed was a big jump in grass roots donations in the hour or two after the debate.
The original article contains 1,206 words, the summary contains 204 words. Saved 83%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
People would vote for nearly anybody else. The reason this race is close is not because Trump is popular, it's because Biden is a dogshit candidate. His advisors and friends desperately need to convince him of that.
Biden was tired from engagements, a sore throat and jet lag. What could go wrong? This was a made-to-order event for trolls.
Regardless, he's toast. This will dog him the entire campaign. The media will harp on every slip, every old age shuffle, every slack jawed stare. He needs to drop out
You act like the media harping on him for his age is anything new. Russian propagandist really need to stop commenting on our election...
Oh lol. For fucks sake. Someone criticises your fave and they're a "Russian propogandist"? Grow up JFC. Are all the people reporting questioning in the Dems Russian as well? Are the questioning dems all Russian agents? JFC
He's definitely not "toast". One stupid debate will not affect anyone's decision to back him. Obama had a bad first debate as well when he ran in his very first electoral race, and he still won. Twice, to be exact. None of these things you mention are going to be a deal breaker for people who know what's at stake, and each day, that number grows. Joe isn't perfect, but he is light years better than another Trump term.
The age thing was already a concern. Now it's a panic. Even top Dems are avoiding question of whether to remove Biden.
The debate was a catastrophe. It really couldn't have gone much worse.
Well yeah it's a catastrophe. You can't avoid it. Realistically, Trump was already edging out Biden in the polls, including the 6 swing states.
They need a new candidate immediately.. but nobody else who has the party blessing (newman, kamala, Michelle, etc) polls as good against Trump as Biden.
So what do they do? Damned if you do, damned if you dont. They are probably goinf to lose the election.
He is light years better than Trump. A tapeworm is lightyears better than Trump. Question is, what do undecideds think? I only hope Trumps lying and evasion turn off swing voters, but it hasn't so far
The sad truth is with the two party system, you don't vote for who you think is better, you vote against who you think is worse. A vote for Biden rejects Trump getting a second term.
If you're voting libertarian why would you have voted for Biden in the first place lmfao
