I think Biden is a great president and with the staff he has in place I think he can continue to be one. I support him and find the pressure for him to step aside in the election playing into Republican hands. I love Kamala Harris and think she’d be a kick-ass president. I’m also afraid the overt racism we’ve seen in recent years isn’t limited to the Republican Party and I fear she may not win. I will support whoever the party nominates but I’m very angry at people pushing Biden out. Darth Rumpus kept dozing off during the convention and no one in the MSM is calling for him to step aside.
No actually I think they're afraid of Biden. Did you watch Trump's acceptance of the nomination last night? Over 90 minutes of trying to act like Biden and talk like Biden. He knows who's winning. I'm want to say I doubt this is actually true, but it's very hard to ascertain what is and isn't true these days with any confidence. If it is true the Democrats are shooting their own self in the foot. I couldn't care less what party or non-party a candidate is from. I will not vote for Trump because we all know what he is. But Biden has done the best of any president in history in this short of time under extreme circumstances. He is my candidate of choice no matter who runs
1: these are more of the same “WE FOUND SOME RANDO WHO SAID WHAT WE WANTED TO HEAR” wishcasting that the pundit caste has been churning out 24/7 since the debate.
2: If it happens to be right this time, it is because the pundit caste successfully psyoped it into happening, which means truth is dead.
3: journalists are enemies of the people and when Trump rounds them up into camps they will deserve it.
What is really dispiriting me is how many people have fallen for what was obviously a coordinated hit job, from the right side of the party, that began the millisecond the debate ended on June 27. And they really, earnestly believe, like, to the point where I feel bad for doubting them, that the debate made them sour on Biden, and not the weeks of ensuing coverage calling him an incompetent loser.
There are a lot of people in the Dem camp who think they are either immune to propaganda, or that their preferred media outlets wouldn't try to propagandize them. They were sitting ducks.
It's easy to see that in the immediate aftermath of the debate most Dems wanted Biden to stay in. The media hammered him until that number dropped, and then jumped on the number dropping to hammer even more.
I hate to admit it, but I fell for it. This type of attack is so new, I didn't have it on my bingo card. I found this today, it was too good to keep to myself.
Divided we will fall! This is the Republican strategy. Let's not serve dipshit donnie everything on a silver platter for his fat, greedy fingers to grab.
Not really. I’m a rock-solid democrat who likes and admires Joe Biden, but I couldn’t even watch the entire debate, or the interviews since then. Putting our heads in the sand ain’t going to fix his problems or ours. There are plenty of us who’d vote for anyone but Trump, but not enough to win. For that, we need inspiration and a genuine sense of hope. Right now, I’m not seeing that.
I'm so upset about this~ I'm 100% for Joe Biden. But there's only one person I'll accept if he does leave the race and that's Kamala Harris. No one else deserves this more than she does. Kamala is heir apparent.
And yes~ this country damn well better be ready for a woman President!
I'm sorry my mother isn't here anymore to see a Pres Kamala Harris! She'd have loved it. She and I talked Kamala quite often~ almost daily.
We women may look soft but we can bring the storm.
“But there's only one person I'll accept if he does leave the race and that's Kamala Harris. No one else deserves this more than she does. Kamala is heir apparent. “
Such bizarre entitlement thinking🫣
This is NOT about one person deserving to be a president, it is about 330 million other people deserving the best president we can field!!!
Dude, we chose, primaries are over. If you wanted someone else you should’ve chosen someone else, it’s not like Biden suddenly aged 10 years in a couple months, you knew his age. Not to mention a new person doesn’t have the campaign money, unless those few rich white men who complain about him are going to fork up millions?
I WAS one of the 50,000 WI voters who voted 'uninstructed' in protest. My son was another, but for a different reason (Gaza).
Of course I would have voted for him in the General even if he'd been on life support, against tfg, but America deserves and needs a young leader who speaks and communicates VERY well - and part of that is one who listens to a smart cabinet very well, and to their principles and integrity, as I think Joe did.
The nation is facing war abroad and conflict at home.
Let's make a virtue of our necessity to make a change in the person of leadership.
You’ll get your wish, Biden just bowed down. In my opinion oligarchs pissed on democracy, but shame on me for believing in some sort of democracy and thinking the rich don’t completely rule the country as they really do. This is proof of the US being a full blown oligarchy and not a democracy.
Well, first, my wish was and is for him to be healthy and serve America long and well. But “if wishes were horses…”. I’m an old doc, and quite mortal myself; life doesn’t fulfill every desire. There’s wisdom in seeing and accepting the things one cannot control.
My unhappiness is not at the people who helped him reach his difficult decision, but at any of those who delayed this decision so long in order to hold onto power.
But, it is my view we’ve been an oligarchy since well before Citizens United made it overt and legal to buy politicians.
Meh, he could have served a couple more years. I have friends in their 80ies that still do search and rescue on the pacific ocean with me. And if he wouldn’t have made it 4 years, we have the 25th amendment. That is democracy, we chose them. Now; who are they going to put in place? Unless it’s Kamala Harris, which I hope but I also know the US is too racist and misogynistic, it will someone who wasn’t chosen by the voters. And yes, I knew the US was an oligarchy, but this is way too blatant. Especially because this wasn’t what Biden wanted, he was bullied by people with money. He was bullied and with him, everyone who voted for him. It’s sick
There is no "entitlement thinking" when the candidate who won the primaries and has thereby created the expectation that s/he will win pick a running mate. Yeah, there's no history that corresponds but this situation is part of the deal.
"Such bizarre entitlement thinking"? For many reasons I find this patently objectionable. And suspicious for obvious reasons.
For reasons you offer she IS absolutely entitled to be President the moment Biden steps down this weekend, AND absolutely entitled to name her own VP for the remainder of her elected term.
But no-one has entitlement to the next term, or even to be the candidate assuming it isn’t Biden. It must be earned.
I think in this election a woman would be very strong, all things equal.
I’d be thrilled if Harris succeeded, but so far neither she nor Biden has successfully driven the bully pulpit well enough nor have been strategic enough nor strong enough to protect our country from a felonious fraudster serial rapist wannabe Hitler/ Putin/ Xi puppet.
In fairness, this was mostly Biden’s responsibility (& major failure, in an otherwise very successful presidency). But I did not see prosecutorial nor political nor verbal brilliance from Harris. It would simplify things if she proved herself NOW, by time of convention, but if not, I think Dems must choose someone verbally more impressive and inspiring.
Must, as a matter both of practicality and principle.
I disagree with your first paragraph. I agree that Biden didn’t give her much air time to show her stuff.
I disagree with your second paragraph and find no justification for it. She, by virtue of her position of the last nearly 4 years, has had a first hand look at Biden's way of operating that has, against all odds, produced a remarkable set of bipartisan bills passed into law. Find a better seminar, day in and day out with all the diffulties and headwinds this man has faced, for some unknown candidate as yet.
Harris is first in line. By experience, by presence, by watching and learning from a guy who's been in the trenches for 40 years and has produced a better outcome for middle class and working class voters. He has done the best job since FDR for the non-elites and Harris has seen how that happened. Find me an opponent who grew up during the Reagan "revolution" based on the media's assessment that winning 26% of the eligible vote produced a "mandate." They are mostly elitists who bought the crap that the market forces solve all problems. They don't.
And then there are her own abilities and awareness of how white male supremacy has produced disaster after disaster for this country.
There has been no better -qualified, intelligent, and experienced- candidate than HRC (including Harris). And yet HRC lost, not on the basis of intelligence or experience, but on the basis of 1) bias, 2) deep pocketed long term political enemies in medico/pharm/Insur industry, 3) foreign players (Putin), 4) probable campaign errors (failing to visit MI & WI), 5) uninspiring communication & debate performance where she failed to conceal her disregard for “a basket of deplorables”.
Obama had equal and similar barriers, but he was INSPIRING and could drive a bully pulpit like nobody’s business. THATS the job.
At the end of the day, a campaign is about communication skills - NOT a pretty face, IQ, or experience (sitting in the ‘best’ seminar). It is about persuading the persuadable.
The point of an election (& convention) is to pick a non-MAGAt winner, full stop. Nothing else. It’s NOT to reward a faithful soldier, which Harris surely has been, to her substantial credit. But that’s not the requisite skill for President.
I will fully support whomever is strongest, and then whomever is the consensus candidate, but fielding the strongest candidate is the ONLY responsible path.
If you or she can & do swing the majority of voters who are not yet similarly impressed with Harris, you and she will have a career in politics.
If our best turns out to be Harris, we’ll be on the same side, if our best is not Harris, but if you’re arbitrary glued to her regardless (since she’s “entitled”!!), we’re not working well together, we don’t share democratic values, and we’re that much more likely to get tfg. Which I think matters a whole lot more than anyone person getting her just desserts-as viewed by ANY one.
We must be open to better options until the convention. THEN we must put aside our differences. In my view.
I had to look up 'GFY', Carol. Says something - about each of us?
Obama may have had a pretty face, HRC high IQ, and your candidate was experienced 'in the best seminars', as you put it - but if you read well, I said a campaign is >NOT< about a pretty face, IQ, or experience.
BTW I did spend most of my 'old white male' career as a racial minority, working in five non-white socialist countries for you & your government, working with and for persons of color, more women than men (except my EHR development software team, but my lead developer was a brown woman); my counterpart for a decade in Zambia was President Robert Mugabe's niece (Ministry of Health Dir, Dr. Elizabeth Chizema), and we did good enough work together for a decade on PEPFAR to get the US Dept of State's Superior Honor Award for saving half a million lives.... this was nearly 30 years after my 3 years in maximum at Jackson Prison. Half my extended family (and all my kids) are non-white.
Folk need to learn it IS 'OK', in fact, absolutely essential, to critique non-white people, of any gender, on merits, just like you are OK critiquing me, an old white male (but, again civility is smart!). Everyone benefits.
And to be clear, I AM indeed critiquing Ms. Harris's communication and connection skills as a candidate for public office: There WAS a reason she dropped out of the running in 2020 two months before the Iowa caucuses; she said it was money, but lack of money reflects a lack of campaign-requisite public communication skills (lack of a connecting and inspiring narrative), so she also came across as not quite straight forward. She informed her team of her withdrawal on a conference call - not quite warm and fuzzy. She vacillated on PH and insurance, a core issue for me, a former Dir of Louisiana Office of Public Health.
I think you know these things, and you seem to wish to prevent people saying them again. A campaign is a microscope connected to a bass amp. This is as friendly a crowd as there will be, and I'm part of it.
It is CORRECT that Joe messed up by saying he would name a 'black woman', instead of the 'best person'. She deserves the opportunity to prove herself to be at the top of the ticket in a convention, and to NOT be 'grandfathered' into office. Let's not make Joe's mistake twice.
If she does show what she's learned, she will have full support of all Dems, as we are desperate to be united. If not, should not.
Just to say, I'm not exactly naïve; like you, I'm a septuagenarian, and I've been around. Just not used to people on the same team swearing at each other in THIS forum, and showing both my age and life habits, I'm not quick with vulgar acronyms. But I ignored your race-gender bias insinuations a couple times, and perhaps I may have been unclear to other readers in addition to yourself.
But you have been rude; that's just you.
Others may, but I would not judge Harris by her proponents.
Regardless of our sentiments, we're on the same team; you and I WILL be working for and voting for the same (hopefully progressive and highly verbal) next US president, if not before the convention, then after, when it counts.
Just saw the news. Joe was right to get out, speaking as an old doc.
I liked your post because I see your point and very unfortunately agree with much of it on how we are manipulated to vote for certain people. However, Even though I see your point I am not considering anyone except Joe Biden, because he has shown over and over and over again that he is the winner. I don't think there's anyone who will get more votes than Biden, no matter that many of us want younger people, very many want those who don't seem establishment, because we have learned not to trust politicians, but somehow have forgotten that many businessmen aren't trustworthy either, as well as the opposite of being true many politicians and many business people are trustworthy. My thoughts are even considering anyone that Biden it's hurting this cause.
I appreciate your position as good game strategy, and I have deeply appreciated Biden and his team's good work. But as an old doc, I probably have had a better sense that he wasn't going to make it to Nov. (and have been saying so in Substack for over 6 months).
I have and I'm in tears. And my hopes for this country is very low. I hope Joe Biden is not seriously ill, but if he was pushed out I am angry as hell. I hope Joe Biden and his family are able to relax and be left alone, away from all this freaking madness that they have paid so dearly for.
It seems odd to, after weeks of people throwing a tantrum because they didn’t feel certain they were going to win, and wanted a do-over of choices they made a year ago, to call somebody “entitled” for trying to make this whole prospect the least un-democratic it can be by installing someone Dem voters have actually supported at the ballot box, when they renominated Biden.
After all, we have always known how old Joe is. A vote for him in the primaries was an acknowledgement we believe the VP can step up if needed.
Biden was carefully shielded before the debate. If we’d voted two weeks ago the results would have been different, especially with a viable alternative, of which there are many.
my view isn't merely 1) that support for Biden as P is distinct from support for his VP as P, or 2) that likelihood of success with Biden is diff than likelihood of success with Harris, but 3) that I'm an old doc and was pretty certain Joe could not credibly perform under a microscope and hot lights, through to Nov. , and that it was better strategy to change horses any given day of the past 8 months than to wait another month, or two, or eight. I did NOT vote for Joe in the WI primary (was one of nearly 50,000 who voted 'uninstructed' as protest), but I did vote for Biden in the last election and would have in this one, if he hadn't just stepped down as the Dem candidate.
America is in authoritarian crisis (actually, much of the world is), and I don't think a caretaker government would have won, and if it had won, could succeed at critical matters of governance - including threats of war abroad and civil unrest at home.
We need a president speaking to the public multiple times a day for a while, talking people back from the ledge, and she/he needs to be brilliant and wise.
I WILL support whomever Dems put forward to beat tfg, from Whitmer to AOC to Dean Philips to Stacy Abrams to Kamala Harris.... but I'd rather it be the most verbal and honest of the lot. (Even the CA guy... or the PA or WV guys, but hope not.)
That is an entirely possible assertion, but I haven't yet seen it.
Harris has some clear strengths but also some clear weaknesses as a candidate, and 'candidate' is a role she must master BEFORE 'president'. She's not as strong in this cycle as Clinton was in hers.
If you have confidence in your view, why resist giving her the opportunity of an open convention to demonstrate what she can do when she's at the top of the ticket?
Biden already has the trust, has the proof of what he has done, is popular with people from far left, moderate left, centrist, moderate right. It is much too late for another candidate to gain that trust, get their messages out to the masses. So in the opposite direction from the bias you mentioned, many people would vote for her simply because she is female or simply because she is minority or brown, but those same people with vote for Biden because she is next to him. I think Biden/Harris it's the winning ticket. And even if I supported one iota, considering someone else, I don't think there's anyone else that will win. Not enough appeal all around. Biden and Harris have that, together.
Sorry for us all that he didn't have the health to do that (speaking as an old doc, with a younger brother with Parkinsons - which is my speculation for Biden). But speaking as an old doc, at some point the body fails, without respect for duties and desires.
Most don't care to hear it. Docs and patients have to deal with it though.
Damn, this looks like a disaster! Changing the ticket this late in the game is never successful. However, if this should come to be, I will absolutely support his successor. I assume that will be Kamala and I believe she will be amazing. Nonetheless, I think this is an unfair position to put her in. She should have been prepared to do this two years ago, not thrown in at the last minute as a Hail Mary. I hope it doesn't cut her career short of the potential she possesses.
I honestly don't believe it. What I do believe is we'll be hearing a lot of misinformation because the candidate on the other side isn't up to the task of fairly winning the election. Also project 2025 isn't popular.
This isn't just about who we "like" as a candidate. There are very real legal complications with changing candidates so late in the game. Ohio and Michigan have earlier candidate registration deadlines that the GOP is FULLY prepared to challenge in court. We all know that will not end in the Dems favor.
Additionally, mail-in ballots go out about a month after the DNC convention. This election begins in September, NOT November.
Finally, a myriad of people and grassroots organizations have spent years trying to engage otherwise disenfranchised and apathetic voters to make them believe that their vote really does matter. Throwing away their clearly chosen primary candidate tells them that is a lie.
Just assuming people will automatically coalesce around whomever because they are told to is peak hubris. People will either not vote or make a protest vote (we all know how that went in 2016) and this will absolutely harm down-ticket candidates. Kiss the House and Senate good-bye. Kiss democracy good-bye. All for what? A few shit polls that are never right?
I’m a Democrat so who’s ever there gets my vote. President Biden has been great. I don’t know all of what is transpiring, but I would rather see him go out on top. Rather than doing what so many people at their peak do which is pushing too far. Quarterbacks are a good example. I am no expert by any means so I will sit back and listen. I will be a strong supporter if the Vice President becomes the candidate as I have been for president Biden. this is so above my pay scale.
Todd- Commendably balanced, rationally strategic and humble - this is a mature perspective - one most might well hold. “This is above my pay scale” is likely truth for everyone here... we should share our views and knowledge, but we shouldn’t deceive ourselves into conviction we have the right answer.
We’d be stronger as fish in a school, reflexively attuned to dynamically finding the consensus, turn by turn in the political moments- if we wish to prevail.
I fully support Biden and still believe he will be remembered in history as one of the most effective Presidents we’ve had in the last 70 or so years.
I would also support Kamala Harris and do what needs to be done to prevent our country from becoming a Christofascist nation however, as women we have been shown repeatedly how racist and how sexist our nation is when it comes to voting for female representatives. I am concerned that any change at this late stage is self-sabotage and I feel frustrated that Democrats and the MSM have been so ineffective at the time we most need to be able to unite under our one nation by performing our roles competently. I will never trust all the democrats who came forward publicly to denounce a Biden candidacy this late not the NYT, whose subscription I cancelled.
I believe it and agree 100%. Harris would be able to bring a new dynamic into the campaign, although I think there had been better options if the torch had been passed 1,5 year ago instead of now.
Absolutely engineered by big money via the press. This kind of repetition is a NEUROLINGUISTIC PROGRAMMING NLP technique - this is what DT used in the debate, and what all his speeches are. This is what the press is doing by repeating the inane accusation that age disqualifies Biden, as opposed to repeating the reality that criminal activity disqualifies DT.
NLP technique: shocking event-> confusion; insert new concept or label for meaning of event, with an ANCHOR to trigger recall of the emotion of the event, such as a word or short phrase - “Biden is old” to “Biden should drop out” to just “Biden”; then reactivate the trigger over and over to imprint the anchor and the speed of the association. THIS IS PAVLOV CONDITIONING.
And it is deliberate. Biden should absolutely stay in the race. And the press should take a hard look at the suicide pact they are making by their bullish*t.
A FREE PRESS IS NOT A BONUS OF A DEMOCRACY. IT IS A NECESSITY FOR DEMOCRACY.
A FREE PRESS IS ONLY FREE IF IT CAN NOT BE BOUGHT NOR THREATENED.
What part of "I’m staying in!" don’t pundits and media understand?! I’m supporting Biden-Harris because I’ve seen with my own eyes what happens when tickets change. It ain’t pretty folks! The Democrats lost in landslides both times, I’d worked on one of those campaigns. We were lucky both times that we lost to Nixon. If we change this ticket, we’ll lost to the one person I know of who could teach Satan a few things!
If you’re for replacing Biden, I want to know now so I can unfollow/unsubscribe from your posts. If you’re someone for whom I have paid for a subscription know that I WILL be canceling the subscription and making sure my credit card knows to never again approve any future payments.
Enough is enough! Stop the BS! Get behind the only person who can, and has, defeat Trump!
I stand with President Biden in VP Kamala Harris!! Please don't let them bully you into stepping down!! You are our best chance to save our Democracy! VOTEBIDENHARRIS2024 💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙
I am afraid either way. We live in a clearly Sexist, homophobic, and racist nation. I don’t think that people will vote for a woman. I would love her to run with Pete Buttigieg. Sad this is happening to Biden, but scared they won’t vote for him. Never Trumpers need to SHOW up. Dangerous times.
It's a poor thank you to the man who has produced the best economy in the world after the pandemic and even the richy richy rich are doing well on a stock market that has zoomed to record highs. And no, Trumpistan (Trump's own dictatorial land) did squat to help it along. But then he'd take credit for the sun rising in the East.
It's a poor thank you to guy who, for the first time in over 40 years, built his economic policy from the middle class out and the working poor up. Against all the Wall Street gnashing of teeth expecting a gigantic recession each year about Biden's economic policies and his pro-Ukraine programs. The wringing of hands and the blubbering of the "sacrifices" the rich would have to make. Yeah. They still did better as Democrats ALWAYS improve the economies that the GOP tanked with its greed.
Okay, I'm on board with gathering together after this and I will get behind our newest candidate. The mission is to beat Trump so badly that even the supreme court (sic) dare not disturb a Democratic victory. And we must also make huge inroads in the House and Senate.
Each day he spends ruminating over his past accomplishments, no matter how great they may be, delays the inevitable and brings us closer to the real possibility of a second Trump presidency which is destined to destroy our Democracy.
When the Democrats falter on their choice for President they lose. It happens in ‘68 and ‘72. Will Rogers, when asked if he belonged to an organized political party, he said, “No. I am a Democrat “.
The Republican Party wins elections by sticking together no matter how stupid or ill equipped their candidate is. I realize that liberals have a tendency to listen to others before making decisions, but the early withdrawal of Biden’s support created turmoil.
For the past 3.7 years VP Harris has been learning and supporting the President since she is ready to take on the role should President Biden take ill or become incapacitated in any way. If you move away from Biden and Harris then you are going against the people who voted for THEM.
I think Biden is a great president and with the staff he has in place I think he can continue to be one. I support him and find the pressure for him to step aside in the election playing into Republican hands. I love Kamala Harris and think she’d be a kick-ass president. I’m also afraid the overt racism we’ve seen in recent years isn’t limited to the Republican Party and I fear she may not win. I will support whoever the party nominates but I’m very angry at people pushing Biden out. Darth Rumpus kept dozing off during the convention and no one in the MSM is calling for him to step aside.
I second everything you said. Saves me from having to write it.
100 percent agree. We have a great record on which to run and we have the man who gave us that record to support.
From Pogo:
"We have met the enemy and he is us"
https://ki6mnk.substack.com/p/pogo
Agreed. Totally. You hit all the marks.
Ditto.
Republicans are praying Biden doesn’t step down. They’re afraid of a replacement.
No actually I think they're afraid of Biden. Did you watch Trump's acceptance of the nomination last night? Over 90 minutes of trying to act like Biden and talk like Biden. He knows who's winning. I'm want to say I doubt this is actually true, but it's very hard to ascertain what is and isn't true these days with any confidence. If it is true the Democrats are shooting their own self in the foot. I couldn't care less what party or non-party a candidate is from. I will not vote for Trump because we all know what he is. But Biden has done the best of any president in history in this short of time under extreme circumstances. He is my candidate of choice no matter who runs
1: these are more of the same “WE FOUND SOME RANDO WHO SAID WHAT WE WANTED TO HEAR” wishcasting that the pundit caste has been churning out 24/7 since the debate.
2: If it happens to be right this time, it is because the pundit caste successfully psyoped it into happening, which means truth is dead.
3: journalists are enemies of the people and when Trump rounds them up into camps they will deserve it.
What is really dispiriting me is how many people have fallen for what was obviously a coordinated hit job, from the right side of the party, that began the millisecond the debate ended on June 27. And they really, earnestly believe, like, to the point where I feel bad for doubting them, that the debate made them sour on Biden, and not the weeks of ensuing coverage calling him an incompetent loser.
There are a lot of people in the Dem camp who think they are either immune to propaganda, or that their preferred media outlets wouldn't try to propagandize them. They were sitting ducks.
It's easy to see that in the immediate aftermath of the debate most Dems wanted Biden to stay in. The media hammered him until that number dropped, and then jumped on the number dropping to hammer even more.
I hate to admit it, but I fell for it. This type of attack is so new, I didn't have it on my bingo card. I found this today, it was too good to keep to myself.
https://youtube.com/shorts/xuUnEPGCsu8?si=19ATVe5uKSKIzFxl
Divided we will fall! This is the Republican strategy. Let's not serve dipshit donnie everything on a silver platter for his fat, greedy fingers to grab.
Most Dems want Biden to step down. It may be propaganda making some Dems think we can win with Biden.
Who is most Dems? I don’t know anyone who wants this.
Same here. I don’t know one single person who wants him to step down
Exactly.
Odd. Every Dem I know in my small, rural town want Biden to step down. Of course, it’s undecided voters who will decide the election.
I disagree
You are a MAGA troll.
Hilarious. I’m pretty sure I’ve donated more to Biden than you have. I think you’re projecting. Republicans are praying Biden doesn’t step down.
Not really. I’m a rock-solid democrat who likes and admires Joe Biden, but I couldn’t even watch the entire debate, or the interviews since then. Putting our heads in the sand ain’t going to fix his problems or ours. There are plenty of us who’d vote for anyone but Trump, but not enough to win. For that, we need inspiration and a genuine sense of hope. Right now, I’m not seeing that.
I'm so upset about this~ I'm 100% for Joe Biden. But there's only one person I'll accept if he does leave the race and that's Kamala Harris. No one else deserves this more than she does. Kamala is heir apparent.
And yes~ this country damn well better be ready for a woman President!
I'm sorry my mother isn't here anymore to see a Pres Kamala Harris! She'd have loved it. She and I talked Kamala quite often~ almost daily.
We women may look soft but we can bring the storm.
I am still with
#BidenHarris2024
“But there's only one person I'll accept if he does leave the race and that's Kamala Harris. No one else deserves this more than she does. Kamala is heir apparent. “
Such bizarre entitlement thinking🫣
This is NOT about one person deserving to be a president, it is about 330 million other people deserving the best president we can field!!!
Dude, we chose, primaries are over. If you wanted someone else you should’ve chosen someone else, it’s not like Biden suddenly aged 10 years in a couple months, you knew his age. Not to mention a new person doesn’t have the campaign money, unless those few rich white men who complain about him are going to fork up millions?
Dudette,
I WAS one of the 50,000 WI voters who voted 'uninstructed' in protest. My son was another, but for a different reason (Gaza).
Of course I would have voted for him in the General even if he'd been on life support, against tfg, but America deserves and needs a young leader who speaks and communicates VERY well - and part of that is one who listens to a smart cabinet very well, and to their principles and integrity, as I think Joe did.
The nation is facing war abroad and conflict at home.
Let's make a virtue of our necessity to make a change in the person of leadership.
You’ll get your wish, Biden just bowed down. In my opinion oligarchs pissed on democracy, but shame on me for believing in some sort of democracy and thinking the rich don’t completely rule the country as they really do. This is proof of the US being a full blown oligarchy and not a democracy.
Well, first, my wish was and is for him to be healthy and serve America long and well. But “if wishes were horses…”. I’m an old doc, and quite mortal myself; life doesn’t fulfill every desire. There’s wisdom in seeing and accepting the things one cannot control.
My unhappiness is not at the people who helped him reach his difficult decision, but at any of those who delayed this decision so long in order to hold onto power.
But, it is my view we’ve been an oligarchy since well before Citizens United made it overt and legal to buy politicians.
Meh, he could have served a couple more years. I have friends in their 80ies that still do search and rescue on the pacific ocean with me. And if he wouldn’t have made it 4 years, we have the 25th amendment. That is democracy, we chose them. Now; who are they going to put in place? Unless it’s Kamala Harris, which I hope but I also know the US is too racist and misogynistic, it will someone who wasn’t chosen by the voters. And yes, I knew the US was an oligarchy, but this is way too blatant. Especially because this wasn’t what Biden wanted, he was bullied by people with money. He was bullied and with him, everyone who voted for him. It’s sick
There is no "entitlement thinking" when the candidate who won the primaries and has thereby created the expectation that s/he will win pick a running mate. Yeah, there's no history that corresponds but this situation is part of the deal.
"Such bizarre entitlement thinking"? For many reasons I find this patently objectionable. And suspicious for obvious reasons.
Carol,
For reasons you offer she IS absolutely entitled to be President the moment Biden steps down this weekend, AND absolutely entitled to name her own VP for the remainder of her elected term.
But no-one has entitlement to the next term, or even to be the candidate assuming it isn’t Biden. It must be earned.
I think in this election a woman would be very strong, all things equal.
I’d be thrilled if Harris succeeded, but so far neither she nor Biden has successfully driven the bully pulpit well enough nor have been strategic enough nor strong enough to protect our country from a felonious fraudster serial rapist wannabe Hitler/ Putin/ Xi puppet.
In fairness, this was mostly Biden’s responsibility (& major failure, in an otherwise very successful presidency). But I did not see prosecutorial nor political nor verbal brilliance from Harris. It would simplify things if she proved herself NOW, by time of convention, but if not, I think Dems must choose someone verbally more impressive and inspiring.
Must, as a matter both of practicality and principle.
I disagree with your first paragraph. I agree that Biden didn’t give her much air time to show her stuff.
I disagree with your second paragraph and find no justification for it. She, by virtue of her position of the last nearly 4 years, has had a first hand look at Biden's way of operating that has, against all odds, produced a remarkable set of bipartisan bills passed into law. Find a better seminar, day in and day out with all the diffulties and headwinds this man has faced, for some unknown candidate as yet.
Harris is first in line. By experience, by presence, by watching and learning from a guy who's been in the trenches for 40 years and has produced a better outcome for middle class and working class voters. He has done the best job since FDR for the non-elites and Harris has seen how that happened. Find me an opponent who grew up during the Reagan "revolution" based on the media's assessment that winning 26% of the eligible vote produced a "mandate." They are mostly elitists who bought the crap that the market forces solve all problems. They don't.
And then there are her own abilities and awareness of how white male supremacy has produced disaster after disaster for this country.
There has been no better -qualified, intelligent, and experienced- candidate than HRC (including Harris). And yet HRC lost, not on the basis of intelligence or experience, but on the basis of 1) bias, 2) deep pocketed long term political enemies in medico/pharm/Insur industry, 3) foreign players (Putin), 4) probable campaign errors (failing to visit MI & WI), 5) uninspiring communication & debate performance where she failed to conceal her disregard for “a basket of deplorables”.
Obama had equal and similar barriers, but he was INSPIRING and could drive a bully pulpit like nobody’s business. THATS the job.
At the end of the day, a campaign is about communication skills - NOT a pretty face, IQ, or experience (sitting in the ‘best’ seminar). It is about persuading the persuadable.
The point of an election (& convention) is to pick a non-MAGAt winner, full stop. Nothing else. It’s NOT to reward a faithful soldier, which Harris surely has been, to her substantial credit. But that’s not the requisite skill for President.
I will fully support whomever is strongest, and then whomever is the consensus candidate, but fielding the strongest candidate is the ONLY responsible path.
If you or she can & do swing the majority of voters who are not yet similarly impressed with Harris, you and she will have a career in politics.
If our best turns out to be Harris, we’ll be on the same side, if our best is not Harris, but if you’re arbitrary glued to her regardless (since she’s “entitled”!!), we’re not working well together, we don’t share democratic values, and we’re that much more likely to get tfg. Which I think matters a whole lot more than anyone person getting her just desserts-as viewed by ANY one.
We must be open to better options until the convention. THEN we must put aside our differences. In my view.
You don’t read well. I said in the end that if it’s not Biden I will back the candidate the chicken littles of this party nominate.
Just a pretty face? GFY.
I had to look up 'GFY', Carol. Says something - about each of us?
Obama may have had a pretty face, HRC high IQ, and your candidate was experienced 'in the best seminars', as you put it - but if you read well, I said a campaign is >NOT< about a pretty face, IQ, or experience.
BTW I did spend most of my 'old white male' career as a racial minority, working in five non-white socialist countries for you & your government, working with and for persons of color, more women than men (except my EHR development software team, but my lead developer was a brown woman); my counterpart for a decade in Zambia was President Robert Mugabe's niece (Ministry of Health Dir, Dr. Elizabeth Chizema), and we did good enough work together for a decade on PEPFAR to get the US Dept of State's Superior Honor Award for saving half a million lives.... this was nearly 30 years after my 3 years in maximum at Jackson Prison. Half my extended family (and all my kids) are non-white.
Folk need to learn it IS 'OK', in fact, absolutely essential, to critique non-white people, of any gender, on merits, just like you are OK critiquing me, an old white male (but, again civility is smart!). Everyone benefits.
And to be clear, I AM indeed critiquing Ms. Harris's communication and connection skills as a candidate for public office: There WAS a reason she dropped out of the running in 2020 two months before the Iowa caucuses; she said it was money, but lack of money reflects a lack of campaign-requisite public communication skills (lack of a connecting and inspiring narrative), so she also came across as not quite straight forward. She informed her team of her withdrawal on a conference call - not quite warm and fuzzy. She vacillated on PH and insurance, a core issue for me, a former Dir of Louisiana Office of Public Health.
I think you know these things, and you seem to wish to prevent people saying them again. A campaign is a microscope connected to a bass amp. This is as friendly a crowd as there will be, and I'm part of it.
It is CORRECT that Joe messed up by saying he would name a 'black woman', instead of the 'best person'. She deserves the opportunity to prove herself to be at the top of the ticket in a convention, and to NOT be 'grandfathered' into office. Let's not make Joe's mistake twice.
If she does show what she's learned, she will have full support of all Dems, as we are desperate to be united. If not, should not.
Just to say, I'm not exactly naïve; like you, I'm a septuagenarian, and I've been around. Just not used to people on the same team swearing at each other in THIS forum, and showing both my age and life habits, I'm not quick with vulgar acronyms. But I ignored your race-gender bias insinuations a couple times, and perhaps I may have been unclear to other readers in addition to yourself.
But you have been rude; that's just you.
Others may, but I would not judge Harris by her proponents.
Regardless of our sentiments, we're on the same team; you and I WILL be working for and voting for the same (hopefully progressive and highly verbal) next US president, if not before the convention, then after, when it counts.
Just saw the news. Joe was right to get out, speaking as an old doc.
Didn’t bother to read. Be well, be prosperous, have a good life.
I liked your post because I see your point and very unfortunately agree with much of it on how we are manipulated to vote for certain people. However, Even though I see your point I am not considering anyone except Joe Biden, because he has shown over and over and over again that he is the winner. I don't think there's anyone who will get more votes than Biden, no matter that many of us want younger people, very many want those who don't seem establishment, because we have learned not to trust politicians, but somehow have forgotten that many businessmen aren't trustworthy either, as well as the opposite of being true many politicians and many business people are trustworthy. My thoughts are even considering anyone that Biden it's hurting this cause.
I appreciate your position as good game strategy, and I have deeply appreciated Biden and his team's good work. But as an old doc, I probably have had a better sense that he wasn't going to make it to Nov. (and have been saying so in Substack for over 6 months).
Guess you've seen the news.
I have and I'm in tears. And my hopes for this country is very low. I hope Joe Biden is not seriously ill, but if he was pushed out I am angry as hell. I hope Joe Biden and his family are able to relax and be left alone, away from all this freaking madness that they have paid so dearly for.
It seems odd to, after weeks of people throwing a tantrum because they didn’t feel certain they were going to win, and wanted a do-over of choices they made a year ago, to call somebody “entitled” for trying to make this whole prospect the least un-democratic it can be by installing someone Dem voters have actually supported at the ballot box, when they renominated Biden.
After all, we have always known how old Joe is. A vote for him in the primaries was an acknowledgement we believe the VP can step up if needed.
Biden was carefully shielded before the debate. If we’d voted two weeks ago the results would have been different, especially with a viable alternative, of which there are many.
Hey Dave,
my view isn't merely 1) that support for Biden as P is distinct from support for his VP as P, or 2) that likelihood of success with Biden is diff than likelihood of success with Harris, but 3) that I'm an old doc and was pretty certain Joe could not credibly perform under a microscope and hot lights, through to Nov. , and that it was better strategy to change horses any given day of the past 8 months than to wait another month, or two, or eight. I did NOT vote for Joe in the WI primary (was one of nearly 50,000 who voted 'uninstructed' as protest), but I did vote for Biden in the last election and would have in this one, if he hadn't just stepped down as the Dem candidate.
America is in authoritarian crisis (actually, much of the world is), and I don't think a caretaker government would have won, and if it had won, could succeed at critical matters of governance - including threats of war abroad and civil unrest at home.
We need a president speaking to the public multiple times a day for a while, talking people back from the ledge, and she/he needs to be brilliant and wise.
I WILL support whomever Dems put forward to beat tfg, from Whitmer to AOC to Dean Philips to Stacy Abrams to Kamala Harris.... but I'd rather it be the most verbal and honest of the lot. (Even the CA guy... or the PA or WV guys, but hope not.)
She is the best president we can field after Joe Biden
De Waltz,
That is an entirely possible assertion, but I haven't yet seen it.
Harris has some clear strengths but also some clear weaknesses as a candidate, and 'candidate' is a role she must master BEFORE 'president'. She's not as strong in this cycle as Clinton was in hers.
If you have confidence in your view, why resist giving her the opportunity of an open convention to demonstrate what she can do when she's at the top of the ticket?
Biden already has the trust, has the proof of what he has done, is popular with people from far left, moderate left, centrist, moderate right. It is much too late for another candidate to gain that trust, get their messages out to the masses. So in the opposite direction from the bias you mentioned, many people would vote for her simply because she is female or simply because she is minority or brown, but those same people with vote for Biden because she is next to him. I think Biden/Harris it's the winning ticket. And even if I supported one iota, considering someone else, I don't think there's anyone else that will win. Not enough appeal all around. Biden and Harris have that, together.
Sorry for us all that he didn't have the health to do that (speaking as an old doc, with a younger brother with Parkinsons - which is my speculation for Biden). But speaking as an old doc, at some point the body fails, without respect for duties and desires.
Most don't care to hear it. Docs and patients have to deal with it though.
We now have to make an opportunity of crisis.
Damn, this looks like a disaster! Changing the ticket this late in the game is never successful. However, if this should come to be, I will absolutely support his successor. I assume that will be Kamala and I believe she will be amazing. Nonetheless, I think this is an unfair position to put her in. She should have been prepared to do this two years ago, not thrown in at the last minute as a Hail Mary. I hope it doesn't cut her career short of the potential she possesses.
I honestly don't believe it. What I do believe is we'll be hearing a lot of misinformation because the candidate on the other side isn't up to the task of fairly winning the election. Also project 2025 isn't popular.
This isn't just about who we "like" as a candidate. There are very real legal complications with changing candidates so late in the game. Ohio and Michigan have earlier candidate registration deadlines that the GOP is FULLY prepared to challenge in court. We all know that will not end in the Dems favor.
Additionally, mail-in ballots go out about a month after the DNC convention. This election begins in September, NOT November.
Finally, a myriad of people and grassroots organizations have spent years trying to engage otherwise disenfranchised and apathetic voters to make them believe that their vote really does matter. Throwing away their clearly chosen primary candidate tells them that is a lie.
Just assuming people will automatically coalesce around whomever because they are told to is peak hubris. People will either not vote or make a protest vote (we all know how that went in 2016) and this will absolutely harm down-ticket candidates. Kiss the House and Senate good-bye. Kiss democracy good-bye. All for what? A few shit polls that are never right?
I’m a Democrat so who’s ever there gets my vote. President Biden has been great. I don’t know all of what is transpiring, but I would rather see him go out on top. Rather than doing what so many people at their peak do which is pushing too far. Quarterbacks are a good example. I am no expert by any means so I will sit back and listen. I will be a strong supporter if the Vice President becomes the candidate as I have been for president Biden. this is so above my pay scale.
Todd- Commendably balanced, rationally strategic and humble - this is a mature perspective - one most might well hold. “This is above my pay scale” is likely truth for everyone here... we should share our views and knowledge, but we shouldn’t deceive ourselves into conviction we have the right answer.
We’d be stronger as fish in a school, reflexively attuned to dynamically finding the consensus, turn by turn in the political moments- if we wish to prevail.
I fully support Biden and still believe he will be remembered in history as one of the most effective Presidents we’ve had in the last 70 or so years.
I would also support Kamala Harris and do what needs to be done to prevent our country from becoming a Christofascist nation however, as women we have been shown repeatedly how racist and how sexist our nation is when it comes to voting for female representatives. I am concerned that any change at this late stage is self-sabotage and I feel frustrated that Democrats and the MSM have been so ineffective at the time we most need to be able to unite under our one nation by performing our roles competently. I will never trust all the democrats who came forward publicly to denounce a Biden candidacy this late not the NYT, whose subscription I cancelled.
I believe it and agree 100%. Harris would be able to bring a new dynamic into the campaign, although I think there had been better options if the torch had been passed 1,5 year ago instead of now.
Absolutely engineered by big money via the press. This kind of repetition is a NEUROLINGUISTIC PROGRAMMING NLP technique - this is what DT used in the debate, and what all his speeches are. This is what the press is doing by repeating the inane accusation that age disqualifies Biden, as opposed to repeating the reality that criminal activity disqualifies DT.
NLP technique: shocking event-> confusion; insert new concept or label for meaning of event, with an ANCHOR to trigger recall of the emotion of the event, such as a word or short phrase - “Biden is old” to “Biden should drop out” to just “Biden”; then reactivate the trigger over and over to imprint the anchor and the speed of the association. THIS IS PAVLOV CONDITIONING.
And it is deliberate. Biden should absolutely stay in the race. And the press should take a hard look at the suicide pact they are making by their bullish*t.
A FREE PRESS IS NOT A BONUS OF A DEMOCRACY. IT IS A NECESSITY FOR DEMOCRACY.
A FREE PRESS IS ONLY FREE IF IT CAN NOT BE BOUGHT NOR THREATENED.
What part of "I’m staying in!" don’t pundits and media understand?! I’m supporting Biden-Harris because I’ve seen with my own eyes what happens when tickets change. It ain’t pretty folks! The Democrats lost in landslides both times, I’d worked on one of those campaigns. We were lucky both times that we lost to Nixon. If we change this ticket, we’ll lost to the one person I know of who could teach Satan a few things!
If you’re for replacing Biden, I want to know now so I can unfollow/unsubscribe from your posts. If you’re someone for whom I have paid for a subscription know that I WILL be canceling the subscription and making sure my credit card knows to never again approve any future payments.
Enough is enough! Stop the BS! Get behind the only person who can, and has, defeat Trump!
I stand with President Biden in VP Kamala Harris!! Please don't let them bully you into stepping down!! You are our best chance to save our Democracy! VOTEBIDENHARRIS2024 💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙
Totally agree
I am afraid either way. We live in a clearly Sexist, homophobic, and racist nation. I don’t think that people will vote for a woman. I would love her to run with Pete Buttigieg. Sad this is happening to Biden, but scared they won’t vote for him. Never Trumpers need to SHOW up. Dangerous times.
I understand that fear but I think it's the other way around. I feel pretty certain they are I think they know Trump can't beat Biden
It's a poor thank you to the man who has produced the best economy in the world after the pandemic and even the richy richy rich are doing well on a stock market that has zoomed to record highs. And no, Trumpistan (Trump's own dictatorial land) did squat to help it along. But then he'd take credit for the sun rising in the East.
It's a poor thank you to guy who, for the first time in over 40 years, built his economic policy from the middle class out and the working poor up. Against all the Wall Street gnashing of teeth expecting a gigantic recession each year about Biden's economic policies and his pro-Ukraine programs. The wringing of hands and the blubbering of the "sacrifices" the rich would have to make. Yeah. They still did better as Democrats ALWAYS improve the economies that the GOP tanked with its greed.
Okay, I'm on board with gathering together after this and I will get behind our newest candidate. The mission is to beat Trump so badly that even the supreme court (sic) dare not disturb a Democratic victory. And we must also make huge inroads in the House and Senate.
But Biden deserves better.
Each day he spends ruminating over his past accomplishments, no matter how great they may be, delays the inevitable and brings us closer to the real possibility of a second Trump presidency which is destined to destroy our Democracy.
Biden is not the one choosing this. Why should we not blame the people who won’t accept the primary results for not dropping it?
When the Democrats falter on their choice for President they lose. It happens in ‘68 and ‘72. Will Rogers, when asked if he belonged to an organized political party, he said, “No. I am a Democrat “.
The Republican Party wins elections by sticking together no matter how stupid or ill equipped their candidate is. I realize that liberals have a tendency to listen to others before making decisions, but the early withdrawal of Biden’s support created turmoil.
For the past 3.7 years VP Harris has been learning and supporting the President since she is ready to take on the role should President Biden take ill or become incapacitated in any way. If you move away from Biden and Harris then you are going against the people who voted for THEM.
Sex