Democrats still haven't thought replacing Biden through
By: Conn Carroll (Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress the President and the Federal Government)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
As President Joe Biden falls further and further behind President Donald Trump in the polls, the pressure from Democratic Party elites to force Biden off the presidential ticket is only increasing.
On Thursday, after the news broke that House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) all told Biden he must end his campaign, an unnamed Biden source told NBC News: "Can we all just remember for a minute that these same people who are trying to push Joe Biden out are the same people who literally gave us all Donald Trump? In 2015, Obama, Pelosi, Schumer pushed Biden aside in favor of Hillary; they were wrong then, and they are wrong now."
Biden may eventually be pushed out, but as that quote shows, it isn't going to be pretty.
And yet, Democrats are holding on to the fantasy that Biden can just disappear from the top of the ticket quietly. Mark Halperin tweeted Thursday that "multiples sources" had told him that Biden "plans to announce withdrawal from nomination as early as this weekend." This was vehemently denied by the Biden campaign, and looking at the rest of the plan, one can see why.
According to Halperin, Biden would "NOT resign the presidency" or endorse Harris but would instead throw the nomination to an open convention. Whatever Democrats sold Halperin on this plan did not think it through.
Biden's obvious mental incapacity is what is driving him off the ticket in the first place. If Biden admits he is too old to campaign, then the next question will be if he is also too old to serve as president. Biden can't avoid this question, and neither can any candidate who Democrats select to take his place. It would become the focus of the rest of the campaign.
The only way for Democrats to make a clean break from Biden, the only successful way for Democrats to change the subject from Biden's current infirmity to whatever agenda a new Democratic candidate wants to pitch to the voters, is for Biden to resign the presidency.
That would mean a President Kamala Harris, and there is simply no way another Democrat would run against an incumbent Democratic president.
For Democrats, it is a campaign to elect Harris or bust. Until Democrats realize that, they are just spinning their wheels.
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I’ll guarantee they are trying to figure out just who can beat Trump. Not an easy task at this late date. No matter who. I think trump still wins. People can see, feel and hear desperation
I'm sure they are as well. But they've managed to put themselves in a situation where regardless of their solution, it's only going to cause more fracture. I don't see how the Democrats could be optimistic about this election.
Agreed
Dems will have a lot to do. One week from today the state of Nevada requires candidates to be listed on the ballot
Exactly, there's not enough time left. The only path that gives them any kind of chance is if he resigns from the presidency. How likely do think it is that he wants to be in the same footnote as Nixon?...
They will either have to work out a scheme where Biden passes the torch to Harris over the weekend and somehow make her the nominee before next Friday OR they will need Marc Elias to sue Nevada and get another state election law changed.
I don't think suspending his campaign and endorsing Kamala is going to cut it. No matter what reason they give, the topic du jour is Bidens age and mental state, so the question isn't going away. If he's too far gone to run a campaign how is he not too far gone to be president?...
Joe feels betrayed. He was just a cog in a wheel.
So, he should step down as president as well. That makes sense.
Are you high? This fantasy is 100% wrong. Biden didn’t run in 2016 because his son had just died and the family was still grieving.
So you think NBC's "source close to Biden" is lying?
Here's the New York Times:
No idea. Maybe they’re just uniformed, or have a warped perspective. I do know that it was widely reported at the time - and confirmed by Biden himself in later interviews - that Beau’s death and the grieving process is why he didn’t run.
Just stop for a moment and imagine Joe Biden being “pushed” out of doing anything. That’s comedy.
Yeah, whatever. That sounds like BS, too.
Or maybe Biden's not telling the truth. You have left wing mainstream news sources all reporting the same thing based on different sources vs the public word of Joe Biden. To claim Biden is more trustworthy is quite a stretch.
I guess that meaningful if you find it hard to believe a politician is not always entirely truthful in talking to media and capable of settling on a story that makes him look better than the alternative. Biden lying about his past to make himself look better? He would never!
op for a moment and imagine Joe Biden being “pushed” out of doing anything. That’s comedy.
Biden seems exactly like the type of guy who can pushed out of things, especially if lucrative opportunities are made available for a soft landing. He's never demonstrated any sort of commitment to principle or stood up to the party in his career. There's no reason to expect he won't be pushed out this time, either.
He took too long to decide, no doubt his sons death had something to do with that. But Clinton basically blocked him by how well her debates went. If you don't think the president and top dem leaders reaffirmed to him that he shouldn't run, well that seems a little crazy to me.
Yeah, he also said things like..
Do you believe he meant that?
But trusting unnamed sources isn’t? Ok.
Whatever the “real” reason was, this writer is asking us to “remember” that Biden didn’t run because he was forced out.
No one is going to remember that because that’s not what was reported, and it’s not what Biden repeatedly said.
Based on what? FFS there is ample evidence of his physical and mental decline, and he still thinks he’s the best person to be president. Sounds pretty fucking stubborn to me.
He has also said he thought he would have been the best person in 2016. Nothing has changed politically. Those people the source mentioned want to push him aside in favor of someone else, right now, and it’s not close to being a secret. It’s headline news. Was it headline news in 2016? No. Why not? Because Democrats were so much better at keeping a secret in 2016? Come on!
The idea that he chose not to run in 2016 for his own personal reasons just makes more logical sense.
That’s fine. I have no evidence of that. You’re free to think I’m crazy. I have no idea what party leaders said to him behind the scenes, and I don’t think anyone here does, either.
What I remember - the writer is asking us to remember it - is that he talked continuously about his son’s death and the impact on his family. I also remember that he has repeated that story ever since. Maybe he also looked around and saw a lot of support for Hillary. I have no idea.
Is that intended to connect to the topic?