In 1979, when I went in for my annual flight physical, the examiner told me “I don’t know what it is you do, but if you keep doing it, you’re going to have an ulcer in two years and a heart attack before you’re 40.”
Josh Marshall's note to subscribers this afternoon, which I totally agree with:
I hope the leaders have given some good thought to what Kamala Harris’ campaign will look like and how it will do. That’s not at all doubting how she’ll do. It’s just a reflection of the fact that this is a really big decision. But don’t assume that they have hidden knowledge that you or I don’t. This is fundamentally a guess that Harris will do better. An educated guess. But it’s still a leap into the unknown which sets aside a lot of really basic assumptions about how you win the presidency. And while I said I’m agnostic on who the candidate should be, I don’t think it can be anyone besides Joe Biden or Kamala Harris for reasons I’ve said before. I definitely think Harris can win. And I think there are various ways her selection can be a big shot in the arm for Democrats. The last three weeks of paralysis have been devastating and everyone wants to move past this. It won’t be the same campaign. There are slivers of the electorate that Biden has access to which I don’t think Harris does. But I think it goes the other way too. Harris can get to places Biden couldn’t. So it’s a different kind of campaign. It’s probably one where the southern tier states come a bit more into view and the blue wall states a touch less. There are lots of potential upsides and downsides. And everyone has to accept that range of possibilities and throw themselves into making it happen.
Final note. There are a lot of ordinary Democratic voters who are really pissed about the idea that Biden is getting forced out of the race. Anyone who doesn’t get that is totally, totally fooling themselves. And there are a lot of people fooling themselves. I’m pretty confident that is manageable if that happens. But it needs to be managed. The key thing is Biden embracing it and credibly embracing it. The other critical part is Kamala Harris being the next choice. And more generally it has to be done with a lot of smarts and grace to honor Biden’s presidency and not give anyone any sense that he’s being tossed aside or treated in an undignified way. We already had a primary process. Democratic voters chose Joe Biden. You only set that aside in the most extraordinary situations. And only Biden himself has the standing to do that and make it work and have Democrats accept it.
I feel as badly as I did the day my mother died in 1977. But what's going to happen will affect our country not just me. These people had a chance to rally around President Biden and help him and Harris across the finish line. Instead they knee capped him. It honest to God blows my mind.
Yes, Rita, if MAGAts win people will die or be imprisoned. That sadist, Stephen Miller, will be unleashed again to wreak havoc. The free press will be done away with. I could go on, but I'm making myself sick.?
I'm 76. I grew up on stories from my parents about WW2. They both loved FDR who was in a wheelchair and dying. So many of today's Dems are weak and worried about their congressional seats. They don't understand with Trump as President, their seat doesn't mean anything. They would sacrifice their mother to win. I told my husband it feels like the close of WW2 and we lost to Germany and Japan.
I'm Jewish. My kids are half Jewish. With anti-Semite Steven Miller in charge I'm afraid we're going to find ourselves in one of those "camps". But I'll have good company: Chuck Schumer, Jamie Raskin, Jared Moskowitz and many more.
My mom died in 1977 also, the earth shifted in ways that I couldn’t fathom. Our candidate being wounded by friendly fire is earth shifting for all of us, in ways that many of us can see, but cannot stop.
My mother used to tell me as a little girl that she was past angry all the way to downright mad. I am CUSSING MAD at the stupid rift the media and the Dem politicians have cooked up because Joe Biden did not perform like they expected in that stupid shitstorm referred to as a debate.
I’m sure they think they know best, but do they have to destroy the party with this fiasco. They remind me of the genuses at Enron a while back. Arrogant and willing to bet the future of the country.
If this bullshit does cause Biden to step down the Democratic party's most serious risk, I believe, is that many of their previously invested and supporting voters feeling betrayed, disenfranchised, and disgusted, therefore staying away in droves.
The geniuses with their shiny suits and chauffeurered services are simply just unable to understand how the people they are so out of touch with think & feel though, aren't they.
It's been like the invasion of the body snatchers. And honestly if this happens I may not vote. I worked so hard to help Biden in 2020 losing friends along the way. I've donated, I've supported. Hell, I'm all in on the dark Brandon coffee cup. But three months before the election to save democracy, these Democrats led by Obama knife the President??? This group would have pushed FDR's wheelchair over the cliff.
I fully understand, have felt and done the same in the past. That said, I think that the issues in this election are just too important to abstain from when anyone's vote may matter. Speaking personally, I would put my own feelings aside and pull the handle voting for every Democrat (asshole or otherwise) on the ticket over any and every singe Republican ankle.*
I have lived in Texas for almost sixty-five years. There are so many good, decent people here. We vote. We mobilize. We protest. Maybe we make some dents, but I'm not sure because regardless Maga Republicans control this state. Plus a federal judge Trump appointed is here to overturn any verdicts they don't like. If I was a young woman, I wouldn't live here. Ted Cruz is pure scum, and I am going to vote for Colin Allread. Even so Cruz will probably win because people have brain worms. At midterms nine million Texans stayed home. Nine million. I promise not to be one.
It is. Some still seem good at first glance, til you mention equality. Then it’s qualified in a million different ways that I had never noticed before.
Oh thank you. I have only been in Texas for sixty-two years. Loved it before W and the dirty tricksters. I will vote for Allred but think he was stupid to give up his seat when Ted is the slimmest cheater here. And that is a tall hill to climb. Texas is hopeless but hope not all swing states are. DFW would be purple, as Houston was, if not for the evil shenanigans
I refuse to consider anyone but Harris is plausible. Mark Kelly!?!? We need him. We need all the democratic senators. We need all those democratic governors. It’s Harris.
If Biden needs to surrender running then I think, as awful as it is, that he needs to also give her the presidency. That’s what the Constitution says. And then she would be the incumbent.
I am never not voting blue as long as I live. I have to. We have to. I hate what they are doing to the finest president in the last 75 years. It hurts. Hurts bad. I hate them all. But I know and we know it’s democracy or it is fascism.
A choice between fascism and political idiocy. I will never vote Republican again for anything. And I will still vote in every election but I am so sick of a party that is only acceptable because the other party is evil to the core.
I know. Who the hell are some of those others? Why would anyone think any of them would not be subjected to all of the fabrications Biden has? As to the incumbency, it's not enough of a magic key (thinking 13 keys again) that just handing it over so Harris dons the title of President for three months would actually provide any of the electability benefits inherent in the title.
Besides being necessary in the Senate, Mark Kelly is a lousy debater. He did not show well against Blake Masters, but fortunately his opponent was Blake Masters so it didn't matter.
There’s a thought. Let me be clear: I support President Biden, but you’re right, if he has to go, let him resign the presidency. That would avoid ALL of the bullshit involved in picking a new candidate. President Biden is of course smart enough to think of that himself, but I might just drop a line to the White House anyway.
Thank you. I read you often and I have now subscribed. I too will never vote for Adam again. I am disgusted by his public display of disloyalty, political ineptitude and self-defeatism. Feh. And there is no way to nominate anyone but our VP Harris. While I worry about racism and misogyny (and being Jewish-adjacent) I’ll work those communities that have signaled they are only ageist. And those alternatives polling well?? Mark Kelly? Are you shitting me? He is center left at best and my experience is that he is woefully ill-informed about way too many issues beyond his limited interests. I love Whitmer but it’s too soon. Thanks for giving me a place to vent. Onward.
If the vultures after pushing Biden out then eject Harris, that will totally flush any incumbency advantage, and then Trump will be able to blame the incumbent benefit.
This boils my blood, but I also am a realist, and Biden will be pushed out one way or an other.
The fucking Never Trumpers are really pissing me off because they all have fantasy politics dreams of getting one of their "preferred" dems. Fuck all of them.
Well, I still don't believe Biden will be pushed out one way or the other. He may, but I don't accept that it's foretold already.
It burns my grills though that the very people who are working to push him out, will then if he goes and we lose to the 2025 people say "I told you so! He should have gone sooner". If he doesn't go they'll say "I told you so! He should have gone!" If he goes and we win with anyone else they'll say "I told you so! He had to go!" and if he stays and wins they will say " " crickets. Oh look a rabbit...
This is a no-win situation, but alas, I suspect that the orchestration of mania and hysteria will ultimately lead him to being removed from the ticket. I don't like it, but it sure seems like the chorus of angry cries is growing exponentially.
Sucks, because we will end up losing the benefit of incumbency, even if Harris is the replacement.
The media, and increasingly the "elite" dems smell blood in the water. We look terrible, and regardless of how awful the R's are, they are unified and marching in the same direction.
I swear the Dems are like the Buffalo Bills, and love losing.
And this is my party, has been for almost 40 years since I came of age.
Well, if your vote is needed to defeat Steve Garvey, you'll vote for him. But as many wise people would be saying now, only Democrats could do such a fine job of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.
I know. Back in 1992, Harry Reid faced a primary challenge from a Perobot running as a Democrat. A friend and I were a little upset with some of Reid's votes and he said, "Can we ignore it as a protest?" I said, "Yes, but the nut might win."
Other than a stream of profanity, appeals to the gods for politicians with common sense, all I can say is “What the fuck with a circular firing squad??”
And from Jessica Craven Chop Wood, Carry Water 7/18:
Hi, all, and happy Thursday!
I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling a shift. The decent, reasonable majority of Americans who make up the “guardrails of democracy” (to quote Heather Cox Richardson) are showing up and showing out! They are tired of being told they’re going to lose. They are fighting back.
Speaking of Heather Cox Richardson, 2400 people attended our event with her yesterday; we raised $236,000 for Democratic state legislative races and NOPE’s FLIP THE HOUSE candidate slate. The original goal was 50K. WOW! It was an incredible event. Once I have a recording I’ll post it here.
>>> They are tired of being told they are going to lose! !!!!!
Yes, we are!!!!!
Please keep up all the dialogue you are generating, TC, because you give it <both historical and current> context, but also fierce force for today’s scene.
Your headline fits so many issues in so many ways:
There’s something odd going on here. Does anyone remember a cover-story interview Biden gave to Time Magazine? It wasn’t all that long ago, published June 24 in fact, but it was sucked down the memory hole of our Vichy press after The Debate in favor of The Narrative. Lest anyone think that Biden had been assisted by editing, Time published a transcript as well. If you have a magazine subscription service like Apple Newsstand, it’s easy to find. Compare it and the cover photograph, with the Biden Must Go narratives and their unflattering, carefully selected file photos, and it’s incredible, not only that the same person is under discussion, but that we are being persuaded into the belief that this person is unfit to lead. The surreality is even stronger when you compare the interview with the one the magazine did of Trump (May 27).
Yes! Bingo! And the debate itself, which I hate calling a debate… I have the transcript, never read it in full, but read commentary that even though President Biden seemed half asleep at times and, as we viewed, was not articulate, the Biden portion of transcript itself — if the event were judged only by that — was strong in substance, I read. We’re seeing none of this in the media. I agree with you. Thank you for your comment! The two songs… Marvin Gaye and Buffalo Springfield …What’s Goin’ On? and Somethin’s Happenin’ Here… surreal how they’re a perfect fit!
We’re meant to keep the worrisome images from the debate top of mind, while obliterating everything we know about the president even from the quite recent past. A lady commented farther down about his speeches in Detroit and, just before he went into COVID isolation, at the NAACP. They were classic stemwinders from the old master, each one good of its kind. Yet nothing is enough.
And this showing up just now in The New Republic… Twisted and untrue but it’s an interesting dynamic in this whole mess… (The label “replacement theory” is floating around in my head but with new meaning.) From the article: “…it’s clear Republicans are worried about the possibility of a new Democratic candidate on the ballot. Months ago, top conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation began scheming ways to insure Biden remains on the ballot.
“We would make it extraordinarily difficult” for Democrats to change their candidate, a Heritage Foundation leader told NOTUS, “We definitely want the dementia patient.”…”
Newsflash: But he’s NOT!
(Schoolteacher Kathie recognizes the punctuation is off on this, but that’s the least of our worries.)
I saw it too. In the Bezos Post. If it’s true, it’ll take quite long a while for me to forgive the 1940 French Generals Caucus (thank you, TC). My heart is heavy.
Keep in mind that all the top Democrats and donors are probably in Trump's cross hairs if he wins. They probably have more to lose than an election and they're no doubt feeling the effects of the Trump v. USA decision. It was intended to shock, and looks like it's working.
You're so correct TC! When these items show up in my inbox I do not bother. Straight to trash. I mean how can you read Timothy Snyder, Anne Applebaum, HCR, and others with their heads on straight and then let these other light weights get into your head? I don't need these naysayers and their stupid pronouncements. These guys would have sunk Washington's boat that fateful night. Good thing there were just enough people who kept at the heavy lifting. Appreciate your posting but I skipped it and went straight to the chase 🥰
I wish they’d release this internal polling that shows Joe getting destroyed or down ballot people losing support because he’s at the top of the ticket. Every public poll has Joe up or down within the margin of error. 538 has the race for Biden 54 of 100 tries. Every public poll for senate I’ve seen has the senator out performing Biden. Are they worried it won’t be a landslide or something? Replacing Joe the way they’re going about it is pretty shitty to we rank and filers.
And don’t get me started on the Beltway press anti-Kamala fixation. (I typed this sentence and then kinda kept going but figured I’d leave it in for emphasis 🤣). It’s almost like the 2020 version of Kamala was stillborn in their brains the day she dropped out of the presidential race. She’s grown incredibly in office and is THE ONLY FUCKING PERSON being considered by anybody with foreign policy experience. Last time I opened the internet, the world’s on fire and being governor of Pennsylvania, Maryland or Michigan isn’t going to have the requisite skills. How long did it take Kamala to get her sea legs? She was coming from the Senate where they at least all have some foreign policy exposure. But the media wants us to run A CENTRIST. Look at the people they poll, ffs. Fuck these guys.
Josh Marshall's note this afternoon deals with your question:
All three seem to be telling Biden that he should step aside, at least in part because he’s endangering other Democrats on the ballot. As I’ve explained, private polling data from the campaigns shows most Democrats entirely unaffected by all of this. They were running ahead of Biden before the debate. And that gap widened after the debate. Their fear is that a losing and demoralized presidential campaign will lead to a fall off in turnout that will swamp a lot of Democrats who polls are showing to be ahead. That’s not an unreasonable fear.
I wanted Biden re-elected. Bottom line. I could care less about these other Democrats because if Trump gets elected, he'll do whatever he wants just like Hitler did.
It had taken Joe Biden's 50+ years of political experience to pull America back from the cliff it was about to go over as a result of CFDT's presidency. Can anyone say pandemic with hundreds of thousands dead, many without the comfort of their families? And that's just one of the huge horrible things CFDT did while in office. Yes, I know there are people dumb enough to vote for someone who suggested ingesting bleach. Biden has quietly governed and done an amazing job. Now the pols want to dump him? STUPID!!!!
Do you remember when people said IM NOT A MEMBER OF ANY ORGANIZED PARTY. IM A DEMOCRAT. Here they come out of the woodwork. A smart experienced woman with international political experience is ready to take over if Biden gets sick and they think they can pull a couple of newbies out of thin air to replace them? What the heck do they put in the water on Capitol Hill?????
And polls of 500 Russian spies mean nothing. Don’t quote any polls. Idiots. Biden did a great interview with Lester Holt. He was snappy and powerful. Just like we needed. And the media slammed him.
Not just the media - i've seen it from the commenters who are cock-sure that Biden is deteriorating and frame the interview with vague negative generalities. It's cult-like behavior when you think about it, or at least a casting about for reasons to support their already made conclusion.
That quote, which gets repeated ad nauseam, is attributed to Will Rogers (1879–1935). Note that he died early in the FDR administration. It's past time to retire it and maybe replace it with something else, like maybe "Et tu, Brute" (You too, Brutus?) from Shakespeare's JULIUS CAESAR. It's what Caesar says when he realizes that his friend Brutus is among those trying to kill him.
This morning, I wanted to spit in Jeffery Katzenberg’s face. The stupid shit who couldn’t succeed in the entertainment business until Spielberg and Geffen agreed to partner with his sorry ass is telling me that Biden should drop out at the last minute? Fuck him.
Tom, I’m sorry, but I didn’t read either part 1 or part 2 after the first paragraph. My response was WTF!! How in the hell have we gone from having a super-qualified and fire-tested and survived candidate to “Oh, my God, he’s going to LOSE EVERYTHING we’re working for”? And let’s face reality: IT’S BIDEN THAT HAS GIVEN US ALL THE WINS WE’VE HAD THE LAST FOUR YEARS!!! I’m going to write my postcards and keep doing whatever I can and let the assholes who can’t remember from minute to minute who it is that “they” say should be IN THE KNOW! But then, I’m 82yo, so obviously senile and probably don’t know what I’m talking about.
LBJ decided not to run again in ‘68 and we got tricky Dick and the Southern Strategy that ultimately led the nation to this moment of trumpism. If Biden gets kicked to the curbside this late in the game, is there enough time to get the next candidate up and running or are we headed to another Dark Ages? Fuck these interesting times…I am so disgusted…
You write: These bastards think they can abandon the first black woman Vice President and not lose the support of the most reliable group of Democratic voters? What fucking planet do they live on? It certainly isn’t Earth One.
Last evening on YouTube watching Rachel Maddow chairing a round table with Jen Psaki, Ari Melber, Joy Reid and maybe somebody else, it was Joy who said she had been talking to many many many many people all day on the phone, mainly CBC, and she was saying: whether it’s big money or whoever these people are, looking ahead to 2028 and not wanting Harris to be the presumptive nominee and so if they can get her out now with a new ticket, well… WHAT???!!! You get the picture. So ugly, infighting, Civil War within the party when we need to be unified to simply!... vanquish!…The fascist GOP!!!
The voters in the primary selected Biden as the nominee. I read somewhere that there is some procedure whereby this cannot be ignored, that they need the voters’ permission? Well, yes, in a democracy… And the last I heard…. …..
Joy remarked that the CDC members love Kamala, and Joe Biden too — true affection— so I was not clear in my remarks that they are not part of this repulsive revolt that’s so mysterious, and extremely, unsettlingly divisive … very possibly anti Kamala.
Thank you, thank you, thank you, Tom. I am sick and tired of ageism, racism, genderism and all the rest of the damned isms. Biden is, as you said, the best President we have had in more years than I care to remember. I don't care if he's 82 or 92, he is admired and respected in Europe and Asia. He has done MORE for American citizens than any president in more years than most of you youngsters have lived. Putin is probably laughing his pants off at the stupid Americans playing right into his hands. Of course he wants the trumpster, Trump will hand him Ukraine wrapped up in blue and yellow ribbons. Trump will hand him America so long as Putin allows Trump to retain the embellishments of royalty. Screw all of them. I hope they die sweating in their jail cells after the Project 2025 takes over the US in November.
I've been tearful all day. I don't suffer fools. Don't pee on my leg and tell me it's raining. And these Democrats from Obama on are peeing on me. Obama pushed Hillary in 2016. Joe wanted to run. He wrote same in a book about his son, Beau but Obama wanted Hillary. How'd that work out. What Democrats as a whole have never understood is that the United States is not California. The vast majority is centrist. Some may lean left. Some may lean right. But they're not liberal. Joe Biden is a centrist. He's smart and has over fifty years of experience. Under his administration, the United States has flourished. Our economy is the envy of the world. He has passed remarkable bipartisan bills. He is the damn incumbent president. You don't abandon that with one bad debate performance. People like Pelosi, Obama, Schiff - they never wanted Biden and they're using this to push him out. When the Black Caucus, the Progressive Caucus and Bernie Sanders came out for Biden, this crap should have stopped. When the President said he was staying in, this crap should have stopped. The media has always been a whore ready and willing to open her legs to the highest bidder so fuck them. But what they are doing is a betrayal at the highest level, and I will never forgive them for it. Today I cry because these idiots with the help of Russia have "assassinated" my President and are assuring a Trump victory. Fuck all of them.
Great response, Rita. I'm with you all the way. I'm 91 and I'm so sorry we raised a generation of I want it all and I want it NOW. I don't want to wait for my turn. Joe is exactly the man you describe. He's a proven winner - for goodness sake he's just won the primaries handily. 'Dance with the man what brung ya'
Well said sir! - I think that VP Harris would make a good President, and I think that she would aggressively prosecute a campaign against Trump. In fact, I think that it would be fun to watch!
Watching Kamala Harris the past 10 days, I don't see how anyone can say she is not ready and able to go the distance. As was pointed out on Deadline Whitehouse at its opening, she has managed to personalize all the grave issues we face this year. She has definitely "grown into the role." I think she has done it over time, since Biden gave her the assignment of taking on the social issues, but it is really apparent now. If it's her, I am all in without reservation. If not, I am in for the fight because we really are at an existential point in the history of the Republic that is the equal of what my ancestor who crossed the Delaware faced, and what my ancestor at Little Round Top faced. But if it isn't her, I won't forget what has been done by these people.
I noticed that the Trump campaign refused to set up a debate between Harris & Vance - using the excuse of this sh**storm the Dems are producing. I think they're just scared.
Josh Marshall's note to subscribers this afternoon, which I totally agree with:
I hope the leaders have given some good thought to what Kamala Harris’ campaign will look like and how it will do. That’s not at all doubting how she’ll do. It’s just a reflection of the fact that this is a really big decision. But don’t assume that they have hidden knowledge that you or I don’t. This is fundamentally a guess that Harris will do better. An educated guess. But it’s still a leap into the unknown which sets aside a lot of really basic assumptions about how you win the presidency. And while I said I’m agnostic on who the candidate should be, I don’t think it can be anyone besides Joe Biden or Kamala Harris for reasons I’ve said before. I definitely think Harris can win. And I think there are various ways her selection can be a big shot in the arm for Democrats. The last three weeks of paralysis have been devastating and everyone wants to move past this. It won’t be the same campaign. There are slivers of the electorate that Biden has access to which I don’t think Harris does. But I think it goes the other way too. Harris can get to places Biden couldn’t. So it’s a different kind of campaign. It’s probably one where the southern tier states come a bit more into view and the blue wall states a touch less. There are lots of potential upsides and downsides. And everyone has to accept that range of possibilities and throw themselves into making it happen.
Final note. There are a lot of ordinary Democratic voters who are really pissed about the idea that Biden is getting forced out of the race. Anyone who doesn’t get that is totally, totally fooling themselves. And there are a lot of people fooling themselves. I’m pretty confident that is manageable if that happens. But it needs to be managed. The key thing is Biden embracing it and credibly embracing it. The other critical part is Kamala Harris being the next choice. And more generally it has to be done with a lot of smarts and grace to honor Biden’s presidency and not give anyone any sense that he’s being tossed aside or treated in an undignified way. We already had a primary process. Democratic voters chose Joe Biden. You only set that aside in the most extraordinary situations. And only Biden himself has the standing to do that and make it work and have Democrats accept it.
Exactly, I’m One of those who is totally pissed at how he is being treated
I feel as badly as I did the day my mother died in 1977. But what's going to happen will affect our country not just me. These people had a chance to rally around President Biden and help him and Harris across the finish line. Instead they knee capped him. It honest to God blows my mind.
Yes, Rita, if MAGAts win people will die or be imprisoned. That sadist, Stephen Miller, will be unleashed again to wreak havoc. The free press will be done away with. I could go on, but I'm making myself sick.?
I'm 76. I grew up on stories from my parents about WW2. They both loved FDR who was in a wheelchair and dying. So many of today's Dems are weak and worried about their congressional seats. They don't understand with Trump as President, their seat doesn't mean anything. They would sacrifice their mother to win. I told my husband it feels like the close of WW2 and we lost to Germany and Japan.
We may have ‘won’ the Civil war but the segregationists are more powerful than ever!
And I thought it was repubs who sold their soul for a seat in Congress.
I'm Jewish. My kids are half Jewish. With anti-Semite Steven Miller in charge I'm afraid we're going to find ourselves in one of those "camps". But I'll have good company: Chuck Schumer, Jamie Raskin, Jared Moskowitz and many more.
My mom died in 1977 also, the earth shifted in ways that I couldn’t fathom. Our candidate being wounded by friendly fire is earth shifting for all of us, in ways that many of us can see, but cannot stop.
My mother used to tell me as a little girl that she was past angry all the way to downright mad. I am CUSSING MAD at the stupid rift the media and the Dem politicians have cooked up because Joe Biden did not perform like they expected in that stupid shitstorm referred to as a debate.
Whose idea was that debate anyway? The timing was abysmal and the evil, cruel Blabbermouth is incapable of debating or even telling the truth.
I'm with you, Ms. Chilcutt.
ESPECIALLY the bit about foregoing Kamala Harris. WTeverlovingF are they even thinking???
Totally ignoring the vote of the people. Damn, destruction derby time
We, too, are absolutely pissed off at the defection taking place.
At first I saw the word ‘defication’ instead of defection! Perhaps the former word is apt for this election cycle!
I’m sure they think they know best, but do they have to destroy the party with this fiasco. They remind me of the genuses at Enron a while back. Arrogant and willing to bet the future of the country.
If this bullshit does cause Biden to step down the Democratic party's most serious risk, I believe, is that many of their previously invested and supporting voters feeling betrayed, disenfranchised, and disgusted, therefore staying away in droves.
The geniuses with their shiny suits and chauffeurered services are simply just unable to understand how the people they are so out of touch with think & feel though, aren't they.
It's been like the invasion of the body snatchers. And honestly if this happens I may not vote. I worked so hard to help Biden in 2020 losing friends along the way. I've donated, I've supported. Hell, I'm all in on the dark Brandon coffee cup. But three months before the election to save democracy, these Democrats led by Obama knife the President??? This group would have pushed FDR's wheelchair over the cliff.
No. You cannot do that. None of us can. We have to be stronger than that if we will save ourselves. And now we know no one else is going to do it.
We must resist now because there won't be a later.
We must work even harder. Revenge will only serve chump
I fully understand, have felt and done the same in the past. That said, I think that the issues in this election are just too important to abstain from when anyone's vote may matter. Speaking personally, I would put my own feelings aside and pull the handle voting for every Democrat (asshole or otherwise) on the ticket over any and every singe Republican ankle.*
* Three foot lower than an asshole.
I have lived in Texas for almost sixty-five years. There are so many good, decent people here. We vote. We mobilize. We protest. Maybe we make some dents, but I'm not sure because regardless Maga Republicans control this state. Plus a federal judge Trump appointed is here to overturn any verdicts they don't like. If I was a young woman, I wouldn't live here. Ted Cruz is pure scum, and I am going to vote for Colin Allread. Even so Cruz will probably win because people have brain worms. At midterms nine million Texans stayed home. Nine million. I promise not to be one.
Thanks for the reminder that the Good People in Texas are Really Good People (cuz it's harder to do there)
It is. Some still seem good at first glance, til you mention equality. Then it’s qualified in a million different ways that I had never noticed before.
Oh thank you. I have only been in Texas for sixty-two years. Loved it before W and the dirty tricksters. I will vote for Allred but think he was stupid to give up his seat when Ted is the slimmest cheater here. And that is a tall hill to climb. Texas is hopeless but hope not all swing states are. DFW would be purple, as Houston was, if not for the evil shenanigans
Oh please, NO. Let’s use our rage to our purpose. If Joe can deal with this, so must we…
I hope nobody stays away. That would be crippling all of us, not just shooting Dems in the feet.
I refuse to consider anyone but Harris is plausible. Mark Kelly!?!? We need him. We need all the democratic senators. We need all those democratic governors. It’s Harris.
If Biden needs to surrender running then I think, as awful as it is, that he needs to also give her the presidency. That’s what the Constitution says. And then she would be the incumbent.
I am never not voting blue as long as I live. I have to. We have to. I hate what they are doing to the finest president in the last 75 years. It hurts. Hurts bad. I hate them all. But I know and we know it’s democracy or it is fascism.
Stay strong.
Staying strong is getting real hard.
A choice between fascism and political idiocy. I will never vote Republican again for anything. And I will still vote in every election but I am so sick of a party that is only acceptable because the other party is evil to the core.
I know. Who the hell are some of those others? Why would anyone think any of them would not be subjected to all of the fabrications Biden has? As to the incumbency, it's not enough of a magic key (thinking 13 keys again) that just handing it over so Harris dons the title of President for three months would actually provide any of the electability benefits inherent in the title.
Besides being necessary in the Senate, Mark Kelly is a lousy debater. He did not show well against Blake Masters, but fortunately his opponent was Blake Masters so it didn't matter.
There’s a thought. Let me be clear: I support President Biden, but you’re right, if he has to go, let him resign the presidency. That would avoid ALL of the bullshit involved in picking a new candidate. President Biden is of course smart enough to think of that himself, but I might just drop a line to the White House anyway.
This is Allan Lichtman's Plan B: https://www.youtube.com/@AllanLichtmanYouTube. He's a professor who has predicted correctly all the presidential winners since 1984.
Thank you. I read you often and I have now subscribed. I too will never vote for Adam again. I am disgusted by his public display of disloyalty, political ineptitude and self-defeatism. Feh. And there is no way to nominate anyone but our VP Harris. While I worry about racism and misogyny (and being Jewish-adjacent) I’ll work those communities that have signaled they are only ageist. And those alternatives polling well?? Mark Kelly? Are you shitting me? He is center left at best and my experience is that he is woefully ill-informed about way too many issues beyond his limited interests. I love Whitmer but it’s too soon. Thanks for giving me a place to vent. Onward.
Thank you!
I agree.
If the vultures after pushing Biden out then eject Harris, that will totally flush any incumbency advantage, and then Trump will be able to blame the incumbent benefit.
This boils my blood, but I also am a realist, and Biden will be pushed out one way or an other.
The fucking Never Trumpers are really pissing me off because they all have fantasy politics dreams of getting one of their "preferred" dems. Fuck all of them.
Well, I still don't believe Biden will be pushed out one way or the other. He may, but I don't accept that it's foretold already.
It burns my grills though that the very people who are working to push him out, will then if he goes and we lose to the 2025 people say "I told you so! He should have gone sooner". If he doesn't go they'll say "I told you so! He should have gone!" If he goes and we win with anyone else they'll say "I told you so! He had to go!" and if he stays and wins they will say " " crickets. Oh look a rabbit...
You are so right, it “burns my grills too” whatever that is.
This is a no-win situation, but alas, I suspect that the orchestration of mania and hysteria will ultimately lead him to being removed from the ticket. I don't like it, but it sure seems like the chorus of angry cries is growing exponentially.
Sucks, because we will end up losing the benefit of incumbency, even if Harris is the replacement.
The media, and increasingly the "elite" dems smell blood in the water. We look terrible, and regardless of how awful the R's are, they are unified and marching in the same direction.
I swear the Dems are like the Buffalo Bills, and love losing.
And this is my party, has been for almost 40 years since I came of age.
I have always been an Independent. What they are doing to Joe Biden is going to usher in Trump. Such a profound betrayal.
...where they breathe.
Our National Security depends on Biden’ s foreign policy expertise. Whitmer has no experience there
So glad I supported Barbara Lee in the primary!
Literally makes me want to scream and pull my hair out. WTF is WRONG with people!
Well, if your vote is needed to defeat Steve Garvey, you'll vote for him. But as many wise people would be saying now, only Democrats could do such a fine job of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.
Yes. One thing I learned in the service long ago is how to eat a shit sandwich and say "Thank you, sir! Can I have some more?"
I know. Back in 1992, Harry Reid faced a primary challenge from a Perobot running as a Democrat. A friend and I were a little upset with some of Reid's votes and he said, "Can we ignore it as a protest?" I said, "Yes, but the nut might win."
Churchill would understand, and say WTF
Other than a stream of profanity, appeals to the gods for politicians with common sense, all I can say is “What the fuck with a circular firing squad??”
Dems are good with their aim in that position. Wish they would aim at our opposition
Until I hear Jim Clyburn say anything, I'm with Joe.
And from Jessica Craven Chop Wood, Carry Water 7/18:
Hi, all, and happy Thursday!
I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling a shift. The decent, reasonable majority of Americans who make up the “guardrails of democracy” (to quote Heather Cox Richardson) are showing up and showing out! They are tired of being told they’re going to lose. They are fighting back.
Speaking of Heather Cox Richardson, 2400 people attended our event with her yesterday; we raised $236,000 for Democratic state legislative races and NOPE’s FLIP THE HOUSE candidate slate. The original goal was 50K. WOW! It was an incredible event. Once I have a recording I’ll post it here.
>>> They are tired of being told they are going to lose! !!!!!
Yes, we are!!!!!
Please keep up all the dialogue you are generating, TC, because you give it <both historical and current> context, but also fierce force for today’s scene.
Your headline fits so many issues in so many ways:
DO NOT SURRENDER PREMATURELY
There’s something odd going on here. Does anyone remember a cover-story interview Biden gave to Time Magazine? It wasn’t all that long ago, published June 24 in fact, but it was sucked down the memory hole of our Vichy press after The Debate in favor of The Narrative. Lest anyone think that Biden had been assisted by editing, Time published a transcript as well. If you have a magazine subscription service like Apple Newsstand, it’s easy to find. Compare it and the cover photograph, with the Biden Must Go narratives and their unflattering, carefully selected file photos, and it’s incredible, not only that the same person is under discussion, but that we are being persuaded into the belief that this person is unfit to lead. The surreality is even stronger when you compare the interview with the one the magazine did of Trump (May 27).
Yes! Bingo! And the debate itself, which I hate calling a debate… I have the transcript, never read it in full, but read commentary that even though President Biden seemed half asleep at times and, as we viewed, was not articulate, the Biden portion of transcript itself — if the event were judged only by that — was strong in substance, I read. We’re seeing none of this in the media. I agree with you. Thank you for your comment! The two songs… Marvin Gaye and Buffalo Springfield …What’s Goin’ On? and Somethin’s Happenin’ Here… surreal how they’re a perfect fit!
We’re meant to keep the worrisome images from the debate top of mind, while obliterating everything we know about the president even from the quite recent past. A lady commented farther down about his speeches in Detroit and, just before he went into COVID isolation, at the NAACP. They were classic stemwinders from the old master, each one good of its kind. Yet nothing is enough.
And this showing up just now in The New Republic… Twisted and untrue but it’s an interesting dynamic in this whole mess… (The label “replacement theory” is floating around in my head but with new meaning.) From the article: “…it’s clear Republicans are worried about the possibility of a new Democratic candidate on the ballot. Months ago, top conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation began scheming ways to insure Biden remains on the ballot.
“We would make it extraordinarily difficult” for Democrats to change their candidate, a Heritage Foundation leader told NOTUS, “We definitely want the dementia patient.”…”
Newsflash: But he’s NOT!
(Schoolteacher Kathie recognizes the punctuation is off on this, but that’s the least of our worries.)
Just now a headline that Nancy Pelosi thinks he’s getting close to perhaps bowing out… What is this?????
I saw it too. In the Bezos Post. If it’s true, it’ll take quite long a while for me to forgive the 1940 French Generals Caucus (thank you, TC). My heart is heavy.
Keep in mind that all the top Democrats and donors are probably in Trump's cross hairs if he wins. They probably have more to lose than an election and they're no doubt feeling the effects of the Trump v. USA decision. It was intended to shock, and looks like it's working.
You're so correct TC! When these items show up in my inbox I do not bother. Straight to trash. I mean how can you read Timothy Snyder, Anne Applebaum, HCR, and others with their heads on straight and then let these other light weights get into your head? I don't need these naysayers and their stupid pronouncements. These guys would have sunk Washington's boat that fateful night. Good thing there were just enough people who kept at the heavy lifting. Appreciate your posting but I skipped it and went straight to the chase 🥰
You listened to the warning. :-)
Don’t listen to Steve Schmidt
I was talking about my warning of the contents of the post. Dropped Schmidt when he decided to work for that idiot.
yeah...he's a putz, pure and simple.
as is Woody Harrelson, who played him in the HBO movie...
I've been saying people have overlooked that the Atlantic has really turned. Like bad milk.
I wish they’d release this internal polling that shows Joe getting destroyed or down ballot people losing support because he’s at the top of the ticket. Every public poll has Joe up or down within the margin of error. 538 has the race for Biden 54 of 100 tries. Every public poll for senate I’ve seen has the senator out performing Biden. Are they worried it won’t be a landslide or something? Replacing Joe the way they’re going about it is pretty shitty to we rank and filers.
And don’t get me started on the Beltway press anti-Kamala fixation. (I typed this sentence and then kinda kept going but figured I’d leave it in for emphasis 🤣). It’s almost like the 2020 version of Kamala was stillborn in their brains the day she dropped out of the presidential race. She’s grown incredibly in office and is THE ONLY FUCKING PERSON being considered by anybody with foreign policy experience. Last time I opened the internet, the world’s on fire and being governor of Pennsylvania, Maryland or Michigan isn’t going to have the requisite skills. How long did it take Kamala to get her sea legs? She was coming from the Senate where they at least all have some foreign policy exposure. But the media wants us to run A CENTRIST. Look at the people they poll, ffs. Fuck these guys.
Josh Marshall's note this afternoon deals with your question:
All three seem to be telling Biden that he should step aside, at least in part because he’s endangering other Democrats on the ballot. As I’ve explained, private polling data from the campaigns shows most Democrats entirely unaffected by all of this. They were running ahead of Biden before the debate. And that gap widened after the debate. Their fear is that a losing and demoralized presidential campaign will lead to a fall off in turnout that will swamp a lot of Democrats who polls are showing to be ahead. That’s not an unreasonable fear.
I wanted Biden re-elected. Bottom line. I could care less about these other Democrats because if Trump gets elected, he'll do whatever he wants just like Hitler did.
I read that after I posted. It was a couple emails further down my inbox from yours.
It had taken Joe Biden's 50+ years of political experience to pull America back from the cliff it was about to go over as a result of CFDT's presidency. Can anyone say pandemic with hundreds of thousands dead, many without the comfort of their families? And that's just one of the huge horrible things CFDT did while in office. Yes, I know there are people dumb enough to vote for someone who suggested ingesting bleach. Biden has quietly governed and done an amazing job. Now the pols want to dump him? STUPID!!!!
Do you remember when people said IM NOT A MEMBER OF ANY ORGANIZED PARTY. IM A DEMOCRAT. Here they come out of the woodwork. A smart experienced woman with international political experience is ready to take over if Biden gets sick and they think they can pull a couple of newbies out of thin air to replace them? What the heck do they put in the water on Capitol Hill?????
And polls of 500 Russian spies mean nothing. Don’t quote any polls. Idiots. Biden did a great interview with Lester Holt. He was snappy and powerful. Just like we needed. And the media slammed him.
Jon Stewart did give him credit for his response to Holt's questions that have not been equally asked of Trump.
What a shame Stewart’s positive thoughts went no place.
Not just the media - i've seen it from the commenters who are cock-sure that Biden is deteriorating and frame the interview with vague negative generalities. It's cult-like behavior when you think about it, or at least a casting about for reasons to support their already made conclusion.
That quote, which gets repeated ad nauseam, is attributed to Will Rogers (1879–1935). Note that he died early in the FDR administration. It's past time to retire it and maybe replace it with something else, like maybe "Et tu, Brute" (You too, Brutus?) from Shakespeare's JULIUS CAESAR. It's what Caesar says when he realizes that his friend Brutus is among those trying to kill him.
It was Will Rogers.
I saw Susanna had already said it. It can be odd the order in which the comments show up... and hers was down off the page until it wasn't!
This morning, I wanted to spit in Jeffery Katzenberg’s face. The stupid shit who couldn’t succeed in the entertainment business until Spielberg and Geffen agreed to partner with his sorry ass is telling me that Biden should drop out at the last minute? Fuck him.
Tom, I’m sorry, but I didn’t read either part 1 or part 2 after the first paragraph. My response was WTF!! How in the hell have we gone from having a super-qualified and fire-tested and survived candidate to “Oh, my God, he’s going to LOSE EVERYTHING we’re working for”? And let’s face reality: IT’S BIDEN THAT HAS GIVEN US ALL THE WINS WE’VE HAD THE LAST FOUR YEARS!!! I’m going to write my postcards and keep doing whatever I can and let the assholes who can’t remember from minute to minute who it is that “they” say should be IN THE KNOW! But then, I’m 82yo, so obviously senile and probably don’t know what I’m talking about.
Me too
LBJ decided not to run again in ‘68 and we got tricky Dick and the Southern Strategy that ultimately led the nation to this moment of trumpism. If Biden gets kicked to the curbside this late in the game, is there enough time to get the next candidate up and running or are we headed to another Dark Ages? Fuck these interesting times…I am so disgusted…
Dark ages won't begin to describe the dictatorship of the Donald.
You write: These bastards think they can abandon the first black woman Vice President and not lose the support of the most reliable group of Democratic voters? What fucking planet do they live on? It certainly isn’t Earth One.
Last evening on YouTube watching Rachel Maddow chairing a round table with Jen Psaki, Ari Melber, Joy Reid and maybe somebody else, it was Joy who said she had been talking to many many many many people all day on the phone, mainly CBC, and she was saying: whether it’s big money or whoever these people are, looking ahead to 2028 and not wanting Harris to be the presumptive nominee and so if they can get her out now with a new ticket, well… WHAT???!!! You get the picture. So ugly, infighting, Civil War within the party when we need to be unified to simply!... vanquish!…The fascist GOP!!!
The voters in the primary selected Biden as the nominee. I read somewhere that there is some procedure whereby this cannot be ignored, that they need the voters’ permission? Well, yes, in a democracy… And the last I heard…. …..
Joy remarked that the CDC members love Kamala, and Joe Biden too — true affection— so I was not clear in my remarks that they are not part of this repulsive revolt that’s so mysterious, and extremely, unsettlingly divisive … very possibly anti Kamala.
Thank you, thank you, thank you, Tom. I am sick and tired of ageism, racism, genderism and all the rest of the damned isms. Biden is, as you said, the best President we have had in more years than I care to remember. I don't care if he's 82 or 92, he is admired and respected in Europe and Asia. He has done MORE for American citizens than any president in more years than most of you youngsters have lived. Putin is probably laughing his pants off at the stupid Americans playing right into his hands. Of course he wants the trumpster, Trump will hand him Ukraine wrapped up in blue and yellow ribbons. Trump will hand him America so long as Putin allows Trump to retain the embellishments of royalty. Screw all of them. I hope they die sweating in their jail cells after the Project 2025 takes over the US in November.
This made me cry because it's so true.
I'm sorry I made you cry, Rita. But if trump wins because some Democrats are so ageistwe will all need to cry.
I've been tearful all day. I don't suffer fools. Don't pee on my leg and tell me it's raining. And these Democrats from Obama on are peeing on me. Obama pushed Hillary in 2016. Joe wanted to run. He wrote same in a book about his son, Beau but Obama wanted Hillary. How'd that work out. What Democrats as a whole have never understood is that the United States is not California. The vast majority is centrist. Some may lean left. Some may lean right. But they're not liberal. Joe Biden is a centrist. He's smart and has over fifty years of experience. Under his administration, the United States has flourished. Our economy is the envy of the world. He has passed remarkable bipartisan bills. He is the damn incumbent president. You don't abandon that with one bad debate performance. People like Pelosi, Obama, Schiff - they never wanted Biden and they're using this to push him out. When the Black Caucus, the Progressive Caucus and Bernie Sanders came out for Biden, this crap should have stopped. When the President said he was staying in, this crap should have stopped. The media has always been a whore ready and willing to open her legs to the highest bidder so fuck them. But what they are doing is a betrayal at the highest level, and I will never forgive them for it. Today I cry because these idiots with the help of Russia have "assassinated" my President and are assuring a Trump victory. Fuck all of them.
Great response, Rita. I'm with you all the way. I'm 91 and I'm so sorry we raised a generation of I want it all and I want it NOW. I don't want to wait for my turn. Joe is exactly the man you describe. He's a proven winner - for goodness sake he's just won the primaries handily. 'Dance with the man what brung ya'
Well said sir! - I think that VP Harris would make a good President, and I think that she would aggressively prosecute a campaign against Trump. In fact, I think that it would be fun to watch!
Watching Kamala Harris the past 10 days, I don't see how anyone can say she is not ready and able to go the distance. As was pointed out on Deadline Whitehouse at its opening, she has managed to personalize all the grave issues we face this year. She has definitely "grown into the role." I think she has done it over time, since Biden gave her the assignment of taking on the social issues, but it is really apparent now. If it's her, I am all in without reservation. If not, I am in for the fight because we really are at an existential point in the history of the Republic that is the equal of what my ancestor who crossed the Delaware faced, and what my ancestor at Little Round Top faced. But if it isn't her, I won't forget what has been done by these people.
I noticed that the Trump campaign refused to set up a debate between Harris & Vance - using the excuse of this sh**storm the Dems are producing. I think they're just scared.
I agree.