Hard to imagine a worse result for the Dems and for the country in my view. I heard one pundit suggest that if they do truly believe that Trump represents an existential threat to our democracy, as many Dem leaders have said ad nauseam and that I too believe, they then have a fundamental obligation to the country to replace him with another candidate. An unmitigated disaster..... How is it that the greatest country on Earth with a population in excess of 300 million people can end up with two disastrously unqualified candidates for the most important job on the planet?
As a self-described moderate independent who agrees with what BT has said about Trump and who intends to vote for whoever is running against him (except, of course, RFK, Jr., or any other "3rd party" candidate), I was shocked and deeply disappointed in Biden's performance. It's the first time I've ever seen him so "feeble" in his communication. I'm not inclined to panic, as I see happening among Dems, but I worry about voter apathy, which could (would?) tip the swing states to Trump. I recognized Trump's continuous unabashed litany of lies, misrepresentations, and evading answers to tough questions. e.g., Will you accept the results of the election, win or lose?, but I'm not sure any undecided voters noticed them because of the distraction of Biden's feebleness. Things certainly just got more interesting.
OK, here's Biden today in North Carolina, an almost miraculous change from last night. This is the guy I thought (and hoped) we were going to see. What happened between last night and today? I know what you're thinking, but don't say it.
A good night’s sleep and a therapeutic dosage of Airicept boosted his cognition to the point where he could read from a teleprompter? If one compares B’s performance against Paul Ryan vs his inability to put two coherent sentences together last night, it seems evident that Biden is markedly diminished from where he was in 2016.
If you were thinking / hoping that Biden would step aside, think again. Joe won't go, he's committed to holding on to his job, said he can do the job. If he won't step aside there isn't much the democrats can do, his electors are legally bound to vote for him at the convention.
The calls for Biden to resign or drop out of the campaign which isn't the same thing as resigning continue. When LBJ dropped out it was not because of being unfit mentally so he served out his term. But if Biden resigns because of being mentally unfit, won't he have to step down as President?
Can't see him "resigning" but I do think there is at least of slight chance of him "deciding" to not run again. Question then becomes, how does not endorse his VP???? It was inevitable that this campaign would devolve into a sh!t show but I didn't have this on my bingo card and it's only going to get worse. With the benefit of hindsight, it certainly should have been in the range of plausible outcomes. Who wants to sign up for the job of telling Kamala that she's not on the ticket???
Yeah that would be one of those when you ask for a volunteer to step forward the entire group would take a step back and the slowest guy to step back is screwed. I do keep seeing Michelle Obama being named as somebody who would be popular, if for no other reason it would eliminate the racism etc if Kamla would be by passed for a white male.
I'm following the Biden story as closely as I can, but nowhere have I seen anything about him resigning. It's all about whether he stays in the race or leaves it. I guess you could interpret a decision to drop out as resigning, given it's only 4 months to the election. Interesting times. I believe BT's description of sh!t show is appropriate.
The gaslighting done by the Dems is mind blowing. If a loved one presented himself as Biden did during the debate, you would immediately confiscate their car keys. But they first claimed he just had a bad day caused by a cold. When that explanation crashed, they pivoted to blaming the performance on jet lag from his trip to France even though he had been back home for over a week preparing for the debate at Camp David. The sad part is they know we know they are lying but they will continue to lie thinking that fear of another Trump presidency will be enough to propel them to victory regardless of grave questions over Biden’s capacity to be president. Not sure that will be a successful strategy.
Respectfully, Bobda, I think to call Dem comments gaslighting is a bit strong. I've seen and heard a lot of Dems make a lot of comments, but I haven't heard anyone lie about what happened with the intent of confusing or deceiving the listener, which is how I construe gaslighting. I know some have said he should drop out of the race (opinion). Many others insist that he's the candidate until he decides he's not (true). Some even say it was a bad night (true), and they hope he can recover. Perhaps you've heard someone say what you say they said. I haven't. I can agree that in general the Dems' heads are exploding, but FWIW I read the situation as fear that under the present circumstances, it's going to be very difficult to beat Trump. There's a lot that's going to play out in the next few days and weeks. I go back to BT's earlier description of the 2024 presidential race and suggest we all just sit back and watch the show.
Sid, I thought these articles persuasive on the lack of candor and disinformation re Biden’s mental acuity pre debate. It’s Not Just an Age Problem. It’s a Trust Problem. How ‘Misinformation’ Becomes Common Knowledge
I too have seen enough to agree that White House/Biden insiders have misled the public. This article is paywalled but the lead is sufficient to provide a hint of the body. This was a month ago.... "Behind Closed Doors, Biden Shows Signs of Slipping Participants in meetings said the 81-year-old president performed poorly at times. The White House said Biden is sharp and his critics are playing partisan politics." https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/joe-biden-age-election-2024-8ee15246 At the time it got my attention given that it was the WSJ and I heard the reporters interviewed several times. This was not some gotcha hit piece by the National Enquirer. It was a well researched, well sourced piece from very professional reporters. If we combine the litany of similarly credible stories along with the Special Counsel report on Bidens classified documents case and what we all saw with our own eyes, the weight of the evidence, sorry to say it, but seems to be compelling, imo
I've been enlightened (sounds better than I've been schooled). Thanks, Bobda, for these two very well-written and obviously well-researched articles. I now see clearly why you said what you said. As a seemingly rational person, I must admit to myself as well as to my friends that I possibly could fall into the category of people described in the articles - in so many words - as hiding the fact about Biden's slippage. I say "possibly" because prior to reading those articles (I researched both publications and found them relatively unbiased and credible), I was more unaware of the facts than I thought, certainly a tough thing to admit to myself when, at 80 (since May 31), I have all the time in the world to seek the truth. Heretofore, and for almost my entire adult life, I've relied on established news sources for my information. The Biden situation has revealed to me that I need to broaden my sources and drop a couple who apparently are complicit in this matter. I'll work on that. In the meantime, Bob, I'm clear on why you characterize the actions and words of the Dems as gaslighting. I stand corrected, my friend. EDIT:As I was writing this post, BT popped in with another credible article. Is this what's called "piling on"? Just kidding, fellas. BT, my son, who thinks like I do (moderate, slightly left-leaning, independent) and who is much smarter, reads the WSJ daily. We haven't talked for a couple of days, but I'm certain he's undergoing the same revelations as I.
Bidens interview on CNN yesterday did little to quell the rising concern from his own party. He did say this... Biden brushes off nervous Dems: Only the ‘Lord Almighty’ could get him to leave the race Asked during his interview whether he would step down if he became convinced he could not beat Trump, Biden said he would only do so “if the Lord Almighty comes down” and tells him to. “If the Lord Almighty came down and said, ‘Joe, get out of the race,’ I’d get out of the race,” Biden said.