US Politics, July 2024 - "Will you just drop out, man?"

I think their journalists are mostly refugees from legit legacy publications, but “leaked internal polling” is always going to be fishy.

Gotcha! xpost

RFK's response to the story was literally "I have a lot of skeltons in my closet."

skeletons

RFK Jr. had sex with a barbequed dog

In his closet. Under the watchful eye of Red Skelton.

Barbecue dog is only good if hickory flavored

Ok so now we need a 4th of July unity rally where Biden hands off to Kamala, she names Andy Beshear as veep candidate, and Bruce Springsteen and Taylor Swift sing the Battle Hymn of the Republic. (If one thing I didn’t think could happen actually might, might as well go all the way.)

I guess the next question is how much pressure will there be on Harris to remain the candidate or, for whatever personal reasons, step aside.

I’m old enough to remember when (male) candidates had to drop out of races because they had an affair with an adult woman or smoked a joint.

Why are people talking like Biden's stepping down? Because a Congressman from Texas said he should?

A congressman who looks like Garrison Keillor's stunt double I should add

He wasn’t president when he was paying a porn star. What is there to delay and review in this?

― The transparently flimsy and misleading (Dan Peterson), Tuesday, July 2, 2024 9:34 AM bookmarkflaglink

Mr. Trump’s lawyers proposed filing their court papers on July 10, and the district attorney’s office said it would respond two weeks later.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/02/nyregion/trump-sentencing-hush-money-trial.html?unlocked_article_code=1.4E0.4spB.kjsRzMDCFCdS&smid=url-share

Ok this isn't that long of a delay.

I agree, let's see Trump's legal team lock him into their legal positions on this July 10. Judicial estoppel worked so well for them in the interplay between Trump's representations about his net worth in the E. Jean Carroll case and the damage award in the civil forfeiture case.

I want to hear them go through each of the 34 felony convictions in an excruciatingly detailed and highly public way, so we can understand exactly which of the jury findings are considered official acts and which are not.

As an added bonus, these legal positions will help the current President (whether Biden or Harris) understand better exactly how far their current presidential immunities go, according to Trump.

I’m old enough to remember when (male) candidates had to drop out of races because they had an affair with an adult woman or smoked a joint.

― Dick Cavett Poo Party (Boring, Maryland), Tuesday, July 2, 2024 11:44 AM bookmarkflaglink

Yeah, "Monkey Business" was considered a reason to drop out. How quaint.

My siblings were saying there is no way Al Franken would resign the Senate in today's climate, nor would he be hounded to do so.

Why are people talking like Biden's stepping down? Because a Congressman from Texas said he should?

mostly vibes tbh

Anyway I did all I could and emailed my Congressman and called my senators to call for Biden to step aside in favor of Harris. If it doesn’t happen, I guess I wasn’t forceful enough.

Clunker’s statement, if not taken out of context, is big.

Clymer

Hunter Biden has joined meetings with President Biden and his top aides this week at the White House, four people familiar with the matter tell my colleagues, who are told the reaction from some senior White House staff has been,  “What the hell is happening?”

— Ken Dilanian (@KenDilanianNBC) July 2, 2024

I still hate what the DNC did to Katie Hill. She won a deeply conservative district. Fucking Pelosi

I watched him at some hurricane warning center today and it just felt like everyone in the room was watching and waiting for him to fuck up or perhaps stand out as fit and the whole thing felt uncomfortable.

I still hate what the DNC did to Katie Hill. She won a deeply conservative district. Fucking Pelosi

yeah, that was a huge shame.

I watched him at some hurricane warning center today and it just felt like everyone in the room was watching and waiting for him to fuck up or perhaps stand out as fit and the whole thing felt uncomfortable.

― (•̪●) (carne asada),

I think Hunter's off coke iirc.

If I liked the things Hunter likes and was facing a long prison sentence, I'd be inclined to go wild and plan to rehab behind bars.

To be fair to Doggett, he’s not just some random Democrat, he’s a 77-year-old white guy and longtime congressman who supported Biden in 2020. He ought to be Biden’s core political demographic. But it’s also significant mostly because he’s a crack in the dam, and those have a way of spreading.

I don't know. I prefer Mulder.

Clyburn was saying immediately after the debate, Biden or Harris, either one, so I didn't put much into his statement today

Why are people talking like Biden's stepping down? Because a Congressman from Texas said he should?

― A So-Called Pulitzer price winner (President Keyes), Tuesday, July 2, 2024 2:46 PM bookmarkflaglink

Biden's literal campaign co-chair said he'd support Harris if he stepped down. after two days ago publicly pooh-poohing the idea. you don't think a lot of discussion happened behind the scenes for him to say that publicly?

The one state I don't believe in that Puck poll is New Mexico. Really?

Doggett's been a Texas House rep since 1994, and he's very well-liked and not prone to saying bullshit for attention

I take Clyburn's statement as a shot at the folks talking up Whitmer and Newsom over Kamala.

Whitmer would be a good choice

sentencing pushed until September, gives them 2 more months to figure out how to squash it entirely

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-hush-money-sentencing-immunity-b2572660.html

Whitmer would be a good choice

no, because then the $200 mil already raised is wasted, we've been over this

Yeah, but it would be the highest-rated episode of The West Wing ever. Two women, one white, one black, fighting for the Democratic nomination? How beautifully American-dream!

Seymour Hersh's substack looks at Biden's withdrawal in 1987 to see how he came to that decision then. Anyway, interesting tidbit I'd never heard:

They were set up on a blind date after Biden saw her modeling in a Parks Department ad at the airport, and they hit it off immediately.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/07/02/joe-manchin-biden-debate-democrats-drop-out/

As panic and confusion over President Biden’s faltering debate performance swept the ranks of Democratic lawmakers late last week, Sen. Joe Manchin III informed a few key allies that he would soon break with Biden in an interview on a Sunday news show, a high-profile defection that would underscore the president’s weakness.

Democrats feared Manchin — a moderate West Virginia senator who recently registered as an independent but caucuses with Democrats — would call for Biden to step aside. If he did, the senator would then become the first prominent elected official allied with the party to call for Biden to exit the presidential race.

But he didn’t. Senior Democrats heard of Manchin’s plans and started making calls to the independent-minded senator, who once used a Sunday show appearance to announce his opposition to Biden’s top agenda item and effectively kill it. The “full-court press” was quickly assembled to help dissuade Manchin from appearing on the show, according to two people familiar with the response who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations.

president joe manchin nearly led the charge

sentencing pushed until September, gives them 2 more months to figure out how to squash it entirely

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-hush-money-sentencing-immunity-b2572660.html

― frogbs, Tuesday, July 2, 2024 12:27 PM bookmarkflaglink

The sentence might be squashed but the thing he paid the hush money for isn't hush anymore, and all these hearings draw attention to it.

The Focus Group was interviewing Hillary voters who were thinking of voting for Trump or RFK or sitting out. One thing (and I agree with milo on this), they mentioned is that part of the appeal to these voters is it seems like Trump is a "reset" or outsider again.

I think this could remind these voters that it's not that Trump is innocent, it's that Trump needs to be bailed out by the Supreme Court justices - that Trump appointed. It makes him the ultimate insider, a very different proposition than in 2016.

Fuck Pete Buttigieg and don’t even joke about him being in contention

Is it just me or is Buttigieg the best polling Democratic candidate in every swing state except Michigan (where Whitmer is the Governor)? pic.twitter.com/eDBOKnkLfk

— Armand Domalewski (@ArmandDoma) July 2, 2024

no, because then the $200 mil already raised is wasted, we've been over this

― I painted my teeth (sleeve), Tuesday, July 2, 2024 12:30 PM (twenty-nine minutes ago)

it literally can't be anybody other than Harris, y'all can stop now

no, because then the $200 mil already raised is wasted, we've been over this

there are several prominent Democratic donors for whom two hundred mil is not peanuts, but not really an "oh, shit" amount either. the question that needs to be asked is whether you're really getting any value at all on that 200 mil, because its worth is zero if it supports a non-viable proposition. The point about donors making a stink about who they donated to is an OK one if we actually thought politicians gave a shit about pissing off the people who support them which last I checked, no! I agree that for many reasons it could ONLY be Harris, on your main point I concur, but that 200 mil -- that's not really the sticking point I don't think

that's fair, point taken, just a super frustrating situation all around

Yeah, if this is something that might conceivably happen and not just fantasy baseball, I'm persuaded by all the arguments both optical and logistical that it would have to be Harris. I would have preferred an open primary (which she obviously would have run in), but pushing this to an open convention now definitely would be messy and problematic. I don't love Harris — more because of her poor primary performance in '20 than anything else, from a strictly pragmatic pov — but I think she has the capacity to generate at least some energy and excitement, there is a motivated Dem/progressive base out there that is pretty much desperate for anyone-but-Biden to rally around. It would change the entire dynamics of the race. Will Americans really elect a Black woman? It's a tall order, but we're already in unprecedented territory so ... maybe?

re: Buttigieg he's one of those D politicians who is very deeply hated by the young and hip, and by the olds who still consider themselves young and hip. he is very much on the "we'll work harder to defeat him than we will to defeat a Republican" list for these dudes

I like Whitmer and do not want to see her potential squandered on this last-minute shitshow

crut otm

also Pete is a CIA mole ;)

if he's CIA I really wouldn't mind him getting as much physical proximity to the (R) candidate as possible, like when they're in a room having some diet cokes or whatever

lol, save us deep state

i don't have anything to add just wanna say what a fucking shit show this is.