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

I haven’t really followed adam johnson’s work in a long time and don’t remember his MO really, but I guess pro-biden, but leftistly is a lane that needs to be filled. what’s glenn greenwald up to these days?

re: healy, my main beef with her as someone who lived in boston the past 5 years is the dire state of the MBTA. although I just moved to…los angeles, so maybe I’ll remember her a bit more fondly in comparison

i don't think any governor or mayor is ever beloved in Boston, are they? maybe marty walsh was beloved. i like marty walsh. he should run for president. he looks like a terrifying boston cop from the 50s but he's actually a really rad dude. but he's all NHL right now and making some real cash. not that city or cabinet cash.

marty walsh is also more joe biden then joe biden. child of irish immigrants! unions! alcoholism! hockey! and when he talks you think he's going to tell you about the time that he caught Whitey Bulger. he's fun.

This is exactly backwards. The public opinion has been there for months if not years.

I was thinking more of the collapse of his voter base. he has been polling very consistently since he announced his intention to run again. Many people have been able to surmount their reluctance to vote for such an elderly president up until now. That seems about to cave in on him.

Any suggestion this is some kind of media-created hysteria is just bizarre.

I didn't suggest this was not a real story, only that it is a media feeding frenzy and it won't abate (unless some bigger story supplants it -- which seems very unlikely). I don't expect Biden can pull this out of the fire by more frequent public showcasing. I expect it to play out with his withdrawal. The question in my mind today is how smoothly or messily it is managed.

ABC just played a couple of advance clips of the interview. In one, Stephanopoulos asks Biden if he watched the debate afterward; slight pause, "I don't think I did." Pointing this out may be nitpicking, but that's exactly the kind of answer that doesn't work at all post-debate.

(Which I'm sure is why that chose to play that--if that's the worst of the interview, that's not too bad. But again, I don't think it matters in the end.)

they made him all pumpkin for the interview. so much makeup. just a liiiiiitle corpse-like.

this whole campaign of biden’s is now an extended riff on the “they’re gonna know” meme

Basically what tipsy posted earlier: "I'm guessing it'll be kind of a wash, not a triumph or disaster." Not right in the middle, though--I'd say he made his situation worse. His stubbornness was a little alarming.

E.g. (if he's being honest): he doesn't believe his approval is at 36%, and he doesn't believe he's behind right now.

Welp. That sucked.

Was anyone stunned that this is a disaster?

He can’t even call Trump a felon. What kind of cowardly shit was that?

Hey beamish , you’re getting on my nerves

https://images.axios.com/xbebamEO1VtiK33PU01LORjk8dw=/1920x1080/smart/2024/07/05/1720193917660.png

I only turned on the last 2 minutes and it didn’t seem great, and then they cut straight to the pundit panel and the first guy was like “This interview is not going to reassure Democrats…”

Like, this ought to be it, right? What cards do they think they have left?

Also lol at Trump, sure bud.

And big credit to the Biden campaign or whoever it is that’s been pumping out the Project 2025 agitprop. Definitely successful viral campaign, and the right way to give “death of democracy” talk some traction. My social media feeds have been swamped by Project 2025, in a good way.

One of Biden's odder answers tonight--haven't heard it brought up yet--had to do with his being distracted because Trump kept yelling after his mic was turned off. (He quickly added that the debate was his fault, though, and he wasn't blaming others--which he was.) Maybe I'm wrong, but I thought the debate was mostly a split-screen all the way. Trump went into his Mussolini pose a lot as Biden spoke, but I don't remember him looking like he was talking. The mic-off thing seemed to backfire, if anything, because it saved Trump from himself.

One 👀 House Democrat on President Biden’s interview tonight:

“It made me sad. Completely out of touch with reality and insulated from truth.”

“I’ll be breaking my silence soon.”

— Julie Tsirkin (@JulieNBCNews) July 6, 2024

Google doc being circulated by some Dem insiders making the "Case for Kamala." Persuasive enough imo.

https://docs.google.com/document/u/0/d/1xVQ5GXHhl58g2cE35g11llVAUuCQ8Tqa4suUlUEq0DA/mobilebasic?pli=1

The people currently advising the New York Times (because they're not advising Biden) have been wrong about everything for decades.

Heed their wise counsel if you want.

Apologies for being incredibly pissed off at this horrible situation. By all means, don’t look at what I post and don’t respond to me, Calstars

Those stupid Dark Brandon memes cannot save him?

Well time is on the Biden camp’s side. If he just stays in the race for another few weeks, they get the nomination done and then it will for sure be too late for anything but hopes n prayers and probably picking out a nice golf retirement community for Biden to move to in January.

Jimmy Carter hasn't died yet, has he? maybe he can run

Going by reaction on CNN, the one answer that has been brought up a few times is Biden's response to how he'll feel if he stays in and loses: (paraphrase) he'd feel okay as long as he gives it his best effort. Which, as someone pointed out, does not really comport with all that he's said about how huge the consequences are with this election.

Jimmy Carter and Clint Eastwood both look like mummified corpses now

Project 2025 has been the most viewed article in English language Wikipedia for at least two days, beating out the usual Bollywood actors.

Dukakis just retired from teaching at age 90, maybe he wants a side gig.

I know this could go in any number of threads but since we’re bitching about the Times:

https://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2024/07/why-i-dont-vote-and-by-i-mean-you-and-by-dont-i-mean-shouldnt

That mustache is the tel..

tell.

I mean if you guys are looking for a younger Democrat who's proven he can win a Presidential election, Al Gore is right there

It's a shame Jerry Brown is 86.

I learned that Biden invented NATO and is at least checkmating China.

Biden is not very quick. He's slow. You should be pretty quick when you are President. Unless you are Dubya.

Going by reaction on CNN, the one answer that has been brought up a few times is Biden's response to how he'll feel if he stays in and loses: (paraphrase) he'd feel okay as long as he gives it his best effort. Which, as someone pointed out, does not really comport with all that he's said about how huge the consequences are with this election.

The correct answer to this question is "What the fuck do you care how I'll feel? According to you assholes, I'll be dead by midnight."

That’s what a sharp person would say

When you're constantly reminding people (correctly) that Trump is 100% driven by what's good for himself--which Biden again said tonight--that would seem like a terrible answer.

The people currently advising the New York Times (because they're not advising Biden) have been wrong about everything for decades.

Heed their wise counsel if you want.

― Instead of create and send out, it pull back and consume (unperson), Friday, July 5, 2024 9:32 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

just sad at this point man

There was always a bit of comfort in thinking that the people around Biden knew what they were doing to some degree but they are fucking floundering atm

my favorite Wall Street Journal headline:

Jill Biden’s Dilemma: Is Pressing Ahead Still the Loving Thing to Do?

Kind of fucked up that the future of the US - and by extension Ukraine, NATO etc - may depend on what Jill Biden thinks

Jill Biden extends two fingers an inch apart: "I'm pressing your head"!

...lovingly

There’s some point where the interests of the party start to outweigh the interests of the candidate. Republicans never reached that point with Trump, and now he entirely owns them. Biden has never had that kind of power in the party, and if you’re a Democrat running ahead in a state where Biden’s running behind, that’s not doing you any favors.

Also btw I am prepared for a Harris campaign to be a logistical disaster out of the gate. I agree that there’s a lot that can go haywire in a rapid campaign transition.

Wouldn’t she use the same people Biden is?

I'm reading the passage of power right now, which covers the weeks after the Kennedy assassination in detail, and tbh Harris does not strike me as the kind of person who could pull that kind of transition off.

(still want Biden to quit though)