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

Harris was born in October '64, I'm gonna give her a few months credit and say she'd be the first Gen X president if she managed to get elected.

The script is a museum piece. She can't say a word, not one, about Biden or his legacy other than continuing it.

October 1964 means she started kindergarten in the 1969/70 school year along with all the gen X born Jan-August 1965.

Trump being the first two-time loser since Adlai Stevenson would be great, above and beyond the losing. What a bizarre pairing--they'd have so much to talk about.

No surprises, but Biden can’t even do radio interviews without his handlers prepping the questions in advance

https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/07/media/biden-interview-radio-host-philadelphia/index.html

Trump people are literally selling "I'm voting for the felon" T-shirts. I don't know how many they're selling, but it is not the knockout punch people want it to be. I do think it matters, I think there are people who are less likely to vote for him because of it. But it's not disqualifying to a sizable number of voters, obviously.

― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Sunday, July 7, 2024 4:34 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

“I heard sleepy joe wouldn’t debate me because they’re saying I’m a felon. well you know folks, there's a lot of felons out there, some are saying there might be too many felons out there actually. some of them are very nice people from what I’ve heard. someone told me sleepy joe himself might have something to do with that”

Is it uncommon to vet questions in advance? Feel like if I was President of the USA I'd want to be prepared. Wouldn't matter if it was TV, Radio, Newspaper, or whatever.

Yeah, it's bad journalism. Guarantee you Stephanopoulos did not show them any questions in advance.

I honestly think the majority of Dems in Congress will call for Biden to exit this week

The more this is negotiated behind the scenes and Biden is given every chance to bow out gracefully with a big bundle of red roses in his arms and a cheering audience of Democratic elected officials to see him off the election stage, the better this will turn out in the end. Sadly, Democrats aren't known for choreographing this sort of dance, where the chorus line is all smiles and high-stepping in unison, but they need to learn how to do just that, and quickly.

To be fair, nobody has ever tried to orchestrate anything like this before. And all the scenarios for it playing out anything close to smoothly depend on a whole lot of massive egos managing to work together quickly under massive stress. Probably gonna be messy (the longer Biden holds on, the messier it gets).

“Stop fucking around.” (I still think he would’ve made a good governor for CA. Certainly better than piece of shit Arnold Schwarzenegger)

It’s time to stop fucking around. If the Convicted Felon wins, we lose our Democracy. Joe Biden has effectively served US with honor, decency, and dignity. It’s time for Joe Biden to step down.

— Rob Reiner (@robreiner) July 7, 2024

Sadly, Democrats aren't known for choreographing this sort of dance

they did in the 2020 primary...

this can't be sustainable, right? once he's lost Rob Reiner

Reiner literally held a fucking event for Harris two days after the debate. He’s about as important a donor as you can imagine

Rob Reiner: “I’ve seen enough”

The dominoes are falling with the donors and Congress. The DNC needs to pull the lever yesterday

The DNC knew about this mess more than a year ago but better late than never.

Am totally excited to see the Lord come down and make a proclamation.

Good evening!

I actually saw Carl Reiner about a year before he passed away. Amazingly funny, and he spent some time shitting on Reagan

Full Democratic Caucus meeting on Tuesday. Shit got really real

I think you need to calm down

Thanks for the advice. I’ll take it to heart

Sorry beamish, I disagree with a lot of what you say, as I do with almost all of the posters here, but I like seeing your posts! I think you go too far sometimes, though

that philly journalist has been let go.

We're all Kremlinologists here. Our disagreements aren't as great as our similarities.

yes

most of the posts I make are just spontaneous reactions that I end up feeling badly about. I'm sorry

I'm sure a lot of similar stories have been told but I figured I'd take a minute to talk about my Grandmother, who had a very long and storied career. She was a published author who'd written a dozen books, a minor media figure for some time, and along with my Grandpa (not my real one, but I called him that since I never knew my real Grandpa) built up a health food empire which nearly became a national brand. They retired when she was 77 and at that point she was still very sharp and active; a common joke in the family was that she was going to outlive us all. They moved to the mountains in Virginia and I didn't see her for a while, until Grandpa unfortunately passed away from cancer, a condition he had hid from the family for some reason. I didn't spend any real time with her until a couple years after that when I'd come to visit (I was a college student then so I didn't exactly have much money to travel) and right away it was clear that she was...not really herself. She seemed happy but didn't really engage much in conversation, stared off into space a lot, and went to bed alarmingly early. She was nice enough to cook for me - her cooking always was the best - but it just didn't taste right this time. She drove me to this tennis club she hung out at and her driving scared the shit out of me. She went really slow and kept pulling over to let people pass. Despite that she was still fairly functional. She remembered things and could answer whatever you asked. But something was clearly off.

Anyway, you obviously know where this is going...that is where I think Biden is now. He seems fairly lucid...sometimes. Even more or less up for the job, given the fact that he's surrounded himself with smart and capable people. But things declined really quickly. The next time I saw Grandma was at my brother's wedding and she was, to put it bluntly, really fucking weird. She had a friend she was travelling with and it was clear that this friend was there because she couldn't really get by on her own. Shortly after that you could barely have a conversation with her anymore. It all happened so fast.

From the age of about 84 she was basically nonfunctional as a human being - I believe that's the age she was when I helped move her into an assisted living apartment, and I noticed her short-term memory was completely shot...she had no idea what you had said to her even a minute ago. Amazingly she is still alive. Who knows, she may outlive us all yet.

No matter what we think will happen or should happen, we’re all a little rattled, aren’t we? It’s OK to admit that.

Xpost to Dan S.

thanks Raymond

Lookit who shows up at 1:51. Christmas Present confronts Christmas Past.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dos-3sF5L0E

My bff is very Beltway (her daughter is interning for a big Dem congressman atm) and will be on the Hill on Tuesday doing a panel for her day job - when I get the gossip, I will share the gossip!

She has stopped making Biden donations and has told them why.

Bigger Congressional names (Beyer is my congressman) : https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/joe-biden-2024-race-senior-house-democrats-step-aside/

thanks Al. I have missed you!

xp

As far as admitting stuff:

I'm old and have been voting as a Democrat in elections since 1980. I'm disheartened and sickened that you all could express such disdain for Biden so easily, want to jettison him, and at the same time expect that everything will work out. It just seems crazy to me. It won't work out. I think if Biden gives up, Trump will win.

It's been 10 days now of NYT and WP writers constantly hounding him in headlines articles and editorials. I don't believe, as some of you have said, that the commentariat are truly shaken about the prospect of him being president again. I'm not sure what it is about, but it seems very cynical to me. I have never been so turned off by the mainstream media

at the same time expect that everything will work out.

With all due respect, you haven't read the comments well.

Sadly, Democrats aren't known for choreographing this sort of dance

they did in the 2020 primary...

― symsymsym, Sunday, July 7, 2024 7:20 PM (twenty-one minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

salute brother

Man, I just think people blaming "the media" are in deep denial. This isn't a new issue or an invented one, it's been the single most persistent concern about Biden since he announced he was running in 2019 — to such a degree that at the time (although this later got memory-holed somehow) he let it be leaked by his own campaign that of course he wouldn't run for a second term, he'd be too old then. Over and over, polls have shown that people are concerned about his age, and in more recent years over and over polls have shown that people in increasingly large majorities think he is too old to run and not fit for the job.

Part of the reason he wanted this debate was to put those fears to rest, and he totally failed. On live TV, in front of 50 million people. Everything that has happened since has been a direct result of that. All of this is because of his decisions, his stubbornness, his putting his own ego and vanity and need for power or whatever it is ahead of the interests of the country. Disdain? I don't know. I've never loved Biden on either politics or policy, he has a checkered career, but he's been a surprisingly effective president and I'm glad for that. He should've quit while he was ahead. Now the only useful thing he can do is quit while he's behind. Sure, maybe the Democrats will still lose, but again Biden is the one who put them and all of us in this situation. He's not some poor old man being ganged up on, he's the president of the United States for god's sake. He's the responsible party here.

So yeah, I have some disdain for him now. He fucked this up.

A lot of people are just tired of old white male Catholics like Biden. He represents the Democratic Party that should’ve died out in the 90’s at the latest. The majority of the country is under 45, pissed off as fuck, in debt, and struggling. It’s a pressure cooker situation

Hubris is the reason Biden wanted that debate. Just like the Biden of yore. It's just an older version of the same intellectual lightweight that we had in the 80s.

The strangest thing about Joe Biden remains that a smart guy picked him as VP.

It’s not strange. Obama wanted a pushover with no scruples who is basically deeply conservative on social issues (oh, sorry, he “evolved” on reproductive autonomy and LGBTQ+ rights)

He came out publicly for gay marriage in May 2014 the day before Obama did. I remember because I was with my dying father watching the tv in his hospital room. We all knew they both supported it before then but that they couldn't acknowledge it. He finally acknowledged it and pushed Obama forward

I could say a lot of mean things here but I won't.

I still think he is going to win. Maybe he won't, I understand you tipsy, but if he does win I will never take into account anything you ever say about politics again, ever. Is that fair?

lol sure, how much account do you take of them now? What's my baseline?

I've said like a zillion times that if he's the one on the ballot he could win. It's a weird election, both candidates are broadly unpopular, Trump is Trump, any number of weird things can happen in the next 4 months etc etc etc.

I'm not saying anything different than plenty of other people. Based on all available evidence, he's a deeply unpopular incumbent and appears likely to lose. And that was before the debate — which, unlike you, millions of people saw and immediately thought, "Shit, this guy's cooked." Pretty much that simple. Nobody has a crystal ball. But I keep waiting for the answer to "Who is going to vote for Biden who won't also vote for basically anyone who's not Trump?" Which Biden voters are unattainable by Harris or anyone else? I haven't heard a single person make that case.

If he stays in, he’d better win.

The fact that he didn’t drop out in time for a real primary is unconscionable.

Man, I just think people blaming "the media" are in deep denial.

man they're really all in on it though. so many people doin this "this isn't even a story it's just the media trying to drive engagement!" thing and it's like...no...that's a super weak way of trying to wish away actual stuff

I keep waiting for the answer to "Who is going to vote for Biden who won't also vote for basically anyone who's not Trump?" Which Biden voters are unattainable by Harris or anyone else? I haven't heard a single person make that case.

I made it a couple of days ago. There are people — and I think there are a depressingly/infuriatingly large number of them — who voted for Biden who will not vote for a different Democratic candidate, especially not a woman, especially especially not a black woman. They will simply stay home. As evidence, I point to the entire history of the United States of America.

OK, right, yes that's a reasonable answer. I don't think it's true, because I think Biden's specific weaknesses overwhelm the normal political advantage of being a white man; there seems to be a tremendous amount of dissatisfaction out there with being presented with two old white men in particular. When it comes to leaders, age has long been seen as a serious detriment, so you have to put ageism up against racism and sexism. (I think Obama in '08 benefited from running against an old man.) But I grant you that's an open question. I think Biden has already lost a lot of people who voted for him in '20 and they're not going to come back to him, I don't see him personally exciting anyone. Where, e.g., Harris I think does have the capacity to energize some segments of voters who are at best lukewarm on Biden.

The 85% of Americans who say Biden is too old vs. resistance libs’ self-serving gut feeling about racism making Harris unelectable (despite Obama getting elected twice)

the second half of this interview is so sad. he's very articulate about grief. it could be an arthur miller monologue. jack lemmon could have done it well. trigger warning for the second half of this interview: the sadness! (i feel like he could have been a good character actor on cop shows in the 80s.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ls31TkGSQGA