Presidential Debate Thread

[Edgy MD]

Well, he gets a front-row seat anyhow.

I really see this differently. This, to me, is mostly who he's been a long, long time.

[nymr83]

Nice story, tell it to yourself at the Trump inauguration. There are going to be another two dozen moments like this before the election playing on repeat. And there is still the possibility of another terrible debate providing a final nail in the coffin.

Does anyone who doesn't want Trump to win and who is not named 'Biden' honestly believe it is a good idea for him to stay in the race?

[Edgy MD]

Please don't get saucy with me. I didn't nominate this guy.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Nancy Pelosi is suggesting Biden reconsider his decision to run, per the New York Times.

Unfortunately, it sounds like he already has "made a decision". I think the correct words are "change his mind".

It's Pelosi's extremely diplomatic way of saying that Biden should drop out. FWIW, I think that Pelosi's political instincts are tremendous.

The Most Ruthless Political Operator in the Country Is a Woman

Excerpt:

As concerns mounted among Democrats about President Biden’s mental fitness and his disastrous debate performance, and as Mr. Biden responded by digging in his heels, it was the 84-year-old Ms. Pelosi — a fellow octogenarian, no longer in charge, yet as shrewd and formidable an operator as ever — who took those concerns and helped organize them into a sustained pressure campaign.

When Mr. Biden said he absolutely wouldn’t drop out, Ms. Pelosi went on his favorite TV show to say he needed to make a decision “because time is running short.” When the president told her during a phone call that polling data suggested he could still win, she challenged him: “Put Donilon on the phone,” Ms. Pelosi is said to have demanded of the president, asking for one of Biden’s advisers. “Show me what polls.”

Even as Mr. Biden was becoming “increasingly resentful” of what he viewed as the “orchestrated campaign” against him, as The Times reported, she kept working methodically behind the scenes, talking to lawmakers, members of her old leadership team and her large network of donors, who slowly and steadily kept piling on. Before Mr. Biden ultimately threw in the towel last weekend, his team was bracing for what she might do next, Politico reported, with a quote that made this grandmother of 10 sound a bit like Don Corleone.

“Nancy made clear that they could do this the easy way or the hard way,” a Democrat familiar with the conversations told the publication. “She gave them three weeks of the easy way. It was about to be the hard way.” As one Democratic strategist told The Hill, referencing the president’s statement that it would take “the Lord Almighty” to make him withdraw his re-election bid: “Once she weighs in, it’s done. He wanted the Lord Almighty. Well, this is the Lord Almighty.”

Read it all at https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/24/opin ... biden.html

[Frayed Knot]

Which raises the question as to why she didn't do this two years (or even six-eight months) ago when it would have given Dem voters a choice in who would represent them.

[nymr83]

Which raises the question as to why she didn't do this two years (or even six-eight months) ago when it would have given Dem voters a choice in who would represent them.

Because he was still the sitting president and this would have looked terrible on her part BEFORE the debate which was when most of the public finally caught on to Biden's diminished state, unless you are suggesting she should have been the one to "out" him sooner - Republicans would have loved that!

[Edgy MD]

I don't know. Hold your breath, hope for the best, and try to get through your day may not seem like the wisest, most prescient, or most leaderly strategy, but it's a natural-default of a strategy a lot of us tend to live by.

[nymr83]

I don't know. Hold your breath, hope for the best, and try to get through your day may not seem like the wisest, most prescient, or most leaderly strategy, but it's a natural-default of a strategy a lot of us tend to live by.

I don't think it was a good strategy for the party as a whole, but I just don't think Pelosi was in a position, herself, to lead the charge to push him out sooner.

[Edgy MD]

No, it's totally not a good strategy — it allows the truly malevolent and selfish mediocrities to become our change agents and leaders — but I think it's one we mostly tend to fall into. Cultural and moral inertia and entropy is hard to overcome.

I think it says something that folks were all sitting around hoping for an 81-year-old to get his shit together, but only took real initiative when an 84-year-old herded them together. I think few among us ever want to be the grown-ups.

[Frayed Knot]

Which raises the question as to why she didn't do this two years (or even six-eight months) ago when it would have given Dem voters a choice in who would represent them.

Because he was still the sitting president and this would have looked terrible on her part BEFORE the debate which was when most of the public finally caught on to Biden's diminished state, unless you are suggesting she should have been the one to "out" him sooner - Republicans would have loved that!

She couldn't do it alone and it would have to start behind the scenes. Make it clear to him that if he wanted a second term then the party heavyweights won't support him. It's not like 'Diminished Joe' wasn't a known thing prior to the debate. The Dems just tried to keep it hidden and pretend it didn't exist until it finally bit them.