“Pundits suggest replacing President Biden as the Democratic nominee because they don’t understand the job of the presidency or how conventions work. Lawrence O’Donnell gives a history lesson in governing in the age of television.”
@GottaLaff
Nobody points out that Biden's 50 years in federal government means he knows where ALLL the levers are and when to use them. He outmaneuvers everybody.
Trump and Biden are the two candidates. Accept that.
Right now to preserve America we need to make sure Biden is elected.
But maybe right after the election we have to start on cultivating a slate of Democratic candidates for 2028. The fact there are people just now months before the election complaining about the choices drives me nuts.
@GottaLaff That may have been one of the most comprehensive, clear and levelheaded videos I have ever seen describing the political realities of a presidential campaign.
I must say that I am not enthusiastic about Biden, although he has done a good overall job, due to certain decisions he has made which I vehemently disagree. Having said that, he and Harris are the candidates that I will vociferously support in this campaign for the presidency. My reasoning is simple, they can beat tfg and keep the US safe.
@GottaLaff I watched O'Donnell's show last night. He's at his best when he's using his RL experience in a passionate way like that. Because the window has passed for changing candidates, I'm starting to agree with those that think the people still pushing the issue actually have a problem with the VP.
@GottaLaff I am in the dump Biden camp. But I recognize that the D party has put us into this situation and that, as a practical matter, changing candidates would be difficult. I am angry at the DNC for this.
But the premise of the piece - that Biden is unique and irreplaceable is not an argument that carries weight in my mind. There are plenty of people who could replace him as a candidate - and with people who have skills as senior or top government executives. Yes, those people are not instantly familiar with the knobs and levers of Presidential power, but they know how knobs/levers work (unlike many Senators, for example.)
My concern is not with skills but, rather that Biden is an unattractive candidate to a large block of voters who may chose to stay home and thus effectively open the door to a return of TFG.
Our goal this election is not to elect Biden; our goal is to keep TFG out. That's where our maximum effort must be made.
@karlauerbach@GottaLaff Really? A very naive take. Biden is doing a stellar job. I'll be voting for him on his record. Major accomplishment in the face of the Obstructionist G🤡 P.
@jztusk@GottaLaff I am far more skilled in losing elections than in winning them.
I am voting for Biden, perhaps with a small clip on my nose because I haven't forgiven him for the Thomas confirmation debacle.
It is the DNC that most angers me for creating a situation in which we did not develop a viable slate of alternate candidates at an early enough date.
The D party is like a baseball team with a pitcher in his 16th inning of a double header and nobody warming up.
We could well find TFG being sworn in on Jan 20, 2025 because the DNC has given us a candidate who could not create the interest to get large blocks of voters to actually vote.
As I've said, the mistake was to treat this election cycle's goal as that of re-electing Biden when the true goal should have been keeping TFG out of office.
And I'm pretty sure that most of the people here would switch to Taylor Swift or Gavin Newsome in half of a heartbeat if they were certain that they'd be more likely to win.
Did you watch the video? Biden is very likely our best bet. He's never been my favorite, and I wish he didn't come across as so old. But he sure as fuck created enough interest to beat Trump in 2020. And I don't think your grousing is helping.
@jztusk@karlauerbach@GottaLaff I think the perception of a problem due to his age is a bigger problem than any actual disability, esp. compared to Trump's own mental problems. Unfortunately, to some people, perception matters; Trump is louder.
Still, it is at the point now where, barring an emergency, it's late in the day to select anyone else. It would cause a bloodbath. Biden can beat Trump like a drum. I'm more concerned about 3rd parties upending things or GOP refusing to certify.
For myself, I hold both the view that Biden has done an objectively good job he gets too little credit for, AND that the Democratic party hasn't done a great job of effective governance during most of my lifetime. (Also that not electing tyrants and authoritarians is THE highest possible priority right now.)
Alas, in our system it seems that doing effective governance for everyone gets less respect and support than playing to local constituencies and high-dollar campaign contributors. We're a short-sighted, imperfect lot, so I suppose we cannot expect much better of our representatives than we ourselves deliver as a group.
@EarthOne24 I'm not referring to this election cycle. Past ones. And I'm not here to argue. I simply took issue with your "love trashing" attribution. I love no such thing. @n1xnx@karlauerbach@marksquires@jztusk
@EarthOne24 Thank you Earth. We’re allowed to disagree with our own party from time to time. Obama encouraged outright criticism of him, in fact. I used to share that vid a lot.
People often read into what others post. I’ve done it a million times. I try to be very literal with my words, but it’s not always successful.
@EarthOne24 Oh, and as for Biden, I haven’t said word one about his age other than to defend him. I hope you saw my multiple posts about replacing him. One was a vid of Lawrence’s entire A Block the other night.
If the DNC were going to look towards an alternate they should have started literally a year ago... Jan 2023.... and stating it then would have been a big sign they had no faith in what the current Pres was doing, which has actually been far far better than I'd have imagined. Biden originally was my 4-5th choice but damn he is killing it... I just saw a CEO on Bloomberg stating Haley was his pick, he likes democracy... trump is in huge trouble.
@karlauerbach@GottaLaff we must hold our noses. I am not crazy about Biden, though he does have a decent record. My biggest fear is that this will be a standard American election, where all the focus is on the big seat.
We need to help young progressives run for every other position, so we can push for a progressive like AOC to become the nominee next cycle, rather than Harris, who would be a continuation of the current incremental slightly less shit policies.
@GottaLaff
Thanks for sharing this. I’d listened to the Ezra Klein podcast Lawrence refers to, and as I did I thought “I’d love to hear a rebuttal to this”.
@GottaLaff I'm honestly astounded that anyone who's ever done anything, who's ever been good at anything, needs to have this explained to them. Everyone has had the experience of their work and how they do it being misunderstood by other people. Surely they know that presidenting is hard, tedious work -- meetings, phone calls, etc. -- not televised speeches in the Oval Office.
@GottaLaff#Lawrence at his absolute peak. A master class in the art of the possible and a devastating critique of the media. There is no compelling argument for replacing #Biden.
@GottaLaff This is extremely condescending and myopic. I don't even disagree, but this reminds me very strongly of the pundits chortling at the thought that Trump might win the Republican primary, to say nothing of the general.
The actual fantasy at work here is that politics in the 21st century operates by precedent. If you don't know already how wrong that is, I... well, you'll be learning a lot of lessons, I suspect.
@donaldball@GottaLaff Your timeline is off. There is no Dem corollary to Trump in June 2015. That person would have already qualified for the ballot, entered, and won the 2024 NH & SC primary contests as Trump did by 2016.
Dean Whatshisname? Gavin Newsome?
There isn't a Perry Mason moment for a consensus Dem rival, if you believe so, well...
Can say that again indeed. The essence of what is wrong with the shallowness, the lack of attention span and depth in most of the current media behavior… stupid is as stupid does…
@GottaLaff - I remember reading an article in the New Yorker Magazine about Joe Biden back when he as VP. It wrote to the facts of Mr. Biden's strong understanding of and participation in foreign affairs. He was and is a stabilizing influence. This, on top of his experience in managing State-side politics.
Our current President is absolutely the right person in the right place at the right time.
@GottaLaff
Please post on Tik Tok and other platforms with young/new voters to help them understand the system…add some twerking or whatever it takes get them to view it
@GottaLaff@NMBA
Awww, you used 'sorry' correctly, just like a Canadian!!! *sniff, they assimilate so quickly!! (LOL 🙂). I know you're not here, yet, but you are soooooooo welcome.
@GottaLaff so, Biden can’t step aside because the DNC is too empty and unprepared to deal with any issue that doesn’t begin with “but Trump is fascist”?
That’s literally the argument. It just shows how the center in the US can twist anything into nuances of political strategy that all end with the same conclusion: keep old white men in power and don’t be concerned with actual issues when there’s polling data and status quo power struggles to consider.
@seanwithwords@GottaLaff Biden will be the nominee because EVERY incumbent in recent history runs again and wins the nomination. There was nothing stopping serious challengers, but most recognize the power of incumbency. Trump lost because he was a historically bad president. But you go back to 1980 and you have two terms each for Reagan, Clinton, George W, Obama, and probably Biden. Incumbents losing like Trump and George HW are the exceptions.
It would be one thing if Dean Phillips was winning primaries, or was close to doing so. But there's no indication of this. Even in New Hampshire, where Biden wasn't on the ballot, he still won as a write-in.
I would personally rather have all conventions be contested, because deciding the outcomes in advance is anti-democratic. But there's no reason to believe it will be anyone besides Biden or Harris at this stage.
@GottaLaff I heard that too, and agree it was the best explanation of why the movement to replace Biden is beyond stupid. I need to listen again & take notes.
@GottaLaff Yeah, it was. He got a little emotional even! I especially liked the video segment where Biden came to tell the media group about the Russian sanctions package and none of them reacted, just went on to that stupid Plan B meme. Unbelievable. He's right. They. Do. Not. Care.
@GottaLaff
Watched that last night and hoped every anti-Biden democrat paid attention to it and STFU. Eye on the prize...win and save democracy. We'll worry about Biden's age after Jan. 20, 2025.