democrattotheend
democrattotheend's JournalInteresting article about President Biden's meeting with Schumer last week
From this article on Politico, it looks like, as I suspected, President Biden was already contemplating stepping aside even while publicly being adamant about staying in. I think the president made the right decision, and would have eventually made that decision no matter what, but I wish the party leaders had given him the week he asked for without leaking so much to the press to make it look like he was being forced out, especially knowing that he had already signaled openness to Schumer a week ago. What was the point of all the public defections and leaks that made everyone look bad?
According to that same person, Schumer finished the meeting by telling Biden, “I do not expect you to walk out of this room making a decision, but I hope you will think about what I said.” The president said he needed another week. The two then hugged.
History will be kind to President Biden - if we win this election
If we win the election, Joe Biden will go down in history as a hero, who selflessly stepped aside for the good of his party and the country. He'll be the man who saved us from Trump not once but twice.
If we lose, the party will be bogged down in in-fighting, with some people blaming Biden for taking so long to step aside and others blaming him for dropping out (and those who pushed him out) when maybe he could have won.
So we have to win. For him. So that he will be remembered the way he deserves to be.
My 3-year-old is going to be really sad about Biden
I was in the process of writing a post about how my 3-year-old was Ridin' with Biden when I heard the news.
This is my first presidential election as a mother. I was heavily pregnant with my older son, Z, when I voted for Biden 4 years ago, wearing a shirt that said "Nasty Women for Biden-Harris".
I should mention that Z is on the spectrum and is hyperlexic, which means he taught himself to read starting around age 2.5 and especially likes to read signs. I should also mention that we are a divided political household.
A few weeks ago, he noticed and read a Biden sign on someone's lawn, and I explained that Biden is the president and is running for president again. Since my husband and I agreed to be fair with what we tell our kids about politics since we disagree, I just told Z that Mommy likes Biden and Daddy likes Trump and asked who he liked. He said Biden, either because he had just seen that sign or because he is going through a phase where he usually likes Mommy better than Daddy. I also tipped the scales a little in Biden's favor by telling Z that Trump says "you're fired" a lot. Z knows that this means because we occasionally "fire" him from "helping" with things around the house if he starts getting chaotic and deliberately putting things in the wrong place or making a mess.
A few weeks later we saw a big Trump billboard and he wasn't happy about it, so last Tuesday he and I went on a quest to find more Biden signs. We drove a few miles south where I knew Democrats had about an 8:1 advantage in voter registration, and eventually we found a few more Biden lawn signs. Surprisingly, there are not a lot yet for either candidate around here, despite being in a swing area of a swing state. It's been really fun watching Z get into this with me, especially since I have fond memories of getting into the 1992 election with my mom when I was 8 years old and making up a little song to promote Bill Clinton. Z even took to asking people at his gymnastics class "do you like Trump or Biden?" which was hysterical. I was even planning to see if I could take him canvassing with me to ask that question, recognizing that he'd probably last 10 minutes if I was lucky.
A couple days ago, I told Z that Biden may decide not to run for president anymore and that he might ask his friend Harris, who was on the signs with him, to run instead. I asked if he would want Harris to be president instead if Biden didn't run. He was pretty adamant that he only wants Biden, so now I am scared of losing him to the dark side. Although I do think I could bring him on board in the highly unlikely event that Michelle Obama were to run, because he likes the word "Obama" because it's very phonetic and he recognizes it on some of my t-shirts. He even chimed in about a year ago when my husband and I were having a heated political argument about Obama and said "Obama starts with O!"
Z is napping now, and I am dreading telling him when he wakes up. I'm really hoping I can get him on board with Harris or whomever we nominate, but I am not so confident.
He is such a pure soul, though: with a little coaching from Daddy, he decided the other day that he wanted to write Trump a card that said "I'm sorry you got hurt, I hope you feel better" and write Biden a card saying "I'm sorry you got sick. I hope you feel better." He also wanted to include "please don't win" on Trump's card, but we suggested that he write "please don't let Trump win" on Biden's card instead.
The latest MSM conspiracy theory: Obama is working behind the scenes to push Biden out
This is beyond ridiculous. Politico's headline is "What Obama and Pelosi are doing about Biden." When you go on to read the actual article, all they say about Obama is that he supposedly "didn't object" when George Clooney called him to give him a heads up about the article (but also didn't encourage it). This despite the fact that Obama sent a pretty clear signal by being one of the first Democrats to come to Biden's defense right after the debate. If Obama were working behind the scenes to help push Biden out, we'd know it. There's no evidence of it and the media is grasping at straws, IMO. It's no secret that Obama discouraged Biden from running in 2016, so the fact that he's not playing a bigger role now in trying to push him out is telling.
Could Trump theoretically be disqualified from running in 2024? (Probably not, but fun to think about)
No, I'm not talking about his convictions. I'm talking about the 22nd amendment.
The plain text of the 22nd amendment is as follows:
Note that the first sentence says no person shall be elected more than twice, regardless of whether they serve both terms (or either) they were elected to. Most likely "elected" for this purpose means chosen by the electoral college, but since Trump claims he won the 2020 election and even sent his own "electors", I think the argument could be made that unless and until he concedes the 2020 election to Joe Biden, he is ineligible to run in 2024 because he's term limited. Probably wouldn't hold up in court, especially with this court, but I would really like to hear someone ask Trump about it. If, as he claims, he's already been elected to the office of President twice, how is he eligible to run again?
Trump challenged Biden to another debate. Biden should take him up on that, ASAP.
“I have the answer to the Crooked Joe Biden Incompetence Puzzle — Let’s do another Debate, but this time, no holds barred,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social during the Fourth of July holiday.
“An all on discussion, with just the two of us on stage, talking about the future of our Country,” he added. “The ratings were massive for the First Debate, record setting, in fact, but this one, because of the format, would blow everything away!”
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-biden-next-debate-challenge-b2574868.html
IMO, President Biden should take him up on his offer and push for the next debate to happen ASAP. Prove that last Thursday was just a fluke, the result of him being sick. Part of the reason this has been so damaging is because the next debate is not until September. Obama was able to turn things around after his disastrous first debate with Romney in 2012 by doing much better in the next debate (and with Biden doing really well against Paul Ryan before that). If Biden can get another debate on the calendar soon, he'll have the chance to turn things around before the convention and leave no doubt that he's up to the job. Campaign rallies and even an ABC interview won't be enough to change the narrative. A much stronger performance in a second debate would.
Anyone remember Obama's first debate in 2012?
From what I remember, Obama was pretty terrible in the first debate in 2012 and everyone was freaking out. Ironically, Biden's debate with Paul Ryan a week later helped stop the bleeding, and Obama did much better in the 2nd and 3rd debate and went on to be re-elected.
Similar story in 2004 - W was terrible in the first debate against Kerry. In fact, Karl Rove even warned David Axelrod prior to the first debate about the phenomenon of incumbent presidents struggling with the first debate because they are more challenged than they have been in 4 years. Bush did somewhat better in the other debates (although he was never a strong debater) and went on to - whatever you call winning a second term when you didn't actually win the first.
The 1984 presidential debates happened when I was less than a year old, so I don't remember them obviously, but from what I learned in my poly sci classes I believe Reagan also did really poorly in the first debate and people raised questions about his age and it was the one time it looked like Mondale had a shot. We know how that election turned out.
TBH, I don't feel great about Biden's chances of winning reelection at the moment, but not because of one bad first debate, which is pretty much par for the course in recent history. And the fact that it's during the summer so long before the election helps mitigate any damage, because most people who are not already committed to a candidate are not paying attention yet. I'm way more concerned about Biden's approval rating, the inherent electoral college disadvantage, the fact that Republican legislatures have made it harder to vote in many swing states since 2020, and the overall mood of the country than I am about tonight's debate.
NY Times just called the PA Supreme Court race for McCaffery (D)
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/11/07/us/elections/results-pennsylvania-supreme-court.html?action=click&pgtype=Article&state=default&module=election-results&context=election_recirc®ion=RaceLinkLooks to be about a 5-6 point race with 90% in. Most counties are pretty close in margins to the 2022 Senate race.
CNN: VA-2 (Luria) falls but VA-7 (Spanberger) holds
Per the NYT analysis I read yesterday, this points to signs of a Republican ripple, not a wave. The NYT's analysis was something like:
VA-2 falls --> Red Ripple
VA-7 falls --> Red Wave
VA-10 falls --> Red Tsunami
We held VA-7 and VA-10, so it's looking like the worst case scenario isn't happening, at least.
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