I'm genuinely confused as to why the Democrats think that Biden is their only option and that actually having a primary would automatically hand the election to their White Whale, the Orange Man.
We know they have Newsom, Pritzker, Whitmer, et al.—wouldn't it be wiser to let grandpa serve out his days and let one of these other fresher faces run next year?
13 mos from Election Day (when Biden will be 82), how is this their best option? How will this man be able to campaign and when was the last time he sat for a long, adversarial interview?
Is the strategy to just count on the MSM to be their campaign team, Big Tech to be their funders and censors, and all the big Blue cities (who vote massively for any D) to ring up massive vote totals?
The Democrats right now could have RFKjr; they could have a primary and then JB could win--or lose. I would vote for RFKjr in the primary, but since the DNC is messing with the rules, he'll probably go 3rd party.. I just donated to watch the live stream of RFKjr's 10/9 announcement. I am a lifelong registered D. I've been a precinct captain, a delegate to state D conventions , and consistent small donor. The Dems have 100% lost my vote and my small donations. I did not vote for Biden in the general; I voted Green.
I know and I don't care! I was the best Democrat for years. And so far RFKjr has tried to run in Dem primary only to be rebuffed. Without a true D primary the DNC has created something different.
If RFK was to run as a D, he would get Bernied. They keep the "super delegates" just for people like that. He is better off running as an independent. At least then he has a chance.
It's really sad to see what's happened to the D's. It still hard for me to get my head around.
It all comes down to hegemony. They control all the institutions and the media has not only "protected" the D's; they've pushed them further Left...into cuckoo land.
To your point, college enrollment is down, YouTube is kicking the ass of every major television network, publishing is quickly being replaced by e-book self publishing, and so on. All of those institutions have been gutted by the left and the usefulness of them is rapidly going downhill the faster they openly take sides.
It is pretty funny (and gross) that the Party that claims every second to be rescuing "our sacred Democracy" (and the politicians who claim to be the literal incarnations of Democracy) refuse to debate or acknowledge RFK Jr and and are suing to keep the No Labels people off the ballot.
In thinking it over, my only guess as for why running Biden's corpse has become mandatory for Dems is that the people who control him (most esp the Obama faction) would rather lose to a Republican than lose their spot at the top of the party's hierarchy.
Trump or DeSantis would just mean Resistance 2.0 (and they know how to run and monetize that show), while some other Dem running and winning could mean 8 years watching their rivals grab all the juicy jobs and promotions.
in both scenarios they are familiar (at least in their own mind).
as recent events have shown, they feel they can get away with almost anything since the media and every institution runs cover for them. they know how to run a Biden campaign and they know how to run the resistance campaign. anything else is foreign to them, regardless of the needs of their own party or the country at large. but as Brad is implying, they might really freak out once the bell tolls...
I can understand your position in voting Green, done it myself, but the only problem is, you never get a winner. I think the so called liberals which today operate in extremes and seem very autocratic have to be gone, or toned down. They have now adopted the attitude, it's my way or the highway, and that is no liberal to me.
My real point is that I'm one of those Democrats who volunteered, gave donations, went to every rally and convention (true blue for many years) that the party has lost. I'm still a registered Democrat. I will not vote for JB.
That's what I assume. She was pretty shitty to Biden during one of the debates, and unpopular with her own party in the primaries up to when she dropped out, so ...
I lived in the Bay Area California for a few decades, and I vaguely recall her getting her start under Willie Brown. She was nice looking (at the time - those days behind her) but otherwise unimpressive and always gave me the impression of being over her head.
Do you think RFK is a viable candidate for the Democrats? I think it's hard to get rid of the stink of vaccine heresy without a lot of people changing their tune on vaccines in general.
I think RFKjr would have opened up the debate. He has abt. 15% of Dems like me. I would have liked to have him on the debate and asked questions. By closing the primary Democrat voters have had the decision made for them.
I worked for a large healthcare non-profit that ran like the state. Came in at a mid-level executive. Worked there five years and was a star getting crap done that the organization had not been able to do. They were like the government where there was an entitlement in the hierarch of promotions. Butts in seat with loyalty were more important than demonstrated capability. I left.
But the Democrats are like that. They are a collective of people that need tacit agreements that long term loyalty to the party gets a payback.
Republicans are more likely to reward and honor demonstrated capability.
Obama was an abnormality for Dems... but he was the right identity for the time.
They feel Biden is entitled to the job. If they start cutting poorly performing dogs, then they are worried that they will be next.
I do see your point but Biden and the MSM and his PR people (I repeat myself) could easily paint him as a conquering hero who came to the rescue, slayed the Orange Dragon and is now passing the torch to a younger generation...
The idea that because he won in 2020 he's the ONLY Democrat who can win in 2024 just seems so odd and nonsensical to me...
The man is obviously enfeebled, is a nonstop gaffe machine, reeks of corruption, and is always one slip and fall away from making himself into a cartoon character...and we still have 13 mos to go!
Is having an open primary that terrifying? I don't get it...
"Is the strategy to just count on the MSM to be their campaign team..."
Probably, it almost always works. And thanks to the government regulators' program of silencing opponents, it will work even better now.
"...his PR people (I repeat myself) could easily paint him as a conquering hero who came to the rescue, slayed the Orange Dragon and is now passing the torch to a younger generation..."
Yes, that or something else will work. Their control of the mass media gives the left almost unlimited power.
is there a fear that les enfeebled candidates will start saying the quiet part out loud and sabotage themselves? the pattern of Biden and fetterman seems to be having a debilitated front man who can only recite bromides might be a winning one. We have reduced everything to binaries.
Hiding him the the basement and running against Trump worked before. So, they figure it's their best strategy. They don't care they he's a walking blathering corpse. It's not like they don't know this. They are further banking on imprisoning Trump and that enough Independents will finally be done with Trump. This is very transparent.
as I said above - they used that strategy with Fetterman, they are making this a selection for a machine. Has worked very effectively in the cities, (albeit to their detriment.)
It has to be Harris. She was selected for just this situation, Biden leaving, and she wants it. As VP, she is in the catbird seat, and the D's would look like even bigger racists if they removed the first black woman from office, whether by means fair or foul.
Which means that they have to leave Biden in place as she is too much of a political liability. And this is what you get when you allow someone who fucked there way into politics and always failed upward. She cannot do retail politics, and they cannot paper over the fact that she has failed at everything.
It would depend on how they spin it but it would also require Harris to go willingly. The most idiotic strategy would be to say she had to go because the voters are racist and that's why she's unpopular. A better spin with be that it's not racist to remove someone who happens to be black because she sucks. Imagine if they replaced her with Michelle Obama...
Michelle Obama is probably hated every bit as much as Hilary was on the right, and she doesn't even have a walk on career as a senator and the consolation prize of SOS to show voters she has any sort of chops.
I mean, sure, I guess they could put her in place to run, but the level of risk from nominating a woman who emanates palpable hate for the country is pretty high.
It looks to me like Newsom is kinda already running. There's even an alternate universe debate planned with DeSantis. Of course this could also be an experiment of having other people substitute for Biden in debates, considering the Adderal shortage that might be their attempt at a solution to have debates without Biden.
Gavin reminds me of a prince in exile who knows he will be the next one to wear the King's crown, as long as he gets the timing right and doesn't jump in too soon or too late.
He is in his second term in our richest state, has personal wealth and glamor, can rely on at least a billion dollars from just Silicon Valley alone, is a political chameleon (and as slippery as an eel), and is smart enough to know the MSM will fellate him on camera if it means access and they get to feel like they helped him win.
(And if it's DeSantis who's his eventual opponent he will lose as soon as the cameras roll—he's shorter, uglier and his voice is too nasal, plus the MSM has a raging vendetta against him and will do everything in their power to destroy him.)
When Gavin does officially run, whether in 2024 or 2028, he will be a heavy favorite.
I agree, it's sort of odd since California is a shitshow while Florida seems to be doing well. But DeSantis doesn't look like he's able to play the election game particularly well outside of a red state.
IMHO, it would seem clear that biden is a tool or causeway, if you will, to the next evolution of that party.
He's the perfect (situationally) elder statesman, that can don the martyr's cloak and either heroically step down and pass the baton or he can be removed for health reasons and then be replaced.
That second option would itself, have two options:
1. Replace him shortly after his next stolen term starts - with a hand picked WEF/Globalit VP.
2. Replace him during the late stages of the race...this to me is the more plausible and sympathetic play. He can be allowed to freeze, shit himself on stage or have an "out of the blue" stroke. He' can then be framed a the heroic statesman, who gave his all. At that point, the orchestrators can install anyone they want (I would say big Mike Obama or another radical destroyer) and the party and their base would cheer and be all in.
I always said, you will know the switch is in, when the fake media starts allowing people to see, his dementia and starts openly discussing it. They've been given the cue, to shift the narrative and thinking of the masses. It's now just a matter of what option, the string pullers want to use and when it will be the most advantageous.
My Democrat friends are a hoot. They for some reason have adopted a belief that denial, obfuscation and deflection are good enough to keep winning elections. I tell them that without the pandemic, it is very strongly probably that Trump would still be president and the Senate and House in GOP hands.
And now we have the terrible, terrible Biden performance that they also deny, obfuscate and deflect.
They can only hope that the GOP keeps demonstrating such political weakness.
Maybe Trump did win the election. When you look at what they are doing to him now, anything is possible. When you look at the reality of a party that tried to remove an elected president on a lie that had no consequences, anything is possible. When they can call a riot an insurrection, anything is possible. When they can allow several hundred thousand Ukrainians to die in order to bring down Putin, anything is possible. When you look at the chaos they have allowed to happen at our border to counter Trump's policy as they cave to liberals, anything is possible. When they can think of running a senile old man for a second term for the presidency, anything is possible.
There's zero chance that this group cared about democracy so much they wouldn't screw with the general election -- especially after rigging the primaries.
I didn't vote in 2016. I was a registered democrat, but I would never vote for Hilary Clinton. I knew Russia-gate to be a lie from the beginning, a lie pushed by the democrats, the left, and the mainstream media, I came to actually despise them. I became an independent and voted for Trump in 2020, and support his run now. I reacted to their authoritarianism with a lot of anger, and never saw Jan 6 as anything more then a riot, and the Jan 6 comm as unconstitutional. What they are doing to him now is no different. Hopefully that will all backfire.They are also using him to further their own political careers lacking any sense of morality which is certainly true of Letitia James. She promised to take him down when she wasn't even privy to any information on his business dealings, and said he was an illegitimate president. Her prejudicial position is not challenged at all. There's absolutely no objectivity in the press, and through Trump's presidency little to none on the left, by so called liberals. Now why wouldn't I think the 2020 election could very well have been stolen, and if he is given the chance to run again I wonder if the same thing will happen, or worse.
Even though I'm a both a socialist & a libertarian based on policies, I happen to agree with you & conservative & Trump supporters that Democrats are VERY corrupt & that liberal voters are brainwashed & blind.
I also used to be a brainwashed, liberal voter thinking that the Democrats were the good guys. Turns out they're not.
I remained a democrat even though I saw them grow less and less supportive of their base. Listen Liberal by Thomas Frank covered that ground well, although he still claimed at the time they were better then republicans, now I certainly don't think so. What's going on now scares me. The country remains so divided and there are far too many anti-Trumpers who seem extreme in their hate, and are supported by the government and deep state and that hate is pushed by the media to a great extent. . I wonder what will happen should he win, or if they let him win. I just don't know.
As a non-American I'm perplexed by the comment 'so infirm that he is obliged to resign'... Seriously, he was demented over a year ago. In all morality (not that there's any in politics), the man/party/system should have been removed. Frankly, it's internationally a completely embarrassment.
There's the "blue no matter who" group, there is the "anyone but Donald Trump" group, those that believe the conspiracy theories around Trump and the Hunter Biden Laptop, those that see Trump as a criminal in general or just see him as a racist*. And there must still be some people who only trust the corporate media - low information voters with bad memory.
* even though Biden has a record of saying racists things where the excuse always seems to be that it's a "gaffe", and he also sponsored some bills that led to a disproportionate incarceration of black people. Of course he is allowed to change his mind but I think the occasions where he goes off-script is when you really see how the guy thinks.
I know people who want Biden in 2024 and will vote for him if he runs. The same people who condemned me for not voting for Hilary and making Trump the US president. I haven't even spoke to some in all these years. Good riddance!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
One problem that Democrats make is assuming that once somebody is on their side, they will remain there. Sure, the platform attracted a lot of minorities in 2005, but those people aren't really down for screwing up their kids.........
Of course, Democrats now take those people for granted because they don't understand that we're all individuals.
I think this also shows that the corporate media isn't as powerful as they believe they are. They keep spinning and downplaying Bidens problems yet even their audience still answers in polls he's not really fit for a second term. And the "inflation is a conspiracy theory, you're just bad with money" spin on the horrific economy is also not catching on. They have long lost control of the narrative. And Big Tech is distancing itself from censorship now, they can't really afford to piss off such a large segment of the population.
Honestly I think if one looks at all of the last 7 years (and I'm a 2 time Trump voter) the average (they do exsit) American citizen is tired. Tired of the constant victimhood BS day after day, tired of race baiters, parents being told they don't know whats right for their children, tired of politicians & bureaucrats not being held to account for lies and slander, tired of being told they are "wrong" to say 2+2 = 4, tired of their hard earned monies being throw to those who "chose" to go to college and study basket weaving and are too lazy to get a fucking job to pay off their debts, tired of unprovable Climate Change garbage being pushed by elitist & shills, tired of economic genuis's who can't find their collective asses if it was handed to them, tired of wars that slaughter innocents and tired of being sick and fucking tired.
The age thingy ? There are a lot of sharp minded 80+ year olds, the current one in the WH was never sharp, he's really fucking stupid actually. He was installed.
Hope 2024 brings the change America needs and ends the bull shit.
I have a nagging concern about the polls showing extreme dissatisfaction with Biden and Dem policies. We assume that it’s because the Dems have gone off the deep end crazy. But how many are giving negative reviews because they are upset that the Dems haven’t gone far enough with the lunacy?
I am done with the duopoly. It's been criminally rigged against ANY political alternative since the late 19th century. The entrenching with computerized rigging has been the final nail.
Ex-Leftist, here. What I call the Synthetic Left signed over their everlovin' worthless minds and souls to Satan when COVID hit. I don't have time for stupid, let alone authoritarian, language-mangling, evil stupid.
Thing is, this shift in sentiment hasn't caused me to become a righty, either. But I sure do appreciate a refreshingly different view of the political landscape.
Im kinda of interested in what your opinion a right is. I have been thoroughly confused by the left/right debate by smarter people then me, some on this page, on what that actually means. But more for my part, as i pretty much believed in these basic things all my life, people should be left alone to do if they wish if they are not hurting anyone, war is bad, we need a basic level of government for regulation and security (but our defense spending is a travesty). And basically we should avoid interfering with others affairs but help wherever we can.
For that i am generally considered a righty. (admittedly my personal life is what people would consider "conservative" but that applies to all types.)
I've been a constitutionalist since the '90s when I was supporting the stand Ron Paul took against the World Trade Organization's slithering encroachment on health freedom (in that case, the freedom to use dietary supplements to support health), WTO was trying to "harmonize" dietary laws and basically criminalize vitamins. I didn't care that Ron Paul had an "R" or an "I" next to his name, and I didn't even live in his district. (Can't remember the history of his party or not-a-party affiliations.)
Same when I supported his 2008 run for prezzie, until of course he was sidelined by the GOP before the election and the great speechifier "Obama The Fraud" showed up with his fake-progressive lies. (That was the last time I voted for a D for prezzie; never did vote for an R.)
I agree with all the sentiments you've shared, DMC. This is why I say the labeling is problematic.
I guess I'd say a typical righty might be someone who--just like a lefty--accepts and repeats whatever they're told on a talk show or radio show or podcast without doing any critical thinking. (Exactly the same as a lefty, obviously, in this regard.)
I was living in the South when Rush Limbaugh 'came to power.' While in my car, occasionally, I would listen to him on the radio, and I was horrified. I could tell that this shill for the DemonState was going to work a spell on righties.
But then NPR and all the other mouthpieces on the Left increasingly did the very same to lefties. I was equally horrified.
but that's were it seems to come down to. In your description* the righty is an idiot, the lefty regurgitating the opposite talking points somehow gets a pass by virtue of NPR playing cooler bumper music? those that identify as left are cooler, better credentialed, and more likely to express platitudes, that doesn't make them any smarter then their counterparts. and thus those of us who get sept into the "right" get "I'm with stupid labels.
*I said "your description" which is my read on your post, that may be different than your opinion.
lol...where'd you get the idea that I don't think the lefty in my description is an idiot? I do think most lefties are idiots. And I'm including nearly all friends, colleagues and family in my critique of the Left.
Nothing makes my blood boil more than 'educated' (indoctrinated) and credentialed academic types, who are seemingly universally lefties. They cannot think for themselves to save their own lives. All they can think or do is what fake-experts tell them to think or do.
I am embarrassed by the Left. Not so much by the Right.
The never Trumpers, and I'm sure there are a lot left, will never vote for him, and If Kamala winds up president, so be it. I think they are going to vote for Biden and should he win, and die, and Kamela takes over, well I think most democrats know neither is running that show. They'll vote for their party especially if Trump runs. Although one never knows and people may have become so fed up with his open border policy and his "liberal" position people may very well have had enough and one can only wish that is true. I can't believe I was a former democrat because now I loath them. During the Trump years they sucked up liberalism in it's most extreme forms and now they're stuck with it, like their open door policy, and I only hope there is pay back for them for being such phony SOB's. If they were really liberal they would have wanted to get along with Russia, and not pushed a war that has already killed hundreds of thousands. Instead they would have taken Trump's lead in regard to getting along with Russia.
Brad, I love this and all your posts. Also you and I often have the same basic thoughts in our comments, although yours are multiple times better written than mine, always. One slight difference of opinion we have is in regards to Biden, and I say this with all due humility, and with all that "I could be wrong" stuff, but although he is by far the worst president in my 60 years on earth, and most sane people cannot believe how cognitively frail he has been since he was fraudulently installed into office in 2020 with a variety of tactics that were primarily employed under the cover of Covid mitigation procedures that - as you've written about so well in the past - were a breathtaking disaster on every single possible front, and his rapid decline since the completely planned and staged Jan 6 ruckus in D. C. can no longer be hidden from the public, oh and Harris, ha, Biden will not be on the ticket in '24. Again, I write this knowing I come off pompous, but there is zero chance he will be running next year and what happens "after this fact is a fact" is beyond me. Keep on rocking Brad, your writing is awesome!
What if Biden has a heart attack or stroke a month before the general election? Would anyone believe that Harris with a -17 rating could beat ANY of the Republicans running. They are already maneuvering to place Gavin Newsom in line to replace the stiff. People from other state little realize that Captain Clueless would be worse than the marijuana soused social climber as he actually has an agenda that bears NO relationship to any know reality & he talks it up as though drugs gangs don’t really control major swaths of his state, as though homelessness is a problems $800,000 per unit built housing will solve, that the state has enough water to continue agriculture has it has been, that solar & wind will solve all their power needs, that marijuana with a 15% minimum THC content is safe for the general public to use, that they can build high speed rail across California & magically solve all the transport woes if only the federal government would give them a few trillion dollars more. & so on. This governor passed an additional 60 cent per gallon gas tax on top of their other gas tax & then a few months later launched a special government task force(paid by who?) to find out why Californians were paying so much more for gasoline that people in other states. His views on immigration really amount to bring in more so he can completely replace the black American population in California with them. Hypocrite, racist, radical & clueless. He is Captain Clueless to the Democrat’s rescue come the presidential election. His only saving grace is that he looks & talks like the people most likely to vote for him.
I'm genuinely confused as to why the Democrats think that Biden is their only option and that actually having a primary would automatically hand the election to their White Whale, the Orange Man.
We know they have Newsom, Pritzker, Whitmer, et al.—wouldn't it be wiser to let grandpa serve out his days and let one of these other fresher faces run next year?
13 mos from Election Day (when Biden will be 82), how is this their best option? How will this man be able to campaign and when was the last time he sat for a long, adversarial interview?
Is the strategy to just count on the MSM to be their campaign team, Big Tech to be their funders and censors, and all the big Blue cities (who vote massively for any D) to ring up massive vote totals?
Seems kinda risky to me...
The Democrats right now could have RFKjr; they could have a primary and then JB could win--or lose. I would vote for RFKjr in the primary, but since the DNC is messing with the rules, he'll probably go 3rd party.. I just donated to watch the live stream of RFKjr's 10/9 announcement. I am a lifelong registered D. I've been a precinct captain, a delegate to state D conventions , and consistent small donor. The Dems have 100% lost my vote and my small donations. I did not vote for Biden in the general; I voted Green.
Be careful. You're comments might put you on the super-duper ultra MAGA extremists naughty list.
This shit is scary. My D friends are nonplussed.
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/fbi-creates-maga-extremist-category-targets-trump-supporters-ahead-2024-election
I know and I don't care! I was the best Democrat for years. And so far RFKjr has tried to run in Dem primary only to be rebuffed. Without a true D primary the DNC has created something different.
If RFK was to run as a D, he would get Bernied. They keep the "super delegates" just for people like that. He is better off running as an independent. At least then he has a chance.
Exactly.
It's really sad to see what's happened to the D's. It still hard for me to get my head around.
It all comes down to hegemony. They control all the institutions and the media has not only "protected" the D's; they've pushed them further Left...into cuckoo land.
The problem is that in the process of taking them over they also damaged the institutions to such an extent that is probably not sustainable.
To your point, college enrollment is down, YouTube is kicking the ass of every major television network, publishing is quickly being replaced by e-book self publishing, and so on. All of those institutions have been gutted by the left and the usefulness of them is rapidly going downhill the faster they openly take sides.
They're literally forced to pretend that fire alarms are confusing.........
Those in government that pursue MAGA"S are far more scary.
Liberal/Neoliberal voters are dumb, brainwashed sheep, that's why.
Scary indeed. I read Zero hedge every day and somehow missed it. Thanks.
It is pretty funny (and gross) that the Party that claims every second to be rescuing "our sacred Democracy" (and the politicians who claim to be the literal incarnations of Democracy) refuse to debate or acknowledge RFK Jr and and are suing to keep the No Labels people off the ballot.
In thinking it over, my only guess as for why running Biden's corpse has become mandatory for Dems is that the people who control him (most esp the Obama faction) would rather lose to a Republican than lose their spot at the top of the party's hierarchy.
Trump or DeSantis would just mean Resistance 2.0 (and they know how to run and monetize that show), while some other Dem running and winning could mean 8 years watching their rivals grab all the juicy jobs and promotions.
Just a guess!
good point.
in both scenarios they are familiar (at least in their own mind).
as recent events have shown, they feel they can get away with almost anything since the media and every institution runs cover for them. they know how to run a Biden campaign and they know how to run the resistance campaign. anything else is foreign to them, regardless of the needs of their own party or the country at large. but as Brad is implying, they might really freak out once the bell tolls...
I can understand your position in voting Green, done it myself, but the only problem is, you never get a winner. I think the so called liberals which today operate in extremes and seem very autocratic have to be gone, or toned down. They have now adopted the attitude, it's my way or the highway, and that is no liberal to me.
Yes, their problem is that they need to replace Biden but not allow the voters to choose his replacement.
My real point is that I'm one of those Democrats who volunteered, gave donations, went to every rally and convention (true blue for many years) that the party has lost. I'm still a registered Democrat. I will not vote for JB.
Many of of Democrat friends feel the same way.
That's all I can come up with. Why Harris in 2020? Because she is controllable? And by whom?
The only person who wanted Harris to be VP (other than Harris herself) was Obama.
That's what I assume. She was pretty shitty to Biden during one of the debates, and unpopular with her own party in the primaries up to when she dropped out, so ...
I lived in the Bay Area California for a few decades, and I vaguely recall her getting her start under Willie Brown. She was nice looking (at the time - those days behind her) but otherwise unimpressive and always gave me the impression of being over her head.
Do you think RFK is a viable candidate for the Democrats? I think it's hard to get rid of the stink of vaccine heresy without a lot of people changing their tune on vaccines in general.
I think RFKjr would have opened up the debate. He has abt. 15% of Dems like me. I would have liked to have him on the debate and asked questions. By closing the primary Democrat voters have had the decision made for them.
They must really be terrified of Biden/Harris campaigning.
that's the fear, which they defused - RFK is not taking Biden votes in the general. so now they have weaponized him to their cause.
I worked for a large healthcare non-profit that ran like the state. Came in at a mid-level executive. Worked there five years and was a star getting crap done that the organization had not been able to do. They were like the government where there was an entitlement in the hierarch of promotions. Butts in seat with loyalty were more important than demonstrated capability. I left.
But the Democrats are like that. They are a collective of people that need tacit agreements that long term loyalty to the party gets a payback.
Republicans are more likely to reward and honor demonstrated capability.
Obama was an abnormality for Dems... but he was the right identity for the time.
They feel Biden is entitled to the job. If they start cutting poorly performing dogs, then they are worried that they will be next.
I do see your point but Biden and the MSM and his PR people (I repeat myself) could easily paint him as a conquering hero who came to the rescue, slayed the Orange Dragon and is now passing the torch to a younger generation...
The idea that because he won in 2020 he's the ONLY Democrat who can win in 2024 just seems so odd and nonsensical to me...
The man is obviously enfeebled, is a nonstop gaffe machine, reeks of corruption, and is always one slip and fall away from making himself into a cartoon character...and we still have 13 mos to go!
Is having an open primary that terrifying? I don't get it...
"Is the strategy to just count on the MSM to be their campaign team..."
Probably, it almost always works. And thanks to the government regulators' program of silencing opponents, it will work even better now.
"...his PR people (I repeat myself) could easily paint him as a conquering hero who came to the rescue, slayed the Orange Dragon and is now passing the torch to a younger generation..."
Yes, that or something else will work. Their control of the mass media gives the left almost unlimited power.
"Their control of the mass media gives the left almost unlimited power."
This very much, but also full control of the Ivy League, NGOs, Hollywood and Silicon Valley (minus Elon) doesn't hurt either.
is there a fear that les enfeebled candidates will start saying the quiet part out loud and sabotage themselves? the pattern of Biden and fetterman seems to be having a debilitated front man who can only recite bromides might be a winning one. We have reduced everything to binaries.
Hiding him the the basement and running against Trump worked before. So, they figure it's their best strategy. They don't care they he's a walking blathering corpse. It's not like they don't know this. They are further banking on imprisoning Trump and that enough Independents will finally be done with Trump. This is very transparent.
as I said above - they used that strategy with Fetterman, they are making this a selection for a machine. Has worked very effectively in the cities, (albeit to their detriment.)
That Fetterlump guy is a bit creepy, but he does add tremendous entertainment value
true but it is a bit offset by the "total embarrassment to the country" factor. Though i gues we are long past that concern.
It has to be Harris. She was selected for just this situation, Biden leaving, and she wants it. As VP, she is in the catbird seat, and the D's would look like even bigger racists if they removed the first black woman from office, whether by means fair or foul.
Which means that they have to leave Biden in place as she is too much of a political liability. And this is what you get when you allow someone who fucked there way into politics and always failed upward. She cannot do retail politics, and they cannot paper over the fact that she has failed at everything.
It would depend on how they spin it but it would also require Harris to go willingly. The most idiotic strategy would be to say she had to go because the voters are racist and that's why she's unpopular. A better spin with be that it's not racist to remove someone who happens to be black because she sucks. Imagine if they replaced her with Michelle Obama...
Michelle Obama is probably hated every bit as much as Hilary was on the right, and she doesn't even have a walk on career as a senator and the consolation prize of SOS to show voters she has any sort of chops.
I mean, sure, I guess they could put her in place to run, but the level of risk from nominating a woman who emanates palpable hate for the country is pretty high.
Definitely not as President, but perhaps as VP instead of Harris. Pissing of the people on the right could be a bonus to whip up the Democrat base.
To be honest, the name probably popped into my head because the Dems seem to have few electable, well-known black women.
It looks to me like Newsom is kinda already running. There's even an alternate universe debate planned with DeSantis. Of course this could also be an experiment of having other people substitute for Biden in debates, considering the Adderal shortage that might be their attempt at a solution to have debates without Biden.
Gavin reminds me of a prince in exile who knows he will be the next one to wear the King's crown, as long as he gets the timing right and doesn't jump in too soon or too late.
He is in his second term in our richest state, has personal wealth and glamor, can rely on at least a billion dollars from just Silicon Valley alone, is a political chameleon (and as slippery as an eel), and is smart enough to know the MSM will fellate him on camera if it means access and they get to feel like they helped him win.
(And if it's DeSantis who's his eventual opponent he will lose as soon as the cameras roll—he's shorter, uglier and his voice is too nasal, plus the MSM has a raging vendetta against him and will do everything in their power to destroy him.)
When Gavin does officially run, whether in 2024 or 2028, he will be a heavy favorite.
I agree, it's sort of odd since California is a shitshow while Florida seems to be doing well. But DeSantis doesn't look like he's able to play the election game particularly well outside of a red state.
IMHO, it would seem clear that biden is a tool or causeway, if you will, to the next evolution of that party.
He's the perfect (situationally) elder statesman, that can don the martyr's cloak and either heroically step down and pass the baton or he can be removed for health reasons and then be replaced.
That second option would itself, have two options:
1. Replace him shortly after his next stolen term starts - with a hand picked WEF/Globalit VP.
2. Replace him during the late stages of the race...this to me is the more plausible and sympathetic play. He can be allowed to freeze, shit himself on stage or have an "out of the blue" stroke. He' can then be framed a the heroic statesman, who gave his all. At that point, the orchestrators can install anyone they want (I would say big Mike Obama or another radical destroyer) and the party and their base would cheer and be all in.
I always said, you will know the switch is in, when the fake media starts allowing people to see, his dementia and starts openly discussing it. They've been given the cue, to shift the narrative and thinking of the masses. It's now just a matter of what option, the string pullers want to use and when it will be the most advantageous.
My Democrat friends are a hoot. They for some reason have adopted a belief that denial, obfuscation and deflection are good enough to keep winning elections. I tell them that without the pandemic, it is very strongly probably that Trump would still be president and the Senate and House in GOP hands.
And now we have the terrible, terrible Biden performance that they also deny, obfuscate and deflect.
They can only hope that the GOP keeps demonstrating such political weakness.
Maybe Trump did win the election. When you look at what they are doing to him now, anything is possible. When you look at the reality of a party that tried to remove an elected president on a lie that had no consequences, anything is possible. When they can call a riot an insurrection, anything is possible. When they can allow several hundred thousand Ukrainians to die in order to bring down Putin, anything is possible. When you look at the chaos they have allowed to happen at our border to counter Trump's policy as they cave to liberals, anything is possible. When they can think of running a senile old man for a second term for the presidency, anything is possible.
There's zero chance that this group cared about democracy so much they wouldn't screw with the general election -- especially after rigging the primaries.
I didn't vote in 2016. I was a registered democrat, but I would never vote for Hilary Clinton. I knew Russia-gate to be a lie from the beginning, a lie pushed by the democrats, the left, and the mainstream media, I came to actually despise them. I became an independent and voted for Trump in 2020, and support his run now. I reacted to their authoritarianism with a lot of anger, and never saw Jan 6 as anything more then a riot, and the Jan 6 comm as unconstitutional. What they are doing to him now is no different. Hopefully that will all backfire.They are also using him to further their own political careers lacking any sense of morality which is certainly true of Letitia James. She promised to take him down when she wasn't even privy to any information on his business dealings, and said he was an illegitimate president. Her prejudicial position is not challenged at all. There's absolutely no objectivity in the press, and through Trump's presidency little to none on the left, by so called liberals. Now why wouldn't I think the 2020 election could very well have been stolen, and if he is given the chance to run again I wonder if the same thing will happen, or worse.
Even though I'm a both a socialist & a libertarian based on policies, I happen to agree with you & conservative & Trump supporters that Democrats are VERY corrupt & that liberal voters are brainwashed & blind.
I also used to be a brainwashed, liberal voter thinking that the Democrats were the good guys. Turns out they're not.
I remained a democrat even though I saw them grow less and less supportive of their base. Listen Liberal by Thomas Frank covered that ground well, although he still claimed at the time they were better then republicans, now I certainly don't think so. What's going on now scares me. The country remains so divided and there are far too many anti-Trumpers who seem extreme in their hate, and are supported by the government and deep state and that hate is pushed by the media to a great extent. . I wonder what will happen should he win, or if they let him win. I just don't know.
As a non-American I'm perplexed by the comment 'so infirm that he is obliged to resign'... Seriously, he was demented over a year ago. In all morality (not that there's any in politics), the man/party/system should have been removed. Frankly, it's internationally a completely embarrassment.
They can't admit that he was demented a year ago, because a year ago the Republicans were saying he's demented.
I’m surprised Biden’s poll numbers aren’t lower...like zero. Are they not seeing what the rest of the world is seeing?!
There's the "blue no matter who" group, there is the "anyone but Donald Trump" group, those that believe the conspiracy theories around Trump and the Hunter Biden Laptop, those that see Trump as a criminal in general or just see him as a racist*. And there must still be some people who only trust the corporate media - low information voters with bad memory.
* even though Biden has a record of saying racists things where the excuse always seems to be that it's a "gaffe", and he also sponsored some bills that led to a disproportionate incarceration of black people. Of course he is allowed to change his mind but I think the occasions where he goes off-script is when you really see how the guy thinks.
I know people who want Biden in 2024 and will vote for him if he runs. The same people who condemned me for not voting for Hilary and making Trump the US president. I haven't even spoke to some in all these years. Good riddance!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
One problem that Democrats make is assuming that once somebody is on their side, they will remain there. Sure, the platform attracted a lot of minorities in 2005, but those people aren't really down for screwing up their kids.........
Of course, Democrats now take those people for granted because they don't understand that we're all individuals.
I think this also shows that the corporate media isn't as powerful as they believe they are. They keep spinning and downplaying Bidens problems yet even their audience still answers in polls he's not really fit for a second term. And the "inflation is a conspiracy theory, you're just bad with money" spin on the horrific economy is also not catching on. They have long lost control of the narrative. And Big Tech is distancing itself from censorship now, they can't really afford to piss off such a large segment of the population.
Honestly I think if one looks at all of the last 7 years (and I'm a 2 time Trump voter) the average (they do exsit) American citizen is tired. Tired of the constant victimhood BS day after day, tired of race baiters, parents being told they don't know whats right for their children, tired of politicians & bureaucrats not being held to account for lies and slander, tired of being told they are "wrong" to say 2+2 = 4, tired of their hard earned monies being throw to those who "chose" to go to college and study basket weaving and are too lazy to get a fucking job to pay off their debts, tired of unprovable Climate Change garbage being pushed by elitist & shills, tired of economic genuis's who can't find their collective asses if it was handed to them, tired of wars that slaughter innocents and tired of being sick and fucking tired.
The age thingy ? There are a lot of sharp minded 80+ year olds, the current one in the WH was never sharp, he's really fucking stupid actually. He was installed.
Hope 2024 brings the change America needs and ends the bull shit.
I have a nagging concern about the polls showing extreme dissatisfaction with Biden and Dem policies. We assume that it’s because the Dems have gone off the deep end crazy. But how many are giving negative reviews because they are upset that the Dems haven’t gone far enough with the lunacy?
Powerful read Brad!! Well done!
Learned a new word, today: myrmidons. Thanks.
I am done with the duopoly. It's been criminally rigged against ANY political alternative since the late 19th century. The entrenching with computerized rigging has been the final nail.
Ex-Leftist, here. What I call the Synthetic Left signed over their everlovin' worthless minds and souls to Satan when COVID hit. I don't have time for stupid, let alone authoritarian, language-mangling, evil stupid.
Thing is, this shift in sentiment hasn't caused me to become a righty, either. But I sure do appreciate a refreshingly different view of the political landscape.
Thanks.
Im kinda of interested in what your opinion a right is. I have been thoroughly confused by the left/right debate by smarter people then me, some on this page, on what that actually means. But more for my part, as i pretty much believed in these basic things all my life, people should be left alone to do if they wish if they are not hurting anyone, war is bad, we need a basic level of government for regulation and security (but our defense spending is a travesty). And basically we should avoid interfering with others affairs but help wherever we can.
For that i am generally considered a righty. (admittedly my personal life is what people would consider "conservative" but that applies to all types.)
The labeling is problematic.
I've been a constitutionalist since the '90s when I was supporting the stand Ron Paul took against the World Trade Organization's slithering encroachment on health freedom (in that case, the freedom to use dietary supplements to support health), WTO was trying to "harmonize" dietary laws and basically criminalize vitamins. I didn't care that Ron Paul had an "R" or an "I" next to his name, and I didn't even live in his district. (Can't remember the history of his party or not-a-party affiliations.)
Same when I supported his 2008 run for prezzie, until of course he was sidelined by the GOP before the election and the great speechifier "Obama The Fraud" showed up with his fake-progressive lies. (That was the last time I voted for a D for prezzie; never did vote for an R.)
I agree with all the sentiments you've shared, DMC. This is why I say the labeling is problematic.
I guess I'd say a typical righty might be someone who--just like a lefty--accepts and repeats whatever they're told on a talk show or radio show or podcast without doing any critical thinking. (Exactly the same as a lefty, obviously, in this regard.)
I was living in the South when Rush Limbaugh 'came to power.' While in my car, occasionally, I would listen to him on the radio, and I was horrified. I could tell that this shill for the DemonState was going to work a spell on righties.
But then NPR and all the other mouthpieces on the Left increasingly did the very same to lefties. I was equally horrified.
but that's were it seems to come down to. In your description* the righty is an idiot, the lefty regurgitating the opposite talking points somehow gets a pass by virtue of NPR playing cooler bumper music? those that identify as left are cooler, better credentialed, and more likely to express platitudes, that doesn't make them any smarter then their counterparts. and thus those of us who get sept into the "right" get "I'm with stupid labels.
*I said "your description" which is my read on your post, that may be different than your opinion.
lol...where'd you get the idea that I don't think the lefty in my description is an idiot? I do think most lefties are idiots. And I'm including nearly all friends, colleagues and family in my critique of the Left.
Nothing makes my blood boil more than 'educated' (indoctrinated) and credentialed academic types, who are seemingly universally lefties. They cannot think for themselves to save their own lives. All they can think or do is what fake-experts tell them to think or do.
I am embarrassed by the Left. Not so much by the Right.
But, again, with the labels....
good points. But that is my point about the labels. Getting bunched in with the knuckle draggers is no fun. (and some of them are)
Anyway - dinner to make football game to watch with my son.....stuff to do. Mire later maybe.
The never Trumpers, and I'm sure there are a lot left, will never vote for him, and If Kamala winds up president, so be it. I think they are going to vote for Biden and should he win, and die, and Kamela takes over, well I think most democrats know neither is running that show. They'll vote for their party especially if Trump runs. Although one never knows and people may have become so fed up with his open border policy and his "liberal" position people may very well have had enough and one can only wish that is true. I can't believe I was a former democrat because now I loath them. During the Trump years they sucked up liberalism in it's most extreme forms and now they're stuck with it, like their open door policy, and I only hope there is pay back for them for being such phony SOB's. If they were really liberal they would have wanted to get along with Russia, and not pushed a war that has already killed hundreds of thousands. Instead they would have taken Trump's lead in regard to getting along with Russia.
Brad, I love this and all your posts. Also you and I often have the same basic thoughts in our comments, although yours are multiple times better written than mine, always. One slight difference of opinion we have is in regards to Biden, and I say this with all due humility, and with all that "I could be wrong" stuff, but although he is by far the worst president in my 60 years on earth, and most sane people cannot believe how cognitively frail he has been since he was fraudulently installed into office in 2020 with a variety of tactics that were primarily employed under the cover of Covid mitigation procedures that - as you've written about so well in the past - were a breathtaking disaster on every single possible front, and his rapid decline since the completely planned and staged Jan 6 ruckus in D. C. can no longer be hidden from the public, oh and Harris, ha, Biden will not be on the ticket in '24. Again, I write this knowing I come off pompous, but there is zero chance he will be running next year and what happens "after this fact is a fact" is beyond me. Keep on rocking Brad, your writing is awesome!
Thank you! I'm starting to suspect that Biden won't be the candidate as well.
What if Biden has a heart attack or stroke a month before the general election? Would anyone believe that Harris with a -17 rating could beat ANY of the Republicans running. They are already maneuvering to place Gavin Newsom in line to replace the stiff. People from other state little realize that Captain Clueless would be worse than the marijuana soused social climber as he actually has an agenda that bears NO relationship to any know reality & he talks it up as though drugs gangs don’t really control major swaths of his state, as though homelessness is a problems $800,000 per unit built housing will solve, that the state has enough water to continue agriculture has it has been, that solar & wind will solve all their power needs, that marijuana with a 15% minimum THC content is safe for the general public to use, that they can build high speed rail across California & magically solve all the transport woes if only the federal government would give them a few trillion dollars more. & so on. This governor passed an additional 60 cent per gallon gas tax on top of their other gas tax & then a few months later launched a special government task force(paid by who?) to find out why Californians were paying so much more for gasoline that people in other states. His views on immigration really amount to bring in more so he can completely replace the black American population in California with them. Hypocrite, racist, radical & clueless. He is Captain Clueless to the Democrat’s rescue come the presidential election. His only saving grace is that he looks & talks like the people most likely to vote for him.
Completely agree with the warning in your last paragraph.
I'm a white chickee gradate. I cannot stomach voting for Biden.