Harris-Walz / Dems

Axaday

Well-known member
Citizen
I hope the people who matter know that they have to choose Kamala and they have to officially legitimize her right now. She has to get on the trail and actually BE the presumptive nominee immediately.

GOP is going to smear her, but the smear you do NOT want is that the Democratic Party just ignored their primary and picked who they wanted. The people who voted for Biden in the primary WERE voting for Kamala.
 

Axaday

Well-known member
Citizen
I'm just so incredibly disappointed in party "leadership" right now. Biden has been the best President of my lifetime, but because the megadonors freaked out after he had one bad debate and the polling in July was a little shaky* there was a month-long whisper campaign within his own party to push him out.
I haven't liked what the media were doing and I wish people in Congress had kept quiet, but I'm not convinced that either of those carried the day. We've been seeing the problem with Biden's public appearances for a year now. He is different. And the people in the room where this decision was made probably know some things that we only suspect.
 

Paladin

Well-known member
Citizen
if democrats pick anyone other than Harris (and they are PRECISELY stupid enough to do so) it will cost them any respect among black AND women voters- their two most consistent AND needed demographics.

So in other words-

Donald just won.
 

Patch

Well-known member
Citizen
I hope the people who matter know that they have to choose Kamala and they have to officially legitimize her right now. She has to get on the trail and actually BE the presumptive nominee immediately.
She's been on the campaign trail for a while now.

3 weeks ago: https://www.nbclosangeles.com/decision-2024/vice-president-kamala-harris-biden-trump-debate/3447829/
2 weeks ago: https://www.politico.com/news/2024/07/09/harris-campaign-trail-biden-doubters-00167197
3 days ago: https://www.npr.org/2024/07/18/g-s1-11932/biden-covid-harris

Update: Bill & Hillary have endorsed Harris
 
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Teufel

Active member
Citizen
Kind of odd this is a Sunday press release, doesn't really seem to match the moment.

One of the all time FAFO moments of US political history. Biden demanded the debates, set the ground rules, and lit himself on fire on that stage. I'm not sure how it will shake out. Kamala's pretty awful with terrible approval numbers but she's also not 80+ years old and people generally hate Trump. Just getting free of the Biden tailspin and breaking free of the Dem circular firing squad could be enough to squeak by, but if she crashes and burns like her 2020 campaign that wouldn't shock me either.

But "one bad debate" is kind of like people saying Joe just has a stutter; it's alternate reality territory. His decline has been obvious over the years and his aging has been a simmering concern with voters for years. There's a reason during the 2020 campaign he kept hinting he'd be a one-term candidate to beat Trump and bridge to the next generation. What happened at that debate was Biden proving all those concerns valid in a spectacular weigh in an incredibly high profile moment. The media actually had to cover it instead of just ignoring it or dismissing it. For example, weeks before the debate Obama leading a confused looking Biden off the stage of an event was called a cheap fake and a right-wing smear, then after the debate the dam broke and all the private concerns could be reported on including how Obama himself was surprised at how far Biden had degraded. On and on. The media did not invent the problem, they just finally started covering it in depth and Trump went radio silent for a couple weeks so there was no lifeline coming from him to change the story.

Biden needed to be robust and prove himself, instead his campaign organized radio interviews with pre-selected questions. He was not up to it and if he couldn't sell his own party, how was he going to sell the American people?
 

Ungnome

Grand Empress of the Empire of One Square Foot.
Citizen
Yea, the Sunday announcement is a bit odd. Wonder why he didn't just wait until tomorrow.
 

Pocket

jumbled pile of person
Citizen
If I've learned anything from the Republicans, it's that the key to success is to accept and normalize whatever happens, regardless of how adamantly you were opposed to it happening before. So yeah, I'm all in on whoever gets nominated here and I was always secretly rooting for him or her.

They've pissed away the incumbency advantage, and the good will of all those folks who voted in primaries for biden.
Did they even have a primary this year? I just kind of assumed that if the incumbent is unopposed, they don't even bother to print a ballot.
 

Pocket

jumbled pile of person
Citizen
Oh, and don't forget, this means no matter what, the vice presidential candidate is a complete toss-up. Fingers crossed for Warren.
 

Ungnome

Grand Empress of the Empire of One Square Foot.
Citizen
They did, but it was more of a ceremonial gesture than anything else, There were a couple of opponents, but none of them got over single digits in the actual votes.
 

MrBlud

Well-known member
Citizen
Oh, and don't forget, this means no matter what, the vice presidential candidate is a complete toss-up. Fingers crossed for Warren.

Really doubtful they’d nominate two women.

Odds are very good it’s going to a white guy. Perhaps Mark Kelly, who has a great record, life story, and is from a swing state (Arizona).
 

Pocket

jumbled pile of person
Citizen
Hmm. I forgot for a moment that there's still a "they" in this equation. I wonder if the convention is going to be like the Electoral College where the delegates who were sent were specifically picked solely for their unwavering support of Biden, and now they're going to be arguing among themselves who their second choice was.
 

Pocket

jumbled pile of person
Citizen
Also, how funny is it going to be when a bunch of newspapers have to pull their whole op-ed page tomorrow because all the columns and comics were going to be about Biden.
 

Paladin

Well-known member
Citizen
Really doubtful they’d nominate two women.

Odds are very good it’s going to a white guy. Perhaps Mark Kelly, who has a great record, life story, and is from a swing state (Arizona).

I've seen Buttigieg tossed around as an option.

He'd certainly make mincemeat out of Vance in a debate.


lot of folks here want Whitmer but she still has 2 years in her governor term.

Newsom is also being suggested in a few places.
 

Ungnome

Grand Empress of the Empire of One Square Foot.
Citizen
Hmm. I forgot for a moment that there's still a "they" in this equation. I wonder if the convention is going to be like the Electoral College where the delegates who were sent were specifically picked solely for their unwavering support of Biden, and now they're going to be arguing among themselves who their second choice was.
Biden's delegates are now free to vote for whomever they wish as the nominee. Normally they will go with who their pledged candidate endorses, but it's not a legal requirement. One of my worries is that this could lead to a contested convention.
 

Monique

Guess whos back
Citizen
ugh this is so stupid but its also so very much like the Dems to eat their own the second weakness is demonstrated. They could have just pumped Biden full of Monster before the next debate but instead we're throwing the incumbent advantage away and probably putting up Harris who is just going to face a barrage of hurdles from within the party let alone from without.
 

DefaultOption

Sourball
Citizen
Okay, so one of Biden's brothers has said that the decision was made partly due to health concerns, and considering that Joe just tested positive for COVID again I can certainly see how a health scare could be the proverbial piece of camel-back-breaking straw.
 

CoffeeHorse

Exhausted, but still standing.
Staff member
Council of Elders
Citizen
Manchin was on every channel calling for Biden to drop out, so I won't be shocked if he does make a move. He won't succeed, but he could make this mess messier.
 

Ungnome

Grand Empress of the Empire of One Square Foot.
Citizen
Currently that's just hearsay. Manchin is rather toxic to a lot of the Democrat base at this point as well and likely would NOT be able to secure the votes needed to take the nomination.
 


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