Two things motivated this diary. First, I was speaking with a friend today, and she offered up the old aphorism in my headline to describe what’s happening in our party, and it struck me as so true. Second, I had a discussion on this on another thread, and I wanted to amplify on it.
I recently wrote a diary asking those on this site to “get on board, or get out of our way,” for Joe Biden.
www.dailykos.com/…
And I’m not here to rescind that. I was not about to wait for Democrats to straighten out their shit to support our CURRENT candidate, and who I think will likely be our candidate.
Although I wrote the above diary BEFORE the assassination attempt, I was foolish enough to think that at least the assassination attempt would put an end to the dump Joe thing. But it did not, and it has not. The press is right back at it again, saw it creep back in all over the place today, including here, and not the least on MSNBC.
And yes, frankly, I am concerned that Adam Schiff is NOT on board, that Nancy Pelosi also appears not to be on board. I have long admired both and have usually agreed with them. I am concerned that what should be easy public statements from folks like them, and Obama, the Clintons, and SO MANY other bigwigs in the party who are nowhere as forthcoming as I would like them to be. These are people who we NEED to have on board, right?
I am ALSO, very concerned about the explosive risk of removing Joe Biden from the ticket at this point. Not to mention I greatly respect Joe, and think he’s more than capable of being, oh I dunno, maybe a million times more capable than Trump. What? Too small, too big?
I am not impressed w/polls that say Kamala does better than Trump---out of absolutely no disrespect for her. Good Lord, the republicans have barely begun to go after her. Joe OTOH, has been put through fire these last weeks, and he is still standing.
But this is not about my respect for Joe, or my instincts that if we dump him, we will meet out new problems in a way we’ve not had the time to prepare for. For wherever we may disagree, we all DO AGREE that beating Trump is the only really important thing. We just can’t seem to coalesce on how to do that.
So, I’d like to see those in power, who have been whispering amongst themselves, put it out there about now, beyond their platitudinal early comments after the debate.
And that’s what I’m here to ask for. IF Adam and Nancy and Barack and Hillary and Bill, and untold numbers of un-named Democratic reps and bigwigs REALLY BELIEVE Joe can’t win, (OMG, the “we’ll lose in a landslide!” comments) then damn it, they need to put their team together and get it out there and on the table, WITH THEIR NAMES on it. And damn close to NOW.
All those un-named reps, all those rumored worries in the house and the senate, all those who really have the power to put this thing down, one way or another MUST, EITHER PUT THEIR NAMES on their dissent, or AGAIN, get on board in a helpful and full throated way.
For God’s sake, it’s been three weeks since the debate, about a hundred days till the election, and it’s way time to get our shit together.
Folks like you and me, no matter whether we agree or not, have NOT been able to settle this either way—but rather only to argue and gloom and doom about it all. A thousand cuts, and NO ONE out there is fooled, and it IS taking a toll on us and our fight. The Democrats ARE in disarray.
What WILL settle it is if the power brokers in our party put their STUFF on the table. Either way, either side, freaking bring this thing to a head. Lay it out and put your name on it, once and for all. Make your pitch.
To those who will inevitably reply that Joe HAS already replied, I agree, he has. Several times. NOW he needs the full support of his party, or he really needs those who can’t support him fully to put their names on it, so he understands exactly what he is up against.
And then, it’s up to Joe. And after that, it’s up to US, whether we got our way or not, to put all our heart and soul into beating Trump. But we cannot do that YET, because IMO, it seems our Democratic leaders/bigwigs are afraid to have that day where push comes to shove. But it must come. Yesterday would have been good.
Heh, just an ending note here---I thought about using that old “don’t cut the dog’s tail off one inch at a time” thing, but then, thinking of Kristi Noem, thought better of it. ;)