This is meant as an unofficial thread for the Daily Kos Elections crowd to discuss what is going on with Biden and efforts to get him to step down from the Presidential nomination. This is because very wisely talk over who should be the nominee aka primary talk is forbidden because it tends to drown out all other talk. All I ask for in this thread is that we keep it to electoral politics (how it will affect the election) rather than policy.
As things stand we have reached peak media feeding frenzy in the aftermath of the Trump-Biden debate. And the political aspect of the drama as a whole probably reached it’s peak yesterday when a few house members joined the call for Biden to step aside but the Senate side fell apart and sizzled. Even the media is starting to soften. Tim Miller who was one of the most frazzled by the debate starting calming down and today interviewed Bakari Sellers who made a strong case for Biden.
The reason is pretty simple simple. Biden is starting to come out strongly for himself which puts the whole replace Biden movement in limbo because you cannot replace Biden without the approval of Joe Biden himself due to so much of the nominating machinery being in the hands of his very own campaign. Including of course the vast majority of elected delegates who ran under his banner.
But that is not to say we are not at a peak. There was the Parkinson doctor story where his actual yearly psychological exam was ignored.
My nervousness about Biden was a week of him not adequately fighting for Joe Biden. Now he is and I am back on board. But and this is a very big but. It depends on how you view Biden to begin with. I don’t believe he is suffering from dementia. His debate performance concerned me but didn’t spook me the way it did others. But others were. And that cannot be ignored. Especially since low information voters are more likely to get their opinions from the general mood or tik tok than reading a newspaper or watching a news broadcast.
The is he “too old” discussion is in the popular consciousness and can flare up dangerously the next time he makes a gaffe. And Joe Biden has been a gaffe machine for decades. So while the discussion of “will he step aside” may be drawing to a close the “should he” discussion remains active. With many arguing the argument itself just distracts from the main goal of defeating Trump.
To reiterate and probably for the last time the process if he was to step aside.
1) Because of ballot access issues the vote for the Democratic nomination happens officially before the convention. It will do so virtually and continue until a candidate gets a majority. If Biden wants to be the Democratic nominee he will do so on the first ballot. After the first ballot it becomes super delegate time. This will happen soon.
2) The only candidates who can use the money Biden and Kamala have raised for their campaign is Biden and Kamala. Hence why if Biden were to step aside she would be the most probable nominee. There will be no “blitz” primary.
3) This is the last moment for Biden to reconsider. By all indications he isn’t.
4) Nobody can push Joe Biden aside besides Joe Biden. This means in the event he does do so it will not be because of anyone but Joe Biden. People can threaten, beg, or issue a press release but he is the only one in control. Praise him or blame him but everything is on him.