From TPM Reader SS …
I didn’t watch the debate for various reasons (was on vacation and busy with kids.). From the clips I saw, yeah it wasn’t good. When I heard about the subsequent rallies I relaxed a bit and went on with the rest of our vacation. Then I came back…
The Democratic Party today is disappointing me more than ever. A lot of people are blaming the media, but the media I feel only amplifies what’s coming out of the mouths of party leaders and elected officials. The NYT is going to be the NYT. We have Nikki Haley and pretty much every public, elected face of the GOP enthusiastically throwing their lot with Trump. Meanwhile, we have Democratic leaders publicly tearing down Biden with faint praise and reservations. In a week when the President is solidly representing us at the NATO summit, we have Fmr. Speaker Pelosi (my representative) fueling what I’m now thinking will be the eventual end of Biden’s candidacy (an aside, I’d be fine with Harris but once the big domino of Biden falls and the precedent is set, factions are going to fight for some “safe” candidate that people will see through and won’t have the time to build support in the general electorate.)
Should Biden have run again? I wish he hadn’t. But that decision should’ve been made last fall between him and party leaders with perhaps some media pressure to help. Today all of this just projects weakness in the face of a unified MAGA + GOP. I mean, if elected Democrats can’t go back to their district and convince their constituents to vote for them over what the GOP has become, regardless of Biden’s popularity, what does that say about them in the eyes of voters (i,e, Rep Takano in a Newsom/Biden heavily positive district now fearing he’ll lose… please don’t blame the President and just run a campaign to convince people to come out and vote for you.)
Democrats make this mistake often of trying to sound like they’re doing the right thing. Paraphrasing Bill Clinton on what he said about voters during the Bush administration, that people will often vote for “Strong and wrong” over “weak and right”. Look at the GOP and then the Democrats. If you believe Clinton is right, who would a non-partisan undecided voter choose?
