Josh Marshall
More Thoughts on the Debate and Its Aftermath 
As with my last post, a few thoughts not organized into a single argument but presented as a list of items.
- On the question of Biden dropping out, I hear people say, “surely there’s another leading Democrat who is up to this challenge?” Or, “how can it be there’s no way to do this?” Or, to me personally, “why can’t you see that this is the obvious thing to do?” The best way I can answer this is to say that my assumption is that switching candidates now is the equivalent of pricing in 10 or 20 debate-night disasters. That doesn’t include how the next person does. I mean the simple act of making the switch. I’m not asking you to believe that’s true for the moment. Maybe you disagree and that’s fine. But if you’re trying to understand my reasoning, that is a significant part of what it’s based on. Needless to say, you need to be certain the current plan is hopeless and that person X is going to really knock it out of the park if you make the switch. Again, I have my own assumptions and theories that get me to this conclusion. I note it here just to give you a sense of why, while I’m not ruling anything out, I’m still very skeptical about a switch.
A Few Thoughts on Last Night
A few thoughts on last night’s debate and the fallout, presented as a series of items.
- Last night really sucked. Someone said to me that it brought back feelings of déjà vu about election night 2016. You’re sitting there and the thing you were afraid of but didn’t think was actually possible is happening. And you can blink your eyes and it doesn’t stop happening. I had that same feeling. I’ve had various people write in and say, “You don’t get it, Josh,” in response to things I wrote last night or said on the pod — “It was physically uncomfortable for me to watch.” “I was horrified.” “I wanted to throw up.” All I can say to this is, it was really, really unpleasant for me, too. I just don’t talk or write that way. It royally sucked.
Both Nancy Pelosi and Hakeem Jeffries discussed Biden’s performance last night and how he stacked up to Trump in a way I can only call fairly equivocal.
These are both quotes from impromptu conversations this morning posted by credentialed reporters on Twitter.
Read MoreFrom TPM Reader JY …
Read MoreTrying to collect my thoughts reading the debate reactions from readers you already posted, and hearing about Axelrod and Plouffe going on tv and just aimlessly panicking, and the biggest thing that came to mind was the Access Hollywood tape. I’m about your age and that’s the only time I can recall that the other side actually panicked. You had reporters saying they were hearing from GOP operatives that all was lost.
From TPM Reader SJ …
I just donated money to the Democrats for the first time in a while. Yes, this was terrible but my reaction is to suddenly face up to the horror of the reality of Trump and to prioritize doing more and to temporarily ignore my Longer-term concerns Such as climate change.
From TPM Reader JW …
Read MoreI just gave $250 to Biden. Might not be a lot for some but it is for me.
When I got off work tonight & drove home, I turned on the radio (& the debate) for the time it took me to get there. A couple of minutes was enough to know it was a shit show. By the time I got home I was royally disgusted & angry. With the panel for clearly letting Trump aggress his way into extra time (though they had mic control). With Biden for sounding sick & confused – like a parody of what the right says about him, for missing clear opportunities to slam Trump for nonsense. With Trump for sounding sharp despite spewing utter bullshit at every turn. With this country for shoveling propaganda into their brains & not straight up laughing this clownish asshole out of the country.
From TPM Reader SD …
Read MoreI will admit to feeling a little panicked when President Biden came out the gates at the debate as slowly (maybe even decrepitly) as he did. To my surprise, however, I am feeling far less down about this than I would have expected. It reminds me too much of the way we trial lawyers tend to react when something goes badly wrong in a jury trial. This can range from having an important cross-examination turn sour on you to having your client say something seemingly disastrous while testifying. At the end of days like that the level of despondency you feel can be overwhelming. We’ve all been there. You go back to the office and announce, “It’s over. We’re going to get killed.”
From TPM Reader SP …
Read MoreIt was so obvious that Biden had no business running again. Obvious when the Hur report came out. Obvious after the Israel-Hamas war broke out. Obvious after the debt ceiling standoff. Obvious after losing the House. Obvious after two years of rising inflation. Just as obvious after the fall of Kabul as it ever was. All we got was “it’s too early,” “the economy is improving,” “don’t re-open the ideological rifts in the Democratic party,” “presidents always run for a second term,” and the ultimate dodge, “polls at this stage aren’t predictive.” And it was the most obvious of all where that would lead. They would wait and wait, repeat that line over and over, until we reached the point where polls at this stage are predictive, and surprised, Biden’s numbers only got worse, but now we’ll hear, “it’s too late to replace him.”
From TPM Reader NL …
Read MoreI have been watching this debate with a combination of sadness and anger.
On the sadness – Biden has probably been the best and most effective Democratic president since probably LBJ. His 4 years in office have been amazingly productive and he did not settle for limping out of the Covid recession.
From TPM Reader JG …
“Missed opportunity” is the right way to frame this debate. I think the debate did what the Biden strategists wanted in showing that Donald Trump was unfit to be President, temperamentally and policy-wise, domestic and foreign. But it failed to make Biden seem like the obvious alternative, because of how frail Biden seemed particularly at the beginning. Trump really was terrible and Biden simply missed so many opportunities to call him on his lack of answers and ridiculous statements about the “horrible” present state of affairs which people know is false from the well-being of their own lives. Biden got to it at the end: “something broke when you lost” and he should have called out Trump on that very obvious fact early and often.
Someone needs to call General Kelly, who was just called a liar on national TV for “losers and suckers” and get him on camera.