From TPM Reader BK …

Josh, you and DK have expressed your concerns about the way the political press is covering Biden recently. 

I want to tell you that I am not reacting by way of anything Ezra Klein, or Paul Krugman, or Rob Reiner, or George Clooney or anyone else is saying. I feel certain about what I see with my own eyes: a fragile old man having trouble concentrating. I recognize that man because I too am old and I know what it feels like. I cannot take much hope from Biden’s comment that he will do his goodest, because I seriously doubt it will be goodest enough. 

From TPM Reader AO …

It is utter madness that the Democratic party is going to circle the wagons around Biden and think that we will all fall in line. The polling since the debate has been terrible.  He cannot win.

I love Joe.  He has accomplished so much. FFS, I have a 2024 Biden bumper sticker on my car. I give money.  I told everyone who said he was too old that they were being ageist. Then I watched the debate (or the first twenty minutes of it before I had to turn it off and go take a very long, depressed walk). 

Waking this morning, I confess to being perturbed at politics or history or whoever else is running this story. Because each time I feel like it’s coming into focus and I have an understanding of the motion of events, somehow that motion trundles into a sign post or lurches off in another direction.

Yesterday evening I saw the first thing that made me think Joe Biden will weather this storm and remain the Democrats’ candidate for President. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez appeared outside the Capitol stating clearly and categorically that Biden’s in the race and she supports him. Period. Interestingly she referred to having spoken to him “extensively” over the weekend. By my subjective impression, she didn’t say this, as I’ve seen some Democrats say things over the last week, in a way that struck me as a holding pattern remark. AOC obviously carries a lot of weight in the progressive wing of the party. But beyond that she has exceptionally good political instincts, both as to the general election as well as the mood within the congressional party. When I saw the video of her comments it was the first card I’d seen on the table in ten days which made me think this whole drama would go in President’s direction.

Then after seeing this I saw something that happened earlier in the day but which I hadn’t seen yet. (I spent much of the afternoon working on something else.) The Congressional Black Caucus came out squarely in favor of the President. This fits a historical pattern. The CBC remained steadfast for Bill Clinton in his most beleaguered days. But it also lines up with what I’d heard anecdotally about reactions to the last week among many African-American voters.

This thing has spun in so many directions I’m not inclined to make any predictions. But these developments strike me as very big deals.