I am not on either company payroll and am frequently wrong, but if I were on either side's senior staff I probably would want as few people as possible to see my candidate on a debate stage, and the best way to ensure that is to hold a debate in the dog days of summer when no one is home and absolutely no one is watching debates.
You are certainly correct about us, broadly, not being ok. But you know as well as anyone that voters do not choose these people in a direct process. It is a highly structured process that gives very few voters genuine control over the choices they are presented with.
Unlike many people who know this to be true, I don’t think process reforms are nearly as important as agenda and organizing changes at the base of society. But the problem is not democracy. It is a profound lack of democracy already decades in the making.
I disagree with the armchair neurologists who think Biden has declined. The fact that a grown ass man who is doing a remarkable job doing his job refuses to get into it with a liar bully is not a decline. The fact that every single talking head felt compelled to jump on the step down bandwagon last night was disgusting. Read Heather Cox Richardson’s take on the debate and shame on anyone who is as bad as dump sharing uneducated, off the cuff, opinions.
You can find Heather on Substack- I don’t know how to attach a link! But I’ll look again after I send this. I ended up going a science route in school and sacrificed history studies, thinking I had a lifetime to learn that. So, I do appreciate her analysis of things by including historical references. And the fact that she shares her references, adding to her credibility. Give her a read if you can.
Thanks very much. She is certainly impressive in her ability to write a lot and clearly. But I really just have to say there was no historical perspective in that and her punditry contains unstated assumptions about politics that are simply incorrect (such as that Trump being a liar has anything to do with why Biden had a thoroughly discrediting performance last night). She, and many people, may believe that what is said on cable news is the reason facts don’t matter. But that misses the bigger reason: cable news is only one way that a fundamentally fragmented audience is reached. Audiences are now segmented and more or less structurally insulated from competing political views, or even political news at all. There is no longer a mass media reaching nearly everyone at once. So the spin is entirely decentralized. And this debate provided ample evidence of Biden’s physical and mental decline. And whether it is fair or not, that evidence will reach voters through channels you might not even be familiar with (such as tik tok or X or whatever else is out there).
Biden is cooked. He needs to step aside or he will lose.
I hope you are wrong in your conclusion. Biden presented facts that I haven’t seen rebutted impressively, was able to completely answer questions asked with no notes or prompts, responded to asinine responses full of lies and misinformation staying on topic. That is not a cognitive decline. She is correct that Biden’s reaction to the bullying and badgering of a loudmouth bully is distracting and throwing dozens of not on topic responses and lies does not help at all. Biden showed up with good intentions to follow the rules set and dump did not. Biden is also a kind man and the level of attacking responses that everyone wanted is not him. After the debate, dumps lies were itemized. There is no common sense comparison between these two men and the fact that Biden prefers to respond thoughtfully is not a sign of decline either.
Ultimately what we think matters little. It is in the hands of the people, including Jill Biden, who can tell him it is over. But all of what you said is special pleading. The man said “we finally killed Medicare.”
I only support a Democratic coup because I really believe it is over. Millions saw that. It will live on TikTok until November and now his decline is an entirely credible (and true) attack. It is 100% loss vs a slim chance if this party can replace him. That is why I am so despondent (and I am).
I am still voting for him. But a loss is baked in even though it is likely that the polls will remain close and the loss itself is likely to be quite narrow. That is due to the structure of our two party system and not his or Trump’s strengths. Democratic pundits, once they realize he will not be replaced, will move on. And the polls are likely to remain quite competitive. It will lull many of us into believing that this wasn’t decided last night. But it was. The repressed will return. It is Joever.
I am not on either company payroll and am frequently wrong, but if I were on either side's senior staff I probably would want as few people as possible to see my candidate on a debate stage, and the best way to ensure that is to hold a debate in the dog days of summer when no one is home and absolutely no one is watching debates.
Just saying.
People denying the decline are simply mistaken.
You are certainly correct about us, broadly, not being ok. But you know as well as anyone that voters do not choose these people in a direct process. It is a highly structured process that gives very few voters genuine control over the choices they are presented with.
Unlike many people who know this to be true, I don’t think process reforms are nearly as important as agenda and organizing changes at the base of society. But the problem is not democracy. It is a profound lack of democracy already decades in the making.
I disagree with the armchair neurologists who think Biden has declined. The fact that a grown ass man who is doing a remarkable job doing his job refuses to get into it with a liar bully is not a decline. The fact that every single talking head felt compelled to jump on the step down bandwagon last night was disgusting. Read Heather Cox Richardson’s take on the debate and shame on anyone who is as bad as dump sharing uneducated, off the cuff, opinions.
Do you have a link to this Heather Cox Richardson thing? I am aggressively not a fan of hers (as a person with a grad degree in history).
You can find Heather on Substack- I don’t know how to attach a link! But I’ll look again after I send this. I ended up going a science route in school and sacrificed history studies, thinking I had a lifetime to learn that. So, I do appreciate her analysis of things by including historical references. And the fact that she shares her references, adding to her credibility. Give her a read if you can.
OK, way easier than I thought. Or maybe I’ve finally become a social media expert? https://open.substack.com/pub/heathercoxrichardson/p/june-27-2024?r=939yi&utm_medium=ios
Thanks very much. She is certainly impressive in her ability to write a lot and clearly. But I really just have to say there was no historical perspective in that and her punditry contains unstated assumptions about politics that are simply incorrect (such as that Trump being a liar has anything to do with why Biden had a thoroughly discrediting performance last night). She, and many people, may believe that what is said on cable news is the reason facts don’t matter. But that misses the bigger reason: cable news is only one way that a fundamentally fragmented audience is reached. Audiences are now segmented and more or less structurally insulated from competing political views, or even political news at all. There is no longer a mass media reaching nearly everyone at once. So the spin is entirely decentralized. And this debate provided ample evidence of Biden’s physical and mental decline. And whether it is fair or not, that evidence will reach voters through channels you might not even be familiar with (such as tik tok or X or whatever else is out there).
Biden is cooked. He needs to step aside or he will lose.
I hope you are wrong in your conclusion. Biden presented facts that I haven’t seen rebutted impressively, was able to completely answer questions asked with no notes or prompts, responded to asinine responses full of lies and misinformation staying on topic. That is not a cognitive decline. She is correct that Biden’s reaction to the bullying and badgering of a loudmouth bully is distracting and throwing dozens of not on topic responses and lies does not help at all. Biden showed up with good intentions to follow the rules set and dump did not. Biden is also a kind man and the level of attacking responses that everyone wanted is not him. After the debate, dumps lies were itemized. There is no common sense comparison between these two men and the fact that Biden prefers to respond thoughtfully is not a sign of decline either.
Ultimately what we think matters little. It is in the hands of the people, including Jill Biden, who can tell him it is over. But all of what you said is special pleading. The man said “we finally killed Medicare.”
I only support a Democratic coup because I really believe it is over. Millions saw that. It will live on TikTok until November and now his decline is an entirely credible (and true) attack. It is 100% loss vs a slim chance if this party can replace him. That is why I am so despondent (and I am).
I am still voting for him. But a loss is baked in even though it is likely that the polls will remain close and the loss itself is likely to be quite narrow. That is due to the structure of our two party system and not his or Trump’s strengths. Democratic pundits, once they realize he will not be replaced, will move on. And the polls are likely to remain quite competitive. It will lull many of us into believing that this wasn’t decided last night. But it was. The repressed will return. It is Joever.