• tomkatt@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    I’m so sick of these articles and headlines about how Biden should step down.

    DNC had years to figure this shit out and back another candidate, but instead we had seemingly rushed primaries with no real challengers. At this point with less than four months until the actual election, who the hell do they expect will be a better choice? Because nobody has stepped up to the plate, and for all the talk of how Biden should step down, there’s been no discussion of who should step up in his place.

    Just fucking back the man, unify, and rally to convince people to get out and vote. Best case scenario, we get a functional Biden, who is known for his work ethic and general attitude of doing the job without platitudes or bullshit. Alternative not so good cases are we get a diminished Biden who isn’t effective at the job, but also isn’t a fucking fascist, or Biden dies of natural causes at some point and we get a partial term of Harris as president.

      • tomkatt@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        I did read it. But I’m not referring to just this article, but the dozens I’ve seen in just the past week. If the dems are convinced there’s a better candidate, actually convinced, we’d have a name by now. Literally anyone. But there’s been nothing. Just the step down discussion, with no discourse on who should be taking his place.

        • mozz@mbin.grits.devOP
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          4 months ago

          100% agree

          The idea that some other strategy besides Biden might be better, as nutty as that sounds this late in the campaign, has quite a bit of merit. The idea that him resigning should come first, and figuring out and solidifying that strategy should come second, is clinically insane. Which is why outlets hostile to the Democrats are pushing it, which is why Democrats who have gotten confused into starting to back it themselves should be ashamed of themselves. Pretty sure that is the exact thesis of the article that dude is rudely insisting that you need to be reading.

        • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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          4 months ago

          There’s been no names because they were giving Biden a chance to clear the scandal and watching to see the polls. This was never something that would resolve right away and now it’s around the time we’d expect to see someone being put forward.

          Also, this is very clearly a party leader putting Harris’ name forward.

      • corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca
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        4 months ago

        The.article.doesn’t.matter since it’s always been a losing strategy to pivot to a new candidate. I’m thinking less Bernie/Clinton, and more Johnson/Humphries.

        It’s still a binary choice: Biden or fascism. Frilly articles about what-if and “but his stammer” mean nothing when it resolves down to the same binary choice.

  • Furbag@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    I just want to see the evidence. Biden keeps saying that polls show he is the best choice to beat Trump, but he has either been neck-and-neck or losing by a few points in every recent major poll. So is he trying to tell us the polls are wrong? Or is there polling data that he has that they won’t release? How many Democrats of some noteriety were included in those polls? Were these polls taken before or after the debate debacle?

    My mind would be more at ease if I could actually verify that Biden was the clear best choice. We’re just being told that there are no alternatives and we have to accept the gerentocracy is here to stay. The stark denial of reality that Biden is slipping in the polls during the most crucial election of our lives is not reassuring.

    The only thing keeping me on his side right now despite my doubts is that party progressives are backing him while party centrists are trying to oust him. The centrists stand to lose the least if Trump wins, and likely have ulterior motives for going after him now unrelated to his mental fitness.

  • cosmicrookie@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    A great concern that not many talk about is, that he won’t be getting any better during the next 4 years. Even if he wasn’t old now, he’d become older while sitting in office, if he somehow managed to win.

    • mozz@mbin.grits.devOP
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      4 months ago

      somehow managed to win

      What is your understanding of what the polls currently show?

      I don’t really agree that polls mean much of anything, but I am curious what you think they show.

      IPYWAIACCWTSYAOWTRIBCTTTSIIAWTBFB

            • mozz@mbin.grits.devOP
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              4 months ago

              I’m gonna stick with my polls, which start from a standpoint of “let’s probe for the reality” instead of asking leading questions. There’s a lot about this story that is just weird and suspect.

              Registered voters who said that Democrats’ chances In 2024 are better if the nominee is:

              A lot of these polls have been polling both Republican and Democratic candidates, and then reporting the numbers letting that little nugget slide under the radar. 100% of the Republicans are gonna say that Biden is trash whatever the question is, because the ones who are still voting Republican are programmed like the Manchurian candidate to stand up and say “BIDEN IS THE WRONG ONE”

              Beyond Trump’s advantages on the economy and immigration, the former president is more trusted than Biden on foreign policy (46% to 36%) and handling the role of commander in chief (43% Trump to 35% Biden).

              IDK. I won’t say there is nothing in this story that is valid or a thing to worry about. And, even if Democratic voters are sticking with Biden basically unchanged since the debate, that doesn’t mean it wouldn’t be a good idea to switch him for someone who doesn’t have this real oldness problem. But I like the apples to apples comparison of just looking at Biden vs. other Democrats in non-debate-centered-construction polls, and Biden vs. Trump overall, and seeing if that number shifts.

            • Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works
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              4 months ago

              The thing is the outrage machine hasn’t spun up yet on full force against Kamala. Once they do that she will poll worse.

              • knightly the Sneptaur@pawb.social
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                4 months ago

                Not sure how, she’s a total nothingburger. They’ll try and make do with insults, slander, and bigotry, but they’ve already locked in the segment of the population that’s receptive to that anyway.

    • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      Harris is actually polling better than Biden against Trump. I know the Internet never forgets but the people do.

    • Wes4Humanity@lemm.ee
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      4 months ago

      Bernie would still win. Just has to publicly recognize his old age while also showing that he’s not senile like the other 2, agree to one term, pick a good young progressive VP, and start hammering away at progressive messaging. Probably outright tell the center Dems it’s THEIR turn to hold their noses… Unless they want Trump to win.

  • Zeke@fedia.io
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    4 months ago

    Honestly, we’re basically just voting for Kamala when we vote for Biden.

      • APassenger@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        This is what I’ve been thinking too. Cognitive decline isn’t necessarily fatal. Nancy Reagan used astrologers because she was lost and trying to keep up appearances.

        Dunno what Jill/Joe will do. But if he was inclined to step down, I don’t see home doing it for a few years.

        • Madison420@lemmy.world
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          4 months ago

          If it’s Parkinson’s as alleged then there’s no real reason to freak out, moreso because the cabinet does a substantial amount of the leg work anyway. Realistically so long as other leaders respect and understand him everything is fine and this is just more media doom fabrication.

          • mozz@mbin.grits.devOP
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            4 months ago

            The Parkinson’s thing was made up.

            Yes, a Parkinson’s team visited the White House medical center, but not for Biden - the New York Post just published that out of all the people who work in the White House, it must have been Biden they were there to see, and the New York Times then republished the story because they are equivalent to the Post now apparently.

              • mozz@mbin.grits.devOP
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                4 months ago

                Yeah, makes sense. Just aiming to correct the record that yes, the claim is not just incorrect but New York Post-level propaganda, as far as I’m aware (which is an informative thing to keep in mind whenever you see someone repeating it).

            • I_Has_A_Hat@lemmy.world
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              4 months ago

              Who, other than Biden, would a Parkinson’s team go to the White House to see, rather than the affected person going to see them?

              ESPECIALLY given what they had to know was suspicious optics of the team going there. What sort of emergency would a random person at the white house have to have for a team to show up there despite the questions it would bring?

              There’s only a handful of people who would be at the white house, unfeasible to leave, and has their movements in public tracked at all times. Biden is on that short list.

    • eldavi@lemmy.ml
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      4 months ago

      i wish that was a guarantee; i would vote for biden in that case and i wouldn’t have to hold my nose as tightly to do so.

      • Zeke@fedia.io
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        4 months ago

        If we split the votes between third party and democrat again, we’re done for. We’ve already lost this race. Hard stuck democrats won’t be convinced to vote third party. There won’t be enough votes to win. Unfortunately, this is a democrat or fascist dictatorship vote.

  • TheFrirish@jlai.lu
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    4 months ago

    I’m not at all American and I honestly don’t understand the American voting system but I will say this: basically anyone would do the job instead of Biden, it’s shocking that someone in his state is allowed to run for presidency again.

      • AbidanYre@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        That may be a factor, but most of the old farts in office have been there for decades. They weren’t 70+ years old when they first got elected.

        • nondescripthandle@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          4 months ago

          In the boomers case and older, even when they were young, they were easier to manipulate than the young people of the present. We not only know more now, everything we’ve learned is information literally at our fingertips on the internet.

        • nondescripthandle@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          4 months ago

          The fear of Trump has cause many to overlook and burry all negative stories in general because people assume acknowledging faults is going to lead to Trump and overlooking it will somehow help Biden.

  • CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    Cool, now WSJ is publishing a pro-Biden op-ed, comparing him to…The Blessed Saint Ronnie Raygun (PBUH).

    JFC, they really want to have donnie run against Biden…

  • Socsa@sh.itjust.works
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    4 months ago

    No, because Harris does not poll well and leapfrogging her to send Newsom would anger lots of people.

    • acutfjg@feddit.nl
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      4 months ago

      Leapfrogging? This isn’t some schoolyard game of “it’s my turn next”. If there’s a better candidate who cares who it “leapfrogs”.

      I don’t think it would anger as many as it would help to have a better candidate

      • aodhsishaj@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        The tradition of succession is still strong in American politics, it’s how Biden got the nom.

        Look to Hilary and Bernie for a very similar parallel, its tribal but it’s true

    • whoreticulture@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      People wouldn’t be mad about the “leapfrogging”, nobody gives a shit about that. People don’t like Newsom though, I would be shocked if an SF based politician won a presidency.

      • sparkle@lemm.ee
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        4 months ago

        Even worse, an SF based fiscally conservative corpo-Democrat. This is the same guy who suddenly changed his mind and didn’t pass universal healthcare in California when he supported it beforehand (guess being bankrolled by healthcare companies made it harder to sign), I don’t think anyone would want that. Also he’s just an unlikeable piece of shit, he’s what pops into the average person’s mind when they think “the elite”. His shitty economics seem to have fucked up California quite a bit and he’s barely any better than the average libertarian (but unlike the Libertarian party candidate, at least he doesn’t want to abolish the Department of Education and all government healthcare, but that’s a pretty low bar)

        I will commit seppuku before I vote for Newsom. Disclaimer: I am not Californian

        • whoreticulture@lemmy.world
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          4 months ago

          I am Californian and yeah he sucks. He bailed out the local gas and electric companies after they burned down half the state.

  • jimmydoreisalefty@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    At this moment, with the Democratic convention just 39 days away, the only question worth discussing is whether Biden or Harris is the best candidate the Democrats have to beat Trump.

    It is more likely that Trump will beat both when it comes to just focusing on winning.

    The long-term goal should be to build a grass-roots third party so as to break the duopoly.

    Dozens of us will continue to vote for that long-term goal.

    Say no to MAGA and Blue MAGA.

    We should focus our actions, time, and resources on Direct Action, Mutual Aid, and Community Outreach… No War but Class War!

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        4 months ago

        I for real don’t get how they cannot see that it is just identifying the person saying it as a shill (if the rest of the message didn’t give it away somehow). Far far more that than any of the intended effect that it might have on the discourse

        Idk, plenty of dumb shit has made its way into the discourse, so maybe I am the one that is wrong and if they just keep repeating it enough it will have some kind of intended impact. But I cannot imagine it working for them in a good way. It’s just too transparent and dumb.

    • mozz@mbin.grits.devOP
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      4 months ago

      build a grass-roots third party

      I 100% agree with this, but good fuckin luck with that when Trump is shooting protestors and elections are cancelled until further notice

    • fluxion@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      That’s what I did in 2016 and now our system is trending towards a fascist dictatorship with zero checks and balances and outright contempt for voting and voting rights. Any long-term goal is still predicated on having a functional democracy, which is essentially what this election decides, so don’t make the same mistake of making a hardline rush to the finish line while ignoring the leopards waiting to eat your face

    • Leate_Wonceslace@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      4 months ago

      Long term goals aren’t up for discussion; we need to win in the next few months, or we’ll face another existential threat. This idiotic shit could get people killed.

    • ReallyActuallyFrankenstein@lemmynsfw.com
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      4 months ago

      The long-term goal should be to build a grass-roots third party so as to break the duopoly.

      Dozens of us will continue to vote for that long-term goal.

      I’m not sure if you mean “vote for a third party in this election to move forward the long-term goal of a third party”?

      The only thing that will help is getting rid of FPTP elections. If we could both (a) avoid fascism, and (b) ensure ranked choice or other voting actually is implemented for all elections, I’d weather a lot of pain for that long-term result. But between the two, of course preventing fascism is more important.

    • psvrh@lemmy.ca
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      4 months ago

      A third party isn’t an option.

      Vote Blue and, when they win, primary the hell out of your local reps, replacing neoliberal candidates at every level. Get every progressive candidate you can, be it for president or dog-catcher.

      Basically, do what the Tea Party and MAGA did to the Republicans. Change the party from within.

      • the post of tom joad@sh.itjust.works
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        4 months ago

        Caveat: we don’t want this last part to happen the same as it went down over in R camp because (simplified) the og grassroots tea party was terraformed by moneyed interests into the maga it is today.

        I really don’t have a good idea on how leftists trying to build a coalition would respond to this continuing attack on our democracy in a legal way.

        Moot point atm i suppose

    • Pelicanen@sopuli.xyz
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      4 months ago

      A third party won’t fix the issue, as long as you’ve got FPTP voting it’s gonna be a two horse race. You need the popular vote and you need proportional representation, and the only way to get those is by working from the ground up.

  • LEDZeppelin@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    Readily available for repubes to start yelling “democrats in disarray” “both sides are the same”. Hell, repubes don’t even have to do it. The mainstream media is already doing their bidding.

    • FrostyTheDoo@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      It’s crazy to see the difference in tone CNN and other major new outlets have adopted when talking about Biden, vs. how they talk about Trump.

      With Biden it’s “What a national embarrassment, no way this man can lead in his current state, voting for him is nearly elder abuse and you should be ashamed of yourself.”

      With Trump it’s “jeez get a load of this guy lol. He’s just so silly with the things he says, who would take him seriously about the crazy stuff? Might be worth a vote?”

      • mozz@mbin.grits.devOP
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        4 months ago

        The press is stupid

        Political people, mostly on the conservative side, figured out long ago that if you just pushed hard a particular framing and narrative, the majority of the American political press would just kind of go with it as opposed to upset the herd by presenting a different framing. Once you’ve set the boulder rolling in one direction, you can just kind of let it go and it’ll follow the same path on its own. And they practiced the technique until they got really good at it.

        A fun exercise to see it is to read an article, but flip the party and subject of the article to the opposite side. Like some gaffe that Biden made, say that Trump made it, or vice versa. The tone will seem wildly off kilter in this really unusual way.

        • audiomodder@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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          4 months ago

          It’s because if they challenge the narrative at all, they get cut out of coverage in the future. Then the other for-profit media outlets have coverage they won’t have access to and they’ll lose viewership.

          It’s why something like the BBC can push candidates like they can, because if you cut out the BBC then you’ve cut out any televised national coverage in the UK. Here if ABC decides to really go after a narrative then Republicans still have Fox, NBC, CBS, etc

        • snooggums@midwest.social
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          4 months ago

          They are pushing hard with a heavy sprinkling of whataboutism and fearmongering 24 hours a day, which they learned from the successful fascists. It is an approach that works well with for profit news, even the ones they don’t own.

          Trying to push just as hard for something positive wouldn’t be as successful.