Biden In The Balance

32 thoughts on “Biden In The Balance”

1. I’d love to hear the message to Donnie so important Vladimir had to relay through Victor Orban to get to Donnie.

   1. Yeah. It’s incredible to me that the State Department (or somebody) didn’t intervene to prevent that meeting. Viktor Orban has no business (or no good business, anyway) in Mar-a-Lago and shouldn’t be there. That’s a national security risk so flagrant that it’s inexcusable for the government not to do anything to stop it. This government — the Biden administration — is weak. About that much, Trump’s right. If I’m Biden, I’m telling Viktor Orban to waddle his rotund ass back home to Hungary. Everybody knows he’s down there passing messages from Putin. This is so out of hand by now that it’s hard to fathom how we go here.

      1. Or they are monitoring that meeting closely enough that they want to know what Putin has to say to Trump? Like, the NSA aren’t supermen but they’re not idiots either.

         Generally speaking, though, I don’t understand how heads of state are held to be untouchable regardless of what they do/order others to do. You can kill all of Vlad’s soldiers but you can’t harm him? You have to let Orban move around freely? I mean, he met Zelensky in Ukraine, I believe. If I was Zelensky, I’m not sure I’d have let him leave.

         1. You think there might be government mics or cameras in Mar-A-Lago. Afterall it is a top secret document repository.

2. Not buying the argument that a woman of color can’t win (the Presidency). Look no further than the ipsos poll you recently mentioned showing Michelle Obama leading Trump by 11% in hypothetical side by side matchups, with no other Democrat even coming close.

   1. Agreed, and an odd point to make after “Abrams would have been on a ticket by now…” Having a hard time following the thread here.

      1. Jesus Christ. The world’s a messy place, folks. Everything’s not consistent. Yes, Michelle Obama led a head-to-head in one poll. Yes, I think Michelle Obama would likely roll to a landslide in a hypothetical match up with Trump. Yes, Abrams would make a good president. Yes, Abrams is a more exciting candidate than Biden. And more exciting than Harris. But also yes, Americans (about a quarter of them) are misogynists and racists. All of that’s simultaneously true. Just like it’s simultaneously true that Trump’s a would-be fascist dictator, a racist, but also is accidentally right occasionally, and even more often than we want to give him credit for.

         Do you folks go out into the world every day and demand that everything lines up perfectly with everything else? That must be a disappointing life. “Wait, I see a Porsche 911 parked right there, but not 10 yards from it is a homeless person vomiting Kamchatka onto the sidewalk. I’m having a hard time following the thread here!”

         There is no goddamn thread. Life’s a hopelessly incongruous, meaningless mishmash of pointlessness that only ever makes sense by accident or by reference to self-interest. Then we die.

         Have a great evening!

      2. So if a quarter of Americans are misogynist/racist, why would that impact M Obama differently from Harris from Abrams? I think that’s the point being made here. It is messy. And ugly. But a percentage of people being racist/misogynist would imply that any 3 of those female candidates would be similarly written off by those awful people. In short, I’m really not following the point you’re making. To which you’d undoubtedly reply, there is no point. Well. Fine.

         1. Imagine a basic white woman who’s kinda racist but doesn’t think she is, and she wouldn’t vote for most black people, but she would vote for Oprah. Can you imagine that? Now you know how Obama could win while Abrams would lose with the reason being racism.

   2. And unless my learning of history is incorrect, Mr Obama handily won 2 elections, and would have won a third term if that were allowed. And would win in a landslide in 2024 if that were allowed and many of us would vote for him. But “everything isn’t consistent” if it contradicts the infallible decree of cable news talking points which define the elite standard of moral superiority …and thus can’t be questioned in civil discourse. Again, don’t believe Ur lyin’ eyes.

      1. I mean look, if you folks seriously believe that Kamala Harris’s gender and race wouldn’t be a factor for some white American male voters, then you’re living in an alternate reality. The fact that Barack Obama (a generational political talent) won the presidency and by every objective account, did a fantastic job, doesn’t mean a mixed-race woman won’t face the same hurdles being elected president as every mixed race woman faces in America when trying to get any job.

         1. Late to another bravo comment section. Would just add at this late juncture that I would not have predicted that the demo that Harris would struggle unexpectedly with would be black people, both men and women.

            And I love the preceding “messy place” rant. A lot of people seem to think a normative standard of some kind should generally prevail, because, well, normalcy. But to digress slightly, it really bugs me to hear anyone say (whether directly to me or I just overhear it) that “everything happens for a reason.” I know it’s usually said with good intentions, but I hate it as probably the biggest con job in human history. And to further underscore my disdain for that phrase, I’ve had to downgrade “It is what it is” completely off my bugs me list — it may be utterly useless, but at least it’s truthful.

      2. Obama’s first victory was inconceivable before it happened.
         Look at the racist backlash to Obama winning that continues through racist backsliding everywhere in the country 12 years later.
         Obama wasn’t a woman, that double whammy of minority is even worse than just being a racial minority.

         In theory people like the idea that they would have the capacity to vote for a minority woman as president. But I imagine a lot of people who polled positively for her would second guess themselves in the ballot box because of all sorts of subliminal misogynistic messaging that has informed most people’s view of African American women since birth.

         The other thing that continues to surprise me about this poll is that people want Michelle Obama as president when she’s given no indication she’s even interested in the job. That may be another reason she polls so positively, it’s not even a possibility so there is no danger in supporting her. “See, I’m not a racist sexist person, I said I’d vote for someone who is a double minority in a poll. Gosh, aren’t I just great?!”

         1. That.

            People want to believe they’re good people and will lie to pollsters, to their wives/husbands, to their parents, to themselves etc. Then they’ll have a knee jerk reaction if it ever becomes something they have to make a real decision about.

            Furthermore, Michelle Obama cruising is before Fox News give the talking points/marching orders to the base. But they didn’t like her when she was in the WH & no doubt would be ready with “remember that pinko commie bitch wanted to plant a garden and force feed your kids vegetables? She’s a nazi! Vote Trump or your life is forfeit”.

            1. “People want to believe they’re good people and will lie to pollsters, to their wives/husbands, to their parents, to themselves etc. Then they’ll have a knee jerk reaction if it ever becomes something they have to make a real decision about.”

               That. A thousand times that. Thank you. That’s how I should’ve responded in the first place. That’s what I was really driving at up there in my response to ol’ “N Issa” who really (really) needs this world of ours to make complete sense, all the time, lest he/she should have to reconcile too many competing thoughts all at once on the way to short-circuiting.

3. H, I will have a great evening! Thanks for the passion and thoughts to help me make it so. My humble belief, we all see the world is such a way as to defend that which makes us comfortable. My personal challenge, I know off thread, it’s that Biden is now asking me to do what I’ve been fighting against – friends who knowing lie about tRump. Now Biden wants me to lie about his capabilities, too.

   1. Don’t lie. Just say what Kevin Drum said. “Biden could be stuffed and mounted on a wall and I’d still vote for him if the only other choice was Trump”.

      We’re not voting for Biden, though he’s been a pretty darn good President. We’re voting against Trump above all else. No Pasaran!

4. One quarter, maybe more of Americans (voters anyhow) may be misogynist racists…but aren’t almost all already members of the cult of rhe would-be (misogynist racist) king?

   1. I don’t think so. You had the strange case of Obama-Trump voters. Depending on how you define racism, some of them were racists. But no so blindingly so as it would prevent them for ever acknowledging a black person could do good.

      Trevor Noah has a sketch on the differences between American racism (subtle, often covered with enough fig leaves you can’t say for sure) and South African racism (hard core, in your face, undisputable and frank)

5. It is clear to me that Biden is well past his prime. I wish he hadn’t insisted on running again….but I’d vote for Biden even if he was dead if it will keep Donald and his henchmen out of the Whitehouse.

   1. Too late for all of us. We sat by during the Trump 1 invasion and let him pack SCOTUS under the aegis of good ole boy Mitch and then for the last four years we sat by as the GOP packed school boards, city and county governments and state governments with those henchman. The coup is now in its ninth year. It took Hitler a decade, the time it usually takes to completely corrupt a culture.

6. I do think it’s going to be messy replacing Biden. But I think Biden dropping out would increase the odds of the Democrats beating Trump significantly.

   Is anything certain? No. Could it turn out worse? Sure.

   It’s just my view, fwiw, that the Democrats are facing quite long odds with Biden. His deficit in the swing states he needs to win is dire and his candidacy has been damaged in a way that makes recouping the lost ground highly improbable.

   If he were to drop out soon I think they’d be wise to have an open process. That would be messy too, and there are potential downsides, but also upsides too.

   A lot of voters want someone younger. The polling has been showing this consistently for a long time. Biden shouldn’t have run- he’d have been a successful bridge, whereas by running he’s a bridge to nowhere. There should have been debates last year and meaningful contests this year. An open process would allow for the possibility a candidate catches on and for the party to become energized again. Harris would have her shot, and would have advantages over others because they are Biden/Harris delegates to begin with, but if another candidate clearly outshines her and the other candidates the Democrats would be fools not to try to carry that excitement into the fall.

   Roughly 50% of voters want someone other than Trump. And a plurality of those voters want someone much younger than Biden. Give them a younger candidate who has performed well in an open process and I think the odds of beating Trump are quite good.

7. The Dems can pull this off, but Biden will need to exit soon, and the party will need to give him a well-deserved bow. The shit hit the fan when the Cook Political numbers came out, showing that the House would stay in GOP hands unless Biden left the race. Never forget that if the Mike Johnson led House retains their majority, they’ll be the gang that counts the votes after a likely Trump defeat. That certification could take weeks, not hours, and may not be peaceful.

   Harris can win if she picks a bad-ass white guy with an impressive CV and communication chops, to join her ticket. The Dems have a deep and talented bench and she’ll have good choices. I would prefer the process laid out by James Carville…a series of town halls that could draw Trump-hating moderates off the couch…ending with a substantial team at the Convention in August.

   I believe we can do this…and maybe with style and substance.

8. When I think of Putin , Orban and Trump together, at some time in the not too distant future, I am reminded of the scene from The Big Lebowski, As Trump, Orban and Putin plot their next land grab in the Baltics
   ” Shut the f__k up Donnie, when do we play?”

9. I don’t disagree with Abrams on much here but I think the risk she’s ignoring is that Biden’s cognitive decline won’t accelerate due to the stress of this campaign. Do we really want to avoid the chaos of finding a new candidate at the DNC only to find out Biden can’t remember who Trump is at the next debate? Then keeps asking why are all these cameras here and that he doesn’t feel like answering the question because he’s not sure why he’s even there.

   I doubt Biden wins in that scenario regardless of how terrible Trump is.

   1. Exactly, on that Biden scenario. To beat Trump, the next 4 months will be an exhausting endeavor for whichever candidate the Democrats put forth. As it should be! Isn’t that what Democrate voters want to see? Someone fighting like hell (not in Trumper mode), to defeat the guy that literally told his gathered followers on Jan. 6 to fight like hell? I KNOW I DO. And as much as Biden’s a great guy, I don’t think he stand’s a chance. If he’s allowed to remain running, the Democrats are KNOWINGLY walking into a gun fight with only a knife. WTF is so hard to understand about that (Biden’s inner circle jerks)?

   2. Within the coming weeks the narrative will shift from “the President should not seek re-election” to “Biden is not qualified to be President today.” Here’s a scenario: Biden resigns today. This puts Harris in the White House with four months to build a solid track record and show the public she can do the job. It gives Biden the opportunity to support her and go out with style.

      1. Yeah, my thinking too. The more they trot Biden out in public, the more I think it’s time for the cabinet to remove him

      2. +1. I fear a 25th amendment removal by the cabinet would be painted as a palace coup by MAGAts.

         1. I write that word as MAGATs Make America Great Again Theologians. Still sounds like maggots in any case.

10. Am I alone in tiring of Biden’s “I’m the most qualified person to be president” mantra?

    Sorry Mr President, this isn’t a job interview, even though it should be. People want to be inspired in 10 second sound bites. Adeptness in looking at both sides and nuances of every critical policy does not win over many voters. And anyting you say will put off at least some portion of the electorate.

    Poor Jimmy Carter comes to mind. And Hillary Clinton as well.

    People want “common sense” solutions, not policies written by the coastal elites, no matter how thoughtful they may be.

    1. People want superman, Einstein, Benjamin Franklin, Colin Jost, and Rockefeller all rolled into one. But settle for a real person with real problems. Frankly to win my vote, all they need to do is to show up with a pulse opposite Donnie on the ticket. I wager at this point many many people are in a similar mood. BTW I might answer a pollster telling them I am a Trumpster just to throw a monkey wrench.