Yeah - I think that is how many Americans see it. The problem for the Republicans is that they can point at Biden and say "not impressive" .... which is an effective message to many ...... but then Americans see that the other option was the other guy that they thought was "not impressive". Trump will - and should - try to connect Harris to Biden as a continuation of Biden, and she will point out (also rightfully so) that she wasn't the President and wasn't making decisions...... but Trump will rightfully argue "right, but how different are you really?" This may be the most inept both parties have been in my lifetime - the Whitehouse was up for grabs, all it required was having someone new being nominated - polls showed like 80% of Americans did not like the presumed nominees..... yet the Republicans let Trump neuter their party, and the Dems were so arrogant they felt they could ram Biden through for 4 more years.
I dont think its an arrogance thing on the part of Democrats. I think there was a lot of residual fallout from past contested primaries (of incumbents) that no one wants to ever risk it again. When Ted Kennedy challenged Carter in 1980, it really did do some lasting damage to Carter and that DNC was the polar opposite of this year's DNC. The 1980 DNC was filled with vitriol and division as Kennedy created a huge rift in the party by challenging Carter (even though Carter still won relatively comfortably). The Hillary/Bernie rift (while not involving an incumbent) also did some serious damage but at least that was an open race (so a competition should be expected). So the problem with challenging an incumbent is that if you fail to defeat the incumbent in the primary, you create huge and lasting damage going into the general election. And Democrats have dealt with this enough to where no one wants to do it (especially when the incumbent is weak). The 1980 experience was enough to scare an entire generation away from ever trying it again.
Yeah I think there is an innate incumbent bias after 1980. The last meaningful challenge to a sitting Republican president was in 1976 by Reagan and Ford was never elected so it's not an apples-to-oranges comparison to Carter and Kennedy.
First off, this is so massively ironic that I can’t help but laugh. The true wealth in this country buys politicians and if you think dem politicians are immune to that I have a seaside property in Death Valley to sell you, too. Second, this guy is a racist, hate and fear mongering hack. Nothing he says is legitimate and he’s up there with Trump in his total disregard for morality and facts. Stop listening to him.
Wait a minute.. Comrade Harris??? If that's the case shouldn't he be proud of her since he is friends with Russia and Putin... T_Man
If I were Trump, I would start telling people that Coach Walz used to the be defensive coordinator at Penn State.........
Yeah that's not the case at all. The issue is the 4 year term presidency, our 2 year campaign cycle, the legislative cycle, and the campaign finance laws. There's a reason why it's unheard of for president's to not run for re-election. Our system has it setup to where in order for a party to finance a presidential election, you have to setup the financial infrastructure to hire staff, setup offices, etc. etc. 2 years out. NO PRESIDENT only halfway through their term will announce they aren't seeking re-election because there would be zero chances that any legislation would get passed. It would also cut the knees out from a president when they are dealing with foreign leaders on sensitive issues such as the Ukraine War, or Gaza. The whole "Dems were arrogant" notion might only apply to a small amount of people around Biden who might or might not have been fully truthful with the rest of the party about how ready Biden was to campaign for 2024 which he obviously was not physically able to do. Every Democrat knew he could govern well, but there was uncertainty that showed up even in polling about his ability to effectively communicate to the American people in a rigorous campaign. He put those concerns to bed for a minute during the state of the union, but then fell flat during the debate. Yet at that moment, basically THE ENTIRE PARTY in an unheard of manner convinced Biden to drop out for the good of the party, it's voters, and the country. There's nothing ARROGANT about how this played out man. .... I really don't understand why you are going so far out of your way lately to bothsides the Democrats. I don't know if personally something happened to give you grievance but there's no reason to just start out of the blue creating negativity around the Democrats. Yes... Democrats are NOT PERFECT. It's a collection of humans that act in very flawed human ways. They make dumb moves, and some of the policy positions are not always perfect. But it's just night and say comparatively to what is happening in MAGA land. Most Democrats at least case about the country, Democracy, and trying to make people's lives better. There are things to criticize rightfully but to have you of all people start just simply making crap up just for the sake of having a whataboutism statement is mind boggling. Come on man.
Makes sense for the leadership to rally around the flag and smooth over Bernies and Dean Phillips with a steam roller. However, the rally around the flag effect among people and "media buzz" is new for me. I have plenty of misgivings about Kamala, but since she's Only Sixty, I'll give her the bigger benefit of the doubt over culture warriors like Trump to look for newer answers to age-old problems. If Kamala had to endure a traditional primary process, Cons would have a larger cheat sheet and more ideas to attack her campaign. Instead she's still a relative unknown policywise and her biggest fail as "immigration czar" is largely negated by Trump's meddling with the Senate passed Immigration Bill. Ultimately we have two more months to see how the economy is shaping up. People are still seeing higher prices even if Inflation Has Been Defeated. If they can't pay for their daily wants, the incumbents will.
exactly, this should be the new script - primaries aren't very helpful in terms of policy debates - Elizabeth warren and bernie sanders and pete buttgieg arguing over single payer vs. public option is not a good way of resolving that debate one way or the other, not a reflection of a policy debate that was likely to be at issue in 2021-2024, and is just a sideshow for the increasingly-useless mainstream political press to create content out of.
Sorry - but when Biden was nominated the first time, there was already discussion of him only serving a single term in office because of his age. Instead, nothing happened and the Democrats attempted to run a man that would be 82 years old on election day in 2024. Those around Biden knew that he physically and neurologically was degrading. Further, while he mentally appears fit, they also knew or should have known that he was losing the ability to successfully communicate quickly. That first debate was simply unacceptable - and those that were around Biden knew damn well that it was going to be a problem. Did the rank and file Democrat voter know? Of course not - but people like Biden's staff, Pelosi and others certainly knew and they did not represent the people or their voters well at all. As for why most President's don't serve a single term - well how many President's would be 82 years old on election night? Circumstances are different. None of this excuses how the RNC is an organization of gutless hypocrites that were too cowardly to stop Trump - but that is for another thread. I expect the DNC and leading Democrats to represent their voters and country well - and the handling of Biden and a second term has been atrocious and there is a reason something like this has never happened before. As for the Democrats correcting the issue AND Biden stepping down - I have posted before that the Democrats and Biden deserve some credit for that, and that I don't believe Trump or the Republicans would do that in 2024 - but that doesn't change the fact that running Biden in 2024 was arrogant and foolish.
Yup - how long before the RNC or DNC decide that they don't want any primaries, that they will pick their candidate - with almost no political baggage, but that is charismatic and campaigns well- and win an election that way. The Republicans will argue that the Democrats did that with Harris - but that isn't true. She has a reasonably long political history and she was the VP for Biden .......... how long before someone like Dwayne Johnson or another figure hops on the train at the last minute and gets elected. Then again - how bad will they be? I would take the unknown of Dwayne Johnson or Donald Trump.
