He’s definitely an attention whore, but he’s been given interview opportunities surrounding Friday’s Biden ABC Stephanopoulos interview and they say he declined. Puzzling. Why?
IMO he’s definitely choosing to not interrupt his enemy while making a mistake. Also why I think he hasn’t announced his VP pick.
Are you allowed to record someone like that?
In this case it is clearly the opposite. He’s stated clearly he has made up his mind and her response is that not accept that he has made up his mind, that she thinks he will need to make up his mind in a week or so and of course she will support his decision …
Depends on the state. Most states, including New York, where this incident occurred, are “one party consent” states, where only one involved party (in this case, the person talking to Stephanopoulos) needs to have agreed to making a recording.
In other states, all parties involved need to consent to a recording (otherwise, it can be a crime).
I’m doing one more add-on to the derail because I think it’s relevant to the question of whether Biden should drop out or not.
Stop me if I’m wrong here, but wasn’t that in the 2023 SOTU? And if that’s the case, did Biden extemporize any of this year’s SOTU?
Profiles in courage from the rank and file: 'There's no way out': Democrats feel powerless as 'elites' fall in line behind Biden
“I wish I was more brave,” said one Democratic state party chair who thinks Biden should step aside. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because they fear retaliation from the president’s camp.
“I would be crucified by them if I spoke out of line,” the chair continued. “I know when you get out of line they all of a sudden have a shift of priorities and your races, your state is no longer on the map.”
This cracks me up. ‘Hey, are you that guy from TV? Cool! So, uh, how many women do you think Donald Trump has raped? Wow, that many? Well, I’m sure someone else will ask you to apologize tomorrow for saying so today; but, gosh, it sure was nice meeting you!’
Who knew it was that easy?
This isn’t to slam your post – at least not on this point – but:
If Biden does drop out, there is going to be a GOP meme that he was forced out. It will be wrong.
The only way to force Joe out of office is the 25th amendment. It invoked, the GOP can fairly say he was forced out of office.
The only conceivable way he can be forced out of the nomination is for him to lose when delegates vote. There is a vague conscience clause that could be theoretically, sort of, invoked at the convention. But a great many delegates are bound to Biden by state laws. The so-called conscience clause will not be successfully invoked unless Biden is, for whatever reason, no longer the president.
The idea that elites are attempting to force Joe out – and that’s what Biden is complaining about – is a stinker of a claim. Lots of elite individuals want Biden out. Lots of non-elite individuals want Biden out. Lots of elite individuals want Biden to stay in. Lots of non-elite individuals want Biden to stay in. This will continue to the case.
So long as his cabinet declines to invoke the 25th amendment, it is up to Biden whether he stays in or out. Giving advice and telling your President what someone thinks is legitimate use of first amendment freedoms.
P.S. At risk of being over-nuanced, I can see a candidate being annoyed by threats to withhold campaign donations. Contributors should not be trying to use contributions to influence what a public official does. Verbally criticize all you want, but don’t make monetary threats.
I’m perfectly fine with a donor saying they’re not interested in donating to the Biden campaign, but would give generously to the Harris campaign. Why not?
That is horrifying. But I do question the headline: the Democratic elites do not seem to be falling in line. Not one major figure has said “I believe Biden can beat Trump.” Instead, they’ve said things like “it has to come from Biden himself” or “he has to show us he can win; we need to see unscripted events.” They may say “I’m with Biden” but they do NOT say “Biden can win.”
Nancy Pelosi:
So: hold off on explicitly calling on Biden to step aside until after the NATO summit. Then do what we have to do.
Pelosi COULD have said ‘I know Joe can win and I’ll do whatever needed to help.’ But she didn’t.
Really? Who? Not just saying they support him, that he’s our nominee, etc. actually saying that they want him to stay our nominee and that think he is the best shot the Democrats have.
Yeah. If you’ve concluded it’s a lost cause why throw good money after bad? Move all donations to House, Senate, and state races.
And it might be one of the only ways to wake the Biden family-and-aides out of their motivated reasoning. They have to studiously ignore facts in order to cling to power–something they’ve deluded themselves into believing possible.
We humans are highly skilled at ignoring facts and deluding ourselves, of course. “No money” is the type of fact that might have a chance to break through.
Frankly, that is the correct decision. How do you stop a president to some degree? Vote in a hostile Congress. The fact that both parties have spent the last 75 years allowing the power of the Executive to grow so much is a problem but it’s the bed they made.
My investment is in my belief that Biden cannot win against Trump, and (corollary) that another Democrat can win against Trump.
Evidence that Biden’s fitness has diminished is important only as it affect the votes he would need in order to win.
If the evidence of diminished fitness is clearly affecting votes, then it is important. If not: not.
If Biden becomes the nominee—which won’t happen until the convention—then I will vote for him, no matter what my opinion of his state of fitness. Because Trump is clearly and plainly LESS fit, no matter what Biden’s condition may be.
The American Prospect’s David Dayen wrote an interesting piece that flew under the radar yesterday. Counter to many predictions, Dayen thinks the movement to oust Biden is floundering and will ultimately fail.
The movement to persuade Joe Biden to withdraw from the presidential race is failing, and it’s failing in a very predictable way. Though polling has consistently registered massive public concern with Biden’s age and his ability to withstand the rigors of a high-stakes campaign, let alone another term in office until he turns 86 years old, the loudest voices trying to force him out of the race are elites: major media columnists and wealthy donors. They lack democratic legitimacy and the public’s respect, even as they are expressing the popular will. And they have given Biden the opportunity to parry their attacks simply by employing the politics of resentment.
…
Americans generally don’t like it when money is used as a weapon to squeeze someone into making a decision. That’s especially true when those in control of the money cannon seem to have terrible ideas. The co-founder of a new PAC that would provide seed money for a replacement candidate is a crypto billionaire. Donors have frantically called JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon to see if he would agree to run. One of the craziest proposals maybe in political history, co-authored by a venture capitalist donor, calls for a “blitz primary” that includes weekly candidate forums where Taylor Swift, Oprah Winfrey, Tim McGraw, and Stephen Curry would moderate, with associated “content” produced by Jeffrey Katzenberg. It’s almost unbelievable that, in trying to prod an 81-year-old who had trouble maintaining a consistent thought a couple of weeks ago, these elites are the ones who look painfully out of touch with the American voter.
Biden will drop out or he’ll lose. His staying in and winning is impossible. Let’s be quite honest about this.
You cannot have people IN YOUR OWN PARTY openly questioning your fitness from office to this extent AND stage a come from behind win. It’s not happening. If anything his situation, public opinion wise, is getting worse. There is nothing one can reasonably think will happen that will fix this.
Of course those are the loudest voices. They are the voices that get reported on, not the musings of some rando at the SDMB. But I disagree. If Biden drops out, the Democratic voters will rally around Harris with no “resentment.” They will worship Biden like a hero, and appreciate his career, his presidency, and wisdom to hand over the party to the next generation.
ETA: That quote is from the article, not bordelond.
This kind of certainty is laughable.
Even if this is a certainty, he should only drop out if it’s also a certainty that his replacement would win. If he drops out and the replacement loses, it’s going to make the Democratic party and its supporters look like a bunch of weak losers. All the talk about Biden dropping out seems to be ignoring that someone would need to replace him and have such a strong shot at winning that it would be worth the risk of him dropping out. With the only realistic replacement being Harris, it would need to be evidently clear that Americans are eager for her to run in order for it to make sense for Biden to drop out.