I should ignore, but … whatever. You may keep telling yourself that Biden is in cognitive decline, but it does not make it true. He stepped down because the media (New York Times being some of it) harped and harped on his poor debate, and he’s old you know, and his own party bought into it. So polls started slipping even more. He did it because he wanted to keep trump from winning, and he wasn’t getting help in pumping up enthusiasm from media, or the party. It was a self fulfilling prophesy. Meanwhile he’s still doing his job wonderfully, but then he’s never gotten much credit for the things he’s done.
OK boomer.
Oooo, how very articulate and erudite.
Moderating: Attack the post and not the poster. You just got a warning for this in April and even managed to get a warning in the Pit on top of that. So no modnote this time, but another warning. You need to follow the rule to not attack posters outside of the Pit.
@sylvanz, please just report it next time. Someone else did.
This is not about the NYT specifically but I think it fits here. Lawrence O’Donnell called out MSNBC for their failure to cover a Harris speech while they did cover, in full, a Trump speech on the same day.
Something is wrong with our news media. I think they want to cover Trump because he gets the clicks for being divisive. The normal person is not as interesting so…meh.
Lawrence O’Donnell doesn’t pull any punches. He unfailingly calls trump a liar and a cheat. I wish other news sources would take his example and run with it. I hate, “untruths,” “falsehoods”, and any other weasel word for, “lies.”
To quote a Youtuber whose Twitter is one of the few I still follow;
"The right abandoned the press, because Trump told them to.
In a vain attempt to win back the right, you alienated the left.
And if the center actually cared about the news, they wouldn’t be the center.
So tell me: who exactly are you try to speak to and speak for these days?"
Indeed. More broadly, O’Donnell notes that this is the same behavior which helped Trump in 2016 and he got elected partly on that coverage.
And the media is doing it again.
And Sulzberger and the NYT are already getting worked up because Harris hasn’t sat down for an interview and other media are bitching because she hasn’t held a press conference. I’ve seen her stop as she goes from SUV to airplane and take questions but certain media are ignoring it and acting as if they are being frozen out.
I don’t know whether Biden is generally in cognitive decline or just had a really bad day. But that was an awful debate performance. I watched it with a big group of Biden supporters, people committed to pounding the pavement, writing postcards, and otherwise working to elect Biden. And at the end, the organizer said, “I’m not a miracle worker, i can’t make that look like a good debate for us. It wasn’t”. I was certain he had just lost the election.
And then he didn’t immediately do a lot of public appearances to reassure us he was really okay.
The media harping on it had nothing to do with it. He stepped down because he was going to lose, and he’s a patriot who cares more about the country than about his own ego.
Yeah, no. The NYT had been harping on Biden being too old since early in 2024. Like February. They ramped shit up after the debate to crazy level. Other politicos and media people picked up on it and went after him.
I agree he stepped down for the reasons you give but the media harping on it in the immediate aftermath of the debate definitely had an impact.
Yeah, imho, the impact was that they helped Biden understand he was going to lose, and helped persuade him to do the incredibly difficult and noble thing and step down. And as a result the Democrats have a chance of winning this election. That might be anti-Biden, but it’s not pro-trump.
Agreed Biden stepping down has given the Democrats a renewed chance of winning. That in itself is not anti-Biden. But the NYT has been pushing negative things about his age all year. And it appears this is largely because Joe wouldn’t sit down and do an interview with the Editorial Board. There is a Politico article about how publisher Sulzberger has had a bug up his ass about this and it has been linked multiple times.
Now they are grousing about Harris not sitting down and kissing the ring. I am waiting for them to ramp up the negative shit on her soon. Maybe they won’t but I’m not convinced yet. Arthur’s fee fees appear to have been hurt.
You know, before Biden stepped down, he was running a couple % points in the polls behind trump. Now, Harris is running a couple of % points ahead of trump. I dont see the big change. I mean, yeah it is nice to see, but it aint like we were losing for sure before and it is “in the bag” now. The needle moved like 5 points.
Yes, I agree he’s a patriot, I also agree that the debate was awful, but he did quite a few public events afterward, but oddly some of them didn’t show up on news sources. And any small miss speak, stutter, messed up name, hesitation, hoarse voice, was leapt on with absolute serious glee.
Now I’m not saying he wasn’t in trouble, but the constant hounding by the press was not helpful. He knew he couldn’t win because his poll numbers were dropping. I think at least part of the reason the numbers were dropping was the harping of the press constantly asking, "Yeah, nice NATO thing, BUT when are you dropping out the campaign?" “Is he senile, is it cognitive decline, how many times did he blink, did you know a neurologist visited the white house a bunch of times? He’s SO OLD!!!” "Look at this {artfully edited} video of Biden wandering off - zoning out etc. etc. day after day. Meanwhile, trump is melting into a puddle of orange goo and the media did not care nor report on it. They are still giving him a pass.
Joe Biden is still the President and running the country very competently. He is not, at this time “cognitively impaired,” and it sort of sets me off when posters here (not you Puzzlegal) speak of him as if he’s being kept in a small dark room in the white house for safety sake, or he’s shambling around with his finger up his nose. They’ve called him senile, decrepit, cognitively impaired, doddering, etc. the list goes on. And surprise. I was not a huge Biden advocate. I liked Harris, and Warren.
It’s the disrespect that has been shown to a President who has done more for this country than most Presidents.
Look, I’m glad (now) that things have turned out as they have. I was worried at first 'cause it seemed too late. As things stand now he is free to focus on governing, and things are dire and complicated at this time and need his undivided attention.
I think he is probably tired and he really does deserve to retire, but it should have been on his own terms; He thought he had to stay in it to defeat trump. But that does not mean he’s doddering old man who needs a nurse to wipe the drool off his chin. That attitude really pisses me off.
Yep, he had a bad night, jet lag, iirc a cold, etc.
5 points is huge.
I’ve been hearing people describe new poll results with phrases like “within the margin of error”. That doesnt mean it’s a toss up. If I remember my statistics classes correctly, the margin of error is + or -. Harris by 4%, MOE 4.5%; means the pollsters are pretty darn sure the true margin among the electorate is somewhere between Harris +8.5 and Trump +0.5. I know which side of that I’d rather be on.
If my statistical understanding is incorrect, someone please correct me.
Well, i think Trump lost the election because he had covid during that debate and was clearly out-of-it. His “brand” is that he’s a strong man, he failed his brand. And in general, people want their president to appear in control. I was pretty certain Biden lost the election with this debate. Appearances matter more than truth for elections. That’s unfortunate, but it’s how our elections work, maybe how all elections work.
I watched the debate because i thought it would matter, and i wanted to see it myself, and not rely on reporting. And i despaired.
Maybe the times had it in for Biden. But that’s different from being pro Trump. But i guess we’ll see. Now that Biden is stepping down, the aged decrepit candidate is Trump. Let’s see where the times goes with that.
No one will ask him to step down, because he’s not a patriot and it’s absurd to think he might step down to help his county or his ideals. (That’s why i remained fully behind Biden when it looked hopeless. The difference between those two is stark.) But i expect to see more reporting of his weird glitches and stumbles.
One post up – the NYT is covering Trump’s X talk as if it were a normal political event.