I have no idea what the Dems will do with Biden. He obviously had a bad “look” last night. He sounded bad. His points were incoherent. He was searching desperately for words that couldn’t come to him in time. All that is true.
But I’m hoping when the dust settles, enough people saw the real contrast between the two candidates:
Trump’s spewed lies with machine-gun efficiency vs Biden’s stammering truth.
Somewhere, somehow, the substance of what was said has to get through to enough undecided people to get them to turn away from Trump. There was almost nothing he said in 90 minutes that wasn’t a ridiculous lie. He lied about the economy, about foreign policy, about January 6th, about his past comments on Charlottesville, about abortion, about immigration, about healthcare. You name it, he just made crap up out of nowhere. If he debates anyone but Joe Biden, he gets soundly trounced. Trump himself was horrible in this debate, and I would say he reverted to his usual form.
And while Biden’s “performance” was just awful, I’m hoping people will see that he spoke just enough truth such that they can see someone who at least acknowledges some basic facts about policy and about helping Americans. It drives me crazy that substance gets swamped by presentation, but that’s the world we’re in.
This was awful to watch, and I’m worried that we’re going to lose Democracy in this country. I am just praying to God Almighty that enough people see through the smokescreen and deliver Joe 270 electoral votes if Biden stays in the race. If he leaves the race because of pressure from the Democrat intelligentsia, then fine, but they had better have a plan in place for who replaces him, because an open convention will be a nightmare.
“The Dems” will do nothing, because they have no control over who the presidential nominee is, and it would be supremely short-sighted to drop the candidate the voters selected, four months before the election, because he decided to go into a debate while nursing a cold.
I’m curious if they’re going to send in some folks that he trusts to tell him to step out. I’m thinking of Obama, Ron Klain…Whomever is sent, they need to get Jill Biden on their side, too.
I agree with the OP…except that I am not so sure that Trump would get trounced by anybody else. Certainly, most opponents would do better than Biden did. However, debates are not a great format to deal with a pathological liar. I imagine if I were there, I would have had a hard time remembering all the lies that were said…let alone having time to rebut them. I guess you would just try to stick to one or two and then advertise that your website would post a more thorough rebuttal.
After last night, I think people that believe there’s an obvious better choice have more ammo, regardless of who that other choice is.
Regardless, I will vote for Biden in November. He is still mostly anchored to the truth, and good public policy. He’s a good president. But last night’s debate did an awful lot of damage to his election chances, I’m afraid.
I’ve grown to hate “debates.” They’re not real debates. There isn’t a real discussion of policy. It’s just guys standing next to each other, trying to beat each other up. And Trump took advantage of the rules to deliver one blow after another - and he was completely untethered to the truth, and he “won” the debate. Meanwhile, the guy telling the truth for 95% of the time was seen to have lost. This is why I hate debates.
The saying, “Ignorance on fire beats knowledge on ice.”
Democrats need a guy who will be knowledge on fire.
Also, Biden had really poor judgment by falling for some of Trump’s childish antics. The moment Trump shifted to golf, Biden should have scolded him for even bringing it up. Instead, Biden stooped to his level and talked about golf handicaps. That was really disappointing. A guy like Obama would have made Trump look bad for bringing up such a silly topic, as opposed to trying to wrestle a pig in mud and getting oneself dirty.
He didn’t make Trump “pay” for almost anything. Trump offered many opportunities for layups, and Biden was too disheveled to take advantage of any of the opportunities. He could’ve cornered him on reproductive rights, on democacy, on 1/6, on Putin. And yes, on the Golf, he could’ve scolded Trump for not working when in office, but just playing a game and being lazy/stupid…
The answer is that the true swing voters you need to win the general mostly do not participate in Democratic caucuses and primaries.
Trump won the GOP primaries even though he has low approval numbers among those who will determine the result. Same with Joe.
This isn’t to say that Joe should drop out now. I’m sure he should have dropped out last year before the first primary candidate application deadline (November, I think). Now if he dropped out, Harris would probably be the nominee. While I like her, she is too tied to the unjustly but plainly unpopular Biden administration.
Now, if Joe and Kamala both dropped out, I think the fresh face would be favored. But Joe and Kamala will not drop out because power is addictive.