• dhork@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    This is exactly what we should expect all of Biden’s top allies to say, publically, unless he decides to back out, in which case all these same people will publically say the next lady is the best bet now.

    • Skeezix@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      Democrats are doing the same thing that republicans are doing: standing behind their man regardless of whether he’s fit for office or not.

      • nomous@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        It’s worked incredibly well for the right over the last 50 years. I suspect the left doesn’t actually have the discipline to do the same.

  • djsoren19@yiffit.net
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    4 months ago

    Of course he is. The DNC spent the last four years with their heads up their asses thinking that this election is in the bag. They had time to set-up a different candidate, and they refused. They had time to strategize for a win, and decided to do fucking nothing.

    I swear to god if Democrats throw this fucking election just like 2016 because they refuse to take fascism seriously, I will punch anyone who tries to claim it’s the left’s fault.

  • Snot Flickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    4 months ago

    Because he is. Even if we don’t like him. Even if we think his handling of Israel is fucking disgusting. Even if we think he’s too god damned old.

    Trying to run someone new without any primaries now would almost assuredly leave us with a worse candidate and a splintered voting bloc.

    Why? Because without primaries, it’s basically in the DNC’s hands to choose a new candidate, which they are totally allowed to do as a private organization. I know this because they never legally argued that they didn’t put their finger on the scale for Hillary Clinton in court, they argued that as a private organization, the DNC is allowed to make its own rules and break its own rules. (The law was on their side, so they pounded the law, since the facts would have said they totally did put a finger on the scale for her.)

    How many Democratic voters do you think are going to line up for a party-chosen candidate? What if they did “go into back rooms like they used to and smoke cigars and pick the candidate that way.” I think a lot of voters would be real unhappy with that.

    Even if the party chose to let their delegates choose a candidate at the convention (less than two months away), it could easily turn into an absolute shitshow and also split the party vote.

    Biden is who we’ve got and we can accept that or fuck up our chances for any semblance of democracy even more.

    • Krono@lemmy.today
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      4 months ago

      I guess “vote blue no matter who” only applies when you’re punching left…

    • Steve@communick.news
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      4 months ago

      We’ve never had a pair of candidates this unpopular. (Maybe Trump vs Clinton)
      If the Dems had any kind of brains, they absolutely would pick someone else at the convention.
      Just not Harris; She might be the only one, less popular than Biden is.

      Trump has his evangelicals, they’re a done deal. His others voters are a “tear down the system” vote. People who are tired of being fucked over, no matter who’s in office. They see him as the “worse” things need to get, before they can get better; And they may be right.
      If the Dems picked a genuine progressive, who offered several big radical changes (that we all know the ownership class hates), they would take a lot of votes from trump. They would win.

      But I doubt they’d do it.
      The only thing more scary to Dems than Trump, is a genuine progressive.

    • Guy_Fieris_Hair@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      The DNC picked Biden and chose not to primary him. Dispite knowing better than any of us how unwell he is. This system is absurd.

    • Zos_Kia@lemmynsfw.com
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      4 months ago

      It seems a lot of people believe there is a magical bag full of candidates that can potentially win general elections, but the Dems for some reason decided not to open it…

      • ShepherdPie@midwest.social
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        4 months ago

        Yes, out of hundreds of millions of people, he is the only person who can do the job. In 2028, we’ll have to close the country since nobody else is capable.

    • kebabslob@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      4 months ago

      In 2028 after 4 more years of Biden, what then? You really think people will want 4 more years of Democrat broken promises after 8? Trump wins this year either way. Democrats are blowing it

    • doodledup@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      So if Biden died right now, the party would die with him?

      Why is the candidate so important anyways? Isn’t the program much more important? As a European, I don’t understand what’s going on in US politics. Nobody seems to care for the politics and everyone just wants the drama.

  • hark@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    They made sure he’s the only other viable candidate. I’m sick of the complete lack of actual choice.

    • Zaktor@sopuli.xyz
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      4 months ago

      Remember the 2020 convention where none of the “hot” voices in the party were given speaking spots and the key note was like a dozen different politicians all giving part of a speech, guaranteeing that none of them would have an Obama moment?

      And then how throughout Biden’s term the two competitors in his administration (Harris and Buttigieg) we basically only brought out for damage control and no-win policies Biden didn’t want to be tarnished with? Harris has always been a weak candidate, but being given the task of fixing voting rights and the southern border was just sabotaging the presumed heir apparent.

      They’re not even just trying to keep the party moderate, they don’t want to even let any other moderates build a stature. Everything has been in service of our elderly leader. Who cares what happens after him, the consultants will have already cashed out and rotated back to business, and the party leadership was also all old as fuck.

  • NoSuchAgency@lemdro.id
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    4 months ago

    The Dems really messed up imo by not screwing the others out of primaries and debates with Biden. They totally rigged it for Biden and now they don’t have much choice but to keep trying to push forward, but they knew what they were getting into. They’ve known Biden wasn’t well for a long time

    • Snot Flickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      4 months ago

      Exactly, the moment to replace him was from the get-go. Now we’re logistically in too deep without splitting the entire party and essentially just handing the win to Trump. (Thanks so much DNC, it’s totally clear you know better than the voters in your own party. /s)

      I blame ineffectual Democrats who are more concerned with their power inside their own party for the rise of fascism as much as the fascists themselves, because their fucking buffoonery and chicanery literally enable the fascist Republican crime spree.

      I mean fuck, look how long they carted out Dianne Feinstein pretending she was still a functional human being instead of just running anyone the fuck else.

      • TimLovesTech (AuDHD)(he/him)@badatbeing.social
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        4 months ago

        How often does either party primary an incumbent president? Wikipedia only lists five notable one. And also has this little factoid that shows it usually backfires for the party.

        Since the advent of the modern primary election system in 1972, an incumbent president has never been defeated by a primary challenger, though every president who faced a strong primary challenge went on to be defeated in the general election.

        Edit - Forgot my wiki link. =(

        • Snot Flickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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          4 months ago

          Excellent point, I wasn’t aware of that one. Not that we should always treat the past as indicative of the future, but rather, it’s clear that choosing such a path is playing with fire. For a litany of reasons.

          Sadly, with Trump, we can’t afford to play with fire, period.

        • catloaf@lemm.ee
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          4 months ago

          Never so far. There’s a first time for everything.

          But there’s also the option of not primarying him and just not running Biden at all.

      • Pacattack57@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        Then maybe the incumbent president should sit the fuck down and go back to sleep. Usually the third party runs anyway and siphons votes away.

      • Guy_Fieris_Hair@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        They are fine with Trump pulling the country further to the right and lowering the bar for 2028. Whatever they have to do to keep from moving left with all the poors.

    • nondescripthandle@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      4 months ago

      If he had what it takes to root out fascism he’d already be in motion using the Supreme Court ruling saying hes immune from anything he does in an official capacity. Dems in general are too tepid to even try. I really hope I’m wrong but leaving options on the table unused is the democratic way.

    • Ultraviolet@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      The more they pull this shit, the harder it is to not believe they’re just the fascists’ controlled opposition.

  • DarkCloud@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    They need more Bernies Sanders, AOCs… And that katie person… I forget their last name.

    • lennybird@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      Katie Porter. Basically a younger Elizabeth Warren (who was taught by Warren no less).

      • CosmicTurtle0@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        4 months ago

        If Katie Porter ran, I’d 1000% take a leave of absence at work and work her campaign.

        She is the progressive we need in the White House. I hope she runs in 2028.

        • lennybird@lemmy.world
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          4 months ago

          I’ve said the same thing for AOC and I’ll agree to do the same should Porter run.

      • njm1314@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        Katie Porter just got beat. As much as I love her I don’t know why you think she’d be a strong National candidate when she couldn’t win a state race.

        • lennybird@lemmy.world
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          4 months ago

          Well… To be fair there was some shady shit with that race. But put another way, does that mean Schiff would more likely win against Trump than Porter?

          But I tend to agree she’s not quite ready yet.

        • retrospectology@lemmy.world
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          4 months ago

          She lost because her party backed Schiff. The party is too heavily involved in picking winners during the party to know if a candidate could win a general.

          • njm1314@lemmy.world
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            4 months ago

            The party did back him, all the more reason she’s not going to be a viable candidate. I’d also point out that just because the party backed him doesn’t negate the fact that the people voted for him.

            • retrospectology@lemmy.world
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              4 months ago

              The people who vote for Biden will literally vote for anyone. Whether or not anyone voted for Schiff isn’t that strong of an indicator for the general since voter suppression within the Democratic party is much more severe than in the general.

              The party backing a candidate doesn’t mean they’re the best for the general, you’d think Clinton would’ve demonstrated that pretty clearly. In fact, party establishment picks are so anemic that they need to go out if their way to help prop up extremist GOP candidates to make their own guy look more electable. That’s literally their strategy to avoid supporting populist progressive candidates, to roll the dice with fascism.

    • ASeriesOfPoorChoices@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      I want to think that 2024 is the battle of incumbents (ish), and that if Biden wins, 2028 will be our chance to “reset” - and get someone younger than Bernie up to the task.

      If Trump wins, and Project 2025 gets its way, 2028 won’t be happening.

        • ASeriesOfPoorChoices@lemmy.world
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          4 months ago

          oh, sure. Everywhere, vigilance is required against assholes who want to fuck others over. Be they dictators, religious nutjobs, fascists, or combinations thereof. There will always be a Project 2025 waiting in the wings, to various extents.

      • retrospectology@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        If Biden won in November democrats would take it as confirmation that they can keep doing their pied piper strategy, you’ll end up with the exact same kind of choice. Project 2025 is not going away, so it will always be used to scare democrats into voting neoliberal corporate chosen one. There will be no reset, unfortunately.

        • ASeriesOfPoorChoices@lemmy.world
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          4 months ago

          oh, sure. Everywhere, vigilance is required against assholes who want to fuck others over. Be they dictators, religious nutjobs, fascists, or combinations thereof. There will always be a Project 2025 waiting in the wings, to various extents.

          • retrospectology@lemmy.world
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            4 months ago

            Yes, and Democrats don’t want to resist Project 2025 or build a strong institutional defense against it, they want it to always and forever be an immediate danger, so they can leverage it as a threat against Americans if they don’t vote for their Chosen One every election.

            That’s why neoliberals are complicit in the creep of fascism, they stand right up at the line and use it for political expediency but when they fail (like Clinton) it’s catastrophic.

  • AmbiguousProps@lemmy.today
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    4 months ago

    I’m not sure I trust anyone who labels themselves a “top Biden ally” to be honest. They definitely couldn’t be biased in any way, right?

    • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      It’s literally the people running his campaign…

      “I think he’s the only Democrat who can beat Donald Trump,” Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., a Biden campaign co-chair, said during an interview on ABC News’ “This Week.” “And let me tell you, we had the single best day of grassroots fundraising after the debate.”

      And that’s not even getting into how those are pro-Biden donations so much as “please for fucks sake someone stop trump” donations that literally any Dem candidate would be receiving.

      It’s what happens when you insist on running back to back campaigns on just not being the other guy…

      Like, cool bro, we know the other guy sucks, but why are you here?

      We could have someone we actually want instead, who is also not trump and have the same level of voter support.

      From a cold emtionaless perspective, there is just literally no advantage to Joe Biden being the nominee.

      And this election is more important than Joe Biden’s feelings. We shouldn’t just let him have this one, it’s not the last fucking cookie, it’s deciding who has the best shot of stopping a fascist takeover of the country.

    • Zaktor@sopuli.xyz
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      4 months ago

      Not to mention him dropping out would be acknowledging their personal failure and likely eliminate some of their jobs. Anita Dunn is one of the people directly responsible for this, but if she can gaslight us all she can continue her revolving door “consulting” (a job status selected so she wouldn’t have to release financial information).

  • retrospectology@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    “He has the same 34% approval rate as Trump, that means he’s the only one who can beat him.”

    Neoliberalism; not even once.

  • Crikeste@lemm.ee
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    4 months ago

    Well I’m glad the blame can now be shifted towards Biden allies when he loses, rather than leftists.

  • Dave V@midwest.social
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    4 months ago

    If they can’t see their nose in front of their face I can’t help them. There is no hope.