President Biden suffered a huge self-inflicted wound with his debate performance. He’ll be the first to admit he fell flat on his face. However leading up to it, and ever since he’s been doing his incredibly difficult job and doing it exceedingly well. He’s also been making appearances including some unscripted ones. Was it fair for people to look at the debate and ask questions? Yep. Is it fair that Trump did NOT answer questions and spouted lies, and has made increasingly rambling and nonsensical pronouncements without having HIS age and mental fitness put under a microscope? Hell no! However, the state of affairs in the news world and in Democratic circles has been to keep stabbing the President, while giving short (if any) attention to Trump’s mental decline.
I keep saying the powers-that-be in news organizations want, even crave a brokered convention. So does much of their “talent” for that matter and if they can force the President to step aside they will pocket gobs of money from huge ratings. (The good of the country and world don’t factor in) News coverage has been deliberately shaped to scare the hell out of Democrats, many of whom are outright cowards so THEY have brought out their own knives and started slashing away at the President. There have been and will continue to be numerous articles and TV segments with a theme of ‘Biden is too wounded to continue’ and I’m convinced they will keep moving the goalposts. Typical is this article from Reuter’s yesterday which is worth a read. One small part really stuck with me:
More Democrats are expected to ask Biden to leave the race in coming days. For now, the White House says it plans to “turn the page” on the incident, despite some opinion polls showing Trump’s lead widening and swing states leaning Republican.
Note the use of the word “some” when it comes to opinion polls. History teaches us that Presidential debates seldom move the needle with voters. For all the hype about them beforehand maybe one percent of voters change their mind. And while we are in times where polling isn’t nearly as accurate as it used to be, both focus groups the night of and the day after the debate, as well as polling suggests this debate didn’t really impact VOTER’S views much. It’s been two weeks now and yesterday I wrote about a new WaPo/ABC/Ipsos poll that shows the race virtually tied. However Democrats, no doubt in reaction to the constant drumbeat of doom and gloom in the “news” are increasingly running scared.
As the linked Reuter’s article indicates full-throated support from the Congressional Black Caucus has helped shore up support, but the media (and therefore too many Democrats) ignore other support like new union support for the President. Could it possibly be that VOTERS do NOT like pundits telling them what to think and how to vote? That they can look at things, be it the Jan. 6 insurrection riot, the too few instances of the President doing his job and campaigning, and last night’s press conference and make up their own minds? Believe the evidence of their own eyes and ears?
And decide the “talent” in the news biz are full of sh!t? And that Democrats calling for the President to step aside for some unnamed “unicorn” candidate are cowards?
I’ve also written recently about this growing phenomenon of Democrats who are stabbing the President couching their calls for him to withdraw in mournful terms, and that he should protect his legacy and “dignity” with a “graceful exit.” I call bullshit. BULL SHIT.
The President has had a busy and critical (from the viewpoint of doing his freaking job) week and handled it with aplomb. He even found a bit of free time to drop in to the AFL-CIO meeting which was in DC (endorsing him I might add) and in an unscripted performance kicked butt. However, what we heard from the chattering class of pundits and too many Democrats was how critical his press conference would be. Could he prove he still “had it”, that he was in command of a wide range of facts and could handle a long, unscripted grilling from the “vaunted” press corps? Well, I don’t know what YOU saw, but I saw a President in control, even at times enjoying the back and forth.
President Biden straightforwardly handled the inevitable (and ridiculously stupid) questions about whether he’d stay in the race, dashing the Pulitzer hopes of “journalists” who thought they’d be the ones to elicit the “I’m bowing out” announcement. Oh the butt-hurt they must have felt (and be feeling) over no big book advance over their oh so clever question that changed history. The President gave a master class on policy summoning detail at a level that had many in the room (and in newsrooms) saying to themselves “damn – he’s really got his sh!t together and everyone can see it.” It exposed the b.s. they’ve been peddling about the President no longer being up to the job. Of not being able to grasp complex matters. Oops.
As the title indicates, the President walked out there bleeding from multiple wounds. Not the self-inflicted one from the debate, but the proverbial death of a thousand cuts from news outlets and Democrats they’ve scared the crap out of. Did I say cuts? More like stab wounds. Like the fictional Rambo, unfairly arrested and hounded and injured escaping a vengeful deputy he pulled out a needle and thread and sewed up the bloody wounds. And what happened. The pundit class, even freaking MSNBC (except for Lawrence O’Donnell) got out their knives! So did more Democrats, one of whom was platformed by MSNNC’s Alex Wagner after his appearance being hyped beforehand during Chris Haye’s hour. I didn’t watch other networks but I’ll bet all I have it was even worse elsewhere.
They want their goddamned brokered convention! So NOTHING the President does will be enough. He could defend dissertations and be awarded multiple Doctorates on complex academic subjects (related to domestic and foreign policy) in the next week, then go to Paris and win the f**king Decathlon. Setting world records (not just for Decathlon records but for the regular track and field versions), engineer a successful end to the wars in Gaza and Ukraine and implement the start of a Marshall Plan for each place. It STILL wouldn’t be enough because the news biz wants their goddamned brokered convention and will say/do whatever they have to to scare the bejezuss out of Democrats from elected officials to donors!
The thing is, there is NOT some magical unicorn candidate that can appear this late in the game and beat Trump. I love Kamala Harris but she’s got two strikes against her. She’s a woman and she’s not white. Hillary proved the country won’t accept even an extremely well qualified and experienced woman as President, and white WOMEN proved it as the voted for Trump in large numbers. And while we thought the country had turned a corner with President Obama getting elected and re-elected we now know there remained a pent-up fury at the thought of a non-white President. Trump/MAGA proves that. So bypassing Harris for some white candidate will fracture the Democratic Party and Trump will win in a walk. Well, ride in his golf cart. He couldn’t walk a single hole on one of his golf courses but I digress.
The point is that the desire, the overwhelming LUST in the executive suites of news outlets (and again, much of the “talent) for a brokered convention and the ratings revenue from it and the fallout has them seeing not Red, White and Blue but GREEN. Cash. Money. It’s 2016 and CBS’s Les Moonves It might not be good for the country but it’s good for CBS all over again. Moonves only said what his cohorts heading up other news outlets were thinking. I saw one pundit since the debate slip and admit to realizing some of us are on to their ploy. He was all defensive, accusing others including and especially the WH of gaslighting about President Biden. Say WHAT? Does he really think we’re all so stupid as to not realize he and people like him are the ones that have been doing the gaslighting? Polling suggests to a degree it’s worked, but it also suggests many are seeing through it hence his defensiveness.
We’ll have to wait and see but I say light up the phones to Democratic politicians and tell them to knock off the cowardice and start working like hell to support the President. Loudly and proudly. Every time they talk to a reporter they should be pointing out Trump’s crap and asking why journalists aren’t every day questioning HIS mental state and both physical and mental fitness. Ask why the aren’t asking if TRUMP will even make it through another four years. I worry that Democrats have, even if now they could be convinced have the spine to do that.
My dad was I fear correct back in 1979 when he forecast the rise of Reagan to the WH. He said I’ll live out my life under a different (and worse) form of government than I grew up in. Because of news business greed and cowardly Democrats.
You are so right Denis.
I live in NC and am lucky to have a Democrat representing me in Congress. I’ve contacted her office this morning and cut loose over my anger at the lack of full-throated support from Democrats (going back years) for what the President has accomplished. AND for not every single day hammering reporters with questions about TRUMP’S physical and mental fitness, and asking whether TRUMP would last four more years in the job of President. You know, treat Trump the same way the media has treated Biden.
I just read an article that our state Party Chair is all-in for the President and telling Democrats in NC to stop freaking out and get their butts to work helping him get re-elected. THAT is what we needs. Democrats in positions of leadership with a goddamn spine. Our President has one made of steel. I’d be satisfied with Democrats showing they have a plain ole sping made of solid bone.
The country wasn’t founded by timid people. It wasn’t saved by timid people. It hasn’t been maintained for 248 years by timid people. Now, more than ever, we need to stand strong against the HYPOCRISY AND LIES. It won’t be saved by timidity. It will be saved by the courage of people to stand up for what is right, good, and true…along with a desire to leave their children a better world. The true story will be written after the election when Biden wins and trump runs out of time to face the real consequences of his criminality. Stand strong. Stand together. Talk to everyone…you never know what influence you may have. VOTE!!! The sun also rises!
Magnificent, Dennis, totally on target. By the way, in addition to the CBC and the unions, the CONGRESSIONAL HISPANIC CAUCUS is also supporting Biden.
Amazing how the media fails to include these little facts.
Here is a good article on Lawrence O’Donnell’s response to Boden’s press conference, with a link to O’Donnell.
Google:
“He Should Stay In’: Swing Voter Tells CNN Biden Presser Changed Her Mind — Most In Focus Group Agree”
Google other recent items on O’Donnell from a few days ago on related issues:
“Lawrence O’Donnell Torches Media Over ‘Out Of Control’ White House Briefing”
(on Huffpost)
“Lawrence: Biden speaks to NATO and AFL-CIO after Trump read a teleprompter full of lies”
And folks, read the comments, people can tell when someone is trying to manipulate them, and they don’t like it. The problem for MSNBC, CNN, etc., is that their audience is precisely the high-information voters, and they know what’s going on.
I’m going to post more links that show not everybody in this country, or even in the media, is brain-dead — and definitely not Joe Biden.
https://www.newsweek.com/americans-arent-abandoning-joe-biden-debate-john-fetterman-chris-coons-1923205
and google:
“Biden at NATO press conference rebuts doubters: ‘I’m the best qualified to govern’ ”
(Nebraska Examiner)
“Congressional Dems urge a more robust Biden on the campaign trail, but few openly revolt”
OK. Here’s what I just found out. The Nebraska Examiner and the Missouri Independent (which I linked to in comments to another post) are both affiliates of the States Newsroom, a non-profit news organization with outlets or partner outlets in all 50 U.S. states, that accepts no corporate donations and publicly shares the sources of all contributions above $1,000. As of 2024 States Newsroom has 220 full-time employees and a budget of over $22 million. My impression is that it has grown up in response to the toxic influence of corporate mass media, the very thing we are discussing here.
This is new to me; if I am wrong I look forward to being corrected, but the negative-sounding information included in the Wikipedia article (among some quite positive ones) about States Newsroom appear to emanate from the same toxic corporate news establishment and their “non-profit” affiliates. It’s almost humorous if you read between the lines. — The wikipedia article lists all SN affiliates, but you can get more info from the States Newsroom site itself. Not all these papers are covering Biden, but we already know the Missouri Independent, Nebraska Examiner, and Kansas Reflector are. Jane Norman is Washington bureau chief for States Newsroom and Deputy Washington bureau chief is Jacob Fischler.
Another, from the Arkansas Advocate :
I’ll just add that the various papers differ in their range of Washington coverage, so their websites need to be checked individually.
Here is a brilliant view of the debate: Daryll Erlich of the Daily Montanan, “The Complete Failure of Thursday Night.”
It makes you realize, the only thing to counter bad information and group think, is good information and actual thought. Freedom depends on knowing the truth.
google:
“There is No Freedom Without a Common Truth”
Deborah Beck
O’Donnell is thoughtful and impervious to dissembling, and I would have expected him to stand firm, but these are interesting times. I am heartbroken about Rachel Maddow.
I too was heartbroken by Maddow. I literally said out loud to my TV “How could you?” after her comments. I hope she feels even sicker inside than I do today. Psaki too. If anyone knows how the WH press corps behaves, or rather misbehaves it was her and she knew damn well the President Biden we saw last night was the same guy she saw almost daily when she was his Press Secretary. I saw her appear briefly much later in the evening and she was more circumspect but it will be interesting to see how she handles herself during her show this weekend. Same for Maddow come Monday night.
Thank you for this and your additional comments. I saw Matthew Dowd a little while ago and now know he’s the asshole who’s name I couldn’t remember the past couple of days. He still insists voters have deserted the President in droves. But he somehow “knows” and proclaims this without citing any data/polls. Or specific individuals who tell him they’ve got such data!
One of my reps, won’t publicly name him yet, or maybe ever, I still hope he will retract; just came out with not only a knife, but the butcher cleaver. I wrote him an email from hell last night, and included excerpts of it in the comments in another article of yours, can’t recall which. It was based on how this process eliminates the people who voted in the primary. That is truly evil and it has not worked out, as it’s been used in the past. Your lucid commentary on the brokered convention woke me right the hell up, I was looking at it from another angle, and also, Joe, on Morning Joe, brought that up as well. I have actually liked Mika and Joe better lately than the other so called Dems, WTH! This being last minute stuff means every ones rushed and willing to compromise with the Elites! And we know they aren’t looking out for what’s best for the average person.
Thanks for all your writing and esp those hilarious Headings. I will be seeing those two sweet horses calmly licking their salt through all this chaos present and future, as therapy for myself. The old salts know instinctual what is right, call them forth.
So they want a brokered Democratic convention so they can face down incumbent President Biden, Harris, the Congressional Black Caucus, Congressional Hispanic Caucus, the American labor movement, and the vast majority of Democratic voters, many of whom already made Biden their choice in the primaries? Sheer genius.
Here’s another good site:
I watched five minutes of MSNBC after the debate and cut the tv off. I saw what Lawrence had to say later in the night. He is the only one left that I will watch on MSNBC.
Correction to the title: those are Republicans, pretending to be Democrats, also known as Putin’s agents.
In effect, yes. They might as well be.
“I love Kamala Harris but she’s got two strikes against her. She’s a woman and she’s not white. Hillary proved the country won’t accept even an extremely well qualified and experienced woman as President, and white WOMEN proved it…”
Wow! Racist & sexist much, Dennis? Let me guess, you’re an old white guy too closed minded to think the country can’t vote for the better candidate? Hillary was a female of course but is that the reason she lost or was it all the doubt sewn by the hit job FBI investigation into her emails? Kamala would smoke Trump any day of the week head-to-head.
Yes, it is appalling. But it’s true, it’s realpolitik.
Although, of course, Hilary also suffered from a 25+ year, $250 million campaign of disinformation and innuendo, culminating in ‘but her emails’.
Ask all those people like Susan Sarandon et al who didn’t vote for her, and worse voted for Dimwit Donny.
Let’s see if I’ve got this. I express a view, shaped by decades living in small town/rural American and decades in metro areas that our country overall is more racist and sexist than we all believed after two terms of President Obama. I don’t like what I see in our country but yes, I’m not only a white guy but old. I’d love nothing more than to be wrong. To believe we actually did turn the corner on racism with Obama. Or that white women (those suburban soccer moms) will, even after the Dobbs decision will mostly flock to voting for a black woman. The work of equality, whether regarding race or gender is and always has been a slow and tough process. Progress has mostly been incremental but history shows that big advances get met with backlash. So sometimes hard-won progress has been eroded. Two steps forward and one step back & all that.
I doubt there’s anything I can write to prove to you I’m not the racist and sexist piece of shit you allege. But I don’t think I in any way said or implied what I wrote is right or fair. It’s just that this country I’ve loved and even served despite its flaws has regressed in the era of Trump. You might not read this, and might not ever click on any article I’ve written again but you are dead wrong. IF VP Harris becomes our nominee I’ll be working my ass off locally to help her carry NC. And at times making calls and sending postcards to other states as part of GOTV. And writing advocacy pieces here on PZ suggesting ways in which people can explain to others why she should be President.
Dear abg1: Misinterpreting Denis’ observation as his opinion does him (and us) a disservice.
Like others here, I felt after the 2008 presidential election that the country had turned the corner, and could/would move into a new era of racial reĺations (I quickly learned how wrong I was).
In 2016, Hilary Clinton was chosen by party elites as a “safer” alternative to Bernie Sanders, who was showing great progress toward winning the nomination, but was deemed “too old”, “sounded rough and raspy”, and didn’t have the “star power” of Barack Obama. As a former U.S. Senator and Secretary of State, her credentials were more than impressive, but her election was stymied by the sexism that still runs rampant in our society.
VP Harris also has impressive credentials, as prosecutor, senator and vice president, but will face resistance, whether this year or in 2028, for being non-white (see the “DEI candidate” remark made on Fox “News”).
Speaking of spineless and cowardly party elites, I saw an article on dailykos.com written by “Inglorious Basterd” detailing how the cowardice of Dem leadership snatched defeat from the jaws of victory in 2016, and could do it again this year:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/7/12/2253715/-We-did-this-in-2016-and-we-lost
I think it’s especially galling, when you look at who is attacking him. It’s the so-called “moderate” dems. The senior lawmakers, who in my opinion, should know better. The younger, sometimes more extreme leftists are acquitting themselves very well. Look at AOC’s recent statement and Jasmine Crockett.
Yes, it’s extremely interesting, considering the alleged lack of support for Biden among the younger generation of Congress.
By the way, Jerry Nadler has walked back his call for Biden to drop out. That’s good, I always liked Nadler, I want to keep liking him. But this report is about more than that. There are definitely some bad actors in the D party, like Mike Quigley. He’s one of three of the IL delegation that are anti-Biden.
Yay! I have always liked him too!
I reread this Denis and it is pure genius, on many levels.
This situation now is far more Machiavellian than I initially thought. Someone, some puppet master is acting in a far reaching, and also brilliant way to turn us against ourselves, probably the Russians, and some of our most astute pundits such as Rachel Maddow are falling into the illusion. This is not some conspiracy theory, it is observable and verifiable fact, but it may not save us from ourselves, in time.
Is it that all the compromised people in politics are being compelled to weigh in?
Why can’t people understand Biden can’t drop out? If he does trump 3 months of saying I made Joe quit. He’s weak their party is weak. They know he can’t win and they can’t win. You want to hear that for 3 months? Joe makes mistakes we all do. But it’s time to help our team mate up brush him off and say let’s go win. United we stand divided we fall. As for George Clooney trump is already listing on one of his propaganda sheets “ is George Clooney endorsing me? Is George on my side? Thanks a lot George. George worries about gaffs yet ever see a blooper real? Half the time people in his profession can’t say what they are supposed to when they have days to learn what to say. Hey George ever hear about people in glass houses?
Of course clooney hasn’t heard about people in glass houses-that requires at least a modicum of intelligence and american actors are gifted with very little of that–they are chosen for their looks (just use extras for the uglies) and are fed their lines (if they can read that is). clooney was chosen by the industry for his ability to make the little teeny boppers cream their panties and for no other reason–film “actors” are not the same as British stage actors. Actors having the advantage of performing on stage–England, not the U.S. btw–they are a different animal entirely as when you perform the classics, on-stage, in front of a paying audience, you’re actually expected to know the material. By heart and completely. People like clooney, performing Waiting For Godot on stage? Are you f*cking kidding me? F*ck-heads like clooney and the rest of the hollywood star industry, have a/the “look” desired by the industry or, if they are directors, provide the “look” prominently in a film. Your hollywood film stars are creations of the studios-nothing more. The directors just do what the owners of the studios order-period.
clooney and the others from hollywood are pretending they matter and are relevant to what is going on this election year. Maybe they’re not getting enough work/attention. Fact is tho’ they know nothing and have nothing worthwhile to add to this national discussion.
I guess what I don’t understand is why this the ilk like clooney, reiner, etc. are getting any print from P.Z., D.K. wasted on them. They are irrelevant, always have been, and always will be. The less of them shoved down our throats by P.Z. and D.K. the better.
These dumb-ass, f*ck-wad oligarchs (and wannabes), particularly the ones owning media outlets, think for some reason a von shitzinpants win for the w.h. will mean they will prosper as never before. I would like to grab every damned one of them by the ear, drag them to a device, and show them that which they obviously did not pay attention to: putie’s take-over of russia. Very few people benefited when he performed his little power grab and even more to the point-if they piss him off, it’s off to the nearest window several stories off the ground.
The media morons in the US forget that little 1-A that protected their asses oh so often. They think that’s going to be there after the p-25 traitors get in power. Remember, we now have 6 con xtians on the s.c. who are not even paying attention to the constitution–pre-p25–but are pulling shit out of their asses and calling it constitutional laws. Post p-25 our constitution is history and one that won’t be taught in ANY US school.
These media morons think that A) everyone who makes like they agree with with the p.-25 traitors will continue to only get the tax breaks they so crave and go on with their business (newsflash media outlet dumb-asses: there will ONLY be state media after the traitors take over–it will be all they need. Take your shoes and socks off and count how many will go away and calculate the chances your outlet won’t) and B) everyone will conveniently forget EVERYTHING that blared out of their “news” organizations: just because they’re kissing von shitzinpants’ pucker hole now, at this moment, doesn’t mean they will continue to do so and they certainly did not sing his praises 24/7/365 previously.
These f*ck-wads cannot speculate one hour into the future yet they are deciding what is “news” in this country. Un-f*cking-believable. The publishers/editors back in the day from the Trib, WaPo, are not rolling over in their graves, they’re spinning like damned turbos f.f.s.
The con xtians on the s.c. and in congress, the wealthy/oligarchs/owners of big media: all up against the wall when the revolution comes. And that revolution had better come quickly. Probably before this November in fact.