This is spiralling out of control. Yes, most of the lies are coming off of Newsmax, RSBN, Real America’s Voice and the like, but they are mirroring the speculative articles in the New York Times and the Washington Post about whether Joe Biden is staying in the race, and so this fantasy narrative of the Democratic party collapsing as Joe Biden is driven from office (or the 2024 race, or both, take your pick) is taking on a life of its own. Things are getting batshit and crazy.
To begin with, a disgraced former NBC journalist named Mark Halperin (fired for sexual harassment) has got it completely wired on good authority, so he says, that Joe Biden is stepping down sometime over the weekend. This story broke at the same time as a Washington Post piece, containing anonymous quotes by Barack Obama, that Biden is tanking in the polls. Now anonymous quotes are frequently accurate. On the 16th the New York Times ran a story with an anonymous quote by Adam Schiff that he wanted Biden to step aside, to my surprise and dismay, and that was confirmed yesterday by Schiff. Bear that in mind as we get back to Halperin.
As MAGA supporters cheered a conservative — and disgraced — political commentator’s reporting that President Joe Biden plans to withdraw from the presidential race as early as this weekend, critics agreed: be plenty skeptical — and it’s probably false.
Mark Halperin, a commentator for the far-right-leaning Newsmax TV, reported Thursday, citing multiple anonymous sources, that while Biden plans to drop out, he will “NOT resign the presidency” and “will NOT endorse [Vice President Kamala] Harris.”
Furthermore, according to Halperin, he’ll endorse an open convention with Harris and about three others.
The report drew immediate cheers from the right, which celebrated another negative Biden storyline.
No withdrawal plans have been discussed by POTUS or his advisors at this time. President Biden is still the head of the party and candidate for President. The rumors, testing the waters are not helping.
— Mike Harvey (@electMikeHarvey) July 18, 2024
And it gets worse. Now Kimberly Guilfoyle is chiming in. And she’s speaking for Black women, and talking as if Biden’s departure is a done deal. Click into this tweet and listen to the video down the page. It is unbelievable.
— Ursula Faw (@ursulafaw56) July 19, 2024
So here’s the situation: We’ve got right-wing media declaring that things are in a certain stage of negotiations that simply do not exist in the real world BUT the problem is that we have the mainstream media, the heavyweights like the New York Times and the Washington Post, posting what I’ll call “shadow companion pieces” meaning that they are companion pieces in the sense of being on the same topic, but they are vague and speculative, i.e. shadowy.
This is a large portion of what the problem is right now. Let’s go to today’s Washington Post article, “Obama Tells Allies Biden’s Path To Wnning Reelection Has Greatly Diminished.”
In some conversations, Obama, who has long looked to data for political insights, has told people he is concerned that the polls are moving away from Biden, that former president Donald Trump’s electoral path is expanding and that donors are abandoning the president.
Publicly, Biden and his campaign advisers have remained defiant, saying the president will not drop out of the race. On Wednesday, Biden cut short a campaign swing in Las Vegas because he tested positive for the coronavirus. He returned to Rehoboth Beach, Del., where he has a vacation home, to quarantine.
Principal deputy campaign manager Quentin Fulks said Thursday morning that Biden’s campaign was moving ahead. “He is not wavering on anything,” Fulks said. “The president has made his decision. I don’t want to be rude, but I don’t know how many more times we can answer that.”
Excellent point. The problem here is, that if Biden has made his decision, then the rest of the party has to agree to shut up and stand behind him. We cannot continue in this self erosion mode that we’ve been in since June 27, with new luminaries from the Democratic party chiming in that Joe should step aside. It has to stop one way or the other.
Obama’s concerns come against the backdrop of a widening anxiety gripping the Democratic Party about Biden’s prospects and their potential impact on other candidates. Democratic donors, activists and elected officials are increasingly turning to a small group of veteran elected leaders to help guide them out of the crisis created by Biden’s bungled June 27 debate performance.
Congress’s top Democrats, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.) and Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (N.Y.), have both spoken directly with Biden in the past week, warning about the widely held concerns that his candidacy could hurt the chances for Democratic control of either legislative body next year.
The point to be made here is we have the press running a shadow campaign against the incumbent president of the United States. We have the right-wing press openly creating fictions and spreading them like manure, and we have the mainstream media basically playing along with it, and watering the false information garden that others have planted.
This is the central issue in this campaign now. There has to be a conclusive decision made by Joe Biden and then every single Democratic elected representative, or power behind the throne, such as President Obama, needs to go along with the decision and stop undermining the incumbent president. This has to stop and stop now. I thought we were done with this last week, but no. We still keep going on and on with what I’m calling the pushmi pullyou syndrome. And it is unnerving.
The narrative seems to be originating from the right and then the msm waters it. This seems to be a concentrated effort to oust President Biden and in the process hand the presidency to tRump. The democrats really need to get their collective asses together and stand by our President.
It HAS to go one way or the other. Either Biden decides to step aside, OR, he decides to stay and that is accepted. And NO MORE requests for him to stand down happen. But the press loves this because it foments conflict and we’re all biting our nails and freaking out. I’m a nervous wreck over this, I freely admit it.
I’m afraid with their statements, the big wigs in the Dem party have basically stated to the electorate that Joe is not able to perform his duties as President, dooming his candidacy.
….that toothpaste is out of the tube now and nothing will change that. There is no going back. The damage is done.
That is EXACTLY why I’m a nervous wreck. We can’t have this infighting. Either Joe has to listen to these people and fold or they have to listen to HIM, and then get behind him and stop these freaking requests for him to stand down. It can’t be BOTH. And it has been both since June 27.We need to fix the dam, NOW. The electorate expects to vote for one of two old men. So let the electorate do that.
But if some big change is needed, then it’s got to come right now. Every day that passes and this infighting continues makes things even worse.
When I was a teenager I read a story about a guy who kept a pistol on his nightstand For Protection. One night he woke up to see a shadowy figure looming at the foot of the bed. Grabbing his pistol, he took aim and shot off two of his toes.
Now I think he must have been a Democrat.
Unfortunately I can see your point. I am beside myself. I’m literally getting to the place where I’m afraid to open the computer in the morning. I don’t know what’s going to leap up on the screen.
This has turned into a crisis and it’s the fault of these same leaders who PANICKED. As I keep saying the President took a political stumble and fall. The next day he proved he was just fine and has not only carried on but awfully damned well since. IF these leaders stabbing at him had rallied behind him and hard starting the Sunday after the debate, and pointed to Trump’s constant LIES, and focus group data I keep mentioning this would have been a significant story for a few days but a week later would have been pushed into the background. Not all the way because you know how much journalists want the spectacle of a brokered convention – the ratings and money it and the aftermath would generate.
However, by then IF our FEARFUL (sure as hell NOT fearless) had grabbed hold of things and given the kind of support to the President he’s earned and would give to any of them without batting an eye things would never have come to this point. Yes, it’s a crisis and it’s ENTIRELY so because of our top elected leaders in DC.
I’m getting unpleasant flashbacks to the 1970s. When President Carter had “official Washington” including the Democratic establishment turn up their noses at him. Just imagine if they’d have given him the kind of back he deserved. For damn sure we’d have gotten out ahead on climate change. We’d have also dealt with other issues more effectively. Instead they either gave tepid support or undercut him, leading to a movement to force him out which resulted in a primary that hurt Carter. That, as much as the hostage crisis is how we got stuck with Reagan. Take a look at how THAT’s turned out. Our fucking top elected leaders sure has hell should have. And the challenge to Carter at least happened during the primaries. Now?
I don’t know WTF drugs they are on or what parallel universe they keep visiting but their idiocy and treachery could well wind up with consequences that would make the rise of Reagan and the damage HE caused seem minor.
I’m tired of reading how Joe should step aside. Now Jon Tester has chimed in. We need to unite — or Joe needs to realize that the situation can’t be fixed. But I agree with you that there’s been panic. And we all recall that wonderful aphorism, “We have nothing to fear but fear itself.” If we keep on this self-destructive path we will lose both chambers of Congress and the White House for sure. We can have all three and be a unified government if we’ll unite.
You know what? I don’t think Biden’s going anywhere.
He has a lot of powerful supporters, but for some reason we never hear about them. One reason is because they’re too busy actually working to get him elected. And also obviously because the MSM, etc. are pretending they don’t exist. But they do.
To cite just one example, AOC has more people on her Twitter feed than Nancy Pelosi has on hers.
The whole thing is a head fake but we haven’t heard the other shoe drop.
For Biden I think it’s a sort of rope-a-dope strategy, letting them scream at him.
I’m ridin’ with Biden.
P.S. This is no more about Biden being too old than that Howard Dean lost his 2004 presidential campaign because of a “scream”.
jellicle
u/jellicle
Mar 7, 2008
You should understand that Dean, running as an actual liberal candidate, was opposed by the entire Washington establishment: all Republicans and most Democrats and most of the press corps. He threatens their way of life.
And so it was obvious from the beginning that if he made the slightest mistake, gave the slightest opening, it would be pounced upon.
CNN and Fox News are only watched by a tiny fraction of the American public. But they’re watched by 100% of the Washington establishment. When they started replaying Dean’s clip 30 or 40 times per hour, for weeks on end, it was a signal to everyone that the opening had been found and it was time to run Dean off the stage so that conservative, establishment Democrats like Kerry, Obama and H. Clinton could take over.
Watch and learn. If Dean runs again, he’ll be running directly against Hillary Clinton, proud member of the conservative Democrats. She and the Washington press corps will be doing everything in their power to convince you that Dean is some kind of nutjob. The real reason, again, is that as an actual liberal, he threatens the great Washington consensus.
He’s a sane dude that would almost certainly roll back some of the shit that has been going on in recent years. And that’s why he must be destroyed.
EDIT: And of course, the media did the same thing to Kerry a few months later, with the Swift Boat people. John Kerry, an authentic war hero, couldn’t be allowed to match his military record against that of George Bush, whose Daddy helped him dodge the draft and who didn’t even bother to show up for his National Guard drills. So three Texas billionaire buddies of GWB created an entirely fictitious front group to smear Kerry’s war service – with no evidence whatsoever that any of their claims were true – and CNN and Fox ran with it 24/7.
Absolutely CNN and Fox ran with the Swiftboat debacle. That I remember well. Wasn’t that the classic October surprise or did that happen sooner? I forget now. But it was effective. It was even better than the Willie Horton ad, back in the day.
We have got to get a lid on this hysteria. Or, Joe has to split. It’s one or the other and I’ve been saying this for three weeks. (Me and everybody else who partiipates in politics at all.)We cannot continue this way.
What I’m saying is, the “lid” you speak of is already there. They are just not making a lot of noise — which, of the two choices (noise or no noise), is better. While it unfortunately allows the impression that the palace coup is in full gallop, it avoids making the Democratic Party look like one big barroom fight. The WaPo today experienced a rare moment of truth in the headline to Fareed Zakaria’s op-ed: “The Biden crisis is now a game of chicken.” Well, Joe Biden is no chicken.
Indeed, it has always been a game of chicken. Unfortunately Zakaria’s perverse interpretation of what’s causing this follows the whole MSM narrative; he exalts the old backroom system of choosing candidates and decries the present system of primaries, implying that the Democratic Party’s crisis is formally similar to that of the Republicans. He insists that the RNC shitshow we have just suffered through has is actually what most Americans want. Because Biden is old.
Also par for the course, not a word about Biden’s staunch support from the Congressional Black Caucus, Hispanic Caucus, Labor, and most of the rank and file who, if given the chance, would certainly vote for Biden. Not to mention significant numbers of anti-Trump republicans. and independents (think Lincoln Project and the REpublican Accountability Project, formerly known as Republican Voters against Trump). But although he doesn’t mention them, his framing implies that these are “extremists” equivalent to the MAGAS that took over the Republican party. Those of us who have been around will remember this tired meme. It’s the old DNC spirit, isn’t it: “Too much democracy” — in a country ruled by plutocrats.
So President Biden was coming down with COVID-19 and coming back from all of his many duties to participate in a debate that was clearly trump leaning. I give it to Biden for not feeling well and not being on top of his game but is that a reason to force him out? Have any of us been fired from our jobs for showing up to work feeling sick and tired? Why does anything he do have to be linked to his age? The MSM is so money grubbing and hypocritical! Biden’s buddies who are democrats and now tell him to hit the bricks since the debate belong in an authoritarian society. Maybe that’s what they’re practicing for now. God help us all (the common americans) who will bear all of the pain after 1/25 if Biden does take off compliments of him back-stabbing, lame a** friends!!!
My mantra is basically fish or cut bait. Biden has said he intends to fish but every freaking day some Democrat chimes in, “You must cut bait. Cut bait now.” We can’t go the next three months like this. It’s got to be decided and NOW.
You can’t have a democracy if cowards have the power and the pulpit. It wasn’t established, or defended by cowards, sitting on their comfortable asses, eating at 5 star restaurants, sleeping on Egyptian cotton, riding in limos and bulletproof SUVs, fretting about how they keep their 6 to 7 figure incomes, with assets piled high to heaven. FACT!!!! The people calling for Joe to step down live a lifestyle more akin to trump than to the 95% of the rest of us. FACT! That’s really the problem.