On a summer Thursday in late June, President Biden had a disastrous debate, and gave Trump and the GOP one of the greatest political gifts in history. And they pissed it away. Then on a Thursday night in mid July, Trump returned the favor with a 92 minute train wreck of an acceptance speech. And today President Joe Biden made the noble, selfless, and yes, patriotic choice to drop out of the 2024 race for a second term. And now the Democrats are going to drive that stake right through Trump’s evil vampire heart.
Sadly this was a simple necessity. I’m only 67, and when I talk to Teri or one of my girls, I find myself hitting a vapor lock in the middle of a sentence, desperately looking for the word that matches the image in my mind. And while Biden was much better in follow up rallies and speeches, in unscripted interviews he still struggled to get complete sentences out when he couldn’t find the right critical word.
Here’s why this decision was critical for democracy’s survival, and the sooner the better. From the taped sections of Traitor Tot’s speech I saw on the Friday MSNBC shows, Trump’s 92 minute babble fest was worse than biden’s debate performance, only without an opponent on the stage with him. He was led in by Hulk freakin’ Hogan, Kid Rock, Mother Tucker, and a UFC fighter who got caught tuning up his wife on video. And he couldn’t make it through the most important speech of his life without expressing his solidarity with Hannibal freakin’ Lecter! It was a sh*t show to the nth degree.
The problem is that the Democrats couldn’t really capitalize fully on the GOP nightmare as long as Biden was on the top of the ticket. Simply because it became a push deal. How could the Democrats slam batsh*t crazy Trump when they were all busy calling on their own candidate to step down due to his cognitive issues? The GOP has no such moral issues, since they blindly fell in line behind a 43 count convicted criminal, civilly liable sexual assaulter, delusional owner of hat a civil court fould to be a corrupt business. They’re all batsh*t crazy.
Forget Robinette. Joe Biden’s middle name is selfless. He ran for Senate before he was even qualified to hold the office, turning 30 before being sworn in. When his wife and daughter died tragically in a car accident, his first impulse was to leave the Senate to raise Hunter and Beau. But he listened to his Leader, and instead took a 2 hour train ride every day back and forth to Wilmington, Delaware to raise his sons while serving his country. When his son died tragically from cancer, Biden declined to run in 2016 when the iron would have been hot as Obama’s VP, only to once again push his grief aside to answer the call to save democracy in 2020.
From where I’m sitting, the die is cast. With over 14 million votes, as well as almost all of the delegate votes, the Democrats can have whatever kind of convention they want, if Biden’s released delegates follow his final wish, Kamala Harris is a landslide first ballot nominee.
And the Democrats won’t just come out of their convention unified behind Harris, they’ll be goddamned monolithic. When Biden makes his final convention speech, there won’t be a dry eye in the house, including Biden’s and not a dry eye in a home with a television set, including mine. His standing ovation will go on longer than Trump’s goddamn speech. And Harris will be equally flowery of her praise of Biden before turning around to kick Trump’s ass so hard he’ll be wearing his cheeks as ear muffs.
Now this difficult and personally wrenching spectacle is finally over with. And as wrenching as it was, it was also a good thing. Unlike the GOP, which shambled blindly around behind Trump like a bunch of zombies, the Democrats graphically showed the difference between a cult and a thriving political party. The Democrats saw a potentially fatal flaw in this election, and openly and publicly went through the soul searching and debate to correct the issue mid course.
A month ago when I wrote my article calling for President Biden to step down, I made it clear at the time. I would support whichever candidate the party nominated, no questions asked. And now it’s time for everybody else who dared to raise the question to do the same, we all got what we felt was necessary. And it’s already happening. Those who are calling for an open convention aren’t necessarily against Harris, they just don’t want an undemocratic nomination process. Have the open convention, it’s harmless. No matter who else is put up in nomination, Biden’s iron hold on his delegates will ensure a first ballot landslide for Harris.
Personally, my heart breaks for President biden. I started telling my girls some 20 years ago, You know you’re getting old when you start doing more and more for the last time, and less and less for the first time. But as I’ve found following the twisted path of my own life, coming to mental and emotional terms with our own human shortcomings and human frailties is the ultimate bitch. But with everything else he’s gone through in his life, he’ll come through this with flying colors too. Jill won’t let him do otherwise.
I thank you for the privilege of your time.
I agree with you whole-heartedly Murphy! VOTE BLUE UP AND DOWN THE BALLOT!! NO MATTER WHO’S ON IT!! 💙💙💙💙💙
OOOoohh, I hope VP Harris’s staff brings that video out of the vault and puts it on cable, streaming, and the air EARLY and OFTEN!1👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍😁😁
I’m 72 and I have been deeply worried. My millenial daughter finally has some excitement. She is a BS in poly sci and masters in European politics. She felt defeated under 45 and scared shi*less that he might win again. She would have voted Joe. But now……she and her friends are energized. They wish it had happened before the primaries but they will back Kamala and her VP choice. Bringing in the young people was vital.
If this energizes youth, it will be a wonderful thing. I’m not going to lie to you, I’m worried sick about misogyny. I guess we’ll see.
For misogyny to work against Hilary, it had to be combined with 25+ years of innuendo and fake ‘investigations costing us $100s of millions. They don’t have time for that, but the attacks will be vicious. And they have racism, but all the racists are behind Trump anyway – and there aren’t enough of them.
The people calling for President Biden to step down will not be satisfied with VP Harris running. She’s too black and too female. They still want a member of the other party who will lower their taxes. They will have a thousand reasons not to back VP Harris or anyone else. They don’t want unity. They want discord. The President stepped aside for nothing. His decision will not cause those morons calling for his head on a platter to shut up. Nothing will.
Well said Murf! I hope that whoever the dem candidate is, that they light into tRump verbally and do not stop! That is my one disappointment with Biden.
President Biden was attacking orange menace until the “assassination” attempt. Then he COULDN”T attack him without it looking like he was glad to see the attempt on dfg’s life. He HAD to stop. It will be the same with any candidate. They all now have to walk on eggshells around the man who “rose from the dead”.
Are you fucking kidding me? The press hounded him into quitting and now that fat orange menace to society has just won the residency. Thank you to the stupid press and the so called democrats who forced him into this. She cannot win. They won’t let her
Carol…the only sure way to lose is to give up. So don’t.
I agree. You’re a squid so you might know about a jarhead custom with flagpoles. But for others, there’s a custom that’ still followed in many places. In the concrete foundation that supports the flagpole is an old M1911 (.45 caliber) pistol. Up in the “truck” (the thingy on top of the pole – the part with the shiny ball and the pulley that holds the rope that raises/lowers the flag) is a single round for the pistol embedded in the concrete below. Every jarhead is taught to defend their unit’s flag if at all possible – to the death. If you can raise your hand to fire a gun the die doing it. So at most places on a Marine base where you see a nice, fancy flagpole there is a symbol – having a weapon and ammo to keep defending your unit’s Standard until the bitter end.
My concern all along with Harris has been sexism (not all from men either) and racism. As I wrote in an article a little while ago wer’e about to see it explode. If we haven’t yet learned to beat it into submission at times we can drive it into the shadows for a time, as like happened when the Klan made the mistake of calling up FBI agents homes and making vile threats including death threats to their wives. THAT was why Hoover went to war with them. He didn’t care about racism in the slightest but his precious FBI agents were another matter. For him it was like NATO’s Article V – an attack on one is an attack on all. So, for a time the power of the Klan and similar groups was diminished. Not beaten, but driven back a great deal. It CAN be done.
This is one of those times when we have to somehow find a way to suppress not just racism but sexism too enough to ensure Kamala Harris wins in November. None of us have the luxury of quitting. Nor of indulging hard feelings or bitterness over what fellow Democrats did to Joe Biden when they should have been defending him and attacking pundits encouraging them to turn on the President. There simply isn’t time for any of that.
Instead we need to be contacting elected Democrats and demanding, DEMANDING that by the close of business tomorrow they have given strong, no “wiggle room” endorsements of Harris. I’m as angry as I’ve ever been today but it doesn’t matter how I FEEL. What matters is what I (and the rest of Democrats) DO. Which is commit to working with all we have to make sure by the middle of the week it’s clear Harris is our nominee and then go about the grinding, never ending hard work of getting her elected. Despite the vitriol, the racism and sexism we know will be heaped on her.
Denis: As I write this, with the 11PM news on TV, it was announced that some 27 state Dem parties had met and chosen to pledge their Biden delegates to Harris, giving her enough for the nomination regardless of any opposition at the convention.
I’m not giving up. The country isn’t ready for VP Harris. Or any other woman of color. They couldn’t unite around a woman before, running against a total moron. How will they unite now. I don’t see it happening. I’m being a realist.
caol: Let’s keep in mind the age 18-25 demographic was a nonexistent voting bloc in 2016 (My grandchildren are 22 and 25, registered, and support VP Harris). Articles here on PZ have described how the Pubes have lost more of the millennial and younger voters than is good for their political health.
Don’t give up without a fight. Trump is a horrible candidate and he doesn’t have the benefit he had in 2016 which is being unique.
Ursula…he also hadn’t ended Roe in 2016, which he now brags about. I damn sure doubt he’ll want to face Kamala in a debate…I wonder how badly she’ll rip him to pieces. Remember, as a former prosecutor, she knows how to pin down liars and criminals. Sure racism and misogyny is real, but he’s such a horror show she will have plenty of bullets in her gun.
Also his baggage now includes criminal convictions and rulings of sexual deviancy – and his ‘record’ of ‘abilities’.
🤪 Whelp! This morning, I commented on this site that I would get off the fence and go all in for Joe! 2 hours later, he announced his resignation! So, um, you’re welcome! 😉🤣 Now, without reservation, I’m back to hoping for a Harris/Buttigieg ticket! 🥰
Great article Murf. I’m turning 71 next month so we share a perspective on our history. President Biden saved our collective asses from covid, a wrecked economy, an ongoing insurrection with traitors embedded in the house, the senate, and the state legislatures, the destruction of NATO, the fall of Ukraine in the largest land war since WW2, a corrupt Supreme Court set up by a fascist criminal traitor, and the onslaught of a mass media owned by the billionaire class that wants to end our democracy. The war continues, but he did what Trump and the gop WOULD NEVER DO, i.e., put our country over his personal ambition in order to defeat these evil traitors. He also reminded us of decency, diplomacy, and the kind of values we have been known to have in our finest hours. He has stood for women’s rights and the rights of people of color. The fact he not only picked Kamala as his VP in the past, but now positions her as possibly not only the first woman president, but the second person of color to hold the highest office in the land gives me hope, as I’m sure it does millions. Personally, since two of my three daughters are girls of color, I feel a deep gratitude that they may live in a world that will begin to respect them in a way it previously didn’t. The debt of gratitude I feel for the CHARACTER of President Biden is immeasurable. The war continues but he has clearly positioned us to win and drive a stake through the hearts of these fascists. In any conflict, the footsoldiers look to the leader for inspiration. He has provided it. Now let’s go win this war and send these traitors to the dustbin of history.
I hope you’re right Murph but I tend to agree with Carol. There are just too many closet racists and misogynists’ in the country for a black woman to be voted in. I’m thinking of all those so called “independents” who are really R’s but won’t admit it. I will vote the Dem ticket all the way from top to bottom, no matter who is on it. Integrity matters.
Hang tight pal, I’ll be dealing with that in another article later today…