Tuesday, July 09, 2024

Today's News: Save the Last Dance For Me

 
So some Democrats may still be flirting on the dance floor, but Biden is telling them all to save the last dance for him. 
Josh Marshall describes the media frenzy around Biden and whether he will withdraw from the nomination:
...For the second half of last week I was basically certain that Joe Biden would be forced to end his candidacy and that it was simply a matter of time before he did so. Then, starting Saturday, things seemed to shift. These things work in waves. For any politician the best way to avoid being forced to resign ...is simply not to resign. It’s one of those truisms that contains more depth and nuance than one at first realizes.
One of the reasons for that shift was simply that Biden was still there. He’s still running and still the nominee. We’re in the midst of a level of feeding frenzy I’ve only seen twice as a political observer — the first week of the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal in 1998 and the one that ended Al Franken’s career in the Senate in 2018. The Washington press corps and national political press overwhelmingly and vociferously want to force Biden out of the race. I don’t say that in the sense of bias, per se — it’s not even necessarily at the level of intentionality. It’s more at the level of crowd behavior. It’s just how these feeding frenzies work. What do foxes think they’re doing when they rip through a hen house? For the DC press, this is all mixed in with ego and a sense of vindication. But again, it’s just how feeding frenzies work. But at a certain point, the feeding frenzy has been churning for days and Biden’s still running and there’s some element of a wave cresting. Like, hey we’ve been telling you all the reasons why Biden has to withdraw from the race for days but he’s still running and okay, well, maybe not — or, like, we can’t keep up this 100 yard dash forever. It’s just a cresting pattern.
At the same time I think there were the first hints of a realization that this has been overwhelmingly a conversation among media and political elites without much focus or knowledge about anything average voters are thinking or doing....
As the days go by and as Biden holds fast, the tide is turning. 
At No More Mister Nice Blog, Steve M writes
...It's striking that his poll numbers have dropped only slightly since the debate -- he trailed Trump in FiveThirtyEight's poll average by 0.2 on debate day, and trails by 2.2 now. FiveThirtyEight's forecast has Biden winning in 49 simulations out of 100. And Morning Consult's polling shows Biden gaining ground in swing states.
...When people ask about Donald Trump's baffling popularity, one frequent answer is that voters look at him and think, "He fights." I wonder whether Biden's refusal to step aside is being seen by some Democratic voters as a "He fights" moment. That might explain the polls that show only slight slippage, or even an improvement, in Biden's standing.
I think this battle is effectively over. I just hope that Biden's renewed fighting spirit doesn't dissipate once his would-be dumpers have retreated. I hope he stays invigorated, and pivots to fighting Trump with the spirit he's showing in fighting his intraparty doubters.
More voices are speaking out in support: One of the most cowardly mistakes the Democrats ever made was to join the madding crowd and force Al Franken to resign from the Senate in 2018. He still speaks words of wisdom: The Labour election in England and the left-wing victory in France are showing that progressives can win: Here's a couple of excerpts from a couple of outstanding threads about Biden and the Democratic Party. 
First, from Seth Abramson: And from Dave Roberts: And finally, here is this: There are lessons here for Canadian media too, who frothed themselves into a frenzy two weeks ago when the Liberals lost the Toronto-St. Paul's byelection by a few hundred votes:
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2 comments:

Frogsdong said...

Hello old thing. Frogsdong checking in to say "hi, how ya been?"

Well, we had a little glitch there, but I think the US is back on track for its Glorious Five Year Plan to conquer Canada. I admit that the plan has been a little slow in forming since it began in 2001, but we have not given up hope that the Glorious Five Year Plan can come to fruition. After all, soon Trump the Magnificent will be the Man Behind the Curtain, and then watch your tushy. Might take eight more years, but the Glorious Five Year Plan will prevail.

I have been watching the event in Canada with amusement. So you Trudeau leads and he is a one hundred percent putz. Good show. Nothing kills liberalism like electing liberals. It's a matter of "the devil you don't know looks better than the devil you know" till you know the devil you don't know and then you have buyer's remorse. Took his party so far left, it fell into the Sea of Loons.

In 1989 my wife and I had occasion to visit the Sea of Loons while on vacation in the tiny monarchy of Paranoia. Good times, good times.

Silliness aside, how ya been old brick?

10:50 am
Cathie from Canada said...

Hi, Frog - great to hear from you.
Yes, the political circus here still goes on -- we keep seeing "Fuck Trudeau" signs just like you keep seeing "Fuck Biden" signs, but then when the time comes to vote, they seem to squeak on by. At least, I hope so! Our Conservative leader keeps promising milk and honey, but if the Cons get elected I expect it wouldn't take more than six months for a profound "buyer's remorse" to settle in across the whole country.
Anyway, hope you are having a nice summer -- ours has been good so far, though pretty hot this week!

12:20 am

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