September 10, 2023

"The strangest thing about this harrowing circumstance is that no mainstream Democrat is challenging Biden for the nomination."

Writes Jonathan Chait, in "Biden or Bust/Why isn’t a mainstream Democrat challenging the president?" (NY Magazine).

What's so "strange" and "harrowing" about party discipline? The incumbent President is running for a second term. It's completely normal that he'll be his party's nominee. Chait doesn't concede that there's anything wrong with Biden, so his agonizing looks silly.

"The demand for a different option is robust. What is mystifyingly absent is the supply."

No, it's not mystifying. It's exactly what you would expect.

Chait dismisses RFK Jr. and Marianne Williamson as "a pair of kooks." Yes, it's kooky to challenge your party's incumbent President. You have to attack him. Yet Chait asserts that a challenger — some Senator (Warnock?) or Governor (Whitmer?) — could run and "maybe wouldn’t have to question Biden’s accomplishments"  (or differ much on his policy stances"). Chait invites them to limit their campaign to the fact that Biden is too old.

And it's supposed to be "strange" and "mystifying" that no one will undertake that doomed mission. Chait never even mentions that Kamala Harris is the Democrat officially waiting in the wings. How can any good Democrat elbow past her and say, no, me first?

Chait muses that maybe "Democratic elected officials simply like Joe Biden too much." He's got so much "personal warmth" and is "widely regarded as a genuinely good person."

Would it be hard for Chait to admit that people who like Trump feel the same about Trump? Is that "mystifying"? I think the love for Trump is more genuine than any love for Biden, because the love for Biden is wound up in party loyalty, but Trumpsters don't seem to care about the grand old Grand Old Party. Where is the love for the party? It's love for the man.

And the man doesn't love the party. He loves — or enacts love for — the country. Just look — last Friday, in South Dakota:

86 comments:

MadTownGuy said...

Does Chait even mention Gavin Newsom? Other than obliquely, that is? I'm not sure if that's an omission or a 'tell.'

Gov. Whitmer would be Hillary 2.0. Rev. Warnock's land holdings might be too much baggage. But the fawning of the media outlets would be predictably glowing.

tim maguire said...

Such are the pretzels one must twist oneself into when one is desperate to protect and promote a party while being equally desperate to maintain the appearance of neutrality.

Chait never even mentions that Kamala Harris is the Democrat officially waiting in the wings. How can any good Democrat elbow past her and say, no, me first?

I’m reminded of Will Rogers famous line, “I am not a member of any organized political party. I am a Democrat.” What a difference from today’s politics. Given the lockstep, ruthlessly enforced discipline of today’s Democrats, if Will Rogers wanted to maintain that stance, he’d have to become a Republican.

gilbar said...

Chait muses that maybe "Democratic elected officials simply like Joe Biden too much."
He's got so much "personal warmth" and is "widely regarded as a genuinely good person."

WTF?
i seriously doubt; that there are 10 people in the country that "Like Joe Biden"
Last time, people voted for Joe, for TWO Reasons
a) he was a democrat
b) he was the democrat nominee

As to WHY he got the nominee there was ONE Reason: he wasn't Bernie Sanders

RMc said...

(Biden) is "widely regarded as a genuinely good person."

By who, exactly...?

Nancy said...

I heard a great "compare and contrast" from Mark Halperin.

GOP: Party elites despise Trump and don't want him to run, but voters think Trump is fine.

Dems: Voters despise Biden and Harris and don't want them to run, party elites think Biden/Harris ticket is fine.

Big Mike said...

The incumbent President is running for a second term. It's completely normal that he'll be his party's nominee.

And that is the only thing “normal” about today’s Democrats. It is not at all normal to insist that grown men be allowed to use the same locker rooms and rest rooms as women and girls. It is not normal to take away people’s gas stoves, air conditioners, and ceiling fans.

Ann Althouse said...

"Does Chait even mention Gavin Newsom? Other than obliquely, that is? I'm not sure if that's an omission or a 'tell.'"

Chait chooses to mention Whitmer and Warnock... which I believe shows his sensitivity to the problem of elbowing past Harris.

Breezy said...

What's so "strange" and "harrowing" about party discipline?

Maybe the fact that this particular party is on the complete wrong track on many fronts: parental rights, censorship, open borders, boondoggle climate change spending, election integrity, defund the police, out of control homelessness, out of control crime in the urban areas, etc.

Honestly, why would even Democrats vote for this current state of things? Roughly 70% want a change in leadership.

TreeJoe said...

So a major media figure is now promoting a 2.5 year junior Senator with no prior political or executive experience besides running a church to be President.

This is the type of ultimate identity politics: When image and brand is ultimately all important and experience and competency to succeed are appreciated, but not really required or expected anymore.

In this case even, he's blowing past the actual "identity politic" Vice President because her image and brand is damaged and he'd rather not have to deal with that.

Big Mike said...

but Trumpsters don't seem to care about the grand old Grand Old Party. Where is the love for the party? It's love for the man.

I’ve been writing that for months now. If a Republican candidate wants to win over those voters he (or she, thinking of Nikki Haley) had best forget about attacking Donald Trump and start making the case that he will be the one best able to push through Trump’s domestic and economic agenda (and this time I will not do a half bow in Haley’s direction — I don’t get any impression she cares very much about domestic or economic policy).

Kevin said...

Chait does not seem to understand the Democratic primary is rigged.

That’s because it’s rigged for the purpose of “protecting democracy”.

The Crack Emcee said...

Chait dismisses RFK Jr. and Marianne Williamson as "a pair of kooks."

It is amazing how being a "spiritual advisor" to Oprah qualifies someone to be president but disqualifies them from being a kook.

Heartless Aztec said...

What Executive Officer riding deadhead on the Titanic wants to take over the helm of a ship on the way down?

Big Mike said...

The article is behind a paywall so I have to ask. Does Chait say positive things about Biden’s “accomplishments”? Because from where I sit his biggest accomplishments are getting legislation passed (with Biden’s party in control of both houses of Congress so not much of an accomplishment) that was, in fact, bad legislation. The “Inflation Reduction”Act clearly increased inflationary pressures.

The Crack Emcee said...

"Does Chait even mention Gavin Newsom? Other than obliquely, that is?"

The fight over who will be our first NewAge president has begun,...

Gahrie said...

Chait chooses to mention Whitmer and Warnock... which I believe shows his sensitivity to the problem of elbowing past Harris.

What problem? Who else are Democratic women and Black people going to vote for when the Democrats start the traditional: "The Republican candidate will put women back in the kitchen, gays back in the closet and Black people back in the fields" bullshit to scare out the vote? Women are literally being superseded today by the Democratic party, and Black people taken for granted, what's one more insult for them to suck up?

The idea was:

Feinstein is convinced/forced to resign. (Hopefully while a Republican senator ... I'm looking at you Mitch... is incapacitated.)

Newsome appoints Harris as senator (personally I doubt she'd go willingly, but perhaps she could be strongarmed)

Biden appoints Newsome as vice president

Biden is forced out/retires due to age

Newsome runs as an incumbent eligible to run for two full terms.

Gahrie said...

but Trumpsters don't seem to care about the grand old Grand Old Party. Where is the love for the party? It's love for the man.

The GOP has no love for Trumpsters, who used to be called the Tea Party. That's why Trump exists and is hated so much. The problem for the GOP is, unlike college educated women and Black people, Trumpsters aren't willing to shut up, bend the knee, and vote for the party anyway.

James K said...

No, it's not mystifying. It's exactly what you would expect.

It's not what you'd expect when the country is a mess and the incumbent is deeply unpopular. Reagan challenged Ford in 1976, Kennedy challenged Carter in 1980. Kennedy embarrassed himself, but Reagan's run laid the groundwork for his victory four years later.

gilbar said...

Big Mike said..
half bow in Haley’s direction — I don’t get any impression she cares very much about domestic or economic policy

I Liked Mike Pence statement on caring about domestic or economic policy: That's NOT My Concern!
you HAVE TO admire a 'man' so bought and paid for, that he Openly states his only "concern" is Raytheon

gilbar said...

WHO was running in 2020, that had ANY chance of defeating President Trump?
Mayor Pete?
Lizzy Warren?
that hideous hag from Minnesota?
Bernie Sanders?

They ALL had poisonous baggage.. So the DNC picked a cipher, a shill that they could dictate to.
Even then, their ONLY hope was a world wide recession caused by a bio-warfare strike.

Remember 2018? Those WERE the good old days. Back before the war

Lloyd W. Robertson said...

Teddy vs. Carter, Reagan vs. Ford. Ultimately good for both parties? Neither incumbent was as pathetic or vicious as Biden.

Mr. Forward said...

"(Biden) is "widely regarded as a genuinely good person."

By who, exactly...?"

Chinese communists?

Wince said...

Intimidation is the reason no “mainstream” Democrat will challenge Biden.

One of the side benefits to Biden of persecuting his political opponents.

Temujin said...

"What's so "strange" and "harrowing" about party discipline?"
The fact is that the Dems have no bench, they have no other choices for national office. Sure...a Gavin Newsom could win in California, but given his record, no one- not even him at this point- thinks the rest of America wants more of what they see in San Francisco.
They have regional or citywide appeal, niche appeal. Their biggest names are their most extreme people. That people even mention Raphael Warnock is laughable. He's crooked, not very smart. But he is Black. To the Dems, that's all that matters really. That you're Black and/or have a vagina. I'm not sure the rest of the nation thinks like that.

And they've once again arranged the primaries to keep Robert Kennedy Jr. out of them. Not to mention working with social media to censor his interviews as much as possible, tamp down his commentary, and portray him as a nutcase whenever possible. They are literally BernieSandersing RFK Jr., only to a much more thorough degree.

They are stuck with Joe, Kamala, or some female Governor who will be soon start to get praise- on cue- from all of the national media (think: Gretchen Whitmer). She may be their best candidate. She's a pure authoritarian. But Dems seem to like that these days.

Dave Begley said...

Does Chait mention the $20m in bribes that Biden was paid?

To dismiss Bobby is foolishness. He’s not a nut.

Warnock? Other than being a Black Senator and slumlord, what has he done?

Lloyd W. Robertson said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
TRISTRAM said...

The campaign is in the back rooms for the the convention nomination, not the news cycles for the next 9 months.

Mr Wibble said...

but Trumpsters don't seem to care about the grand old Grand Old Party. Where is the love for the party? It's love for the man.

Because the GOP spit in our faces for thirty years. We defended Bush for eight years and were attacked for it, while he kept silent. The Tea Party gave the GOP control of the House only to have McConnell and others work behind the scenes to neuter it. Then, the base gave the GOP complete control of Congress and the WH in 2017, only to see it pissed away with no real gains to show. Except a tax cut. Always a tax cut.

For thirty years we were promised that, if we did our chores, got good grades, and kissed grandma on the cheek when she came to visit, we would get a pony and a trip to Disneyland come Christmas. Well, it was Christmas Day, and not only was there no pony, but we were told that ponies were stupid, we were stupid for ever wanting them, and that we should be excited that mom and dad spent the money on a kitchen renovation instead.

donald said...

They don’t wanna get murdered.

donald said...

There is nothing normal about what is happening today.

Mr Wibble said...

Biden is on his way out. The collapse of the Hunter Biden deal was sabotage; someone warned the judge about the plan and encouraged her to kill it, combined with encouraging the whistleblowers to make public how the admin was trying to cover up everything. Now, they can leverage Hunter's troubles to convince Biden to step aside. Hunter will either plead guilty or be convicted, and face jail time. Biden can't pardon him before the election without destroying his own chances, and there's still the issue of the FARA violations and the possibility of investigations into the rest of the family. Those can all go away, if another Dem is able to win the WH in '24.

Want to know why the NM Gov decided to pull her little stunt? She's laying the groundwork for her own run as soon as Biden announces his withdrawal.

Tina Trent said...

Warnock? I have watched Warnock for several years in Atlanta. Typical government grifter and personally enriching financial grasper (while putatively far Left -- limousine commie stuff), has not inspired much loyalty among his dwindling flock, the elderly living around what's left of MLK' father's parishioners, who are being squeezed by gentrification hipsters and an influx of Hispanic gang activity.

Smart but uncommitted, except to his own pocketbook.

Inga said...

“He loves — or enacts love for — the country.”

Ah yes, can his followers discern which one it is, true love for country, or true love for himself? Warnock may be a good person, but that doesn’t make him the right choice. Whitmer would bd a good choice, she has executive experience and shows personal strength and courage. Michigan flipped its power base from Republican majority to Democratic majority, a good leader is needed for that type of huge change, as well as the desire of the voters.

As for Biden, he is too old, he should step aside, but if he doesn’t he still can be a better President than Trump. As for Harris, she hasn’t proven herself to be a leader, she doesn’t inspire confidence. Newsom has the energy and strength, but I wonder about anyone who would actually marry Kimberly Guilfoyle.

As for RFK Jr. and Williamson, Democrats don’t want kooks to lead the nation, wasn’t Trump bad enough? Why do that to our country…again.

Iman said...

“How can any good Democrat elbow past her and say, no, me first?”

First let’s find a “good” Democrat.

Josephbleau said...

“So a major media figure is now promoting a 2.5 year junior Senator with no prior political or executive experience besides running a church to be President.”

It worked for Obama, except his church was more weather underground derived radicalism.

Tina Trent said...

Big Mike - the problem with your idea is that Nikki Hailey -- just like Rubio -- owes her soul to Club for Growth, which is extremely open borders and anti-populist.

It doesn't matter what she says. She will be lying. She has signed the CFG pledge. Story. Over. Anyone who walks through their doors is forced to commit to the open borders, anti-law enforcement, globalist -- yes, real globalist as in flooding the U.S. with H1B legal immigrants too, further depressing our middle classes -- CFG agenda. These leftitarian pseudo-libertarians operate under cover of darkness to destroy America. All you can do is watch who walks through their door. I'd vote Ramaswamy instead -- unless he also takes a knee at CFG.

Follow the money. If you don't, you can't trust a damn thing any of these people say.

Wilbur said...

"Chait never even mentions that Kamala Harris is the Democrat officially waiting in the wings. How can any good Democrat elbow past her and say, no, me first?"

Because the Leftist Party, and Leftists in general, are scared to death of reality, and of the truth.

Leland said...

If there is nothing to challenge regarding Biden’s record then why care about his age? As Althouse notes, Kamala Harris is already in position if Biden can’t do the job.

n.n said...

Whitmer bears at least two deficits: the Whitmer conspiracy and Planned Parent/hood.

Harris took a knee for social progress, her progress, and she's no "Bill Clinton" and is only half of a "Barack Obama" in diversity.

That said, all's fair in lust and abortion... Spring Forward!

Clyde said...

Good Democrats are rarer than unicorns these days. Party discipline is maintained with carrots and sticks.

Leland said...

Perhaps Chait should question the validity of his assumptions?

AMDG said...

Blogger Breezy said...
What's so "strange" and "harrowing" about party discipline?

Maybe the fact that this particular party is on the complete wrong track on many fronts: parental rights, censorship, open borders, boondoggle climate change spending, election integrity, defund the police, out of control homelessness, out of control crime in the urban areas, etc.

Honestly, why would even Democrats vote for this current state of things? Roughly 70% want a change in leadership.

9/10/23, 6:05 AM

————

People, especially independents are not voting for the current situation. They are voting against Donald Trump.

If Biden’s candidacy does become untenable he will be replaced. Remember Torricelli?

Critter said...

Follow the money.

Aggie said...

Proving once again that Chait is just a poser, gifted with a modicum of talent for constructing nominally persuasive arguments.

Gunner said...

If Biden had lost (rigged election aside), he would be hated by the Dem base worse now than Hillary was for losing to Trump.

bridgecross said...

First; Biden isn't a mainstream Democrat?
Second; when was the last time a sitting president was challenged, *legitimately* challenged, by someone in their own party? Not a wise move for any politician with their eyes on the future.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

I haven't read the piece, but I'll assume that the name Bernie Sanders was never mentioned.

You know a piece has an agenda when it fails to mention that recent elephant in the room. What the democrats did to Bernie could almost sound like an Althouse tag.

Mike of Snoqualmie said...

So a major media figure is now promoting a 2.5 year junior Senator with no prior political or executive experience besides running a church to be President.

Barack Obama was also a 2.5-year junior Senator. Look what we got from him. Deep state apparatus used to oppose the Republican candidate (Trump) in both 2016 and 2020.

Bob Boyd said...

The dog that's not barking here is Biden's increasingly undeniable corruption.

The strangest thing is not the lack of primary challengers, it's the total lack of media challengers, starting with Chait himself who doesn't have the guts to mention any of Biden's serious problems. I guess that all falls under the rubric of party discipline too.

Why didn't anyone challenge the Wizard of Oz for his throne in the Emerald City?

hawkeyedjb said...

"If a Republican candidate wants to win over those voters he (or she, thinking of Nikki Haley) had best forget about attacking Donald Trump..."

That's why I'm a Burgum supporter. He puts forth a positive agenda for the country. He criticizes Democrats, not Republicans - more than can be said about Donald Trump.

MayBee said...

You can tell Whitmer wants to run. She won re-election on a pretty centrist campaign, but in her second term has signed bills making it illegal to misgender people. She's getting more progressive. She's trying to capture a persona by wearing leather jackets and swearing in her commercials and getting way too much botox.

But she can't run against DeSantis. He would kill her with the way she handled COVID.

MayBee said...

The way the Dems ran their primaries last time around, the way Trump was impeached for talking to Zelensky about Biden's corruption in Ukraine, the way Biden suddenly went from mid to front runner once (supposedly) Lewis gave him the thumbs up, the way the election was run from Biden's basement, and the circles on the floor, and the panic about mail boxes and the insistence on changing the way we vote....it all seems incredibly kinky.

It really makes me believe there are forces out there that choose our president, choose how they will treat our president, and that's what we get.

From the minute Trump took office, people were releasing information about his private conversations withe world leaders. That has never once happened with Biden. But there is nobody reading this who can possibly think Biden can handle a conversation with a world leader.

If I sound kooky, you all will let me know.

wild chicken said...

Pundits never seem to get that parties aren't made up of pundits and don't follow the advice of pundits.

Pundits are not the party.

Bruce Hayden said...

“I heard a great "compare and contrast" from Mark Halperin.”

“GOP: Party elites despise Trump and don't want him to run, but voters think Trump is fine.”

“Dems: Voters despise Biden and Harris and don't want them to run, party elites think Biden/Harris ticket is fine.”

I can’t help thinking that there isn’t that much separating the Dem voters hating Biden, and the GOP voters liking Trump. It’s the party elite versus the base. Biden is a creature of the party elites, while Trump is a creature of the base. Biden was installed by the party elites in 2000, after getting Rep Clyburn’s endorsement. With that, and agreements with other key constituents (school teachers, LGBTxyz, etc),the field was cleared for him. The primaries didn’t matter. Crooked Hillary was, by 2016, I the same position, having taken over the DNC, financially first, with Clinton Slush Fund money, then with that leverage, by putting its people in charge. Obama before them, as well as Kerry and Gore, were the one picked by the elites each time. Gpong back in time, in our lifetimes, the only real insurgent winning the Dem nomination was McGovern.

My theory there is that this reflects the traditional structure of the Dem party - a party of the working class and poor, run by elites, controlling massive amounts of money, who pretend, sometimes, to care about their issues. Their problem is that they have, in recent years, been hemorrhaging working class voters to the Republicans, and esp to Trump. They are being replaced with upper middle class nihilists, communists, and crazies, which just accelerates the loss of working class.

The GOP has always been harder to control. It was long the middle class party, led by the upper middle class. Insurgents could win the nomination (Goldwater, Reagan, Trump), and even the general election, because the funding was more democratic. The gap between the middle class and the upper middle class was not that great. It was an easy step up - just make enough money or win some elections. Their problem is that with the addition of the working class, and the differences between the working class and the middle class disappearing, the upper middle class advantages are disappearing. While the Dem party has become less and less populist, the GOP has become increasingly populist. Interestingly, to me, is that socialist revolutions are inevitably in the name of the lower class, but inevitably rely on the support of the working and middle classes. Yet, that appears to be the opposite of what we are seeing here.

Sebastian said...

"the love for Biden is wound up in party loyalty"

Not just that. Grandpa Joe does the left's bidding. He has turned reliably prog. Transgenderism, open borders, climate subsidies, more debt, loan cancellation, administrative state shenanigans, you name it, progs love it.

Progs have no reason to oppose him except the possibility of losing due to age. It's a rational calculation to stick with Joe: they're setting up Trump as his beatable opponent who will take the congressional GOP down with him, and nice women will help as they did before. If they win with Joe, he'll be even more decrepit, and therefore even more likely to follow prog instruction. Illegals are a nuisance, but not enough to turn blue states red. And what good is the health of the country compared to "reproductive health"? The calculation may be wrong, but given the tremendous possible payoff, it is by no means crazy.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

Hard to say what’s normal in such a chaotic environment but the last two Democrat presidents who had disastrous policies in serious foreign or domestic issues along with social unrest drew legitimate primary opposition, although Ted Kennedy eventually got in line. Johnson suddenly retired and Carter lost but both of them had to deal with the threat of primary opponents whom the media treated seriously and were open about. The Democrat Party is simply more authoritarian and exerts near absolute control over the mainstream media now and brooks no dissent. Not even for a Kennedy. That’s the abnormality staring us in the face and being diligently observed by this hack Chait as expected.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

Biden is a liar and a crook... lording over a terrible economy made worse by Biden-omics... and an open southern border with 5-7 million illegal entrants and counting pouring into our nation.
+billions in war money for Ukraine (happy coincidence that is where the Biden's got rich)

It's perfectly normal for the demo-hack machine to stand behind their bag-man.

Robert Cook said...

"'(Biden) is "widely regarded as a genuinely good person."'

"By who, exactly...?"


Yeah, by all accounts, Biden is a temperamental asshole completely convinced he possesses acuity, savvy, and competence that is nowhere evident.

It is appalling, but not surprising--even more appalling--that the Dems have not sought to find replacements for Biden/Harris on the ticket for 2024.

Michael K said...

Warnock would be a good choice. He is as corrupt and racist as Biden. Smaller scale corruption but, given the opportunity, he would be as deep in the trough in no time.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

All of this is ignoring that fact that the corrupt left know who to Chicago the vote.

Until that is fixed - we get more Mob-puppet Biden.

Jupiter said...

"How can any good Democrat elbow past her and say, no, me first?"

There's no such thing as a "good Democrat".

But I know what you mean. A reliable cog in the machine destroying our country.

Michael K said...


Blogger TreeJoe said...

So a major media figure is now promoting a 2.5 year junior Senator with no prior political or executive experience besides running a church to be President.


Obama led the way. Look how well that worked out.

MayBee said...

People shouldn't love a political party. That's gross.

planetgeo said...

No, it's no longer normal party discipline. It's now Party diktat. The still-hidden elite cabal that are pulling the puppet strings know the Biden-Harris combo puppet is the greatest thing that has ever happened to the Party (caps to signify Sovietization achieved). Why? Because both of them are perceived by everyone as so mentally dysfunctional that the Party can get them to impose even the most outrageous and unconstitutional policies with everyone just shrugging their shoulders in exasperation (but no resistance), saying, "well that's just Joe/Kamala...what are ya gonna do?" No sorta-normal leftist candidates could do this.

Seriously, it's brilliant in a diabolical way. They're the perfect puppet-presidency combo. (Fetterman says, "Hold my hoodie.")

Yancey Ward said...

The word hasn't yet gone out from the DNC that other candidates need apply.

I haven't thought for some time that Biden will actually be the nominee, but the hour is getting late- we are now just 4 months from the first primaries. If it is just Kennedy (I also dismiss Williamson, but not necessarily as a kook) vs Biden, Kennedy has a real shot- he definitely connects with people in a way a moron like Biden never has. Now, it looks like the DNC is pulling out all of the stops to prevent Kennedy from winning the nomination even if he wins a majority of the primary/caucus vote, so it is still in the DNC's court whether or not to allow a real alternative to the dispicible shit-for-brains President we have today.

Mr Wibble said...

But she can't run against DeSantis. He would kill her with the way she handled COVID.

No, he wouldn't. The vast majority of voters aren't going to be swayed by running back to COVID fears. Remember, a lot of them still long for more lockdowns and masking. Part of why DeSantis is losing so badly is that his campaign bet too heavily on the idea that his COVID performance would win over the electorate nationwide.

MayBee said...

“Dems: Voters despise Biden and Harris and don't want them to run, party elites think Biden/Harris ticket is fine.”

The Democrats need Trump to be the candidate, because he's the only one Biden can beat. Not because of Biden, but because Dem voters hate Trump (and to be honest, he has worn out his welcome with me and most people I know who voted for him)

tommyesq said...

Interesting that the absence of a Dem challenger is a "harrowing" circumstance - not exactly a ringing endorsement of Biden. If no one steps forward and Biden gets the nomination, is it therefore safe to assume that Chait will vote Republican? Or is he demanding that some other Dem step forward and save him from himself?

Darkisland said...

Gahrie,

How many sitting vice president have run for the presidency since 12A 200 years ago?

How many have won?

John Henry

MayBee said...

planetgeo--

Exactly. Obama let the intelligence agencies do whatever they wanted, as long as he could make speeches and have dinner with intellectuals and have people swoon over him.
Trump wasn't on board.
Biden is too hapless to know what they are up to.

Whoever will let them run whatever their foreign policy is, will get to be POTUS.

MayBee said...

My husband, a lifelong Dem, thinks the nominee will be Biden unless he totally strokes out. Nobody can step in front of Harris, and Harris can't win an election. He thinks Newsome couldn't win either, because California is controversial. And he doesn't think Whitmer, because then why not Harris?

Kathryn51 said...

Envision this scenario:

Next spring - after most of the primaries have been held, the party honchos decree that Biden must go - either resign or decide that he cannot serve another 4 years (health? scandal? it doesn't matter). Worst case, he suffers a massive heart attack and dies. Regardless, a new nominee/candidate must be anointed.

At that point, depending on the Dem rules, it becomes a free-for-all. Do the national party rules dictate how each state must now vote (based upon their primaries) at the convention? Could be - the Dems love central, national control. (GOP rules would leave it up to each individual state delegation). Or, do the individual states have some sort of autonomy in using each state Dem party rules?

Regardless, you can be sure that the Real White House (Obama's Washington DC residence) is running through all of these scenarios and prepping - whispering potential candidate names in the right journalist's ear, telling Kamala and Gavin to pull back and. . . wait. In a normal year - when the President's candidacy is shaky for a variety of reasons (health, polls, scandal), media would be looking into all of this - but they know their marching orders. Keep quiet or you won't be brought into the final plan when revealed- your buddy down the hall will get the invite.

Obama is waiting, watching, and preparing about 5-6 different battle plans depending upon reality on the ground.

rcocean said...

You got Trump supporters right. Its love of Trump and Trump's policies that is the basis of his support. BTW, he got 93 of the Republican vote in 2020, which is 3 points higher than normal, so its not like regular Republican voters dislike Trump.

Its really the GOPe leaders, DC insiders, and Big donors that hate him. That's why the R Candidates are such a pathetic lot. 3 small state ex-Governors, a nobody from ND, a mediocre Senator, ex-VP Mike Pence, an Inidan-American billionaire, and Ron DeSantis.

That's the real problem. Take Trump out, and nobody cares about the GOP. We got Mitch "I surrender" McConnell heading up the Senate, and Plastic Man McCarthy in the House. GOPe talks about "electability" and cant win. Look for them to nominate Nikki Haley in 2028 and lose.

Michael K said...

Biden is the perfect Potemkin President for whoever is running the country. His mask is slipping so the crazies may have to find a new drone. Kamala has made herself ridiculous but that is no great problem as long as the fraud machine is up to the task.

Yancey Ward said...

The first thing Chait needs to do to be taken seriously is to spit Biden's cock out of his mouth.

Josephbleau said...

The DNC made a bad mistake in 2020, they should have let Trump win. If so he would be term limited, the economy would be great, immigration would be controlled, peace in the Middle East, no Ukraine, but they could have kept up the poisonous Trump hate and college educated white women would be voting democrat for the next 20 years because of abortion.

Now their tactics have created a wasteland for them. I don’t even know if abortion politics can save them now.

Breezy said...

AMDG:
People, especially independents are not voting for the current situation. They are voting against Donald Trump.

If Biden’s candidacy does become untenable he will be replaced. Remember Torricelli?


I dunno, AMDG. If I lived in NYC and heard what Mayor Adams just said about the pending destruction of the city due to the wall to wall illegals, I’d start to think Trump was right about the wall. You don’t have to like the man to recognize the good common sense of his policies.

Joe Smith said...

"Newsom has the energy and strength, but I wonder about anyone who would actually marry Kimberly Guilfoyle."

If she's willing to take one for the GOP team and be tarred with the same brush, she could sink Newsom in a heartbeat.

She knows where all the bodies are buried so to speak. If you're from San Francisco you're heard the stories. And I'm guessing she has receipts.

Wait until you see the Biden folks scramble desperately to lower gas prices in the coming months. In my neighborhood, regular is near $6/gallon with diesel being well over $7/gallon. The 'fancy' stations are 60 cents higher than that.

I am reasonably well-off, but I am amazed by unchecked, rampant inflation when I shop for anything.

The government economists are lying their asses off about inflation.

Leora said...

My assumption is the Democrat plan is to pull a Torricelli where a senile Senate candidate in NJ was replaced at the last possible moment before the election. Torricelli was a crook but there wasn't enough time to expose him.

Mr Wibble said...

My theory there is that this reflects the traditional structure of the Dem party - a party of the working class and poor, run by elites, controlling massive amounts of money, who pretend, sometimes, to care about their issues. Their problem is that they have, in recent years, been hemorrhaging working class voters to the Republicans, and esp to Trump. They are being replaced with upper middle class nihilists, communists, and crazies, which just accelerates the loss of working class.

I've been saying something like this for a while. The Dems are a party built around a variety of disparate groups, with a base of blue-collar whites. These folks are low-turnout voters, but tend to be loyal when they do. In contrast, the GOP was the party of white suburbanites, who tend to be high-turnout, but are more likely to cross party lines. As a result, strategies between the two parties differed: the Dems sought to turn out enough voters to win, while the GOP sought to win the voters who turned out. This is why the GOP seems more obsessed with ads and messaging, and why old GOPe like McConnell focused on "electability" and candidate resumes. McSally, Loeffler, etc., all are of a certain "type" of Republican who checks the right blocks.

Trump upends that dynamic. He exposed the shifts that were already taking place, with the suburban whites shifting left, and the dems abandoning support for blue-collar whites.

Mikey NTH said...

Chait realizes what "tied to the rails" means nauticlly?
Amazing.

Mr Wibble said...

The DNC made a bad mistake in 2020, they should have let Trump win. If so he would be term limited, the economy would be great, immigration would be controlled, peace in the Middle East, no Ukraine, but they could have kept up the poisonous Trump hate and college educated white women would be voting democrat for the next 20 years because of abortion
------

I still suspect that they allowed Biden and Harris to be the ticket because they expected Trump to win. They expected to gain seats in the House, take the Senate, and spend four years investigating, impeachment, and fundraising. The Steal occurred because on election night they realized that the GOP might retake the House, giving Trump two more years of a GOP congress and vindication of his political instincts.

Iman said...

It’s a warm breezy evening here. I’m feeling magnanimous as I write Fuck. The. Democrats.

Michael K said...

The Steal occurred because on election night they realized that the GOP might retake the House, giving Trump two more years of a GOP congress and vindication of his political instincts.

I disagree. I think they actually thought Biden, with all the help of Zuckerbucks etc., could win. Then 75 million Trump votes arrived and they had to scramble. Hence the late night blackouts and other obvious fraud in black districts. Obama got less votes in his second election. Nobody anticipated Trump out get more, a lot more.

Michael K said...

Wait until you see the Biden folks scramble desperately to lower gas prices in the coming months. In my neighborhood, regular is near $6/gallon with diesel being well over $7/gallon. The 'fancy' stations are 60 cents higher than that.

The strategic petroleum reserve is gone. What else can they do? A lot of lying and propaganda, I suspect. They're good at that.

Bruce Hayden said...

“Trump upends that dynamic. He exposed the shifts that were already taking place, with the suburban whites shifting left, and the dems abandoning support for blue-collar whites.”

Except that it isn’t just Blue Color whites. It is Blue Collar workers in general. Vegas here is a union town. It has been that way for most of the last half century. Even the hotel executive chefs belong to the Culinary Union. I am constantly amazed by the support that Trump gets here from Blue Collar Blacks in town here. The difference between Welfare Blacks, and Working Class Blacks wasn’t important, when they were all reliably Democrats. Now, I think that it is.