I normally don’t even want to get involved in posting a drumbeat of “here’s something about Biden staying in the race” stories because, (1) I’m not sure he should, and (2) it doesn’t “cancel out” the waste of time that is the incessant drumbeat of articles about how he should drop out. It’s like taking uppers to counteract downers; it just doesn’t work that way, it makes everything worse. And the amount of press this whole thing is getting and the way it’s being presented is absolutely fuckin absurd.
But that being said, I want to post this one because I like Elizabeth Warren quite a lot and I think what she says gets to the core of the issue.
Also, if you are a Democratic politician or donor and you want to replace Biden with someone else, surely talking to the press about how he should drop out without anyone in particular in mind that you’re talking to them about as a replacement, and a strategy to get that person into place, should be an absolute last, last, last resort for a way to get that done. And probably not even then.
Biden’s thing of “If you want to replace me then mount a challenge at the convention, that’s what it’s for, and whoever wins, let’s fuckin fight the real enemy” makes quite a bit of sense to me, and the longer this goes on, the less sense the people who are talking to the press about him dropping out make.
So here you go, here’s a story about someone who thinks he should stay in and what she has to say.
There is no challenge at the convention, it’s literally impossible. Unless he releases his delegates, they have to vote for him. Plus the convention isn’t actually where the vote will happen this year. They need to run it virtually because they scheduled it too late to be on the Ohio ballot. And as we saw with the primary, no one wants to torch their political reputation to run a race challenging the incumbent leader when there isn’t actually any chance of winning (in this case literally none, in the primary effectively none).
If that’s actually what Biden said, it’s just straight out lying to try to get him out of the tough spot now, when a decision could actually trigger a real process to find a replacement.
This, as far as I can tell, isn’t true. If someone can talk enough delegates into supporting them instead of Biden – instead of talking the media into running stories about wealthy donors and a handful of congresspeople who want Biden to drop out – then the nomination can be theirs.
Yes, they would have to challenge Biden and mount a campaign. That’s how it works. Usually nominees fight each other, sometimes fairly hard. They might also after that have to challenge Trump or get in a war or something. If they are hoping for the process to be nice to them and for Biden to just kind of clear the way so they don’t have to do any work he has already said that (for now at least) he will not.
Again, it’s incredibly notable to me that there’s this incredible level of energy being spent on how Biden shouldn’t be the nominee and almost none being spent on who should be the nominee instead. The first one will hurt the Democrats, and the second one might be a useful path forward in a difficult situation, and about 90% of what’s in the media is the first one. So what does that tell you?
Look man, I don’t know. Maybe Biden dropping out would be best. All I’m saying is that the things Biden is saying make a lot more sense to me than the things the media is saying.
Multiple news stories have said they’re bound, and I’m skeptical that anyone would want to test “in good conscience” in the voting regulations and invite a lawsuit. According to this article even those who personally think a different candidate would be better feel obligated to vote for Biden.
Plus, nearly a third of the states have explicit laws about it. You can’t possibly believe this is a contest being presented in good faith. “Let’s have a contested convention, where the decision will be by delegates hand-selected for loyalty, with wording that sounds like they don’t have a choice but maybe they do, and for a third of them would invite criminal danger.”
Hm
You may have a point. I read more about it, and it’s not really clear cut. You’re right that the states have laws about what has to happen, but the Supreme Court has also said that they can’t tell a political party how to run their nominating process. The delegates are pledged to Biden, but also, ever since 1984 they don’t have to vote for him if their conscience bothers them. But also, knowledgeable people have looked at the situation and said, it doesn’t really matter what the rules are because they just wouldn’t do it.
I think in practice, it’s a mess. I do somewhat stand by my statement that it doesn’t make a lot of sense for Biden to just kind of leave the cockpit and trust that someone else will wander in and start flying the plane again, without anyone affirmatively saying, yes it is me, I will do it, I got it. But I do also get what you’re saying and it has a lot more validity than I thought at first.