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.
The Biden stay/go camps don’t divide neatly by left/right. Progressives and neoliberals both want Joe gone; the ones sticking with him, or at least the ones he’s appealing to for support, are the unions and the black caucus, which you can think of as the political machine wing of the Democratic party.
Progressives aren’t doing shit right now. Bernie and AOC have said they’ll support Biden. This is a rat fucking from the establishment, not the left. The NY Times hasn’t published 4001 articles about this because the left wants it.
1 Someone counted 192 several days ago and it’s been more days. I used 400 as hyperbole but it might not be.
Poster X: I am super left!
Poster X: Coincidentally I have the exact same strategy recommendations as the New York Times!
Poster Y: Hey you know Bernie Sanders actually doesn’t agree with you
Poster X: He’s just not left enough! Here are some wealthy DNC donors who agree with me!
Poster Y:
Poster X: I think people on the left should not vote! I am super left!
Poster X is constructed entirely from straw.
Constructed entirely from something, at least
Really? Jim Clyburn has been damning Biden with faint praise, and openly talked about how a replacement should work.
The Biden campaign’s made a big deal out of how no CBC member has openly called for him to step down so far, and they’re actively lobbying them to that end. That’s also why he visited a black church over the weekend in one of his rare bits of campaigning. The calculation is that if all black lawmakers stay the course, the effort to replace Biden can be tarred as racist.
Hah, right now there’s only like six people who have called for that, so that’s not particularly noteworthy. I’m amazed that article about CBC opinions didn’t mention Clyburn at all. Like he’s kind of an important member who’s been making plenty of statements about the issue.
Clyburn’s comments were intended to lay out a marker. He was signaling that if Biden steps down and the nomination doesn’t go to Harris, he’ll burn the outfit to the ground.
I don’t think the election against Trump is the primary factor for him; he’s simply maneuvering to maximize the tactical influence of the CBC, no matter the outcome. If Biden remains, he will be even more indebted to the CBC than he already was.
He said more. It wasn’t just warning off Harris challengers: Clyburn says he would support ‘mini-primary’ ahead of DNC if Biden steps aside
It’s all hypothetical, but if the message he wanted to convey was “Biden should be the nominee and we should put this behind us”, he wouldn’t be answering all these questions. If people wanted to give that message, they’d just say it.
Thanks, I hadn’t seen those latest comments from Clyburn.
Now I have no idea what his position actually is, haha.