Josh Marshall had a pointed blog post July 15 On Not Being Pathetic
Jon Chait has a new article up at New York Magazine in his series of articles about Joe Biden and the need for him to end his candidacy to make way for a younger, more viable candidate. His main issue now is that the people in the Democratic Party who were pushing hardest to get Biden to step aside have, he says, simply given up and accepted losing the presidency. He then analogizes this move to the atmosphere after 9/11 in which Democrats rallied around George W. Bush as an act of national unity. He finds this perverse because there’s nothing about national unity that makes you suddenly accept the ascension of the primary driver of political violence and national chaos simply because that person became the target of violence.
I find myself disagreeing with most of these particular claims but agreeing with the overriding one: I recoil at the center of my being from Democrats’ tendency to just fold at the first, second and third sign of difficulty.
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The NY Times is reporting Adam Schiff is now calling on President Biden to step aside.
…Mr. Schiff had said over the weekend, in a private meeting with donors, that if Mr. Biden remained the party’s nominee, Democrats were likely to lose not only the White House but also down-ballot races. But his public statement on Wednesday was a significant escalation.
He emphasized that he would support the Democratic ticket, even if Mr. Biden stayed at the top, but said he believed it would be better for Mr. Biden to “pass the torch.”
This is an act of political malpractice so stupidly bad, only a Democrat could do it.
Regardless of whether or not Schiff has a case (and isn’t just bowing to the big donors), this is the wrong time to be taking the spotlight away from Trump, Vance, and the MAGA Party. We should be talking about them, not Biden.
If Schiff has doubts, he should be talking to the President, not the press, which can’t wait to take down Biden.
What Marshall had to say is really on point:
But here’s the thing. The folks talking to the Capitol Hill sheets didn’t say, we’re dropping the swap Biden idea. They apparently said, well, we’re giving up on presidential race altogether. That is just the kind of toxic loserdom that makes me see red every time. Can’t stand it. I’m agnostic on the replace Biden thing. If the big party players want to do it then do it. And if not then Biden’s the candidate. I go back and forth on which option I think has the better shot at success. What I’m hearing now is that these ringleaders are just going to take a pass on the whole race or have their contribution be giving demoralizing quotes to Politico if they can’t get their way. The truth is we don’t have any time for whining. If members of Congress want to replace Biden on the ticket, they can. They need to get together and do it. If not, then drop the idea and move on. But again there is just no damn time for whining.
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One more thing from Josh, about the seeming mythic stature narrative around Trump:
….A column ran todayon The New York Times op-ed page in which the author explained that Saturday’s events convinced him that Trump was what Hegel described as a “man of destiny” on the model of Napoleon, a figure “whose own particular aims involve those large issues which are the will of the World Spirit.”
JESUS CHRIST.
If you can’t take in this nonsense and say, nope, I’m going to head straight to Milwaukee and make the case against this dangerous degenerate, than you just need to resign or get out of the way and make room for someone who can. No complaining, no whining. Act.
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