I decided to turn my comment to another diary, into my first story on Daily Kos.
I am a Canadian lawyer, and I am despondent about what I am hearing and seeing, as good caring Democrats tear apart the party and massively undermine their chances at victory in November.
I love Joe Biden. However, if months ago, a consensus had built up that there should be others running to be the presidential candidate, I would have paid attention. I would have listened to the various options, and made a decision at that point in time.
However, if you think there are many other options NOW, then you are NOT paying attention. Gavin Newsom explained all of this, months and months ago in an interview he did on Fox, and AOC has repeated the same and more points recently. You need to get up-to-speed on the LEGAL realities which apply to this point in time:
1) There is still $100 million in the Biden/Harris fundraising pot at this current time. By LAW, NO ONE ELSE can “inherit” this money. If Biden or Harris are not running, that money must be returned to the donors. It cannot be given to anyone else. Thus, there is ONLY ONE OTHER PERSON who can access those funds, and that is Kamala Harris — and AOC just revealed that during the behind-the-scenes discussions with the Democrats, the “donors” and other Democrats are NOT lining up behind Kamala. AOC has advised that these folks want a complete change at the top of the ticket. That is utter madness.
2) Anyone OTHER than Joe Biden or Kamala Harris is not already in the race for president, so cannot raise any money for running as a presidential candidate until they officially declare and file certain papers. That means that anyone OTHER than Joe Biden or Kamala Harris, from the filing of those papers and the official declaration, would literally have weeks to introduce themselves to a nation of 300 million and to fundraise for their campaign. Early voting starts in September, so if they declare and file paperwork at the Democratic convention on August 5th, they won’t even have a full month to convince someone who may never have heard of them, to vote for them AND they would maybe have a handful of pennies if they wanted to launch advertising, billboards or even lawn signs AND they would have to start from scratch in FIFTY states.
3) If there’s a skeleton in their closet, that’s going to come out just before the election, with no time for proper vetting, confirmation, explanation, etc. Just a bad stench hanging in the air and no time for anyone to do damage control. No one gets vetted like a presidential candidate, so expect that something bad will come out — whether true or not. (Joe Biden has had his entire life turned inside out, his bank records analyzed, his emails to his son scrutinized, and every loan he ever gave to a relative, gone over with a fine-tooth comb. Because he is who is he, he has withstood the intense microscopic scrutiny. I seriously doubt that most normal mortals who go into politics could possibly come out entirely unscathed, and the reality is, even if they had done nothing wrong, it would be too late for the public to absorb this and come out on the right side of the issue. BUTTER EMAILS anyone?)
4) It is now past time in many states to get a name on the ballot. Remember in Colorado, when the challenge happened to including Trump’s name on the ballot? The Supreme Court took up the case immediately because there was literally no time left to include his name on the ballot, if the SCC delayed. THAT WAS IN MARCH! Any person not named Joe Biden or Kamala Harris cannot be added to the ballots in many many many of the 50 states, at this time. Can you say “MASS CHAOS AT THE BALLOT BOX”?
5) Moreover, Kamala Harris is on as a VP candidate. She is also unlikely to be able to have her name changed to show as a presidential candidate. And I refer you to #4, above — the Republicans are ready to take on this battle and will oppose her trying to do so. Again, even you should be able to see that we don’t stand a chance with this Supreme Court, even if there was some wiggle room in the laws — which there isn’t. So, even if Kamala is crowned Joe’s successor, she probably cannot be shown as a presidential candidate on any of the ballots. More Confusion. When 20% of the population believes that it was Joe Biden who is responsible for the overturning of Roe v Wade, do you really have the confidence that “low information voters” won’t be confused beyond belief, and may skip voting for president — or worse still, vote for the name they know better??
6) The Republicans are fully aware of this legal landscape, even if Dems who can’t see past their wishing for unicorns, aren’t. They have already lined up legal challenges to go after anyone who is added late to a ballot, or to challenge any attempts to add a name late, or to change the position they’re running for. Again, who do you think will win that battle at the Supreme Court, even assuming that the laws weren’t crystal clear that the deadline has passed???
7) Watch AOC’s deconstruction of what she witnessed behind closed doors. She says that she specifically asked lawyers and legislators to walk her through the plan they had to deal with all of these issues. NO ONE HAD A PLAN.
8) AOC also made an incredibly important point. She said that those who wanted to replace Joe Biden, all spoke about “my donor said . . . “ and “my donor was concerned . . . “ No one was speaking about hearing a demand from VOTERS that Joe bow out.
9) How can you credibly take the position that Joe Biden is too old or infirm to run for President, but not too old to be currently managing the country? If Joe Biden is pushed out as the presidential candidate, fully expect the media and the Republicans to engage in a non-stop full-throated demand that he step down NOW from leading the country. Seriously, do any of you who are going down this path, even see where this is leading??
STOP THIS. Just STOP THIS. Not only does Joe Biden not deserve this rear-guard attack, but what you are doing — LITERALLY — is ensuring that there is no name for president on the ballot for the Democrats. Once he’s been pushed out of the way, and the Republican legal challenges (and the Supreme Court) effectively block the addition or substitution of other names, we don’t get to say we were just kidding around, and we want Joe back, when the other schemes self-implode!
If you don’t know the legalities of what you’re proposing, don’t you think you might want to start there instead of just adding to the poisoning of the atmosphere around Joe Biden, where our own side is working hard to be responsible for knee-capping his chances of winning? I am a lawyer so I may be a bit more obsessed with the legalities than everyone else is, but seriously, I can’t for the life of me figure out why everyone doesn’t know the realities of the election laws that exist — and I am Canadian! I shouldn’t know more about your election laws than you do, but there it is.
