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We thought maybe you could use a friendly on this difficult day, so here are some quotes from the edition of the podcast. The quotes are lightly edited but transcribed as spoken.
Joe Biden Is An Exceptional President
There, there are presidents that have really had a lasting legacy on the country. And a lot of them never get their credit for that. They had, they had accomplishments that never really get credited. Obama was the rare exception and somebody who had the personality And the charisma and had the accomplishments.
That is not normal. Yeah, that's not normal. I mean, you have, you have, before Obama, everybody compares him to Reagan, which is justified because you've got to go back to Reagan, who was the previous transformational president. But then, once you get behind Reagan, you have to go back to Roosevelt. Those presidents don't happen very often.
Harry Truman and Joe Biden are the kind of presidents who come in and do effective things but they don't get credit because maybe they don't look the part or they don't act the part. They're a lot more common than Trump, who is just this amalgamation of everything that's going on, which is bad about modern politics and what candidates are evaluated by.
Trump is the post-fact, post-accomplishment president. I'm gonna take advantage of division and polarization, and hey, kids, let's put on a show. And so you know what's interesting about, when you're talking about younger voters, voters and they say they care about climate change, right?
What The Movement To Get Rid Of Biden Was Really About
You remember the Bernie Sanders/Hillary Clinton primary in 2016? We remember it because we were at the convention that year. After that, the DNC, which was at the time led by Tom Perez and Keith Ellison, after the new leadership turned over, sat down with Sanders, sat down with Biden actually, and Obama and the whole crew, and they all agreed to get rid of the super delegate system who did the super delegate system benefit? Elites.
The super delegates themselves were elites, and to remind everybody what the system was, Democratic voters named a percentage of the delegates, and then there was this big pot of super delegates. Who was not elected by the voters but got an equal vote as the voters as to who gets to be the nominee.
That's a whole lot of power, right? And in 2018, everybody sat down and one of the good things, no matter how you feel about what Bernie did in the 2016 campaign, one of the good things that came out of his run was they reformed the primary process. So, the primary process was given to the voters.
Now that seems like no big deal, but then COVID came in 2020 and everything fell into place quickly for Biden because of the new reforms. When Biden started getting momentum after South Carolina, he was able to put it away pretty quickly. Now fast forward to 2024, Biden storms through the primaries. The voters again say, we want Biden.
The people that in normal circumstances, which are these 40 House Democrats or 30 House Democrats and these elected leaders and all these people that were saying Biden had to step aside, they would have been superdelegates normally. They were nobody special in 2024. That's what this all is. This all comes down to controlling the party and power.
This has been a power struggle. They want power back because it was taken away from them and given to the voters. And this is what I keep coming back to. And that's why you're hearing that BS. about an open process to find the new nominee. Yeah, that's BS. And I'm, that actually disgusted me. And the more people that are repeating this, people that I used to respect, it's like, we already had an this process.
We already did this process. You don't get to tell the voters that they don't get the people. They, they said, if it's not Joe, they want Kamala. So you people all need to take a seat because that is what's going to happen. That's the way it should happen. That's what is right to happen now. Yeah, and instead they're doing this whole thing.
I just I know that they're gonna come up with issues they have with Kamala here if she doesn't fall into line for them and you you know Give them the power they seek and I just don't think she's that kind of person. I don't think I don't think she is either. Yeah, I think she's gonna cave to them and I think that's gonna be a problem.
I also think that if she ends up being the nominee, she should be left alone. There should be no open process to pick her running mate. She should pick her own running mate. Absolutely. She should have that if she's the nominee. It should not be in the convention. The convention shouldn't get to choose the VP or whatever nonsense they're thinking of.
2024 Is Not 1968
The comparisons to 1968 I think are way off base. All right, tell us more about that. Okay, very simply, there are a few different reasons why. The main reason is that LBJ was forced out of office in 1968 because of the unpopularity of the Vietnam War.
His vice president, Humphrey, was also saddled with the unpopularity of the Vietnam War. There was an overriding issue that led to President Johnson losing, didn't even lose, did poorly in the primary, got embarrassed, said Democratic voters don't want me and he left. That's not what happened in 2024.
There is no overriding issue here within the Democratic Party that pushed Joe Biden out the door. In fact, Democratic voters said they wanted Joe Biden. Yeah, and every time that they, that, that people were trying to push him out, the voters kept speaking more and more and more and more. We saw that in the rally in Detroit, for example.
And, since there is no predominating issue driving the democratic dislike of the president, then Vice President Harris is not saddled with a 1968-style issue. And the democratic party, if we can just cut the crap for a minute, is not deeply divided on issues on beating Donald Trump. They are not divided.
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President Biden grudgingly bowed out today. His presidency has been remarkable, and America owes him a huge debt of gratitude for pulling us out of the swamp of Trump. Vice President Kamala Harris is exactly the leader to become our next President. She patiently stepped through Biden’s hoops and found the times she needed to show her worth - she did not have to prove it. She is a solid, strong, resilient and powerful woman. We were so vitalized and with renewed energy shouted for joy this afternoon!! She will be the new leader America needs and so desperately wants! VOTE EARLY! 💙
I have nothing to add to this except-check to make sure you are registered to vote. 💙💙💙🇺🇸
Thank you for this excellent reminder. AND, tell friends and strangers to VOTE!! Then add “Kamala!”
This is a cynical view of what this was really about. It ignored so many factors, Biden’s age, his debate performance, his lack of energy, his faltering movements, in favor of a myopic view of what motivated those who felt Biden was no longer the most viable candidate. Not to mentally on the vast majority of Democratic voters no longer had confidence in Biden. Biden was a superb President but that wasn’t the only dynamic at work. The next nominee will be able to run on Biden’s record with energy Biden lacked, and will be able to use the 2025 project as a bludgeon in a way Biden could not.
Everything you mentioned was baseless medical conspiracy and media speculation. Your point about Democratic voters. Meanwhile there are first hand sources like Rep. Ocasio-Cortez that are the basis for our discussion. —-Jason
You miss the point.
Regardless of the reason ("conspiracy", "speculation", whatever...), there is a firmly rooted impression among a growing number of voters that President Biden lacks the capacity to serve. Fair or not, that impression is impossible to reverse in the case of an 81-year-old man.
While most Democratic loyalists would vote for Mr. Biden no matter what, less-engaged Democrats and a significant portion of independents were seeing their choice as either a strong nasty man or a weak nice man. That leaves them no one to vote FOR.
In the politics business, that's known as a Loss. Now those people have a candidate to vote for who's in the prime of life, with energy and experience. That's a Win.
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And the weeks of media coverage fueled by Democratic elites sunk his campaign and caused the polling. It is almost childlike how some on the left don’t understand how media coverage is the biggest driver of public opinion polling outside of political polarization. —-Jason
I understand what you're saying, Jason. And I understand the influence of elites and media. Obviously, money buys media coverage and drives opinion polling. What Ira and I are saying is that the underlying reality is not a fabrication.
Here's my question for those who think that all this is nothing but a conspiracy of the elites: If the elites wanted Joe Biden out, where were they a year ago when it would have been so much easier? What changed? Isn't it just possible that Mr. Biden has indeed lost a step or two since then, and is likely to lose another before the election? Aging is like that -- and it's not reversible.
From my perspective, it's far better that those terrible elites (Pelosi, Schumer, Jeffries, Schiff, Brown, Raskin,Murray, Lofgren -- you know, all those who turned President Biden's policies into achievements) called attention to this before it was too late.
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Not Pelosi. She gave a resounding endorsement of Joe. Shumer and the rest of the backstabbing bit*he’s dogged him to put it politely, into handing it over to Kamala. Here is what I am worried about-Chuckie has not endorsed Kamala. He tweeted or, whatever, what a great President he was, bla bla bla. He did not endorse Kamala.
Amen🙌, Exactly Jason!
The public needs to understand Project 2025 and the totally unrealistic world it pursues!!
OK, so the children have had their tantrum and got their way. Mr Presidern, Joe Biden has bowed out. He has left the tent. America is sadden. Ms. Harris has assended, and that is the way it should be. SHE picks her running mate. All you blood thirsty jackels can leave the tent an go to your appointed seats, to your appointed duties. The show is over. It is Ms. Harria' time now. If possible, show some respect. We, the People will pick the next President. Blessings on Mrs. Harris.
The 30 or so Democrats who tried to push Biden out are "rats" in the strongest sense of the word and has caused their Party a great deal of woe for no reason at all. But, President Biden did the right thing for him and his family. Now, the VP will take charge and WIN.
It’s nice to see that other people agree with me on this being a failure of democracy. But I must disagree with you on the convention. The oligarchs are not yet finished destroying this democracy.
what an enlightening post - insightful and eye-opening! thank you
The movement to get rid of Joe Biden started only when the big money donors started defecting. Period. It was two weeks ago the likes of Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer was "fit as a fiddle," a lie that was worth telling as long as the corporate cash kept flowing. That is the ONLY thing Democrats in Washington care about.
We are now continuing the forever war against the "aristocracy." It will be a long and hard fight to sustain a true democracy.