OT: Highly Concerning - MS Labor Participation Rate 53.8%

[johnson86-1]

I doubt he gets Clarance Thomas money.

I think Biden isn't motivated by money. He's motivated by pride. Thats the only explanation of why he has so stubbornly insisted on a 2nd term.

Not Biden, his family. I think Biden has been diminished for long enough that he wasn't the one really making the decision to run again. His family still wants to cash in. His inside circle want to keep their jobs and power. They convinced him to run and donors were scared enough of either running Kamala or trying to bypass her that they allowed themselves to be convinced that Biden wasn't as bad as he seemed despite the visible evidence.

What they should be worried about is Biden living through November to hand out pardons to his family members. If Kamala steps in I'm not sure she's motivated to take the political hit of doing that.

 

[DoggieDaddy13]

I doubt he gets Clarance Thomas money.

I think Biden isn't motivated by money. He's motivated by pride. Thats the only explanation of why he has so stubbornly insisted on a 2nd term.

ETA: I think they'd have to give Kamala a ton. She has a legit 30% shot at the Presidency, and in her mind probably a lot higher. That's a tough nut to let slide.

But there's the same problem they has a year ago (and 4 years ago), if not Joe then who? Some important group will be pissed off. I'd guess at Newsome/AOC or Warren.

Too lefty to win. Newsom is Jerry Brown without Linda Ronstadt.

The Dems will look at the Governors of Kentucky or Kansas first.

 

[NWADawg]

Not Biden, his family. I think Biden has been diminished for long enough that he wasn't the one really making the decision to run again. His family still wants to cash in. His inside circle want to keep their jobs and power. They convinced him to run and donors were scared enough of either running Kamala or trying to bypass her that they allowed themselves to be convinced that Biden wasn't as bad as he seemed despite the visible evidence.

What they should be worried about is Biden living through November to hand out pardons to his family members. If Kamala steps in I'm not sure she's motivated to take the political hit of doing that.

Some believe they did it to get rid of Biden. Waited till after primaries so Americans couldn't have a say and early enough ( earliest debate in history I believe) to put in hand selected candidates. Now they form a coup to get Biden out and Kamala and Mike Obama on ballot.

I have no idea what's going on but as a general rule, I lean towards things that say the national government is evil and out to protect themselves by screwing the rest of us.

 

[pseudonym]

Semi-related. Joe Biden's family is probably going to be offered more money than most of us will make over our entire lifetime for Joe to bow out. Not as good as coaches getting paid millions to not coach, you know, because he's not exactly going to get to enjoy the benefits of it. But still a deal that will make a lot of older working people jealous.

Kamala Harris may be offered something similar or more to get her to play ball on having somebody that's not Hillary Clinton with a tan likeable to be the nominee.

You'll probably see people on the right complain about that also when it comes out or they see the high paid, no show gigs offered. But that's not the same as complaining about wealthy people getting ahead in general.

We've been told by Democrats that our democracy is on the ballot in November.

87% of Democratic primary voters voted for Biden, who is about to be replaced at the eleventh hour.

It's laughable that the media and Washington elites all figured out on the same day what we have all known for over a year: Biden is unfit to be president. The debate format was designed to demonstrate this.

It's not hard to see what they're trying to do, but they still have some obstacles:

1. How do you make the case he is unfit to run for president in November and not admit he is unfit to be president in June, July, etc.?
2. If he is removed from office, he is replaced by Harris, who somehow has lower approval ratings than Biden.
3. If Harris is president, how is she not the nominee in November?
4. Even if he isn't removed and Harris isn't president, she still has a legitimate claim as the VP to the top line of the ballot if it's not Biden.
5. You want Gavin Newsom. How do you tell your base you are passing on a black woman for another white man?

If the Democrats cared about democracy, they would have allowed the voters to choose between Harris, Newsom, etc. Instead, they are taking that choice out of the hands of Democratic voters while telling us the only way to save our democracy is to vote for them in November.

I don't have a dog in this fight. I will not vote for Trump or Biden. But after last night and the orchestrated response, I hope Biden and Harris stay in this thing as long as they can.

 

[Boom Boom]

Not Biden, his family. I think Biden has been diminished for long enough that he wasn't the one really making the decision to run again. His family still wants to cash in. His inside circle want to keep their jobs and power. They convinced him to run and donors were scared enough of either running Kamala or trying to bypass her that they allowed themselves to be convinced that Biden wasn't as bad as he seemed despite the visible evidence.

What they should be worried about is Biden living through November to hand out pardons to his family members. If Kamala steps in I'm not sure she's motivated to take the political hit of doing that.

Lay off the propaganda old man, it's making you as senile as you think Biden is.

 

[johnson86-1]

Some believe they did it to get rid of Biden. Waited till after primaries so Americans couldn't have a say and early enough ( earliest debate in history I believe) to put in hand selected candidates. Now they form a coup to get Biden out and Kamala and Mike Obama on ballot.

I have no idea what's going on but as a general rule, I lean towards things that say the national government is evil and out to protect themselves by screwing the rest of us.

I think that is assuming too many people pulling in the same direction. Lots of self interested parties involved with different levers of power to push or pull. I think there were factions of the democratic party that thought it was insane to move forward with Joe, but at the same time, couldn't put an attractive path forward. If Biden has a non-terrible vice president, I think you would have seen power brokers and donors convince Joe's family it wasn't in their best interest for him to run again. If Biden had a terrible vice president that didn't check any boxes, I think power brokers and donors aren't worried about the impact of passing over a female and black Vice President to try and find somebody likeable, and I think they can still convince Joe's family it isn't in their best interest for him to run. Then they could have had a primary that wasn't particularly bitter or damaging to the party.

But without a good path forward, it was one of those "if you shoot at the king, you better not miss" scenarios. Nobody wanted to step out there on an island and push to get Joe to step down. Even though there was a majority that might want him out, they wanted different alternatives so there was a real risk that any push to get him to step down would fail.

I do think maybe there were people working against Joe's interest wanting to have the debate early enough to try to replace him. It's early enough that they in theory could work out a brokered convention. But it's also in the best interest of his inner circle to have the debate now if they think they can't avoid a debate all together. November is far enough away that maybe the impression of voters fades over time. You put Joe back in the basement and allow the media to run interference with some carefully selected tape of Biden and otherwise let them spend all their efforts tearing down Trump rather than covering Biden. Joe wasn't exactly sharp in 2020. He was already diminished (from an already pretty average state). It's not absurd to think he can win again just by staying out of the spot light when that is pretty close to what he was able to do in 2020.

 

[Boom Boom]

We've been told by Democrats that our democracy is on the ballot in November.

Given Trump, his history, his recent statements, and the people he will most certainly empower, it most certainly is.

87% of Democratic primary voters voted for Biden, who is about to be replaced at the eleventh hour.

Funny, you ignore this later in the same post.

It's laughable that the media and Washington elites all figured out on the same day what we have all known for over a year: Biden is unfit to be president. The debate format was designed to demonstrate this.

He's not unfit, he's just old and not as electable. There is a clear difference.

It's not hard to see what they're trying to do, but they still have some obstacles:

i dont think they were trying to do anything than follow a stubborn, prideful old mans direction, and hope for the best.

1. How do you make the case he is unfit to run for president in November and not admit he is unfit to be president in June, July, etc.?

I already did.

1. If he is removed from office, he is replaced by Harris, who somehow has lower approval ratings than Biden.

True!

1. If Harris is president, how is she not the nominee in November?

It is not automatic. She has to be voted in as the nominee.

1. Even if he isn't removed and Harris isn't president, she still has a legitimate claim as the VP to the top line of the ballot if it's not Biden.

A claim, but she still has to convince enough voters.

1. You want Gavin Newsom. How do you tell your base you are passing on a black woman for another white man?

The same way they told the lefties that they were getting Biden.

If the Democrats cared about democracy, they would have allowed the voters to choose between Harris, Newsom, etc. Instead, they are taking that choice out of the hands of Democratic voters while telling us the only way to save our democracy is to vote for them in November.

Lets not equate Biden's decision with all Democrats.

I don't have a dog in this fight. I will not vote for Trump or Biden. But after last night and the orchestrated response, I hope Biden and Harris stay in this thing as long as they can.

The Kamala Konundrum. If she were likable, this would all be easy. I have said for decades now, I have never once understood why a VP (of either Party) was chosen, they all seem like boneheaded, horrible picks.

 

[johnson86-1]

Lay off the propaganda old man, it's making you as senile as you think Biden is.

It's funny that you would accuse other people of being swayed by propaganda.

How many people on the right that pay attention do you think were surprised by Joe's debate performance last night? I would guess very few, because it's been obvious he's been of diminished capacity for a while for anybody that bothered to look. Maybe they were surprised at just how bad it was because they assumed his handlers wouldn't let him go up there if he was as bad as he looked, but they wouldn't see anything from Joe last night that was really inconsistent with his recent live performances.

The only way for people to be shocked at last nights performance is if they don't pay attention at all (very reasonable and rational for most people), or if they actually believed that the media they watched were trying to inform them rather than operate as a booster for the democratic party.

The fact that so many people on the left seem to be hitting the panic button means they stupidly thought the media they paid attention to was trying to inform them. That's just an absurdly stupid position to be in. There are surely people on the right that take anything that comes from the Republican National Party as gospel, but I don't think political operatives and maybe not even pundits on the right would ever be so stupid. And yet many on the left did basically the equivalent, and discarded all logic and skepticism just because people on their side told them Biden was still fit.