The Democratic Party is poised to fight over whether a man who said he “finally eat Medicare” couldn’t remember if he watched his atrocious debate against Donald Trump and claims that a bad cold and exhaustion were the causes for his soporific performance despite being seen at a Waffle House at 2 am should remain on the Democratic Party ticket. Three-fourths of the nation thinks this guy is too old and mentally degraded to be president. Megadonors are conspiring against him, along with congressional Democrats.
Senior White House officials now say it's time for him to go. Has anyone asked his pledged delegates how they feel? The Washington Post did, and they’re uneasy. We’re at a point where mayhem could ensue at the Democratic National Committee, where an effort is now underway to ensure embarrassment is avoided at this venue in the coming weeks (via Washington Post):
SOME BIDEN CONVENTION DELEGATES HAVING DOUBTS - WAPO
— NewsWire (@NewsWire_US) July 7, 2024
Biden insists that he has no plans to withdraw. But the emergence of misgivings among some of the approximately 3,900 delegates who were selected based on their loyalty to the president is yet another marker of how shaky his position has grown.
The uncertainty threatens to cast a pall over the convention, which is structured to serve as a giant prime-time rally and typically helps kick off the fall campaign stretch with rousing enthusiasm for the nominee. Now, delegates are watching and waiting — and worrying that the swirling debate about Biden’s fitness for office is only weakening Democrats’ chances to defeat former president Donald Trump in November, no matter who the nominee is.
This summer, the top job of delegates, chosen by party activists after pledging to support the winning candidate in their state’s primary or caucuses, is to nominate the Democratic candidate for president. According to the party’s rules, pledged Biden delegates are bound only by “good conscience” to vote for him. Nearly all, however, are members of the party faithful who will do what the national committee — or Biden — tells them to.
But with Democratic unity behind Biden starting to fragment in the week after the debate, the party has had to mobilize to keep delegates in line.
The Democratic Party of Georgia sent an email to party activists, including delegates, urging them to be cautious when speaking to reporters and giving them talking points for supporting Biden. “Not every press opportunity is a good one or a helpful one,” read the email, which went out after the debate. In one major battleground state, Pennsylvania, party officials declined to provide reporters with their full list of delegates. Neither the DNC nor the Biden campaign has made a national list public.
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Notable from a Dem congressman. pic.twitter.com/PAE8xDsUyX
— Alex Thompson (@AlexThomp) July 5, 2024
The operative words in this piece are “for now.” For now, these delegates, who are hard-core Democrats, won’t buck the train. Just like for now, Democratic governors remain behind Biden hoping to kill Kamala Harris’ 2028 chances. They don’t want her to run a last-minute race with Trump, where she loses narrowly, giving her a lot of political lift for the next election. It’ll be near impossible to bounce her should she replace Biden, beat Trump, and run for re-election in her own right.
The latter path is ridiculous as I feel Harris is the definition of unelectable, but politicians live in constant fear, whether real or imagined. The 20 or so governors who met with Biden last Wednesday, where we found out that the president saw the doctor and didn’t tell anyone and might be down seven points in Wisconsin, are the only major bloc providing the president with the muscle required to push back against the mighty campaign to remove him.
If things get worse, and they likely will due to Biden’s mental state, let’s see what happens over the next few weeks.
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