Rock the Vote '24: update (09/19) - NC GOP gubernatorial candidate is having a helluva day

[PaladinSolo]

 

There's been a few polls where Biden is pull even with rfk with these groups, and basically explains why we're where we are. 

[Ricofoley]

I think Michelle polls high precisely because she's never actually held office and just goes on talk shows and says "eat your greens" or whatever. I think as soon as she became an actual politician stumping for more or less mainstream Democratic positions she'd poll at "generic Dem" numbers. Maybe there'd be a little Obama nostalgia boost in there.

[PaladinSolo]

This shit is just infuriating, trying to tell us he was jet lagged from a flight almost 2 weeks prior,i wouldn't want me name attached to such idiocy either. 

 

https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/election-2024-campaign-news-07-11-24#h_8f01f41f21e148c4f59e2f4804e0ee9c

 

A senior Biden official who was at the fundraiser told CNN that – while there is “no doubt that (Biden) was tired that night” given that he had just flown back from Italy after attending the G7 summit – the president had been “animated and extremely present.”

 

“That is an inaccurate characterization of the way the president was in those private meetings,” the official, who was not willing to be named, told CNN. “The op-ed paints a picture that … jet lag aside, just doesn’t feel accurate to me.”

[Kal-El814]

On 7/10/2024 at 11:18 AM, sblfilms said:

My dear friend, not but a week before the debate the mainstream media was parroting the “cheap fakes” claims of the administration about the myriad video examples of Biden fumbling in public like he did at the debate. They were circling the wagons until the debate when people got to see it live and unedited, so there was no room for the hand waving about just how bad a shape he is in.

 

So much so that the lovely people on this very board, people who are more with what’s going on in the world than the average, were taking a dump on @Best for pointing out how bad Biden had become.

 

Yeah I probably have blinders on about this. 

[MarSolo]

2 hours ago, finaljedi said:

 

I imagine he maybe made some calls to try and build support and ran into the fractured party that we've been seeing lately and bounced.  The Democrats suck. their candidate is a dottering old man who's early to bed but whose administration generally does good, and they can't muster a firm backing.  Trump is a senile old fuck that rambles about toilets, airports, and movie characters, who is racking up felonies and the more Epstein records are released the worse it looks for him, but the GOP gets merch printed about voting for the felon.

Seriously, how is that NOT blowing up the airwaves? People were OBSESSED with Epstein and who was on the list, and now that it’s Trump and not Tom Hanks, no one cares!

[PaladinSolo]

The Embattled Biden Campaign Tests Kamala Harris’s Strength vs. Trump - The New York Times

WWW.NYTIMES.COM

---

The campaign is quietly carrying out a head-to-head survey of voters between the vice president and Donald Trump, in a sign of the uncertainty even atop the Democratic Party.

 

 

 

[Haya Dune]

Kamala could win, but she'd have to bury Trump in the debate.

[Jwheel86]

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

1 minute ago, Jwheel86 said:

 

[Reputator]

Is it finally time for Sleepy Joe to go to bed?

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

3 minutes ago, Reputator said:

Is it finally time for Sleepy Joe to go to bed?

 

Yes, he's done a great service to his country, but it's time for him to take a well-deserved rest.

 

(Which he definitely should've announced after the 2022 midterms.)

[Best]

4 minutes ago, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

 

Yes, he's done a great service to his country, but it's time for him to take a well-deserved rest.

 

Wait. Is this official? I don't see anything about this. 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

1 minute ago, Best said:

 

Wait. Is this official? I don't see anything about this. 

 

It's not official - I'm just responding to Reputator's comment.

[Best]

1 minute ago, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

 

It's not official - I'm just responding to Reputator's comment.

 

Ok. I see he has a conference at 6:30 this evening with a lot riding on that. 

[SaysWho?]

14 minutes ago, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

 

Yes, he's done a great service to his country, but it's time for him to take a well-deserved rest.

 

(Which he definitely should've announced after the 2022 midterms.)

 

I'm starting to come around to Biden stepping aside. I still don't even think there's anything seriously wrong with him, but he can't speak as he used to, and if you watch his 2008 VP debate performance, there's a huge gap in that and 2024. And I think we really need someone who can articulate Project 2025 and abortion as clearly as possible.

 

He's been able to get a hell of a lot done with tiny majorities.

• He and Obama are the reason I have health insurance right now at an affordable price.
• He's the reason many people are seeing student loan debt wiped out.
• He's the reason why, until court challenges, workers weren't controlled by companies that mistreated them by noncompetes.
• He's why overtime is now available to millions more Americans.
• He's why there's a manufacturing boom in America.
• He's why infrastructure is finally getting overhauled in America.
• He's why there's a GREEN manufacturing boom in America.
• He's why my income tax return allowed me to pay off an engagement ring immediately with green energy tax credits.
• He's why we're electrifying the USPS fleet and making it more financially stable after Congress handicapped it in 2006 (and honestly, I think the bill they passed was well-intentioned at the time)
• He has puts tons of progressive and pro-choice judges on the bench on a level that's exceeded Trump, including our first black woman on the Supreme Court.
• He's why we're finally seeing Medicare able to negotiate drug prices plus seeing insulin costs capped.
• He's why marriage rights are protected with the elimination of the Defense of Marriage Act (replaced by Respect for Marriage Act).
• He's why it's easier to unionize.
• He's why the U.S. finally pursued ambitious climate change initiatives.

Many things that were long overdo are things he made enormous progress on.

 

He has a great legacy. There's nothing wrong with hanging it up in your 80s. And hell if I know if it's the "right" decision, but I think this year is still entirely winnable either way.

[Reputator]

I have to imagine it's incredibly tough to be in Joe's shoes right now. On the one hand, he's been a career politician for close to fifty years. He dreamed of being President since at least his late 20s. All these decades later, he finally achieved that, and entered his first term fired up and energized. The man that RAN down the stage the night of the 2020 election to address his supporters as the new President-elect, that went on to have one of the most productive first terms in the country's history, is now having to face a harsh reality. After just four years, he can't run down that stage anymore. He can't tackle the job with the same fire and energy he once had. After fifty years, he's suddenly facing calls to end a long career right when it's reached its summit. The will is there but the body isn't. It's an incredibly tough pill of humility to swallow, with so much still left to do. I don't envy any man having to come to terms with his own frailty, let alone one sitting in the most powerful seat in the nation.

[Massdriver]

4 hours ago, Spork3245 said:

 

 

Quote

 

While Obama did not encourage or advise Clooney to say what he said, he also didn’t object to it, people familiar with their exchange said. The lack of pushback came despite the former president stepping out as one of the first big voices defending Biden following his abysmal debate performance last month — and as many of Obama’s former aides have emerged as some of the incumbent’s biggest critics.

 

A representative for the Obama team declined to comment.

 

 

Just a moment...

WWW.POLITICO.COM

 

Obama's twitter isn't matching what he's saying in private, at least part of the time. 

[Massdriver]

I'm warming to the idea of Biden stepping aside only because Democrats and the media can't move on from the debate performance. Ideally he should have stepped aside long ago. 

[Jason]

6 minutes ago, SaysWho? said:

Many things that were long overdo are things he made enormous progress on.

 

Kamala can run on his legacy as his VP. 

 

And the single biggest thing that convinced me swapping in Kamala is the right call is all the Senate races where Biden is polling well behind the Senate candidate. Generic Dem voters staying home is gonna be way more consequential than some "I'm a solid Dem voter except I won't vote for a (black) woman" voters. Trump being stuck at ~47% polling points to this being mostly a Democratic enthusiasm gap. 

[SaysWho?]

2 minutes ago, Jason said:

 

Kamala can run on his legacy as his VP. 

 

And the single biggest thing that convinced me swapping in Kamala is the right call is all the Senate races where Biden is polling well behind the Senate candidate. Generic Dem voters staying home is gonna be way more consequential than some "I'm a solid Dem voter except I won't vote for a (black) woman" voters. Trump being stuck at ~47% polling points to this being mostly a Democratic enthusiasm gap. 

 

Exactly. If necessary, shift on Gaza since we know Netanyahu is a right-wing criminal. But the domestic side and helping to strengthen and expand NATO in the face of Russian aggression? Continue that legacy. Run on legalizing abortion rights with a Democratic Congress and protecting the nation from anything like Project 2025.

[CitizenVectron]

1 minute ago, Jason said:

 

Kamala can run on his legacy as his VP. 

 

And the single biggest thing that convinced me swapping in Kamala is the right call is all the Senate races where Biden is polling well behind the Senate candidate. Generic Dem voters staying home is gonna be way more consequential than some "I'm a solid Dem voter except I won't vote for a (black) woman" voters. Trump being stuck at ~47% polling points to this being mostly a Democratic enthusiasm gap. 

 

Even if Harris loses to Trump, having her at the top of the ticket (with hopefully a swing state governor/senator) will help the Dems hold local/state positions, as well as senate/house, I think.

 

But yes, I am now firmly in the camp that Biden needs to step aside for Harris to run. Maybe not step down as President (that would give more ammunition that Harris was complicit in his being unfit for office), but I don't know. Also, I don't think he should step aside because he is a bad President (he is far better than Obama...probably the best since Carter, to be honest), but because Americans care about vibe only at this point, and Biden I think will lose. It sucks for his legacy and ego...but there are more important things than that at stake.

[CitizenVectron]

Just now, SaysWho? said:

 

Exactly. If necessary, shift on Gaza since we know Netanyahu is a right-wing criminal. But the domestic side and helping to strengthen and expand NATO in the face of Russian aggression? Continue that legacy. Run on legalizing abortion rights with a Democratic Congress and protecting the nation from anything like Project 2025.

 

Actually yes, it would give the Dems a change to pivot on a few things if she was at the top of the ticket (Gaza being the biggest to hold younger voters).

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

I've essentially reached the stage where if our side is going to lose, I'd much rather lose through our action (replacing Biden as the nominee) than through our inaction (retaining Biden as the nominee).

[osxmatt]

I really wish Biden would have followed through on 2020 campaign rumors, that his intention was to be a 1 term president and a bridge to a next generation of Democrats.

 

A lot of this could have been avoided. It feels like the Eric Andre meme with the Biden campaign/administration shooting themselves and then asking why the media is doing this.

[mclumber1]

Harris is a much better choice than Biden to argue abortion, even if Biden wasn't mentally declining. 

[Spork3245]

I'd be fine with Biden stepping aside if Kamala wasn't the choice: not because I won't vote for her, but because she has a ridiculously low chance of beating Trump in my mind. I really don't care what the polls are saying at this moment as they're likely skewed from the "OMG THAT DEBATE" fever that's currently running rampant and being fueled by the party itself. I really don't know who can beat Trump right now, but I have way more doubts about Kamala doing it than Biden.

[Jason]

6 minutes ago, CitizenVectron said:

 

Even if Harris loses to Trump, having her at the top of the ticket (with hopefully a swing state governor/senator) will help the Dems hold local/state positions, as well as senate/house, I think.

 

But yes, I am now firmly in the camp that Biden needs to step aside for Harris to run. Maybe not step down as President (that would give more ammunition that Harris was complicit in his being unfit for office), but I don't know. Also, I don't think he should step aside because he is a bad President (he is far better than Obama...probably the best since Carter, to be honest), but because Americans care about vibe only at this point, and Biden I think will lose. It sucks for his legacy and ego...but there are more important things than that at stake.

 

I've seen a cynical take (possibly here? hard to remember) that the Biden administration has been so progressive because it's the young staff running the show for Sleepy Joe, which is plausible-ish but not entirely convincing given stuff like Biden forcing Obama's hand on gay marriage. 

[osxmatt]

1 minute ago, Spork3245 said:

I'd be fine with Biden stepping aside if Kamala wasn't the choice: not because I won't vote for her, but because she has a ridiculously low chance of beating Trump in my mind. I really don't care what the polls are saying at this moment as they're likely skewed from the "OMG THAT DEBATE" fever that's currently running rampant and being fueled by the party itself. I really don't know who can beat Trump right now, but I have way more doubts about Kamala doing it than Biden.

 

Harris would have a unique advantage in running against arguably the most unpopular politician of all-time. Democrats really just need to field a competent candidate that isn’t Trump to have a better than toss up chance at winning.

[Firewithin]

just glad whatever WW2 boomers and/or boomers that had family in WW2 that are still alive, made it to not only see fascism but in most cases probably welcome it.  all very cool

[Jason]

5 hours ago, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

At some point the Fed is simply going to have to accept the reality that 3% inflation is the "best" that they're ever going to get from now on (barring a catastrophic deflationary scenario) and abandon its 2% benchmark.

 

I've said this multiple times before but inflation is stuck above where Powell wants it because of housing costs. The single biggest driver of inflation is housing in significant part because high interest rates suppress new housing starts. Which means cutting interest rates right now would probably be an inflation reducer, not driver. 

 

While hiking up interest rates did throw water on the insane bidding wars we were seeing on for sale housing, it just displaced a bunch of would-be homebuyers into a rental market that was already over capacity because every desirable place to live in this country makes it illegal to build new multifamily housing. 

[Spork3245]

5 minutes ago, osxmatt said:

 

Harris would have a unique advantage in running against arguably the most unpopular politician of all-time. Democrats really just need to field a competent candidate that isn’t Trump to have a better than toss up chance at winning.

 

I said it earlier ITT: I want to be wrong about my thoughts above should Harris become the nominee.

However, while Trump is the most unpopular politician of all time, look at how he's been doing in polls - people don't care, and they don't care because they don't pay attention. Further, you cannot discount racism and misogyny playing major roles against Kamala. Also, in 2004 George W was considered one of, if not the, most unpopular presidents in quite awhile and the democrats couldn't beat him. Hell, Biden beat Trump largely because of COVID and his admins mishandling of it: if COVID didn't happen then Trump is likely still president and trying for a third term somehow right now.

[Jason]

And the icing on the cake is that to the extent that people are worried about inflation it's primarily because of blue state NIMBY policies. Displacing people from blue states to red states hasn't made them purple, it's just given them more red Congressional seats. 

[Spork3245]

Just now, Jason said:

And the icing on the cake is that to the extent that people are worried about inflation it's primarily because of blue state NIMBY policies. 

 

The real icing is that the US has had one of, if not the, lowest inflation rates since the pandemic compared to other countries, and it's largely due to Biden's policies... but that's too hard for dems to constantly talk about or something.

[Jason]

5 minutes ago, Spork3245 said:

The real icing is that the US has had one of, if not the, lowest inflation rates since the pandemic compared to other countries, and it's largely due to Biden's policies... but that's too hard for dems to constantly talk about or something.

 

A lot of that is because housing a huge and skyrocketing expense. The supermarket stuff is vibes, the housing stuff is real. 

[ort]

He losing because of inflation and his age.

 

Inflation has been a real drag on everyone. It sucks. But like, there is this weird mental derangement where people just blame the president for everything that happens in the world. Joe Biden did not cause this inflation. He hasn't enacted a single policy that has had much of any effect on inflation. He doesn't control the prices of anything and the amount of control the president has over these things is minimal at bast.

 

I don't understand how 100% of the aftermath of COVID is being laid upon Biden's feet. It's like the country was a car that was speeding toward a cliff... and Trump jumped out and Biden took the wheel and managed to steer it into a tree and everything is all fucked up but we're alive... and now everyone is mad that he couldn't invent a flying a car and just take off into the sky... it just doesn't work that way.

 

I know everything sucks now. Inflation sucks, the housing market sucks, the job market kinda sucks... car prices are insane, health insurance prices are insane... but none of that is really Biden's fault. Not directly anyway. Maybe it's his fault since he's been one small cog in this system that has slowly steered the world in this direction over the last 50 years... but nothing he's done in the last 3 years has caused this.

 

But most people have such a simplistic and child like view of how the world works. Things suck, the president isn't fixing it, bye bye president...

 

I don't understand how all of COVID is now seemingly being blamed on Biden and the Democrats, when the Republicans were running the show during the time when we could have been doing so much more.

 

Trump's COVID response was shockingly terrible, his messaging was awful, he encouraged divisiveness and misinformation in a time when we needed unity and strength and strong consistent leadership. He wasted so much time in the beginning, completely screwed up the PPP loan system which was abused and defrauded on a level that is unimaginable and overall just completely shit the bed. When we needed true leadership, he demured, waffled and punted everything to the states like a pathetic weak coward.

 

But no, all of this is Biden and the Democrats faulty somehow? BULLSHIT.

 

I would say that the GOP was much better at messaging, but I'm not sure that's true. I think the reality is that so many Republican voters are just very stupid with incredibly simplistic views of the world. It's easier to message to dumb stupid idiot garbage people. You just tell them what they want to hear and you let their idiocy do the rest. They aren't better at messaging, they are better at appealing to hateful  morons... and there are a LOT of hateful morons in this country.