@MisTBlu, Based on my understanding, the one piece of your comment with which I thoroughly concur is that the team that prepped Biden did him a great disservice. Otherwise, I stand by my original comment and won’t defer to excuses for Biden’s meandering debate performance that not only failed to put to rest the doubts about his capacity to win the election, but also reinforced those doubts.
@MisTBlu, Based on my understanding, the one piece of your comment with which I thoroughly concur is that the team that prepped Biden did him a great disservice. Otherwise, I stand by my original comment and won’t defer to excuses for Biden’s meandering debate performance that not only failed to put to rest the doubts about his capacity to win the election, but also reinforced those doubts.
I agree that Biden will have to wear this but I also think all the pundit hysteria about the imperative of getting a replacement is simply wrong. If there were someone else, we would know who that is by now. I also think this drumbeat of "Biden is too old" is part of the culture that worships youth and abhors being old. We don't respect elders. We treat them as an embarrassment and make fun of them. Biden has the advantage of long experience. We should judge him on his record of success (except for Gaza but that's not the point right now), not on the failures of one appearance. The choice America has is Biden or Trump. Period. Yes, he is flawed but Trump is unmitigated disaster.
@NL, The issue never has been about 1 meandering debate performance. Doubts about whether staying the course with Biden date back 2 years. The reason no one has spoken up is due to leadership’s bunker mentality that every elected official understood would marginalize anyone who spoke out in public. I believe what we’ve recently seen from the Press reflects having reached a critical mass, wherein, given the stakes, journalists felt compelled to fulfill their fundamental obligation of preserving our democratic republic.
@NL, Given what Trump is serving up, I believe a big part of the problem stems from this being such a close race. To be clear, while I understand polls, per se, are not to be trusted, when they trend similarly over a period of time, though not predictive, I believe we benefit by viewing them as instructive.
The age issue is actually interesting. Trump is 48 months younger than Biden. The other aspect is how many old people, really old people, young people admire. Yes, most of them are performers so we can't say for certain how they are in real life or whether they'd be able to manage the federal government and serve as the ceremonial head of the nation as well as President Biden has done.
You are wise, as always. I am making excuses. It's cataclysmic thinking: if I can't think of ways around the disaster I would have to accept that Thursday marked the end of our democracy. It's part of a larger worry about the hard right's take over of Europe. The only bright spot on the global stage at this moment is the UK, which is set to shellac the Tories, bigly.
@MisTBlu, I, too, am eager to see the Labour Party back in power. Moreover, despite for example election results in France, it is incumbent upon all of us to view every win as helping to strengthen the resistance elsewhere.
@MisTBlu, Based on my understanding, the one piece of your comment with which I thoroughly concur is that the team that prepped Biden did him a great disservice. Otherwise, I stand by my original comment and won’t defer to excuses for Biden’s meandering debate performance that not only failed to put to rest the doubts about his capacity to win the election, but also reinforced those doubts.
I agree that Biden will have to wear this but I also think all the pundit hysteria about the imperative of getting a replacement is simply wrong. If there were someone else, we would know who that is by now. I also think this drumbeat of "Biden is too old" is part of the culture that worships youth and abhors being old. We don't respect elders. We treat them as an embarrassment and make fun of them. Biden has the advantage of long experience. We should judge him on his record of success (except for Gaza but that's not the point right now), not on the failures of one appearance. The choice America has is Biden or Trump. Period. Yes, he is flawed but Trump is unmitigated disaster.
@NL, The issue never has been about 1 meandering debate performance. Doubts about whether staying the course with Biden date back 2 years. The reason no one has spoken up is due to leadership’s bunker mentality that every elected official understood would marginalize anyone who spoke out in public. I believe what we’ve recently seen from the Press reflects having reached a critical mass, wherein, given the stakes, journalists felt compelled to fulfill their fundamental obligation of preserving our democratic republic.
But it's significant that the loudest voices saying Biden's gotta go are the pundit class, not the general public.
@NL, Given what Trump is serving up, I believe a big part of the problem stems from this being such a close race. To be clear, while I understand polls, per se, are not to be trusted, when they trend similarly over a period of time, though not predictive, I believe we benefit by viewing them as instructive.
The age issue is actually interesting. Trump is 48 months younger than Biden. The other aspect is how many old people, really old people, young people admire. Yes, most of them are performers so we can't say for certain how they are in real life or whether they'd be able to manage the federal government and serve as the ceremonial head of the nation as well as President Biden has done.
You are wise, as always. I am making excuses. It's cataclysmic thinking: if I can't think of ways around the disaster I would have to accept that Thursday marked the end of our democracy. It's part of a larger worry about the hard right's take over of Europe. The only bright spot on the global stage at this moment is the UK, which is set to shellac the Tories, bigly.
@MisTBlu, I, too, am eager to see the Labour Party back in power. Moreover, despite for example election results in France, it is incumbent upon all of us to view every win as helping to strengthen the resistance elsewhere.