Biden Drops Out of Race
- Thread starter sturg33
- Start date
Right-wing commentators before yesterday: I can’t believe you’re listening to what the senile old man has to say and letting him run the country.
Right-wing commentators yesterday and today: When will we hear from our duly-elected Commander-in-Chief about this coup?
lol
Again, no complaints on pressuring him to resign. I just think the right is engaging in some bad-faith arguments to both hold that Biden is a frail old man who can’t do the job and that he should have stayed in the race.
Oh, for me personally it’s just because I think they’re all pretty much puppets. Policy wonks and comms teams employed by the Administration do most of the actual governance.
Have I been a big “democracy is under attack” person? I just don’t like Trump’s policies and don’t want him and his team implementing them.
acesfull86
Well-known member
I’m waiting to see what Biden says when he (finally) addresses the country, because his letter was vague. If he’s stepping down because he’s a frail old man with health problems, then it’s fair game calling for him to resign. If he says he’s stepping down because the polls aren’t good for him, then it’s fair game to criticize the undermining of a democratic process. Maybe the right is being hypocritical arguing both of these points at the same time, but it’s hard to pick a lane without Biden telling the country why he decided to drop out of the race.
Exactly. The Dems are playing both sides of the fence, so I think it's only right Republicans do too.
This is a very reasonable take. I don’t mean to let Dems off the hook for pushing an awful candidate and then having a change of heart instead of making the primary competitive, but I do think it rings hollow to say they can’t fix that error (understatement, I know) when the American public loses confidence in Biden’s ability to do the job until he’s 86. It’s bad politics and worse governance, but it’s hard to argue this wasn’t the right decision if anybody wants a President who both enacts liberal policies and isn’t possibly a potato.
I don’t personally need to hear from Biden to buy it though. He’ll again say something vague about his health and we’ll be in the same place.
People are doing so hypocritically though. The fun with our system is each party just races to out-political BS the other.
To be clear, I don’t begrudge Rs for pushing this. It’s smart politics, I just can’t actually engage with the arguments seriously because I don’t think they’re in good faith.
The problem is that he was elected. So I don't see how it rings hollow when they are undoing the will of the people. I personally don't want Trump as my candidate. But I would have a huge issue if tomorrow the Republican caucus decided Trump couldn't beat Harris and decided to replace him with RDS or Youngkin. Certainly not without another primary vote for new candidates. Because at that point, you are circumventing the election process and selecting the candidate you think is best for the people.
You are also making the assumption that the vast majority of people that voted for Biden in the primary do not want him as their candidate now. While that may be a decent assumption, you certainly can't say what that percentage is. You also can't in good faith say what percentage would justify disregarding everyone else's vote. Is it 60/40 in favor of removing Biden? Lower? Higher?
There is a reason we have the election processes we do, and it is to avoid situations like this, where mob mentality can override the will of the people.
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I’d agree with all of this if not for two main things:
1) The primary was a sham. I agree with the person that said incumbents shouldn’t be treated as presumptive nominees and would hope this opens the door for more competition in the future.
2) The arguments aren’t that Biden is just a bad candidate. The reason people jumped ship so immediately is because he looked like a confused old man during the debate. That’s a material change in circumstances and can be remedied in the way that has happened.
Also, let’s not pretend primaries are some foundation of our process. I 100% agree that the voters should decide who is on the ticket rather than party elites. But we’re not undoing 300 years of tradition here, and many Republicans have spent the past few years actively trying to close primaries or make the process less directly democratic to begin with. We’re only a few weeks removed from a lot of Conservatives having a field day about democracies vs. republics.