Bottom line is it would have had to have been Jill and Hunter Biden. Any Democrat saying Biden should not run was ignored, looking at you Dean Phillips, or accused of hurting Biden in the general, ala Teddy Kennedy in '80. Jill and Hunter should have told him that he had a great run but needed to step back and let the next generation take over. I do not think Pelosi or anyone else could have convinced him since their motivations would be questioned by the Biden family.
The Biden camp got caught in the idea that he alone could beat Trump and eventually came to realize that wasn't true but it was too late at that point to find a good replacement. He undoubtedly should have stayed the "bridge" president and let the Whitmers et al battle for dominance, pick a winner by early 22 and start crafting messaging. Instead we got a weak candidate with poor messaging from the dems
I think Biden and his staff got caught in a trap of their own making. If Biden was not going to run again, he was going to have to back Harris and there are questions if any other democrat would have wanted to challenge the first black, female VP with the current POTUS' backing. So if Biden step back, they had to assume Harris would be the nominee. Since Biden and his staff were telling other Democrats that Harris could not beat Trump, before and after the debate, I would assume they felt they had no other choice but for Biden to run again.
Absolutely of their own making. The timing of recognizing the trap is the issue. What was the cause? Hard to say, but the transition should have been discussed and planned in 21/22, not in 24
ANYBODY could beat Trump, at least in the America I grew up in. Neither party would consider nominating such a person, it would be absurd. But then this obviously is not the America I grew up in. I have found myself to be a stranger in a strange land.
I think if they even planned it back in '21 or '22, I think they have the same issues. VP Harris has likely going to have to be the nominee if Democrats wanted to keep African American women in the party. I'm not sure any Democrat was going to want to challenge her since it would likely kill their standing with black democrats in the future.
Perhaps, but I think it was much more complicated. Tapper has been out doing the interview circuit over the last week and I listened to a long-ish interview this past weekend and while I don't recall the details - I do remember there were a lot of different camps (a consistent issue with the D party). No matter how you slice it, the Democratic party 100% failed America and the world with the late Harris nomination and her accompanying (lack of) message.
The book "Fight" by Allen and Parnes talks about what was happening in Democratic POTUS contender circles just ahead of when Biden actually dropped out. Whitmer, Shapiro, and Newsome were all looking at possibly getting in if Obama and Pelosi got their way with a mini-primary. One of the reasons stated on why none of them end up challenging Harris was because they did not want to be seen as trying to push her to the back of the line. I think it would have been different in a normal primary but Harris would still have been considered the favorite and anyone challenging her ran the risk of alienating an important voting block for Democrats.
Quite believable - now what if they had those discussions in December of 21 instead of August of 24? That's my point. Even if they still landed on the lesser Harris (as a candidate) - that woulda given them years to craft image / message. See what works / what doesn't. You can't do that well in 6 weeks - particularly with a poor candidate.
Joe and Jill went up the hill To get that nomination She knew what waited when Joe debated She helped him screw the nation
I disagree. What other party would black women give their support? Republican? Libertarian? Black ladies are firmly rooted in the Democratic party and still would've voted Democratic regardless of candidate, IMHO.
Meh, Tapper is producing what we all needed to see. Don't shoot the messenger. Biden should have always been a transition candidate. There should have been a primary and convention. Don’t know it would have mattered. The Dems couldn’t fix the border and were unable to message on inflation.
They would stay home and make sure never to vote for the person that pushed Kamala off the top of the ticket.
Another c I tend to agree although Kamala Harris was tied to Biden more than any alternative nominee. Another candidate wouldn't have stuck with the baggage of inflation and the border to the same extent as Harris.
Hopefully both parties can come together after '28 and agree to a Constitutional Amendment that no one over 70 is eligible to be POTUS.
About halfway through and this book focuses entirely on Biden mental decline. It is discussed a lot in the other two books but mainly leading up to the debate and after it. This one is focusing on how things really got bad starting around '23. It makes it very clear that a lot of people owe Robert Hur a public apology.
