Well, we know one thing for sure about joe Biden right now. The man can keep a secret. The word came yesterday out of Delaware he was dropping out of the 2024 Presidential race. It was an outcome many had hoped for, but no one saw coming, at least not yesterday. In fact, indications are as late as Saturday evening not even his closest advisors had a clue he was done.
Hell, at this point no one seems sure if even his wife knew for any length of time. Maybe Biden himself didn't know, perhaps it was a spur of the moment instant of deep despair that caused him to pull the plug--a snap decision of sorts, even though he has never seemed a snap decision type of guy.
We do know he caught the national media with their collective pants down. There weren't any pre-announcement leaks on this one. None of the usual, "An anonymous, but reliable source has told me Joe Biden is quitting the race tomorrow," type of scoops. It was, as far as anyone knew just another Sunday of talk shows during which assorted hosts and guest would talk about the President's age and fading mental capabilities.
The truth is however, on Sunday, July 21. 2024 Joseph R. Biden proved that, even though he might not be able to articulate it as well as he used to, politically he is still as sharp as any tack in the world. He saw the writing on the wall, read it, and understood it. He was going to lose in November to a madman. And when he did the democrats might well lose the Senate and the House also, handing Donald Trump complete control of the United States government.
That outcome would doom democracy as we know it and plunge the nation into the abyss of autocracy for, perhaps, generations.
The reactions of the cable news networks were about what you would expect. On MSNBC the talking heads each took a few moments to praise Biden's courage, selflessness, and service to the nation. They would then immediately pivot into leading cheers for Vice President, Kamala Harris. As the evening went on things took on the feel and tone of a pep rally their joy and enthusiasm building. They gleefully announced the names of democrats endorsing the Vice President and a tsunami of donations flowing in now that Biden was out.
On CNN it was far more subdued, and more attention was given to the historical nature of Biden's withdrawal. Later in the evening photos and names of democrats who were quickly jumping on the Harris bandwagon were shown. The sheer number of them seemed to strike awe into hosts and guests alike.
Over on Fox, Laura Ingraham focused on the chaos in the democratic party and informed us the democrats were now in complete disarray and Trump was unstoppable. Then along came Sean Hannity and the conspiracies. (Hey, it wouldn't be Fox without conspiracies.) The reason Barack Obama had failed to endorse Harris, he said, was because he was plotting with a cabal of unidentified democrats to hand his wife, Michelle, the nomination. Hannity then dragged Newt Gingrich out of the attic to confirm this nefarious plan. Gingrich who decades before had been thrown out of the House Speakership by his own party, assured us, "There is no way that convention (the democratic one) is going to nominate Kamala Harris."
As the Newt was telling us this CNN was reporting all 50 state democratic party chairpersons had endorsed the Vice President. Not only that, but six convention delegations had already decided to switch their votes from Biden to Harris.
The avalanche of support was such that by this morning it appears any democratic challenger to Kamala Harris could well be committing political suicide. In short, the democrats are tired of this shit and they want to go after Trump right now without any more internal debate.
Today the focus at Fox and in other right wing propaganda mills has been on Biden again. If he is not mentally fit to run a campaign, they are saying, then he is unfit to finish his term. Whether it is thick headed stupidity, or flat out denial, none of them seem to realize Joe Biden just proved his is fit enough to serve out his term. Or perhaps loyalty to one's party and love of the republic is something so alien to them they simply can't recognize it.
Whatever the case it is a new show now. There are 106 days before the election and former D.A. Kamala Harris has to turn this campaign around. She has to get on the road and vigorously prosecute the convicted felon she is running against. Metaphorically speaking, she has to go all Jack McCoy on the lying son of a bitch.
And while the far right might steep themselves in more conspiracies and holler about democrats rigging their own nomination process, they know it.
They have to, because now they are the only political party in town who has an ancient candidate rambling wildly in the wind--spewing out incomprehensible gibberish about shit that has nothing to do with reality.
Indeed, with Joe Biden in the race Donald Trump might well have gotten away with shooting some poor sap in the middle of 5th Ave. Now though, with Biden gone, at least the media won't be looking somewhere else when he does it.
7-22-24
People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.
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