Pages

21 July 2024

The backstabbers win (updated)

The oligarchs and their media and political lackeys have forced Biden to abandon his re-election campaign.  I still think the odds favor a big Democratic win in November -- most of the factors I discussed in this post will not be affected by a change of presidential candidate -- and there's even a good chance of keeping the presidency, especially if the party can quickly unify around Harris, put this bullshit behind us, and get the focus back to real issues like abortion rights and Project 2025.

But the risk of a Trump win is now substantially greater due to all the upheaval likely to follow from the change, and all the opportunities it creates for Republican obstructionism and dirty tricks in the states.

It's also a betrayal of a man who, despite my criticisms of some of his policies, has been a worthy and effective president -- a betrayal based on nothing but media lies and distortions.

I'm too disgusted to write any more, so I'll let this poster speak for me.

Update:  Now feeling somewhat better about things after seeing how quickly the party seems to be uniting behind Harris.  We may at least avoid the worst anticipated consequence of Biden dropping out -- a weeks-long, divisive, utterly pointless fight for the nomination among contending egos.

I don't know a lot about Harris, but I've always felt that her family background is a positive -- her mother was a scientist and her father was a professor of economics, which implies a strong mathematics background.  So she presumably grew up in an environment which respected science, logic, and objective reality.

Most Republicans are being their usual shitty selves in the wake of Biden's announcement.  One point there, however, does need to be addressed.  They are calling for Biden to resign the presidency as well, saying that if he is mentally unfit to campaign, he's mentally unfit to run the government.  Never forget that this was and is a lie -- he is not mentally unfit to campaign, and there was never any evidence that he was.  He was hounded out of the race by billionaire scumbags who own the mass media and hold far too much sway over certain politicians.  Period.

But there's a more important reason why Biden should not resign as president.  I recommended that in this post, if he left the race; but I was wrong, because I hadn't considered this other factor.  If Harris became president now, she'd need to choose a vice president, who would then have to be confirmed by both houses of Congress.  But the Republican-majority House would probably block whomever she chose, leaving the vice presidency vacant.  That would leave Mike Johnson next in line to the presidency if anything happened to Harris.  Worse, there would be no vice president to preside over the official confirmation of Harris's victory after the election, giving Republicans the opportunity to create all kinds of mischief.  That issue outweighs the value of giving Harris three months of incumbency before the election.

I'll end with this ad from Harris's 2020 primary campaign, which shows that she knows how to hit Trump hard:

"She prosecuted sex predators.  He is one."  Sounds like a campaign slogan right there.

11 comments:

  1. I thought of you when I read the news. Voting blue is still the best thing to do.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I was really surprised to learn about this on Twitter earlier today. I did not think he would pull out.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ricko: Of course. I can understand that people are angry that a small number of billionaires have overridden the will of millions of primary voters, but that's certainly not a reason to risk another four years of Trump.

    Mary K: I didn't think he would either. It's a very disturbing reveal of the power that the oligarchs and their wholly-owned media now wield. But at least that power, and the malignant way it's being used, are out in the open for all to see.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I think this will work out fine in the end, the Republicans have no plan for attacking her, and they’re going to step on a lot of minefields attempting to do so

    It’s basically the Tech Bros & the hillbillies versus all the rest of us now. She will pick a strong VP like Shapiro or Buttigieg

    The left will be re-energized with their animosity towards Biden (regarding Gaza) off the table

    Now I can feel free to criticize Biden on Ukraine & hope for a more powerful stance from the next administration

    The GOP are the ones back on their heels now

    ReplyDelete
  5. Well, all this should be expected of CORPORATE media. Their masks are off, and their faces are ugly. Hypocrisy is theirs for all to see, they bashed Biden and coddle Trump. Yellow sheet journalism at its worst, the SHAMEFUL way they treated Biden should NOT be forgotten :(
    They’re hoping for a repeat of the disastrous 1968 Democratic convention, this must be routed. They’re all in on Trump and a form of authoritarian government, the CEO’s of corporate media must be the type that are down low admirers of Nazism. - Rj

    ReplyDelete
  6. It'll be interesting to see if the Democrats unite in support of Kamala Harris, or whether they start putting forward other possible candidates and set off a round of destructive in-fighting.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Reaganite: It certainly seems to have thrown them for a loop. Trump is still ranting about Biden on social media, as if Biden were still his opponent. As I observed early in the covid pandemic, he seems to suffer from a peculiar mental rigidity, an inability to change course even when it's clearly in his own interest to do so.

    Rj: I think more people are now seeing that. And let's hope they don't overlook the real problem, those who own and control the media -- the billionaire financial parasite class. Whether Republican or Democrat, they are the real enemy.

    Nick: They are already strongly uniting behind her, as I said in the post (with a supporting link), and there have been many more getting on board since I posted this. Already it seems no serious figure will challenge her (Joe Manchin, of all people, dropped hints about doing so, but backed down within hours). The party should be fully unified long before the convention.

    ReplyDelete
  8. After thinking about all the seismic events over the past week and a half, I have to say I wonder if all that happened vis-a-vis Joe Biden's stepping down was not a plan.

    I have nothing to prove anything. I just think it was so perfectly pulled off. Joe kept repeating he was going nowhere, and then right after the RNC, BOOM! He decided to leave!

    Yes, the donors and media all played a huge part but, still, for this to happen just as the Republicans trotted out their team is certainly a VERY BIG, a very happy coincidence.

    Or not.

    The Republicans and Trump are reeling! They don't know what hit them.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I frankly find that rather dubious. I know the right-wingers seem to think absolutely everything is staged or faked to hide something else, but sometimes -- most of the time, actually -- things really are what they seem.

    I'm quite sure that Biden dropping out has harmed the chances of defeating Trump. Republican state governments are already starting to try various legal bullshit to keep Harris off the ballot. Most incumbent presidents get re-elected to a second term, but Harris doesn't have that advantage, as Biden did. I still think the odds favor the Democrats eventually, but it would be better if Biden hadn't been driven out of the race.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Guess Kamala is going to go after one of those 'black jobs' dumald mentioned.
    I believe she has a good chance of winning, too. I'm sure as hell voting for her.

    ReplyDelete
  11. He's going to regret that "black jobs" thing.

    ReplyDelete

Please be on-topic and read the comments policy. Spam, trolls, and fight-pickers will be deleted. If you don't have a Blogger account and aren't sure how to comment, see here. Fair warning: anything even remotely supportive of transgender ideology, or negative toward Brexit, or supportive of a military draft or compulsory national service, will be deleted and result in a permanent ban. I am not obligated to provide a platform for views I find morally abhorrent.

On work days there is likely to be a substantial delay in approving comments, since I can't do blog stuff in an office. For this I apologize.