Nate Silver, formerly of 538, believes Biden should drop out.

  • Coach@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    It’s ridiculous. Shit, I’d vote for a literal and figurative vegetable over Trump, but damn Biden failed miserably last night. Anyone who thinks anything different is simply delusional.

    I do agree the DNC should be exploring an alternate candidate, as they should be very, very fucking concerned about President Biden’s ability to perform the most basic functions of his job. I don’t know who the answer is - my personal preference remains Bernie and I think he would be an easy sell - but they must take his performance really fucking seriously. He must take his performance really fucking seriously. Russia and China both are.

    • MrMcGasion@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      Alternatively, this could be a good opportunity to educate people on how much of a presidency is the cabinet rather than one person. Run ads highlighting the people actually responsible for things in Biden’s administration. Make the narrative more about Biden’s team and contrast them with Trump’s chaotic mess of a cabinet.

      No matter which old man gets elected, there is a solid chance the next president dies in office of age-related causes. Showing that we’d be in good hands if/when that happens, and that there are people paying attention to catch things Biden might miss could go a long way towards reassuring people.

      Don’t get me wrong, I’d love a different candidate, and voted for someone other than Biden in the primary in 2020, but I also don’t trust the DNC to pick a replacement without making things worse. At least the Biden campaign has been admitting today that the debate went poorly, rather than pretending it was fine.

    • lennybird@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      Well said. I wish Bernie was 20 years younger and I’d agree on that as well. Personally, at this point, I just think they need to be young-ish, and half-ways charismatic and they’d ride off the viral media energy of being a fresh face in what is an American idol popularity contest. Whitmer at this point would be my preference.

      This is such a huge opportunity for Democrats to take back the narrative and steal all the energy in the room.

    • Nightwingdragon@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      I don’t know who the answer is - my personal preference remains Bernie and I think he would be an easy sell

      I have to disagree here. All Biden had to do was alleviate fears among independent voters about his age and health by simply not walking out there looking like a dementia patient that wandered off again. He failed at that, miserably, which only magnified and reinforced the exact fears among independent voters he was supposed to be alleviating. And, as expected after that disastrous performance, there were a lot of people waking up this morning saying “See, I told you. He’s too old for the job.”

      Regardless of Sanders’ mental fitness, health, competence, political positions, etc., replacing Biden on the ticket with somebody even older than he is would absolutely be the most tone-deaf thing they could do.

      Policies aren’t the problem. If these people cared about policy, they’d just stick with biden regardless of age.

      • Coach@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        In my opinion, most people are using “old” as a proxy for “not fit for duty.” It’s just that no one wants to say the President is not capable of performing his job.

        If an employee showed up to your workplace as incoherent as Biden was at this debate, they would be sent home and may need to undergo a “fitness for duty” test to return. While I agree selecting an even older candidate would be difficult, you have to admit Bernie would absolutely skewer Trump on a debate stage and no one would ever have to worry about his mental competence, at least until November.

        Again, I’m open to alternative candidates - I’ve only seen one mention of Whitmer, but…eh… Who else is there?