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2024 Presidential Election Thread - Let's keep the party going.

bolverk

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Superhero

Superhero 9039

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2 hours ago, Enchubben said:

“I can imagine what can be and be unburdened by what has been, ya know?” Put it on the tshirts 

Shitty post, but irregardless, why am I the one who has to do this?

1,2,3,6
?,7,4,5

Surly is slipping. 

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mdmost

mdmost 44110

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Posted
Just now, Pancho said:

Radical republican “attacks”

- she laughs too much

- she was the girlfriend of Montel Williams in the 2000s

- it’s a “coup” (and NOW radical republicans give a shit about democracy when they keep wrongly telling us we are a republic?)

- she looks embarrassing

 

 

They are scared and mad and I’m here for it

I love the coup line. So easy to say "oh you guys want to see what a real coup is, because we have footage of one from 2021 that involved the person I'm running against". 

I love this. It changes everything about this race. It puts Trump on the defensive. It makes the right lash out like the angry fuckwits they are. They could've just sat back and not done much to win. Now, they have to retool all of it. They're going to hit her with things that will probably have an impact. But then you get to punch right back even harder. 

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linux

linux 1787

Posted
Posted
2 minutes ago, Pancho said:

Radical republican “attacks”

- she laughs too much

- she was the girlfriend of Montel Williams in the 2000s

- it’s a “coup” (and NOW radical republicans give a shit about democracy when they keep wrongly telling us we are a republic?)

- she looks embarrassing

 

 

They are scared and mad and I’m here for it

They are desperate and pathetic but I would not trust them to know what the fucking fuck they think they know is happening

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honolulu horn

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Also Kamala should not back down from being called a bitch, or power hungry, or whatever anti-female bullshit they are going to spew at her. Don't get defensive, don't correct it, don't (rightly) point out the double standard. Own it. 

"You wanted a bitch? You sure? I tried to be civil but you aren't ready for it. So, okay, the bitch is here now. I am her. Bring it on." 

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Bullneck

Bullneck 19571

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10 minutes ago, Pancho said:

Radical republican “attacks”

- she laughs too much

- she was the girlfriend of Montel Williams in the 2000s

- it’s a “coup” (and NOW radical republicans give a shit about democracy when they keep wrongly telling us we are a republic?)

- she looks embarrassing

They are scared and mad and I’m here for it

image.thumb.png.b7c1a9727f21a673d0dde8ba55f22394.png

3 minutes ago, Francisco 2.0 said:

 

 

 

Uh, that's what prosecutors do.  They put people in prison.

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Mo Horn

Mo Horn 8939

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Just now, Born to Run said:

What's Biden's next move? Finish the term or resign and stay on in an advisory role?

 

I kind of like that vs 4 months of "whose running the country?"  And Madame president has a nice ring to it.

He finishes his term and campaigns for Harris

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Francisco 2.0

Francisco 2.0 32611

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I get a few Politico newsletters emailed each day.  Here's the one I received just before noon.  What a contrast from then to now:

 

Spoiler

 

Jul 21, 2024 View in browser
 
POLITICO Playbook

BY  RYAN LIZZA,  EUGENE DANIELS AND  RACHAEL BADE

Here’s where the conversation is this morning among top Democrats in the White House, JOE BIDEN campaign and Congress:

Dem freakout of the day: A new poll of Michigan shows DONALD TRUMP leading Biden, 49 percent to 42 percent. The EPIC-MRA survey is for the Detroit Free Press, which reports that “Trump led in every region of the state, including in metro Detroit,” where Biden beat Trump 56 percent-40 percent in 2020.

Democrats have been sending this poll to us all morning. “Brutal,” said one former senior Biden official.

The latest to go public: Sen. JOE MANCHIN (I-W.Va.) did a round of Sunday shows this morning to announce he believes Biden should not run for reelection. “I come with a heavy heart to think the time has come for him to pass the torch to a new generation,” he told Martha Raddatz on ABC’s “This Week.”

When asked what he would like to see happen if Biden stepped down as the nominee, Manchin, who registered as an independent earlier this year, said “the Democratic Party needs an open process.” When Raddatz pointed out that “KAMALA HARRIS is the first woman, the first Black American to be elected as vice president, Manchin said, “This is not about race and gender,” and that a “healthy competition” will help Democrats figure out whether Harris is the best person to beat Trump.

The open process wars: Many Democrats, including many Biden administration officials, remain convinced that it is inevitable that Biden will step down and have moved on to the first-, second- and third-order questions about what happens next.

That debate over whether there should be an “open process” is being seen as a proxy war between pro- and anti-Harris factions, though the open process crowd is framing it as beneficial to the vice president.

“There has to be a process,” a senior administration official told Playbook, arguing that Harris and other potential Democratic nominees should compete to replace Biden. “I don’t think that Kamala can just be anointed. And it’s not in her interest for her to be anointed.”

Part of the argument from these Democrats is that short-circuiting a democratic process would feed conspiracy theories that Harris engineered Biden’s ouster and/or that she didn’t earn the nomination.

But others disagree. Some vehemently.

“You know this is fucking insane, don’t you?” Democratic strategist MARIA CARDONA told us, referring to the prospect of a mini-primary in the run-up to an open convention in Chicago. “This will NEVER happen. And if the white Democratic elite are seen as trying to push aside the first African-American/South Asian woman, daughter of immigrants, on a presidential ticket, who is imminently qualified and extraordinarily talented, a civil war, such as we have never seen will ensue, and we might as well inaugurate Donald Trump tomorrow night.”

After the convention: Others are starting to think through the enormous complexity of handing over the campaign to Harris. Some hard questions we’re hearing being asked:

  • What happens to JEN O’MALLEY DILLON, MIKE DONILONand the existing Biden campaign leadership?
  • How does Harris (or another Democrat) unite the party,including a significant faction of Biden Democrats who feel he’s been robbed?
  • What happens to DNC Chair JAIME HARRISON, the Biden campaign’s existing co-chairs, and all the other Biden loyalists now in power?
  • Does Harris do better in the old Dem “blue wall” states of the upper Midwest or the Sun Belt swing states, and how would current campaign resources be reallocated to reflect that?
  • Does Harris (or another Democrat) have time to make bio ads and (re)introduce herself in the way that a typical presidential candidate would have done a year ago?
  • Would the (much-questioned) Donilon-led message strategy centered on Trump’s threat to democracy still make sense?

Harris would be asked to do something unprecedented and historically difficult: take over a presidential campaign, unite a party and defeat a well-funded and united opposition in just a few months. The scale of the challenge is daunting, and Democrats fear that every day that goes by without a decision, the chance of Harris succeeding diminishes. As one Democratic operative put it, “hearing more anger from Dems that [the Biden] team is imperiling the party and the country with each passing day. Dems moving from sadness to anger.”

The psychodrama: Multiple White House and administration sources tell us that Biden’s circle is smaller and more cloistered than it has ever been. There is concern among Biden aides about the president relying more on his son HUNTER for advice and a lot of armchair psychoanalysis among aides trying to understand the family dynamic.

“He and his son are playing this victimhood thing — ‘I was mistreated under [BARACK] OBAMA,’” said one senior administration official. “It’s insane. He wasn’t mistreated. But he conjures this up in his head and once it’s there, it’s very hard to get out.”

“For his whole life, he’s been trying to protect Hunter, encourage Hunter to step up, encourage Hunter to be the person he wants him to be. Finally, Hunter is doing exactly that. He’s stepping up. And who is he protecting? It’s not the father protecting the son. It’s the son protecting the father. And there’s a bonding moment that none of us totally understand. All of a sudden, you have something that the father has wanted his whole life with his son, and he’s finally getting it now in a weird way.”

It’s not just the oft-cited chip on Biden’s shoulder about how Obama and others pushed him aside in 2016 in favor of HILLARY CLINTON. “There’s a dynamic here,” the official said, “and a psychology that we don’t fully get besides, ‘I got screwed in 2016 and I’m not getting screwed a second time.’ He’s always played this victim role, and sometimes it’s true. It’s just not true in this instance.”

Inside the bunker: White House officials and Democrats in Congress also detect a subtle difference among three of Biden’s longtime advisers, ANITA DUNN, RON KLAIN and Donilon, with Dunn being seen as perhaps more open to Biden not running — but not pressing the issue — and Klain and Donilon being totally committed to Biden staying in the race.

“Klain and Donilon are 100 percent he should run,” said a House Democrat close to the White House. “Anita believes he will run. Not sure what her personal belief is on whether he should. Most think the public pressure is getting Biden to dig in more.” (Indeed, Bloomberg, among others, reports that Biden’s resolve has hardened.)

“He’s not stepping down,” Rep. VERONICA ESCOBAR (D-Texas), a Biden campaign co-chair, told us this morning.

Donilon has told people this will be his last campaign, so there are few professional consequences for him if he sticks with Biden and is held responsible for ushering in a Trump victory. For younger senior staffers with a future in Democratic politics, there is more of a sense of fear of what happens to them if they stay the course, and many of these officials see the wisdom of Biden not running — both for the country and for their own future in Democratic politics.

Some former Biden officials are starting to go public. TOPHER SPIRO, who recently left a senior position at OMB, has been posting support for Biden stepping down.

 

And the newsletter this evening:

 

Spoiler

 

 
 

 

Jul 21, 2024 View in browser
 
POLITICO Playbook

Good evening, Playbookers. We’re back this evening with another special edition after another day of stunning news: A presidential race that just one month ago appeared destined to be a grinding matchup between two aging and unpopular men has now been transformed.

President JOE BIDEN on Sunday afternoon became the first sitting president eligible for a second term to forgo reelection since LYNDON BAINES JOHNSON in 1968.

Ailing from Covid, Biden explained in a letter that it was “in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term.”

Biden then endorsed VP KAMALA HARRIS as his successor a few moments later, offering her “my full support and endorsement” ahead of the Democratic National Convention next month. “Democrats — it’s time to come together and beat [DONALD] TRUMP,” he wrote. “Let’s do this.”

By 4:51 p.m., the change was official: “Biden for President” officially renamed itself “Harris for President.”

ALL EYES ON HARRIS … 

Harris in an initial statement thanked Biden “for his extraordinary leadership as President of the United States and for his decades of service to our country.”

“I am honored to have the President’s endorsement and my intention is to earn and win this nomination,” she wrote.

Those last words — “to earn and win this nomination” — obscured huge questions about what exactly will come next for the Democratic Party.

The vast majority of Democratic delegates who are pledged to Biden do not automatically redound to Harris. As our colleague Steven Shepard explains, the Democratic National Committee “had been preparing to hold a virtual roll call vote to officially pick the nominee, starting as early as the middle of next week. But now those plans — which were expected to be finalized and approved by this Friday — are in flux. …

“A DNC spokesperson did not immediately respond to questions about whether that means they will proceed with a virtual roll call before the convention, or do it on the convention floor in Chicago — as is customary — the week of Aug. 19.”

 

What is clear is that a broad swath of the party has rallied behind Harris in the past five hours in a bid to build unity and inevitability behind the VP.

Some of the most notable endorsements have come from BILL and HILLARY CLINTON; Sen. PATTY MURRAY (D-Wash.), the highest-ranking woman in the Senate; Rep. JIM CLYBURN (D-S.C.); the leaders of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Congressional Progressive Caucus and the Congressional Asian and Pacific Islander Caucus; Sens. TAMMY BALDWIN (D-Wis.), MARK KELLY (D-Ariz.) and ELIZABETH WARREN (D-Mass.); Reps. STENY HOYER (D-Md.) and ADAM SCHIFF (D-Calif.); Pennsylvania Gov. JOSH SHAPIRO; and the powerhouse fundraisers at Emily’s List.

But there were those who conspicuously chose not to back Harris in their statements — most notably former President BARACK OBAMA, who hailed Biden then said, “I have extraordinary confidence that the leaders of our party will be able to create a process from which an outstanding nominee emerges.”

Others who either refrained from naming Harris or outright called for an open nominating process included former Speaker NANCY PELOSI (D-Calif.), who praised Biden but said nothing about his successor; Rep. LLOYD DOGGETT (D-Texas), the first lawmaker who called on Biden to step aside; Sen. JACKY ROSEN (D-Nev.), who is facing a difficult re-election fight; Rep. ELISSA SLOTKIN (D-Mich.), who is in a tough Senate race of her own; Sen. BERNIE SANDERS (I-Vt.), who pushed back strongly on calls for Biden to step aside; and Rep. SUZAN DelBENE (D-Wash.), who is trying to retake the House majority this fall.

While we’re watching closely who says what, we’ll also note this: There’s not necessarily any dissonance between calling for an “open process” and backing Harris — which is a two-step that a number of Democrats, such as Sen. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D-Conn.), are attempting at the moment.

And keep in mind that the divide between those who endorse Harris and those who don’t might very well amount to a distinction without a difference: No one has yet stepped forward to challenge her for the nomination, and given Biden’s endorsement and the rallying of much of the party behind her, it’s entirely possible that no one credible will. (Sorry, MARIANNE WILLIAMSON.)

 

AS FOR THE GOP … 

Trump’s initial reaction was, in a word, Trumpian: “He only attained the position of President by lies, Fake News, and not leaving his Basement,” he wrote on Truth Social minutes after the announcement. “We will suffer greatly because of his presidency, but we will remedy the damage he has done very quickly. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”

Other campaign messengers, however, showed more discipline, arguing that Harris is the flip side of the same coin policy-wise.

As running mate JD VANCE put it this afternoon: “Joe Biden has been the worst President in my lifetime and Kamala Harris has been right there with him every step of the way,” he wrote. “She owns all of these failures, and she lied for nearly four years about Biden's mental capacity--saddling the nation with a president who can't do the job.”

RNC Chair MICHAEL WHATLEY said much the same in a Fox News appearance: “We are not going to be changing our plans because President Trump is going to run his race, and whether it is Kamala Harris or anyone else, they are going to run on the exact same failed agenda that Joe Biden has been running over the last four years.”

Trump campaign organs are prepping a barrage of anti-Harris ads in the coming days, Alex Isenstadt, Natalie Allison and Meridith McGraw report: “MAGA Inc., the principal pro-Trump super PAC, said it was immediately launching Harris-focused commercials in Pennsylvania, Georgia and Arizona, with one ad saying Harris was ‘in on it’ and had ‘covered up Joe Biden’s obvious mental decline.’”

But you can also expect plenty of attention among the GOP rank-and-file to lingering questions about Biden’s fitness for office and whether, in their telling, Harris was part of a conspiracy to cover up his mental deterioration.

Scores of Republican lawmakers, including Speaker MIKE JOHNSON (though notably not Senate Minority Leader MITCH McCONNELL), called on Biden to resign following his announcement today.

 

 

“If Joe Biden is not fit to run for President, he is not fit to serve as President,” Johnson wrote — a sentiment that was echoed by Rep. ELISE STEFANIK (R-N.Y.), Sen. RICK SCOTT (R-Fla.) and many others.

Trump adviser JASON MILLER was among those who implicated Harris in having “lied & covered up for Biden” until the debate revealed publicly the extent of his slippage. Expect much more attention to this issue this week on Capitol Hill, with Rep. NANCY MACE (R-S.C.) aiming to bring the issue of Biden’s competence to the House floor.

Another GOP effort you might see develop: efforts to keep Biden on the presidential ballot in some states. But as Kyle Cheney explains, don’t expect those efforts to get very far: “No state will have printed ballots prior to the Democratic National Convention, and the nominee chosen by the party at or in the run up to the convention was always slated to be the person who appears on the ballot in each state.”

OTHER BIG READS … 

  • “Why Biden finally quit,” by Eli Stokols, Jonathan Lemire, Elena Schneider and Sarah Ferris: “In addition to presenting new concerns from lawmakers and updates on a fundraising operation that had slowed considerably, [Donilon and Ricchetti] carried the campaign’s own polls, which came back this week and showed his path to victory in November was gone, according to five people familiar with the matter, who, like others interviewed for this article, were granted anonymity to discuss private conversations.”
  • “Democratic online donations are flooding ActBlue,” by Jessica Piper: “Since Biden's announcement, the platform — which includes presidential fundraising as well as down-ballot candidates and Democratic-aligned groups — has raised more than $27.5 million. That’s far more than normal: Over roughly the same time period yesterday afternoon, for example, it saw about $2.7 million in donations, or one-tenth today’s amount.”
  • “Dem ticket shakeup breathes new life into abortion-rights fight,” by Alice Miranda Ollstein: “The country’s biggest abortion-rights groups quickly rallied around Vice President Kamala Harris on Sunday, either explicitly backing her bid for president in the wake of Joe Biden's announcement or, at the very least, praising her record. All argued that Harris’ ability to speak bluntly and forcefully on abortion rights — and her record on the issue as California attorney general, senator and vice president — give her an edge, particularly as her GOP opponents seek to dodge the issue.”

 

The decision was as sudden as it was stunning. Biden had faced mounting class to step aside since his disastrous June 27 debate performance, but as Eugene, Elena Schneider and Adam Cancryn write today, “Biden and his inner circle of trusted aides had remained confident in his path to victory, a deep-seated belief rooted in his five decades of ups and downs in politics and the conviction that he has repeatedly defied expectations after being counted out.”

That all changed this weekend. As he recovered from his illness yesterday in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, he huddled with senior aides STEVE RICCHETTI, MIKE DONILON, ANNIE TOMASINI and ANTHONY BERNAL about his path to re-election, even as the rest of the Biden political universe were “full speed ahead” on his sputtering campaign.

Biden began to come to a final decision yesterday evening, and earlier today he started making calls to a wider circle to inform them of this decision: Harris (in the first of several calls today), followed by Chief of Staff JEFF ZIENTS and Campaign Manager JENNIFER O’MALLEY DILLON.

He then held a call with a broader group of senior campaign and White House advisors one minute before his letter went public, upending the political universe.

To give a sense of just how tightly Biden kept his decision, consider that his campaign team was in the process of whipping convention delegates as he made his initial calls relaying his decision to withdraw, as our colleague Jonathan Martin reports.

Soon after the announcement, senior adviser ANITA DUNN held a call with communications staff where she implied that she wasn’t immediately privy to the final decision. Dunn said the administration still had big things to accomplish and needed to also focus on defending and protecting Harris, according to a person on the call.

 
 

 

Edited by Francisco 2.0
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Tonesky

Tonesky 1059

Posted
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5 minutes ago, South Austin said:

I can’t cast my vote until I hear Kamala’s position on whether she would rather be eaten by a shark or electrocuted by a boat battery.

Stealing this!

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TexEx15

TexEx15 17959

Posted
Posted
10 minutes ago, South Austin said:

I can’t cast my vote until I hear Kamala’s position on whether she would rather be eaten by a shark or electrocuted by a boat battery.

And that’s fair. After all, it is the great threat we face today.

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The Hot Dog Buffet

The Hot Dog Buffet 1314

Posted
Posted
39 minutes ago, troph said:

So I’m confused … her phrase “what can be, unburdened by what has been” is satanic? I mean I kinda think it means a black woman can be POTUS? And that the phrase can be used as inspiration for anyone looking to break through discrimination. Am I wrong? 

Yeah, well a lot of evangelicals believe a woman doing anything other than rearing children to be satanic.

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DixonHur

DixonHur 11970

Posted
Posted
31 minutes ago, Pancho said:

she was the girlfriend of Montel Williams in the 2000s

Total Trump move to attack a decorated military veteran, so yeah, I totally expect that to happen.

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Goofyboy

Goofyboy 3438

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Biden’s timing was excellent. He let the GOP attack him at their convention all week and he’s not running now.

I was wrong about him dropping out.

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Superhero

Superhero 9039

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11 minutes ago, tx 3 putt said:

Well boys, it’s all over. 4 more years of Trump it is. Fuck me 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺 …….

 

You know the GQP just looove to suck on small tubular things. 

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WhatTheBuck

WhatTheBuck 28941

Posted
Posted
15 minutes ago, DixonHur said:

Total Trump move to attack a decorated military veteran, so yeah, I totally expect that to happen.

If Trump agrees to a debate, Kamala should make sure Stormy Daniels and E. Jean Carroll have seats in the front row. 

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