Buckle Up and Support Biden/Harris

A blog entry yesterday quoted Langston Hughes to remind us of our values in honor of the Fourth of July holiday:

Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed—

Let it be that great strong land of love

Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme

That any man be crushed by one above.

We should remember what matters. The Supreme Court aside, we are a nation of laws. We have no kings above the law. 

We have equality under the law, for everyone, even if we do not completely fulfill the demand. We should respect others. We should be guided by reason, not our passions, even if our passions can help guide us.

Democrats currently provide the path to further these ends. President Biden has showed in the last three-plus years much ability to do so. His administration as a whole has been very impressive. A single hour of debate time also did not erase that before and after Biden showed the physical and mental acuity necessary for the job. He wasn't even that horrible during the debate if you went by the transcript and his late debate second wind. 

The other major party is led by someone patently unfit to lead, including for his part in insurrection and sexual assault. As the NYT said, if buried in one of their absurd drumbeat to force President Biden to step aside, he is also old:

There is a line in Princess Bride about being a man of action, or something; thus, it is appropriate to be honest about reality. I am not seeing that in various responses.

CNN had a tidbit (I saw it on Twitter) where President Biden told state governors he would not schedule events after 8 P.M. as a way to ensure he gets more sleep. Are we supposed to think this is upsetting? My immediate reaction was "Who the f-cares?" As someone noted, by the time his day ends, Biden is still likely to go to bed much later than 8 P.M.

I'm not shocked certain people at LGM (where I saw the poem, from the one sane contributor of late) latched on to a bad debate performance to reaffirm their previous opinions. Opinions that both were anti-Biden and defeatist about the chances of him winning. 

But, Scott doing so is a bit depressing:

I think that Biden deserved the benefit of the doubt until the first debate that he insisted be early. It would at this point require the deepest denial not to acknowledge that he’s forfeited it.

This reminded me of Southerners before the Civil War who were conditional Unionists. Until one thing happened to break their support. We have reason to doubt the firmness of their loyalty. 

The "deepest denial" is a nice touch. Oh, believe me, many comments made their displeasure known. It even led Erik "flamethrower" Loomis to write an apologetic reply wondering why people were being mean. 

We knew Biden was older and human. He could make a mistake about having a debate (I think it was a mistake). He also will have moments when his age catches up with him. We are adults. Can't we realize this? Maybe not all of us.

This "just asking questions" exercise is foolhardy. It is reinforcing the Republican talking points, which would be bad even if Biden was doubtful. He isn't, mind you, but the stakes are high here. The focus should be on Trump, winning, and Biden/Harris. As Mark Field, a LGM commenter noted:

I start with the tactics that help succeed politically. As we've learned over the past 40 years (and should have realized earlier), the first rule of politics is "don't back down, double down". Pushing for Biden to withdraw now, after months of R scare ads about his health, both validates their position and makes Dems look weak/corrupt. It does not matter if Biden's health is failing. We can and should deal with that after the election. In the meantime, close ranks and start screaming about Trump's health and mental decomposition.

Josh Marshall (Talking Points Memo) not only referenced the one-note campaign of the NYT (continuing today) to push Biden out and help Trump win, but that (other than an NYT poll) the poll numbers have barely moved. Something like a single point down for some voters (Biden) and no movement on Trump.

(See also here.)

So, contra Scott et. al., there is no "deep denial" in thinking the "polling is NOT horrible."  Instead of self-fulfilling prophecies, can we support Biden and the ticket, while addressing the horrible Supreme Court rulings and Trump's continuing horror show? The latest is one more sexual abuse allegation unless something else came up.

Trump supports anti-American principles. Project 2025 is trying to make sure he carries them out in a more organized way. No matter how unhinged he is. Yes, this causes people to fear and lose hope. 

But, misplaced anti-Biden attacks (we love to attack our own) is not the way to go. And, yes, the Supreme Court and the courts generally should be a campaign issue. Some Democrats are taking them seriously. Note the obligatory Ruth Bader Ginsburg potshot.* 

Biden/Harris '24 is the message made by multiple governors, including Gov. Whitmer (my choice for 2028) and my own (Gov. Hochul). It is my message too.  

ETA: Scott is still at it, tossing in another dig at Ruth Bader Ginsburg, whose situation was rather different (possibly retiring in 2012 as one of four liberals on the Supreme Court vs. the POTUS doing so in July 2024, etc.) in the process.

One ironic thing here is that the level of pressure is probably counterproductive at this point. It is as likely to get Biden to hold firm, saying “hell with these guys.”

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* Leading with asking Sotomayor and Kagan to retire, when they surely are not, is also far from useful.

My general sentiment about Ginsburg is that I hoped her failure to retire would not matter. It did but she's human. 

Finally, the counterfactual of her retiring was not necessarily nirvana. A trifecta Republican Party (Congress/presidency) could have done something like expand the Court to reach their goal.