Pages

Saturday, June 25, 2022

June 11, 2022, NYTimes and DailyMail on the Dump Biden theme. Never mind earlier, this is weeks ago.

 NY Times:

Should Biden Run in 2024? Democratic Whispers of ‘No’ Start to Rise.

In interviews, dozens of frustrated Democratic officials, members of Congress and voters expressed doubts about the president’s ability to rescue his reeling party and take the fight to Republicans.


President Biden with Senators Joe Manchin III of West Virginia, center, and Jon Tester of Montana. Many Democratic officials and voters bear no ill will toward Mr. Biden, but would like a new face to lead the party.

Reid J. Epstein and

Midway through the 2022 primary season, many Democratic lawmakers and party officials are venting their frustrations with President Biden’s struggle to advance the bulk of his agenda, doubting his ability to rescue the party from a predicted midterm trouncing and increasingly viewing him as an anchor that should be cut loose in 2024.

As the challenges facing the nation mount and fatigued base voters show low enthusiasm, Democrats in union meetings, the back rooms of Capitol Hill and party gatherings from coast to coast are quietly worrying about Mr. Biden’s leadership, his age and his capability to take the fight to former President Donald J. Trump a second time.

Interviews with nearly 50 Democratic officials, from county leaders to members of Congress, as well as with disappointed voters who backed Mr. Biden in 2020, reveal a party alarmed about Republicans’ rising strength and extraordinarily pessimistic about an immediate path forward.

“To say our country was on the right track would flagrantly depart from reality,” said Steve Simeonidis, a Democratic National Committee member from Miami. [...]

Democrats’ concerns come as the opening hearing of the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol made clear the stakes of a 2024 presidential election in which Mr. Trump, whose lies fueled a riot that disrupted the peaceful transfer of power, may well seek to return to the White House.

For Mr. Biden and his party, the hearings’ vivid reminder of the Trump-inspired mob violence represents perhaps the last, best chance before the midterms to break through with persuadable swing voters who have been more focused on inflation and gas prices. If the party cannot, it may miss its final opportunity to hold Mr. Trump accountable as Mr. Biden faces a tumultuous two years of a Republican-led House obstructing and investigating him.

Most top elected Democrats were reluctant to speak on the record [...]

Daily Mail coverage begins with a listing -

  • Fifty top Democratic officials interviewed by the New York Times said Joe Biden  should not run for re-election in 2024 president
  • Many were pessimistic about Biden's leaderships, which is marred with failures 
  • Biden failed to pass his $1.8 trillion Build Back Better agenda and voting rights expansion bill, and faced backlash over the chaotic exit from Afghanistan 
  • The administration continues to face challenges from record high gas prices and soaring inflation, and a possible end to the federal abortion rights
  • Many Democratic leaders also worry about the presidents age, who was the oldest man appointed to office at 78 last January
  • Democrats are also at a loss of who should take control of the party as Republicans are expected to rack up major victories in the coming midterms

 The body of the Daily Mail report, in part -

Among the big ticket issues are record-high inflation that's the heighest its ever been in more than 40 years, surging gas prices - which hit $5 per gallon on Saturday, the lingering pandemic and the possible [now certain, with the formal opinion release] end of federal abortion rights as the Supreme Court is poised to end Roe V. Wade in the coming weeks. 

Also stinging was Biden's failure to pass his $1.8 trillion Build Back Better agenda and voting rights expansion, which faced opposition from his own party, and the chaotic U.S. military exit from Afghanistan last summer.  

While David Axelrod, the chief strategist for Barack Obama's winning campaigns, argued that Biden has done well given the unprecedented challenges he's faced as a result of the pandemic, he fears the president's age might be a deciding factor on whether or not he can attract enough support to launch a successful re-election bid. 

'The presidency is a monstrously taxing job and the stark reality is the president would be closer to 90 than 80 at the end of a second term, and that would be a major issue,' Axelrod told the Times. 

Biden became the oldest American to be inaugurated as president when he was sworn in at age 78 in 2021. 

The campaign strategist said that while many would be able to tout the victories Biden has achieved to brighten his image, the president lacks the ability to boast believably. 

'He looks his age and isn't as agile in front of a camera as he once was, and this has fed a narrative about competence that isn't rooted in reality.' 

[...] The question remains of who would be poised to replace Biden in this highly polarizing political climate as Democrats fear Trump might launch his own re-election campaign for 2024. 

Few of those interviewed by the Times said they did not expect Vice President Kamala Harris to run. 

Harris has faced her own failures in office, primarily through the crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border despite her being appointed as the border czar. 

Many of the interviewed Democrats instead touted U.S. senators Amy Klobuchar, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Corey Booker, as well as U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Texas gubernatorial hopeful Beto O'Rourke. 

Faiz Shakir, Bernie Sanders' campaign manager in 2020, [...]  told the Times that while he believed Biden could beat Trump in a 2024 rematch, the outcome could be different if Republicans instead nominate a rising star in their party, like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. 

The low enthusiasm concept reaches to Harris. She's not exactly loved and revered.  In fact, Republicans seem attuned to that, Gary Gross having written days after the Times, on his Blog from St Cloud, MN:

 If Joe Biden doesn't run for re-election, it won't surprise anyone. Still, Democrats face a difficult decision in picking his replacement at the top of their ticket in 2024. VP Harris has earned 2 unflattering nicknames that say everything about her chances: the Cackling Pantsuit and Biden's Insurance Policy.

If Harris is the Democrats' nominee in '24, Democrats will lose with fewer than 150 electoral votes. Republicans might finish Election Night 2024 with a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate if Ms. Harris is the nominee.

If Mayor Pete is the Democrats' nominee, the bloodbath will be roughly the same as the Harris bloodbath. Mayor Pete's mishandling of the baby food shortage and the supply chain shortages have exposed him as a identity politics candidate. His work ethic will be challenged, too, after taking 2 months off after adopting 2 children. He isn't a top-tier candidate.

Biden's failed presidency will tie a millstone around the Democrat nominee's neck. He's failed in every major policy category imaginable. The biggest failure of the Biden administration, though, is that he's doubled down on his jihad on fossil fuels. Whenever people fill up their car, they grit their teeth. Each time they pay their monthly utility bill, people get upset.

[...] The current group of prospective Democrat presidential candidates are unimpressive, socialists or both. The only guy that's sane is Joe Manchin. Unfortunately for Blue Dog Democrats, he'd be rejected by the Squad.

Yeah. Manchin is Republican lite. Gary picks up on that. He is party-true. Everybody else in Dem circles thinks Manchin is a big-time throbbing hemorrhoid.  Painful that way. Insistent. Unyielding.

Last, the feeling at Crabgrass is less kind to Biden than the two coverage reports. Biden signed onto what would strike the populace as popular, even with misgivings, and had Manchin as his figleaf for not delivering. Blame the other Joe, not Status Quo Joe in the White House. Easy escape from responsibility for stuff not passing into law as people wanted and were  lulled into believing from the Biden campaign site.

Moreover, with Trump the option in 2020, lesser evil ruled. Joe did not need to promise much except to not be as bad. And he has not been. 

Big deal, but when the 2024 November vote gets cast, lesser evil will again be the name of the two-party game. You in "haven't I seen this before" mode. Grumbling.

And how that will cut is easy to foresee. Trump/DeSantis/Cruz/Pompeo/Haley/other, pick the brand, it will be worse, and you will not be happy about it. But the inner parties, both sides really don't care how you feel, except wanting four years of executive power and the spoils going with it; cash flow flowing; with the donors owning each party and happy either way. 

Do you think nine-figure Peosi wealth cringes when Republicans cut taxes for the nine-figure wealthy? Grow up and go figure. Perceive. Understand.

Money on the table, take it, enjoy it, keep up showtime. Cluck as appropriate. Dye the hair. Drive the Porsche more carefully, next time. Nice Napa second home.