30 Comments

Democratic leadership needs to make it very clear to Biden ‘s family that the consideration of his ongoing candidacy is not their decision. It is a Party decision,backed up by leadership and based on their analysis and the input they’re getting from American voters. I have contacted my Congressional representative, Senator, and the DNC to encourage them to be clear-eyed and analytical in handling this situation. President Biden has been a successful President, he is a good man, a decent human being, the opposite of Donald J Trump….and yet his time in the Oval Office may be drawing to a close…or maybe not. More than anything we need an honest assessment and a decision. By politically knowledgeable folks, and not by Biden’s family.

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Thank you for this clear statement. Measured and active. Thanks for the reminder to reach out to the DNC. I have only reached out to Senators and Representatives.

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Good points, especially re: Hunter Biden.

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It’s great to know that a co- conspirator in the destruction of our democracy is a convicted felon.

If a crowbar has to be used to get this family out of campaign then use it. I am absolutely disgusted with the Bidens and the Democratic Party leadership.

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I've been stunned to hear that Hunter is intensely involved in all of this. He needs to sit down and shut up.

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founding

This brings me back to my question of last night. If Hunter Biden is not fit to advise his Dad on these Political matters because he's a convicted Felon (and a family member), why is Donald Trump fit to be a major party nominee . Double standand as usual eh

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I don’t get this argument at all. Trump is bad. ‘Trump did it, why can’t we’ undercuts the entire case that Trump is a unique threat to democracy.

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Chris is right. Doctors and surgeons can treat family members, sure - especially for relatively minor things. However, they are strongly discouraged from doing so when it comes to making major medical decisions for family members because of the extreme difficulty in being objective towards family members. Instead, they are encouraged to seek treatment from other doctors and surgeons in such cases. The same principle applies to Joe Biden’s family and the major decision to stay in the race or to drop out. The difficulty in being and remaining objective may well cloud their judgment. They should be seeking out and listening to advice from others outside of the immediate family.

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Good grief, Dems. Can't you EVER get out of your own way? Hunter Biden involved in a judgment call. Brilliant. Maybe next they will put him in charge of controlling the flow of fentanyl coming across the southern border.

Also- Trump was trashed..and rightly so.. for bringing Ivanka and Kushner into the WH...and they weren't even convicted felons and known screw-ups. Ugh.

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founding

Agree your family is not the best advisor in times of crisis when you need objectivity. It is incredibly dumb to have Hunter at important meetings. I supported Biden in 2020, but his time has passed.

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To deny that millions of people believe Biden is too old to run is to hand the next election to Trump. He'd need to win over millions of moderate voters and an increasing number of Dems to win - that won't happen. I'm glad that more Democratic leaders are finally speaking up. I suspect many more have the same concerns but few have the courage of Lloyd Doggett. Who wants to be the first (or second) to speak up, given Biden's fantastic record of years of public service. The worst thing that can happen now is that Biden's next couple of public appearances will go better (reading from a teleprompter, how hard is that?) which just kicks the can down the road until it's too late. If Kamala would run in Biden's place, she needs to pick a VP and start campaigning. Every day delayed is a day we cannot afford to lose. In any case, we need to get Democrats in key offices all around the country, not just the White House. Visit - https://www.focus4democracy.org/ - and attend their zoom (the next one is Tuesday, July 16 at 5pm PT/8pm ET - Sign up at bit.ly/F4D16July - and learn about their plans to turn out Democratic votes, especially in the swing States. This will determine the next election, due to our unfortunate Electoral College. Also there's another organization called OATH - https://app.oath.vote/ - whose website lets you specify your greatest concerns (stopping Trump, Reproductive Rights, or other issues) and tells you which campaigns you can donate to that will make the greatest difference. This is particularly important because there's the risk that people who are so disheartened about the Democratic presidential choices may decide not to vote at all - that would have an awful downstream effect on dozens of other offices.

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Exactly!

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What I am wondering about at this point is how much more time party leaders will give him to make the inevitable decision to drop out, before many more join the public calls that he step down. Next we have to have disagreements about whether Kamala is the best choice to replace him. Then, finally, we can rally around Kamala and get back to what a terrible and dangerous candidate Trump is.

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Insightful. Thanks.

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Last night on CNN Van Jones said that it is all well and nice that people are on TV backing Joe Biden, but the fact of matter is the people that matter are talking about the logistics and when it’s gonna happen not if Biden is going to be replaced.

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founding

Van Jones is one of the Talking Heads on TV. The people that REALLY matter are the voters. Not the pundits that masquerade as Journalists, not the polls nor the political consultants. The voters will decide in November.

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The voters will ABSOLUTELY decide who will be president. Now, as to whether or not Biden is the candidate, the voters have already given their voice but the party could still go another way. For me I just want the strongest candidate under the best situation to be the candidate. I will take a Biden that is less than at his prime, if switching candidates to a perceived stronger candidate creates turmoil that offsets any perceived increased strength.

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The day Hunter’s plea deal blew up and he refused to salvage it I knew, this kid doesn’t give a damn about his dad or this country or the election. Rank narcissism.

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I see Chris decided to make sure we had some fireworks in the comments section today.

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author

HA!

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All the people who are angry at you for your perceived ‘anti-Biden’ perspective either didn’t watch the debate or are still working through the stages of grief and will come around.

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If you are saying Republicans are two-faced, absolutely! As to Democrats and pundits saying Hunter should lay low, I can assure you that none of them (except Republican pundits) are saying Trump is fit to be the nominee.

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Is it too early to start talking Kamala veepstakes? Need something fun to focus on.

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Chris, curious on your thoughts about whether or not a new “surprise “ Democratic President/VP ticket would energize the voters that Biden desperately needs to show up: young people, women, minorities, etc? Or, would a new Ticket potentially confuse/turn off these voters?

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