Here’s why it would be tough for Democrats to replace Joe Biden on the presidential ticket
Here's why it would be tough for Democrats to replace Joe Biden on the presidential ticket
It's not "tough", it's impossible. The only person who can decide that the sitting President is not the candidate is that President themselves.
Technically it's the head of the DNC.
Now, once a Dem president wins an election, they nominate that position, and a bunch of other DNC voting seats. And the DNC historically goes along with that. So it is very very unlikely for the DNC to then turn against an incumbent 4 years later.
But it is technically possible for an incumbent to be booted forcibly from their party's ticket.
There really is no process for it though, it's not like parliamentary rules where you can call for a vote of no confidence, although how fucked would Biden be right now if that were the case?
Yes, but it's not impossible that the people around Biden, friends family and co-workers, advise him that the best thing for the country would be to take his hat back out of the ring and let a better ticket be put together for the convention.
He claims that he's running because he's worried about the existential threat of Trump.
If that's true, then maybe his hubris can be overcome with a convincing appeal that he's really not the best candidate to defend the country against that existential threat after all.
Can we talk about how Trump was a shit show during the debate too, or is this just Biden was too old only? For example, his answer for how he would help people suffering from fentnlyl addiction was not related to the subject and when the moderators re asked he said they got a dog. One dog. Biden pointed out there was a bipartisan bill to fund detection machines that Trump killed. Sure it was hard for him to get it out in an amazing orator way, but he did, and that was just one example. Everything has been Biden shit show, but where is the actual nuance here? Not everything last night was on Biden, and he did get some zingers off... And trump was a nightmare
Can we talk about how Trump was a shit show during the debate too
Absolutely.
I won't even go off about "both sides".
And trump was a nightmare
Exactly as was expected, he's constantly in the public eye, everyone knew what he was going to be like.
Like, if you open a septic tank and it's full of shit, no one is going to be surprised.
If your boss opens the door to his office and it's full of shit, people are gonna mention it.
The biggest argument against removing Biden from the ticket against his will is that we went through a bunch of primaries, and he has won enough delegates to be the nominee. For the party that claims to be about protecting democracy, it would be a stretch to tell all those Primary voters "Hey, guess what? Your vote doesn't really count" so directly.
But, there are contingency plans for a reason. If Biden's doctors decide he has a sudden case of chronic not-gonna-win-itis that is affecting his health, and he gets a sudden medical diagnosis that forces him from the race (and the Presidency), there are precisely two people who can take over without the Democratic Party totally abandoning the democratic process:
Nobody else can swoop in and take over, because they have no legitimate relationship to the Biden ticket, or to the primaries.
we went through a bunch of primaries, and he has won enough delegates to be the nominee.
Lol...
NH got their delegates removed because they keep voting progressive and the DNC declared Biden the winner after like a week.
For a lot of states, Biden was the only option listed
Nobody else can swoop in and take over
Right.
This all hinges on either Biden or the person he appointed to head the DNC doing the right thing to give us the best shot of stopping trump.
It's incredibly unlikely, especially if no one speaks up and says Biden hurts our chances of stopping trump.
Biden is the one person in America not doing everything he can to stop trump who has the power to almost guarantee Trump is stopped.
All he has to do is realize at 82 years old, maybe he shouldn't be committing to 4 years of the most stressful job on the fucking planet.
Yes, the primaries may be a huge joke, but they at least have the veneer of democracy over them. Primaries are formal elections run by each state, so there are laws to follow regarding how delegates are applied.
Here's what I think now: I'm sure Barack Obama watched that debate, and came to the same conclusion we all did. If anyone has Biden's ear on this, it's Obama. Obama needs to get on the phone with Joe, and have a heart-to-heart about how fucking devastating that thing was. He should point out how much damage was done by RBG not retiring when it was her time to do so. I'm sure he had those discussions directly with her in 2015.
(Edited to add: according to the NYT, Obama's not going there
“Bad debate nights happen,” Mr. Obama said in a statement. “Trust me, I know. But this election is still a choice between someone who has fought for ordinary folks his entire life and someone who only cares about himself.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/28/us/politics/biden-democrats-nominee-2024-election.html
I still have confidence that Joe can do the job, but not so much that he is electable anymore. I hope I'm wrong, and in November, if he is on the ballot I will still vote for him, and not regret it.
In retrospect, maybe we should have had a Primary debate after all.
Yeah the problem I think with the idea they can nominate someone else at the convention are that I believe the delegates are obligated under the first ballot to vote as they were voted. So Biden's going to win the first ballot. There's no way not to have that happen. If there were enough other candidates that the first ballad wasn't enough to reach the threshold then yeah they could all change their votes after. That's just not the case because nobody ran against Joe Biden. Or nobody worth even the time it would take to spell their name properly here.
Dean Phillips has even less of a claim to the nomination than the people who didn't run at all considering he was on the ballot and firmly rejected.
There is a zero percent chance that if Biden backs out that Phillips would even be considered.
Seems clear to me that it should be Kamala.
I agree if it happens it should be Kamala, I only bring Dean Phillips up because he actually has a handful of delegates pledged to him. It is less of a stretch to pick someone who campaigned for the job and actually got primary votes vs. someone who didn't even participate in the primaries.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden ‘s halting debate performance on Thursday night has led some in his own party to begin questioning whether he should be replaced on the ballot before November.
Democratic rules mandate that the delegates Biden won remain bound to support him at the party’s upcoming national convention unless he tells them he’s leaving the race.
The Democratic National Committee could convene before the convention opens on Aug. 19 and change how things will work, but that isn’t likely as long as Biden wants to continue seeking reelection.
The Democratic National Convention is being held in Chicago, but the party has announced that it will hold a virtual roll call to formally nominate Biden before in-person proceedings begin.
If Biden were to abruptly leave the race, conservative groups have suggested they will file lawsuits around the country, potentially questioning the legality of the Democratic candidate’s name on the ballot.
But Elaine Kamarck, a senior fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution in Washington, who wrote a book about the presidential nominating process and is also a member of the Democratic National Committee’s rulemaking arm, said that courts have consistently stayed out of political primaries as long as parties running them weren’t doing anything that would contradict other constitutional rights, such as voter suppression based on race.
The original article contains 592 words, the summary contains 221 words. Saved 63%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
The only way Biden leaves the race is by his own choice. He can be cajoled to leave but the party isn't going to force him out. The question would be who would replace him and he would have a lot of say in that matter. I would say Harris and Newsome would be the two most likely picks. Personally, I think Newsome would be the right choice since he is corporate enough to please the neoiberals but forward on enough issues to not totally lose the progressives.
Tough, but not impossible
Biden indicated that he had no plans to do that, telling supporters in Atlanta shortly after he left the debate stage, “Let’s keep going.” Biden campaign spokesperson Lauren Hitt was even clearer, saying Friday: “Of course he’s not dropping out.”
The conventions and their rules are controlled by the political parties. The Democratic National Committee could convene before the convention opens on Aug. 19 and change how things will work, but that isn’t likely as long as Biden wants to continue seeking reelection.
Biden isn't going to say "yeah I'm thinking of dropping out", nor will his campaign, even if they're strongly considering it. It he does decide to step aside, it will be a sudden announcement with no forewarning.
I agree with your premise though. It isn't impossible. We just need to collect data and do polling for like a week to understand how much the debate hurt Biden, and if there's any good alternative options who have a better shot.
The debate made me really afraid for my parents. They're not much younger than either and now I'm thinking they'll need a lot more help a lot sooner than I realize.
Hug you parents. Show them that you love them. Nothing is so important that you should forget how much they have meant to your life. My mom died suddenly this week, and far too young. The time is never long enough...
at least something positive came out of yesterday's debate, you just realized you have to step up for your family. good luck, friend.
finger curls on monkey’s paw