Democrats have closed ranks around Joe Biden following the devastating revelations about his memory and mental acuity in the Hur Report. With no pressure to withdraw and the mechanics of the primaries making it impossible for any other candidate to get on the ballot in most states. only Biden can withdraw from the race.
There is a mechanism outside the primary process that theoretically could lead to Biden being replaced. But it would take a revolt of the entire Democratic Party to make it happen.
Meanwhile, the narrative is set. Robert Hur is a partisan prosecutor. He was appointed by Trump. His thumb was on the scale, and his gratuitous statements about Biden's memory were unnecessary.
The Hur Report isn't worth the paper it's printed on, according to the narrative.
The problem with that narrative is that the attack is directed at Mr. Hur, not the substance of the 17 instances of hazy or faulty memory cited by Hur in his report. No one's disputing Biden's memory issues. It's explained away by his defenders by claiming that there was so much going on at that time he was interviewed by Hur that of course, he couldn't remember the year his son Beau died: "I went forward with a five-hour in-person interview over the two days of October — the ninth, eighth and ninth last year — even though Israel had just been attacked by Hamas on the seventh. I was in the middle of handling an international crisis," Biden said.
So, in a crisis, Biden's memory is faulty. Voters should focus on that and pray we don't have another international crisis between now and the election.
It's truly pathetic. "I couldn't remember because the world was going to hell" is not reassuring at all.
Biden will not be moved. And unless something else happens to change the Democratic Party's mind, Biden is home free.
Almost. The Democratic National Committee charter makes provisions in case the party's nominee becomes ill or steps aside voluntarily.
Filing deadlines for about 80% of upcoming contests have already passed and cannot be easily changed since they are set in each state. There are not enough delegates at stake in the remaining contests where ballot access is still open to win a majority.
Of course, a Democrat could opt to run as a write-in candidate (though not every state allows write-ins). And Democratic Party rules can be changed. As private organizations, the Democratic and Republican National Committees are legally given a wide berth over how they select their nominees.
But Biden essentially controls the national party, as is standard practice for whichever party controls the White House.
When Lyndon Johnson withdrew in 1968, the procedure for choosing a nominee was much different. It was still a process dominated by power brokers who controlled delegates. .
But with a vast majority of delegates chosen in primaries and caucuses, the chances of a backroom deal to get someone to replace Biden against his will is almost nil. He controls the majority of delegates and could replace any waverers with a more loyal alternate.
If large swaths of the Democratic Party lost faith in Biden, delegates to the national convention could theoretically defect en masse. Of course, they were chosen to be delegates because of their loyalty to Biden and have pledged to support him at the convention.
But, unlike many Republican delegates, Democratic delegates are not technically bound to their candidate. DNC rules allow delegates to “in all good conscience reflect the sentiments of those who elected them,” providing some wiggle room.
Biden's death would trigger an entirely different set of procedures and protocols. And the president's passing would also set off a good, old-fashioned political brawl at the convention.
I wrote yesterday asking Democrats to "do the right thing" and ask Bide en masse to resign. A commenter suggested I was from a different era in politics when opponents did what was right for the country rather than protect their political position. It's an era that has passed.
Today, the Democrats have created an alternate reality where Joe Biden is just fine with no worries about his mental state. I have a feeling that, before this race is over, we're all going to want to retreat into an alternate reality to avoid the harsh judgment of history that will not be kind to us,
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