There is definitely a firehose effect when trying to keep up with the internecine "Should Joe go?" meltdown in the Democratic party. The news comes at us fast and changes quickly. Because I end my workday between 3 and 4 a.m. EDT, I get a later start than my colleagues, usually around noon EDT. These past couple of weeks, it feels as if three news cycles have passed since I closed my eyes in the wee hours.
One of the most striking things that I witnessed after Joe Biden's disastrous debate performance was how quickly the New York Times turned on him. While the Washington Post immediately went into water-carrying mode that night, the Times published an article that was full of tough love.
The New York Times is still the primary driver of "news" across all platforms on the American Left. No news organization has done more to prop up and lie for Joe Biden.
Now, the Times is the ongoing mainstream media chronicler of the Biden campaign's implosion.
Thursday's Politico Playbook PM newsletter had a couple of juicy nuggets from the Times, beginning with this one:
But then there’s this, which will land like a bombshell among those already worried about the president’s standing: Some longtime Biden aides and advisers have “become increasingly convinced that he will have to step aside from the campaign, and in recent days they have been trying to come up with ways to persuade him that he should,” NYT’s Michael Schmidt, Katie Rogers and Peter Baker report.
That, of course, is contrary to the brave face that campaign officials have been putting on for the public. Sure, "Meathead" Rob Reiner and George Clooney have bailed on Biden, but those closest to him are urging him to fight on, goes the spin.
Should Biden step aside, the Democrats will first have to look to Vice President Kamala Harris to be the nominee. There are various and sundry alternative Biden replacement theories, most of which are acid-trip fantastical. For any of them to have the slightest chance of being put into motion, the Democratic National Committee will have to give Madame Vice President a chance to fail. It's a bit much to immediately leap to a scenario where the party that's all in on diversity casts aside the historic first black and female VEEP.
Which brings us to the second interesting item from Politico:
Separately, NYT reports that the Biden campaign is testing Harris’ polling strength vis-a-vis the president for what is believed to be the first time (a bit of news that Playbook has independently confirmed). However, the sources cited by Reid Epstein, Lisa Lerer, Shane Goldmacher and Maggie Haberman “did not specify why the survey was being conducted or what the campaign planned to do with the results.”
OK, the Times can still spin for President LOLEightyonemillion. I think even casual political observers know "why the survey was being conducted."
In case you're wondering if Dem insiders are secretly pining away for Gavin Newsom or Gretchen Whitmer, consider this from Thursday's Washington Post:
The Kamala D. Harris cavalry is coming.
Democratic donors and strategists, alarmed by the recent stumbles of President Biden, have launched an advertising and public research effort to create what one group calls a “pro-Kamala surround-sound campaign” to improve public perceptions of the vice president.
Of course, all of this could change by the time people are headed to the Early Bird Special on the East Coast (Mmm...creamed corn). It does, however, appear that the power brokers in the Democratic Party are none-too-subtly at least workshopping the Kamala Harris experiment.
Which, as we all know, won't be any better for America than the Joe Biden experiment has been.
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