This was from a link from Ali. I have asked Ali to be an author on the blog, she could then post these links she feels are important. This should put to rest the idea of replacing Biden. Even progressives I follow and love can not see that their denigration and desire to replace Biden is hurting the democrats, helping to elect tRump. Look, it is too late to change horses in midstream. This is being pushed by the news media because they want more advertising money and more of a horse race. Hell one station I just heard a clip from suggested Hillary Clinton to replace Biden? Why would they claim or say that?. It is a wish and daydream. None of the major democratic players and big money donors want the same candidate. I love the VP, and yet big money and democratic leaders are suggesting other people. Hugs. Scottie
Tysons, Virginia. Wasting time waiting for my Uber and my late flight out after speaking at an event the night before. I was in the lobby of the fanciest hotel I’ve ever stayed in — The Watermark. I sat in the lobby workstation watching a breathtakingly beautiful young woman take professional photos for her new career and trying to hide my excitement each time she came out in a new outfit. The photographer showed her each pose and then the young woman would imitate her. Sometimes with a laptop or a book in her lap.
She is going to have a beautiful LinkedIn profile.
I was invited to speak at a summit just outside of DC, and just got back a week ago. The Women’s Summit is a large annual conference hosted in part by Network Nova. I have to tell you something: the message from rural America never fails to captivate an audience. Especially an audience filled with activists in a solidly Democratic city and region.
But I am not writing to tell you what I spoke about. I am writing to tell you what I heard when I listened to the voters and activists in the room.
What you’ll hear me say is not at all what the pundits are saying about Biden after the disastrous debate. It is the opposite of the narrative being furiously flung at us each day by everyone from MSNBC to CNN to the New York Times to the nightly news to opinion pieces across the country.
I speak to actual people…the pundits feed off each other. I work with grassroots organizers to spread Democratic messaging…the pundits write clickbait headlines and stoke fear.
The debate.
First of all, I did not watch but a few minutes of the debate live. I chose to watch it in clips and videos afterward. I was horrified. I felt like I was watching a trainwreck in slow motion. Biden performed terribly and Trump lied continuously.
Honestly, I wish Biden had never accepted the debate premise because it’s pointless to debate a liar. It just gives Trump the runway to lie even more, and without pushback from the moderators, the debate went nowhere.
The voters and activists I listened to in Virginia weren’t wondering if Biden should step aside and none of them were kidding themselves about what they witnessed during the debate. They are solidly behind the Biden administration. Solidly.
The summit in Virginia was diverse. Hundreds of women gathered and many were Black women. I like to hear the viewpoints of folks who are neither rural nor white — I am not in enough diverse rooms. I get a different POV and that’s important. What I heard was real and heartfelt. They are behind Biden.
I listened as several Black women spoke about their admiration for Gavin Newsom and Gretchen Whitmer, but how pundits holding them up as replacements for Joe Biden is condescending and irritating. Joe Biden has a Vice President. A Black woman — Kamala Harris. The women wondered aloud if there would be such a push to replace Biden on the ballot if his VP were not Black.
Same.
They wondered why journalists and politicos demand that Biden step down, but not Trump. They wondered why so many articles are being written about Biden’s age and fitness, but not the same about Trump. They wondered why Democratic strategists are making voters fearful instead of leading with a steady hand. They wondered why Biden is taking all the hits while a felon with a rape conviction, his opponent, is not even addressed.
Same.
The biggest takeaway from the folks outside DC is they are angry that the “same shit” that happened in 2016 is rearing its head again. Several stated they are tired of the line “The DNC chose Biden.” They reminded me that primary voters picked him…Black voters picked him. They are sick of repeating it.
These voters and activists did not waver when they repeated over and over again that they have no hesitation in voting for Biden in November.
From that group of over 600 suburban folks to a group of about 20 rural Dems…
You know I am rural and I often speak in rural spaces. Most of these spaces are older and White. When I listen to voters in these spaces, they have zero doubt about who their candidate is…even after the debate. Do they doubt that it was an awful showing? They do not. They watched it with their own eyes. Do they wish Biden performed better? Seemed younger? Spoke more clearly and concisely? Yes. Will they still vote for him? Also yes.
Not one rural person I’ve spoken with wants to remove Biden from the ballot in favor of another candidate. They believe in the administration and they are fearful of another Trump presidency. They think Biden can beat Trump.
This is what rural voters have told me: Biden has been good for ordinary people. He’s worked for public schools and the LGBTQ community and student loan forgiveness and infrastructure and rural broadband. They’ve seen highway projects funded. They remember that Biden curbed COVID deaths and consistently pushes for union jobs. They know he will not sign away reproductive rights.
Listen, I am not paid by the DNC and I don’t earn a dime from my state party. I am a Democrat because the party aligns with most of my views, but I am not a party first person…I am a country first person. I can see with my own eyes what the Republicans are about and I already know what a Trump presidency will bring. We all know what it will mean.
I will never forget the maxim: Democrats fall in love. Republicans fall in line. I know many of us are not in love, but can we come together to beat a certain autocrat? To overcome the fascism and Christian nationalism creeping in?
I was as scared as any of us after the debate. I had a feeling of doom bearing down on me. After talking to so many voters since, even after reading so many terribly divisive pieces, I feel more calm. The voters I’ve listened to are not doing what the pundits claim they are doing. They have said that replacing Biden on the ticket will almost certainly divide the party. They have faith in the Biden administration. They have faith in his VP.
I am tired of pundits creating a narrative that I don’t see in real life. I don’t know why they do it? For clout? For clicks?
I hate that each of us is exposed to the fear every single day. I hate that many in the media are driving a wedge between Democrats with this incessant message of doom and gloom and the need for a new nominee.
I have no crystal ball, but I do have neighbors and friends and I know organizers across the country. I hope we can make it through this with a nominee intact and a win in November. I hope we can listen to our neighbors and mute the pundit-class.
Our country can’t manage another Trump presidency.
On the campaign trail, Donald Trump has been outlining what he plans to do if elected in November. That includes rolling back the rights of millions of LGBTQ+ people. It’s part of a wider playbook to undo many modern civil rights advances for minority groups. White House Correspondent Laura Barrón-López reports.
While a lot of the people that follow Mock Paper Sissors follow me, I still loved this post so much and the way TG wrote it, I am reposting it here. Hugs. Scottie
Trump called the RNC host city of Milwaukee a horrible place and is now trying to pass the insult off as a concern about crime. Jon Stewart digs into the Right’s fearmongering obsession: crime in big cities. Republicans want you to believe that “lawless” Democrats are to blame, but when it comes to Democrat-run city crime, it turns out the guns are coming from red states. #DailyShow#Crime#FoxNews#NYC
I don’t know how many of my readers are also readers of Gronda. The stuff written by Gronda is long and in depth. Here is a quote from the article. I like the posts and recommend anyone not following to follow Gronda. Hugs. Scottie. Oh full disclosure I snagged the cartoons / memes for my memes / cartoon posts.
“Many of the attacks on Biden being “too old” are pure political opportunism, particularly when they’re coming from supporters of the barely younger Donald Trump.”
“The first concern is a worry that Biden’s age has impaired, or will impair, his decision-making or governance — that his basic mental functioning has declined in such a way that, well, he shouldn’t be president.”
“To be clear — there is no evidence for this. There are zero reports from the administration describing Biden being confused or unable to grapple with policy decisions. The caveat is that the (Biden) administration has carefully managed his public availability, so some have theorized his condition could be worse than we know behind the scenes. But again, there’s no evidence this is the case.”
I have watched two of the Sunday “news” shows. They have each trashed Biden and said nothing negative about tRump. One after trashing Biden one show brought on a possible tRump VP who praised tRump no matter the question. Why?
Four political pundits were sitting around a table talking about how bad Biden is, how he lost the public faith, How he was so mentally confused, how the democrats had to replace him … And one woman giddily said all excited, “For a long time political pundits have wanted a real convention, a contested brokered convention, and it has always been pushed aside.” Then excitedly she said “This time we might get it, we might have one”!
They don’t care they are working to get tRump elected, which their corporate owners want, but they seriously want a horse race to gain viewers, to have exciting stories people will want to read, they will have more click and especially … more money will flow in. It is all about the more money, the greed. In their view the country be damned. Hugs. Scottie
Scottie's Playtime 