More on Super-dee-duper Tuesday
Ah, how the worm hath turned! Biden was a nowhere man, and now he’s top of the world, ma, top of the world.
The MSM is treating Biden like he’s the comeback kid. Well, he ain’t no kid, and although it is a remarkable comeback, it’s not really due to Biden’s own efforts. The timely withdrawals of Klobuchar and Buttigieg were critical to Biden’s showing. Had they not done so, I think it would instead have been the dread Bernie who was a happy guy on Super Tuesday.
Another factor was Warren staying in. She quite obviously has little to zero chance of winning the whole thing, just like the dropouts, but she didn’t exit the race and that probably hurt Sanders the most. We can safely assume the other two were offered either threats or rewards (I think the latter) or both to drop out, and they acquiesced because they would gain more from leaving than from staying at this point. Maybe much more. But Warren is a bit different. I think – unlike Klobuchar and Buttigieg, whom I believe entered the race never expecting to win but just to gain exposure and perks – Warren (at least initially) thought she had a very good chance of becoming the nominee. So dropping out before Super Tuesday would have been harder for her. She may have also been offered something to stay in and cut into Bernie’s totals, but I don’t think the idea of remaining went against the grain for her. She probably also thought she’d do better in Massachusetts yesterday than she did, and wanted to test those waters.
Bloomberg, on the other hand, probably wasn’t offered anything by the Party to drop out. He’s really not a loyal party member, having been a Republican for quite a bit of his career. And at his age, the party probably wasn’t offering him anything he might want. He also wasn’t getting much support in most states, and therefore his continuing presence didn’t matter all that much to the Democratic establishment, although they probably would have preferred that he leave. So he stayed in through Tuesday just to see what would happen, and he didn’t do well. Now he has “suspended” his campaign. Maybe he thinks that at some point he’ll be called on to break an impasse. If so, he’ll be tanned, rested, and ready. The money he’s lost is just a small bite to him; I don’t think it matters all that much. The humiliation is probably more painful.
I think the writing’s on the wall: Biden will be the nominee. His strength was in the South, and most of the southern states have voted, and he may struggle a bit more in the states that remain. But I don’t think there’s any real chance of a groundswell of popular demand for Bernie – unless, somehow, Biden makes the Mother of All Gaffes at some point in the not-too-distant future and reveals his utter mental unfitness in a way that cannot be denied, even by the MSM and the party regulars. Even if Bernie has some sort of renascence (which I very much doubt, short of a total Biden meltdown), he would have to have a majority of the votes on the first ballot at the convention to avoid the superdelegates handing the nomination to Biden on the second ballot.
So there we have it. That enormous and enormously diverse Democratic field has suddenly collapsed down to two old white guys, with a frontrunner who was a mediocrity even at his peak, is loaded with allegations of corruption, is only in the running at all these days because Obama plucked him from near-obscurity in 2008, and is probably mentally challenged. But he has a chance of winning because the entire MSM, Democratic Party, and Deep State will do their level best to prop him up no matter what he does, and will continue to do their best to destroy President Trump.
Joementum has nothing to do with anything Old Slow Joe actually did himself. It was all the effort of the legacy media and legacy pols making endorsements and wish-casting their choice to the voting public. Interesting how docile and obedient the Dems are. The establishment wants a new puppet and they’ll get one in Biden.
In politics it is a long road to November, plenty of time for Biden to do something so outrageous that even the msm can’t ignore it. The possibilities are infinite.
Outcome? Slow Joe wins the nomination and the pressure of the election campaign and numerous undeniable gaffes causes him to pass away or go into a coma before the actual election. Even if a VP has been selected, the Dem kingmakers will choose a candidate who is reliably manipulable and try to pull out the election on the sympathy vote.
I notice that of the upcoming contests, 14 are in states that Bernie won in 2016 and as we speak, he’s only trailing Sundown Joe by about 60-odd delegates. (Sundown Joe has won 560-odd). The electorate’s been volatile enough that I wouldn’t be surprised to see serial bouts of buyer’s remorse.
“Joementum has nothing to do with anything Old Slow Joe actually did himself.” — AMartel
I’ve read a couple pieces claiming that Rep. Clyburn’s strong speech in favor of Biden, in front of the SC primary made a huge difference. Maybe even affecting Super Tues. He’s variously been Minority Whip, Majority Whip, and Assistant Minority Leader in the House.
I haven’t suffered through the speech, but an excerpt or two suggest that a dominant part of the content was hate Trump and beat Trump.
Guys over at 538 (trust them or not as you wish) describe the late-shift to Biden as 3-1 over any other predicted post-SC victory.
IOW Biden got an “instalanche” of voters not typically seen even in campaign with some momentum. I’d say there’s your Mayor Pete & Grumpy Amy voters who hadn’t already early voted and…is that over the margin of fraud? Just askin’
If I was a Bernie Bro…I’d be stocking up on black gear, gloves & face masks.
“Joementum has nothing to do with anything Old Slow Joe actually did himself.” — AMartel
That can’t be hammered enough. He has zero agency in all of this.
To repeat something I said in a previous post: Joe has been selected, by forces entirely outside his own control, to be a likeable (and controllable) mascot for the Democratic Establishment.
Should he happen somehow to defeat Trump in the general he will be a mostly-titular president, with the Democratic Establishment calling the shots by selecting his personnel for him.
That’s assuming, of course, that he makes it to Election Day. I think there’s a small but nonzero chance he doesn’t, and his Veep choice (likely Warren or Harris) ends up being at the top of the ticket (with the other of those two becoming the new running-mate).
Either way I think the Democratic Establishment are determined to get back control of events, and gamed the process to exclude Sanders quite nicely. That was always their plan, but the question was how to achieve that without permanently alienating the pro-Sanders voters, which would be certain death in 2020 and afterwards.
By having Warren stay in both to distract from, and to attack, Sanders, and by simultaneously having all the “moderates” bail out (leaving ol’ Joe in sole command of the “moderate lane”) the DNC deftly leaves Joe and even themselves looking innocent of the hatchet job. Very smooth.
AMartel, R.C., et al:
Agreed. As I wrote in this post: ” Well, [Biden] ain’t no kid, and although it is a remarkable comeback, it’s not really due to Biden’s own efforts.” And as I wrote in another post today: “I believe Biden as president would be more a less a figurehead, and the people in charge would be the same people who were prominent in the Obama administration, doing the same things only more so because they feel the country is ready for more open leftism. “
As pointed out by Art Deco, above, Bernie is 65 delegates behind Biden at this point. There are 87 delegates allocated to Bloomberg, Buttigieg, Klobuchar, and Gabbard, and 61 for Warren. We’ll have to see what happens in the next round of primaries. If no one has a majority, there may be some horse trading. At the least, this may be a mess at the convention, with a lot of hard feelings.
“That’s assuming, of course, that he [Biden] makes it to Election Day.” — RC
I was looking for the candidate who won his presidential election but dropped dead before inauguration, but I lost patience.
William Harrison gave a lengthy inauguration speech in bad weather, plus some meet and greet activities in same weather, then got sick and died after exactly one month in office. VP Tyler became president and served out his presidency without a VP.
There are a number of presidencies served partially or entirely without VP’s in office. Wikipedia has a nice list.
To repeat something I said in a previous post: Joe has been selected, by forces entirely outside his own control, to be a likeable (and controllable) mascot for the Democratic Establishment.
They didn’t manufacture his vote totals in South Carolina.
Art Deco:
You wrote: “They didn’t manufacture [Biden’s] vote totals in South Carolina.”
That’s true.
However, the way I see it is that in 2008 Biden was not viable as a candidate for anything national. He had a permanent spot (if he wanted it) as senator, but all his efforts to be president had come to naught. Then he was chosen by Obama to be his VP. Why? It certainly wasn’t because Biden was so great, so smart, such a draw himself. It was because he would be seen as older and experienced and sort of generic and wouldn’t give any trouble. He would do what Obama and the party told him.
Biden’s eight year tenure under Obama is the reason he won South Carolina. And that happened because Obama selected him to be ” a likeable (and controllable) mascot for the Democratic Establishment” and for Obama.
fiona on March 4, 2020 at 3:42 pm said:
Outcome? Slow Joe wins the nomination and the pressure of the election campaign and numerous undeniable gaffes causes him to pass away or go into a coma before the actual election. Even if a VP has been selected, the Dem kingmakers will choose a candidate who is reliably manipulable and try to pull out the election on the sympathy vote.
* * *
Well, there you go – life imitates art, or at least it rhymes.
I saw this episode at the tail-end of West Wing – but it was the old, white, “experienced” VP candidate who died (the actor who played him actually did pass away), and the writers — who had intended to shake things up by letting the Republican (Alan Alda!!) win — gave the nod to the young, Hispanic Democrat instead, out of sympathy.
I also don’t think any of them really wanted to write for a GOP President (except to make fun of him), and maybe the series was being cancelled anyway.
All presidents elect have made it the presidency, but then we just inaugurate the VP. The fun and games is if a nominee drops dead before the election.
Meanwhile, Sanders got a million votes in California. Trump got a million and a half — I repeat, in CALIFORNIA — there were a million and half voters who were willing to go to the poll for what they KNEW was a rubber stamp for Trump.
It doesn’t matter whether it’s Biden or Sanders. Though in different ways, they’re both fatally flawed candidates.
And, arguably Biden would be the more dangerous President given that he pretends to be moderate. Biden could get ‘moderate’ legislation passed, while Sanders’ desired radical legislation even RINOs couldn’t accept.
Mary Catelli,
I was going to write it your way, then changed it to the incorrect phrasing. Sigh.
You don’t think that a VP elect Stacey Abrams being inaugurated as president would be fun and games?
I was one of those California Trump votes. Thanks for the vote count BTW. My main motivation to vote was to vote against yet another local sales tax increase.