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I listened to the post-speech livestream as a podcast this morning and was surprised by the negativity. I feel confident that Biden will do all of the endorsing of Kamala that was being called for in the coming weeks and months--most especially at the convention. Why not let him have a night to tell Americans that he has done a lot for t…
I listened to the post-speech livestream as a podcast this morning and was surprised by the negativity. I feel confident that Biden will do all of the endorsing of Kamala that was being called for in the coming weeks and months--most especially at the convention. Why not let him have a night to tell Americans that he has done a lot for the country, and that he experienced this as a painful relinquishment of personal ambition and hope, in favor of the good of the country?
To me, the bumpiness of the delivery did highllight why he had to do what he did, but I thought the content was just right for the moment.
I think their expectations were probably too high. I guess mine were too, because I expected The Bulwark crew to be more generous in their recognition that this was a tough decision for Biden and yet he made the right call. We are moving forward with excitement and enthusiasm.
You're probably right on both counts.
Remember, people came after Tim’s 5 y.o. daughter over his views that Biden should step aside. He’s angry, and he has a right to be.
I despise Trump and Trumpism, but my family & I got through his admin. If Trump wins, no-one is coming after my family, legally or personally. No-one will try to make us second-class citizens. Tim and Sarah, and every other gay family with kids, can’t be as confident, b/c Trump is Chaos.
I had not heard that about Tim's daughter. How horrid. This coming after regular citizens who volunteer at elections or coming after a judge's family or court clerk and other such soft targets is beyond indefensible, possibly beyond redeemable, and needs to be "gone after" by law enforcement in the most serious ways! (Hoping against hope that Kamala is actually able to change all that viciousness with our support!)
He did talk about it on the episode, but it got lost in the general ire. I’m originally from FL, where Gov DeSantis makes a hobby out of being mean to LGBT+ folks, and where a friend has a child in a same-sex marriage. She is quite concerned, and she should be. This anti-LGBT+ stuff is probably just performative and/but Trump doesn’t care about gays or queer issues, but people around him do. I remember TV ads from the 80s through the mid-90s where fringe R candidates ran on putting people w/AIDS in concentration camps. Not all of them have died off, and they’ve learned there’s money in hate. I can’t blame people like Tim or Sarah, or my friend, if they’re outraged (and terrified) by Biden’s reluctance to let go.
Trump doesn't stay focused. Project 2025 is and does and will stay focused. And it does not bode well for most Americans.
I'm not 1000% sure you should be as confident either. What lists you might be on might matter. Bulwark subscriber being one of them.
I don't put the odds of that terribly high, but I don't put them at zero either.
Better start looking for a good cave!
I didn't know that. I have been off grid for a while--actually only found out about Biden's stepping down yesterday-- and maybe missed that. Terrible. But to be honest, doesn't change my view that this was the right speech for this opportunity and there is plenty more time to really get behind Kamala.
Sure; but perhaps that explains their anger.
Yeah well said. It wasn’t just the negativity. I can deal with good, honest criticism. But instead what we got was smug, condescending arrogance and mean spirited, obnoxious and nasty rhetoric, particularly by Tim and Mona.
Mocking Biden’s speech for being six minutes too long, i mean come on! And then Mona with her old school, reactionary hard-right ranting at Biden just reminded me of all the hyper partisan, hyperbolic and vicious things she has written about Obama, Democrats and The Left at large, in the past.
Agreed. I was very disappointed in their panning of Biden. It does point up the great divide among allies, even temporary ones; perhaps akin to the "politics makes strange bedfellows" meme. The Bulwark response was very different from, say, the MSNBC crew. Perhaps this is just the difference in Never Trump and Democrats?
The Lincoln Project was in line with MSNBC so it's not a total Never Trumper thing.
That's interesting. Strange. Could it be one sees what one looks for?
Rick Wilson doesn't get distracted. LP is about taking it to Trump, not Biden.
Understood. Presumably that is also true of Bulwark. And JVL thinks Biden has been a great president. I just don't quite grasp the negativity of their postBiden session.
I didn't either. Me thinks they got all Biden distracted for three weeks and are having trouble refusing.
Agree. The amount of negative energy thrown at him was sad and unnecessary.
The media HATE Joe Biden. They have never liked him and have done everything in their power to tear his achievements and his administration down. It’s why people think the economy is terrible, that crime is up, that he was responsible for the overturning of Roe, that the border is overrun. First they bitched that he released a letter bowing out, then they criticize him for his delivery. I have grown to despise political journalists and pundits. The national media has and is failing us. And they will continue to do so because they will keep normalizing Trump.
Agreed - choosing to highlight all the good that's been done isn't easy when the media ignores you.