1.
First, I want to say: I think Joe Biden has been a very good president. He was just what the country needed after the chaos, corruption, craziness and criminality of Donald Trump. He brought with him a return to normalcy (I shudder at using a term attributed to the disaster that was Warren G. Harding) and to competency that was desperately needed following Trump’s ineptitude and bombast. He also selected a highly competent team of cabinet members and advisers, that contrasted markedly with their pathetic predecessors who had no business doing jobs for which they were, to say the least, poorly qualified.
If Joe still had the mental acuity and physical viability that he demonstrated four years ago, supporting him for another term would be a no-brainer regardless of his age. Alas, he does not.
Having said that, we are now at an inflection point where Biden, his wife and his closest aides are doing Democrats, American voters and America an enormous disservice. They are claiming falsely, judging by our own eyes and ears and the increasing barrage of media reports, that Mr. Biden just had a bad debate night (cold/foreign travel fatigue/over-preparing, etc.) and is still mentally and physically robust. We see that he is not. Moreover, he is destined to get shellacked in November by the foulest, vilest, felonious villain/traitor the opposing party combed the depths of the dung-heap to find.
Unfortunately, the Biden deception is nothing new in the history of presidential medical cover-ups. The public did not learn about Grover Cleveland’s cancer surgery for 30 years. Or that Woodrow Wilson’s massive stroke rendered him completely incapable of governing for the last 16 months of his presidency. Or that for the last five years of his life, Harding had systolic blood pressure over 300, and a respiration rate of more than 100 per minute due to severe congestive heart failure. Or that Franklin D. Roosevelt’s health was in crisis mode for years before his death. Or that John F. Kennedy was kept upright and robust-looking via a dubious drug cocktail concocted by a quack known as “Dr. Feelgood” by his Hollywood patients. The list goes on (see, e.g., Eisenhower’s first heart attack; Reagan’s possible early-onset Alzheimer’s).
Today, the Biden inner circle is following bad precedent and circling the wagons. And it is not adequate to say that they are merely in denial. They know very well that they are misleading the American people. Biden and his crew are doing what they always (quite appropriately) accuse the other side of doing: putting their standard-bearer above party and country.
If they persist in deluding the public to deny reality, Donald Trump is assured to be the next president.
Joe Biden is a very decent individual, but the time has come to rest on his laurels and leave gracefully. While swapping him out is fraught with uncertainty and no guarantee that a fresh face at the top of the Democratic ticket will do any better against Trump, the leap into the unknown must be taken if there is to be any chance at all to stop the despicable and dangerous future that will ensue.
2.
Surprisingly, Vice President Kamala Harris currently enjoys the best poll numbers of any Democratic alternative to President Biden, finding herself only two points behind criminal candidate Trump in national polling. The speculation about replacing Biden after his calamitous debate performance and the sad excuses for it—the lamest being that he had jet lag after almost two weeks back in the U.S.—revolves around how difficult and likely chaotic it could be to replace him at this late date in the campaign. All of the options put forth to date are messy and would likely put Democrats at a disadvantage.
However, here is one alternative that might wipe all that away while also giving the most powerful boost to a successor candidate: Biden retires from the race AND resigns the presidency. VP Harris succeeds to the office and becomes the incumbent. She would have four months to demonstrate what she could do as President. Moreover, she would dominate the headlines and display a youthful and sane contrast to her unstable, chaotic and evil opponent. She could do numerous unscripted events that would be a breath of fresh air following the Biden team’s terror of letting him loose for press conferences and teleprompter-free interviews.
I have not been a big Harris fan, but I am a huge fan of saving the country and the planet. In my view, this is the best alternative Democrats have to process a seamless transition, produce a smooth and non-controversial convention, best Trump, keep American democracy in place and save the republic.
Dick Hermann
July 7, 2024
First, I want to say: I think Joe Biden has been a very good president. He was just what the country needed after the chaos, corruption, craziness and criminality of Donald Trump. He brought with him a return to normalcy (I shudder at using a term attributed to the disaster that was Warren G. Harding) and to competency that was desperately needed following Trump’s ineptitude and bombast. He also selected a highly competent team of cabinet members and advisers, that contrasted markedly with their pathetic predecessors who had no business doing jobs for which they were, to say the least, poorly qualified.
If Joe still had the mental acuity and physical viability that he demonstrated four years ago, supporting him for another term would be a no-brainer regardless of his age. Alas, he does not.
Having said that, we are now at an inflection point where Biden, his wife and his closest aides are doing Democrats, American voters and America an enormous disservice. They are claiming falsely, judging by our own eyes and ears and the increasing barrage of media reports, that Mr. Biden just had a bad debate night (cold/foreign travel fatigue/over-preparing, etc.) and is still mentally and physically robust. We see that he is not. Moreover, he is destined to get shellacked in November by the foulest, vilest, felonious villain/traitor the opposing party combed the depths of the dung-heap to find.
Unfortunately, the Biden deception is nothing new in the history of presidential medical cover-ups. The public did not learn about Grover Cleveland’s cancer surgery for 30 years. Or that Woodrow Wilson’s massive stroke rendered him completely incapable of governing for the last 16 months of his presidency. Or that for the last five years of his life, Harding had systolic blood pressure over 300, and a respiration rate of more than 100 per minute due to severe congestive heart failure. Or that Franklin D. Roosevelt’s health was in crisis mode for years before his death. Or that John F. Kennedy was kept upright and robust-looking via a dubious drug cocktail concocted by a quack known as “Dr. Feelgood” by his Hollywood patients. The list goes on (see, e.g., Eisenhower’s first heart attack; Reagan’s possible early-onset Alzheimer’s).
Today, the Biden inner circle is following bad precedent and circling the wagons. And it is not adequate to say that they are merely in denial. They know very well that they are misleading the American people. Biden and his crew are doing what they always (quite appropriately) accuse the other side of doing: putting their standard-bearer above party and country.
If they persist in deluding the public to deny reality, Donald Trump is assured to be the next president.
Joe Biden is a very decent individual, but the time has come to rest on his laurels and leave gracefully. While swapping him out is fraught with uncertainty and no guarantee that a fresh face at the top of the Democratic ticket will do any better against Trump, the leap into the unknown must be taken if there is to be any chance at all to stop the despicable and dangerous future that will ensue.
2.
Surprisingly, Vice President Kamala Harris currently enjoys the best poll numbers of any Democratic alternative to President Biden, finding herself only two points behind criminal candidate Trump in national polling. The speculation about replacing Biden after his calamitous debate performance and the sad excuses for it—the lamest being that he had jet lag after almost two weeks back in the U.S.—revolves around how difficult and likely chaotic it could be to replace him at this late date in the campaign. All of the options put forth to date are messy and would likely put Democrats at a disadvantage.
However, here is one alternative that might wipe all that away while also giving the most powerful boost to a successor candidate: Biden retires from the race AND resigns the presidency. VP Harris succeeds to the office and becomes the incumbent. She would have four months to demonstrate what she could do as President. Moreover, she would dominate the headlines and display a youthful and sane contrast to her unstable, chaotic and evil opponent. She could do numerous unscripted events that would be a breath of fresh air following the Biden team’s terror of letting him loose for press conferences and teleprompter-free interviews.
I have not been a big Harris fan, but I am a huge fan of saving the country and the planet. In my view, this is the best alternative Democrats have to process a seamless transition, produce a smooth and non-controversial convention, best Trump, keep American democracy in place and save the republic.
Dick Hermann
July 7, 2024
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