I learn from my critics.
Yesterday I wrote that I welcomed additional candidates filing for the Democratic nomination for president.
Some readers were unhappy with me.
Democratic critics help me understand the self-destructive behavior of Republicans who are riding the Trump train over a cliff.
One reader said my observations on Biden made me a backstabber, sore loser, and Trump-ish.
The haters and backstabbers are creating a self-fulfilling prophecy by constantly tearing down Joe Biden, which you have been doing since the last presidential campaign. You sound like a big sore loser, who still can't get over the fact that Joe Biden won. So you have something in common with the Orange Traitor, whose political skills you perversely admire.
I was "racist," too. I had written:
Biden's team was too clever by half. They arranged to make South Carolina, not New Hampshire, the first primary state for Democrats. The DNC used the cover of saying it was to empower Black voters. Everyone knows the real reason. It protected Biden. Lock up the nomination with South Carolina Black voters before someone catches fire in New Hampshire.
That reader said of this:
The comment about South Carolina sounds like a racist rant.
Another reader told me to "support the team" and that "dissing and booing your own team is very low down."
I am grateful to these critics.
Regular readers know I have been disappointed with "normal Republicans." These are people who know better, but who go along with Trump anyway. These are people who disapprove of Trump's shameless behavior but turn a blind eye to it. Trump's unfitness is apparent to at least 60% of American voters, but they stay on their team. Why? Republican partisans enforce team loyalty. Acknowledge Trump lost in 2020 and expect to be called a RINO.
Biden's age is no secret. It bothers voters. Democrats are risking the 2024 election on two "maybes." Maybe Trump will be the GOP nominee. They better hope so. The second is that some Biden health event -- the flu, a stumble, a moment of public confusion -- won't happen in the next 17 months and irrevocably spook voters. Pointing out that risk draws objection from the loyalty police.
South Carolina saved Biden's 2020 primary campaign. It is no secret that in the polarized racial party line-ups in the American South, South Carolina Democrats are majority Black. It is not possible to un-see this reality. But to acknowledge the racial skew in Biden's support threatens Biden's overall credibility and somehow diminishes Black voters. Democratic thought police must squash that with the nuclear bomb of political argument, calling it a "racist rant."
That shuts down discussion about the implications of moving up the date of the South Carolina primary Some people would argue that it shows Biden at his best, his having used brute force to bend circumstances to his will. It is what strong leaders do. But on balance I think Biden would have been better off showing he could win contested elections against a credible opponent without having stacked the deck. What is the better approach? Where does Biden do best? Don't talk about it lest the Democratic loyalty police cry "racist."
"Racist!" is the Democratic version of "RINO!"
Republicans have lost much of their ability to self-correct. Party leaders are afraid of Trump and his loyalty enforcers. Democrats will better connect with voters if they retain the ability to see what is right before their eyes, acknowledge it, and assess the risks.
Disclosure: My wife and I have each maxed out on our legal contributions to Biden 2024, per this fec.gov report, and we have each given additional contributions to Senators Wyden and Merkley, which indirectly give Biden yet more support. We also give to state and local candidates.
I appreciate your concerns about Joe Biden, though I hope you are wrong. I know you take an in person look at candidates which most of us can’t. I read Robert Hubble’s Substack. He highlights Biden’s accomplishments and praises his competency. It is helpful to get another trusted perspective (yours).
President Biden has done so much good in his presidency, which it seems you chose to omit. While I disagree about you making racist statements, it's more of the same, like Bernie, AOC, Manchin & Sinema who refuse to support their party's president. The fact that Bernie ran twice, like Marianne Williamson, who is inept & completely unelectable, is beyond the pale. Like Jill Stein, who was photographed sitting at a table with Pootin after the last election, they chose to become spoilers who allowed the horrible man to be elected in 2016, while attempting to split the votes in our own party. I have no respect for these fence sitters who show up to spoil a presidential election & hand our presidency to a psycopath.