The question of who won the debate, often the dominant topic when candidates meet head-to-head, was still there but was far outweighed by the question of President Biden’s fitness to retain a role he’s filled for almost four years with gaffe after gaffe circulated on social media.
A quick CNN poll of registered voters found that 67% believed Trump out-performed Biden in the debate while 33% believed Biden won. Apparently leading Democrats were not among those counted in the 33%.
“That was painful. I love Joe Biden, I worked with Joe Biden. He didn’t do well at all, did not do well at all,” Van Jones, a former Barack Obama advisor, said on CNN. “There are a lot of people who are going to want to see him consider taking a different course now.”
Jones argued that Biden is “doing the best he can” but that he lost the debate in the first three minutes. “We’re still far from our convention, and there is time for this party to figure out a different way forward,” he said.
A different way forward is a hot topic among Democrats.
Observation: Biden's 'epic' failure providing Dems the option they wanted
‘Very senior’ Democrats alarmed
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President Joe Biden's performance Thursday has led some in his own party to begin questioning whether he should be replaced on the ballot before November. It would be nearly impossible for Democrats to replace Biden as their 2024 presidential nominee unless he chooses to step aside following his halting debate performance against former President Donald Trump. Democratic rules mandate the delegates Biden won in state primaries remain obligated to support him at the party’s upcoming national convention unless he tells them he’s leaving the race. Vice President Kamala Harris is Biden’s running mate, but that doesn’t mean she can swap in for him at the top of the ticket by default. (Associated Press, 6/28/2024) |
CNN analyst John King cited ongoing conversations among “very senior people in the Democratic Party, including elected officials” about how to move on from the incumbent Biden as their candidate. The conversations include some internal debate about leaders approaching Biden privately at the White House or simply having prominent Democrats go public with their concerns.
“I don’t know how the rest of this story is written. I don’t know if things can be done to fix this,” former Democratic senator Claire McCaskill said on MSNBC.
McCaskill said Biden “had one thing he had to accomplish, and that was reassure America that he was up to the job at his age – and he failed at that tonight.”
McCaskill began her comments in an apologetic tone for her belief that she needed to bring truth to MSNBC viewers.
“Now the hard and heart-breaking part. I have been a surrogate for some presidential candidates in my time. I know what the job is after a debate for a surrogate. I’ve never wanted to be a surrogate more than I do right now. When you’re a surrogate, you have to focus on the positives – but I have said very clearly and plainly on this network, and my job now is to be really honest,” she said.
NBC News, a sister outlet with MSNBC under the umbrella of NBCUniversal, quoted an unnamed Democratic strategist, a presidential campaign worker, who shared from the heart but with more brutality than McCaskill.
“Democrats just committed collective suicide,” said the party operative, who apparently didn’t need to see the finish. “Biden sounds hoarse, looks tired and is babbling. He reaffirmed everything voters already perceived. President Biden can’t win. This debate is a nail in the political coffin.”
Biden campaign official: He's not dropping out
McCaskill: Next few weeks are key
McCaskill said it was telling that much of MSNBC’s post-debate show spent time talking about Vice President Kamala Harris instead of Biden. She didn’t predict Biden’s exit from the race but believes clarity on that matter is not far away.
“Does that mean that my phone blowing up with senators and campaign operatives and big donors from all over the country, does that mean that Joe Biden is not going to be the candidate? I don’t know that. I think we’ll know a lot more in a few weeks, how this plays out, how the polling plays out,” McCaskill said.
While MSNBC was talking about Harris others were talking about California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who was in Atlanta Thursday.
Newsom had long been mentioned as a potential Biden replacement, some analysts even suggesting he was running a “shadow” campaign for the White House.
That talk seemed to die down when a short GOP primary race ended with Trump as the candidate, and Biden settled into familiar routines.
Now Biden’s debate performance has ignited talk not only of Newsom but of other possible Democrat lifelines. It’s talk that Newsom says is premature.
“I think it’s unhelpful, and I think it’s unnecessary. We’ve got to go in, we’ve got to keep our heads high. We’ve got to have the back of the president. You don’t turn back because of one performance. What kind of party does that?” he said on MSNBC.
What Kamala said
For her part, Harris aimed to bury the debate and push the conversation to the general election 131 days away. She called Biden’s performance a “slow start.”
“That was obvious to everyone. I’m not debating that point. I’m talking about the choice in November. I’m talking about one of the most important elections in our collective lifetime,” Harris said on CNN.
