Maybe that's what should have happened, but it didn't, and now we have to deal with what we've got. I don't see how it's useful to argue about an alternate scenario that didn't take place.

I don’t necessarily disagree, I just don’t think there’s much to be gained by rehashing something that’s already been thoroughly hashed and won’t fix the mess we’re in right now.

Which is what I keep thinking.

they say everyone needs their own dog to kick, guess for some it's horses.

Srsly

Learning from past mistakes. If you ignore history you are bound to repeat it.

I get so sick of this blame game.

There are so many important things on which to focus.

"He was so senile he didn't recognize George fucking Clooney!!1!!.

Fuck you Jake.

Totally.......

By the time we reached 2023, it was obvious that he didn't have the same vigor he used to, and his communication wasn't what it used to be, and both of those things are massive parts of running a successful presidential campaign.

Best case in hindsight would have been for him to announce shortly after the midterms that he's proud of what we've done so far and he intends to serve as a bridge to the next generation of leadership. Would have allowed for a full primary, etc.

He was claiming fixed for a long while before the election and his deflecting prowess was showing then too?

He says lots of things that aren't true. What makes this claim believable based on provable facts?

Was $$$$$$$

Lot, and lots, and lots of $$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Along with the propaganda masters and the purging of qualified voters, and $$$$$$$$$$$

machine using social media and the internet that Team Donkey STILL hasn’t really found out how to counter. We need to find out how before 2026 or any blue wave will be like a receding tide.

Maybe I don't recall correctly, but I thought Biden's plan was to be a one-term prez & we'd have an open primary for 2024. I thought Joe was totally the guy to run in 2020 & even when he said he was going to run again, I supported him until he stepped aside, but I would have liked us to hand off the baton earlier.

The lying grifter. He hit the hate button and it resonated. The powers that make decisions were pushing senator Mark Warner and a lot of other go along folks. Let’s make clear eyed decisions going forward without the influencers ,Carville. I am seeing a lot of potential candidates putting their ambitions above love of country. I would have voted for Joe if they wheeled his casket in. Now let’s find someone with his leadership abilities to fix this nation.

you know, a non-cibvuct, non-insurrectionist.

Promising them anything but they developed amnesia and didn’t remember the horrors of the first administration. Separating families, children in cages, Muslim ban, deportations and over a million people dead from COVID. They preferred to believe the lie because they were special and he wouldn’t hurt them. He is a seasoned con artist with media backing . I don’t know that Jesus Christ could have won. When you have people so invested in hurting others.

And get the media titans ,tech bros, hedge fund managers and retail to do your bidding. Hopefully no one on our team is willing to shank the nation for his ego and financial benefit. Trump has a talent for bull droppings, so many people are now saying they were betrayed instead of we were suckers. He is who he has always been and people fall for it every time.

But their advisors usually try to convince them. Doesn't appear to have happened in 2024.

Hindsight is 20/20

The U.S. has too many ultra-wealthy selfish people, and they were determined to their puppet Trump back in power.

Biden was turning around Reaganomics and the wealthy had to stop that. The media owners were all-in for Trump.

Biden beat Trump in 2020 and has said that he didn't think anybody else could beat Trump. That may well be true. I don't think the Democrats have a deep bench of charismatic candidates.

Biden seemed strong and in good health until spring 2024. By that time the primaries were over.

The Republicans went after Hunter Biden and I think it caused a health event for Joe in the spring.

We are up against a very well-funded movement that a lot of voters think they agree with.

You cannot conclude this absolutely.

Biden's policies regarding the Israel-Gaza war were confusing and ambiguous, and no doubt, a significant factor in our loss.

We're they his policies or that of the Democrats? It amounted to giving Netanyahu all the weapons he wanted, but asking him nicely not to use them so extensively. To the world, the US looked foolish and complicit in the bombings of Gaza, whether the offensives were justified or not.

Making Biden look bad was definitely part of Bibi's plan.

If Biden had dropped out earlier (like I wish he had done), the I-G war would have been a major topic for candidates in an open primary. However, the candidates would still potentially have been in the position of having to justify Biden's decisions. (Being Biden's VP would have made this harder on Kamala than anyone else.)

>> we would've beet the pants off the lying criminal insurrectionist.

Maybe. Maybe not. Who knows? We might have lost even worse.

which he/she would've had a full two-year campaign to expound upon and differentiate from the convicted criminal insurrectionist.

You seem to be thinking that the new candidate would take on Biden's policies.

>> Biden's policies would not have been the 2024 candidates policies.

Maybe yes, maybe no. The only actual evidence is that candidate Kamala shared Biden's viewpoint, at least publicly.

In an open primary, negative viewpoints brought up during the primary debates could have made Biden, as a lame duck, look real bad.

I do share your opinion that Biden should have dropped out earlier (before the disastrous debate with Trump), but no one could know with certainty that the outcome would have been better.

Clinton certainlt dud, and Harris certainly hinted at different Mid East policies.

If we had had an open primary we would have beaten tRump in 2024. No doubt about it.

My takeaway from the Biden/Harris issue is that I sincerely hope that Democrats have learned a lesson. In my opinion, Harris was never utilized as the strong person she is in the role of VP. We never heard that much from her. She was and is definitely, imminently qualified. I don't pretend to know the reason for her not being pushed to the front of the Biden Administration more than she was, but she should have been pushed to the front on more issues - knowing that she would be a candidate at some point.

So, what is the lesson? Whomever the next candidate is needs to be OUT THERE. Preferably now. I don't think we need to narrow it down to ONE candidate right this minute, but serious contenders need to start NOW introducing themselves to the American public and showcasing (yes, absolutely "showcasing!!!&quot their accomplishments. Smoozing at all the right places, being present when Trump chooses not to be present, etc.

There are some that I feel are already doing this. Cory Booker, for one. There are others. Hell, let a bunch do it. But start now.

AOC is unelectable in a national election. I like her but she seen as too far left to a large portion of the electorate.

This whole debacle just gave us an opportunity to let the inner ugliness out.

We have to look forward and deal with the ugliness directly, rather than looking back lamenting that the ugliness was exposed.

The people who voted for Trump and the people who didn't vote at all were always there, impeding progress, spreading misery, even when we had Democratic Presidents.

What are we going to do about them?

A sitting President up for reelection is hard to defeat in party primaries.

Half the American voting public were able to look at a great 4 year term and think, heh, let's bring on Vlad the Impaler's lapdog again.
I think it must be some national deathwish.

at this point i don't care one way or another.
it's blood under the bridge

(sorry i can't help you with your flames)

his policies, but 1 term was it. The man was a poor communicator and couldn't defend anything he did with any sort of eloquence. We should've had a standard primary in 2023/2024. Even if Harris won, she would've had a better set of campaign policies she could run on.

I DO think it's OK to continue discussing it, because we HAVE to choose our next candidate carefully, wisely........ and with the ABILITY TO WIN being the top priority.

My favorite Dems right now are Pete, Bernie, AOC, Cory Booker, Melanie Stansbury and Jasmine Crockett. Booker might have a chance at winning the presidency in 2028; the rest probably don't.

The Republicans will be running an evil, despicable, dishonest, lying rat.

We HAVE to win.

He wasnt the issue, he earned reelection.

The issue is this country is stupid as shit and relentlessly indulges right wing bullshit and slander.

So, the reason that he lost is they had four years to lie and scream all their deranged hyperbolic craziness that destroyed him as a public figure. Just as they did w Hill, Kerry, Gore, Dean.

Kamala would have beat him if the election was in that first month or so after she got the nomination because they didn't have a unified attack on her. But, as time went on they did what they do and slandered her to the point where she was destroyed.

Hard to tell who else might have held up better.

I thought after the 2022 mid terms he should have declared his term a success while announcing he wasn’t running again. Of course I didn’t dare bring that to a place full of people who have somehow convinced themselves he’s the best president of their lifetime. 🙄

WTI

Yes, when Biden's term stretched on and on, wife and I talked about it, we both wanted him to announce early in his term that he would be a one-term President, thereby enable us Democrats to have 2-3 years to find Pres and VP candidates.

But he did not.

So now let's declare this topic closed and get on with beating the shit out of Republicans and praying daily for Trump to drop dead.

You ever seen the Hare Krishna visions of hell from the ISKCON Bhagavad Gita? It's a nasty reptilian swamp of carnivores all fighting!
That's the government! While the people with the authority think they are somehow better than reptiles they cannot conceivably improve quality of life for all people.

It's not okay to point fingers, and live in ignorance. As is the status quo of Wash. D.C. People need to understand that we ourselves are to blame for the nightmares that we are experiencing.

The future of humanity depends upon sustainability and wisdom. Two things which have never been sought in the West. It's a paradigm shift.

Paradigm shifts only occur when the paradign dies off. It cannot be killed off.

The USA is the cause of a great amount of evil. It must get a true reflection of itself.

And so this is what we are for real. This junk of a government. It only took one moron to flip the idiot switch and get the whole USA working together towards ever greater selfishness.

It's no irony that we are now allies with Russia! We and Russia are proving to be the two most criminal and selfish governments in history.

-------------------------

It doesn't matter what Biden did or said. The country was poised on the precipice and set to fall regardless of anything Biden.

The Holy Rollerism of the USA has been increasing since 1900, the "Second Enlightenment." Until people get off their high horses people will not accomplish good works.

To know good one needs education. Religious self righteousness is not education, but rather, the opposite.

This 5 turd jackpot was always going to happen. Some idiots get addicted to video poker, even when they always lose.

Anyway. Hope to see you on the other side.

I think Democrats need an after action review. I would like the DNC to meet with representatives from each State’s Democratic Party.

Let’s review:

Party platform.

Money for State candidates but also boots on the ground support for candidates.

What’s the DNC’s plan for growing future leaders? Do they train young candidates or what?

How do Democrats fight rejected ballots, folks kicked off voter rolls with little to no notice, and mail in ballot security? This is a huge issue for me, personally.

Did those Postcards make a difference?

Does your County Party hold regular meetings or luncheons? The Republican Party in Texas holds meetings and ladies luncheons in most counties in this State. Uhhh not so much our party in Texas.

How can we clarify our messaging? Is the DNC asking voters why they voted for Trump?

Let’s ask the hard questions and move forward.

mostly spend their money on consultants, near as I can tell.

And the consultants end up rich and we still don't win elections, so we have to spend more on consultants next time around, maybe that will work!

I'm tired of the whole thing.

Oh, and our county Dem meeting is next week, we do it monthly. We're prepping to take our float out for summer parades, an exercise in futility, but it shows we exist.

"as soon as the right wing criticizes a Dem president, he must resign immediately"? (It will always be "he&quot

What they love about the felon is that he hates everyone who isn't white, straight, and "Christian". He makes them feel good about their hate and that is who they are deep inside, hate-filled people who want everyone who isn't just like them dead.

So, if we're going to talk about stepping down as soon as the right wing gets mad...well, things will sure never get better.

Biden was old. We knew that when we voted for him, but we saw in the primary how quickly even Democratic voters rejected women, younger men, a gay man...everyone but the old white dude.

If we can't even keep an old white dude in office against a criminal...no amount of navel gazing and piling on the guy who did what y'all wanted (and I didn't hear any cries of "He must resign!" in 2023) will help us.