The question to consider over the holiday weekend: What should President Biden do now? Wait it out? Keep at it? He is a true patriot and legend. Is staying in the race the best thing for America, which we know is his top priority?
I expect strong and heartfelt opinions will be expressed in this topic and welcome them, there's no "right or wrong" answer. I love President Biden and this is not in any way a Biden-bashing topic. It's a serious question about the other elephant in the room: How important is defeating Trump? Is that our top priority? Is having another presidential candidate the only way to stop Donald?
Counterpoint on Morning Joe:
Josh Shapiro's take away this morning: Joe Biden had a bad night. Trump was a bad president. Nothing about the debate last night changes that trajectory and the clear contrast: The middle class will be screwed if Trump is back. We need to litigate that going forward. Democrats need to stop worrying and start working. He brings up the accomplishments: We produce more energy than ever. More people will go to work today than ever before. The economy and Biden's accomplishments are exemplary. We have a responsibility to tell the good people of this nation why President Biden should be re-elected.
Here are two editorials. Thomas Friedman of the NY Times has been a family friend and totally supportive of President Biden. RawStory has been one of the top progressive news sites for decades. Here are their takes. Please post others you find that would be interesting.
https://www.rawstory.com/drop-out/JOE BIDEN MUST DROP OUT
Raw Story Editorial Board
In its 20-year history, Raw Story — the largest independent U.S. progressive news site — has never issued an editorial, let alone endorsed a political candidate. But given the events of last night’s presidential debate, that history must change today.
When you’re president, your main job is to make good decisions and keep the country running smoothly and safely, both domestically and internationally.
When you’re running for president as a candidate, though, your job is quite different: your new job is to inspire hope, communicate your leadership vision and turn out the vote.
In this regard, President Joe Biden — as correct as he's been on policy — has failed. For months, we've watched Biden, who would be 86 years old on the last day of his second term come Jan. 20, 2029, lose the vitality, vigor and mental sharpness that marked his time as a senator and vice president.
Last night, Biden confirmed that on the biggest of stages, pitted against his most formidable foe, Donald Trump, that he's no longer up to the challenge of securing the nation's future as a robust democracy. Biden provided irrefutable evidence that he is incapable of leading this country forward in the 21st century.
It's vital to acknowledge that Biden has led the country through an extraordinarily difficult time in American history. He inherited the worst mess from a predecessor since Franklin Delano Roosevelt became president after Herbert Hoover crashed the country into the Great Depression.
Biden has shepherded groundbreaking infrastructure and climate bills. He was the first Democrat since Lyndon B. Johnson to openly repudiate neoliberalism and put America back on FDR's progressive track. He's aided student borrowers. He's taken on giant monopolies, big banks, dysfunctional airlines and big polluters. And he’s defended democracy valiantly in Ukraine and around the world, which now, again, respects America.
Biden has also nominated some of the most diverse and brilliant judges and agency heads in the history of our nation. He's been a consequential president, perhaps the most consequential in the lifetime of many of us, even boomers.
But whoever made the decision to put Biden head-to-head against a felonious reality TV star with no moral compass should never again darken the doors of a Democratic campaign.
More importantly, because CNN licensed last night’s debate to all the other networks, and therefore will almost certainly turn out to have had the largest presidential debate TV audience in American history, it’s time for the Democratic Party see what everyone else in America did: Biden cannot serve for four more years.
This election is too important to indulge one man's desire to hang onto his office. The winner of this election will literally define the future of democracy as a form of governance both in America and worldwide. And the success — or failure — of the Democratic presidential candidate will have far-reaching effects on U.S. Senate and U.S. House races that will determine whether Republicans or Democrats win majorities.
As late in the election season as we may be, it's not too late for the Democratic Party to replace Biden. It’s not as if the Democratic Party is lacking in talent. There are some superstars and some sleepers. And a decision about the Democratic Party's presidential nominee isn't real and official until late August when the Democratic National Convention takes place in Chicago. Making a change is a mind-boggling responsibility, but Democrats may have little choice if they want to win a White House that Biden is at grave risk of losing.
Biden has done an admirable job in his role as president. But it’s time for serious soul-searching. It's time for the Democrats to do what's both difficult and necessary. It's time for Joe Biden to retire with the gratitude of the nation and step aside for that nation's good.
Yashar Ali@yashar
New York Times columnist Tom Friedman, who is a personal friend of President Biden’s, calls for him to drop out of the race. “I watched the Biden-Trump debate alone in a Lisbon hotel room, and it made me weep. I cannot remember a more heartbreaking moment in American presidential campaign politics in my lifetime — precisely because of what it revealed: Joe Biden, a good man and a good president, has no business running for re-election.”
Gift Link: https://bit.ly/3RQPTyf
@yasharOPINION THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
Joe Biden Is a Good Man and a Good President. He Must Bow Out of the Race.
June 28, 2024
Opinion Columnist, reporting from Lisbon.
I watched the Biden-Trump debate alone in a Lisbon hotel room, and it made me weep. I cannot remember a more heartbreaking moment in American presidential campaign politics in my lifetime — precisely because of what it revealed: Joe Biden, a good man and a good president, has no business running for re-election. And Donald Trump, a malicious man and a petty president, has learned nothing and forgotten nothing. He is the same fire hose of lies he always was, obsessed with his grievances — nowhere close to what it will take for America to lead in the 21st century.
The Biden family and political team must gather quickly and have the hardest of conversations with the president, a conversation of love and clarity and resolve. To give America the greatest shot possible of deterring the Trump threat in November, the president has to come forward and declare that he will not be running for re-election and is releasing all of his delegates for the Democratic National Convention.
The Republican Party — if its leaders had an ounce of integrity — would demand the same, but it won’t, because they don’t. That makes it all the more important that Democrats put the country’s interests first and announce that a public process will begin for different Democratic candidates to compete for the nomination — town halls, debates, meetings with donors, you name it. Yes, it could be chaotic and messy when the Democratic convention starts on Aug. 19 in Chicago, but I think the Trump threat would be sufficiently grave that delegates could quickly rally around and nominate a consensus candidate.
If Vice President Kamala Harris wants to compete, she should. But voters deserve an open process in search of a Democratic presidential nominee who can unite not only the party but the country, by offering something neither man on that Atlanta stage did on Thursday night: a compelling description of where the world is right now and a compelling vision for what America can and must do to keep leading it — morally, economically and diplomatically.
Because this is no ordinary hinge of history we are at. We are at the start of the biggest technological disruptions and the biggest climate disruption in human history. We are at the dawn of an artificial intelligence revolution that is going to change EVERYTHING FOR EVERYONE — how we work, how we learn, how we teach, how we trade, how we invent, how we collaborate, how we fight wars, how we commit crimes and how we fight crimes. Maybe I missed it, but I did not hear the phrase “artificial intelligence” mentioned by either man at the debate.
If there was ever a time that the world needs an America at its best, led by its best, it is now — for great dangers and opportunities are now upon us. A younger Joe Biden could have been that leader, but time has finally caught up with him. And that was painfully and inescapably obvious on Thursday.
Biden has been a friend of mine since we traveled to Afghanistan and Pakistan together after 9/11, when he chaired the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, so I say all of the above with great sadness.
But if he caps his presidency now, by acknowledging that because of age he is not up to a second term, his first and only term will be remembered as among the better presidencies in our history.He saved us from a second Trump term and for that alone he deserves the Presidential Medal of Freedom, but he also enacted important legislation crucial to confronting the climate and technology revolutions now upon us.
I had been ready to give Biden the benefit of the doubt up to now, because during the times I engaged with him one on one, I found him up to the job. He clearly is not any longer. His family and his staff had to have known that. They have been holed up at Camp David preparing for this momentous debate for days now. If that is the best performance they could summon from him, it’s time for Joe to keep the dignity he deserves and leave the stage at the end of this term.
If he does, everyday Americans will hail Joe Biden for doing what Donald Trump would never do — put the country before himself.
If he insists on running and he loses to Trump, Biden and his family — and his staff and party members who enabled him — will not be able to show their faces.
They deserve better. America needs better. The world needs better.
Restless night. I'm still thinking about it, but leaning toward Josh Shapiro's position. Blaming Biden's team or debate moderators won't change anything. I set the poll so that votes are changeable as we all consider the alternatives.
s titular Mama June in Fogbow's Favourite Show™ Mama June: From Not To Hot! Fogbow's Theme Song™ Edith Massey's "I Got The Evidence!" 
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