r/politics Pueblo 4d ago

Biden’s Family Tells Him to Keep Fighting as They Huddle at Camp David Soft Paywall

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/30/us/politics/biden-debate-anxious-democrats.html
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u/crotalis 4d ago

Look at Ruth Bader Ginsburg. You gotta know when to let go of power to retain your legacy. She didn’t let go when she should have - everything she stood for is wiped out.

Personal hubris over the sake of the nation is not wisdom.

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u/RyVsWorld 4d ago

Feinstein too. Basically Weekend at Bernje’d her by the end. Fucking disgraceful and her aides and family deserve alot more shit than they got.

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u/Momik 3d ago

The experience with Feinstein is deeply worrying. If the Democratic leadership is willing to tolerate and enable that from its highest officials, do we really expect them to make the right choice here?

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u/SerendipitySue 3d ago

i don't. the cabinet and vp like the gravy train.they are not going to 25th amendment him unless say..intelligence agencies decide to dump the dirt they have on biden, as they have dirt on almost all politicians... i doubt the regular dnc will do anything.

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u/earthworm_fan 3d ago

Voters in California voted for her overwhelmingly in the 2018 primaries. 

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u/kakarot-3 3d ago

The entire SCOTUS debacle can really be traced back to her decision.

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u/Momik 3d ago

Not really. If a Democrat had chosen her successor, liberals would still be a minority on the Court. Still, staying on longer than she needed to was deeply irresponsible and did contribute to where we are today.

The choice Biden is facing is quite a lot more significant. Staying in the race not only imperils his legacy, it could set the country up for a deeply far-right turn, the likes of which we really haven’t seen before.

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u/kakarot-3 3d ago

This is why Supreme Court justices need term limits. My friend and I once were discussing how to fix SCOTUS and said rather than justices be picked by the president, they should campaign and be on the general election ballot. That way they aren’t necessarily tied to a party/president and can be chosen by the people. At least if America is a representative democracy, but we’re not

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u/Momik 3d ago

Oh absolutely. We could also try what people like Ezra Klein have proposed and have a larger pool of nonpartisan justices to randomly pull for each case. This is essentially how we structure circuit courts, and how many nations organize their highest courts.

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u/karmahorse1 4d ago

Welcome to politics. Most of these people are so vain they don't understand that their personal goals don't necessarily align with the good of the country.

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u/MrEHam 3d ago

Look at Al Franken though.

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u/wandering-monster 3d ago

Yeah except the situation is very different.

RBG was in a position where waiting meant she lost the chance to pick a successor.

if Biden dies in office, we just have another election while Harris takes over as interim. And it buys time to start building up a successor, which we need to do anyways.

Biden dropping out now almost certainly hands the election to Trump, waiting creates options.

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u/rjcarr 4d ago

RBG, like most of the rest of the country, thought Hillary was going to win and wanted to give her seat to the first woman president. Would have been great if it worked out.

Biden truly wanted to be a one term president, but once Trump regained power (he never really lost it, sadly), Biden really thinks he's the only person that can beat him.

Both are genuine ideas but also gambles, and like you said, a bit of hubris plays into it.

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u/ree_hi_hi_hi_hi 4d ago

Those are gambles that shouldn’t even be in play though. We are talking about people who should have ended their political careers halfway through Obama’s 2 terms. That’s a really nice thought that RBG wanted to give it to the first woman president. It’s a really demented thought to agree with, though. Fucking around with the lives of 330M people for showmanship. A 75 year old person should not be making the decisions for a country. They had so much time to appropriately call it quits and gracefully pass the baton. They are to blame.

You ever heard the joke about the guy who built walls and bridges and houses? But also fucked a goat? Yeah. People remember you for your misdeeds. Especially if they indirectly caused the undoing of your good deeds.

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u/AntoniaFauci 3d ago

Would have been great if it worked out

At best, it would have been performative aggrandizement.

Instead, it gave us Amy Coney Handmaid, whose first official act as an “impartial” ASCJ was to attend a Trump campaign rally, illegally held on the White House lawn. It would lead to the revelation she lied about her health status because that illegal and partisan event was also a covid Super-spreader.

RBG’s whole legacy and career have wiped out by her ignorant and selfish act of hubris. Biden is cruising to wipe out more than his own legacy. He’s about to help end democracy.

But yeah, let’s not try to win an election for once.