Philadelphia Inquirer swings and misses on presidential withdrawal editorial

The Inquirer, in a house editorial touted by the likes of its often-good, but BlueAnon, columnist Will Bunch (see here for my take on him as an author, and here for my take on him as specifically BlueAnon as a columnist), and Blue MAGA shiv slinger Yashar Ali (who's been quiet this year, maybe due to his financial problems), in the wake of Joe Biden's catastrophe at last week's debate, called for Donald Trump to withdraw from the Republican nomination contest.

And, that's the whiff.

Large chunks of the GOP, sotto voce, as well as the Never Trumpers who have spoken out, yes, want an alternative. But, pretending that many Democrats don't want an alternative to Biden is the whiff, part one. Why not call for BOTH to resign? 

Or, since you, I and the kitchen sink know that won't happen, why not call for a MASSIVE #DuopolyExit in the general election? That's the even bigger whiff.

I'm not a wingnut, but this is the dictionary entry for why wingnuts call the mainstream media biased.

And, yesterday, Ted Van Dyk at the WSJ got it non-partisanly right: "Biden Should Withdraw and So Should Trump." If you're wondering who he is? He's a Dem insider back to the days of working for Vice President Hubert Humphrey. As an advisor on the Hump's 1968 presidential campaign, he knows how things play out.

To put it bluntly? That Inquirer editorial was written BY BlueAnon FOR BlueAnon.

As for the Ralph Naders of the world pretending that Hillary Clinton was a clusterfuck as a campaigner? Yeah, Wisconsinites know. Does that make Dementia Joe a genius as a campaigner back in 2020?

Hell no. Ralph's a hypocrite:

Oh, to Ralph Nader trying to bag on Democrats?
Fuck you.
You officially jumped in the Joe Biden lesser evilism tank last year .@RalphNader 2/x https://t.co/aegPHOCmgH

— TheRealSocraticGadfly 🍉☢️🌻🌲 (@real_gadfly) July 1, 2024

And, per the next tweet in that thread, Julian Castro knew the reality five years ago.

Tim Alberta gets it, and since he's a blue check with more than 280 words, I'm quoting the whole damn thing, with link here in case I misposted:

Okay folks. This stuff is no longer just nauseating; it's downright dangerous.

Joe Biden limped his way past a fractured 2020 primary field, the party finally coalescing around him because 1) he was the safest pick against an opponent they feared to an existential degree, and 2) his explicit promise to be the “bridge” (wink, wink) to the next generation of Democrats, several of whom flanked him on stage in Detroit as those words left his mouth and interpreted them exactly as Dem primary voters did.

Then he won in November by 43k votes against a spiraling, self-sabotaging incumbent who talked about injecting bleach as the country was falling apart.

Biden’s 2020 campaign was not some strategic masterstroke; there were no tactical or messaging breakthroughs that serve as blueprints for Poli Sci 101 lectures. The guy barely left his house between March and November! Sorry, but squeaking past the Bad News Bears doesn’t make you the ‘27 Yankees.

And yet the people around him have spent 3.5 years hailing the president as some sort of Jedi master: supernaturally tuned to the psyche of the electorate, singularly equipped to govern the country, uniquely able to save democracy from Donald Trump in 2024.

It’s nonsense.

Joe Biden is not Barack Obama. He's not Ronald Reagan. Heck, he's not even Bill Clinton. Spare us the lazy ahistorical comparisons and the romantic underdog narratives.

The truth is, the president is old, unpopular, and trapped by a dilemma of his own making. He picked a vice president in whom he’s lost confidence; is facing an opponent who insults him and his family in ways that his Irish pride can’t get beyond; and has surrounded himself with sycophants who refuse to tell him the truth.

Joe Biden has a distinguished record of public service. He has, in certain important ways, been an effective chief executive. But this mythologizing of the man is an insult to the public’s intelligence—and, in and of itself, a threat to our democratic institutions.

The reason for panic right now isn’t because a bunch of pundits and elites are oblivious to the thinking of regular people; it’s because those regular people always had a hunch the pundits and elites were lying to them about Biden’s capacities and now it’s been confirmed. https://t.co/IOfApjXDYw

— Tim Alberta (@TimAlberta) July 1, 2024

If only others would, too.