'It's a deceptive lead': Why Biden's rivals are planning around his big collapse

[brooklynite]

Politico

“There’s a clear worry among Biden supporters that he can’t be the front-runner from June of 2019 through July of 2020 … that eventually, the gaffes will pile up and he’ll come down,” said Ed Rendell, a former Pennsylvania governor and one of Biden’s most vocal supporters.

Many of Biden’s supporters, said Rendell, a former chairman of the Democratic National Committee, are “nervous as hell.”

In part, the anxiety surrounding Biden’s candidacy is rooted in the lastpresidential campaign. After Hillary Clinton was upset by Trump, many Democrats adopted a more sober view of what it means to be a front-runner.

And unlike in the 2016 primary — a two-person race between Clinton and Bernie Sanders — the primary this year is stacked with credible alternatives. William Owen, a DNC member from Tennessee who has endorsed Biden, said that although he expects Sanders and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, two more progressive Democrats in the race, to continue to split the support among the party’s left flank, “If one of them starts surging, we’re in trouble.”

[emulatorloo]

1. POLITICO: "Democrats in Disarray1!1!"

N/T

[NurseJackie]

2. Exactly.

Thank you!

[brooklynite]

3. Explain where you see disarray referred to...

The article refers to political tactics which occur in political campaigns. And if the primary argument is endorsed by Governor Rendell, it's an appropriate article.

[hlthe2b]

8. Honestly, it DOES seem like mere variations on a theme... n/t

[emulatorloo]

9. Headline is SOP for Politico. Clickbait promising crisis about some Democrat or another.

Article itself is almost content free. Rendell says some are worried about Biden, and then Remdell notes that others are not worried about Biden. Headline promises “plans” that “rivals” have, yet the article doesn’t detail any “plans.” Fox style “many people are saying”.

You’re probably one of the most politically savvy people here, don’t know why you fall for RW funded Politico’s constant brand of pot stirring amongst Democrats. “Democrats in Disarray” is one of their go-to themes.

[FloridaBlues]

4. Does anyone really listen to Randell anymore?

[PatSeg]

19. It just feels like so many of the pols

and pundits are just talking for the sake of talking, even if they have very little to say. Later down the road, no one actually looks back to determine how right or wrong they were and they just go on saying more crap that only a handful of people listen to.

I've cut WAY back on my cable news viewing this election season. It is all so predictable and most of it has little substance. I remember what they did in 2016 and they're starting to do it again.

[FloridaBlues]

30. Have to agree with you. I at times have to turn tv to different channel

[PatSeg]

32. With all the horrors of what is happening today,

I have to escape to anything that isn't news. I still stay aware of what is happening, but I cannot live in the muck and mire 24/7 and still maintain my sanity. Cable news is designed to be addictive, more than informative much of the time.

Also I stay away from Twitter. I've seen what it has done to political discourse in this country. That is one cyber innovation that we could have done without.

[Amishman]

31. Rendell still carries a fair bit of weight in PA

This state has a long memory, which can be good and bad

[Watchfoxheadexplodes]

5. Hahaha yawn

Try again

[George II]

6. More BS from Politico, basically making stuff up.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

7. Leave it to Politico to dust off Rendell for some words of unwisdom.

[SCVDem]

10. Who's gonna pay for it!

MEXICO!!! The big lie!

And yet many focus on campaign trail misspeaks to our detriment. Death by a thousand cuts!

Keep demeaning our candidates on that level and we will have the orange ass for four more.

I will just jump!

[LincolnRossiter]

11. I'll worry about Biden collapsing when I see evidence of Biden collapsing.

Plan away. I'm sure Biden's campaign is planning for the implosion of other candidates when moderate voters (the majority within the democratic party, according to polls) realize how many of their ideas are absolute fairy tales.

[bucolic_frolic]

12. Rendell

DNC co-chair and first caver on Bush v. Gore

I don't trust his judgment on very much

[elleng]

13. 'said Ed Rendell'

FWIW

[Hassin Bin Sober]

14. Ruh ro

[LanternWaste]

24. This is troubling for Bernie.

Disqualifying.

[highplainsdem]

15. Ed Rendell can come up with some really dramatic and rather hyperbolic comments, and not just

about Biden.

Warren supporters probably aren't going to be happy about what he said about her in a NY Times article today.

FWIW, I imagine some Biden supporters ARE nervous. I imagine that's true of some supporters of all campaigns.

But people have been predicting the imminent demise of Biden's campaign since the moment he announced (and before that there were the expert predictions that he really wouldn't run).

I think his continuing lead speaks for itself.

And only time will tell how long it continues.

[OKNancy]

22. I know the article you are referencing

but I dare not post it. I don't want to get jumped on. Feeling a little like a Hillary supporter in 2016 if you catch my drift.

[highplainsdem]

25. Understandable. But brooklynite posted it:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1287270832


Since the story's been online since the wee hours this morning, I'm surprised it wasn't posted here earlier.

Link to tweet

[Green Line]

26. I saw it early this morning in the Boston Globe

but like you, I didn't want to post it.

[DrFunkenstein]

16. I Would Worry More About Clinton in 2008

Big name establishment candidate, a "safe pair of hands," seemed to have a lock on the race right up until the moment she lost in Iowa as the enthusiasm gap bit hard. Suddenly, the whole house came toppling down.

[peggysue2]

17. Rendell also said this:

And Rendell said uncertainty surrounding Biden is attributable to “a little bit of wishful thinking by his opponents.” (Ya think???)

“He’s not as weak as his opponents think he is. He’s not as weak as his supporters think he is,” Rendell said.

Wee bit of fence-squatting from Rendell who concludes that he's personally less nervous (about Biden's prospects) than many others.

[Sugarcoated]

18. Ed working on the Biden campaign in PA

is essential. He knows the state and has connections like no other. Having said that, Rendell himself is getting up there in years, still sharp as ever though.

[peggysue2]

27. Eddie Rendell knows the state inside out

And yes, he's been around a long time but still politically astute.

[McCamy Taylor]

20. I like to think he is running as a lightening rod to distract the Russian bots.

In other words, doing a service to the Democratic Party by scarring the shit out of Putin so that he squanders all his resources going after Biden, losing the opportunity to kneecap the others. Of course, the Kremlin/NRA is obviously scared of Beto, too, since they went to all the trouble to claim that a Beto supporter drove 600 miles to shoot up "his candidate's" home town.

[Mr.Bill]

21. Let's face it...

With a handful of candidates, including Trump. over 70, there's a very real chance one or more of them could develop health problems. Even the younger candidates are not immune to this possibility.

The difference is, Trump is by far in worse physical condition than any of them, and you don't hear one republican voicing any concern about it. Yet you hear it about certain Democratic candidates every day. Even right here from other Democrats.

What will happen health wise will happen. It will be dealt with then. Until then I don't worry about it. And our bench is far deeper than the republican one.

[BlueMississippi]

23. HAHAHAHAGoodman has spawned and created more like him nt

[Downtown Hound]

28. Wake me when it actually happens

The thing this article doesn't take into account is, nobody gives a shit about Biden's "gaffes" except those looking to bring him down. His supporters don't. People know him and know what he really is about. And when you have a president that literally draws whole new weather maps with a Sharpie pen because he can't stand being wrong, Biden's so-called gaffes look downright charming by comparison.

[awesomerwb1]

29. I instantly knew that was from Politico

before I even clicked the thread.

[LongtimeAZDem]

33. LOL!