Back in 2020 he was a supposed frontrunner struggling to look like one, fresh off a sluggish performance in the 2020 Iowa caucuses. He asked New Hampshire voters to help him flip the narrative and deliver him a comeback. He snarked back at critics, belittled a younger challenger and called one woman “a lying, dog-faced pony soldier” at a campaign event.
Then he skipped his own campaign party, headed to South Carolina, and finished a distant fifth in New Hampshire’s primary, faring worse than the former mayor of a midsized Midwestern city.
Sort of. The DNC wanted to move the South Carolina primary up to be before New Hampshire, but New Hampshire has a law requiring their primary to be first. The DNC said if they scheduled their primary before the South Carolina primary, the results would be invalid.
New Hampshire still wanted to be first, so they scheduled ahead of South Carolina.
The DNC followed through on their threat and took away New Hampshire’s delegates.
Biden refused to register in a demonstration of support for the DNC (of which he is ostensibly a leader).
The results won’t matter, but this year there isn’t much doubt about who will be the nominee. It will be interesting to see what happens in 2028 when there isn’t an incumbent President in the primary. If neither side relents, New Hampshire Democrats won’t have any say in their nominee. But New Hampshire rarely picks a winner, anyway, so maybe people just won’t care?
Democrats want red states to pick their nominee, and New Hampshire isn’t red enough. Plus, they want to reward South Carolina for 2020.
Not to mention, Democrats want to maintain the normalization of the arbitrary fuckery they use to shut out progressives.
On your first point, making South Carolina first is a strategy to build enthusiasm for Democrats in a traditionally red state. Demographically, southern states are becoming younger and more progressive, and turning the Carolinas purple would be a significant electoral victory. Agree or disagree with the strategy, but you should accurately represent what they are trying to do.
As for the second point, that ship sailed a while back. The DNC chooses their candidate. The system sucks woolly mammoth dick with Miracle Whip, and we should work to change it. It will be much easier to change it when Trump is no longer in the picture.
Ah yes, because after Trump they’ll run a totally sane and tolerable alternative next.
Well, that’s the stated rationale, and you may take it at face value. I don’t trust the party’s word that easily. It’s the same party it was in 2016, and they know that red states favor centrists. Particularly South Carolina, which was the crux of Biden’s primary win in 2020.
North Carolina is a blue state in a dopey red hat. We’ll get it eventually.
I would have no issue with this if they changed their bylaws to state this is how things are done. The fact is, they purport to a democratic process but then fuck all over it. it’s their rules, and they can’t follow it.
it would, however, likely cause a split in the party, since there’s a lot of people already unhappy with the DNC, and actually saying the quiet part out loud would probably fracture the “big tent”
So…
They’re telling an entire state their votes don’t matter and it’s Biden or nothing…
Why do you sound like you think the destruction of American democracy is a good thing?
Even if you don’t care and you just want Biden to win…
Don’t you think this will depress turnout nationwide?
It was bad enough when the DNC just said primaries don’t matter, now they’re straight up canceling them
It sounds like you have an agenda, and you’d like reality to conform to your talking points.
They’re telling an entire state they don’t get to be first. New Hampshire could have scheduled their primary when they were supposed to, but they chose to fight the DNC. Political parties select their candidates, and get to set the rules for how delegates are assigned.
I would bet New Hampshire didn’t care about losing their delegates because there is no mystery about who will be the nominee. That’s why 2028 will be interesting, because the primary will actually matter.
This is not the destruction of democracy. Not in any sense.
It will not have an effect on turnout in the general election. It might have depressed turnout in the New Hampshire primary.
I don’t like Biden, and would love to have a better Democrat as a candidate and as a President. But that’s not in the cards this time, and Trump would be an unmitigated disaster and an existential threat. Trump could destroy democracy. He’s already tried several times.
Biden and the DNC have no authority on when primaries happen…
They made a suggestion, NH refused.
And the DNC took their delegates away.
My agenda is defending American democracy, what is yours?
When will it be?
Ever since Obama’s 08 upset, the DNC has been making changes to prevent upsets again. From putting their finger on the scale, to arguing in legal proceedings that it’s cool because they can ignore results, to removing delegates from a state for not scheduling like the DNC wants…
Why do you think the DNC will have a change of heart in 2028 and suddenly want to give power back to voters?
What logic are you using to be so confident things will magically stop getting worse and suddenly get better if everyone just stops mentioning what’s happening?
It kind of sounds like the DNC does have the authority on when primaries happen. That’s how the party system works. I don’t mich care for it, and it isn’t a democratic process, but it never has been.
Obama wasn’t an upset. The DNC was not aligned behind Clinton the way they were in 2015. It was a wide open primary, with Edwards, Biden, even Dodd and Richardson had some early momentum. When it became clear that it would be a showdown between Clinton and Obama, Obama was the one to secure critical endorsements and backing of the party. That’s how he won (although, notably, he lost New Hampshire).
I agree with you that the DNC puts their thumb on the scale to keep progressives on the outside, but you’re kidding yourself if you think that started in 2008.
I don’t think we will see a change in the party in 2028. I think that the party will again try to manipulate the primary calendar for political gain. The only question is whether New Hampshire will resist and demand to be first, or if the state will fall in line. Which is good or bad? Neither is either. The system sucks a polar bear’s funky ass.
What in the fuck did I ever say to give you the impression that things were going to stop getting worse?
Yeah, and who challenged Obama in the 2012 DNC primary? Spoiler: nobody. Because he was the incumbent and that gives you a massive advantage that nobody in their right mind would ever give up.
This is standard practice, stop acting like this is somehow unique or concerning in any way whatsoever.
That’s my point. I don’t even understand what you’re arguing about now. Are you trying to pretend you agreed with me the whole time?
Lol what? Primaries are run entirely by the DNC/RNC. Private organizations.
You’re pretending that the incumbent advantage doesn’t exist and isn’t huge. You’re pretending that this hasn’t been standard practice for decades.
Fuck off with your obvious agenda.
you were warned. you chose instead to attack the person warning you rather than doing something about. just remember that when Biden looses to the orange turd because he’s literally the only candidate that can.
Lol wut? Are you threatening to not vote because the DNC took away your meaningless delegates in a statistically uncontested race? Do you really believe that anyone anywhere else in the country gives a shit about New Hampshire getting to go first?
Look, I agree with you that Biden sucks as a candidate. He definitely could lose to Trump, and that would be bad. But there isn’t a better alternative in the primary. Short of Biden dying or becoming incapacitated, he’s the only viable candidate to compete with Trump. I wish that weren’t true. I wish there was a legitimate progressive contender, even a dark horse I could believe in, but there just isn’t any.
No.
I’m saying Biden is deeply unpopular and people in general aren’t going to be arsed to vote for a guy they don’t like.
You want to win elections, you need more than “the other guy is worse”. That’s a not a reason to vote for a person, that’s a reason to not vote for the other person.
Sure, but the other person is Trump. And I agree with you, I’d prefer a candidate I was voting for, and not just the guy that’s going to stand in the way of total annihilation.
If you want to win elections, you need motivated voters. Angry and scared people are highly motivated. It’s why Conservatives demonize scapegoats like immigrants and the LGBTQ+ community. “Vote, or the woke will get you!”
I would bet that any reasonable person could beat Trump in the general election by the sole virtue that they aren’t Trump. There are enough people that are afraid of another Trump Presidency that they are motivated to vote.
There are also an alarming number of bigots and morons who will vote for Trump no matter what he does. These are bad people, incapable of rational thought and seeking power to benefit themselves and control others.
They exist, but they are not a majority.
It would be nice if we had more than that to vote for, but that was enough in 2020, and I believe it will be enough in 2024. At least I hope it will be enough, but I don’t see any alternatives, and you haven’t suggested any.
Actually- I have. And many others have. There’s plenty out there and this comment is a throwaway attempt (intentionally or not) to silence dissent.
The reality is Biden is deeply unpopular.
If defeating Trump is your motivation, then finding the best possible candidate is the first step.
then you ratchet up the fear mongering in the regular election; as well as all the good reasons to vote for that candidate.
The DNC is pushing Biden and doing the fear mkngering because he’s the best candidate for his constituency- and that ain’t us. He’s firmly in the control of the corporations. Which is why he expediting weapons sales to Israel, supporting Ukraine; and sitting around with his thumb up his ass on pretty much everything else- or at best spackling a veneer of “sure we care” around.
If he really cared about democracy, Trump would be in jail, convicted and we be in this shitshow… If he cared about national security… it wouldn’t have taken 2.5+ years to get the extremely sensitive documents back (and they’re still missing that fold of the most sensitive intel on Russia).
If they cared about corruption… there’s lots there, too. In all sorts of places.
If he cares about the climate he’d have held to his campaign promise to not open up new fracking or expand offshore drilling (for example the willow project.)
If he cared about abortion he would have convinced manchin and the few others to get that done.
No, he’s clearly not running for our benefit.
No, seriously, who is your suggested alternative to Biden?
Who?
So their messaging in NH is consistent with their messaging for every state?
they’re telling the entire country that, by making NH an example.
It sounds more like NH was betting they could call a bluff.
One of the dangers is that sometimes it’s not actually a bluff.