If Biden is staying, he needs to do something to assuage concerns

[wbrocks67]

In the event that Biden is staying in (which by all accounts seems likely), he does need to do something to assuage peoples concerns. Concerns are certainly valid (extreme lengths of 'Omg dementia' are not) and I think he needs to speak to them.

If he wants to stay in the race, which I think he has every right to do, he needs to be up front with people and own up that it wasn't a good night (he seems to be doing this behind the scenes)

May be too Aaron Sorkin-y but he needs to get out there with something big. A primetime address or a big interview. He'll have to answer tough questions, but he's got to at least reassure people somewhat if he wants to take it from at least a level 10 to a level 7. If he's going to stay in, the only way is to be *more* present in front of people to show them that the guy who came out in North Carolina on Friday is the guy who's running, and not the version we saw at the debate.

Luckily, Ds have a bit of a respite come July 11 with Trump's sentencing, where that will flood the news. But there's still 11 days until then, and if he's gonna continue, he's gotta do something.

This is where people get me wrong - I'm not delusional or under some idea that the debate didn't hurt him. It did. I differ on the levels of it hurting him or some of the over the top extreme dramatics of it all, but it was still a net negative for him, and he's gotta do something to change the news cycle.

Frankly i also think Jen O'Malley Dillon's email wasn't helpful. I think she's smart and fantastic, but I don't think that was the route to go. It wasn't tactful imo

[Progressive Pessimist]

Exactly. The North Carolina rally was a start, but nowhere near enough.

[RBH]

Biden must enter and win the Hot Dog eating contest on the 4th

[wbrocks67]

Biden must enter and win the Hot Dog eating contest on the 4th

I'm not kidding that I think he should go on Hot Ones. It may well kill him but something like that would be serious positive attention. It's also complete softballs, it's more of just a vibes thing.

The Waffle House video going viral was a good start, that's the type of organic engagement he needs. Problem is, he needs like 20 more of those.

[King Brandon I]

I’m gonna play devils advocate and say he needs to agree to a second debate (I hope the ABC one goes on as planned). My prediction hasn’t changed, and this debate will fade from the cycle without polling being too shaken up (which actually isn’t as bad a thing as some make it out to be if you look at the averages), but I will say He can’t let that define his image.

[wbrocks67]

I’m gonna play devils advocate and say he needs to agree to a second debate (I hope the ABC one goes on as planned). My prediction hasn’t changed but I will say He can’t let that define his image.

100%. He absolutely needs to do the debate. not doing a second debate would be killer (in a bad way) imo for the campaign. It would just solidify in everyones minds that he cant do it.

He however needs to dedicate himself to not screwing that one up. The stakes will be even higher but he and his team need to seriously take a look at everything that went wrong the first time and come up with a plan to not let it happen again.

I love Joe but someone needs to tell him to control his facial expressions. That type of stuff makes things 10x worse. If he had his normal voice and controlled his face more, that would've made things so much less worse.

[RBH]

I'm not kidding that I think he should go on Hot Ones.

somewhere there's a Hillary enthusiast wishing that she could have made a Hot Ones appearance during the 2016 campaign

David Letterman's series wouldn't actually be the worst idea since retirement bearded Letterman probably looks a little more concerning than current Biden

[wbrocks67]

I'm not kidding that I think he should go on Hot Ones.

somewhere there's a Hillary enthusiast wishing that she could have made a Hot Ones appearance during the 2016 campaign

David Letterman's series wouldn't actually be the worst idea since retirement bearded Letterman probably looks a little more concerning than current Biden

I'm also reminded of Hillary doing Between Two Ferns and while some saw it as cringe, I think it was still an overall net positive for her with young people

[wbrocks67]

If Biden did a primetime address on Tuesday or something, it would be highly hyped and highly viewed (honestly 50% of people would probably think he was dropping out), but in my mind, if he came out and gave the same speech he did on Friday in NC, that would certainly be a positive for him. Don't sugarcoat it, be honest, say it wasnt your best night, but end on a positive note.

He's got to do something that will get a wide enough audience.

[RBH]

guessing it would not assuage concerns if Biden did the Howard Dean Iowa speech

[Bismarck]

As someone who won’t vote for Trump and had planned to vote for Biden before this debate, how is “OMG dementia” not serious? His empty look reminds me of my grandfather who suffered from dementia for the last 5 years of his life. Just because he isn’t a vegetable and can read a teleprompter sometimes doesn’t mean he doesn’t have dementia. I can’t be an outlier here. Nothing he could do now could “assuage my concerns”. I’m not interested in voting for whichever random appointee is actually running our government.

[AncestralDemocrat.]

There should be monthly debates until November. 

[DaleCooper]

He can't. I said this in another thread, but the narrative is set. Biden is too old and the sooner this band-aid is ripped off the better off every Democratic candidate will be.

If Biden delivers a perfect speech (which we all know he can't do) but has one tiny flub at the end, that flub will be the headline across every outlet. Doesn't matter if you think it's fair, that's where we're at and there's no changing it.

[wbrocks67]

He can't. I said this in another thread, but the narrative is set. Biden is too old and the sooner this band-aid is ripped off the better off every Democratic candidate will be.

If Biden delivers a perfect speech (which we all know he can't do) but has one tiny flub at the end, that flub will be the headline across every outlet. Doesn't matter if you think it's fair, that's where we're at and there's no changing it.

He delivered a pretty perfect speech on Friday in NC. If that was a speech that was actually telecast widely to millions, I don't see that as something that would be a nothingburger.

The narrative is and always will be set, though. That's the point. You're never going to make people switch to think he's spry and amazing. You just have to do enough damage control to make people feel a little better about it. That's the goal here if he stays in.

[ajc0918]

He can't. I said this in another thread, but the narrative is set. Biden is too old and the sooner this band-aid is ripped off the better off every Democratic candidate will be.

If Biden delivers a perfect speech (which we all know he can't do) but has one tiny flub at the end, that flub will be the headline across every outlet. Doesn't matter if you think it's fair, that's where we're at and there's no changing it.

This is no different than the past three years.

[wbrocks67]

As someone who won’t vote for Trump and had planned to vote for Biden before this debate, how is “OMG dementia” not serious? His empty look reminds me of my grandfather who suffered from dementia for the last 5 years of his life. Just because he isn’t a vegetable and can read a teleprompter sometimes doesn’t mean he doesn’t have dementia. I can’t be an outlier here. Nothing he could do now could “assuage my concerns”. I’m not interested in voting for whichever random appointee is actually running our government.

Because any person who actually is in the medical field would tell you that someone who had any form of dementia, small or wide, could not do the job that he's doing, nor could they present themselves the way he has in numerous other settings this year alone.

There's a big difference between "the man is 81, slow sometimes, with a stutter" than "senile and dementia." To me, people are being extremely overdramatic with that. A gaping mouth certainly doesn't medically instantly translate to dementia, that seems like a weird jump to make. Even a slight case of dementia would prevent him from doing almost all of the things that he's doing as president. But that's just me.

Either way, if you really care about defeating Trump, I hope you reconsider.

[Holy Unifying Centrist]

He should resign immediately and pray that Kamala knows what she is doing

[DaleCooper]

He can't. I said this in another thread, but the narrative is set. Biden is too old and the sooner this band-aid is ripped off the better off every Democratic candidate will be.

If Biden delivers a perfect speech (which we all know he can't do) but has one tiny flub at the end, that flub will be the headline across every outlet. Doesn't matter if you think it's fair, that's where we're at and there's no changing it.

This is no different than the past three years.

It's going to get a lot worse.

[wbrocks67]

He can't. I said this in another thread, but the narrative is set. Biden is too old and the sooner this band-aid is ripped off the better off every Democratic candidate will be.

If Biden delivers a perfect speech (which we all know he can't do) but has one tiny flub at the end, that flub will be the headline across every outlet. Doesn't matter if you think it's fair, that's where we're at and there's no changing it.

This is no different than the past three years.

It's going to get a lot worse.

It didn't get worse on Friday, though? Why are we just ignoring that? Forget the teleprompter, the energy level was there. Biden didn't look as old as he did on Thursday. He sounded good, he sounded energized. You can't just say "oh he had the teleprompter, that changed everything". Nah, if he has dementia, he'd be clearly unable to stand up there and do what he did on Friday. (Frankly, I think it's very underrated that he can even read a teleprompter so well at 81, I don't even think I could read it that well now, let alone 81)

Everyone has their opinion on this but frankly I think people are ignoring any other context to believe what they want to believe. He got up there on Friday and was fine, yet it feels like that's being overrided by "all that counts is Thursday, not anything else"

[Green Line]

He should resign immediately and pray that Kamala knows what she is doing

I am terrified for what Xi and Putin will try between now and January with Joe in office.  The entire world, enemies included, now know the U.S. President is mentally incapacitated.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

What is he gonna say he already said Trump tariffs and tax cuts are bad. He can say it in a more aggressive way like Newsom but he isn't NEWSOM.

I don't see him doing anything different than he is doing now

[DaleCooper]

He can't. I said this in another thread, but the narrative is set. Biden is too old and the sooner this band-aid is ripped off the better off every Democratic candidate will be.

If Biden delivers a perfect speech (which we all know he can't do) but has one tiny flub at the end, that flub will be the headline across every outlet. Doesn't matter if you think it's fair, that's where we're at and there's no changing it.

This is no different than the past three years.

It's going to get a lot worse.

It didn't get worse on Friday, though? Why are we just ignoring that? Forget the teleprompter, the energy level was there. Biden didn't look as old as he did on Thursday. He sounded good, he sounded energized. You can't just say "oh he had the teleprompter, that changed everything". Nah, if he has dementia, he'd be clearly unable to stand up there and do what he did on Friday.

Everyone has their opinion on this but frankly I think people are ignoring any other context to believe what they want to believe. He got up there on Friday and was fine, yet it feels like that's being overrided by "all that counts is Thursday, not anything else"

The media coverage is going to get a lot worse. The North Carolina rally didn't change that seeing as how we are getting endless articles about people trying to replace Biden.

[wbrocks67]

He should resign immediately and pray that Kamala knows what she is doing

I am terrified for what Xi and Putin will try between now and January with Joe in office.  The entire world, enemies included, now know the U.S. President is mentally incapacitated.

This stuff is really derailing the topic at hand here, but again, Biden was literally just in Europe meeting with G7 leaders two weeks ago. Pretty sure for better or worse they already know how he is in person and would go off of that rather than a single debate.

[wbrocks67]

He can't. I said this in another thread, but the narrative is set. Biden is too old and the sooner this band-aid is ripped off the better off every Democratic candidate will be.

If Biden delivers a perfect speech (which we all know he can't do) but has one tiny flub at the end, that flub will be the headline across every outlet. Doesn't matter if you think it's fair, that's where we're at and there's no changing it.

This is no different than the past three years.

It's going to get a lot worse.

It didn't get worse on Friday, though? Why are we just ignoring that? Forget the teleprompter, the energy level was there. Biden didn't look as old as he did on Thursday. He sounded good, he sounded energized. You can't just say "oh he had the teleprompter, that changed everything". Nah, if he has dementia, he'd be clearly unable to stand up there and do what he did on Friday.

Everyone has their opinion on this but frankly I think people are ignoring any other context to believe what they want to believe. He got up there on Friday and was fine, yet it feels like that's being overrided by "all that counts is Thursday, not anything else"

The media coverage is going to get a lot worse. The North Carolina rally didn't change that seeing as how we are getting endless articles about people trying to replace Biden.

Well, thats a whole different story imo lol I think the press is so dug in on this that I don't think anything would really change their coverage. Just like nothing Hillary could do could satisfy them on the emails issue. To me, the press thing is a much bigger conversation that's bigger than this one event

[Green Line]

He should resign immediately and pray that Kamala knows what she is doing

I am terrified for what Xi and Putin will try between now and January with Joe in office.  The entire world, enemies included, now know the U.S. President is mentally incapacitated.

This stuff is really derailing the topic at hand here, but again, Biden was literally just in Europe meeting with G7 leaders two weeks ago. Pretty sure for better or worse they already know how he is in person and would go off of that rather than a single debate.

Yes I watched Meloni and Macron have to babysit him.  I said Xi and Putin.