Harris was set up to take the fall?

[Plumpribbon]

Many people at the start declared Harris not be to a great presidential candidate, never mind that she never had it in her to take on Trump.
Many voters saw someone not capable of leading the world’s largest economy’s or being able to sit around the table with Putin etc.

So why then was she appointed as nominee?

Yes, they were in a bind with Biden withdrawing or were they?

Everyone knew he was declining before our eyes, regardless of the lies espoused that he was fine. Yet still he was voted for …then knowing this was untenable, Harris then replaces him.

They did have enough time to hold a primary but they chose not to. They chose a sub par candidate to go against an extremely ugly Trump campaign.

AIBU to believe Harris was set up to take the fall against Trump because they knew they would lose against him regardless of which dem nominee they put forward and they didn’t want to taint their rising democrat stars in an ugly election with Trump?

Trump will be gone in four years (no to the alarmist narrative that he will serve a third) and their dem candidates won’t have to face such a nasty/ugly campaign.

There’s no way she will be elected the presidential nominee again that’s for sure…..yet the others remain untainted to go into battle at the next elections (Tom Cotton, Gretchen Whitner etc) . They were happy to sacrifice her career because they didn't think she was great to begin with. Now she will effectively disappear

The democrats chose not to do the hard work at the start by choosing a capable candidate.

Yes there was issues with timing and money but nothing was insurmountable. Yes it was tantamount to saying she was a terrible VP if they never chose her, but they should have been brave and explain that it was impossible to sell a Biden agenda and there needs to be a completely new candidate who hasn’t served in this administration. Not publicly obviously, but amongst themselves.

Now they will have to start doing the hard work now. They are completely in the back foot

They have failed to understand the policy landscape, chosen to follow old fashioned thinking about how race/sex affects voting patterns etc. I hope they recognise where they have gone wrong and not just think Trump is a blip. Because there will be others that come after him and they need to get their house in order.

When people say they didn't have time, they don't mean that there wasn't physically enough days to hold a primary. They mean there wasn't enough time to do that, as well as the publicity time needed for the new candidate to be bedded in from scratch, and for the public to become familiar with them, hold massive fundraising drives, and then to run a general election campaign. There was not at all enough time to do that. They had to go with Harris; Biden's ego didn't leave them any choice.

OP, Please explain - knowing I agree KH was set up unfairly - how a selection process could have worked.

Biden dropped out on 21 July. The Democratic Convention was set to begin on 19 Aug and that was carved in stone for logistical reasons. The delegates, the politicians, the hotels, the media, the massive economic impact on the host city, etc. So your selection process is 28 days from a standing start. We don’t need a complete answer before the convention but we need a very strong indication with just 2 or 3 candidates left, otherwise there is chaos.

KH has that $95M advantage and furthermore inherits a staff. No one else has any money and more importantly we should assume they have essentially no political staff, or none oriented towards the presidency, as these people don’t work for free. It’s going to take a few days to organise staff, at minimum. How will they be paid? The bill for a skeleton staff is six figures per week. Fundraising is required. A nonstarter for many.

Also some good candidates are likely committed to other races. How does that work?

Worse, the primary season has come and gone. How do you propose to organise the selection? Please be explicit. Bear in mind that electoral rolls are controlled by the states and many state legislatures are controlled by Republicans who will be trying to thwart this process.

The alternative I see is a free for all at the convention, in the public eye, after minimal presentation and convention-campaigning by the candidates. I cannot see that producing a better result. Furthermore it will occur in the public eye and shorten the Dem candidate’s campaign season by a further 4 weeks.

Please tell me what a good, actionable selection process would look like. TIA

Or does ‘among themselves’ mean that some committee of the great and the good should have persuaded KH to drop out? Remember, it was her choice to run and she declared immediately upon Biden’s withdrawal.

I can’t see that working. TBH I see any such attempt absolutely shattering the Democratic Party

It’s well known that there could have been some mechanism put in place to elect a dem nominee. It may not quite have looked the same as others but it could have been done.

This is now the excuse- that they had no choice but to choose her. Excuse about money, excuse about timing. After post after post stating how great a candidate she was….now people are saying…well we had no other option! Uh huh

It’s just excuses.

And this thing about blaming Biden, who incidentally was lauded by many in the press as one of the greatest presidents ever only a few months ago. He was chosen by the Dems. They chose to ignore all the warning signs, accused others of spreading fake news regarding Biden and his clear decline. This isn’t Bidens fault. This isn’t Harris’s fault.

This is the fault of those highest up in the party unable do the right thing at every turn they took.

I think a united front from the Democrats was the only way to go with so little time.

This wasn't a normal candidate, this wasn't a normal election. I'm not convinced there was much Harris or any other candidate could have done to beat him given all he's done that the electorate were apparently fine with (grab em by the pussy, Jan 6th, multiple felonies etc etc etc).

Describe it then, please, OP. I read the NY Times every day and I never, ever saw it described. I saw several articles discussing the problems I have outlined sbove.

As someone who took US citizenship and voted for Biden, I did so partly because I believed his statement that he would be a ‘transitional president’. (You can’t say directly that you only want one term or you are a lame duck). And his accomplishments did make him a very good one, IMO, until hubris took over.

The election was months away at that point.

Even well known dem supporters- like clooney, we’re publicly asking for an election process. The obamas held back from endorsing Harris for a while, until it became clear there would be no election process. Nobody wanted her. But no one was brave enough to make the hard decisions.

They then tried to convince others, even though they weren’t convinced themselves, that she was a great candidate.

Anyone that dared to disagree on MN was told she was a world class prosecutor, a brilliant VP. Who on earth were they trying to convince?

She seems a decent and hard working woman. People like her, but nobody saw her as a leader. Nobody thought she could take on trump.

She had to sell the agenda of Bidens administration, that was never going to work for her. She then jumped from being a candidate of ‘joy’ which means absolutely nothing to then being the messenger of doom and gloom.

It is an unmitigated disaster that the dems can only blame themselves for. Not Biden, not Harris.

She was doomed to fail.

I don’t necessarily disagree with most of this, OP. For the record I thought KH was a fine, well qualified candidate whom I could support happily, but I would have hoped for someone stronger in a primary. (Perhaps her, if she had sharpened up)

But you haven’t described a process. Neither did George Clooney in his NY Times article, neither did either Obama, neither did anyone else.

It does seem you believe a committee of the great and the good should have persuaded her to step down - because you cannot ignore the fact that she had already stepped up. My belief is that any attempt to do this to the second woman, second serious Black candidate, first serious Asian candidate and sitting VP would have shattered the party.

Yes this is down to Biden whom I previously supported. He prevented a robust selection process

The election was just over 3 months away when Biden stepped down but the Dem Convention timing is the key

There was a lot of selling in, but the key part is money

They had millions and would have had to return it and start from scratch with someone else

Can you see how that might alter the decision?

Rigggghhhttt

there was no plan nor strategy?

and you know this because you have inside knowledge? Fact is you are speaking utter nonsense

Christ there are enough conspiracy theories floating about, do we really need another one?
Why, despite the evidence to people think that carefully organised malice is more likely than plain old incompetence?

I think it was a few things. Trump promises the world: world peace, no immigrants, jobs - the shining uplands. He is the protest vote; a populist who 'understands' the disenfranchised and tells them what they want to hear.

He doesn't actually make a lot of sense, he spent one rally dancing to his playlist. However he's great at soundbites and dog whistle politics.

For example, he talks a lot about immigration, saying things others are thinking. Immigrants are making people feel unsafe. We need mass deportation. They're responsible for the state of the country. Women don't feel safe with so many immigrants - I'll protect women, I'll make them feel safe.

If you want to make women feel safe, do something about guns, stop controlling their bodies and stop sexually assaulting them.

He says anything he thinks people want to hear, irrespective of whether he can deliver. The same thing happened here with Brexit, people didn't question Brexit lies, they believed whatever they were told eg millions to the NHS.

I keep seeing this, but can someone explain why they think she is someone who can win?

She is married to Obama, obviously, but what is her own part?

I agree, @ChardonnaysBeastlyCat

Michelle Obama is fabulous. I would support her for a House, Senate or Cabinet position. But Trump is the only modern president who began his career at the top, and he was incapable of understanding government or making decisions. Even those who like the policies of his administration agree the work was done by others. There is no sign he has learnt anything

MO has a better idea of what the job entails, by proximity, and she is much more intelligent. But the presidency is not the place to start a political career. In modern times only Eisenhower did that and commanding the Allied victory in Europe was excellent preparation.

She wasn't a good candidate. I think ideally they would have replaced her with someone else, the fact that's she's black and female made that practically impossible given the criticism that would draw.

This was always my assumption too

I wonder why too, it seems to be falling into the same celebrity trap, just because someone is well known they should have a good campaign. When you think of all that glitz and cost or Lady Gaga and rejoicing over a Swift tweet, it seems out of touch now

You know she's a democrat?

This. I thought that was the obvious plan too. It was insane fir Biden to serve the full term

There was a minimal primary process in 2016 as well, because the Clintons used their influence to sew up the nomination e.g. persuading other senior Democratic women, including Elizabeth Warren, to support Hillary in order to ensure a female nominee.

Only stubborn old Bernie Sanders, who had previously been an independent, was prepared to go against the Democratic party machine. He lost and left the Dems with Hillary as a default candidate - well qualified, but the wider public simply didn't like her.

They didn't learn their lesson and we ended up with Trump vs another default candidate.

I think Biden is at least in part (substantial part) to blame for this debacle. Along with those who supported his nomination as the original Democrat candidate.

Wasn't his plan back in 2020 to serve one term and then not stand again? I'm sure I heard that. If he'd stuck to this plan then a different candidate could have been selected properly and with a good amount of time on the campaign trail.

But no! Biden changed his mind and said he was standing. Too few people argued against him and he got the nomination. Unfortunately. His decline was becoming all too obvious before the whole world. It was embarrassing, and a disaster.

Obama didn't want Harris as the candidate; he wanted Mark Kelly.

Possibly they should have listened to Obama? Too late now.☹️