Will US Democrats support a WOC as their candidate or will they by pass Kamala Harris?

[IwantToRetire]

Biden Drops Out of Presidential Race and Endorses Harris: Live Updates

After intense pressure from within his own party, President Biden said he was ending his campaign and backing Vice President Kamala Harris to run in his place. Ms. Harris said she would seek the nomination, adding: “Together, we will fight. And together, we will win.”

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/07/21/us/biden-drops-out-election

I think George Clooney has too many skeletons that he'd like to remain in the closet to go into politics.

I think their personal manners are all relevant, but it isn't always in the most obvious way. I don't think your idea that expectations for male and female figures is divided quite so clearly holds up. Some people connect and some don't. Men that don't connect, or seem to despise their voters, also don't get votes.

I'm not really understanding this idea you have that a Republican woman would be less likely to have had a career, I suppose it's possible but most female Republican political figures have had careers. Especially any of them likely to run for president.

Lots of people hate Trump's manner, and his divorces, etc. Some vote for him despite these things. - many people are choosing what policies seem least bad to them. any people feel like that about Bill Clinton too. But others like Trump's big, weird personality, and no one denies BC had a ton of charisma. HC and Harris aren't disliked despite having similar personality flaws to Trump and Bill, their inability to connect with voters is entirely their own.

I think we are all really just scared she doesn't get in and so many of our posts express our worry, which is by nature more negative than the real picture.

Trump is a deeply flawed character, and a lot of sane people would need to hold their noses to the point of pain to vote for him simply to avoid a non-descript black one.

However, the worrier in me has to concede that it is possible. I just hope we all fear too far.

I'm still chuckling at Kamala Harris's speech yesterday where she said :

I took on perpetrators of all kinds. Predators who abused women. Fraudsters who ripped off consumers. Cheaters who broke the rules for their own gain. So hear me when I say, I know Donald Trump's type

Smoking!😄

What do you mean by 'making a statement'?

The Republicans have no case. The Dems don't have to formally endorse anyone until their Convention, and in fact the nomination isn't even legal until September when the papers are filed. It was great timing for Biden to step down after the Republicans wasted their convention hating on Biden for his age and decrepitude. Bit of an own goal given Trump's age and cognition.

That is depressing. Only a presumptive nominee one day and rather than presenting proper arguments and ideas she resorts to name calling.

It seems an odd case for republicans to try to make. On the otherhand, if I was a member of the Democratic Party, I would be furious at the anointment of Harris by the party elite without party members being asked. I saw Harris stating she was the nominee and had the support. But on what basis did she say that? Surely it needs to go to the democratic conference first and for the state reps to decide, not just mega fund raisers and party elite?

And the breathtaking arrogance of the Republicans in nominating Trump, a sexual predator, instigator of an actual coup and disgusting rip-off merchant? What was democratic about January 6th? I reckon that will be somewhat more prominent in the history books.

As Biden's VP, she stayed loyal to him. That's an admirable quality. He hasn't given a reason for withdrawing. They let it play out and hopefully laughed themselves silly at the Republicans only strategy as seen at their convention - denigrating Biden for his age and condition.

As the Republican Nikki Haley said to her party - if you nominate Trump, you end up with President Harris.

Trump fought the primaries and won. That is democracy.

Well 2,688 delegates have endorsed her so far so it's hardly a risible number seeing as a candidate only needs 1,976 votes to secure a nomination. The clincher in one way is that all the other potential strong candidates said they wouldn't be running within hours of Biden's announcement.

Given the confusion over the past month, I imagine the firmness of the endorsement and the subsequent show of unity is welcomed by a lot of party members. They can wait until 19th August but I don't see it likely that there will be any other viable candidates.

A majority of delegates to the Democratic convention have declared for her. That makes her the presumptive nominee. The delegates are elected in the state primaries. There's no time to redo the primaries, so those delegates will choose the nominee.

How about his encouragement of the attempted coup on 6th January 2021? Was that democratic?

At least it's based in fact unlike the disgusting Republic name-calling

The republicans name calling of Biden’s cognition was based in fact too. But it is still depressing that Harris starts her presidential campaign with mud slinging. ‘The other side does it too/more/worse’ doesn’t make it less depressing.

How was what she said name calling? All those things are on the legal record. Biden's cognition isn't.

Once again, diverting the discussion to the Republican party.

I would never vote for Trump and, for what it's worth I was, until the last election a dyed in the wool Labour voter. However I think the most toxic and dangerous of all Trump's legacies is the way some Democrat supporters now appear unable or unwilling to ask questions of their own party's behaviour, or hold them to account. I think the way they tried to cover up Biden's failing health was an absolute disgrace, not to mention unbelievably cruel to him.

I would be furious at the anointment of Harris by the party elite without party members being asked. I saw Harris stating she was the nominee and had the support. But on what basis did she say that? Surely it needs to go to the democratic conference first and for the state reps to decide, not just mega fund raisers and party elite?

There is nothing to say they want go through the process of the usual convention.

And it has been said that one of the reasons Obama hasn't said anything yet (well may have changed in the past few hours) is to press for the usual process to be carried out. (He seems to be the master of behind scenes manipulation ie getting his article published as though from an outside "actor" and now this.)

This is because Obama wants or knows how important it is given they type of accusation Trump will make as well as Democrat voters alienated by the Washington elite, that KH is seen to have been chosed via the usual democratic process.

And not as a fan of Obama, and thing this will be really important for her.

Nothing worse for a woman in a top job to think she has been given it by her male patrons, rather than winning on her own merit.

Speaking as a Democrat supporter and absolutely against Trump.

It's simple. A massive swathe of voters see Trump as the biggest threat to democracy in American history and so their focus is defeating him whatever it takes. It's a binary choice between him and a Democratic nominee, and so anything said about the Democrats needs to be countered in case it affects that key objective which is to stop Trump becoming president. To millions who are completely terrified of a Trump presidency, this is a completely urgent situation with more at stake than any previous election.

I think 'whatever it takes' is very, very dangerous thinking.

If he has the right to stand then it is up to people to decide to vote against him. Questions over a coup should have been addressed through the courts and if found guilty should have banned him from political office. As they didn’t, intense dislike/concern for his policies is not enough reason to stop him standing. I would like to think the Republican’s would be in a better position now with a different candidate but Trump knows how to appeal to a lot of Americans.

He has not been found guilty of any of those things. He was found guilty of false accounting by recording payments to his lawyer as legal advice rather than as onward payments to another party. The rest might seem obvious, as obvious as Biden’s cognitive decline, but he has not been found guilty of those things. Perhaps why Harris only inferred the relationship between ‘his type’ and those activities. But such name calling doesn’t take us anywhere. We know what Trump is like, those who disagree will ignore. Republicans will respond in kind. We are told nothing positive about what she intends to do as president. It is depressing because Presidents should be chosen because you think they can do good, not because you hate the other guy.

I'm just reporting on what I've seen - as in people saying they'd vote for anyone the Dems nominated - and clearly to a lot of voters a Trump presidency is by far the most dangerous prospect.

I'd also like to know more about her actual policies but she can't directly campaign to be President yet as she hasn't been formally nominated as a candidate. I'd presume that if/when she is nominated is the time for her to set out her policies. For now, the most pressing thing is that Dems have to be convinced she can beat Trump so they can get behind her.

I realise that and I remain shocked, firstly at the lengths Biden's team must have gone to in order to deceive their own voters, secondly at the humiliations they've subjected Biden himself to, and thirdly at the apparent reluctance of some Democrat supporters to even say, 'What the actual fuck were you playing at?'

I'm getting concerned that we might be losing sight of the very thing we're supposed to be trying to defend.