Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2024/06/28/bidens-post-debate-comeback-from-fumble-to-fiery-in-18-hours.html
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Owning the bad debate performance and moving forward is probably the best strategy.
One of the fun moments of Obama’s 2012 campaign was at the Al Smith Dinner when Obama made some self-deprecating jokes about how badly he did in his first debate against Romney:
This is the third time that Governor Romney and I have met recently. As some of you may have noticed, I had a lot more energy at our second debate. (Laughter.) I felt really well rested after the nice, long nap I had in the first debate. (Laughter and applause.) Although it turns out millions of Americans focused in on the second debate who didn’t focus in on the first debate – and I happen to be one of them. (Laughter.)
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Thank you for providing a more accurate and moderated take from the constant “omg it was such a disaster the left is doomed we need to find a new candidate” doom and gloom I can’t seem to escape.
More of this please. Lampshading the constant “omg Biden so old” criticism will only make it a less powerful and persuasive argument moving forward. Remember Reagan’s age retort during the debate against Mondale that pundits love to talk about? It really worked to his advantage. (As much as I absolutely despise Reagan and everything he did, it’s hard to deny that the man was a really slick talker.)
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Biden acknowledges shaky debate performance and vows to stay in race: ‘when you get knocked down, you get back up’ – live
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… it’s going to take more than a moment 
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It’s like the song goes: I get knocked down, but I get up again.
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Save your blame and indignation for the people that continue to prop up Trump as a viable candidate. That’s close to 0% of the participants here. We’re all trying to make sure that clown loses again come November.
Sage words from a fine bunch of anarchists that I wish were still making music.
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No, but see, the ONLY people who have agency are DEMOCRATS they are to blame for ALL the bad things!!! Trump appointed three right wingers to the court, well…
The GOP is NEVER at fault! EVER… it’s always those radical leftists who are to blame! Especially the American ones!!! /s
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Goodness help us all, but David Frum has articulated what seems to be the most reasonable and self-aware take on this I’ve seen yet:
Some good stuff:
Ferocious controversy will probably now erupt over Biden’s leadership of the Democratic Party. We’ll hear all kinds of plans to swap him out somehow. Maybe those plans will be workable, but probably not. Through the uproar, it will be important to keep in mind that this election is not about Biden. It’s about you and your commitments and your values. Biden is just the instrument. Like any instrument, he’s imperfect. But better an imperfect instrument than a would-be autocrat who demands a cult of personality.
and
This most recent debate has taught the danger of spectatorship. The job of saving democracy from Trump will be done not by an old man on a gaudy stage, but by those who care that their democracy be saved. Biden’s evident frailties have aggravated that job and made it more difficult, but they have also clarified whose job it was. Not his. Yours.
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Old Joe is old. Film at 11. He still got in some good lines (tho arguing about who is the better golfer was the lowest of the low points)
I’d vote for a flaming sack of dog excrement over Hair Twittler (for dog’s sake his incompetence and malevolence killed more Americans than Hitler! (only good thing Hitler did was he killed Hitler, shoulda done it a lot earlier) does no one remember COVID?!?!?)
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Simple as “1 p.m. speech in tront of a friendly, energizing crowd” vs. “9 p.m. debate with the last person you want to spend two hours with”?
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Schedule debates in the morning, jeez. Even i need a nap in the afternoon nowadays, and i’m about 25 years younger than Joe.
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That’s the voice he needed during the debate. You can even forgo a lot of the good policy points - just forcefully make statements pounding Trump.
Trump has it easy because making up lies loudly isn’t hard. Trying to remember all of the actual details is difficult.
I find it hilarious that I saw some people angry that Biden said no US service member died during his administration (forgetting those in the withdrawal from Afghanistan. But, like, that’s what pissed you off, and not the hundred lies from Trump, including the one where he called troops suckers and losers?
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I was watching the View this morning, and a couple of them were talking about how Biden should resign (not just drop out of the race, but resign the Presidency…insane), and Sunny Hostin dropped a truth bomb: why is it only Democrats talking about replacing Biden on their ticket, and no one is asking why Republicans won’t replace the convicted felon on theirs?
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… Democrats are currently more concerned about losing the general election 
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And negativity fixes that, how?
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Because a lot of publicly presenting celebrity Democrats really are the kind of effete out-of-touch privileged assholes they have a reputation for being, as are their employers.
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Man I love that song!
… and I will use any excuse to post this link
ETA:
Crank up that volume!
I just realized that for people who do not know Chumbawamba’s fine works, I should probably let them know that this is what they are singing about and what you are quoting.
Background
The song was the group’s lead single from Tubthumper, their major-label debut.[2] It was released on 11 August 1997.[3][4] Vocalist Dunstan Bruce retrospectively observed that, before the group wrote it, they “were in a mess: we had become directionless and disparate”. He credited “Tubthumping” with changing that, telling The Guardian, “It’s not our most political or best song, but it brought us back together. The song is about us – as a class and as a band. The beauty of it was we had no idea how big it would be.”[5]
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Yeah, the “Democrats” on reddit are all clamoring for Gavin Newsom to replace Biden, and I made the mistake of engaging and pointing out that most progressive voters aren’t going to support Newsom. They then asked me what progressives support Biden, and I said me, for one. They then called me stupid. (I know, I know, I need to stay off reddit)
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