We are still hanging on for dear life here at The BradCast amid the past four weeks of non-stop political upheavals. But, at least this week, we’ve got some much more encouraging stuff to hang on to. For now. [Audio link to full show is posted below this summary.]
It remains to be seen how fleeing it all is, but over the past several days, I must say, I have never seen Democrats more united and elated as they have been since Kamala Harris ascended to become their presumptive 2024 Presidential nominee. One has to go back to the nomination of Barack Obama in 2008 for anything even close to the kind of giddy excitement and optimism we’ve seen since Joe Biden decided to drop out and pass the torch to Harris on Sunday. But, even back in 2008, the party was still smarting and somewhat riven over the outcome of a long and bruising primary cycle between Obama and Hilary Clinton (who wrote a very good op-ed about all of this in the Times yesterday, btw.)
The first polls taken solely after Biden’s announcement and endorsement on Sunday are now beginning to trickle out, with a new Reuters/Ipsos survey taken on Monday and Tuesday this week finding Harris now up over Donald Trump nationally by 2 points. That may be a small lead, but it’s a 4-point swing as compared to Trump’s 2-point lead over Biden last week. Moreover, when RFK, Jr. was included in the question to respondents, Harris’ lead grew to 4 points over Trump in the first polling from this outfit that has seen the former President actually losing to a Democrat since May of this year.
Furthermore, as one of our guests notes today, in the week following a party’s national convention, we traditionally see a bounce for that party of anywhere from 2 to 4 points. In this one poll, at least, there is not only no bounce, but a loss of support for the GOP candidate following last week’s Republican National Convention.
Of course, be sure to mind all of the usual caveats about such polls — only one poll, margin of error, snapshot in time, national versus state numbers, etc. Nonetheless, the numbers would seem to be encouraging news for Dems after many weeks of the opposite.
To that end, we’ve got a lot to make sense of from the past several remarkable days, and we’re joined by two old friends to help us do so. Our steadfast HEATHER DIGBY PARTON of Salon and Hullabaloo is here once again, along with JOHN AMATO, creator of the notorious Crooks & Liars blog, for the first time in a while.
Among our many topics of discussion, debate and tomfoolery today…
- Thoughts on the extraordinary decision by and presidency of Joe Biden, including whether his decision to get out came too late or just at the right time.
- Republicans, Fox “News” and even a number of theoretically legitimate news outlets have been telling us that there is something undemocratic about what has just happened in the Democratic Party. Are they right?
- Thoughts on Harris and her rise to meet this historic moment.
- Thoughts on the ugly, racist, barely concealed dog-whistle attacks against her already emerging from the right.
- The hilarious “fraud” argument now coming from Trump and his campaign on Harris’ ascension to the top of the Democratic ticket, and their astonishingly flat-footed response, so far.
- Thoughts on whether we should expect the same protests from the left that had dogged President Biden regarding his position on Israel to similarly affect the Harris Campaign.
- Some advice for those who may be experiencing a bit of PTSD following the last time Democrats nominated a woman to run for President against Trump.
- Veep Stakes on the Right!: Is Trump regretting his selection of J.D. Vance as his Vice-Presidential running mate this week? Is Vance regretting accepting the job? Is it possible he’ll soon be tossed from the GOP ticket?
- Veep Stakes on the Left!: Who would our guests like to see Harris select as her own running mate? And who do they expect she will choose?
All of that and much, much more on today’s lively round-table BradCast!…
(Snail mail support to “Brad Friedman, 7095 Hollywood Blvd., #594 Los Angeles, CA 90028” always welcome too!)
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I stand for the possibility that this Presidential election could go the same way as this historic fight, with KAMALA taking the place of Ali, and tRump as the opponent (Cleveland Williams) . . . . . . . . . . . .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJUzl0aFHZw
I am just spitballing here, but if there is nothing that can be done beforehand about GOP purging legal Democrat voters in swing states, (GOP signing up 44,000 volunteers to each purge voters) could Biden and Harris forewarn GOP doing this, that if Democrats numbers overwhelm purge, and Democrats win office, that there will be a bill that acts retroactively to charge all those who do this anti-democracy purging with real penalties?
And, perhaps suggest that GOP volunteers reverse purges already done, and stop future purging attempts to not be charged?
Hopefully, some better strategy out there.