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The Great Freakout [1]

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Date: 2024-06-29  

It did not take long to realize things were not going well for Joe Biden during the debate. As I listened, I wondered whether Joe’s apparent difficulty in finding the words he needed were a result of him fighting his stutter or a result of him having “senior moments.” Either of which could make him lose focus and drift away from the point he was trying to make. While I do not want to conjecture about why he did so poorly, I think it is important not to assume the worst, as I was sure so many people would do. Needless to say, my expectations in regard to how the pundits would characterize and/or explain President Biden’s performance were not high.

Low though my expectations were, they did not prepare me for the total freakout I saw on MSNBC. The shrieks of utter panic were so out of proportion to what I will admit was a frightening event that I reeled back away from what I was afraid would soon become a stampede. I changed the channel several times, and on each channel I heard anguished cries from my fellow Democrats. I returned to MSNBC, muttering to myself: “Come on people! Stand up – out of the chairs now soaked in butt sweat. Take a deep breath, put on some dry didies, and start moving resolutely forward! We have work to do!”

Fortunately, Gavin Newsom was on screen, and he was trying to instill some reason in the minds of bed wetters who were so eager jump off the Biden ship. Lawrence O’Donnel also put things into prospective by saying much of what I was thinking:

Many candidates have bombed the first debate and have gone on to win the election. The percentage of voters who watch the debates is small. The people least inclined to watch the debates are the undecided voters. We know that because if they paid much attention to politics, they would not be undecided about these well-known candidates at this time. It is those undecided voters who determine the outcome of elections, and yes, it is frightening that the people who pay so little attention to what is going on are the deciders.

My greatest fear at that point was that the anguished cries of Democrats would influence the reactions of the undecideds. But so far everything seems to indicate that our fear of the ignorant, Gish galloping, criminal, fascist, Trump is understood, at least on some level, by a large percentage of unaffiliated voters. Indeed, a large percentage of the people who describe themselves as undecideds are repulsed by the criminality, immorality, and dishonesty that would cause any sane political party to dump Trump like a hot turd. As I said before we have a lot of work to do, as does Joe Biden, but the path to the white house is still open.

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