Ah, the "he just has a stutter" nonsense. It was perhaps the most laughable example of tribalism in years. Some people sold their credibility trying to deflect for a politician. Politicians don't give a crap about anyone but themselves, but plenty of people lined up to play the role of useful idiot to protect their tribe. Shameful.
Here's the thing with Biden:
I absolutely 100% agree with folks who said, "Republicans were saying even before the election he was old and decrepit, non-functioning, blah blah," and it HAS BEEN A TACTIC from day one of Comrade Trump (remember his repetitive comments about Hillary had a stroke or "doesn't have the stamina"?). That part is absolutely true. And I spotted Biden a little bit early on simply because folks don't seem to recall that during the 1988 race (when he was 43), Biden suffered a pair of aneurysms after his withdrawal that nearly killed him PLUS he had a stutter. You never fully recover 100% from those things, and they can bother you as you age.
No, the problem was, as you say, the "tribalism" that when Special Counsel Robert Hur basically said, "Look, I can't prosecute this guy because a jury is going to find his old man personality believable enough that he wasn't committing criminal mischief, he just forgot," they tore into him with the intensity of Vietnam War protestors, completely ignoring what their own eyes had seen. "Oh no, Biden doesn't have any trouble, Hur is just a Republican hater" (sounding for all the world like Tide fans on this board when a Tide fan says something like, "We're walking into a buzzsaw with Clemson" in 2018).
And btw, Platner is going to suffer the same fate as Biden did. They covered for him since last fall, ran off anyone who said "Hey look, this guy has red flags all over him", attacked any and all bad things about him as "Republican attacks" and then - only when the poll numbers shifted - found a conscience (by which I mean they crapped their pants over how badly they screwed up) and started all of their Paul on the road to Damascus religious conversion crap on replacing him. When this is over - and odds now are they lose the race simply because Collins hasn't been a Senator in Maine for 30 years by being clueless, and their time is short - they will immediately begin GASLIGHTING everyone and
blaming Platner for misleading them from day one. They lied for him, covered for him, pretending they weren't seeing exactly what was obvious - and now, of course, it's PLATNER'S fault for THEIR shortcomings.
Again - these folks have a whole lot more in common with Donald Trump than they want to admit.
If Platner had a 10-point lead in the polls right now, this latest wouldn't have sunk him, either.
Now Twitter is alive with the sound of "see, we Democrats aren't like Republicans, we get rid of our people who do this stuff" and citing (as ludicrous evidence) Franken, Swalwell, and now Platner.
But Franken only got the heave-ho because the governor of Minnesota was a Democrat. (There was even talk of having him rescind his resignation if Roy Moore won Alabama that fall).
Swalwell got the heave-ho because his presence in the race was clustering the primary thing they have in California and ruining their chances to win that state.
And Platner DID NOT get the heave-ho a month ago because "since his accuser is a Republican, she has to be lying."
I don't mind the Democrats playing hardball, it's politics for Pete's sake.
I DO mind their pretentious self-righteousness that "we aren't like the Republicans" when they are, in fact, EXACTLY like the Republicans as far as tactics.
Actually, they've gotten worse in recent years without anyone calling them out on it.
Get back with me when the Republican Party is sitting there with an election 100-120 days away and rips away the ballot box choice (via the popular vote no less) of "the people" and installs someone else solely due to the polls showing the chosen one is about to get smoked. And then get back with me when they likewise insist they are "defending democracy" and pull that trick. (It's not even a new trick - they did this in 2002 in the New Jersey Senate race when they replaced Toricelli with Lautenberg because the Torch was about to get torched).
www.forbes.com
