We are in deep shit but there are options ...

 

A raspy-voiced President Biden struggled to deliver his lines and counter former President Donald J. Trump during the debate on Thursday.Credit...Kenny Holston/The New York Times

We are in deep shit ... Agent Orange, serial liar but in good form as one possessing malignant charisma, successfully beat down Sleepy Joe, a man dealing not well with the ravages of old age, in a presidential debate for the ages. As an old geezer myself but not showing signs of dementia as of late, felt real sorrow because anyone possessing in depth knowledge of how governance works, would have made short work of Trump without question. 

As often I said to friends, Paddy Chayefsky would have been deemed crazy in predicting a scenario as absurd and insane as this but here we are as we move toward an election of truly terrifying implications if Trump wins, a notion voiced by this rube for well over a year and a half as the Orange Cheeto is Gladstone Gander, a guy blessed with not only a teflon suit able to ward off truly dreadful events that would send yours truly to jail for years but also is blessed with incredible luck in in beating Hillary in 2016 against all odds and now competing with a compromised Joe Biden in 2024.

Gladstone Gander

Question? What should the dems do? For starters, dump Biden and pick California Governor Gavin Newsom to go after Trump with a younger guy able to deal with an obnoxious old bully with no redeeming qualities AFAIK. 

President Biden hoped to build fresh momentum for his re-election bid by agreeing to debate nearly two months before he is to be formally nominated. Instead, his halting and disjointed performance on Thursday night prompted a wave of panic among Democrats and reopened discussion of whether he should be the nominee at all.

Over the course of 90 minutes, a raspy-voiced Mr. Biden struggled to deliver his lines and counter a sharp though deeply dishonest former President Donald J. Trump, raising doubts about the incumbent president’s ability to wage a vigorous and competitive campaign four months before the election. Rather than dispel concerns about his age, Mr. Biden, 81, made it the central issue.

All eyes are on Gavin Newsom for a reason. Several, actually.

Photographer: Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg

Time to make the move now ...

When cameras captured California Governor Gavin Newsom walking into CNN’s spin room on Thursday evening, flashing his Hollywood smile before the presidential debate in Atlanta, a few political observers in his home state rushed to social media with some version of the same annoyed question.

“Why is he there?”

Newsom was there to cheer on President Joe Biden before his debate with former President Donald Trump. “Biden is confident,” Newsom told reporters. “He’s got a record and he’s got a vision for the future.”

A couple of painful hours later, after a debate in which Biden, his voice raspy and halting, looked every bit of his 81 years, that vision for the future seemed cloudy. Biden’s pale and frail appearance led to immediate and widespread speculation that he would be pushed to decline the Democratic nomination. And that kind of talk, in turn, leads quickly to Newsom.

Of the many prominent Democrats with aspirations for higher office, Newsom is arguably best equipped -- in fundraising chops, in messaging and in campaign infrastructure -- to step up in an emergency. And this is, by all indications, an emergency.

For VP, Governor Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan works for me.

Gretchen Whitmer

And so it goes. K. Vonnegut