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Doc Sportello

(7,953 posts)
Sun Jul 7, 2024, 09:25 AM Jul 2024

Why is the pundit class so desperate to push Biden out of the race?

... it does seem like the pundit class of the American media is suffering from severe memory loss. Because they’re doing exactly what they did in the 2016 presidential race – providing wildly asymmetrical and inflammatory coverage of the one candidate running against Donald J Trump.

They have become a stampeding herd producing an avalanche of stories suggesting Biden is unfit, will lose and should go away, at a point in the campaign in which replacing him would likely be somewhere between extremely difficult and utterly catastrophic. They do this while ignoring something every scholar and critic of journalism knows well and every journalist should. As Nikole Hannah-Jones put it: “As media we consistently proclaim that we are just reporting the news when in fact we are driving it. What we cover, how we cover it, determines often what Americans think is important and how they perceive these issues yet we keep pretending it’s not so.” They are not reporting that he is a loser; they are making him one.

According to one journalist’s tally, the New York Times has run 192 stories on the subject since the debate, including 50 editorials and 142 news stories. The Washington Post, which has also gone for saturation coverage, published a resignation speech they wrote for him. Not to be outdone, the New Yorker’s editor-in-chief declared that Biden not going away “would be an act not only of self-delusion but of national endangerment” and had a staff writer suggest that Democrats should use the never-before-deployed 25th amendment.

Since this would have to be led by Vice-President Kamala Harris, it would be a sort of insider coup. And so it goes with what appears to be a journalistic competition to outdo each other in the aggressiveness of the attacks and the unreality of the proposals. It’s a dogpile and a panic, and there is no one more unable to understand their own emotional life, biases and motives than people who are utterly convinced of their own ironclad rationality and objectivity, AKA most of these pundits.


https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/jul/06/biden-trump-race-rebecca-solnit

The interesting thing about this push from pundits (including those who think they are pundits or part of some elite ruling class) is that it is very much top down. The great unwashed - meaning most of us on here and rank-and-file Democrats - appear to greatly oppose these efforts.
Also, there is an insightful take in the article about Biden's speech issues and views from gerentologists who say his speech is part of normal aging and not signs of dementia.
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Why is the pundit class so desperate to push Biden out of the race? (Original Post) Doc Sportello Jul 2024 OP
Pundits and media crack heads want to keep FarPoint Jul 2024 #1
They think he's good for ratings. And tax cuts, I guess they haven't Meadowoak Jul 2024 #2
drama and ensuing ratings Dennis Donovan Jul 2024 #3
MSM is trying to make a horse race. . . DinahMoeHum Jul 2024 #4
Mainstream media has had massive layoffs over the past year or so jmbar2 Jul 2024 #5
"They think he's good for ratings." J_William_Ryan Jul 2024 #6
There just ain't no there there. No substance behind this frenzy. paleotn Jul 2024 #7
Seems to me that the base is with Biden, and wants to defy the pundit class. nt BootinUp Jul 2024 #8
Maybe we can spot vacuous stupidity a mile away. paleotn Jul 2024 #10
I'm glad we can count on some strong support like yours. BootinUp Jul 2024 #11
Biden is a good man. Kid Berwyn Jul 2024 #9
He is too progressive and monied interests hate that DBoon Jul 2024 #12
My thoughts exactly Doc Sportello Jul 2024 #15
The media JustAnotherGen Jul 2024 #13
Makes them feel powerful - and it's easy mcar Jul 2024 #14

FarPoint

(13,520 posts)
1. Pundits and media crack heads want to keep
Sun Jul 7, 2024, 09:29 AM
Jul 2024

their easy, high paying jobs ..Integrity is not in the equation.

Meadowoak

(6,069 posts)
2. They think he's good for ratings. And tax cuts, I guess they haven't
Sun Jul 7, 2024, 09:29 AM
Jul 2024

Realized they would be working for state run tv.

DinahMoeHum

(22,426 posts)
4. MSM is trying to make a horse race. . .
Sun Jul 7, 2024, 09:31 AM
Jul 2024

. . .out of horse manure.

And as I've said previously:

The chattering class / has its head up its ass

jmbar2

(5,970 posts)
5. Mainstream media has had massive layoffs over the past year or so
Sun Jul 7, 2024, 09:31 AM
Jul 2024

With AI coming in to replace those who remain, I think they are all trying to build ratings to not get laid off.

No proof, just a theory. The only MSM that gets my eyeballs from here is Lawrence and Rachel, and some of the independents.

Everyone else seems to be bowing to the pressure.

J_William_Ryan

(2,035 posts)
6. "They think he's good for ratings."
Sun Jul 7, 2024, 09:44 AM
Jul 2024

He is.

Four years of Trump corruption, incompetence, chaos, and criminality would enrich corporate media.

paleotn

(18,994 posts)
7. There just ain't no there there. No substance behind this frenzy.
Sun Jul 7, 2024, 09:44 AM
Jul 2024

The man has done how many rallies, off the cuff remarks and interviews since the debate? He's fine. He's as fine as he was 6 months ago. He's as fine as he was during the last SOTU. This is all a dust up over nothing and makes me hate the yapper / scribbler class all the more. They serve no purpose other than to serve themselves and spread bullshit with a bullhorn. I despise their very existence. They're a waste of time, money and organic molecules. At least Clinton actually HAD a private email server, as did many Sec States before her. But THIS issue has nothing, absolutely nothing, behind it.

BootinUp

(48,700 posts)
11. I'm glad we can count on some strong support like yours.
Sun Jul 7, 2024, 10:00 AM
Jul 2024


Joe and the Democratic party are going to get through this.

Kid Berwyn

(17,678 posts)
9. Biden is a good man.
Sun Jul 7, 2024, 09:52 AM
Jul 2024

That makes it hard for them to do bizniss in the manner to which they feel entitled.



(Left to Right) Scarface. Stoneface. Loserface.

DBoon

(22,976 posts)
12. He is too progressive and monied interests hate that
Sun Jul 7, 2024, 10:45 AM
Jul 2024

Biden has skillfully adopted and implemented the best of Bernie Sanders' policies. He is the closest thing to a Social Democrat we have had in the White House since LBJ. Even the most "liberal" wealthy donors can't take this.

They want Biden to step down as a way of letting his successor Democrat to know who is boss and what lines not to cross.

Doc Sportello

(7,953 posts)
15. My thoughts exactly
Sun Jul 7, 2024, 11:52 AM
Jul 2024

Funny how many of the get out gang are coming from the conservadems, or whatever you call the Moultons of the world.

JustAnotherGen

(33,273 posts)
13. The media
Sun Jul 7, 2024, 10:59 AM
Jul 2024

Needs clicks and ratings. A boring President who does his job is boring to these outlets. They enjoyed children separated at the border (20 or so lost forever?) and seeing pain inflicted on those outside of the Dominant Culture.

mcar

(43,366 posts)
14. Makes them feel powerful - and it's easy
Sun Jul 7, 2024, 11:01 AM
Jul 2024

Just make up or exaggerate stuff, offer endless speculation, and get an "anonymous Democratic source" to spout nonsense. Voila! You're on the front page.

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