Pelosi on Biden: 'We did not have a campaign that was on the path to victory'

[former9thward]

Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif) said that she joined the effort to convince President Biden to abandon his reelection bid because the president’s campaign was losing badly and placing “rose petals” on the path to a victory by former president Donald Trump.

“Now I was really asking for a better campaign. We did not have a campaign that was on the path to victory. Members knew that in their districts,” the former House speaker told a small group of reporters during an interview Wednesday promoting her new book.

In her most extensive remarks yet about the political earthquake over the last five weeks, Pelosi said that Biden’s June 27 debate debacle and the aftermath revealed two troubling signs making it all but inevitable that Trump would return to the White House: The president was performing poorly as a candidate and his campaign operation was also flawed.

“My goal in life was that that man would never set foot in the White House again,” she said of Trump, pounding the table nine times for emphasis and to explain why she acted. She added that she couldn’t stand to see “an unfolding of events that were just putting rose petals in front of him to go there.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/08/07/nancy-pelosi-joe-biden-dropped-out-reelection-campaign/

[BeyondGeography]

1. I shudder to think where this party would be without Nancy Pelosi

[LuvLoogie]

2. This is an interview to give on November 6th.

It gives weight to the coup characterization. I suspect trump will be back soon harping on this. This interview undermines the organic nature of our renewed enthusiasm and kind of throws Joe under the bus.

[edisdead]

3. I agree.

This is a big misstep to put this out there right now.

[LuvLoogie]

7. Yeah the press is going to run with this one until November

I'm a little pissed. Not at her maneuvering, but at her talking about it to the press. The fucking press.

[BeyondGeography]

8. We have a convention coming up and this needs to be resolved there.

I think it will. This is a loose end and letting it slide until November isn’t healthy.

[LuvLoogie]

9. Resolved in-house, not in the press.

What's to resolve? If there is something to resolve, then it's manipulative to air it in the fucking press.

The only reason I can see for this is to draw donald out of his safe space.

This is going to be a distraction from the enthusiasm for Kamala.

[BeyondGeography]

10. The way I read this she is reaching out to him

“I love him so much.” She does. Let’s see how this plays out. I’m hopeful.

[soandso]

12. Agree but

it's not like everyone doesn't know what went down, which was widely reported.

By this past weekend, Biden faced the real possibility that Pelosi would ratchet up the pressure more publicly.

“Nancy made clear that they could do this the easy way or the hard way,” Politico quoted one unnamed Democrat familiar with private conversations saying. “She gave them three weeks of the easy way. It was about to be the hard way.”

https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/07/22/why-nancy-pelosi-was-key-to-nudging-biden-out-for-her-its-all-about-winning/

[Blaukraut]

4. Pelosi once again saw what many of us didn't want to see

My heart breaks for Biden, but he was the wrong person for this race. Not because of any age- or mental faculty related reasons, but because he represents the past and a time that everyone but the most ardent Trump humpers wanted to put behind them.

[newdeal2]

5. Let's hope they can reconcile

She acknowledged that last month’s turn of events has created personal pain in a more than 40-year friendship.

“So we are friends for a very long time. I love him so much. We pray together. I cry over it, I lose sleep over it and the rest, but that’s what evolved,” Pelosi said.

[Sky Jewels]

6. Thank goodness she helped persuade him.

I was definitely on Team Step Down, but never posted that on DU because I was too busy being despondent in a fetal position and avoiding all news/media content after that disastrous debate.

[David__77]

11. The appearance of some non-antagonistic distance or difference from Biden is not unhelpful.