It was not some grand plan, it was a massive failure.

[meadowlander]

36. They tried that and no amount of gaslighting people that they didn't see what they saw at the debates

and subsequent interviews was going to move the needle with voters in the swing states. They'd already been saying for months that they thought he was too old and they just wanted another option. The debate was supposed to assuage concerns that were already resulting in Joe trailing despite running against the weakest candidate in the history of candidates.

You can have the greatest marketing campaign in the world but if people just don't like the taste of New Coke, then they aren't going to buy it.

If there was a failure, it was in not having a robust primary process in the first place but even if we had, circumstances change and we need to be able to be responsive to them. A year ago, it seemed like Joe was up for it. The presidency ages people fast and the majority of people post-debate didn't think he was up for it. There's no way to turn that around because Joe isn't getting younger and clearly wasn't up to the kind of round the clock, four rallies a day in different states campaigning necessary. No more meetings after 8pm? Come on.