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Key quotes:

Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is working furiously behind the scenes to put pressure on President Biden to reconsider his place at the top of the 2024 ticket, according to a number of Democratic lawmakers familiar with her efforts.

The Speaker emerita is talking to a broad swath of House Democrats — from front-liners in tough districts to hardened veterans with institutional clout — to pump the brakes on the notion that Biden should definitively be the party’s nominee heading into November, these lawmakers said.

Pelosi has not said Biden should exit the race, but the lawmakers said she harbors deep concerns about Biden’s ability to defeat former President Trump, and she’s fighting to prevent the party from rubber-stamping Biden’s candidacy before there’s a broader discussion about the potentially damaging consequences of that decision.

Note: This is a “breaking” story, as in, its been leaked and is just now showing up on multiple outlets.

  • TropicalDingdong@lemmy.worldOP
    276·
    5 months ago

    Some more quotes:

    “I did have a conversation with her, she is very concerned,” said a House Democratic lawmaker who spoke anonymously to discuss a sensitive topic. “It’s not like she’s like, ‘We’re sticking with this guy.'”

    A number of other lawmakers have had similar discussions.

    “I’ve had my own conversations with her,” a second Democrat said.

    “It’s just an obvious concern. The stakes are so high. We can’t afford to do anything but have our best possible opportunity to win,” the lawmaker said, relaying Pelosi’s message.

    Pelosi’s push for a deeper assessment of Biden’s candidacy, sources say, is rooted in concerns that the president’s campaign has responded to his disastrous June 27 debate performance with emotional appeals to staunch allies and a show of forceful defiance — but not an honest reckoning with underlying image problems or an objective analysis of the political fallout.

    “Team Biden made it clear what their strategy was: ignore the problem, run out the clock, and force the rest of us to live with it,” said Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), who has publicly called on Biden to step aside. “I felt a certain urgency to upset that strategy.”

    Like…

    Wowza.

    • brucethemoose@lemmy.world
      24·
      5 months ago

      This would be so much better if the Biden campaign didn’t act like they were in denial.

      If he’s so hell bent on being president… OK. But he needs to come out with Kamala Harris, and emphatically say “I’m old. I know it. And I’ll lean on my cabinet and my vice president, heavily, and do what we’ve been doing.” Not act like everything’s hunky dory when everyone knows it’s not.

      Act like Harris is an equal! Put her front and center! They can have their cake and eat it if he just puts his pride aside.

      • tomkatt@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        5 months ago

        I have a feeling there may still be bad blood there considering Harris basically acted like she was the one elected president early in Biden’s first term, until he reminded her who was president and who was vice.