A Knife in the Back

Spectator

By Stephen Tuttle | July 13, 2024

National Democrats should be ashamed of themselves.

Democrats have always been experts at devouring their own, masters of the fine art of political cannibalism. Their willingness to so quickly turn on their own incumbent president is extreme even by their low standards. Blind loyalty is dangerous; no loyalty isn’t any better.

Yes, Joe Biden had a very bad debate, and he occasionally hesitates when he shouldn’t, and stumbles over both words and his feet. Aside from the debate performance, none of that was especially new, as Biden’s stumbles and fumbles have been known for a long time. What is new is his own party plunging knife after knife into his back. There was a far better solution we’ll get to in a bit.

Forcing out an incumbent president absent criminal wrongdoing isn’t new. Back in 1968, when anti-war sentiment was approaching a boiling point, anti-war Democrat Eugene McCarthy challenged President Lyndon Johnson and won 42 percent of the vote in New Hampshire. Though Johnson won with 50 percent, the result was shocking enough to force Johnson from the race altogether and, one would think, created a clear path for McCarthy.

But primary elections were not the end-all they are today. Bobby Kennedy entered the race late and won both South Dakota and California, where he was assassinated. So McCarthy was the nominee, right? Nope.

Political conventions were still where deals were made in smoke-filled rooms, and primaries carried little weight. Democrats, having chased away Johnson and fearful of McCarthy’s anti-war politics, nominated Vice President Hubert Humphrey, who had not participated in a single primary. It was the party bosses who installed Humphrey as the nominee, against the will of primary voters. Humphrey went on to lose to Richard Nixon, and primary elections did not become more important than the conventions until the mid-1970s.

Well, the Republicans forced out Richard Nixon while he was in office, so how is that different? The difference, and it’s pretty glaring, is Richard Nixon had committed crimes that were tape-recorded. The public had not yet heard those tapes, but some GOP leaders had and they knew how damning they would be.

(Nixon believed there were incriminating documents in a safe in the left-leaning Brookings Institute, and he wanted them destroyed. On June 17, 1971, in an Oval Office meeting with aides, Nixon said, “Get in and get those files. Blow the safe and get it.” Then, in a July 1 meeting, Nixon was still at it. “Did they get the Brookings Institute raided last night?” When H.R. Haldeman answered in the negative, Nixon said, “Get it done. I want it done. I want the Brookings Institute safe cleaned out.” In just two sentences, Nixon had committed sufficient felonies that he’d have been impeached and convicted.)

Democrats devoured their own in 2016 when the so-called progressives, apparently unhappy with the prospect of winning, continued to demean and attack Hillary Clinton long after they should have become part of her campaign team.

Now, it has become more than offensive watching elected Democrats claiming they are only interested in doing what’s “best for the country” as they plant yet another knife in Biden’s back while throwing him under yet another bus.

They seem to think Vice President Kamala Harris will somehow be a stronger alternative. Based on what? She was one of the first to withdraw from the 2020 presidential primaries claiming an inability to raise money. She could have added an inability to generate votes. As vice president she has helped with voting rights legislation but would be hamstrung with immigration and the border which she was assigned to “fix.”

Joe Biden, who may have already withdrawn when you read this, deserves far better from his own party. He has not been convicted criminally of felonies or civilly of sexual assault, has not had to pay tens of millions to avoid civil suits, has not had a string of business failures and scams, has not had to pay an adult film star to keep quiet about their affair, the economy is decent, crime is down... Biden has a record on which to run that contrasts nicely with his opponent, and it’s not as if he’d be doing it alone.

Democrats should have circled the wagons, promised to support Biden and doubled their efforts to defeat Donald Trump with an emphasis on judge appointments, women’s reproductive rights, and voting rights. They could have saved this presidency, perhaps defeating Trump along the way. Then, after a few months or a year, if needed, Biden could resign and an orderly transition take place.

Instead, they’ve decided a better option is to insult and demean the reputation and career of someone who has given more than half a century of public service to his party and his country. It is shameful.