Vee

I personally don't think Schumer, Jeffries or Pelosi are looking to run an all-white ticket or run Kamala off it. I suspect Pelosi at least and likely the other two know that would be suicide, even if I don't think any Biden voter likes how this has been handled. But I do think AOC is right that many rich donors or backbenchers are playing fantasy camp and wishcasting about this stuff, hoping they can dump her too. I don't know who the nominee will be at this point but it is either Joe, Kamala or no one.

Meanwhile, on Instagram Live, AOC continued to make the case for Biden. A few excerpts. I don't always agree with AOC and of course she has a rocky past, but I don't think she is wrong about any of this.

I think it will give Joe a little more breathing room, like the NATO conference. But short of something miraculous and freakish like oh, last week's assassination attempt I don't think that will last, I think the cake is baked. But I don't know who it will be; Joe or Kamala. At this moment I don't really care. What matters now to me, whoever the candidate is, is party unity and ending the BTS debacle. Trump got next to no bounce even from an attempt on his life with a perfect photo op seemingly sent by Satan. He delivered another disastrous speech. He has reminded everyone again that he is weak, reduced from his former self and can be taken. We have done it more than once, even without him on the ballot. All that remains is for the party to get its shít together and go do it.

The Tears of Nate Silver return: If you click through above you'll see Nate's third tweet whining that he takes it all back and 'both parties are trying to lose this election'. Anyway:

I think either Biden or Harris can win, but Kamala is a sudden lift and right now Joe has real liabilities too. But he still has the edge. Trump is historically weak. Case in point, tonight's deranged speech.

I still think Ava finished the job. But my bet is they pin it on Pikeman.

Halperin! A name I haven't heard in aeons. He's still on the fringe of Newsmax and Substack, thank God. Meanwhile:

GOAT, of course.

Pretty much.

Schumer was astonishingly bold, but supposedly Biden doesn't trust or at least have a super close relationship with either Schumer or Jeffries so I wasn't entirely surprised. Pelosi works much more carefully. The fact that this is leaking from her is deliberate, and makes me think she must know more than we do. Not about Biden's competency but about numbers. I can't fault her actions if those numbers are real, but if we all survive this experience there will be a story told one day about how Joe was pushed out and it will likely have many annals of shame.

In an imaginary world I think Obama can and would take it today, four years ago and four years before that. But he's done and he has every right to be. I do think Joe Biden has been haunted by Obama (allegedly) convincing him to give HIllary the baton in '16, and feeling that if he'd run he'd have won and averted so much of what's come since. I think Joe may be right about that. But we can't change it and we're not there now. People do not hate Kamala Harris a fraction as much as they ever did Hillary Clinton. But they also don't know her as much. Putting her over to the base will not be difficult IMO, it's the saggy middle or lazy low-info voters that concern me. I don't see evidence of that back then tbh. I don't remember any drumbeat to get rid of him in those years. But if people really wanted him out the time to mount a case was long ago, and they never did to my notice or a lot of the general public's.

I just hope people on the inside know exactly what they're buying if a succession happens. Nancy Pelosi is a machine and her only calculus is winning, so if she is actually suggesting Joe go she must know much more than I do. But getting Joe Biden across the finish line against Trump is not the same thing as getting Kamala Harris there. It is not one size fits all, and the fact is that on the ground I suspect a huge portion of the base is still very much behind Joe despite what has gone on online and in Washington. We have all either known or for some of us learned more than once in the last 4-5 years that when it comes to Biden, online is most definitely not the real world. People are underestimating Biden yet again IMO, even if I feel the WH has handled much of the last few weeks poorly re: criticism and intra-party strife as well as public appearances. But if Joe's luck runs out this time the entire party had all better be prepared to shore up that unhappy base out there in the real world and make it clear Kamala is his heir. This kind of lift at this very late date will take everything we've ever had and more. She does not have the institutional and historical love from casual and disengaged or some yes, stupid voters that Joe has had for decades (the same things those idiots at The Onion now flagellate themselves for promoting because they didn't help Bernie to win a primary). And she has generational racism, sexism and media dislike against her. Not as much as Hillary did, no woman does, but it is going to be a lift. I think we can do it, but it is going to be tough. So if this is what's going down, people better be ready to play hard.

I think so. Though I don't think Tony and Bobbie's marriage was dead in '95 or even early '96 from what I've been revisiting. They were really trying off and on and at least fitfully devoted from what I saw, but she almost sleeps with Alan and then other things kept on happening. Including Carly.

Shaun Williamson (Barry) is apparently claiming to The Sun that originally he was supposed to kill Janine off on Valentine's Day all those years ago, but the show switched it up when he decided to leave instead. Can't imagine that alternate universe. Equally insane to me: Jane and Cindy suggesting that Cindy is the love of Ian's life, and Cindy saying vice versa for herself. I'm frankly not sure Ian has ever had one of those.

I believe her office said she hasn't spoken to Biden since Friday. That's not a denial. I don't buy that she was behind Schiff's rash and foolish move though. That's not something I feel she'd get behind, and she explicitly put it out there today that his statement was news to her. The head to head polling on Biden v. Trump is tightening again, which is good for us. And a lot of the Senate numbers I have seen are pretty strong, I'm not sure about the House. The problems for Biden are Biden's, and right now they are both internal (party conflict, campaign reaction) and external (media), which hack away at what is working. I'm not sure I buy these reports of disoriented calls with members which are skewed through Politico, etc. I think a lot of that is down to who is leaking to them. But whatever any of us believe or don't believe it doesn't change the fact that this endless bloodletting and constant state of revolt and defense is bad. Functioning like this for another 3+ months is not sustainable. I still think Joe is our best shot against Trump, and as always I think people underestimate the base's love for him as well as more of the country than is counted on. I also don't think he is mentally unfit for office (although he is clearly more fatigued than he's ever been before). I think the claims of a conspiracy of silence re: senility are largely opportunism and access bitchery from people looking to settle scores or get clout. But that doesn't change any of what I said above about the problems. If the administration could cauterize all of these internal and external issues and put it all to bed I think we'd have a pretty good shot as is. I'm just not sure that they can. And I don't think Pelosi is a typical flighty alarmist either. It's difficult to know what to do. I do know that if it's anyone other than Joe it will be Kamala. Attempting anyone else would be suicide.

I was under the impression Tyler came from money, so dipping out of acting was not an issue for him.

That stuff fascinates me as well.

As of tonight, the heavyweight count is up to Schumer, Jeffries and now Pelosi who have all allegedly spoken to Biden re: stepping down. I personally do not love the idea of swapping out the candidate. I think Joe Biden remains our best shot against Trump and to win, I think a lot of the quiet base remains steadily behind him and I think the polls and numbers for Biden against Trump are also much tighter than people often assume. But in certain states I have concerns. At the same time I don't think the campaign has handled the last couple weeks or this internal revolt very well, though I think much of what has gone down with Biden has been external bullshít and bedwetting backbenchers eager to leak to the press. What concerns me most though is Pelosi. Unlike anyone else we could potentially cite, Nancy is no access-driven lightweight or fly-by-night operator. She is the old school. The only thing I know that has ever driven her is the bottom line: Winning. If she expresses concern about the path to win, that's something that gives me pause. As much as I hate all of this and I think it's disgusting how he's been treated bc the press is bored and misses the access nihilism of Trump.

Katelyn MacMullen talks Willow/Drew.

And another thing! How far did the Alan/Bobbie affair storyline go and what was the fallout? I vaguely recall it BITD and I'd thought they nipped it in the bud faster, but in rewatching Tony just caught on to them being at the same hotel in the wrong city. It's weird it just got memory-holed.