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You are here: Home / Elections 2024 / 2024 Primaries / Cold Grey Pre-Dawn Open Thread: Drop Out Already, Dean

Cold Grey Pre-Dawn Open Thread: Drop Out Already, Dean

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Dean Phillips’ ill-considered primary challenge is sliding downhill like a ride on a crappy New Hampshire sledding slope — all rocks, furrows, and bare patches. He’ll end up with a pain in his backside and a sore jaw from clenching his teeth, but meanwhile he’s spreading those afflictions to the rest of us Democrats. And for what? To get attention from bigger millionaires and bored media horserace touts… while enshrining his legacy as a would-be spoiler and general sad-sack?


Reader Interactions

86Comments

  1. 1.

    Splitting Image

    Josh Marshall is underselling Dean Phillips in his tweet above.

    True, Phillips is running behind “Other”, but he is also running behind “None of the Above”. A replacement-level failure might run behind one or the other, but it takes an elite sort of failure to lose to both.

  3. 3.

    Anne Laurie

    @mrmoshpotato: Lotsa sloping terrain in NH, but it’s all gravel & granite under a thin layer of clay.  And there hasn’t been enough snow to properly cushion the uncared-for surfaces!

    (Also, I wanted to link those three articles without going to the trouble of putting together proper extracts, which nobody was liable to pay attention to at this hour of the morning.)

  6. 6.

    NotMax

    @mrmoshpotato

    Told the story before.

    Announcement heard at a ski slope: “It’s a bee-yoo-ti-ful day at [name of resort]. Like skiing on a walnut sundae!”

    Sauntered over to the desk and, evincing best naive face, inquired, “What are the walnuts?”

    Answer (curtly whispered): “The rocks.”

  11. 11.

    Splitting Image

    Dean Phillips on Joe Biden: “When you’re 81 years old, I don’t know how you can have the capacity to start really getting your hands around something so significant as artificial intelligence, let alone Web 3.0 and crypto and blockchain.”

    I think it’s probably true that being 81 years old has some drawbacks, but if it makes Biden the only politician in Washington to turn up his nose at “artificial intelligence, Web 3.0, crypto and blockchain”, then it is a significant point in his favour. If everybody is buying into the scammy flavour of the month, then it is good business to back the stick-in-the-mud.

  13. 13.

    Anyway

    @NotMax:

    Have come to the conclusion this blog is the only thing paying any attention to Phillips.

    Bill Ackman just gave him a million bucks so no.

    Speaking of which thought Dean was independently wealthy surprised to see him roll over for a reactionary billionaire.

  14. 14.

    NotMax

    In the mood for something along the lines of intense that doesn’t require a commitment to a whole string of episodes? Could do worse than the (English language) Falcón on Freevee via Prime.

  15. 15.

    Baud

    @Anyway:

    Speaking of which thought Dean was independently wealthy surprised to see him roll over for a reactionary billionaire

     

    If you recall, a common talking point of Trump supporters in 2016 was that he wouldn’t be corrupt because he was already wealthy.

  19. 19.

    Anne Laurie

    @Anyway: Speaking of which thought Dean was independently wealthy surprised to see him roll over for a reactionary billionaire.

    IIRC, Phillips is a millionaire, but not a billionaire.  His response to Ackman, Elon, et al has convinced me he’s thrilled to be invited to ‘run with the big dogs’.   Like a middle-school nerd who’s ecstatic when the Kool Kidz tell him he can sit at their lunch table… even though he half-suspects it’s just that they want him to break into the administration’s network and steal the answers to the big math mid-term for them.

    (Needless to say, this is *not* a great attribute for a potential President!)

  20. 20.

    geg6

    @Baud:

    Well, Josh’s editor’s posts can lean pretty liberal.  And sometimes the reporters get snarky.  And his podcast definitely leans liberal.  But like I said, pretty niche.

  24. 24.

    David ⛄ 🎅The Establishment🎄 🦌 🕎 Koch

    @Baud:  left leaning? I don’t think Steve Carlton and Tom Glavine run the networks

  27. 27.

    Citizen Alan

    @Baud: I would say TPM is left-leaning in the sense that he’s never had a positive word to say about a Republican of any note. Of course, a truly objective journalist would be just the same, since there are no Republicans with any redeeming charcteristics.

  30. 30.

    The Thin Black Duke

    I can’t tell you how much it pisses me off that rich white men have the gall to piss and moan about how unhappy they are.

  31. 31.

    Princess

    So, do I have this right? We’re still hearing about Phillips because Ackman dropped a ton of money on him because he’s angry that Biden called him out after he was incredibly rude to Biden  regarding Beau’s death and Biden’s ongoing sadness? And the media has decided Phillips is worth attention.

  36. 36.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Princess: We’re at risk of mass extermination because Barack Obama told some jokes about Donald Trump at the White House Correspondent’s Dinner in 2011.

  38. 38.

    Anyway

    @Matt McIrvin:

    I used to listen to Howard Stern all the time before he decamped for Sirius and Trump, local Noo Yawker, was a regular guest. He used to put up with Howard and his team’s jokes and ribbing and was usually good-natured about it. Surprised he turned out to be so thin-skinned about Obama’s mocking.

  40. 40.

    ColoradoGuy

    Do billionaires all go to the Joseph Goebbels School of Charm, or are they born that way?

  45. 45.

    JWR

    @Baud:

    It wouldn’t surprise me if Nate said left leaning media to mean the mainstream media.

    I would guess that that’s exactly what he means. Speaks to his own media bubble, I would also guess.

  47. 47.

    eclare

    That is some really crafty and disingenuous wordsmithing in that tweet where Dean says he does not take PAC money.  If not for the disclaimer most would probably think that applied to the presidential race, not just House.

  50. 50.

    eclare

    I googled Meg Whitman as I wanted to refresh my memory.  She was confirmed as ambassador to Kenya in 2022.  Seemed odd but then I read further and she supported both Hillary and Joe, so I’m glad she saw the light.

  54. 54.

    different-church-lady

    Guaran-fuckin-tee you: Trump getting 51% in Iowa got written up as TRUMP LANDSLIDE, but NH is going to be written up as BIDEN WEAK WITH HIS OWN PARTY.

  57. 57.

    Geminid

    Yesterday President Biden met at the White House with Congressional leaders to discuss his proposed $100+ billion package of military aid to Ukraine and Israel and border security funding. This morning’s Politico Playbook reports that National Intelligence Director Avril Haines and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan gave a classified briefing that emphasized the urgency of miltary aid to Ukraine.

    Playbook did a fair amount of reporting on the meeting from sources including the White House on the border security dispute, which the meeting did not resolve:

       Yet, a White House official told Playbook that in the room, “Republicans, including [Speaker] Johnson, did not draw a red line on H.R.2 [the House Republican border bill].

    …which perhaps contributed to Schumer’s estimation after the meeting that chances for a deal are “a little bit greater than half now, and that’s the first time I can say that.”

    Senators are still negotiating on their border security package. One sticking point is the Republicans’ insistence on measures greatly restricting the President’s parole powers that enable asylum claiments to remain in the country pending a future court hearing.

    When reporters asked Johnson if House Republicans will accept the Senate compromise, Johnson played coy, noting that the Senate’s version is incomplete.

    The Playbook report went on to analyze intra-party conflicts, over the border proposals and in the Republicans’ case, Ukraine aid.

  58. 58.

    Suzanne

    @eclare: Yanno, I think about all the “flippers” that have come around rom the GOP to, well, at least supporting TFG opponents. Like J Rubin, David French, Meg Whitman, Liz Cheney, etc. And, I mean, I’m glad they’re at least temporarily on the side of right.

    But where are the real cookies/gold stars for those people who were always right?! Pisses me off.

  60. 60.

    Ken

    I’m curious about the methodology of the Reuters-Ipsos poll. “Other” might mean that given a choice of the three, 37% said “I’d like someone else”.

    But if they didn’t list candidates, allowing respondents to name one, “Other” would be a catch-all for “not one of the three we decided to show”. Phillips and Williamson could be running behind, say, Bernie Sanders with 5%. Or Elizabeth Warren, or Tim Kaine, or Arnold Schwarzenegger. Heck, with 37 percentage points to play with, they could be running behind all four, and Mickey Mouse as well.

  68. 68.

    catclub

    @Splitting Image: “artificial intelligence, Web 3.0, crypto and blockchain”,

     

    Biden will have to compete with all the smart things Trump is saying about these.

    I think the extent of those is ‘pay for my merch with Bitcoin!’

  69. 69.

    Geminid

    @Geminid: Playbook also reported that

       [Pesiident] Biden will travel to Raleigh, North Carolina where he’ll speak on his economic/infrastructure agenda at 2:15 p.m.

    Today’s event will likely draw little notice nationally but should be covered by local and state media. target. The Biden campaign intends to win in North Carolina this year and this apoearance will contribute to that effort.

    Back in D.C., Vice President Harris will appear at the National Cinference of Mayors” winter meeting, and speak on gun violence in a discussion moderated by the mayor of Kansa City, Missouri.

  70. 70.

    Kathleen

    @Baud: Dean fills that beloved media niche – Dems demonizing Dems and Biden in particular. Entire agencies have been created to fill this demand on cable and Sunday morning shows.

  71. 71.

    matt

    Looks like he’s running purely to depress Dem turnout because Biden is old.

    I’d invite him to come to Portland and do a town hall here. I’d happily show up and ask some fun questions.

  72. 72.

    Geminid

    @Princess: Personally, I would not try to compare Schumer’s views to Silverman’s. They are speaking to two very different audiences, and in two very different capacities.

  73. 73.

    matt

    @JWR: Nate’s the kind of guy who would happily police reporters for left wing bias as some kind of commissar, under a Trump regime.

    It’s not work if you love what you do.

  75. 75.

    Geminid

    @eclare: Jeff Flake is President Biden’s Ambassador to Turkiye, an important and sensitive post. Fortunately, Flake only has to deal with Turkiye’s Foreign Ministry, not its cranky President.

  76. 76.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    Dean Phillips on Joe Biden: “When you’re 81 years old, I don’t know how you can have the capacity to start really getting your hands around something so significant as artificial intelligence, let alone Web 3.0 and crypto and blockchain.

    This dude realizes he’s running for president and not the CEO of a start up?

  79. 79.

    Kay

    Musk and Ackerman (and Nate Silvers) signature issue is a flop politically, though. The anti woke candidates (DeSantis and now Phillips) have done really poorly with the general public.

    They’re the people who are out of touch. They’ve been flogging this anti woke issue to the public for 5 years now and no one outside the GOP base and employees of the NY Times are interested.

    Anti woke is an issue for and of elites. 99% of voters don’t care about it, making Joe Biden much closer to actual voters than any of these people.

  80. 80.

    Kay

    Every single political article on the NYTimes front page today is about Donald Trump.

    Absolute clown show.

  84. 84.

    J. Arthur Crank

    Lord Jesus Christ in a Crosswalk.  What happened to Nate Silver?  Also, those 1% totals for Phillips and Williamson are consistent with zero, given the likely margin of error in most typical polls.

  85. 85.

    Li-Li D

    The Dana Houle post up top is incorrect. NH law sets the criteria for the date of the primary. The NH Democrats are not breaking the DNC rules, the state law is just incompatible. Therefore, a primary that will not count for delegates and Biden not appearing on the ballot. The state party cannot overrule state statute.

  86. 86.

    artem1s

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: ​ 

    capacity to start really getting your hands around something so significant as artificial intelligence, let alone Web 3.0 and crypto and blockchain.

    given the state of blockchain and crypto these days, I wouldn’t want him to the the CEO of my start up either.

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