The Latest from Lichtman - how Biden withdrawing and endorsing Harris affects the "keys to winning."

Is replacing President Biden as his party's nominee an attack on democracy? Hardly

The lazy answers boil down to the idea that primaries are the way we’ve always chosen the parties’ nominees. I’ve been amazed by how many people responded to the idea of the Democratic convention choosing Biden’s replacement by saying “We’ve never done this before.” The truth is that brokered conventions were how we always did it until 1972, when the primary system was adopted. Until then, political scientists regarded democracy as the stuff that happens between political parties, not within them.

Beyond the minimal legal, constitutional, patriotic and moral constraints all parties are supposed to respect, they really have one job: winning general elections.

Given that Democrats believe — with good reason — that the Republican nominee does not care about any of those constraints, their only concern should be defeating him. If democracy for the whole country is on the ballot, nominating a winning candidate should be the party’s overriding goal.

Indeed, for all the claims that Biden’s political defenestration was the work of party elites overruling voters, the truth is that voters had been telling pollsters they didn’t think Biden should run again for years. In a sense, the party will be more responsive to the will of voters by ignoring Biden’s primary victories.

https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2024-07-23/president-joe-biden-kamala-harris-democratic-party-convention-nomination-jonah-goldberg

Opinion:J.D. Vance's book 'Hillbilly Elegy' was a con job. Don't let it slide

The selection of J.D. Vance on Monday as Donald Trump’s running mate is a direct result of the political media’s failure to understand class in America. For his 2016 memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy,” Vance was venerated by many journalists and book critics as a powerful voice representing long-overlooked Americans. But he’s no working-class hero.

Vance portrayed this group — 35% of Americans, by the way — as tragic victims of alcoholism, drug abuse, laziness and their own self-destructive moral failings. Journalists ran with that, bringing their own stereotypes to depict the working class as angry, uneducated white men driven by economic insecurity and racist nostalgia to support Trump’s retrogressive campaign.

So who actually is the working class? Consistent data has shown that, in the words of the Center for American Progress, “Black, Hispanic, and other workers of color make up 45 percent of the working class, while non-Hispanic white workers comprise the remaining 55 percent. Nearly half of the working class is women, and 8 percent have disabilities.” Media portrayals that equate this group with uneducated white men elide most of the people who actually fit the definition.

A few contemporary reports called out Vance’s misrepresentations and the media’s fallacious thinking. In October 2016, writing for the Guardian, journalist Sarah Smarsh pointed out that exit polls and surveys showed that Trump supporters had a higher median income — $72,000 — than supporters of Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders. Vance himself, she reported, had been raised in a middle-class household. By ignoring such realities, Smarsh argued, “Media makers cast the white working class as a monolith and imply an old, treacherous story convenient to capitalism: that the poor are dangerous idiots.”
https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2024-07-15/jd-vance-hillbilly-elegy-book-trump-vice-president

Former classmate describes Trump rally gunman as 'definitely conservative'

As mystery continues surrounding the possible motivations of the 20-year-old Pennsylvania man accused of trying to kill Donald Trump at a campaign rally, a former classmate of his came forward to describe him as “definitely conservative” when they were in school together.

“It makes me wonder why he would carry out an assassination attempt on the conservative candidate,” Max R Smith told the Philadelphia Inquirer of the accused shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks.

Smith told the Inquirer about a mock debate in which the history professor asked students to signal their support or opposition for government policy proposals. The majority of the class were on the liberal side, but Tom, no matter what, always stood his ground on the conservative side,” Smith said. “That’s still the picture I have of him. Just standing alone on one side while the rest of the class was on the other.”

https://amp.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/jul/15/trump-shooter-motive

Former Sen. Barbara Boxer says Biden 'still has it'

Former U.S. Senator for California Barbara Boxer said President Joe Biden made it clear he is fit for the presidency after she had given the president two weeks to prove himself following a much-criticized performance at the first 2024 presidential debate against former President Donald Trump.

“I do think the last two weeks he’s been out there,” Boxer said. “We’ve seen him. Look, he’s a little slower, as he says. The words come in a tough way because he has that stutter. He’s had it all his life. Nobody realizes that. Joe has been that way his whole life because he has dealt with the stutter.”

“…The amount of bullying, the amount of pushing this man out the door without understanding the fact that, yes, he had a horrible one night, no question about it,” Boxer said. “And there are reasons for that which he gave, which others have given. But he has shown in the last couple of weeks he still has it.”

“This has been, in my opinion, the greatest economic recovery since FDR and we’re looking at a man who has presided over now almost 16 million jobs created,” Boxer said. “Since the records were kept, best performance.”

https://ktla.com/news/politics/inside-california-politics/former-sen-barbara-boxer-says-biden-still-has-it/

Frenzied Democratic effort to replace Biden comes to a standstill after Trump rally shooting

Numerous Democrats said Saturday the assassination attempt at former President Donald Trump's rally in Pennsylvania would put a halt to any efforts to replace President Joe Biden. At least for now.

Instead of awaiting the possibility of more calls from Congress that he step aside, Biden instead took the stage as president, addressing the nation in a live televised address, in which he condemned violence. Another Biden ally said it would reflect poorly on anyone in the Democratic Party who tried to call for a sitting president to step aside while he was in the midst of handling a crisis. 

“It’s likely the effort to dislodge Biden has ended. He’s not going to voluntarily step aside in this moment,” the second ally said. “Biden demonstrated he’s going to fight.” 

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/democratic-effort-replace-biden-comes-standstill-trump-rally-rcna161751

Taking black jobs

Police release photo of suspect wanted in connection with 'antisemetic' NYC subway car chant

New York City police released a new wanted poster Wednesday as they continue to look for the man who yelled for "Zionists" riding on a southbound number 5 subway train last week to identify themselves.

The unidentified suspect is seen in a still photo made from surveillance footage. The man can be seen in the newly released image wearing a piece of cloth with a design resembling the Palestinian keffiyeh and the Palestinian flag's colors draped on his shoulders.

The suspect, who is seen with dark sunglasses and a chin strap style beard, allegedly chanted on a subway train "Raise your hands if you’re a Zionist. Repeat after me; this is your chance to get out," on June 10 as the train was held at the Union Square station in Manhattan. He is wanted on suspicion of attempted coercion, according to police.
...
"Threatening New Yorkers based on their beliefs is not only vile, it’s illegal and will not be tolerated. Anyone with information about those responsible for this illegal conduct should contact the NYPD immediately," the spokesman said.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/police-release-photo-suspect-wanted-connection-antisemetic-nyc/story?id=111260476

Another arson at UC Berkeley, 'student intifada' takes credit

For the second time this month, UC Berkeley police are investigating a report of arson that may be linked to Palestinian protest activities.

The University of California Police Department has said little about the investigation this week.

According to police and public records, the arson took place outside Koshland Hall, which is located on the northwest corner of campus, at Hearst Avenue not far from Oxford Street.

Activists said they "unloaded a firebomb" at UC Berkeley due to UC's "treatment of student protestors." UC must divest "or face our wrath."

https://www.berkeleyscanner.com/2024/06/14/uc-berkeley-crime/uc-berkeley-arson-koshland-student-intifada-gaza/

SJP is bragging about firebombing at UC Berkeley

This is from the Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) UCLA chapter's Instagram (the people who organized the UCLA encampment and every other successive protest at UCLA). SJP has set up chapers at college campuses all over the country and organized the increasingly radicalized protests, encampments and building sieges. SJP is revealing itself more and more to be the pro-terrorism group that it is.






And yes, they firebombed UC Berkeley over a protester being arrested at UCLA. Makes absolutely no sense. But terrorist acts never do.