Don't worry. They're obviously gaslighting you. You undermined their entire argument and yet, they persist. How odd.

Yep. But let's explore this further under the hood.

• Nobody of the progressive caucus can break ranks lest that be used against the party as a wedge-drive issue by operatives later, whether Biden stays in or not.

• Bernie was essentially promised a high level committee position if he traded falling in line with Biden. This his returning of the favor.

• Calls for Biden to step down will be completely ineffective from the progressive coalition anyway. Biden is a centrist and doesn't hold much respect for them. The people who matter are the likes of Clyburn and Pelosi.

Man you start going into a research spiral on these shoe companies and ho-lee sheit... Idk if they're as bad as nestle but...

Good news is we don't need a single maga idiot to to leave the cult to win. We just need Democrats to show up and some independent apathetic swing-voters to stay engaged.

Bad news is there aren't good signs of that right now...

I think you're looking at this all wrong. All data points to an inevitable Biden loss. Once you accept that, then the question of the alternative almost doesn't matter.

The problem is that you cannot in good conscience say that an 81-year-old with THAT debate performance is truly the best Democrats have to muster. If true, then that's fucking sad.

Now, I've written many write-ups, and now data supports it, showing that any alternative including Harris would fair better. Win? Not necessarily. But have a better chance? Absofuckinglutely.

• A Harris path is better.
• An open convention is to me even better with solid reasons for why, if you're interested.

Interesting insight I've heard echoed before, thanks. Question: do you have kids or plan to have kids?

I've never lived in the downtown of a city before. I can only say I've lived the suburban life of a big city and a deeply rural countryside. For me, I like a bit of breathing room. I don't like the hussel of the city, nor how people tend to generally become less friendly as density rises. I miss the small-town feel or rural privacy. I certainly dislike the pollution (air, traffic, noise) and raising my kids in it. I'm not a party animal who likes the night life either. Even before kids.

(which isn’t wrong but he’s still the best viable option)

Whoa, hey now I very much object to the certainty of this claim.

Yeah, David Axelrod, senior Obama strategist credited with Obama's successful elections, Obama speech-writers and communications director, and now numerous long-serving Congressional democrats disagree but, totally the best viable option despite poll after poll showing he's massively down and Biden's own current campaign strategists reporting they see no viable path.

If your ship hit the iceberg and is taking on water, any other nearby vessel is a better alternative. At worst, it's in the same condition. At best, it's not fucking sinking. 75% of likely voters say Biden is too old to run and Democrats have a better chance with someone else at defeating Trump.

Disclaimer: we need to jump ship now but I'll vote for a corpse over Donald Trump. I just think we'll lose if we stick with Biden and the data shows it.

I'm curious how this impacts decentralization in terms of population density.

You could cure traffic congestion, repopulate rural communities with less conservative folk, and generally improve overall life satisfaction if more jobs became remote and access to high speed internet in rural communities became more common.

Would arguably reduce housing costs on average?

All due respect to your views and my views, but unless you're my low-info apathetic battleground swing-voter uncle who will decide this election, your opinion and mine matter very little.

If the country were as informed as you and me, then we wouldn't have either of these candidates to begin with.

This is not good news.

Reminder:

• Biden was TEN POINTS ahead of where he is now back in 2020.

• Biden ASKED for this debate because he was already trailing in the polls and not where he needs to be. At best things remain the same, which is to say poor. At worst, they are worse.

• 2020 was decided by 40,000 undecided low-info apathetic voters in 3 battleground states. If those people remain apathetic and polls remain this close, Biden will lose.

• His own campaign staff is now reportedly saying they see no viable path to victory.

Further key points raised in this poll/article:

Nearly two-thirds of the more than 1,300 respondents said they believe Biden lacks the mental fitness to be president. That includes almost 4 in 10 Democrats.

That said, politicians tend to be good political weathervanes, with their own high-quality polling, and several of the Democratic House members who have advocated for Biden to leave the race are from competitive swing districts.

Third parties pull younger voters, Biden doing better with those most likely to vote

When third parties are factored in, Trump and Biden are statistically tied, with Trump at 43% and Biden 42%.

I truly do feel bad for prison populations because they're the last group anyone is concerned about. "Can't take the heat? sHOuLdN't dO tHE CrIMe." Yeah, okay. But let's not forget a hefty chunk of this group are statistically wrongfully convicted; another chunk are non-violent offenders and a product of draconian laws. And despite all that, it tends to be a mark of a civilized society to see how they treat the worst among them. Their rights should not be disenfranchised. This is classic 8th Amendment cruel & unusual punishment.