Will Biden bow out?

[Steely Glint]

I'd argue they did act like it was true. That's why they spent so much time backing Biden. A serious challenge against a running incumbent is almost always going to hand the general race to the opposition unless it's a safe seat being contested. Biden refusing to drop out tied their hands until he demonstrated that he probably wasn't up to the exertion of a serious race which meant Trump would win anyway. Most Dem leadership and potential candidates are/were not in a position to influence whether Biden sought to be renominated.

He's probably been in this condition for a year or more, I think Pelosi et al can probably say they didn't know but according to this article his close team have basically been hiding the state he's in:

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/07/11/p...gry/index.html

Back in Washington, there have been clear signs throughout his term of Biden being increasingly stage-managed, with lists of talking points, names of questioners and drawings of where he should walk presented to him by aides. Ahead of closed-door Cabinet meetings that Biden attends, it is customary for Cabinet officials to submit questions and key talking points that they plan to present in front of Biden ahead of time to White House aides, two sources with direct knowledge told CNN.

“The entire display is kind of an act,” one of those sources told CNN. “They would come and say, ‘Hey, the president is going to call on you about 25 minutes in, and ask this question. What are the bullet points you’ll respond with?’”


The second source, who echoed that same description, said when Biden attends Cabinet meetings, they are “not free-wheeling, and pretty well-orchestrated.” And the meetings themselves are infrequent, with one Cabinet secretary telling CNN they are uncertain of Biden’s condition because they so rarely see him.


In fact, the last full Cabinet meeting took place on October 2, 2023. Sources also said Cabinet meetings during the Obama years, which Biden attended as vice president, were not pre-scripted this way.

If that's true then... I just can't understand what they were thinking, it's not like they didn't know an election was coming. He could have announced that he intended not to run for re-election back in January or something.