To the editor: Republican activist Scott Jennings, echoing what appear to be current GOP talking points, argues that the Democratic Party has abandoned its support for democracy and elections by endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris to replace President Biden on the 2024 ticket. He claims that by doing so, it has taken the choice out of the hands of the voters and put it in the hands of the political elite.
Now, while the Republican Party wants to convince voters that Democrats are as bad as the January 6 mob, this is a hypocritical and misguided attitude.
I’m sure Jennings and the GOP would love to see a wounded Biden remain in the race, or failing that, have the Democratic convention collapse into a last-minute fight for the nomination. But does he really want to argue that people who voted for Biden in the primaries didn’t know they were voting for the Biden-Harris ticket?
The president has decided that he cannot continue his candidacy; would it not make sense for the vice president to take over?
Steven Mirkin, Los Angeles
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To the editor: What a complaint from Jennings, who seems genuinely upset that he was wrong in predicting that the president would remain in the race!
Before I sat down to play Dungeons & Dragons with Jennings, I would make sure he understood that dice are part of the game. Even if 90 million people wrote down Biden’s name in November, he would not be forced to accept the presidency.
He had a choice and he has not betrayed anyone. The factors that influenced that choice were debated in public. Ordinary voters like me gambled with our pockets and donations dried up.
Since I'm not in a position to personally evaluate Biden, I just wanted to get the matter settled. Of course, party leaders had their input; that's part of their job, to defend the Democratic platform on behalf of the country, not the candidate.
Ruth Silveira, Los Angeles
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To the editor: I was one of the people angry about the knives that had been stuck in Biden's back, but I realized he had been mortally wounded as a candidate, so I expected Harris to take his place for all the right reasons.
She's not perfect, but she's 1,000% better than her lying opponents, former President Trump and Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio).
The rest of the grassroots Biden supporters had the same attitude as me. There was no elite “fixing” in our decisions, and I am glad that support for her has spread like wildfire.
John Hale, The Flintridge Glen
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To the editor: Jennings was completely wrong. Voters were not given a choice in the primaries. It was either Biden, a Democrat, or another candidate, a Republican. There was no choice.
He knows full well that our system simply does not allow someone from the same party to challenge a sitting president. He knows how the money flows.
This shift is the most exciting thing to happen in American politics since Barack Obama's candidacy.
Wendy Winter, Altadena
