More Washington Post Biden Boomlet Wanking

Today, it's the ever- appalling Georgetown salon dweller Ruth Marcus wanking about Joementum!  (Her op/ed is full of ridiculous Biden boosterism fueled by Clinton hate and the desire to muddle the Democratic race and reinforce the media's "Democrats in disarray" narrative.)  Since she's typically several beats behind the Conventional Wisdom, Marcus is coming a bit late to the once great Washington Post's Bezos Bugle's Biden Boomlet, because it would seem the latest Conventional Wisdom is that Biden is not going to run.  Presumably, Marcus can't find enough to write about in the box of rocks also known as the 17 Republican presidential candidates to fill her weekly quota of electrons.   That's your "liberal media," friends.

As an antidote to the Bezos Bugle's ongoing anybody- but- Clinton wankery, here's Ed Kilgore:

Notwithstanding attributions of “panic,” and despite heavy, heavy negative press for months now, Hillary Clinton is maintaining a lead over all potential Republican nominees in the RealClearPolitics polling averages. In the last national poll to be released, from CNN/ORC, she led Bush by nine points, Fiorina by ten points, and Walker and Trump by six points. In the Democratic nomination contest, she’s leading Sanders nationally two-to-one, even though pollsters are choosing to muddy the waters by including Biden in the surveys, and is leading Bernie in every state other than (in some polls) New Hampshire. Biden’s running a weak third at around 12 percent. Having run twice before and failed dismally twice before, amid signs he did not or could not raise the kind of money needed for a serious candidacy, he’s not exactly a natural magnet for moneyed or tenured elites, either.

The more you look at the Biden bandwagon, it looks more like a ghost ship being pulled through the mist by a combination of hungry political reporters, Hillary haters (including most of the conservative media), and Delaware-based Friends of Joe who, of course, would love to see him run. Plus there’s [Clinton- hating South Carolina Democrat Dick, and we do mean Dick] Harpootlian!

As Kilgore points out, pollsters are muddying the waters by putting Biden in the surveys (where he comes in a distant third);  with him not included, Clinton's "falling numbers" firm back up again.  But, when you want your narrative to be, "Clinton Flailing;  Joe Biden to the Rescue?", you can arrange it any way you want.

Your Daily Biden Boomlet, Presented By The Totally Objective Washington Post

The Clinton haters objective reporters at the once great Washington Post Bezos Bugle just can't print enough of this stuff:

The possibility that Vice President Biden may jump into the 2016 presidential campaign is convulsing the network of wealthy Democrats that financed President Obama’s two White House bids, galvanizing fundraisers who are underwhelmed by Hillary Rodham Clinton’s performance.

A wide swath of party financiers is convinced that Biden will make a late entry into the race, and a sizable number are contemplating backing him, including some who have signed on with Clinton, according to more than a dozen top Democratic fundraisers nationwide.

Their potential support — driven in part by a desire to recapture the passion they felt in Obama’s campaigns — could play a key role in helping the vice president decide whether to make a third White House bid. The chatter among a cadre of well-connected party fundraisers suggests that he could benefit from an early jolt of money should he run.

"Galvanizing," "wide swath," "recapture the passion."  Ooooh, we're feeling the Joe-mentum, completely neutral Bezos Bugle reporter!

Here's what those of us in the real world, who don't have to depend on creating false narratives and blowing hot air into trial balloons, are looking at:  after months of assaults by Republicans and their media stenographers, Hillary Clinton still has a healthy lead among Democrats (48% to Bernie Sanders' 26%, with Joe Biden at 14%). 

Clinton is maintaining a clear, sustained lead against her Republican rivals (see post below).  Would Biden rise in the polls if he gets in?  Probably - and it would last about as long his first gaffe (we like Joe, but the reality is he's a certified, long-term gaffe machine).  They all look invincible when they're not running, and the media loves you until it doesn't, especially if you're a Democrat.

BONUS:  Laura Clawson at Daily Kos has more on the same subject.