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Playbook: What do you do with a problem like RFK Jr.?
Politico ^ | 6\6\2023 | EUGENE DANIELS, RYAN LIZZA and RACHAEL BADE

Posted on 06/06/2023 10:30:01 AM PDT by Signalman

BIDEN’S RFK DILEMMA — After years on the fringes, ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR. is suddenly knocking on the door of mainstream relevance — and all it took was mounting a longshot presidential campaign.

Just in the last few days, Kennedy won a surprise endorsement from Twitter co-founder JACK DORSEY, was the subject of a deep dive by WaPo’s Michael Scherer into his long history of conspiratorial rhetoric, and spent two hours on Twitter Spaces with ELON MUSK and such ideological fellow-travelers as isolationist former Rep. TULSI GABBARD (D-Hawaii) and pro surfer-slash-vaccine skeptic KELLY SLATER.

The NYT wrapped up the Twitter event thusly: “[Kennedy] said he planned to travel to the Mexican border this week to ‘try to formulate policies that will seal the border permanently,’ called for the federal government to consider the war in Ukraine from the perspective of Russians and said pharmaceutical drugs were responsible for the rise of mass shootings in America.”

Needless to say, these views are out of step with the vast majority of the party whose nomination he’s ostensibly seeking. Supermajorities of Democratic voters support a national assault weapons ban, received the Covid-19 vaccine, and express confidence in the electoral process. Kennedy is on the opposite side of all of these issues.

And, yet, he’s constantly polling in the double digits against Biden. The latest CNN poll, taken less than three weeks ago, has him at 20 percent. Now, theories abound as to why this is happening:

Most obviously, the Kennedy name still means something in Democratic politics — quite a lot, according to the available evidence. For instance, ahead of the 2017 Senate special election in Alabama, one ROBERT KENNEDY JR. garnered 49 percent support among Democrats surveyed in one early poll. The catch is … he has no relation to the Kennedy political dynasty. Almost as obviously, voters with qualms about a second Biden term need to park their support somewhere. Poll after poll finds a sizable minority of Democrats worried about the 80-year-old incumbent’s age and what that portends, so their eyes are looking elsewhere. There’s also a phenomenon among Democrats that even with a young popular president (cough, BARACK OBAMA, cough), eyes can wander early on. In a September 2010 Gallup poll, for instance, then-Secretary of State HILLARY CLINTON pulled in 37 percent of support while Obama pulled in 52 percent. Let’s be real: Kennedy poses no direct danger to Biden’s nomination, nor does any other Democrat for the foreseeable future. As is customary with a sitting president, the party apparatus has already chosen its man. There will be no debates; Kennedy will see no institutional support.

What he is, though, is an annoyance for Biden — and a potentially dangerous one. Besides using his legendary name and a national campaign megaphone to espouse fringe views, his outsize polling performance has served as a routine reminder of Biden’s vulnerabilities among his base.

Yet, for now, Biden world’s plan is to ignore him. The overwhelming sense inside the campaign and White House orbits is that any other posture would elevate him from a gadfly with a good name to a genuine contender.

They are counting on reporters and other Democrats to do the work of informing voters about Kennedy’s well-established views. Once that happens, as one Democratic strategist put it to us, they will “realize he’s running in the wrong party.” (This person, like others who spoke about Kennedy, did so on the condition of anonymity to speak candidly about strategy.)

“Even the slightest press scrutiny is his biggest problem,” one Biden 2020 alum put it last night: “When Democrats see a candidate is anti-vaccination, anti-assault weapons ban, and a quasi 2020 election denier, their first thought is that this person must be a MAGA Republican.”

It’s a careful strategy that will seem frustratingly familiar to Biden’s Democratic critics, who have consistently wanted a more aggressive posture out of his White House and his campaign. But don’t expect a lot of attention to be paid to the hand-wringing — on RFK Jr. or most anything else.

One former Biden White House official and campaign aide whom Playbook spoke with last night agreed that ignoring Kennedy is probably the right move. But the person added that ignoring him doesn’t mean that you don’t keep an eye on him.

“It is a distraction, no doubt,” the person said. “And some could say just ignore it, which is how I would feel about it. At the same time, you’ve got to make sure that somebody is paying attention to it and pushing back.”


TOPICS: Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: politico; rfkjr
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1 posted on 06/06/2023 10:30:01 AM PDT by Signalman
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To: Signalman

Simple....... nominate him for President.

Biden was falling down drugged and is now ineligible


2 posted on 06/06/2023 10:31:31 AM PDT by bert ( (KWE. NP. N.C. +12) Juneteenth is inequality day )
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To: Signalman

crazy times....i’ve considered voting in the D primary in my state for RFK, Jr. Trump will solidly win the GOP primary, and you don’t register here. You just decide the day of which party you want to vote in, and they give you access to that ballot.

I’d vote for Trump in the GOP, if I thought it was going to be close. But it won’t be.

But wouldn’t we be far better off if RFK was the democrat we needed to beat?

Just a thought experiment for the moment, but....an interesting one.


3 posted on 06/06/2023 10:32:17 AM PDT by ConservativeDude
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To: Signalman

His accident will come as a shock to me.


4 posted on 06/06/2023 10:32:49 AM PDT by ClearCase_guy (“You want it one way, but it's the other way”)
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To: Signalman

Three liars needed to refer to a legitimate candidate from a democratic party legacy family a “problem”?

How hard up are they for Biden?


5 posted on 06/06/2023 10:33:16 AM PDT by Alas Babylon! (Repeal the Patriot Act; Abolish the DHS!)
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To: Alas Babylon!

It’s like they take their marching orders from someone else, some man-behind-the-curtain (”pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!”), someone who wants an obedient cipher in the WH.


6 posted on 06/06/2023 10:36:28 AM PDT by Campion (Everything is a grace, everything is the direct effect of our Father's love - Little Flower)
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To: Signalman

Easy: Take a good hard look at where the family gets their money.


7 posted on 06/06/2023 10:37:29 AM PDT by mewzilla (We will never restore the republic if we don't first secure the ballot box.)
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To: bert

And you can be sure that Hillary Clinton hates this guy.


8 posted on 06/06/2023 10:37:53 AM PDT by Bogie
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To: Signalman

Funny. Biden and RFK’s uncle Ted Kennedy were best pals in the Senate. Together they sandbagged Robert Bork. RFK probably has access to a few details regarding Biden’s sordid career. RFK is weird but if he chooses to fight Biden seriously, it could get interesting.


9 posted on 06/06/2023 10:40:25 AM PDT by allendale
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To: Signalman

Mayor Pete beat Biden fair and square in Iowa.

A fact the Democrat machine was able to keep under wraps until they killed any momentum he might have had in upcoming primaries.

RFK Jr has a lot more ability than Mayor Pete had.

Of course, the Democrat Primary is more rigged than ever.

Go straight to South Carolina, don’t pass go, don’t collect 200 dollars and let Clyburn get the vote out for whomever Democrat elite has as its chosen one.

I wouldn’t bet against it being Crooked Hillary.


10 posted on 06/06/2023 10:41:27 AM PDT by Biblebelter
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To: Signalman

Kennedy is on the upswing and Biden is on the downswing - quite funny actually.


11 posted on 06/06/2023 10:41:44 AM PDT by 1Old Pro
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To: Signalman

Why is he a problem? Isn’t the dementia-ridden pedophile a real problem?


12 posted on 06/06/2023 10:42:54 AM PDT by ConservativeInPA ("How did you go bankrupt?” Bill asked. "Two ways," Mike said. "Gradually and then suddenly." )
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To: Signalman
The Democrat elite will just freeze RFK Jr out. The DNC has already said there will be no Democrat primary debates. As in none. Zero.

The party hacks at the state level will be given their orders, too. Ignore the guy. And don’t let his supporters on any committees.

Oh, and George Carlin has a personal message for RFK Jr.


13 posted on 06/06/2023 10:42:56 AM PDT by Leaning Right (The steal is real.)
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To: Signalman
RFK Jr won't be a factor. Rat Party Headquarters knows damn well what the problem is...and has known for years. I'd wager the clothes on my back that The Big Guy won't be the nominee...and I find it hard to believe that Heels Up will be.

Governor Hair Gel? Maybe. Buttplug? Maybe. The Wookie? Maybe. I suppose it could even be The Former Twelfth Lady.

14 posted on 06/06/2023 10:43:35 AM PDT by Gay State Conservative (Two Words: BANANA REPUBLIC!)
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To: allendale

We may as well have as much fun as we can with this, because we are paying the bills.


15 posted on 06/06/2023 10:44:35 AM PDT by Bogie
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To: ClearCase_guy

Alas, you have a point.


16 posted on 06/06/2023 10:45:51 AM PDT by Bogie
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To: Gay State Conservative

I can’t see it being Newsom. He’s a white guy. And California is already in the bag for the Democrats. So what can he bring to the table?

If given the right odds, I’d bet on Michelle Obama. True, she’s lazy. No matter. She could act like one of those European heads of state. Don’t do anything except represent the country at formal affairs. Let someone else do the actual governing.


17 posted on 06/06/2023 10:48:13 AM PDT by Leaning Right (The steal is real.)
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To: Leaning Right

Bingo!


18 posted on 06/06/2023 10:48:24 AM PDT by Bogie
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To: Leaning Right

“The Democrat elite will just freeze RFK Jr out”.

You’re right.


19 posted on 06/06/2023 10:49:14 AM PDT by laplata (They want each crisis to take the greatest toll possible.)
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To: Signalman

Politico is either sounding the alarm, OR they are ringing the dinner-bell...................


20 posted on 06/06/2023 10:49:41 AM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegal aliens are put up in hotels.....................)
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