House Democrat Dean Phillips launches primary challenge against President Biden

Once again it's the centrists, not the progressives, that are cavalier about party unity. But I'm sure they'll blame progressives for any problems anyway.

Yeah, the centrists have always meant obedience when they said unity and never wanted to be accountable to anyone but their owner donors.
How is primarying against Biden a blow against party unity?
- That can't be a serious question. To run against someone you have to draw a contrast, say why you should be president and they shouldn't. You're explicitly splitting the party into two camps, yours and the incumbents, thereby turning part of your party's base against the incumbent.
  
  Granted, in this specific case this complete clown won't get any real support but if it were a real candidate like Newsom over the course of a campaign there would absolutely be a contingent of people who become intractable and were "Newsom or bust".

This guy is an accomplishment-free Representative (I can see there are already people here deeply ignorant about politics, so I'll add: No Representative has ever been elected President) who is such poor politician that he under-performed Biden as an incumbent in his own fucking district in 2020.

This guy is a clown who is in no way suited to be President and knows he has no chance of being President. This is pure attention seeking from someone who deserves zero attention.

Maybe he could push Biden to the left?
- He'd have to be both a legitimate candidate and left of Biden to do that. He's neither.
  
  “Chaos at our border and in our cities is growing, while our commitment to countering it is receding,” the Minnesota congressman is expected to say, according to a campaign spokesperson.
  ...
  Phillips is being advised by former Republican strategist Steve Schmidt, two people familiar with the campaign told CNN. Schmidt, who left the GOP in 2018, previously worked on the campaigns of former President George W. Bush and the late Arizona Sen. John McCain.
  ...
  And his decision to focus on New Hampshire after the Democratic National Committee sought to elevate South Carolina to go first on the primary calendar could hurt him in the Palmetto State’s February 3 primary.
  
  His primary issue is the border and the completely fictional right-wing "growing chaos in our cities", his campaign being run by a Republican, and he's suspiciously avoiding campaigning in a state where he would need to convince black voters. If you're left of Biden the more you learn about this empty suit the less you'll like him.

I’m a constituent living in Dean’s district. The guy comes from money, but is a solid representative. No one ever really hears about him because he’s sort of there just doing his job instead of stirring the turd. He continues to win here because he’s seemingly levelheaded and stands for strong democratic values. I’m conflicted with him running against an incumbent in his own party, but so many people have been asking for a (younger) third option. I respect that he’s standing up and giving people that option.

It will be interesting seeing how this shakes out.

I'm confused - he's running in the primary, not the general election. There's no indication he's going to run against Biden in the general, and so far I'd assume he will get behind the nominee. Seems like a harmless way to test the waters.

The article seems to talk about the appearance of interparty conflict and how it may damage Biden going into the general, but I guess I'm just not too worried. Since we are stuck in this stupid FPTP general election system, this seems like a fair way to actually check if voters want Biden.

(And I say this willing to crawl over broken glass to vote for Biden over whoever the GOP nominee will be, especially Trump.)
- Phillips plans to level several criticisms at Biden in the speech he’s set to deliver on the steps of the New Hampshire state capitol later Friday morning.
  
  “Chaos at our border and in our cities is growing, while our commitment to countering it is receding,” the Minnesota congressman is expected to say, according to a campaign spokesperson.
  
  Instead of touting himself (because he has no record or accomplishments), his whole campaign is going to be attacking Biden. His words will 100% be used by the GOP in the general election to try to convince independents that even Democrats think Biden is doing a terrible job. He's even explicitly planning on repeating the ridiculous Republican lie that there is "growing chaos in our cities" even as the actual facts and crime statistics show the exact opposite. His campaign is being advised by old-school Republican lying political mudslinger Steve Schmidt.
  
  His clear intention is much more about bringing Biden down than wining himself.
- The article seems to talk about the appearance of interparty conflict
  
  I think the fight for House Speaker has shown what true interparty conflict looks like lol
He's a bad choice. He's running against an incumbent as an unknown. People will end up at they polls with no idea who he is. That's a recipe for a disaster.

A primary is a very healthy thing for Democrats. It will put a much-needed national spotlight on Democrat successes over the last several years.

Biden will still win the nomination, but primary debates and press coverage will bring our message to the public and help Democrats win the general election. We need a primary.

He looks like Ron DeSantis with glasses. Has nothing to do with his capabilities as a rep or anything, just first thing that popped into my head.

Non-DeSantis
Better test him with a can of Bud Light, Stuporman's kryptonite.
Ron is his evil twin.

This is the best summary I could come up with:

The three-term congressman, who recently left his House Democratic leadership position in the face of intraparty frustration over his calls for a Biden alternative, has argued that the president would be a weak general election candidate due to his age and low approval ratings.

In the minutelong video, he describes summer visits to the state he made as a child and champions its long tradition of expecting presidential candidates to engage in retail politics — something Biden won’t be doing.

Though his personal wealth is in the tens of millions, according to his most recent financial disclosure, he’ll likely struggle to find major Democratic donors who aren’t already backing Biden.

The heir to a Minnesota liquor business and grandson of Abigail Van Buren, the late advice columnist known as “Dear Abby,” Phillips’ first campaign focused on defending the Affordable Care Act and fixing government dysfunction.

Environmental lawyer and vaccine critic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. left the Democratic primary earlier this month to run as an independent, raising concerns that he would pull votes from Biden and help Republicans.

“We appreciate the congressman’s almost 100% support of this president as he’s moved forward with some really important, key legislative priorities for the American people,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Tuesday.

The original article contains 1,465 words, the summary contains 212 words. Saved 86%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

You gotta respect a man that calls for an alternative, no one raises their hand and then takes it upon himself. I'd prefer Dean over Biden simply due to age alone, it's a far too high pressure and stressful job for someone of such advanced age. (Trump is of course no better in this regard, as an FYI).

He's honestly not a bad guy as far as politicians go. He'd definitely be preferable to me than Biden- he's not quite a Corpo-Dem

But he's never going to get the nod because people are fucking dumb. Democrats have spent the last... decade or two, not caring about grassroots or local elections and not caring about developing talent so now the only people with name recognition look like biden or trump.

Is Biden a bad guy? no. Has he been there for the country? absolutely. Its time to let him go away and enjoy his time with the dogs.
and then takes it upon himself

Yes, being president of the US is such a heavy burden and sacrifice. If only there were more people willing to carry that weight
Incumbency is such a massive advantage that willingly throwing it away, especially when the stakes are as incredibly high as they are right now, is absolutely something that can be legitimately criticized.

And let's not pretend that this is some altruistic act. He'll get on some talk shows, publish a book, and run for a Senate seat when one opens up. Maybe he genuinely believes his own bullshit, but it's hard to not imagine that, on some level, he knows what he's doing here.