{"id":35087,"date":"2024-07-23T20:37:43","date_gmt":"2024-07-24T03:37:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=35087"},"modified":"2024-07-23T20:37:43","modified_gmt":"2024-07-24T03:37:43","slug":"how-to-pick-bidens-replacement-james-zogby-latosha-brown-debate-wisdom-of-an-open-convention","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2024\/07\/23\/how-to-pick-bidens-replacement-james-zogby-latosha-brown-debate-wisdom-of-an-open-convention\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Pick Biden\u2019s Replacement? James Zogby &amp; LaTosha Brown Debate Wisdom of an Open Convention"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"How to Pick Biden\u2019s Replacement? James Zogby &amp; LaTosha Brown Debate Wisdom of an Open Convention\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/36C0__I1uYA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>STORY JULY 22, 2024<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.democracynow.org\/shows\/2024\/7\/22?autostart=true\">Watch Full Show<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer\/sharer.php?u=https:\/\/www.democracynow.org\/2024\/7\/22\/dnc_2024_kamala_harris_mini_primary\"><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/share?url=https:\/\/www.democracynow.org\/2024\/7\/22\/dnc_2024_kamala_harris_mini_primary&amp;text=How+to+Pick+Biden%E2%80%99s+Replacement%3F+Democrats+Debate+Wisdom+of+an+Open+Convention&amp;via=democracynow&amp;lang=en\"><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/submit?url=https:\/\/www.democracynow.org\/2024\/7\/22\/dnc_2024_kamala_harris_mini_primary\"><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/wa.me\/?text=https:\/\/www.democracynow.org\/2024\/7\/22\/dnc_2024_kamala_harris_mini_primary\"><\/a><a href=\"mailto:?body=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.democracynow.org%2F2024%2F7%2F22%2Fdnc_2024_kamala_harris_mini_primary&amp;subject=How%20to%20Pick%20Biden%26%238217%3Bs%20Replacement%3F%20James%20Zogby%20%26amp%3B%20LaTosha%20Brown%20Debate%20Wisdom%20of%20an%20Open%20Convention\"><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is viewer supported news. Please do your part today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.democracynow.org\/donate\">DONATE<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">GUESTS<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.democracynow.org\/appearances\/latosha_brown\">LaTosha Brown<\/a>co-founder of the Black Voters Matter Fund.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.democracynow.org\/appearances\/james_zogby\">James Zogby<\/a>president of the Arab American Institute and former executive member of the Democratic National Committee.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">LINKS<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/blackvotersmatterfund.org\/\">Black Voters Matter Fund<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aaiusa.org\/\">Arab American Institute<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>As President Biden drops his reelection bid and endorses Vice President Kamala Harris, we discuss the next steps forward and whether there should be an open convention. James Zogby, former executive member of the Democratic National Committee, says an open convention is \u201cwhat democracy needs from our party right now.\u201d Meanwhile, Black Voters Matter co-founder LaTosha Brown says an open convention is a risk that would cause \u201cchaos\u201d within the Democratic Party. \u201cThis is a moment that we have to defeat Trump,\u201d says Brown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Transcript<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p>This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>AMY&nbsp;GOODMAN:<\/strong>&nbsp;This is&nbsp;<em>Democracy Now!<\/em>, democracynow.org, \u201cWar, Peace and the Presidency.\u201d I\u2019m Amy Goodman. That was \u201cOh Yeah\u201d by Yello.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We look more now at President Biden\u2019s announcement Sunday that he\u2019s dropping his bid to seek reelection, and what comes next in the four months before Election Day. Biden endorsed his vice president, Kamala Harris, who quickly received the backing of many powerful Democrats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Biden\u2019s decision comes just four weeks before the Democratic National Convention is set to begin in Chicago August 19th. We\u2019ll be broadcasting live all that week, expanded to two hours, from Chicago. But the&nbsp;DNC&nbsp;has floated the idea of having a virtual roll call vote beforehand. Meanwhile, the&nbsp;DNC&nbsp;rules committee is set to meet publicly online this Wednesday. It\u2019ll be live-streamed for everyone to watch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To talk more about the steps forward and if there should be an open convention, we\u2019re joined by two guests. In Washington, D.C., Jim Zogby is with us, longtime member of the Democratic National Committee, former&nbsp;DNC&nbsp;executive committee member from 2001 to 2017. Earlier this month, he proposed to the&nbsp;DNC&nbsp;chair what he called an open, transparent and energizing process for the&nbsp;DNC&nbsp;to choose its nominee if Biden steps aside. And joining us from Atlanta, Georgia, is LaTosha Brown, co-founder of Black Voters Matter, longtime community organizer and political strategist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We welcome you both back to&nbsp;<em>Democracy Now!<\/em>&nbsp;LaTosha Brown, let\u2019s begin with you. Your response to President Biden dropping out of the presidential race and almost immediately endorsing Kamala Harris, and what you think should happen next?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>LATOSHA&nbsp;BROWN:<\/strong>&nbsp;You know, I think that he was absolutely courageous and had a lot of integrity in doing that. And I think it\u2019s created a whole different kind of energy that has gone in the party. And I think it was a really smart move, the way that I think he made the announcement, in separating the two announcements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But what I will say is, going forward, I think this is a moment that the party \u2014 we have less than four months. You know, we have a major threat to democracy on the other side, as Trump and the Vance ticket. And so, this is a time that I think that we need to be organizing. We need to buckle down and literally go forward, going into this convention not necessarily saying an open process. I think there should be a process that the rules committee sets in place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But let\u2019s be clear: There were 14 million people in the primary that voted for the Biden-Harris ticket. And so, with the full endorsement \u2014 and in full endorsement of Biden, I don\u2019t think that it was just about personalities, that why people voted for Biden. It was really about policy. And some of those policies, people really want to see supported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And so, going forward, I think, to really be able to keep down the confusion, the chaos \u2014 and when we think about historically where brokered conventions have gone, they\u2019ve not gone very well for the Democrats. So, this is the moment to be unified, to actually close ranks, to have a convention that people leave feeling energized and feeling like we\u2019ve got our boots on the ground, we\u2019re ready to go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>AMY&nbsp;GOODMAN:<\/strong>&nbsp;DNC&nbsp;member Jim Zogby, your thoughts?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>JAMES&nbsp;ZOGBY:<\/strong>&nbsp;My thought, look, I wrote in the plan that I submitted to Jaime weeks ago that there should be an open convention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>AMY&nbsp;GOODMAN:<\/strong>&nbsp;You\u2019re talking Jaime Harrison, the \u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>JAMES&nbsp;ZOGBY:<\/strong>&nbsp;Jaime Harrison, yes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>AMY&nbsp;GOODMAN:<\/strong>&nbsp;\u2014&nbsp;head of the Democratic National Committee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>JAMES&nbsp;ZOGBY:<\/strong>&nbsp;And I still think that an open convention is important, for two reasons. One is, it will make the eventual nominee stronger. I believe it will be Kamala Harris. I will support Kamala Harris. But I feel that if she went through a process, as she herself has said she wants to earn it, I think with town halls, with competing candidates, with a chance to air competing views, it will both energize the base, it will create a more dynamic convention, and it will make her a stronger candidate going into the fall. She wants to earn it. I believe she has the right to earn it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I think she will, like I said, be the nominee. I\u2019ll endorse her. But I think an open convention is what democracy needs from our party right now. Look, I\u2019ve been on the&nbsp;DNC&nbsp;for 31 years. We cannot just be props who, because somebody says, \u201cVote this way,\u201d we all vote that way. I think she wants to earn it, and I think we need \u2014&nbsp;we need to respect that and create a process where she can earn it and where democracy can be shown to be the hallmark of what our party is about. We don\u2019t just fall in line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>AMY&nbsp;GOODMAN:<\/strong>&nbsp;Just practically, explain what that would look like, Jim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>JAMES&nbsp;ZOGBY:<\/strong>&nbsp;Well, look, what we laid out was a plan that said that&nbsp;DNC&nbsp;members would nominate. Forty members would be necessary for a candidate to be placed on the slate. They\u2019d have to come from all four regions of the party. There are about 440&nbsp;DNC&nbsp;members, and so you would get a very small number. At this point, I don\u2019t know if anyone would actually want to get in, but I think it would be a good testing ground for some people who are looking to the future \u2014&nbsp;Governor Shapiro or, you know, Governor Whitmer or any others \u2014&nbsp;who would say, \u201cYeah, let me put my hat in the ring here.\u201d And we\u2019d have two televised town halls where the candidates would be asked questions, they would commit to endorsing whoever the winner is, and they would commit to running positive campaigns. We\u2019d have floor votes at the convention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Like I said, I think Kamala would win on the first round, without a doubt. But just being on the stage with the rest of what we would call the bench, those others who are in line in the future to be leaders of our party, would, I think, be an important visual for the American people. We would not be like the Republicans, slamming each other and slashing each other\u2019s records. We would be presenting alternate visions or our own credentials. And then, at the convention, we\u2019d have this exciting process that people would pay attention to. I don\u2019t want a virtual vote, that\u2019s been called for, because it\u2019s too gimmicky. And frankly, I think people have stopped watching conventions because there\u2019s nothing unexpected about them. There\u2019s nothing interesting to see. This would be a really dynamic process. It wouldn\u2019t be &#8217;68. It would be 1960, when John Kennedy won in a fantastic convention that went multiple ballots. I don&#8217;t think we\u2019d have multiple ballots. But people would say, \u201cWhat\u2019s going to happen? How is this going to work?\u201d And I think it would be important for the country and important for the candidate who wins to have emerged successful from that process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>AMY&nbsp;GOODMAN:<\/strong>&nbsp;And, LaTosha Brown, what would you envision for what should happen, what should happen at the&nbsp;DNC? How do you disagree with Jim Zogby?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>LATOSHA&nbsp;BROWN:<\/strong>&nbsp;I disagree because I think that in this idea of she has to earn it, I think that she has earned it, that, ultimately \u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>AMY&nbsp;GOODMAN:<\/strong>&nbsp;Now, she herself said \u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>LATOSHA&nbsp;BROWN:<\/strong>&nbsp;\u2014 there have been 80 million votes \u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>AMY&nbsp;GOODMAN:<\/strong>&nbsp;She herself said \u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>LATOSHA&nbsp;BROWN:<\/strong>&nbsp;\u2014 that voted prior. There were 14 million that voted for the Biden-Harris ticket just in the primary. And then, as we go in the primary, this is the time, I think, for us to really buckle down. It would be the delegates, the delegates that have already been \u2014&nbsp;that have already been assigned for the Biden and the Harris campaign, that they would have the opportunity to cast that, that I think that, ultimately, to go on the convention, that sounds great if all things were \u2014 go exactly as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is not the moment for us to take a risk on having chaos or confusion or someone who actually wants power to jump up and say, \u201cWell, I\u2019m going to create some confusion, because I think that there needs to be another way forward.\u201d This is a moment that we have to defeat Trump, that under no circumstances \u2014&nbsp;we have to go \u2014&nbsp;we have to be unified. I am more concerned about power than I am about a process that, ultimately, has not gone well in the past for the Democratic Party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>AMY&nbsp;GOODMAN:<\/strong>&nbsp;LaTosha, she herself, Kamala Harris, said, \u201cMy intention is to earn and win this nomination.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>LATOSHA&nbsp;BROWN:<\/strong>&nbsp;I am completely in support of her. I understand her need. I understand what she\u2019s raising. I\u2019m raising, as someone on the ground, that in four months we actually have to do a lot of work, that there will be a lot of tacks coming. What I am saying is that in this process, I think it can be simplified. I think that we can go forward. I think the delegates can push their issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I don\u2019t think necessarily a process online is gimmicky. I think that what it does is it streamlines the process so that we can move forward, come in the convention having clarity, so that we \u2014&nbsp;clarity and no confusion, and a lack \u2014&nbsp;and I think it minimizes the opportunity for chaos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>AMY&nbsp;GOODMAN:<\/strong>&nbsp;Jim Zogby, I want to ask you about the whole movement to have Biden removed. The protests, everywhere he went, were not around his age. The protests were around Gaza and his support and supplying weapons to Israel, in decimating Gaza. It is quite something that it just so happens that this week in Washington, Netanyahu is coming, invited by the House speaker, but then endorsed, under a lot of pressure, by Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer. He will address a joint session of Congress on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I want to read from a post by Linda Sarsour, a Palestinian Muslim American organizer who\u2019s been very involved in the \u201cuncommitted\u201d movement. She wrote on Instagram, quote, \u201cThey will never admit this but Joe Biden became a political liability for the Democratic Party on Gaza. Period. The media won\u2019t say this. The pundits will talk around it and the party will say it\u2019s not the case as not to offend their pro-Israel donors \u2014&nbsp;but they knew that they could not win states like Michigan, Georgia, Wisconsin and they had lost big chunks of important constituencies like young people, Arab and Muslim voters, and many progressives. The fact that anyone thinks we are going to believe that one dismal debate performance was the reason they pushed Biden out is just ludicrous and unbelievable. We are smarter than they think we are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThis is a small win for our movements. This is because of us, because of you. For over 9 months, you made your voice heard. You organized, you mobilized, you interrupted and disrupted, you passed ceasefire resolutions, you blasted emails and calls to the White House, you testified at local hearings, you occupied Congresspeoples\u2019 offices and college campuses, you posted, you made sure no one forgot about the Palestinian people and you were clear that Joe Biden and his Administration were complicit.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, this is what Linda Sarsour said. You\u2019re the head of the Arab American Institute. You also \u2014&nbsp;we last had you on talking about the \u201cuncommitted\u201d vote. One of the first tests this week of Kamala Harris is she is going to be meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Your thoughts on what she should do? And what\u2019s going to happen with the \u201cuncommitted\u201d vote at this point? And if you knowing anything about the protests at the&nbsp;DNC&nbsp;that have been planned? Amazingly, far more protest has been planned \u2014 not clear it will now happen \u2014&nbsp;than protest of Trump in Milwaukee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>JAMES&nbsp;ZOGBY:<\/strong>&nbsp;Well, look, the genocide continues, and continues unabated. Areas that were designated by Israel as safe zones are the ones that are being attacked. And the horror, the nightmare of 2 million people being literally shuffled around like cattle in the slaughterhouse, being moved from this area to that area and bombed in every area that they go, is just traumatizing to a whole constituency here. And it\u2019s not just Arab and Muslim voters, but, as the polling that we\u2019ve seen shows, young voters, Black, Latino, Asian voters. A significant chunk of them have moved to the point where they\u2019re furious about the fact that America appears to be complicit \u2014 not appears to be, but has been complicit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What will Kamala Harris do? Look, from a conversation I had with her and from people I know in her \u2014 who advise her, she has much greater empathy for Palestinians than we\u2019ve seen from President Biden. Disturbingly, we\u2019ve not seen that from President Biden. He\u2019s mentioned it at times, but not with any real depth of feeling as I\u2019ve seen from the vice president. I would be surprised if she had a hale and hearty embrace and, \u201cOh my god, it\u2019s so great to see you, and I met Golda Meir, and blah, blah, blah.\u201d I think she\u2019ll be a little sterner. I think she\u2019ll be a little more distant. She is still the vice president. The policy still comes from the president. But I would think that she would make her mark in this meeting, if it in fact happens, that she is not on board with the same level of support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Look, America sees Israel as an ally. That\u2019s not going to change. But America has to treat Israel as an ally that\u2019s gone astray and that has been doing things that are harming not just Israel \u2014&nbsp;most importantly, Palestinians \u2014&nbsp;but also harming America\u2019s image across the Middle East and the world. We are isolated today as a country. We\u2019re not the leader of the human rights and free world communities. We are, in fact, seen as complicit in a war of genocide and blocking international efforts to stop Israel from doing what they\u2019re doing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I would hope Kamala Harris, as a woman of color, as what she has herself said, has a different feeling about these issues than the president does. And I hope we\u2019ll see that on display when she meets with Netanyahu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The original content of this program is licensed under a&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-nd\/3.0\/us\/\">Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License<\/a>. Please attribute legal copies of this work to democracynow.org. Some of the work(s) that this program incorporates, however, may be separately licensed. For further information or additional permissions, contact us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>STORY JULY 22, 2024 Watch Full Show This is viewer supported news. Please do your part today. DONATE GUESTS LINKS As President Biden drops his reelection bid and endorses Vice President Kamala Harris, we discuss the next steps forward and whether there should be an open convention. James Zogby, former&#8230; <a class=\"continue-reading-link\" href=\"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2024\/07\/23\/how-to-pick-bidens-replacement-james-zogby-latosha-brown-debate-wisdom-of-an-open-convention\/\"> Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr; <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35087"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35087"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35087\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35088,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35087\/revisions\/35088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}