Man alive, the Protection Racket Media has delivered on the Joe Biden meltdown tick-tocks in the past couple of days. The Washington Post pushed one out this morning, for instance, which is worth reading more as a reference point for whatever follows next. It rehashes other reporting (including its own) but puts it together in a cohesive narrative that, on reflection, tends to downplay the whiplash-inducing chaos in the Democrat Party since the June 27 debate.

Yesterday, the New York Times published a more intriguing -- in every sense of the word -- look at the dynamics between Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. As Democrats line up to throw Biden under the bus, Biden has argued that Harris can't win, and that she would have to be the alternative. Hogwash, the Dump Biden movement leaders have responded. Harris can't win, they agree, but want an open convention to bypass her.

Harris has begun to bristle at all sides in this conversation, the NYT reports, while attempting to stand with her running mate:

Even before the debate, Mr. Biden had told confidants that he believed he had a far better chance than Ms. Harris of beating Mr. Trump. Mr. Biden further embraced that conviction as he deflected growing calls from Democrats for him to step aside — and it remains part of his consideration now about whether to remain in the race, according to two people familiar with his thinking.

By making the case for himself publicly and privately, Mr. Biden has implicitly had to downplay her chances of winning. And in supporting him, Ms. Harris has been careful not to come across as focused on her own political future, even at a time when she appears to be finding her footing and some polls show her faring just as well as, if not better than, Mr. Biden against Mr. Trump.

It's gotten worse since the debate, although the NYT credits Harris with keeping a lid on frustrations:

Less than two days later, one of the first examples of the awkward dance between them occurred when the Biden campaign sent out a fund-raising email that included a graphic showing how Mr. Biden stacked up against other Democratic alternatives.

“And at the end of the day, we’d switch to candidates who would, according to the polls, be less likely to win than Joe Biden — the only person ever to defeat Donald Trump,” the email said.

The email showed that Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris had identical numbers when polled against Mr. Trump, with likely voters favoring Mr. Trump by three points over both of them.

Ms. Harris’s staff was not asked to sign off on the email. But after it was sent, several of her allies and supporters grew angry, believing that the campaign was unnecessarily tarnishing her.

Unfortunately, Kamala Harris is one reason this conundrum exists for Democrats. She has fumbled her way through the vice presidency much as Biden has fumbled the presidency. Biden and his team sidelined her a few months into the term after a series of bad interviews, and after failing to rescue Biden on the border crisis. She talks in nonsensical circles, has apparently only a handful of phrases she feels comfortable using, and has spent most of the last three years out of sight or engaging with only the most sympathetic constituencies. 

That's one reason why polling at this time doesn't actually reflect any predictive accuracy. The idea of Kamala Harris as a candidate turned out to be a lot more attractive than the reality in 2019. She entered into the 2020 Democrat presidential primary as one of the favorites to win in a cycle where Dems demanded "diversity" on the ticket, and yet embarrassingly collapsed before the end of summer that year. She got her ass handed to her in debates by Tulsi Gabbard and withdrew by October 2019. On her way out, she questioned whether America was ready for a "woman of color" as President -- when it was Democrat voters that abandoned her. 

That's the proper context for any discussion of polling comparisons between Harris and Biden, or Harris and any other choice. Harris is only polling as well as she is because she hasn't been a visible part of the campaign until now. And even with that, another poll cited by the Washington Examiner on Thursday should give real pause to those advocating for Harris as Biden's replacement:

Seventy-nine percent of Democrats said they would approve of Vice President Kamala Harris becoming the Democratic presidential nominee if President Joe Biden steps aside, according to a new Economist/YouGov poll.

Twenty-eight percent of Democrats think Harris would be more likely than Biden to win against former President Donald Trump in the fall, while 32% say Biden and Harris have about the same chances of winning. Less than a quarter say Biden would be more likely than Harris to defeat the former president.

"Approve" in this instance is a term of art; it can mean a few different things in the way this questions was asked. However, that number should be more like 99% among Democrat voters, especially if they want to make the change to reinvigorate the campaign. Having only 28% of your own voters think this replacement strategy would work with Harris isn't exactly a vote of confidence either. And that's before they start seeing Harris working the campaign trail, being very much burdened with the cover-up that has been and the gaslighting that would have to come to distract from Harris' role in it.  

A role that Harris continued yesterday, by the way:

Vice President Kamala Harris tried to buck up the Democratic Party’s biggest donors on Friday, telling about 300 of them that there was little to worry about in President Biden’s campaign.

Ms. Harris spoke to the group at a time of extraordinary turmoil among Democrats, with many hoping that she will replace Mr. Biden as the party’s nominee. But several listeners said they found the meeting overall to be of little value and even, at times, condescending, believing that the message ignored donors’ legitimate concerns about the Biden-led ticket.

And her campaign skills have not improved, clearly:

“Not surprisingly, there was no news generated on this call, and instead, it was a pitch for donors to continue to invest in groups on the ground who are working to defeat Donald Trump,” read an email from Corridor Partners, which advises donors focused on climate issues. “The vice president spoke very briefly and encouraged us all to keep working hard to win in November.”

The email, which was viewed by The New York Times, added, “The call was not productive, and we wanted to apologize to each of you who joined for sharing that invitation.”

Burdened by what has been!

Those poll numbers reflect the desperation Democrats feel, especially after the presidential debate and Trump's defiant stand after an assassin nearly killed him. They face only three choices: The worst president at the top of the ticket, an incompetent VP at the top of the ticket, or an open convention that would tear the party apart along its factional and identitarian lines less than three months before a national election. Harris was part of the leadership that put Democrats in this position -- and they know it.