Letter from Chip Northrup

Biden Made Right Decision

Unlike Donald Trump, President Biden is not too vain to realize that he’s no longer fit to serve. Good on Joe. He did the honorable thing and dropped out—leaving Trump as the dotard in the race.

The first convention I attended was for Goldwater in 1964. The national convention was contested—Goldwater had not won a majority of delegates before the convention. Same drill in 1968 in Chicago, candidate Humphrey was chosen at the convention, as Gerald Ford was in 1976 over Reagan. Not coincidentally, the winners of these messily contested conventions all went on to lose in the general election.

Since then, the goal of both parties has been to have a first ballot winner lined up before the convention—which the RNC turned into an infomercial for a retired pro wrestler, bad facelifts and Trump’s droning gibberish of demagoguery. The Democrats can turn the page on this conventional formula with something innovative and fresh: A convention where the delegates pledged to Biden have been released and can actually nominate the best candidate on the spot on live television. Such an unconventional convention would be worth paying attention to.

So that we can vote for someone that can make a speech without babbling nonsense about sharks, cannibalism and Clorox.

Chip Northrup
Cooperstown