The Harris nomination was not a coup

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I've lost count of how many unelected Prime Ministers our last Tory government foisted on us, and I guess that's less democratic than switching the Presidential candidate just before an election, so I wasn't too fussed about the Harris thing. Once a leader becomes a tarnished brand, like "sleepy Joe" had, the party notices and tries a fresh face. Of course there'll be some dissent from those who don't think the tarnish was so bad, and there may be a bit of a battle within the party. Not exactly a coup.

I think most of the fuss has more to do with the personalities involved than the principle. Most of those crying foul over Harris' nomination would be perfectly content had they nominated Tulsi Gabbard.

The closest to the current situation occurred in 1972. At the convention the nominee Sen. George McGovern chose Sen Thomas Eagleton to be his running mate. It was revealed that Eagleton had been hospitalized three times for depression and had undergone electroshock treatment. There was much more of a stigma about mental health in those days and in the middle of the cold war having a person with those issues “having the finger on button” of nukes was considered unacceptable. After 18 days Eagleton was forced to withdraw his candidacy.