while being appointed by party elites

False.

AOC warned you that the party insiders were not talking about replacing Biden with Harris. They were floating other candidates and she wasn't near the top of the list.

Biden gave them the middle finger by dropping out without coordinating with anyone, and then endorsing Kamala.

The other possibilities declined to challenge her.

The candidate is elected by the electors from the primaries - Biden got thousands of electors that were the ones that made the call. Super Delegates (party insiders) aren't included in the vote unless there is a contested convention and no one gets 50% of the vote in the first round of voting. This was settled long before the convention.

I think she ran a good campaign, except for that Liz Cheney bullshit. She just needed 6 months, not 3.

She lost because she ran the shortest presidential campaign in modern history.... 3 months instead of the typical ~2 years.

Many people not plugged into politics didn't know much about her because she wasn't repeating the same message over and over and over for 12 months.

I follow pretty closely and even I missed that she was running on $15 minimum wage (announced 2-3 weeks before the election, buried under the stories/memes of Donnie working at McDonalds).

Her campaign staff also fucked up -- sending Bill Clinton to Michigan to piss off voters there, and campaigning with Liz Cheney does not win over any Republicans, and loses Democrats.

Dems also need to do some real work to undo the Clinton damage of doing their best to drive away young men with the childish 'Obama BOYS' and 'Bernie BROS'. Can't be a big tent party if you aren't making young males welcome too.

Having something positive to say about a politician...

...Isn't the same as idolizing them, getting their face tattooed on your body, putting their face on your truck and house, and wearing diapers in support of them

WHO KNEW, RIGHT?!?!?!

Kamala voted to the LEFT of Bernie when they were in the Senate together.

And she ran on $15 minimum wage (but didn't announce it until 2-3 weeks before the election)

Which makes her the most progressive candidate in the general election in 40 years.

The internal Dem fight now is to not let her small loss (after the shortest presidential campaign in modern history) be used as an excuse to shaft progressive candidates.