Election 2020

[Sour Masher]

Disagree. Every single thing he says gets taken apart and misconstrued, and it doesn't stick. You had the same feelings about his response on terrorists voting, am I wrong?. Anti-abortion folks weren't voting for Bernie either way.

Maybe. This is a very divisive issue and I think it would have been better for him to answer that question by highlighting the many other ways climate change can be addressed. I think Trump may run with this as his go-to label/attack on Sanders. We will see. The true mettle of a candidate is whether stuff that would sink someone else doesn't sink the candidate. I frequently think about how one exuberant yell seemed to sink Howard Dean, but several issues that the right tried to use to bring down Obama, didn't work. And, of course, nothing at all seems to sink Trump. If this does blow over as a nothing-burger, it will show to me that Sanders has what it takes to take on Trump and survive other inevitable negatives for him that may arise.

[revo]

Former SC Governor Mark Sanford officially becomes the 3rd challenger to Trump in the GOP primaries. Ironically, his state is gearing up not to hold one, in a major embarrassment to the GOP.

[revo]

Today is the special election in NC's 9th District, which is a major referendum on the Guy Currently Inhabiting the WH. That guy won the district by 16% in 2016, and in addition the GOP has since been caught red-handed in a voter-fraud scheme and is in serious danger of losing. And this district hasn't voted Democrat since 1963! That voting tidbit didn't stop him from proclaiming in a rally last night that "voter fraud was rampant in California." Not right there, where they have the evidence.....but in California, where he's making shit up.

You just can't make this stuff up.

[Teenwolf]

Kamala Harris has had a hilariously awful week. First, she was at a campaign event when an attendee finished his question with "...mentally retarded Donald Trump." She answered "well said, well said." Then the next day, she acts shocked that those words were included, saying she "never heard it, never processed it." Pretty brutal. ALSO... she said at the Climate Town Hall that she has "sued Exxon Mobil", then she laughed maniacally, like a true liar with their pants on fire. It's been proven that she never sued Exxon Mobil. ALSO... she was asked in an interview "it's become common belief in polling that there's a top tier of Biden, Warren, and Sanders. Do you still consider yourself part of the top tier?" Her answer was something like "everybody knows that I'm a top tier candidate." Pretty hilarious, the fact the question is being asked proves that it's true, they just want a tasty soundbite and they don't feel like they need to keep their access to her by being nice (since she's not gonna win), so now they have the knives out.

Tulsi Gabbard is now 1 poll away from qualifying for the October 15th debate. The DNC had 17 polling services doing polls for the primaries, and in polling for this latest debate, they only used 10 of the 17 polling services, CHOOSING which ones they use and don't use. Seems like a bit of a conspiracy to keep Tulsi off the stage (she did 2 weeks of military service in the last month, kinda hard to campaign, so a bit of it is her fault too)... anyway, I feel like her absence is intentional, but I'm happy to see a good chance of her back on stage in debate #4. I'm disappointed she went on Dave Rubin's show (he's such an idiot, not good to legitimize him... she follows Yang and Williamson's appearances on Rubin).

Elizabeth Warren with a ton of news this week. First, it's been discovered that Warren is using $10 million from her senate re-election funds for her Presidential run, AND the $10M is largely from big donors in 2018. Just like she stated on TYT "I do not believe in unilateral disarmament. We need all of the big donors, all of the dark money..." (I can't find that clip, but I know she said word-for-word "we need dark money")... so she's broken her pledge to fund her 2019 campaign through grassroots funding. Bernie Sanders transferred money from his Senate re-election funds too, but the difference is that he didn't do any large dollar fundraisers. From New York Times:

How Elizabeth Warren Raised Big Money Before She Denounced Big Money

Warren has also been seen wooing party insiders and super-delegates, as well as cozying up to Hillary Clinton. She's clearly not going to Clinton for advice (I think she's smarter than that), she's going to Clinton to re-animate the Clinton machine in support of Warren. I'm not sure what form it takes, but it's an ominous sign. Remember how the super-delegates were supposed to be minimized from the voting process because they subvert the Democratic process. J/K, everybody!

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics...eeting/596791/

Same story with Andrew Cuomo. The New York primary is so blatantly engaged in voter suppression, the deadline to register as a Democrat is supposed to be Oct. 11th... clearly hurting young voters and non-registered voters (Bernie voters) from being able to vote once they start paying attention. Well, there was a bill passed to change the registration date to Feb. 12th. Cuomo is refusing to sign the bill with only 1 month until the deadline. Democracy has been overturned, your country is now ruled by temper tantrum. Trump sure has lowered the bar. But Cuomo is a Democrat, so I'm sure nobody will care.

Back to Warren, she tweeted this week about "improving access to health care", and she's been getting ratio'd hard on it. Twitter isn't a platform for testing your Republican talking points. The first response I saw was "access my dick"... Here's the full text of the tweet: "Glad I got a chance to talk with ABS-CBN News about improving access to health care, strengthening our economy, and reforming our immigration system. I’m in this fight all the way for Filipino families and to build an America that lives up to our values."

Another on Warren, asked this week "how does your voting for Trump's expanded military budget square with your progressive ideals?" and she totally dodged the question, shifting to "corruption" (she'll be focusing on corruption a lot, as she wants to identify as the anti-corruption candidate). She's made it clear over and over again. She doesn't support Med4All in the way that Sanders does, she favours incremental change, and she doesn't support scaling back military spending or ending dumb wars.

Warren has lots of plans. But not on Health Care.

Those are enough highlights for now. I'd love to detail Bernie's policies at some point, but it's a lot of typing.

[Teenwolf]

Predictions for debate #3:

Biden gets hit by Booker, Beto, Harris, and Castro, but I'm not sure if Warren attempts the takedown. She really wants to be held in the good graces of the establishment, so I'm thinking she sees more value in promoting her own vision, or perhaps attacking Booker's record on prescription drugs (anyone but Biden), as opposed to attacking Biden... I dunno. I'm not sure if Bernie will attack Biden directly either. He's been far too gunshy in debates to this point, sticking mostly to emphasizing his own record. I bet he does something like "Look, I've known Joe Biden a long time, and I consider him my friend. But on the issues of NAFTA, and PNTR with China, and the bankruptcy reforms, we have strong disagreement. On issues like the 1994 Crime Bill, and the rush to war in Iraq, we have strong disagreement. I don't think Joe is a bad guy, but I do think the American people need a more progressive candidate who will fight hard to support the working class." I think it's the best approach if you're targeting Biden voters to approach your appeal to them with nuance and not look like the "angry, out of control" charicature the media portrays him as.

Biden referred to Obama the other day as "the last President". Not as bad as "President... my boss", but it seems he forgot his name again. Biden has always been "Obama-Biden", throwing the name out constantly. You know when you think you know somebody's name, but you don't want to call them that out loud in case you flub it? That's where Biden is at. He's toast. But maybe he has some 3D chess reason to limit his usage of Obama's name? Someone explain it to me, but I see his marbles missing. We shall see it clearly, I believe, center stage. He will struggle to articulate his thoughts, he will use vague terms when he can't remember specifics "the last president", "the health and hu-... the health department", etc. You will see him clearly diminished.

Beto O'Rourke will come out much more progressive-ish. He recently stated his support for leveraging funding to Israel as a means of brokering peace (something like that). So I think his last ditch effort will be to run far left as he can.

I see a high chance of a blowup between Andrew Yang and Bernie Sanders. Yang has attacked Sanders a few times recently, after Bernie said that a jobs guarantee was more progressive than UBI, Yang was like "newsflash, some people want cash more than a job, AND not everybody wants to work for the government." But I think Bernie made a great argument for his jobs guarantee vs. UBI in his interview with Krystal Ball (it's like 40 mins, and she's way smarter/less gullible than Joe Rogan if you want in-depth conversation, I highly recommend it).

It will be a while until we see the differences between Warren and Sanders crystallize. Still too many clowns in the car.

[Teenwolf]

This clip was just posted from Biden's New Hampshire rally. Very illuminating. People are walking away highly unimpressed, even folks with Bidens pins who say "listen, I love Joe Biden, but..."

[Sour Masher]

TW, what do you think of this article, which highlights Wall Street concerns about Warren? https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/mark...zWQ?li=BBnbfcN

It is interesting that she gets critiqued by centrists as too progressive, and by Sanders backers as too centrist. To me, Warren is definitely closer to the Sanders end of the spectrum than the Biden end, but I understand they have fundamentally different approaches than Sanders. I've seen several pieces outlining these differences. Would you say this Vox explainer is an accurate summary? It highlights and that they share a lot in terms of policies, but are very different politically. It echoes a lot of what I've seen about Sanders being a revolutionary, offering a totally new political system, and Warren be a reformist and regulator, working within current systems to achieve largely the same ends, but not turning those institutions on their heads like Sanders : https://www.vox.com/policy-and-polit...es-differences

Here is an excerpt that may help us get clearer about why some of us prefer Warren or Sanders:

"Warren is a social democrat. Sanders is a democratic socialist. The difference between the two is best explained by how Warren and Sanders convey their skepticism toward capitalism, said Sheri Berman, a political scientist with Barnard College, who has written extensively on the history of the left.

Prominent writers on the left argue this ideological divide has played out in practice, too. In January, the Intercept’s Zaid Jilani wrote for Jacobin:

When Warren says that the primary difference between Sanders and herself is that she’s a proponent of capitalism, it’s not just rhetoric. Her life’s work has been to make markets more competitive and equitable, not to redistribute money from the rich to the poor and remove big chunks of economic life from the private sector.

....

To [Sanders], the problem is not so much that the rules are rigged so people can’t become entrepreneurs, or that regulators need to be empowered to act on behalf of the public. The problem is that the government is not doing enough to bypass the private sector to directly deliver funds and services to the poor and working class.

“Both Sanders and Warren have put forth a slew of policies a couple of election cycles ago would have been seen just far ahead of where the Democratic Party was,” Berman said. “If you believe in capitalism and you believe it has gone a little off the rails in the last generation, but it remains the best system to maintain economic growth and democracy, then Warren is the better candidate for you.”

“Or do you believe that capitalism is inherently unjust, inherently unstable?” Then Sanders is the right fit, Berman said."

As for me, I find myself in the middle of those two simplified positions. I think capitalism is inherently amoral. Because of that, unfettered, it can become unjust and unstable, but it need not be, if reigned in. It has done more than just go a little off the rails recently. It has always been that way. Capitalism must be paired with proper regulation and be imbued with the spirit of compassion our social contract in the US aspires to. But I also see benefits to the system, imperfect as it is, as long as we regulate, control, and ensure we have socially conscious policies and restrictions in place along with capitalism. Clearly, Sanders and many supporters think it is all bad, but are there examples of the alternatives--state run everything that show themselves to be better? What are those examples? I cannot think of such a system that does not also come with the baggage of corruption and waste and disparity between rich and poor that we lament in capitalistic economies.

[revo]

New Hampshire -- another battleground state poll, a similar result -- Biden leads Trump comfortably, yet the others don't lead by enough to cover the margin of error. In this case, Bernie flies just above it. And this poll is another example of Warren & Harris just not having enough at this point in time to justify the nomination. And look at Andrew Yang laying the smackdown!:

New Hampshire: Trump vs. Biden	Emerson	Biden 55, Trump 45	[B]Biden +10[/B]
New Hampshire: Trump vs. Sanders Emerson Sanders 53, Trump 48	Sanders +5
New Hampshire: Trump vs. Warren	Emerson	Trump 51, Warren 49	[COLOR="#FF0000"][B]Trump +2[/B][/COLOR]
New Hampshire: Trump vs. Harris	Emerson	Harris 51, Trump 49	Harris +2
New Hampshire: Trump vs. Yang	Emerson	Yang 54, Trump 46	[B]Yang +8[/B]

[Teenwolf]

Yesterday, Joe Biden referred to Angela Merkel as Margaret Thatcher, after twice before referring to Theresa May as Thatcher. 3 strikes. Oh, and he referred to Donald "Hump" on stage to laughs. Go home, Joe.

Yeah, super thoughtful and endearing, and super normal, and not indicative of failing health. Riiiiiiight.

[revo]

Yesterday, Joe Biden referred to Angela Merkel as Margaret Thatcher, after twice before referring to Theresa May as Thatcher. 3 strikes. Oh, and he referred to Donald "Hump" on stage to laughs. Go home, Joe.

Yeah, super thoughtful and endearing, and super normal, and not indicative of failing health. Riiiiiiight.

He caught himself before he even got the full name out. I think we're going to have to add a new syndrome -- BDS. You're the inaugural member! LOL.

[Teenwolf]

He caught himself before he even got the full name out. I think we're going to have to add a new syndrome -- BDS. You're the inaugural member! LOL.

The point is he's fumbling his words constantly.

I asked my wife "Hey, guess who Joe Biden referred to Angela Merkel as today?" Her response "if you say Margaret Thatcher..." Endless laughter. Thanks Uncle Joe.

Only 10 more debates to showcase his lack of ability to form coherent thoughts or remember anybody's name, and continue to lie about his own record. Should be a great primary. Go way back in this thread and I was cheering for Biden to enter the race because i thought he was super beatable on his record. But I didn't foresee his physical deterioration, so I'm now more confident than ever that he will spiral out of the top tier and hopefully be forced to withdraw due to failing health. He needs to drop into a clear 3rd place with rampant speculation about what a trainwreck he is to consider dropping out. I guess that happens around mid-Nov, but maybe they drag his ass all the way to the convention, but I don't see it.

Did you see his campaign staff lowering expectations in the early voting states?

Former Vice President Joe Biden's campaign is lowering expectations in some early voting states, veteran political reporter Paul Steinhauser told Hill.TV on Monday.

"Just a few days ago, the Biden campaign in a conference with me and other national political reporters, they downplayed both what the vice president could do in Iowa and the expectations in New Hampshire as well," Steinhauser said during an interview on "Rising."

"They were touting how their staff was beefing up in the Super Tuesday states and beyond, but they did lower expectations a little bit in the first four early voting states," he added.

But I'm sure his campaign staff and the reporter, they all have BDS too, right?

https://thehill.com/hilltv/rising/46...s-says-veteran

[Sour Masher]

You may want to rephrase that comment, TW. I know you really dislike Biden, but he isn't a bad guy. I assume you did not mean to say that you ar hoping for Biden's health to get worse.

[Teenwolf]

You may want to rephrase that comment, TW. I know you really dislike Biden, but he isn't a bad guy. I assume you did not mean to say that you ar hoping for Biden's health to get worse.

I'm not hoping his health worsens. His health IS worsening. I hope the media stops brushing it aside and calling it "gaffes", and it becomes clear to all that he's not well enough to continue, and he throws in the towel, that's all. He needs to rest.

That eyeball explosion is said to be caused by stress, and it happened right after getting hit with a tough question from a college student. What would Trump do? Literally make his heart explode?

[revo]

Bernie has been strongest in Iowa, and Warren and Bernie are in bordering states to NH. It’s not reasonable to assume Biden may not do well in either of those two? (and he’s still leading in both states, mind you).

[Teenwolf]

Bernie has been strongest in Iowa, and Warren and Bernie are in bordering states to NH. It’s not reasonable to assume Biden may not do well in either of those two? (and he’s still leading in both states, mind you).

What did you think of the video of Biden rally attendees? There were a couple supporters who would say "he may be stumbling a bit, BUT TRUMP...", but the rest of the attendees were all highly skeptical of what Biden is offering, and of his ability to beat Trump. There's no enthusiasm for him. I don't see how that trend can be reversed. I think it only picks up speed as people tune in more.