Election 2020

[TS Garp]

Don't get ahead of yourself based on one performance. She was terrible in the last debate and admitted so herself.

Did you miss her getting heckled and having no clue how to respond, waiting for Ayanna Pressly to rescue her on the stage? She's been great tonight for the most part, but extremely inconsistent over the campaign.

That's a fair critique. Warren has been uneven early on in the primary cycle but I do think she's shown a consistently high level of courage and relentlessness throughout her career and it was nice to see those qualities on display tonight.

[Teenwolf]

Holy shit. I just watched this clip from American Psycho, and I find it amazing how identical Patrick Bateman sounds like Pete Buttigieg.

[B-Fly]

I told y'all that the DNC did the right thing in essentially compelling Bloomberg onto a debate stage by changing the qualifying rules, and that it wouldn't work to Bloomberg's advantage. Bloomberg had soared to #2 in national polling largely on the strength of the best advertising blitz money could buy, but he needed to be vetted like any other contender, and the debates are a critical piece of how that's supposed to work. You do a disservice to the voters and the other candidates by not putting the guy running #2 or 3 in national polling on the stage to answer questions and take the slings and arrows of the other contenders.

The Great and Terrible Oz is just a small man, neither as great as his most ardent supporters suggest nor as terrible as his most ardent detractors fear. Dorothy (Warren), the Scarecrow (Sanders), the Tin Man (Biden) and Toto too (Buttigieg) helped pull back the curtain in last night's debate. (That sort of leaves Klobuchar to be the Cowardly Lion, but it doesn't really fit as well as the others, lol.)

[B-Fly]

I also demand an explanation from B-Fly.

Previously, B-Fly has claimed Bloomberg isn't running as a spoiler candidate. Now, we have video evidence of Bloomberg from last year, giving a list of reasons that he's unelectable.

C'mon, B-Fly. At least admit Bloomberg's motive is not to lead lead the party when he says so himself.

I demand an admission from Teenwolf that the DNC was right and wise to make Bloomberg debate.

[Teenwolf]

I demand an admission from Teenwolf that the DNC was right and wise to make Bloomberg debate.

I definitely agreed with the DNC decision that Bloomberg being put on the debate stage was a good thing, sunlight being the best disinfectant. Their motivations for doing so remain unclear.

I knew he would get hammered for his record, but that was a bloodbath. Very satisfying to watch. I'm not sure the debate hurts his polling that much, but it certainly shows that he's completely unelectable.

[Teenwolf]

The thing that should worry everybody is the admission from every single candidate except Bernie that they would NOT support the candidate with the most delegates at the convention. What a fucking joke.

These self-interested motherfuckers right here... unreal. Willing to destroy the fucking party and subvert Democracy to attain power.

sanders-alone-debate-stage-say-candidate-most-votes-should-get-nomination-convention

[B-Fly]

The thing that should worry everybody is the admission from every single candidate except Bernie that they would NOT support the candidate with the most delegates at the convention. What a fucking joke.

These self-interested motherfuckers right here... unreal. Willing to destroy the fucking party and subvert Democracy to attain power.

sanders-alone-debate-stage-say-candidate-most-votes-should-get-nomination-convention

Yeah, I think I'm mostly with you on that. Particularly if there is a clear leader. I guess if there are two or three candidates within only a small handful of delegates of each other I might be open to discussion about a "second ballot" at the convention that functions like ranked-choice voting, but if Sanders (or someone else) has a clear plurality, I think it would be a huge mistake not to give the nomination to the delegate leader.

[Teenwolf]

Yeah, I think I'm mostly with you on that. Particularly if there is a clear leader. I guess if there are two or three candidates within only a small handful of delegates of each other I might be open to discussion about a "second ballot" at the convention that functions like ranked-choice voting, but if Sanders (or someone else) has a clear plurality, I think it would be a huge mistake not to give the nomination to the delegate leader.

I really appreciate that you agree with me on this one. I think it's the most important question of the primary.

[In the Corn]

The thing that should worry everybody is the admission from every single candidate except Bernie that they would NOT support the candidate with the most delegates at the convention. What a fucking joke.

These self-interested motherfuckers right here... unreal. Willing to destroy the fucking party and subvert Democracy to attain power.

sanders-alone-debate-stage-say-candidate-most-votes-should-get-nomination-convention

While, I think it would be best for the Democrats to come to the convention with a clear leader they can support, I can understand why every one of those candidate said let the system work, and the one who's not a Democrat wants it the opposite way.

As for the debate last night:

Warren was very strong. I thought she controlled the narrative of the entire debate. She was both pointed at her opponents and presented the most policy information throughout the night.
Bloomberg was absolutely eviscerated last night. His comment, "I can't use TurboTax" is something if I were in the race would be running on repeat for the next few months. He showed himself to be completely out of touch with a common person. I was stunned at how poorly he did.
Sanders was his usually steady self. Neither great nor poor. I did think Bloomberg's comment about how the best know socialist in America is a millionaire who owns three homes. Again, if I were in the race, I'd be playing that line on repeat, as well.
Biden was pretty good last night. I thought he came in second, but it was a distant second to Warren. Too much resume, not enough future talk.
Buttigieg was trying to show that everyone else's experience was hurtful to them and inconsistent. I didn't think he did much last night.
Klobuchar had the chance to really help herself last night after a great debate in New Hampshire. She was not great last night. I think she hurt herself, and this debate could be end of the road for her. I do think she will stay until Super Tuesday, but she needs this debate to be scrubbed from the news cycle ASAP.

[B-Fly]

Warren was easily the winner, IMO. I'm really frustrated that she's not doing better in the polling and the voting to date, because what I've seen is that she's not only the best candidate to govern and execute, but also the best to effectively and repeatedly punch Trump in the nose in the general election. I honestly do believe that conscious and subconscious sexism are at play, but sadly there's not much I or anyone else can do about it.

[gcstomp]

I dont think its a radical idea that one with most votes should be nominee. Seems democratic. So i guess i am with Bernie rather than brokered convention which is another way of saying lets use a convulated process that results in someone other than the lead vote getter getting nomination.

[TS Garp]

I honestly do believe that conscious and subconscious sexism are at play, but sadly there's not much I or anyone else can do about it.

Absolutely -- 100%.

[Kevin Seitzer]

I dont think its a radical idea that one with most votes should be nominee. Seems democratic. So i guess i am with Bernie rather than brokered convention which is another way of saying lets use a convulated process that results in someone other than the lead vote getter getting nomination.

So, if for example, Mayor Pete has 32% of the delegates, Bernie has 30%, Warren has 28%, and Biden has 10%, you think the democratic answer is that Mayor Pete should automatically be the nominee? I'd ask the same of Teenwolf.

[gcstomp]

Geez that would be a pretty horrible breakdown if it was basically a 3 way tie for delegate lead with a 4th hanging around to snatch victory from the 3 tied leaders. What better way to ensure victory for the uber united repubs than a bumper car ride of a 3 way tie for lead and superdelegates putting the decisive foot on scales. Is this something that has happened before with more than 2 candidates, or as your example say 4 candidates with no clear leader in delegates? As a rule, yes, I think most votes should win and I dont agree with existence of superdelegates. Who are they and how do they get to decide races. I am open to hearing how superdelegates are essential to a democratic process that makes more sense than say, whoever has most delegates wins nomination.

[Kevin Seitzer]

Geez that would be a pretty horrible breakdown if it was basically a 3 way tie for delegate lead with a 4th hanging around to snatch victory from the 3 tied leaders. What better way to ensure victory for the uber united repubs than a bumper car ride of a 3 way tie for lead and superdelegates putting the decisive foot on scales. Is this something that has happened before with more than 2 candidates, or as your example say 4 candidates with no clear leader in delegates? As a rule, yes, I think most votes should win and I dont agree with existence of superdelegates. Who are they and how do they get to decide races. I am open to hearing how superdelegates are essential to a democratic process that makes more sense than say, whoever has most delegates wins nomination.

Leave superdelegates out of it. What if Warren wants to throw her delegates to Bernie, or vice versa? Shouldn't the "progressive wing" be able to pick their candidate if they collectively have the most delegates, rather than yielding to someone in the "moderate wing" who managed a narrow plurality?

I'm not saying it's likely, but surely you can see why candidates might not want to close themselves off from possibilities at this point, and it might have nothing to do with being anti-democratic?