Election 2020

[DMT]

FWIW, I have a white female friend who refused to vote for Clinton despite my persistent encouragement and highlighting Sanders' eventual endorsement. I hope she and people in the #neverHillary set will not pull the same BS if a centrist candidate is the nominee...Trump has been a bitter lesson in political pouting but it remains to be seen whether they have learned it.

[Sour Masher]

FWIW, I have a white female friend who refused to vote for Clinton despite my persistent encouragement and highlighting Sanders' eventual endorsement. I hope she and people in the #neverHillary set will not pull the same BS if a centrist candidate is the nominee...Trump has been a bitter lesson in political pouting but it remains to be seen whether they have learned it.

I agree completely. I really, really hope the lesson has been learned. Same goes the there way. If a progressive is the nom, I hope all the centrists get behind the cadidate.

[DMT]

I agree completely. I really, really hope the lesson has been learned. Same goes the there way. If a progressive is the nom, I hope all the centrists get behind the cadidate.

I haven't encountered any Democrats who've vowed not to vote progressive.

[Teenwolf]

What is opened ended about it? I meant to suggest he does not understand or show he cares specifically about the specific issues that face Black and Latinx Americans. They are not part of his lived experience, and I don't fault him for that. I think his heart is in the right place and his policies would have a positive impact on most Americans, including POC. But out of touch and clueless seem like apt descriptors for him on this issue to me given how he has articulated his messages to that demographic to date. I think the numbers show that so far. It doesn't mean that won't change or he can't win those voters over.

I mostly agree that his campaign messaging from 2016 didn't focus specifically enough on addressing POC, as Bernie himself has admitted, and promised to remedy in 2020. However, to say that POC are "not part of his lived experience" is absurd.

In University, he became the chairman of CORE (Congress for Racial Equality). He helped lead the first known sit-in at the University of Chicago, where 33 students camped outside the President's office to protest segregated housing on campus. Attended the 1963 march on Washington with Martin Luther King Jr. When black children in Chicago were segregated, and placed into bug-infested trailers with no heat or A/C, Bernie was arrested for protesting the injustice. That's the famous picture of him being dragged off in Buddy Holly glasses, probably when Buddy Holly was still alive. If you think he did it for political purposes and doesn't believe in the cause... that's a hell of a long con he's playing. He's already turning the corner. Recently on CNN regarding kneeling: "Let's not worry about the politics of what's going on. Let's talk about why the players are doing what they're doing. We have communities now where kids are being picked up for smoking marijuana, getting police records, which makes it difficult for them to get the jobs that they need. What the players are talking about is the need for criminal justice reform - the need for police department reform." I think black voters want someone with policies like this, not someone with a track record like Harris who claims she smoked weed a long time ago, and used to listen to 2Pac.

Aside from his policy planks that address racial injustice directly (legalize marijuana, end private prisons, prison reform, $15/hr min. wage), I think Bernie's huge array of POC endorsements will also help with his image problem. AOC, Cardi B, Kaepernick, Kareem, plus a lot of the hollywood lefties will endorse him. Spike Lee, Rosario Dawson... Shaun King, Ta-Nehisi Coates have both said good things in the past, Maya Angelou could jump on board... There will be a ton of support from POC, I believe.

But I'm also married to a black woman who is somewhat skeptical of Bernie, so I recognize that he needs to be a tiny bit self-indulgent this time around, focusing on his history as an advocate for equality dating back to his early political activism. He needs to fight his impulse to hammer away with policy and focus a tiny bit on identity politics to satisfy the masses.

VP picks: Nina Turner, Tulsi Gabbard, Stacy Abrams.

[TS Garp]

Tulsi Gabbard.

Are you predicting or suggesting?

[Sour Masher]

Are you predicting or suggesting?

I was gonna ask the same. It would surprise me if a progressive like TW likes her as much as moderate Republicans around here do. But I vaguely remember TW or someone else addressing the problematic issues around her candidacy.

Here is an article that touches on some of them: https://www.thedailybeast.com/why-co...-for-president

I should add, it isn't her fault that Tucker Carlson and David Duke seem to love her, but, well, they aren't endorsements folks on the left hold in high esteem.

[DMT]

It's great that so many of us are in mixed race marriages. I think my wife said 1 in 5 children born in the US this year were mixed.

[Sour Masher]

It's great that so many of us are in mixed race marriages. I think my wife said 1 in 5 children born in the US this year were mixed.

Yeah, I've noticed before--there is a surprising number of us on these boards. I dig how common it is getting. My wife and I have been together for two decades. There were times, early on especially, that we felt kinda weird--assumed separate checks and other awkwardness. My mother actually cautioned against my dating her at first, cuz "think of the children." I don't notice those things as much now.

[Sour Masher]

Yeah, I've noticed before--there is a surprising number of us on these boards. I dig how common it is getting. My wife and I have been together for two decades. There were times, early on especially, that we felt kinda weird--assumed separate checks and other awkwardness. My mother actually cautioned against my dating her at first, cuz "think of the children." I don't notice those things as much now.

I've told this story before, but my wife's college roommate, and a good friend of ours from both high school and college, who we hung out with and doubled dated with was murdered because she was in an interracial relationship. We had often hung out with them at the time. My wife's family lived right by where the shooting happened. It was deeply tragic and disturbing. Part of the reason Trump's rise has affected me so much he panders to people like the one who murdered Jody. She was a truly special person. She helped me get the Gold Seal Scholarship that allowed me to go to college, as I couldn't have afforded it otherwise. She helped me in the accounting class I was struggling with. She changed my life, and a racist took hers.

https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl...197-story.html

[DMT]

That's horrific, glad justice was served at least.

[Teenwolf]

Are you predicting or suggesting?

Maybe a little of both. She's not my choice, but she feels like she could gain some traction in the primaries. I'll bet that she outperforms Warren. I think Warren's time is up. Her policy talking points have been awful. She embraces incremental change as a primary talking point. I think Bernie will solidify those Bernie/Warren votes and she will drop out quick. Yang and Tulsi splinter more of the progressive vote before they drop out, but still a marginal amount. It all depends on how many centrists enter. I really believe if Biden enters, it guarantees a Bernie win due to centrists spreading too thin. If they coalesce around Harris, they have a shot, but they're too greedy, and will approximate a circular firing squad. Centrists much less likely to outnumber and coalesce around 1 dynamic candidate more popular than Bernie. I don't see that "lightning in a bottle" pragmatic centrist Democrat candidate out there. I don't think we will.

[The Feral Slasher]

I mostly agree that his campaign messaging from 2016 didn't focus specifically enough on addressing POC, as Bernie himself has admitted, and promised to remedy in 2020. However, to say that POC are "not part of his lived experience" is absurd.

In University, he became the chairman of CORE (Congress for Racial Equality). He helped lead the first known sit-in at the University of Chicago, where 33 students camped outside the President's office to protest segregated housing on campus. Attended the 1963 march on Washington with Martin Luther King Jr. When black children in Chicago were segregated, and placed into bug-infested trailers with no heat or A/C, Bernie was arrested for protesting the injustice. That's the famous picture of him being dragged off in Buddy Holly glasses, probably when Buddy Holly was still alive. If you think he did it for political purposes and doesn't believe in the cause... that's a hell of a long con he's playing. He's already turning the corner. Recently on CNN regarding kneeling: "Let's not worry about the politics of what's going on. Let's talk about why the players are doing what they're doing. We have communities now where kids are being picked up for smoking marijuana, getting police records, which makes it difficult for them to get the jobs that they need. What the players are talking about is the need for criminal justice reform - the need for police department reform." I think black voters want someone with policies like this, not someone with a track record like Harris who claims she smoked weed a long time ago, and used to listen to 2Pac.

Aside from his policy planks that address racial injustice directly (legalize marijuana, end private prisons, prison reform, $15/hr min. wage), I think Bernie's huge array of POC endorsements will also help with his image problem. AOC, Cardi B, Kaepernick, Kareem, plus a lot of the hollywood lefties will endorse him. Spike Lee, Rosario Dawson... Shaun King, Ta-Nehisi Coates have both said good things in the past, Maya Angelou could jump on board... There will be a ton of support from POC, I believe.

But I'm also married to a black woman who is somewhat skeptical of Bernie, so I recognize that he needs to be a tiny bit self-indulgent this time around, focusing on his history as an advocate for equality dating back to his early political activism. He needs to fight his impulse to hammer away with policy and focus a tiny bit on identity politics to satisfy the masses.

VP picks: Nina Turner, Tulsi Gabbard, Stacy Abrams.

Would be interesting to hear some thoughts on Harris and how her policies have affected POC.

[Sour Masher]

Would be interesting to hear some thoughts on Harris and how her policies have affected POC.

She obviously faces an uphill battle based on initial wariness of her record. But as we have learned based on who has won primaries and elections, it isn't as much about what you've done or not done, but how you sell yourself to voters (that isn't praise of how things are, just recognition of it). We'll see how well she can sell herself to various constituents.

[The Feral Slasher]

She obviously faces an uphill battle based on initial wariness of her record. But as we have learned based on who has won primaries and elections, it isn't as much about what you've done or not done, but how you sell yourself to voters (that isn't praise of how things are, just recognition of it). We'll see how well she can sell herself to various constituents.

Totally agree, I'm just wondering during her time in public service in California, how would people here rate her performance ? How did she represent POC, or how did her policies affect them ?

[Judge Jude]

Bernie's ears are burning, I imagine, as he appears live with Chris Hayes on MSNBC right now.

says his 2016 campaign leadership WAS too male and too white, but just look at this team now.
says he is "deeply saddened" to hear reports of sexual harassment within that campaign, is taking all the needed safeguards, and so on...