I'm wondering if avenatti might not be such a bad choice for president

[Banquet_Bear]

@Wesley_Clark

It took him a year to get health care passed because him and the democrats kept hoping the GOP would contribute, when all they did was obstruct.

…this isn’t how it happened. You have literally rewritten the history books. A year to get landmark healthcare legislation passed isn’t very long at all. The democrats didn’t “hope” the GOP would contribute, the GOP did contribute and they didn’t just “obstruct.”

In another thread I posted what I considered to be the qualities needed by someone who will contest the next presidential race:

@Banquet_Bear

Integrity. And I mean Obama-level integrity. No skeletons in the closet. And if there are “skeletons” then they’ve been dealt with openly and publicly. No ammunition for the alt-right and surrogates. That won’t stop “birther tactics” and the like, but it will mitigate them. Policy positions based on honestly held and well-reasoned belief and not on “what they think” will get them votes, changing positions as the wind changes.

Moxy. Won’t back down from a fight. Strong support base (family, friends, etc) because the campaign will be soul-destroying, relentless, slog. Quick-witted. Smart.

Street-fighter. Its going to get dirty. I’m not saying they need to “get dirty in response.” But the primary Republican weapon in the next election (as it was in the last) is the Talking Point. “The Deplorables” comment was an effective and devastating Talking Point last election. They need to be tackled head-on and destroyed, not allow them to fester and linger. Make them pivot from point to point. Turn every attack around and throw it back in their face.

A Proven Leader. Someone with a track record of being a thoughtful yet decisive leader, who commands respect not out of fear but because they earned it.

In addition to all of that, whoever gets picked won’t succeed without:

100% support. Whoever gets the nomination gets the support. 100%. No crying in your milk. No voting third party. No dragging the feet. The world can’t afford another 4 years of Trump. The world will not be the same if we get 4 more years of this Republican Party that has ceded control to the worst person in the world. So no fighting. Get out and spread the word and get out and vote. Follow the rules of your state, get people enrolled and get them to vote.

Avenatti passes the streetfighter test. He doesn’t strike me as having a lot of moxy: he’s street smart not book smart and doesn’t strike me as particularly quick witted. He’s unproven as a leader. We don’t know how decisive he can be. And I think he will fail the integrity test. There are skeletons in his closet.

He isn’t particularly charismatic. I could see him getting “out-flanked” regularly by the Republicans: he just doesn’t have the experience. If you think Obama “was a pussy” and was regularly “outsmarted” (reality check: he wasn’t) then wait to see what happens when you throw a political neophyte into the dragons den. He will try and win unwinnable battles. Focus on the wrong issues. They will eat him alive. And the country will suffer for it.

So no: Avenatti isn’t a good candidate. If he got the nomination then I hope that everybody would vote for him. But he certainly isn’t the best for the job, I wouldn’t rank him in the top 50. I’d vote for Jon Stewart ahead of Avenatti. Oprah over Avenatti.