Awesome! More support for the oligarchs!
I am positive that he would not, for one good reason.
Can you name anyone who ever ran who passed this purity test of yours? Won, lost, R, D, anyone?
Biden? Oh really? He has a promise about social security he hasn’t delivered on yet: to cut it.
I feel a little less pessimistic today.
I talked to my “swing voter” friend today. He’s a lifelong Republican but not a MAGABOT. He’s one of those almost mythical Obama / Trump voters.
My fear about these voters is that while they might SAY they’re going to consider the Democrat, they will get into the voting booth and choke on things like Supreme Court justices and pull the handle for Trump.
But this guy seems thrilled with Biden. He’s hoping he picks Klobuchar and he thinks a Biden/Klobuchar ticket would be “unstoppable”.
I’m still concerned about the Ukraine crap. I don’t think Biden handles it well and I don’t think snapping at people that ask about it is the right approach. And it’s still going on. Trump basically got permission from the Senate to fuck with Biden and the ambassador and the tattletales are gone. And they have forced Ukraine to open an investigation.
Which is widely regarded as bogus, but corruption in Ukraine runs deep and getting your political rival arrested is a time honored tradition.
If you watch any hard right wing media, this is being heavily covered and they’re making it sound like he’ll be extradited any second now.
Off topic, but I’m staying at a hotel this week that appears to have liberal bias. Because when I turn on the TV, Fox News has no sound. All other channels work fine but Fox has no audio.
A little googling makes it sound like Fox handles SAP differently and there is a combination of settings that can make this happen.
Still, it’s pretty cool.
[Dennis Hopper in that sneaker ad]Bad things.[/DH]
It means that the people who often scream the loudest about change need to understand how you effect change in a democratic society. And one basic step is understanding that you can’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good: in other words, show up to vote, and vote for the lesser of two evils.
Bullock’s pitch for running for president that in a conservative state that votes GOP for president and has a GOP controlled state legislature, he got elected and re-elected as a democratic governor and got things done having to work across the aisle.
You can’t get any progressive legislation passed without a senate controlled by the democrats to vote on and pass the bills. Having him in the senate will be invaluable for the democrats.
I’ll vote for a candidate who can explain how she’ll do something about climate change without either a revolution or a compliant Mitch McConnell.
I’m not going to let the perfect be the enemy of the good, but fuck yeah, I’ll let saving the planet be the enemy of the merely tolerable, and I’ll vote that way, dammit.
And what Sanders knows that Obama didn’t is that you compromise isn’t something that you can do singlehandedly. After compromising so far that he turned Obamacare into Gingrichcare, how many Republican votes did Obama pick up? Zero. So why did he turn it into Gingrichcare, again?
Warren sucked at talking. Every time she spoke, she sounded pleading, bleating, beseeching, with a very humorless manner. I’m sorry to sound like I’m kicking her while she’s down, since her campaign is effectively over. I think she’s an intelligent person with good intentions and have nothing whatsoever against her personally, but she was NOT a strong presidential candidate. She didn’t have the right demeanor. I knew this from the very beginning.
Biden also sucks at talking. I see the phrase “gaffe machine” all the time and I don’t use that phrase because it implies that specific gaffes are his problem. They aren’t. His general lack of speaking skill is the problem. He speaks in sentence fragments, either too hurriedly or too hesitantly, he frequently slurs his words, and he often comes across as thin-skinned and defensive. The gaffes do exist, but they’re less of a problem than this overall verbal incoherence.
We will surround him with sane and reasonable advisors. He will lead the discussions and negotiations and an intelligent and humane policy will be hammered out by compromise.
Then Jolted Joe will say something dumb, everybody will have a good sneer, then! the sane and sensible policy will move forward.
Most likely be OK with that. It’ll do till the really good shit gets here.
According to this, party crossover in the 2016 primary (Sanders voters who supported Trump) wasn’t much different than party crossover in other primaries.
Not only that, but the voters who supported Sanders in the primary and then Trump in the general were to a large degree already republicans, they just liked Sanders.
What about the Sanders 2016 primary voters who either stayed home, voted 3rd party, or did a silly write in?
Hillary lost because her campaign made a critical error to skip Wisconsin and Michigan, and also because she and other Democrats focused on cities and abandoned the suburbs.
Last night was proof that Bernie is a lot more likely to lose a general election than Biden. Of course Biden has weaknesses and he could lose anyway, but Biden absolutely out-performed Bernie with the exception of California, which any Democrat is almost certain to win anyway.
Practical horse race stuff - Bloomberg apparently won’t make viability in either Texas or California.
The Biden popular vote and pledged delegate lead from Super Tuesday is one thing. It is also telling that he won in the states that are more likely to be competitive in November.
California and Utah? Not hanging in the balance. Colorado okay, point to Sanders.
But Virginia, Minnesota, and North Carolina? Maine? These are hang in the balance states. Texas is a reach but more in play than California or Utah? Alabama maybe not in play but small chance of keeping a Senate seat is in the wind.
And, as Biden is found of putting it, “here’s the thing” - with Bloomberg’s willingness to spend big to bring down Trump spreading the map money-wise is doable. There is enough to spend on Texas without ignoring Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. Enough to campaign in Alabama to support Doug Jones and have a positive impact. And yeah Bullock running in Montana now is HUGE. The Senate is not such a long shot after all.
Does nobody else think Sanders’ 60 Minutes appearance may have had an effect on voters?
Your assertion that Obama compromised something he could do “singlehandedly” is a gross misrepresentation of what actually happened and what was actually possible.
The bill initially passed the Senate on December 24, 2009, with all 59 Democratic senators and 2 independents. But oh, that was just the beginning.
Let’s remember it was Obama’s first term, he was trying to save the world from a global economic collapse and he didn’t realize the extremely limited period of time during which he’d hold his super majority in the Senate.
Remember that?
President Obama was sworn in on January 20, 2009, with just 58 Senators to support his agenda.
He should have had 59, but Republicans contested Al Franken’s election in Minnesota and Franken didn’t get seated for seven months.
Then in April, Pennsylvania’s Republican Senator Arlen Specter switched parties.
That gave President Obama 59 votes. Still a vote shy of the super majority.
Then one month later, Democratic Senator Byrd of West Virginia was hospitalized and out of commission.
So while the President’s number on paper was 59 Senators, he was really working with just 58 Senators.
In July, Senator Franken was finally sworn in, giving President Obama his 60 member super majority. But only in theory, because Senator Byrd was still out.
In August, Senator Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts died and the number went back down to 59 again until Paul Kirk temporarily filled Kennedy’s seat in September.
Hopes of a super majority ended on February 4, 2010, when Republican Scott Brown was sworn into the seat Senator Kennedy once held. Obama never again held the super majority needed to pass the ACA through the Senate except the very first time in December 2009.
Let’s also recall that not all Democratic/independent senators were onboard with the ACA initially. Compromises had to be made with them as well before there was any hope of its passage.
The final bill was passed at last by reconciliation in the House on March 21, 2010, after adopting all the modifications made by the Senate specifically so they could avoid having to send it back to the Senate for another vote, because Obama knew it would never again pass.
What’s the first thing Republicans did in response? Started screaming about the “imperial presidency.”
So did Obama really give up too much? Easy to judge with 20/20 hindsight, when memories of what actually happened become fuzzy. Under the rules that were in force at the time, Obama couldn’t do anything but compromise.
In that moment no one knew the extent to which Republicans were so corrupt or would pursue a policy of absolute obstructionism against Obama. Stupidly, we thought we still had a normal-functioning government. Instead, McConnell hid his sharpened teeth behind his knobbly hand and had himself a giggle.
So why are we fighting each other instead of them?
I cosign everything **Aspenglow **has posted about the despicable way Bernie poisons the well. He isn’t attracting new people to the party, he’s poisoning a whole generation against it! Talk about a fifth column.
Several people are passing along this talking point that Biden got his wife confused with his sister. That’s not what happened. Have you actually seen the video? They switched sides (in terms of who was standing on which side) and he reached his hand out to take the hand to his right, without looking (he remained facing the crowd), and saying it was his sister (but it was his wife). Then a couple seconds later, he looked over, startled, and remarked “oh, you switched sides on me!”
I very enthusiastically cosign all of this, except I’d have to substitute “since the 1980s” for “since the 1960s”.
I chose the words “security detail” rather than “Secret Service” for a reason. I know all the information you laid out in that post. But people who hold big public events need a security detail–the vast majority of which are not in the employ of any government agency. You find an agency that comes recommended, and you pay them to have big burly guys keep anyone who needs to be kept in check, in check.
Agreed about ThelmaLou’s post.
I liked that movie and remember the housekeeper kind of rolling her eyes at Chance. But what was the exact line you refer to?
I agree that they started with a lot of really promising candidates and let them all slide by the wayside (Booker, Beto, Harris, Bullock, or Inslee would have been great choices that might have emerged from that smoke-filled room). But although Bernie has raised or spent tons of money, Biden is on top despite having done fairly little of either. And Bloomberg and Steyer are out despite a massive spend, and Warren–who has also raised and spent tons of cash–is also on the verge of being out of the race. So…huh?
That’s just not going to happen. 0.000% chance.
I dunno. I am sure there are a decent number of such trolls out there. But at the same time, I know quite a few Bernie fans personally, well enough that I know they aren’t Russians unless they pulled off some kind of “Americans” level infiltration years ago. About half of them are sweet, kind people who could never be called “obnoxious”. But the other half are, when we start talking about politics, really insufferable. And I’m not just saying this because I am against nominating Bernie. I have also been staunchly against nominating Warren, and I know even more people who love her (literally dozens). Not a single one of those Warren fans is obnoxious in the way fully half the Bernie fans are.
I didn’t see that, but I loved that fierce photo. One thing I wonder: if you’re planning to go rush the stage and be featured on national TV/“print” media, wouldn’t you dress better for the occasion? She looked like she just rolled out of bed and threw on whatever.
Ok, I’ll bite. 
Please fight my ignorance. What’s the one good reason?
Right, it’s funny (not haha) how Sandersnistas love to rail against mainstream Democrats, and they have no problem with endorsements from AOC et al…but if mainstream Democrats don’t meekly line up and place their heads on the chopping block, it’s a “conspiracy” and somehow deeply unfair. :rolleyes: They were supposed to stay divided and unfocused, so Bernie had a clear path to the nomination, dammit! :dubious:
I guess you’ve forgotten: he needed a crucial 60th vote from Ben Nelson, a conservative Democrat from the deep red state of Nebraska.
You are right on both counts. But the big difference is that Joe’s “talking problem” is affable incoherence, while Warren’s is “screechy-preachy” as someone here memorably put it a few months ago. If you can’t communicate effectively, be likeable. (And this is not about gender: Bernie’s bellowing is hard for a lot of people–including me–to take, and Kamala Harris is a pleasure to listen to.)
I don’t know why you said “nobody”–I said so on this or another thread within the past day or two. He could have probably sailed to the nomination if he had pretended to be more moderate for a week or two. Then he could have eased back into being more radical and it would have been too late. But he just didn’t have the discipline or somehow didn’t realize what a crucial inflection point it was for his campaign.