The Politics Thread

[marceline]

 

Damn! That's blunt as hell and I love it. 

 

In a perfect world my candidate is Klobuchar. I hope that whether the nominee is Joe or Bloomy they will choose her as VP.

Edited February 11, 2020 by marceline

[Khan]

 

 

With our luck, however, Joe Biden could slip and fall while emerging from the shower; Pete Buttigieg could get ahold of some cheap Mexican food laced with botulism; Elizabeth Warren could be startled in a ladies' room and accidentally swallow a toothpick; and Amy Klobuchar could fall to her death in an empty elevator shaft.  2020 could grab everyone BUT Trump and Bernie just to [!@#$%^&*] with us.

 

 

Joe Biden might.  (Although, something tells me he'd at least ask Kamala Harris first.)

 

Bernie Sanders?  Prolly not.  In fact, I wouldn't put it past ol' Bern to con Pete Buttigieg into becoming his VP, despite the vitriol of the past few days.  Otherwise, he'll probably ask Elizabeth Warren.

Edited February 11, 2020 by Khan

[DRW50]

Cynthia Nixon tells the brain dead Bernie fans to stop booing.

 

 

Amazing how simple this is...amazing that a surrogate isn't leading boos to try to show us how special and wonderful she is. And she isn't even a member of Congress, like his cultists who are so happy to lead hate rallies. 

 

The media is already back to tsk-tsking people who don't think Trump will win reelection. We're already back in 2016 already where they coddled and enabled him and then acted "shocked" that he won.

 

 

An unreliable poll has ridiculous margins...you rubes, why don't you get it? 

 

The media is in the tank for Trump, the Democrats are running the worst slate of candidates I've ever seen them run, one of the frontrunners has sociopath supporters who are Trump supporters in a different wig and have openly said they want to put people in front of firing squads...voters are being suppressed and foreign powers are meddling...gee, why would anybody think Trump is close to a lock at this point...

 

[Khan]

 

It's gonna take a miracle (or a tragedy) to keep another Trump victory from happening.  For someone who embodies humankind's worst attributes and impulses, the s.o.b. stays winning over his enemies, both real and imagined.

[JaneAusten]

James Carville who I am no lover of said it on MSNBC. Trump gets wiped out in the 2018 elections, they lose 7 governorships, lose both houses in Virginia to democrats last year, 2 more governorships in states where Trump campaigned right before (in KY Bevin polled 5 points ahead of Brashear before Trumps visit), yet Trump is winning. He said MSNBC where he was appearing must be in the tank for Trump if they think that's winning while looking directly at Stephanie Ruhle. She was speechless.

 

I suppose if all those election losses are a win for Trump then he's winning. The issue is that Trump doesn't really care about anyone else losing.

 

And no I don't think this is the worst slate of democrats. The issue is the same as it was for the GOP in 2016 TOO MANY CANDIDATES. And Buttigieg not answering questions with specific plans. I guess no one pays attention to how most people run in an election. The only ones roped into issuing specific plans are Hillary, because she's a policy wonk and loves it, and Warren who while brilliant and relatable, keeps getting trapped into releasing hers.

 

The endless "the sky is falling" from democrats is frankly exhausting.

Edited February 11, 2020 by JaneAusten

[Khan]

Mama Khan believes God has anointed Donald Trump -- "because (YT says) he's getting rid of all the pedophiles and non-believers" -- and you know, as much as I still loathe the man, I'm starting to think my mother might be right.

 

Of course, she also believes that Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama will be arrested "any minute now" for running some sort of vampiric pedophile cult.  So, I'm still taking it all with a grain of salt.

Edited February 11, 2020 by Khan

[Khan]

 

It is exhausting.  But, does that make the gloom-and-doom sentiments any less true?

 

At the moment, there is a great divide within the Democratic Party; with the moderates (or centrists) pitched on one side of the line, and the progressives on the other; and if the GOP hasn't already figured out how to exploit the friction for their benefit, they will.

 

I'm scared that there is not a single Democratic candidate out there who can bridge the divide between the centrists and progressives -- that, in fact, the centrists might be forced to accept a polarizing candidate such as Bernie Sanders, in order to keep the progressives (and the Berners, in particular) from screwing us over like they did four years ago, even at the risk of alienating other voters, such as POC -- and that that will cost us the November election.

 

The focus SHOULD be on defeating Donald Trump and the GOP.  Period.  No candidate will be able to implement much (or any) of his or her agenda for the country, because they'll be too busy cleaning up the messes that the Trump administration will have left behind.  Yet, I think too many voters on the left are too comfortable right now in their personal situations to get that.  The economy's still holding up, and we're not in another war (yet).  Ergo, they have a childish mentality -- "Either I get the candidate that I want, or I'm staying home (or voting for Trump)!" -- that is poisoning everything and ultimately making it so damn easy for Trump to swoop in and snatch yet another victory from those who are losing their minds (and everything else) over the direction of this country; and believe me, when THAT happens, the country as we know it will be FINISHED.

 

 

Now, I definitely agree with you there, @JaneAusten.  It is very unfortunate that Elizabeth Warren keeps getting roped into explaining how she'll pay for everything, while others pitch their pie-in-the-sky agendas without so much as a raised eyebrow from the media.  They certainly never question how Republicans plan to pay for anything, which, in turn, allows the GOP in Congress to pass budgets that slash needed programs in this country to ribbons.

Edited February 11, 2020 by Khan

[Juliajms]

Good Lord, if that isn't the truth. Let's just pray that if Biden has to go it's after the damn election.

[JaneAusten]

Yeah it does if you read what Carville said..

 

I heard a lot of this about 2018 and being out in the field working for one candidate who actually beat a GOP incumbent, Lauren Underwood, nothing on twitter or the doomsday media machine for democrats matched what was going on in campaigns. I am not saying there are not problems now. Carville even asked why not one democrat mentioned on Friday about Trump cutting social security and medicare. Now it's in his budget so there is no excuse. The saving grace is at least Bloomberg is not afraid of Trump and likely has commercials already cued up to run.

 

Listen I am not naïve enough to believe Trump can't win and Bernie won't help F it up, but I refuse to give into the standard quitter mentality democrats seem to be labeled with. Maybe it's because I live in Illinois where I see how cutthroat democrats can play. Sometimes I think the national party needs the Illinois and New York Democratic Machines backbone. I said earlier Rahm Emanuel was a lousy mayor of Chicago but he can play as dirty as anyone. he learned from the best and dirtiest politician in Illinois, Mike Madigan, and is an SOB, which is why he was a great COS for Obama initially.

[Juliajms]

But speaking of Carville he certainly doesn't sound all that high on the Democrats 2020 prospects in this interview.

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/2/7/21123518/trump-2020-election-democratic-party-james-carville

In fact he seems to think they are f*cking it up and I'm not sure he's wrong. I think he made some solid points, especially about Bernie Sanders. He's pretty funny on that topic. I've always liked his personality, but if the behind the scenes stuff is true that's obviously problematic.

[DRW50]

 

It's interesting to hear Carville say this because on Election Night 2018, while people were still voting, he went out of his way to pour cold water on the Democrats, saying there would be no "blue wave." I hope he's right, but, along with his wife, are people I always associate with saying whatever will get them attention.

 

I agree it's too many, but I also think most of them have a fatal flaw...and some, like Bernie, have supporters who hate the Democratic Party and have no real issue with Trump. If he loses the primary, they stay home. If he wins the primary, they vote for him and then they either don't vote downticket, or they vote third party or Republican.

 

 I just wish that Warren had been a stronger candidate, because I would have voted for her in the primary and the general. I don't think I will vote for Bernie at all. 

 

This is what Carville tends to do. He says this and that to get headlines. He's one of the reasons why the Clinton machine was ultimately so detrimental to the party (I say that as somebody who, other than the 2008 election, genuinely liked Hillary and was happy to vote for her in 2016) - the insides of it were so rotten. 

[Juliajms]

I can't defend JC, but this part was funny.

 

Are we really sure Sanders can’t win?

James Carville:

Who the hell knows? But here’s what I do know: Sanders might get 280 electoral votes and win the presidency and maybe we keep the House. But there’s no chance in hell we’ll ever win the Senate with Sanders at the top of the party defining it for the public. Eighteen percent of the country elects more than half of our senators. That’s the deal, fair or not.

So long as [Mitch] McConnell runs the Senate, it’s game over. There’s no chance we’ll change the courts, and nothing will happen, and he’ll just be sitting up there screaming in the microphone about the revolution.

The purpose of a political party is to acquire power. All right? Without power, nothing matters.

Edited February 11, 2020 by Juliajms

[Khan]

I don't think Bernie Sanders knows how to do anything BUT scream about a revolution he believes to be imminent.  He's an idealist, but he's also an egoist, and he's terribly lazy, too.

Edited February 11, 2020 by Khan

[DRW50]

 

He's right. If Sanders was truly a candidate of the people he'd admit this. Instead he's saying nonsense like we'll have rallies in Kentucky. Mitch doesn't give a [!@#$%^&*] about your rallies, old man. He will just laugh and go back to sleeping on his bed of money. 

 

Anyway, in the latest example of "maybe it's time to stop obsessing over 'primary traditions' that have no real value," Bloomberg won Dixville Notch, the endlessly covered town in NH that votes first. 

 

 

[Khan]

Carville makes a good point: even if Bernie Sanders were to win the presidency, he'd never be able to help the Democrats reclaim the Senate.  Which means, with Mitch McConnell still there as Senate Majority Leader, we'd still be dead in the water.

 

 

In most of the ads that have been running here (in OKC), Bloomberg talks often about being able to get the Democrats and the Republicans to work together.  I like the guy, I really do.  Under different circumstances, I'd pick him without question.  But, even if HE manages to make it all the way to the WH, he's gonna learn the same, hard lesson we've all had to learn: "compromise" is NOT in the GOP's vocabulary.

Edited February 11, 2020 by Khan