The Politics Thread

[Chris B]

I’m proud of Pete for putting ego aside and doing the right thing. Considering he has more votes and delegates that Klobuchar and Warren, they should be embarrassed at this point. Warren is literally only playing for a contested convention and had no path to the nomination. 

[Wendy]

Said that elsewhere, too. Proud of Pete for putting the country - and not his ego - first. Will be interesting to see who he ends up supporting.

[marceline]

Pete spent the last day of his campaign at Selma. I respect that.

 

 

[Khan]

Petey, baby, this is for you.

 

 

[Roman]

This.

[AdelaideCate007]

 

I don't have any real clue on how this all really works in the US, but CNN basically said Biden and the Democrats want Warren and Klobuchar to stay in through Tuesday because they'll block Sanders from winning their home states and they'll keep him from running the table in other places.

 

Also speaking as someone who grew up around "socialism" and is probably more liberal/left than most of the people here, I'll say I do not understand the Sanders thing at all or why he's some sort saint to some of these people. I grew up in places where we had socialised medicine and all those things and I'm definitely to the left, but he just seems like a con artist to me. No offense to the US, but I don't ever see you guys getting all the things he's promising because the US isn't made that way. Anyway, can someone explain to me his loud rabid fanbase? 

[ReddFoxx]

Klobuchar and Warren could take a number a delegates on Super Tuesday which would reduce Sanders' chances of running up a sizable plurality of delegates. Sanders' supporters include a lot of oddballs who have no real ideology other than liking any candidate who talks about revolution and change (some of them used to support Ron Paul who is the polar opposite of Sanders).

[JaneAusten]

People in this country and the term socialism here is crazy. Now I am not comparing Bernie Sanders to Franklin Delano Roosevelt at all(Roosevelt was a savvy democratic politician and was a member of the machine in NY. He also served as Governor in the state before he ran for president, handling statewide problems and helping his citizens through the onslaught of the great depression). But his supporters love to compare him to FDR, which is laughable. What I will say about Sanders is that he has proposals that other more liberal presidents did including FDR and LBJ(LBJ was also a VERY SAVVY politician). Medicare is our healthcare insurance program for seniors and people with disabilities. It was always intended to be expanded to a nationwide program for all, when implemented but it is not socialized. The doctors and healthcare providers and services are all still private. Medicare is managed by the federal government, like an insurance company and negotiates directly with doctors and providers on services and their costs. Most doctors and providers accept Medicare patients but not all. But it's not socialized medicine.

 

I actually have no objection to expanding medicare but there are other approaches to do it others have proposed that don't kick people immediately off their own private healthcare insurance that some may actually like. But before the ACA(OBAMACARE) insurance companies were allowed to deny people like me coverage - I am a breast cancer survivor simply for the fact that I had a major illness years ago. One of many problems with our private healthcare insurance plans pre ACA. And just to be clear there are still problems with the ACA that could have been fine tuned had one political party not been actively trying to undermine it and invalidate it since it was passed into law.

[Juliajms]

Maybe his day will come down the road.

[Vee]

Good on Pete.

[DRW50]

I know there were many more underlying issues, but the imagery of Public Enemy breaking apart over a Bernie Sanders rally cracks me up.

[Darcy]

I also read that they want Warren to stay in  until the end so that her liberal supporters don’t switch their votes to Sanders.

[DramatistDreamer]

 

Well, Flavor Flav has left the group before so there are likely underlying philosophical issues brewing there. This Sanders rally situation was probably the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back.

 

I too applaud Buttigeig for leaving the race to make way for a clearer path for coalescing around a viable candidate.  I follow (and am followed by) quite a few gay men of color and none except for one, was actually checking for Pete. In their tweets many expressed a kind of weariness, if not exasperation that Pete did not speak to their issues or issues such as the mortal peril that transgendered and transwomen, of color especially were facing as well as protection of their civil liberties.  I will say that even though I mostly avoid subtweets and comments, which are often vitriolic and nasty, I did see some homophobic comments that I blocked as I don't want that venom anywhere near my social media.  I reflexively learned to do this when I came across the disgusting comments I'd see about Kamala Harris as well (some of which I had to report because they were threatening as well as disgusting).

Edited March 2, 2020 by DramatistDreamer

[DRW50]

 

I think the criticism of Buttigieg not representing most lgbt people (and beyond lip service not even trying to represent anyone who was not just like him) was valid. It's unfortunate that those concerns were overshadowed by those who hate themselves and have to hate everyone else in order to get validation. Ben Mora, Bernie's ex-field director, was back on Twitter and talking about how conservative men who are caught in hotels with rent boys are better gay representation. (he was then suspended again and went on about how they'd taken so much from him...too lacking in self-awareness to know that perpetually trying and failing to audition for a Topeka adaptation of Boys in the Band is why he is where he is, not Twitter). Many of these same types of Twitterati also hated Harris and went out of their way to attack her in the ugliest terms. They do nothing but drag down everyone around them, and I have a feeling they're one of the main reasons their dear leader has underperformed this entire primary. 

[DramatistDreamer]

 

The vitriol of the Bernie Bros is running neck and neck with the often caustic disposition and personality of Sanders himself as a turnoff for someone like me. And this is coming from someone, who as a college student and graduate once admired many of the positions that Sanders used to discuss, when he once used a tone that was indicative of someone who had respect for other people and not at all the person who readily disparages others.  I know that there are followers and fans of every group that are abrasive and irritating but the Bernie Bros are a different level of fanatic and nastiness seems to be a prerequisite. I also think that those who are trying to say, "not all Bernie followers/admirers" are increasingly throwing up their hands or are remaining silent, probably because they know that their voices will never reach above the fray of Bernie Bros ready to shout them down.

 

 

I feel as though, for about a month, I've been reading too much about the coronavirus but this thread is a very interesting, if unsettling read. You know it's never good when/if any administration is compared to the Bush administration's handling of the dissemination of information regarding going to war in Iraq. There are definite similarities in how the information has been tailored to fit the desired narrative in both cases, to support what the administration wants to show in order to persuade.