Comments

2

Definitely going to be supporting Bernie now, as the stronger Bernie's hand/delegate count, the crazier the DNC is going to have to get to deny him the nomination, and that is going to be hilarious.

4

"Bernie Sanders is your Democratic front-runner"
Unless, of course, you're counting delegates actually won... In which case it's Mayor Pete.

Pete Buttigieg 22
Bernie Sanders 21
Elizabeth Warren 8
Amy Klobuchar 7
Joe Biden 6

5

@2
It's going to get really entertaining if the DNC has to shut Bernie down in a brokered convention...

Dream scenario: Bernie goes in with a 45% plurality, Bloomberg comes out with the nomination and hilarity ensues.

6

"Sanders edges Buttigieg"
https://apnews.com/3d16640da86f6e5c30b1b5fba8d91936

Now that's an image I'm never getting out of my mind...

7

Yay, someone my generation cares about.

9

@8 - By all means, treasure the moment.

11

@3: If you can magically see into the future, why are you wasting your time here instead of getting a sports almanac from fifty years from now so you can make millions via gambling?

12

Bernie is too fucking old. Where's the next generation of leadership? Or are all the kids satisfied to be "a functioning cog in some great machinery serving something beyond me".

13

If Sanders is the nominee the Dems will basically be committing suicide, but at least after he crashes and burns in the general election (in a much more dramatic fashion than Clinton did) maybe the conspiracy minded wing of supporters will finally shut up.

14

Quit choking on your self-fulfilling prophesies and vote.

15

13: You still don't get it. We're not living in "normal" times and the political truths you hold are increasingly irrelevant. You don't have a clue what the future holds.

18

@5,

You dilrods elected the most clownishly incompetent and ignorant buffoon imaginable to the most powerful position on the planet. An obese, geriatric, wig wearing, porn star humping, spray tanned, proud and openly racist sex offender, who got into a spat with the Pope, the freaking POPE(!!!), on twitter while courting the support of religious fundamentalists.

Dems could bring the reanimated corpses of Richard Pryor and Lenny Bruce to the freaking convention and it wouldn't be half as funny (and also devastatingly, heartbreakingly sad, of course) as what the GOP deems to be dignified executive behavior.

20

@17

Dem candidates get smeared as Marxists/communists by the Right in every election. Remember Obama's SAUL ALINSKY FIFTH COLUMNNNNNN freakout?

Remember how the ACA = Stalin and Hitler at the same time?

Know how many times both Clintons were called "Marxist" by fist pumping right wingers?

They even dared paste Kerry with some Hanoi Jane-style shit.

We already know what's coming.

21

Also, nationalized health Care is a worldwide norm in nations with a "freer" market than the US, and these services are well-regarded by a wide spectrum of their citizenry. Chill.

22

"The problem is that it is hard to prevent socialism from becoming totalitarian."

Wow. That must be why every nation with a post office and fire department is totalitarian!

23

Remember when Trump was an unelectable vulgar draft dodging game show host and admitted rapist who never did his financial disclosures?

Or. Remember when the black guy with a funny name was unelectable. The trolls here claimed that shit all the time in 2008.

Yeah. There is no such thing as candidate "electability" anymore. There is only suppression, coalitions, turnout, and who has power where.

Trump will most likely win no matter who the fucking nominee is because historically the incumbent wins. Power gravitates to power.

The only way that dynamic changes is if the economy goes into recession or Trump dies. And the way things are looking both of those are not totally improbable.

27

@19 It is not that the argument is 'worrisome' it is that red baiting remains very very effective in this country. Sanders has not faced anything like what he would face in a general election. Old clips of him paling around with Sandinistas will be everywhere, he'll be forced to talk about how none of his plans can be enacted without middle class tax hikes, the third rail of American politics. No fucking way. Just because a bunch of naive millennials are enthused enough to propel him over the top in the primaries (while mostly being clueless about the specifics of his proposals, which are admittedly fuzzy) does not mean there is this groundswell of support for his agenda. If he's the nominee, we are doomed, unless something very weird happens maybe, like 2008 all over again.

28

I would think Bernie supporters would be a little concerned that he is losing decisively to moderate votes overall. Moderate candidates beat Bernie by 2 to 1 overall in both NH and Iowa, moderates outvoted Bernie and Warren together 3 to 2 in those states. It seems most primary voters want a moderate and simply cannot decide on which one to coalesce around once and for all. If they all start voting for the same candidate soon, Bernie will be clobbered.

30

I think it's ignorant to call the most educated generation naive. Eventually this generational warfare will swing the other direction no matter how long you delay the inevitable.

32

@30 I tell you what: ask some Sanders supporters you know if they are aware that his Medicare for All plan would require at least (on the optimistic side) a 4% income tax hike on the middle class. A rough estimate: 8 out of 10, maybe 9 out of 10 are completely unaware of this. Are they aware that the idea that Medicare for All would end up saving people money rests on the laughably optimistic premise that businesses will pass on their savings to their employees? He would not be able to skate on all this stuff in a general election. Doesn't really matter that his plans would not stand a chance in hell of being enacted.

33

https://somethingandthewhatevers.bandcamp.com/track/note-to-self-2

Quotidian motivating urgency jam

34

I find that simply asking the "What about Venezuela?" crowd to tell me what happened works a bit as a rebuttal. They usually haven't thought about it at all, just some vague idea that Chavez said the word "socialism" and the economy tanked as a result. If you press them, they tend to think he nationalized the oil industry (did not) or seized people's lands (did not do that either).

Not I think he was a great leader or anything, but it's really funny how no one seems to be able to explain what went wrong and yet they are all so sure that "socialism" did it. But I have family working in West Texas and they are quite accustomed to the boom/bust cycle, and I guarantee none of them are socialists.

Regardless, the truth is that no one has any idea who is going to win in 2020 but Trump is going to be hard to beat. My previous thoughts were that Bernie and Biden had the best chance in a match up against Trump but in recent days I'd add Klobuchar to that list, considering that these are the three people who do not do any bullshit political speak. This is not the same thing as telling the truth- rather it's about not being preoccupied with manners and norms and making sure things sound appropriate for cable news outlets. If anything, Liz Warren's failure to attract any voters should have shown urban liberals who watch MSNBC what dinosaurs they are, liberalism is over. Biden will probably do better in the next few states where Pete will do much worse, but I never guessed just how poorly he'd do.

In any case, none of us know who can beat Trump but people who are acting like Bernie is somehow less likely to than any of the remaining others is not paying attention. Who do you actually suggest can do better? The nerdy obviously insincere lady with the plans who was hyped up by the liberal media but came in distant third/fourth in very white states and polls at close to zero with nonwhite people and the working class? The gay mayor of a small town who speaks in meaningless platitudes and likewise polls at close to zero with nonwhite people and who people like less and less the more they get to know him? The senile old man who keeps calling people lying dog faced pony soldiers? The billionaire who has years worth of audio & video evidence of his blatant racism and does not even appear on the first four ballots?

Klobuchar is at least a solid conservative Democrat- she'll get some shit for locking people up on drug charges the same way Kamala did as people get to know her better, but she clearly "tells it like it is" and comes across as tough and sincere (which again is not the same thing as stating facts). But she's literally campaigning on "be practical, we can't have a better world" and I just don't know that this is going to motivate people to vote?

Regardless, unless either Pete or Klobuchar drop out, they're splitting the conservative Dem vote between them so even if you think either of them have a chance of winning, each of their own stubborn egos are going to hand it to Bernie.

Bernie's the best you got. Can he win? I don't know but I think he has a better chance than anyone else.

36

@28

I can tell you, as a Bernie supporter, that everyone in his campaign have been talking about this for at least six months- it's not some new insight. The response among us Bernie supporters is that A) the Democrats are exceptionally stupid when it comes to political strategy and that is part of the reason we are trying to seize this opportunity to win while they rip each other apart- please note this is the same strategy Trump used to win- being the outlier with a strong base who benefits from a divided field. Liberals keep pointing this out as if the strategy didn't work (he's in power now!) and yet they don't offer an alternative. And B) the predictions from inside were that Iowa would be very close- people weren't even sure if he'd win- but that he'd do a bit better in NH and then, because he polls best with the young, disaffected working class, and people of color, he would do well in Nevada and then, assuming he has proven himself electable, come in first or second in SC based on that.

Whether or not this will prove to be true, I don't know. Iowa went about as expected, the people who were expected to come out for him did so in the percentages predicted but the overall turnout was lower than they thought it would be. NH was a little closer than they originally expected but still about as planned. I think Nevada will be the big test- does the working class come out, does he sweep the Latino vote, then does this translate to victory in SC and an increase in favorability among older black voters (he already has the young).

IMO if these things work out as predicted, then I start to believe that he is correct about his strategy and he could actually win the general. If not, and turnout stays lower than they thought and/or people of color do not go with him, then I think it's a good sign that he'd lose the general. Nonetheless, I don't see how anyone else who is currently running could do better- no way Pete or Warren or Bloomberg are going to turn out those votes either.

Regardless, the Dem party will no longer exist in its current form a year from now, and since they are so terrible at politics across the board, I think that's a good thing.

Pelosi should be forced into retirement after this impeachment bullshit and any liberals who really thought it was a strategic or worthwhile use of time/energy/momentum really should be having a come to Jesus moment right now and question if just maybe they don't fucking know what they are talking about and could stop being so sure they are the smug smart ones for a change. Look at the GOP primary turnout- and that's without a competitor. The impeachment did exactly what everyone on the left including me said it would do: mobilized Trump's base, destroyed Biden, demoralized people, and wasted a shit ton of time on something that was simply a dog and pony show from the start.

37

@Rhizome,

I've had that conversation with many people. The responses differ depending on if people have good employer provided insurance from a job they like or not. My experience is that they fall in two camps in response. The one is people who are constantly fighting with their insurance companies as they are and/or who pay very high deductibles and an increase in income taxes in exchange for having affordable health care is fine for them. I think people who say they aren't OK with this are perhaps not realizing how much most families are paying for health care- especially if they buy it on the exchange which is ludicrously expensive for middle classers. The second is people who have very good insurance through jobs they like (some people stay with their jobs just for the insurnace and so M4A is a way for them to move on to other things)- these people are reluctant to see any benefit in their taxes increasing and their insurance going over to the government, and from a totally personal point of view they are correct. They are also mostly white middle class Boomers, and I think you definitely already see this play out in the primary- they are the least likely to vote for Bernie and I'm sure this is one of the main reasons why, if not the main reason.

In short, the working class, the young & the poor will benefit from M4A as will some middle classers, especially those who have good salaries already but would like the freedom to change jobs. The rich are opposed regardless, though we must raise taxes on them or else everything is going to crash. So more would benefit than not. The problem is of course that white middle class people are the ones who are going to make the difference- they vote, especially the older ones.

Yeah I think it's a problem in the general, but also we've worked ourselves in a corner here- the current health care system is not sustainable and we're not going to change it in a way that doesn't cost some people some money and without making political enemies. It's a big risk- but unless someone can offer a viable alternative then I don't see the point in not fighting for it. There is no other option- Obamacare should've taught us that.

Also as others have pointed out, no Dem is going to be able to pass any legislation through the Senate, so it's really more a question of whether or not you want to just roll over and give it all away which is what most Dems in power want to do (look at their absence of fighting right now over Trump's new budget which will increase austerity) especially Pete and Klobuchar, or do we want to be bold and fight to build something new through mass movement? That's really the only choice, and I'm well aware that a lot of people will vote for their own short term self interests while the sea boils. The problem is coming to them whether or not they vote to increase their taxes by 4%. It's an inevitability.

38

Good night y'all anyway.

39

Expectations should be high for 'the most educated generation ever'. And yet, they barely bother to vote. So, yeah, fuck off until you vote at the same rate as the Boomers.

40

@32 I think most of them are more worried about the rate healthcare costs have been increasing, and that we pay more for worse outcomes than other developed nations. We have a higher rate of bankruptcies due to medical expenses too. You can offset any tax increase on the middle class if you cut what we spend on defense and corporate welfare. No one is running on increasing taxes for the middle class just like no one is coming for our guns. trump on the other hand has been increasing our taxes with his tariffs and no one seems to mind that. Personally, even if my taxes go up I'd be alright with it if I get something useful in exchange like peace of mind that I'm not going to be homeless because I got sick.

41

@39 Make voting day a holiday, don't force people to wait in line to vote, and I think they would.

42

@30 My employer provided health care costs nearly 7% of my pre tax income. I’d gladly trade that for a 4% tax that gives me the same thing Medicare does for our senior family members. We assist in elder care for a few of them and Medicare is great. The issue is there is no political capital at this point to get it done and the insurance industry is going to fight it tooth and nail.


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