Democratic (Party) Direction

there seems to be a non-ironic "bernie 2020" thing happening on twitter

i don't want him to run, but i support the idea of it because the Right People are pretty mad about this

Tbf Dr Morbius doesn't trust any Democratic politicians because he is the best of us, and he knows it

Treeship is concerned because it is literally his job to get worried about Democrats who might run in 2020 as soon as possible

Anderson Cooper Eyeroll 2020

The real reason Dems are cussing in public is VEEP on HBO

I mean the idea that these people, the politicians of my generation, don't cuss like fucking sailors when it private, is fucking beyond stupid. The awkwardness is because revealing part of your private self in public is always awkward. And bearing witness to it is also awkward. But I guarantee this is partly because of VEEP, which all these people watch, and the calculus is: who am I going to lose? People who are uncomfortable with cursing? Dems lost that bloc in 2004 I think.

Better to just let rip with a good F bomb or two than a Dean Scream

I would really prefer Sanders didn't run again tbh

It should be either Bernie or Warren. Anyone else would either be a centrist loser or not have enough name recognition to build enthusiastic support or both.

what about younger candidates who've adapted the times? That's politics.

I mean the idea that these people, the politicians of my generation, don't cuss like fucking sailors when it private, is fucking beyond stupid. The awkwardness is because revealing part of your private self in public is always awkward.

otm

It should be either Bernie or Warren. Anyone else would either be a centrist loser or not have enough name recognition to build enthusiastic support or both.

Yeah, I don't know why the Constitution says anyone over 35 can be president when clearly you should have to be at least 65.

Who is a younger person that is emerging as a good bet?

Chris Murphy ftw

Bernie can still win 2016! Don't give up! Berrrrniieeee....

Warren delivers speeches on the floor of the Senate that go viral. She is a captivating, charismatic politician who has also been on the right side of history vis a vis Wall Street since 2008. Plus she barely seems 60; some people just age differently.

Both Warren and Bernie are figures people can rally around--the latter less so because he is divisive, more within the party than among the politician though. In this era we can't have some candidate who is just solid but doesn't command attention.

Imo. Obviously I am not in charge of this decision.

*among the public

Treeship, "divisive" is a bullshit non-word like "controversial."

It doesn't matter who the nominee is so long as h/she espouses liberal views that h/she isn't craven about saying aloud.

It should be either Bernie or Warren. Anyone else would either be a centrist loser or not have enough name recognition to build enthusiastic support or both.

You were alive in 2007 right?

Anytime someone uses the word "divisive" they should immediately be asked what newspaper they write for.

bernie is not really divisive among dems. he's disliked by very plugged-in hillary stans on twitter

of the major figures currently kicking around Warren is the most palatable and least evil

divisive, controversial, problematic -- awful words

bernie is not really divisive among dems. he's disliked by very plugged-in hillary stans on twitter

― k3vin k., Saturday, June 10, 2017 11:10 AM (nine minutes ago)

Very OTM. I saw someone complain today on twitter that "Dems would probably vote for McCain over Bernie" and was taken aback by how detached or "this website is the world" that view is.

wait i thought the 2020 dem ticket was Oprah Clooney.

I should run

At least Oprah's never declared bankruptcy.

You'll be 35 by then, treesh?

No I guess not. Close.

I would really prefer we nominate a Gen X person if at all possible. Late Boomers, even the exceptional ones, need to stop hogging the spotlight imho.

Also can we talk about something other than Presidential nominees for a few hours? There's other battles that need to be fought as well. Oprah & Clooney can run for Senate seats.

The Amal Clooney twins will be eligible in 2052!

Imagine having twins on the ticket. Can't really figure out how the secret service would feel about it though.

http://www.theonion.com/article/fuck-you-obama-says-in-hilarious-correspondents-di-32245

He's never going to show up at one.

I liked Trump's but at the Al Smith dinner. Nice pathos, incurring the ire of the crowd through grandiose self-pity, and then regaining their sympathy by mocking his wife. Classic.

looking at the actions of the "vanguard left" i'm not sure that a leftist makeover of the democratic party is ever going to be truly possible. i don't want to draw facile equivalencies between the left and right, but a large part of radicalism seems to be to demonize (or at least deprecate) the "other". this works somewhat less well when your party is the party of the "other".

i'm not sure that a leftist makeover of the democratic party is ever going to be truly possible

STOP DA PRESSES!

it's assumed among most American leftists I interact with that the Dems are beyond saving in the long run

bernie is not really divisive among dems. he's disliked by very plugged-in hillary stans on twitter

This is very true. If your image of the Democratic party was "people who spend a ton of time freaking out on twitter" you would think the party was in a deathmatch with itself. Out in the world, I think most Democrats think very highly of Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Joe Biden, and would be super-stoked for any of these people to be President.

well that'd be sad, but then Tom Hanks and Tom Cruise are among the most beloved movie stars of the last 30 years

yeah iirc something like 92% of dems take a favorable view of Bernie xp

STOP DA PRESSES!

― Supercreditor (Dr Morbius)

yeah i know you were defeatist before defeatism was cool

but no, this whole "indivisible" thing about re-reclaiming the tactics of the tea party to wield outsize political influence, i'm not saying there's nothing to it but a whole, whole lot of it was just finding the most openly racist guy in the room and running him for office, which isn't a tactic which can be successfully imitated by anybody but right-wingers.

i do think that in the long run memes, which were probably more decisive in bernie's support than policy considerations, can probably be an equal or superior political force to cash, but any remaking of the party is dependent on rebuilding from the ground up, and memes just aren't very effective on a strictly local level.

the question is, if all this is true, why give a shit about politics at all? why set oneself up for failure again and again? particularly if politics is culture, why even paying attention to, much less denounce, the ineffective compromises of a party destined to be nothing more than an incoherent stay-the-course muddle?

it has nothing to do with "defeatism." American institutions do not do leftism, not in the last 50 years.

why give a shit about politics at all? why set oneself up for failure again and again?

people complaining about politics is not a bug but a feature

it's assumed among most American leftists I interact with that the Dems are beyond saving in the long run

This is why American leftists are so influential

it has nothing to do with "defeatism." American institutions do not do leftism, not in the last 50 years.

Then what do you do? The way for your expressed political views to be anything other than defeatism is if you're basically a nihilist or possibly the most cantankerous and unhappy stoic I've ever met.

Why this constant need to single out Morbius? Politics makes people unhappy those threads are wall to wall w people doomsaying and complaining about being mad unable to sleep fearful etc. Why always pick on the good Dr?

yeah it seems to me he was simply stating a fact just there

Because he is by far the worst?