2020 Democratic presidential primary

Its weird to me that he's positioned as being 2016 when surely he's in a much stronger position in 20 than he was in 16?

Interesting stats here on net favorability

Bernie Sanders has higher net favorables than any other candidate among Black adults. Part of that is driven by higher name recognition, but even if you adjust for that, Sanders remains at the top (with Harris, Klobuchar, & Booker right behind). pic.twitter.com/CGou1DZ33Q

— Ben Spielberg (@BenSpielberg) February 20, 2019

https://d25d2506sfb94s.cloudfront.net/cumulus_uploads/document/na6jdfbhty/econTabReport.pdf

some unpleasant reading for Tulsi!

The Sanders vs Warren chart is helpful, thanks (although it does make them seem v similar). I'd hoped Warren would run last time but I was happy to have her as a Senator for the state I lived in.

Tulsi should drop out now

what would jill stein do?

Moguls recently held a secret meeting to decide which Democrat they will bankroll for president in 2020. Some Democratic candidates attended the meeting to audition for the moguls.

This is oligarchy. https://t.co/KTnFYNPJPE pic.twitter.com/Hsxyefiga1

— David Sirota (@davidsirota) February 19, 2019

do we also hate journalism when we bring up the fact that you were fired from a campaign for creating a fake website to smear a minority candidate? https://t.co/Q5Nldl8DYw

— rumjhum (@rumjhum) December 11, 2018

Where does the confidence behind thinking this come from?

can climate change hurry up and kill us all? i just read a tweet that said "elizabeth warren is as left as bernie, if not more" and the impending death of our species could not get here fast enough

— nathan e. smith (@trillmoregirls) February 19, 2019

It's adorable that people think stuff like this will hurt him

🚨Uncovered video🚨@BernieSanders in 1985 praising the Communist Castro regime in Cuba and admitting on camera that he traveled to Nicaragua to advise the Ortega regime on how to successfully fight the United States. pic.twitter.com/qYtpvbVvCS

— The Reagan Battalion (@ReaganBattalion) February 20, 2019

that video went viral three years ago!

I kind of want to make a politics thread where you cannot post tweets. it'll just be me and my stuffed animals posting there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iR5b58zu4Bc

for consideration:

An analysis conducted for POLITICO by Guardians.ai found evidence that a relatively small cluster of accounts — and a broader group of accounts that amplify them — drove a disproportionate amount of the Twitter conversation about the four candidates over a recent 30-day period.

Using proprietary tools that measured the discussion surrounding the candidates in the Democratic field, Guardians.ai identified a cohort of roughly 200 accounts — which includes both unwitting real accounts and other ‘suspicious’ and automated accounts that coordinate to spread their messages — pumped out negative or extreme themes designed to damage the candidates.

This is the same core group of accounts the company first identified last year in a study as anchoring a wide scale influence campaign in the 2018 elections.

Since the turn of the year, those accounts began specifically directing their output at Harris, O’Rourke, Sanders and Warren, and were amplified by an even wider grouping of accounts. Over a recent 30-day period, between 2 and 15 percent of all Twitter mentions of the four candidates emanated in some way from within that cluster of accounts, according to the Guardians.ai findings. In that timeframe, all four candidates collectively had 6.8 million mentions on Twitter.

https://www.politico.com/story/2019/02/20/2020-candidates-social-media-attack-1176018

Seriously. I have access to twitter too. I don't understand why there are so many tweets on ilx. I don't care what some nobody on twitter thinks. I care what nobodies here think.

agreed

DNC tooootally not trying to undermine one candidate

https://edition.cnn.com/2019/02/19/politics/dnc-candidate-affirmation/index.html

imagine thinking that’s undermining

bernie sanders is a democrat who pretends he's not to titillate ppl who fancy themselves political rebels. the problem isn't that it's disloyal but that it's extremely childish.

he never release his full tax returns. So he's more republican there.

or did he? I remember it being a thing. I like Bernie. He's just pissing me off.

so many americans now register independent bc they're angry at their political party but they still vote straight-ticket

bernie sanders is a democrat who pretends he's not to titillate ppl who fancy themselves political rebels. the problem isn't that it's disloyal but that it's extremely childish.

― Mordy, Wednesday, February 20, 2019 11:08 AM (eleven minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Well calling yourself socialist when most of his policies are run of the mill centrist stuff just north of border (look at Quebec) is also just marketing.

It is admittedly bad that he switched back to independent after the last election. There’s no good reason for it. Anyone who cares about his crusades should be at least a little annoyed w him for doing that since it undercuts what he says he wants to accomplish.

There's no good reason for a lot of shit he has been doing.

wtf do socialized college and healthcare have to do with anything in the Democratic party platform for the past quarter century? Good on him for making the small if symbolic distinction between himself and the Democratic party, not sure why this is "childish"

I mean I find the “he’s not even a Democrat!” people annoying sometimes but it seems arguably sillier that he makes a point of not calling himself one.

Maybe when the party adopts some thoroughly progessive positions he'll do that

He’s not a “socialist” and it’s weird he uses that moniker, but his vision of a compassionate society was never aligned with what the party was and is.

'Socialized college'? Is that a thing?

He's always made a point to say democratic socialist though.

wtf do socialized college and healthcare have to do with anything in the Democratic party platform for the past quarter century?

that should be your giveaway -- the parties are not eternal monoliths but entities that change over time driven by the needs and desires of their participants.

someone else posted above something I never knew, that he ran for 2016 because he couldn't convince Elizabeth Warren? What's the point now?

he votes with the democrats, he has leadership positions through the democratic party, he is elected by democrats, and he holds positions that have historically been democratic positions and looks back to historical democratic figures like FDR for political precedence. he is not far outside the mainstream of the dem party (tho he is to its left). there's literally no reason he couldn't just be a democrat except for what i said above which is that registering independent appeals to americans distrustful of institutions in general who want to demonstrate, even in a superficial way, their unique, independent bonafides.

xp But he is affecting that change in the D party now, while registered as an Independent, so I/m not sure what the calculus is

the calculus is "ew democrats"

xxp to yerac: different stakes/political landscape/accrued support?

it's nobody's fault but this thread and 3275 messages as of February 2019 is giving me the heebie jeebies

I'm a registered Democrat out of necessity, and do not identify as a Democrat, so expand your mind.

(my calculus is "fuck Democrats")

who gives a fuck what party someone "identifies" as. they're not real platonic objects. they're ad hoc names that have developed over a century of political events.

the calculus is "ew democrats"

more specifically, I think the calculus is "the Dem brand is toxic or at least tarnished for a lot of Americans so any distance I can hold onto is worthwhile." and tbh I think there's evidence that calculus has worked out well for him so far!

I'm a registered democrat and would rather everything go full dem socialist. He's in an even worse political landscape to throw his hat in. But yeah, he's popular, has stayed mostly under the radar in the last year, xpost

i almost registered as an independent once out of anger at the democratic party but then i realized that literally the only reason i registered democratic in the first place was to vote in primaries and that there would still be primaries in the future i'd want to vote in and that literally not a single human being alive gives a shit what party is listed on my voter id.

who gives a fuck what party someone "identifies" as. they're not real platonic objects. they're ad hoc names that have developed over a century of political events.

― Mordy, Wednesday, 20 February 2019 16:37 (one minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

works both ways if there's political gains to be made

he's a frontrunner for the dem nomination afaic he's a democrat whatever he calls himself

God, I am going to be so pissed if it ends up being two straight white men up for president again. FFS. Treading water down some rapids.

xp i think thats fine, yknow everything is 'afaic' between the ditches and the primary and everyone here wpuld vote for him or Warren or whoever after thats done

anyone acting like theres an actual moral imperative on any nominee or potential nominee not to run or to run but softly or whatever is idk here id say they were talking shite but that might come across as overly aggressive to yanks so sub in a fond but disapproving phrase as you wish

multi-xps

Now, Mordy, all Sanders is doing with the 'democratic socialist' label is branding his positions as standing well to the left of the party mainstream, which they are. For at least the past five decades that was a label that required some courage to claim as one's unique selling point, even in Vermont, which may have been the only state where such a label would not instantly sink your candidacy. By sticking to it doggedly and laying out his progressive agenda clearly and proudly, he has rehabilitated the idea of socialism, which is a good thing, and probably of greater value than if he had simply identified himself as Yet Another Democrat and voted exactly the same on every bill.

I won't be, if it means Orange Grifter loses. xxp

God, I am going to be so pissed if it ends up being two straight white men up for president again

Right there with you, but I'm equally dreading watching a quality female nominee get nitpicked to death.

I think Bernie's an inspiring, nice guy who lives in a quiet state and he's had an average career prior to running; he has some hypocritical doodoo sharks in his voting record. And generally the role of president doesn't matter as much as local offices blah blah. But representation really, really, REALLY matters. I don't have kids but yikes, even I can see that.

but again, I am also ok with a lot of dem candidates all running on very similar platforms so eventually it gets solidified as THE dem platform.