2020 Democratic presidential primary

Unauthorized T-shirt salesmen set up tables outside his events and some attendees sport his hipster black “BETO” buttons, a testament to the celebrity he won while losing in Texas. But Mr. Buttigieg has zoomed past him in early-state polls and is starting to draw larger crowds in Iowa and New Hampshire.

Recent surveys in the two early-nominating states show Mr. Buttigieg vaulting into the double digits in a field of nearly 20 declared candidates. In some cases he trails only Mr. Biden and Mr. Sanders.

The first votes are still more than nine months away, and Mr. O’Rourke has ample opportunity to regain momentum. But even some of the attendees at his events who were clad in Beto gear said they were unsure how to choose between him and Mr. Buttigieg.

But even some of the attendees at his events who were clad in Beto gear said they were unsure how to choose between him and Mr. Buttigieg.

how is this even a question? you get them both in the same location and you have a beer with them, see how they act. whoever you want to have a beer with the most is the winner.

Buttigieg can't get the bartender's attention, whereas Beto goes off to buy you a beer then starts talking to someone else and forgets about you.

not in the tank for bernie, but gfy mayor pete

“Mr. Buttigieg lamented that his party was not sufficiently worried about deficits and suggested that Mr. Trump and Mr. Sanders were two sides of the same coin.” https://t.co/X2ndMBNubK

— Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) April 24, 2019

lol at Klob's straight up lifting of Selena Myers' "Man Up" conversation with millennials
i should probably throw some bucks at Warren now, huh

yup

not digging her merch but maybe my partner will want a PERSIST RESPONSIBLY pint glass

Donated to Warren last night, plan to continue to do so regularly as long as she's in it

ah yes... budget deficits..................... the most animating and critical issue of our times

xp

Thinking this is what I need to do as well

i expect Klob and Biden to suck out loud but how tf can Mayor Pete and Kamala be so fucking terrible this early on? srsly, fuck em both.

i'm in GA so it (probably) won't matter, but if either of these two (or Biden) ends up w the nom i may do what I yelled at ppl for in 2016 and go 3rd party.

maybe Biden will keep delaying his announcement till after the election

I'll send one of you 30 canadian dollars if you pinky swear you'll donate it to warren

actually i'm not even sure wtf buttigieg's talking about actually, since all his progressive competitors, and certainly sanders, are proposing major revenue increases to cover their programs. he's effectively doing the GOP's ideological work for them by implicitlly naturalizing the tax cut deficits they created. talk of being sensible and adult on deficits always means belt-tightening on spending.

as far as "lanes" go he increasingly looks to me like Carter 2.0 - - - the most conservative Dem in the race, at least on all the bread-and-butter policies that have been put in front of him and on which he's failed to take stances. at this point biden might be a better pick frankly even though i also want him to go away. feel like he's less likely to actively or rhetorically undermine good bills coming up from a progressive legislative caucus.

maybe Biden will keep delaying his announcement till after the election

please god

honestly unless a new challenger emerges, it's Bernard or Liz for me or fuck all the way off Dems.

(this internet threat is obviously void if somehow Georgia is in play)

apparently Biden's already got support from Andrew Cuomo and the McCain family.

only the best people...

Trump only won Georgia by 5% in 2016 so I imagine it'll be at least reasonably in play.

Can somebody explain the whole give-prisoners-the-vote thing, and why this is a cause worth supporting? I'm totally in favor of giving parolees their voting rights back the day they walk out the gate, but voting from your cell? As amusing as it would be to hear Chuck Todd say, "Exit polls show that Trump is doing really well with supermax voters," I gotta say no.

Kevin's explanation upthread seems comprehensive and succinct to me.

They are people, they are citizens, they have an interest in government policies esp as they depend almost totally on the state.

traditionally i think it's the people arguing for a curtailment of the most fundamental right of millions of american citizens who are most obligated to shoulder the burden of explanation?

in a perfect world i would agree with you but the criminal justice system is racist as fuck and so denying voting rights to inmates is basically marginalizing the voice of those communities that are routinely, historically targeted for incarceration.

you = unperson xpost

xxp they get counted as part of the population for district-drawing purposes, so the people being elected from their districts, for all practical purposes, represent them. They should darn well get a vote on who that is.

also lots of other very normal countries allow it iirc

in a perfect world i would agree with you but the criminal justice system is racist as fuck and so denying voting rights to inmates is basically marginalizing the voice of those communities that are routinely, historically targeted for incarceration.

In a "perfect world" I would still disagree, but yes to the racist system bit, and also the "oh so rapists should get a say??" line is particularly ridiculous because an absurdly tiny % of accused rapists ever get convicted

prison in the perfect world must be a sight

I took "perfect world" there to mean "place where the american justice system works by and for the people it says it does"

sund4r otm

If I was drawing up a list of urgently needed prison reforms in this country, letting them vote would not be high on my list, but sure why not.

they get counted as part of the population for district-drawing purposes, so the people being elected from their districts, for all practical purposes, represent them. They should darn well get a vote on who that is.

So change the former condition (prisoners counted toward local population), not the latter (prisoners voting).

prison in the perfect world must be a sight

― difficult listening hour, Wednesday, April 24, 2019

run by poets and Beyonce

i know taking away voting rights feels kind of arbitrary but i guess really the whole idea of imprisoning people is mostly kind of arbitrary? i think you can pretty clearly argue that there are some people who represent enough of a danger to the rest of society that they need to be incarcerated, but that probably describes a fairly small portion of the prison population. even the whole deterrence argument, there are probably healthier ways to get people to make restitution for their offenses that would have the same effect.

So change the former condition (prisoners counted toward local population), not the latter (prisoners voting).

you mean... wholly erase them from civic life

For the length of their sentence? Yes. They're criminals. Jesus, you fucking people.

lmao

xxpost surely we can come up with some kind of compromise, where they are partially counted. Maybe 60% or so.

If I was drawing up a list of urgently needed prison reforms in this country, letting them vote would not be high on my list

you may find that the one... brings the others closer

so uh this poll is a tremendous outlier (I'm assuming there are reasons for that but idk anything about the org), but I like the "remove a candidate and see what happens" feature, more polls should do this

http://poll.democracyforamerica.com/results

For the length of their sentence? Yes. They're criminals. Jesus, you fucking people.

As we all know, sentences are handed out in a totally fair and evenhanded way across all demographics.

as we all know, criminals are not citizens. that's why they have no rights

A good challenger for Perdue's senate seat (fingers crossed for Abrams) could put GA further in play, but if we just put up any ol' Dem drip for the job, GA will remain safe red territory. I know turnout matters everywhere, but especially here.

also lots of other very normal countries allow it iirc

Can somebody explain the whole give-prisoners-the-vote thing, and why this is a cause worth supporting?

For me its mainly "Remove a currently existing voter-suppression tool", there are already too many incentives for incarceration, yes this is a relatively minor one but still

Honestly, until 2 months ago I didn't even really think about it. I wouldn't say I've been persuaded from No to Yes, but I have been persuaded from Didn't Think Much About it to Yes

They're criminals. Jesus, you fucking people.

Do you have much personal experience with the so-called criminal justice system? Seems like not.

Huh, only settled by the Supreme Court in 03, apparently. xp to self

seems like a fine idea, but not a position I much care about when picking a candidate

you love to see it

John McCain's family plans to support Joe Biden's White House bid, backing Biden not only in the primary race but also in a general election match-up with Trump, the Washington Examiner has learned. https://t.co/4FIUwOxWNr

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) April 24, 2019

xpost @Pres Keyes - does it indicate anything to you about a candidate's larger values/priorities, e.g. on criminal justice reform, racial justice, and/or the importance and extension of democratic rights?

Do you have much personal experience with the so-called criminal justice system? Seems like not.

None of your business.