2020 Democratic presidential primary

awesome, I'm really looking forward to Biden, Warren, and Sanders splitting the vote 40-35-25, and then having a bunch of people sit on their hands because Biden won

so do you just plan on getting mad every time there's ever a democratic primary process

That’s what Morbs does and it works for him.

moodles i'm really not sure where you're coming from with the idea that bernie will not step aside when someone else gets the nom. how exactly has sanders "persistently fed" this notion? isn't it in some way significant that in 2016 he did the exact opposite of what you're describing, by endorsing and campaigning for the dem nominee?

separately, when you talk about splitting the vote with warren it's like hang on... it's june. the iowa caucus is next february. are all progressives in every race obliged to decide, the better part of a year out, whether there's an acceptable other progressive in the race, and then whichever one seems closer to 50% gets to stay in and make their case and the others have to drop out? it seems weird to have that pressure, especially when there are 20 candidates in the race... idgi. primaries involve multiple candidates making their pitches.

so long as Democrats need a huge margin in the general election to have any significant gains, and there's a large portion of the electorate who will only show up to vote for their very special candidate, yes, I will be.

xxp

gonna need some evidence to back up that "large portion of the electorate" claim. iirc a whole lot larger a portion stays home no matter what, can't imagine why

xp

he clung on to the bitter end in 2016, well past the point where he had any reasonable path for winning. he's been coy about his willingness to step aside if this scenario happens.

I'm not suggesting he needs to do anything now, he's certainly a viable candidate (there's about a dozen+ candidates that could drop out now, though), but I can easily see a scenario where Sanders and Warren split the progressive vote. If Sanders is reasonably ahead, I don't have any reason to think Warren would pull a diva move like sticking around well past the point of viability (obviously this could happen too, and would be just as bad), but I can totally see Sanders pulling that move, and I don't think I'm alone in imagining that. I think there's a reason people are so sensitive to the comments that he and his campaign make, and I don't think it's irrational at all.

I would not use "diva" about a female candidate

There was an interview I read with one of the people running Bernie’s 2016 campaign who said that Bernie’s reasoning (which he disagreed with) was that dropping out and endorsing Hillary earlier would have been a huge letdown to his supporters and would have left them feeling tricked into believing in just another politician. and so to keep them invested in the general election and feeling like their work had made a difference he felt he needed to stick it out and get changes to the platform at the convention.

He stayed in like three weeks later than Hillary in '08, who was facing a similarly foregone conclusion.

a huge letdown to his supporters and would have left them feeling tricked into believing in just another politician.

into believing how primaries work?

My hunch is that not a lot of people will vote for Beto O'Rourke, but every one of them will start a band.

^ this was my thought at the time when he didn't drop out. I felt like he should finish what he started because it was about more than just the nomination.

But that tweet, like, I'm sorry he was born a white man that he has to watch this shit more now, but it's the framing of the white male saviour, even accidentally, that pisses me off.

xp I assume he figured his supporters would respond better to “we fought hard and pushed the party to the left in these specific ways and you should feel good about voting D even if we didn’t win” vs “well I tried but I’m mathematically eliminated, please vote for the establishment candidate!”

His 2016 candidacy was originally meant as more of a protest run to get his message out than any realistic shot at the presidency. It took everyone, including him, by surprise when he became viable. Sticking it out in order to move the party platform left is totally in line with that original goal, and I highly doubt it had any negative impact on Clinton's run. People are just traumatized from Clinton's loss and looking for someone to blame besides her.

True. I'm definitely traumatized, and every day it gets worse. If we can't figure out how to dig ourselves out of this hole in 2020, we're probably fucked for good.

"CANDIDATES TRY TO OUT-DO ONE ANOTHER WITH PROPOSALS" pic.twitter.com/NBNuMlYJgR

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 28, 2019

democratic debate night II: return of the negroni

someone mix Moodles a couple

the first three sound great so far, even, by god, Biden.

I think Gillibrand just broke that streak

be generous to church and little league

swalwellmentum!

andrew yang just said trickle up

swalwell looks like someone injected novocaine into one side of his neck

Dayum Kamala brought her game

Swawell looks like Hugh Sloan in All the President's Men.

harris is doing well so far

that food fight line was getting cold in her pocket

you do get the feeling that she would pick trump apart in a debate

bernie smirked a little bit at the end of pete's 'medicare for all you want it' plan description, and i thought maybe he was pleased that even his more moderate democratic competition is strongly advocating for medicare to be open to all who want it, even if it's not full single payer

lol this row of dudes looking at Marianne Williamson confusedly

is williamson a vaccine truther?

Marianne Williamson sounds like the lady in a Horton Foote film who's about to lose the estate but won't admit it.

— Richard M. Nixon (@dick_nixon) June 28, 2019

Marianne Williamson, bustin’ the paradigm

oh my god i had forgotten marianne williamson was in this debate. that was amazing

m bison - please do this one too

Karl Malone: yes she is

Lots of people polling at or below 1% shouting on top of each other

swalwell, we don't care what you're saying, just shut the fuck up

did not know Williamson was a vaccine truther, bummer

xp lol for a sec i thought swalwell was the name of an ilx poster not a presidential candidate

I can’t get over my antipathy to Joe Biden

not watching but just in re: sanders in 2016 - we discussed this a bunch at the time, and probably since then, but I've never understood what was supposed to be bad about him staying in for the last month of the primary or whatever. it's not like he spent that time dragging clinton hardcore or proclaiming "if clinton wins it's all over and you should stay home." as someone in a late primary state i was pretty fucking jazzed to have the chance to vote for him and have that count towards the numbers that could be waved around to show that more democrats wanted socialism/progressivism than had been assumed.

considering how many other progressives were inspired by the campaign - like, it was one of AOC's big influences, right?? - I gotta say that if bernie had packed it in when it first appeared clear he would lose (that is to say: the day he announced), we might be in a very different place. 2019 is not 2015, obviously, but it still feels like this weird thing to resent somebody for: he insisted on LOSING when it was obvious he was going to LOSE! like oh no how dare he.

once the field narrows, this will be an interesting series of debates. all of these candidates can hold their own on a debate floor:

warren
sanders
biden
harris
buttigieg
booker
castro

branwell 2020

well, this is a "better" debate than last night insofar as the hacks are less prominent.

warren
sanders
biden
harris
buttigieg
booker
castro

yeah I think this is the final seven

doc casino otm

is williamson a vaccine truther?
Karl Malone: yes she is

tbh I don't even think Marianne Williamson knows her position on this issue

m bison - please do this one too

― Ambient Police (sleeve), Thursday, June 27, 2019 8:31 PM (seven minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

sorry bud, thats COACH bison and i just got back from practice so lemme just say

BERNIE: "YUGE"
BIDEN: VENEERS
KAMALA: CLAPBACK
BUTTIGIEG: DOOGIE
THE REST: SHUT THE FUCK UP AND GO HOME