Your next 2020 Democratic presidential primary thread: Now we're serious

seems like a safe bet yes

I think we can all agree Sanders has the most unpleasant online supporters. OTOH he also has the support of folks like the homeless people who hang out in front of my local McDonalds whom I overheard talking about Bernie the other day.

lunatic Clinton cultists who are never voting for sanders

not convinced these people exist outside of twitter

I would say I know one person like this and I know a lot of Democrats
I know one person who hates Trump like poison but won't vote for Sanders because he's convinced that Sanders (and Labor) is too accepting of anti-Semitism

(first is in a swing state, second not)

I can think of a couple of Sanders voters who have said they won't vote for Biden but I can't truly say whether they mean it or whether they're just venting on FB
(but then again, the Sanders voters I know are lefties, not the beloved and much chased exurban white Obama-Trump anti-establishment fuck-the-Man voters.)

So basically 99% of everyone I know, Sanders people, Warren people, Biden people, etc., are "Vote Blue No Matter Who" and for that matter I'd say that slogan is universally meant to apply to disgruntled Kamala stans and disgruntled Joe Biden stans as much as it's supposed to apply to disgruntled Sanders stans

But there are definitely proportionally more of those people on Twitter than I ever encounter in reality, that's true.

trial balloons for fall:

Vote for the Angry Jewish Grandpa, It's Important

Vote for the Capitalist to Her Bones, It's Important

Vote for the Drooling Hawk Who Torpedoed Anita Hill and Supported Mass Incarceration, It's Important

two-syllable white people names

Out of curiosity (with my apologies for steering you off-topic), what exactly does 'white' mean for you? As a non-American, I get the sense that it often just means 'broadly Anglo', which from my admittedly foreign perspective seems reductive and unhelpful. Do 'Warren' and 'Sanders' scan the same as 'Laxalt' (Basque) or 'Latso' (Georgian) or 'Dushku' (Albanian)?

for my part I can say that Dushku scans as "terrible actress"

I knew that was coming lol but was too lazy to look for another bisyllabic Albanian-American name.

"Warren's support seems to be tanking" becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy when people use her "cratering" as a reason not to support her. To me that seems backwards; I would rather continue my support for her until she's no longer an option, rather than abandon it because other people have. Just me, maybe.

― Okay, you're an ambulance (Ye Mad Puffin), Friday, January 31, 2020 12:46 PM (seventeen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

for my part, it's a strategic thing. If by the time the CA primary rolls around Warren is in the low teens and Biden and Bernie are in the 20s, I'm gonna vote for Bernie - because I prefer him to Biden, and my vote is unlikely to make up the wide margin between Warren and the others.

― Οὖτις, Friday, January 31, 2020 12:48 PM (fifteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

I've been going back and forth between these two perspectives for the past month or so. But Illinois doesn't vote until March 17, so I assume the field will have shaken up quite a bit by then.

Fixed this for ya, Morbs:

Vote for the Angry Jewish Grandpa Who Supported Mass Incarceration, It's Important

same

these threads would be better if non-americans were not allowed to post in them

NY votes April 28, and if it's still a contest the hot takes will "go to 11"

yeah, for fuck's sake, Morbs, Sanders called shit on Clinton for voting for the crime bill while also apologizing for voting for it too. The crime bill was an enormously complicated -- legislatively and politically -- thing with good things and terrible things that the climate of the times demanded. Plus, Hilary Clinton was not a legislator in 1994.

I know you mentioned Biden, but that part of the 2016 debates really pissed me the hell off. He got off the hook because he projected reluctance but Biden and Clinton didn't because, well, why?

these threads would be better if non-americans were not allowed to post in them

:(

i'm not enough of a poli-junkie to remember all this shit

but u guys have fun (as you are)

https://www.people-press.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2020/01/PP_2019.01.30_dem-values_0-04.png

it's like Mets fans

just 'prepared'

the last 4 years have been very traumatizing

that level of confidence on the GOP side doesn't bode well when and if trump goes down

Concern trolling about how Sanders would handle a Dem Senate is dumb. The least aggressive, most back-slapping President in history isn’t going to make Joe Manchin less of a dick.

re: election violence if Trump loses, I wouldn't be surprised at repeats of Bloody Monday, Colfax Massacre etc. albeit in 21st century terms ie random well-armed shooter in a black church or synagogue or similar

If the Dems take the Senate and the WH, the political power of Manchin and his ilk multiplies exponentially. This is not concern-trolling, it is a fact. Sanders isn't likely to cut deals that someone like Biden would to get Manchin's vote, which could mean the difference between good legislation, shitty legislation or no legislation at all.

Sanders' biography suggests more legislative compromises than he's told his most fervent followers, but veremos.

haha fair

I asked the @AndrewYang campaign for a response to the DNC rules. They sent me this tweet https://t.co/9dOd1ykfs8

— Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) January 31, 2020

Sanders' biography suggests more legislative compromises than he's told his most fervent followers

this is true but

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/468278-manchin-says-he-wouldnt-back-sanders-against-trump-in-presidential-race

whereas we all know Biden would smear himself with coal, put on a hardhat and get down on one knee for Manchin in exchange for *any* kind of legislation he could call a victory

i think we're overlooking the obvious answer which is Manchin needs to be dragged out to the ocean and drowned

well yeah

let’s talk about it when there are18 more Never Bernie senators, which I believe is the standing threshold for prez viability

Obama’s desire to compromise with shitty Senators is how he squandered 2009-10. Fuck Manchin, he can toe the line.

remind me, what are some of the things biden wants to do that we're excited about, but that manchin would be on the fence about, but not *so* on the fence that a principle-free dealmaker president couldn't get him on board in exchange for, say, some sops to the planet-destroying coal industry?

if the Manch has to be catered to, i don't care who wins the election

having trouble parsing that, Doc

if the Manch has to be catered to, i don't care who wins the election

what are you so excited about working hard for then

maybe trains? xp

cuz there's no path to a Dem majority that doesn't involve Manchin (and possibly Doug Jones, who I actually think is considerably better/more amenable on the big issues)

xp

bcz he doesnt have to be fuckin catered to

xxp

you think GOP Senators are gonna cross the line and vote for Bernie's legislative agenda? idgi

oh this will be a fun friday afternoon

say the Dems pick off Senate seats in ME, CO, AZ, and KS and don't lose AL - they still need Manchin's or Jones' vote just to get to a majority.

And they need to be willing to jettison the filibuster

lol map

the filibuster is a separate issue

xps

Manchin being the 51st vote matters little if you need 60.

but you don't need 60 to pass budgets, reconcile bills etc

idk I agree the filibuster is bullshit and needs to go - and Schumer has publicly floated the possibility of axing it - but I'm not sure he could really get a majority to back it, that would be a tough battle.

there's obviously no way any Dem president, no matter who it is, gets 60 votes on anything.

my post was word salad, sorry. i'm saying that "sanders may struggle to win manchin votes" doesn't convince me of much. if you're more likely to win over manchin, it's probably because you suck. and if all we want is a democratic president who can get manchin's vote to "get things passed," the simplest expedient would be to have mitch mcconnell change parties and nominate him - joe will be there!

and even if you do strip out the filibuster, there's ol' Manchin as the linchpin of any majority votes.

xps

That is true, but the Democrats will be a failure if they gain a majority and don't pass significant new legislation. There's much more beyond budgets that needs to happen very quickly or we are for real doomed.