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

“Lack of real failures,” well, if anyone gave Puerto Rico a fraction of the attention it deserved...

Obama also came after eight years of awful Republican president.
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, February 4, 2020 11:17 AM (two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Obama also ran during a major recession
― Mordy, Tuesday, February 4, 2020 11:18 AM (one minute ago) bookmarkflaglink

still plenty of time for one of those to materialise before the election tbf

― Homegrown Georgia speedster Ladd McConkey (bizarro gazzara), Tuesday, February 4, 2020 11:18 AM (one minute ago) bookmarkflaglink

Look I know Trump is pretty awful but I am pretty sure he isn't able to squeeze four extra years of being awful into the next nine months

"hold my beer"

I think Trump is probably going to win no matter who the nom is, but I think Bernie has the best chance of beating him.

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/481360-trump-hits-highest-gallup-approval-rating-of-his-presidency?fbclid=IwAR1n827iirHjuhaviSwUO0gvcY_ZrWf3s4qKls2YhozQ4ADp6IdXoMGkNmQ

xp to bg: o wait never mind, you meant a major recession? um okay but I am not sure more economic hardship is what I'd set my electoral hopes on

Trump doesn't have a pet war like GWB did. Yet.

I'd prefer they had a bat, but I'm not convinced it's what they need. My sense is that they are stuck between a mass of people who want a fighter and an equally large mass that want to bring back civility to politics or whatever.

xp to DJP

please god, strike him down

The only way any dem beats Trump is if the pure hatred towards him sends people flooding to the polls.

i mean i'd like to think that a coherent vision of an america which offers its citizens decent healthcare, education and work in a society committed to averting climate catastrophe would be more motivating for voters and non-voters than 'orange man bad' but ymmv i guess

I think Trump is probably going to win no matter who the nom is, but I think Bernie has the best chance of beating him.

idk about "probably" - too much can happen over this long a period - but this is more or less where I'm at. It will be an uphill battle for anyone.

old white volunteers

fwiw this is the head of the Iowa Democratic Party in the center
https://www.thegazette.com/storyimage/GA/20181003/ARTICLE/181009890/AR/0/AR-181009890.jpg&MaxH=500&MaxW=900

I am unsure if his head is currently attached to his shoulders though

I'd prefer they had a bat, but I'm not convinced it's what they need. My sense is that they are stuck between a mass of people who want a fighter and an equally large mass that want to bring back civility to politics or whatever.

I'm just saying that once you get past the Secret Service, the number of options available for beating Trump increases dramatically

yes bg if everyone believed that the dems were likely to deliver better healthcare education and avoid climate catastrophe they'd win in a landslide but as maybe you've discovered from yr own country not everyone agrees with you

like, you could beat Trump with that houseplant, or even that chair assuming you could lift it

lol DJP

yes bg if everyone believed that the dems were likely to deliver better healthcare education and avoid climate catastrophe they'd win in a landslide but as maybe you've discovered from yr own country not everyone agrees with you

it's true, we should stop pushing for a better world because jormy crobnuts lost an election

"civility" needs to be shoved up this country's ass

as Perrin said on his podcast yesterday, it's only enforced with those who are powerless

xp you're a landfill poster that's hardly worth responding to but the point isn't to stop pushing for a better world. the point is that just making grand promises about how your program is better is not sufficient to winning elections and it's not self-evident to voters what is self-evident to you about how best to organize society.

Civility is mad overrated in times like these; most of the time, the people pushing for it are the ones who are still comfortable and don't want that comfort disturbed.

You don't see very many people getting their asses beat by police/Nazis yelling "OW OW WHAT HAPPENED TO CIVILITY OW MY NOSE"

making grand promises about how your program is better is not sufficient to winning elections

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.salon.com%2F2013%2F04%2Fchange_we_need.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

thanks for the personal attack tho mordy, good to see civility isn't a problem for you

i'd like to think that a coherent vision of an america which offers its citizens decent healthcare, education and work in a society committed to averting climate catastrophe would be more motivating for voters and non-voters than 'orange man bad' but ymmv i guess

Most Americans don't have a coherent vision of their day post-breakfast. Focus them on an enemy (and Trump is happily doing a lot of the work in that department himself), wind 'em up and watch 'em go.

Lol, DJP, I'm with you there, although my personal fantasy is more of a French Revolution scenario.

bernie's messaging on who america's enemies are is pretty clear too iirc xp

bernie's messaging on who america's enemies are is pretty clear too iirc xp

What I meant is, Trump is doing a really good job of jumping up and down, waving his arms and shouting, "Over here! Look at me! I am your enemy! Me!"

Seriously, the idea of most Americans having any idea what the candidates and parties stand for, or how politics and our political institutions function, is laughable on its face.

Speaking as a product of American public education, I can't help but issue a hearty 'what the fuck is a politics?'

how are y'all doin today

I am proud to report that there were stodgy farmers wearing "fuck trump" t-shirts showing up to caucuses

just trying to figure out if I can afford to enter a clinical trial to treat my illness on my marketplace healthplan and a permatemp job

so, nothing to do with politics...

xp

Folks if y’all are gonna keep this up all winter im gonna hurl

get a bucket

I'm feeling twinges of deep anxiety the likes of which I have thankfully dodged for a number of months. Kinda thinking I need to not pay any attention to the primaries, however irresponsible that might feel in the abstract. Because, like, if this is any kind of preview, I will most assuredly aneuryze before we get to November.

The news is a machine designed to make you keep staring at it out of anxiety and has almost no value

There’s nothing “responsible” about knowing what’s going on. I still don’t really know what Isis is

Isis is the first transgender contestant to compete in a cycle of America's Next Top Model

Oh shit I should get on that

ME:"An Iowa caucus victory?

At this time of year?

at this time of day?

in this part of the country?

Localized entirely within the app that you own?"

PETE:"Yes"

ME:"May I see it`"

PETE:"No"

— unforgetable luncheon sweetie (@Glennfinito) February 4, 2020

Useful thread:

I don't think caucus turnout is indicative of general voter enthusiasm. A big problem with the caucus is that an expectation of high turnout can reduce turnout, because long lines create a traffic jam that adds a very long wait to what is already a big time committent.

— Will Wilkinson 🌐 (@willwilkinson) February 4, 2020

The news is a machine designed to make you keep staring at it out of anxiety and has almost no value

― Swilling Ambergris, Esq. (silby), Tuesday, February 4, 2020 9:44 AM (seven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

otm

our next president should outlaw broadcast news j/k but really they're all so bad

fwiw I'd be more interested in comparing the numbers to the 2004 numbers when we also had an incumbent republican president hell-bent on driving the country directly into a sinkhole

fwiw my coworker made an excellent point that we really need a federally funded nonpartisan election agency that can provide infrastructure and services to any sort of election across the country

he was looking at it from a computer and operational security perspective, but I think it logistically makes sense

I love how the results of 100k Iowan caucusgoers are delayed by less than 24 hours and the media is wall to wall WTF OUR SYSTEM IS BROKEN HOW WILL AMERICA SURVIVE!!1!!1! A few million disenfranchised minority voters in North Carolina, Georgia, Wisconsin, and Kansas would like a word.

Sorry but "federally funded" and "nonpartisan" are mutually exclusive now.

I feel like in the old days they would have just had everybody fax their results to the central office and it would have worked fine. Technology backward steps, I guess .

Folks if y’all are gonna keep this up all winter im gonna hurl

― Swilling Ambergris, Esq. (silby), Tuesday, February 4, 2020 11:42 AM (twenty-four minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

to be fair they're only going to keep it up for about a month or two of winter, then they'll keep it up all spring, summer and fall

(I don't actually know what "they" or "it" are referring to here, I just couldn't resist the low-hanging joke)

over/under on results announcement? nothin til 4pm Central i'd say

just not sure what day