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

From the editorial board of the Las Vegas Sun:

Democrats see an urgent need to defeat Donald Trump and save our nation from an autocrat. We agree, which is why we’re endorsing Sen. Amy Klobuchar and former Vice President Joe Biden in the upcoming Nevada caucuses.

Maybe too much bad blood at this point, but if Bernie picked Liz that would be something to get me very excited.

man it's cool that bloomberg has spent the past decade giving 2 million dollars to every powerful person's charity he could find and now they all want him to be president

As a Union negotiator, I can tell you that I cannot wait until we have Medicare for All so we can focus on wages and working conditions instead of spending so much time, energy and resources negotiating over private healthcare. @BernieSanders

— Benjamin Dictor (@BenjaminDictor) February 13, 2020

^ that makes excellent sense. also, union-negotiated benefits can be taken away. government benefits are harder to take away.

it’s an absolutely absurd stance and I have to assume (or I’ll go fucking insane) that the rank & file split with leadership over this and that’s why they opted not to officially endorse anyone

The culinary union's healthcare plan is hot garbage - high out of pocket and high expense to the insured.

Rank and file Culinary 226 and UNITE Here members are spreading an open statement of support for Bernie Sanders and Medicare for All, as a revolt against leadership https://t.co/I2nqbueC15

— Zaid Jilani (@ZaidJilani) February 13, 2020

who knows how many members that will end up representing though

So I hear AOC is saying it might be public option after all.

Sigh

she said that was the realistically the worst case for a sanders presidency (with m4a obviously being the best case). probably bad to actually say it like that because disingenuous centrists will spin it as "oh so bernie and pete aren't different at all" when that's clearly not the case

Sanders and Warren otoh.

Sigh

Best case scenario for Pete is everyone gets free fancy rhetoric pills

Fortunately Trump surrogates are keeping the conversation at a high level.

Allies of President Trump have sharply focused attention on the sexual identity of presidential contender Pete Buttigieg in recent days, questioning in stark terms whether Americans are ready for a gay candidate who kisses his husband onstage.

The attacks are prompting blunt responses from Buttigieg’s allies and even his Democratic rivals, who call the remarks inappropriate and offensive. The exchanges were ignited by radio host Rush Limbaugh, who received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Trump last week and who framed his comments as an ostensible analysis of how Democrats feel.

“They’re sitting there and they’re looking at Mayor Pete — a 37-year-old gay guy, mayor of South Bend, loves to kiss his husband on the debate stage. And they’re saying, okay, how’s this going to look, a 37-year-old gay guy kissing his husband onstage next to Mr. Man Donald Trump? What’s going to happen there?” Limbaugh said.

a 37-year-old gay guy kissing his husband onstage next to Mr. Man Donald Trump? What’s going to happen there?

worst slashfic setup ever

she said that was the realistically the worst case for a sanders presidency (with m4a obviously being the best case). probably bad to actually say it like that because disingenuous centrists will spin it as "oh so bernie and pete aren't different at all" when that's clearly not the case

work faster, throat cancer

Maybe too much bad blood at this point, but if Bernie picked Liz that would be something to get me very excited.

Liz would probably only leave the Senate for a position with real power

there was that story a bit ago that they were looking into a hybrid veep/treasury role for her.

My sense of Warren is that she has a definite agenda of mostly economic and tax policies she badly wants to make happen and if she could acquire more power to accomplish them by accepting a new position outside the Senate, she do it. However, her ability to influence policy by accepting VP under someone else would be very questionable. I think she'd demand some ironclad assurances to even consider it.

That sounds right.

VP is a shit job

Group got 2 million from Bloomberg in 2018. https://t.co/2M7HLBOlOi

— gatsby (@Grategatsby) February 14, 2020

I really like the idea of a dual role bc the veep spot is good media narrative, treasury plays to her formidable strengths, and because fuck👏those👏norms👏

Ford and Reagan discussed a "co-presidency" in the summer of '80.

I would wager it's unlikely to happen now but I'd love to be wrong xp

I never know whether to post in this thread or the Bernie thread, but Osita Nwanevu has a piece today that engages in some Bernie VP speculation: https://newrepublic.com/article/156576/hardest-decision-bernie-sanders-will-make-year

the sanders thread should be used for memes and japes imho

would charlie baker nom a republican to replace warren if she takes a cabinet position? he's a massachusetts republican, which is pretty far removed from a national republican.

just dropping by to note that KLOMENTUM makes me think of colostrum

VP is a shit job

Ever since Carter, presidents have been experimenting with adding power to the job. One big practical difference between VP and other Cabinet-level positions is that VP is elective and can't be fired, so choosing to vest a lot of power in the VP's office creates a center of power that is harder to control. Bush gave Cheney more power than any previous VP and Cheney used that power badly and recklessly, pushing Bush into Iraq and nearly wrecking his presidency.

Said something like this already but I think a Warren endorsement with the expectation of a high ranking cabinet position would be the most valuable thing for a moderate candidate both in the primary and general, and I'd have to think klob/butti/Biden would offer her whatever she wants just to outbid the rest. If Warren wants her name on the ticket someone will offer her VP.

Bernie meanwhile gains little from her as a VP as she barely expands his base but he might have to offer it just to secure her partnership.

And if you think VP is necessarily a weak nothing job I have a pacemaker to sell you

Xps

But I also don't think she's dropping out any time soon

a reminder that the convention has to approve the veep choice, and unless Sanders has a supermajority of delegates i'm not sure they'd be eager to endorse a ticket of two over-70 New England 'radicals'

VP is worse than senator

But I also don't think she's dropping out any time soon

Oh, I think she definitely could.

No sooner than the evening of Super Tuesday.

Someone who's on her mailing list, how frantic are the fundraising email subject headings lately

lol VP is absolutely a shit job and the exception of Cheney does not contravene this fact. Cheney's expansion of the role was a) due to Dubya ceding him that power (which he did for a number of complex reasons, not the least of which was unique to Dubya's own peculiar psychology) and b) a unique combination of circumstances within the White House that enabled him to exploit it. On paper the VP has no power and no sphere of influence - any power it does accumulate is at the behest of other more powerful institutions (the Presidency, the Senate, etc.)

xps

I do not envisage President Sanders or even President Biden functioning this way. Neither would cede power.

I think of Poppy Bush and Ronald Reagan. The latter's cognitive decline was such that advisers wondered whether they couldn't invoke the 25th Amendment, but Bush wouldn't go along, nor could he because he wasn't what Cheney would become twenty years later; Reagan had never ceded him this power in '81.

VP is less powerful than Senate and yet plenty of senators have gladly shot for VP. No reason to assume she wouldn't take the role regardless of what you imagine her priorities to be.

but yeah if the Mass gov is just going to appoint some “moderate” republican fuckboi then staying in he senate would be preferable

Someone who's on her mailing list, how frantic are the fundraising email subject headings lately

A lot more chilled-out, actually. From this week:

- A message from Elizabeth
- I want to share a short story about the other night
- Can Elizabeth count on you to be one of the 180 grassroots donors we need from [STATE]?
- In just 9 days...

what’s ol Scotty Brown up to these days

And of course as soon as I hit post, this one pops up:

- Elizabeth needs your help today to give our campaign the resources to go up on the air, get our message out, and remain competitive through Super Tuesday

Senators taking the VP spot have traditionally been gambling that the President is going to die in office, and/or see it as a stepping-stone to the Presidency (despite the fact that historically that scenario has very, very rarely played out)

xps

"have traditionally been gambling that the President is going to die in office"

well this is why LBJ arranged the Kennedy hit himself

heh