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

"two vast and short-arsed trunkless legs of stone"

Biden reminds me of that thing where every time an ex-president makes a public appearance and seems like a paler, frailer shade of their former self. I guess it happens to ex-veeps, as well.

that sneer of cold command in full

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftheviewfromoutwest.files.wordpress.com%2F2019%2F03%2Fbloomie.jpg%3Fw%3D248%26h%3D372&f=1&nofb=1

He looks like he's waiting for the parking garage manager to tell him what he's going to do about this scratch on his Beemer.

lol sorry i have now reminded myself of the other ozymandias poem, also very extremely pertinent

Horace Smith's "Ozymandias"

In Egypt's sandy silence, all alone,
Stands a gigantic Leg, which far off throws
The only shadow that the Desert knows:—
"I am great OZYMANDIAS," saith the stone,
"The King of Kings; this mighty City shows
The wonders of my hand."— The City's gone,—
Naught but the Leg remaining to disclose
The site of this forgotten Babylon.

NAUGHT BUT THE LEG

hey ozy, show a little leg willya

ozygamdias

Mike Bloomps Is Big leggy

If you wonder why he stands so high
Just wait til you try his apple pie

only got to watch the first hour so here are my impressions

Warren: really great, dunno how I felt about her stepping in to defend the fact that Amy literally didn't know who the Mexican president was but that was probably a good political move. bummed that she has no shot though
Bernie: did fine, had to put up with some real BS questions about stuff that had nothing to do with his actual policies. probably needs to do better at the "how do we pay for all this" thing because that's the one I hear all the time
Biden: actually a bit better than I expected? really shouty and he looked pretty fuckin weird standing up there but at least he wasn't short circuiting again
Pete: wasn't particularly good but will probably win over people simply by being well spoken and not being 100 years old. couldn't really handle being attacked, seemed to get rattled easy
Amy: seemed like she was nervous and drunk, kept interjecting to say basically nothing. had to take some pretty tough questions though
Mike: holy shit he was even worse than I thought, and I was expecting him to bomb. if he does another debate I'd be stunned

anyway did anything happen in the 2nd hour

I dunno, a bunch of the smarty mcsmartypants people who were writing Warren off as "finished" four days ago had a sudden change of heart this morning and are all dreamy about her all of a sudden.

this is what happens when you get some good barbs in in the first 5 minutes before half the audience tunes out from despair/exhaustion

Debate was a lot of fun to watch. We were in an overflowing event room fulll to overflowing and were hooting and hollering.

Bloomberg was dogshit and seeing Buttigieg trying to antagonize Klobuchar seemed almost suicidal.

ppl do know that the presidency isn't just tearing into Bloomberg?

Feel like a crucial element of Buttigieg's makeup was revealed when one of the moderators made reference to an award-winning essay he wrote and his face lit up with the biggest smile I've ever seen on him. He looked eerily like a ten-year-old who'd just been told he won first prize in the science fair. It's all about doing the work for the sake of the win, after which that dumb fucking model volcano is going straight in the trash.

his is what happens when you get some good barbs in in the first 5 minutes before half the audience tunes out from despair/exhaustion

That and some people also saw her approach to Bloomberg as a good preview of what she might be able to do to Trump, and find that prospect intriguing.

I am hoping her campaign catches some tailwinds from (A) the debate, (B) from a whole bunch of people wanting to counteract the completely shitty treatment she'd been getting from polling/coverage, and/or (C) the media deciding to cover "OMG COMEBACK" because #TheStoryNeedsToChange.

If any of that should happen she should send thank-you notes to Bloomberg for entering the race, and to NBC for leaving her out of its h2h poll.

Feel like a crucial element of Buttigieg's makeup was revealed when one of the moderators made reference to an award-winning essay he wrote and his face lit up with the biggest smile I've ever seen on him. He looked eerily like a ten-year-old who'd just been told he won first prize in the science fair

I had a similar reaction -- a glimpse into his achiever's addled mind.

ftr I never had any trouble thinking Warren can handle Trump.

ppl do know that the presidency isn't just tearing into Bloomberg?

― brooklyn suicide cult (Dr Morbius), 20. februar 2020 16:19 (nine minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

True. You also need Perrin tweets

yeah and even if things end up going better for Warren, I am nowhere near done being angry at the deliberately shitty way she's been covered/not covered. (Plus the *shrug* yeah it sucks, but what can ya do? attitude even itt). Nor at the premature obituaries (including itt) speaking of her campaign in the past tense because omg two stupid white-ass northern states voted.

Nor at the way #TheStoryNeedsToChange is totally manufactured. The same organizations that were like "stick a fork in her, she's done" will gleefully cover "yeah, SOME people thought she was done but it turns out she isn't." Ignoring that they were the selfsame ones who created the narrative that is now being upended, etc. etc.

I have no serious quarrel with Bernie and am generally BlueNoMatterWho. But even if you prefer another candidate you can agree that this shit is wack.

yes that shrinking violet DJT will respond to verbal attacks just like Whiny Mr Burns did

I'll bet you a subscription to a Perrin podcast that every candnidate on the stage expected (and prepared for) more verbal attacks than Bloomberg than they got.

than = from

Do we really think that Trump will be engaging in presidential debates this time around? I'm not sure that's a bet that I'd take.

He might literally do it to show up and call people by their stupid nicknames.

Very much pro both, but I’m honestly not seeing how Warren has received less or less charitable coverage than Bernie.

I do think it’s kind of wild that the big Dem donors and the pro-Dem pundits thumbing the scales could not Read the Fucking Room and get that Warren could have been (possibly still could be?) the unity candidate.

will otm. seeing the clips it yet again strikes me as completely insane that Warren isn't walking this. But they really really don't like higher taxes.

Feel like a crucial element of Buttigieg's makeup was revealed when one of the moderators made reference to an award-winning essay he wrote and his face lit up with the biggest smile I've ever seen on him. He looked eerily like a ten-year-old who'd just been told he won first prize in the science fair. It's all about doing the work for the sake of the win, after which that dumb fucking model volcano is going straight in the trash.

Is this actually a new revelation? This seems like it's been his defining characteristic since he stepped onto the national stage.

omg two stupid ass white northern states voted

True. And it’s possible that those performances unfortunately coincided with a low point in her campaign, narratively speaking (ugh gross)

But... I don’t see how if she’s doing poorly in states like New Hampshire and Iowa that’s she necessarily going to turn it around in places like S Carolina or Nevada or Texas or California etc

Feel like a crucial element of Buttigieg's makeup was revealed when one of the moderators made reference to an award-winning essay he wrote and his face lit up with the biggest smile I've ever seen on him. He looked eerily like a ten-year-old who'd just been told he won first prize in the science fair.

Cannot lie, I find this aspect of him tremendously relatable! He likes to be praised! Don't we all? I know you're supposed to hide it but I sort of like that he can't.

Do we really think that Trump will be engaging in presidential debates this time around?

Only on Fox

You guys like showbiz as much as Chris Matthews and Chuck Todd do.

I'll bet you a subscription to a Perrin podcast

https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/anchor-podcasts/beautiful-lies-with-dennis-perrin-kirby-crider

Cannot lie, I find this aspect of him tremendously relatable! He likes to be praised! Don't we all? I know you're supposed to hide it but I sort of like that he can't.

It is kind of dumb that "he likes to receive praise for good work but he doesn't actually CARE about the work, just the praise" is an attack line, seeing as the work still exists after he's done with it

I do think it’s kind of wild that the big Dem donors and the pro-Dem pundits thumbing the scales could not Read the Fucking Room and get that Warren could have been (possibly still could be?) the unity candidate.

― A-B-C. A-Always, B-Be, C-Chooglin (will), Thursday, February 20, 2020 10:47 AM bookmarkflaglink

iirc the big donors do not want her because they are big donors (in other words super rich), and she is running on a wealth tax.

iow What Said Fred

The dumb thing is that they will still be super rich after the wealth tax

But... I don’t see how if she’s doing poorly in states like New Hampshire and Iowa that’s she necessarily going to turn it around in places like S Carolina or Nevada or Texas or California etc

― A-B-C. A-Always, B-Be, C-Chooglin (will), Thursday, February 20, 2020 10:53 AM (ten minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

idk how many people will actually do this, but nevada has easily accessible early voting, so those who were inspired by her debate performance last night can vote for her today.

I'm too truthful for this thread

The dumb thing is that they will still be super rich after the wealth tax

if there was anything sane or rational about hoarding obscene amounts of wealth they wouldn't be super rich in the first place

The dumb thing is that they will still be super rich after the wealth tax

“make”

Warren lost claim to being a unity candidate after her weird flare-up with Sanders last month. After that and backtracking on M4A she was going nowhere.

eh it’s a primary and candidates are going to snipe but I’ll grant you that stanning the likes of Klobs and passive aggressive swipes at Bernie over t he culinary union’s non-endorsement is definitely nagl.

speaking of her campaign in the past tense because omg two stupid white-ass northern states voted.

yeah, but they were also two states she spent nearly all of her time and focus on in the past year or so

Warren lost claim to being a unity candidate after her weird flare-up with Sanders last month. After that and backtracking on M4A she was going nowhere.

both of these things happened after her support started falling, not before, but it's a convenient narrative for people who were always gonna vote for sanders anyway

Feel like a crucial element of Buttigieg's makeup was revealed when one of the moderators made reference to an award-winning essay he wrote and his face lit up with the biggest smile I've ever seen on him. He looked eerily like a ten-year-old who'd just been told he won first prize in the science fair.

Cannot lie, I find this aspect of him tremendously relatable! He likes to be praised! Don't we all? I know you're supposed to hide it but I sort of like that he can't.

yep, same. i think i hate him so much because he represents a part of me that i fucking hate and have been trying to murder out of myself ever since. i once posted a photo of myself as a 10-year-old pete buttigieg winning a math contest. you'll have to trust me because the image link is now broken, but roxymuzak correctly pointed out that i looked like a smug bastard

IA and NH serve better as a sieve for Republican candidates than for Democrats.

lol

The day after the debate, Elizabeth Warren bought a full page ad in Sheldon Adelson’s newspaper saying Sheldon Adelson will pay $2.3 billion the first year of her wealth tax. I think that’s called chutzpah. pic.twitter.com/dV7O3G8MJu

— Jon Ralston (@RalstonReports) February 20, 2020