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

"I don't know if Bernie Madoff got his idea from there, but if there's ever a Ponzi scheme, people say Madoff was the biggest? Wrong. Social Security is, far and away," Bloomberg said in 2009 on the radio program “Live from City Hall” in audio reported by CNN’s KFile.

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/484825-bloomberg-called-social-security-a-ponzi-scheme-as-mayor

I have good friends who are definitely policy wonks, vote for policy wonks, and are among the best-informed people I know. iirc all the Iowa ones caucused for O’Malley (!) in 2016 and Warren this time around

The active form of wonk is wank IIRC

you could say “meticulous about policy detail” or something similar if “wonk” is seen as derogatory

the weirdo anglophiles would probably say “boffin” lol

watch out everyone, the policy boffin has logged on

Calling someone a wonk as a pejorative reminds me of the USEnet days where people would write "oooh mr fancy,busing a bunch of big words" when you used a single SAT word in a post.

I know the meaning is pejorative inherently but it's often used to describe people who are merely studied

the writer of the article is a self-described policy wonk so i didn't see it as particularly derogative there

The word itself has become associated with derogatory context in recent years so it often gets read that way

One of the candidates should adopt #notBluefuckyou for Bloomberg

I don't think wonk has any derogatory context outside of left-twitter types

Lol at this article

https://americasfuture.org/nobody-wants-to-date-policy-wonk-heres-how-to-be-better/

Elizabeth Warren is putting on a masterpiece of a town hall right now. She is on absolute fire. It’s such a shame she’s not doing better in the primaries. She’d make an awesome President.

Candidates become electable when people just go ahead and fuckin vote for them btw. A lot more would be "happening" for Warren if, like, even half the people currently saying "I like her but she's not doing well enough in polls and primaries" simply voted for her. Whatev, shouting into the void on this.

Oh and Pres. K., "alabro" is genius and was precisely the laff I needed today, thatnks

Totally, and Warren of all the candidates is the biggest victim of the “I love her but electability yada yada “ syndrome. If all those ppl stopped talking themselves out of supporting her she’d be crushing the Amys and Petes of this world, and giving Sanders much stiffer opposition. It’s telling how she’s the most popular “second-choice” candidate...and I put it in scare quotes because I bet she’s actually first-choice in a huge number of those cases, were it not for the speculative punditry through people demote her in their rankings.

through *which* people demote her

yeah, people who are talking themselves out of voting for Warren, I can't even deal with. Bernie is my second but I have absolutely no qualms about my choice in Warren (one in NY and one in MI).

Ugh, that means there is one vote for her in NY and one in MI. We have been settled on her for awhile. And she's been getting great/important endorsements.

Totally, and Warren of all the candidates is the biggest victim of the “I love her but electability yada yada “ syndrome.

i think that would be sanders.

that's the bullshit about the electability yada yada thing - it's a hierarchy from left to right. the more left you are, the less electable you supposedly are

True overall maybe but right now she's getting hit with being a progressive, being a woman, being 'from' New England but mostly with appearing (and IMO being) out of the race. People want to ditch the zero and get with the hero and they have an easy second option on the left with Bernie.

Being a woman is sadly a very big one. I've spent a night texting for Warren, and only encountered one woman who wouldn't vote for another woman on electability concerns, but other volunteers have lamented this is disappointingly common.

Ah well, maybe we'll enter the 21st century before I die.

I get super aggravated by people who live their lives waiting for the next chance or believing the next one will be better and that there is always more time. People need to do the things they want now. I fully believe the US will never in my lifetime elect a woman as president but fuck it if I am going to shoot myself in the dick when they're ringing my bell to deliver what I ordered. And people may feel the same about Bernie. I did last election. I've run across a lot of women (young, they do crossfit!) unwilling to vote for another woman because they are a woman. It's mindbending.

The PPP is an efficient article, because you hit "As her campaign started to fade, she seems to have brought in consultants that told her she could turn things around by adopting the boutique idiom of the academic and nonprofit world in which you interrupt every sentence with canned phrases about centering, voices, and recognition." in only the second paragraph, and then you can close the tab and get on with your life.

Totally, and Warren of all the candidates is the biggest victim of the “I love her but electability yada yada “ syndrome.

i think that would be sanders.

― But guess what? Nobody gives a toot!😂 (Karl Malone), Thursday, February 27, 2020 1:26 AM (seven hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

the current primary votes would seem to be evidence against this

Yeah Karl, I think people worried about Bernie's electability are mostly worried he'll lose then general.

Seems like rn the people shying away from Warren are doing so because they fear she won't win the primary. And they want their vote to count _now_ as opposed to later. I think? I dunno , just saying what I am seeing among social media connections.

Pretty much everyone I know would be fine with either.

There is a "must! Stop! Bernie!" contingent, which purports to do so for electability reasons, but it wants like. Biden/Pete/Bloomps kid of sage candidate. Warren supporters are generally cool with Bernie, as am I.

Sage? "Safe." Meant disparagingly. On tiny phone, can't type today

idk it just sucks the primaries are set up this way rather than doing a ranked choice sort of thing. I like Warren a lot too, I'd rather she be president than Sanders, but I like Sanders too and I feel like not voting for him is helping the malarkey crew. and I do think Sanders would be more likely to win the general.

Elizabeth Warren is polling strong among late 30s/early 40s male film bloggers.

— Will Sloan, the 6ix Dad (@WillSloanEsq) February 26, 2020

hard pass on her bcz of this stuff

This isn't attributable to economic worldview: Sanders is an instinctive skeptic of American power. Warren is an instinctive believer. https://t.co/RW90v3uiBk https://t.co/fa3ivLySl4

— 'Weird Alex' Pareene (@pareene) February 27, 2020

Agree that "electability" concerns hurt Warren more than Sanders, at least in the primary. Sanders has a lot of true believers who will vote for him no matter what. Warren has a lot of people who think she would be the best president but also follow political media and are anxious about what other people think.

Sanders' most fervent believers are also anxious about what other people think, though.

xxp Thanks for the Pareene link, Morbs.

Foreign policy is the crucial distinction for me, and why in the end I do prefer Sanders.

@Alfred: In different ways, I suppose.

Pareene's right, and I prefer Sanders' foreign policy to Warren's, but I'm not sure "going outside Dem foreign pol establishment" will translate into "effective management of foreign policy." I don't want Carter-level (and uh Trump level) executive branch dysfunction because he filled the State Department and NSC with cronies and inexperienced people. If he's his own man, maybe it'll work.

I've yet to see a synthesis of what I think are Warren's better instincts for executive branch management and Sanders' consistent opposition to the mistakes of American foreign intervention.

Biden lining up base of gypsies, tramps, thieves

Joe’s a Good Man,a Tested Man,
a Kind Man,a Gentleman,a Loyal American,& He’s Been a Congressman,Senator,
President Obama’s First Choice For VICE PRES,& a Trusted
Friend.He Has Experience No Other Candidate Has.He’s
Not Flashy,& Won’t Cause Constant Chaos.I’M FED UP
WITH CHAOS pic.twitter.com/C1kHo6PCeE

— Cher (@cher) February 26, 2020

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/27/us/politics/democratic-superdelegates.html

what the hell

Agree that "electability" concerns hurt Warren more than Sanders, at least in the primary. Sanders has a lot of true believers who will vote for him no matter what. Warren has a lot of people who think she would be the best president but also follow political media and are anxious about what other people think.

― jaymc, Thursday, February 27, 2020 9:24 AM (thirty-one minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Sanders' most fervent believers are also anxious about what other people think, though.

― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, February 27, 2020 9:25 AM (twenty-nine minutes ago)

yes. also, i think Sanders can be damaged by electability concerns (in the primary) while still having the most supporters.

xp

case in point, look at mh's link

Alfred addressed in Bernie thread

another NYT nothingburger

lol PeteyTrump

https://theweek.com/speedreads/898344/trump-confusingly-tweets-live-buttigieg-president

President Trump.....welcome to the resistance

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/02/27/poll-joe-biden-big-lead-south-carolina-117839

The poll, released two days before the crucial first-in-the-South primary, shows Biden with an advantage of 20 percentage points over Sanders, 36 percent to 16 percent.

"Obama's first choice for vice president"

imagine winning nomination and having to settle for your second choice for VP??? this seems like such a weird thing to say???

"hey u wanna be my vp? i was gonna pick this other guy but he said he was busy those 4-8 years"

Looks like I can no longer rely on the level-headed political analysis of Cher.

I'm just glad even a Biden blowout in SC would likely be too little too late to make much of a (any?) difference on 03/03

imagine winning nomination and having to settle for your second choice for VP??? this seems like such a weird thing to say???

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDWId87-8r8

WOW REALLY?

haha why did he say no

to be clear McCain was Kerrey's first choice, not Bush's

When I tell you this sent me FLAT on the floor pic.twitter.com/lGzLpd75fS

— marv 🗽 (@mrvndn) February 27, 2020