2020 Democratic presidential primary thread, pt 3: life is very long

Hillary was so hated (for whatever reasons that probably include sexism among other things) that she almost lost to a fringe socialist politician like Sanders and did lose to Trump. Biden is a generic Dem who people do not hate nearly as much as they hate Hillary (or Trump) and therefore is doing much better against Bernie and hopefully will crush Trump. If you don’t believe policies matter much to most Americans and negative tribalism is the primary motivator this sort of explains everything no?

yup

idk if those were "thumbs" as much as they were just opposing forces, which are in play in every election

hush now, you're impeding the betrayal narrative

xp

in 2016 it was HRC v Sanders (and, uh, o'malley). the endorsements of klob and pete were much more important, given that they each held around 5 to 10% of the share of the voters up to the moment of their dropping out

"Probably" sexism?

a fringe socialist politician like Sanders

https://i.imgur.com/ICqhv50.jpg

i'm not sure if you can make out what's going on in that photo above: those are a bunch of people UNDER the age of 60 who are turning out for a politician.

frogbs otm, MSM + Big Bam + runnersup lockstep + Clintonistas + dirty reds

politics aint "fair" but id have a party if all involved got Corona'd

i'm on record as saying Biden is worse than HRC, which doesnt mean i'll be delighted when she's his stroke substitute nominee

He is the left most senator in the senate yes?

The last couple of dem primary seasons have felt like that thing where an employer humors dozens of applicants with interviews even though he's already made up his mind that his nephew Dwayne is going to be the new shift manager.

in other words, that is a politician who is leading the group of people who actually have to go out day-to-day in this shitty world and live and face multiple ongoing crises that should have been addressed 20 years ago, instead of sitting at home and yelling at their kids and their kid's kids about whatever that tok-clock thing is

Most Americans seem to approve of some of the things Sanders campaigns on - that’s something to build on. It doesn’t mean socialist dem candidate is a contender except against the most hated Dem politician of our lifetimes

a fringe socialist politician like Sanders

lol, polled as most popular pol in USA until this babbling friend of Thurmond & Eastland came along

I feel like HRC was a better candidate than Biden, for reasons that will become abundantly clear in the next 7 months

for sure

i actually think she'd have a better chance, right now, on march 11 2020, right now, if she entered the race

and holy shit is that painful to contemplate

idk if it's "fair" to frame it this way but man, look at what happened between Nevada & Super Tuesday - wall-to-wall MSM panic about "socialism", a big story about how "Russia wants Bernie!", one TV anchor literally comparing it to Nazi Germany, a debate in which every question directed at Bernie was negatively loaded, two candidates dropping out and endorsing Biden the day before Super Tuesday (while the other progressive candidate sat on her hands), polling stations in college towns getting overloaded yet again, etc. etc....like I know he got less votes but it very clearly felt like there were a number of thumbs on the scale

if the goal is to elect more people with sanders-esque politics, the goal should be to look at things he had the ability to do but didn't, things that he did that maybe weren't very popular and things about him as a person that made him a pretty bad candidate who was never gonna win a majority and was only gonna get in w/ a convention coup. the conspiratorial mindset is fun but it's not going to actually serve anyone looking to get more progressives elected. you don't need a huge conspiracy to figure out why pete buttigieg decided that having a cabinet seat in the white house was prob gonna be more fun than being an unemployed south bend resident.

in 2016 it was HRC v Sanders (and, uh, o'malley). the endorsements of klob and pete were much more important, given that they each held around 5 to 10% of the share of the voters up to the moment of their dropping out

Also, these endorsements were important because voters this year prize electability above all else. Because of the crowded field and the lack of clarity in the first few contests, lots of voters didn't have a clear picture of who could win, and so the endorsements functioned as a signal that *the party* thought that Biden could win.

it's not a conspiracy, it's how the boot stomps the face

HRC a better candidate in terms of things that don't matter to the electorate (coherency, acuity, etc.) = sure

a better candidate in terms of getting votes? Probably not, but remains to be seen.

xp

like I get what Mordy's saying, there ain't a single politician in this country who's had to deal with the sustained bullshit attacks that Hillary has, but on the other hand Biden is literally being hid from the public because his brains are falling out of his skull and when he does get out he inevitably winds up yelling at voters and poking them in the chest. and obviously the MSM is gonna be talking about Burisma nonstop.

So, no one should be disappointed that the Dems couldn’t nominate someone better than Biden? Got it.

yelling at voters and poking them in the chest

turns out voters love this shit tbh

i feel like we're all disappointed, but we could fight about it some more

What good is disappointment? Get cynical and be pleasantly surprised whenever something good happens

Whoever Joe Biden picks as his running mate, it's someone who must be prepared on Day One to give Donald Trump a medal pic.twitter.com/kHobxusovp

— Jon Schwarz (@schwarz) March 11, 2020

KM and frogbs otm. Christ, give young people a day or two to get used to the reality that the Democratic Party will never nominate a candidate who gives a shit about their future before lecturing them about how their anger is helping Trump.

you don't need a huge conspiracy to figure out why pete buttigieg decided that having a cabinet seat in the white house was prob gonna be more fun than being an unemployed south bend resident.

i'm not claiming it's a conspiracy, rather that it's exactly what you say - the Dems are more than willing to compromise their values (and the values of their voters) to further their own careers and support a centrist establishment that will never give anything more than lip service to actual progressive causes, which is particularly frustrating to see 4 years after the entire Republican party capitulated to an idiot game show host whose only political skill was pushing the racism button hard enough

What good is disappointment? Get cynical and be pleasantly surprised whenever something good happens

bleep! bloop!

boop! boop! 10101010111010110

the Dems are more than willing to compromise their values

the majority of the party doesn't share/have these values

grandma, i know you're dying. but everyone dies. and you don't know what's on the other side of death, so why worry about it? only worry about things you have control over.

friends of mine were not necessarily given the day or two to mourn by bernie supporters when warren dropped out but i understand everyone is v emotional

Don’t you kind of need non-cynical people to fight for those occasional surprisingly good things?

i feel like we're all disappointed, but we could fight about it some more

Not getting this feeling at all. I get the feeling certain posters are enjoying the failure of Sanders and being able to tell progressives they are stupid for believing he had a shot, although certain of these certain posters are the same certain posters who were absolutely 100% certain that Hilary was going to win in 2016 and expressing a near identical enjoyment at dunking on anyone who thought that the Dems weren’t going to roll Trump.

pbkr those are all pretty bad faith assumptions

the majority of the party doesn't share/have these values

Bernie's ideas are way more popular than Biden's (at least to the extent that Joe Biden has any ideas)

friends of mine were not necessarily given the day or two to mourn by bernie supporters

yeah Bernie Bros have infiltrated HR depts. nationwide

Like these political geniuses should have some motherfucking insight and self-awareness.

no one in this thread has self-awareness

xp not assumptions at all.

the majority of the party doesn't share/ hacks don't have these values

Like these political geniuses should have some motherfucking insight and self-awareness.

― Biden my time/Drinking her wine (PBKR), 11. marts 2020 19:17 (one minute ago) bookmarkflaglink

They don't. In fact they're nothing but straw. Fuck them.

Bernie's ideas are way more popular than Biden's (at least to the extent that Joe Biden has any ideas)

As demonstrated by all these primary results! Oh, wait.

Once Bernie starts talking about his ideas this will all turn around

Biden's not winning the nomination because he has the best or most popular ideas

bernie vs biden is a pretty stark and obvious difference in personality, policy, ability, in so many areas - it seems impossible imo to say that ppl just didn't know what they wanted

like everyone I know who supports Biden over Bernie says absolutely nothing about policy, it's all "what matters is getting rid of Trump and people are going to get scared off by sOOOoooOoocialism!!"

which to be fair is a totally valid point

certain posters are enjoying the failure of Sanders and being able to tell progressives they are stupid for believing he had a shot

Since I believed Bernie had a shot, I guess I must be among the stupid ones getting told off by the smug ones. But since I believed Hillary would roll Trump, I guess I must be one of the smug ones who are enjoying Bernie's falling behind. Too confusing to sort out right now. I need more data.

Since the Goldwater campaign, Republicans have been driven by a passionate belief in a politics and a willingness to take risks. Their philosophy is appalling, but they’ve had the drive and energy. Dems are just sleepwalking, looking for a restoration of the status quo ante.

— Doug Henwood (@DougHenwood) March 11, 2020