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

why are people obsessed with tulsi? it's not like her campaign actually caught on.

I'm not part of Gabbard's fanbase but I really did believe that she endorsed Sanders over Clinton in 16 out of anti-imperialist/anti-war principle: https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/feb/28/tulsi-gabbard-quits-dnc-support-bernie-sanders

Seems a bit empty now that she endorsed someone who backed the same wars as Clinton. Apparently, the Midwest weren't that committed to economic leftism either.

it seems like a craven move, to be honest. she is probably afraid of venturing too far outside the party mainstream.

there is no way, though, that she would have endorsed biden if he didn't already wrap this thing up.

i still think she is basically an anti-imperialist/interventionist and that this is the center of her worldview. when people say she is a "russian spoiler," a "hindu nationalist" or someone who "loves assad" those just seem like untrue and hysterical statements.

The way Gabbard has acted with Syria is incompatible with being anti-imperialist/war/interventionist.

I can’t say for sure about the horny chuds or libertarians and straight up alt-righters who gave her the time of day, but there was a not(?) insignificant chunk of young online lefty anti-establishment types on who had a weird affinity for her (even if they supported Bernie) who seem legitimately confused... and I’m just smdh

she’s so odd. but in a way maybe she’s the perfect avatar for our current political schizophrenia.

*confused by the Biden endorsement

she looks very nice in all white suits.

xp i'm not defending anything she did or said. they are not my positions. but i think she takes isolationism to the end—she doesn't think the US should move to oust dictators and, in syria, thought the support we gave to rebel groups did more harm than good. call it naïve, unprincipled, whatever -- most people would find meeting with assad grotesque! -- but it's not non-sensical and it doesn't mean she secretly likes these regimes she doesn't want to overthrow.

i just find the conspiracy-mongering, especially wrt russia, exhausting. like it's inconceivable now to just take someone on their own terms and criticize them for that.

and it seems kinda sexist to ascribe her support to "horny" guys i guess, idk. she is young and beautiful and that probably is part of her support but, you know, obama was an attractive guy too, it confers benefits.

She might be isolationist, but that is not the same as being anti-war/imperialism/intervention.

Russia intervened on the side of the warmonger for imperialist reasons, and she is clearly not against that.

she is an isolationist and a nationalist, probably. she only cares about protecting US troops, not working for peace in general. so yeah -- anti-imperialist isn't the way to classify that. but it is anti-war and anti-interventionist.

i think she doesn't care about what russia does. she wants out of the game. which is convenient for russia, but the reasons she feels this way don't seem particularly inexplicable

from the NYT obit on the Sanders campaign:

In mid-January, a few weeks before the Iowa caucuses, Senator Bernie Sanders’s pollster offered a stark prognosis for the campaign: Mr. Sanders was on track to finish strong in the first three nominating states, but Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s powerful support from older African-Americans could make him a resilient foe in South Carolina and beyond.

The pollster, Ben Tulchin, in a meeting with campaign aides, recommended a new offensive to influence older black voters, according to three people briefed on his presentation. The data showed two clear vulnerabilities for Mr. Biden: his past support for overhauling Social Security, and his authorship of a punitive criminal justice law in the 1990s.

But the suggestion met with resistance. Some senior advisers argued that it wasn’t worth diverting resources from Iowa and New Hampshire, people familiar with the campaign’s deliberations said. Others pressed Mr. Tulchin on what kind of message, exactly, would make voters rethink their support for the most loyal ally of the first black president.

Crucially, both Mr. Sanders and his wife, Jane, consistently expressed reservations about going negative on Mr. Biden, preferring to stick with the left-wing policy message they have been pressing for 40 years.

Gabbard is clearly not anti-war. She would have stayed the fuck away from Assad if she was.

i mean, whatever. she is out of the race now and is pivoting to become more of a mainstream democrat.

It should also take more to be called 'anti-interventionist' than being against American intervention but okay with other people doing it. No need to call that anything other than isolationist. Not one iota of principle behind that.

i didn't call her principled. but it's a position that resonates with a lot of americans now, especially family members of veterans who are exhausted with the pointlessness of iraq and afghanistan.

it seems like myopia of the media class (of which ilx is sort of a part) to think her appeal is "weird" or that it must be "horny alt righters."

*pointlessness of the iraq and afghanistan conflicts. we seem to have made these places much worse, even though when we went in, they were being run by awful regimes.

Isolationism is totally normal. It's the drive to call it something else that is so weird.

btw did any of the three horny libertarians in Gabbard’s fan base have a meltdown when she endorsed Biden? I’m looking for lols.

No, the opposite, Niko House and Michael Tracky have fallen in behind with some impressive mental gymnastics. You love to see it. Can't remember who the third is, jimmy dore?

which is actually more lol than if they had a meltdown!

family members of veterans who are exhausted with the pointlessness of iraq and afghanistan

how many of these people have you heard from

why am I so entertained by reading Fred B schooling treesh about Tulsi on a Saturday morning

why are people obsessed with tulsi? it's not like her campaign actually caught on.

i think the only concern (at least, my concern) was that she'd stay on and do a third party run and have an effect on the final presidential vote, which will probably be razor thin margins again. of course, as soon as you mention that possibility, everyone starts yelling about how her running 3rd party would _actually_ help the democratic candidate - no, _hurt_ the democratic candidate, no _actually_ it would make no difference at all, no_ actually it would help, etc

My guess with her would be very little difference. (I'm yelling right now, by the way.)

Man, that NYT story

KEEP IT DOWN CLEMENZA

and it seems kinda sexist to ascribe her support to "horny" guys i guess, idk.

that's fair and my comment was kind of flip shorthand for a certain type of rightwinger. i think there was in fact a number of people who legitimately thought she was Good.

re certain type of rightwinger-- often overlaps with the aging white guy demo who shares memes featuring Trump as a badass golden stallion god which i will never ever stop laughing about

Sleepy Joe..

don't really get what's "anti-imperialist" or even isolationist, about supporting Narendra Modi

I don't get what's "anti-imperialist" or even isolationist, about supporting Joe Biden either!

An obvious fraud from day one, but there's been a bunch of them

Call me a centrist put Joe Biden > Narendra Modi imo

Biden has awoken from his nap and is on the case.

Everyone knows that we're facing a real crisis from the coronavirus. But do you know how we got here and what we need to do next? Ron Klain, former White House Ebola Response Coordinator, breaks it down for us: pic.twitter.com/XRkIw2EzM4

— Joe Biden (Text Join to 30330) (@JoeBiden) March 21, 2020

Call me a centrist put Joe Biden > Narendra Modi imo

Absolutely! And I apologize to anyone I might have implied felt differently!

Just to set context here, you are asking this about a country

should as in "ought," not "do you expect would happen"

Countdown to Trump claiming it's illegal for Biden to set up a shadow administration.

"are you saying I can't...I can't....uh....are you saying it's illegal for me to CAMPAIGN?"

"I'm not saying that, lots of people though, they're saying it. Lots of people."

You all really should read the article in NYT: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/21/us/politics/bernie-sanders-democrats-2020.html

Posting that article on this thread is borderline trolling

Eh. I could think of another thread where it would be worse...

Yup

You all really should read the article in NYT: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/21/us/politics/bernie-sanders-democrats-2020.html

― Frederik B, Saturday, 21 March 2020 bookmarkflaglink

Try and wake yourself up, then poke sleepy Joe.

I posted an excerpt this morning.

this is so embarrassing

.@JoeBiden popped into @djdnice Instagram party tonight to show a little love. The party is now over 100k strong 💪🏾🙌🏾 Congrats D! pic.twitter.com/PnIszQPrOV

— Symone D. Sanders (@SymoneDSanders) March 22, 2020

joe biden does not exist

not more embarrassing than kissing stranger's babies and cramming various handheld foods into your mouth during campaign stops at local shops