Mar 2, 2020 Well, I think it's totally fair to clear the lane for other candidates of the same vein if it's obvious who the frontrunner is and you truly believe in similar values. ....which is why liz should drop out if she's really bout it
Mar 2, 2020 Yeah I have no issues with Klob and Pete dropping out. I’d rather narrow the field to a two person race. I just think it’s disingenuous for warren to remain in the race at this point.
Mar 2, 2020 Bernie stans are about to get real mad about a candidate staying in the race past the point of viability. my how the tables have turned!!!
Mar 2, 2020 theres a major difference between staying in past viability in a head to head situation and staying in past viability to throw the race towards another candidate.
Mar 2, 2020 lol to be faaaaaaaair it was a very different landscape in 2016 because it was just one moderate vs. one progressive (and martin o'malley for a hot sec hahahaha). Only the most delusional bernie bros thought he was still viable until the end in 2016 lol. Honestly I didn't think he was gonna win from the beginning and was certain he wasn't by the time I caucused for him but I wanted to show that there's interest in his message. Also out of curiosity are for Biden? Can't remember if you've said or not.
Mar 3, 2020 d---, you beat me to it lol. Also, this is what happens when you let your campaign pitbulls loose & they attack any & every competition in site. Sanders burns bridges & then wonders why the core of the Democratic Party doesn’t support him. Warren’s campaign is feeling no sympathy toward the Sanders campaign right now. She would have dropped out weeks ago if they did. P.S. FiveThirtyEight probabilities w/ Buttigeig & Klobuchar out: No one (contested convention): 61% Biden: 31% Sanders: 8%
Mar 3, 2020 Are you implying Warren is "throwing the race" to Biden? lol gonna need evidence for that. Warren is both personally and ideologically closer to Bernie than Biden - by a lot. I don't see any reason to suspect she's trying to sabotage Bernie, although I know he's always the victim so I'm sure you'll tell me why I'm wrong. Right I wouldn't argue that it's the same scenario exactly. But Bernie stayed in wellllll after it was mathematically possible to win in 2016. I didn't see any arguments against that at the time from his supporters, but it certainly created headaches for Hillary and delayed/complicated later attempts at party unity. What Warren is doing as of today - isn't...that...harmful? It's still very early in this primary. The third or fourth place candidate (in a 20+ candidate race) staying in the contest until Super Tuesday isn't ridiculous at all! Now, don't get me wrong, if Warren doesn't perform well tonight (which is likely), she should drop out ASAP. as for my thoughts on the race.................... if I could cast a ballot today, it'd be for Warren. She's got the most fleshed-out policy platform, she's the most impressive on a debate stage, and she's hitting the sweet spot for me between the two options this contest is currently narrowing down to (squishy centrism vs socialism). And while she's not young, she's 8 years younger than the other two guys, which matters imho! If this contest becomes Bernie v Biden, which it inevitably seems to be doing, I will most likely vote for Biden. Before explaining that, let me first say that neither Bernie nor Biden were my first choice, nor my second, nor my third I've got plenty of fears about Biden - I think he's too old, and I think, until the last few, his debate performances have been abysmal. I hate that the whole Hunter Biden thing casts a shadow of scandal (although Trump would work that angle against even the cleanest candidate, I'm sure). I fear the climactic speech of the Democratic National Convention will be some fabricated memory of how Biden marched arm-and-arm for civil rights with the Planters Peanut, or something But what I keep circling back to, just like so many other Democrats watching this unfold, is the issue of electability. I of course incorrectly predicted the outcome of the 2016 election, so my punditry is hardly gospel. But my gut tells me that Bernie is much much easier for Republicans to run against. Socialism is still a dirty word to too much of the electorate. And even setting that word itself aside, a lot of what Bernie is opposing simply isn't popular on the merits, nevermind my personal stances. Medicare 4 All is a political minefield, and imho a stupid battlefield to forge this election on. If you have Biden fighting the healthcare fight, the public is on your side - it's him preserving Obamacare (popular), vs. Trump trying to destroy it (unpopular). Bring M4A into the discussion and all of a sudden it's the central issue with Dems on the defensive, because you're talking about massive tax increases and radical changes to healthcare for the entire country. I understand all the arguments for it - I'm just saying the American people aren't supportive if you look at the numbers. And we'd be fighting a losing battle for something that (can't stress this enough) has zero chance of becoming law. So with Bernie as the nominee, you've ceded perhaps Democrats' best issue vs. Trump. That's pretty huge! Let's be real, with the way this country is currently polarized, this election will be fought on the margins. Forget the true believers (people like @dna hits, voters with big "burns their mouth on their Hot Pocket because they couldn't wait for it to cool down" energy)...........this is going to come down to swing voters in a handful of crucial states. And the argument Biden is making is likely to be a lot more palatable than Bernie's plan to burn the system down. I mean, what swing states does Bernie win? Certainly not Florida, right? Few would disagree that Bernie will alienate some independents, and the counterargument (one that sounds compelling on its face) is that he will mobilize a dormant young electorate, bringing out voters who will vote for Bernie and Bernie only. Except.....the data just doesn't show that. NV is the only bright spot so far. Iowa turnout was dismal. NH turnout was good, but he only edged out Pete by what, 1% or so? SC turnout was very strong and he got demolished. The numbers just don't show this wave of young voters that his campaign says will materialize, so why should I believe it'll be there come November? I like and respect the h--- out of Bernie and if he is the nominee I won't lose a wink of sleep over the prospect of voting for him. He would move the country in the right direction and probably do a lot of great things (by executive order of course - because none of his major proposals are getting through Congress, as I said. His policy platform is a fairy tale). I'm just not convinced he's the best person to beat Donald Trump. Biden, for all his flaws (which are many), feels like a safer bet. And in a year where I'm more concerned with beating Trump than anything else, I'll take flawed and safe
Mar 3, 2020 Appreciate the thoughtful response @Swizz My main concern with Biden was that I wasn't convinced he was going to excite the voter base enough to get people to show up cuz I didn't know how long he could coast off of the good will of "remember me and Obama!" (especially since he's nowhere near as eloquent of a speaker) but with SC it looks like that might be proven wrong. We'll see how he does tonight. And to me Biden is fine. I'll have no problem voting for him in the general if he's the nom. I think he's a genuine guy who legitimately likes interacting with his voters, but I'm not convinced he wants to do much besides try to course-correct back to the Obama years...which again, is fine (and necessary), but I'm looking for someone who wants to course correct and use that momentum to spring forward. And that's why Bernie and Warren appeal to me. I know I've been critical of Liz as well as been disappointed in some of the things she's rolled back on, but I genuinely like her and I think it's disingenuous to hate her if you're a Sanders supporter, cuz while she's certainly not as far left as Bernie, she's very clearly the next closest thing lol. She was who I originally was most supportive of early on. My main worry about Sanders is the way he answers questions about things like fracking and coal. I agree with him wholeheartedly on those issues, but I think he needs a better answer for blue collar workers about what's going to happen with their jobs. It's easy to only think about the environmental impact when you live in the city and work at a computer, but these jobs are the livelihood of many people and some of these people will vote for Trump if it means more job security. I think overall he does a great job of appealing to working class folk and that's going to help him win, but I wish he'd try to cover that blind spot. I'll be disappointed if he doesn't get the nom of course, but no matter what I think this campaign is going to inspire thousands of young AOC-types around the country to enter politics and that's also very important to me. I wonder how Bloomberg is going to do after those abysmal debate performances and especially now that Joe rebounded, cuz basically his only appeal is "if Joe drops out I'm not Bernie Sanders and also have lots of money."
Mar 3, 2020 @Swizz periodically decides to show why he was (is?) the best at this game. I just read your post to the second half instrumental of Layla playing. Only thing I object to, respectively, is no way is the DNC speech some goofy mr peanut anecdote or whatever lol. You saw his speech after SC? Scripted yes - but that’s the message of a winner. (Also I can Def see warren playing spoiler. Her people are terrible but they’re also pretty close w biden folk. Consultant game is an investigation world hehe)
Mar 3, 2020 I don’t like Biden but will vote for him if he’s the nom. We can’t afford another Trump term. Especially with the proposed cuts to SS and Medicare/Medicaid
Mar 3, 2020 I mean surprises being biden vastly overperforming Bloomberg/Bernie machine in Virginia. And Bernie underperforming in his own state
Mar 3, 2020 I don't dislike Biden but he will not be Trump. Trump will absolutely gut him and the next 4 years will be a victory/campaign for Jr or Ivanka. If Biden indeed wins I hope the DNC and mainstream media are happy because unbeknownst to them they are staring 12 more years of Trump in the face. One thing we do know is that the Trump cult is large, united and they do as their told.
Mar 3, 2020 And you think bernie would beat trump? I get biden occasionally marble mouths and the clips become fun viral bait, but are u watching the results tonight? Bernie has a ceiling
Mar 3, 2020 this is all legitimate. There are few less exciting candidates in the race than Biden, I'll admit (Bloomberg came in at the last minute to steal the title), but at the same time I think he does have an old school "feel your pain", empathy-driven politics that can really resonate in all the right places. This is part of what makes him "safe" - he's a throwback to an era of politics a lot of us still wish we were in. "Nostalgia works!" I said on the Eminem forum. I would be really curious to see how this shakes out if, after tonight, it truly becomes a two-person race. Bernie v Biden would be a pretty close match, I'd expect
Mar 3, 2020 @Swizz with the GOAT post. Holy. Only thing I disagree with is that I do think Medicare for all is achievable but we have to win some elections first & the filibuster has to go. The ACA wasn’t popular at all when it was initially passed & in fact, didn’t come out of the red until Obama was out of office I believe. P.S. I voted symbolically for Warren today because Sanders is probably going to win CA regardless. Warren has been so impressive in d--- near all the debates. It’s a shame we won’t see her on a debate stage vs Trump.
Mar 3, 2020 Don’t worry guys Bloomberg won American Samoa he’s still in this!!! Lol warren would wipe the floor with trump in a debate. Just look at what she did to Bloomberg. He’d probably make some racist Native American comments that would go over well with his base though
