U.S. Democratic Primary

[iNow]

Elizabeth Warren has dropped out of the race. Now it's a race between Bernie, Biden, and... Tulsi Gabbard (*snicker*)

[J.C.MacSwell]

1 hour ago, iNow said:

Elizabeth Warren has dropped out of the race. Now it's a race between Bernie, Biden, and... Tulsi Gabbard (*snicker*)

Tulsi it is then...

Snicker as much as we like, she's clearly the most capable one left, IMO. It comes down to whether you like her politics. Most Democrats don't seem to.

[J.C.MacSwell]

Too bad Bloomberg struggled in the debates...he just couldn't put his mouth where his money was...

[iNow]

Good line

[iNow]

Looks like Biden won Michigan. IMO that’s fatal to Bernie’s chances. 

[J.C.MacSwell]

10 hours ago, iNow said:

Looks like Biden won Michigan. IMO that’s fatal to Bernie’s chances. 

Doesn't mean he still can't win. Biden's corpse is doing well.

[iNow]

3 hours ago, J.C.MacSwell said:

Doesn't mean he still can't win. Biden's corpse is doing well.

So well, in fact, that even your boi Andy Yang just endorsed him 

[J.C.MacSwell]

11 minutes ago, iNow said:

So well, in fact, that even your boi Andy Yang just endorsed him 

...and they say he's not a politician...

[MigL]

A Yang for J Biden's VP.
With all these 80 yr-olds running for President, if they can't last the 1st term, the VP has got to be young enough to take over and carry on.

( is T Gabbard still soldiering on ? )

[J.C.MacSwell]

1 hour ago, MigL said:

A Yang for J Biden's VP.
With all these 80 yr-olds running for President, if they can't last the 1st term, the VP has got to be young enough to take over and carry on.

( is T Gabbard still soldiering on ? )

Well put...

But why would she quit when getting this close?

https://politics.theonion.com/tulsi-gabbard-named-democratic-nominee-after-discovery-1842268489

1 hour ago, MigL said:

A Yang for J Biden's VP.
With all these 80 yr-olds running for President, if they can't last the 1st term, the VP has got to be young enough to take over and carry on.

( is T Gabbard still soldiering on ? )

I would be on board with that. Positionally I like Biden.  Nothing substantially against him personally but I don't see him as much of an upgrade on Trump; However, throw Yang in there (Booker or Klobuchar also, but I think Yang brings more to the ticket) and I would certainly be pulling for them.

Not so much if it was Bernie/Yang...or Heaven forbid Biden/Harris.

[J.C.MacSwell]

I think Yang would have done well if the Virus had hit earlier.

Too bad Biden has committed to having a women as a running mate. Other than Yang not being a women I'm fine with that, as long as Biden had narrowed his choices to a few candidates, and they all happened to be women. OTOH, if he's doing it, excluding men, for reasons of Identity politics alone I have to say I'm not fine with it at all.

There are good choices in Tulsi (unlikely) or Klobuchar (seemingly a good fit for him but maybe doesn't broaden his base).

Hopefully it won't be Harris.

[zapatos]

2 hours ago, J.C.MacSwell said:

Too bad Biden has committed to having a women as a running mate. Other than Yang not being a women I'm fine with that, as long as Biden had narrowed his choices to a few candidates, and they all happened to be women. OTOH, if he's doing it, excluding men, for reasons of Identity politics alone I have to say I'm not fine with it at all.

I used to share that same sentiment but my view has changed over time. People often say you need to choose the best candidate/CEO/judge/etc. based on experience, education, etc., and then end with: "but not just because she is a woman (or other under represented minority)" (not that you are doing that exactly). It seems to me that sentiment is essentially saying there is no particular value in 'just being a woman', and by extension, that there is no value in 'just being a man'.

My view is that there IS value in just being a woman, and the fewer the number of women in a particular role, the more value the woman brings to the table. The women of SCOTUS may not have had better resumes than all the men they beat out for the job, but they brought a perspective and experience that was sorely missing and made SCOTUS better for it.

Similarly, as long as the candidate is "good enough" in other important aspects, I believe the 'woman card' should rightfully trump other potential candidates who happen to be men. And in all honesty, VP is not a critical job. The value of having a woman in that role will IMO far outweigh the benefits of having a man in that role who happens to excel at more traditional attributes valued in that choice (like what state they are from).

I applaud Joe for making the commitment to a woman VP.

[iNow]

He was gonna do it anyway. May as well capture a few extra news cycles / politics forum comments in the process along the way. 

[J.C.MacSwell]

1 hour ago, zapatos said:

I used to share that same sentiment but my view has changed over time. People often say you need to choose the best candidate/CEO/judge/etc. based on experience, education, etc., and then end with: "but not just because she is a woman (or other under represented minority)" (not that you are doing that exactly). It seems to me that sentiment is essentially saying there is no particular value in 'just being a woman', and by extension, that there is no value in 'just being a man'.

My view is that there IS value in just being a woman, and the fewer the number of women in a particular role, the more value the woman brings to the table. The women of SCOTUS may not have had better resumes than all the men they beat out for the job, but they brought a perspective and experience that was sorely missing and made SCOTUS better for it.

Similarly, as long as the candidate is "good enough" in other important aspects, I believe the 'woman card' should rightfully trump other potential candidates who happen to be men. And in all honesty, VP is not a critical job. The value of having a woman in that role will IMO far outweigh the benefits of having a man in that role who happens to excel at more traditional attributes valued in that choice (like what state they are from).

I applaud Joe for making the commitment to a woman VP.

You are basically lowering the bar for women far below that of any man to, very potentially, take over the most important job in your Country; given that the next President will likely be approaching, or over, eighty years old during the next Presidential term...could very well be a little more critical than you suggest.

That said, the by far best remaining Presidential candidate left in the race (Trump of course included) and most bipartisan, is a women. Unfortunately no one's paying attention...too busy watching the Trump, Biden, Sanders clown show.

Edited March 18, 2020 by J.C.MacSwell

[iNow]

We know you like Tulsi, but calling her “by far the best remaining candidate” is a stretch, and the voters seem to agree. It’s an opinion though, so you’re obviously welcome to it.

I am really conflicted about whether Biden should choose Warren as VP. Can she do more good as a Senator from Massachusetts or as next in line to the old white guy?

Biden just won Florida and Illinois. Arizona not yet reporting, but it seems like a runaway at this point. 

[zapatos]

2 hours ago, J.C.MacSwell said:

You are basically lowering the bar for women far below that of any man to, very potentially, take over the most important job in your Country; given that the next President will likely be approaching, or over, eighty years old during the next Presidential term...could very well be a little more critical than you suggest.

Wow. Not sure how to respond to that. Surely there is at least one woman who would be better for this country than Trump. 

I feel sorry for women and other minorities who are held out of positions of power and responsibility due to the fact that they've never held positions of power and responsibility. As always it is the people in charge who don't want to share what they've got. Whites hold back blacks, rich hold back the poor, and men hold back women.

[J.C.MacSwell]

2 hours ago, zapatos said:

Wow. Not sure how to respond to that. Surely there is at least one woman who would be better for this country than Trump. 

 

LOL. OK. I think there is another way to interpret that though...the one I intended.

2 hours ago, zapatos said:

I feel sorry for women and other minorities who are held out of positions of power and responsibility due to the fact that they've never held positions of power and responsibility. As always it is the people in charge who don't want to share what they've got. Whites hold back blacks, rich hold back the poor, and men hold back women.

Tulsi it is then...

[iNow]

Tulsi Gabbard has dropped out of the race. 

[MigL]

What if COVID-19 gets all three, close to 80 year old, presidential hopefuls ?

Should have kept a youngster like T Gabbard in the running, just in case...

[iNow]

7 minutes ago, MigL said:

What if COVID-19 gets all three, close to 80 year old, presidential hopefuls ?

Should have kept a youngster like T Gabbard in the running, just in case...

Depends on when it happens. If before the convention, they just nominate someone else. If after, then the Democratic National Committee (DNC) gets to choose the replacement. 

[MonDie]

I was expecting Biden's latest gaffes (and now the new accuser) to quickly squash the momentum Biden seemed to have on Super Tuesday.  Between March 3rd and March 10th, the state-by-state composition shifted from mostly blue to mostly red, and yet Bernie still made gains in the popular vote.  Unfortunately the popular vote gains were masked by the red-blue balance and red superdelegates, and maybe even red state voter suppression (Alabama & Mississippi epitomize the red skew).  Then the popular vote shifted when the pandemic hit, which could be a real change in turnout or some kind of malfeasance, like what happened in Iowa, enabled by the shortage of staff.  I don't like the idea of voting amidst a pandemic, but I also think the pandemic was well timed to give the illusion of Biden-mentum rather than a Biden burnout.

I am seriously considering whether the wealthy megadonors keeping Biden afloat really want a Biden presidency.  The campaign almost seems designed to implode:  Biden campaign will float through the primaries on superficial name recognition and then implode during the general election, imploding because (A) any cognitive decline will only become more apparent and (B) it will become apparent that the media was protecting Biden (albeit during the primaries) after it is already accused of an anti-Trump bias (despite being pro-corruption in a way that coincidentally benefits Trump).

11:06AM 3/28

Lastly, the new research that challenged Bernie's electability was awfully well timed, and its verification would require a roughly five times larger sample size.  They compared each candidate to Trump separately because they thought Bernie supporters were intentionally skewing the results by lying, lying that they would ONLY support Bernie against Trump and nobody else.  My response to their research is the above paragraph.  11:17 AM

[iNow]

We can always find monsters under the bed if that’s what we want to see. 

[dimreepr]

9 minutes ago, iNow said:

We can always find monsters under the bed if that’s what we want to see. 

And you think politics is easy?

[iNow]

The Democratic Convention was just postponed until at least August 17

[iNow]

In a move that shocks absolutely no one who is paying attention with an honest perspective, Bernie just dropped out of the presidential race. Biden is the presumptive nominee.