2020 Democratic Candidates Tracker

[dudalb]

I like Tulsi Gabbard.

I'm not a fan of her fans though. Most of em are the "ZOMG America is teh biggest terrorist state evar!" and "RT > corporate media" and less commonly "9/11 was an inside job!"

If Bernie Sanders somehow doesn't get the lead, I may have her for 2020.

Really determined to reelect Trump are we?

 

[The Atheist]

Well done, TA. Prior to your post I thought that I could respond to any post if I felt moved to do so. Now I know better. Edumacation - it can't be beat.

You're quite welcome to respond, but you inserted yourself to a point to someone else and took a knee-jerk reaction to it, even though that didn't apply to you.

Simple mistake - no harm done.

Calling those incidents an "assualt" cheapens the word and does real damage to women who use the word to describe real assaults.

There are no levels of assault? Is one punch the same as 10? Does a sexual assault have to be skin on skin? If you're not bleeding, was it really rape?

Under American law, which is where they all happened, what Biden did is classed as an assault. I even gave you a couple of real cases, including one assault where a guy kissed a girl's hand. Would another half-dozen cases convince you? Another 100?

Could you not see the disgust on the girls' faces? They were absolutely not consenting, and under both law and the prevailing morality of 2019, they were assaults.

If I can be bothered, I must check whether any people who supported Christine Ford against Kavanaugh are now supporting Biden.

That would be some deep irony.

 

[Venom]

Really determined to reelect Trump are we?

I don't think Trump will beat any of the leading candidates.

 

[Brainster]

Did you know that Beto was once part of a famous hacker's group? But it's okay, they were only stealing long distance minutes from Ma Bell:

At the time, people connected to bulletin boards by dialing in to the phone lines through a modem. Heavy use of long-distance modem calls could add up to hundreds of dollars a month. Savvy teens learned techniques for getting around the charges, such as using other people’s phone-company credit card numbers and five-digit calling codes to place free calls.

O’Rourke didn’t say what techniques he used. Like thousands of others, though, he said he pilfered long-distance service “so I wouldn’t run up the phone bill.”

And it really wasn't about hacking so much as it was about creative writing:

CDC wasn’t of that ilk. Although some CDC essays gave programming and hacking instructions, in the late 1980s, the group was more about writing than it was about breaking into computer systems.

And Beto contributed on that score:

Then one day, as I was driving home from work, I noticed two children crossing the street. They were happy, happy to be free from their troubles. I knew, however, that this happiness and sense of freedom were much too overwhelming for them. This happiness was mine by right. I had earned it in my dreams. As I neared the young ones, I put all my weight on my right foot, keeping the accelerator pedal on the floor until I heard the crashing of the two children on the hood, and then the sharp cry of pain from one of the two. I was so fascinated for a moment, that when after I had stopped my vehicle, I just sat in a daze, sweet visions filling my head. My dream was abruptly ended when I heard a loud banging on the front window. It was an old man, who was using his cane to awaken me. He might have been a witness to my act of love. I was not sure, nor did I care. It was simply ecstasy. As I drove home, I envisioned myself committing more of these "acts of love", and after a while, I had no trouble carrying them out.

But it's okay, because he was 15 years old at the time. And it's all forgiven anyway as he used his hacker cred for good; he pushed for the inclusion of young women:

O’Rourke befriended a 16-year-old California girl who was a regular on TacoLand, and he put her up for membership in the CDC. With Wheeler’s approval, she got in, making the CDC one of a very few hacker groups of the time that weren’t all-male.

 

[Puppycow]

So uh, how about that Hickenlooper fella?

Beto seems like too much of a try-hard hipster to me.

Did anyone look at the Vanity Fair piece with all those carefully staged Annie Leibowitz photos?

BETO O’ROURKE: “I’M JUST BORN TO DO THIS”

I mean, come on. Nobody is "born" to be the president.

I guess his lane is the "I'm too sexy" lane. He does his little turn on the catwalk.

 

[theprestige]

If people know their actual name will attach to their stupid, bigoted or violent comments, they'd be a lot less likely to make them.

LOL.

Anyway, have a relevant Penny Arcade (NSFW).

 

[acbytesla]

I mean, come on. Nobody is "born" to be the president.
.

Tell that to a Kennedy.

 

[Axiom_Blade]

Did you know that Beto was once part of a famous hacker's group?

Beto was in Cult of the Dead Cow?!?!

No.

Way.

That is just too awesome.

Can you imagine having a guy in the White House who actually understands how the Internet works?

 

[SezMe]

LOL.

Anyway, have a relevant Penny Arcade (NSFW).

ok, theprestige, that's the third post in a row that was right on. Where is the real theprestige and what did you do to him?

 

[SezMe]

Did you know that Beto was once part of a famous hacker's group? But it's okay, they were only stealing long distance minutes from Ma Bell: <snip>

Beto seems like too much of a try-hard hipster to me.<snip>

I don't think all that is really a big deal but it will be enough to turn off those for whom electability is Criterion #1. Let's test that claim.

Hey, acbytesla, in light of these posts, how do you rank Beto?

 

[Travis]

Travis

No. The only leftist thing she had was to give people over 55 Medicare.

This too is rather absurd:
It's absurd because her foreign policies were more or less inseparable from GOP, including her infamous vote to authorize the Iraq invasion, and her strong support for Israel. There's not an ice cube's chance in hell that George McGovern would have voted for the Iraq fiasco. And her domestic policies were more or less inseparable from Democratic mainstream. I don't see her as to the left of Obama, Kerry, Gore, or Bill Clinton.

Mind you, I'm in vigorous agreement with Trebuchet. I'd vote for Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Colonel Sanders, or Gary Coleman (rip) over Trump.

Well, let us look at it. She was the first nominee in history to explicitly promise to protect the trans population. Even Obama wouldn't go there in 2012 when he became the first nominee to ever be in favor of gay marriage.


She made raising the minimum wage a central plank when it hadn't been in...seemingly forever. She favored giving the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau more teeth. Addressing climate change was a huge part of her platform as well when it got scarcely mentioned so many times in the past.


Tackling the foreign policy thing is a much deeper dive. Needless to say I think she ultimately made what she felt were liberal decisions in numerous "no good option" scenarios.

 

[Brainster]

Tackling the foreign policy thing is a much deeper dive. Needless to say I think she ultimately made what she felt were liberal decisions in numerous "no good option" scenarios.

She made political decisions, but not particularly liberal ones. People forget this now, but Sam Nunn voted against the first Persian Gulf war, and when it was a smashing success, he sat out the presidential race in 1992.

 

[acbytesla]

I don't think all that is really a big deal but it will be enough to turn off those for whom electability is Criterion #1. Let's test that claim.

Hey, acbytesla, in light of these posts, how do you rank Beto?

Sorry, he's still very electable. Maybe more so.

 

[Belz...]

There's an even simpler answer, that I have advocated for since the 1990s - identification.

If your account at any organisation on the internet isn't linked to your real name and address, you don't get to go on.

Yes, giving my name and address to insane internet people who might show up for some mad reason sounds really good.

 

[Craig4]

So uh, how about that Hickenlooper fella?

Beto seems like too much of a try-hard hipster to me.

Did anyone look at the Vanity Fair piece with all those carefully staged Annie Leibowitz photos?

BETO O’ROURKE: “I’M JUST BORN TO DO THIS”

I mean, come on. Nobody is "born" to be the president.

I guess his lane is the "I'm too sexy" lane. He does his little turn on the catwalk.

Hickanlooper neutralizes Trumps few positives. He is a truly self-made man who started two small businesses. He's a swing state governor with a history of working across the aisle. I've never heard him talk about free college for everyone or Medicare for everyone so he's not scary to moderate independent voters.

The path to victory over Trump will be 1) Not insane. 2) Not a traitor to your country. 3) A message of fix the ACA/Medicare for those who need it but the rest of you keep your health plan. 4) Cheaper education, less student debt. 5) We can have border security and not be a bunch of dicks about it.

 

[varwoche]

Well, let us look at it. She was the first nominee in history to explicitly promise to protect the trans population.

Weak. A lot happened culturally between 2012 and 2016. But never mind that...

Your assertion that she is the most liberal Dem ever nominated doesn't get past McGovern. You can't remove foreign policy from this equation. If you want to step back your comment to something like Not counting foreign policy, Hillary was no less a leftie than other Democratic nominees in recent times, I have no problem with that. I don't view her on par with Dick Cheney, as does a certain class of binary thinkers.

 

[The Atheist]

Yes, giving my name and address to insane internet people who might show up for some mad reason sounds really good.

Yeah, that used to happen a lot in the decades that everyone was in a phone book, with their street address listed next to their name.

___________________________


Meanwhile, in Beto O'Rourke news, if you have to start apologising for your past in the first few days of your campaign, I submit you're probably applying for the wrong job.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news...ses-for-joke-about-his-wife-and-teen-writings

Nothing like stealing Benny Goodman's 1950s wife jokes to seek to cross the right/left divide, Beto. Unbelievably the equal second favourite among the Dems.

Goodbye.

Who's next? Kamala Harris? Rated second favourite by bookies worldwide at a nice 5:1 shot to take the presidency.

She appears to be clear third choice among Dem voters right now, and if Biden drops out and she get his votes, she will secure the nomination easily.

If that happens, I'd say the 2:1 odds on Trump winning a second term look very juicy indeed.

 

[acbytesla]

Yeah, that used to happen a lot in the decades that everyone was in a phone book, with their street address listed next to their name.

___________________________


Meanwhile, in Beto O'Rourke news, if you have to start apologising for your past in the first few days of your campaign, I submit you're probably applying for the wrong job.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news...ses-for-joke-about-his-wife-and-teen-writings

Nothing like stealing Benny Goodman's 1950s wife jokes to seek to cross the right/left divide, Beto. Unbelievably the equal second favourite among the Dems.

Goodbye.

Who's next? Kamala Harris? Rated second favourite by bookies worldwide at a nice 5:1 shot to take the presidency.

She appears to be clear third choice among Dem voters right now, and if Biden drops out and she get his votes, she will secure the nomination easily.

If that happens, I'd say the 2:1 odds on Trump winning a second term look very juicy indeed.

I think your grotesquely overestimating what matters at this point. Little stumbles are going to happen to all the candidates.

Far more important at this juncture is the ability to raise funds and organize.

 

[Axiom_Blade]

Yeah, that used to happen a lot in the decades that everyone was in a phone book, with their street address listed next to their name.

Phone books existed in an era where your opinions weren't publicly available for the entire world to see. One of the reasons why anonymity on the Internet is so important is that if you irritate the wrong person (or people), and they are able to get your personal information, they can make your life hell.

I believe that being able to speak frankly and openly on the Web is an important freedom. If, however, your real name were tied to all of your posts, people would be much less willing to openly express themselves.

I was on a web forum many years ago which served as a place to discuss the local underground scene. Upcoming punk shows, stuff like that. We would also discuss and debate politics. There was one user who I often argued with. She had (to put it mildly) very strong opinions about feminism, and I happened to disagree with her, and I often said so. I don't remember ever being rude about it, but I was very blunt about what my opinions were. Somehow, this user found out what my real name was, and she confronted me in real life, and threatened to beat me up! I wasn't a big dude, only about 100 pounds soaking wet, so she probably could've done it, too. Fortunately, there were other people around, so nothing happened.

Now, imagine if I pissed off some group like Neo-Nazis, Proud Boys, Nation of Islam, Church of Scientology, or something like that, and you can imagine much worse things they could do with my personal information.

 

[Brainster]

Nothing like stealing Benny Goodman's 1950s wife jokes to seek to cross the right/left divide, Beto. Unbelievably the equal second favourite among the Dems.

I think you mean Henny Youngman, not Benny Goodman.

On Beto's current standing don't ignore personal charisma. One of the major voting blocks in the current Democratic party is made up of single women.