2020 Democratic Candidates Tracker - Part II

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Aridas said:
If you're going to push Cyber Wars, I may as well recommend Democracy in Chains by Nancy McLean. That one goes into quite a lot of historical detail about one of the major aspects of what's going on in the background on the right-wing, how such has developed, their actual goals, and a bit on their strategies - frequently invoking the words of the people themselves. Understanding the underlying issues is likely just as important, if not moreso, than understanding any particular one of the tools that are being employed to get to it.
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While it sounds interesting and no doubt useful to understand those idiots following Trump (@kellyb: I'm not talking about winning hearts and minds of Trumpers) that's not what Cyber Wars reveals.

No, it describes in detail how Clinton was falsely demonized, how Trump's lies became heroic, how a massive social media campaign infected voters. Add to that, Trump TV, which Trump is still using to manipulate the media and it's not about winning over people based on ideas and plans, it's about snookering and brainwashing very much in a Hitleresque fashion.

Unfortunately the Kindle preview starts with the introduction that simply does not get the point across. I'll try to find a good passage to post that explains what I'm talking about.
 
From another thread this article was posted, which is quite informative as to why the Russian's would be cheer-leading for Tulsi:

Experts in Russian on-line propaganda say Gabbard appeals to pro-Russian sites because her positions —and her appeal as an outsider in her own party — can be used to create division among Democrats.

Former FBI agent Clint Watts, author of "Messing with the Enemy: Surviving in a Social Media World of Hackers, Terrorists, Russians, and Fake News," said Gabbard has past or present positions on several issues that would be attractive to the Russian propaganda machine, and she is already popular with the U.S. "alt-left." Besides her views on Syria, she responded to reports of Russian interference in the 2016 election by saying the U.S. had interfered in foreign elections too.

The language used to laud Gabbard is reminiscent of Russian media promotion of Jill Stein, the U.S. Green Party candidate for president in 2012 and 2016. Stein received favorable coverage from the same outlets and also benefited from Russian troll accounts.

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"We should expect the Russian intel services and troll farms to be active in the Democratic primary process," said Stamos, "as this provides them with the best opportunity to create the most division in American society in 2020."
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https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/20...20-democratic-candidate-tulsi-gabbard-n964261

Note here that Childlike Empress even explicitly stated that they hoped Tulsi would "annoy the establishment clowns with her presence", as that is what the Russian's seek to do. Unlike Trump i somehow doubt she will exceed everyone's wildest expectations by strongly appealing to white resentment.
 
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Tero said:
If this goes like the Hillary year, it will be https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/latest_polls/democratic_nomination_polls/
Biden and Sanders surviving to late spring. But this time around the Trump effect (the ones who forgot to vote 2016 finally show up) will lead to quite a fight, it will be close to 50/50 and may even end up decided at the convention.
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The rules changes and number of people running basically assure a brokered convention. Either they hash out who gets what position among themselves on ballot #1 or the superdelegates pick on ballot #2.
 
Skeptic Ginger said:
While it sounds interesting and no doubt useful to understand those idiots following Trump (@kellyb: I'm not talking about winning hearts and minds of Trumpers) that's not what Cyber Wars reveals.

No, it describes in detail how Clinton was falsely demonized, how Trump's lies became heroic, how a massive social media campaign infected voters. Add to that, Trump TV, which Trump is still using to manipulate the media and it's not about winning over people based on ideas and plans, it's about snookering and brainwashing very much in a Hitleresque fashion.

Unfortunately the Kindle preview starts with the introduction that simply does not get the point across. I'll try to find a good passage to post that explains what I'm talking about.
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I got the Kindle version, I'll take a look. I'll be spending nearly a week away with family, starting in a few minutes, either way. With that said... based on your description here and before, it's focused on one aspect - the propaganda aspect. Democracy in Chains deals more with understanding the foundation and how that has evolved over time. In short, based on your description, Cyber War deals with what happening. Democracy in Chains gives much more insight on why it's happening. Russia was an external factor that fairly certainly tipped the scales. The scales were already precarious, though, because of powerful interests mucking with them in a sustained fashion for quite a while.
 
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Incidentally, there's a new article up about Tulsi Gabbard on the NYT:

On the far left, her supporters appreciate how she talks about respecting Native cultures. On the right, as liberal democracies see authoritarian strongmen rise, Ms. Gabbard’s allies like that she would not meddle with dictators.

The threat from Russia is severely exaggerated, Ms. Gabbard says. Do not beat the drums of war with Iran. Make nice with North Korea.

She flew to Syria in 2017 and had what seemed to be a friendly meeting with Bashar al-Assad, shocking her colleagues in Congress, and voted against a House resolution condemning the dictator’s war crimes. More recently, she said Mr. Assad was “not the enemy of the United States.”

Critics have called her actions un-American. After Ms. Gabbard tore into presidential candidate Kamala Harris for her prosecutorial record during the second Democratic debates on Wednesday, the California senator on CNN called Ms. Gabbard an “apologist for an individual, Assad, who has murdered the people of his country like cockroaches.”

To Ms. Gabbard, it is the United States that has been the cruel and destabilizing force.

“We should be coming to other leaders in other countries with respect, building a relationship based on cooperation rather than with, you know, a police baton,” she says.
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https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/02/us/politics/tulsi-gabbard-2020-presidential-race.html

She sounds a lot like Trump did in terms her isolationist and non-interventionist rhetoric, so it's not very hard too see why that would appeal to Russia.
 
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Arcade22 said:
Incidentally, there's a new article up about Tulsi Gabbard on the NYT:



https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/02/us/politics/tulsi-gabbard-2020-presidential-race.html

She sounds a lot like Trump did in terms her isolationist and non-interventionist rhetoric, so it's not very hard too see why that would appeal to Russia.
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“Tulsi Gabbard by far is the very, very best,” former Republican congressman Ron Paul said in an interview with Russia Today.

“Go Tulsi!” the right-wing commentator Ann Coulter said on Twitter.

“Tulsi Gabbard’s my girl, I’m voting for her I decided, I like her,” the popular podcaster Joe Rogan said on his show.


Wow, that's so on-the-nose and corollary it's almost funny. Especially the Ron Paul quote in a Russian newspaper. For as much as the article shies away from pointing out her worst/most obvious flaws, at least it included that.
 
Aridas said:
I got the Kindle version, I'll take a look. I'll be spending nearly a week away with family, starting in a few minutes, either way. With that said... based on your description here and before, it's focused on one aspect - the propaganda aspect. Democracy in Chains deals more with understanding the foundation and how that has evolved over time. In short, based on your description, Cyber War deals with what happening. Democracy in Chains gives much more insight on why it's happening. Russia was an external factor that fairly certainly tipped the scales. The scales were already precarious, though, because of powerful interests mucking with them in a sustained fashion for quite a while.
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I've put a library request in for Democracy in Chains. It is clear the pump needed to be primed for this kind of social media assault to have been successful. Part 2 of Cyber Wars describes "Troll prerequisites" which sounds like it converges with what you are referring to.

It's Part 3 where the tedious details begin. It's hard to read especially if you were a Clinton supporter.
 
ArchSas said:
Wow, that's so on-the-nose and corollary it's almost funny. Especially the Ron Paul quote in a Russian newspaper. For as much as the article shies away from pointing out her worst/most obvious flaws, at least it included that.
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So Joe Rogan is a Putin troll as well? Are there any people who endorse Tulsi for what she stands for, or is it all a conspiracy?
 
Once we get to 2020, if we have Biden
-Abortion not a problem. Buy insurance for it.
If we have Warren or Sanders:
"We don't want medicare to pay for abortions!" scream all the Republicans.
 
Childlike Empress said:
WaPo Publishes Gabbard Smear Piece Filled With Blatant Lies
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Wow, that's some bizarre CT stuff there. Why would you believe this crap? I mean, I get it you're suspicious of the current US government. And the Syria conflict is not clear cut as to who are the goof guys.

But what is it in this report that makes you think this is truth?
The Washington Post, which is wholly owned by a CIA contractor who is reportedly working to control the underlying infrastructure of the global economy, has published a shockingly deceitful smear piece about Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard in the wake of her criticisms of her opponent Kamala Harris’ prosecutorial record during the last Democratic debate.

The article’s author, Josh Rogin, has been a cheerleader for US regime change interventionism in Syria since the very beginning of the conflict in that nation. It is unsurprising, then, that he reacted with orgasmic exuberance when Harris retaliated against Gabbard’s devastating attack by smearing the Hawaii congresswoman as an “Assad apologist”, since Gabbard has been arguably the most consistent and high-profile critic of Rogin’s pet war agenda.
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Because there's nothing here of any substance one could call evidence.
 
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Skeptic Ginger said:
Wow, that's some bizarre CT stuff there. Why would you believe this crap? I mean, I get it you're suspicious of the current US government. And the Syria conflict is not clear cut as to who are the goof guys.
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It might be related the fact that they only ever post Russian propaganda. Why would someone do that?
 
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