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2020 Democratic Candidates Tracker - Part II

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This is a Never-Trump, but still...

Conservative David Brooks: If it's Warren v Trump, we must vote for Warren to save the country

And yet, if it comes to Trump vs. Warren in a general election, the only plausible choice is to support Warren. Over the past month Donald Trump has given us fresh reminders of the unique and exceptional ways he corrupts American life. You’re either part of removing that corruption or you are not. When your nation’s political system is in danger, staying home and not voting is not a responsible option.

Politics is downstream from morality and culture. Warren represents a policy wrong turn, in my view, but policies can be argued about and reversed. Trump represents a much more important and fundamental threat — to the norms, values, standards and soul of this country.

Last week, Trump all but greenlighted the ethnic cleansing of Kurds without an ounce of remorse. He normalizes dishonesty and valorizes cruelty. His letter to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reminds us yet again that we have a president whose professional competence is at kindergarten level. Once a nation has lost its heart, mind and soul, it is very hard to get these things back.

Furthermore, Trump is an unprecedented threat to democratic institutions. Over the past few years, I’ve thought the progressive fears of incipient American fascism were vastly overblown. But, especially over the past month, Trump has worked overtime to validate those fears and to raise the horrifying specter of what he’ll be like if he is given a second term and is vindicated, unhinged and unwell.
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He quite doesn't want Warren, of course, compared to the others.
 
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Aridas said:
This is a Never-Trump, but still...

Conservative David Brooks: If it's Warren v Trump, we must vote for Warren to save the country

He quite doesn't want Warren, of course, compared to the others.
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This is in response to a bunch of never-Trumpers announcing that they were never-Warreners as well.

These Never Trump Republicans argue that a Trump-Warren matchup offers equally bad choices, albeit for different reasons. They complain about the senator’s liberalism, which offends their conservative sensibilities and counters everything they have worked for professionally. They also complain about Warren’s populism, which strikes them as similar to the president's.

“I find certain things about Elizabeth Warren to be reminiscent of Trump, frankly,” said Mona Charen, a conservative columnist and outspoken Trump critic. “I’m very eager to see Trump gone. He’s so destructive to the country and all the things I hold dear — and conservative values. But unfortunately, the Democratic Party seems to have a death wish.”
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I'm kind of in the same boat as this guy:

“There are a lot of Never Trumpers who might reluctantly pull the lever for Joe Biden. He’s Uncle Joe. He’s a return to normalcy. Elizabeth Warren is a much harder sell,” he said.
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The Atheist said:
Yet still gets crushed by someone not even in the race. https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2020-primaries/democratic/new-hampshire/

When a guaranteed non-starter leads the field comfortably, you have a serious problem.
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Huh? Obama's vote there can only be ascribed as a longing for the "good old days". In the actual primary, she'll get a handful of write-ins. How those "Obama" voters spread their votes will make the difference. Make sure you place your bets based on good data.
 
SezMe said:
That may well be but her comment must be judged assuming she is the Dem nominee. In that case the GOP will run brutal ads stating that Warren is going to take away your insurance. It'll be effective. She should have taken a more moderate approach.
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I'm assuming she will in the general.
 
Buttigieg fumbles again:

With Warren and Bernie Sanders staking out the primary’s leftward flank, the mayor sees his best hope for securing the nomination — or at least catapulting himself into a higher polling tier — in drawing contrasts with them and projecting himself as a younger, more lucid, and less baggage-laden competitor for supporters of the former vice-president: liberal centrists and older black voters. It’s a risky gambit for two reasons. First, Buttigieg’s appeal derives largely from his mild-mannered charm and self-branding as an above-the-fray consensus-builder — both of which were undermined by his antagonistic behavior on Tuesday. But more crucially, it’s imperiled by his knack for thwarting his own efforts to build relationships with black voters, whose support he’ll need if he’s to seriously challenge Biden, Warren, Sanders, or even Kamala Harris.

The latest example occurred on Friday, when the Associated Press reported that the mayor was scheduled to attend a fundraiser co-hosted by Steve Patton. As head of Chicago’s law department under former mayor Rahm Emanuel, Patton was a key figure in the administration’s efforts to hide dashcam footage of Laquan McDonald’s killing from the public. The black 17-year-old was shot 16 times in 2014 by then–police officer Jason Van Dyke, who was later convicted of second-degree murder and aggravated battery and sentenced to nearly seven years in prison. Officers at the scene initially lied, saying that McDonald had lunged toward them with a knife. The Emanuel administration pushed to hide video that disputed their account until after the mayor won reelection — a decision made under Patton’s advisement. When reporters this week drew attention to Patton’s role in the cover-up, and that he’d made a max donation of $5,600 to Buttigieg’s campaign, Buttigieg and his staffers declined to comment, according to the AP. But as public pressure mounted on Friday morning, they abruptly removed Patton as a co-host and refunded his money. “Transparency and justice for Laquan McDonald is more important than a campaign contribution,” Chris Meagher, the Buttigieg campaign’s communications director, told Axios. “We are returning the money he contributed to the campaign and the money he has collected. He is no longer a co-host for the event and will not be attending.”

Buttigieg has criticized promises made by the Warren and Sanders campaigns to refuse high-dollar donations from corporate PACs and lobbyists. “My competitors can go with whatever strategy they like … we’re not going to beat [Trump] with pocket change,” he said earlier this week. But ongoing developments showcase the irony of this stance: Buttigieg has attracted less money in donations than either of them, and, until public pressure forced his hand, one of his donors was a central figure in a police shooting cover-up. All of which complicates a campaign that’s already weathered its share of racial controversy, particularly the questions surrounding Buttigieg’s firing of South Bend’s black police chief and the police shooting death of Eric Logan over the summer — both of which have drawn fiery criticism from black locals.
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Linky.

And again:

Journalist April Ryan has abruptly pulled out of a political event on Saturday in which she was slated to interview South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, claiming she was unaware it was a fundraiser for his Democratic presidential campaign.

On Friday, the American Urban Radio Networks Washington bureau chief and CNN political analyst announced her decision in a tweet, saying “the campaign was not clear that the venue would be a fundraiser.”

“We’ll be rescheduling the interview to a more appropriate time/place,” she added. “Looking forward to asking him the tough questions the AURN audience wants answers to.”
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Linky.

In a previous Chicago rally/fundraiser he succeeded in getting White people south of the loop.

There's something just not working right here.
 
Tsukasa Buddha said:
Buttigieg fumbles again
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At this point Butt looks like a younger, gayer, slightly-less-racist version of Biden. Who would that even appeal to? People nutty enough to like Biden are going to prefer Biden, they don't recognize his being 900 years old as being a problem. And all the people who loathe Biden aren't going to love a younger, gayer, slight-less-racist version of him when they could have Bernie or Warren instead.
 
TragicMonkey said:
At this point Butt looks like a younger, gayer, slightly-less-racist version of Biden. Who would that even appeal to? People nutty enough to like Biden are going to prefer Biden, they don't recognize his being 900 years old as being a problem. And all the people who loathe Biden aren't going to love a younger, gayer, slight-less-racist version of him when they could have Bernie or Warren instead.
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I know a couple of Boomers elsewhere on the net who love Biden, but are really digging this newer, gayer, slightly less racist version, now that he's dropped the Mr NiceGuy act.

To be fair, Pete would do better in a debate against Trump, for sure. Biden's mind slippage must be bothering his fans. Trying to hand wave it all away as "gaffs" can only take you so far.
 
kellyb said:
I know a couple of Boomers elsewhere on the net who love Biden, but are really digging this newer, gayer, slightly less racist version, now that he's dropped the Mr NiceGuy act.

To be fair, Pete would do better in a debate against Trump, for sure. Biden's mind slippage must be bothering his fans. Trying to hand wave it all away as "gaffs" can only take you so far.
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I like Mayor Pete a lot. I don't agree with him on healthcare at all. But I still like the Mayor. He's smart, erudite and savvy. If he wasn't gay, I think he would be in the top 2 candidates if not the frontrunner. He would probably mop the floor with Trump in a one on one debate.

Here's a veteran who served in Iraq that thinks fast on his feet and can string two sentences together without getting lost.
 
acbytesla said:
I like Mayor Pete a lot. I don't agree with him on healthcare at all. But I still like the Mayor. He's smart, erudite and savvy. If he wasn't gay, I think he would be in the top 2 candidates if not the frontrunner. He would probably mop the floor with Trump in a one on one debate.

Here's a veteran who served in Iraq that thinks fast on his feet and can string two sentences together without getting lost.
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Did you watch the most recent debate?
 
kellyb said:
He came across quite differently, that's for sure. Kinda snarling and angry at people to the left of him. Totally weird shift.
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I think a candidate needs to show that they are tough and not afraid to put the gloves on. But i haven't seen it yet. I just read that he did better than anyone else and kept himself relevant and in the conversation. Not sure if that is true though.
 
acbytesla said:
I think a candidate needs to show that they are tough and not afraid to put the gloves on. But i haven't seen it yet. I just read that he did better than anyone else and kept himself relevant and in the conversation. Not sure if that is true though.
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I would imagine that people who are huge Biden fans would think he did well, and everyone who's not a Biden fan think the opposite.
 
kellyb said:
I would imagine that people who are huge Biden fans would think he did well, and everyone who's not a Biden fan think the opposite.
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I don't look at it that way. I like Biden but frankly I like Warren and Cory Booker more. I like Sanders but he needs to get off the stage. I want a candidate who can win most of all. I'd rather they are progressive and will work for real change. But I also hope they know how to wield the power if they are elected. For example, if the Democrats win the Presidency and the Senate, I want the President to immediately nominate two new Supreme Court Justices.
 
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