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2020 Democratic Candidates Tracker - Part II

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acbytesla said:
Biden has to remind us just how old and corny he is. New slogan. "No malarkey".
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Yeah, but Iowa is the corniest state in the US, and Biden's playing to his base.

When that bus rolls past, the locals can cry out, "Hot diggity dang! Finally someone is gonna summin about the malarkey!"
 
SuburbanTurkey said:
People accuse Bernie of being unrealistic, but it's quite the opposite. He's the only one that is open about the nature of our deliberately stymied government.

What is Pete, or Biden, or Warren going to do when they win and McConnell refuses to play ball, as we know he will. Was 8 years of Obama not enough to prove that nothing is to be gained from trying to compromise with these people?

Bernie is calling for a popular movement to recapture the legislature. He intends to use the bully pulpit of the presidency to do so.

How is Warren going to pass her wealth tax? When McConnell says no, and the right wing SCOTUS says no, it's over. Her policies are empty promises and she knows it.

These people are content to not fight the hard battles. Meanwhile, creeping fascism is taking over the right, and the liberals have no solutions.

So yeah, garbage.
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Yah sure, Bernie will bluster from the bully pulpit and everything will fall in line. That's non-realism on steroids.

But I'll give him this much: He's the only one with the chutzpah to declare a state of emergency and force things.
 
angrysoba said:
Yeah, but Iowa is the corniest state in the US, and Biden's playing to his base.

When that bus rolls past, the locals can cry out, "Hot diggity dang! Finally someone is gonna summin about the malarkey!"
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Perhaps he'll show that goldurned Kaiser what-fer!
 
TragicMonkey said:
Biden has to remind us just how old and corny he is. New slogan. "No malarkey".
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Biden 2020: Now You're On The Trolley!
Biden: 23 Skiddoo!
Biden: The Bee's Knees

America's writing mash notes to Biden!
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Biden: An onion tied to every belt. Like in the good old days, I went to Morganville, which is what they called Shelbyville in those days. So I tied an onion to my belt, which was the style at the time.
 
TragicMonkey said:
Bernie is calling for a popular movement to recapture the legislature. He intends to use the bully pulpit of the presidency to do so.
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How exactly is Sanders going to overcome a hostile Senate? By "calling for a popular movement"? Sounds like it's just words, same as any of the other candidates, until/unless he can actually do it.
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If anything I would expect a Sanders presidency to actually be counter-productive in overcoming a hostile senate, since the GOP would probably use "Sanders=radical who will give you socialism" in their campaign ads for congress.
 
SezMe said:
I'm not totally on board, varwoche. With the GOP congresscritters having just arrived from the 18th century, Dems have to start from a pretty far out position so that negotiations end up with something worthwhile.
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There are some problems with that however...

- It gives the opposition the ability to shout "Radical!"
- When you fail to achieve the goal you campaigned on (in order to achieve a compromise), it ends up being a "broken election promise"
- it assumes that the republicans are interested in any compromise. Given their current tactics, it doesn't matter if you propose medicare for all or some sort of private/public mix, the republicans are not going to budge at all.
I also think "shooting for the stars" is a reasonable campaign strategy to energize registered voters off their lazy duffs and actually vote.
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It assumes that those registered voters actually like what you are proposing.

I am sure there are plenty of young voters who will eagerly line up behind a voter that promises "free health care/free tuition". But there are a large number of potential supporters who will think "I want change but not THAT much change" and will decide to sit out the election, thinking "Republicans too far right, Democrats too far left. Nobody represents me!"

Plus, the more radical the policies, the greater chance you will energize the opponents base. If the Democrats nominate someone like Biden or Booker, there will be a few potential republican supporters who will think "I will never vote Democrat, but I don't want to vote for Trump either". If Sanders gets the nomination, you will have at least a few republicans who think "I don't like Trump, but I really need to vote for him to prevent the radical socialist from getting in to power".
I'll acknowledge some risks in such a strategy but, in balance, I think it's a positive (winning?) approach.
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Evidence suggests otherwise.

From: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/08/...didates-still-tend-to-outdo-extreme-ones.html
A party that nominates an extreme candidate when it could have nominated a more moderate one may lose as much as seven points of vote share in the general election...Extreme candidates, the researchers say, may mobilize their party’s base — but they tend to activate their opponent’s base even more than their own, resulting in a net loss on turnout. They also seem to lose habitual voters — the people who almost always turn out to vote — to the opposition party, while moderate nominees hold on to those voters.
 
TragicMonkey said:
How exactly is Sanders going to overcome a hostile Senate? By "calling for a popular movement"? Sounds like it's just words, same as any of the other candidates, until/unless he can actually do it.
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Maybe by exposing them publicly in a way we haven't seen in the modern age.

Average voters don't watch hours of CSPAN a day; they don't know what the **** is going on in Congress.

He's gonna put his opponents on blast.
 
theprestige said:
Luckily for our system of government, the President doesn't need to overcome the Senate, in order to do his job.
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There are elements of the job that certainly do involve him dealing with potential senate opposition:

- Confirmation of various nominations (e.g. supreme court, cabinet positions)

- While the president is not formally involved in crafting legislation, they can be involved in the process (e.g. requests to congress for funding, pushing for certain legislation through the use of the presidency as a 'bully pulpit'.)

The president's job is to promote the well being of all citizens of the United States. For him to do that effectively requires at least some cooperation with congress.
 
Venom said:
How exactly is Sanders going to overcome a hostile Senate? By "calling for a popular movement"? Sounds like it's just words, same as any of the other candidates, until/unless he can actually do it.
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Maybe by exposing them publicly in a way we haven't seen in the modern age.

Average voters don't watch hours of CSPAN a day; they don't know what the **** is going on in Congress.

He's gonna put his opponents on blast.
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Why exactly is Sanders needed in order to do that? If its a case of just highlighting the actions of Congress, any presidential candidate can use social media. (Having Sanders attempt to do it might even make the message seem... silly. "Sanders... like your grandpa trying to use the latest technology".
 
Segnosaur said:
There are elements of the job that certainly do involve him dealing with potential senate opposition:
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Yes there are.

- Confirmation of various nominations (e.g. supreme court, cabinet positions)
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Confirmation of nominees is not an element of the president's job, though.

- While the president is not formally involved in crafting legislation, they can be involved in the process (e.g. requests to congress for funding, pushing for certain legislation through the use of the presidency as a 'bully pulpit'.)
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The bully pulpit is not actually any part of the Executive Branch job description.

The president's job is to promote the well being of all citizens of the United States. For him to do that effectively requires at least some cooperation with congress.
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The president's job is to execute federal law, oversee national defense within the constraints laid on him by Congress, and conduct diplomacy within the constraints imposed on him by Congress. None of that involves overcoming the Senate. He may not accomplish all of his agenda without overcoming the Senate, but he can certainly do the job.
 
Segnosaur said:
Why exactly is Sanders needed in order to do that? If its a case of just highlighting the actions of Congress, any presidential candidate can use social media. (Having Sanders attempt to do it might even make the message seem... silly. "Sanders... like your grandpa trying to use the latest technology".
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Oh any presidential candidate could. Obama could have called out the incredible Republican obstruction in the last two-thirds of his time in office, but he did it in whispers at most. He always tried to quietly reach out to them.

Sanders is not the type to stay quiet about that. He'll be as loud as Trump, if not louder, and actually honest.

Why would Sanders look silly doing it? He's been doing it and doing fine so far. He has a good group of young and savvy staff to assist him in that.
 
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