2020 Democratic Candidates Tracker - Part II

[Stacyhs]

Democrat voters are too racist and sexist to support an African-American woman as the president.

Not too racist to elect an African American man though.
Not too sexist to vote for a white woman though.
But the two together is just too much for them, right?

 

[Aridas]

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.

To poke at this a bit... I do recall Warren being asked about this. Her answer actually was very similar to Bernie's, really, and also highlighted the dual function of the Presidential campaigns when it comes to both helping the candidate and the later turnout. That also has a lot to do with the long, long, long free selfie lines that she's dealt with, as an example. It's a cheap and effective way to get people more engaged and actively working to get things done.

I get it but -- it's the issue of telling people in MI, WI and PA who are happy with their insurance that (1) they won't be able to keep it and (2) the replacement isn't defined. That's a losing proposition.

Immediate MFA doesn't even make sense in terms of mundane logistics. Warren realizes that and has proposed a transition period, but is taking heat from purists who enjoy fictional concepts.

A "we want everything NOW" attitude is understandable, but annoying. That Biden, for example, tried to back up that attitude in his attacks on M4A is one of the many gripes I've had with him.

Warren's "Day One" plan is intellectually insulting. No Democratic will accomplish anything meaningful one day one, or day 100, so long as the deadlock of government isn't broken. It ignores the political reality that a president alone can't make change, but everyone but Bernie is happy to pretend otherwise.

*raises an eyebrow* Executive power allows one to do quite a bit. Warren's Day One Plan is largely about the use of things that can be done with executive power. It does also include prioritizing which legislation that she'll be pushing for, but that's obviously not a "we're definitely going to get this done on Day One." Going further, I'm going to poke at this quote from an interview about Warren Day One.

Ezra Klein

Tell me about your theory of how power sequences. There’s long been a view that presidents have up to 100 days. Maybe they don’t even have that anymore, but in theory, you have this 100 days. You can do a lot then. But every single day you’re there, power drains out of the office. Controversy builds. People get tired. You get nearer to the next election.

Do you have a different theory? Do you think that there’s a way to sequence your agenda such that you’re building momentum as opposed to losing it? Or do you really have to say it’s going to be these one or two or three legislative fights, and that’s all the system can handle in a big way in the first term?

Elizabeth Warren

Here’s my theory: It starts now. That’s what true grassroots building is about. Green New Deal. More and more people are in that fight and say that matters to me. <snip for less directly relevant content>

You asked me about my theory about this. This is the importance of engaging everyone. The importance not just of talking to other senators and representatives but the importance of engaging people across this country. You start to win and you can keep winning. So first thing I want to do is I want to push back.

I think that your criticisms of Warren are pretty overwhelmingly off base.

Also, farewell to Harris. I think that Harris was quite the respectable candidate and it's unfortunate that she didn't get more traction, but as a Warren supporter, I admit to not being especially unhappy that she's dropping out to devote more of her time to other priorities.

 

[Aridas]

Democrat voters are too racist and sexist to support an African-American woman as the president.

Nice demonstration of false GOP propaganda that's also intended to slip in the notion that Republicans aren't multiple orders of magnitude worse when it comes to the influence of racism and sexism in GOP decision-making.

 

[Donal]

I just read Harris dropped out.

Ya, she said she didn't have the funding. Meanwhile a bunch of richboys with half her polling numbers continue to run as a vanity project.

 

[Bogative]

Not too racist to elect an African American man though.
Not too sexist to vote for a white woman though.
But the two together is just too much for them, right?

Just wait a few more months and y'all will have it narrowed down to straight rich old white people only.

 

[Bogative]

Ya, she said she didn't have the funding. Meanwhile a bunch of richboys with half her polling numbers continue to run as a vanity project.

She should put in a little more effort and find herself another wealthy, politically-connected man to bang who may be able to help her along in her political career, again.

 

[dudalb]

Just wait a few more months and y'all will have it narrowed down to straight rich old white people only.

That seems to be the GOP's core constituency....

 

[dudalb]

She should put in a little more effort and find herself another wealthy, politically-connected man to bang who may be able to help her along in her political career, again.

No fan of Harris, but that is really hitting below the belt.

Edited by Agatha: 

Edited to remove breach of rule 12

 

[theprestige]

And his job is to execute Congress' policies.

Which doesn't require overcoming Congress, obviously.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

Re: Biden promising pay increases for teachers, even though it wasn't done during the Obama administration...

I wouldn't say it was Obama's "fault"... just that different politicians will have different priorities, which might be influenced by current events.

Come on, it's an empty promise.

http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/te..._the_highest_and_lowest_teacher_salaries.html

Three states have seen average teacher salaries drop in the past year. 31 Other states have seen salaries increase, but slower than the current rate of inflation. So yes, over at least the past couple of years things seem to have gotten worse.

Doesn't support your point, does it?

Yes, I am sure he his. And how is that different than any other politician?

It's not.

Its a relatively minor spending proposal. Something that is probably achievable. I just think its a bit weird to assume that it evidence that Biden can't be trusted when its pretty much standard fare for politicians to promise things.

First of all, note that I didn't say "What should a president do the first few days in office". I asked "How can any president fulfill campaign promises when they don't control the budget directly".

Secondly, I think draining the swamp will be both easier and harder than you think.

Easier, since much of the 'swamp' involves temporary hires that are associated with the administration. Trump's cabinet and various high-level people in the government automatically disappear with the change in government.

Harder, since some of the people Trump has installed (judges) can only be removed through impeachment, which is not an easy solution.

Actually, a lot of the candidates have talked about executive orders to reverse some of Trump's damages...

https://www.politico.com/story/2019/05/04/democrats-executive-orders-2020-1301633
https://www.politico.com/2020-election/candidates-views-on-the-issues/immigration-reform/daca/

I merely made the comment Biden's little staged speech in front of a handful of teachers wasn't helping his case. I'm not sure what you want to argue here.

Of course, the problem with executive orders is that they can easily be reversed by the next Republican president.

Thank goodness in this case.

 

[angrysoba]

I'm not completely certain the Biden video hasn't been slightly altered. The "local news station" only gets 60 "legit" results in a google search (it has a bunch more of the duplicates, though), and fake news is VERY sophisticated now.

With deepfakes, this is going to get increasingly hard to sift through, and very, very soon.

It’s pretty damning of Biden when people can’t believe his performances aren’t faked to make him look bad. No, that’s genu-wine Biden and no marlarkey!

 

[tyr_13]

Nice demonstration of false GOP propaganda that's also intended to slip in the notion that Republicans aren't multiple orders of magnitude worse when it comes to the influence of racism and sexism in GOP decision-making.

Most of the current GOP have the same cargo-cult understanding of social justice that Trump has. It's effective on them because they can't conceive of it any way but a hierarchy. That's the way they think, so it must be the way others think too. This is also why Trump's use of social-justice terms and grievance language works well on them, but sounds horridly vapid to anyone else.

(Not that some in the center and on the left don't have the same misunderstanding and trade on 'victimhood' as a rank, but it isn't nearly as widespread.)

 

[Stacyhs]

It’s pretty damning of Biden when people can’t believe his performances aren’t faked to make him look bad. No, that’s genu-wine Biden and no marlarkey!

No one even questions Trump's performances being faked. We all know that's genuine Trump.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qhT3QX_Ohk

 

[Brainster]

The animation was made up, but the words are Biden's from yesterday.

Let me correct myself on this. Although the video was put up just two days ago, it is apparently from 2017. I've been wondering about when the remarks were made because the kids in the video looked dressed for summer weather, not December in Delaware.

 

[Mike!]

If it's altered I would expect Biden to speak up very soon.

Maybe he already has, and as usual, no one understood what he was talking about.

 

[Delvo]

It was the same speech in which he told the story of intimidating a gangster named Corn Pop into backing down from a fight. Nobody seems to know why at first only that part came out and not the stuff about how much he likes it when kids jump on his lap & stroke his leg hair and that's how he learned a lot about roaches.

 

[Delvo]

I get it but -- it's the issue of telling people in MI, WI and PA who are happy with their insurance

Nobody likes their insurance. They like the staff at their clinics & hospitals, not the middleman whose only roles are to take a bunch more money than necessary and still block them from getting help when they need it.

the replacement isn't defined.

You know perfectly well that's a Republican lie.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

....

You know perfectly well that's a Republican lie.

You're joking, right?

 

[varwoche]

Nobody likes their insurance. They like the staff at their clinics & hospitals, not the middleman whose only roles are to take a bunch more money than necessary and still block them from getting help when they need it.

The fact is, there are unions that have negotiated favorable insurance coverage. I have no doubt the union members wouldn't appreciate a potential downgrade in coverage.

You know perfectly well that's a Republican lie.

Well, that went south quickly. (1) I don't know that (2) I very much don't appreciate mind reading presumptiousness and (3) It's not a lie in any case. Obviously, there is a long process before a bill materializes. If you think a campaign proposal actually becomes identical legislation, you are notably ignorant of the way things work.

 

[d4m10n]

Several prominent congressional wins for progressive candidates, chief among them AOC (who bumped off a powerful democratic incumbent)...

She persuaded 15,897 primary voters in an incredibly blue district; not exactly a national barometer.