2020 Democratic Candidates Tracker

[Skeptic Ginger]

I might be thinking of someone else, but I'm pretty sure you're one of the folks here who's been saying Democrats need to move leftward in this campaign.

That's because you and others in this forum (and elsewhere) have heard the talking points over and over that Progressives are evil socialists.

Sanders' goals go a bit too far left for my taste, and maybe fit your stereotypical Democrat (he's not one). He did not win the primary last time and is not running away with it this year.

Given the GOP proved that for a tax cut for the rich they are willing to explode the deficit, it blows their argument out of the water that we can't afford social services.

I've been a Progressive for a couple decades. It is not far left.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

I mean, I have some idea, but is it a good idea? I don't know.

The conventional wisdom seems to be that you need to go towards your party's extreme during the primaries, so that your core constituency will nominate you over the others. And then shed all that extremist rhetoric in the general to pick up the moderate votes on both sides.

That has happened in the GOP for many election cycles. It has not been that extreme in the Democratic Party.

One reason is the GOP has been gerry-rigging districts since the Tom DeLay/Rove/Luntz actions. Now it's coming back to bite them because they end up with candidates like Trump in the primaries.

 

[theprestige]

What we need in the next election on the Democratic ticket ins't another populist. We need somebody that is willing to take on tough problems with pragmatism and determination.

Sounds good, but what does "pragmatism" mean for you? More compromise across the aisle, or less compromise across the aisle?

 

[portlandatheist]

Sounds good, but what does "pragmatism" mean for you? More compromise across the aisle, or less compromise across the aisle?

I suppose it would depend on the specifics but I think when there is a good idea out there, it should, at least in theory, appeal to both sides of the aisle but in practice rarely does. Trump campaigned on infrastructure spending, which is very non partisan but we haven't heard much on that lately.
I have all kinds of ideas. The could be really stupid or bad ideas but what they are not is picking a scapegoat like the rich to blame things on. There are a lot of things we could do to make health care less expensive, education less expensive such as College-based tuition deferment where the universities take on risk of loans. Revenue neutral carbon fee and dividend, public infrastructure spending, especially on fast chargers for electric cars, and so on.

 

[Distracted1]

These actually answer the question in a useful way.




This is kind of circular though. If the reasons you just presented aren't the reasons then that leaves this question unanswered. Why do people want to vote for him? Only your third item above ("blowback") is somewhat unique to Biden. How can this be the most important reason? There have to be other reasons that really explain why people want to vote for him over the others.

As has been pointed out, the items I listed (with the exception of motivating the Conservative base) are what we get at the very least from any Democratic candidate.

Since Biden (currently) seems to have the best chance of actually attaining the office required to provide these benefits (see poll linked to above by another poster for more evidence of this), many Democrats want him to win the primaries. Others prefer lower odds with a greater expected payoff.

 

[RecoveringYuppy]

As has been pointed out, the items I listed (with the exception of motivating the Conservative base) are what we get at the very least from any Democratic candidate.

Yeah, I noted that.

Since Biden (currently) seems to have the best chance of actually attaining the office required to provide these benefits (see poll linked to above by another poster for more evidence of this), many Democrats want him to win the primaries. Others prefer lower odds with a greater expected payoff.

This doesn't explain anything. People are voting for him because people will vote him. It leaves "Why are people voting for him" unexplained.

 

[Delvo]

Yes, it's a mystery because no explanation suffices. He's against everything most Democrat voters are for. It makes no sense.

I'd say there should be a survey addressing that specific question (why Biden), but it's so utterly bizarre that there isn't even a good way to come up with the right options to give people.

 

[Lambchops]

Here's my prediction:

Biden will be the 2020 Dem candidate. Sanders could literally be backed by 99% of the entire US population, but the bought and payed for Dems will still go for Grabby Uncle Biden because he will keep the corporate money flowing to the Dem politicians. Screw the people, get that sweet paycheck!

Biden will lose to Trump because Biden is a steaming pile of dung.

Four more years of Trump. Everything goes to ****.

Come 2024 there will be a mass movement of actual left leaning voters fed up with the pathetic display of the corporate establishment Dems. And at that point it will be either socialism or barbarism.

Your move, centrists.

 

[Delvo]

Biden may not be an 'extreme' candidate, but he is to the left of the political center.

On what? Taking pride in writing Republican-style "tough on crime" stuff? Joining the Republicans in the war on abortion? Supporting various military attacks on other countries, with a particular lean toward drone strikes in which 90% of the victims aren't the targets? Passing up the opportunity to do universal medical coverage in favor of a Republican bill to protect the insurance middlemen? Being one of the biggest Anita Hill harassers? Wanting to just sit back & watch global warming happen?

Don't let the GOP define us as racing to the left. It's projection because they've become extreme right wing and it's a planned talking point to tear down candidates whether they are far left or not.

I'm pretty sure you're one of the folks here who's been saying Democrats need to move leftward in this campaign.

This reaction looks as if you're implying a contradiction between those two things, but there isn't one. The Democrats are so far to the right (just not quite as far as the Republicans) that there's plenty of space to move leftward either a short distance & slow speed or a long distance & high speed, and those two leftward trends would still be two different things.

(And if they started moving left now, they'd have some ground to cover before even getting back to either the center, or to where most Americans are.)

 

[Lambchops]

Biden may not be an 'extreme' candidate, but he is to the left of the political center.

Hahahaha, no. The guy is a Republican with a "D".

 

[Tero]

Biden now ready to kill babies with tax money. He was starting to look like a fossil next to Warren.

 

[kellyb]

This, from earlier today, aged...interestingly.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/06/opinions/biden-hyde-amendment-se-cupp/index.html

Let's all take a deep breath. Biden is right to back the Hyde Amendment on both the principle and the politics. In fact, if he didn't, I'm not sure what point there would be to his candidacy for president.

In short, his support of the Hyde Amendment is consistent with his long voting record and personal beliefs. That he isn't abandoning his position makes him principled -- something we voters could use more of.

In his 2007 book, "Promises to Keep," Biden described his position on abortion as "middle of the road."
Wasn't that the point of his candidacy? To occupy a moderate lane that far-left progressives had abandoned over the past few years? To capture the forgotten Democrats in the middle of the country, the voters the party had left behind for the coastal elites?

 

[Lambchops]

This, from earlier today, aged...interestingly.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/06/opinions/biden-hyde-amendment-se-cupp/index.html

Eww, makes your skin crawl. "Hey, let's find a middle ground between 11 year old rape victims not getting an abortion because God (the GOP position), and 11 year old rape victims not getting an abortion because they are poor and they will get no money from the fed (the Biden position)".

USAian centrist Dems, look forward to this douchebag becoming your 2020 candidate, and then losing to Trump. May your daughters forgive you.

Mark my words, it's gonna happen.

 

[Segnosaur]

On what? Taking pride in writing Republican-style "tough on crime" stuff?

While he did push for tougher laws earlier in his political career, he has also pushed to remove drug offenders out of the prison system.

And while he did have a part in the "tough on Crime" bill in the 1990s, keep in mind that:
- At the time the U.S. was dealing with a spike in the crime rate
- Rather than just calling for more jail time, he actually pushed for more funding of preventative measures

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opin...-joe-biden-criminal-reform-column/3767687002/

Joining the Republicans in the war on abortion?

Biden: "I do not believe that the government should be involved in making judgments on whether a woman can, or should have an abortion".

He also voted in favor of a law preventing anti-abortionists from blocking access to abortion clinics, and voted against a law requiring parental notification of abortions. And while he was not initially in favor of abortion funding, he seems to have changed his stance.

Biden: "If I believe health care is a right, as I do, I can no longer support an amendment that makes that right dependent on someone's ZIP code...I can't justify leaving millions of women without access to the care they need and the ability to ... exercise their constitutionally protected right...Folks, the times have changed."

https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/06/politics/biden-no-longer-supports-hyde-amendment/index.html

Supporting various military attacks on other countries...

Yes, foreign policy-wise, he's a bit of a hawk. But, he also called for the ending of the Cuban embargo and has caled on Israel to allow more palestinain freedoms.

Passing up the opportunity to do universal medical coverage in favor of a Republican bill to protect the insurance middlemen?

Actually he is in favor of universal medical coverage. What he is not pushing is "medicare for all". There is a difference. You can cover everyone without going to an all "single-payer" system.

Biden: "Health care is a right, not a privilege."

https://www.newsweek.com/2020-candi...all-policy-you-all-should-have-choice-1409332

Being one of the biggest Anita Hill harassers?

Yup... he failed at his handling of Anita Hill. However, he has actually acknowledged his past failing.

"I take responsibility that she did not get treated well. I take responsibility for that."

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-poli...ll-2020-christine-blasey-ford-brett-kavanaugh

In addition to all of those policies you mentioned, he:
- was against the Bush tax cuts (and I assume he would be opposed to the Trump tax cuts)
- Wants to cut greenhouse gas emissions (and will have the U.S. re-enter the paris agreement)
- Opposes arctic drilling
- Supported the violence against women act
- holds a position in favor of same sex marriage
- has voted to strengthen certain gun control measures (e.g. brady bill, assault weapon ban, etc.)
- Wants to reduce military spending
These are ideals that are not held by the majority of republicans.

Yes, he has shifted some of his positions over the years. It happens. Frankly, that a politician can change their policies based on evidence and experience is sometimes a good thing.

Note: I'm not American, so I couldn't vote in the election even if I wanted to. And to be honest, I'm not even sure if Biden would be my preferred pick. (I kind of like Cory Booker myself.) I just think its silly to label a guy a "republican in democrats clothing" just because he isn't playing by the bernie Sanders playbook.

 

[The Great Zaganza]

Sounds good, but what does "pragmatism" mean for you? More compromise across the aisle, or less compromise across the aisle?

Compromise is good - as long as both sides understand that a compromise leaves both sides unhappy.´
What Republicans are doing now, and have been doing under Obama, is extortion, not blackmail compromise: give us what we want, or no one gets anything.
That isn't compromising.



Edited because of brainfart

 

[BobTheCoward]

Here's my prediction:

Biden will be the 2020 Dem candidate. Sanders could literally be backed by 99% of the entire US population, but the bought and payed for Dems will still go for Grabby Uncle Biden because he will keep the corporate money flowing to the Dem politicians. Screw the people, get that sweet paycheck!

Biden will lose to Trump because Biden is a steaming pile of dung.

Four more years of Trump. Everything goes to ****.

Come 2024 there will be a mass movement of actual left leaning voters fed up with the pathetic display of the corporate establishment Dems. And at that point it will be either socialism or barbarism.

Your move, centrists.

How does that work? You said literally. I'm not clear how the primary math would work if Sanders was literally backed by 99% of the population.

 

[Segnosaur]

Biden may not be an 'extreme' candidate, but he is to the left of the political center.

Hahahaha, no. The guy is a Republican with a "D".

And so it begins....

A candidate who wants to address greenhouse gas emissions, is in favor of abortion rights and same sex marriage, wants to strengthen gun controls, voted against Bush-era tax cuts, supported increased financial regulations (the Frank-Dodd act) and wants to expand medicare services is slapped with the label "republican with a D" just because he doesn't play by the Bernie Sanders playbook.

This is the way Democrats destroy themselves.

I'm not saying you have to pick Biden as your preferred candidate in the primaries (assuming you are a registered Democrat), or that you can't go out and try to support other candidates (or push for the party has a whole to take on more left-wing positions). But dumping on a candidate just because "OMG... he's not echoing the extreme left!" is foolish. The Democratic party (and the republican party for that matter) should allow enough differences so that people can feel comfortable expressing their views even if they don't fall lock-step behind the candidate that is furthest to the political left, without being accused of being a "secret republican".

 

[Segnosaur]

Compromise is good - as long as both sides understand that a compromise leaves both sides unhappy.´
What Republicans are doing now, and have been doing under Obama, is extortion, not blackmail: give us what we want, or no one gets anything.
That isn't compromising.

True. The republicans have, over the past decade or 2, become complete and unrepentant scumbags. Should the Democrats ever gain complete control like the republicans did (holding both the presidency and both houses of congress), I would certainly not blame them for cramming through all the legislation they can, regardless of the objections raised by the republicans.

The republicans deserve no respect, and cannot be trusted anymore. (And this is coming from someone who often votes for the Canadian conservative party, and who, at one time, actually defended the republicans.)

I think this cartoon says everything about the republican party of today.

 

[Lambchops]

And so it begins....

A candidate who wants to address greenhouse gas emissions, is in favor of abortion rights and same sex marriage, wants to strengthen gun controls, voted against Bush-era tax cuts, supported increased financial regulations (the Frank-Dodd act) and wants to expand medicare services is slapped with the label "republican with a D" just because he doesn't play by the Bernie Sanders playbook.

This is not a description of Joe Biden. So I have no idea what you're saying here.

Also, there are no "extreme leftists" running for POTUS. In any other country in the world, Sanders is a middle of the road social democrat.

Let me know when there's a Marxist-Leninist or Anarcho-Syndicalist running for POTUS, and then we can discuss the "extreme left".

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

Eww, makes your skin crawl. "Hey, let's find a middle ground between 11 year old rape victims not getting an abortion because God (the GOP position), and 11 year old rape victims not getting an abortion because they are poor and they will get no money from the fed (the Biden position)".

USAian centrist Dems, look forward to this douchebag becoming your 2020 candidate, and then losing to Trump. May your daughters forgive you.

Mark my words, it's gonna happen.

First, I respect SE Cupp. She's a right-wing mouthpiece but she's intelligent and not a sell-out. If all Republicans were like her and George Will, that party might still be functioning in the real world.

I don't agree with the title "then what was the point".

If Biden caves on the Hyde Amendment, what was the point of his candidacy?

It sounds like she's saying if he wasn't a DINO she's not going to support him. That's weird on so many levels.

I don't think Biden's position on the Hyde Amendment is the point of his candidacy.

Disclosure: SG is not a Biden fan.