| Author | Message | ||
     Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9190 Registered: 05-2005 |
We have somehow managed to avoid talking about the US election so far, but now Super Tuesday is upon us I'll get the ball rolling. Reading that Amy Klobuchar had pulled out, I was shocked to realise that I had previously missed reports of her myriad character defects. I recall one recent comment that her "Minnesota nice" was just a facade, but I had no idea there was so much evidence already out there. Here, for example, https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/mol lyhensleyclancy/amy-klobuchar-staff-2020 -election Randy, I presume you will be voting in the California primary on Tuesday and I'd love to hear your thoughts. | ||
| TROU Member Username: Trou Post Number: 486 Registered: 05-2005 |
Klobuchar, enemy of endangered wolves... Hope she'll stay at home. https://truthout.org/articles/environmen talist-in-klobuchars-home-state-says-she s-owned-by-big-agriculture/ | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 4333 Registered: 03-2005 |
Pádraig, Los Angeles County has initiated a new computer tablet based voting system at the "Voting Centers" which promises to be a massive technical and logistic cockup, so I voted by mail several days ago. One of the problems with voting early, of course, is that your candidate might drop out before election day! I started out this election cycle hugely excited by Elizabeth Warren. I'd first been wowed by her from her speeches about the squeeze on the middle class predating her advent as a U.S. Senator. During the debates, however, I found myself frustrated by her performance. She seemed to lose nerve when hit with classic "gotcha" questions and thus, in one debate, simply refused to answer a question whether Medicare for All would raise taxes. Bernie answered it for her when his turn to speak came up. In another debate she failed to answer another question, making as if she didn't understand what the moderator was asking. Bernie answered it for her when his turn to speak came up. I decided "that's it; I'm just going to go with the original." So I became a de facto Bernie Bro and that's who I voted for in my mailed ballot. Nonetheless, I remain a great fan of Elizabeth Warren's intellect and integrity. But she hasn't been a politician long enough to be able to master some of the skills you need to make it to the top of a national election. It's been saddening to me to watch her numbers. I thought she'd do much better. Klobuchar required me to examine myself for sexism. I found her facial expressions onstage very off-putting. She was always making these Lucille Ball type faces and it didn't exactly make her seem Presidential. My advice to her and other female candidates: borrow from Angela Merkel, still my personal gold standard for a female leader. Use super muted makeup, or none at all. The makeup exaggerated Klobuchar's facial expressions and made her look like a clown. Substantively, she banged too much on her Washington experience. That's not normally a good selling point in a Presidential campaign. Mayor Pete was an inspiring phenomenon for me as a gay man. I think he is wildly talented and if he can get the citizens of Indiana to vote him into the Governor's chair, he'll be a major contender for President in the future. But if I look at his current record, it's easy to slag him off as the Mayor from McKinsey. A person might ask how different he is from Mitt Romney. His abrupt adoption of policies for African Americans looked cynical and pandering. Bernie, I think, addresses many of the underlying problems in this country that have boat-anchored the generations younger than I. The millennials are struggling much more than my generation did at their age. I can't tell you how many 30-something people I encounter here in Los Angeles who are driving for Uber or Grub Hub or something similar to try to make ends meet. My own generation seems not to want to let go. I know too many people who refuse to retire even though they have enough money to do so. Get out of the younger people's career paths!! Rob I'm guessing is a Gen Xer. I'd love to hear his report for his generation and what he's seeing happen with millennials in Chicago. Biden? Sigh. It's a great shame his son's death killed off his energy in 2016. In 2020 I just can't see him making it. Too many problems that Obama was unable to address during his embattled two terms have festered and Biden doesn't give any indication that he understands that. As usual for me, this post is getting too long. For Bloomberg all I'll say at the moment is that the NYC/Acela Corridor talking heads bubble has no clue. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9191 Registered: 05-2005 |
Randy, long, but every word is worth reading. I had to google Acela Corridor to remind myself. I’ve been on that train from Boston to New York, though not all the way to Washington - much like Mayor Mike’s journey. And what a nice journey South Station to Penn Station is. It’s almost 20 years since I was on it. Arriving into New Haven, in particular, was memorably beautiful. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 4334 Registered: 03-2005 |
Well, as you can see Pádraig, Biden has come out very strong! If Bloomberg hadn't been there dragging him down he probably would have won a few more states. It can be argued that this might have happened for Sanders as well if Warren hadn't been dragging him down but the Biden trend is clear. I forgot to end my last post with my constant mantra, which is "vote blue no matter who." That's the message for the general election. I wouldn't have been happy but I'd have even voted for the unacceptable Bloomberg if he'd swept the board and ended up the nominee. But I'm an old time Democrat whose never voted otherwise so that's to be expected. Which is why you just about sent me to hospital when you wrote online that you thought I voted for Trump! I hope Joe Biden can pull it off. I've been telling people for months now that conventionally the incumbent in a good economy gets reelected and, like it or not, that convention will favor Trump also. But Covid 19 is throwing a spanner in the works in a big way. The news media seems to be stoking panic. In his personal life Joe has dealt with some intensely tough stuff. If he can channel that to calm people down--something we know Trump will never even attempt to do--he'll get in and he'll deserve to get in. And I'll be just as enthusiastic about him as I've been about Warren and Sanders. Bloomberg has dropped out. I assume Warren will make an announcement shortly. Her results were disappointing across the board. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9193 Registered: 05-2005 |
Oh, I’ve just woken and didn’t know about Bloomberg. Good. Now I feel like one of those halfwits who get their news from Facebook. And sorry, again, about the you voting for Trump gag. Poor taste, lesson learned, never happen again. I NEVER thought you were anything but a lifelong Dem. | ||
| Burgers Member Username: Burgers Post Number: 138 Registered: 05-2005 |
My, perhaps not particularly nuanced take on it is this: Trump is an idiot but if I had a vote in 2016 I would have held my nose and voted for him rather than the hideously entitled Hillary Clinton. I thought that all it would take to beat Trump this time was for the Democrats to select a better candidate than her. However, the bookmakers give Trump a 65% chance of being re-elected. A country with perhaps 125 million eligible candidates ends up choosing from a handful of geriatrics. I read a piece a while ago which argued that with the possible exception of Reagan’s hardball terms, the USA hasn’t had an effective president since Johnson more than 50 years ago. Finally, why is the turnout at US elections so pitiful? We have an election system in the UK where 80%+ of people’s votes are irrelevant but we still get around 75% of voters bothering to vote. You only get around 55%. Is that apathy, contempt for both candidates or something else? | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 1981 Registered: 08-2006 |
Let me echo Randy. I am a Warren guy, although that seems as pointless as wishing for a Talking Heads reunion at this point. I'm not anti-Bernie, but I think his candidacy and his supporters dismiss the power of simple good will. Bernie has done little to ingratiate himself with anyone but his hardcore base. Joe Biden is tremendously well liked by both a certain kind of voter and by people in Washington. So his victories yesterday weren't some kind of nefarious establishment coup, as has been claimed, they were further proof that being a team player gets you further than being a lone wolf. The latter might be the admirable but the former gets you elected. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9195 Registered: 05-2005 |
I had fears for the lack of younger people vying for the Democratic nomination due to the simple fact that Democrats only win with relatively young people. Counting backwards, the last 100 years of Democratic Party presidents have been: Obama (47 when elected) Clinton (46 when elected) Carter (52 when elected) Johnson (55 when he became president after being Kennedy's vice president) Kennedy (43 when elected) Truman (60 when he became president after being VP to Roosevelt) Roosevelt (50 when elected) Wilson (55 when elected). Having the main candidates all aged in their 70s - Sanders 78, Bloomberg 78, Biden 77, Warren 70 - was very concerning and went against a century of party history. But you have to work with the cards you've been dealt, and Biden looks like being that card. He'd better make a younger, very capable VP choice though. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9196 Registered: 05-2005 |
That younger, very capable VP choice may well be Beto O’Rourke, btw. An all-Catholic ticket might piss off the fundamentalists, but they wouldn’t vote for Biden anyway. | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 1982 Registered: 08-2006 |
I was thinking Kamala Harris would be a smart choice. Her race and gender would be a plus, and she's an ass kicker, which Joe could use. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9197 Registered: 05-2005 |
She’d be a good choice, Rob. I’d actually forgotten about her, so carried away was I with my papist pick fantasy list. It’s 60 years since JFK was elected; having fish on Friday in the White House again is long overdue. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 4335 Registered: 03-2005 |
Beto O'Rourke I assume was a joke. Because he WAS a joke. His sole calling card was those Kennedy-like teeth. He was a complete lightweight in every way. We Californians don't at all mind having Kamala Harris as one of our Senators. Some of us (me) dearly wish DiFi would retire. (She's another case of the old refusing to get out of the way, a particular problem in the Democratic Party.) But the question for us has long been "what DOES Kamala actually believe in?" Burgers, why is our voting rate so low? It's a lot of things coalescing and, please, weigh in Rob. I used to have an African American partner, in the 1990s. One of our several-times-over arguments was about voting. He said that he saw no point in voting when neither candidate spoke to his issues. He felt it made no difference which person won the Presidency. He didn't believe things were any better for him whether it was Bill Clinton in office or George H.W. Bush, or later Clinton or Bob Dole. Well, gee, GHWBush and Dole seem like Clement Attlee compared to what we've had from that party since, so maybe he had a point! I could not move him from this position so I had to simply drop the subject each time in the interest of peace. He finally changed his tune after we were no longer a couple when Obama came along. A lot of people at the margins don't consider themselves true stakeholders in the country. And there are a lot of complacent people who don't think it matters one way or the other. I think that's still an artifact of our large land mass. It can feel like government is distant and irrelevant in some places. THEN, when we get to the South, there's a long tradition of shenanigans to suppress the vote in disadvantaged communities. That stuff STILL goes on, Civil Rights Act notwithstanding. I first thought it was a weird idea but now I'm all in favor of mandatory voting like Australia. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 4336 Registered: 03-2005 |
Pádraig, we now know the truth, which some of us always suspected. The fundies don't believe in anything! They just want power. Nothing more; nothing less. So if a marriage of convenience with the Catholics will do that, so be it. They'll link up with the Scientologists if convinced that is the path to power. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 4337 Registered: 03-2005 |
I see Elizabeth Warren has dropped out. Coming in third in her own state was brutal. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 4338 Registered: 03-2005 |
By the way, I want to second Rob's observation about Bernie's lack of appreciation for the value of collaboration and friendship-building. That's why I became a "de facto Bernie Bro" rather than a passionate one. But I did, and still do, think that he and Warren were the only candidates talking about the fundamental issues that drove the Obama-to-Trump voters, as well as the young. That's why I honestly thought he'd shock everybody by doing better than Biden in the Super Tuesday states. I read the tea leaves wrongly, pure and simple. And I definitely agree with Burgers' comment about the geriatrics running for the Presidency. It's quite weird. OK, I promise not to post on this thread again until somebody else contributes! Banish me from the Board if I renege. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9198 Registered: 05-2005 |
I wasn’t kidding about O’Rourke. Never underestimate a bit of glitz and glamour. He talks a good talk and, not that anyone would be paying much attention, would destroy Pence in a VP debate. | ||
| TROU Member Username: Trou Post Number: 487 Registered: 05-2005 |
And Beto is endorsed by Spoon! |