Officials say turnout in Saturday’s Democratic presidential primary in South Carolina was the largest in state history.
— Michael Tackett (@tackettdc) March 2, 2020
Sanders finally producing a turnout increase among white voters, except only among old very moderate southern whites is a nice piece of irony. Shows how little all the campaign narratives have lined up with reality. https://t.co/6vC4X2E0Ub
— Jon Walker (@JonWalkerDC) March 2, 2020
Damn, he's saying it earlier and even louder this time. https://t.co/g8z9RVUWzC
— Ragnarok Lobster (@eclecticbrotha) March 3, 2020
Well, at least he didn't call them the "Confederate states" again. Clearly, he's grown as a candidate. ?? https://t.co/nQJqF7ua1k
— Daily Trix (@DailyTrix) March 3, 2020
I’ve heard black voters particularly in the South be described as low information, the billionaire class, the establishment, etc.
My momma ain’t none of them. She just trust Biden more than Bernie.
— Bakari Sellers (@Bakari_Sellers) March 3, 2020
Real, live, smart American people in South Carolina voted for Joe Biden. The "Democratic Establishment" did not. It is not "progressive" to deny agency to those voters. Stop it. Support Bernie with passion, but don't demean those voters who made a different choice. https://t.co/jvy0arreVE
— Michael McFaul (@McFaul) March 3, 2020
Yet, Bernie Bros seems more interested in attacking the intelligence of the African American community after recent SC polls.
??????????????? https://t.co/GNVbzfFMMc
— Hey Progressives, We Need to Talk About Bernie (@HeyProgressives) February 29, 2020
Now I'm seeing a tweet from a Sandernista requesting that Kamala Harris endorse Bernie… because black people need to know that Bernie is for them. pic.twitter.com/ig18uv5IKZ
— Wakandan War Dog (@Kennymack1971) March 3, 2020
Also, a footnote to Sunday’s Selma commemoration:
It wasn’t billed as a pre-funeral, but it was silently accepted as one. Either Bernie didn’t pick up on that or he didn’t care, and both make him unworthy of being the Democratic nominee.
— Malarkey Delenda Est (@agraybee) March 3, 2020
schrodingers_cat
Going to cast my first presidential primary vote for Biden. I am excited.
Baud
@schrodingers_cat: Congrats to you.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: Thanks.
kindness
If Bernie wins the nomination, I think he’ll win the Presidency. So too Joe Biden & Elizabeth Warren. I don’t see Bernie running as good an Administration as Joe & Liz though. That whole go it alone stuff stops working when you hit the big house.
I’m voting for Warren later today here in CA.
Lapassionara
We don’t get to vote until next Tuesday. I hope my preferred candidate is still in the race by then.
sdhays
@schrodingers_cat: How does it feel to be part of the “establishment”? //
A Ghost To Most
Welcome to the fray, SC.
I went Biden, wife went Warren.
Chyron HR
Well, at least whoever tweeted that is aware that Bernie’s strategy of “Look, I have a rapper! You negroes do whatever the rap music tells you, right?” still isn’t working.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@schrodingers_cat:
Go you!
Shalimar
[blockquote]most superdelegates clearly do not support him and his movement[/blockquote]
One more time because Bernie supporters can’t seem to grasp this. Superdelegates are mostly those who have risen up through the ranks volunteering and organizing for the party. When you spend 40 years shitting on the party and insulting those people, they aren’t going to like you. It isn’t some unexplainable bias. Loudly not being a Democrat has consequences.
zhena gogolia
I wish I could vote before the whole thing is over, for once.
zhena gogolia
Again, take any random still picture of Sanders — how can you prefer that over ANY of the other candidates (save Gabbard)?
hedgehog mobile
@schrodingers_cat: Congrats!??
OzarkHillbilly
@Shalimar: I am shocked, shocked I tell you, that Democrats support… wait for it…. other Democrats! What a revelation! Hooocoodanode???
Ben Cisco
Reposting from Down Below:
I AM part of that base, and I wear Bernie’s comptempt like a crown.
RedDirtGirl
@schrodingers_cat: Exciting!
RedDirtGirl
My 18 year old niece (HS senior) is preparing to canvas for Bernie. She is really good at presenting facts that counter my “belief/sense” that he will not beat trump, or (if he does) will not be an effective president. It’s crazy to me that I don’t have facts to back myself up, just a strong conviction. Any tips on how to (not change her mind, but) hold my own with her? Embarrassed to even have to ask, tbh…
Spanky
The Defiant sails again.
OzarkHillbilly
@RedDirtGirl:
I’m interested in what she says supports her argument that he will be effective. Because pissing all over everyone in DC isn’t likely to make one a whole lot of friends with whom to work with.
Ian G.
Once again, we’re gonna have to count on black people to save both the Democratic Party and the country as a whole from the cult of mediocre white assholes.
mali muso
Checking in after casting my vote for Biden in VA this morning. DH did the same on his way to work. The tally said I was voter 78, and I only saw one other person in the 2 minutes it took me to cast my ballot. But we are in a pretty red little district, so I guess that’s no surprise.
I was weighing head (Biden) and heart (Warren) all the way up till this morning, but in the end I felt I had to go with the base of the party. If black voters are indicating that Biden is their choice, I think that’s enough for me. If that makes me part of the “establishment”, oh well.
Ben Cisco
@RedDirtGirl: Present a list of his legislative accomplishments over his decades in Congress, for starters. Add his recorded statements regarding an entire region of the country whose votes he’ll need to get elected. Then show his two websites, one which lists him as a Democrat and one which lists him as an Independent.
Tenar Arha
@schrodingers_cat: Congratulations! How was it?
Immanentize
@Shalimar: Further, the answer this cycle — under the rules Bernie mostly wrote —
The answer to the superdelegate issue is just win the necessary delegates in the primary. Do it, Bernie, and then superdelegates don’t mean squat.
This establishment/superdelegate talk makes me believe Bernie knows he has lost the nomination.
Ben Cisco
@Spanky: What’s up Spanky?
Immanentize
@Ben Cisco: So cool! People do persevere, don’t they?
Also from below;. I am taking my son for his very first vote today. I am really excited.
Immanentize
@Spanky: I thought the same.
Xentik
@Immanentize: His plan was always to splinter the field, squeak in with 30% of the delegates against a half dozen others with 10-15%, and demand to be handed the crown. There’s never been a world in which he wins with anything other than the smallest of pluralities.
frosty
@schrodingers_cat: Congratulations, you deserve to be excited. It’s a big step, making your voice be heard.
Hoodie
Bernie showed his true colors after losing one primary. The endorsements yesterday were entirely predictable, as Pete, Amy and Beto have more affinity with Biden than anything Bernie is selling. Their candidacies mostly arose from an opening created by Biden’s age, not ideological differences. I’d be interested to know if Bernie even attempted to get their support.
Watching the Dallas rally last night, I detected that Biden’s campaign is evolving rapidly, maybe with input from people like Clyburn. All those younger pols seemed to be there to lift Joe up, not the other way around. I wouldn’t be surprise to see Joe with a steady stream of helpers as this proceeds. Amy and Beto both did a good job. The difference between Joe’s and Bernie’s campaigns is starting to look like the difference between a family and a cult.
Baud
@Immanentize:
I think it’s more pedestrian than that. It riles up his voters when they think they are being cheated.
Geminid
Progressives sometimes claim that they are the Democratic “base,” analogizing their role to that of conservatives in the Republican party. I’ve watched the conservative “base” of the Republican party- tea party cranks and preacher politicians- thoroughly alienate moderate Republicans and independents in Virginia. It is true that demographic changes have contributed to the shift of Virginia from red to blue, but moderate, Chamber of Commerce type Republicans have been leaving ever since Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson began taking the party over in the 1980’s.
RedDirtGirl
@Ben Cisco: Thank you!
Geminid
Progressives sometimes claim that they are the Democratic “base,” analogizing their role to that of conservatives. I’ve watched the conservative “base” of the Republican party- tea party cranks and preacher politicians- thoroughly alienate moderate Republicans and independents in Virginia. It is true that demographic changes have contributed to the shift of Virginia from red to blue, but moderate, Chamber of Commerce type Republicans have been leaving ever since Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson began taking the party over in the 1990’s.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Immanentize: That is exciting. And it starts good voting habits for Immp. Namely, he does it.
New Deal democrat
Just anecdotally … I was open to Sanders as my second choice after Elizabeth Warren. Until…
Until the very first thing he did after gaining front-runner status, exactly when he should have done some reaching out to look Presidential, was opening his fat yap and praising Fidel Castro. And then doubling down on it.
I doubt I was then only older voter whose reaction to that was “holy cr@!” Or some variation thereof. I suspect that will prove to have been Sanders’s “Dean scream.”
It didn’t help that several UK Labour accounts I follow, particularly RussinCheshire, immediately compared Sanders to Jeremy Corbyn, who just led Labor to its worst defeat in 80 years.
Ben Cisco
@Immanentize: As you should be. I remember Mrs. Cisco and I taking our grandnephew to the polls in ’08. He pressed the buttons on my behalf for PBO. I’ll never forget that day.
Spanky
@Immanentize: An unexpected benefit from being an election judge was watching all those first-time voters – kids and immigrants both – casting their first vote. It really is fun to watch the mix of excitement and solemnity. Plus they get a round of applause from the judges. :^)
Cacti
Bernie has said since 2016 that he’s running against the Democratic Party.
I believe him. And that’s why he’ll never have my vote.
Mary G
@schrodingers_cat:
@Ben Cisco:
@Immanentize: New voters and turnout in Alabama make me so happy. Thanksfor sharing your good news.
frosty
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I haven’t instilled those habits in my two, unfortunately. One of them has moved twice and never reregistered! :-(
Exregis
Bernie supporters claim (correctly) that the country as a whole is to the left of center on issues like health care, climate change, gun control, etc. But what they don’t seem to realize is that the US Senate is structurally a center to center-right organization: “Structurally” because of the large number of smaller red states that have representation equal to California and New York. The Senate is not going to transform the ACA to free medical and dental care for everyone paid for by the federal government (which is what the misnamed “Medicare for All” really is). The Senate is not going to pay all of everyone’s tuition. And so on.
Until Sanders comes up with anything reasonably plausible that shows how we transition to his objectives despite a centrist Senate, he remains either oblivious to reality or interested in just becoming president.
Yutsano
@Mary G: It makes me cautiously optimistic that Doug Jones might just keep his Senate seat. No matter if it’s the Keebler elf or the pedo.
the Conster
@RedDirtGirl:
Good for your niece for getting involved, but when I was her age I canvassed for McGovern in Massachusetts. Let’s just say I didn’t understand the nature of the country I lived in from my POV in Mass. I continued to believe that Nixon was an aberration, until Reagan won twice, then I realized that my very left leaning shop stewarding labor organizing self was vastly outnumbered by the white majority who went all in for the dog whistling southern strategy, which is why we can’t have nice things anymore. Sanders is a populist demagogue and he refuses to mention the fact that it isn’t the *establishment* that prevents the country from adopting his policies, it’s all the white working and middle class folks he coddles (while dismissing black middle class as *establishment*) who want their white privilege maintained.
O. Felix Culpa
@Immanentize: Congrats to you both! I remember when my sons first cast their votes. It’s fun discussing elections with them as young adults, especially since they take politics and governance seriously and (mostly) agree with me. :)
Chris Johnson
@Exregis:
And if Coronavirus 2: Infected Boogaloo comes around while the health care industry runs medicine for a profit, we all DIE. Literally. That, even if Coronavirus 1 doesn’t ruin us as a country.
This is not entirely a political calculation. There are consequences. I don’t care if they are structurally centrist, or religiously capitalist, or what they are. It’s getting to the point (never mind the AIDS crisis, which already was that point: I’m talking for the whole damn population) where we are actively endangered by some of these institutions, and we are flat out of time.
There’s a reason I support the candidate who is tough, smart, and talking big structural change. We are out of time.
Your observation is absolutely right and cogent. And irrelevant to the survival of the country as a country. On some of these issues, it’s no longer political: we’re out of time for that.
the Conster
@Cacti:
He never should have been allowed to use the party he refuses to join, and shits on every chance he gets. I f’ing hate him and his useless shouty ass.
Plus, in a presser he gave last night he was gasping for breath. He’s going to keel over any day now.
Tony Jay
@New Deal democrat:
Rolls eyes.
Then those accounts are clearly written by bell-ends who either don’t know what they’re talking about or have a narrative they need to stuff everything into. Either way, it’s not impressive.
O. Felix Culpa
@schrodingers_cat: Congratulations to you too! I still get a thrill out of voting and my first presidential vote was cast in 1976. :)
Betty Cracker
@Geminid: It’s a fair comparison, tbh: self-identified “liberal” and “very liberal” voters are a plurality in the Democratic Party. The alienated Chamber of Commerce Republicans you mentioned landed in the Democratic Party and are the 15% or so of Democrats and leaners who describe themselves as “conservative.”
Our party is now the only viable political organization in the US where good faith debate on policy takes place and good faith attempts to govern reside. That’s not sustainable. Eventually, either the Republican Party will self-immolate, or its distorting effects on the Democratic Party will destroy us. I’m rooting for the former but would not bet the farm on it.
Gelfling 545
I think most would agree that Bernie’s ability to pick up on social cues is only modestly better than Trump’s.
Steeplejack (phone)
@schrodingers_cat:
Congratulation, citizen!
Exregis
Let’s take a look at the insufficiently thought out “free tuition for all state colleges and universities.” Tuition could be as little as one quarter of the expenses of going to college. Fees can be many thousands of dollars at state universities. Room and board are true expenses for those who don’t live within commuting distance. Textbook manufacturers are the greediest bunch of people I know, worse than the pharmaceutical companies.
There are 50+ state higher education systems out there. All with different prices, needs, research agendas, physical plants, budgetary constraints, and so on. The federal government controls much of this only at the edges. State legislatures can be awfully possessive. Colleges like to spend money on beautifying themselves to attract students, wasting money on unnecessary physical plant, football teams, and the like.
I prefer to let the market work. We need loans like the kind I got back in the dark ages: NDEA loans prompted by Sputnik. I would rather have the government issue student loans instead of free tuition. Loans with low interest rates, with required annual payments less than or equal to a percentage of earnings, with interest not starting until a year after graduation, and with total forgiveness of loans after ten years of paying, regardless of the balance of the loan. That’s cheaper than free tuition, weeds out serious students from dilettantes, and forces colleges to compete partially on total cost. Those with resources who don’t want the burden of loans can pay for their education instead of getting a handout they don’t need.
This is doable, politically. Much of it was already done when we were scared of the Soviets.
FlipYrWhig
With Sanders I often think of that Simpsons episode where Homer has the sugar pile and bees get into it and he tries to wave them away and ends up yelling “ow, ow, they’re defending themselves somehow!” If your WHOLE THING is that you lead a movement that applies sufficient pressure that the establishment crumbles, you’d better do something other than whine when the people you haven’t convinced push back. Like, for instance, turning out and outvoting them. It’s your entire political strategy, dude. Show how well it works.
Chris Johnson
@schrodingers_cat: This, at least, is pure awesome :)
Yay!
Frankensteinbeck
@Baud:
I think it’s even more pedestrian than that. Like Trump he’s an arrogant ass who believes he and socialism can’t possibly lose fairly. If he loses, YOU CHEATED.
@RedDirtGirl:
Well, he’s 0 for 22 on his candidates winning in 2018, 53% of Americans say they would never vote for a socialist, the argument that he’ll bring in new voters has been proven false in this primary already, and the last time I saw a list of his legislative accomplishments it was a list of other people’s accomplishments with ‘Sanders supported’ tacked on.
FlipYrWhig
@Betty Cracker: Where there’s a problem, though, is that an NPR/PBS/Whole Foods type probably describes herself as “liberal” even though to Sanders-ites she’s a counterrevolutionary Wine Mom. Bearded dudes who listen to and/or make podcasts and think Obama was a corporatist aren’t the base either, but they sure do claim to be.
FlipYrWhig
@Frankensteinbeck: “My views and message are so obviously superior everyone would hold them in a fair system, ergo the system must be unfairly suppressing it. QED.”
New Deal democrat
@Tony Jay: hmmm, your instant judgment makes me think that your slur might possibly be a case of projection.
Jeffro
Truth.
Whomever is advising Biden, I hope they’re reminding him to drop the “I’ll get Mitch to cooperate” nonsense and to stay on message about unity (both within the Dem party and in America in general). He’s free to talk about being a bridge to the next generation/deep bench of Dem candidates too. ;)
...now I try to be amused
@Exregis:
Becoming President, as opposed to doing the President’s job?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
David Duke Without the Baggage has thoughts about the Dem primary
Someday, Chris Hayes producer might talk him into asking Bernie why he thinks the worst Republicans parrot his messages about the primary
West of the Rockies
@Ian G.:
That won’t happen.
A coalition of people will. Black people stay home, Democrats lose. White Democrats stay home, we lose. Latino people skip it, we lose. Asian people, Pacific Islanders, LGBTQ people, young people… They stay home, we lose.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Jeffro:
a lot of people picked up on him doing that night with Klobuchar and Buttigieg
Exregis
@…now I try to be amused: Why should doing the president’s job be any different from doing the senator’s or representative’s job. What job has he done?
Ksmiami
all along I’ve been listening to what the loyal AA Base of Democrats want with an eye to the future/ Kamala etc. It’s the least my privileged white ass can do. It’s also why Warren never really took off. She really couldn’t expand her demographic base or convince the most vulnerable that she could be electorally viable.
patroclus
As a Klobuchar supporter, I watched Bernie’s St. Paul speech in its entirety to see how he tried to win my vote on C-SPAN last night. His shtick was to state that even Pete and Amy’s supporters should agree that we should seek justice; not greed. And that included economic justice, racial justice, social justice and environmental justice. I do agree. But that justice includes victims of gun violence and he voted against the Brady bill, the assault weapons ban and several other gun regulation initiatives. And that justice also includes economic justice and he voted against NAFTA, demagogued the TPP and just recently voted against the new Mexico-Canada Agreement (even after fixed as to labor rights and enforcement by Clinton in the 90’s and Pelosi recently). And he favors having taxpayers funding the college tuition of rich kids and eliminating virtually all forms of private health insurance. I don’t agree with any of that.
And then I watched my candidate actually endorse Biden and she and others (Beto etc..) talked about raising the minimum wage, taking on the NRA and getting background checks, expanding Medicare for those who opt for that but preserving good private health insurance, lowering college costs for those that need it and other actual policies with which I agree. So, on policy, I think I’m with Amy’s and Obama’s choice more than I’m with Bernie. If prior to Illinois, he makes an effort to appeal to me, I’ll consider voting for him, but for now, I’m leaning towards Biden.
Jeffro
The GOP is already self-immolating, has been for a decade now.
I don’t think letting self-described principled conservatives come along for the ride is distorting the Democratic Party much (if at all), and certainly won’t destroy us. We appear to be further left – not necessarily far left, just further left – than we were during the Clinton years.
We’ve certainly moved the needle further left on health care in the past decade…the ACA’s more popular than it’s ever been, and most Americans want a public option, at the very least.
Brachiator
Adventures in voting.
I’m glad I voted Monday in the California primary instead of waiting until Super Tuesday. The new electronic voting system implemented in Los Angeles County is easy to use, but it was good to have a poll worker show me the steps involved. I could see a couple of steps in the process where a person could make a mistake, and maybe have to start over.
The old method of casting a ballot was simple and repetitive, marking selections on a ballot paper. In the electronic system, you have to read, press selection choices on screen and sometimes make a branching choice: more, next or skip. And any time you introduce extra steps and decisions, you increase the chance of confusion and errors.
But it worked, and I complimented the people there for explaining everything well and for offering helpful tips. Yeah, it helps to be offered a seat because of the placement of the voting device.
It was a good thing that I brought my sample ballot book, because they could scan information to identify me and to make sure I got a Democratic Party ballot.
I didn’t realize that I could have marked my sample ballot at home and printed out a single sheet with all my choices turned into a QR code that could be read by the voting device. This would have made the process even faster. I assume that they will also use this system for the general election. I give it two thumbs up.
Note: after all the electronic assist hoopla, a physical ballot is produced, which you can double check. This ballot is placed in a locked ballot box.
About 93,000 have already voted electronically (this doesn’t include mail ballots).
Now I get to relax and see the results roll in.
ETA. I voted for Warren.
schrodingers_cat
I made you poll and did not eated it. So far EW is winning in my poll, sample size 35.
Betty Cracker
@FlipYrWhig: This counterrevolutionary wine mom will drag her ass to the poll to unenthusiastically vote for Joe Biden in the general election if I have to, but I wonder what percentage of my fellow disgruntled liberals will be minimally civic minded enough to do the same.
I believe the reality of Trump will be enough to close the gaps we fell through in 2016 and buy us at least four years. But I think we have a problem. If we win, I hope we can address it.
schrodingers_cat
@Steeplejack (phone): @O. Felix Culpa: @Chris Johnson: I am going to vote this afternoon. We had early voting last week but I wanted to wait until SC results were out.
The last primary election I voted for was the 2018 midterms, straight ticket D.
schrodingers_cat
@hedgehog mobile: @Dorothy A. Winsor: Thanks!
...now I try to be amused
@Exregis:
I think we agree.
schrodingers_cat
@frosty: @Tenar Arha: I will go this afternoon and report back!
Ian G.
@West of the Rockies:
Of course it’s a coalition. I’m a white guy proud to be part of that coalition. I’m just noting how many of my fellow white people seem ready to just hand over everything to a ranting white asshole who vaguely promises to cure all that ails them, and black people aren’t falling for it. That’s gonna be immensely helpful in preventing us from further becoming Weimar Germany now and in November.
schrodingers_cat
@Mary G: @RedDirtGirl: Thanks!
@sdhays: BS has been in the Congress longer than I have been in the United States yet he is the outsider and I am the establishment which I guess I am because I am a member of my town’s D committee and am going to the state convention at the end of May.
It is great to be a part of the party of Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama.
ETA: I know you meant it ironically but BS bros are pretty serious when they call anyone who is not in the BS cult “establishment”
FlipYrWhig
@Betty Cracker: Oh definitely. Mostly I just wish we could talk about political fortunes without the concepts of “the base” OR “establishment.” They’re so circular.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
feel good video
Nelle
@RedDirtGirl: I wrote two pages on this yesterday to help a friend with three Bernie loving daughters. 1. I disagree with his record on gun control, immigration, and sanctions against Russia. That last point, coupled with intelligence reports that Putin supports him, have me uneasy. I know he’s told Russia to stop it, but I’d like to see him publicly invite the FBI to investigate. He wasn’t transparent about taxes and filing FEC reports in 2016; this time it, he isn’t about his medical records. His staffing choices are poor hires and he fails to show leadership issuccessfully setting a tone of respect for opponents. He is ungracious by insulting the party that allows him in their house to run. That’s simply bad manners and using others and the structures they built to get what you want. He is fueled by grievance. He is an outsider by choice but insists he can change a system without doing the work of persuading the majority. Any talk of that sort of revolution rarely, if ever, leads to healthy offing lasting change. He seems to be in denial about his health needs. He appears to be dismissive of those who aren’t in agreement with him. Some of my observations.
Emma
@Exregis: Pell Grants. I got my undergraduate on Pell Grants. It covered tuition, fees, and books.
Hoodie
@Betty Cracker: Cheer up! We’ve always had problems. We’re actually in pretty good shape structurally as far as presidential elections, considering the GOP has been unable to win the national popular vote in all but one presidential election in the last 20 years. Places like GA and TX are close to flipping. Our biggest problem is the Senate, but there are some things looking up there, some good candidates who appear to be running strong in the polls. I’m excited to be going to vote for Cal Cunningham to take out Tom the Toady Tillis and to vote for Deborah Ross here in the newly redrawn NC-2.
It could be a blessing in disguise that we don’t have some megastar candidate running for president. Maybe we’ll start acting like a team instead of a group of guys standing around and waiting for the superstar to win the game. Hell, the Nats finally won the Series after they let Harper go.
schrodingers_cat
@Nelle: He like the Orange One has cast doubts about legitimacy of our elections with all the unsubstantiated accusations of rigging in 2016 and he is repeating that trope since he lost SC. That is straight out of the Kremlin/despot play book.
Tony Jay
@New Deal democrat:
Slur? This is Balloon Juice, chum. That wasn’t a slur, it was a reasoned opinion based on readily observable facts delivered in a pithy manner.
Other than being old, self designated lefties with male plumbing there’s really no grounds for comparing the two men other than laziness and/or a pre-set narrative. I don’t have much patience with for either option.
Josie
@schrodingers_cat:
Yay you! I just got back from banking a vote for Biden in Texas. For the record, I have never considered myself part of the establishment.
Tom Ames
@Chris Johnson:
Isn’t this a little hyperbolic? Do you really mean that with our current health care system “…we all DIE. Literally.”?
Unless you’re just acknowledging the fact that, yes, we all will eventually, literally die (though that doesn’t seem relevant to your argument for MFA) I think you’re buying into some serious catastrophism that has no basis in reality.
West of the Rockies
@Ian G.:
I concur. Sanders has an undoable agenda and very few friends. His nomination would hand Clump another four cataclysmic years.
Starting the presidency as an octogenarian with a heart attack history? No thanks, Bernie.
Captain C
@West of the Rockies: The way he’s looking recently, I’m not sure he makes it to November if he doesn’t take a few weeks off and uses them to do nothing but rest.
MCA1
@Hoodie: Well put. And I think it likely that’s how those two respective campaigns would look in the general, which is why ultimately I have to reluctantly agree with the likes of Frum and Nicols and Wilson and the other Never Trumpers telling us whatever we do, just don’t nominate Bernie.
Which do we think is more likely to bring victories in PA, WI, MI, FL and other swing states by getting out the vote and crushing it in suburbia? The one that looks defiant and is still running against the Democratic Party and its base and demanding unity from everyone else, instead of focusing on the malignant presence in the White House, or the one that has the All-Star cast of 70% of Democrats’ first choice either at the top of the ticket, as the VP nominee, or out stumping for the candidate, with the full-throated help of Obama from Day 1 instead of a frosty relationship with him? Who’s going to get more people who aren’t already in their camp knocking on doors and canvassing?
The sooner we can get O’Rourke and Buttigieg and Klobuchar and Harris and Castro (eventually, if Warren doesn’t make a big comeback) and Abrams and all the other young stars out there training all of the party’s firepower at Trump, the better. And that’s likely to happen sooner, and more naturally, with Biden than with Sanders. Those people would all be confident that their support would be rewarded by a President Biden, and the rest of the world would take comfort in knowing that he’d put them to work. They could envision what a Biden Administration might look like and who might be in his Cabinet, and know that they’re competent and interested in restoring our broken institutions, instead of acting as bomb throwing revolutionaries. That’s just tone deaf to the mood of the country outside the Sanders bubble.
RedDirtGirl
@Nelle: That is great. Thank you! I don’t suppose you would share the whole 2 pages with me…I could give you my email.
Jeffro
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I love getting advice from a GOP operative who uses “Democrat Party” and “Democrat voters” (as opposed to “DemocratIC”)
Shut yer yap, Scalise
Nelle
@RedDirtGirl: Sure – I’m not sure how we exchange email addresses on this thingy. But yes, willing to send it.
RedDirtGirl
@Nelle: I can post it and then delete it within the edit window of 4-5 minutes, if you are around right now… Or if you come back and I catch you quickly. I’m slow at work right now. : )
MCA1
@Betty Cracker: I’m not sure the problems are as big as they sometimes feel. Consider:
Just my 2 cents. I fear for the nation and our constitutional system far more than I fear for the Democratic Party these days.
Look at the surrogates the Dems can roll out there this year on the campaign trail, and compare to the “talent” within the power structure of the GOP. Diamond and Silk and Kid Rock are the base of that party right now, and Marco Rubio is their brightest young politician. By contrast, fingers crossed, but fast-forward to 2024/8 and beyond, and it’s possible Democrats have charismatic, intelligent governors or senators from Georgia, Texas, Indiana (and maybe even North Carolina) in position to run for President from red states, along with Adam Schiff, Kamala Harris and others in the leadership structure, and the many folks who were inspired to get into political life by the cataclysmic events of 2016-20 rising through the ranks.
RedDirtGirl
@MCA1: Thank you! I am sending that to my sisters to give them some hope.
Barbara
@RedDirtGirl: If still reading, remind her that he is seeking the Democratic nomination and yet making statements to the effect that both parties are the same. We get that he has passionate supporters but he needs a broad coalition. It won’t materialize out of the blue but has to be built by seeking common ground. He seems constitutionally incapable of doing that.
RedDirtGirl
@Barbara: Still reading, so thanks! I’ll see if I can catch up with Nelle in another thread.
J R in WV
@Captain C:
Sander’s problem is that even if he could take 6 weeks off, he couldn’t rest, he wouldn’t be able to relax at all, and would get more and more wound up as he saw politics happening all around him while he was supposed to rest and exercise in a regularized way in rehab.
Rehab means doing exactly as you are told to by a trained expert over a period of weeks or months. Sanders does not take direction well, unless you are his handler. If he is really out of breath at his rallies, he’s probably doomed to another cardiac event in the very near future.
I don’t wish that on anyone, but in this case it might be best for the nation.
He appears to be a greedy, selfish, lazy ass to me, not qualified for any place in management. Two web sites — one self-identified as “Independent” and the other self-identified as “Democrat” — that’s just incredible. Not a Democrat at all. No Democrat would do that!
Barbara
Geminid
@J R in WV: Lincoln once remarked that the worm of presidential ambition “gnawed deep.” It may kill Sanders.
Mnemosyne
@Brachiator:
FWIW, one of my IRL friends brought her now-blind father-in-law to the polls and he was able to vote BY HIMSELF for the first time in years using the new system. I think able-bodied people don’t entirely understand how much better the new machines are for disabled people, by design.
Mnemosyne
@Betty Cracker:
Would Vice President Kamala Harris on the ballot increase your enthusiasm? ??
WaterGirl
@Hoodie:
True. To a point. It was not necessarily predictable that there would be a concerted effort to narrow the field considerably before Super Tuesday. Necessary, for sure, but not necessarily predictable.
WaterGirl
@Nelle: @RedDirtGirl:
Since it’s clear that you both want to communicate, I can send you guys the email addresses, assuming you used a real one with your nym on BJ.
Let me know?
Darkrose
Last night I looked up the guy who’s running as a Democrat against Doris Matsui, my Congresswoman. His platform appears to be “I’m young; she’s old and establishment and not hot like my idol AOC. I think there should be term limits so no one is in Congress more than 8 years; Senators should serve no more than two 4 year terms because Constitutional amendments are easy to pass. Also I support Sanders, who’s been in Congress since I was 2, but he’s not a woman so it’s okay.”
Nelle
@WaterGirl: I just got home and don’t know if you’ll see this but this sounds great to me. Thank you! (My email address is real!). And thanks for all you do to propel us to positive action.
WaterGirl
@Nelle: Just sent an email message to both of you.
You are most welcome!
Scamp Dog
I dropped off my primary ballot early this afternoon, one more vote for Warren. Here’s hoping she does well today!
Ruckus
@schrodingers_cat:
Welcome to the club. And good for you.
Just remember that you can’t always get what you want, but sometimes you get what you need.
Been voting for one year less than half a century. The good surprises are great the ugly ones usually cause indigestion. The last one was the worst. And ugliest. Still haven’t gotten over that one. Doubt I ever will.
Ruckus
@Hoodie:
Starting?