Georgia postponing its primary from March 24 to May 19. Puerto Rico also considering postponing, so the calendar may get very empty after Tuesday’s races.https://t.co/tj3m1SdR04
— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) March 14, 2020
Barring the Oval Office Occupant finds a way to fvck this up too during his immanent ‘briefing’, here’s the word per CNN:
The Democratic debate scheduled for Sunday will be moved from Arizona to Washington, DC, the Democratic National Committee announced Thursday.
“Out of an abundance of caution and in order to reduce cross-country travel, all parties have decided that the best path forward is to hold Sunday’s debate at CNN’s studio in Washington, D.C., with no live audience,” DNC communications director Xochitl Hinojosa said in a statement.
Additionally, Univision’s Jorge Ramos was possibly exposed to coronavirus. While he is not exhibiting any symptoms, he has has stepped down from his role as one of the moderators for the debate, the DNC said. The network’s Ilia Calderón will take his place, alongside CNN’s Dana Bash and Jake Tapper. The debate is still set to take place 8 to 10 p.m. ET Sunday.…
The debate partners had previously announced that there would be no live audience, press filing center or spin room at the event.
The debate will air exclusively live on CNN, CNN en Español, CNN International, and Univision at 8 p.m. ET. The debate will stream live in its entirety, without requiring log-in to a cable provider, on CNN.com’s homepage, across mobile devices via CNN’s apps for iOS and Android, and via CNNgo apps for Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire, Chromecast and Android TV, as well as Univision’s digital properties. The full debate will be available exclusively the day following the airing on demand via cable/satellite systems, on CNNgo (at CNN.com/go on your desktop, smartphone, and tablets, and via CNNgo OTT apps), and CNN mobile apps on iOS and Android.
There’s supposed to be one last, as yet unscheduled, debate after this… but Vox says it will presumably be cancelled if ‘a candidate’ has ‘the nomination sewn up’ by then.
If you’re wondering why my tone implies that the primary is basically resolved, here are our polling averages for the 4 states voting on Tuesday:
FL: Biden +42.8
IL: Biden +29.9
OH: Biden +24.6
AZ: Biden +24.5https://t.co/1IkQkQUkXE— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) March 13, 2020
There have literally been 10 debates and Bernie has yet to perform like his fans imagine he would. He likes Biden. They have a Grumpy Old Men chemistry. https://t.co/XSgCCaxeh0
— Malarkey Delenda Est (@agraybee) March 14, 2020
There is not one single swayable voter in America who is gonna give a shit about the democratic primary debate on sunday when half the country have quarantined themselves inside crude toilet paper forts.
— Galar Regional Medical Director (@weedlewobble) March 14, 2020
The ironic thing is that apparently Bernie and Joe are apparently on friendly terms personally and would probably rather play shuffleboard with each other than hang out with rose or globe Twitter weirdos.
— Starfish Who Is Frankly Freaking Out Right Now (@IRHotTakes) March 14, 2020
“Sanders … is operating under some self-imposed constraints. The Vermont senator likes Biden and loathes Trump, and he doesn’t want to eviscerate Biden out of concern that it would only weaken him and therefore help Trump, Sanders advisers say.” https://t.co/Gak8NQ3IGa
— Bill Scher (@billscher) March 14, 2020
(Hope it’s just the lighting, because this is *not* a healthy color for an old man with a heart condition)
I mean, he’s beating Bernie. https://t.co/W4x5LWkp7y
— Jeff Fecke (@jkfecke) March 15, 2020
Biden is going to win 350 electoral votes and the next four years are going to be “Democrats can’t count on a coronavirus every election, only a true progressive can win a permanent majority.”
— Malarkey Delenda Est (@agraybee) March 13, 2020
dmsilev
CDC large-group guidance (short version: don’t do it, for the next 8 weeks):
Get Your Mass Gatherings or Large Community Events Ready
We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I think he’s performing exactly as they thought he would– brilliant! angry! consistent! clear!– it’s that The People (!) aren’t responding in the way his cultists think they should. The bastards.
Ken
OK by me.
Cacti
Speaking of postponed elections, I’m calling it now.
As the Trump/Covid-19 crisis deepens, and Republican electoral fortunes continue to sink, watch for them to start calling for a postponement of the November 2020 general election.
Baud
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
He performs the same in every debate. He only has one trick.
Baud
@Cacti:
He’ll call for it. We won’t listen.
Cacti
So, who will Wilmer spend more time criticizing?
Republicans or Democrats?
David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch
One of Bernie’s staffers was on MSNBC yesterday and he was really excited that Georgia moved their primary because they now think they can win it. He lost Georgia by 43.1% in 2016. They’re really in la la land.
JMG
@Cacti:
It takes an act of Congress to do this. If he tries, any Republican should be shot on sight. But he’s as big a coward as they come. He won’t try.
Mary G
I’m hoping they have a debate about which of the myriad ways Twitler has fucked up the country is the worst.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Cacti: Elections are state matters. Also if there are no elections, the President and Vice President’s term ends on January 20, 2021, if there’s not a President/Vice President Elect, they’d have to swear in Speaker Pelosi.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch: maybe if Michael Moore screeches louder at Georgia Democrats to listen when Bernie shouts at them, if the corporate media would only give them a platform!
John Revolta
Why the hell do they need a live audience for these things anyway? I mean WTactualF?
Anne Laurie
He’ll announce the election should be postponed/cancelled. McConnell (or whoever’s sitting in McConnell’s seat, by that time) will announce the GOP is studying the options. Pelosi will tell them both to sit on it & twirl. Every Repub, but especially the Oval Office Squatter, will fundraise on how the mean Demon-rats totally want loyal Americans to die.
We had a precursor of this when Rudy tried to cancel the NYC mayoral election after 9/11. Didn’t work then, and that was a much smaller election after a much more ‘shocking’ event.
RobertDSC-Mac Mini
Fuck Sanders. Always. C-19 is on his head because he helped Plague 45 get elected.
dmsilev
@Anne Laurie: “Vote by mail” is the obvious counter-argument. Republicans hate it because it makes a lot of their suppression tactics obsolete.
Anne Laurie
@dmsilev: EXCELLENT point!
dmsilev
OK, we’re off. Candidates are in their cones of isolation. First question: Anderson Cooper to Joe Biden: We’re doomed, aren’t we?
Suzanne
@John Revolta: I was potentially going to be in that audience. I was excited. I’ve been in the audience for one other debate (AZ gubernatorial).
Another Scott
Good first answer by Uncle Joe.
Both of them are clearing their throats a lot. :-(
[eta:] Or rather it seems to be Uncle Joe clearing his throat a lot.
Cheers,
Scott.
dmsilev
Biden giving the capsule summary version of the speech he gave on Thursday. Sanders: First thing we have to do right now is shut up Donald Trump (I can’t argue with that).
David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch
Joe going wonky.
bluehill
Time to earn my vote, Joe
Baud
Oh jeez. The Fed garbage.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Another Scott: Bernie’s answer was good too, he looks better(not red) tonight.
Baud
Stump speech time.
Martin
Every state does vote by mail. They do it at different scales, but they all do it. They have plenty of time to get a 100% vote by mail system in place.
Adam L Silverman
Just a quick programming note: I forgot that there was a debate tonight, so the first nat-sec and COVID-19 post will be tomorrow. This way nothing will interfere with tonight’s scheduled bloodsports!
Baud
Joe answers the question.
Kent
How does that work. Trump ceases to be President on January 20 unless re-elected. Under the 20th Amendment it is up to Congress to decide who would be an interim president if there is none. There is no mechanism absent action by BOTH houses of Congress to extend Trump’s rule past January.
They might start calling for it but there is no way to do it without bipartisan action. And the states administer the November elections, not the federal government. There will be dozens of other state and local candidates on the ballot, tax measures, judges, etc. etc.
David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch
Oh crap.
Bernie passed up a chance to clobber Dump and instead went on rant against the lack of universal healthcare.
Mary G
They aren’t attacking each other so far, good. Joe is smart to say “I agree with Bernie” where he does. I’m getting a lot of buffering timeouts, hope that means lots of people are watching.
Another Scott
Uncle Joe: “With all due respect, single payer isn’t the answer. Italy has single payer…”
Hmmm…
Uncle Joe: “We get all the experts together, like we did with Ebola, and figure out what is needed…”
Ok.
Cheers,
Scott.
chris
Seems the sheriff didn’t get his shots today. Thread
Marcopolo
@dmsilev: The argument to R’s for Vote by Mail is their natural supporters, old folks, will be scared to go to the polls. But they can take advantage of VBM. The argument for D’s is VBM just makes it easier for everyone to vote. So it’s a win win for everyone.
Kent
But….we can’t as effectively suppress Dem votes if we do that.
Chyron HR
But Bernie had his own Super Mario World romhack. Shouldn’t that count for more than how many stupid shitty Democrats vote for his opponent?
mrmoshpotato
Yup. “I’m always a healthy beet-red!”
Adam L Silverman
@Cacti: They can call all they want. It is set by Federal statute and they’d have to change the law to do it.
Another Scott
Uncle Joe: “Whether you have one insurance policy or thousands of insurance companies, that has nothing to do with what we’re going through now with this pandemic national emergency. You pass a law and say that testing and treatment will be free…”
Good, good.
Cheers,
Scott.
The Thin Black Duke
@chris: Maybe the sheriff should be shot.
Baud
Good, Joe. Bring it back.
Martin
I like Joe’s approach here. The problem is here and now. Focus on here and now.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch: Bernie has his stump speech.
Splitting Image
@Cacti:
If Trump tries to postpone the November election, the stock market will tank so hard that the last couple of weeks will look like the Roaring Twenties.
The markets depend on a certain amount of stability to function, and right now the happy fact that U.S. elections occur every four years even if a civil war is raging outside is one of the few things that seems reliably stable.
Plus there is the fact that the U.S. buck is the world’s reserve currency. Anybody currently grumbling about that is not doing anything to change it because Trump will almost certainly be gone by January. Changing the rules to keep that idiot in the White House indefinitely will cause every country but Russia and Saudi Arabia to dump their dollar reserves all at once.
Mind you, all of this is only to say that Trump would have to be really stupid to try it. Phrasing it this way makes the counterargument readily apparent.
However, if Trump can’t win this election on his own merits, then he’s of no further use to the money guys he had on stage with him on Friday. If it costs them more money to support him than they can get from tax cuts, then it’s time to strip him for parts, load him up with debt, and let him fail.
If in doubt, remember that Mitt Romney was the first guy who bailed. He didn’t do it because he had a conscience. He did it because he’s the Bain Capital guy and he knows how this game is played.
Baud
I think I like no audience.
Adam L Silverman
@JMG: The real question is whether it is possible to get a vote by mail bill passed for the November general election to ensure that turn out doesn’t get reduced because of fear of the novel Coronavirus as Rick Hasen, Norm Ornstein, and others are calling for. I have no doubt it will pass the House, whether McConnell would even allow it to come up for a vote in the Senate or the President would sign it, is another story completely.
Kent
Careful with that sort of argument. They will just make vote by mail for anyone over 60 and then force the young and people of color into a few remaining undermanned polling places.
These are evil people. They will do shit like that and claim it is for public health or some other thing.
Baud
This Fed thing is pissing me off.
dmsilev
@Martin: That answer shows a real contrast between Biden and Sanders. The latter wants his Medicare for All, and everything revolves around that.
Dorothy A. Winsor
I made it through 15 minutes of the debate. Sanders is giving his stump speech rather than addressing the current crisis and Biden keeps saying “free.”
Baud
Bernie poses problems, not solutions (except for M4A).
NoraLenderbee
Why the F are they arguing with each other?
mrmoshpotato
@John Revolta:
We. Fucking. Don’t.
With no audience, Dump boasting that his baby hands are enormous and his orange cock is tremendous would’ve fallen on deaf ears instead of being cheered.
Another Scott
Q – Bernie: “Would you call out the military?”
Bernie: “… If the Fed can give the banks $1.5T then everyone who works at a restaurant should get a check…”
Uncle Joe: “Yes, I would call out the military to take advantage of the capabilities they have …”
Bernie: “… what about the 0.5 M homeless? What about bailing out the crooks on Wall Street.”
Uncle Joe: “We should be surging help to people who are most vulnerable – testing everyone in nursing homes…”
Etc.
Bernie still can’t do more than recycle his 2016 stump speech.
Cheers,
Scott.
Adam L Silverman
@?BillinGlendaleCA: No it wouldn’t be Pelosi, because the Congress will have expired with no members of the House elected or reelected and the next person inline is Senator Grassley as the President Pro Tempore of the Senate. Since he’s not up for reelection until 2022, he’d be the only duly elected, still serving constitutional officer left in the chain of succession.
mrmoshpotato
@dmsilev: Vote-by-mail also gives you time to research candidates.
trollhattan
@The Thin Black Duke:
But not the deputy.
Not watching, thought it was a zero-sum exercise at best but I suppose it’s free camera time during a period of no public speechifying.
Marcopolo
@Adam L Silverman: Adam, wouldn’t this require each state to put VBM into place? I’m not sure the federal government can impose a top down fix for actual voting.
Patricia Kayden
Haven’t watched any of the debates but good luck to Biden.
NoraLenderbee
“What are we going to do about the most vulnerable?”
I don’t know, Bernie, what do you suggest?
Edit: OK, time to turn off the sound.
Baud
Seedcorn. Good heartland phrase.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Adam L Silverman: You’re correct.
Another Scott
@Adam L Silverman: Surely San Francisco and Democratic districts would hold their elections on time, nicht wahr?
Agreed that it would be a mess – here’s hoping it wouldn’t come to that.
(I haven’t reviewed the history of the elections during the Civil War.)
Cheers,
Scott.
Baud
Ebola crisis?
The Dangerman
Fits in with my “just go golfing” plea.
The call for postponement of the election gambit is interesting but I wonder if this goes the completely opposite direction. If Trump has even the tiniest ability to self-reflect (I know, I know; facts not in evidence and all that), he must be spending his entire day just shitting himself. I compared it to me wanting to do brain surgery a day or 2 ago; at some point, I say “I can’t do it” (it would obviously happen quickly as I know I can’t do brain surgery).
So, could he pull a Johnson (yeah, I know, I’m sorry) and say “I’m not running for re-election”? Because the Trump brand name is already shit and it ain’t gonna get better when he gets a beat down. Assumes fair elections, of course.
Did I see 350 for Biden above? Could be higher.
Calling it early tonight…
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: Yeah, but what about the Fed?
Anne Laurie
There was a BernieBro tweet last night, since deleted, along the lines of ‘Biden just wants free testing. Bernie wants free vaccination & treatment!’
To which the response was: Sounds about right: Biden wants something achievable, Bernie wants things that don’t yet exist.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: Joey B. put ebola in Bernie’s head.
David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch
Bernie is going off the rails – boiler plate rant about income inequality in response to the financial impact of the current crisis.
Baud
Warren is missed.
Another Scott
@?BillinGlendaleCA: He said (something like) – “I’ve got Ebola on the brain!”
Cheers,
Scott.
BBA
not watching the debate, but the only question should be why Wilmer hasn’t dropped out yet.
we know the answer – he’s a Putinist mole – but at least it’ll make him squirm.
Marcopolo
@Another Scott: I realize our choice comes down to one of these two, but I still miss what I am sure would have been the amazing answers Warren would be giving to the questions.
Both Sanders & Biden are fucking old.
With that in mind Biden is coming off slightly better than Sanders.
And I am liking the last minute replacement for Jorge Ramos, who was knocked out at Just before the debate by coming into contact w/ a COVID positive person.
Johnnybuck
I see a President
dmsilev
Biden is focusing relentlessly on “what we do right now”. Bernie is …not. I think the first is probably a bit more appropriate given the current situation.
Another Scott
Uncle Joe is doing very, very well.
Bernie just cannot get out of his mode of recycling his stump speech. It’s not working (for me anyway) tonight.
(Of course, I’m a partisan. ;-)
Uncle Joe: “First things first!”
Cheers,
Scott.
David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch
Bernie is imploding by going to his stump speech, instead of answering direct questions on the crisis.
emjayay
Enough on the current corona virus or ebola (oops) crisis or whatever is going on. They’re just repeating themselves.
Chris T.
No. To do that requires that he not be a narcissist.
Baud
@Another Scott: Same.
Elizabelle
Bernie vs. Biden — the perfect (and likely unobtainable) vs. the good and way better for our current economy/society
Marcopolo
@Another Scott: Regular elections took place in 1864.
hilts
It’s purely and simply for the entertainment factor. They need a live audience as much as they need the Radio City Music Hall Rockettes or a dixieland jazz band.
Scott Alloway
@Adam L Silverman: Congress is sworn in on Jan. 3 (or thereabout). Presidents assume office Jan. 20. Would that have an effect on the line of succession?
emjayay
It would be better if both of them, particularly Bernie, would not be yelling like there were 10,000 people there. There are microphones. The only people there are the crew. Just talk.
Baud
Good on Biden.
Elizabelle
@Johnnybuck: Can you imagine all the folks watching this who want to switch presidents THIS VERY WEEK. Early in the week, too.
Before the fucking fool in charge kills all our grandparents and vulnerable.
Marcopolo
Apparently Sanders just forgot who did the auto bailout, saying it was Bush.
PsiFighter37
@Another Scott: Fuck Bernie.
I hope that after Biden pastes his ass on Tuesday, someone convinces Bernie it’s time to quit. Knowing that Jane and his grifters need that cash, though, I am sure they will use delayed Election Days as an excuse to stay in…even though no one gives a shit about the campaign at the moment, robbing them of any ability to grab momentum.
Baud
@Marcopolo:
Pretty sure it was Ebola.
?BillinGlendaleCA
Great, now we’re going to talk about 2009.
Adam L Silverman
@mrmoshpotato: Electric fuchsia is your color.
Kent
Carrots and sticks.
If Congress passed a $25 billion vote by mail act that provided free optical scan vote counters and updated computers to all states, provided free federal postage for all ballots, and an army of technical assistance then most states and localities are going to take it.
Suzanne
@Elizabelle: Mr. Suzanne and I were talking about competent administrators in various levels of government. He said that, even though he is no fan of Andrew Cuomo, Cuomo is doing a good job and he would gladly press a button to make Cuomo the President right now.
And then he said that he would happily push a button and make Mitt Romney the President right now. And I had to agree.
dmsilev
@Elizabelle: Remember September/October 2008? Bush had basically checked out, McCain was visibly panicked, and Obama came across as the calm competent guy who really should have already been in charge. That’s where we are now.
Baud
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
We haven’t even gotten to the 2002 Iraq vote yet.
PsiFighter37
@David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch: Bernie only has one speech. Personally, I take it as a sign of intellectual laziness, which is par for the course for a bum like Wilmer – someone so lazy he got kicked off a commune.
David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch
Biden is clearly winning.
The reports of his
deathbad memory are greatly exaggerated.He is displaying command and fluency of the issues.
Bernie is unable to adapt his campaign rants and stump speech to the moment.
Adam L Silverman
So far Bernie has confused ebola and novel Coronavirus and he just confused Bush 43 and Obama.
Kent
@Marcopolo: Regular elections also took place in 1918 at the tail end of WW1 and into the teeth of the Spanish Flu pandemic. It was not a presidential year but all the other off-year elections took place.
emjayay
@hilts: In the olden League of Women Voters days audiences behaved respectfully. It was the Republican primary debates with Trump that introduced WWE mentality to the things. Good guys, bad guys, insults, cheering for your guy when they score an awesome put down etc.
Dorothy A. Winsor
My problem with Sanders has always been that he’s better at naming goals than talking about how he’d achieve them. With the virus, I want to know what steps he’s going to take toward a goal we all share.
Adam L Silverman
@Martin: And every time Bernie defaults to his 4 year old talking points, Biden looks at him like Sander’s pants just fell down.
Baud
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
He’s a talker, not a doer.
A Ghost To Most
I applaud your interest in this debate, but Skunk Baxter shredding it on “Bodhisatva” is so much more head-setting
Marcopolo
@PsiFighter37: He’ll, if Bernie has his ultra dedicated supporters then he should just pull a Bloomberg, set up a PAC to help D’s win elections & continue collecting contributions. They’d still run the ads so Jane’s media buying grift could go on.
mrmoshpotato
@Baud: Yes. :(
MomSense
Bernie is adding nothing to this discussion.
mrmoshpotato
Heart attack mention! Thank you!
?BillinGlendaleCA
Hey Bernie, you know who else likes rallies.
Elizabelle
@dmsilev:
Yes. But it’s March. We have eight months til the election, and ten until Trump’s ass is evicted from the White House. Too goddamned long.
Adam L Silverman
@Marcopolo: The Feds could require it for the presidential election only. But once they do it, they create the mechanism to make it easy for the states to do it for the House, Senate, state gubernatorial, state legislative, state judicial, municipal elections, and amendments/referendums by mail.
dmsilev
@Adam L Silverman:
Understandable. They’re quite alike.
Adam L Silverman
@Marcopolo:
?BillinGlendaleCA
@dmsilev: Yep, and Joe looks calm.
Marcopolo
@Suzanne: If we are just pushing buttons how about Jay Inslee? He actually ran & is dealing with the worst situation in the US atm.
Kent
Succession only applies when a president dies or leaves office during their current term. If their term expires and there is no newly elected president in place then Section 3 of the 20th Amendment applies and Congress decides who is president in the interim until a new one can be elected.
Baud
@dmsilev: Obama was worse because he sold us out.
Uncle Cosmo
Rabies? Distemper? ¿Porque no los dos?
Mary G
Biden is proving he doesn’t have dementia. Some of his answers could be better. Bernie is spewing his stump speech. They both look healthy.
Marcopolo
Stump speech!
dmsilev
Billion(aires) and Billion(aires)!
Another Scott
Uncle Joe: “Sen. Sanders talks about M4A but he doesn’t tell you how he’s going to get it passed. And even if he does, it doesn’t take effect for 4 years. What about now? We need action now!…”
Bernie: “Let’s talk about the reality of American life? Why is the top 1% …? (Stanza 23, 2016 Stump speech…) …”
(sigh)
Cheers,
Scott.
emjayay
@Suzanne: I’d take Cuomo way over Romoney.
@Suzanne:
Elizabelle
Federally Fund Elections!
Yes, yes yes. To the hell yes.
Yea Joe.
Ken
The markets agree.
Adam L Silverman
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
via GIPHY
The last thing the country needs is Charles Grassley with any more power than he currently has.
Baud
Go Joe!
dmsilev
“I didn’t have any money. And I still won!”
Adam L Silverman
@Another Scott: You could wind up with a patchwork. During the Civil War the Union held elections on a regular schedule.
Adam L Silverman
@Baud: He got confused when Biden referenced how he was involved with the ebola response.
mrmoshpotato
Oh Wilmer. What about the millionaires this time around? Oh right…
emjayay
@Marcopolo: Many people are saying Jay is a snake, and Redfield thought that remark was amusing.
Cckids
@Mary G
This. I think they could have a Sunshine Boys vibe; two old liberal dudes, dissing DT and talking ideas/policies to make the country better.
Adam L Silverman
@The Dangerman: He can’t. The President is in the same crack that Bibi got himself wedged into: reelection or prison. That’s their reality.
Elizabelle
Bernie’s stump speech is just wrong when a lot of those watching this debate may be killed by coronavirus in the here and now.
Joe is putting him away.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Adam L Silverman:
his supporters do that a lot, too
Marcopolo
@Adam L Silverman: Rick Hasen obviously knows a hella lot more than I do so if he say fed legislation can do it then I believe him.
dmsilev
@mrmoshpotato:
Inflation.
Baud
I guess we know which Bernie showed up.
Mary G
US stock futures dropped 5% Sunday evening, hitting the “limit down,” meaning they can’t fall any further.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
“Look out the window, Mitch” should have been the end of his national profile, but he’s convinced a great many people legislation is passed by cheering crowds and shouting.
Adam L Silverman
@Anne Laurie: Except Biden has now repeatedly stated during this debate that all COVID-19 testing and treatment be free.
Mary G
@Cckids: They are attacking each other now. Stop it.
Both of them called Simpson Bowles backward.
Shana
“Go to the YouTube”?
As Hubby just said, before stomping away from the TV “It’s like an old toy poodle badgering an old sheepdog.”
ThresherK
Hey, how did the California delegate appropriation play out?
I don’t want to wade thru the muck on Yahoogle (or AltaJeeves) to find out, but I do trust anybody here who knows.
randy khan
@Adam L Silverman:
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
So, not exactly. You’re right that it wouldn’t be Pelosi if no elections were held, but it wouldn’t be Grassley, either.
There would be two cohorts of Senators still in office, and they would choose the officers for the next Senate. As it happens, the Republicans hold 23 of the seats up for election in 2020 and the Dems hold 12; subtract 23 from 53 and 12 from 47 (Dems plus the two independents, neither of whom is up for reelection), and you get a 35-30 edge for the Dems.
The Senate goes into session on January 2 (give or take – sometimes it’s the 3rd, IIRC). At that point they would choose the President Pro Tem, and therefore choose who would become President on January 20.
emjayay
@Baud: Increasingly loudly yelling Bernie?
Adam L Silverman
@Scott Alloway: If there are no House elections, there is no one to swear in, there is no new Congress. We would be in uncharted constitutional crisis territory. The only people that would actually still be in office are the 2/3rds of senators who weren’t up for reelection during this cycle, which includes Grassley as the most senior senator and therefore the next in line if there’s no president, vice president, and speaker of the House.
Suzanne
@Marcopolo: I am very impressed by Jay Inslee. I was sad that he left the presidential campaign so early. Mr. Suzanne and I were just reflecting on how competence is in such terrible supply at the federal level.
Adam L Silverman
@Kent: Or at least the blue states and the purple states with Democratic governors. Which could create a really weird Electoral College map.
Marcopolo
@Adam L Silverman: So I read today that Gantz has the 61 votes he needs to form a govt. Do you think Bibi will ever wind up in jail?
Adam L Silverman
@dmsilev: It’s the ears.
mrmoshpotato
@ThresherK: Search Lycobing!
Adam L Silverman
@Kent: If there’s no election, there’s no House because the entire House is up for reelection this cycle. The only elected constitutional officers that would be left are the 2/3rds of senators not up for reelection this year. And Grassley is the most senior of those.
Adam L Silverman
@Uncle Cosmo: Flair envy.
Adam L Silverman
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: It’s the ears.
Scott Alloway
@Adam L Silverman: Thank you. That makes sense.
Adam L Silverman
@Marcopolo: He’s the subject matter expert on this stuff.
Baud
I hope Warren endorses Biden tomorrow.
lamh36
Mary G
@ThresherK: They are still counting.
Kent
Why would there be no House elections? Those are state-run. Which blue state is going to decide not to hold House elections? Is California going to cancel their state elections on Trump’s say-so? All the blue states would be sending new Senators and Congressional representatives to DC. Just the red states that decided to cancel elections would have no representation in Congress.
Adam L Silverman
@randy khan: Grassley would still be the President Pro Tempore regardless as it is based on seniority.
randy khan
@Adam L Silverman:
See my comment at 148. It wouldn’t be Grassley; it would be a Democrat chosen by the Dems in the Senate during the 2+ week gap between the new Congress starting and January 20. (This assumes no other Congressional action before January to designate someone as President.)
Adam L Silverman
@Marcopolo: I haven’t seen that yet, but I’ve been busy. But if Gantz has it, Bibi is toast as he goes on trial next week.
Baud
Bernie’s not a Democrat, Joe.
Ken
@chris: So apparently Sheriff Clarke thinks that the Catholic Church, NASCAR, the NCAA, and the Disney Corporation are a bunch of liberal socialist capitalism haters. I wonder if the many companies who have issued work-from-home directives are also part of the plot – I know from relatives that this includes IBM and Deloitte and Touche.
(The list could be extended almost indefinitely, even if you restrict it to organizations that have done this without being required by the government, as is the case for all the above.)
Another Scott
Hey Joe, what about that vote 25 years ago, and that other vote 20 years ago, and that other vote 40 years ago. Huh, Huh?
(sigh)
Uncle Joe: “This man voted against the Brady Bill 5 times. This man voted to protect gun manufacturers… The question is what do we do from this point on? I was the first major player to say I supported gay marriage on TV…”
Cheers,
Scott.
Elizabelle
@Baud: Me too. I have never thought she would endorse Bernie.
@Adam L Silverman: Maybe
ebolaCOVID-19 will carry Grassley off. He is not young.Baud
Bring it back, Joe.
randy khan
@Adam L Silverman:
That is incorrect. The President Pro Tem always is in the majority party. Right now, Pat Leahy is the longest-serving Senator, and he is not President Pro Tem. And, for what it’s worth, designating the senior Senator is a custom, not a requirement.
Elizabelle
@Another Scott: Have been thinking that too, about NRA. Good point about gay marriage.
I think Trump’s minions are taking down Sanders’s attack points, and that Trump himself might be rooting for Bernie (if he’s watching).
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Adam L Silverman: IIRC, it’s seniority based on the majority.
mrmoshpotato
Thank you Joe. “Support the eventual nominee.”
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Baud: evergreen comment for (let’s hope) the next five (at least) years
(not watching the debate)
Marcopolo
The problem is Bernie is standing on that stage like he still has a viable path to the nomination so he is concentrating on these “differences “ between them when they both should be fucking focusing on the problems with Trump.
Bernie ain’t up to the challenge. He could be using this debate platform to start bringing his folks over to Biden.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Marcopolo: fundamentally, he can’t let go of the belief that “the Democratic Establishment” is a bigger obstacle to progress than Republicans
Elizabelle
Does anyone know how many governors’ seats are up this November?
Thinking on Suzanne’s comment about Jay Inslee — who has risen beautifully to the C19 crisis. I hope a blue wave can bring a lot more Democratic governors into the fold.
Bernie just agreed to come together to win this fall. Listen up, Bernie fans.
Kent
Gotta say I’m liking Joe more and more after this Debate. Sanders just can’t get off his stump speech and rattling on about 30 year old votes.
LEADERSHIP. Biden should ask Sanders: “If you are such a leader, how is it that in 40 years in Congress you have only managed to lead your colleagues to pass 3 bills that you introduced, two of which were re-naming post offices in VT. Out of over 300 bills you have introduced over the years, you have only managed to get 3 passed. And the only one not naming rural VT post offices was a technical amendment dealing with VA reimbursement rates. If you are such a great leader, how come you can’t ever get anyone in WA to follow you? Because that’s what you will need to do as president.”
Miss Bianca
@Adam L Silverman: But, tell me again, I seem to be confused…it’s *Biden* who’s the one with dementia?…
Elizabelle
Ohhh, I like this. CNN’s free feed goes silent during commercials.
lamh36
@Baud: Not going to happen. I suspect she just won’t endorse anyone til the nominee is named
Marcopolo
@Adam L Silverman: He has the votes by getting both the Palestinian bloc & Liberman’s bloc.
Definitely a first of its kind if it holds together.
Ohio Mom
Ah, Inslee.
He was my first choice when there were twenty of them on the debate stage. But Joe has grown one quite a bit.
dmsilev
@Elizabelle: Huh. The version I have is actually airing the commercials. (link via cnn.com)
mrmoshpotato
Am I the only one whistling Basketball Jones?
Adam L Silverman
@Kent: I’m responding to a hypothetical someone posed where the President cancels the election in November. I don’t actually think that will happen.
Baud
Biden is being too nice. Only bad thing about his position in the race.
Another Scott
@Marcopolo: Bernie’s enemy has always been the Democratic Establishment™.
He makes one or two sentence noises about how Trump is the most dangerous president in the history of our country, but then spends the other 378 sentences from his 2016 stump speech talking about how everyone by him is in the pockets of Big Billionaire™ and Big Oil™ and Wall Street Bankers™.
It’s tiring…
Cheers,
Scott.
Hoodie
Fail to see what Bernie is trying to achieve here.
Adam L Silverman
@randy khan: Fine, we’ll do it your way.
lamh36
oooh…BURN!
Leto
@Marcopolo: He’s not John the Baptist, preparing the way. Messiah’s don’t make way for anyone else. /s
dmsilev
@Baud: He can afford to be right now, given how the race is shaking out.
Baud
@Hoodie:
Some people thought Bernie would transition. He’ll never transition.
Mary G
Another Scott
Excellent “audience” question about the Federalist Society remaking the courts, etc.
Cheers,
Scott.
Elizabelle
@Hoodie: I hope Bernie is out of it shortly and this is the last debate.
Marcopolo
@Kent: Credit where due: The VA choice bill he did with McCain was an accomplishment.
Kent
If the President tried to cancel the election, how would he do it? What would the response be if my own state of WA decided to hold elections anyway with a Dem Governor and Dem supermajorities in both houses of the state legislature?
They going to send in the national guard? They answer to Insley. They going to send in the FBI? How are they going to block elections? And for what rationale? Especially since WA does vote by mail.
Elizabelle
@Another Scott: Yeah. Impressed.
Adam L Silverman
@Miss Bianca: So a bunch of people with roses in their nyms have told me.
Percysowner
Great quote fromFiveThirtyEight
Marcopolo
Biden makes news!!!
Female VP
Black female SCOTUS appt.
lamh36
OOOOH….
Still think Warren won’t endorse until nominee is known, but still…
Baud
Biden Committed to a woman Veep.
Leto
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: at this point he’s simply a poor Scooby-Doo villain: “We’d have healthcare if it wasn’t for
those darn kidsThe Democratic Establishment!”Mallard Filmore
@Kent:
Congress may by law provide for the case wherein neither a President elect nor a Vice President shall have qualified,
?BillinGlendaleCA
Female VP!
Adam L Silverman
@Marcopolo: If Lieberman is in, he’s got his national unity government. He was able to maneuver Bibi into a corner by agreeing to a national unity to combat the current crisis government last week, but only if it included the Joint List (the Arab parties). Bibi responded exactly as how one would expect by calling them terrorists.
Miss Bianca
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Ugh, THIS. This is why I am getting so sick of white lefties. I wonder whether anyone in Sanders’s immediate circle has ever tried to get across to him that “Nach Hitler, uns” didn’t work out so hot as either a strategy *or* a slogan? >:<
Kent
@Baud: Big fucking deal right there. BIG. We have sort of been assuming it. But interesting to see him commit to a woman VP on national TV.
Elizabelle
Biden commits to a woman VP running mate.
dmsilev
Joe Biden commits to a female running mate.
Baud
Veep news will overshadow everything else tonight. Good job.
chris
@Ken: All a buncha goddam commies!
O. Felix Culpa
Biden: I will nominate a black woman to the Supreme Court. I will choose a female vice president.
Bernie: Uhh…in all likelihood I will.
TS (the original)
@Baud:
It has been pissing me off since they awarded Friedman the Nobel prize for his monetary theory & attacks on Keynesian economics. Been all down hill since that time – and here we are at rock bottom.
dmsilev
OK, let’s speculate: Kamala Harris? Stacey Abrams? Elizabeth Warren?
Adam L Silverman
@Kent: It’s not my hypothetical.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Mary G: Come in…. and Enter!
David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch
Bernie really stumbling on picking a women. Just can’t bring himself to committ
?BillinGlendaleCA
And Bernie would choose Nina Turner.
Baud
@David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch:
Nina Turner, come on down.
joel hanes
@Kent:
But….we can’t as effectively suppress Dem votes if we do that.
Worse, it creates an auditable paper trail, even in the states where we Republicans have insisted that only hackable impossible-to-audit machines can be used to cast votes in person.
Elizabelle
Only felonies committed in the US? Ummmm ….
Gin & Tonic
@Baud:
That’s always my go-to when an interviewer asks me to describe some negative characteristic I have: “I’m too nice.”
Kent
But….the Dorgan Amdment!
Ohio Mom
I sure hope Biden has a definite VP candidate who has said yes and passed all vetting. Else he just took huge risk. Don’t screw this up Joe!
mad citizen
@The Dangerman: I’ve been having the same thought as Dangerman. I just can’t see Trump riding it out to a huge loss. More and more people are laughing at him. I don’t think he cares a whit how the R’s replace him on the ballot, so maybe he takes it through the ego stroke of the convention and resigns in August or something.
If he really does have a billion he can fight off prison until he dies. I’m guessing NY state charges would be easier to fight if he lives in Florida.
lamh36
Dorothy A. Winsor
Biden commits to choosing a woman VP.
Baud
@Ohio Mom:
He sounded certain.
lamh36
Outfoxed indeed!!!
Marcopolo
@Mary G: Nah, this is more like Pinter. Or maybe Beckett—Waiting for Godot.
Elizabelle
Lou Dobbs Show!
Baud
Lou Dobbs! Go, Joe!
Cheryl Rofer
@O. Felix Culpa: Only a sufficiently progressive woman.
That’s a variant of the old “only a qualified woman.”
emjayay
@?BillinGlendaleCA: OMG NO!
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Gin & Tonic:
It’s like that question in job interviews–What’s your greatest weakness?
I’m just a workaholic! I’m devoted to my work. Work work work
joel hanes
@Another Scott:
Bernie: “… If the Fed can give the banks $1.5T
The Fed _loaned_ the banks $1.5 T
Kent
I understand that. I am intrigued by the hypothetical scenario where red states decide to cancel the election and blue states go ahead and hold theirs. It would create some very interesting constitutional scenarios.
lamh36
@Ohio Mom: I suspect the campaign already have someone in mind or at the very least a good list to chose from.
Hopefully someone young enough to bring the party forward and NOT someone as old as he. The Dem party needs it.
mrmoshpotato
I am going to start using “canard” now.
Marcopolo
@Ohio Mom: He said there are a number of qualified women & he’s sure he can find a good pick among them.
HumboldtBlue
@dmsilev:
Daaaaaamn, why you gotta do Liz dirty like that?
Adam L Silverman
I just put a clean debate open thread up for you all to frolic in.
Marcopolo
@lamh36: Wait, are you saying he can’t pick Feinstein?
How about Hils?
Adam L Silverman
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Or she’d kill him and then go on a tri-state killing spree.
I’d like to say I was kidding, but I’m not so sure…
David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch
The women running mate question has really shook Bernie.
Sad
Gin & Tonic
@Elizabelle:
Someone (was it BCrack?) spoiled that for me by typing Loud Obbs and now I can’t see it any other way.
randy khan
@Adam L Silverman:
When my wife says that, I’m in trouble.
Adam L Silverman
@Kent: It would indeed.
Another Scott
Uncle Joe: “24 of every 100 kids in school today – kindergarten through high school – are latinx. They’re the future of America. The idea that we won’t do everything we can for them is nonsensical…”
Good, good.
Cheers,
Scott.
O. Felix Culpa
@Cheryl Rofer: Ah, I missed that comment. So we need just the right woman, who is curiously impossible to find.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Gin & Tonic: I that like Superb Owl?
Adam L Silverman
@randy khan: You’re not. Apparently it’s been far too long since I taught the US Congress lesson…
mad citizen
@TS (the original): Econ talk! (I was ABD in Econ). I agree, phuck Friedman.
mrmoshpotato
@Gin & Tonic: Superb Owl?
trnc
@Kent:
The elections for all elected federal office holders are state-run, including senators and president.
trollhattan
@ThresherK:
The final count always takes a full month. I wouldn’t expect significant shifts from current.
Duane
If people were skeptical of Bernie’s revolution before the coronavirus outbreak, they’ll want nothing to do with it now. There’s enough uncertainty and turmoil. Big change is a big zero. Well-known Joe looks better all the time.
EthylEster
Imminent, I’m thinking.
Miss Bianca
@lamh36: No disrespect to Joe, but out-foxing Bernie with regard to women doesn’t seem like it would be all that difficult.//
emjayay
@Cheryl Rofer: Bernie’s stats about unequal pay for men and women are rather unnuanced. It’s more complicated than the raw numbers. And in federal (and probably other levels of government as far as I’ve seen) there’s about zero pay and employment discrimination.
WaterGirl
@mrmoshpotato: Super Bowl
Mnemosyne
@ThresherK:
FWIW, the mail-in ballot that I dropped off the day before the election is showing as received and verified, but not yet counted. But LA County has a shitload of ballots they need to count.
Kathleen
@Hoodie: “Send me $27.00 so I can show the Democratic Establishment Corporate Centrist Shills that I’m fighting for you”. Or something.
Uncle Cosmo
@Adam L Silverman: In fact Patrick Leahy (D-VT) is the most senior Senator of those who would remain if no election was held in November. (Grassley is the most senior of the majority Republicans.) And (presuming randy khan is correct above) the 2/3 of the Senate still sitting would be 33-30 Democratic (with two Independents who caucus with the Dems). So by either criterion (most senior, or most senior of the majority party) Leahy would become President Pro Tem of the Senate.
But if the November elections are not held, then the incoming 117th Congress would consist of an empty House of Representatives and a Senate of the 65 current Senators not up for election in 2020 – and the President Pro Tem of the Senate would accede to the Presidency when the current POTUS’s term expires on 20 Jan 2021. Suddenly this largely ceremonial position would be infused with real power. Which means 3 things to me:
Fun and games!
Kathleen
@Cheryl Rofer: And because it’s Bernie, she would have to be “pure”, in a progressive politics kind of way.
zhena gogolia
@Hoodie:
Re-electing Trump.
planetjanet
Did I just hear Bernie refer to himself in the third person? Granted, it was in response to a comment by Joe. I do hear Bernie talking over the moderators, who can sometimes hardly get their question out. He was asked for specifics in his campaign to combat climate change and all he can do is say we have to fight to fossil fuel industry. Just exactly what does that look like? Who knows.
J R in WV
@chris:
Fixed that for ya Dave~!!~
Uncle Cosmo
In fact it worked out incandescently. After a little more than 12 years and 3 months. In the eastern half of Germany. At the cost of ~35 million lives, ~7 million of them German. And the resultant “socialist paradise” was so heavenly that it had to be propped up by the Red Army, became best known for the number of people who risked life & limb to leave it, & collapsed like a house of cards once Soviet support was removed.
You’d think maybe a U.S. Senator would know enough history not to want to repeat that sorry story…but maybe not…
Another Scott
@emjayay:
Look around some more. ;-)
A little bird told me that it can be very hard to move up in many agencies. When there are few promotion spots, even fewer women get promoted. And so agency management continues too often to be dominated by old white men. So, yeah, every GS-13 Step 4 is paid the same, but there are many more women at GS-12 Step 10 (stuck at the top of the band) who should have been promoted long ago.
Uniform pay for the same grade and step is important, but it’s not enough.
Cheers,
Scott.
cain
@randy khan:
President Hillary Clinton
stacib
@dmsilev: I would like Stacey Abrams, but I think it will be Kamala Harris. If not Kamala, then I think she get Barr’s job. I think Warren gets Treasury, and there will be a cabinet slot for Buttigieg and maybe Klobuchar, and Yang in a role that will take some outside of the box thinking – like housing.