I agree 100%, we do not go to war with the army we want, we go with the one we have. Sanders looks to be the one we are going to have.
Do you think someone like AOC or Kshama would have been elected if they ran using the same positions in the 90s? Or the 2000s? They would have been flayed, by every side. And Kshama is a legit socialist, she wants to nationalize Microsoft and Amazon for instance. That isn't flying in the 1990s. Or the 2000s. The positions that used to be outright political dealbreakers are changing. What may have flown in the 1980s, 1990s, even the 2000s. We have a presidential candidate that is openly gay, married, and he served. Do you think that would have happened in the 2000s? Here's something that shocked me, a lifelong Michigan resident: Bernie won the primary in Michigan in 16. He received votes from super conservative west Michigan, home of Betsy DeVos. Hillary's votes came from a few lone rural states and the Detroit suburbs. I honestly think a big change is coming. All those things I mentioned, they wouldn't have flown at any other point. Now? They're quite popular.
Let's be frank, as long as the country is split down the middle and Congress is deadlocked the primary mode of change is going to be executive fiat. We aren't that far away from "President-As-Elected-Dictator" now. All it would take is a little push.
It's really not a good example. While Sawant is polarizing, she is the incumbent and had already won re-election previously by a 12 point margin. Amazon dumping cash into the race turned what should have been a blow out into a relative nail biter. In fact, Sawant trailed for several days after the election as more and more ballots trickled in. This isn't a situation where a socialist is challenging a moderate incumbent.
While it is trending his direction, it is still way, way early. It will "get late early," however, but between now and Super Tuesday, a whole lot can happen. While I don't support him, what if Bloomberg turns the tables and has a really good debate before SC? What if the media now picks up on Anderson Cooper's line of questioning and really pushes Bernie on the practicality of anything he is proposing without completely overturning the apple cart? What if he gets the same questions on Medicare for All that took Warren from front runner status to a 4-5th place candidate at best? What if the Clyburn support for Biden puts a halt to his slide and actually boosts him to a really strong finish in SC, and as a result, lifts his number with African Americans again nation wide, and through the south? What if some of the negative oppo on Bernie that is just hanging out there like a cloud, makes its way into the mainstream discussion. If five candidates and the media start pounding on the guy (and I am on record as saying that is a good thing for Bernie and for all of us to really test him in this process), he will come back to the pack. After Super Tuesday, if Bernie runs the table in the bigger states like CA and TX, then we might be looking at how to get to a soft landing with him as the head of the ticket. But I'm not ready to say that will happen just yet. Remember, Amy Klobuchar went from being dead in the water to viability for a few more weeks and primaries based on a couple of good debate responses. We are fickle.
Sanders is #2 in terms of support with people of color and #1 is a blabbering buffoon that seems incapable of winning federal level elections. This shit is over.
Hey now, lets not blame all berniebros or Sanders, perhaps @Boandlkramer is a Russian troll send here to make Sanders supporters look bad.
I know.. It's almost like political consultants move from money pile to money pile to make their living...
There’s one truism in politics which has always remained true and which you should always keep in mind in the coming months, because I have a feeling that it’s going to be very relevant: “If you’re explaining, you’re losing.”
Some of the Bernie supporters here may be a little bit green and are taking words from the likes of Peter Daou, Ryan Grim or Shaun King (aka Talcum X) like the gospel. All a bunch of grifters.....
I didn't see any more of the interview than that little clip, but Cooper should have followed up with something like, "Your answer for everything is tax the rich. What will you do when that revenue stream dries up?" And it would dry up. The rich didn't get that way without learning how to minimize their taxes.
So as a Cali voter I think it's time for me to lay down a vote. I would love to vote for either Klobuchar or Buttigieg. Thing with Sanders is that I genuinely like the dude. I like where is heart is, and I truly believe he's in this for the people, and not for himself. A truly rare quality in a politician. I even like some of his general goals. But the fact of the matter is that his agenda is unrealistic, and he's going to inflame tribalism by attempting to getting it enacted without any moderate and conservative support. Our entire governmental system is based on avoiding sea changes. It's based on consensus building. Trump certainly doesn't see that, and I'm not sure Sanders does either. But if he goes into office promising all these things, and then fails to do them because his own party doesn't support his agenda enough, what happens? It's going to get very very ugly. For everyone. I'm sick and tired of populism. I'm sick and tired of the burn it all down to gain power of governance that was put into mainstream by the GOP in 2009, and I see no end to that with Sanders in power. His entire campaign is a giant ***** You to the majority of the Democratic Party. What he so derisively calls the establishment. So to Joe Biden I vote, in the hopes I don't have to vote for Sanders for President, though that feels inevitable at this point.
That is a good result for Joe. If he wins SC, he can use it a springboard for Tx. A new University of Houston poll in Texas finds Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders tied in the Democratic presidential race with 22%, followed by Elizabeth Warren at 18%, Mike Bloomberg at 13%, Pete Buttigieg at 12% and Amy Klobuchar at 7%.
Btw, why the hell did California move up to Super Tuesday? It represents 30% of the delegates that day. They should have theirs in late March or early April. If the point of a primary is to see how a candidate builds support, then having both Texas and Cali so early, defeats the point of that. Because of the Calendar, basically 3 states are determining the Dem nominee
Switzerland, The Netherlands, Sweden, and New Zealand are all wealthy countries without oil royalties that levy high taxes and are able to collect on those taxes, since they are running budget surpluses while delivering expensive services. So I reject the premise of the question. Maybe the U.S. is different enough from those countries such that they are not valid examples, but that is another topic altogether.
One of my frustrations has been the lack of questions by the media/debate moderators when the candidates talk about a "wealth tax." We all love the concept, right? If you have a massive yacht, and a handful of Van Goghs then just pony up a couple of cents on the dollar to help us all out! However, a wealth tax had never worked. Bernie and Warren supporters love to point to scandanavian countries for a lot of different social programs, but for some reason, they never talk about how the wealth tax has been repealed in some of those same countries because it is difficult to administer and doesn't generate any revenue. There are differences here, so I am willing to listen to arguments about why it would work here after failing around Europe, however, I'm not willing to let a wealth tax be advanced as the primary way of paying for things, until it is proven workable. So, sure. Try it. But don't tell me you are going to ditch our entire health care system and then rely on a wealth tax to significantly fund single payer or free college for everyone, or forgiving student debt in the hundreds of billions.
Well, as Chris M. says, show me the math. Even if you undo the 2017 tax cut, the budget deficit is huge, and then is he is proposing to spend much, much, more. Is he really going to get there by taxing only the rich? The smell of bullshit is extremely strong.
Unity is for the end of the process keyboard cowboy. Why are you demanding unity in the middle of an active contest? I guess thin-skin is another similarity between Bernie and his supporters, and Trumpworld.