All purpose news and politics thread part v: The quickening

[zinderel]

quote someone or it's just a straw man attack. what i've seen is that Bernie is ahead in the polls. so people against Bernie started attacking the polls.

By that same token, read the damn thread for yourself. I’m far from the only person who has seen it. I’m not tossing accusations into a vacuum, here. Go read the earlier threads too. Go back as far as 2015 and take a look for yourself. You have the resources and ability to do exactly what you expect me to do. I’m not doing your emotional labor for you.

I have seen that claim that Bernie is ahead, yet whenever I see an ACTUAL poll, it isn’t nearly as big a deal as the fanatics make it out to be.


And, again...if you don’t do the things Bernie Bros do, which I pretty clearly laid out, then the label doesn’t apply to you.

You can defend your candidate, as long as you don’t demand perfection of them that you don’t expect of Bernie.

[Tami]

who is currently in the lead?

I don't trust polls all that much. I don't think it matters who is in the lead, only who wins the primaries.

I would not be surprised if Sanders gets NH & VT, but I expect Iowa will likely to to Biden. SC also might go to Biden. The other states will be harder to predict. I think in my state it might be a toss up between Biden or Warren.

[kidfresh512]

who is currently in the lead?

I don't care. I will vote for Biden, I will vote for Sanders, I will vote for Warren if they can convince the rest of the nation they can beat Trump.

I am not going to sit here and lament some "chosen one" and take my toys and go home.

We have an environment to protect. We have children being thrown in cages. The GOP want to gut Medicare/Medicaid. They want to stuff another Judge on the Supreme Court.

They want to roll back abortion rights for women. They attack the LGBT community at every opportunity. If we cant recognize that they are the ones that need to be booted out of power and we deal with how fast or how far to go left after we keep their racist ass base from power. Then we deserve what we get when they get us into more wars for oil. Or start hacking away at Medicare/Medicaid to give more money to the rich.

Look at the gun laws being pushed through in VA now that they finally got Dem control. That will NEVER happen nationally if we don't kick their asses out.

[zinderel]

I really think Biden and Bernie should've been out stumping for new, younger, progressives than running themselves.

I agree. I wish they had chosen someone to mentor and support rather than feeding their egos and running themselves. But...we get what we got.

[zinderel]

i'm pointing out the hypocrisy of the latest string of anti-bernie posts. how do you call out bernie's supporters for being disrespectful if you're acting like an internet bully? and i didn't say one way or the other what my plans were for voting (except several pages back where i stated that i was simply voting to unseat Trump).

It’s disturbingly enlightening that you take posts criticizing fanaticism among certain Bernie followers and being ‘anti-Bernie’ posts...

[PaulBullion]

By the way, I am and always have been a Kamala Kid.

[zinderel]

I don't care. I will vote for Biden, I will vote for Sanders, I will vote for Warren if they can convince the rest of the nation they can beat Trump.

I am not going to sit here and lament some "chosen one" and take my toys and go home.

We have an environment to protect. We have children being thrown in cages. The GOP want to gut Medicare/Medicaid. They want to stuff another Judge on the Supreme Court.

They want to roll back abortion rights for women. They attack the LGBT community at every opportunity. If we cant recognize that they are the ones that need to be booted out of power and we deal with how fast or how far to go left after we keep their racist ass base from power. Then we deserve what we get when they get us into more wars for oil. Or start hacking away at Medicare/Medicaid to give more money to the rich.

Look at the gun laws being pushed through in VA now that they finally got Dem control. That will NEVER happen nationally if we don't kick their asses out.

Exactly.

But for a small, vocal segment, demanding idealogical perfection is worth sacrificing all of that.

[Theleviathan]

who is currently in the lead?

It depends on what you mean? Overall? In Iowa? The polls are a bit erratic right now and have a high degree of variance.

It's safe to say Biden and Sanders appear to have an edge. Sanders has a significant advantage among Hispanics. Biden has a monumental lead among blacks. Biden polls best in swing states. Sanders polls best among young people.

What started off this recent Bernie conversation was a few polls showed some strength for Bernie and his supporters overplayed those results. Que the typical attacks on Biden. Que the retaliation, and so on. I think aja is bringing up the relevant questions, in a fair way, that Bernie supporters need to answer. If you want, we can do that about Biden as well. The difference I see is that those who say "I'll support Joe" don't do it without acceptance of his limitations, weaknesses, and flaws. When you point out to a Bernie supporter that there are weaknesses to the candidate worth discussing....they are ridiculously dismissive. No matter how politely or pointedly or factually they are pressed, they simply will not accept those weaknesses. They'll deny facts to deny weaknesses. They'll straight make **** up. That's why these conversations are so obnoxious and, subsequently, why frustrations with Bernie supporters escalate so quickly.

[zinderel]

By the way, I am and always have been a Kamala Kid.

Kamala was a cop, and I hate cops, but I’d have supported her had she made it through and won the primary to secure the party nomination. Because, cop or not, she isn’t Trump and his lackeys and sycophants and masters...

[Theleviathan]

I really think Biden and Bernie should've been out stumping for new, younger, progressives than running themselves.

Well....who would that even be? The closest thing in the field is Buttigieg and all you hear about is his lack of qualifying experience. We need more progressives to hold significant offices and win elections so we can cultivate them as candidates. Then, yeah, I totally agree....that should be Biden and Bernie's roles.

[PaulBullion]

Well....who would that even be?

Have a look at the Impeachment Trial. The Democrats prosecuting Trump are all stars.


... I just hope their roles of impeachment prosecutors don't make them cops.

[kidfresh512]

Well....who would that even be? The closest thing in the field is Buttigieg and all you hear about is his lack of qualifying experience. We need more progressives to hold significant offices and win elections so we can cultivate them as candidates. Then, yeah, I totally agree....that should be Biden and Bernie's roles.

On this mentor ship and support role theme. Everyone may not know it but Beto has been using every ounce of his reach and support left in Texas to support our local candidates since dropping out.

This is something he and some of the others who were in the Dem primary that really didn't have a chance should have focused on really. I am leaving work early today to go try and get Elizabeth Markowitz elected here in my district for our runoff. Hes been stumping and knocking on doors and campaigning hard for her and other Texas Democrats. It is this type of support that he would have been better suited too.

And a lot of the other lower tier candidates that were never going to be the nominee this time. Should be out trying to help us dump Mitch and support local candidates get these governor ships and state houses back.

[zinderel]

On this mentor ship and support role theme. Everyone may not know it but Beto has been using every ounce of his reach and support left in Texas to support our local candidates since dropping out.

This is something he and some of the others who were in the Dem primary that really didn't have a chance should have focused on really. I am leaving work early today to go try and get Elizabeth Markowitz elected here in my district for our runoff. Hes been stumping and knocking on doors and campaigning hard for her and other Texas Democrats. It is this type of support that he would have been better suited too.

And a lot of the other lower tier candidates that were never going to be the nominee this time.

One thing Democrats and the left in general needs to Do is refocus our attention on the smaller government roles. This is what the right did, and it’s why they have the power they have. With the help of the adherents of the fundamentalist doctrine of Seven Mountains, hard right candidates quietly gained power and shifted local and state politics towards the right while we were focused on the presidency. OBVIOUSLY, having the presidency is important. But he isn’t King. He can’t make sweeping change without broad support. And that means getting left and left-leaning candidates on school boards, city councils, state legislatures. That means making sure that ‘lesser’ office candidates get JUST as much support as ‘higher’ office candidates. I want to hear how the candidates for president plan to work on that, frankly...

[Billy Batson]

I really think Biden and Bernie should've been out stumping for new, younger, progressives than running themselves.

Bernie is doing that with AOC but she's too young to run as of now.

[Tazirai]

Never mind that anyone who is talking about "Taxes Going Up..."/"Funding..." needs to factor in that the days of turning down coverage will probably be a thing of the past. Yeah, it going to take a little money to actually humanely cover the medical care of your fellow Americans.

That said...

If you wanna go to bat for that status quo while you're talking about why it won't work, I'm not really a guy that's going to try to stop you.

Last week my Insurance company literally denied my Metformin because of something in the code that I had to opt out of that they never told me existed. When I called UHC, they said there was nothing they could do it was up to CVS Caremark.
CVS Caremark rep didn't even know it existed, then told me my only option was to have the doctor provide me a 90 day Scrip, not a 30 day scrip.

Our Healthcare system is insane.