All purpose news and politics thread part v: The quickening

[TheDarman]

I just don't think we should be celebrating anything until we get some concrete policy wins in the books. Patting ourselves on the back for some supposed "blue wave" that hasn't managed to move the needle an inch in terms of actual governance is a bit pathetic to be honest. I don't know if Bernie can deliver on his promises, but I'm certain he'll put up a better fight than Biden will.

They passed over 400 bills and put Trump’s dirty laundry out to air for the rest of the country to see. If we don’t do anything with those results in 2020, we are to blame for not following through more than they are for not getting stuff done. 2018 has to be viewed as the first step towards something bigger happening in 2020. The Senate map was the worst it has ever been for one party in nearly a hundred years. That was because in 2012, Obama’s coalition walloped Republicans where there weren’t enormously skewed House districts to protect them. We saw the dissolution of that coalition in 2016 when we had the division in the party. I still think that Biden will be able to get a public option done and moderate Democrats can sell that to voters now more than they could in 2010. My fear with Bernie is he would never compromise for that and we would end up having Medicare For All plans fail despite Democrat control in both chambers and a public option being vetoed by Sanders for not being good enough. As my old Engineering teacher said, “Don’t let ‘better’ be the enemy of ‘good enough’.” And I fear that Sanders will let things get worse if he doesn’t get his better option. He certainly hasn’t been one to compromise before. Meanwhile, I think if enough people pressure Biden, and more progressive policies come out of Congress, he will give people those things. I don’t see Biden as wanting to sacrifice his popularity to stay with “the man” on issues.

[kidfresh512]

Vote Republicans out of power.

They had the opportunity to forge a new era in conservative politics after the failure of Bush and instead chose the "birther" Trump to lead the party.

When people show you who they are -- beleive them.

Texas is complicated. The major metropolitan areas are solidly Blue. Suburbs connected were red but you could see with the midterms the Beto effect they were starting to go blue also. The problem is the gerrymandering, voter suppression efforts to depress minority vote to limit representation. And there are large swaths of rural voters that are completely red.

[Billy Batson]

Warren drops out
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/05/u...e=articleShare

[aja_christopher]

Texas is complicated. The major metropolitan areas are solidly Blue. Suburbs connected were red but you could see with the midterms the Beto effect they were starting to go blue also. The problem is the gerrymandering, voter suppression efforts to depress minority vote to limit representation. And there are large swaths of rural voters that are completely red.

I know Texas well -- spent years there in both the north and the south of the state, both small town and big city.

Used to go to Astroworld and even went to an event in Nacogdoches called "Nacapalooza" where Buckwheat Zydeco played out in a big open field.

Republicans are afraid it will become the next California and they are desperate to prevent that from happening.

They know once they lose Texas, it's practically over for them in terms of the White House and possibly Congress as well.

[TheDarman]

Texas is complicated. The major metropolitan areas are solidly Blue. Suburbs connected were red but you could see with the midterms the Beto effect they were starting to go blue also. The problem is the gerrymandering, voter suppression efforts to depress minority vote to limit representation. And there are large swaths of rural voters that are completely red.

If we can really focus DNC resources (I know, Mermaid Man “EVIIILLL”) on trying to get people registered and prevent suppression in Texas, I think we could be looking at a broad coalition of states that hand a decisive electoral college win to the nominee. Both Biden and Sanders were within the margin of error there. We could push them over the top with the right infrastructure and surrogates.

[TheDarman]

Warren drops out
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/05/u...e=articleShare

Interesting; no endorsement for Bernie. I wonder if there is one coming or if the campaign was so rough—with Sanders supporters relentlessly attacking her, calling her a snake, and both them and Bernie calling her a liar—that she will just sit out until the general. Whatever it is, candidates who drop out owe us nothing. They aren’t campaigning for our vote anymore, because we didn’t give it to them. They are under no obligation to endorse other candidates.

[Billy Batson]

Interesting; no endorsement for Bernie. I wonder if there is one coming or if the campaign was so rough—with Sanders supporters relentlessly attacking her, calling her a snake, and both them and Bernie calling her a liar—that she will just sit out until the general. Whatever it is, candidates who drop out owe us nothing. They aren’t campaigning for our vote anymore, because we didn’t give it to them. They are under no obligation to endorse other candidates.

No endorsement for either or yet. Might come later if she doesn't remain silent. Pete didn't endorse Biden right after dropping out.

[JCAll]

Warren drops out
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/05/u...e=articleShare

I hope she endorses Hillary, just to make everyone's head explode.

[Iron Maiden]

That would be funny. I liked her at first but eventually I began to feel that she was unelectable. She could come across as pretty annoying at times and the more you saw of her the less I liked her. It's like what Hollywold calls star quality. She's more like a supporting player. It would be interesting to see if Biden will pick her as VP choice as a unity candidate. I doubt anyone would pick Sanders or if he would take it.

[TheDarman]

No endorsement for either or yet. Might come later if she doesn't remain silent. Pete didn't endorse Biden right after dropping out.

Fair, but I also wonder how right the left-leaning conventional wisdom is that Sanders will take all of her votes in future contests. Will it help him? Sure. But will it help enough to consolidate enough support to defeat Biden, who now will likely take Bloomberg’s share (I sense there is little overlap between what Bloomberg voters want and what Sanders can offer them) and, at least anecdotally, some of Warren’s share. I can’t help but be reminded of the scene in Knives Out about burning bridges. “If you think that after the [expletive] you said, after all the bridges you burned, that we’ll give you—as Dad used to say—a single red dime, you’re nuts!” I wonder if Warren voters might feel a little disillusioned by Sanders and the way they have treated both her and them.

[GindyPosts]

And then there were two...

And, yes, there is also Tulsi Gabbard, but we do not talk about her.

[TheDarman]

And then there were two...

And, yes, there is also Tulsi Gabbard, but we do not talk about her.

Well, she won all of one delegate in American Samoa and she is a native there. She also is the only Democrat with a majority disapproval rating in the party. Plus, if we’ve been giving crap to Bernie for his stances on dictators, wait until you see about her gross relationship with Assad.

[Powerboy]

The context won't be the same, at that stage all the young generation will be the old fogeys. Mayor Pete was a radical in his youth, look at him now. It's the circle of life.

I guess what I am getting at is that I like to believe the overall trend is towards liberalism. What I mean by that is that each liberal surge is more liberal than the last one while each conservative one is a bit less conservative albeit the Trump personality cult is an extreme conservative backlash. So, Buttigieg, who once, well within my lifetime, would have had zero chance on the national scale or even the local is a relatively young man who may have many more chances to challenge for President and each one, hopefully, his being gay will be more and more of a non-issue.

[KOSLOX]

In case anyone is worried Tulsi Gabbard is still alive and running for Prez. #markedsafefromsupertuesday

[jetengine]

In case anyone is worried Tulsi Gabbard is still alive and running for Prez. #markedsafefromsupertuesday

She's like a red wine stain