All purpose news and politics thread part v: The quickening

[Theleviathan]

Buttigieg and Klobuchar have a serious African American problem right now

Absolutely, one possible take-away: Bloomberg is done. His numbers in Super Tuesday states could very well go almost entirely to Biden. Which, if so, would shift his status in those polls. It doesn't change that Bernie will have a big night, but it may put Biden solidly in second in many states.

Edit: I'm aware Bloomberg wasn't on the ballot, but his favorability numbers are plummeting and it coincides with a Biden over-performance. I don't think that's coincidence.

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

Absolutely, one possible take-away: Bloomberg is done. His numbers in Super Tuesday states could very well go almost entirely to Biden. Which, if so, would shift his status in those polls. It doesn't change that Bernie will have a big night, but it may put Biden solidly in second in many states.

Edit: I'm aware Bloomberg wasn't on the ballot, but his favorability numbers are plummeting and it coincides with a Biden over-performance. I don't think that's coincidence.

The problem with waiting until Super Tuesday is that you go into it with no wins or performance while everyone is in a whirlwind with the other candidates. You actually have to win on Super Tuesday and Bloomberg might place high, but he's not looking like he'll get many prizes.

If his goal was to stop Sanders he probably helped him.

[Tami]

I'm happy that Biden is doing so well, unfortunately Sanders is at 18% so far. That gives him delegates and makes it hard to catch up with him.

[Steel Inquisitor]

It's a capitalist world because most of the wealth and power is in the hands of capitalists, but no matter how you slice it the overwhelming majority of hearts and minds globally favor greater economic justice over our twisted idea of "freedom." Yes, the right wing is ascendant politically these days, but it is honestly a bizarre reading of events to take the electoral success of fascist cretins like Bolsonaro, Modi, Netanyahu, Duterte, etc. as some condemnation of socialism, especially when the key to defeating these types of leaders is for a more muscular left wing opposition to really take ownership of what we believe in to sell a more hopeful vision of the future to the people, rather than resorting to the kind of milquetoast centrism that the authoritarian right has absolutely feasted on and which each of those leaders steamrolled in recent elections.

Also, fixating on labels is a waste of time. If we're talking about the actual definitions that the proponents of these poiltical theories used, communism refers to "stateless" socialism where society has evolved past the need for a government to enforce communal cooperation and people willingly share and care for each other without needing to be coerced into doing so. In practice, self-identified communists tended to be more in favor of revolutionary change to bring about the workers' paradise whereas socialists preferred working within pre-existing electoral structures, but the predictable resistance of the wealthy to having their property taken away generally meant that communists could never quite move past that coercive stage.

The reason that we always say that Bernie would be considered a moderate by global standards is that he advocates for just about the mildest version of socialism imaginable, given that he's trying to run for president instead of inciting the masses to revolt and especially because nearly all of his policies are focused on the American worker, rather than advocating for an international working class coalition like a true Marxist would. And of course even though the media will focus on a handful of statements he made about Cuba or the Soviet Union, on the campaign trail Bernie is far more likely to reference Denmark or Sweden, never mind that despite the wonderful reputation of these countries, they have plenty of problems with racism and frankly bizarre cultural conservatism that is starting to bubble to the surface in the odd political climate of modern Europe.

Moving the goal posts, generalising socialism to be meaningless in an effort to make it look as though any country with socialism is good and the capitalist countries are bad. "Freedom" being a word you want to be linked to the USSR but are too self ware to do this officially so its couched in terms where criticising any Communist country is the same as criticising Scandinavia. Stalin, Mao, Kim ii-Sung, Pol Pot weren't fascists to you? Your examples got defeated by the right wing, that's why socialism isn't stable, despite having long runs of success in places like Brazil. It's not the left has a good track record against the right. It's to bad when in power many of those socialist and Communist governments don't live up to their ideals of "freedom" you claim to adore.

Moving the goals posts, the argument we were having is about special Communist regimes which Sanders was supporting, being the USSR and Castro's Cuba - who have definitive ideologies. Were not discussing stateless Communism since they're irrelevant politically and Sanders isn't openly supporting them.

You know as well as I do how bad it looks to support dictatorships, which is why you're running away and obscuring your original argument and why we're having this conversation. But you can't admit you're wrong so shift the conversation to a general socialism/Communism discussion where the topics aren't so politically sensitive and won't remind people why Communism isn't liked in the West.

Which ignores the context for Sanders running for president in America, as though whatever you think applies to the global definitions matter in an election. Sanders thrives in political arena, not the revolution building one. Signalling that Sanders stands for workers and "the people" isn't a fact, it's propaganda. Except Sanders does reference support for nations like the USSR and Castro's Cuba by himself, with no prodding, if he didn't his adversaries would have less ammunition against him and would have to rely on lies rather than things he says. Why do you think they come into his ind at any stage while running for president, I don't see that going well had he did this in Scandinavia. There is no excuse for that, which you find it difficult to condemn.

You haven't acknowledged him saying those comments might be for Communists who liked Castro, and Stalin, either.

[shooshoomanjoe]

Steyer is out of the race.

[Tami]

Steyer is out of the race.

Yeah, I just saw that.

Gabbard really needs to drop out. But I doubt she will.

[Tazirai]

I rest my case.

Edit: Going to articulate your stances on Communism, Taz?

You really don't understand anything do ya? Lol.

We live in a mixed economy with elements of all things. I don't play the game of the "Red Scare" You can take this back to 1980. It's a dumb argument.

[Tazirai]

Yeah, I just saw that.

Gabbard really needs to drop out. But I doubt she will.

She does.

Congrats to Joe Biden for his Overwhelming victory in South Carolina.
Also, Grats to him actually winning anything in three runs for POTUS, lol. Backhanded compliment.

Also, older black folks in the state of my family still disappoint me. But Good thing is South Carolina isn't the only state with Black People.

Good luck on Super Tuesday Biden, cuz you got your one win lol.

[Tazirai]

Buttigieg and Klobuchar have a serious African American problem right now

Yes, they do. I want to see the MSM spin this.

[Superbat]

Oh I remember exactly what that staffer said. They got the firing they deserved. Why you suddenly made it about a dozen other things that happened in other campaigns is a real head scratcher. I mean.....I guess I'm confused how you need youtube links to say "What he did was wrong, that kind of behavior from Bernie staffers and supporters is unacceptable." Yet....gee, when I look back....there they are! Quite a puzzle how they got there huh? I mean, did you get hacked by Russia or what was the point of that?

(Hint....here's where the equivocation comes in champ!)

You are so lost.

You sticking to your equivocation talking point after dismissing harassment happened on 02-20-2020.

By equivocating you made it unclear.

The story about the staffer was posted on 02-24-2020.

It just keeps coming and coming

Bernie Staffer Mocked Warren’s Looks, Pete’s Sexuality on Private Twitter Account

You have nothing so you have to completely make up things up now. The story about the staffer had nothing to do with what we were talking about, because it wouldn't even be posted until days later.

[Superbat]

Biden is going to win by 30 points. A very impressive victory that could change his fortunes on Super Tuesday.

I don't want him to win but I'll be happy if this makes his supporters that left him for Bloomberg go back to him.

[wjowski]

Good job winning a state that has 0 chance of going blue on Election Day.

[Steel Inquisitor]

You really don't understand anything do ya? Lol.

We live in a mixed economy with elements of all things. I don't play the game of the "Red Scare" You can take this back to 1980. It's a dumb argument.

Sanders does, it's why him being the nominee is going to be a huge problem. He feeds right into it, because he'd rather be "right" than smart.

The "Red Scare" is a more complicated subject than you're acknowledging. It's not like America created the USSR or Castro's Cuba from thin air, they were real places which hurt millions of people. Dictatorships aren't ok when the left does it.

You still fail to grasp how badly Communism and socialism is viewed today, and it's not all bad reasons.

Edit: Your failure to explain where you stand on Communism speaks volumes, btw.

[numberthirty]

Good job winning a state that has 0 chance of going blue on Election Day.

Yep.

It would be great if there was half the focus on how to even have a chance at winning it in the General.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Yeah, I just saw that.

Gabbard really needs to drop out. But I doubt she will.

Didn’t know Gabbard was still in it. I guess her Russian handlers ordered her to stick it out to be an irritant for as long as possible.