All purpose news and politics thread part v: The quickening

[worstblogever]

I've heard Stacy Abrams and one of the squad members as options. I've heard Duckworth bandied about, too.

I'd love either, but while Duckworth has the inspiring backstory, Abrams has more charisma as a speaker.

[Malvolio]

I'd love either, but while Duckworth has the inspiring backstory, Abrams has more charisma as a speaker.

I'd go with Duckworth, mainly because she popularized the nickname Cadet Bone-Spurs.

[TheDarman]

Yup. Much as I love Buttigieg, he doesn't add enough to what Biden already brings to the table.

Kamala Harris is demographically perfect, not old, and is a team player who brings a lot of VP-role strengths. But despite being a California democrat, I don't know if her history as an AG turns off the liberal wing despite her other qualities.

Warren is old, though healthier than Bernie and sharper than Biden. Her occasionally terrible political judgment would not matter so much as a VP. And she's simply the Dem's most credible liberal economy wonk. She's also burned bridges with Bernie, so I don't know how well she'll work on that front.

Lori Lightfoot, as highlighted to me by another poster, looks absolutely incredible in almost every way. But she's barely been Mayor of Chicago for two years.

I think Harris is the most likely at this point. Her platform was *really* progressive (included Medicare For All, public colleges, etc.) so it might play as an olive branch there. It also serves as a demographically powerful message to send to Democratic voters that they are getting the representation they want out of the party. Her endorsement of Biden was well-timed and might be sited as one of the reasons the deal was sealed for him as the nominee. For Harris, it allows her to establish credibility in a higher profile position. And it wouldn’t ultimately reduce the Senate majority, whereas a Warren pick (with a Republican governor) would.

[Tazirai]

Right? This article seems to exist purely to provoke people like Tazirai.

Well considering that multiple people are reporting on this. it's no made to trigger me...
It's how Neo-Liberals work.

Susan Rice, Mike Bloomberg, John Kerry: Joe Biden already picking out his Cabinet: Report

Here's who Joe Biden is reportedly considering for top positions in his administration as he touts a 'Return to Normal' plan

[4saken1]

This is a bit naive, no? The point of the Biden campaign is to STOP the progressive movement in the Democratic party and bring it back to its centrist, establishment "roots." Putting a progressive on the ticket that will become president in the not at all unlikely event that Biden becomes incapacitated while in office would be tantamount to just nominating Bernie. And if the whole reason for nominating Biden is electability, having a progressive in the second slot will turn off moderate swing voters just as much as having a progressive leading the ticket, because everyone knows that they're being groomed to take over, since I'm not seeing Biden running for re-election under any circumstances.

And make no mistake, having someone like Stacey Abrams backdoor her way into the White House when Biden steps down for health reasons is a step BACK for women in this country. Whoever the first woman president is MUST win the office fair and square in an election, and I'm sure Abrams and all the other VP possibilities recognize this.

No, actually! The point of the Biden campaign isn't to stop the Progressive movement. The VP pick historically has been to strengthen the ticket in areas where the Presidential nominee is weak.

[Gray Lensman]

I think Harris is the most likely at this point. Her platform was *really* progressive (included Medicare For All, public colleges, etc.) so it might play as an olive branch there. It also serves as a demographically powerful message to send to Democratic voters that they are getting the representation they want out of the party. Her endorsement of Biden was well-timed and might be sited as one of the reasons the deal was sealed for him as the nominee. For Harris, it allows her to establish credibility in a higher profile position. And it wouldn’t ultimately reduce the Senate majority, whereas a Warren pick (with a Republican governor) would.

I think this part here really needs to be highlighted. With the need to gain a majority in the Senate as high as it is, any Senator who would have their replacement picked by a Republican should automatically be out of contention.

[Tazirai]

Of course I want you to vote for my guy. But I don't have a guy for you to vote for anymore! Pete Buttigieg is gone for this cycle, and I am salty at every Bernie Bro who went onto every his videos and downvoted him and posted comments with nothing but the aim to tear him down, without regard for truth or any semblence of objectivity. But Pete is gone now, so I have no guy in the race for you to fucking vote for, Tazarai.

To be fair, that certain subsection of Bernie's supporters' tactics are not what sank Pete. But at least I'm lucid enough to understand that, and I'm not even a citizen!

For the most part I see productivity and pragmatism on one candidate's supporters side and childish tantrums and delusion on the other. This is partly because Bernie has an infamously vocal core of supporters, but the sad truth of the matter as far as I can see it is that Bernie got as fair a shake as he could expect and some folks are trying to drown out every avenue with massive exaggerations and taking up Trump's own decisions for him. One candidate's supporters are rigid to the point of idiocy when they should know better, and it's not Biden's. Bernie's core supporters are engaged and should fucking know better. And no amount of questioning of my motivations will change the validity of my reasoning.

It's spelled Tazirai.

Also soon as you started with the Bernie Bros thing. I kinda stopped paying attention.

[Tazirai]

That you know but when it comes to the GOP blocking progress legislation in congress you blame the Democrats for it.

Yes I do, because I live in Noth Carolina, and am Politically active in North Carolina, and understand North Carolina politics. Ys the Democrats bowed to the GOP here for years. When I first moved here 20 years ago, NC was VERY blue. Every Governor until Pat McrCrory was a Democrat while I lived here. The house was blue, and the State senate was blue. Obama won NC. But as soon as nothing changed for people in NC, the GOP swooped right in, and it all started with our last Democratic Governor who was taking that money. Bev Perdue and Kay Hagan started to compromise on Everything with the state GOP. They led the party here, and started bending the knee to centrists and Republicans.

Then the take over began. So yes, Democrats are partly to blame. The fact that you can't see that is on you. If you think the Democrats are so damned innocent and never at fault, it shows more of a cult-like admiration, instead of deep thinking into politics.
I've done Moral Monday Marches with Rev William Barber, Black Lives Matter, the Womens March etc.

I am VERY politically active. And understanding state politics is a thing for me.

[4saken1]

They are adamant that anyone who would allow themselves to be tied to Biden is a centrist, establishment shill that loses all credibility of their record up to that point.

There likely would be some on the fringe left that take this position, yes. Many would likely see this as a back door to the Presidency, however.

[Tazirai]

"Bloomberg gives $2 million to register black voters in key states"

"Fresh off his departure from the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg has poured $2 million into efforts to boost turnout by African-American voters in eight key states, an indication of his intention to continue bankrolling Democratic causes ahead of November's elections.

"Voter suppression efforts across the country have been a barely disguised effort to keep Black Americans and other Democratic-leaning voters from the polls," Bloomberg said in a statement on Monday. "I've always believed we need to make it easier for all citizens to register and vote, not harder."

The $2 million donation, as first reported by The Washington Post, will go to the group Collective Future. A Bloomberg aide said the former mayor signed off on the donation before he exited the race following Super Tuesday last week, and the funds were transferred to the group on Friday. The donation has been in the works for six weeks, the aide said.

Collective Future is the nonprofit arm of The Collective PAC, whose mission is to "fix the challenge of African American underrepresentation in elected seats of power throughout our nation."

Collective Future said in a release that the funds will be used to partner with civic groups and hire field organizers to boost voter registrations in Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas and Wisconsin, with the goal of registering 500,000 black voters.

"There is a critical need for Black voter engagement across the country in the 2020 election and beyond and we are deeply grateful to Mike Bloomberg for his partnership and dedication to this critical cause," Quentin James, president of The Collective, said in a statement. "His significant financial contribution will propel our work to historic levels and we are hopeful that this game-changing investment will be supported and replicated by those who embrace the need to advance the Black community."

After his disappointing showing on Super Tuesday, Bloomberg endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden and vowed to utilize his vast fortune to support his candidacy. The former mayor built a massive campaign apparatus during his brief three-month campaign, and planned to retain staffers in key swing states to aid in Biden's election effort.

Bloomberg, who is worth an estimated $56.1 billion, has doled out billions of dollars to support causes and candidates to further his political agenda over the years, including hundreds of millions to back Democratic candidates in congressional races in 2018. He spent upwards of $570 million on advertising alone during his campaign before dropping out last Wednesday.

"I entered the race for president to defeat Donald Trump. And today, I am leaving the race for the same reason, to defeat Donald Trump," he said when he announced he was dropping out. "Because staying in would make it more difficult to achieve that goal."

https://www.yahoo.com/news/bloomberg...040210805.html

I don't care about his Racist money and Bribing AJA. It's really not hard to see what they are doing and why.
I know you Centrist types think Bloomberg is A-OK. But him trying to bribe my people is a non-starter.

He can give his racist money to the party if he wants. After this election, I'm done with national Democrats.

[Tazirai]

If progressives fear Joe Biden will lose badly to Donald Trump if he secures the nomination, or ushers in the end of democracy as we know it should he win the election in November, then they'd better get off their asses, mobilize like there's no tomorrow and vote for Bernie Sanders today, and the rest of the primary season. Nothing more complicated than that. If they don't, as was seemingly the case back on Super Tuesday, then they'll have no one to blame but themselves if Sanders ends up losing.

Agreed with this.

[Tazirai]

Here's what is so painfully obvious that it warrants being pointed out here...

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/26/u...donations.html







Almost twelve million that kept the Senate in Republican hands versus two million going into registering minority voters...

That math ain't all that hard to do.

Second...

The guy just blew through an amount of money right around "Idiotic..." on a Presidential run that went nowhere. Take a half a minute to think about what he spent to do so. Take another half a minute to realize that he could have just put the money he burned through directly into the hands of lower middle class/poor minority families all over this country.

Great post thirty. I don't know why it's so hard for them to see what Bloomberg is doing and why his help is not wanted by the black community as a whole. Even if he's paying off some of us.

[Tazirai]

It's not about being progressive -- it's about sabotaging other Democratic candidates because Sanders doesn't appeal to black voters.

Democracy and progress only matter to them if their chosen candidate wins.

It's also about fulfilling the needs of the Republican party by doing their work for them and attempting to sabotage Biden in the general election.

-----
"Trump and GOP mount coordinated campaign to paint Biden as senile"

The president settles on a schoolyard strategy to take out his likely general election opponnent.

President Donald Trump stood before about 500 of the Republican Party’s biggest patrons at his Mar-a-Lago resort on Friday and raised a topic few in the audience expected: Joe Biden’s mental capacity.

Trump walked the donors through a list of Biden’s recent verbal stumbles, such as his recent declaration that he was running for Senate and his assertion that 150 million Americans had been killed by gun violence since 2007. Trump questioned whether the former vice president had the mental stamina to sustain the rigors of a general election campaign.

With Biden emerging as the likely Democratic nominee, Trump has launched a concerted, near-daily campaign to raise doubts about the 77-year-old’s mental acuity. The president has been bolstered by a conservative echo chamber flooding social media with video clips highlighting Biden’s gaffes.

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/0...-senile-124797

AJA, I am a black voter, please stop lying.

Also, EVERYONE can see that Biden is not all there. Even the media last year, before he was their darling, was seen as being off. So please stop with the Centrist conspiracy theory of everyone trying to paint him as senile.
You can watch JOE BIDEN on stage not being like he used to be. Lol.

I get it. Go ahead and protect your guy.

Here Since you think it's a conspiracy. here's his speech from last saturday unedited...

[Tazirai]

The point of the Biden campaign is to win the presidency, while also maintaining a moderate image for the party.

I fully expect Biden to nominate someone to who's left as a nod towards unifying the party.

We'll see about that. I don't think he's gonna pick a true lefty. But we'll see.
I don't trust Biden, and expect nothing from him except to make Centrists and moderates happy that Trump is gone, or tried to get gone.

[4saken1]

As a VP pick, Abrams would help strengthen the Biden campaign on three fronts: more black votes, more women votes, and more Progressive votes.