All purpose news and politics thread part v: The quickening

[Iron Maiden]

Wondering if one more loss means Biden is going to drop out. Looks like Trump went to all that trouble getting dirt on the Bidens for nothing. Let's see if he tells Rudy to give it up.

[Malvolio]

So with all the talk about Klobuchar surging, she still winds up fourth, just behind Warren.

[Steel Inquisitor]

Democrats are the WORST at fighting.

33 vs 8, that's what separates the left from Democrats in '18. But you want to blame the Democrats for not being good at fighting.

[Tazirai]

The hell you get your facts from? Sanders didn't win women so I doubt all of this. Plus, you have a track record of blatant falsehoods.

I'm just gonna ignore you, as you're one of the two.

[Tazirai]

33 vs 8, that's what separates the left from Democrats in '18. But you want to blame the Democrats for not being good at fighting.

I blame Democrats for not fighting yes. They bring up issues and don't fight hard enough.
They have public support and never fight.
A topic that polls well, and Democrats don't fight.

Joi Reid TONIGHT said Democrats should run Bloomberg, because he was a Republican. She's the same person talking about Bernie not being a Democrat.
Democrats want to appear civil so much that they let the GOP steamroll them.

They don't fight for us.
When the Republicans were in the minority, they fought hard, even without the numbers, because they RAN THE NARRATIVE!
Republicans got in power, Kept running the narrative. and now just blatantly lie. Yet Democrats are talking about working across the aisle? What the fuck is that?

[numberthirty]

33 vs 8, that's what separates the left from Democrats in '18. But you want to blame the Democrats for not being good at fighting.

Wouldn't this be like giving the Republicans credit for being good at fighting when they flipped Obama's Congress and went on to pick up the Presidency and Congress?

If that's the case, you have to be able at least ask yourself how good Democrats actually are at "Fighting..."

[Tendrin]

Wouldn't this be like giving the Republicans credit for being good at fighting when they flipped Obama's Congress and went on to pick up the Presidency and Congress?

If that's the case, you have to be able at least ask yourself how good Democrats actually are at "Fighting..."

Not 'fighting' isn't why Democrats lost in 10.

Not voting /is/.

[numberthirty]

Not 'fighting' isn't why Democrats lost in 10.

Not voting /is/.

While you might see it that way, that is not the beginning and the end of it.

A while back, I posted an article where a union member pretty specifically brought this up...

https://www.politico.com/story/2009/...ck-bill-018231

Obama silent on card check bill

President Obama's first major White House event aimed at wooing organized labor came and went Friday without any mention of the union's movement's top priority: so-called card check legislation pending on Capitol Hill.

Speaking to an audience of union chiefs and prominent members of Congress, Obama said he favored reversing President Bush's labor policies, but the new president did not discuss the key labor-backed bill, the Employee Free Choice Act.


The silence from Mr. Obama on the issue came a day after Vice President Biden said he and Mr. Obama thought that action on the card check bill would be slower than expected and that the measure might be watered down.

"Both of us thought 10 months ago that this would be a top-priority item in terms of immediate action. We know there's probably going to be some compromise here," Biden told CNBC. Asked if that meant the issue might not be addressed until 2010, Biden said, "No..This year we hope."

https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-brief...ard-check-bill

Obama says he'll 'keep on fighting' to pass 'card check' bill

President Obama told the AFL-CIO on Wednesday that he would "keep on fighting" to pass the controversial "card check" bill.

Obama said during a speech to the labor group's executive committee meeting that he continued to support the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA, or "card check") among the litany of proposals he favors to help workers.

Should unions just ignore that the above took place?

Did the way Obama handled that put Trump in a better position to be able make a pitch to union voters?

[worstblogever]

So with all the talk about Klobuchar surging, she still winds up fourth, just behind Warren.

My current belief is that neither will surge enough to get the front runner status as long as the other is in the race.

Yang dropping out... the "outsider" vote from the Yang Gang will be migrating to Bernie or Buttigieg now. This, of course, assumes that that 2-3% make some kind of difference in all the southern states. It's more about wondering where the bots that make up Yang's main support base start directing their negativity towards.

[worstblogever]

On this date in 2015, 2016, as well as 2017, 2018, as well as 2019, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day posted profiles of the current U.S. House Representative for Oklahoma’s 2nd District, Markwayne Mullin, who we noted was a Birther conspiracy theorist, having entertained the ramblings of a constituent about President Obama’s birth certificate at a town hall, saying he agreed with them that it was fraudulent, but didn’t feel anything could be done about it. Mullin is also noteworthy for voting against disaster relief funding for Hurricane Sandy while having the double standard of wanting federal aid whenever a tornado hits Oklahoma. Mullin also claims America’s food stamp program has widespread fraud because he has personally witnessed “physically fit people using food stamps”. Mullin has not only voted against every opportunity to repeal the Affordable Care Act, but has also directly lied to constituents by telling them the healthcare exchanges had not opened, when they were. Lastly, Mullin has also been one of the GOP’s members on the Benghazi Select Committee, having called for numerous investigations into the attacks, never being satisfied with previous ones that have all concluded there was no malfeasance of culpability by the Obama administration. Over the past year, Rep. Mullin has voted to defund Planned Parenthood, tried to pass legislation to prevent the acceptance of Muslim refugees, and when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was allowed to speak before Congress, Mullin went on Twitter to post a misspelled message of support, “God Bless Isreal”.

In 2017, Mullin has had some tense standoffs with constituents, including a town hall where he declared the anger he faced was “bullcrap” and whining that his appearance was a “service” because “no one paid him to be there”. This of course negates the fact that those constituents’ taxpayers do, in fact, pay him an annual salary that requires him to engage and listen to them. With Oklahoma’s 2nd is sitting at a +24 Republican lean, it still helped him get re-elected with 65% of the vote.

Thus, he could rack up a voting record this extreme:

• January 23rd, 2019: Rep. Mullin voted against HR 648, because he was gleefully enjoying the longest government shutdown in history.
• January 27th, 2019: Markwayne Mullin votes against HJR 30, which was meant to express disapproval of Donald Trump not acting against Russian Federation for attack Mullin our democracy. You see, he’s fine with our nation being sublet to Vladimir Putin.
• February 28th, 2019: Mullin votes against HR 1112, a bill which would have required universal background checks on all firearm purchases, and close the gun show loophole.
• March 14th, 2019: Rep. Mullin votes against HJR 46, which sane members of Congress voted for to reject Donald Trump’s “national emergency” regarding the U.S. border and his attempts to reallocate funds for a border wall without Congressional approval.
• April 4th, 2019: Markwayne Mullin is one of 158 Republicans who choose to vote against the re-authorization of the Violence Against Women Act, likely because they feel the 2nd Amendment remaining absolute is more important than preventing people with a history of domestic abuse from owning a firearm (which statistics show, makes them more likely to use those firearms against women in their lives).
• May 17th, 2019: Mullin votes against The Equality Act, which would have prevented discrimination towards Americans based on their gender identity or sexual orientation.
• June 4th, 2019: Rep. Mullin can’t be arsed to vote for the Dreamers Act, because he’s too xenophobic and partisan to care about immigration reform.
• July 16th, 2019: Markwayne Mullin votes against a resolution to condemn Donald Trump for his racist statements that four people of color in Congress should “go back where they came from”.
• October 17th, 2019: Mullin is one of 60 Republicans who vote against HJ Res 77, which opposed Donald Trump’s disastrous decision to abandon Syrian Kurdish forces in Northeast Syria to the mercies of a Turkish invasion.
• October 23rd, 2019: Mullin is one of 41 Republicans who, while staring down the possibility of Donald Trump being impeached, stage a ridiculous publicity stunt in response by crashing a classified impeachment inquiry hearing for a “protest”.
• December 18th, 2019: Rep. Mullin ignores his Congressional duty to hold a president who has been proven to commit high crimes and misdemeanors accountable and votes against the impeachment of Donald Trump.

Only three months before the 2018 election, he was found guilty of campaign finance violations after an ethics investigation and forced to pay back $40,000, and is being investigated for investing in the same businesses that Rep. Chris Collins did and led to him being indicted for insider trading. Did we also mention that a week before the election, Mullin, who himself is of Native American heritage, mocked Sen. Elizabeth Warren for her own, and then insinuated that the Trail of Tears was actually a “volunteer walk”?

Markwayne Mullin may have remained a Congressman, but more importantly to us, he remains out of his goddamned mind.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

So with all the talk about Klobuchar surging, she still winds up fourth, just behind Warren.

I just heard on my local all-news radio station a few minutes ago that Klobuchar finished third.

As for Biden, I'm guessing he'll stick around at least through Super Tuesday. If he fails to gain momentum after that, perhaps he'll see the writing on the wall and bow out.

[Steel Inquisitor]

I blame Democrats for not fighting yes. They bring up issues and don't fight hard enough.
They have public support and never fight.
A topic that polls well, and Democrats don't fight.

Joi Reid TONIGHT said Democrats should run Bloomberg, because he was a Republican. She's the same person talking about Bernie not being a Democrat.
Democrats want to appear civil so much that they let the GOP steamroll them.

They don't fight for us.
When the Republicans were in the minority, they fought hard, even without the numbers, because they RAN THE NARRATIVE!
Republicans got in power, Kept running the narrative. and now just blatantly lie. Yet Democrats are talking about working across the aisle? What the fuck is that?

The Democrats fight early and often. They lose, and have flaws, of course, and this ignores the barriers they face within the American system and the GOP. Both of which force them to compromise more than they want because they'd prefer some progressive to none. You know why I'm skeptical about tis argument you're making is being genuine? Not one single word about left politicians doing what you're saying and getting horrendous results. The 8 in the numbers I bought up were leftist politicians who got elected in '18. Instead you glossed over it like I never typed the words. Your complaints about the Democrats should be ten times that of your own team losing.

Don't cherry pick examples to attack an entire opposition, it's not like the left don't have terrible people on it. For example, Tulsi. Should I base my opinion on the entire left based on her character?

Sanders isn't a Democrat, he's the perpetual outsider whose reputation is built on being contrarian from the left.

Stop buying into the Republican propaganda that Democrats have to be perfect, while the Republicans don't need to have standards.

Republicans have more advantages to accomplish their agenda, from white supremacy to media networks like Fox News. They get in line, and love hierarchies. You don't understand who you're up against in the general or across the country. They do win, what you're forgetting is how they win and you wouldn't like the results if the Democrats followed their tactics. Leftist politicians don't follow those tactics, either. You should ask them why they don't, I'd love to hear the response you get.

Edit: The reason Democrats believe in bipartisanship is because they like having a functioning government. That's how bills get passed. Republicans thrive on shutting down the government, Democrats don't. If you truly believe America would be better off stopping having congress pass bills, what separates the left from the right? How does your agenda make any progress without any bills? Executive orders are a band aid, which can be easily disposed of by the next president.

[ed2962]

This could be something to watch.

Will folks who were backing Yang just step away from what remains of the nomination process.

Also, sounds like Bennet might be dropping out.

This helps Sanders in my opinion. Most of Yang's support will go to Sanders, possibly a few to Warren or Mayor Pete.

[ed2962]

I think the Republicans parlayed the impeachment issue into an effective public attack on Biden. How much that played into his drop I'm not sure, but it's a factor. I don't think even the most fever-pitched Sanders' lover thought it'd be Klobuchar and Buttigieg in the moderate lane after New Hampshire. (Hell, Knight of the Lake insulted me repeatedly for suggesting that this very scenario was possible)

Biden's descent has been rapid and substantial. I think there is a great deal of that which can be cited as Republican driven. The question now is, how quickly do the black voters who have been Biden's base of support abandon ship and to whom do they flock.

Black voters could have been talked into supporting Sanders or Warren. If Mayor Pete becomes the candidate, a lot of black voters will probably stay home.

[ed2962]

So with all the talk about Klobuchar surging, she still winds up fourth, just behind Warren.

She came in third! It's Kloburring Time!