Serious 2020 Democratic Primary Thread

Who are your favorite candidates?

  • Kamala Harris

    Votes: 43 8.0%
  • Elizabeth Warren

    Votes: 99 18.4%
  • Julián Castro

    Votes: 16 3.0%
  • Pete Buttigieg

    Votes: 51 9.5%
  • Kirsten Gillibrand

    Votes: 7 1.3%
  • John Delaney

    Votes: 9 1.7%
  • Tulsi Gabbard

    Votes: 63 11.7%
  • Bernie Sanders

    Votes: 338 62.9%
  • Amy Klobuchar

    Votes: 12 2.2%
  • Joe Biden

    Votes: 45 8.4%
  • Andrew Yang

    Votes: 112 20.9%
  • Cory Booker

    Votes: 7 1.3%
  • Marianne Williamson

    Votes: 19 3.5%
  • Mike Bloomberg

    Votes: 12 2.2%

  • Total voters
    537
People who cry never bernie because his supporters were mean to them online are the same people who make fun of people who voted trump because Democrats flamed them online
 

MikeDawg

Banned deucer.
Not cool my dude.
Neither is opening 5 more offices in the middle of a pandemic. Yet here we are.

Why is Bernie a worse employer than fucking Olive Garden?

The fact that he has no chance whatsoever is the nail in the coffin. This is just reason 1 of 2000 why Bernie will never and should never be the nominee. Biden is shutting things down so people don't get sick, whereas Sanders is going the Trump route and pretending it doesn't exist for his own gain.

Did I mention that Bernie missed the coronavirus response vote in the Senate? What exactly is his job description, again?
 

Deck Knight

Blast Off At The Speed Of Light! That's Right!
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Trump taking questions from aggressive media all yesterday morning like a champ. He's used to it after years of media giving him 90%+ negative coverage reflexively. As the youngest remaining viable candidate in the field and seeking only a single remaining term, he's looking spry.

Biden campaign saying he wants a chair to sit down at the Sunday debate.
Biden himself isn't stuttering, he's not even completing sentences. He's picking fights with his own supporters.

Who looks like the strong horse?

Seems like barring an entirely separate act of God (Trump is currently acing the Coronavirus), this Biden nomination is just the DNC's last effort to preserve a house minority strong enough to potentially block Speaker McCarthy on niche issues.

Too bad. A Sanders / Castro (Julian) ticket losing Florida by 40 points taking every Florida Democratic House member down along with them would have been hilarious.

Love and peace to you all. Have a safe convention.
Oh, and don't mistake Republican good attitude for complacency.
Promise Made. It will be Kept.
 

Deck Knight

Blast Off At The Speed Of Light! That's Right!
is a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Top CAP Contributor Alumnusis a Top Smogon Media Contributor Alumnus
Not the thread for it, but yes, the view from outside the blue-check reinforced Twitter bubble is warranted. Remember, the media told you all Hillary couldn't lose. She asked herself why she wasn't 50 points ahead.

So far Trump has banned travel from China pretty much from the moment it happened. He expanded it to Europe the other day because they're the new epicenter.
He established a Task Force with the Vice President at the top, who as a former governor and sitting Vice President has both the previous experience and existing authority to properly coordinate all agencies.
Trump has gone directly to every major stakeholder in banking, testing lab, and other sectors to maximize private and public attention to the issue and marshal all available resources to address it.

Literally the only people who think Trump is incompetent are the people who have invested in that political narrative and can't be reasoned out of it because they never reasoned into it. Trump is an executive by trade. He's getting immense amounts of camera time out of this to display his willingness to use and command authority. He looks completely presidential to every persuadable outside observer. At some point the detractors start looking like they're just doing it for partisan reasons, because you can't say banning international travel and declaring a national emergency "don't go far enough." They can say he should have done it two days prior but no one will care a week out from the implementation.

This in spite of the media trying to terrify everyone into making supply runs on supermarkets. Bill Maher already said months ago he was rooting for recession. This outbreak isn't going to last until November. Exactly what do you think the backlash is going to be when people realize the left was hoping for an overreaction that would deliberately limit scarce supplies to the actually needy, and thereby increase overall suffering? This isn't the 60's or even the 90's. Media consumption is too diverse for the networks to panic the critical mass they need to make that happen.

I call this acing. Narratives don't matter, people remember actions. Nobody cares about the "Trump called it a hoax" narrative from Common Dreams when a state of national emergency is declared and a 30 day moratorium on travel to most of the world is in place.

If you think this is going to end up bad for Trump, remember how well impeaching him "forever" worked out.
 

Surgo

goes to eleven
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I read this article today and thought it was pretty good, even though it's coming from the failing New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/07/us/bernie-sanders-voters.html

I'm personally voting for Biden despite my utter disgust if he's ultimately the nominee. But I don't blame anyone who sits it out. I know so many people in my generation who have been completely destroyed by the neoliberalism that started in the Clinton years (people just like the ones in that article), and now they're being asked to vote for it? Yeah, no surprises or blame for sitting that one out.

Here's your reminder that Biden passed the bill that made student loan debt non-dischargeable, putting so many of them in that position.
 

TheValkyries

proudly reppin' 2 superbowl wins since DEFLATEGATE
I will also remember the action of appointing Mike Pence the head of the epidemic task force, the man who presided over and exacerbated a literal second HIV epidemic in his state.

But you're right, Trump is mostly doing alright all things considered. It's not his fault capitalism has failed this country so much that there are near 0 protections in place, making it so that to do anything effective to stem this tide requires herculean efforts in the face of an entirely inert and unwilling congress to enact any social goods.
 

EV

Banned deucer.
At this point, Trump could personally bitch-slap every one of his supporters with his micro penis and they'd all race to outdo each other's hyperbole until reaching the consensus of calling it a zeppelin-sized stimulus package.

I'd ask DK his thoughts on Trump pretending he had no idea what that nasty reporter from PBS was talking about when she pressed him on disbanding the pandemic response team in 2018, but since DK called the reporters "aggressive" (lol) I can tell he already has his mouth full of Trump.
 
Bernie did the progressive movement an error by running this time. He should have endorsed Senator Warren from the beginning. She was a candidate that could have been competitive with the moderate wing in this primary. Truth is, Bernie took voters from her, not vice versa.

I'm personally voting for Biden despite my utter disgust if he's ultimately the nominee. But I don't blame anyone who sits it out. I know so many people in my generation who have been completely destroyed by the neoliberalism that started in the Clinton years (people just like the ones in that article), and now they're being asked to vote for it? Yeah, no surprises or blame for sitting that one out.
We have to be adults about this. Clinton was probably the best President since LBJ. Purity destroys the progressive issues we care about. Trump getting another term means nothing will get done on health care, climate, and infrastructure for 4 more years. It also means the same generation of younger voters will only get their accomplishments thwarted by the extreme right wing judiciary that will be cemented for the next 50 years. Sitting out is not an option. In my view, people who sit out are lying about their progressivism.

Progress has to be continuously defended. The right wing takes every chance they can to move in the other direction. This is cycle is about defense. Does anyone think Medicare for all can survive a 7-2 conservative Supreme Court?
 
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Bernie did the progressive movement an error by running this time. He should have endorsed Senator Warren from the beginning. She was a candidate that could have been competitive with the moderate wing in this primary. Truth is, Bernie took voters from her, not vice versa.
ok come on. they both ran. warren lost (because she campaigned worse and her clinton-lite advisers took over her campaign). voters had multiple months to decide between bernie and warren, the progressive vote literally consolidated around bernie while both were in the race and seen as solid contenders.

We have to be adults about this. Clinton was probably the best President since LBJ. Purity destroys the progressive issues we care about. Trump getting another term means nothing will get done on health care, climate, and infrastructure for 4 more years. It also means the same generation of younger voters will only get their accomplishments thwarted by the extreme right wing judiciary that will be cemented for the next 50 years. Sitting out is not an option. In my view, people who sit out are lying about their progressivism.

Progress has to be continuously defended. The right wing takes every chance they can to move in the other direction. This is cycle is about defense. Does anyone think Medicare for all can survive a 7-2 conservative Supreme Court?
progress has to be consistently defended? by joe "nothing would fundamentally change" biden? and then you have the gall to talk about purity? this just makes it clear to me that you don't understand the actual progressive values people are talking about or that you haven't really engaged with real voters.

this kind of centrist neoliberalist ideology -- namely "we're not gonna help your life but LOOK at how bad orange guy is" -- is exactly what gets us a "burn the system down" candidate like trump. you want to know how i know? 2016.

also regarding the supreme court point: what if joe has to "compromise" with mcconnell like he "compromised" with republicans on clarence thomas? or the iraq war? his principles have clearly wavered over the years. republicans are going to turn out this year, us getting the senate back is not a done deal by any means.

i'd probably suck it up and vote biden if he's the nominee because i care about getting trump out of office, but if you think shaming voters into voting for your terrible candidate is the way to go ("let's be ADULTS here", because ADULTS really seemed to care about climate change so far), you're dead wrong.
 
ok come on. they both ran. warren lost (because she campaigned worse and her clinton-lite advisers took over her campaign). voters had multiple months to decide between bernie and warren, the progressive vote literally consolidated around bernie while both were in the race and seen as solid contenders.
Both of them running was the mistake. Had Bernie endorsed Warren and sat out, Warren would have a strong enough coalition to challenge Biden. The reality is a lot of Warren voters did not crossover to Sanders. However, in Warren vs Biden, the Sanders base + the Warren base could have the numbers to challenge Joe (not to mention Warren would destroy him in a one on one debate). Take a breath and think about what I’m saying.

progress has to be consistently defended? by joe "nothing would fundamentally change" biden? and then you have the gall to talk about purity? this just makes it clear to me that you don't understand the actual progressive values people are talking about or that you haven't really engaged with real voters.
Bullshit. Those “real voters” did not turn out to vote. Joe Biden, Barack Obama, and the Clinton’s are not the enemy.

this kind of centrist neoliberalist ideology -- namely "we're not gonna help your life but LOOK at how bad orange guy is" -- is exactly what gets us a "burn the system down" candidate like trump. you want to know how i know? 2016.

also regarding the supreme court point: what if joe has to "compromise" with mcconnell like he "compromised" with republicans on clarence thomas? or the iraq war? his principles have clearly wavered over the years. republicans are going to turn out this year, us getting the senate back is not a done deal by any means.

i'd probably suck it up and vote biden if he's the nominee because i care about getting trump out of office, but if you think shaming voters into voting for your terrible candidate is the way to go ("let's be ADULTS here", because ADULTS really seemed to care about climate change so far), you're dead wrong.
Shame is not the point. Medicare for all will never survive a 7-2 conservative Supreme Court.
 

Adamant Zoroark

catchy catchphrase
is a Contributor Alumnus
Let's forget about Medicare For All for a second and think about whether or not civil rights can survive a 7-2 Supreme Court majority. The answer is no. Conservatives have been collectively masturbating to the thought of overturning Roe v. Wade since 1973, and it's not just that. Obergefell v. Hodges is under threat too, and to be honest, I would fully expect to see them attempt to overturn Lawrence v. Texas because I think non-LGBT liberals keep forgetting that there were still states where it was a crime to be gay at the start of this century. We need to get a Democrat into the White House now to prevent any of this, and, if we don't, then we will have to start seriously discussing expanding the number of justices on the Supreme Court just to dilute the Trump appointees, which is a dangerous precedent and a can of worms best left unopened.

If you can't seriously view the Supreme Court as a reason to vote for a Democrat this November, you were never my ally.
 
Both of them running was the mistake. Had Bernie endorsed Warren and sat out, Warren would have a strong enough coalition to challenge Biden. The reality is a lot of Warren voters did not crossover to Sanders. However, in Warren vs Biden, the Sanders base + the Warren base could have the numbers to challenge Joe (not to mention Warren would destroy him in a one on one debate). Take a breath and think about what I’m saying.
yes because warren didn't endorse sanders. now i wonder why the so-called progressive didn't endorse the other progressive in the race, when the only other candidate remaining in the race (i know tulsi's in but yea) was the guy she came into politics to oppose (google "biden warren credit card" if you'd like).

Now I'd argue Warren lost because, maybe, she never really seemed committed to these progressive values above political expediency. The cycle showed the weaknesses in her political instinct (leaking the Bernie is a secret sexist stuff, trying to hammer every candidate in the debates like whack-a-mole, flip-flopping on Medicare for All). It also showed that Warren really isn't as popular as people think; especially on the Republican side, she just is not a popular candidate and I think this election cycle hurt her reputation among the consolidated progressive base a lot.

i'd bet good money warren would lose to trump btw; democrats in the debates played with kiddie gloves. even if trump is a terrible debater he wouldn't be afraid of bringing out the greatest hits in terms of the warren oppo research (i assume you have to know what i'm talking about)
Bullshit. Those “real voters” did not turn out to vote. Joe Biden, Barack Obama, and the Clinton’s are not the enemy.
yet you're telling these "real voters" -- who definitely never vote btw, I assume they're the target of your posts -- that they'd be making a huge mistake in not voting biden? if they never vote anyway, leave them alone man!

Shame is not the point. Medicare for all will never survive a 7-2 conservative Supreme Court.
okay i'll admit you lost me. joe's gonna lose, and joe's gonna veto medicare for all anyway (he literally admitted to this). if i'm someone who supports medicare for all, i assume i'd volunteer for bernie and try showing people why he's the better candidate (because pretty much all bernie supporters see the innumerable flaws biden poses, and why he will almost certainly lose to trump unless the coronavirus gets even worse [entirely possible]). joe is gonna lead to that 7-2 conservative supreme court, and in these voters' eyes their vote does absolutely nothing to change that.

this is on top of the fact that your ilk shamed people into voting for clinton; how'd that work out? there's a lot of people that are tired of holding their nose and voting for the lesser of two evils (literally not me, like i said i'd vote for biden)
 
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Surgo

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We have to be adults about this. Clinton was probably the best President since LBJ.
Clinton's neoliberalism was ruinous for both my generation and the Democratic party as a whole.

edit: To clarify what I mean by the latter, I'm talking about turning the Democratic party into the party of NAFTA + the party of gun control, thus removing it from viability from pretty much every southern state. I've talked to people here who are still registered Democrats yet haven't voted for a Democrat since Clinton was president, saying "I didn't leave the Democratic party, the Democratic party left me". This only came up because we were talking about the upcoming governor election in NYS, I would have never guessed that otherwise.
 
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termi

bike is short for bichael
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Joe Biden, Barack Obama, and the Clinton’s are not the enemy.
u could just, like, go to google or duckduckgo or whatever, type one of these names in + a key phrase like "wall street executives" or "goldman sachs" or something along those lines and see what you find. it should be common knowledge at this point that party elites on either side of the aisle are heavily influenced by big corporations and the financial sector, in fact to the point where this political system governs moreso in the name of them than in the name of the people they purportedly represent. any political actor who is not at least critical of that is, in a sense, the enemy. anyone running for office who does not understand the likes of the financial sector, private pharmaceutical companies, and agribusiness (to name but a few sectors) to be fundamentally opposed to the interests of "ordinary citizens" should not be understood as an ally to any serious progressive cause
 
yes because warren didn't endorse sanders. now i wonder why the so-called progressive didn't endorse the other progressive in the race, when the only other candidate remaining in the race (i know tulsi's in but yea) was the guy she came into politics to oppose (google "biden warren credit card" if you'd like).

Now I'd argue Warren lost because, maybe, she never really seemed committed to these progressive values above political expediency. The cycle showed the weaknesses in her political instinct (leaking the Bernie is a secret sexist stuff, trying to hammer every candidate in the debates like whack-a-mole, flip-flopping on Medicare for All). It also showed that Warren really isn't as popular as people think; especially on the Republican side, she just is not a popular candidate and I think this election cycle hurt her reputation among the consolidated progressive base a lot.

i'd bet good money warren would lose to trump btw; democrats in the debates played with kiddie gloves. even if trump is a terrible debater he wouldn't be afraid of bringing out the greatest hits in terms of the warren oppo research (i assume you have to know what i'm talking about)
The Warren Derangement Syndrome is preventing this discussion from being rational. Politics is about math and strategy. The Sanders base is not large enough to win a Democratic Primary. We have two cycles worth of evidence. In fact, he did worse this cycle. That being said, the strategic thing for Bernie Sanders to do was to align with Senator Warren from the beginning, as her base contains two key demographic groups he is weak with - college educated women, and African-American women. Warren was a hugely popular second choice among black women, whom only shied away from her because of "electibility" (these same voters backed Clinton in 2008 only up until Obama proved he could win). A Sanders-Warren alliance could have had a chance against Biden.

yet you're telling these "real voters" -- who definitely never vote btw, I assume they're the target of your posts -- that they'd be making a huge mistake in not voting biden? if they never vote anyway, leave them alone man!
Yes, that's a huge mistake.

okay i'll admit you lost me. joe's gonna lose, and joe's gonna veto medicare for all anyway (he literally admitted to this). if i'm someone who supports medicare for all, i assume i'd volunteer for bernie and try showing people why he's the better candidate (because pretty much all bernie supporters see the innumerable flaws biden poses, and why he will almost certainly lose to trump unless the coronavirus gets even worse [entirely possible]). joe is gonna lead to that 7-2 conservative supreme court, and in these voters' eyes their vote does absolutely nothing to change that.

this is on top of the fact that your ilk shamed people into voting for clinton; how'd that work out? there's a lot of people that are tired of holding their nose and voting for the lesser of two evils (literally not me, like i said i'd vote for biden)
Let's stop playing pundit. Voters clearly think Biden has a better chance to win vs. Trump. Trump even thinks Biden has a better chance, so much that he went and got impeached for it.

Clinton's neoliberalism was ruinous for both my generation and the Democratic party as a whole.

edit: To clarify what I mean by the latter, I'm talking about turning the Democratic party into the party of NAFTA + the party of gun control, thus removing it from viability from pretty much every southern state. I've talked to people here who are still registered Democrats yet haven't voted for a Democrat since Clinton was president, saying "I didn't leave the Democratic party, the Democratic party left me". This only came up because we were talking about the upcoming governor election in NYS, I would have never guessed that otherwise.
That's not a true statement without putting context to it. The Democrats lost three straight elections prior to Clinton, who only won by his first term by a plurality vote thanks to Ross Perot. At some point progressives have to reconcile with Clinton being the best option in that political climate.
 
u could just, like, go to google or duckduckgo or whatever, type one of these names in + a key phrase like "wall street executives" or "goldman sachs" or something along those lines and see what you find. it should be common knowledge at this point that party elites on either side of the aisle are heavily influenced by big corporations and the financial sector, in fact to the point where this political system governs moreso in the name of them than in the name of the people they purportedly represent. any political actor who is not at least critical of that is, in a sense, the enemy. anyone running for office who does not understand the likes of the financial sector, private pharmaceutical companies, and agribusiness (to name but a few sectors) to be fundamentally opposed to the interests of "ordinary citizens" should not be understood as an ally to any serious progressive cause
You could like, read H.R.1 and then tell us exactly when Trump and Mitch McConnell will push it through.
 

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