Democratic Party Presidential Candidates for 2020

[Veritable Quandry]

Any massive tax cut have to deal with the damage left by the tRump tax cut. Unless we revise the entire tax code, we are looking at massive deficits and/or slashing services. I am not against deficits if used properly, but anything of this scale on top of our current tax code is unsustainable.

 

[Brenda Archer]

The profound economic mess almost certainly being created by this administration requires someone with deep experience on the ticket and that’s why I am leaning toward Warren. What I really mean to say is that we’re headed for another Depression and I have to ask, who benefits? It won’t be the young middle class buried in student debt or the middle aged middle class getting picked off by medical debt.

$1.2T in risky corporate debt showing similar warning signs to subprime crisis | Hacker News

Kelleher said the decline in lending standards was troubling.
“You have the leveraged loan market growing at a very rapid clip at the same time the standards are dropping,” he said. “The leveraged loan market is flashing red warning lights all over the place.”

Those are Warren’s concerns as well. She said in her November letter that federal regulators appointed by President Trump appear to have backed off guidance issued in 2013 by Obama-appointed regulators urging banks to use tougher underwriting standards for leveraged loans.

Devos Watch | U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts
More fun from the disaster that is student loans and education under DeVos.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren: Government shutdown is Trump's fault | Boston.com

 

[Brenda Archer]

Washington Post: It's time to let the government manufacture generic drugs | U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts

 

[Brenda Archer]

This issue is faced by all the candidates who are women. Sexism, expressed directly as bias and indirectly as anti-choice single-issue voting, is a big part of what got us Trump. But our media rarely talks openly about sexism.

Is Elizabeth Warren Unpopular? It Depends on Whom You Ask. - The Atlantic

 

[Cristiano]

 

[Cristiano]

The lie machine about Kamala Harris instantly kicks into full gear

 

[Dakota Tebaldi]

I'm seeing on social media what I see as a kind of push or feeling of urgency for people to come out and choose, and declare support for A candidate, apparently to back from now until the primaries. Which are more than a year away.

That ain't the way to do this, guys! I'm not picking up anyone's flag until next February. Let these guys and gals bust their buns between now and then to EARN your primary vote. A lot can happen in a year. How these folks conduct their primary campaign is just as important to me as all the stuff they've done before now.

 

[Kara Spengler]

I'm seeing on social media what I see as a kind of push or feeling of urgency for people to come out and choose, and declare support for A candidate, apparently to back from now until the primaries. Which are more than a year away.

That ain't the way to do this, guys! I'm not picking up anyone's flag until next February. Let these guys and gals bust their buns between now and then to EARN your primary vote. A lot can happen in a year. How these folks conduct their primary campaign is just as important to me as all the stuff they've done before now.

Yeah, I sure I am going to see a lot of stuff wanting me to declare but I will see who gets in and what they do for campaigning. It really all comes down to who enters and what support they have. Going on records alone of who has entered it would be Bernie (with Warren a close second) but their record is not the only important thing.

I would say this fall though rather than February. Anyone serious will have either declared or made strong indications that they most likely will. An unknown can not wait until primary season to speak up.

Then again, I am originally from the state with the first primary (and frustratingly living where the LAST primary is held). We are used to having already met all the serious candidates in our party several times by the time the primary comes around.

 

[Jolene Benoir]

Nobody is justified in criticizing a WoC's civil rights record working as a prosecutor in system designed against PoC.
I've never seen KH promote lower taxes for the wealthy.
She's on record supporting M4A and justice reform. 2017-2018 congressional voting record lists hers as the MOST progressive, followed in order by Warren, Booker, and Sanders.

There's no reason to see her inferior to anyone.

Outright radical IS a good reason for rejection. Seriously, if all you want is someone to stir up shit in the party, GTFO.

I disagree fairly strongly on the not being able to criticize a woc having done things like defend a man who falsified a confession, and pushing an initiative that jails parents for their children's truancy, per Porsupah's link. Working in a system designed to harm poc and being of color yourself does not justify doing things like that. We are aware of *some* poc who are anything but concerned about justice (David Clarke?).

That said, of course, of course, she is going to be brutalized in ways that no male candidate or even the other female candidates will be, primarily because she is a woc. This country hates women and it really, really hates woc. Democrats vetting her on her record is going to be nothing compared to what the dirty, nasty, racist, sexist Republicans come up with and it's already in full gear against any woman and in particular against her.

I am still concerned that a female cannot win the election, period, no matter who it is because this country is so assbackward. With Trump and his hate army the misogynists and racists are in full motion, perhaps in ways they would not be in his absence. The man stole the Presidency with the help of Russia, is the most corrupt and incompetent President we've ever had, and they still support him over a female.

 

[Cristalle]

I had a strong emotional reaction to this little gem of a Draft Beto video
But then these days I seem to have a strong emotional reaction to anything/ anyone positive and hopeful.

Anyway, while Kamala or Elizabeth would probably be my first pick, I think Beto’s charisma would make him a good addition to the ticket.

I'm sorry, this video does nothing for me. I am a policy person. Give me policies, not platitudes, and that will get me going. This isn't a cult of personality. We need to stop behaving like that. Charisma is nice, but it needs to be backed up by real policies that are more than just aspirations. Of the declared candidates, Elizabeth is my early favorite because of that. I think she's more sincere about certain things than other candidates. But they all have different strengths. That said, there is more than enough time to see what happens and how people develop policy to go with their issues.

 

[Pamela]

I'm sorry, this video does nothing for me. I am a policy person. Give me policies, not platitudes, and that will get me going. This isn't a cult of personality. We need to stop behaving like that. Charisma is nice, but it needs to be backed up by real policies that are more than just aspirations. Of the declared candidates, Elizabeth is my early favorite because of that. I think she's more sincere about certain things than other candidates. But they all have different strengths. That said, there is more than enough time to see what happens and how people develop policy to go with their issues.

I understand, but my perception is that many people who vote, vote more on charisma and maybe character than on policy. So it is imperative that the nominee have both.

As I have said before, I want first of all someone who can drive a stake through Trump’s heart. Re policies: No one’s record is going to be perfect and I accept that.

 

[Pamela]

Someone on msnbc mentioned that for some Dem nominees, the party has been moving left so rapidly that policies they embraced not long ago now look shockingly unprogressive. They are playing catch-up now. I think that should be taken into account, lest the perfect be made an enemy of the merely very good.

 

[Kara Spengler]

Someone on msnbc mentioned that for some Dem nominees, the party has been moving left so rapidly that policies they embraced not long ago now look shockingly unprogressive. They are playing catch-up now. I think that should be taken into account, lest the perfect be made an enemy of the merely very good.

It is interesting to watch. While a lot are still centrists it is almost a game of 'who can be more progressive'. Part of it is a direct response to trumpism, so in a way we have the gop and fox to thank for the country becoming more progressive.

 

[Pamela]

Part of it is a direct response to trumpism, so in a way we have the gop and fox to thank for the country becoming more progressive.

Silver lining — thank God for our Blue Wave, a direct result of the fascist coup.

I am paying vastly more attention to politics now than before it started to feel like Germany in 1933. Since established norms and traditions are rapidly crumbling, people are more likely to say, yes, a 70% marginal tax rate on the wealthy sounds about right, let’s do it! Medicare for all sounds good. Oh, and $15 an hour.

 

[Cindy Claveau]

The lie machine about Kamala Harris instantly kicks into full gear

But if you didn’t know anything else about her you’ve only read the troll section on social media today, on the right and on the fringe left, you’d think she’s the devil.

Kamala Harris has a track record that makes clear she’s one of the most liberal candidates in the 2020 Democratic field, along with Elizabeth Warren. For instance, the legal work Harris did on gay marriage in California is one of the driving reasons it’s now the law of the land nationwide. But don’t tell any of that to a certain niche of online political activists who call themselves “progressives” as they have an entirely different story to tell about her.

 

[Cristalle]

The lie machine about Kamala Harris instantly kicks into full gear

There are progressives out there who are honest about her record. There is no perfect politician. All of them have some kind of fault. I resent the smear from Palmer about progressives. He sounds like a tool, here.

 

[Kara Spengler]

There are progressives out there who are honest about her record. There is no perfect politician. All of them have some kind of fault. I resent the smear from Palmer about progressives. He sounds like a tool, here.

Exactly, you can find a fault with any politician. Wait until later in the year when the field is shaping up. Then you can say things like 'candidate xyz is the best for insertissuehere'. Right now you are looking them in isolation so can find a fault with any of them.

 

[Dakota Tebaldi]

Exactly, you can find a fault with any politician. Wait until later in the year when the field is shaping up. Then you can say things like 'candidate xyz is the best for insertissuehere'. Right now you are looking them in isolation so can find a fault with any of them.

Yup that's my thinking exactly. Every one of them has flaws - and some of them, you don't know about. And it's really best to look at the totality of all these things from as neutral and unattached a viewpoint as you can. Cuz you might declare you support Person X now, and then later on something Person X did wrong comes out, but you feel attached to them and so now you feel an urge to make excuses for them where you otherwise wouldn't if you didn't support them. That's the problem with bias.

 

[Han Held]

He sounds like a tool, here.

Agreed. At least I feel safe in continuing to not follow his blog.

 

[Brenda Archer]

When I was in California it really struck me how much Harris genuinely was liked and made people feel they were being represented.

On Twitter the hashtag #kamalaharrisisacop has been going around for quite a while. It seems to be posted the most by very left leaning people, most of whom don’t seem to be in California.

If this is going to be a repeat of the Bernie Bros that’s pretty maddening.