2020 Democratic Primary

[Lady Darnk Juniorette]

 

[Lady Darnk Juniorette]

 

[Lady Darnk Juniorette]

 

[Isabeau]

 

[Cristalle]

Tulsi is a DINO, and Marianne is - well, Marianne is Marianne.

Hardly. If you look at her actual policy positions, she's squarely in the Democratic camp and quite progressive. But people are not focused on policy.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Wasn't sure which of the many possible threads to put this in, but thought this one is probably most appropriate

A Call to Action for the Large, Cacophonous Mess That is the Democratic Party

The Democratic Party is a broad, diverse coalition that agrees on little more than Trump’s general terribleness. Their individual interests often conflict. In 2018, for example, Nancy Pelosi and th…

lithub.com

I found it particularly interesting, in that I now at least understand why I find the Democratic Party so puzzling -- our Labour Party in the UK seems pretty dysfunctional at times, as last December demonstrated all too painfully, but you have us beat hands down, I fear.

I'd be very interested to know what people make of his proposals.

 

[Lady Darnk Juniorette]

These primaries really have gone too far now.

I just burnt my pizza reading political junk.

 

[Aribeth Zelin]

Wasn't sure which of the many possible threads to put this in, but thought this one is probably most appropriate

A Call to Action for the Large, Cacophonous Mess That is the Democratic Party

The Democratic Party is a broad, diverse coalition that agrees on little more than Trump’s general terribleness. Their individual interests often conflict. In 2018, for example, Nancy Pelosi and th…

lithub.com

I found it particularly interesting, in that I now at least understand why I find the Democratic Party so puzzling -- our Labour Party in the UK seems pretty dysfunctional at times, as last December demonstrated all too painfully, but you have us beat hands down, I fear.

I'd be very interested to know what people make of his proposals.

I didn't read the whole thing but, I agree - the presidency means nothing if we don't get back the Senate and keep the house - by we, I mean the non-GOP folks in general.

Also, the thing about the Democratic party is, that until very recently, it still had civil war era type democrats. A lot of 'my daddy and my momma were democrats' going back that far. So its always been a hot mess, really.

 

[danielravennest]

I never understood that expression. Would unchopped liver be better?

Chopped liver is a recipe of mainly chopped chicken livers, onions, and hard-boiled eggs. Various explanations for the phrase:

"“chopped liver was traditionally served as a side dish rather than a main course.” So the idea would be that sometimes, a person might feel like their thoughts or feelings are not being considered as fully as they should, so they feel like they are being treated as if they were a side dish. (Wikipedia)

Chopped liver is a stereotypical Jewish food. And the idiom implies that on a table with all kinds of foods, the chopped liver is ignored.

The symbolism is that some Jews might have the feeling that in a predominantly Christian country like America with all the different sects like Catholics, Baptists, Lutherans, Methodists, Presbyterians, etc, the Jews are ignored.

You can find the "what am I, chopped liver" expression in a play(1949) by Joey Adams, famous Jewish comedian. I have no doubt it existed in Borscht Belt comedian's routines earlier than that.

 

[Katheryne Helendale]

Tom Steyer is dropping out of the race.

Tom Steyer Drops Out of 2020 Presidential Race (Published 2020)

Mr. Steyer, the former hedge-fund executive, exited the race after a disappointing finish in South Carolina — a state where he had spent considerable resources and pinned the hopes of his campaign.

www.nytimes.com

 

[Katheryne Helendale]

Wasn't sure which of the many possible threads to put this in, but thought this one is probably most appropriate

A Call to Action for the Large, Cacophonous Mess That is the Democratic Party

The Democratic Party is a broad, diverse coalition that agrees on little more than Trump’s general terribleness. Their individual interests often conflict. In 2018, for example, Nancy Pelosi and th…

lithub.com

I found it particularly interesting, in that I now at least understand why I find the Democratic Party so puzzling -- our Labour Party in the UK seems pretty dysfunctional at times, as last December demonstrated all too painfully, but you have us beat hands down, I fear.

I'd be very interested to know what people make of his proposals.

He's not wrong. His assessment of the Democratic Party seems pretty spot on. It's a disorganized mess. It doesn't help that there are so many people who, if their candidate doesn't get the nomination, will just take their ball and go home. We saw that in 2016, and I have no doubt we'll see it again in 2020. And that will also hurt downticket candidates.

 

[Roxanne Blue]

Tom Steyer is dropping out of the race.

Tom Steyer Drops Out of 2020 Presidential Race (Published 2020)

Mr. Steyer, the former hedge-fund executive, exited the race after a disappointing finish in South Carolina — a state where he had spent considerable resources and pinned the hopes of his campaign.

www.nytimes.com

Way Past time for Steyer and the bottom tier to bail out. They're damaging viable candidates with no chance of winning the nomination themselves. Bernie, Biden and maybe Warren and let's sort this out. Time for the rest of the vanity players to get out of the way. That especially includes Bloomberg. If you spend more than half a billion dollars trying to convince America you're the only one who can beat Trump to so little effect, you might want to conclude you're selling a product that very few people actually want.

 

[Aribeth Zelin]

We've only had one primary in a state that might actually vote blue in the general - it seems a bit early to make predictions based on the primaries we've seen - but I agree Bloomberg needs to drop - if he can't do well in red states, then he won't do well in blue ones.

 

[Lady Darnk Juniorette]

 

[Free]

Tom Steyer Drops Out Of Democratic Primary Race

Presidential candidate and billionaire Tom Steyer has ended his 2020 campaign after a third-place finish in South Carolina’s primary on...

talkingpointsmemo.com

 

[Lady Darnk Juniorette]

 

[Brenda Archer]

Wasn't sure which of the many possible threads to put this in, but thought this one is probably most appropriate

A Call to Action for the Large, Cacophonous Mess That is the Democratic Party

The Democratic Party is a broad, diverse coalition that agrees on little more than Trump’s general terribleness. Their individual interests often conflict. In 2018, for example, Nancy Pelosi and th…

lithub.com

I found it particularly interesting, in that I now at least understand why I find the Democratic Party so puzzling -- our Labour Party in the UK seems pretty dysfunctional at times, as last December demonstrated all too painfully, but you have us beat hands down, I fear.

I'd be very interested to know what people make of his proposals.

He’s so very right.

The Democrats have very little ground game in a lot of counties outside their strongholds. This amounts to conceding. It’s got to change, and local candidates need attention and support.

It’s especially no good when it seems city politicians have been chosen by developers and the Chamber of Commerce, for want of participation by anyone else. That just creates cities where Dems are lite Republicans. South Bend seems to be one of them (and I don’t even blame Buttigieg personally, this situation is the current normal).

A lot of the things that Dems want require heavy local involvement, like fixing policing and homelessness. We should be involved in a participatory way. Bernie exists because Vermont is extremely participatory on the local level.

 

[Beebo Brink]

The difference between Democrats and Republicans goes well beyond policies, and that's part of the problem. The parties appeal to two different types of personality/temperaments.

Republicans have your typical conservative (small c) mindset: autocratic, hierarchical, and disciplined. It's an easier pool of people to organize because they buy in to the model of a leader telling them what to do. As conservatives (still small c) they are invested in maintaining the status quo, which is a much easier task to define than alternatives to the status quo.

The Dems, on the other hand, have a higher proportion of liberal and progressive thinkers, who by their very nature question authority and are more self-directed. Also, while there is only one status quo, championing a new (fill-in-the-blank) has infinite variations. Trying to get them all to work together and accept a common set of priorities, much less a common set of solutions, is like herding cats.

Much as I appreciate all the self-help books and roadmaps for growth that people write, trying to get the Dems to organize and be more effective, this isn't likely to be successful. What all that advice boils down to is "Be more like conservatives", but if people wanted to do that, or even could do that, we'd be Republicans instead of Democrats.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

The difference between Democrats and Republicans goes well beyond policies, and that's part of the problem. The parties appeal to two different types of personality/temperaments.

Nevertheless, somehow many countries other than the US do, or have until recently managed to, sustain large, more or less coherent, left-of-centre political parties.

The history of how the Labour Party took over from the Liberals as the main anti-Conservative party in the UK post WW1 is quite instructive, to my mind:

Liberal Party (UK) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Veritable Quandry]

Way Past time for Steyer and the bottom tier to bail out. They're damaging viable candidates with no chance of winning the nomination themselves. Bernie, Biden and maybe Warren and let's sort this out. Time for the rest of the vanity players to get out of the way. That especially includes Bloomberg. If you spend more than half a billion dollars trying to convince America you're the only one who can beat Trump to so little effect, you might want to conclude you're selling a product that very few people actually want.

On Tuesday a geographically and demographically large bloc of states will hold primaries. I would hate to narrow the field to two candidates before that based on four smaller states. There are some that are not viable, but a few who may turn their campaigns around by outperforming expectations.

Except Bloomberg. The sooner he fucks right off the better.