2020 Democratic Primary

[Pamela]

Joe is a good man. He has a tender heart, no doubt made that way in part by the extreme suffering and loss he has had to endure. He exudes character. That’s why he was Obama’s guy. That’s why Trump hates him.

Yes he is flakey, stutters, garbles his words, tells tall tales, makes bad calls. But he is the antithesis of Trump In the ways that matter. And the nonTrump contingent of the American people, led once again by black people, are unifying around him and his team of rivals.

To me that means America is still America. We are not going down without a fight.

 

[Free]

YOU'RE A DUPE!!!

 

[Essence Lumin]

My biggest worry about Biden is that he is literally losing his mind. We don't want a president who can't think straight regardless of their good intentions.

 

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Oh, I just thought I’d peek in and see if the Super Tuesday results had brought any reality into the mix. Because that’s a thing that totally might happen someday.

I was also shocked to learn negative interactions can happen in threads when I’m not here. I had it on good authority only I caused that

Here I been checking your Tweeter hoping to see your takes.

And that you're okay.

 

[Beebo Brink]

i think a not-insignificant factor in Biden’s unexpected surge might be a deeply growing mistrust in cult-of-personality candidates in general.

This was probably THE deciding factor in my shift from Sanders to Biden, if it came down to a choice between those two (which apparently it has). If it matters (which often it doesn't), my vote in the primary -- when it finally rolls around to my state -- will be for Biden. And pretty much every speech I've heard from Sanders over the course of today has solidified that decision as the right one for me.

 

[Cristiano]

 

[Pamela]

My biggest worry about Biden is that he is literally losing his mind. We don't want a president who can't think straight regardless of their good intentions.

I do. I am so starved for a president who is kind, honest, and trustworthy I can overlook a lot.

 

[Salome]

This was probably THE deciding factor in my shift from Sanders to Biden, if it came down to a choice between those two (which apparently it has). If it matters (which often it doesn't), my vote in the primary -- when it finally rolls around to my state -- will be for Biden. And pretty much every speech I've heard from Sanders over the course of today has solidified that decision as the right one for me.

I‘m even less enthusiastic to be voting Biden than I was HRC (although I felt she had fairly earned my vote by Election Day) but honestly where a majority of black voters decide to put their vote is where I'm voting, period. We cannot win anything without that core support so anything else is suicide.

And, yeah, watching Bernie go into scorched earth mode rather than earning votes mode all day has brought a lot of people back to reality about him, I think.

 

[Salome]

*stares in Harris/Castro*

 

[Free]

I do. I am so starved for a president who is kind, honest, and trustworthy I can overlook a lot.

 

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Facebook’s top news stories are like a window into an alternate dimension

It’s Super Tuesday and the coronavirus is spreading, but Facebook is talking about Hillary Clinton’s emails.

www.vox.com

 

[Innula Zenovka]

I‘m even less enthusiastic to be voting Biden than I was HRC (although I felt she had fairly earned my vote by Election Day) but honestly where a majority of black voters decide to put their vote is where I'm voting, period. We cannot win anything without that core support so anything else is suicide.

And, yeah, watching Bernie go into scorched earth mode rather than earning votes mode all day has brought a lot of people back to reality about him, I think.

While I don't have the same exposure to US election news as do Americans, of course (I know, poor me!), I think this, in The Atlantic, seems quite relevant:

His collapse among Democratic partisans came after recent full-throated attacks on “the Democratic establishment” in his rallies and media appearances. Sanders has often sounded more as if he believes he’s leading his movement in a hostile takeover of the party than a merger with it. (In his speech last night, he backed off only a half step, targeting his criticism at “the political establishment” rather than Democrats by name.) “It turns out that shitting all over the party you want to win the nomination of is a bad strategy,” said one Democratic pollster who is not affiliated with any campaign but requested anonymity to comment candidly on the race.

Bernie Sanders Gets a Rude Awakening

Super Tuesday’s clearest message: While the senator has inspired a passionate depth of support, the breadth of his coalition remains too limited to win the nomination.

www.theatlantic.com

Though it does point out that a one-to-one debate between Sanders and Biden would probably not go particularly well for the latter, so things may well change later on in the campaign.

 

[Pamela]

Facebook’s top news stories are like a window into an alternate dimension

It’s Super Tuesday and the coronavirus is spreading, but Facebook is talking about Hillary Clinton’s emails.

www.vox.com

Unfreakingbelievable:

Here’s a look at the full top 20 Facebook stories:

1 — Fox News story about Clinton’s emails
2 — CNN story about Australian wildfires
3 — CNN story about coronavirus
4 — Breitbart story about Clinton’s emails
5 — Daily Mail story about new Krispy Kreme doughnut
6 — Fox News story about Monday’s stock market rebound
7 — Ben Shapiro story on Monday’s stock market rebound
8 — Dan Bongino story on Clinton’s emails
9 — Fox News story comparing Bernie Sanders with Hugo Chávez
10 — CNN story on Apple iPhone settlement
11 — Fox News story about Chris Matthews’s retirement
12 — Robert Reich’s post on CNN story about John Lewis’s surprise appearance in Selma
13 — National Review story about Clinton’s emails
14 — BBC News story on Putin trying to ban same-sex marriage in Russia
15 — Bernie Sanders post with link to polling places info
16 — NBC News story story about UPS worker planning mass shooting
17 — TMZ story about Kobe Bryant’s death
18 — Ben Shapiro story on Clinton’s emails
19 — Dan Bongino story about Devin Nunes wanting to subpoena law enforcement and intelligence community officials
20 — NBC story about coronavirus

 

[Free]

Krispy Kreme has a new doughnut?!

 

[Spirits Rising]

I‘m even less enthusiastic to be voting Biden than I was HRC (although I felt she had fairly earned my vote by Election Day) but honestly where a majority of black voters decide to put their vote is where I'm voting, period. We cannot win anything without that core support so anything else is suicide.

And, yeah, watching Bernie go into scorched earth mode rather than earning votes mode all day has brought a lot of people back to reality about him, I think.

It won't be too long until we have the usual suspects trying to defend Bernie.

 

[Essence Lumin]

I do. I am so starved for a president who is kind, honest, and trustworthy I can overlook a lot.

Better than Orangey for sure. It seems like you could say that about some schizophrenic wandering the streets with love in his heart and nowhere to go. True, better than Trump.

 

[Salome]

Here I been checking your Tweeter hoping to see your takes.

And that you're okay.

I’ve been sick on and off since, like, November, and Twitter during Impeachment was unfuckingbearable so I went dark.

While I don't have the same exposure to US election news as do Americans, of course (I know, poor me!), I think this, in The Atlantic, seems quite relevant...

Though it does point out that a one-to-one debate between Sanders and Biden would probably not go particularly well for the latter, so things may well change later on in the campaign.

Bernie got the kid glove treatment from HRC and Dems last time around. That mistake will not be made again, so we’ll see. As you may remember, I defended/voted Bernie in 2016 and I’ve since gone 180 on his ass. He does little voter outreach to anyone outside his core and then whines that it’s everyone else’s fault or the rigging of the establishment when he loses. Two really good threads I saw today from progressives that do the work touched on his inability to win or unite:

 

[Beebo Brink]

And, yeah, watching Bernie go into scorched earth mode rather than earning votes mode all day has brought a lot of people back to reality about him, I think.

Trump has broken so many norms about what the president can and can't do that there will be a very real temptation to emulate his tactics to get things done. It's so easy to justify these actions by saying "But this is for a GOOD cause, an imperative one." That absolute certainty in one's own moral superiority and in the justness of your motivations in running over your opposition, is the first step toward tyranny. We've already taken it with Trump and the GOP. I honestly don't trust Sanders -- who is obsessed, rigid and intractable -- to resist that temptation, and I definitely don't trust his most rabid followers to notice or care if he perpetuates that tyranny, just in the service of his own cause.

 

[bubblesort]

I'm seeing a lot of people writing Bernie off way too soon.

Seeing the Warren supporters flip to Biden is wild, though. I mean, it shows what they really support, when push comes to shove. They didn't really care about health care. They just wanted the optics of being progressive, which is what Bernie's base has been saying about Warren all along.

I just don't understand old people. They are so crazy. Biden's base is basically people over 70. It's obvious to everybody with a memory longer than 2 minutes that he's racist, sexist, doesn't comprehend basic civil rights, and wants everybody to die in poverty. On top of that, his political theater is the worst. He speaks in word salad, and he just randomly gropes women and kids, and sucks his wife's fingers during stump speeches.

At this point, I have to ask... is the word salad thing some kind of dog whistle to people who took too much LSD back in the 1960s? That's the only way I can comprehend the support for Trump and now Biden. I think Biden's speech sounds like word salad to anybody under 40, but to people who did too many drugs in the 60s, it makes perfect sense, and somehow excuses the horrible things he's done. I must be missing something.

Do you guys really think Biden can beat Sanders in a debate? I mean... Sanders is all about this policy and that, talking wonky details, while Biden would be all, "look here, you raccoon munching prairie cat!" Sanders would have to have a stroke halfway through for Biden to win that argument, LOL.

 

[Isabeau]

And what drug are YOU on?