2020 Democratic Primary

[Ellie]

Probably our fault not yours, but maybe you might consider finding a less hostile audience for your wisdom, since it's going sorely unappreciated here?

Is that a polite British way of saying fuck off?

Long, but well worth reading.

The Democratic presidential nomination race is a fascinating case study in how power works – not least, because the Democratic party leaders are visibly contriving to impose one candidate, Joe Biden, as the party’s nominee, even as it becomes clear that he is no longer mentally equipped to run a local table tennis club let alone the world’s most powerful nation.

 

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Is that a polite British way of saying fuck off?

The best part of being Canadian is having had a great deal of exposure to the old country throughout life. I’ve found it quite helpful in translating British to American, or explaining what the Brit really meant to Germans. Or just stay mum, make popcorn, and watch the show.

Spoiler: But to answer your question

 

[Salome]

The Democratic presidential nomination race is a fascinating case study in how power works – not least, because the Democratic party leaders are visibly contriving to impose one candidate, Joe Biden, as the party’s nominee, even as it becomes clear that he is no longer mentally equipped to run a local table tennis club let alone the world’s most powerful nation.

It‘s cute how ya’ll think word count somehow bolsters or disguises your conspiracy-laden nonsense. Or excuses the fact that it’s always laced with lots of not-so-thinly veiled racism and ableism.

 

[Grandma Bates]

It‘s cute how ya’ll think word count somehow bolsters or disguises your conspiracy-laden nonsense. Or excuses the fact that it’s always laced with lots of not-so-thinly veiled racism and ableism.

The article kind of encapsulates the whole discussion. A simplistic deconstruction whose underlying argument is that it was us vs. them. Creating an artificial "they" and decrying identity politics while simultaneously appealing to the exclusivity of their own awareness as if the last 50 years of tension with the Democratic party is some new thing. The real problem is some arcane establishment, and the only solution being offered is to tear it all down and burn it. Well, mostly they just want to complain about it.

It is a call to a rather impotent mob that has no real solutions other than blind anger. It is frustrating because many of the symptoms being pointed out are true. It is easy to point out the flaws of a candidate like former VP Biden, because they are real. Unfortunately, Sen. Sanders simply did not speak to people beyond a shrinking circle and could not adapt to this year's cycle. To blame it on different groups because their eyes are not open takes away their agency and genuine concerns. It reduces opponents to mindless, brainwashed masses who need to be liberated despite themselves. They stop just short of claiming to have taken the red pill. If this is all they have in the end then it should not be a surprise that people simply walk away from them and ignore them. The irony is that this group of mostly young upstarts has been reduced to a bunch of old men yelling at clouds.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Is that a polite British way of saying fuck off?

Long, but well worth reading.

The Democratic presidential nomination race is a fascinating case study in how power works – not least, because the Democratic party leaders are visibly contriving to impose one candidate, Joe Biden, as the party’s nominee, even as it becomes clear that he is no longer mentally equipped to run a local table tennis club let alone the world’s most powerful nation.

I checked the date of the article and, to my surprise, it was written in March this year, so God alone knows what prompted him to write this:

The establishment is no longer worried about who stands on stage – so long as that person is not a Bernie Sanders in the US, or a Jeremy Corbyn in the UK.

OK, he's now based in Bethlehem, not the UK, which possibly excuses his ignorance of exactly what a catastrophe Jeremy Corbyn's leadership of the Labour Party was and how, after the Conservatives' landslide victory, his chosen successor Rebecca Long-Bailey received 26% of the vote in the party's leadership elections, while Keir Starmer gained 56% (including mine).

However, I then came across this colourful chart:

I'm not going to waste my time checking each of his claims about Biden's policies, but really -- no climate action? No racial justice?

Come off it!

 

[Eunoli]

I'm not going to waste my time checking each of his claims about Biden's policies, but really -- no climate action? No racial justice?

Come off it!

Not to mention "No children in cages" or "Didn't kill 100,000 Americans with inept leadership" or "Doesn't regularly promote white supremacists" or "believes in science" or "actually knows the best people" or "wouldn't hold states hostage for funds unless they praised him" or "wouldn't hold foreign countries hostage for funds unless they lied about his opponent" or "never had to hide in a bunker because angry mobs were trying to burn down the white house because he couldn't show leadership, empathy or take action to help right wrongs" ...or ...or....or...

 

[Eunoli]

While the Dumpster was hiding in a bunker and tweeting about antifa yesterday, this was happening:

 

[Aribeth Zelin]

I pushed past the first paragraph of that smear disguised at an article until the graphic, because its obvious that its nothing more than a sulk writen to either blame power, or more likely, create further dissension among us.

 

[Beebo Brink]

Democratic party leaders are visibly contriving to impose one candidate, Joe Biden, as the party’s nominee

Democrats all over the country voted for Joe in overwhelming numbers. You know that, we know that. Saying that he's being imposed on us is ludicrous and a big fail in terms of gaslighting. It's like Trump boasting of his record attendance numbers at the inauguration, pure fantasy. Sanders LOST, end of story.

 

[Salome]

It is easy to point out the flaws of a candidate like former VP Biden, because they are real. Unfortunately, Sen. Sanders simply did not speak to people beyond a shrinking circle and could not adapt to this year's cycle. To blame it on different groups because their eyes are not open takes away their agency and genuine concerns. It reduces opponents to mindless, brainwashed masses who need to be liberated despite themselves.

The thing is Biden’s flaws are all mundane and almost quaint by today’s standards. Some old speech plgarism. Some bad votes from decades ago. An older Catholic man who had to be beaten over the head to grasp modern sensibilities regarding personal space. Considering the shit we’re dealing with now, it‘s easy to see why most of these attacks don’t land. Especially since becoming the front runner Biden has repeatedly shown more responsible messaging on sensitive issues and a willingness to adopt the policies of other Dems.

In 2016, there was an enormous “draft Biden” subset of Democrats, and it wasn’t just “the establishment” doing it. After HRC lost, every dude with a talk show or a column inch mumbled about how it should have been Biden on the ticket. When HRC voters pointed out the undercurrents of misogyny, they were accused of having sour grapes. But, misogyny or not, an enormous number of people (for whatever reason) wanted Biden, even in 2016. Jump ahead to this primary and the debates, any candidate that pushed back on Biden, even when they were right, dropped in the polls. It impacted both of my favorite candidates, But it made it clear that, regardless of my personal preferences and misgivings, a big part of the electorate likes Biden. You’d have to be a willful idiot to fail to recognize that at this point.

Sanders ran possibly the worst campaign I’ve seen in my adult life, and it’s mostly because he was running to lead the Democratic Party while surrounding himself with people who hate Democrats. Of the many, many mistakes Sanders made everything can be traced back to that thread. They wanted to pretend they had a different electorate, they didn’t want to communicate and win over the electorate they had. What’s funny to me is all this crybabying about “the establishment” when Bernie’s whole pitch has been that he was going to bring in so many disenfranchised voters he would overwhelm rank and file Dems. That never manifested. So now it’s all crying about “the establishment” keeping Dems from voting for him. As if we’re all just supposed to forget the promise of how he was going to bring in so many new voters the rest of us wouldn’t matter.

Biden wasn’t my choice, but it’s stupid to deny the obvious. A majority of voters like him and trust him to govern responsibly and with empathy. Even if he wasn’t their first choice they don’t hate him and believe they can work with him. There hasnt been a multi-generation relentless hate campaign against him like there was with HRC so it’s been harder to chip away at his likability, and the constant smears from the GOP and TYT left aren’t really landing (and boy are they pissed about it). The one that keeps backfiring the worst that you see even the dupes here keep pushing is the ableist “mental decline” nonsense. It only lowers expectations on Biden that he keeps sailing over for anyone not in their bubble.

And finally, watching the GOP dismantle department after department and loot the county has made people want empathy, leadership, and experience. Sanders has no empathy and has never bothered to try. Sanders hires trolls and agitators and that doesn’t give people confidence in who he’d select for important positions, which doesn’t make him seem like a leader.

It doesn’t take a conspiracy to understand why a majority of voters support Biden. But a refusal to do an honest autopsy is why Bernie did worse in his second run than in 2016. If you cannot admit your mistakes and weaknesses and have to make everything someone else’s fault, you’re never going to get anywhere.

 

[Salome]

Look at these establishment Dems making excuses for “fumbling the ball” and not getting relief to Americans....

 

[Veritable Quandry]

I don't see every post these days (can't say I miss them, I just don't see them due to finally ignoring a bunch of people), but this one is in my feed, and worth commenting on.

The entire point of the article is to de-legitimize the nomination because an outside candidate who spent no time over the last 4 years broadening their coalition lost badly. It was an own goal. Sanders railed against the "Democratic establishment" which came off as whiny butt-hurt to those of us who have worked for the same causes but bothered to join the fucking party 40 years ago. I could not actually vote 40 years ago, but my father was a union organizer, and I started working for candidates at a young age (I remember Ron Wyden as a state rep). The key point of the article is this:

As I pointed out in my previous post, the establishment’s power derives from its invisibility. Scrutiny is kryptonite to power.

So they posit that there exists a "Democratic Establishment" that did in Sanders, but they can't be asked to name any of them because they are invisible. I'm going to assume they mean that literally. Invisible forces aligned against us is always a great party to blame your own failure on. Of course they exist, of course you can't see them, but they run everything.

The problem is, Sanders never gained traction with actual voters. He was not, as the article implies, muzzled from saying certain things because invisible fairies or goblins or whatever controlled the narrative. He had a place at the debates, he raised money, he put out ads. Sanders was not silenced, he was just not fucking convincing. I voted for him in the 2016 primaries, but by 2020 I felt that he was not a viable candidate, and that he was more about throwing out vague feel-good promises than mapping out actual policy, and that he had done sweet fuck all to join with he party that he wanted to lead.

In short, Sanders lost the primary because SANDERS LOST THE PRIMARY.

And so the effort turns to discrediting the will of the Democratic electorate, and as a bonus throwing out bullshit about Biden's metal health. I have followed Democratic politics for years, and Biden has ALWAYS been known for his gaffes (partly due to his very real speech impediment that he has worked to control). Those and his folksy stories are part of why voters have connected with Biden over a long career, and why he has built up the connections that Sanders couldn't be assed to do. People like a sincere, folksy, working-class banter more than they like being lectured for some unfathomable reason. Biden is being Biden, and there is no fucking evidence of "mental decline" except in the minds of people who believe in invisible partisan faeries.

Then there's that laughable chart that "proves" in the finest Internet tradition that Biden=Trump. First, it over-simplifies a number of points. For example, Biden is not in the forefront of the M4A fight, but contrary to what has been alleged, has said he could sign it if it had protections for people with good plans during the transition. But he is put as having the same policy as Trump, who wants to eliminate the ACA and extension of Medicare under ACA. His plan, as much as anyone knows, amounts to massive deregulation, eliminating the ability to sue for malpractice, and the return of junk plans. Biden wants to build on the ACA with more effective regulations, expand Medicare in all states, and create a public option to put price pressure on insurance companies in markets with limited competition. Biden, like Sanders, wants to expand access to coverage, but they differ on the methods. So according to this regurgitating troll author, Biden=Trump and Sanders is the only one for healthcare. Insert rusty chainsaw in the orifice of your choice.

Same thing down the line. My favorite, of course, is where it says Biden will "continue the war on labor" while Sanders will "strengthen labor unions." Why do you think Unions overwhelmingly supported Biden? I'll give you a hint. He was born in Scranton and raised in Pennsylvania and Delaware. Success in those areas required making connections to labor unions, and he has had a close working relationship with unions throughout his career. Biden's first Senate run was considered a long-shot, and so the only major organization that supported him (including the Democratic National Committee) was the AFL-CIO. His union connections and rust-belt background are why Sherrod Brown decided not to run. While I believe Brown would be a better candidate (more liberal but he could still carry Ohio in a year Republicans took every other statewide office) he pulled back because he and Biden were after the same voters.

tl:dr: Sanders lost because of Sanders, not invisible partisan faeries, and Biden is not a mentally incompetent Conservative Republican.

tl:sdr: Fuck you and your Russian agitprop with a rusty chainsaw.

 

[Essence Lumin]

I'm not going to waste my time checking each of his claims about Biden's policies, but really -- no climate action? No racial justice?

Come off it!

I wouldn't take what he says on his campaign page at face value for climate action or racial justice. A quick look for his history with climate action include

Joe Biden Has Multiple Ties to Liquefied Natural Gas Pioneer Cheniere Energy

Regardless of what Biden knew, his ties to Goldman bring into focus his significant connections to the much larger liquefied natural gas firm Cheniere Energy. Goldman’s fellow Western LNG co-founder, CEO Davis Thames, was previously senior vice president and chief financial officer of Cheniere Energy, a company that paid Biden’s current climate adviser more than a million dollars to serve on its board until 2018. And a former Biden adviser lobbied for the company.

During the Paris Agreement talks.

Joe Biden’s Sketchy Climate Record

While the talks continued, Biden traveled to Eastern Europe. It’s a place he visited several times during Obama’s second term, as a cheerleader for natural gas. During an April 2014 trip to Ukraine, Biden unveiled a crisis support package that included enlisting several U.S. government agencies to promote shale gas development, meant to wean Ukraine off Russian gas. American oil and gas companies at the time had also urged lawmakers to ease restrictions on American oil and gas exports, pointing to the potential benefit not just for their own coffers but for aiding Ukraine and undermining Russian dominance in the region. Then–Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz favored easing export restrictions, too, and Obama signed onto an omnibus spending bill that lifted the crude oil export ban in 2015, just days after world leaders celebrated the Paris Agreement.

Natural Gas And Oil Industry Stalwarts Fueling Biden Campaign - Citizen Truth

But the most dangerous connection to the gas and oil industry is Biden’s campaign co-chairman Louisiana Democratic Rep. Cedric Richmond. Richmond has been a steady vote in favor of the expansion of the production and exporting of natural gas and oil.

He voted in favor of the Keystone XL pipeline and “voted in favor of a bill from Rep. Bill Johnson (R-Ohio) that would undermine the environmental review process for natural gas pipelines by stating that all pipelines that transport 0.14 billion cubic feet per day or less should be immediately approved,” Sludge reported.


Richmond also voted for bills to exempt cross-border pipelines from environmental review, reverse the crude oil export ban, expand offshore drilling and block the EPA from regulating the disposal of toxic coal ash.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

I wouldn't take what he says on his campaign page at face value for climate action or racial justice. A quick look for his history with climate action include

Joe Biden Has Multiple Ties to Liquefied Natural Gas Pioneer Cheniere Energy



During the Paris Agreement talks.

Joe Biden’s Sketchy Climate Record



Natural Gas And Oil Industry Stalwarts Fueling Biden Campaign - Citizen Truth

Quite possibly so, but "I don't trust him promptly and effectively to carry out his policies" is not the same as "there is no difference between Trump and Biden."

This is getting surreal, and frighteningly so for someone watching from abroad, since so much of the US seems to be in denial.

There's people in denial about Covid-19 and flocking to the beach and so on, oblivious to the consequences, and the police are attacking protestors against their killing black people, and there's rioting, and Trump's busily inflaming it all, and there's five months still to the election and then almost three months after before a new president is sworn in, so God alone knows what a shambles the US may have turned into by then.

Against this backdrop, people are still complaining about how it should be Bernie and not Biden.

To me it seems very simple.

Whatever you think of him, It is vital that, despite all the corruption and propaganda and voter suppression and intimidation you're going to face from the Republicans, you get Biden elected in November because, while to elect one fascist kleptocrat and his corrupt family with deep financial ties to money laundering and organised crime, particularly Russian, and who is clearly in the pocket of Russian intelligence may be counted a misfortune, to elect him twice looks like carelessness, as Lady Bracknell would doubtless have put it.

 

[Veritable Quandry]

Day one of the next administration matters because while Trump has given notice, the US has not pulled out of the Paris accords. Biden can rescind our withdrawal. Trump will not.

 

[Shiloh Lyric]

We have a man in the White House who just said he's going to call out the US Military against US citizens.

He said we have "one beautiful law".

He talked about "antifa", but never once mentioned the Proud Boys or the Boogaloo Bois.

He needs to GO.

Screw all of you still whining about Bernie. Look around. We're WAY beyond that. And I believe 100% that, while not even my THIRD choice, Joe Biden could handle what is happening in this country right now much better than Bernie could and MILES better than Trump is.

 

[Katheryne Helendale]

We have a man in the White House who just said he's going to call out the US Military against US citizens.

He said we have "one beautiful law".

He talked about "antifa", but never once mentioned the Proud Boys or the Boogaloo Bois.

He needs to GO.

Screw all of you still whining about Bernie. Look around. We're WAY beyond that. And I believe 100% that, while not even my THIRD choice, Joe Biden could handle what is happening in this country right now much better than Bernie could and MILES better than Trump is.

At this point, anyone who is still dithering about supporting Biden IS a Trump supporter as far as I'm concerned.

 

[Essence Lumin]

The problem with the democratic party at the national level is they don't do shit so we are in the situation we are in with no resistance to speak of, except of course the recent protests.

 

[Salome]

...

 

[Free]

/me tugs at Eeyore's tail...