Democratic Candidate 2020

[lpm]

Right, I've just done it. And I've got "natural childbirth to the sound of a hunting horn and ritual eating of the placenta." What have you got?

To be fair, these are from decades ago, when he was a young man of 30.

[El Pollo Diablo]

Didn't earn a steady salary until he was 40 years old. Interesting.

[JQH]

The evidence that matters is that nobody seemed aware of the evidence. I have proved my point brilliantly, although much of the credit should go to Secret Squirrel and Bewildered for being open enough to display their ignorance.

Can I ask other questions and hope people will answer honestly?

1) Who here never bothered to read the Mueller Report in full, only looking at a brief summary on the BBC or something, and is unaware of what it said about Russia-Sanders?

2) Who is unaware of the indictments against the IRA (Russia’s Internet Research Agency) who actively supported Bernie Sanders against Clinton in 2016?

3) Who noticed the news a couple of weeks ago from US intelligence officials that Russia was again assisting Sanders in 2020?

1. Guilty as charged, though I was aware of the Russia-Sanders thing. Probably from reading your posts.

2. Me

3. Me

TBH since I can't vote in the US I'm more concerned about the report into Russian interference in Britain, including the Brexit referendum, being biuried by Johnson and f.cking NOBODY is challenging him on this.

[Bird on a Fire]

Right, I've just done it. And I've got "natural childbirth to the sound of a hunting horn and ritual eating of the placenta." What have you got?

To be fair, these are from decades ago, when he was a young man of 30.

I expect there's a huge treasure trove of weird views from the 60s, from his days as a kibbutz-visiting, counter-culture hippie type.

I just found that he has his own folk album, as well as inspiring an x-box game and a poem by Allen Ginsburg, which is pretty dope.

[Fishnut]

And then there were two

[bolo]

And then there were two

Three if you count Gabbard.

[Bird on a Fire]

And then there were two

That's a real shame. I'll be interested to see who she endorses.

[Fishnut]

And then there were two

Three if you count Gabbard.

God, is she still in? Shows how little impact she's making that I had completely forgotten.

[dyqik]

And then there were two

Three if you count Gabbard.

And then there were two.

[bolo]

And then there were two

Three if you count Gabbard.

God, is she still in? Shows how little impact she's making that I had completely forgotten.

Hey, she came second in American Samoa. Her best performance yet. Things are looking up.

[Herainestold]

Three if you count Gabbard.

God, is she still in? Shows how little impact she's making that I had completely forgotten.

Hey, she came second in American Samoa. Her best performance yet. Things are looking up.

Maybe all the Warren supporters will switch to the only female.

[Bird on a Fire]

God, is she still in? Shows how little impact she's making that I had completely forgotten.

Hey, she came second in American Samoa. Her best performance yet. Things are looking up.

Maybe all the Warren supporters will switch to the only female.

It will be interesting to see where Warren supporters go next, and why.

Sanders is closest politically, of course, but there has been some animosity between the two candidates, and perhaps more so between their supporters.

Gabbard is also a woman, which is important, and is also running on quite a progressive platform. I get the impression that quite a few Warren supporters were Clinton supporters in 2016, which suggests that perhaps finding a female candidate is more important than their precise political positions? (Nothing wrong with that, either) Unfortunately, she doesn't seem to have much chance of winning.

As for Biden, um. Well, he's not Sanders, which is important to some people. Beyond that I can't see exactly where he and Warren overlap, apart from both being Democrats (which, as dyqik reminds us, is an incredibly broad church).

I wonder who Warren will endorse (if anyone) and how much influence that will have.

[Fishnut]

I have this fear that the animosity between Sanders and never-Sanders supporters, and the Biden and never-Biden supporters is so great that all the calls for unity will go ignored and whoever gets the nomination will do so without a substantial segment of the party. If so, this will hurt them not just in terms of democratic voters, but in on-the-ground support to get more voters who are currently not affiliated with the Dems. All of which plays right into Republican hands. I really hope I'm wrong but I'm feeling increasingly pessimistic about November.

[Bird on a Fire]

I have this fear that the animosity between Sanders and never-Sanders supporters, and the Biden and never-Biden supporters is so great that all the calls for unity will go ignored and whoever gets the nomination will do so without a substantial segment of the party. If so, this will hurt them not just in terms of democratic voters, but in on-the-ground support to get more voters who are currently not affiliated with the Dems. All of which plays right into Republican hands. I really hope I'm wrong but I'm feeling increasingly pessimistic about November.

Likewise, FWIW.

Though I don't think I've seen anybody with a massive hatred of Biden. Nor, for that matter, anybody with a massive love of him. He seems to get a 'meh' across the board, with his relative merits depending on how you feel about the other candidate. Maybe 'meh' is the best anybody could hope for in a unity candidate?

A controversial pick in 2016 caused a lot of Dems to stay home, IIRC, and whoever wins this year could well lead to the same - turnout is far harder to model than preferences. OTOH, Trump has lost the Republicans a fair bit of support too, so it's an interesting question as to whether they've finally found somebody so toxic that even their base can't just hold their nose and support him.

[dyqik]

Gabbard is also a woman, which is important, and is also running on quite a progressive platform. I get the impression that quite a few Warren supporters were Clinton supporters in 2016, which suggests that perhaps finding a female candidate is more important than their precise political positions? (Nothing wrong with that, either) Unfortunately, she doesn't seem to have much chance of winning.

Gabbard is conspiracy theorist who's widely believed to be paid by Russia, who has spent time denying Assad's chemical weapons attacks, and who has been incoherent in debates. She's also currently trying to sue Google under the First Amendment(?!), and has zero profile.

Basically no Warren supporters will be switching to her, and she's almost certain to primaried out of her Congressional seat.

[dyqik]

I have this fear that the animosity between Sanders and never-Sanders supporters, and the Biden and never-Biden supporters is so great that all the calls for unity will go ignored and whoever gets the nomination will do so without a substantial segment of the party. If so, this will hurt them not just in terms of democratic voters, but in on-the-ground support to get more voters who are currently not affiliated with the Dems. All of which plays right into Republican hands. I really hope I'm wrong but I'm feeling increasingly pessimistic about November.

I don't think there's much of a thing of never-Biden voters. There are lots of never-anyone-but-Bernie voters though, and quite a few "I won't vote for anyone if they aren't pure enough" shouters.

[Bird on a Fire]

Gabbard is also a woman, which is important, and is also running on quite a progressive platform. I get the impression that quite a few Warren supporters were Clinton supporters in 2016, which suggests that perhaps finding a female candidate is more important than their precise political positions? (Nothing wrong with that, either) Unfortunately, she doesn't seem to have much chance of winning.

Gabbard is conspiracy theorist who's widely believed to be paid by Russia, who has spent time denying Assad's chemical weapons attacks, and who has been incoherent in debates. She's also currently trying to sue Google under the First Amendment(?!), and has zero profile.

Basically no Warren supporters will be switching to her, and she's almost certain to primaried out of her Congressional seat.

Oh wow.

I've spent all this time looking at the sensible candidates when I could have been following all this excitement instead.

I'm quite tempted to become the forum's token Gabbard supporter, to balance out the heated Sanders vs non-Sanders stuff over the next weeks.

[Herainestold]

Gabbard is also a woman, which is important, and is also running on quite a progressive platform. I get the impression that quite a few Warren supporters were Clinton supporters in 2016, which suggests that perhaps finding a female candidate is more important than their precise political positions? (Nothing wrong with that, either) Unfortunately, she doesn't seem to have much chance of winning.

Gabbard is conspiracy theorist who's widely believed to be paid by Russia, who has spent time denying Assad's chemical weapons attacks, and who has been incoherent in debates. She's also currently trying to sue Google under the First Amendment(?!), and has zero profile.

Basically no Warren supporters will be switching to her, and she's almost certain to primaried out of her Congressional seat.

Oh wow.

I've spent all this time looking at the sensible candidates when I could have been following all this excitement instead.

I'm quite tempted to become the forum's token Gabbard supporter, to balance out the heated Sanders vs non-Sanders stuff over the next weeks.

Gabbard has links to the right wing Hindu Nationalist movement Hindutva, and the excrable Modi, who is busy stirring up pogroms against Muslims in India right now. Its not clear to me how solid those links are, in fairness to Gabbard she has distanced herself from them.

Gabbard was embraced early on by pro-Modi elements of the Hindu-American diaspora in the U.S., who have donated generously to her campaigns. But as she flirts with the idea of running for president, she has publicly cut ties with those fervent supporters on at least one occasion, while continuing to court them in private.

https://theintercept.com/2019/01/05/tul ... list-modi/

I'm not sure what to make of all this, but she has some rather strange foreign policy positions.

But she has also become a polarizing figure. Her progressive domestic politics are at odds with her support for authoritarians abroad, including Modi, Sisi, and Syria’s Bashar al-Assad. As right-wing nationalism rises across the globe, it is beginning to be recognized as an existential threat to a world order rooted in liberal democratic values, and Gabbard, an Iraq War veteran, is now being pushed to choose sides.

But by all means, support her. For the lulz.

[bolo]

Assuming either Sanders or Biden eventually wins the nomination, there will be a lot of pressure on either of them to name a woman as vice president. I can't see a Sanders-Warren ticket, partly because they clearly dislike each other, and partly because if Sanders is the nominee, he'll want (or should, anyway) a more centrist running mate to mend fences with that part of the party and make the ticket more attractive to independent voters. But for the same reasons in reverse, if Biden is the nominee, Warren would make sense as a running mate. If she wants that to happen, it wouldn't surprise me if she endorses Biden, despite the fact that she's closer to Sanders ideologically.

[Herainestold]

Assuming either Sanders or Biden eventually wins the nomination, there will be a lot of pressure on either of them to name a woman as vice president. I can't see a Sanders-Warren ticket, partly because they clearly dislike each other, and partly because if Sanders is the nominee, he'll want (or should, anyway) a more centrist running mate to mend fences with that part of the party and make the ticket more attractive to independent voters. But for the same reasons in reverse, if Biden is the nominee, Warren would make sense as a running mate. If she wants that to happen, it wouldn't surprise me if she endorses Biden, despite the fact that she's closer to Sanders ideologically.

You don't see Gabbard as a potential VP running mate?

[Bird on a Fire]

Assuming either Sanders or Biden eventually wins the nomination, there will be a lot of pressure on either of them to name a woman as vice president. I can't see a Sanders-Warren ticket, partly because they clearly dislike each other, and partly because if Sanders is the nominee, he'll want (or should, anyway) a more centrist running mate to mend fences with that part of the party and make the ticket more attractive to independent voters. But for the same reasons in reverse, if Biden is the nominee, Warren would make sense as a running mate. If she wants that to happen, it wouldn't surprise me if she endorses Biden, despite the fact that she's closer to Sanders ideologically.

You don't see Gabbard as a potential VP running mate?

Neither Biden nor Sanders strike me as the "for the lulz" type.

[dyqik]

You don't see Gabbard as a potential VP running mate?

For Trump, maybe.

[Herainestold]

Assuming either Sanders or Biden eventually wins the nomination, there will be a lot of pressure on either of them to name a woman as vice president. I can't see a Sanders-Warren ticket, partly because they clearly dislike each other, and partly because if Sanders is the nominee, he'll want (or should, anyway) a more centrist running mate to mend fences with that part of the party and make the ticket more attractive to independent voters. But for the same reasons in reverse, if Biden is the nominee, Warren would make sense as a running mate. If she wants that to happen, it wouldn't surprise me if she endorses Biden, despite the fact that she's closer to Sanders ideologically.

You don't see Gabbard as a potential VP running mate?

Neither Biden nor Sanders strike me as the "for the lulz" type.

Well you like her, maybe they do too.

[bolo]

Maybe for Bloomberg, if he gets back into the race as an independent. Their slogan could be Make American Samoa Great Again. They could sell MASGA hats.

[Bird on a Fire]

When did American Samoa stop being great?!