The dem play book is pretty weak.....these debates are going to be laughable.  THey cant have a good answer on the economy, how to deal with middle east, jobs and unemployment, health care (since they all own Obamacare), the playbook looks strong with who can give out the biggest handout, green new deal and Global climate change alternating weather or whatever they are calling it today.

posted by Spock

The dem play book is pretty weak.....these debates are going to be laughable.  THey cant have a good answer on the economy, how to deal with middle east, jobs and unemployment, health care (since they all own Obamacare), the playbook looks strong with who can give out the biggest handout, green new deal and Global climate change alternating weather or whatever they are calling it today.

It's not weak, when you think about it. Big cities and colleges/universities are hotbeds growing crop after crop of people who want to be taken care of by government. They are playing specifically to these types of people.
Why do you think they want to get rid of the EC? Right - so that big cities and people in college will vote for them. They know exactly what they're doing and they're not being weak about it at all.

posted by CenterBHSFan

It's not weak, when you think about it. Big cities and colleges/universities are hotbeds growing crop after crop of people who want to be taken care of by government. They are playing specifically to these types of people.
Why do you think they want to get rid of the EC? Right - so that big cities and people in college will vote for them. They know exactly what they're doing and they're not being weak about it at all.

In the general election it might be the weakest ever.  

posted by CenterBHSFan

It's not weak, when you think about it. Big cities and colleges/universities are hotbeds growing crop after crop of people who want to be taken care of by government. They are playing specifically to these types of people.

Seems like academics have always heavily favored socialism.  I suppose that may be attractive when one is insulated from the real world inside the ivory tower - most earn a very good living, but hardly rich.  So it becomes very easy to view capitalism as unfair, even evil.  And those people pass on those views to their students, who also don't know any better and lack life experience.

I've said before - the number one reason all these types favor ceding state govt to an ever-bigger federal govt is because they know there's no hope for funding all these programs at the state level.  You need a federal govt that prints money and can borrow at much lower interest levels.

Now a 25% VAT like most of Europe has may already be inevitable, but if Dems implement the agenda they are talking about, a VAT would probably happen within the next decade.  It's only going to benefit the bottom 20%.  The next 20% might break-even, and the top 60% are going to be net payers.   Of course, the fake fact checkers will keep the voters ignorant about all this until it's too late (just like with Obamacare).

Well this field of 20+ is getting widdled to I think 12 for the next debate.  The top tier looks like Bernie, Biden, Harris, Warren, Booker, Tulsi, Petey, Castro.

Not sure who else is making the cut.  My guess is that the DNC will give Beto another shot but he doesnt deserve it

I kinda want NBC to replay these debates every single night until the election. 

Looks to me like Kamala Harris is going to claim her liberal card on the basis of being a black women, and pivoting toward the center where Biden and Buttigieg are staggering.

She threw out a few good soundbites last night, but for the most part she seemed to avoid the Uncle Sugar platform while everyone else fought over who had the sweetest plans.

Kind of rooting for Kamala at this point...if anything just to watch Trump smile at her across the debate stage and ask her how big Willie Brown's cock is. 

posted by fish82

Kind of rooting for Kamala at this point...if anything just to watch Trump smile at her across the debate stage and ask her how big Willie Brown's cock is. 

I forgot how fun it would be to wait for that.  Although it would probably backfire horrifically, I don't think Trump could avoid it if she baits him (and she will)...especially if he's behind.

Kamala could actually be pretty likeable, but she grandstands and carpetbombs the inflammatory rhetoric with the best of them.  Truth be told, if you look at a lot of Dems in this race, their rhetoric is not that different from Trump just more polished and less crude (and probably reserved for political opponents within our own borders).

As a Democrat the debates were pretty depressing. Very hard to watch and found myself cringing many times and had to turn them off. It is going to be a long, long election.

posted by gut

I forgot how fun it would be to wait for that.  Although it would probably backfire horrifically, I don't think Trump could avoid it if she baits him (and she will)...especially if he's behind.

Kamala could actually be pretty likeable, but she grandstands and carpetbombs the inflammatory rhetoric with the best of them.  Truth be told, if you look at a lot of Dems in this race, their rhetoric is not that different from Trump just more polished and less crude (and probably reserved for political opponents within our own borders).

Read a great take on her this morning - "She's a great prosecutor, but a pretty shitty defender."

posted by fish82

Read a great take on her this morning - "She's a great prosecutor, but a pretty shitty defender."

I said before I think Warren and Harris could both pwn Trump in a debate.  Kamala or Mayor Pete would also be an excellent VP choice. 

I just hope Swalwell hangs around for awhile - not sure I've seen a more punchable face in politics.  OK, Ted Cruz.  That actually wasn't that hard.

Hickenlooper I'm interested to hear more from.  He's a true moderate, and brings some needed sanity to these debates.  But in this Democratic party he might as well be a conservative Republican.

Of course, he gets laughed at for speaking truth and you can bet the DNC can't wait to get him off the stage.

posted by gut

I said before I think Warren and Harris could both pwn Trump in a debate.  Kamala or Mayor Pete would also be an excellent VP choice. 

I just hope Swalwell hangs around for awhile - not sure I've seen a more punchable face in politics.  OK, Ted Cruz.  That actually wasn't that hard.

Stuart Smalley is infinitely more punchable than Cruz, and Cruz is plenty punchable.

posted by gut

Hickenlooper I'm interested to hear more from.  He's a true moderate, and brings some needed sanity to these debates.  But in this Democratic party he might as well be a conservative Republican.

Of course, he gets laughed at for speaking truth and you can bet the DNC can't wait to get him off the stage.

Tulsi Gabbard has also done a pretty good job so far at not being completely batshit insane. 

posted by justincredible

Stuart Smalley is infinitely more punchable than Cruz, and Cruz is plenty punchable.

A while back, I posted side-by-side pics.....He's definitely Greg, President of Omega House - looks and acts the same.

"Fate

According to his caption at the end of Animal House, Greg served as a White House aide during the presidency of Richard Nixon, and was raped in prison in 1974."

posted by fish82

Tulsi Gabbard has also done a pretty good job so far at not being completely batshit insane. 

Gee - a hot charismatic rising star with military experience who has shown willingness to buck conventional views - even within our own party. Let's excommunicate her! The social justice warriors on our side have burned her at the stake ("I'll take anyone but Tulsi") because she grew up in a weird religious sect that was anti-gay - despite having one of the best and more believable stories on reforming those anti-gay views - saying her experience in the middle east changed them:

The contrast between our society and those in the Middle East made me realize that the difference — the reason those societies are so oppressive — is that they are essentially theocracies where the government and government leaders wield the power to both define and then enforce morality.

My experiences in the Middle East eventually led me to reevaluate my view regarding government’s role in our personal lives and decisions.

Slowly, I began to realize that the positions I had held previously regarding the issues of choice and gay marriage were rooted in the same premise held by those in power in the oppressive Middle East regimes I saw — that it is government’s role to define and enforce our personal morality.

More believable than Obama just deciding he was for Gay Marriage after Sleep Joe ran his mouth.

posted by BoatShoes

Gee - a hot charismatic rising star with military experience who has shown willingness to buck conventional views - even within our own party. Let's excommunicate her! The social justice warriors on our side have burned her at the stake ("I'll take anyone but Tulsi") because she grew up in a weird religious sect that was anti-gay - despite having one of the best and more believable stories on reforming those anti-gay views - saying her experience in the middle east changed them:

The contrast between our society and those in the Middle East made me realize that the difference — the reason those societies are so oppressive — is that they are essentially theocracies where the government and government leaders wield the power to both define and then enforce morality.

My experiences in the Middle East eventually led me to reevaluate my view regarding government’s role in our personal lives and decisions.

Slowly, I began to realize that the positions I had held previously regarding the issues of choice and gay marriage were rooted in the same premise held by those in power in the oppressive Middle East regimes I saw — that it is government’s role to define and enforce our personal morality.

More believable than Obama just deciding he was for Gay Marriage after Sleep Joe ran his mouth.

 

Tulsi is most definitely the best candidate BY FAR the Democrats have, but the far left will have her out within a couple months. 

I would vote for her right now and it has zero to do with her looks. She is smart, actually REALLY understands foreign policy (no President since maybe Reagan has and him not until his 2nd term). And she is one of the only Ds that isn’t bat shit crazy. 

Calling it right now: (I was the first to predict Trump)

2020 race- Pete and Kamala vs. Trump and Nikki Haley (I dont think Trump and Pence can win against that lineup but with a female VP they can)

posted by Spock

Calling it right now: (I was the first to predict Trump)

2020 race- Pete and Kamala vs. Trump and Nikki Haley (I dont think Trump and Pence can win against that lineup but with a female VP they can)

 

 

It would make sense for the DNC to use Pete and Kamala simply because that way they can cross off items on the identity politics checklist. Essentially killing three birds with one stone: gay man/woman/black woman. 
But I think Warren is who they're going to go for. Tulsi Gabbard might play off the dark horse scenario, too.

I don't think Trump will get rid of Pence simply because he'll want to keep the religious right section of his base. I think Nikki Haley is currently being groomed for the position but she's not there yet. 

I really don't want Trump to win but I'm not sure that's even relevant because then we'll just be jumping from one dumpster fire to another. There's no Gary Johnson to vote for this time so ... I don't know... might just write somebody in.

posted by CenterBHSFan

It would make sense for the DNC to use Pete and Kamala simply because that way they can cross off items on the identity politics checklist. Essentially killing three birds with one stone: gay man/woman/black woman. 
But I think Warren is who they're going to go for. Tulsi Gabbard might play off the dark horse scenario, too.

I don't think Trump will get rid of Pence simply because he'll want to keep the religious right section of his base. I think Nikki Haley is currently being groomed for the position but she's not there yet. 

I really don't want Trump to win but I'm not sure that's even relevant because then we'll just be jumping from one dumpster fire to another. There's no Gary Johnson to vote for this time so ... I don't know... might just write somebody in.

I think that the VP candidate on the Dem side is going to be a women 100%.  DNC wont want a women POTUS candidate.  

Haley makes sense to switch to.  Gets their boxes checked off.  As for Trump being a dumpster fire politically......who cares, he has the economy rolling and my retirement accounts are screaming along.

Have there been any rumors about Nikki being Trump's VP candidate?  Everything I have seen form the Trump 2020 campaign has Pence as his running mate...

I am not sure if Nikki would even want to be paired with Trump.  She is a strong candidate by herself.

posted by like_that

I am not sure if Nikki would even want to be paired with Trump.  She is a strong candidate by herself.

My money would be on her not wanting to be tarnished by the Trump name and that she is 100% running in 2024.

And also relevant to this thread, did y'all see Beto campaigning in Mexico...LOL

I can't remember an incumbent switching VP's for re-election.  Also, I'm not sure Trump could find anyone else to take the job!