Robert Reich, who is an American liberal economist, professor, author, and political commentator, who worked for Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, has six ways he feels will convince Bernie Sanders' skeptics.
1. “America would never elect a socialist. P-l-e-a-s-e. America’s most successful and beloved government programs are social insurance – Social Security and Medicare. A highway is a shared social expenditure, as is the military and public parks and schools. The truth is we have already have socialists." A point that has been made hundreds of times and think about it, the Bern's programs have a majority support in the U.S. Why is Bernie Sanders electable?...
2. “He’d never beat Trump in the general election. Wrong. The best way for Democrats to defeat Trump’s fake anti-establishment populism is with the real thing, coupled with an agenda of systemic reform. This is what Bernie Sanders offers, and it’s what the polls are reflecting." Biden beats Bernie by over nine points in the primary, understandable, due to recent dropouts and their endorsements for Joe Biden. But Robert Reich is looking at individual ideology more these days, and Sanders' candidacy is becoming more desirable.
3. “But how would he pay for it?" A question asked over and over when it seems no one muses, "Funny that they never ask how we’ll pay for endless wars or bailouts, tax cuts, and subsidies for the top 1 percent." Reich continues, "Bernie’s campaign just released a detailed memo outlining how they plan to pay for his policy ideas." When you consider what we are paying for and the results it will yield, the whole effort is put into perspective.
There are three more: 4. “He couldn’t get any of his ideas implemented because Congress would reject them.” - 5. “He’s too old.” - 6. “He can’t unite the Democratic Party.” I really recommend you read this article by one of the leading liberal political analysts of today, Robert Reich.
Thursday, March 5, 2020
Who will Elizabeth Warren endorse now that she's out of race?
The "Party's" over for Elizabeth Warren as she has a dismal showing on Super Tuesday. But, it's been coming and think she might have known it for some time. This leave Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden, and will she play the good Democrat and endorse Joe Biden, or do the right thing and back Bernie Sanders? Hell, she3 is a Progressive and Biden is way out in right field with his campaign. She supported Hillary Clinton in 2016, which helped her win the nomination.
She noted that her endorsement could be coming, but “not right now.”
If she decided to endorse Bernie, it could turn the Democratic campaign upside down...READ MORE...
Youth vote deserted Bernie...
At least we know they weren't at the polls for Super Tuesday, so Joe Biden made a sweep of 9 of the 14 states. The Bern took Utah, Vermont, Colorado and the big delegate state, California. Apparently the loss of those states Bernie expected to win, like Texas, hasn't slowed down the Vermont Senator. USA Today says...
The common theme in all those [Joe Biden wins, Texas, No. Carolina, Virginia, Alabama, Tenn., Arkansas, Okla., Minn., Mass., with Maine leading Biden] states: "Sanders fared worse this year than he did when he faced eventual nominee Hillary Clinton four years ago."
But this didn't dampen Bernie Sanders enthusiasm for the nomination professing that he is still headed for success in November...
"We are going to defeat Trump because we are putting together an unprecedented grass-roots, multi-generational, multi-racial movement."
Mixed race, multi-generational family
I explained Bernie's "multi-generational, multi-racial movement," in a blog post yesterday However, the political pundits still say, "young voters’ energy rarely matches their turnout on Election Day." But then, millennial turnout did double from 2014 to 2018, according to Pew Research, so go figure. Here's an interesting comment from Griffin Schutte, 21, of Virginia Beach who said he "he switched from Clinton in 2016 to Sanders this year because he thinks the Vermont senator is best to stand up to Trump...
"And I think Bernie Sanders is well equipped to stand by his ideals and his policies that he’s been standing by during his long and very consistent career in politics," Schutte said as he stood in line for a Sanders rally in Richmond Thursday.
Howard Dean, former DNC Chair, puzzled by lack of youth vote on Super Tuesday...
Not that Joe Biden doesn't stand on his record; in fact most of what we hear from him is what he did in the Obama administration as Vice President. CNN reports that Biden's campaign was staggering until his win in the So. Carolina Primary, brought about by the black vote which translated into his southern states win in the Super Tuesday Primary. Of course Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg dropping out of the race and both endorsing Biden certainly didn't hurt.
The Washington Post says, "All of a sudden, Sanders’s 2020 looks a lot like his 2016," which in my mind was a primary with Hillary Clinton that was hijacked by then DNC head, but now disgraced Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Many think Bernie could have beat Donald Trump then, and we wouldn't have been exposed to the Oval Office lunatics corruption for four years. The general consensus today is that Joe Biden is best fitted to win in November.
Here's the scenario from the WP with two approaches...
"In one narrative, Sanders picked up where he left off four years ago, coming into the 2020 contest retaining the core base of support he had built in that nomination fight. He rolled up three wins in Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada — better than he did in 2016 — and seemed for a while to be in contention in South Carolina, a state he lost by 50 points then."
The assessment is after the California count, the Bern will "likely to be at or near the top of the delegate count."
Bernie Sander talks about Super Tuesday results and his "unique" campaign...
The second...
"Sanders’s presidential campaign starts with a tie in Iowa and an easy New Hampshire win — just as happened in 2016. He won the Nevada caucuses in which he came short four years ago but lost South Carolina by a similar margin. On Super Tuesday, his primary competitor, former vice president Joe Biden, ran the table in the South, winning a straight line of states from Texas to Virginia. He also picked up states that seemed within Sanders’s grasp, including Minnesota and Massachusetts."
Here is a list of upcoming Democratic primaries following Super Tuesday. As you can see there are several with sizeable number of delegates: Michigan, 125; Florida, 219; Illinois, 155; Ohio, 136; Georgia, 105; New York, 224; Pennsylvania, 153; and New Jersey, 107. We'll keep you posted on these in the future, but in the meantime Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden will be going head-to-head to get ready for Florida on March 17.
Tuesday, March 3, 2020
What's next for Bernie Sanders?...
The smile on Bernie's face is because he was able to raise over $45 million in February. He did it with 2.2 million donations which, "surpassed what any Democratic candidate had raised in any full three-month quarter last year." Is it good enough? It will be if he can garner the vote of color, reports The Guardian. With Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg both out of the race and endorsing Joe Biden, Tom Steyer out with no endorsement yet, here's the scenario...
"The first four contests of the Democratic nomination have concluded, and it’s clear that whoever wins the nomination will owe their success to the love and support of people of color."
With Bernie versus Biden from the first four primaries, it shows...
Sanders [in Nevada] leading among white voters (31% to 18%) but running away with the contest among Latinos, who made up 17 % of all voters. Among that critical demographic, Sanders beat his opponents by at least a 3 to 1 margin (51% to 13% according to the entrance polls).
Blacks did the same for Biden in So. Carolina...
"where African Americans comprise the majority of all Democratic voters, exit polls showed that African Americans gave 61% of their votes to the vice president of America’s first black president, propelling him to a nearly 30-point victory."
Joe Biden "denied there was an organized effort around the dropouts," but it was reported that Buttigieg met with Jimmy Carter the day before his decision. Like a good Democrat, Klobuchar followed suit and made her exit. Surprising Warren hasn't yet done the same since she performed like a good Dem in 2016 by not endorsing Bernie Sanders when it was clear even then she was in his Progressive camp. Of course, there is still time.
Here's CNN take on Super Tuesday...
Super Tuesday (today) stacks up on Nate Silver's 538 revealing Bernie Sanders ahead in nine out of the fifteen primaries, some the Bern leads in substantially, with California 91% to 7%, yielding Sanders total primary delegates of 540 to Biden's 395. Bloomberg and Warren are insignificant. The latest Univision poll of March 2, shows "42 percent of Hispanic voters in California intend to vote for Sanders, while 15 percent favor former Vice President Joe Biden."
Sanders was at 35% among likely Democratic primary voters, well ahead of former New York mayor Mike Bloomberg at 16%, former vice president Joe Biden at 14% and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren at 12%.
Have Latinos finally awakened to the fact that going to the polls doesn't guarantee them a trip back to their country of origin? Or are they just so pissed at Donald Trump they have finally decided to turn on him and help the left vote him out of office? They are both possibilities, but the end result is their showing up at the polls in November, and it looks like they finally will. Welcome to the USA!
Tuesday, February 25, 2020
So. Carolina black voters switching to Bernie Sanders from Joe Biden
Joe Biden's So. Carolina insurance to victory in this state's primary has suddenly taken a turn for the worse. The New York Post says, "Now he’s hanging on by a thread." Here's the scenario...
"The latest polls of Democrats in the Palmetto State show Biden’s once-commanding 28-point lead in November has shrunken to just five percentage points over a now surging Bernie Sanders in the same CBS News/YouGov poll released Saturday."
That's right, Biden polling 28% with Bernie now at 23% while continuing to sure here as well as in national polls. And that's after a landslide win for the Bern in Nevada caucuses. Looks like the Vermont Senator's "socialism" doesn't matter as much as the pundits think.
Thursday, January 30, 2020
Looks like millennials could put Bernie Sanders over the top
There are 71 million millennials in the United States ages 24 to 39. 26 millennials voted in 2018. Bernie Sanders is ahead in the Iowa Caucuses and he leads in the New Hampshire Primary. So what does this say for the Bern...
"Democrats will need high turnout among young, left-leaning voters in November, and Bernie Sanders is overwhelmingly popular with such voters."
Joe Biden has been the front-runner on the left since he entered the race, with other candidates like Elizabeth Warren and Pete Buttigieg running up and down the rankings. Sanders has continually hovered around second position throughout the Primary competition, but lately has been surging...
"According to a Quinnipiac poll released Wednesday, Bernie Sanders boasts the support of 53 percent of Democratic voters under 35 nationwide, while Joe Biden lays claim to just 3 percent. That poll’s margin of error is 3.4 percentage points — which means that the percentage of younger voters who support the Democratic Party’s current front-runner could, technically, round down to zero."
The fact of the matter is that Joe Biden just does not appeal to the younger generation even though he is younger than Bernie by two years. The Intelligencer reports...
"Although Sanders’s 2016 backers did not sit out (or defect) during the general election in aberrantly high numbers, the age gap between Biden and Bernie backers this year is even larger than the one that prevailed between Clinton and the Vermont senator four years ago."
And then you have Michael Bloomberg entering the race who seems to be syphoning off support from all the candidates but Bernie Sanders. As I have said earlier, I am not sure Bloomberg is running to win or just to make sure Donald Trump doesn't win. The next couple of months will certainly be interesting. READ MORE...
The above is a Slate headline and it's not from two months ago, it is from last Thursday, September 12. In the Ben Mathis-Lilley piece, there is a sub-headline, "It’s time to start focusing on serious candidates—like the socialist." We are, of course, talking about "Bernard “Bernie” Sanders, the Brooklyn-Vermont 'democratic socialist,'” who is still one of the leading candidates in the crowded Democratic Primary. Here's Mathis-Lilley's comments on the debates...
"Given that debate performances are scrutinized for how they shape the primary “narrative,” Sanders is at a disadvantage. He’s not the Establishment Favorite—that would be Joe Biden—and he’s not the Surging Insurgent, Elizabeth Warren. He’s not An Inspiring Resistance Leader Who Might Appeal to Centrists (Kamala Harris), and he is certainly not An Uncannily Articulate 14-Year-Old Mayor Who Likes Radiohead (that would be Pete Buttigieg)."
Okay, before going any further with Slate, here's my take on Bernie. There would be no Democratic Primary without Bernie Sanders, no ideas, no substantive issues, no meaningful direction for the left. Sanders is a Progressive and a Democratic Socialist, which makes him the candidate of the people. I am having trouble understanding why a voting public cannot see this clearly. The other Democratic aspirants would have nothing to say if not for the Bern paving the way.
Bernie compares 2020 with 2016'''
Have been wanting to get that off my chest for some time; if anything needed to be said right now, that did. Here's more from Slate...
"He [Bernie Sanders] is, instead, The Exact Same Guy He Was Last Time—a fiery leftist who has a substantial, if not primary-majority-size, base of committed supporters who believe in his ambitious plans to bring justice to a “rigged” society by sticking it to the damn fat cats. A Sanders presidency would, guaranteed, involve an attempt to raise taxes on top earners in order to institute single-payer universal health coverage and make college free."
Although Elizabeth Warren has made strides in the polls, and being in the same ideological ballpark as Sanders, the latter seems to still be hanging around his standing from last May. Granted, Biden leads the race but I am not convinced he really wants to run. Maybe his number one position has made him too secure and he needs some polling competition to wake him up. Bernie has always been a charging contender with a philosophy that dates back to his early days in politics.
Bernie in Denver recently...
But there are additions to his traditional issues, notably "changing his rhetoric and his platform since 2016 to acknowledge and decry the role that race plays in economic disparities, he’s done so in a way that fills out, rather than erases and redraws, his public meaning." Bernie Sanders as a candidate...
"He hasn’t done anything, since the last time he ran for, and did not win, the nomination, to radically change the public’s established impression of who he is, what he believes, and how he would behave as president. If you liked him in 2016, you probably still do; if not, you still don’t."
In other words, the Bern is consistent with substantive issues, has been and most likely always will. It all starts with the first four states to hold primaries or caucuses which are Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina. From Nate Silver's 538, Sanders is second to Joe Biden in the area of electability to beat Trump: Biden 68%, Sanders 56%, Warren 51%. Bernie is also well off financially with $27 million in cash on hand and a "deep e-Rolodex of small donors."
I believe many of Bernie Sanders supporters have faltered over time, especially with Joe Biden's lead and Elizabeth Warren's recent surge, myself included, but Slate has some excellent points which could rally the Bern's base. On to the White House.
August 27, 2019: PROGRESSIVE STREET NEWS BYTES...Where Liberals Walk
Why is Elizabeth Warren moving up in the polls?
Elizabeth Warren 2020
The question would have been moot a week or two earlier when Joe Biden looked like a sure thing. Apparently a few gaffes and a couple of misstatements have convinced some of the left that he may not be the right candidate. Monday's Monmouth University poll revealed surprising results...
"It found a virtual three-way tie among Biden at 19% and Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, who each had 20%."
However, the "Real Clear Politics’ aggregation of polls still shows Biden well ahead, at 28.8%, followed by Sanders at 16% and Warren at 15.4%." If we are to believe Monmouth, and it is a credible pollster, then might we expect the same trend to begin in other polls? Jennifer Rubin, a conservative writer for The Washington Post says, "There’s a reason Elizabeth Warren is surging," and that is because she is appealing to "ordinary" Americans.
We know there are a lot of ordinary Americans out there that have had absolutely no voice since Donald Trump entered the White House. And my guess is that there are many ordinary Americans supporting T-rump that must be having second thoughts now. Not the core, but the fringe. Rubin comments...
"she’s not telling exactly the same story as she did earlier. Using family stories she has gotten 'looser' and funnier. She interacts with the crowd more. She has less anger, more determination and more confidence. She is high-energy."
Elizabeth Warren gaining momentum...
But, it would appear that the voting public still favors a candidate who can win over one who is heated in the issues, for example, Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders. And it is interesting to note here that even after all the rhetoric, talk of being a socialist, and losing the primary to Hillary Clinton in 2016, Bernie Sanders is yet able to hold on to the second position in the 2020 Democratic Primary. I still say a Sanders/Warren ticket would be dynamite.
For some reason, the media is now beginning to focus on a two-way race between Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren, With Biden's recent gaffes and misstatements, he could easily lose the edge, and Bernie is still suffering over his age, which I find ludicrous. Here's the current scenario...
"She [Warren] drew an estimated 15,000 people to a rally in Seattle after holding an event nearly as large in Minneapolis last week. Biden spent the weekend talking to small gatherings in New Hampshire and Iowa. This led to a new meme: the rock star versus the rock."
Here are some more of the latest...
"Warren is doing better than Sanders in Iowa but the reverse is the case in New Hampshire. The most recent polls out of South Carolina show Warren and Sanders essentially tied in a distant fight for second place that might not even give either of them any delegates at all, and the two most recent polls out of Nevada disagree about which of them is doing better."
I still have a hankering to see a Bernie Sanders surge that takes him to the top capped off by winning the primary. But I am not naive, the primary thrust of the left in 2020 is beating Donald Trump. And there is still a year to go.
Michael Moore was right in 2016 when he predicted that Donald Trump would win the election and go to the White House. Here is exactly what he said...
Michael Moore & Donald Dufus
“Donald J. Trump is going to win in November. This wretched, ignorant, dangerous part-time clown and full-time sociopath is going to be our next president.” The activist/filmmaker went on to say, “President Trump. Go ahead and say the words, ‘cause you’ll be saying them for the next four years: PRESIDENT TRUMP.”
I have never said the words, either verbally or in print, and I never will. There are millions in this country who don't consider T-rump "our" president, but Moore is only using the term for emphasis. It was the Rust Belt states that ordinarily go Democratic, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, that did it for Trump, but the polls don't favor him for 2020, according to The Hill...
“Wisconsin seems to be a real problem, the 2018 midterms were a disaster for Republicans there, and Biden seems to have unique appeal in Pennsylvania.”
Michael Moore is waving a red flag toward fellow liberals and Progressives to wake up and not let the same thing happen again. Trump's first-quarter fund-raising haul of $30.3 million should get them off their butts but the current in-fighting between Progressives and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi seems to be usurping the left's energy. The Oval Office lunatic loves every minute of it and that is exactly what the filmmaker is talking about.
In a NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll’s first ballot tests of the 2020 general election, Joe Biden leads the president by 9 points among registered voters, 51 percent to 42 percent, Bernie Sanders is ahead of Trump by 7 points, 50 percent to 43 percent, and Elizabeth Warren holds a 5-point advantage, 48 percent to 43 percent. NBC adds...
"With more than 200 days until Iowa caucuses and more than 470 days until Election Day 2020, the poll is a very early snapshot of the general election, and much can change."
Michael Moore's take on how Democrats win in 2020...
"Donald Trump appears a better prepared and far more formidable candidate than he did in 2016—or compared to many of his current rivals."
Kolhatkar does wonder how Trump's " degradation of basic standards of human decency" could be ignored by voters, but the answer is simple, anyone who would vote for Donald Trump is in his class, just plain 'ignorant,' as Michael Moore puts it. As an illustration of to what extent T-rump will go to manifest his ego while pumping up followers, Kolhatkar uses his July 4th celebration, all in honor of Donald Trump. The left must not lose in 2020!
July 11, 2019: Since lying seems to be what Donald Trump does, and he is certainly known for it around the world, how many lies will it take to win the 2020 election? And can the Democrats summon the strategy to beat this megalomaniac? As an aside, would you agree that Trump makes Karl Rove look like a Sunday school teacher when it comes to lying? He is already lying that "he has better support among key demographics — women, Hispanics, young voters — than he actually does."
When I Google "Trump's latest lies," I get 55,400.000 hits. I also get a treasure trove of deception, dishonesty and disinformation, most all associated with the Oval Office lunatic, Donald Trump. On one site I found a report from the Washington Post that said Trump had made 10,000 “false or misleading claims” since entering the White House. 'You were indicted for one,' Nicolle Wallace told Trump who had just said, “I don’t do cover-ups,”re. Nancy Pelosi's charge.
Jimmy Kimmel on Donald Trump 2,000 lies...
And the most interesting was a site by a former card magician exclaiming, "How Trump Gets Away with Lying, as Explained by a Magician." Ben Chapman continues, asking these questions, “How does he just keep lying?” “He can’t possibly get away with this again.” “Why do people still trust him?” Chapman has his own opinion of Donald Trump...
"Our current Administration has shown an unprecedented disregard for the truth, and many Americans are flabbergasted at how few people are disturbed by this disregard. As a former card magician — and therefore someone with a bit of experience deceiving audiences — I have developed some strategies to catch other people in their lies."
His strategies are very interesting, starting with, "1. Dress for the Occasion."
With five in all, you will gradually begin to visualize the subject of his piece, then see the actual picture of Donald Trump. I wouldn't bestow T-rump with the credibility of a magician, but he has certainly developed some of these tactics, turning them into the implements of his warped mind. Ben Chapman's site is well worth your time, providing unique insight into the Donald Trump psyche.
But, back to the original question, "Can Democrats beat Trump lies in 2020?" Here's where it stands right now...
"The Trump campaign has been spending about $1 million weekly on Facebook and Google ads. In comparison, the Biden campaign spent about $75,000 last week. The Trump team knows that the online world is where their campaign thrives and they also know that they can expect little to no regulation from Facebook even when their ads are a direct violation of Facebook policy."
Distortion and deceit without regulation, a strategy that hearkens back to Karl Rove's handling of the George W. Bush campaign. And yes, the Democrats employ their own version of deception but nowhere near as blatant as Republicans, especially Donald Trump, the world's most egregious liar. The best example recently is a fake Joe Biden website run secretly by an operative working for the Trump campaign. Not even sure Karl Rove would do that.
Art Cullen in the Guardian says that age-70 may be too old for being President of the United States, referring to Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, the latter turning seventy before inauguration. Considering who will be running in 2020, Trump will be 72, Biden 76, Sanders 78 and Warren 69. He cites Ronald Reagan in his 70s while in the White House, and Nancy Reagan and Al Haig actually running things as the Gipper passed into neverland.
"Trump is batty and losing it more each day. Bernie impresses as a grumpy and impatient Trotskyite, Biden as a familiar Irish pol who wants to hug you up and keep you warm, hearkening to days when unions had teeth and Scranton had steel. They confront a candidate written by Rod Serling for the Twilight Zone."
"Warren seems a pup in their presence. Young of mind, she is a fan of Game of Thrones. She is full of vim and vigor and maybe is no more likely to die of a stroke than Pete Buttigieg, 37. She could beat me in a foot race any day of any distance. But if she wins she will be 75 at the end of her first term – slightly older than Reagan at the end."
You'll note here that he spends twice as much space on Warren as any of the other three. After this Cullen draws comparisons between Einstein, Mark Twain, Eisenhower and the Kennedys, alluding to their accomplishments at various ages. He says, "War would be rarer if women ran the world." then adds, "But we are talking, in the main, about three old white men. At least the national cable media are. Biden nearly has the nomination cinched, to hear it told."
That doesn't bode well for Democrats with the rest of the field relatively weak, except, perhaps, for Kamala Harris. Sorry, but I still have a warm spot for the Bern, and as a Democratic Socialist myself, believe that most of his issues could fly. My concern is Medicare for All-Single payer plan, and just how feasible that is. Here's a definition...
"Single-payer is a more general term used to describe a government system, typically backed by taxes, in which everyone gets health care from one insurer, run by the government. Think of Medicare for all as a brand-name single-payer plan. Some advocates also like the term 'national health insurance.'”
Consider the possibility of not doing away with insurance companies, which would be an almost impossible sell. Have the government use insurance companies, allocating coverage out to the lowest bidder, with obvious restrictions on the quality of coverage. I solidly believe Bernie deserves a shot at the presidency with his honesty and integrity. And I have no problem with his age...I am 86.
I have been calling Donald Trump a clown (here and here) for some time, as have several in the media. Now Joe Biden, the leading contender in the Democratic presidential primary has given T-rump his official campaign name...CLOWN. Biden, who has said recently he doesn't want to get into a "mud wrestlising (sp) match," then commented...
"There's so many nicknames I'm inclined to give this guy. You can just start with clown."
Should Biden be nominated by the Dems in the Primary, he no doubt wants to keep the campaign on the issues rather than the trashing strategy that Trump regularly uses on his opponents. Here's how Biden expressed his feelings...
"On every single issue and on every demeaning thing he says about other people, I have no problem responding directly. What I'm not going to do is get into what he wants me to do. He wants this to be a mud wrestling match."
Donald Trump graciously welcomed Joe Biden to the 2020 presidential race with this most "eloquent" comment...
"Welcome to the race Sleepy Joe. I only hope you have the intelligence, long in doubt, to wage a successful primary campaign. It will be nasty — you will be dealing with people who truly have some very sick & demented ideas. But if you make it, I will see you at the Starting Gate!"
Biden has recently exclaimed that he thinks Trump is the problem, not Republicans, but many Democrats disagree. So do I! And if Biden continues to sidle up to the right (citing his relationships with “my Republican friends in the House and Senate.”) voters may interpret this as a weakness that could lose to Trump, resulting in Bernie Sanders surging in the polls. Here's how the New York Times views the situation...
"There is no disagreement among Democrats about the urgency of defeating Mr. Trump. But Mr. Biden’s singular focus on the president as the source of the nation’s ills, while extending an olive branch to Republicans, has exposed a significant fault line in the Democratic primary."
That (the Oval Office lunatic) is the reason this is perhaps the most important Democratic Primary in the history of voting. Never before has it been so necessary to remove a despotic dictator from office.
To begin, it should be noted that after Joe Biden announced his candidacy recently, he shot up to a 26-point lead over other candidates, Elizabeth Warren second, Bernie Sanders third. Don't know about Warren's campaign, but I'll bet that Bernie's camp expected the surge; the question is what will he do about it? One thing he is doing is out-raising his competitors in contributions bringing in $18.2million in first-quarter fundraising.
On the other hand, Biden raised $6.3 million on his first day out of the gate. Kamala Harris is second to Bernie and Elizabeth Warren is a distant fifth at $6 million in total returns. The BBC says...
"Her [Warren] campaign is far from scraping the bottom, however, as she transferred $10.4m from her Senate campaign coffers to her presidential account, giving her some financial breathing room in the months ahead."
"64 percent of Democrats and likely Democrats who had selected a favorite presidential candidate said it is possible they might change their mind. Thirty-six percent said they 'definitely support' their top choice."
Which means Joe Biden's 26% lead could go up in smoke and any of the other challengers could become the favorite. Money is the thing and Bernie Sanders is one of the best at fundraising, depending on small donations in the range of around $27.00 each that are loyal donors who give over and over. But "Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) topped the list, with 23 percent of respondents putting her in the top three candidates they were most curious about."
Elizabeth warren was second, Joe Biden third. It might be safe to assume, because of Bernie Sanders run in the 2016 election, the public is so familiar with him they don't need to know more. There are 21 Democratic presidential candidates in the race so far with Joe Biden regularly taking the lead and the Bern a close second. However, Elizabeth Warren has seen increased interest in the last few days. In other words, it's still a wide-open Primary.
Joe Biden has finally thrown his hat in the ring after months of deliberation, and which will be his third attempt at the office. During his announcement he attacked white nationalism, particularly the Charlottesville , Virginia rally in August 2017, saying of Donald Trump...
"He said there were quote some very fine people on both sides. With those words, the President of the United States assigned a moral equivalence between those spreading hate and those with the courage to stand against it. And in that moment, I knew the threat to this nation was unlike any I had ever seen in my lifetime."
And Joe Biden had hit the nail on the head in describing Donald Trump's presidency. Biden is the front runner right now, leading other candidates like Bernie Sanders, but, as a centrist, must contend with these powerful forces from the left, and the fact that Bernie came in a solid first in a recent New Hampshire poll. Here's what Trump had to say about Biden's entry into the race...
"Welcome to the race Sleepy Joe. I only hope you have the intelligence, long in doubt, to wage a successful primary campaign. It will be nasty - you will be dealing with people who truly have some very sick & demented ideas. But if you make it, I will see you at the Starting Gate!"
The words T-rump uses against Biden like doubtful intelligence, nasty and sick and demented are the perfect verbiage to describe a Donald Trump.
Bernie says the most important thing to him in the time left leading up to the 2020 election is to see that Donald Trump is not reelected. That would be the attitude of most of the U.S. population, minus the Trump hard core supporters, which was around 18% in 2018. I have been in contact with a few of these uninformed citizens recently and can say their less than rational mentality will never change. As I mentioned in another post today, much of the Trump base is completely disenchanted with the Oval Office lunatic and are looking hard at Bernie Sanders. The gist of Bernie's statement...
"At the end of the day, what is most important to me is to see that Donald Trump is not re-elected president, and I intend to do everything I can to make sure that doesn't happen."
He does want a thorough investigation by the House and would reconsider his position if anything damaging to Trump were to develop. Meanwhile, here's CNN Politics assessment of the right direction for Democrats...
1) Abandoning the Mueller report conclusions is unacceptable to the party's political base. 2) Impeachment will allow Trump to paint himself as a victim of overly partisan Democrats looking to run him out because they lost an election. 3) Senate Republicans will simply not abandon Trump en masse, ensuring that even if impeachment succeeds in the House, Trump will not be removed from office.
Bernie's position is, and I agree, that the left shouldn't fight a campaign of personalities, rather, emphasize the issues like healthcare, minimum wage, climate change, gun control and racism. A sensible public is not interested in revisiting the bizarre antics of a moron who has proven time after time that he is unfit to be president of the United States. And since impeachment is the epitome of Bernie's base, he must justify this position by convincing his people he can win in 2020. Early polls show him well out front in New Hampshire, but Joe Biden declaring tomorrow could change things.
Coming down the stretch for the first U.S. primary in New Hampshire, Bernie Sanders has a commanding double-digit lead at 30 percent, followed by Biden at 18 percent and Buttigieg at 15 percent. Biden hasn't officially declared and N.H. is right next door to Sanders home state of Vermont. But the real surprise is the fact that newbie Pete Buttigieg is surging in the Democratic race, trailing former V.P. Joe Biden by only 3 points. Could the primary end up with a Bernie Sanders/Pete Buttigieg ticket, and, if so, could they beat Donald Trump?
Karl Rove says so. He "thinks Democratic contender Bernie Sanders could beat Donald Trump in 2020 to become the next president." Rove even added...
"After watching the Vermont senator’s Monday Fox News town hall, Rove complimented Sanders on Fox and Friends Friday, saying participating in the event was a 'smart move on his part.' He was also impressed with the response Sanders got, saying, 'Bernie comes on to Fox, and gets the largest viewership of any campaign event thus far.'”
Now that's very interesting considering Fox plays to a conservative, Republican base.
The word is out some Trump supporters who are disenchanted with the Oval Office lunatic's bizarre antics are looking at Bernie Sanders for 2020. But Bernie still must contend with the fact he is a Democratic Socialist, a trait becoming more acceptable but not quite there yet. I have had two people recently question my Bernie 2016 bumper sticker, still affixed. One "patriot" actually walked up to my wife on the passenger side window and said, "Just wanted to see what a Socialist looks like." I pulled out of the parking place quickly hoping to run over his toes. Unfortunately not.
Bernie Sanders raised $10 million in the first week of his campaign. Beto O'Rourke raised $6.1 million on his first day. Joe Biden hasn't released any figures yet. That fact may be moot since skeptical Democratic donors have told him they won't raise any funds for him at the start of the 2020 campaign. Considering how many Democratic candidates have already declared, I'd say that is very bad news. I would be all out for the Bern by now but at this point, he hasn't shown enough support for gun control for me. It appears all the candidates are afraid to forcefully get behind this issue. Until then, there is a huge void for the Dems in 2020.
Here's the Politico headline: "World leaders tell Biden: We need you." Although they probably favor him from the Obama administration, I read into their enthusiasm that they are also fed up with Donald Trump and want a change. Apparently Biden’s 2020 intentions were the talk of the recent Munich Security Conference; world leaders were asking him, “Are you going to run?” Many of the conference conversations included the phrase "The world needs you." Wow! Does that mean their insight is, "perhaps," more objective than the U.S. GOP Congress in the assessment of T-rump's total incompetence. We'll see what it does for Joe Biden's polls.
He was Vice President under Barack Obama, was in the Senate for years and had a shot in 2016, but declined for personal reasons. The man is Joe Biden and he continues in a mysterious way to run for the Democratic nomination in 2020. But he hasn't declared. In my opinion Biden is another Harry Truman who says just what he thinks, sometimes getting him in trouble. How would he fare against Donald Trump? With Joe's experience in politics, he could bury T-rump on the issues, currently out in front of the polls at 28%, with Bernie Sanders at 20%. Kamala Harris seems to be edging up and there is the guy from Texas, Beto O'Rourke. If Biden has a plan, he'd better execute it soon, considering the amount of money Bernie and Beto have already raised.
Barack Obama has been relatively quiet since leaving office after eight years of dealing with Republicans led by Mitch McConnell with only one intent: to sabotage anything that President Obama presented. Not to consider what was best for the country, just to subvert whatever he advanced. We'll never know just how much could have been accomplished for the good of the American people in those eight years, but we could find out soon how effective Barack Obama can be as a former president, who still heads his party, and who wants to fight the GOP plague.
As one Democratic pundit put it...
“He’s been way too quiet. There are a lot of people who think he’s played too little a role or almost no role in endorsing or fundraising and he’s done jack shit in getting people to donate to the party.”
Maybe the man wasn't really sure how much of his participation was wanted since he received so little support when in office, even by his own party. Bernie Sanders, who may run in 2020, cannot carry the banner because he is an Independent. Other possible 2020 candidates are former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), but it is Barack Obama in 2008 who trounced John McCain in the popular vote and the Electoral College. The key will be to resurrect the magic of Obama's 2008 campaign and turn it into a win for Democrats in November.
Another point of view on the former president's hushed approach was...
"Former aides and Democratic strategists said Obama has sought to maintain a lower profile not only for his party to find new life, but also to avoid playing a foil to President Trump and Republicans."
Obama's two top priorities are, “recapturing the House and helping Democrats gain more influence in the redistricting process.”
At the same time, Democrats plan to make Washington corruption the focus of their campaign in 2020. They had earlier announced targeting their economic agenda to combat big money through campaign finance reform. Without a Democratic Congress this will be an uphill battle, but the odds are still out that Dems can take over the House and Senate. Nancy Pelosi, former House leader said, “President Trump has become the swamp and Americans are paying the price. The American people deserve better.”
Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer added, “The swamp has never been more foul than under this president.” And targeting corruption did work in the 2006 elections when Democrats took control of the House and Senate from Republicans. They hammered away at the GOP’s “culture of corruption, cronyism and incompetence.” Pelosi is testing the corruption theme on Scott Pruitt who "repeatedly used his position to seek employment and business opportunities for his wife, and had agency staffers doing personal errands on his behalf."
If ever there was an administration where corruption would be the central problem, and one to explore by the opposition, it would be Donald Trump's.
