I’m trying to care about the Democratic debate…
…and Warren’s handshake snub of Sanders, or CNN’s favoring of Warren (the moderator’s question for Sanders reminds me of “have you stopped beating your wife?”), and all that jazz. But I just don’t.
The entire group is both offputting and boring – boring in that they say the same claptrap over and over. I’ve watched a few moments here and there, and I also read commentary on the debates, and I can’t bring myself to watch any more than that. As regular readers here know, I don’t care for debates anyway, ordinarily. And these are even worse than usual.
But here’s a thread to talk about them, if you feel differently. I certainly do care who ends up being the Democratic nominee, but it seems as though that event is a long way away.
No comment, just an assertion: Bernie will win the nom!
All the others will get their Participation Trophies
The Democrats have AGAIN ended up screwing themselves. In 2016, the word went out strongly discouraging anyone from interfering with Hillary’s coronation. There were only six…SIX…major candidates and three of them withdrew months before the Iowa Caucuses.
This time around they decided to muddle with the debates. There were only three Democratic debates in 2015. They had six of them in 2019, with two split into two nights for a total of eight actual debates. Throw in the rising qualification standards in money and poll results and the DNC has managed to force out a chunk of theoretically viable mainstream candidates while greatly overexposing their entire field.
Last time they wanted to rig the game for Hillary and we know how that worked out. This time they wanted to effectively start the winnowing process months before any actual votes were cast. I suspect it will work just as well for them this time.
Mike
I noticed on FB even one of my really hard-core lefty acquaintances posting something that indicated how uninspired that person was by this group. Without a moment of hesitation, my lefty friends will vote for whichever of these miserable candidates gets the nomination but aside from the most rabid and unrepentant of the Bernie supporters – which are a special kind of crazy even among today’s far left set – no one is excited about them.
Generally, they are motivated by three things … and I know this, because it is literally the only thing they talk about on social media:
1) They like the idea of free stuff for everyone, paid for by rich people, and believe that will work in real life (even though my coworkers/acquaintances are mostly my age and should know better);
2) They think that everyone else is impressed by, and thinks better of them for it, by constantly yammering about how wonderfully Democrat they are, and how stupid anyone who disagrees with them about anything is;
3) Orangemanbad.
Never forget that they also view this as a Flight 93 election. They have been living in a hallucinatory alternate reality since the morning after the last election and it doesn’t matter that it’s not real. I really can’t tell if they’ve simply invested so much in it that they can’t turn back, or if they actually believe in their fantasy, because none of them are receptive to any conversation or question that in any way insinuates that something they think might be mistaken or exaggerated. They think that the fate of the world depends on getting rid of Trump and will vote for anyone the Democrat party puts up. Based on what I’ve seen to date, I have no doubt that they would support any action, no matter how unethical or illegal, that has the effect of helping a Democrat candidate beat Trump.
Here’s the deal, I don’t know of anyone who held their nose and voted for Trump and has had buyer’s remorse, there were enough votes to get him elected last time because Hillary was a crappy candidate but she has a lot of enthusiasm on the left from those who thought she was a capable leader.
Several of my left leaning women friends were ecstatic to have a woman president and when I would try to mention that Trump was building a strong base in middle America they looked at me as if I was crazy full of batcrap because there was no way that could happen and then it did.
This time around, this late in the game these debate things, they are more talent show and beauty pageant than actual debate, are more of a ‘Whack-a-Mole’ things where they just bop each other over the head without projecting any real reason to vote for them except free stuff and hate Trump.
Sanders is a wealthy mooch who has never had a real job, Injun-Liz speaks with forked tongue like the snake she is and good old Biden has so much trash up under his skirt he is a hazardous waste area asking to be quarantined and my guess is that will happen within the next three weeks.
The Dems could have picked the best pick of the litter early on, diversity would be fine, woman no problem, just pick one, polish her/him and feed the critter lines about making America even better than Trump ever thought it could be. Sell the positive and be a leader with a vision instead of being against every positive thing that has happened in the past three years instead of trying to trip Trump up because the best way to win a race is to out race the opponent and not trip him/her. A lot can happen between now and November but at the moment I don’t see a good Dem candidate that can win over the middle and win the race.
I still see Warren.
She’s a technocrat, she’s one of them… a credentialed mandarin… and she’s the least like Trump when it comes to inspiring and connecting with the electorate.
She lacks passion. She’s no populist.
But the flip side of a lack of emotional rapport with the voters is NO CRAZIES in her camp. She’s the most stable and least liable to sudden collapse in this regard (and that’s hilarious.)
On the other hand, out of all the other candidates… Trump included… the quality of her arguments matters most. Trump has real accomplishments. Bernie has real foot soldiers. Biden has real connections. What’s Lizzy got?
When you’re all talk, you’d better be good.
If she can’t straighten out her messaging, patch up the Medicare for all idea, go back to being professor know-it-all with a plan for everything, she’s in trouble.
But she can attack and drag the others down until she finds her footing.
Either Bernie or Biden can be portrayed as an ersatz Trump.
Bernie is just left-wing Trump, with his propensity to inspire violence.
Biden is also left-wing Trump, because of his corruption and that of those in his orbit.
I guess that makes Booty-guy Gay-Trump or something.
So why do the Democrats want Trump to win in 2020? That’s the question.
Contra JimNorCal (but without rancor), I don’t think Bernie will win the nomination.
I think that the Democratic Party machine and the MSM machine have decided to prevent that, because they’re wealthy enough — and Bernie’s serious enough — that his plans would impoverish them, and that is “something up with which they shall not put.”
I think we see this collaboration to torpedo Bernie in how the kerfuffle re: Fauxcahontas and her “a woman can’t beat Trump” claim was covered.
Now, it’s perfectly obvious that he didn’t, in fact, say that to her. After all, Hillary Clinton got the majority of the votes last time out: From his perspective, a woman already beat Trump, except for the pedandtic detail of the Electoral College math (I’m speaking as if I were a Democrat, here). Moreover, Bernie has credibility: He’s a loon, but he’s perfectly open about every loony idea in his head. There’s really not a lot of camouflage or even protective coloration; he’s just bright red, all the time. He was directly asked whether he said anything like that to Warren, and he unequivocally stated that, no, he never said it.
Since saying such a thing makes no sense from his point-of-view, I believe him. If we didn’t already know Liz Warren was a liar, I might doubt that judgment; but we do know that.
So, Liz Warren basically walked up to Bernie and stuck a shiv in his back because she reasoned he was likely her chief obstacle to cinching the nomination. (The late Joe Biden notwithstanding.) Liz needs Bernie out of the way because she’s positioned herself as the younger, more-female alternative with the same warm pink center. She reasons that, with him gone and his former supporters adding to her own numbers, it becomes a two-person race between her and Biden, and once that dynamic is in play, she can knock the somnambulant Biden out and take the nomination.
Now, the MSM can report that as a he-said/she-said, if they’re willing to be evenhanded with Bernie. But is that what they did? Nope. The relevant reporterette heard Bernie’s flat denial, and then turned to Warren and asked something like, “So tell me, when Bernie said that to you, how did that make you feel?”
In short, it’s a lie, but the MSM is going to play it as the truth.
So, I think that both the party — just like last time — and the MSM — more so than last time — are going to conspire to prevent Bernie getting the nomination.
“Aha!” one might say, “but Trump shows that it’s possible to get past the MSM and Party Power!”
Yeah, but that’s Trump, and in the Republican Party. Trump has massively better skill at manipulating the MSM’s focus of attention — look! racially-insensitive squirrel! — than Bernie does. And the Democrats have tools in their nomination process which grant extra power to the party, which the GOP process lacks.
So, I think the fix is in, just like last time. Bernie will be shut out.
I’m less-sure whether the Dem Machine is trying to keep Biden, or throw it to Warren. But people who’re not under the control of that machine (not just Bernie, but also Yang and of course Gabbard) are being fed the illusion of participation. Gabbard took no time at all to realize that. I think Bernie has figured it out, too.
None of them have a chance against Trump, really.
There will, of course, be an October Surprise. It’s SOP, one of the standard moves in the Democratic Playbook.
Wonder what it’ll be? More strippers and playmates?
I listened to the whole thing. Blitzer’s first question was what made each of them think they could be a good commander-in-chief. Most said that they were against the Iraq war. Steyer said he’s gonna fight global warming, which causes war.
They spent two hours basically saying that America is broken and needs fixing. Bernie, Biden and Warren sounded like their political views were fixed in their minds 40 years ago, and they’re still playing that worn-out record.
If the DNC had wanted to produce a candidate with a chance, these debates would have Hannity, Maria Bartolimo and Dan Bongino as moderators, asking the rough questions they’ll have to face in a debate with Trump.
I don’t bother watching because only over my dead body will I vote for a Democrat candidate for President. I used to vote Democrat.
Liawatha versus a Commie.(I go by what Bernie has said about Cuba.) Goodness gracious.
Mentus on January 15, 2020 at 5:45 pm said:
I still see Warren….
But the flip side of a lack of emotional rapport with the voters is NO CRAZIES in her camp.
* * *
Well, maybe James O’Keefe has another video run queued up when he gets Sanders shut down.
https://www.redstate.com/brandon_morse/2020/01/15/sanders-campaign-staffers-are-locking-down-their-accounts-after-project-veritas-expose/
https://www.redstate.com/brandon_morse/2020/01/15/project-veritas-releases-second-video-featuring-sanders-staffer-promising-murder-and-violence/
BTW, Mentus, Warren is hated by the Democratic Money Bags as much as Sanders is, possibly more.
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/26/wall-street-democratic-donors-may-back-trump-if-warren-is-nominated.html
That was back in the fall, so maybe they have changed their minds.
Duck-Duck-Go didn’t turn up anything more recent.
However, I doubt if their reasoning has changed any.
Is she making secret side deals, perhaps?
Bernie bros are “true believers.” He attracts all the revolutionaries. They believe that violence can rule the day. What they don’t realize is that most police and armed services members are not Marxist revolutionaries. And that most conservatives own guns and know how to use them. The USA is not ripe for a violent takeover quite yet. The commies and their useful idiots are working on it, though.
CNN appears to have launched an attack on Bernie last night. They sided with Warren on the accusation of sexism. The Dem establishment may be scared of Bernie’s ideas. Wall Street certainly doesn’t like him. The Veritas vids may have enhanced that effect.
I didn’t see anyone on the stage who could hold a candle to Trump in a debate or even on the stump. But there is a lot of money looking for a better answer than the present crew.
Bloomberg, who wasn’t in the debate, is running commercials non-stop here in Washington. They’re well crafted and all about………..people’s fears about healthcare. That issue ran very well in the 2018 mid terms – at least here in Washington state. Trump and the Republicans need to have a concrete plan to replace Obamacare. No vague promises – real meat. Even though there are only about 30 million people in the Obamacare population, many people are aghast at the way costs are going up and fearful of the future . Medicare for all or all who want it, sounds pretty good to a lot of people. Few understand how socialized medicine tends to migrate toward careless practices and rationing. This is an issue that the Republicans need to get moving on.
Bloomberg seems to be positioning himself to be a possibility in a brokered convention or as a king maker behind the scenes. He’s dedicated one billion dollars to the effort. That ain’t hay.
“If the DNC had wanted to produce a candidate with a chance, these debates would have Hannity, Maria Bartolimo and Dan Bongino as moderators, asking the rough questions they’ll have to face in a debate with Trump.”
@Cap’n Rusty, why do you believe that the eventual Democratic nominee will be made to face “rough questions . . . in a [so-called] debate with Trump”?
MollyG – they might, if the GOP insists on picking their own moderators, or at least genuinely objective ones, instead of kowtowing to the Democrats in the press as they have done before 2016.