Two Democratic Presidential Candidates Now Harmed In Quest For Nomination: Joe Biden And Bernie Sanders

It turns out that the two oldest Presidential contenders in 2020–Democrats Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders, who would both reach 80 early in their term, if they won the Presidency–are both much more in danger in their quest to be the Presidential nominee by recent events.

Donald Trump’s claim that Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden were involved in Ukraine corruption seems clearly to have no logical or factual basis, but Trump is pushing the conspiracy theory, and it seems to be having some effect on public opinion, as a growing number of people polled want an investigation and more facts about the supposed “conspiracy”. So Joe Biden needs to be aggressive in dealing with this matter, as trying to ignore it is not going to work. It is clear that the upcoming election will be a “mud fight” with no holds barred, and one must be tough and willing to get involved in a boxing match, as Donald Trump has no limits in his indecency and willingness to corrupt and manipulate the truth!

At the same time, Bernie Sanders, no matter what his supporters wish, by having had a mild heart attack, only emphasizes his age, and makes one wonder could he, indeed, take the brunt of a rough campaign over the next 13 months, and whether one could expect him to serve a full term in good health. One wishes him the best, but it is an issue which will not go away.

All this, plus the fact that Joe Biden sometimes seems mentally lacking in alertness makes one worry if he also is truly capable of serving a full term, and either Biden or Sanders could have a health crisis after being nominated and during the fall campaign, and that would be devastating for the Democrats in their quest to retire the most corrupt and mentally unstable President in all of American history.

The facts are that Donald Trump has shown ability to overcome all detriments and shortcomings so far, but we cannot be certain that Joe Biden or Bernie Sanders can do the same.

And again, it brings up the idea that it would be better to have a new generation of leadership facing the future, rather than Trump, Biden or Sanders, all in their mid to late 70s or early 80s in the new decade of the 2020s!

66 comments on “Two Democratic Presidential Candidates Now Harmed In Quest For Nomination: Joe Biden And Bernie Sanders

  1. Jeffrey Moebus October 7, 2019 11:34 am

    As a Baby Boomer [born in 1946], i say that it is time for Baby Boomers ~ ALL Baby Boomers ~ to pack it up, move on, and get the hell out of the way.

    We have already given America Billy Bobb Clinton, Chancellor Cheney and his consort, Bush the Lesser, Obomber, and now Trump [it was either him or another Clinton].

    [Note: It wasn’t that America wasn’t ready for a Woman to be President; it was that it was damned if THAT Woman, in particular, was going to be President.]

    America does not need another Baby Boomer in the White House; especially any of the four front-runners today [Uncle Joe, Papa Bernie, Auntie/Poco ‘Lizbeth, and The Donald].

    Not that any of the other, younger candidates are more qualified or have any better ideas about how to fix America’s and the World’s problems than these four; but at least they are not Baby Boomers, whose time at the head of the line for the trough is over.

    As great a promise and potential as we had back in 1964 when we started graduating from high school, we have screwed up just about everything we have touched; especially when it comes to politics, economics, diplomacy, and politics, economics, and diplomacy by another name: War.

    That’s where our failure all started: with Viet Nam; a War we Boomers could neither win nor stop. And we ~ and our Kids ~ haven’t stopped not winning and not stopping any Wars since.

    The Constitution mandates minimum age requirements for Congress and the Presidency.[none, interestingly enough, for Federal Judges]. In addition to term limits for Congress and the Judiciary, there should also be a maximum age allowable upon election or appointment.

    About the only thing we Baby Boomers didn’t screw up was our Music. THAT we got right.

  2. Ronald October 7, 2019 11:41 am

    Jeffrey, I Love your sarcasm and thoughts, lol, and agree it it time for a new generation of leadership!

    And I agree on the music, lol! 🙂

  3. Ronald October 7, 2019 11:54 am

    Jeffrey, I wanted to point out that technically, the following are NOT Baby Boomers, which is defined as the years 1946-1964:

    Dick Cheney 1941
    Bernie Sanders 1941
    Joe Biden 1942

    Trump, Bush 2, and Clinton were born a month apart in each case in 1946, and Hillary in 1947 and Warren in 1949, so they ARE Baby Boomers!

  4. Princess Leia October 7, 2019 12:18 pm

    I’m still betting on Elizabeth Warren being our first woman president.

  5. Jeffrey Moebus October 7, 2019 1:13 pm

    Well, if official Baby Boomers are too old, then people older than official BBs certainly are, no? Plus, Cheney, Sanders, and Biden all came into prominence and power as part of the BBs ascent into Swampland [or descent upon, depending upon one’s perspective] with Reagan.

  6. Jeffrey Moebus October 7, 2019 1:22 pm

    This country is no more ready and willing for that Woman [Warren] to be President than it was for Clinton to be in 2016.

  7. Southern Liberal October 7, 2019 4:44 pm

    I think that Warren would make a fine president. She heads my ranked list of candidates right now. She has run an excellent, respectful campaign and her credentials as a genuine populist (in the best meaning of the word) is impeccable.

  8. Princess Leia October 7, 2019 4:59 pm

    She’s been getting big crowds lately. That’s a sign of enthusiasm.

  9. Former Republican October 7, 2019 5:03 pm

    Seconded, Leia. Crowd size isn’t necessarily a perfect predictor of political success, but there’s a reason Trump consistently lies and brags about his attendance numbers. Massive crowds can be a real gauge of enthusiasm. They can show how well a message is resonating. And as Warren works her way up the polls, it’s clear that what she’s saying resonates.

  10. Rational Lefty October 8, 2019 12:31 pm

    It’s time to narrow the field down, get rid of some of these bottom tier people.

  11. Princess Leia October 8, 2019 12:32 pm

    No matter who the Democrats nominate, the fight for 2020, as it was in 2016, is going to be about what kind of country we want. If you don’t want to live in a country of white supremacist fascism, it is imperative to vote for Democrats up and down the ballot. Do not sit at home and pout because your candidate did not win. Do not protest vote for a third party.

  12. Rational Lefty October 8, 2019 4:48 pm

    I personally like Pete Buttigieg. Every time I hear him speak, I’m more impressed. He’s articulate, calm, and reasoned, but he also conveys a youthful charisma. His answers are substantive. He comes across as thoughtful and pragmatic, neither detached nor professorial. He advocates for progressive ideals but does so in a way that can resonate with the Rust Belt and suburban voters who will be absolutely critical to Democrats’ chances next year. He may not ultimately be the Democratic nominee next year, but even if he’s not, he will be the future of his party.

  13. Ronald October 8, 2019 5:25 pm

    Rational Lefty, I am in total agreement with your statements on Pete Buttigieg!

  14. Princess Leia October 8, 2019 5:36 pm

    Buttigieg is amongst my top favorites as well.

  15. Former Republican October 8, 2019 5:41 pm

    I’m curious to know who Jeffrey is interested in for 2020.

  16. Jeffrey Moebus October 8, 2019 9:11 pm

    Thank You for asking, Former Republican. Here’s a glimpse of not who, but what i’m interested in for 2020:

    The aMERICAN TRUTH ACTION PARTY [aTAP]:
    A Prospectus in Three Parts

    Part 1: An Open Letter to America, circa Year III of THE AGE OF TRUMP

    Are You fed up with all the Lies our government tells Us?
    Are You fed up with all the Secrets it keeps from Us?
    Are You fed up with all the Games it plays with Us?
    And with Our Children’s Blood and Treasure?

    Are You fed up with our pay-to-play, $1/1vote government?
    Are You fed up with the reality-tv show this government and Nation have become?
    Are You fed up with all the propaganda, alternative facts, and fake news?

    In sum, and in a word: Are You fed up with all The Bullshit?

    Well, Friend, so are We: the AMERICAN TRUTH ACTION PARTY

    It is our intent to put a Truth-Demanding Congress
    in Swampland on January 5, 2021,
    with the seating of the 117th Congress
    of The United States of America.

    The Mission of that Truth-Demanding Congress will be:

    By September 11, 2021: To enable the American People and the World to be well on the way to knowing Everything and Anything that the government of the United States of America [and its agents and allies, foreign and domestic] knew then, knows now, and has always known about:

    The Terror Event of September 11, 2001,
    The Financial “¢risi$” of 2008, and
    The Assassinations of John F Kennedy, Malcom X, Martin Luther King, and Robert F Kennedy.

    Everything and Anything about 9/11, The ¢risi$, and Dallas, New York, Memphis, and LA: from before it happened, to while it was happening, to after it happened, and since…; right up to today.

    And that’s just for starters.

    In order for that Truth-Demanding Congress to happen, there must be a Tsunami
    of “Truth-Demanding Citizens”:

    A critical mass of Americans ~ especially the Young ~ who are fed up with all the Lies,
    all the Secrets,
    all the Games,
    all the pay-to-play $1/1vote government reality-tv show propaganda alternative facts
    fake news panopticon that runs and is America today.

    A critical mass of Truth-Demanding Citizens who proclaim “¡¡¡Ya Basta!!!” … Enough!!!
    to all The Bullshit. And then make it stick.

    ###

  17. Southern Liberal October 8, 2019 10:02 pm

    LOL! He’s a total weirdo!

  18. Rustbelt Democrat October 8, 2019 10:03 pm

    He left out Bigfoot, Area 51 and the Loch Ness Monster.

  19. Princess Leia October 8, 2019 10:38 pm

    So is there really a treasure map on the back of the Declaration of Independence?! LOL!

  20. Alexis Rose Bank October 9, 2019 3:21 am

    From the outside in. the whole Dem field looks like rubble.

    Biden is done. If you have genuine interest in the factual basis for the Burisma scandal, review a) Joe on tape at CFR; b) Hunter’s compensation and lack of qualifications; c) the now notorious “Look at this photograph” video. Even if you still insist on his innocent at that point, you must at least concede Biden can be wholly damned politically with this.

    Both Warren and Sanders have a big problem that no one seems to want to talk about, which is how pissed off a whole lot of Sanders supporters were about the 2016 DNC and how things went down on the way there. There’s deep bad blood here that remains unresolved.

    Does Warren have what it takes to go toe to toe with Trump? I think she has the Clinton problem where the coasts are head over heels but flyover country isn’t too keen at all. When the challenge is getting back Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, this is a tough road to hoe. Plus, money men hate her and will bail, adding another significant disadvantage.

    If you move down the list by poll order, there aren’t a lot of gems here… You can discard Harris and Buttigeig out of hand, the former is stacked with vulnerabilities (good luck telling a convincing political career origin story), and the latter has no appeal outside the primary.

    Yang might have something interesting going on, but does he have depth or is it a joke campaign? Gabbard has a distinct approach with crossover appeal, but the DNC hates her and wants her to go away.

    What’s after that is a collection of candidates that lack the ability to generate political support even stacked against such a weak field.

    The Clinton and Michelle Obama hail-mary passes probably aren’t much better options either.

    If I could make a recommendation for everyone’s long term benefit, it would be for the grassroots of the Democratic Party to seize back control of the party from large donors and the DC consultant class, a la Cantor-Brat 2014, as emulated by Trump 2015-6. The party needs to be ideologically aligned with a base that is less interested in conducting legal. cultural, or military warfare and more interested in having a bright future for themselves, their friends and families.

  21. Jeffrey Moebus October 9, 2019 4:31 am

    Extract from Part III: A Self-Assessment Exercise; Or, do You have the makings of a “Truth-Demanding Citizen”?
    [The possible Answers are: YES ___ NO ___ DON’T KNOW ___ DON’T CARE ___ ]

    1. Do You think the government of the United States told You and the American people the Truth about Saddam Hussein’s Weapons of Mass Destruction, which it used to justify the invasion and occupation of Iraq in 2003?

    2. Do You think that that government told You and the American people the Truth about Saddam’s involvement in 9/11, also used to justify that invasion and occupation?

    3. Do You think that that government told You and the American people the Truth about the “Incubator Babies of Kuwait,” who were being thrown on the floor by Saddam’s marauding troops, which was used to justify Operation Desert Storm?

    4. Do You think that that government told You and the American people the Truth about an incident in the Tonkin Gulf off the coast of North Viet Nam in August, 1964, which was used to justify what the Vietnamese term “The American War”?

    5. Do You think that the American people know the whole, real, actual, complete, and total Truth about the Terror Event of November 22, 1963: About What actually happened; about How and Why it really happened; and about Who ~ by their acts of commission and/or omission ~ made, and/or enabled, and/or let it to happen?

    6. Do You think that YOU know the whole, real, actual, complete, and total Truth about Dallas?

    7. Do You think that You and the American People have an unconditional, incontestable Right and Need to know that Truth?

    8. Do You think that the government of the United States has a clearly articulated and defined Duty and Responsibility to provide the American people with that Truth, within the context and parameters of current national, military defensive security?

    9. Do You think that the American People know the whole, real, actual, complete, and total Truth about The Terror Event of September 11, 2001? About What actually happened; about How and Why it really happened; and about Who ~ by their acts of commission and/or omission ~ made, and/or enabled, and/or let it to happen?

    10. Do You think that YOU know the whole, real, actual, complete, and total Truth about 9/11?

    11. Do You think that You and the American People have an unconditional, incontestable Right and Need to know that Truth?

    12. Do You think that the government of the United States has a clearly articulated and defined Duty and Responsibility to provide the American people with that Truth, within the context and parameters of current national, military defensive security?

    13. Do You think that individuals, institutions, or organizations within or affiliated with the government of the United States were in any way involved in the Assassination of President John F Kennedy: in its planning, resourcing, or execution?

    14. If individuals, institutions, or organizations within or affiliated with the government of the United States were in any way involved in the planning, resourcing, or execution of JFK’s execution, do You think that the American people would want to know?

    15. If individuals, institutions, or organizations within or affiliated with the government of the United States were in any way involved in the planning, resourcing, or execution of that execution, would YOU want to know?

    16. If individuals, institutions, or organizations within or affiliated with the government of the United States were in any way involved in the planning, resourcing, or execution of 9/11, do You think that the American people would want to know?

    17. If individuals, institutions, or organizations within or affiliated with the government of the United States were in any way involved in the planning, resourcing, or execution of 9/11, would YOU want to know?

    18. So….. . Having read all that: Are You tired of all The Bullshit?

    ###

  22. Jeffrey Moebus October 9, 2019 4:48 am

    Here’s the other part of Part III:

    “What This Country Needs is…” [Overview]

    Executive Summary. This presents the argument that:

    If the United States of America is going to survive to celebrate its 250th birthday on July 4, 2026,
    it needs [at least for starters]:

    ~ a serious case of The Viet Nam Syndrome;
    ~ a virulent outbreak of Anti-Federalism with more than a touch of “The Spirit of ’98”;
    ~ a declaration of and demand for Ya Basta!!! to The Bullshit;
    and, maybe most of all,
    ~ a solid dose of Common Sense. Plus,
    ~ a strategically-placed Snowden or three.

    Definitions:

    The Viet Nam Syndrome: That frame of mind that the American People [and, after a fashion, its government] got into after the last curtain rolled down on the American Experience of what the Vietnamese People term “The American War.”

    Anti-Federalism: A paradigm, mindset, movement, and meme of post-First American Revolution America that challenged ~ and fought bitterly and unsuccessfully against ~ the paradigm, mindset, movement, and meme that led, ultimately, to the creation, ratification, and implementation of The Constitution of the United States of America, back in 1787-88.

    The Spirit of ’98: The effort by James Madison and Thomas Jefferson to reclaim that Revolution by countering the success of The Federalists in Philadelphia ten years earlier via resistance to The Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798.

    Ya Basta!!!: A culturally-appropriated term from late-20th century Chiapas, Mexico that says, in essence:

    “Enough is enough!” or “Enough already!”

    The Bullshit: The reality-tv show that runs and is America today. Ie: the Silo-/Echo Chamber-driven and -fed-by Lies, Evasions, Obfuscations, Unconfirmable Rumors from Reliable Sources, and all the other “alternative facts,” and their attendant alt-, fake-, alt.fake, fake.alt, etc post-Truth “news,” etc:

    as propagated, pontificated, promulgated, and maintained by this government; and,

    as propitiated, perpetrated, and perpetuated ~ and thus sustained ~ by its colleagues, cohorts, and
    compeers in its media and among its gatekeepers, Left, Right, and Muddled Middle;

    with lots of guidance, direction, and help from, particularly:

    the military-industrial complex/petro-financial web/techno-infotainment-censorship matrix/
    guns n drugs cartel/surveillance-suppression-secrets-security-safety panopticon

    again, that runs and is America today, cascading into Year III of The Age of Trump. [Note: All of these terms are defined below. Also below is the clear demonstration that none of this even remotely started with Trump.]

    Common Sense: The January 10, 1776-published rant of a recent immigrant ~ one Thomas Paine, of Thetford, England, of all places ~ that all but launched the First American Revolution, six months later in Philadelphia.

    Snowden: The Daniel Ellsberg of post-Truth, alternative fact, fake news America.

    ###

  23. Pragmatic Progressive October 9, 2019 12:12 pm

    Told you he’s Fox Mulder!

  24. Former Republican October 9, 2019 12:13 pm

    Translation: He doesn’t like any of the Democratic candidates and does not intend to vote, which will doom us all to 4 more years of Dumb Dumb Trump ruining our country.

  25. Southern Liberal October 9, 2019 12:14 pm

    Rustbelt – He also forgot about the Abominable Snowman!

  26. Princess Leia October 9, 2019 12:15 pm

    This Alexis person sounds like she is D’s cousin or something.

  27. Southern Liberal October 9, 2019 5:34 pm

    I am a huge Warren fan and supporter but I am afraid that relying ONLY on small individual contributions will come up short in the general election. I am already seeing stories about the Trump campaign buying Millions of dollars worth of Facebook ads. This will be a hard fought and very costly campaign. Citizens United insured that national campaigns need huge amounts of money to be competitive.

  28. Jeffrey Moebus October 9, 2019 11:28 pm

    Heh. That’s interesting that Y’All out the Assassinations, 9/11, and particularly, the 2008 financial “cri$i$” in the same category as Bigfoot, Area 51, the Loch Ness Monster, and the Abominable Snowman.

    It tells me a great deal about Your knowledge of history, and the effectiveness of the Echo Chamber News Silos Y’All carry around with You on Your personal, plugged-in Orwellian telescreens.

    So i guess Saddam really had those WMDs after all, eh? And those Incubator Babies were real as well, eh? And North Vietnam really did attack US warships on peaceful missions in international waters, eh?

    And FDR really didn’t need a War to end his Depression; the New Deal had solved Everybody’s problem, eh?.

    A nation and a people get the government they deserve. For our sins, it’s not that we got Trump; it’s that the only choice we had in 2016 was The Donald and The Hillary. And now we have Election 2020, and the choices that loom.

    If it even happens.

  29. Former Republican October 10, 2019 12:09 pm

    We are making fun of you because you are a tin foil hat person. We are rational people. We don’t believe in deep state conspiracy theories. We’ll never take you seriously here, so you are just wasting your time posting here.

  30. Jeffrey Moebus October 10, 2019 1:29 pm

    Pardon my French, Former Republican, but “Au contraire, Pierre.” i am most definitely NOT wasting my time. i am learning a great deal about how folks like Y’All think. It basically confirms what i learned in my dealings last year with the Ruling Elite of America’s Peace and Social Justice Warrior Class [Chomsky, Flowers, Benjamin, Zeese, Swanson, Baraka, Sheehan, etal] about Trump’s military parade:
    That there are just some things that are a bridge too far; especially when it comes to whether or not this government is a pathological liar; and particularly when it comes to getting this nation involved in another War.

    That, just like Mayor Rudy Giuliani put it on the afternoon of 9/11 when asked how many people were killed at the WTC: “It is probably a truth too terrible to bear.”

    So…. Knowing that this government lied thru its teeth to justify the Wars in Viet Nam in 1964, Kuwait in 1991, and Iraq in 2003, on what basis are You so sure that it has not lied, and is not lying to You about the War in Afghanistan in 2001? And that that is why it was ~ and still is ~ Just, Right, and Good what and that we have done to that land, people, nation, and country over these past 18 years. And still is. And not just there. Places like Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Pakistan, and who knows where else.

    So You tell me who’s wearing the tinfoil hat here.

    Here’s another conspiracy for You the theorize about: That Trump may very well be the very last POTUS otus.

    One wonders if Y’All’s fears of “deep state conspiracies” has anything to do with the fact that all Your heroes and heroines ~ past, present, and future ~ are creatures and products of that same Deep State You so passionately deny.

  31. Pragmatic Progressive October 10, 2019 4:53 pm

    Jeffrey listed: Chomsky, Flowers, Benjamin, Zeese, Swanson, Baraka, Sheehan

    Who the heck are all of them? We’ve never heard of them.

    Like other liberals that we are friends with in our community, our news of choice is MSNBC, particularly their primetime lineup.

    We check out a Facebook page to keep up with local liberal politics: https://www.facebook.com/ProgressVA/

    Occasionally we’ll check out some of the links the Professor has here.

  32. Princess Leia October 10, 2019 5:33 pm

    Keith Olbermann is the one who got us to watching the channel.

  33. Rational Lefty October 10, 2019 5:52 pm

    I was just Googling about Chomsky. According to Wikipedia, he’s associated with alternative media, which we are not into. We’ve always been mainstream people, from entertainment to news to places we eat and shop.

  34. Alexis Rose Bank October 10, 2019 7:32 pm

    Please tell me you are joking when you say you don’t know who Chomsky is. If even he isn’t pure enough for your ideology you got a problem on your hands.

  35. Pragmatic Progressive October 10, 2019 7:44 pm

    We’re serious about not knowing who Chomsky is.

  36. Alexis Rose Bank October 10, 2019 8:01 pm

    If you’re serious about not knowing who Chomsky is, some research is in order if poli sci is your field. I think people on all sides who know him would agree on the characterization that he is the foremost ideological promoter of socialism/communism in the USA since the Vietnam era.

    He’s not a fringe figure by any means. You’ll find that all the media majors have quoted him extensively at some point and some have given him op-ed space.

  37. Pragmatic Progressive October 10, 2019 8:21 pm

    We’re not far left. We’re center left.

  38. Princess Leia October 10, 2019 8:40 pm

    We can’t continue to have debates with 10 to 20 people. We won’t learn anything about any of them. We have to whittle down to the people with a believable chance of ever winning.

  39. Jeffrey Moebus October 10, 2019 8:46 pm

    That’s the whole purpose and function of the Debates: That nobody actually really Learns anything. Rather, that everybody comes away feeling even better about the person they supported in the first place, and even more justified in being against anybody else.

    But the Game Show format fits right into Year III of The Age of Trump, with him as the reality-tv Mystery Game Show Host.

  40. Jeffrey Moebus October 10, 2019 8:52 pm

    It’s pretty obvious, Alexis, that they’re serious about not knowing who Chomsky is [or Medea Benjamin, or Cindy Sheehan, etc]. What’s interesting is that they seem to be very Proud of that fact. “Ignorance Is Bliss” is not just a way of thought and life for Trumpatistas, eh?

  41. Alexis Rose Bank October 10, 2019 8:53 pm

    @ Pragmatic Progressive

    > We’re not far left. We’re center left.

    I really don’t see a lot out there that meets the “center left” definition as I have traditionally understood it.

    Can you define for me what you mean by “far left” and “center left”? What kinds of policy differences would a far left person and a center left person have?

  42. Alexis Rose Bank October 10, 2019 8:56 pm

    @ Jeffrey Moebus

    I thought I knew everything when I was in college too, so, can’t hold it against ’em. Learning is a process.

  43. Alexis Rose Bank October 10, 2019 9:03 pm

    @ Princess Leia
    > We can’t continue to have debates with 10 to 20 people.

    Could not agree more. These end up being the “moderators” grandstanding in an ineffective group interview format. They don’t help the voters at all and it hurts the candidates and the party because it looks as silly and irrational as it is.

    I have long wanted to see this format ditched in favor of a larger number of one-on-one debate matchups between candidates, where the candidates choose their own debate opponent, and the topics to debate, by mutual agreement. And none of this media moderator stuff. Just a person keeping time to keep it even.

  44. Rational Lefty October 10, 2019 9:04 pm

    D is the one here who is the socialist.

  45. Princess Leia October 10, 2019 9:07 pm

    Alexis – I’m in favor of doing them town hall style.

  46. Alexis Rose Bank October 10, 2019 9:12 pm

    @ Pragmatic Progressive

    Well, that’s the thing. The people who used to be “center-left”, as in principled and really believing in it, appear to be gone. There are people who pretend to be, but there’s no policy daylight visible between them and the far left.

    If there is more than an academic distinction between center-left and far left, it has to manifest as differences in policy, rather than the difference being confined to terminology and method.

    Can you give me an example or two of a policy on which a center-left and a far left person would differ? Do you have any specific individuals in mind that you would characterize as center-left?

  47. Alexis Rose Bank October 10, 2019 9:14 pm

    @ Princess Leia
    > Alexis – I’m in favor of doing them town hall style.

    That’s a good format for a single candidate, but if they don’t get one-on-one practice against a real opponent, they will be less prepared than they could be when it comes to the general election. There’s a measure of battle-testing for the general that happens in 2-person formats that doesn’t happen in any other, which is why that specific format should be priority.

  48. Jeffrey Moebus October 10, 2019 9:18 pm

    i think, Alexis, before calling Chomsky “the foremost ideological promoter of socialism/communism in the USA since the Vietnam era,” more people who have actually read and studied his work would agree that his main contribution was [and is] in linguistics; and specifically his explanation of how ruling elites [governments and their owners, operators, and handlers] use the media [corporate and/or state] to control what people believe, think, think they know, and actually do know. See his and Edward herman’s MANUFACTURING CONSENT. The Political Economy of the Mass Media, originally published in 1988; long before the internet, social media, etc.

    Chomsky’s socialism/communism is as bone-headed as is anybody’s who still subscribes to that rot after the 20th century gave us Stalinism, Maoism, Pol Potism, etc.

    His main contribution was [and remains] explaining how easily the citizenry can be and are manipulated by the skillful use of words, symbols, and the carefully choreographed stimulation of the senses.

    He was talking of “memes” long before Richard Dawkins coined the term and identified the phenomenon.

    Just take a look around at all the Echo Chamber News Silos, and You will see that he knew exactly what he was talking about.

  49. Rustbelt Democrat October 10, 2019 9:23 pm

    Amy Klobuchar is center left. So is Joe Biden. Bernie is further left than they are.

  50. Alexis Rose Bank October 10, 2019 9:52 pm

    @ Rustbelt Democrat

    That’s exactly what I mean. Biden is well past his expiration date and Klouchbar has little stature. Again excepting Gabbard, that leaves nothing in the Presidential field, and little in the Democratic Party as a whole, but the far left.

    Can anyone make an argument that a substantial center-left still exists in the United States?

  51. Ronald October 10, 2019 10:01 pm

    Alexis, I find it hard to believe that you find everyone in the Democratic Presidential list to be unacceptable, except for Tulsi Gabbard.

    I think she is close to the absolute worst possibility, and she is a very divisive figure, who thought it was appropriate to meet with Assad of Syria, a terrible judgment in my view.

    All of the Democrats are moderate left as I see it, with Sanders the exception, and you are quick to dismiss Pete Buttigieg, who I think is a serious potential nominee, and in my mind, any of the group is far superior to our lunatic President, who has now provoked a new war in the Middle East, and assisted the expansion of Russian influence as a result!

  52. Alexis Rose Bank October 10, 2019 10:14 pm

    @ Ronald

    I respect Gabbard largely on the strength of her courage to stand up to the perpetual war machine.

    I’d like to hear more about Yang, he demonstrates more creativity and independence of thought that the others.

    The rest… they give the impression that they are all reading from the same sheet of music cooked up in a political consulting shop somewhere in DC, just singing different parts of the same tune, with voices often in unison.

    Back to center-left vs. far left, forgive me but I still am not seeing the difference in policy. Can I get some examples of policy differences, policies that are characteristic of one but not of the other? Or alternatively, can you confirm my impression that there is no policy difference?

  53. Pragmatic Progressive October 10, 2019 10:48 pm

    Professor said: All of the Democrats are moderate left as I see it, with Sanders the exception

    Exactly!

  54. Jeffrey Moebus October 11, 2019 12:18 am

    Guess who recently tweeted this: “The United States has spent EIGHT TRILLION DOLLARS fighting and policing in the Middle East. Thousands of our Great Soldiers have died or been badly wounded. Millions of people have died on the other side. GOING INTO THE MIDDLE EAST IS THE WORST DECISION EVER MADE … IN THE HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY! We went to war under a false & now disproven premise, WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION.”

  55. Former Republican October 11, 2019 12:18 pm

    You don’t pull the soldiers out without an exit plan. Trump is making decisions like this impulsively.

  56. Princess Leia October 11, 2019 1:00 pm

    Professor said: Alexis, I find it hard to believe that you find everyone in the Democratic Presidential list to be unacceptable, except for Tulsi Gabbard.
    I think she is close to the absolute worst possibility, and she is a very divisive figure, who thought it was appropriate to meet with Assad of Syria, a terrible judgment in my view.

    —————-

    In addition to that, many progressives don’t trust her because she has had socially conservative views in her past.

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