Democratic Primary Season 2020

[decay]

Booker is better than Harris or beato.... but still kinda nahhh

what makes you say nah?

a big part of his platform is getting rid of the mass incarceration that both ruins people's lives and comes out of our paychecks (news flash: federal contracts to run supermaxes and refugee concentration camps are juicy).

i like that messaging a lot more than i like "we should build a wall".

[phillipj]

The one thing that Trump has that no other Republican contender has is the ability to harness the big money donors. They voted for Trump the first time because they knew he would pass tax legislation that would give them huge tax breaks. He got elected and kept his promise, that's about the only thing that the big money guys care about. He has basically merged the RNC with his own campaign at this point so no contender would have the financing to compete with him.

Which I'll laugh if Republicans complain about the amount of money that Trump can harness in his reelection bid, considering the Citizens United decision was generally supported by conservatives across the country...oh the irony.

Well the spigot would open to whomever the Nominee is. That's how it works in our country. Basically bribes.

The by far top contributor Sheldon Adelson dumped Millions in ($125 Million in the last election cycle alone) not solely for tax breaks & loopholes but for unfettered dollars, weaponry & support to Israel and to Bomb Iran. President Trump is sure keeping his promise on that first part - let's hope he doesn't get to part 2. The last thing we need is another never-ending, senseless war.

[phillipj]

what makes you say nah?

a big part of his platform is getting rid of the mass incarceration that both ruins people's lives and comes out of our paychecks (news flash: federal contracts to run supermaxes and refugee concentration camps are juicy).

i like that messaging a lot more than i like "we should build a wall".

IDK.. I see Booker as yet another sellout to Wall Street & Big Pharma, among others. Just got to look at his history for that... That also means he is very electable. Ugh.

[mbonder]

Well the spigot would open to whomever the Nominee is. That's how it works in our country. Basically bribes.

I think you fail to realize how much big money gets spent in the primaries. Hillary Clinton's campaign against Bernie was funded by tremendous amount of big donors and she also locked up something like 70% of the superdelegates (ie the big players with deep pockets) before the first primary even happened. The spigot is on way before the nomination even happens, that's why I think anyone that runs against Trump is ultimately facing a gigantic uphill battle for funding.

[mbonder]

IDK.. I see Booker as yet another sellout to Wall Street & Big Pharma, among others. Just got to look at his history for that... That also means he is very electable. Ugh.

Eh, I'd call him more of a realist. The problem the Democrats tend to have is they want the ideal candidate who has always voted a certain way on every issue and has never had to make a compromise to get to where they are. This strategy will leave the Dems with no one to vote for, which is why so many of them tend to stay home on election day.

My feeling is that there needs to be support for a candidate that pushes for progressive programs but is willing to negotiate to get a majority of what they are after. Dare I say, a rational thinker rather than a "pie in the sky" idealist.

I've heard Booker speak in person several times being that I live in NJ, and he is truly an inspirational and charismatic speaker. He does have much of the experience at different levels of government and I think he is right in pushing for prison and sentencing reform as not only a humanitarian principle but a financially expedient one for a country that continues to run a deficit each year.

He isn't the perfect candidate, but he's much better than many of the contenders in my mind, and not just because he's from my state.

[phillipj]

Originally Posted by phillipj:
Well the spigot would open to whomever the Nominee is.

I think you fail to realize how much big money gets spent in the primaries. Hillary Clinton's campaign against Bernie was funded by tremendous amount of big donors and she also locked up something like 70% of the superdelegates (ie the big players with deep pockets) before the first primary even happened. The spigot is on way before the nomination even happens, that's why I think anyone that runs against Trump is ultimately facing a gigantic uphill battle for funding.

Right on. & Ugh, I'm aware. It's awful.
Above, I was speaking specifically in the scenario that there are multiple contenders with no clear initial frontrunner, a la Trump 2016. Money will flow, but the Lion's share may wait out until the final stages... super large field and things contentious.

And, in the Democrats case in 2016, as we painfully are aware, Clinton was the choice before the race even began -- to their ultimate downfall. If only the party completely disintegrated and something amazing came from the ashes. I was hoping for that with the Republicans, too, with Trump... Unfortunately, we got neither. :(

[z31maniac]

what makes you say nah?

a big part of his platform is getting rid of the mass incarceration that both ruins people's lives and comes out of our paychecks (news flash: federal contracts to run supermaxes and refugee concentration camps are juicy).

i like that messaging a lot more than i like "we should build a wall".

This is one thing I seriously don't understand about this country and my state in particular is horrible about incarceration.

If you read comments on social media from many in this state the answer for basically everything is "LOCK THEM UP!"

Ignoring that we spend like $35k/year on average, to incarcerate someone. Instead of trying to rehabilitate the person and make them a productive member of society again, employed, paying taxes, etc, they just want to stay all old testament and pay for it.


I have a 2-3 year plan for the girlfriend and I to try and get out of this fucking place.

[naplesE30]

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/427003-rnc-votes-to-give-trump-undivided-support-ahead-of-2020

Guess that settles that question.

[Wschnitz]

Trump will get torn apart if the Dems actually try to support anyone actually progressive.

If they do the ol 'old guards turn first' and push biden they are just going to give it away again. You don't get the massive amount of young voters to vote by pushing old fucks who don't know how to log into facebook.

[mbonder]

Statistically speaking, young people (18-25) only comprise something like 15-17% of the voting population. This is why, in general, politicians don't make all that much fuss about that demographic, whereas something like over 80% of people over 65 vote. Given the numbers, any rational thinker would put their efforts into courting retirees over young people.

2016 wasn't lost because young people didn't vote for Hillary, it was lost because middle aged and retired people didn't vote for Hillary, and it was not surprising that these people happened to be based in areas that Hillary didn't put much effort into campaigning in (with the assumption that because Obama won those areas that Hillary would as well).

[mbonder]

Added Harold Schultz, former CEO of Starbucks to the list of possible candidates.

Not sure if he'll run as the reception from many has been that he is an out-of-touch billionaire (mainly because he wasn't even close to knowing how much a box of cheerios cost), but that's sort of what Trump was when he began his campaign for President.

[z31maniac]

I hate stupid gotcha's like that.

I don't know what a gallon of milk or a carton of OJ costs, does that make me out of touch?

I don't drink milk or eat Cheerios, so why would I be familiar with the cost of things I don't regularly purchase?

[Wschnitz]

Yeah I don't think it works anymore. Americans vote against their best interest regularly and cry tears about tax plans that would literally not effect them.

'If you put a marginal tax rate for earnings over (x)Million It might affect me one day!'

Same thing with estate tax, millions of Americans act like one day they might have a billion dollar estate and that its a real risk for them to be ok with it. Ignoring that only like 2k families have enough wealth to be effected by an estate tax.

So wealth out of touch ideas don't exist, because Americans already voted for a 'billionaire'.

And limiting 'young voters' to 18-25 makes it seem like its not a large population. When the bigger problem is people under even like 35 voting.

[mbonder]

Booker, officially joins the race

[phillipj]

2016 wasn't lost because young people didn't vote for Hillary, it was lost because middle aged and retired people didn't vote for Hillary, and it was not surprising that these people happened to be based in areas that Hillary didn't put much effort into campaigning in (with the assumption that because Obama won those areas that Hillary would as well).

Did anyone here watch Fahrenheit 11/9? What did you think?


It's streaming right now, btw. The whole focus on Flint and the Flint Water Crisis was especially powerful. (Especially as it relates to above).