And They're Off! The Democratic Candidates for 2020

[Karl Henning]

     It looks like Hickenlooper is going to drop out and run for the Senate, where he stands a good chance against the incumbent.

Good call.

[Karl Henning]

Does Bernie really want to sound like Trump ("the media is so unfair to me"?

The trouble is that there isn't much of a case to be made that Sanders is getting singled out for mistreatment.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/08/14/bernie-sanderss-real-media-problem/

[Karl Henning]

Bernie, your moment has come — and gone

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/bernie-sanders-has-one-big-problem-eugene-mccarthy/2019/02/19/f2c90cd4-347f-11e9-af5b-b51b7ff322e9_story.html

[71 dB]

Bernie, your moment has come — and gone

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/bernie-sanders-has-one-big-problem-eugene-mccarthy/2019/02/19/f2c90cd4-347f-11e9-af5b-b51b7ff322e9_story.html

Brainwashed by WP Karl? How stupid are you?

Bernie overtakes Biden in New Hampshire poll

https://www.youtube.com/v/KDU0_C_DoRA

Bernie 21 %
Biden 15 %
Warren 12 %
Buttigieg 8 %
Kamala Harris 7 %
Gabbard 5 %

Looks like the moment came and went for Cop-mala Harris...

[drogulus]

Brainwashed by WP Karl? How stupid are you?

     How stupid is anyone, really, when you get down to it? At the end of the day........

     At an investor forum I often terrorize I said this about Bernie:

Sanders is a socialist. In my view he is ill-equipped to understand or sympathize with supercharged capitalist economic theory. Unlike his former advisor Stephanie Kelton, he really does believe money grows on rich people. The government has to go and get it from who has it or it can't spend for good things. This is the same stuff mainstream libraservatives believe.

[SimonNZ]

Brainwashed by WP Karl? How stupid are you?

Somehow you see a non insulting difference of opinion with you as " toxic" but a comment like this of your own is not. How does that work?

[71 dB]

Sanders is a socialist.

He is a social democrat. He wants the same stuff social democratic Nordic countries have had for decades. Even Slovenia has tuition free education and that's a poor East European country with 40 % of the GDP per capita of the US. How to pay for the "free stuff?" Canada, New Zealand, Australia, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland among many other countries figured it out decades ago. Having real democracy instead of oligarchy helps a lot. 

[71 dB]

Somehow you see a non insulting difference of opinion with you as " toxic" but a comment like this of your own is not. How does that work?

I should stay away but it is difficult - my posts are toxic too.

[amw]

Sanders also improved significantly in the latest South Carolina poll (although still 14 points behind Biden and 1 behind Warren). I don't know if it means a ton since all of these changes have been primarily at the expense of the lower tier candidates, so all we're seeing is a consolidation of voters within the top four, although Mayor Pete still has some support in Iowa and New Hampshire; he's dropping rapidly anywhere else that's less white than Finland.

I also don't really think it will end up being a "top four" despite the fact that Kamala Harris has been planning to be president since at least 2016 and is trying her best to be a top tier candidate. It looks like it'll end up being a "top three" of Biden, Sanders and Warren. (I mean, at the moment it's really a "top two" of Biden and Undecided.)

[schnittkease]

Bernie, your moment has come — and gone

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/bernie-sanders-has-one-big-problem-eugene-mccarthy/2019/02/19/f2c90cd4-347f-11e9-af5b-b51b7ff322e9_story.html

You can always count on WaPo to play into the stale "Bernie Bros" narrative when the latest poll shows that he has more female supporters than men.

Here's a far better article:

https://www.vox.com/2019/8/14/20802129/bernie-sanders-2020-corporate-media-bias-explained

[JBS]

You can always count on WaPo to play into the stale "Bernie Bros" narrative when the latest poll shows that he has more female supporters than men.

Here's a far better article:

https://www.vox.com/2019/8/14/20802129/bernie-sanders-2020-corporate-media-bias-explained

You know who constantly complain about the media, and insist it is heavily biased against them?
The GOP and the Right wing. Interesting that Bernie supporters reach for the same tool as the Right.

[JBS]

He is a social democrat. He wants the same stuff social democratic Nordic countries have had for decades. Even Slovenia has tuition free education and that's a poor East European country with 40 % of the GDP per capita of the US. How to pay for the "free stuff?" Canada, New Zealand, Australia, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland among many other countries figured it out decades ago. Having real democracy instead of oligarchy helps a lot. 

The countries you mention are just as oligarchic as the US.

[drogulus]

He is a social democrat.

     He thinks he's a socialist and he's in a better position to know than the young people who call themselves socialist as a synonym for progressive. But then, while I'm a little puritanical about definitions, the distinction is getting muddled. Almost any positive proposal the right wants to block is left by default and socialist by the kiddies. It's not just hostility by the intellectually corrupt right wing that doesn't even acknowledge the significance of social democracy. Social democracy=socialism=communism, a view that turns history into mush. These kids should very much get off my lawn.

[schnittkease]

You know who constantly complain about the media, and insist it is heavily biased against them?
The GOP and the Right wing. Interesting that Bernie supporters reach for the same tool as the Right.

Do you acknowledge that the DNC conspired to prevent Bernie from winning in 2016?

A few days ago, when Bernie sat down for an hour-long podcast focused on policy and substance (which is not possible the way the debates are structured), the last question was if he would reveal info on aliens when in the White House; Sanders sarcastically said he would. Clearly this was a joke, but it didn't stop every media outlet under the sun from ignoring the issues and seizing the opportunity to portray Bernie was a crazed lunatic.

CNN - https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/09/us/bernie-sanders-aliens-trnd/index.html

... and Fox - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxK32pp3atM

(How low can CNN go?)

This, on the other hand, is pure gold:

http://youtube.com/v/15RjcRJ3Z70

[71 dB]

     He thinks he's a socialist and he's in a better position to know than the young people who call themselves socialist as a synonym for progressive. But then, while I'm a little puritanical about definitions, the distinction is getting muddled. Almost any positive proposal the right wants to block is left by default and socialist by the kiddies. It's not just hostility by the intellectually corrupt right wing that doesn't even acknowledge the significance of social democracy. Social democracy=socialism=communism, a view that turns history into mush. These kids should very much get off my lawn.

No, he thinks he is a democratic socialist and is wrong, because he is actually a social democrat. Labels are labels. Policy is policy. The right fearmongers Venezuela in order to protect the rigged system for the 1 %. The US NEEDS the policies Bernie Sanders proposes regardless of how we label them and he is the best person to make those policies happen. That's why he must became the president.

[71 dB]

The countries you mention are just as oligarchic as the US.

You give zero data for your claim. Gini data doesn't support your claim. You are veru ignorant if you think say Sweden is as oligachic than the US. See how "green" Sweden is. The US is pink, so is Russia a known oligarchy. Only African counties, china etc. shitholes are worse...

[André]

The Gini index should not be thought of as measuring the well-being of countries and their citizens. Kazakhstan, Afghanistan, Ethiopia and a few other god forsaken places look quite green on that map. And yet, I have no desire to move there...

[71 dB]

The Gini index should not be thought of as measuring the well-being of countries and their citizens. Kazakhstan, Afghanistan, Ethiopia and a few other god forsaken places look quite green on that map. And yet, I have no desire to move there...

Yeah, but this is not about how rich or poor a country is, but rather how the wealth is distributed. The US and Norway are two rich western countries. However, the wealth in Norway is distributed differently from the US. Why? Could it be the politics in Norway isn't for the top 1 % the same way it is in the US?

The lowest wages in Oslo are in the ballpark of $20 per hour. Compare that to the minimum wages in the US. 

[JBS]

Yeah, but this is not about how rich or poor a country is, but rather how the wealth is distributed. The US and Norway are two rich western countries. However, the wealth in Norway is distributed differently from the US. Why? Could it be the politics in Norway isn't for the top 1 % the same way it is in the US?

The lowest wages in Oslo are in the ballpark of $20 per hour. Compare that to the minimum wages in the US. 

That's a meaningless comparison unless you integrate it into an actual comparison of basic everyday living expenses (food, rent, transportation).

Finland and every other country have rich people.  They also have government officials and politicians. Where there is money, there is politics.  Where there is politics, there is money.  Therefore they are just as oligarchic as the US.
  IOW, you seriously underestimate the oligarchic tendencies of your own country.  It's not a matter of who has how much of the wealth.  It's a matter of who makes the decisions.

[greg]

You give zero data for your claim. Gini data doesn't support your claim. You are veru ignorant if you think say Sweden is as oligachic than the US. See how "green" Sweden is. The US is pink, so is Russia a known oligarchy. Only African counties, china etc. shitholes are worse...

Is Gini wealth inequality?
If so then that would mean Southern Africa has richer dictators than the rest of Africa. I think the mining industry in the southern countries is bigger there?... Probably some people hoarding the wealth while the children work and die on the job.

Not a surprise the US is green since there's many absurdly rich people here. But there's also many homeless people, so makes sense. If I'm understanding Gini correctly.