And They're Off! The Democratic Candidates for 2020

[SimonNZ]

You wont know if this is "nonsencical establishment propaganda. " or "stupid corporate hit piece" if you don't read it.

Coward.

[71 dB]

You wont know if this is "nonsencical establishment propaganda. " or "stupid corporate hit piece" if you don't read it.

Coward.

Yeah, I wouldn't, but I did read it so much to notice it's propaganda.

[Florestan]

Running Bernie Sanders Against Trump Would Be an Act of Insanity

Excellent article. This paragraph is also relevant:

Compounding those vulnerabilities is a long history of radical associations. Sanders campaigned for the Socialist Workers' Party and praised communist regimes. Obviously, Republicans call every Democratic nominee a "socialist." But it's one thing to have the label thrown at you by the opposition, another for it to be embraced willingly, and yet another thing altogether to have a web of creepy associations that make it child's play for the opposition to paint your program as radical and dangerous. Viewing these attacks in isolation, and asking whether voters will care about Bernie's views on the Cold War, misses the way they will be used as a stand-in to discredit his entire worldview. Nobody "cared" how Michael Dukakis looked in a tank, and probably not many voters cared about Mitt Romney's dismissive remarks about the 47 percent, but both reinforced larger attack narratives. Vintage video of Bernie palling around with Soviet communists will make for an almost insultingly easy way for Republicans to communicate the idea that his plans to expand government are radical.[/u]

(emphasis mine)

[Karl Henning]

Coward.

But . . . but . . . his head feels so GOOD in the sand!

[Karl Henning]

"Warren, meanwhile, will go into Tuesday on the defensive: Sanders currently has an advantage of more than 5 points in the FiveThirtyEight polling average for Massachusetts, and losing her home state could be a devastating blow to the Massachusetts senator's campaign."

And . . . why is Tulsi Gabbard still around?

[71 dB]

Americans don't fear socialism anymore. Well, old people maybe, but not the younger generation. They get alternative information from the interner/social media to debunk the fearmongering of corporate media. They also struggle in crony capitalism so they know that's not working for them.

In polls Biden and Sanders have been the two strongest against Trump. However, I believe Biden is not actually strong, because Trump can attack him more effectively than Bernie. What is Biden going to say when Trump says Biden lied about being arrested in South Africa? Bernie can easily defend himself of the crazy communist claim by saying if giving people healthcare is crazy then call me crazy!! Also, Sanders is strong in the rust belt while Biden isn't. Just as with Hillary, Bidens support is in the wrong places. We also have the clear altzheimer/dementia of Biden (constants gaffes) while Sanders is sharp. All this considered it's clear Sanders is much stronger against Trump and the corporate fearmongering is complete nonsense, propaganda to make people support Biden.

[Karl Henning]

"California Is The First Big Test Of Sanders's Voter Turnout Machine
Sanders's lead in the polls is, however, dependent on voters who have historically been less likely to vote — particularly young people, independents and Latinos. According to the L.A. Times/Berkeley poll, slightly more than half (51 percent) of Latinos are now supporting Sanders, up 13 points from January. He also has the support of half of voters who identify as very liberal.

One way to judge the success of his outreach machine is whether he can consolidate support among these groups and convince them to turn out in high numbers. And that's not an easy task, particularly in a place like Los Angeles, where the presidential primary can easily be forgotten. Many voters told me they weren't really talking about the election with their friends. "It's confusing to me, because I think this election is so, so important, but I just don't think most people are that interested in it," said Avery Robinson, 21, who is planning to vote for Sanders."

[71 dB]

And . . . why is Tulsi Gabbard still around?

The only thing I can think of being still around makes it possible for her to keep anti-war agenda relevant.

[Florestan]

I presume this is just corporate propaganda and fearmongering...

https://www.youtube.com/v/KgCfJxpqhd0

[71 dB]

I presume this is just corporate propaganda and fearmongering...

https://www.youtube.com/v/KgCfJxpqhd0

Like someone commented on the video: Is this supposed to make me dislike him?

[Florestan]

Like someone commented on the video: Is this supposed to make me dislike him?

Whether you or anyone else of his fans like him is beside the point. The point, which the article Simon refered you to makes extremely clear, is that such dubious associations from his past will be used by Trump as proof that he is a dangerous radical. I think even you will admit than drinking oneself silly with a bunch of Soviets is not a particuarly endearing feature of a US presidential candidate. What JBS and Karl repeatedly told you and you repeteadly chose to ignore is that Bernie's being a favorite among registered Democrats in a particular state is no indication whatever about his nationwide popularity among independent non-Democrats, let alone Republicans. Bernie's record of explicitly praising socialist dictatorships and associating himself with Soviets and radicals to the point of spending his honeymoon in the USSR will play against him big time. Trump will eat him alive on these issues.

[Karl Henning]

Recently posted by a friend on Facebook:

"I support Warren but I would much rather vote for Biden than Bernie. It has nothing to do with policy and everything to do with governing. I really dislike Bernie's "my way or the highway" inflexibility and stubbornness. He votes against progressive legislation that he feels doesn't go far enough (the Brady Bill, the Magnitsky Act, the US-Mexico-Canada trade deal (USMCA)) rather than seeing it as a step in the right direction on which to build. Believe me, I have significant concerns about Biden, but at least Biden has an open mind and isn't in the "burn the house down" camp. I'd much rather reform and rebuild the house than destroy it.

It's also no accident that Bernie attracts the kinds of supporters who are just as inflexible, yell-y, and "my way or the highway" as he is. NO other candidate has supporters that threaten voters who oppose them with violence and death threats (most recently the culinary union leader in Las Vegas). No other candidate has such a large percentage of supporters who won't support the winner if it isn't their candidate. This is a big problem and I DO hold Bernie responsible for his supporters, because he has set that example for them.

Of course I'll vote for Bernie if he's the nominee. But I really hope he isn't."

[Karl Henning]

Like someone commented on the video: Is this supposed to make me dislike him?

1. You are so in love, nothing will make you dislike him.

2. When is the last time you formed an original thought?

[drogulus]

     Why has Sanders come so far in spite of being a radical socialist who says nice things about communists? Why isn't he competing with Tulsi for last place? How did he almost knock off Hillary in 2016?

     The electorate in recent years has overthrown prior assumptions about the value of mainstream and radical designations by the Dept. of Categorization. A few reasons are clear, such as the near total paralysis of the government which occurred in the wake of the largest economic crash since the GD. Repubs led by McConnell wanted to make it nearly impossible for Obama and the Dems to accomplish anything. And now the majority of the electorate have been enlightened to see that with Repubs in charge they are pursuing the same strategy, undermining the government from within. The goal of the government now is to destroy its own functionality, not for a worthy goal, but as a goal in itself. It's "big anti-government".

     So, what does radical mean now? It never actually meant "big government". Government doesn't have a size in that sense. It will always be as big as it needs to be for what it's supposed to do.

     When the government dedicates itself to destroying the possibility of positive action, mere old school radicalism loses its scare function.

     Finally, you don't need a replay of the '30s all the way to a world war to understand the forces at work. History is like that.

[JBS]

Americans don't fear socialism anymore. Well, old people maybe, but not the younger generation. They get alternative information from the interner/social media to debunk the fearmongering of corporate media. They also struggle in crony capitalism so they know that's not working for them.

In polls Biden and Sanders have been the two strongest against Trump. However, I believe Biden is not actually strong, because Trump can attack him more effectively than Bernie. What is Biden going to say when Trump says Biden lied about being arrested in South Africa? Bernie can easily defend himself of the crazy communist claim by saying if giving people healthcare is crazy then call me crazy!! Also, Sanders is strong in the rust belt while Biden isn't. Just as with Hillary, Bidens support is in the wrong places. We also have the clear altzheimer/dementia of Biden (constants gaffes) while Sanders is sharp. All this considered it's clear Sanders is much stronger against Trump and the corporate fearmongering is complete nonsense, propaganda to make people support Biden.

Pointing out that Sanders is well to the Left is not fear mongering. Pointing out that Sanders's agenda  consists of imposing national bureaucratic control over major areas of life and taking away decision making from the average person is not fear mongering. Pointing out that Sanders's program includes a host of things beyond health care is not fear mongering. They are facts, and it doesn't require anything beyond reading Sanders's website to realize that. 

[JBS]

     Why has Sanders come so far in spite of being a radical socialist who says nice things about communists? Why isn't he competing with Tulsi for last place? How did he almost knock off Hillary in 2016?

     The electorate in recent years has overthrown prior assumptions about the value of mainstream and radical designations by the Dept. of Categorization. A few reasons are clear, such as the near total paralysis of the government which occurred in the wake of the largest economic crash since the GD. Repubs led by McConnell wanted to make it nearly impossible for Obama and the Dems to accomplish anything. And now the majority of the electorate have been enlightened to see that with Repubs in charge they are pursuing the same strategy, undermining the government from within. The goal of the government now is to destroy its own functionality, not for a worthy goal, but as a goal in itself. It's "big anti-government".

     So, what does radical mean now? It never actually meant "big government". Government doesn't have a size in that sense. It will always be as big as it needs to be for what it's supposed to do.

     When the government dedicates itself to destroying the possibility of positive action, mere old school radicalism loses its scare function.

     Finally, you don't need a replay of the '30s all the way to a world war to understand the forces at work. History is like that.

The GOP is not anti-government. The GOP is government that benefits them and no one else.
Right now, there's almost no one in the corridors of power in DC who takes the classic position: there's not really much that government needs to do, and most of what government does now is something government doesn't need to do.

[Karl Henning]

How did he almost knock off Hillary in 2016?

By being other than Hillary.

[Karl Henning]

I feel like we should pause and think of the sad early voters who already cast their ballots for Buttigieg and Klobuchar.

[Irons]

Much to my surprise as an outsider this is getting more and more interesting. The main problem is keeping up with the turnover of this thread! Don't you guys sleep!

Apparently Bernie Sanders brother lives in England. He appeared on our TV and came over well. Beside the obvious comparison with Corbyn, a question he hit to touch with ease, what I found most interesting was his point that the very people who put Trump in power - the less well off - would find his brother's left wing views appealing. Then on a radio discussion today an American political pundit said Trump will be praying for a Sanders victory! So I am completely confused.

[Karl Henning]

Much to my surprise as an outsider this is getting more and more interesting. The main problem is keeping up with the turnover of this thread! Don't you guys sleep!

Yes, indeed! Rested beautifully last night, thanks.