And They're Off! The Democratic Candidates for 2020

[71 dB]

Former Obama campaign manager Derek Eadon endorses Bernie Sanders for president.

[SimonNZ]

How to dump Trump: Rick Wilson on Running Against the Devil
He was a Republican ad man but now he's a bestselling author out to bring down a president. He says Democrats must listen

[...]

"Take Bernie Sanders. Wilson doesn't just say he thinks the democratic socialist from Vermont would be the opponent of Trump's dreams, "the easiest person in the world to turn into the comic opera villain Republicans love to hate, the Castro sympathiser, the socialist, the Marxist, the guy who wants to put the aristos in the tumbril as they cart them off to the guillotine".

He also hits Sanders for echoing Trump in harking back to an America that never was – "only with more unions" – and pillories him for his reaction to defeat in 2016. In Wilson's view, Sanders damaged Clinton at the polls and then, after she "beat him fair and square, he took his ball and went home", failing to support her in November. Wilson contrasts that starkly with Republican support for Trump.

The president has the "awesome" advantage of incumbency and money but also "a completely unified party apparatus. There's no sniping in the background; there's no Bernie out there after the nomination is done, like in the old days with George HW Bush and Pat Buchanan."

It's provocative to compare Sanders the socialist to the paleo-conservative proto-Trump who played spoiler in 92. But there's always the happy distraction of listening to Wilson turn his guns on Trump.

Running Against the Devil is pugnacious and profane. Before a break so Wilson can take a call from a "tech billionaire" he's sadly reluctant to name, he calls the president "a liar and a corrupt asshole and a scumbag". He marvels at Trump's graft, at the way a billionaire who claimed to be un-buyable turned out to be so cheap. He does seem to think Trump is the devil. But then, the devil gets the best lines and "plenty of smart, evil guys" are working on his re-election push.

If Obama campaigns as only he can do in American political life, that would be a meaningful lift for the Democrats
Asked which Democrat is best suited for the fight, Wilson admits to being impressed by Warren's willingness to work hard and how she champions the little guy. But he still goes for Joe Biden.

"I think it will be Biden because name ID is very powerful," he says of the former senator and vice-president. "He is the one candidate who has shown the most ability to contrast with Trump in terms of a broader, bigger picture that isn't just locked into what's the hot flavor of Democratic messaging this year.

"He's talking about that big American sense of unity and reconciliation and saying we've got to work with Republicans too."

It's true you don't get much policy detail at a Biden rally, but you do see plenty of slightly hokey appeals to the better angels of America's nature.

"There's nothing in Joe Biden that scans as evil or dark or weird or out of touch," Wilson says. "He can be a little goofy but that's not bad, not the worst thing in the world right now."

[...]

[SimonNZ]

As I said, my understanding of the US society and politics is not at all based on my visit in Florida at age 11, but following US politics online for three years now. So, my visit to US didn't help me understand the country, but since I was asked I answered. The point is we have this thing called the internet. I don't need to be physically in New York to know about AOC. A few articles and videos online is enough to tell me what kind of politician she is and based on what some people say about her prove I understand her policies much better than many Americans. Some people are just astonishly clueless about politics, everywhere in the World Finland included, but it is especially true in the US thanks to the oligarchy and how the media is bought by the top 1 % to keep people clueless. The internet has changed that and oligarchs don't have monopoly on media anymore. There is also TYT, Kyle Kulinski etc. to tell about things from different perspective. It's just the question of which channels people discover and follow. There's also alt-right channels, people like Alex Jones.

Surely there are aspects to US politics that I don't know well enough, but I don't speak about thing concerning those things. I write about the "no-brainer" things that are easy to understand even for foreigners. The oligarchy in the US has created cruelty that is appalling to many here in the Europe and for example the need to move to a single payer healthcare system is a no-brainer. The US is the richest country in the World, but still half of the people make $30.000 a year or less? People working full time, even multiple jobs can't make the ends meet? Wow. That is pathetic. Clearly the US is doing something very wrong and is far from it's full potential as a society. The US should be the greatest country in the World. Instead Nordic countries kick it's ass in almost every aspect except for obesity, amount of people in prisons and size/power of military. In those things the US truly is number one. Congratulations! Meanwhile even in Slovenia, a country with 40 % of the GDP per capita of the US, people have tuition free education and healthcare. In the US the corporate media keeps asking "how are you going to pay for it?" Easy: Make the rich pay their fair share of taxes and use them on socially beneficial things instead of enriching the military industry. It is a choice. What are your priorities? Do you want to enrich the military industry? Do you want more wars? Do you want to make the middle east even more unstable? Do you want ISIS to regain it's power? If you say 'yes' then someone like Biden is your candidate. If you say 'no' then Bernie is your man. It's that easy. The US politics is so easy because everything is so extreme.

Even by your standards this post was astonishingly rude and astonishingly arrogant.

[Florestan]

Nice memories! 

The child is father of the man. 

[71 dB]

Even by your standards this post was astonishingly rude and astonishingly arrogant.

Maybe it looks that way to you, but I consider it honest and truthful.

[71 dB]

How to dump Trump: Rick Wilson on Running Against the Devil
He was a Republican ad man but now he's a bestselling author out to bring down a president. He says Democrats must listen

[...]

"Take Bernie Sanders. Wilson doesn't just say he thinks the democratic socialist from Vermont would be the opponent of Trump's dreams, "the easiest person in the world to turn into the comic opera villain Republicans love to hate, the Castro sympathiser, the socialist, the Marxist, the guy who wants to put the aristos in the tumbril as they cart them off to the guillotine".

He also hits Sanders for echoing Trump in harking back to an America that never was – "only with more unions" – and pillories him for his reaction to defeat in 2016. In Wilson's view, Sanders damaged Clinton at the polls and then, after she "beat him fair and square, he took his ball and went home", failing to support her in November. Wilson contrasts that starkly with Republican support for Trump.

The president has the "awesome" advantage of incumbency and money but also "a completely unified party apparatus. There's no sniping in the background; there's no Bernie out there after the nomination is done, like in the old days with George HW Bush and Pat Buchanan."

It's provocative to compare Sanders the socialist to the paleo-conservative proto-Trump who played spoiler in 92. But there's always the happy distraction of listening to Wilson turn his guns on Trump.

Running Against the Devil is pugnacious and profane. Before a break so Wilson can take a call from a "tech billionaire" he's sadly reluctant to name, he calls the president "a liar and a corrupt asshole and a scumbag". He marvels at Trump's graft, at the way a billionaire who claimed to be un-buyable turned out to be so cheap. He does seem to think Trump is the devil. But then, the devil gets the best lines and "plenty of smart, evil guys" are working on his re-election push.

If Obama campaigns as only he can do in American political life, that would be a meaningful lift for the Democrats
Asked which Democrat is best suited for the fight, Wilson admits to being impressed by Warren's willingness to work hard and how she champions the little guy. But he still goes for Joe Biden.

"I think it will be Biden because name ID is very powerful," he says of the former senator and vice-president. "He is the one candidate who has shown the most ability to contrast with Trump in terms of a broader, bigger picture that isn't just locked into what's the hot flavor of Democratic messaging this year.

"He's talking about that big American sense of unity and reconciliation and saying we've got to work with Republicans too."

It's true you don't get much policy detail at a Biden rally, but you do see plenty of slightly hokey appeals to the better angels of America's nature.

"There's nothing in Joe Biden that scans as evil or dark or weird or out of touch," Wilson says. "He can be a little goofy but that's not bad, not the worst thing in the world right now."

[...]

Rick Wilson is no trying to help regular people here. He is serving the top 1 %. This a common trick in politics. A Republican advicing Dems? That makes him look sincere. He is not. He know Bernie can win and he tries to stop Bernie to serve the top 1 %. Pretty much everything he says is incorrect, corporate mumbo jumbo. I feel bad for you if you don't see that.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

CNN really wants you to know there is no clear leader in Iowa, but they forgot to mention Biden is STRONG fourth! 

[SimonNZ]

Obama campaign guru: Trump would love to run against Bernie

"Barack Obama's 2012 campaign manager is warning that Democrats would struggle in a general election against Donald Trump if Bernie Sanders is the nominee.

In an interview with POLITICO, Jim Messina predicted that Trump would exploit Sanders' stamp of socialism in battleground states needed to defeat Trump, keep control of the House and have a shot at winning the Senate.

"If I were a campaign manager for Donald Trump and I look at the field, I would very much want to run against Bernie Sanders," Messina said. "I think the contrast is the best. He can say, 'I'm a business guy, the economy's good and this guy's a socialist.' I think that contrast for Trump is likely one that he'd be excited about in a way that he wouldn't be as excited about Biden or potentially Mayor Pete or some of the more Midwestern moderate candidates."

This is not the first time Messina has questioned Sanders' viability as a general election candidate. His latest remarks come amid Sanders' first-place showing in the marquee Iowa Poll and as the Vermont senator's messaging has increasingly focused on his electability.

Messina said he is not endorsing in the 2020 race. He recently attended a fundraiser for Biden in Irvine, Calif., he said, because his wife is a supporter of the former vice president.

"From a general election perspective, socialism is not going to be what Democrats are going to want to defend," Messina added."If you're the Democratic nominee for the Montana Senate race, you don't want to spend the election talking about socialism."[...]

[71 dB]

Obama campaign guru: Trump would love to run against Bernie

"Barack Obama's 2012 campaign manager is warning that Democrats would struggle in a general election against Donald Trump if Bernie Sanders is the nominee.

In an interview with POLITICO, Jim Messina predicted that Trump would exploit Sanders' stamp of socialism in battleground states needed to defeat Trump, keep control of the House and have a shot at winning the Senate.

"If I were a campaign manager for Donald Trump and I look at the field, I would very much want to run against Bernie Sanders," Messina said. "I think the contrast is the best. He can say, 'I'm a business guy, the economy's good and this guy's a socialist.' I think that contrast for Trump is likely one that he'd be excited about in a way that he wouldn't be as excited about Biden or potentially Mayor Pete or some of the more Midwestern moderate candidates."

This is not the first time Messina has questioned Sanders' viability as a general election candidate. His latest remarks come amid Sanders' first-place showing in the marquee Iowa Poll and as the Vermont senator's messaging has increasingly focused on his electability.

Messina said he is not endorsing in the 2020 race. He recently attended a fundraiser for Biden in Irvine, Calif., he said, because his wife is a supporter of the former vice president.

"From a general election perspective, socialism is not going to be what Democrats are going to want to defend," Messina added."If you're the Democratic nominee for the Montana Senate race, you don't want to spend the election talking about socialism."[...]

The elite doesn't want Bernie! That's why they write this nonsense! They try to scare people from supporting Bernie and vote a corporate candidate instead. Bernie is the most electable and this nonsense doesn't change it. Young voters aren't scared of "socialism" and Bernie isn't even one since he is a social democrat who advocates Nordic style well regulated capitalism. Bernie isn't any more socialist as Denmark is! If it takes socialism to have healthcare then socialism it will be say young voters, but it doesn't need to be! This is so insane, so frustrating!!
'

[JBS]

Well, $6500 is pretty hard to pay for most people if you ask me (about half of Americans make $30.000 a year of less). I said $500 is doable. That doesn't mean 13 times more is doable. Also, the insurance doesn't always cover everything above. If the bill is $100.000, your insurence provider might arque the care you got is actully only worth $55.000 and refuses to pay more than that. Sometimes you may be able to negotiate with the hospital to reduce the bill (say from $100.000 to "only" $80.000) so $25.000 falls on to you to pay. That's doable only for people doing very well. For most it is the net income of one year. You probably have your insurance from your employer and your healthcare is in good order seen from American perspective. In other countries with universal single payer healthcare this is abyssmal. We don't have shit like this. For example the yearly maximum for drugs in Finland this year is 577.66 euros (about $600) after which you pay 2.50 euros for any drug product. Even this makes some people feel this is too much for poor people (and it is), but far from the horrors people experience in the US.

You seem to have no comprehension of what I wrote in the post you replied to, because what you wrote assumes the exact opposite of what actually happens.

[JBS]

Rick Wilson is no trying to help regular people here. He is serving the top 1 %. This a common trick in politics. A Republican advicing Dems? That makes him look sincere. He is not. He know Bernie can win and he tries to stop Bernie to serve the top 1 %. Pretty much everything he says is incorrect, corporate mumbo jumbo. I feel bad for you if you don't see that.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

CNN really wants you to know there is no clear leader in Iowa, but they forgot to mention Biden is STRONG fourth! 

Margin of error is 3.7%. That means all four are statistically in a dead heat, and the CNN headline is the exact truth. You do know about "margin of error"?

[JBS]

The elite doesn't want Bernie! That's why they write this nonsense! They try to scare people from supporting Bernie and vote a corporate candidate instead. Bernie is the most electable and this nonsense doesn't change it. Young voters aren't scared of "socialism" and Bernie isn't even one since he is a social democrat who advocates Nordic style well regulated capitalism. Bernie isn't any more socialist as Denmark is! If it takes socialism to have healthcare then socialism it will be say young voters, but it doesn't need to be! This is so insane, so frustrating!!

Progressives want complete government control of health care (MfA), energy and a host of other industries (Green New Deal),  housing and real estate (fair housing plans), etc. Perhaps in Scandinavia that does not qualify as socialism, but here in the US  it does.

Of course, if your concern is about corrupt politicians and their elite cronies, you should be against almost all of these ideas, since they all mean expanding the power and influence of those same politicians you despise.

[71 dB]

Margin of error is 3.7%. That means all four are statistically in a dead heat, and the CNN headline is the exact truth. You do know about "margin of error"?

Yes, but isn't it funny the large yellow bar with large "NO CLEAR LEADER" appears to CNN polls the second Bernie has the highest poll number?

[SimonNZ]

The elite doesn't want Bernie! That's why they write this nonsense! They try to scare people from supporting Bernie and vote a corporate candidate instead. Bernie is the most electable and this nonsense doesn't change it. Young voters aren't scared of "socialism" and Bernie isn't even one since he is a social democrat who advocates Nordic style well regulated capitalism. Bernie isn't any more socialist as Denmark is! If it takes socialism to have healthcare then socialism it will be say young voters, but it doesn't need to be! This is so insane, so frustrating!!
'

No...the reason they write this is because the Trump election campaign wont be a civilized debate over differing policies, it will be gutter-level scaremongering and swiftboating and smearing. They will have the playbook written out already for each potential candidate, and you're being willfully blind if you cant see that they'll relentlessly spin Sanders as Karl Marx Jr. or something. The electability of a candidate will have much to do with how easy it is to create these fabricated narratives, and how easily a candidate can dismiss them without doubt being sown.

[71 dB]

Progressives want complete government control of health care (MfA), energy and a host of other industries (Green New Deal),  housing and real estate (fair housing plans), etc. Perhaps in Scandinavia that does not qualify as socialism, but here in the US  it does.

In that case the US has socialistic fire department. Maybe you want private fire department? You would have choice what to include to their service: If your kitchen is in fire they come and put it out, but if your garage catches fire let it burn... The healthcare providers can be all private as they are in France or Canada, but the government is the SINGLE PAYER. Why? Because it works better that way! A lot of Americans get that despite of corporate media and THAT'S WHY Bernie is high in the POLLS!!! All that while corporate media HATES him. Doesn't that tell you something? How FUCKING DUMB are you? How fucking well are you brainwashed? JESUS!!!!!!!

[71 dB]

You seem to have no comprehension of what I wrote in the post you replied to, because what you wrote assumes the exact opposite of what actually happens.

Exact opposite in what way?

[JBS]

No...the reason they write this is because the Trump election campaign wont be a civilized debate over differing policies, it will be gutter-level scaremongering and swiftboating and smearing. They will have the playbook written out already for each potential candidate, and you're being willfully blind if you cant see that they'll relentlessly spin Sanders as Karl Marx Jr. or something. The electability of a candidate will have much to do with how easy it is to create these fabricated narratives, and how easily a candidate can dismiss them without doubt being sown.

There's one other thing.  Democrats need GOP voters to not vote for Trump. (That's not the same as getting them to vote for the eventual Democratic nominee.) The less progressive a candidate is, the  more GOP voters will feel inclined to sit on their hands and not vote for Trump.

American politics is often based on getting people to vote against the other party's candidate.  The more progressive the candidate, the more likely people will vote against him or her.  Fewer people will vote against Biden than will vote against Bernie.  Therefore Biden is more electable than Bernie.

[71 dB]

No...the reason they write this is because the Trump election campaign wont be a civilized debate over differing policies, it will be gutter-level scaremongering and swiftboating and smearing. They will have the playbook written out already for each potential candidate, and you're being willfully blind if you cant see that they'll relentlessly spin Sanders as Karl Marx Jr. or something. The electability of a candidate will have much to do with how easy it is to create these fabricated narratives, and how easily a candidate can dismiss them without doubt being sown.

Of course they do, but Bernie can deal with that because his progressive ideas resonate with the people. They called Obama a socialist. Didn't stop Obama winning.

[71 dB]

There's one other thing.  Democrats need GOP voters to not vote for Trump. (That's not the same as getting them to vote for the eventual Democratic nominee.) The less progressive a candidate is, the  more GOP voters will feel inclined to sit on their hands and not vote for Trump.

American politics is often based on getting people to vote against the other party's candidate.  The more progressive the candidate, the more likely people will vote against him or her.  Fewer people will vote against Biden than will vote against Bernie.  Therefore Biden is more electable than Bernie.

No! NO NO!! The data (polls) say Bernie and Biden are equally electable, but those polls overestimate Biden's electability. That's because Biden's support is "default" support by (older) people who don't follow politics and think Obama years where cool so why not Biden? Bernie's support is ROCK SOLID! It's a movement! Most individual donations! In the RUST BELT Bernie rules!

[JBS]

In that case the US has socialistic fire department. Maybe you want private fire department? You would have choice what to include to their service: If your kitchen is in fire they come and put it out, but if your garage catches fire let it burn... The healthcare providers can be all private as they are in France or Canada, but the government is the SINGLE PAYER. Why? Because it works better that way! A lot of Americans get that despite of corporate media and THAT'S WHY Bernie is high in the POLLS!!! All that while corporate media HATES him. Doesn't that tell you something? How FUCKING DUMB are you? How fucking well are you brainwashed? JESUS!!!!!!!

Single payer means the government controls that part of the economy, because only what the government pays for will get done.   He who has the money makes the rules, etc.
In the case of fire departments, that's a good thing. In the case of health care that may not be such a good thing.

[SimonNZ]

Of course they do, but Bernie can deal with that because his progressive ideas resonate with the people. They called Obama a socialist. Didn't stop Obama winning.

Obama made the charge seem preposterous. And he came across as calm and reasonable.