Election 2020

[Lord Jim]

Some of our non-American participants might have been unaware of the quote's provenance..

Of course I could be wrong about that; after all you knew it...

[MajGenl.Meade]

Arse! I'm as American as Welsh Rabbit

[Lord Jim]

[BoSoxGal]

The economy is too fucked to bounce back to 3.4% unemployment by November; why can’t this fucker pivot to empathy as a campaign strategy and save tens of thousands of lives in the process?

Oh right - he’s a PSYCHOPATH.

[RayThom]

As I once wrote in a college essay, "There is a higher Power, by whatever name we honor him, who ordains not only righteousness but love, not only justice but mercy."

God, do your stuff.

[BoSoxGal]

Opinion
The fight is on for progressives to push Biden to the left. They might just win
Cas Mudde
Progressives should know that Biden does not have a set ideology - which means his policies are still very much in flux and in play
‘It is true that Biden was never a very progressive Democrat, but neither was he a particularly conservative one.’
Published on Fri 15 May 2020 08.59 EDT

Joe Biden has had a hard time capturing the hearts of progressive Democrats. Like the media, progressive Democrats tend to see him as a centrist – a status quo candidate who just wants to return the US and the world to the pre-Trump era. Even Biden’s collaborations with Bernie Sanders, including the recently announced unity taskforces, are often dismissed as pure window-dressing. But this kind of blithe dismissal of the presumptive Democratic nominee misreads both the politician and the times.

It is true that Biden was never a very progressive Democrat, but neither was he a particularly conservative one. He has been a classic “centrist Democrat”. But it’s important to note that this places him not in the political center of the US electorate, but in the center of the Democratic party – a party that has shifted left significantly since 2016, as has Biden.

Biden is a realist. He knows when the times are a-changin’. That’s why he joined Barack Obama in 2008 and why he has moved to reconcile with Sanders in 2020. After two powerful primary campaigns, Biden is smart enough to acknowledge that Sanders represents the direction the party’s base is moving to, and that he could shape that transformation.

As Gabriel Debenedetti argues in his excellent New York magazine article on the Biden campaign, the Covid-19 pandemic has opened Biden’s eyes to the need for a more radical approach to policy and governance. As Biden told a group of donors: “The blinders have been taken off because of this Covid crisis.”

Crises can lead to fundamental changes. While we mainly focus on the darkest consequences, such as Adolf Hitler’s rise to power in the wake of the Great Depression, that same crisis also gave rise to the greatest progressive project in US history: Franklin D Roosevelt’s New Deal. While heralded as a “radical” by many today, FDR was in many ways a realpolitiker, politically expedient and adjustable to the mood of the times.

But perhaps the best comparison would be FDR’s protege Lyndon B Johnson, the southerner who, in an atmosphere of intense polarization over civil rights and in the wake of the national trauma of the assassination of John F Kennedy, introduced some of the most important civil rights legislation in US history. As with Johnson, the current crisis provides Biden with an opportunity to step out of the shadow of his charismatic and inspiring Democratic predecessor, Obama, and become a much more transformative president.

To be clear, this is not a foregone conclusion. Moderates, both Democrats and Republicans, also see Biden as a great opportunity, in their case to re-establish the status quo. Many of them have been around Biden for years, if not decades, and play important roles in his campaign – I’m looking at you, Larry Summers.

But the recently announced unity taskforces – on the climate crisis, criminal justice reform, economy, education, healthcare and immigration – show a more mixed picture. First, they much better reflect the ethnic and gender diversity of the contemporary Democratic party and its electorate – with many prominent African American and Hispanic members as well as twice as many female than male co-chairs. Second, they include many prominent progressives, including Sanders surrogates such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Pramila Jayapal – hardly politicians who will accept a token role.

While some “Bernie or bust” keyboard warriors will invariably denounce these progressives as sellouts, and some jaded progressives as naive, they are actually realists who should be supported and strengthened. Few politicians understand the signs of the times better than Ocasio-Cortez. She knows that the country and the party are changing, and she understands that the Covid-19 crisis provides a unique opportunity to accelerate that change.

Moreover, these progressives realize that Biden does not have a set ideology, but is in many ways an empty vessel whose domestic policies and priorities are still very much in flux and in play. In other words, progressives have two fights to fight: one for a President Biden, against the Republicans, and one for a progressive Biden presidency, against the moderate Democrats.

Cas Mudde is a Guardian US columnist and the Stanley Wade Shelton UGAF professor in the school of public and international affairs at the University of Georgia. His latest book is The Far Right Today

[BoSoxGal]

[BoSoxGal]

Visit their website if you need some cheering up about Republicans - there are some good ones left out there.

https://rvat.org/

“I’d vote for a tuna fish sandwich before I’d vote for Donald Trump again.”

[BoSoxGal]

But there’s also this

‘We’re thinking landslide’: Beyond D.C., GOP officials see Trump on glide path to reelection

[Big RR]

Honestly, that is what I'm most scared of; this looks like 1972 all over again, only with a much bigger (and much more dangerous) asshole as the incumbent. We have to focus just as much on the House and Senate races to limit the damage should this be a reality.

[Bicycle Bill]

But there’s also this

‘We’re thinking landslide’: Beyond D.C., GOP officials see Trump on glide path to reelection

That's what I'm afraid of too.  Too many people will forget about or willfully ignore all that has happened over the past four years and look at what is happening RIGHT FUCKING NOW... and vote based only on that.  Much as I hate to say it, the best thing for the Democrats right about now would be to just sit back, allow the Republicans to rush to eliminate anything having to do with 'quarantine' and social distancing — then let the second wave of the coronavirus hit and watch to see how the party in power handles THAT particular crisis without shutting down the system again.  We're already seeing increases in confirmed cases and deaths since early/mid-May, and we're not even fully out of the FIRST wave yet.  Maybe another few hundred thousand dead, affecting people all across the country instead of just some big cities, will make the public finally realize that this is no hoax and it is a helluvalot worse than the flu.

The second thing would be for the Dems to quit their yapping about defunding the police and playing to the BLM crowd and instead point out that much of this paramilitary policing came about under the "get tough on crime" policies of the GOP over the past twenty-five years or so.  It wasn't Obama or Clinton who was responsible for handing out military technology and equipment — and fostering the inclination to use it whenever possible in order to 'justify' its existence — to anyone who wore a badge.  Remind voters that it was the REPUBLICANS who created the climate and the infrastructure that has led to what we have been seeing over the past couple of weeks.

The third thing would be to remind people of all of Trump's lies, beginning with his promises to "build the wall" (and make Mexico pay for it!) and bring jobs back to America from overseas, and just how badly the Trumpanistas have fucked up literally everything else they've touched over the past four years, and then ask point-blank if they think we can stand another four years of it.

Because let's face it — there is no way we're ever going to wake up one morning and find we're living in a lily-white America with all the blacks back in Africa, all the Hispanics on the south side of the Rio Grande, all the Muslims back in the Middle East, and the economy roaring away like it was in the post-WWII era.  We've got to play the game with the cards we've been dealt.

-"BB"-

[BoSoxGal]

Because let's face it — there is no way we're ever going to wake up one morning and find we're living in a lily-white America with all the blacks back in Africa, all the Hispanics on the south side of the Rio Grande, all the Muslims back in the Middle East, and the economy roaring away like it was in the post-WWII era.  We've got to play the game with the cards we've been dealt.

-"BB"-

What’s sickening is that you’d actually want that - that ANYONE would actually want that.

On the rare occasion that I make the mistake of opening one of your posts BB, you never fail to disappoint with your racism and other ugliness.

I just composed a post this morning to announce a break from the board, based largely in my daily disgust at the racism being spewed by a handful of you over the last couple of weeks. I decided to shelve it but this makes me more certain that my time here is coming to an end in the very near future - almost all the best people have long since gone, either stopped posting entirely or nearly entirely, or died. I’d really miss the handful I still come here to interact with, but the foul stench from the racists is really starting to overpower the place.

[Bicycle Bill]

Because let's face it — there is no way we're ever going to wake up one morning and find we're living in a lily-white America with all the blacks back in Africa, all the Hispanics on the south side of the Rio Grande, all the Muslims back in the Middle East, and the economy roaring away like it was in the post-WWII era.  We've got to play the game with the cards we've been dealt.

-"BB"-

What’s sickening is that you’d actually want that - that ANYONE would actually want that.
On the rare occasion that I make the mistake of opening one of your posts BB, you never fail to disappoint with your racism and other ugliness.

Quit putting your words in my mouth, you oversensitive witch.  I fucking DARE you to point out ANYWHERE in that post where I indicated that I PERSONALLY wanted to wake up to a lily-white America.  But I can certainly show you a lot of other people who do... and they are the ones who voted for Trump, stand by him yet today, and — unless the sunuvabitsch croaks between now and November — will vote for him again.

Maybe it's time you retire your handle and your current cutesy avatar for one that reflects your real character.  May I offer a suggestion?
 

-"BB"-

[BoSoxGal]

Such indignation from a guy who has called black people porch monkeys, then vehemently defended doing so.

You’re a racist BB. In countless posts you’ve made that fact clear to anyone with a teaspoon’s worth of ability to discern.

[Bicycle Bill]

Such indignation from a guy who has called black people porch monkeys, then vehemently defended doing so.

You’re a racist BB. In countless posts you’ve made that fact clear to anyone with a teaspoon’s worth of ability to discern.

And, as declared from on high by Ms. Millie Tant, just as a leopard cannot change its spots, a person can never change their attitude.  Once a racist, always a racist, right?

I'd love to look back over all 13 thousand-and-some posts you've made to this board over the years and cherry-pick certain writings and sentiments of yours as well.  But I've got better things to do, such as enjoying a double feature of "Birth of a Nation" and "Gone With The Wind".   (and that was sarcasm... I figured I'd better tell you now because I don't think you have much skill in being able to detect it otherwise)

See ya, wouldn't want to be ya.

-"BB"-

[dales]

From BSG:

I just composed a post this morning to announce a break from the board, based largely in my daily disgust at the racism being spewed by a handful of you over the last couple of weeks.

There we go again.

Are you listening, Gob?

[Econoline]

The second thing would be for the Dems to quit their yapping about defunding the police and playing to the BLM crowd and instead point out that much of this paramilitary policing came about under the "get tough on crime" policies of the GOP over the past twenty-five years or so.  It wasn't Obama or Clinton who was responsible for handing out military technology and equipment — and fostering the inclination to use it whenever possible in order to 'justify' its existence — to anyone who wore a badge.  Remind voters that it was the REPUBLICANS who created the climate and the infrastructure that has led to what we have been seeing over the past couple of weeks.

I understand and agree with what is meant by the "DEFUND THE POLICE" slogan...but I agree with what you just said here wholeheartedly. (Though I would disagree somewhat about the role Bill Clinton played.) I understand the desire for a snappy, attention getting slogan...but chanting "DEFUND THE POLICE" just hands Trump and his followers a powerful tool that can and will be used against Democrats. It plays right into Trump's hands.

[House Majority Whip] Jim Clyburn (D-SC) told CNN's Ana Cabrera on Saturday that he believes pushing a "defund the police" slogan only gives "cover" to President Donald Trump and the people opposing change in the law enforcement system. "Because you know all that will do is give Donald Trump the cover he needs. I've been saying to people all the time, 'If you allow yourself to play the opponent's game, you're going to lose and the opponent will win.' Let's not play his game,"

[Scooter]

Something I read in a comment somewhere, someone suggested the slogan "Unburden the police", which speaks largely to what the goals are - relieving the police of responsibilities that could better be done by others better qualified in other disciplines, and reallocating resources accordingly) without setting up police as the adversary and, indeed, invoking them as one partner in a multipronged strategy to address the complexity of societal problems.