US Election 2020

[Tero]

Climate town halls:
Bernie Sanders was asked whether he would roll back Trump administration plans to overturn requirements on energy saving lightbulbs. He delivered an emphatic answer: “Duh!"

Elizabeth Warren said that conversations around regulating light bulbs, banning plastic straws and cutting down on red meat are exactly what the fossil fuel industry wants people focused on as a way to distract from their impact on climate change.

Pete Buttigieg said that successfully combating climate change might be “more challenging than” winning World War II. “This is the hardest thing we will have done in my lifetime as a country,” he said.

[Tero]

Newt Gingrich:
As the Democrats talk about reparations for slavery, and as they opine on the New York Times' 1619 Project while defending quotas against Asian-American students with better grades, it is worth remembering White's warning that quotas largely destroyed McGovern's candidacy. As White put it, "The liberating idea which had inspirited the Democratic Party for so long had become a trap."

It is likely that 2020 will become another trap for the Democrats.

The one candidate trying to be a centrist, former Vice President Joe Biden, is disintegrating into asserting "I want to be clear; I'm not going nuts." As he collapses, the dynamic of the liberal theology and the movement will see Warren as "mainstream."

[Scot Dutchy]

2020 is all sewn up. Trump is going to win.

[laklak]

Such a shame BoJo renounced his U.S. citizenship. Trump/Johnson 2020!

[Sean Hayden]

--yawn

"As Democrats continue to be Democrats they set themselves up for failure"

--Republican

Jesus Newt, you're fucking brilliant!

"The problem with Republicans is they don't talk like Democrats"

[Tero]

Trump spent his Pocahontas story points too early. Now it's useless.

Donald Trump and his coterie have grown increasingly anxious over what they view as the Teflon quality of Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren. Nothing sticks.

Trump's campaign operatives have reportedly placed negative stories about other top Democratic candidates and kicked back to soak in the results, reports the Daily Beast. In fact, following Warren's missteps with DNA testing regarding her Native American heritage, Team Trump delighted in what they figured was her early demise. But instead of crumbling, Warren's campaign has been on a steady rise ever since she regained her footing from the flap.

“We all push out the bad Warren stories but they don’t go very far,” one Republican strategist told the Beast. That person and others close to Trump said they have mounted continued efforts to land blows to Warren's candidacy that have almost all fallen flat.

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/9 ... n=trending

[L'Emmerdeur]

The coronation must not be bedevilled by troublesome RINOs.

'Republicans to scrap primaries and caucuses as Trump challengers cry foul'

Four states are poised to cancel their 2020 GOP presidential primaries and caucuses, a move that would cut off oxygen to Donald Trump’s long-shot primary challengers.

Republican parties in South Carolina, Nevada, Arizona and Kansas are expected to finalize the cancellations in meetings this weekend, according to three GOP officials who are familiar with the plans.

The moves are the latest illustration of Trump’s takeover of the entire Republican Party apparatus. They underscore the extent to which his allies are determined to snuff out any potential nuisance en route to his renomination — or even to deny Republican critics a platform to embarrass him.

Trump advisers are quick to point out that parties of an incumbent president seeking reelection have a long history of canceling primaries and note it will save state parties money. But the president’s primary opponents, who have struggled to gain traction, are crying foul, calling it part of a broader effort to rig the contest in Trump’s favor.

[Tero]

This election cycle is reaching almost the 1968 level of outrage. Back then the issue was Vietnam war. Now the people want healthcare. Biden is pushing improved Obamacare. You end up paying 500 a month and insurance keeps their role. People will pay a 6000 a year deductible in most cases for any major event. Or you get "socialism."

[L'Emmerdeur]

An article disposing of the arguments in favour of the Electoral College. Not that it will have any effect, nor will it convince those who've formed their opinions on the matter based on ideological alignment.

'The Electoral College Is Not What Its Defenders Say It Is'

Perhaps sensing that it represents their best chance to win the White House in 2020 and beyond, or because four states have joined the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact this year, conservatives have recently come out in droves to defend the Electoral College. Many of their arguments cannot withstand even the mildest scrutiny.

George Will and former Congressman Raul Labrador say the Electoral College encourages presidential candidates to campaign nationally and prevents small states from being ignored. But in 2016 Trump and Hillary Clinton made 57 percent of their post-primary appearances in just four of the ten most populous states—Florida, North Carolina, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. Far from encouraging a national campaign, the Electoral College has consistently narrowed candidates’ focus to the biggest swing states in any given election.

[Etc.]

[Joe]

IMO, the EC serves the political parties the most. The winner take all state elections let them focus on those few swing states, saving them a great deal of effort and expense.

[Scot Dutchy]

The EC is totally undemocratic just as the Senate is. In a democracy all votes are equal. It is a true farce but it suits the GOP. Just 100k votes and you have won which is what the Russians do for trump.

[laklak]

Democracy is overrated. Look at the mouth breathers they let vote.

[Joe]

The guys who wrote our Constitution deliberately did not create a democracy. If the EC worked the way they intended, neither Trump or Clinton would have come anywhere near the Presidency.

[laklak]

S'truth. They didn't trust the unwashed mob and neither should we.

[Seabass]

S'truth. They didn't trust the unwashed mob and neither should we.

With or without the EC, we're getting the unwashed mob. The EC only makes it so the unwashed mobs in some states have more of a say than the unwashed mobs in other states.