And so it begins. Tonight’s Democratic Presidential Debate features Elizabeth Warren who leads the pack in poll numbers and intelligence. Warren has policy positions for all the common issues: immigration, international trade, Iran, climate change, gun control, abortion, etc. Yet, I get that sinking feeling that 2020 America is NOT going to choose a woman to be President. The Zeitgeist is all wrong for that. Can any of these 10 candidates beat Trump. In my opinion…no. I have my doubts about Biden given all the gaffs he’s already committed. Is the country ready for Sleepy Joe? Do you have a favorite Democratic candidate? I’m still skeptical that any of these candidates can beat Trump.
Even though I’m looking at this spectacle from far away I also have grave doubts on many Dem candidates. And my biggest question:
Many/most of them must know that they have no chance at all right now – maybe later, if they served under a Dem president now for four or more years – so why are they in the race at all and spend a lot of time (and maybe even money …) on a futile endeavour.
Shouldn’t they try to agree on a few candidates and support them?
Wolf, your analysis makes sense. I’m sure the Presidential candidate pool will begin to shrink as the money dries up.
Running for president now helps one get a higher profile and gives one some further connections for fundraising, etc., for later office-runs, including for US Senate, governorships, etc.. Too many are doing so in part because there’s a Whole Lot of activated Democrats right now…can’t imagine why…
Is that really a valid reason?
I’d think it might be the other way round:
Look at this guy – he ran for president without any significant experience – how can you trust someone like him, who doesn’t know his limits?
Wolf, Trump reminds me of “The Mule” from Isaac Asimov’s FOUNDATION AND EMPIRE who disrupts everything. Trump ran as the “Chaos Candidate” and he certainly delivered on that!
I won’t be home to watch the evening of lameness and I can’t think of any Dem I like! Not that it matters! I live in a snowflake state and that’s the way it will go!
Bob, we have snowflakes here even though the temps are in the 80s now.
Last election you said you were a Sanders supporter, Bob. Now you don’t like him either?
I am very fearful. I wish Elizabeth Warren was a man. I think he could win.
Patti, I have no faith that the current American electorate will vote for a woman for President in sufficient numbers and in the right states.
I have no idea why you both think a woman can’t beat Trump. One already did, and would’ve been installed instead of him had she campaigned more sensibly
Even Jackie is not watching these debates. Call me next year when, you know, the actual election is happening.
Jeff, Diane and I plan to watch tonight’s DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE but I’m skipping tomorrow night’s extravaganza.
Why skip #2? Want to avoid Uncle Trump Lite’s various sorts of blather?
Oh, and I am paying ZERO attention to the polls, which are total bull – they couldn’t get it right the week of the election, I’m supposed to believe they have a clue 18 months in advance? There is a LOT of time before the election. He could get us into war, or drop dead tomorrow. There is enough to worry about without throwing up your hands and tearing your hair and crying, “Doom! Doom” now. Besides, the way he is going, there is at least a decent chance his “best ever” economy that he is counting on could be crashing just before Election Day.
Of the Democratic candidates I’m familiar with, which is most of them (and all of the ones who have a ghost of a chance), the only one I actively dislike is Bernie Sanders. But I’d vote for him over Trump. Best not to worry too much about individual positions or issues. What the candidates would like to do doesn’t count, only what they could get through Congress, which is probably very little if McConnell is still there. It’s still early, but if I could magically make one of them the president, it would likely be Warren or Harris.
Michael, sadly magic doesn’t work in Presidential voting. But dark money and fake news and Russian meddling do.
Jeff, you’re right about the polls. Plus, more and more people are lying to the pollsters. People say they’re not voting for Trump…then they do!
I think some do that, George…but what doomed Clinton’s win was apathy and her lack of sensibly campaigning in “safe” states. Democrats trying save fewer banks, as much of the field is now aware , might also help cut into that apathy.
Jackie wants (at the moment) Biden with Kamala Harris. How about Elizabeth Warren with Mayor Pete?
Jeff, Mayor Pete looks clueless in this police incident in South Bend. I think his support among elements of the Black Community hit rock bottom.
He, like Beto O, is an empty suit. Still makes him better than Biden.
I like Warren best, but then again I’m a “dead yellow dog” Democrat and will vote for whoever is nominated.
Deb, a woman at the Pool where I swim at daily told me, “God chose Donald Trump to be President and now he is doing God’s work.” Despite the hideous conditions of migrant children at the Border facilities, the latest charge of rape, and the Economy lurching toward Recession, Trump’s base thinks he’s doing a great job and will support him no matter what happens. Madness!
I shudder just thinking about this!
The crazy part:
All the Americans I’ve met think like you …
Maybe it’s because I’ve mainly been to bigger cities – and those people have been to Europe, not Trump’s deplorables?
Wolf, sadly the U.S. is divided into Red States (Republican and Conservative) and Blue States (Democratic and Liberal). Instead of working together on problems like climate change, health care, immigration, etc. there’s only political shenanigans and game playing. Meanwhile, the Rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Another 4 years of Trump and his incompetent cronies will result in the U.S. losing Super Power status. We’ll be reduced to just another banana republic status.
Blue States, sort of, Democratic and more left-leaning than the neoliberal party structure, for the most part. Lot of “purple” states.
Todd, I think eventually you’ll see the Purple States turn Blue. The demographics are on the side of the Democrats. But the Republicans still have an edge in the Electoral College.
One of the many reasons, that very distortion of the electorate, that we have never benefited from the Electoral College and why it never has had a good reason to exist.
Barbara will watch both nights. I may watch the analysis on MSNBC. Or not. It’s WAY too early to even be doing this.
Rick, there’s no doubt that Presidential Election fatigue is already affecting large parts of the American electorate.
I have one word for the Democratic Party.
Just one word.
Are you listening?
CHER!
She, too, would be better than Biden.
Todd, I would vote for Cher. But I’d rather vote for Mary Elizabeth Winstead.
I would like to see her platform. But I just enjoy seeing Winstead anyway.
I have contributed (a small amount) to Warren’s campaign, the only one so far this round. She is my choice so far. I have no trouble believing she can be elected and probably will be against the shrinking base of idiot Trump, particularly if the Democratic Party hierarchy doesn’t actively undercut her, as would be their wont.
But at least she isn’t running against a darling of theirs, such as Clinton, so much as their no-enthusiasm choice, Biden, and the empty suits they were hoping they might turn to in the Junior League (though the television news was even more excited about O’Rourke briefly and Mayor Pete Rosetta Stone.
These debates are useful to have about now…to allow for some attempts to refine messages and give us a greater sense, however distorted, of the folks most likely to be put forward by the DP next summer.
We really could use damned near anyone but Biden, after all.
Todd, I have no problem with Elizabeth Warren other than I doubt she could beat Trump in the 2020 campaign environment. Plus, the Russians will be working to get Trump re-elected.
Well, I hope your pessimism will not prove out. Clinton really did run a clumsy campaign, and still won. And Trump has managed to turn off and lose a lot of non-cultist voters.
What makes you think that Trump is actually popular enough? The bullshit about the robust economy…kind of like the tech bubble during Bill Clinton’s second term? Rich people getting richer, everyone else paying for it.
Todd, Clinton ran a conventional campaign not realizing she was running against a mutant like Trump. Trump has the support of his base. The Democrats face possible Third Party candidates that will syphon off votes and the typical infighting that comes from a diverse Party. Trump still has an edge at this point in time. If I’m right about a Recession sneaking up on us about six months from now, that could damage Trump’s chances.
Trump would have the advantage of incumbency if he wasn’t such a divisive ass, to put it so very kindly. Clinton ran a standard campaign that had her spending Way the hell too much time reassuring her corporate backers that she was still very much ready to act on their behalf, and not nearly enough time showing potential Democratic voters that she wasn’t the Status Quo candidate that Trump could therefore credibly tag her as, even as he ridiculously claimed that he was by contrast the candidate of the Little Guy. Third parties didn’t lose the election for her…the Libertarians, particularly, were much more likely to support what Trump claimed to be about, even if not the kind of fascist fandom he’s engaged in during his term.
But Democratic Party officials sure do love to blame everyone else for their failures. I suspect the Democratic nominee will have to work hard to lose. Biden is the most qualified to lose though his own consistent clumsiness and ridiculous attempts at devious behind-the-scenes maneuvering, to say nothing of his being a captive creature of Delaware-based and related financial interests.
Biden -through- his own inadequacy, that is.