I have decided upon my candidate. Permit to explain my conclusions

[jg10003]

After careful consideration I have decided upon my candidate. Permit to explain my conclusions regarding each of our contenders.

Harris: I am bothered by her equivocation on universal healthcare. However I think she would be a good choice for attorney general and a great choice for the supreme court.

Booker: Too many ties to Wall Street for my taste.

Buttigieg: This was a tough decision. I like Pete, he is super smart, sincere, and youthful (I’m a senior citizen). His approach to universal healthcare makes sense to me. But there are two reasons why I decided against him.

First, I am afraid that he comes across as a technocrat, like Hillary, Gore, and Dukakis. It has been said that a presidential election is like High School. People vote for the charming class president (Bill Clinton), the cool guy who gets along with everyone (Obama), and the party dude (Bush 43). But they don’t vote for the smartest kid, the one who reminds the teacher to give homework. It’s good to be smarter then everyone else as long as you don’t make too obvious. Pete speaks seven languages, and many Americans will think less of him because of it.

The second reason I decided against Pete is the 600 pound gorilla in the room, the uncomfortable question that must be asked; can a gay man be elected? I know that just asking the question will get some people here angry and I sympathize with them. But it cannot be denied that there are some people who will never vote for a gay man under any circumstances. The question is; are there enough of these homophobic idiots to affect the election outcome? I don’t know the answer to that question. However if being gay costs Pete 1000 votes in Virginia and another 1000 votes in Florida, that might be enough to give the election to Trump. I don’t think the United States can survive another four years of Trump. Nominating Pete is a risk that I am not willing to take. Pete may very well be president someday, but this is not his time.

Biden: The focus of the election must be on Trump and the harm he has done to the nation. the Dems must keep hammering Trump on his lying, his lack of ethics, and his incompetence. This leads to the problem with Biden, namely his gaffes. I know that there is a lot more to Biden then his silly and unimportant gaffes. Biden is smart, he is one of the most experienced candidates in history, and for 50 years he has been on the right side of the issues (most of the time). But every time Biden makes one of his gaffes it diverts attention from Trump’s unfitness for office. Whenever Biden makes a gaffe it dominates the news for 48 - 72 hours. That is 3 days when Trump’s unfitness is not the lead story. Our nominee must stay on message, and that message is Trump is unfit and dangerous. There can be no distractions from that message. Trump is a master at distraction and at attacking opponents. If Biden is the nominee, Trump will make Biden’s fitness for office an issue. For this reason I do not believe that Biden can defeat Trump.

Sanders and Warren: So that leaves Sanders and Warren, which admittedly is where I wanted to be from the standpoint of my ideological outlook. The policy differences between them are to small to bother mentioning. Besides every president has to compromise, no one gets everything they want. So the question is who has the better chance of winning.

Do not underestimate Trump. He is a master of destroying his opponents. Remember “Crooked Hillary”, “Lying Ted”, “Little Marco”, “Low Energy Jeb”. These were immature schoolyard bullying taunts, but it worked. When Warren released her DNA test she did exactly what Trump wanted. Although I am sure Warren is too smart to make the same mistake twice, we can expect “Pocahontas” to be the 2020 version of “Crooked Hillary”.

It is interesting to note that Trump has yet to come up an insulting nickname for Sanders. “Crazy Bernie” refers to his policies, not his character. This is due to something for which Sanders is often criticized, not appealing to people emotionally. We all know that Sanders does not like talking about his life, his background, making small talk, etc. However this is what gives Sanders his advantage. Nothing distracts him from his message. As I said before, the way to beat Trump is to keep the discussion on Trump. No matter what juvenile insults, lies, and accusations Trump makes, Sanders will always stick to his message. If Sanders is the nominee I imagine the political conversation will go something like this:

Reporter: Senator, Trump has said you are a crazy old man. Your response?
Bernie: Medical care is a right not a privilege.
Reporter: Senator, Trump called your wife a “fatty”. What do you say to him?
Bernie: It is time for the top 1 percent to pay their fair share of taxes.
Reporter: Trump claims that your great-grandfather killed Abraham Lincoln.
Bernie: Public college should be tuition free.

Trump cannot make the election about Bernie or distract the press and public with trivialities. Bernie is to focused on his message, and to smart to fall into any trap set for him.

One more thing. we all know that whoever is the nominee, the republicans will say he or she is a socialist. If Biden or Warren is the nominee they will have to constantly explain why they are not a socialist. This puts them in a defensive position, which is never a good thing. If Sanders is the nominee he will say “yes I am a socialist and this is what I believe...”. And since Sanders has been explaining democratic socialism for 50 years, this puts him in the very position he wants. For these reasons i believe Sanders has the best chance of winning.

[HerbChestnut]

2. Bernie.

[mikeysnot]

4. I would be happy with any of them

after this embarrassment. Bernie and Elizabeth are my fav's though.

[zentrum]

5. Thanks for the walk-through

I agree in large part.

But only because I'm worried you know who won't vote for a woman.

[jg10003]

11. Who?

[zentrum]

19. Many men,

.....of a certain kind.

Can hear it in the way they talk about Warren.

[brooklynite]

6. Bernie couldn't get 50% of Democratic voters in 2016 and less than 25% today...

Explain how he gets 50% of the General Election voters.

[pnwmom]

7. Bernie has been explaining his view of Democratic socialism, and comparing it to

the Nordic countries. However, the Nordic countries are examples of well-regulated CAPITALISM with a strong safety net.

Democratic Socialists of America have a more traditional view of what Democrat Socialism is, so Bernie is attaching himself to this utopian vision, which hasn't been adopted in any actual country:

https://www.dsausa.org/about-us/what-is-democratic-socialism/#govt

Today, corporate executives who answer only to themselves and a few wealthy stockholders make basic economic decisions affecting millions of people. Resources are used to make money for capitalists rather than to meet human needs. We believe that the workers and consumers who are affected by economic institutions should own and control them.

Social ownership could take many forms, such as worker-owned cooperatives or publicly owned enterprises managed by workers and consumer representatives. Democratic socialists favor as much decentralization as possible. While the large concentrations of capital in industries such as energy and steel may necessitate some form of state ownership, many consumer-goods industries might be best run as cooperatives.

[Uncle Joe]

8. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread jg.

[Mr.Bill]

9. Trump will not call Bernie a Socialist.

He will call him a Communist.

[BannonsLiver]

10. The entire OP is just a vehicle to bash actual Dems

Lots of backhanded “compliments.”

[PhoenixDem]

17. I noticed that too

The OP was always for BS, waiting in the wings until receiving an email from David Sirota to come out.

No one is fooled.

[DrFunkenstein]

12. Clinton Had A Hard Time Countering "Crooked Hillary," But "Pocahontas" Is Already Tired

Clinton had a lot of optics at the time that played into the "Crooked Hillary" tag, so it was effective with uneducated Americans in particular (Russian disinformation didn't help, either). The Pocahontas thing doesn't really hit home because she never profited from believing her parents' story about her heritage.

On the other hand, Trump knowingly lied to Holocaust survivors for decades along with his father about their "Swedish" heritage - and little Donald walked away with $413 MILLION. He even continued the lie in The Art of the Deal after, according to the family historian, asking his father if they still had to maintain the lie to their thousands of Jewish renters in Brooklyn and Queens.

Clinton pulled her punches with Trump because she wasn't sure how it would look for a woman to be so aggressive. Warren is under no such illusion. She is going to tear him a new one, and I can't wait to watch it happen - I'm buying popcorn!

[Gothmog]

15. Why Elizabeth Warren Is Trump's Weakest Opponent"

Link to tweet

Even if voters aren’t dwelling on policy specifics, their ideological perception of the candidates makes a huge difference. Democrats deliberately avoided invoking polarizing cultural issues when competing for swing districts last year—a strategy that allowed them to comfortably win back the House majority. The relative few who invoked a populist message like Warren’s lost winnable suburban seats.

It’s Politics 101: When there are more conservative (and moderate) voters than liberal ones, it’s very difficult to put together a winning coalition with just a progressive base. The only way to do it is by betting that Trump is so toxic that a critical majority of voters will automatically reject him. That strategy didn’t work well for Hillary Clinton in the last election.

Warren also carries other specific vulnerabilities into a matchup against Trump. She currently relies on a faction of white liberal support, struggling to win over African-American voters to her side. If Democrats believe the key to winning is by rallying their diverse base, it’s hard to see Warren accomplishing that goal. Her nomination threatens to be a double-whammy: turning off swing suburban voters without any gains in nonwhite voter turnout.

But make no mistake: They’re playing with fire. Trump is highly vulnerable, but he has the ability to win a second term if the Democratic nominee appears as extreme as he is. Warren has a realistic chance of becoming the next president, but she also could jeopardize it all for the Democratic Party.

[Gothmog]

14. Socialsim polls badly and would kill a far left candidate

Link to tweet

THE MAIN TAKEAWAYS are that socialism, broadly speaking, is unpopular, but Republicans have work to do if they want to tarnish some key Democratic proposals. Once voters hear about the agenda as framed by Republicans, 61% say it is socialist. Calling Democrats’ policies “socialist” causes a 10-point drop in their popularity.

-- FOR EXAMPLE: Take ‘MEDICARE FOR ALL.’ When asked about supporting Medicare for All, and hearing it described as “guaranteed health care coverage regardless of … income, and every American’s health insurance would come from a single government-run plan,” 41% favor it, 55% oppose and 4% are unsure. When Republicans start describing it as causing “doctor shortages, longer wait times for urgent care and delays in access to the latest drugs for cancer and other serious diseases,” the numbers move to 34% favor and 60% oppose.

-- THE ‘GREEN NEW DEAL’ is actually above water when described as a plan that “would work to address climate change and income inequality, and transition the United States from an economy built on fossil fuels to one driven by clean energy.” 48% favor, 46% oppose and 7% are unsure.

IT SINKS when Republicans start describing it as potentially costing “93 trillion dollars” and hiking energy bills by $3,000. It goes then to 32% support and 61% oppose. Polling memo … Poll deck

[PhoenixDem]

16. bwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

I won't have to watch Colbert tonight.

[BlueMississippi]

18. Wake up and smell the coffee

There ain't gonna be no socialist winning the nomination.

[Blue_true]

20. Gee. I'm glad that you decided. Now I can breath again, while I stay undecided. nt