billvon 2,354 #226 February 18, 2020 44 minutes ago, turtlespeed said: So, the difference here, is that you agree with Big Oil, I mean The DNC's position. I agree with neither position. Again, get a better strawman. Quote It is OK, in your book, that money is trumping the hard work and effort that Sanders has put in. Again, the DNC is going to trump the very hard work (and the blood, sweat and tears) of 28 out of the 29 candidates. Just crush them under their jackbooted heel. They've already done it to 21. That's how it works. If they end up with the most electable person that will represent them, they have done a good job - even if you hate the person they choose. And Sanders is not their best candidate. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JerryBaumchen 1,039 #227 February 18, 2020 44 minutes ago, wmw999 said: yes, its ageist, Hi Wendy, And some trivia on that: Bernie Sanders (born September 8, 1941) - 79 Joe Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) - 77 Mike Bloomberg (born February 14, 1942) - 78 Donald Trump (born June 14, 1946) - 73 Ronald Reagan (born February 6, 1911) – Went into office in Jan 1981, age 70 Jerry Baumchen PS) And I think you have nailed it about Bernie simply cannot work with others. He has been an indie his entire political life. He comes across, to me, as a 'my way or the hiway' type of person. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
brenthutch 383 #228 February 18, 2020 (edited) 43 minutes ago, billvon said: And Sanders is not their best candidate. Says who? Certainly not the voters. Last time around Trump got the let’s just-blow-the-whole-thing-up vote. In much the way Trump got disaffected Obama voters, Sanders could take that block from Trump in a way Bloomberg will not. Edited February 18, 2020 by brenthutch Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JerryBaumchen 1,039 #229 February 18, 2020 Just now, brenthutch said: Says who? Hi Brent, Well, I do for one. Jerry Baumchen Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gowlerk 1,889 #230 February 18, 2020 1 hour ago, turtlespeed said: It is OK, in your book, that money is trumping the hard work and effort that Sanders has put in. Sanders must compete in the marketplace of ideas. He has fairly revolutionary policy proposals. Hard work and effort may or may not be enough to convince enough people to try them. Working hard does not make him right. You are selling your country short if you believe Bloomberg's TV and internet advertising can buy him the minds of people. What they can do is put his ideas in front of them. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
brenthutch 383 #231 February 18, 2020 3 minutes ago, JerryBaumchen said: Hi Brent, Well, I do for one. Jerry Baumchen Hi Jerry, I recognized my last post was wanting, so I added some additional perspective. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TriGirl 268 #232 February 18, 2020 4 hours ago, turtlespeed said: The DNC didn't trample them. They spent the time and effort to get up on a debate stage. The public opinion trampled them. NOW - it seems that the DNC is trampling them with everything they have. I see it like Big Oil going after a grass-roots Protest group. You're Ok with that kind of thing, right? I'd like to insert another perspective: DNC candidates got into the race, IMHO, way WAY too early. Those really early ones started getting a lot of attention, so the field was swarmed with all those who felt they needed to throw their hats in, regardless of having their "exploratory" stages complete. Because of the massive field, news channels started hosting debates in some kind of attempt to get everyone's positions out there, to compare one against the other, and possibly make some kind of sense of it all (not that that was their driving reason for hosting debates, but it made the reporting much easier). So, they started by hosting multiple iterations of debates with randomly selected portions (read: everyone qualified). As time went on, hosts (whether the host of the debate, or the DNC) had to come up with qualification metrics so that a single event could be held, with a manageable number of participants. However, the filing deadline had not been reached. With the circus that has resulted from so many early entries, sometimes we forget that Iowa and NH *just* had their events. And the field has been culled. So, for someone who chose to enter the race before the deadlines, and in an appropriate amount of time before the Iowa caucus, why should he be penalized for not jumping into the fray a year (plus) too early? Okay -- now that the caucus/primary season has started (especially with today being Super Tuesday), I could see requiring someone to meet a polling or "primary minimum" showing going forward, but for Bloomberg, the fundraising and polling cut-offs were arbitrary carry-overs from the initial trim-down of the extreme field of declared candidates. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kallend 1,611 #233 February 18, 2020 How any organization chooses its leaders is up to members of the organization. Political parties are organizations. If you're not a party member then it's not your business. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wmw999 2,089 #234 February 18, 2020 47 minutes ago, kallend said: How any organization chooses its leaders is up to members of the organization. Political parties are organizations. If you're not a party member then it's not your business. I kind of wish he organizations didn’t have such a stranglehold on the process, but, well, money + USA ... Wendy P. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gowlerk 1,889 #235 February 18, 2020 2 hours ago, wmw999 said: I kind of wish he organizations didn’t have such a stranglehold on the process, Donald Trump, and now Bernie Sanders both demonstrate that the two organizations do not have control. Neither was wanted by the people who run their party. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DJL 232 #236 February 18, 2020 10 hours ago, brenthutch said: Says who? Certainly not the voters. Last time around Trump got the let’s just-blow-the-whole-thing-up vote. In much the way Trump got disaffected Obama voters, Sanders could take that block from Trump in a way Bloomberg will not. Sanders is a rock star with New England liberals and he got half the numbers in NH as he did four years ago. I'd say the less than representative set of Iowa and NH says more about the majority who split votes between other candidates. Trump carried centrists last election. If the lineup is Trump vs Sanders then Trump will get the Centrists and Sanders will get the lefties. If the lineup is Trump vs Bloomberg/Biden/Warren/Buttigeig Trump will get fewer centrist but WAY FEWER lefties will vote for Trump as some kind of bullshit protest vote. I'd like to say they learned their lesson that he really can win, if not then they deserve another four years of Trump. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
turtlespeed 212 #237 February 18, 2020 9 hours ago, TriGirl said: I'd like to insert another perspective: DNC candidates got into the race, IMHO, way WAY too early. Those really early ones started getting a lot of attention, so the field was swarmed with all those who felt they needed to throw their hats in, regardless of having their "exploratory" stages complete. Because of the massive field, news channels started hosting debates in some kind of attempt to get everyone's positions out there, to compare one against the other, and possibly make some kind of sense of it all (not that that was their driving reason for hosting debates, but it made the reporting much easier). So, they started by hosting multiple iterations of debates with randomly selected portions (read: everyone qualified). As time went on, hosts (whether the host of the debate, or the DNC) had to come up with qualification metrics so that a single event could be held, with a manageable number of participants. However, the filing deadline had not been reached. With the circus that has resulted from so many early entries, sometimes we forget that Iowa and NH *just* had their events. And the field has been culled. So, for someone who chose to enter the race before the deadlines, and in an appropriate amount of time before the Iowa caucus, why should he be penalized for not jumping into the fray a year (plus) too early? Okay -- now that the caucus/primary season has started (especially with today being Super Tuesday), I could see requiring someone to meet a polling or "primary minimum" showing going forward, but for Bloomberg, the fundraising and polling cut-offs were arbitrary carry-overs from the initial trim-down of the extreme field of declared candidates. I agree with you on most. My questions are more derived from whether or not B-berg met the ballot access laws. https://ballotpedia.org/Ballot_access_for_presidential_candidates He didn't announce his candidacy until 24 Nov 18 Deadlines possibly missed: AL, AR, & NH. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
turtlespeed 212 #238 February 18, 2020 It looks like Trump has been weaponized. B-berg fired off a comment at Sanders: “Bernie’s New Bro….Donald Trump.” Sanders fires back with a picture of Mike and Don playing golf together: Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JerryBaumchen 1,039 #239 February 18, 2020 (edited) 8 hours ago, kallend said: If you're not a party member then it's not your business. Hi John, And that is where the DNC screwed up. Bernie is & always has been an independent. They should never have let him on the stage. Jerry Baumchen PS) IMO he is the one candidate that can ensure a Trump 2nd term. However, I would vote for him over Trump. Edited February 18, 2020 by JerryBaumchen Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JerryBaumchen 1,039 #240 February 18, 2020 Hi folks, Re: 'His next closest contender has 19%. But that second-place rival is former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.' Going to be interesting. https://www.npr.org/2020/02/18/806703427/npr-pbs-newshour-marist-poll-sanders-leads-bloomberg-qualifies-for-debate Jerry Baumchen Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ryoder 1,362 #241 February 18, 2020 When I heard that Bloomberg was going to be spending big money on commercials, I did not expect to see them because I don't watch broadcast television. But damned if he doesn't manage to pop up every time I watch videos from my favorite Youtube channels. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ryoder 1,362 #242 February 18, 2020 44 minutes ago, JerryBaumchen said: PS) IMO he is the one candidate that can ensure a Trump 2nd term. But we know from 2016 that there were crossover voters who voted for Trump when they could not vote for Sanders. We don't know of any others for whom that is true. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gowlerk 1,889 #243 February 18, 2020 15 hours ago, brenthutch said: Says who? Certainly not the voters. Last time around Trump got the let’s just-blow-the-whole-thing-up vote. In much the way Trump got disaffected Obama voters, Sanders could take that block from Trump in a way Bloomberg will not. It appears that Trump would prefer to face Sanders. But, I'm starting to suspect that perhaps you are right and Jerry, (and Trump) are wrong. Sanders could be seen as an even better way to "stick it to the man" than Trump has been. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JerryBaumchen 1,039 #244 February 18, 2020 25 minutes ago, gowlerk said: perhaps you are right and Jerry, (and Trump) are wrong. Hi Ken, If it meant the end of Trump, I would happily be wrong. BTDT, Jerry Baumchen Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DJL 232 #245 February 18, 2020 22 minutes ago, gowlerk said: It appears that Trump would prefer to face Sanders. But, I'm starting to suspect that perhaps you are right and Jerry, (and Trump) are wrong. Sanders could be seen as an even better way to "stick it to the man" than Trump has been. The Trump supporters who want to stick it to the man see the government as "the man" and think Trump is going to do something about that by getting the government out of their pockets. Those same people definitely don't want Bernie Sanders in their pockets. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JerryBaumchen 1,039 #246 February 18, 2020 25 minutes ago, DJL said: Those same people definitely don't want Bernie Sanders in their pockets. Hi DJL, This is my concern with Bernie. He is so far to the left that the moderates will not vote for him; they will just not vote. Jerry Baumchen Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gowlerk 1,889 #247 February 18, 2020 (edited) 38 minutes ago, DJL said: The Trump supporters who want to stick it to the man see the government as "the man" and think Trump is going to do something about that by getting the government out of their pockets. Those same people definitely don't want Bernie Sanders in their pockets. That ignores the large number of people who think of Wall street bankers and corporations as "the man". I know they aren't the same people, but a lot of them did not come out for Hillary. The outcome in the swing states will come down to who is motivated to vote. Just being the "anti-Trump" may not be enough for someone like Bloomberg. Edited February 18, 2020 by gowlerk Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
airdvr 196 #248 February 18, 2020 9 hours ago, kallend said: If you're not a party member then it's not your business. Well said komrade kallend. But it is our business. People have a right to know how the candidates are chosen. I can see by many here the left isn't interested in getting the candidate that is best for the country, merely the candidate that can unseat Trump. BTW...keep looking. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SkyDekker 1,098 #249 February 18, 2020 8 minutes ago, airdvr said: People have a right to know how the candidates are chosen. No they don't. Members of a party should have the right to know how their candidate is elected/picked/chosen/anointed though. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DJL 232 #250 February 18, 2020 57 minutes ago, JerryBaumchen said: Hi DJL, This is my concern with Bernie. He is so far to the left that the moderates will not vote for him; they will just not vote. Jerry Baumchen I agree. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites