I'm so bummed I will be out of the country for the first debate. I am going to have to find a good cliff notes for the second one because we're going to a lodge without any internet on the 28th.
These folks have no allegiance to anything. They just want to hear the world screwed them over and someone is going to make it right again.
There was that comment where someone said they respected Warren because she earned everything she got. But they still want to hear about what other people will do for them. I can't fathom the cognitive dissonance here. And I'm not someone who believes we should do nothing for West Virginians, but at least an acknowledgment that hardworking people do need assistance in some form would be nice. Really, I'm just tired of the myth of "earning" everything you have. I'm successful and I worked hard, but a few lucky breaks had to happen too (and did happen).
I wish some of these men would run for Senate instead. We’d get a lot more accomplished if Mitch McConnell was no longer running the show.
I've been reading up on how most of these folks will be out of the race by February so they're looking at a POTUS run for the attention and then turning towards the Senate races in their states. I'm not a fan of that strategy.
I wish some of these men would run for Senate instead. We’d get a lot more accomplished if Mitch McConnell was no longer running the show.
I've been reading up on how most of these folks will be out of the race by February so they're looking at a POTUS run for the attention and then turning towards the Senate races in their states. I'm not a fan of that strategy.
Post by seeyalater52 on May 14, 2019 8:14:56 GMT -5
Bullock bores the shit out of me, especially after refusing to have a damn spine this leg session (on Medicaid) I'm pretty done with him. Onto the white dude b-list he goes. What's confusing to me is I can't possibly see an upside to him running - he's obviously not going to win and he's already very popular in Montana and as a Governor doesn't need the name recognition for a Senate bid for Daines' seat.
Someone in the DNC needs to put a stop to this clown car crap. They're going to hand Trump the election if they can't get their shit together and have everyone support the most qualified candidate.
Someone in the DNC needs to put a stop to this clown car crap. They're going to hand Trump the election if they can't get their shit together and have everyone support the most qualified candidate.
I think this is not necessarily the case. I suspect the field will narrow VERY quickly after the debates and once the primary ballot qualification process begins and/or the early primary states hold their elections. It's still so early.
Not that I think the endless stream of new, mediocre candidates is amazing, I just don't think it's a real issue that will have a meaningful impact on the primary or eventual presidential election results when all is said and done.
Someone in the DNC needs to put a stop to this clown car crap. They're going to hand Trump the election if they can't get their shit together and have everyone support the most qualified candidate.
I think this is not necessarily the case. I suspect the field will narrow VERY quickly after the debates and once the primary ballot qualification process begins and/or the early primary states hold their elections. It's still so early.
Not that I think the endless stream of new, mediocre candidates is amazing, I just don't think it's a real issue that will have a meaningful impact on the primary or eventual presidential election results when all is said and done.
I hope that's correct, but I'm worried about the Bernie Sanders effect where the egocentric people entering the race for shits and giggles aren't going to bow out gracefully and back the leading candidate.
It's also pissing me off that there were a bunch of qualified, thoughtful women entering the race right at the beginning, and now all these rando guys have decided they should do it too.
I think this is not necessarily the case. I suspect the field will narrow VERY quickly after the debates and once the primary ballot qualification process begins and/or the early primary states hold their elections. It's still so early.
Not that I think the endless stream of new, mediocre candidates is amazing, I just don't think it's a real issue that will have a meaningful impact on the primary or eventual presidential election results when all is said and done.
I hope that's correct, but I'm worried about the Bernie Sanders effect where the egocentric people entering the race for shits and giggles aren't going to bow out gracefully and back the leading candidate.
It's also pissing me off that there were a bunch of qualified, thoughtful women entering the race right at the beginning, and now all these rando guys have decided they should do it too.
Oh that annoys me too. Take heart that aside from maybe Biden, Bernie, and Beto, I don't think any of the truly rando candidates have enough of a rabid following for it to unfold that way. Bernie doesn't command the same cult of personality that he used to in this year's field.
I have to believe that the vast majority of people, even the very annoying ones, have learned from 2016 that after the primary you have to get it together and support the nominee. The people who don't do this will be a fringe element. What is just as annoying to me is people acting like we can't have any real discussion during the primary because we all need to unite. The purpose of the primary is to figure out who to unite behind!
I think this is not necessarily the case. I suspect the field will narrow VERY quickly after the debates and once the primary ballot qualification process begins and/or the early primary states hold their elections. It's still so early.
Not that I think the endless stream of new, mediocre candidates is amazing, I just don't think it's a real issue that will have a meaningful impact on the primary or eventual presidential election results when all is said and done.
I hope that's correct, but I'm worried about the Bernie Sanders effect where the egocentric people entering the race for shits and giggles aren't going to bow out gracefully and back the leading candidate.
It's also pissing me off that there were a bunch of qualified, thoughtful women entering the race right at the beginning, and now all these rando guys have decided they should do it too.
Bernie is probably going to overstay his welcome but most of the candidates won't. I expect that by the end of February (if even that late), we'll have less than a handful of candidates left.
I hope that's correct, but I'm worried about the Bernie Sanders effect where the egocentric people entering the race for shits and giggles aren't going to bow out gracefully and back the leading candidate.
It's also pissing me off that there were a bunch of qualified, thoughtful women entering the race right at the beginning, and now all these rando guys have decided they should do it too.
Bernie is probably going to overstay his welcome but most of the candidates won't. I expect that by the end of February (if even that late), we'll have less than a handful of candidates left.
I agree, if for no other reason than the money will dry up. Bernie was able to stay in so long in 2016 because he had plenty of money.
Warrens’s Twitter thread on why she won’t do a Fox town hall is a thing of beauty.
Elizabeth Warren: I’ve done 57 media avails and 131 interviews, taking over 1,100 questions from press just since January. Fox News is welcome to come to my events just like any other outlet. But a Fox News town hall adds money to the hate-for-profit machine. To which I say: hard pass.
Warrens’s Twitter thread on why she won’t do a Fox town hall is a thing of beauty.
Elizabeth Warren: I’ve done 57 media avails and 131 interviews, taking over 1,100 questions from press just since January. Fox News is welcome to come to my events just like any other outlet. But a Fox News town hall adds money to the hate-for-profit machine. To which I say: hard pass.
Warrens’s Twitter thread on why she won’t do a Fox town hall is a thing of beauty.
Elizabeth Warren: I’ve done 57 media avails and 131 interviews, taking over 1,100 questions from press just since January. Fox News is welcome to come to my events just like any other outlet. But a Fox News town hall adds money to the hate-for-profit machine. To which I say: hard pass.
The whole thing is worth reading, but I particularly love this part:
Fox News is a hate-for-profit racket that gives a megaphone to racists and conspiracists—it’s designed to turn us against each other, risking life and death consequences, to provide cover for the corruption that’s rotting our government and hollowing out our middle class.
Oh, look, Ami Horowitz is jumping into the fray. I'll C&P because it's Fox (which is why, among other things, he's on my burn him down list.) This makes #23.
But first off, his Twitter announcement (and why we need to do better in who we allow to run on the party's coattails. Sometimes Big Tent needs to be a little smaller):
I'm running for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination because all their current candidates are insane.
If 65,000 people donate $1, I will be onstage at next month's #DemDebate and say that to their face.
(you see why I'm not willing to give the article any more clicks now, right?)
Documentary filmmaker Ami Horowitz officially threw his hat in the ring on Wednesday in the ever-expanding 2020 Democratic primary, hoping he'll "bring some sanity" to the Dem debate stage as he seeks to qualify with 65,000 individual donors as the 23rd declared candidate. "The Democratic Party has become the party of socialism, open borders and late-term abortions. They've become so radicalized over the past several years that I feel compelled to try to bring some sanity into the discussion," Horowitz said in the video that launched his campaign. "So if you want to see me throw an intellectual hand grenade on the Democratic debate stage and hold them accountable, go to AmiForAmerica.com and donate some money. Send some cash. Anything!"
In an interview with Fox News, Horowitz explained that he first decided to make a run for presidency back in February when the DNC announced its qualifications for Democratic candidates to make it onto the debate stage, which he thought was "achievable." The filmmaker says he never previously ascribed to one particular party, saying he values "ideology" and has been "critical" of Republicans and Democrats as well as current and previous presidents.
"Why I decide to run for the Democratic nomination now was because I see a party that is ripping itself apart. It's almost imploding because of the radicalization of its ideologies of the past few years," Horowitz said. "I think the Democratic Party has almost warped physics and moved the gravitational center of the party so far to the left that I think it's making itself unelectable. And I don't think we're a healthy country if we have one strong party and one weak party and I think that's the road we're going down. So I want to bring some sanity to this insane process that I see going on with the Democrats." The Los Angeles native slammed what he referred to as "radical" policy positions Democrats have taken like late-term abortions, open borders, and how the other Democratic candidates in the race are "running away" from capitalism and towards socialism, which he insisted the "vast majority of the country" oppose.
"Capitalism is the greatest idea that man ever created to bring more people out of poverty, create more wealth than any other thing created by man and they're running away from that label," Horowitz said. His message to those who dismiss what he considers to be a "guerrilla campaign" as a joke is that he is "deadly serious" and is willing to "take this all the way" to the DNC convention next year, but acknowledged that the odds weren't in his favor.
"Stranger things have happened, okay?" Horowitz explained. "Who would have thought that when Donald Trump announced that it was a serious campaign? Guess what; he's now the president of the United States... I'm here to stay and I'm deadly serious about this because the issues that we're dealing with are deadly serious."
Within 48 hours since launching his campaign, Horowitz has collected over 8,000 individual donors, which is roughly 12 percent of the 65,000 he needs to be allowed on the debate stage, hoping that he can replicate the success of Marianne Williamson, who announced on Thursday she met that donor threshold.
18 candidates currently qualify for the debates but the DNC announced they will allow those with the highest polling to fill the two vacant slots to reach 20 candidates total followed by the number of individual donors. Horowitz told Fox News that he's "hanging his hat" on the number of donors he will have in order to participate in the earlier debates since debates inching towards the primaries will be more restrictive. "If the Democrats are smart, they will nominate me because I think that I am the only guy on the stage who can beat [Trump]. And if I'm nominated, I will beat him," Horowitz insisted.
As a registered Democrat, Horowitz dismisses the common characterization that he's a "conservative" filmmaker since he "calls it as he sees it." He supports a woman's right to choose but opposes late-term abortions, believes that restrictions on gun ownership are "vital" but calls himself an "ardent supporter" of the Second Amendment, and says that legal immigration is the "backbone of America's foundation" but wants to "shut down" illegal immigration.
He acknowledged that there are "a lot of things" that he liked and disliked about President Donald Trump, but assured that he would do a "better job" on policy as well as "bring the country together." "I think this is a president that's polarizing and some of that is his fault, some of it is not his fault," the filmmaker elaborated. "We are at an inflection point in our country where polarization is not an advantage. Polarization is not gonna help us move the issues that we need to move on. And I feel like I could be that guy to bring the country together."
Horowitz admitted that Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass would be a "viable" option to defeat Trump in 2020 but says he has "no chance to win" in the primaries and that former Vice President Joe Biden, who many see as "electable," has "ideological baggage," pointing to his "insane" proposal this week to give health care to illegal immigrants in the US, adding that such progressive policies from Biden and other candidates will be "difficult to defend" during a general election.
"I'm not interested in pandering to get votes. I'm not interested in pandering to win the nomination. I have an ideology that I will stick with and will not change from for any reason," Horowitz declared. "I think that the majority of the Democrat electorate is looking for a moderate they can rally behind, they are the silent majority, and those are the only people that I'm interested in."
Horowitz criticized Trump's trade policies, which he thought was partly in opposition to free trade and fears this administration's tariffs on China will derail what he considers to be a "phenomenal" economy under the Trump presidency. He also isn't strongly for or against "the wall" on the southern border but is in favor of letting those on the ground who control the border decide what they need.
On foreign policy, he complimented President Trump's treatment of Israel and his "toughness" on Russia, but disapproved his rhetoric towards Russian President Vladimir Putin and believes the US is "being played" by North Korea.
Horowitz, a former FoxNews.com contributor, thought that the Mueller Report is "particularly clear" that there was no collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia and expressed he couldn't declare outright that the president obstructed justice, admitting he's "not a lawyer" and calls House Democrats pushing President Trump's impeachment a "gimmick."
"I would follow the path of what the Department of Justice tells me. I would follow the path of what the Judicial Branch tells me," Horowitz continued. "If they're saying there's a problem with obstruction, let's bring it on. Let's see what we have there and if there's something that he did that's impeachable, then I'd say let's do that as well. But if he hasn't, if it's not impeachable, and the experts are telling us that there's nothing that we can prosecute, you have to move on. Let the president do his job in running the country. He's the president."
As a candidate, Horowitz's biggest weakness may be coming up with a campaign message as catchy as "Make America Great Again."
"'Ami is the best and the rest of the candidates are the worst,'" Horowitz joked. "We probably should think about it. ... We should come up with a pithy one-liner."
In New Hampshire, Joe Biden predicts that once President Trump is out of office, Republicans will have “an epiphany” and work with Democrats toward consensus.
I just can't imagine looking at this field and deciding to go ahead and jump in. Even if you're just doing it for attention and then plan to run for Senate, governor, etc you're only going to get like 3 minutes of focus before you're overshadowed by the next guy.
Abrams has heavily implied she is running. She needs to get moving, though. I think it was a mistake for her to wait so long.
I have to admit, when Warren announced I was all "WTF why so early???" but that ended up being a very, very wise decision. Now anyone else jumping in (except for Biden because he's Biden) just looks like they're fashionably late to the party and wishing everyone would notice we don't.
In New Hampshire, Joe Biden predicts that once President Trump is out of office, Republicans will have “an epiphany” and work with Democrats toward consensus.