droid

Well-known member
Bloomberg loses the nomination, runs as an independent with the blessing of the DNC (after all, campaign spend is the 100% indicator of a successful election result), splits the democrat vote, trump gets reelected, we all die horribly.
 

version

Well-known member
Something I admire a lot about Monbiot is that he isn't on anyone's "side" except, in the broadest sense, humanity's.

That was Chomsky's response when some bloke started yelling at him about who he was "cheering for" in Iraq or somewhere. The people.
 

Leo

Well-known member
Bloomberg loses the nomination, runs as an independent with the blessing of the DNC (after all, campaign spend is the 100% indicator of a successful election result), splits the democrat vote, trump gets reelected, we all die horribly.

nope, Bloomberg has said numerous times that if he doesn't win the nomination he will throw his money and support behind the democratic challenger to trump. despite what's said inside the Bernie bro bubble, the DNC is most definitely anyone-but-trump and will support sanders if he's the nominee.

RE: why is Biden doing so badly...I honestly can't tell if the Ukraine thing has had an impact, he's just been a terrible campaigner so far. sleepy Joe is a fair depiction, looks off his game, unconvincing and uninspiring on the campaign trail, playing to small crowds and poor fundraising. get the sense trump would crush him in a debate.

one pundit put it this way after the late debate:

Watching Joe Biden perform is a bit like watching a high school play: You’re rooting for the players, you’re grading on a curve, and you’re grateful they remember their lines. But you also know it isn’t Broadway.
 

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
At a Q&A session the other day, Biden called a young woman "a lying, dog-faced pony soldier". He's used this line before and apparently thinks it's a line from a film, but nobody knows which film.

(There is an old Western called Pony Soldier, but the line isn't from that film.)
 

Leo

Well-known member
I reckon it's... because of the Obama association.

if anything, Biden's been hindered by Obama's lack of endorsement. obama is the most well-liked figure in the Democratic Party, Biden has only been helped by the association and has literally tried to claim responsibility for anything they did while in office. it's also the backbone of Biden's support from black voters.

the trump base are the ones who hate obama, but they were never going to vote for a democrat anyway so it doesn't matter.
 

Leo

Well-known member
Klobuchar's surprising showing, along with the close margin between Sanders and Buttigieg, shows there's a sizable moderate bloc for Sanders to overcome. The three moderate candidates combined — Buttigieg, Klobuchar, and Biden — got 63% of the New Hampshire vote, while the two progressives — Sanders and Warren — got about half that amount (34%).

But...the fact that Sanders and Buttigieg finished in the top two in both New Hampshire and Iowa — coupled with Mike Bloomberg's rise in national polls — suggests that people are still hungry for an outsider, like they were in 2016.
 

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
Klobuchar's surprising showing, along with the close margin between Sanders and Buttigieg, shows there's a sizable moderate bloc for Sanders to overcome. The three moderate candidates combined — Buttigieg, Klobuchar, and Biden — got 63% of the New Hampshire vote, while the two progressives — Sanders and Warren — got about half that amount (34%).

But...the fact that Sanders and Buttigieg finished in the top two in both New Hampshire and Iowa — coupled with Mike Bloomberg's rise in national polls — suggests that people are still hungry for an outsider, like they were in 2016.

I would say only in America could a billionaire be an outsider, but I live in a country where Eton College is a factory for producing edgy outsiders.
 

Leo

Well-known member
"outsider" as in not a career Washington politician. even though Bernie has been there for decades, he's not a mainstream pol.
 

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
Oh I know, but the meaning of the term has become very malleable in the time of Trump and Boris Johnson. The elite is invisible

Marina Hyde on Jacob Rees-Mogg at the Tory conference:

Rees-Mogg, who still hasn’t noticed his own tailor is trying to drown him, declared: “But as I grew up in the British establishment, I know how awful it is. I see its faults perhaps more clearly than most do, and its determination, its anti-democratic wish to cling to its power come what may.” I am afraid the phrase “Do me a favour” is simply not up to the task of addressing that.
 

Leo

Well-known member
I used to think of "outsider" as inherently positive and good, a person who was untainted by the political system, but trump and others disproved that theory. someone outside the political establishment can still be a terrible politician and person.
 

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
I used to think of "outsider" as inherently positive and good, a person who was untainted by the political system, but trump and others disproved that theory. someone outside the political establishment can still be a terrible politician and person.

This is connected with the global epidemic of fake anti-elitism. You see it in this country with people who think someone who reads the Guardian and drinks red wine must be part of some fictional "metropolitan elite", but then vote for the party led by Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson because they think he'd be fun to go down the pub with.
 

Leo

Well-known member
yeah, there was a time before politicians became shameless liars. back then, they were just average liars who at least tried to be discreet about it.
 

Arthur Brick

Mortar Life
Why is Biden doing so badly? Is it cos of the Trump smears re Ukraine or is it something else?

Apparently he’s lied through his teeth about loads of stuff he did during the civil rights era. Claimed to have been on demonstrations that didn’t actually happen etc. Stuff that he has lied about before, admitted to lying, apologised, and is now lying about again!
 

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
I've read about his tendency to say weirdly inappropriate things to little girls. You'd have thought someone would have said "This really isn't a good look, Joe, you should probably stop doing it."
 

Leo

Well-known member
I don't think Biden's fall has anything to do with his past record, people (sadly) don't really care that much about that sort of stuff and besides, he's a fucking angel compared to trump.

he's lost support because he's so bad on the campaign trail. looks slow, a bit out of it, doddering.
 
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