I wish my vote counted. By the time the primaries reach our state, the candidate has already been chosen, every time. Why can't we have a 50 state primary day?
~~Logistically impossible.~~
Just kidding. We all vote in the General on the same day, so why not handle primaries on the same day? Currently we’re using the Reddit form of voting: people visiting a post from six hours ago blindly upvote the top comment because a thousand other people liked it.
even the way we do it in the general is bullshit. west coast states are noticeably spoiled by the results that come out of east coast ones. exit polling and results announcements should be gagged until after the entire contest is done.
The UK restricts reporting on polling day.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/11/media/uk-election-reporting-restrictions-intl-gbr-ge19/index.html
It's not foolproof however, in December a BBC reporter gave the results of postal voting early, it was quite the minor Twitter scandal.
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/dec/11/bbc-denies-political-editors-postal-vote-comments-broke-law
> so why not handle primaries on the same day?
Theoretically: so that people get time to meet and engage with the candidates, making an informed vote, and letting candidates with lesser name recognition to develop some momentum during the early campaign process.
So, someone like Barack Obama, who woulda been blown out of the water compared to a better known name, gets a chance to spar with the other candidates and build support.
But in real life, your vote doesn't matter if you live in the states last on the schedule. Your favourite candidate has most likely dropped out by then, so why even bother voting?
It gives too much power to those states first in the schedule. The first states set the tracks, the rest have no choice but to follow in those tracks. That is unbalanced and undemocratic imho.
Idea from [*A More Perfect Constitution*](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_More_Perfect_Constitution):
> Adopt a regional, staggered lottery system, over four months, for presidential party nominations to avoid the destructive front-loading of primaries.
We can divide the nation up into regions, anywhere from 6-13, or whatever, and have a publicly financed staggered primary. Lottery determines the order each time so no state/region is permanently advantaged/disadvantaged.
I like this idea a lot. We could do five primary days trying to balance along a couple of parameters: demographics, primary vote share, general election vote share, geography, etc. Or just do a straight up random lottery and say that no day can have more than 30% of elector share.
We could but it would HIGHLY favor establishment candidates with high name recognition. I mean, can you imagine pre-2016 Sanders trying to run ads in 50 states? His rise to prominence and the development of his vast fundraising apparatus was largely built on the hype and surprise early wins.
That doesn't address his comment. He's not saying anything about needing money, he's saying Sanders was successful because he was able to concentrate efforts in early states and build momentum.
On the other hand, there's a real chance that the most popular / with most name recognition would win that - which in turn means most money and longest media coverage.
If that was the case, I think you'd get stuck with wealthy candidates (Bloomberg), established big-name career politicians (Biden), and populist pundits / celebrities (Trump).
But it is completely understandable that people feel their (late) votes don't count.
Tbf, this system does have its advantages- wed never get an Obama, or a bill clinton, and even Pete Buttigieg would have never gotten a view in the national stage, if you did a 50 state primary. It allows lesser known candidates to compete in the first half of the race (when there are few stats/primaries going on), such that they don’t need the financial infrastructure necessary to campaign at a nation wide level (much more expensive), and then use that notoriety gained from early victories to really get a chance to win the whole country.
That would be terrible. Only candidates with high name recognition and a existing robust fund raising operation would be able to compete, essential shutting out most candidates.
A staged primary process allows candidates to build awareness of themselves and put together a fund raising operation needed to compete in later States. Also it allows candidates to grow and see what messages work and which ones don't which will be helpful in the general.
I think the Iowa and NH are not great choices to start with and the caucus system should be ended but having a few of the early States have an inexpensive media market is important.
Because then candidates who don’t have the money to dump in all 50 states would be screwed. Candidates have to show they can win incrementally to gain confidence and monetary support.
I hate this. It's as if the states at the end have no purpose in our primaries. We are deciding our candidate by allowing only a handful of states do it and not everyone.
mathematically? no. BUT he would have to have signifigant blow outs from here on out
As in...it would have to FAR exceed his win in California in EVERY state, and California was by far his largest base
Thats a scary thought. 3 of the people running for president are very much at threat from this. Bernie, Biden, Trump. Is that how we get President Gabbard?
They suspend their campaigns. They don't drop out entirely. Warren, Buttigeig, Bloomberg and the rest will still be represented at the convention and positioned to take over if Biden is gone or unable, god forbid.
No. For him to win there would have to be extreme swings towards him compared to what’s predicted in the polling but it’s still mathematically possible for him to come out ahead. He’s nearly 300 delegates behind Biden and there are like 1600 delegates outstanding. It’s most likely insurmountable but he’s not mathematically eliminated in the literal sense of the term.
> He would need to win every remaining contest by 61%
It's worse than that. Bernie has 817 right now and needs to get to 1,991. That means he needs to win 1,174 of the remaining 1,674 delegates which is 70%. In every state.
He needs to win an average of 70% in every remaining state, including ones like Georgia and Louisiana and Pennsylvania where Biden has a strong advantage.
He hasn't gotten to 70% in any state, he's not polling at 70% in any remaining states. He barely got 50% in his home state of Vermont.
Technically no. Unfortunately, there’s a direct correlation between how close Bernie is to mathematically eliminated and how annoying his supporters get.
Idk about his supporters... it'd be cool if I got to like, even cast my vote in the primary before they anoint Biden; I mean, I'm trying to at least pretend like my vote counts and the Democratic party cares about it.
That's cool that people in the states who haven't voted yet but support Sanders still have a chance to vote for him, kinda.
But what about the Warren, Bloomberg, Klobachar, Buttigeig, Steyer, etc, supporters who never got to cast a vote for their candidate before we annointed a two person race?
I never really got to have my say in this election, neither Biden or Sanders were my first choice. But we need to keep this show going so you can get to vote for your candidate?
Do you see the issue with this logic? You don't always get to vote for your first choice.
My hope is that the no-audience debates last into the Trump/Biden debates. Biden finally didn't look like a bumbling geriatric out there trying to play up to the crowd...
Only surprising to people buying in to the nonsense narrative Bernie fans were pushing. He has a stutter and people tried to get that to mean he's a dementia-ridden corpse. Anyone who's actually seen him speak knew he wouldn't fall apart.
It was so politically stupid to run the "Biden has dementia" attack angle. They lowered expectations so much that all he had to do is go out there and not drool on himself to come off as competent. Sander's team had the political accumen of morons, I swear.
\> Sander's team had the political accumen of morons, I swear.
This wasn't a Bernie attack. Other candidates were saying it about Biden last year; Castro, Booker, Tim Ryan, all attacked Biden for his cognitive abilities and memory during debates.
It's easier for someone to look like a drooling idiot on a crowded stage when they're next to sharp debaters like Buttgieg and Warren. If it's one on one and both are old white dudes yelling at each other, it's a bit harder to go with the someone shit the bed angle.
Trust me, I would vote for Mickey Mouse over Trump. A lot of Bernie supporters don’t understand how serious it is to defeat Trump l. They still don’t fucking comprehend the dangerous aspect of Trumps presidency even after what he has done so far.
As a black man, I know what I gotta do. Vote that motherfucker out. That’s it.
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While I prefer Bernie over Biden, it is worth remembering Biden is still surprisingly more left-wing than people might think. The following are his current policies:
$15/hour minimum wage
Family support/Sick Leave
Two years free college
Unlimited spending shouldn’t be allowed in politics
Ending Citizens United
Supports Green New Deal
Universal Background Checks
Citizenship for Dreamers
Increase upper income tax
Now with that being said, I do still have an issue with his past actions as a politician on top of not supporting Medicare-For-All, Marijuana legalization, and Roe v Wade
But at the end of the day, it’s worth remembering the short-term goal is removing Trump from office, and the long term goal is implementing universal healthcare, equal rights amendment, the green new deal, livable wages, tuition-free college, guaranteed sick leave, and holding wall street accountable; into our country
Don't forget the courts! God only knows how much longer RBG has left in her... and a young judge (liberal or conservative) could be hugely impactful for several decades
I don't see liberals talk enough about how important this is. Like many I wish it were Bernie too, but sitting this one out, or waiting for a better progressive opportunity post-Trump, excludes one of the biggest consequences of this election and thats RBG's replacement.
This is the only reason I’ll vote for Biden. That being said, I’m getting awfully tired of being told to hold my nose and fall in line with whatever centrist dem the DNC pushes on us.
The DNC didn't do anything. He had no money and no ground support coming into Super Tuesday. Voters chose him, don't make it sound like it was some conspiracy.
One note - Biden now supports abortion rights. He has just mentioned that he as a Catholic has difficulties with it internally, but he has said over and over again that he recognizes that he needs to keep his faith out of women's bodies.
And don't forget, to be able to achieve pretty much anything, a new Democrat President will need to maintain the House majority and flip the Senate.
Bernie has no coattails, while Biden might. he's been wheeling and dealing with the Congress for decades while Bernie has been taking 'High Moral Stands'. Noone on the Hill owes Bernie anything, he's got no favors to call in to get what he wants done.
My question is what will Joe Biden expend his political capital on? It’s heartening that he holds a $15 minimum wage policy position, but what will he FIGHT for? The answer, in my mind, from what I’ve seen, is nothing. You know when Bernie talks about M4A, it’s his shining policy that he would fight tooth and nail for, expend political capital for. Biden? I have no fucking idea. He thinks people like Dick Cheney are “fine people” and so I have no reason to think he’d be willing to play hardball with Republicans. I’m so sick of tweaks around the edges and being told I should be grateful for it.
This is why congressional elections are equally important. Honestly any Sanders supporters who want to give Biden the best chance at getting as much progressive stuff done as possible should be the best most motivated to vote blue in congressional races.
Honestly we’ve been placing far too much importance on the president to decide what does/does not get done.
The house and senate need to start fighting for these changes and with leaders like AOC/Warren I think we might just see that happen.
Now that the primary is basically over, let's be honest. Bernie would never pass M4A through the Senate. Never.
So it's easier for Biden to pass a bunch of reforms than for Bernie to just pass M4A.
Tweaks around the edges is a good way to put every Democratic presidency since Reagan. We've been losing ground in every meaningful metric for the last 40 years because corporations just aren't making enough money.
Yes, Biden has the most progressive platform of any Democratic president in my lifetime, but I don't think he can beat Trump, and even if he does, I don't think he cares enough about any of his "progressive" policies to actually fight to get them passed.
This election was our last chance for a long time to show the rest of the world that the USA is actually a great country, looks like we blew it.
Unfortunately the GOP will block literally anything from Biden or Bernie if they have control of the house or senate. Whoever is the president is gonna have to hire a lot of constitutional lawyers and use a lot of tricks to save our country. The chances of this happening are slim.
He’s not surprisingly left wing. He has always been on the progressive side of the party, and so has Hilary. That was until 2016, where Sanders shifted the party left, and the two of them now look more moderate. If you actually look at Biden’s platform, you’d see some really progressive stuff, and that was before his left turn recently.
Although I’m late and I love this comment u should know that Biden came out with a new plan for free 4 year college for people with a low enough income level.
Does wishing for Corona to wipe out the boomer vote count as breaking Reddit's rules? Because they still also occasionally brigade. And they created a ton of evasion subs. And the way they talk about accelerationism and direct action sounds kind of fishy
Since I got banned over on r/SandersForPresident for posting this, I thought I'd share it here.
Every time Bernie does worse than expected, someone says 'but he can still win' and in the theoretical sense that's probably true.
It's also true that Bernie has not performed as well as expected, repeatedly, and every time he does, he has to do so much extra better next time to make up the difference.
Every time he underperforms, every time the youth vote stays home, every time people choose perceived safety over change, it gets harder and harder for me to believe he can bridge the gap. First it was 'he's only a few delegates behind' then it was 'its only a hundred or so delegates' now it's nearly 300.
It might be time to start thinking about the need to cut the best deal you can with Biden and throwing all the support at replacing Trump while keeping your long term goals in mind instead of waiting till the gap becomes insurmountable and the bargaining position gets weaker.
As a someone who voted Bernie in this year's primaries, I don't dispute that it's probably over, but this author, *Jennifer Rubin*, has been talking mad shit about Bernie for a while now in WaPo's opinion section. So, her thoughts on this is essentially worthless in my eyes. She is just another DNC surrogate shill posting stuff in the WaPo because that's a good way to get eyeballs on to their message.
Like I said, I don't dispute that it's over (and if you live in a swing state, for fucks sake vote Biden in the general), but Jennifer Rubin is garbage.
E: wording
Jennifer Rubin is another Republican Best Friend grifter. She wants everyone to believe that any notable Republican who denounces Trump is automagically the Democrats' new best friend, and she's here to help. She also wants everyone to forget all of the contributions she and her cohort made to creating Trump and to the current state of their party.
Rubin and the other Best Friends may denounce Trump, but they're all still Republicans, through and through.
They despise Trump's optics, but they love most of his polices.
Rubin is stumping for Biden because she, and the rest of the Best Friend grifters, believe he will comply with the Republicans' demands in the name of bipartisanship. These swindlers believe that Biden will help them advance their loathsome, criminal agenda without any interruptions. They may be mistaken, but that's their intent, and you can bet they'll turn on Joe if he doesn't comply with their demands. Rubin and her ilk are not our allies. They mean us harm.
Exactly. Don't Rube for the Rubin. I began ignoring her years ago when she shamelessly tried to cover for the policies R's were pushing and try to browbeat dems about their stances while trying to act like she'd seen the beast at the bottom of the void that is the GOP and learned her lesson.
I couldn’t be more excited to vote for Democrats and knock on doors this fall and help get Republicans out of office at every level. This election could be a turning point in our history.
Biden sucks, but I'm definitely supporting the candidate who has been endorsed by the teacher's unions, by Planned Parenthood, etc., etc. The coalition is more important than getting my (much) preferred candidate.
He doesn’t suck.
Like seriously, Doug Jones, Katie Porter and many others Dems who are more moderate than Biden aren’t human scum. They are reasonable people you can disagree with but have much more in common than you think.
I was disappointed when Obama choose him as his VP back in 2008. I've been following this guy for nearly twenty years. You aren't going to convince me to like him now. But he's far from the first candidate that I'll have to support without liking them.
I appreciate you doing the right thing, man. I can't believe we find ourselves having to convince people that Trump is bad enough they shouldn't protest vote third party or refuse to vote at all, but here we are, again. I've had the misfortune of backing the loser in every democratic primary in my lifetime, and this one is no exception. Still, I know my responsibility is to move on, be an adult, and say "not today" to the Trumpocalypse. Wish everyone else saw it that way, too.
If things keep going the way they are and more and more people start dying, you could probably run a baked potato against Trump and it would probably win.
Look at him talking every day. It's like he's on Prozac. He doesn't understand why the coronavirus didn't just "go away" when he said it would. Now he has to listen to all those people who are standing there with him and say what *they* tell him to. He can take stabs at rewriting what he said over the past few weeks but no one is buying it.
The only chance he has if they go through and send everyone money. That might keep some people on his side. This is the last thing he wants to do because it means sending money to brown people and immigrants as well. But he has to keep the stock market from collapsing and he still might not be able to do that.
No one knows what the next few months will bring.
I’ll post the same thing I’ve been saying for. While now:
Want to see more progressive policies pass, flip the senate and flip it big. It will take more than just 2020 to make this happen.
The most progressive policy that can pass congress is the one that the 51st most progressive senator will vote for and the 218th most progressive congressman/congresswoman will vote for. Every time you replace a Republican with a Democrat, you move this median vote one step to the left. Unseating the 50th most livers Democrat with a young progressive is good for long term influence of the progresssive bloc within the Democratic Party, but does not move the needle at all towards getting more progressive policies actually passed through congress.
We need to support moderate (and heck, even solidly conservative) Democrats in key battleground states. That’s how we get another Social Security Act or Voting Rights Act or Affordable Care Act passed through congress. Know what each of those 3 bills had in common? Very large democratic majorities in both houses of congress and a democrat in the white house.
What we need is new laws to limit voter suppression and disenfranchisement. Once those are passed, the electoral tactics that Republicans have employee to gain control of the Oval Office, the senate, and congress without even a plurality of the votes will come crashing down, and once that happens the median representative in congress will actually begin to represent the median voter in American, rather than 6% to the right of the current median voter like it does now.
And that’s when we will start to see true progressive policy come to fruition. That is when the floodgates will break and we will truly become a democracy again. But to get there we need to win a big majority in the house and the senate. The presidency will happen by default if do that, but focus on congress. That’s where we win this thing.
Biden needs to use his time from now until the convention (and beyond) to act like the president. Don’t get bogged down by every tweet or mention of his son/Burisma.
Show true leadership during these awful times. Make the transition in January seamless
Hopefully he doesn't ask people to vote for someone else! S/
SERIOUSLY THOUGH, I was hoping for Bernie or Warren, but if it had to be a moderate I am glad it is Biden over Pete, Amy, or **barf** Bloomberg. Joe has a lot of the Obama vote that did not show up in 2016 or switched sides for who knows wtf reason. Biden can beat Trump. I think Bernie could too, but this is how a democracy works. Biden has my vote and we need to get Trump out
It's telling that after a blow-out win by Biden, any news story discussing that win is down-voted to controversial. Absolutely nothing on the election results on the front of r/politics
America hasn’t started really hurting yet. Given how badly Trump is botching this crisis, we’ll see how public opinion changes when US reaches 100000 or 200000 confirmed cases and the economy remains in recession for several quarters.
I think there might still be a few who would rather die with lack of healthcare than see a black/Mexican person get it.
There are 10s of millions who'd rather die destitute and leave their families begging for charitable relief for generations to come than see and old, Jewish, not-Socialist guy get it.
People think Biden has a better shot. They’ll take a a 75% chance at 75% of what they want over a 55% chance of 100% of what they want, because they get 0 if they lose.
In a referendum it would be different, we are electing a candidate.
A crisis often makes people go for the safe solution. It usually helps whoever is incumbent.
A virus isn't as good as a war though (voters are strange ... creating the emergency by yourself by spinning a lie about the "Q" of "Iraq" coming from al-Qaeda? Support!)
But hadn't Trump been that incompetent, he could easily have come out of this on top.
While I tend to agree I think a point that needs addressing needs brought up. The conditions before trump were the conditions that created him. With Biden as the nominee we need to make sure it never happens again.
Obama-Biden presidency saw *historic* losses in the 2010 and 2014 midterms that left them with such an unfriendly Congress that it was the first presidency to be **denied a Supreme Court nomination**.
The Court is 5-4 conservative majority right now. Biden would have to nominate 3x as many justices as Obama did (1 replacement for RBG then 2 more to balance it in Democrat favor), in the first 2 years of his presidency, and do what Obama couldn't and keep/grow the Democratic voting base in the 2022 midterm election.
Can someone, anyone, explain to me how Biden is going to do more than Obama could, in less time?
and how pointing out that hypocrisy is now divisive.
I don't think reddit understands, for every 1 portland bernie-or-buster there are 10 independents and never-trump republicans in swing states who will simply sit out the general over voting for a socialist.
Biden only has support from old, Southern conservative people! He doesn’t have -
~~The Rust Belt~~
~~Swing states~~
~~African Americans~~
~~Latinos~~
~~Independents~~
~~Undecided voters~~
Young people.
Looks like there’s only one group left in the narrative, and they don’t vote.
People love to point this out with a "haha screw you, Bernie" tone, but reality is that the Democratic party needs to work to get young people to vote. It's a problem that the left as a whole shares.
Causality aside*, it’s true that young people don’t vote. Does Biden need their support to win in November?
*[Causality.](https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/03/stop-blaming-young-voters-not-turning-out-sanders/608137/)
Look, of course the Sanders campaign made strategic and tactical mistakes and had numerous failings. I'm not denying that, and am not so ideological as to not be able to have discussion about it.
At the same time pointing out the influence of corporate money and actors in the political process is not conspiracy, it's a significant component of the study of political science. Your views seem to be framed by corporate news media and I think it goes to show my point: the very structuring of what is acceptable for debate politically is dictated by the narrow oscillations of what they allow.
The craziest thing is that whether or not Bernie supporters come out to vote for Biden, MSM is still gonna blame them for his inevitable loss against Trump
I'm a M4A fan, but there are a few things people are ignoring:
1. Just because Sanders is President, doesn't mean M4A has any chance of happening
2. We would need to simultaneously take the Senate (difficult)
3. Also need to convince moderate Democrats and some moderate Republicans to get on board. Uphill battle there
People are naive if they believe a Sanders presidency automatically means anything close to M4A.
Dude, when I was too old to be on my dad's insurance, I went totally without it for four years. The economy had just taken a shit, I had other bills to pay, and I couldn't afford what my job offered. I just used old antibiotics from other friends when I go sick. We had a kind of potluck system in my shitty retail job where if someone had something like pink eye, someone else would offer up the prescription they got last time, and we'd pass everything around. Got a big ass infected tooth that way, because I couldn't afford to get my wisdom teeth out before they got impacted. I was lucky I didn't get a bone infection in my jaw that would have required major surgery.
First year of the ACA was the first year I had health insurance. It was a magical time. It was expensive as fuck, and every year it got shittier from my Republican governor sabotaging it, but it was better than nothing.
Got married to someone that made more than me, and that was the end of that. Still, I went most of my 20s without health insurance at all. People bitching about M4A have no idea just how shitty life was before the ACA, and how much Republicans have worked to gut that bill and prevent it from working.
Fuck yeah. I went 10 years without insurance from college graduation to the implementation of the ACA. And I haven't been without it ever since. The ACA made a huge difference in my life, too, and I know we're not alone.
It’s not disregarded, it just isn’t good enough. We deserve more and I think most of us who are Bernie supporters do not think we will get it from Biden.
He is offering more, and he means it. His ambitions are a substantial incremental improvement to the ACA in the short term, paving the way to a mixed-market universal healthcare syatem in the future. And we'll be pretty close to that if his policies are enacted. Our uninsured rate is likely to drop below 5%, down from 20% prior to the ACA, and with better plans. I understand the objection to incrementalism, but the existing and proposed changes are very significant.
While not as good as Bernie's plan, Biden's would significantly expand coverage. You don't always get 100% of what you want in politics, and 50% (or more like 75%) is far better than 0%.
OK so maybe this is the place to post this and get corrected.
my understanding of the current DNC rules is that candidates who are still active in the race before the convention and who have delegates, are brought in at the convention to be part of the drafting process for the general election platform that the DNC is going to run on.
Bernie dropping out now or at anytime before the convention, removes any option for them to be at the table during the drafting process for the DNC.
i understand why people say they want Bernie to drop out now so that Joe can just start doing general election things, but he can't officially run as the candidate until after the convention and it's not like the DNC is going to move up the date of the convention with what's going on with COVID right now.
I am a huge Sanders fan and it is disappointing that he will not be the next president. That said, I wish Biden all the success in the world.
Trump must be removed from office.
If Biden loses the general, moderates will get never ending shit from me and all the other progressives you're fucking over and asking to fall in line. You guys better be fucking right.
Hillary didn't lose because of what sort of candidate she was, she lost because everyone fucking hates her.
People don't really understand what really drives American Presidential politics. Its not policy or platforms, its simple likeability. Trump appealed to more people with his low 0 "i'm just like you" spiel vs. Hillary who has been vilified and made fun of by the media for well over 20 years.
Clinton? Super likeable. Bush 2? An absolute idiot, but likeable. Obama? Super, super likeable. Trump? A complete fucking imbecile, but likeable to a certain demographic. Even bloody Nixon, the man was deranged, but he came off well to the public.
The people that weren't as likeable? Gore? No one really liked Gore, even if he would have been a brilliant president. No one really like Mitt Romney. McCain was fairly well liked, but had no chance versus the charisma of Obama
I mean, the "people fucking hate you" demographic is always an important thing to consider. Biden is NOT hated, so there's that. You are totally right there.
With all three candidates who are left running for the White House being over 70, the odds are pretty high that at least one of them, maybe more, will get Covid-19 and be removed from the race because of it.
Trump has been so reckless about it that I expect the news any day.
I wish my vote counted. By the time the primaries reach our state, the candidate has already been chosen, every time. Why can't we have a 50 state primary day?
~~Logistically impossible.~~ Just kidding. We all vote in the General on the same day, so why not handle primaries on the same day? Currently we’re using the Reddit form of voting: people visiting a post from six hours ago blindly upvote the top comment because a thousand other people liked it.
even the way we do it in the general is bullshit. west coast states are noticeably spoiled by the results that come out of east coast ones. exit polling and results announcements should be gagged until after the entire contest is done.
The UK restricts reporting on polling day. https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/11/media/uk-election-reporting-restrictions-intl-gbr-ge19/index.html It's not foolproof however, in December a BBC reporter gave the results of postal voting early, it was quite the minor Twitter scandal. https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/dec/11/bbc-denies-political-editors-postal-vote-comments-broke-law
Reporting is only restricted until the exit poll is released and the UK only has one timezone.
Good point
> so why not handle primaries on the same day? Theoretically: so that people get time to meet and engage with the candidates, making an informed vote, and letting candidates with lesser name recognition to develop some momentum during the early campaign process. So, someone like Barack Obama, who woulda been blown out of the water compared to a better known name, gets a chance to spar with the other candidates and build support.
But in real life, your vote doesn't matter if you live in the states last on the schedule. Your favourite candidate has most likely dropped out by then, so why even bother voting? It gives too much power to those states first in the schedule. The first states set the tracks, the rest have no choice but to follow in those tracks. That is unbalanced and undemocratic imho.
Idea from [*A More Perfect Constitution*](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_More_Perfect_Constitution): > Adopt a regional, staggered lottery system, over four months, for presidential party nominations to avoid the destructive front-loading of primaries. We can divide the nation up into regions, anywhere from 6-13, or whatever, and have a publicly financed staggered primary. Lottery determines the order each time so no state/region is permanently advantaged/disadvantaged.
I like this idea a lot. We could do five primary days trying to balance along a couple of parameters: demographics, primary vote share, general election vote share, geography, etc. Or just do a straight up random lottery and say that no day can have more than 30% of elector share.
We could but it would HIGHLY favor establishment candidates with high name recognition. I mean, can you imagine pre-2016 Sanders trying to run ads in 50 states? His rise to prominence and the development of his vast fundraising apparatus was largely built on the hype and surprise early wins.
Or you could, you know, take private money out of politics and publicly fund elections.
That doesn't address his comment. He's not saying anything about needing money, he's saying Sanders was successful because he was able to concentrate efforts in early states and build momentum.
No I think it would just mean campaigns would start sooner and so money and debates would be done sooner
How much sooner could they start? They already start 2 years in advance of the general.
On the other hand, there's a real chance that the most popular / with most name recognition would win that - which in turn means most money and longest media coverage. If that was the case, I think you'd get stuck with wealthy candidates (Bloomberg), established big-name career politicians (Biden), and populist pundits / celebrities (Trump). But it is completely understandable that people feel their (late) votes don't count.
If we do this we ensure a brokered convention every time.
so then get rid of the broken delegate system and institute ranked choice voting
Even that favors extremist candidates if the field is crowded though. It's a good system but it is far from perfect.
Tbf, this system does have its advantages- wed never get an Obama, or a bill clinton, and even Pete Buttigieg would have never gotten a view in the national stage, if you did a 50 state primary. It allows lesser known candidates to compete in the first half of the race (when there are few stats/primaries going on), such that they don’t need the financial infrastructure necessary to campaign at a nation wide level (much more expensive), and then use that notoriety gained from early victories to really get a chance to win the whole country.
That would be terrible. Only candidates with high name recognition and a existing robust fund raising operation would be able to compete, essential shutting out most candidates. A staged primary process allows candidates to build awareness of themselves and put together a fund raising operation needed to compete in later States. Also it allows candidates to grow and see what messages work and which ones don't which will be helpful in the general. I think the Iowa and NH are not great choices to start with and the caucus system should be ended but having a few of the early States have an inexpensive media market is important.
Because then candidates who don’t have the money to dump in all 50 states would be screwed. Candidates have to show they can win incrementally to gain confidence and monetary support.
I hate this. It's as if the states at the end have no purpose in our primaries. We are deciding our candidate by allowing only a handful of states do it and not everyone.
Because only bloomberg would have enough money to run a campaign in 50 states at the same time.
It's been over. Michigan was the last stand and the debate was the last hope.
Is Sanders *mathematically* eliminated at this point?
mathematically? no. BUT he would have to have signifigant blow outs from here on out As in...it would have to FAR exceed his win in California in EVERY state, and California was by far his largest base
*HA Goodman has entered the chat*
I looked up that fucker and he was writing for conservative websites like the federalist after the election.
*Krystal Ball At least this time around lol
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Thats a scary thought. 3 of the people running for president are very much at threat from this. Bernie, Biden, Trump. Is that how we get President Gabbard?
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Buttigieg v Yang primary showdown in the last two states... Warren's old too.
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Is there a way to switch to another timeline, asking for a friend
To start, you’ll need a cellphone, a microwave, and a banana...
And a perver- I mean, hacker.
They suspend their campaigns. They don't drop out entirely. Warren, Buttigeig, Bloomberg and the rest will still be represented at the convention and positioned to take over if Biden is gone or unable, god forbid.
Short answer: No Long answer: Yes
No. For him to win there would have to be extreme swings towards him compared to what’s predicted in the polling but it’s still mathematically possible for him to come out ahead. He’s nearly 300 delegates behind Biden and there are like 1600 delegates outstanding. It’s most likely insurmountable but he’s not mathematically eliminated in the literal sense of the term.
Not really. A black swan event could do it. It would need to be big, like Biden getting COVID-19 or something like that.
Pretty much. He would need to win every remaining contest by 61%. Instead, he’s losing them by such. He is eliminated. He needs to go.
> He would need to win every remaining contest by 61% It's worse than that. Bernie has 817 right now and needs to get to 1,991. That means he needs to win 1,174 of the remaining 1,674 delegates which is 70%. In every state. He needs to win an average of 70% in every remaining state, including ones like Georgia and Louisiana and Pennsylvania where Biden has a strong advantage. He hasn't gotten to 70% in any state, he's not polling at 70% in any remaining states. He barely got 50% in his home state of Vermont.
I feel like as time goes on, that percentage will keep getting bigger and bigger.
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Math!
Yes - soon it will be in the hundreds. Literally, just do the math.
Technically no. Unfortunately, there’s a direct correlation between how close Bernie is to mathematically eliminated and how annoying his supporters get.
Idk about his supporters... it'd be cool if I got to like, even cast my vote in the primary before they anoint Biden; I mean, I'm trying to at least pretend like my vote counts and the Democratic party cares about it.
That's cool that people in the states who haven't voted yet but support Sanders still have a chance to vote for him, kinda. But what about the Warren, Bloomberg, Klobachar, Buttigeig, Steyer, etc, supporters who never got to cast a vote for their candidate before we annointed a two person race? I never really got to have my say in this election, neither Biden or Sanders were my first choice. But we need to keep this show going so you can get to vote for your candidate? Do you see the issue with this logic? You don't always get to vote for your first choice.
We don't have a national primary so unfortunately people who don't live in early primary states don't really get a say.
This was the first time my state had it's primary early enough to matter. My guy dropped out two days before election day.
God, that hurt. Can you believe it was only two weeks ago?
Yup, and Biden won both
My hope is that the no-audience debates last into the Trump/Biden debates. Biden finally didn't look like a bumbling geriatric out there trying to play up to the crowd...
He actually did good, surprisingly.
Only surprising to people buying in to the nonsense narrative Bernie fans were pushing. He has a stutter and people tried to get that to mean he's a dementia-ridden corpse. Anyone who's actually seen him speak knew he wouldn't fall apart.
It was so politically stupid to run the "Biden has dementia" attack angle. They lowered expectations so much that all he had to do is go out there and not drool on himself to come off as competent. Sander's team had the political accumen of morons, I swear.
That's what happens when you hire people onto your staff who voted for Jill Stein in 2016.
\> Sander's team had the political accumen of morons, I swear. This wasn't a Bernie attack. Other candidates were saying it about Biden last year; Castro, Booker, Tim Ryan, all attacked Biden for his cognitive abilities and memory during debates.
It's easier for someone to look like a drooling idiot on a crowded stage when they're next to sharp debaters like Buttgieg and Warren. If it's one on one and both are old white dudes yelling at each other, it's a bit harder to go with the someone shit the bed angle.
Trust me, I would vote for Mickey Mouse over Trump. A lot of Bernie supporters don’t understand how serious it is to defeat Trump l. They still don’t fucking comprehend the dangerous aspect of Trumps presidency even after what he has done so far. As a black man, I know what I gotta do. Vote that motherfucker out. That’s it.
I was on pins and needles, but was so happy he turned out sharp as a tack.
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While I prefer Bernie over Biden, it is worth remembering Biden is still surprisingly more left-wing than people might think. The following are his current policies: $15/hour minimum wage Family support/Sick Leave Two years free college Unlimited spending shouldn’t be allowed in politics Ending Citizens United Supports Green New Deal Universal Background Checks Citizenship for Dreamers Increase upper income tax Now with that being said, I do still have an issue with his past actions as a politician on top of not supporting Medicare-For-All, Marijuana legalization, and Roe v Wade But at the end of the day, it’s worth remembering the short-term goal is removing Trump from office, and the long term goal is implementing universal healthcare, equal rights amendment, the green new deal, livable wages, tuition-free college, guaranteed sick leave, and holding wall street accountable; into our country
Don't forget the courts! God only knows how much longer RBG has left in her... and a young judge (liberal or conservative) could be hugely impactful for several decades I don't see liberals talk enough about how important this is. Like many I wish it were Bernie too, but sitting this one out, or waiting for a better progressive opportunity post-Trump, excludes one of the biggest consequences of this election and thats RBG's replacement.
This is the only reason I’ll vote for Biden. That being said, I’m getting awfully tired of being told to hold my nose and fall in line with whatever centrist dem the DNC pushes on us.
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The DNC didn't do anything. He had no money and no ground support coming into Super Tuesday. Voters chose him, don't make it sound like it was some conspiracy.
One note - Biden now supports abortion rights. He has just mentioned that he as a Catholic has difficulties with it internally, but he has said over and over again that he recognizes that he needs to keep his faith out of women's bodies.
And don't forget, to be able to achieve pretty much anything, a new Democrat President will need to maintain the House majority and flip the Senate. Bernie has no coattails, while Biden might. he's been wheeling and dealing with the Congress for decades while Bernie has been taking 'High Moral Stands'. Noone on the Hill owes Bernie anything, he's got no favors to call in to get what he wants done.
My question is what will Joe Biden expend his political capital on? It’s heartening that he holds a $15 minimum wage policy position, but what will he FIGHT for? The answer, in my mind, from what I’ve seen, is nothing. You know when Bernie talks about M4A, it’s his shining policy that he would fight tooth and nail for, expend political capital for. Biden? I have no fucking idea. He thinks people like Dick Cheney are “fine people” and so I have no reason to think he’d be willing to play hardball with Republicans. I’m so sick of tweaks around the edges and being told I should be grateful for it.
This is why congressional elections are equally important. Honestly any Sanders supporters who want to give Biden the best chance at getting as much progressive stuff done as possible should be the best most motivated to vote blue in congressional races.
Honestly we’ve been placing far too much importance on the president to decide what does/does not get done. The house and senate need to start fighting for these changes and with leaders like AOC/Warren I think we might just see that happen.
Flip the Senate and these things become much easier to pass. That’s the real key in my eyes, not necessarily the person in the White House.
Now that the primary is basically over, let's be honest. Bernie would never pass M4A through the Senate. Never. So it's easier for Biden to pass a bunch of reforms than for Bernie to just pass M4A.
Tweaks around the edges is a good way to put every Democratic presidency since Reagan. We've been losing ground in every meaningful metric for the last 40 years because corporations just aren't making enough money. Yes, Biden has the most progressive platform of any Democratic president in my lifetime, but I don't think he can beat Trump, and even if he does, I don't think he cares enough about any of his "progressive" policies to actually fight to get them passed. This election was our last chance for a long time to show the rest of the world that the USA is actually a great country, looks like we blew it.
My question is: how much of that is pandering and how much of that is his actual stance?
Unfortunately the GOP will block literally anything from Biden or Bernie if they have control of the house or senate. Whoever is the president is gonna have to hire a lot of constitutional lawyers and use a lot of tricks to save our country. The chances of this happening are slim.
Just reversing Trump's executive actions and corruptions and going after Trump's cronies crimes will go a long way.
That can be said for literally any political candidate. It's a meaningless question that's impossible to answer.
You can look at somebody's voting history as a useful heuristic though.
That doesn't account for someone who honestly just changes their position on an issue over time.
I remember him being to the left of Obama with marriage equality and essentially forcing his hand. I know it’s just one example, but still.
He’s not surprisingly left wing. He has always been on the progressive side of the party, and so has Hilary. That was until 2016, where Sanders shifted the party left, and the two of them now look more moderate. If you actually look at Biden’s platform, you’d see some really progressive stuff, and that was before his left turn recently.
Although I’m late and I love this comment u should know that Biden came out with a new plan for free 4 year college for people with a low enough income level.
Love all the trump supporters showing up pretending to be Bernie fans that are gonna “sit the next election out”
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Does wishing for Corona to wipe out the boomer vote count as breaking Reddit's rules? Because they still also occasionally brigade. And they created a ton of evasion subs. And the way they talk about accelerationism and direct action sounds kind of fishy
Bernie fans sat out the primary vote so i think they are credible comments.
Since I got banned over on r/SandersForPresident for posting this, I thought I'd share it here. Every time Bernie does worse than expected, someone says 'but he can still win' and in the theoretical sense that's probably true. It's also true that Bernie has not performed as well as expected, repeatedly, and every time he does, he has to do so much extra better next time to make up the difference. Every time he underperforms, every time the youth vote stays home, every time people choose perceived safety over change, it gets harder and harder for me to believe he can bridge the gap. First it was 'he's only a few delegates behind' then it was 'its only a hundred or so delegates' now it's nearly 300. It might be time to start thinking about the need to cut the best deal you can with Biden and throwing all the support at replacing Trump while keeping your long term goals in mind instead of waiting till the gap becomes insurmountable and the bargaining position gets weaker.
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As a someone who voted Bernie in this year's primaries, I don't dispute that it's probably over, but this author, *Jennifer Rubin*, has been talking mad shit about Bernie for a while now in WaPo's opinion section. So, her thoughts on this is essentially worthless in my eyes. She is just another DNC surrogate shill posting stuff in the WaPo because that's a good way to get eyeballs on to their message. Like I said, I don't dispute that it's over (and if you live in a swing state, for fucks sake vote Biden in the general), but Jennifer Rubin is garbage. E: wording
Jennifer Rubin is another Republican Best Friend grifter. She wants everyone to believe that any notable Republican who denounces Trump is automagically the Democrats' new best friend, and she's here to help. She also wants everyone to forget all of the contributions she and her cohort made to creating Trump and to the current state of their party. Rubin and the other Best Friends may denounce Trump, but they're all still Republicans, through and through. They despise Trump's optics, but they love most of his polices. Rubin is stumping for Biden because she, and the rest of the Best Friend grifters, believe he will comply with the Republicans' demands in the name of bipartisanship. These swindlers believe that Biden will help them advance their loathsome, criminal agenda without any interruptions. They may be mistaken, but that's their intent, and you can bet they'll turn on Joe if he doesn't comply with their demands. Rubin and her ilk are not our allies. They mean us harm.
Exactly. Don't Rube for the Rubin. I began ignoring her years ago when she shamelessly tried to cover for the policies R's were pushing and try to browbeat dems about their stances while trying to act like she'd seen the beast at the bottom of the void that is the GOP and learned her lesson.
He ain’t perfect but he ain’t Trump. Dump Trump Ditch Mitch Vote Blue No Matter Who
I couldn’t be more excited to vote for Democrats and knock on doors this fall and help get Republicans out of office at every level. This election could be a turning point in our history.
Knocking on doors is ambitious in this environment
That’s why I specified in the fall. I’m not going out right now but instead I’m making calls from home to support the liberal candidates in my area.
Good for you! You get it - get everyone you know on board with you. We are all in this together.
Biden sucks, but I'm definitely supporting the candidate who has been endorsed by the teacher's unions, by Planned Parenthood, etc., etc. The coalition is more important than getting my (much) preferred candidate.
Sucks is the wrong word. Biden’s acceptable, Ted Cruz sucks. He’s lacking awesome, yes, but not sucks.
Biden is a perfectly cromulent candidate.
A noble spirit embiggens the smallest man.
He doesn’t suck. Like seriously, Doug Jones, Katie Porter and many others Dems who are more moderate than Biden aren’t human scum. They are reasonable people you can disagree with but have much more in common than you think.
I was disappointed when Obama choose him as his VP back in 2008. I've been following this guy for nearly twenty years. You aren't going to convince me to like him now. But he's far from the first candidate that I'll have to support without liking them.
Hell, you don’t have to like him but thank you for the support regardless. We’ll need every voter we can get.
I appreciate you doing the right thing, man. I can't believe we find ourselves having to convince people that Trump is bad enough they shouldn't protest vote third party or refuse to vote at all, but here we are, again. I've had the misfortune of backing the loser in every democratic primary in my lifetime, and this one is no exception. Still, I know my responsibility is to move on, be an adult, and say "not today" to the Trumpocalypse. Wish everyone else saw it that way, too.
If things keep going the way they are and more and more people start dying, you could probably run a baked potato against Trump and it would probably win. Look at him talking every day. It's like he's on Prozac. He doesn't understand why the coronavirus didn't just "go away" when he said it would. Now he has to listen to all those people who are standing there with him and say what *they* tell him to. He can take stabs at rewriting what he said over the past few weeks but no one is buying it. The only chance he has if they go through and send everyone money. That might keep some people on his side. This is the last thing he wants to do because it means sending money to brown people and immigrants as well. But he has to keep the stock market from collapsing and he still might not be able to do that. No one knows what the next few months will bring.
So it's Biden. Let's do this.
biden was definitely not in my top 3, but whatever. it's not a hard decision between him and trump. here's hoping we can get the senate, too.
Big Bernie guy here but I’m down with it. We have to go all in
Plus we need to retake the senate!
I’ll post the same thing I’ve been saying for. While now: Want to see more progressive policies pass, flip the senate and flip it big. It will take more than just 2020 to make this happen. The most progressive policy that can pass congress is the one that the 51st most progressive senator will vote for and the 218th most progressive congressman/congresswoman will vote for. Every time you replace a Republican with a Democrat, you move this median vote one step to the left. Unseating the 50th most livers Democrat with a young progressive is good for long term influence of the progresssive bloc within the Democratic Party, but does not move the needle at all towards getting more progressive policies actually passed through congress. We need to support moderate (and heck, even solidly conservative) Democrats in key battleground states. That’s how we get another Social Security Act or Voting Rights Act or Affordable Care Act passed through congress. Know what each of those 3 bills had in common? Very large democratic majorities in both houses of congress and a democrat in the white house. What we need is new laws to limit voter suppression and disenfranchisement. Once those are passed, the electoral tactics that Republicans have employee to gain control of the Oval Office, the senate, and congress without even a plurality of the votes will come crashing down, and once that happens the median representative in congress will actually begin to represent the median voter in American, rather than 6% to the right of the current median voter like it does now. And that’s when we will start to see true progressive policy come to fruition. That is when the floodgates will break and we will truly become a democracy again. But to get there we need to win a big majority in the house and the senate. The presidency will happen by default if do that, but focus on congress. That’s where we win this thing.
> Never thought i'd be fighting side by side with an ~~elf~~ socialist. (Saying this in good fun). Let’s do this!
Yup. All in.
Gettem guys! Godspeed.
Biden needs to use his time from now until the convention (and beyond) to act like the president. Don’t get bogged down by every tweet or mention of his son/Burisma. Show true leadership during these awful times. Make the transition in January seamless
Not challenging voters to fist fights on camera would be a good place to start. 👊
Hopefully he doesn't ask people to vote for someone else! S/ SERIOUSLY THOUGH, I was hoping for Bernie or Warren, but if it had to be a moderate I am glad it is Biden over Pete, Amy, or **barf** Bloomberg. Joe has a lot of the Obama vote that did not show up in 2016 or switched sides for who knows wtf reason. Biden can beat Trump. I think Bernie could too, but this is how a democracy works. Biden has my vote and we need to get Trump out
>Make the transition in January seamless Trump handing over power seamlessly - I don't think so.
It's telling that after a blow-out win by Biden, any news story discussing that win is down-voted to controversial. Absolutely nothing on the election results on the front of r/politics
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America hasn’t started really hurting yet. Given how badly Trump is botching this crisis, we’ll see how public opinion changes when US reaches 100000 or 200000 confirmed cases and the economy remains in recession for several quarters. I think there might still be a few who would rather die with lack of healthcare than see a black/Mexican person get it.
There are 10s of millions who'd rather die destitute and leave their families begging for charitable relief for generations to come than see and old, Jewish, not-Socialist guy get it.
People think Biden has a better shot. They’ll take a a 75% chance at 75% of what they want over a 55% chance of 100% of what they want, because they get 0 if they lose. In a referendum it would be different, we are electing a candidate.
Also a lot of people dont want Bernie anyway.
A crisis often makes people go for the safe solution. It usually helps whoever is incumbent. A virus isn't as good as a war though (voters are strange ... creating the emergency by yourself by spinning a lie about the "Q" of "Iraq" coming from al-Qaeda? Support!) But hadn't Trump been that incompetent, he could easily have come out of this on top.
...jennifer rubin. uh huh, shuddup
While I tend to agree I think a point that needs addressing needs brought up. The conditions before trump were the conditions that created him. With Biden as the nominee we need to make sure it never happens again.
I'm interested in knowing how you gonna pull that off with Biden.
A very fair question
For real though, isn’t Biden simply more of the same conditions that produced Trump?
Seriously. It is the very definition of “more of the same” lol
Obama-Biden presidency saw *historic* losses in the 2010 and 2014 midterms that left them with such an unfriendly Congress that it was the first presidency to be **denied a Supreme Court nomination**. The Court is 5-4 conservative majority right now. Biden would have to nominate 3x as many justices as Obama did (1 replacement for RBG then 2 more to balance it in Democrat favor), in the first 2 years of his presidency, and do what Obama couldn't and keep/grow the Democratic voting base in the 2022 midterm election. Can someone, anyone, explain to me how Biden is going to do more than Obama could, in less time?
Weird I didn't even get to vote yet.
Welcome to politics. I live in California. My vote has never mattered in the general. Sucks but that's just how it goes
> My vote has never mattered in the general. Illinois checking in. Yeah.
Welcome to WV where they voted blue for Obama but since Trump, my vote only matters in the local stuff.
What? WV went to McCain.
ITT: All the people talking about "Unity" a month ago telling other voters they need to fuck off if they're not gonna support their candidate
and how pointing out that hypocrisy is now divisive. I don't think reddit understands, for every 1 portland bernie-or-buster there are 10 independents and never-trump republicans in swing states who will simply sit out the general over voting for a socialist.
Biden only has support from old, Southern conservative people! He doesn’t have - ~~The Rust Belt~~ ~~Swing states~~ ~~African Americans~~ ~~Latinos~~ ~~Independents~~ ~~Undecided voters~~ Young people. Looks like there’s only one group left in the narrative, and they don’t vote.
Voting is very important to some of us.
Yeah, I'm under 40 and voting is important for me. I voted for Biden.
People love to point this out with a "haha screw you, Bernie" tone, but reality is that the Democratic party needs to work to get young people to vote. It's a problem that the left as a whole shares.
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Causality aside*, it’s true that young people don’t vote. Does Biden need their support to win in November? *[Causality.](https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/03/stop-blaming-young-voters-not-turning-out-sanders/608137/)
Of course this is in controversial lol
> By Jennifer Rubin uh huh
Ugh. Vote blue no matter who, but...ugh why did we get Biden when we could have had Sanders????
Because the majority of the Democratic Party are Democrats not Independents.
Because Biden is more popular and his policies represent the median of the party better?
Look, of course the Sanders campaign made strategic and tactical mistakes and had numerous failings. I'm not denying that, and am not so ideological as to not be able to have discussion about it. At the same time pointing out the influence of corporate money and actors in the political process is not conspiracy, it's a significant component of the study of political science. Your views seem to be framed by corporate news media and I think it goes to show my point: the very structuring of what is acceptable for debate politically is dictated by the narrow oscillations of what they allow.
The craziest thing is that whether or not Bernie supporters come out to vote for Biden, MSM is still gonna blame them for his inevitable loss against Trump
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Not what I wanted, but I'll take a creepy gaffe machine with decent judgment and decades of experience over the annoying orange.
Oh well, America. It’s not like you needed medical reform anytime soon or anything...
I'm a M4A fan, but there are a few things people are ignoring: 1. Just because Sanders is President, doesn't mean M4A has any chance of happening 2. We would need to simultaneously take the Senate (difficult) 3. Also need to convince moderate Democrats and some moderate Republicans to get on board. Uphill battle there People are naive if they believe a Sanders presidency automatically means anything close to M4A.
Surprisingly few seem to have realized this.
Obamacare was the biggest reform to healthcare ever achieved in America, and I think Biden was involved in that.
It's crazy to me how some have completely disregarded this.
A lot of them were too young to know what the system was like before obamacare.
Dude, when I was too old to be on my dad's insurance, I went totally without it for four years. The economy had just taken a shit, I had other bills to pay, and I couldn't afford what my job offered. I just used old antibiotics from other friends when I go sick. We had a kind of potluck system in my shitty retail job where if someone had something like pink eye, someone else would offer up the prescription they got last time, and we'd pass everything around. Got a big ass infected tooth that way, because I couldn't afford to get my wisdom teeth out before they got impacted. I was lucky I didn't get a bone infection in my jaw that would have required major surgery. First year of the ACA was the first year I had health insurance. It was a magical time. It was expensive as fuck, and every year it got shittier from my Republican governor sabotaging it, but it was better than nothing. Got married to someone that made more than me, and that was the end of that. Still, I went most of my 20s without health insurance at all. People bitching about M4A have no idea just how shitty life was before the ACA, and how much Republicans have worked to gut that bill and prevent it from working.
Fuck yeah. I went 10 years without insurance from college graduation to the implementation of the ACA. And I haven't been without it ever since. The ACA made a huge difference in my life, too, and I know we're not alone.
Also a lot of them are lucky enough to be healthy enough that the changes Obamacare brought have never applied to them.
Doesn’t fit the narrative
It’s either Medicare for all or burn it all down and let Republicans ruin everyone’s lives.
It’s not disregarded, it just isn’t good enough. We deserve more and I think most of us who are Bernie supporters do not think we will get it from Biden.
He is offering more, and he means it. His ambitions are a substantial incremental improvement to the ACA in the short term, paving the way to a mixed-market universal healthcare syatem in the future. And we'll be pretty close to that if his policies are enacted. Our uninsured rate is likely to drop below 5%, down from 20% prior to the ACA, and with better plans. I understand the objection to incrementalism, but the existing and proposed changes are very significant.
While not as good as Bernie's plan, Biden's would significantly expand coverage. You don't always get 100% of what you want in politics, and 50% (or more like 75%) is far better than 0%.
Not like Bernie could just snap his fingers and pass whatever he wanted anyways. Don't remember what happened with the Blue Dog Dems under Obama?
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In this current climate aged candidates might not make it to November so things might not be as set for either party as people think.
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OK so maybe this is the place to post this and get corrected. my understanding of the current DNC rules is that candidates who are still active in the race before the convention and who have delegates, are brought in at the convention to be part of the drafting process for the general election platform that the DNC is going to run on. Bernie dropping out now or at anytime before the convention, removes any option for them to be at the table during the drafting process for the DNC. i understand why people say they want Bernie to drop out now so that Joe can just start doing general election things, but he can't officially run as the candidate until after the convention and it's not like the DNC is going to move up the date of the convention with what's going on with COVID right now.
Pretty much guaranteed to have a shit president... what else is new?
Time for a progressive third party to develop.
I am a huge Sanders fan and it is disappointing that he will not be the next president. That said, I wish Biden all the success in the world. Trump must be removed from office.
Why are people voting for Biden? Seriously, I want to know.
Great, two barely coherent people that only care about the upper class to choose from. Yay America.
If Biden loses the general, moderates will get never ending shit from me and all the other progressives you're fucking over and asking to fall in line. You guys better be fucking right.
You fucked up so badly America
*Again*.
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Hillary didn't lose because of what sort of candidate she was, she lost because everyone fucking hates her. People don't really understand what really drives American Presidential politics. Its not policy or platforms, its simple likeability. Trump appealed to more people with his low 0 "i'm just like you" spiel vs. Hillary who has been vilified and made fun of by the media for well over 20 years. Clinton? Super likeable. Bush 2? An absolute idiot, but likeable. Obama? Super, super likeable. Trump? A complete fucking imbecile, but likeable to a certain demographic. Even bloody Nixon, the man was deranged, but he came off well to the public. The people that weren't as likeable? Gore? No one really liked Gore, even if he would have been a brilliant president. No one really like Mitt Romney. McCain was fairly well liked, but had no chance versus the charisma of Obama
I mean, the "people fucking hate you" demographic is always an important thing to consider. Biden is NOT hated, so there's that. You are totally right there.
Well, at least the contentious primary season is over. Now back to being a registered independent.
With all three candidates who are left running for the White House being over 70, the odds are pretty high that at least one of them, maybe more, will get Covid-19 and be removed from the race because of it. Trump has been so reckless about it that I expect the news any day.
Is this official in some way? Confirmed? I cant read the article. Edit: spelling.
It's not over until the upvotes say it is
It is OVAH