Whenever I see an interesting article about a possible Democratic presidential candidate, I’m going to put something up about it here. Unless it’s Joe Biden or Bernie, I think they’re too old.
Here’s a brief one, by George Will of all people, about Eric Garcetti, mayor of LA. I don’t agree with Will on much in general (and don’t appreciate the swipe at Obama), but I think he’s right that being a mayor of a big city is at least as challenging as being a Senator or the governor of a small state. And I like the argument in favor of sanctuary cities.
I’d been ignoring Garcetti because I had him mixed up with the previous mayor of LA, whom I don’t like.
Tell me about any interesting articles about possible presidential candidates in the comments!
And let’s raise a little more money for the DLCC, which is doing a great job helping Democrats take back the state houses.
Corner Stone
None of them can help themselves. They simply can’t stop it.
Mary G
Meh.
Humdog
I understand he can break dance. Dance off instead of debate? I’d watch!
mad citizen
George Will is insufferable. He used to champion our Gov. Mitch Daniels for President. Mr. Bean Counter if there ever was one, who gets blamed for a ridiculously low estimate of the Iraq War, but I found this from 2003: “But Trent Duffy, an OMB spokesman, said Daniels did not intend to imply in the Times interview that $50 billion to $60 billion was a hard White House estimate. “He said it could — could — be $60 billion,” Duffy said. “It is impossible to know what any military campaign would ultimately cost. The only cost estimate we know of in this arena is the Persian Gulf War, and that was a $60 billion event.
Anyhoo, almost any Democrat would be vast improvement over the current idiots, but Garcetti, I doubt he has a chance.
efgoldman
Wasn’t there also a previous Garcetti who was DA? Or is that the same as one of thee guys?
Baud
Curious about your thoughts on Warren’s age.
efgoldman
@mad citizen:
I cut him some slack when we were both a lot younger, because he called for Tricksie to go when some Republiklowns were still holding back.
Then he went and actively worked on Sanctus Ronaldus’ campaign while still ostensibly a journo. Scumbag
efgoldman
@Baud:
I don’t think she’s running, from my perch just across the border.
She’ll be more effective where she is, slagging on the banks and lenders.
Cheap Jim, formerly Cheap Jim
I assume Dr Will knows where Garcetti keeps his debate briefing books an is up for another heist.
Mary G
@efgoldman: Gil Garcetti, his father. He was DA. I tend to compare them to Mario and Andrew Cuomo, though Eric is not as big a douchecanoe.
I will support Eric over Biden all day long, he is young and dynamic and as you see, knows how to talk to Republicans.
ETA: Three days ago the WSJ did an article on him about how he’s eaten in 83 countries. Didn’t read more than the first paragraph because of the paywall.
efgoldman
@Mary G:
I’ve said many times that all of the Dems who are near my age (not limited to HRC, Wilmer or Biden) should butt the hell out. Time for fresh faces, gang. Kids like the ones at Parkland high are voting age or will be soon, it’s time to tap their energy – and their anger.
Baud
@efgoldman: Interesting take. She strikes me as someone who is laying the groundwork for a run. We’ll see.
geg6
@Baud:
Too old and too single issue. We need her in the Senate.
geg6
@efgoldman:
Totally agree.
Baud
@geg6: I currently don’t plan to vote for her. Just curious what people’s age cutoff is. I never agreed with those who said that Hillary was too old, although she was near my upper limit for someone who might serve two terms.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I like Warren but I have a hard time seeing her as a national candidate. I also like Biden but, among other things, there are reasons he flamed out hot and fast, twice. I think Biden’s great strength could be as retired elder statesman type campaigning for people like Conor Lamb. I can attest from my own family that persuadable (is that a real word?) “WWC” types really like him
Roger Moore
@efgoldman:
He was the current mayor’s father, Gil Garcetti.
zhena gogolia
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Biden just sent me an e-mail saying he has a pit in his stomach, so he’s right out.
Mary G
It’s really long, and from June 2016, but this article from LA Mag will tell you a lot of it: Who is the Real Eric Garcetti?
His wife Amy Wakefield is fierce, like Hillary.
Gin & Tonic
@Mary G: Was Gil as much of a douchecanoe as Mario “Vote for Cuomo, Not the Homo” Cuomo?
JMG
My son was digital communications head of Garcetti’s first campaign in 2013, so if he became President, my kid would have steady work for four years anyway. Worse reasons to vote for someone.
Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)
@Baud: I’d like to see an upper age of 70. That cuts off some individuals who’d be all right, but so does a minimum age of 35.
efgoldman
@JMG:
And he’ll have ulcers, and high blood pressure, and drink more/too much…..
Doesn’t matter who’s prez or which party
Starfish
There are so many people in Colorado running on their desire for a Bernie Sanders presidency, and it is really annoying. They need someone in the White House to shake things up as if we haven’t been shaken enough. I am getting motion sickness.
Calouste
@Baud: Jimmy Carter was at 53 the oldest Democrat to win an election without being the incumbent since Woodrow Wilson in 1913 (who was 56). For Republicans, Bush II was the youngest at 54 since Taft, who was Wilson’s predecessor.
So it seems 54 is the cut-off.
mai naem mobile
Not an interesting article but I would like to suggest Jeh Johnson, Obamas DHS guy. Big negative is that he’s never been in elective office before. And,oh yeah, I have no idea if he’s even interested. His mom worked for Planned Parenthood which will wind up the anti abortion nuts. He’s around 60. Depending on what comes out of the Mueller deal I think he would be able to handle questions about future issues.
smintheus
@Baud: Whatever her age, Warren has in her mindset an absolutely essential qualification that too few other potential candidates have shown – she doesn’t imagine that Republicans in Congress are ‘good people’ you can work with to achieve goals that any serious person admits they’ll move heaven and earth to obstruct.
That is my bottom line, not the candidate’s age: a candidate who will work with Democrats to achieve Democratic goals by pushing Republicans out of the way. A candidate with a plan to make the GOP extinct would be even better.
bystander
@zhena gogolia: Yes, but I would enjoy hearing Andrea Mitchell call him a gaffe machine every single time she refers to him, as she did during the first campaign.
smintheus
@mai naem mobile: Jeh Johnson has continued to defend the NSA’s illegal spying programs on Americans in America.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Starfish: “shake things up” is a less angry version of “vote’em all out”, but they both mean “politics is too complicated for me”. Beyond his obnoxious personality, one of my chief objections to Sanders is that, like trump, he sold people on the dimwitted idea that politics is really easy. “There is no reason we can’t have X”
@mai naem mobile: interesting, I’ve always found him impressive on TV, which counts for more than it should. I wonder where he lives and if anyone has ever tried to recruit him to run for somehingn
BC in Illinois
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I think Biden’s great strength could be as retired elder statesman type campaigning for people like [insert a lot of names here].
I heard Biden in St. Louis, speaking for Jason Kander [against the execrable Roy Blunt (R – NRA)]. Biden can stir the crowd, and he does it by talking about people, and values, and what the government is for. If he ran, and if he were nominated, I would work for him as hard as I possibly could (but even I will be over 70 in 2020).
During 2016, I heard speeches from Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Jason Kander, Joe Biden, and Claire McCaskill. They all know how to rouse and encourage a crowd. (Though maybe I’m easily roused and encouraged.) Whoever is nominated in 2020, I look forward to the nation being filled with rallies featuring [the candidate] standing next to all of these people, and both Obamas, and Elizabeth Warren. And all of the candidates of 2020 who didn’t get chosen.
But keep Joe Biden at the top of that list. He is a great asset.
Major Major Major Major
@Baud: yeah, she sure acts like she’s running, and yes that includes saying things like “I’m not running.”
Corner Stone
@BC in Illinois:
With all the jokes about Biden being a gaffe machine, the truth is he sticks his foot in his mouth all the time. Not in a gaffe way, but because of things he actually believes. I do not want someone actively pandering to WWC racists.
If Kander of McCaskill or Heitkamp, et al need to play it down the line for their specific states that grinds my gears but it has to happen. IMO we don’t need an Uncle Statesman telling us about the old days.
Corner Stone
@Major Major Major Major:
She’s running.
Baud
Good post at LGM.
http://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2018/02/russian-hacks-effective-terrible-reporting-practices
@Major Major Major Major:
At this point I assume everyone except Hillary is running. We’re going to need a bigger debate stage.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@BC in Illinois: McCaskill’s an interesting case. I don’t always like her– she was so smugly self-satisfied about her contribution to shrinking the stimulus, it still grates on me– but she seems like a smart, canny pol who knows her state.
Kander… Jesus, so fucking close it hurts. Three fucking points
efgoldman
@Major Major Major Major:
She got out front of the Cherokee heritage thing, which wouldn’t matter in a sane country. She’s smart enough to see how much legs it has, because the RWNJs will try to turn it into emaaaaiiiiiillllllllllllzzzzz!!!!11!
Why she’d want the tsouris, – why any sane person would – I don’t know.
Frankensteinbeck
@efgoldman:
Even Shrub and Orange Dumpster Fire. The job must be a curse.
Mary G
Warren went way down in my estimation when she agreed the primary was rigged, and I have yet to see any explanation of that answer. If I missed it, please let me know.
Schlemazel
How come nobody is talking about the Castro kids? Did something happen with them & I missed it?
The two Senate women most mentions (once people move beyond Warren) are Gillibrand & Klobucher. I would work very hard in the primaries against either one of them. There must be some women in Congress that are both more progressive and also charismatic.
schrodingers_cat
@Mary G: If she runs will the BS bros latch on to her?
Baud
@Mary G: Same here.
@Schlemazel: Probably, it’s Gillibrand then Harris, in terms of mentions.
Corner Stone
@Mary G:
She just by default shrugged it off and was, “Yes. Of course.”
I also have not seen anything further that mitigated that answer.
Matt McIrvin
@smintheus: She does think Bernie Sanders is a useful partner, though. I’m not sure whether to find that canny or naive.
Baud
@schrodingers_cat: No, because BS will be running too.
Corner Stone
@Schlemazel: God, Klobuchar. No thank you.
Major Major Major Major
@Corner Stone: that’s what i said.
@Baud: I am 90% certain that their refrain will be that she used to be a republican, and she endorsed Hitlery, she can’t be trusted
Lapassionara
@Baud: thanks for the link. I don’t see the press changing. The bright shiny object will always entice them to bite.
raven
My bride made a couple of Year of the Dawg Dragons for a local lunar New Year gig.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Schlemazel: I find Harris charismatic, but my sense for those sort of intangibles doesn’t tend to synch up with the country at large. One of the Castros (Julian) went to New Hampshire recently and when asked asked the obvious question said pretty much, yeah, I’m thinking about it. I also wonder if McCaskill will celebrate in the second week of November (please god) with a nice road trip through Iowa.
Tom Levenson
Fuck George Will re identity politics (shorthand for “I don’t want Black people telling the rest of us cops shouldn’t shoot them”). And fuck him on his nod towards the Baal worship in the gun cult.
Matt McIrvin
I am actually very worried about 2020, because I don’t think there’s a single potential Democratic candidate that a large chunk of the party doesn’t find completely intolerable. We are too divided.
eemom
Don’t mean to rain on y’all’s parade, but at this point, the assumptions that (1) there will be a democratic election for president in the United States in 2020, and (2) there will be a civilization in which to elect anything in 2020, should not be made without a lot of wood knocking and thrice spitting.
IOW, let’s fucking focus on 2018.
zhena gogolia
@raven:
Beautiful! Very funny too.
Baud
@Matt McIrvin:
The only solution is Baud! 2020!, who all Democrats find equally intolerable.
Realistically, I don’t see any candidate except Bernie and his as having such a rabid following.
Feebog
I have met Eric Garcetti on a number of occasions. I think the article sums it up pretty well. He says all the right things, and he is quite progressive, but I have yet to see the fire in the belly type personality needed for a National campaign.
Mary G
This cracked me up:
J R in WV
@Mary G:
Then that’s who should run for president! We need a really fierce woman, willing to call a Russo-Republican the things that they are – ie ambulatory fecal matter – and go on to win the elections, and carry a huge wave of Democrats along with them.
eemom, you are exactly correct, 2018 first, 2020 next. I still hope that before the 202 elections start current Russo-Republicans will be in jail awaiting trial/execution. I’m a peaceful person, never have really been in any fights, but I’m done with treason.
raven
@zhena gogolia: She had fun. It was mostly a kids event with all kinds of activities and Chinese food demos. She gets to keep the dragons for her dog parade in the fall so that’s good too.
Baud
@Mary G: I hope they give her her freedom. She’s earned it.
J R in WV
@mai naem mobile:
Nope. Not gonna work for someone without a real name. if he’s got a middle name, he should use it. Otherwise he should have got with a judge when he turned 21 and changed it to Jeff or amything that has an accepted pronunciation in American English.
Jeh is not a name! /s ;-) Really, if he’s actually good at what he does, then I guess Jeh is OK.
James E. Powell
I don’t know how to get around this, but our current political culture doesn’t seem to favor actual politicians for the top political office. This hurt Gore, Kerry, and Hillary Clinton and helped Obama. There were, of course, many other factors, but a public record of political decisions is going to include some that people find objectionable.
This is particularly true in executive offices more so than in legislative offices. Mayors & Governors have to actually do stuff. And choosing to do A will always piss off supporters of B & C, so enemies are part of the game.
efgoldman
@eemom:
Always a ray of sunshine on a snowy winter night.
Yes you do
patroclus
I’m for rallying around whoever is the strongest non-Wilmer candidate.
Mandalay
@Matt McIrvin:
How about Sherrod Brown?
Any Democrat who finds him intolerable needs to find another political party. He doesn’t have much charisma, but I can’t think of any current politician who beats him when it comes to being a thoroughly decent and honorable human being. And maybe that’s exactly what the country will be desperate for in 2020…
ETA: And he could really give Trump a run for his money with blue collar voters.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@patroclus: I wonder who has/controls the “opposition research” on Wilmer, how far the Clinton camp went in digging. Someone should forget that file in a Starbucks near the Washington Post offices one of these days.
Ruckus
@efgoldman:
I also look at it from the angle that this is a huge job, it requires energy in massive abundance, grace, an ego that isn’t as big as the state they were born in, more like no bigger than the town they were born in, the ability to say no, the ability to say yes, iow the ability to compromise when that’s all there is, the ability to understand that overbearing strength is not the answer to every question, nor is capitulation, to have a vocabulary larger than a 4th grader, to be of an age that certain diseases are much less likely to affect everything you do….. President Obama was an ideal candidate in that he met all of my basic requirements. HRC met them except for age, she missed one. Not one republican in my adult life has met all or even most of them.
I don’t want someone my age running, unless there just isn’t anyone else. HRC, Warren, we are the same age, Biden is too old now, let alone after 4 or 8 yrs and there are reasons why he never made any headway when he ran before. Those haven’t changed. BS is a worthless fuck and way too old. His initials say it all, BS.
I don’t know what it is about democratic politicians. Are they not flashy/brash enough to get noticed? I don’t think that’s it, the last one we had that was, Edwards lasted what 2 weeks? Is it the media that act like a bunch of HS juniors trying to be noticed by the kool kids? Are dems just too diverse to find common ground on one person? No, we won the popular last outing, we elected a black guy in a hugely racist country, twice. Do we expect too much from our candidates? We do have a recent history of having to come in and clean up all the elephant shit the other side leaves on everything they get near and that leaves very little time to accomplish much.
Corner Stone
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I’d prefer a couple someones with baseball bats.
Steve in the ATL
@raven: nice! We stumbled across a similar parade today heading up Grant Avenue and through the Dragon’s Gate.
Steve in the ATL
@Mandalay: he’s great, but if he becomes president we almost certainly lose that senate seat
raven
@Steve in the ATL: Cool!
Ruckus
@Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady):
At one time I’d have agreed with your upper limit of 70. But I see that as too old now that the job is actually a huge stress on a reasonable person. One can’t just fly off to the ranch or to play golf when things get tough. Yes one needs downtime but there is a limit. That’s one reason why the job is only 8 yrs long. Now on the other side, I’d bet there are extremely few 35 yr olds who would actually qualify. I find that most people have not had enough time to mature, to be a comfortable adult at 35. That’s the time it seems to me that people start to jell as adults. It’s not a strict timeline of course but I don’t see many people at all that can fully understand the concept of what the job entails at that age. They’ve been too busy up till around then just growing up to get there. And a lot of the people that seem like they may have that concept also have an extreme view of who they are in relation to the rest of us.
Ruckus
@eemom:
It is possible that we can do more than one thing at a time.
I do agree that this year is vital, but that has been a failing of dems for a long time, not work on the future far enough out. Nov 2020 will be here in 33 months and to win someone needs to start running before the end of this year. That’s not that long from now and none of us have any idea who might be a viable candidate. All of us can find fault with anyone currently on the dem stage and we really need to not have a clusterfuck of 40 people running and slitting each other throats. Those people with enough ego, desire, brains, political savvy and reasonable views aren’t exactly in abundance, it takes time to find them, convince enough people to vote for them in primaries and push them over the top. (It shouldn’t take all the time we do in this country but this is where we live)
John Revolta
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Very well put.
Also, re: McCaskill- I got an email from her a couple of days ago bragging about how often she and Blunt had voted the same way on various issues. Now, there’s nothing wrong with being a smart canny pol who knows her state, but…………….yecccchhhh. I just dunno.
efgoldman
@Steve in the ATL:
Only use I’ve ever found for something from this show.
Steve in the ATL
@efgoldman: perfect!
Luthe
Might I put forth my own Senator, Chris Murphy? I don’t know if he wants the job (Blumenthal certainly does), but Murphy has a lot of the requirements needed to make it to the top these days: young, somewhat progressive, WASPy, photogenic family, no skeletons in the closet (that have been found thus far). Also, the biggest gun control supporter you can imagine (before he moved to the Senate he represented the 5th District, which contains Newtown).
One of the Castros would also be a good choice. Except for the bit where the idiots out there would confuse them with the Cuban Castros…
eemom
@Ruckus:
Seems to me we have an advantage going in, then.
Also, consider the first example: Obama was a complete unknown until he electrified the 2004 convention. Putting up a winning candidate is not an exact science to be methodically plotted years in advance.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Luthe: I like Murphy, too (A WASP named Murphy? My grandmothers just rolled over in their graves!)
mai naem mobile
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I like Murphy. I just wonder if he’s too white bread. I like McCaskill as a POTUS candidate even though she’s pissed me off plenty of times as a Senator. IMHO Warren would not be a good national candidate and she’s better off being a strong vooce in the Senate.
Ksmiami
@J R in WV: I’m done with treason and child murder – all things now backed by the GOP-NRA
EmbraceYourInnerCrone
I like Chris Murphy too, and he is also my Senator, but if he doesn’t want to run how about Steve Bullock, Democratic Governor of Montana?
As Montana Attorney General he took on FedEx for misclassifying employees as independent contractors (avoiding paying millions in state taxes and fees)
Ruckus
@eemom:
President Obama was running then, and he knew it. That’s 4 yrs before his election. We know that there are a number of people thinking about running who wouldn’t have been if HRC had actually taken office. It’s as I said, only 33 months out and running for prez takes planning, being in the right place at the right time, learning from whomever went before you, knowing what’s going on around you, being “pre-presidential,” if you will. Right now I see Harris, possibly Warren, maybe S. Brown, and Biden hoping and wondering if it’s finally his time (it isn’t). There is a lot of behind the curtains stuff that has to happen for someone to break into the forefront and have a chance in hell of getting the nomination. I use Edwards as an example. He looked great, for two weeks or so, then it all fell apart, because he was a shit, not a candidate. Harris is my senator, I like her, I like how informed she seems and the emails I get from her are very professional. A start. But my mind is of course not made up in any way. I want someone in the 45-55 age range, smart, democratic through and through, has good political experience, has good leadership and management qualities. Who ya got?
dww44
@Luthe: He’s at the top of my list. Has been for quite some time. I could support Sherrod Brown. I don’t think that Kamala Harris has been on the national stage long enough. Kirsten Gillebrand would have to do a lot more and do it differently to even make an appearance on my list.
Jinchi
@efgoldman:
I think if she had wanted it, she could have been the nominee in 2016. The fact that she didn’t toss her hat in the ring seemed pretty good evidence that she likes her current job, and I think we need as many strong Senators as we can get.