Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The willow is too close to the house.

Bad news for Ron DeSantis is great news for America.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

This really is a full service blog.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

A last alliance of elves and men. also pet photos.

White supremacy is terrorism.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

Let there be snark.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. let’s win this.

“That’s what the insurrection act is for!”

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

“Squeaker” McCarthy

The GOP couldn’t organize an orgy in a whorehouse with a fist full of 50s.

The Supreme Court cannot be allowed to become the ultimate, unaccountable arbiter of everything.

Cole is on a roll !

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires

Roe isn’t about choice, it’s about freedom.

Happy indictment week to all who celebrate!

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

Joe Lieberman disappointingly reemerged to remind us that he’s still alive.

You are here: Home / Politics / Domestic Politics / Continued Debate Thread

Reader Interactions

292Comments

  1. 1.

    guachi

    Links to a live feed?

    Specifically, I’d like a feed that lets me rewind and watch from the beginning.

  12. 12.

    Ohio Mom

    Wow! I had a dinner thing and am just now tuning in. THRILLED to hear it’s not going well for Bloomberg.

  14. 14.

    Elizabelle

    Good answers on climate change.

    I liked that Bloomberg brought up getting back in the Paris Accord immediately.  Good for him.

  15. 15.

    BlueDWarrior

    It was going to come to this at some point.

     

    They all want to be No. 1, so now they have to assert themselves.

  16. 16.

    Adam L Silverman

    Does Senator Sanders understand that he doesn’t have to yell because they have him micced up?

  18. 18.

    oatler.

    The Arizona Fox-Sinclair affiliate had Trump’s rally on. I turned it off when Trump said “Barack Hussein Obama”. This is what Hitler’s drool looked like.

  19. 19.

    Leto

    The fact that Amy thinks fracking is “transitional” is delusional. The environmental/human damage it does is 10 steps back.

  20. 20.

    Morzer

    So far, I suspect Biden looks better to the voters than anyone else on the stage. Klobuchar looked rattled and pissy, Mayor Pete probably enjoyed shoving the shiv in a little too much and Warren seems to have decided to fight all the other candidates when she isn’t being Amy’s Mamabear.  Bloomberg has been roasted. Sanders will keep his cult vote, but I doubt he’s convinced anyone who wasn’t part of it.

  22. 22.

    mad citizen

    Hoping “Do you know what that means Chuck?” can become a catch phrase.

    Hate to hear them talk energy, that’s my bailiwick.   Good they talk about how urgent it is.

     

    Bloomberg and Sierra Club have not closed the coal plants.  Economics has.

  26. 26.

    Another Scott

    Liz says Amy is thinking too small.

    Liz says corruption has to be addressed.

    Liz says the filibuster has to be rolled back.

    Amy wants to respond, gets rolled over by the next question.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  31. 31.

    Elizabelle

    Joe shivs “his buddy” Bernie over not being able to go after the gun manufacturers WRT liability.

  32. 32.

    mad citizen

    @Morzer: I’m biased but digging fiery Liz tonight.  I’m not feeling it from Biden, but he’s not been terrible.  I wish the field was the 2 women and pete.  Old guys need to leave the stage.  Glad Bloomberg got clobbered.

  37. 37.

    Leto

    There’s a book I read recently about fracking in Western PA (near Cole). “Amity and Prosperity”; if anyone wants to know how fracking affects the people who live anywhere near operations, I’d recommend that. The environmental/human damage that fracking causes is not worth the “cheap” energy we consume.

  39. 39.

    Brachiator

    Elizabeth Warren is on fire…

    Mike Bloomberg is watching $400 million go up in smoke.

    Can’t watch the debate. Late evening work.  But this sounds delightful.

  40. 40.

    Leto

    ProfSen EW bringing up the excellent point of waste dumps being built in communities of color and the need to help those communities.

  43. 43.

    BlueDWarrior

    The whole point of a primary, in a sense, is to air the grievances intra-party now before they can fester during the general.

    If you answer them now conclusively, that’s another time bomb that Trump can’t arm later.

  45. 45.

    Another Scott

    Liz – We need to talk about climate change in terms of more than just grand global terms.  It has impacts on real people in real communities.

    Yup.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  46. 46.

    jl

    Buttigieg’s last bit on climate change was very good. So maybe I have to take back calling him a BSer. He’s much better when he doesn’t BS. He doesn’t need to.

  48. 48.

    Martin

    This China questions is dumb. China is moving MUCH faster than the US on addressing climate change. They’re farther behind in a number of ways, but they’re passing new legislation and rules constantly. They have higher mileage standards than even the ones that California negotiated down with the Feds on.

    China has half a million electric buses deployed. They have 14,000 miles of electrified high speed rail.

    In 2013 Beijing adopted more systematic and intensive measures for air pollution control. By the end of 2017 fine particulate pollution (PM2.5) fell by 35% and by 25% in the surrounding Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. Much of this reduction came from measures to control coal-fired boilers, provide cleaner domestic fuels, and industrial restructuring. Over this period annual emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx), particulate matter (PM10) and volatile organic compounds in Beijing decreased by 83%, 43%, 55% and 42% respectively.

    35% improvement in 4 years. Show me any part of the US that could repeat that. It took California far longer to get the same improvements. We don’t need  to convince China. They’re building the solutions.

  53. 53.

    Morzer

    @Martin: China is still building coal-fired power stations – and many of the statistics emerging from China are highly unreliable, especially in sensitive areas like pollution.

  55. 55.

    NotMax

    Been driving me (more) nuts whose voice Bloomberg’s sounds like. Proverbial LED bulb just illuminated.

    Fred Allen.

  56. 56.

    Another Scott

    Mike – I started a business unlike these losers. Vote for me.

    Bernie – When we talk about a Corrupt™ political system… (Track 3, 2016 Stump Speech).

    Mike – Bernie you wrote the tax code.

    Bernie – Nuh uh. You did.

    …

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  59. 59.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    not watching cause I’m just too damn tired, but clicking around twitter the general consensus seems to be that Warren has rhetorically done to Bloomberg all the things Cersei Lannister wanted to do to Olenna Tyrell before Jamie talked her out of it.

  60. 60.

    Morzer

    I was quite enjoying the deepening rubicundity of Sanders as Bloomberg pointed out that he and his Senate colleagues actually defined the tax code, not innocent little Mike Bloomberg.

  64. 64.

    Leto

    @Martin: It also helps that they don’t have 50 different kingdom’s all advocating their own “right” to do things as they want. But agreed, they’re building the solutions and selling them to everyone and their mothers.

  68. 68.

    khead

    Bloomberg actually had a chance there for a second before answering Chuckler’s question about if he deserved that money. But he blew it.

    The proper answer was “I should be taxed at a higher rate!”

  78. 78.

    Elizabelle

    Shout out to child care workers.  Yea!

    It is a question of values. Do we want to invest in Mr. Bloomberg or do we want to invest in our next generation?

  82. 82.

    NotMax

    Howard Schultz setting up an additional folding chair and ready to text “Come sit by me” to Bloomberg immediately after the debate.

    :)

  85. 85.

    Anya

    So I guess Pete gave up on trying to get Bernie to stroke out.

    ETA — Bernie’s answer to the socialism question is pretty good.

  86. 86.

    Elizabelle

    Yea to Bernie for taking on the Waltons.

    Bloomberg:  “The best known socialist in the country is a millionaire with 3 houses.”

  94. 94.

    Another Scott

    Uncle Joe – I was the poorest man in Congress, 50 years ago.  Then I wrote a book.  Vote for me.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  103. 103.

    Morzer

    I really don’t think that wine-faced bellowing is a good approach for Bernie when facing tough questions.

  104. 104.

    WaterGirl

    Is it wrong that I want to call Bloomberg a pissy little bitch?

    edit: not that I mind him asking Bernie about socialism and his being a millionaire, etc.  It was his style that made him seem like a whiny little bitch.

  106. 106.

    zhena gogolia

    There it is again in the OP — “Bernie is Bernie.” I see that comment during/after every single debate. Why does he get a pass? Why doesn’t he have to perform????

  107. 107.

    jl

    Sanders should have called out the miserable Todd recycled GOP talking point, that labels a democratic socialist a ‘socialist’ at the beginning of his answer. He only got around to it obliquely towards the end. The cranky coot Sanders insists in that stupid name, but at least he is aggressive in his response, and brought out the true fact that we have socialism for the rich.

    So, I guess I have to take half a loaf from Sanders on that.

    Biden much better tonight.

    WTF? What is this question about what Buttigieg thinks about what millennials think about socialism.  Why is Todd polluting this debate. Didn’t he mess up an earlier one?

  114. 114.

    Another Scott

    Liz is continuing to point out the differences she has with the other candidates.  “Amy and Joe want to badly to be liked by Mitch McConnell…”

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  118. 118.

    Morzer

    I really do think Klobuchar is overselling her electoral magic here. Winning in Minnesota isn’t quite the same thing as driving a terrified Mitch McConnell before you.

  123. 123.

    download my app in the app store mistermix

    My God I’ve never seen a candidate dominate a debate like Warren.

  124. 124.

    guachi

    @Morzer: What Klobuchar should hit on is that she’s always done better than every other Democrat in statewide races in Minnesota.

    Every election. Every Democrat.

  125. 125.

    jl

    Super Tuesday is just about 10 days away, right? Seems to have livened up the candidates.

    Very glad Biden is so much sharper tonight that in previous debates. I still support Warren, but let’s be realistic, after others drop on and supporters move to next choice, Biden still could be the nominee, if he survives Super Tuesday.

  128. 128.

    Another Scott

    @schrodingers_cat: I think she’s just being more subtle about it.  She said something like “people are scared and they aren’t willing to vote for vague promises of Nirvana” – obviously referring to St. Bernard.

    Maybe she’ll bring out the flame thrower for him in her closing…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  130. 130.

    Martin

    @Morzer: Economies are slow to turn. That’s true in China and here. And we are still building coal plants as well.

    But the issue is how seriously do they take the challenge? The US does not take it seriously – there are extremely few policy initiatives in the US. China takes it seriously. They are investing big. We are not investing at all. Seriously, not at all.

    The rub with coal plants is that a coal plant powering an electric train is still better for the environment than cars or airplanes. They had 2.3 billion passengers on their electric rail. That’s a lot of car/airplane emissions offset.

    And China has double the solar and wind deployment than the US has.

  132. 132.

    Leto

    From the Wonkette Blog (hoping this embeds correctly):

    Matt Fuller@MEPFuller

    Where was this Elizabeth Warren for the entire campaign?

    being told that she was yelling too much, not yelling enough, being mean, not being mean enough, being too detail-oriented, not being detail-oriented enough, being radical, not being radical enough, https://t.co/PzEcpVeEc9— Lindsey Barrett (@LAM_Barrett) February 20, 2020

    “>

  133. 133.

    Marcopolo

    Question folks: has anyone seen a Bloomberg ad during the debate so far? I have not & I am a little surprised.

  141. 141.

    Marcopolo

    Warren folks noting they just had the best hour of fundraising of the entire campaign. Red meat works.

  146. 146.

    JGabriel

    Cheryl Rofer @ Top:

    … and Mayor Pete is Mayor Pete

    So… this is actually the first debate this cycle that I’ve watched in real time (as opposed to highlight clips afterwards), and I’m wondering: Does Pete Buttigieg always sound like the “Democratic” pundit on a Fox News opinion show?

    I mean, seriously, the guy has me saying “Fuck You, Fuck You, Fuck You” to the video screen almost as much as when I’m watching Trump.

  148. 148.

    jl

    Too many gotcha grubbing questions. Either in essence, or framing legitimate issues as gotcha grubbing. Several times the candidates blew them off and staged an actual debate, which is good. Hope that continues.

  150. 150.

    Martin

    @khead: Yeah. I don’t think any of the attacks on him needed to draw blood, but he’s been answering in a clumsy way.

    But, that’s what this process is about. It’s not going to get easier with Trump.

  152. 152.

    schrodingers_cat

    @zhena gogolia: I was called a loon for saying that if she does take him on, I would consider voting for her. I am not sure that she won’t give BS her delegates if she doesn’t prevail. I think defeating BS is imperative in these primaries.

  153. 153.

    Nicole

    @laura: Thank you; I really appreciate it!  Eleven radiation sessions done; 17 to go.  Still feeling okay; side effects have plenty of time yet to show up, but none so far.

  155. 155.

    Another Scott

    Uncle Joe – “Did you ever win anything?”

    Liz – “CFPB?”

    Not a good look, Joe.  Not a good look.

    Amy K – “There are votes to protect the Dreamers”.

    Really?  Really, Amy?  OMG.  Moscow Mitch and the GOP will never do that.  You know that.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  157. 157.

    Anya

    I wish Pete Buttigieg’s bid for Democratic National Committee chair was successful. He probably would’ve raised more money than Perez and would have given better speeches.

  165. 165.

    mad citizen

    I think Pete and Amy need to have a cage match as well as Bernie and Bloomberg

     

    Don’t answer Chuck’s baiting convention question.  Asshole.

  166. 166.

    Marcopolo

    Buttigieg just kinda lit himself on fire. Gotta believe there are a lotta women watching him over talk Amy who are seething.

  171. 171.

    geg6

    @Leto:

    Washington County is right next door to the south of me and I have to drive through parts of it to get to Cole’s. So yes, it’s just up the road from Cole. As for here in Beaver County, we know well about the temptations and drawbacks of fracking very well. We have a lot of those same illnesses around here.  Less than a mile from our house, a pipeline blew up, destroying one house completely and necessitating an entire suburban residential street to run for their lives.  Now they can’t even sell their houses because another pipeline is going in on the same unstable ground that caused the first rupture and explosion.  Oh, and there is the matter of the new Shell ethane cracker plant going up less than five miles from my house, currently the world’s largest construction project.  Yippie!

  172. 172.

    Elizabelle

    @schrodingers_cat:   You were called a loon because you spend all day, every day, running Elizabeth Warren down.  We all hear you.

    And then you said you might vote for her.

    And tearing the absolute stuffing out of someone, day after day after day, and then saying — but I might vote for her in the end.  Did you not learn one fucking thing from how Hillary Clinton was treated?

    That is what I find loonlike.  Although I suspect loons might have a better sense of survival.

    You are wholly misrepresenting why you were called a loon.

    I have always liked you, but I have no stomach for your constant shrieking about Elizabeth Warren.

    Who you don’t think will fight for you.

    And people brought up the CFPB and other issues and …. crickets from you.

    I don’t like every candidate out there, but I don’t spend all my time scraping their skin off,  Ms. Cat.

    So yes, I find you quite the loon.

  173. 173.

    hilts

    Tonight’s debate is giving Chris Matthews the biggest orgasm he’s had during this campaign season.

  176. 176.

    Another Scott

    @mad citizen: She is very good at pointing out his weaknesses.

    She gets very defensive when he returns fire though.

    They’re both skilled at this stuff.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  181. 181.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    Hillary won by nearly 4 million votes and Wilmer didn’t think the will of the people should have been honored in 2016

  182. 182.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Another Scott: The best way to protect them is to give them all and there parents pardons for the misdemeanor being either undocumented entries or unauthorized overstays. That removes the predicate for them to be removed. This should be combined with decertifying both the ICE and CBP unions, terminating all personnel from both, restaffing after establishing appropriate recruiting and vetting procedures, and after establishing new training requirements for them.

  183. 183.

    Another Scott

    @mad citizen: I was a terribly stupid question, and of course St. Bernard said he should win no matter what the rules are.

    Because that’s who he is.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  184. 184.

    jl

    OK, one good thing about this debate, IMHO, is that the candidates, except for Bloomberg, are showing they can be lively, think on their feet, stay focused and on track through rough exchanges, think quickly, stay on focus in a response, and trade punches in a debate. First debate where I have some confidence they can be aggressive and take care of themselves in a campaign.

    If Trump shows up for a first debate with them, I wonder if he’ll show up for another. It would be unfair.

  185. 185.

    Leto

    @laura: We’ve had a lot of Bloomi ads here in PA (Philly area). They’re annoying because the intro to them is Biden redux: “Did you know Obama said something good about me? Here, let me show you…”

  186. 186.

    Anya

    Does this answer mean Bernie is not going to support the process? Is this going to be another 2016, basically Bernie yelling about the Super Delegates?

  188. 188.

    Baud

    My hot take. If Biden doesn’t get a bounce, the nomination is Bernie’s.

    Warren had the best night, but I don’t know how many voters she gets out of it.

  190. 190.

    Leto

    @Nicole: I’ve missed why you’re having radiation treatments, but I know you’re going to kick it’s ass. Like Imm said, you’re strong! :)

  191. 191.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    @Baud: too hot.   doesn’t get the nomination with 25% or even 35% of the delegates.

    65% and 75% wins

  194. 194.

    MomSense

    This is thoroughly depressing.  I don’t think i’m watching the same debate as everyone else here.

  200. 200.

    sukabi

    Just tuned in…Todd’s an ass, Bernie looks like crap. Klobuchar is about to stab someone (probably Pete) with her comb. Warren’s outta fucks.

  201. 201.

    Nicole

    @Immanentize: Thank you, but your tough Immp leaves me feeling pretty humble.  Not to turn focus from Warren’s slaughter of Bloomberg, but did the CAT scans on him you mentioned come back yet?  (I don’t mean to pry; I just was thinking about you two and I miss a lot of the comments on balloon-juice posts throughout a normal day and wondered if there was an update).

  207. 207.

    Mary G

    @Marcopolo: There are wall-to-wall ads for Bloomberg out here in CA tonight. I have seen more primary ads in the last two hours (Bernie, Steyer, Pete also too) than I saw in my first 30 years of voting. What a difference moving up a primary makes.

  211. 211.

    James E Powell

    @Anya:

    The one about how Obama loves him so much and says all kinds of nice things about him

    Sure, Barack Obama said nice things about him because Barack Obama’s a nice guy. Now, tell us what Michelle Obama said about him.

  214. 214.

    Another Scott

    Protestors screaming when Biden is about to start his closing.

    “Senator Biden, you have one minute.”

    Jesus Hussein.

    How many millions does it cost to find someone to moderate these things who knows how to introduce a former Vice President.

    Grr….

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  218. 218.

    Elizabelle

    The most dangerous president in the modern history of this country?

    How about:  ever.  Who was more dangerous??

  220. 220.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    Deeply disappointed:  none of the candidates addressed the raising costs of premium porn channels.

  222. 222.

    Immanentize

    @Nicole: thanks for asking.  Tomorrow we talk to Dr. Onc.  Being strong is when you are in it.  There is getting through it.  Then getting on with it.  Different strengths needed for each.  Ask Leto and Avalune.  You are getting through it.  That requires strength and you have it.

  226. 226.

    JGabriel

    @Another Scott:

    Amy K – “There are votes to protect the Dreamers”.

    Really? Really, Amy? OMG. Moscow Mitch and the GOP will never do that.

    I could be wrong, but I thought she was referring to public votes there – i.e., that voters support dreamers – and not about votes in Congress.

    Uncle Joe – “Did you ever win anything?”

    Liz – “CFPB?”

    Not a good look, Joe. Not a good look.

    Agreed. That was a self-own on Joe’s part.

  230. 230.

    Marcopolo

    No Bloomberg ads in StL MO. So I guess that’s a win.

    No change in my debate ratings from the first hour: Warren & Biden had good nights; Bloomberg failed to launch; Amy & Pete should take it outside; BS shouts.

  231. 231.

    Nicole

    @Leto:

    I’ve missed why you’re having radiation treatments,

    Not to hijack the thread, but I had a breast cancer recurrence in December (well, happened earlier, but diagnosed in December). Same area- had travelled into a lymph node, which was removed (along with 9 others that were clean) but I’m having radiation done prophylactically before starting endocrine  therapy so that, with a little luck, it won’t come back again.  Man, cancer sucks.  Persistent asshole of a disease.

    On topic- that was an entertaining debate, for sure.  Twitter was loving Warren, but I don’t know if it will translate into votes.  Though I’m going to make another donation right now to help a little.

    And, as an NYC’er here for all of Bloomberg’s mayoralty,  I watched him get eviscerated with great satisfaction.

  234. 234.

    TS (the original)

    @Baud:

    Much as I would love to see Elizabeth Warren Win, I think Biden is the best chance now to beat Bernie – & probably the most likely to get Bloomberg’s money when the latter drops out.

  235. 235.

    Morzer

    I’d say that Klobuchar didn’t look terrible convincing tonight. I don’t know whether Mayor Pete gained a lot, but I suspect he got a decent win on points in their tussle. Sanders seems not able to do anything but bellow and then bellow some more. Biden looked much better than expected. A hundred Bergs did not Bloom. Warren had some good moments, but I am not sure her decision to punch at everyone else – except, mostly, Bernie –  was strategically effective. I don’t know whether much changed, but I think it’s possible that Klobuchar’s rise stalled and maybe reversed a bit. Bloomberg probably regrets being on the stage.

  236. 236.

    Another Scott

    @Baud: I don’t think that Biden did especially well tonight.  His “I got it done and nobody else has” just reminds everyone of how old he is.  Liz was right to bring up his “Joe wanted Moscow Mitch to win” thing.  He really doesn’t seem to understand how different things are now.

    But, we’ll see.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  239. 239.

    MomSense

    @Elizabelle:

    If you don’t like her comments, just skip past them.  You’ve become extremely intolerant to anyone who doesn’t agree with you.  Her perspective is different from yours.  Her life experiences are different from yours.  She’s not a loon and I wish you would stop insulting her for having different opinions.

  240. 240.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: If Bernie wins the nomination, and somehow the presidency, his supporters will still take to the streets of twitterville to proclaim that he’s been cheated

  241. 241.

    NotMax

    Main takeaways::

    1) Klobuchar overplayed her hand.
    2) Bloomberg tonight earned no interest on his investment.

  242. 242.

    Leto

    @Immanentize: Hey, the weekend of Mar 20-22 what are you doing? Avalune and I are going to be in Boston and we’d like to see if we can’t set up some type of BJ meetup for everyone in Bean Town.

  246. 246.

    guachi

    The everyone attacks everyone debate basically helps… Sanders. Do the candidates not realize this?

    The only one who will come off poorly is Bloomberg.

    What have the candidates done to consistently cut into the guy TEN POINTS AHEAD of everyone else?

  252. 252.

    Elizabelle

    @MomSense:   If she was not such a goddamned broken record, I would just let it go.  But it is constant.

    Please find examples where I have been eviscerating candidates, day after day after day.  I worry that Bernie is not electable and have said that.

    I do not tear him limb from limb.

    Go scold someone else.

  253. 253.

    Anya

    @Baud: I honestly don’t get his cult status. All I see is shouty mcshouty grandpa. My grandma dismissively calls him “Johnny One Note”

  255. 255.

    JGabriel

    @Nicole: And, as an NYC’er here for all of Bloomberg’s mayoralty, I watched him get eviscerated with great satisfaction.

    Yep, seconded, on both the long-time New Yorker and satisfaction with the attacks on Bloomberg fronts.

    I was worried that the Dem candidates would hold back against Bloomberg – like Republicans did with Trump – so as to not endanger future donations. Glad to see at least some of them didn’t.

  257. 257.

    Leto

    @Nicole: Well, that fucking sucks (and now that you mention it I seem to remember that). Yup, cancer sucks. Obligatory: fuck it with a rusty nail. But just remember: no one fights alone. :)

  260. 260.

    Immanentize

    @Leto: We be cruising!  I am so sad about this timing.  The Immp and I are setting off in a sea cruise.  It will be our big pre-college trip.  Who will get pushed overboard first??

    So sorry to miss you here in Beantown.  Anytime you guys want to land here, we have more than enough space/rooms for visitors.  This goes for all you jackals!  Come visit Boston.  We will be your free Air B&B,!

    “Except of course for you, you, and you in the back there.”  — Mrs. Maisel’s Dad

  265. 265.

    MomSense

    @Elizabelle:

    No you insult people who disagree with you.  You meant loon as in crazy.  Please stop it.

    Why do you care if she critiques candidates? If you disagree say so.  If you feel it’s repetitive ignore it.

    We are talking amongst ourselves. Nothing we say in the comments here will change the course of this nominating process.

  268. 268.

    Morzer

    @Anya: Bernie Sanders looks seriously geriatric. Great if you want an extra for a zombie movie, not so great if you want voters to believe your nominee is going to survive 4 years of a brutally high-pressure job. Also, not a great contrast with Trump.

  269. 269.

    Another Scott

    I think SP Warren did very well, especially since her voice just barely lasted through her closing statement.

    She showed that she’s willing to fight, even with people she mostly agrees with, to get as much as she can for the rest of us.

    I was expecting a little more against Bernie, but she’s smart and must have a plan for that.  I’m glad she brought the flamethrower for Mike.

    The questions were bad, as usual.  There are substantive differences between the candidates and this 75s/45s nonsense is horrible.  I assume the field will get smaller after 3/3, or not too long afterwards, and maybe there will be more time to hear more than charge and rebuttal rehearsed sound bites then.

    It’s good that the candidates show that they are willing to fight to win.  Nobody, well, except St. Bernard and ex-Mayor Mike (R), seem to feel entitled to the win.  They’re all doing their best to make the strongest case they can, and that’s a good thing.

    I donated to Warren again.

    My $0.02.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  273. 273.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Anya:

    I honestly don’t get his cult status.

    Maybe it’s because I grew up in the target demo for schoolhouse rock, but I’m genuinely baffled that so many people, seemingly more than in 2016, have no concept of the role congress plays in our system, and Bernie will win by shouting!

     

    @Avalune:

    e’s a lot of fun to imitate in everyday conversation though.

    pretty sure I would vote for Larry David at this point, or Fred Armisen

  276. 276.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @schrodingers_cat: If I brought up all the names people have called me over the years, I wouldn’t have space or time to comment.*

    *And for the who leap to the obvious response, suffer.  :P

  277. 277.

    Leto

    @Immanentize: Noooo! I knew I should’ve check with you in advance… we’ll be there visiting North Bennett Street School for their woodworking program. Hopefully we get to meet a few of the other Townies.

    Lol at the Mrs Maisel quote; love Tony Shalhoub :)

  279. 279.

    Elizabelle

    @MomSense:  I did mean loon as crazy, as in crazy behavior.

    Because I think it’s crazy to tear someone apart and then say “I might vote for him/her.”

    Why am I more intolerant than she is for being whack a mole every time Elizabeth Warren is mentioned?

    I will stop digging myself a hole but please let me say this:

    People here like Pete and Joe and Amy and Bernie and Elizabeth and Mike.  And it probably hurts to see their candidate savaged, over and over and over again.  Bernie and Pete are taking the most damage on this blog.

    We are people who comment here, probably 95% of us.

    What is the point of eviscerating the candidates?

    You might find me intolerant, so be it.  But I actually believe in building things up, and civility.

    And I don’t get what tearing something apart, like pulling a beautiful bird apart, wing from wing from tail feathers — does for anyone.

    It has been constant.  Absolutely constant.  I am sick of it.

  281. 281.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Elizabelle: so put her in the pie filter and move on

    @MomSense:

    We are talking amongst ourselves. Nothing we say in the comments here will change the course of this nominating process.

    sweet christ almighty, I don’t just want that to be a rotating tag line, I want it to be the name of the blog for the next eight months.

  282. 282.

    Immanentize

    @Leto: a friend of mine at Suffolk; his wife is either the Dean or the head of one of the programs at the school.  I will sort out the details in the next few days and report back.

  285. 285.

    PJ

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: as with many other modern problems, I blame the internet.  People thing that being passionate (or obstinate) about a subject in posts on Twitter or Facebook (or wherever), which may garner them 1000s of “likes” or “followers” is the same thing as creating genuine political change.  These days you can be an “activist” by just trolling people on Twitter all day long.

  289. 289.

    Chris Johnson

    I’m happy but unsurprised to hear that Warren had a phenomenal night. It’s like the old Steve Martin advice, ‘be so good they can’t ignore you’. As always, she persisted, and she had a plan, and serving up ‘Dem vs Dem’ red meat to the media is absolutely appropriate. This is after all the woman who responded to ‘do you want a Mike Pence to look fawningly up at you?’ with ‘No, I already have a dog’.

    That’s all I gotta say about that. I had faith, and rightly so, and I’m not surprised.

    I am VERY pleased that Biden looked strong relative to the trainwreck of Bloomberg. I would be perfectly fine voting for Biden in the general if it came to that. If there is to be a center lane, Biden should have it, not some carpetbagger (Bloomberg  *spit*). Fuck that guy so, so much. But thank him… for being a 100% appropriate Warren punching bag and the exemplar of everything we have got to do better than.

  290. 290.

    Ruckus

    @Martin:

    We’ve made changes slowly but we started well before China. They have a lot of catching up to do. Of course they got to leave out a few steps that we went through, just like a lot of places now have cell phones that didn’t have the abilities to lay copper and effectively power repeater boxes. Now a cell tower can carry a lot more than a copper cable and that last mile isn’t an issue. My ex father in law was Chinese and went back to the old country to die. He hadn’t been back in decades and when the rest of the family was packing to come back to the US he started packing. Asked why he said (in Chinese) “This fucking place hasn’t changed in 50 yrs, I’m not staying here!” We had changed, a lot in those 50 yrs. And a poor immigrant could easily see that. So our change has been slower but much longer. Also our political system, as you surly know, works in fits, stops and regressions. Like right now, the republican party is working hard to go back 250 yrs. That might just set us back a bit.

  291. 291.

    Ruckus

    @Nicole:

    I did 45 days of radiation treatment in 2016, every weekday for 9 weeks. The treatment was the easy part, I never felt any effect of the radiation.

    Good luck I hope that stays the same for you and that you kick cancer’s ass.

    For me, so far so good.

  292. 292.

    J R in WV

    @Elizabelle:

    And I don’t get what tearing something apart, like pulling a beautiful bird apart, wing from wing from tail feathers — does for anyone.

    What is a beautiful bird to your metaphor,  is to others a sordid vulture, dripping with gore, intent upon stealing away with one’s tiny babe in arms. Or in other words, a crooked pol willing to do anything for more power, in order to steal more wealth from the common good.

    I think the stress of the Age of Trump and the upcoming election is getting to us. Many people have dropped away from this blog, people I like, enjoy, respect. New folks come around, so I don’t worry about the blog dying out, but I miss those old friends.

    Last election time, in 2016 and 2018 lots of people got pretty upset too. Talking about candidates both positively and negatively isn’t aimed at any commenter, and no one commenting should take comments about a politician personally, although I understand that when someone attacks one’s personal favorite it is hard not to take it personally.

    I personally favor Senator Warren over any other current candidate. Senator Sanders is too old, too hostile, and is not healthy enough to even be running. His past political beliefs, I believe, make him unelectable nation-wide; he should have joined the Democratic party years ago and stayed in the Democratic party if he intended to run for any office as a Democrat!

    Vice President Biden, as much as I admire his work as VP, and him personally, is also way too old to be running. l don’t think he would be a success at rooting out Trumpists either.

    Pete Buttigieg is a smart well spoken guy, but is in no way qualified for the job he seeks.

    Mike Bloomberg is not a Democrat, neither is Bernie Sanders!

    Amy Klobuchar is my second place candidate, although the gap between her and Senator Warren is quite large, and I’m glad Warren is well ahead of Klubochar. We donated to both of these candidates, mostly to Warren, who seems a mile ahead of every other candidate in terms of abilities and policy beliefs.

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