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You are here: Home / Past Elections / 2020 Elections / Election Year Open Thread: The Vast Mystery of Elizabeth Warren

Election Year Open Thread: The Vast Mystery of Elizabeth Warren

by Anne Laurie|  February 24, 20206:28 pm| 252 Comments

This post is in: 2020 Elections, A Woman's Place Is In The House, Open Threads, Warren for President 2020, Daydream Believers

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To win, you moron. https://t.co/TkcgVQHBKg

— Julia Rosen (@juliarosen) February 24, 2020

I clicked the link, so you don’t have to. She’s picking on Mike Bloomberg! Doesn’t she know how much money he has?!?

… Beginning five days ago at the ninth presidential debate — this one in Las Vegas ahead of the state’s caucuses last Saturday — Warren has made it her mission to savage the billionaire businessman (and former mayor of New York City) at every turn.

“I’d like to talk about who we’re running against,” she said in that debate. “A billionaire who calls women fat broads and horse-faced lesbians, and no I’m not talking about Donald Trump, I’m talking about Mayor Bloomberg.”

Which is a sick burn! And made some sense for Warren to do, because Bloomberg was surging in national polling and there was a concerted effort at that debate to slow him down! Except that Warren has kept it up, even in the wake of Sanders’ crushing victory in Nevada, a win that has made plain that he is now the favorite be the Democratic standard-bearer against President Donald Trump this fall.

Asked directly by reporters Sunday night whether Sanders is a risky nominee for the Democratic Party, Warren said this: “I think Michael Bloomberg is the riskiest candidate.” Interrupted by another reporter to note that the question was about Sanders, not Bloomberg, Warren replied “I heard you,” before continuing on in her attack against the former New York City mayor…

Why ignore a chance to attack the front-runner in favor of hitting someone who won’t even appear on the ballot until March 3? Especially what that front-runner is harvesting the very voting bloc — liberals — that Warren needs to start reclaiming if she wants to have a chance at relevance after finishing third, fourth and fourth in the first three votes of 2020?…

Because Cillizza is a sexist as well as a professional moron, he has two possible answers: Either Warren’s just out to destroy Bloomberg personally, because she hates rich people, like the nutty elitist Harvard professor lady-person she is; or else she’s “angling” to be Bernie Sanders’ vice president, because it’s her only chance of getting on the ballot. Hey, it’s not like she’s running a real campaign, is it?

Watching Chris ‘Mad Bitcher’ Cillizza swallow his own tongue, live & on camera, would absolutely make the celebration of Warren’s nomination even more joyful.

Warren, in a line that is probably also directed at Bernie Sanders:

"I am not in this fight to talk about change. I am in this fight to make change."

— Molly Hensley-Clancy (@mollyhc) February 23, 2020

FWIW I think Warren has cracked this code, if people would follow her lead. Her issue is *corruption* and the anti-corruption measures that have to go into effect to get things like health care/climate action.

That's agenda, but also a referendum. https://t.co/SLhsHiIO3b

— Mike Caulfield (@holden) February 23, 2020

Another heartwarmer (from a virology-related twitter feed, in case you’re wondering who science people stan):

This is one of the most heartwarming, real, sincere and fantastic personal endorsements of @ewarren I’ve read. It speaks to Warren’s unshakable values and the depth of her humanity—the small ways she recognizes peoples’ struggles and touches their lives.https://t.co/BJwdVVrEeN pic.twitter.com/ywlqpROPTm

— Jeff Yang (@originalspin) February 15, 2020

Extremely entertaining, but NSFW:

Elizabeth-Warren-dot-you-just-got-knocked-the-fuck-out-dot-org now redirects to Elizabeth Warren's campaign website https://t.co/xCbFJPXIrj

— ryan teague beckwith (@ryanbeckwith) February 24, 2020

I can definitely feel @ewarren’s debate momentum here in San Diego tonight.

Super Tuesday is right around the corner, and these folks are ready to dream big and fight hard. pic.twitter.com/3EqoLqfh7K

— Julián Castro (@JulianCastro) February 23, 2020

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Next Post: Election Year Open Thread: Harry Reid Now Wants to End Caucuses »

Reader Interactions

252Comments

  1. 1.

    mrmoshpotato

    February 24, 2020 at 6:32 pm

    Oh Cillizza. You stupid, stupid man.

  2. 2.

    WhatsMyNym

    February 24, 2020 at 6:32 pm

    I just voted for her in the WA primary. The ballots went out the end of last week. Of course they won’t be counted until March 10 which is the official day of the primary.

  3. 3.

    JPL

    February 24, 2020 at 6:39 pm

    I thought she moved to far left with her Medicare for all, rather than choice. When she showed how much it would cost, she started losing votes. Sanders just talks about how easy it is all gonna be. If Warren had challenged him to come up with numbers, she might have received more votes. Her base is Bernie’s base but she hasn’t shown why she’s move qualified. Just my opinion

  4. 4.

    joel hanes

    February 24, 2020 at 6:39 pm

    @mrmoshpotato: 

    That’s his brand.

  5. 5.

    Archon

    February 24, 2020 at 6:42 pm

    I support Warren but I honestly don’t see a path forward for her winning the nomination besides maybe as a “unity candidate” in a contested convention.

  6. 6.

    mrmoshpotato

    February 24, 2020 at 6:43 pm

    @joel hanes: I know Joel.  I know.  Trying to challenge Jim Hoft to be the Stupidest Man on the Internet.

  7. 7.

    guachi

    February 24, 2020 at 6:43 pm

    If Warren doesn’t go after Sanders by name tonight what she’s telling me is she’s not running to win. If she’s not running to win she should leave the race to someone who is.

    I’m just one donor, but I’m not going to give more money to a candidate running to come in second place.

  8. 8.

    Butter Emails

    February 24, 2020 at 6:45 pm

    @JPL:

    1. Her base isn’t Bernie’s. Her challenge is to get all the people who think she’d be a great 2nd choice to pick her 1st.

    2. Her M4A specifics probably had little to do with her decline in the polls. There simply is and was not enough people paying attention to policy specifics either way. It was the media pile on that sunk her poll numbers.

  9. 9.

    Mary G

    February 24, 2020 at 6:46 pm

    There was a series that was really popular several years ago that I got super invested in, and every now and then, I think of how terrible the finale was and still get pissed about it.— Charlotte Clymer ?️‍? (@cmclymer) February 24, 2020

    After a bunch of people wanted to know what the series was, Charlotte said she would only name it if people donated $10,000 to Warren in her name by midnight last night. She didn’t make it, she made $27,000!

  10. 10.

    Kent

    February 24, 2020 at 6:47 pm

    @WhatsMyNym: My WA ballot is sitting on my kitchen counter.  I was going to wait but fuck it.   I’m putting it in the mail tomorrow for Warren too.  If Sanders wins here in WA I don’t honestly think it really matters how the anti-Sanders vote is distributed.  Sometimes you just have to vote your heart and not game-plan everything out in 3-dimensional chess.

  11. 11.

    Betty Cracker

    February 24, 2020 at 6:47 pm

    Just want to preemptively say that Warren shouldn’t have surrendered her personal agency to Bernie Sanders if she wanted to win…so the next two dozen commenters who want to write some version of that sentiment maybe won’t? Hahaha, of course they will!

  12. 12.

    TS (the original)

    February 24, 2020 at 6:48 pm

    @mrmoshpotato:

     

    Too many stupid men & sadly they will convince too many other stupid men (& a few women).

  13. 13.

    Yutsano

    February 24, 2020 at 6:48 pm

    @Mary G: So for those of us that can’t view Twitter at work…

  14. 14.

    Kent

    February 24, 2020 at 6:48 pm

    @Mary G: What was the series then?

  15. 15.

    patrick II

    February 24, 2020 at 6:50 pm

    @mrmoshpotato:

    Being the keen observer of the obvious that I am, but that Cillizzila clearly isn’t, I will just point out that Warren was running in the presidential primaries long before Bloomberg entered the race.   I am not sure what Cillizza thinks she was doing during that time, but he probably only sees women in the context of their trying to obstruct the natural rights of the rich men he loves so much, so she was probably invisible to him.

  16. 16.

    Eolirin

    February 24, 2020 at 6:50 pm

    @JPL: She presented more than just the M4A proposal, including things that can be done purely via executive order. That shows she’s serious about the issue and has put a lot of thought into it.

    Healthcare access is a legitimate and huge problem in this country. I think it’s easy to criticize her positioning on this after the fact, given the way her polling dropped, but I think what she has presented represents the right mix of idealist positioning, which you do need  because if no one is pushing for things we never get them, coupled with pragmatic realism about how things actually get done.

    That’s not what the media reporting focused on of course. If our media was more interested in substance, this would be a very different conversation.

  17. 17.

    PJ

    February 24, 2020 at 6:54 pm

    @JPL: Bernie’s base seems to be about 15% of Democratic voters – that’s what it was for most of last year.  Those people are not Warren’s base – they will never probably never vote for anyone who isn’t Bernie.  If she is going to win, she has to pick up more votes in the center, which means getting them from Biden, Klobuchar, Steyer, and Buttigieg (who seems to be the one most former Warren supporters have migrated to).

    The bottom line is that most voters don’t make their choice based on ideology or policies, but on “feel” – how much they like the candidate, which is as much about personality, style, history, skin color, and not least, whether they are a man or a woman, as anything.

  18. 18.

    Kent

    February 24, 2020 at 6:55 pm

    Warren isn’t the logical VP choice for Sanders.  The local VP choice would be a younger and more centrist candidate who he can turn loose to campaign in the rust belt or maybe Florida.  Maybe a Klobuchar.  Or some wild card candidate like a Val Demings who is a very badass black woman with an amazing biography but more of a centrist.

    What Warren is, I think, is the only one of the current candidates who has a chance of unifying both wings of the party at this point.   Not to mention the fact that she is easily the best choice on the merits to actually run the government and expunge the stench of Trumpism from the executive branch.

  19. 19.

    Mary G

    February 24, 2020 at 6:57 pm

    @Yutsano: @Kent: Girls. I never saw it. Neither had all of the commenters guessing before the end, except one.

  20. 20.

    Baud

    February 24, 2020 at 6:57 pm

    She should shout more. And have a heart attack.

  21. 21.

    Butter Emails

    February 24, 2020 at 6:57 pm

    @guachi:

    If Warren doesn’t go after Sanders by name tonight what she’s telling me is she’s not running to win. If she’s not running to win she should leave the race to someone who is.

    Warren doesn’t need to go after Sanders. The three B’s will do that.

  22. 22.

    Eolirin

    February 24, 2020 at 6:58 pm

    @Kent: I’m not sure Bernie can pick a centrist without being viewed as a traitor by the hardest core of his base. Though maybe the double standard they apply is strong enough to withstand it.

  23. 23.

    Betty Cracker

    February 24, 2020 at 6:59 pm

    @Butter Emails: Yep. Tomorrow’s debate is going to be lit!

  24. 24.

    Marcopolo

    February 24, 2020 at 6:59 pm

    @Betty Cracker: It’s as if they have no positive agenda, about anything, to share…

  25. 25.

    Baud

    February 24, 2020 at 6:59 pm

    @Eolirin:

    Given his age and health condition, his people would go crazy if he picked a centrist Veep.

  26. 26.

    Baud

    February 24, 2020 at 7:02 pm

    @Betty Cracker:

    I look forward to the half hour discussion of the candidates’ various health care plans.

  27. 27.

    Roger Moore

    February 24, 2020 at 7:05 pm

    @Eolirin:

    I’m not sure Bernie can pick a centrist without being viewed as a traitor by the hardest core of his base.

    What are they going to do, stay home and let him lose?  The cult-like core will be willing to forgive him anything.

    @Baud:

    Given his age and health condition, his people would go crazy if he picked a centrist Veep.

    For them to freak out about it, they would have to admit he has health problems.  Again, the truly cult-like followers will never allow themselves to admit he has any flaws, since that would undermine their whole rationale for liking him.

  28. 28.

    Chyron HR

    February 24, 2020 at 7:05 pm

    I’m sorry, Bernie Sanders has already declared himself to be not only the Democratic nominee, but the sole arbiter of who is and is not allowed to be a member of the Democratic party.  Please delete your post and write a premature hagiography of President Sanders based on the ridiculous premise that he’s going to keep any of his campaign promises.

  29. 29.

    Betty Cracker

    February 24, 2020 at 7:05 pm

    @Baud: Saw a couple of clips on TV tonight, and I’m alarmed by how frail and sick Sanders looks. There’s a non-zero chance he could be the nominee, and he looks like he could keel over any minute.

  30. 30.

    chopper

    February 24, 2020 at 7:06 pm

    @Kent:

    i’m sorry, that answer is going to cost another 10 grand.

  31. 31.

    Mary G

    February 24, 2020 at 7:07 pm

    It’s getting bad in India:

    Hindutva goons have set New Delhi on fire while chanting, “Jai Sri Ram.”“Preparation for genocide is definitely under way in India,” says Professor Gregory Stanton, Director of Genocide Watch.https://t.co/Cld8qFBPcl pic.twitter.com/335SJ27ALW— CJ Werleman (@cjwerleman) February 24, 2020

    My worst fears for the United States in the Trump era look a lot like India does now https://t.co/Ud1gvEQg0h— John Ganz (@lionel_trolling) February 24, 2020

  32. 32.

    Chris Johnson

    February 24, 2020 at 7:07 pm

    Love her, greatly prefer her to Bernie, only just barely getting over my ‘if he’s the nominee (and picks Gabbard for veep) I will not vote for him’.

    Which is still in place for Bloomberg ‘cos he is that much of a monster, but I won’t necessarily have to worry about that. But I bet he is straight up lying and will not make good on his promises to back the eventual nominee, even if it’s not Sanders.

    Pretty funny how you get snippy with the wrong posters and suddenly they assume you’re stanning for Bernie, rather than ‘almost to the point of refusing to vote for him if he’s the nominee’. I have a feeling that the Dems, including Warren, will have a plan for how to manage him. In the event that it’s even him. Which I hope it isn’t.

  33. 33.

    Mnemosyne

    February 24, 2020 at 7:08 pm

    @Mary G:

    And then, in a plot twist, Warren called her personally to thank her!

    (I didn’t watch the series finale of the show it was because it had pissed me off long before I got to the finale.)

  34. 34.

    chopper

    February 24, 2020 at 7:09 pm

    @Butter Emails:

    well, biden and bloomberg. i expect pete to pull his punches with an eye towards his political future.

  35. 35.

    Citizen Alan

    February 24, 2020 at 7:11 pm

    @Eolirin:  And it’s not just the vice presidency.   I literally cannot imagine who Wilmer would appoint to any cabinet position who could possibly be confirmed by the Senate but who would not be viewed as a betrayal by his own followers.  Who in all of America could he possibly appoint to the position of secretary of defense?!?

  36. 36.

    Eolirin

    February 24, 2020 at 7:12 pm

    @Roger Moore: Yes. A decent enough number of his supporters don’t normally vote and generally hold politics in disdain. I could see them getting disgusted and not voting. Obama had issues with that too.

    I can also see them justifying it to themselves as being necessary so he can win, which would really put lie to the position that his policies are actually popular with the entire electorate and it’s just that the dems aren’t trying hard enough, but cognitive dissonance is a hellva thing.

    So, not so sure how that would play out, though I really hope he’s not the nominee and I don’t have to find out.

  37. 37.

    Librarian

    February 24, 2020 at 7:16 pm

    @Citizen Alan: This is why I can’t conceive of him as president.  I cannot picture him in the oval office or in the situation room dealing with a foreign crisis. He is totally incapable of it.

  38. 38.

    Kent

    February 24, 2020 at 7:17 pm

    @Eolirin:@Kent: I’m not sure Bernie can pick a centrist without being viewed as a traitor by the hardest core of his base. Though maybe the double standard they apply is strong enough to withstand it.

    They may whine on twitter.  But every damn one of them will vote for him no matter who the VP is.  He knows that.  If he actually wants to win and not go down in history as the damn socialist who lost to Trump because he was too damn stubborn then he will have to think long and hard about how he expands his coalition.  The VP pick is the most obvious way to do that.  Words are cheap, deeds matter.

  39. 39.

    Mike in NC

    February 24, 2020 at 7:17 pm

    Senators Harris, Klobuchar, and Gillibrand knew how to dress well. Senator Warren looks like a small town librarian in those dreadful outfits that emphasize how thin she is. I like her but doubt she could go one-on-one with Fat Bastard and his deplorable mouth breathers, and if she tried the media would quickly label her “an angry woman” like they did Secretary Clinton. They are dead set on coronating Bernie Sanders.

  40. 40.

    Kent

    February 24, 2020 at 7:18 pm

    @Baud:

    @Betty Cracker:

    I look forward to the half hour discussion of the candidates’ various health care plans.

    FTFY

  41. 41.

    JPL

    February 24, 2020 at 7:19 pm

    Warren is more than qualified and is the brightest of the bunch, but she is the one that needed to convince people.   I still think when she declared that she Medicare 4 all that hurt her, but I’d have to look at the date.   She was actually ahead for a short while  She should have challenged Bernie sooner.

  42. 42.

    CliosFanBoy

    February 24, 2020 at 7:20 pm

    @Mary G: what is “Byline Times”???

  43. 43.

    Butter Emails

    February 24, 2020 at 7:20 pm

    @Eolirin:

    I’m not sure Bernie can pick a centrist without being viewed as a traitor by the hardest core of his base. Though maybe the double standard they apply is strong enough to withstand it.

    Anyone picked by Bernie will automatically have the centrist berned from him/her/they and be deemed pure by Bernie’s  supporters. This happened multiple times in previous election cycles where less progressive candidates ran under Bernie’s banner or got on board the Bernie Train.

  44. 44.

    Mnemosyne

    February 24, 2020 at 7:21 pm

    @Betty Cracker:

    He’s not my favorite candidate, but the last thing I want is for him to drop dead on the campaign trail. I hope someone cares enough about him to get him home to Vermont so he can get some rest.

  45. 45.

    Brachiator

    February 24, 2020 at 7:21 pm

    @Kent:

    Warren isn’t the logical VP choice for Sanders.  The local VP choice would be a younger and more centrist candidate who he can turn loose to campaign in the rust belt or maybe Florida.

    I have no idea what Sanders might do, but I don’t know if he cares about appealing to centrists at all.

    What Warren is, I think, is the only one of the current candidates who has a chance of unifying both wings of the party at this point.   Not to mention the fact that she is easily the best choice on the merits to actually run the government and expunge the stench of Trumpism from the executive branch.

    I think that any of the candidates could do a credible job, but I am leaning towards Warren as my primary pick.

  46. 46.

    Kent

    February 24, 2020 at 7:22 pm

    @JPL:Warren is more than qualified and is the brightest of the bunch, but she is the one that needed to convince people.   I still think when she declared that she Medicare 4 all that hurt her, but I’d have to look at the date.   She was actually ahead for a short while  She should have challenged Bernie sooner.

    I think she has the right strategy.  The chance of her peeling off Sanders supporters is a LOT LOT lower than the chance of her scooping up Biden/Klobuchar/Buttigieg/Bloomberg/Steyer supporters as they all fade away.

    And if she starts to rise in the polls and look more viable then I think she may be able to pull off some of the more ambivalent Sanders supporters.

  47. 47.

    Chyron HR

    February 24, 2020 at 7:23 pm

    @Citizen Alan:

    Say hello to Acting SecDef (spins wheel) Levi Sanders.

  48. 48.

    Kent

    February 24, 2020 at 7:25 pm

    @Mike in NC: I’m not seeing what you are seeing.  She is pretty much always in a red or blue blazer which is about as mainstream female candidate as you can get:

    https://www.google.com/search?q=elizabeth+warren&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS737US737&sxsrf=ALeKk00jRnLkr-6HB4TNcnUlqJQL726WXA:1582590199767&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjWjbr1t-vnAhVBKDQIHYuLB_IQ_AUoAnoECBwQBA&biw=2133&bih=1042

  49. 49.

    JPL

    February 24, 2020 at 7:25 pm

    @Mike in NC: geez.. Now I have to critique clothes when watching the debate tomorrow..   If I have time after I compare the policies, maybe but unlikely.

  50. 50.

    Mnemosyne

    February 24, 2020 at 7:25 pm

    @Kent:

    I think that several candidates (including Warren) were hoping to peel off Bernie’s supporters, but his core constituency literally will not vote for anyone else and claims that any other candidate who has policies that are similar to Bernie’s policies is a copycat.

    They need Hillary’s voters, not Bernie’s.

  51. 51.

    mrmoshpotato

    February 24, 2020 at 7:27 pm

    @Citizen Alan: His supporters will let him know who to nominate for his cabinet.  Just like they’ll tell him what his policy plans should be once he’s in office.

  52. 52.

    JPL

    February 24, 2020 at 7:29 pm

    @Mnemosyne: Then why treat them with kid gloves?   I don’t get it.  Bernie is able to just spew bullshit unchallenged.   He won’t release his medical forms.  He won’t say how he pays for anything?   He won’t even justify his reason for running.   He’s an angry old white guy who yells at clouds to get off his lawn.

  53. 53.

    Eolirin

    February 24, 2020 at 7:33 pm

    @Mnemosyne: This is the kind of thing that really gets me.

    Warren, policies and political instincts aside, is genuine, warm, and most importantly kind. It’s the small things like that that really show that’s its just part of who she is. Hillary was like that too. I think it’s even a core part of Biden’s appeal.

    How the hell are we, as a country, not embracing that over the alternative all the damn time? Why is it always a razor’s edge at best?

  54. 54.

    guachi

    February 24, 2020 at 7:34 pm

    If I were on stage I’d say something like “We don’t need to talk about candidates’ health care plans, we need to talk about candidates’ health” and then go after Sanders for lying about releasing his medical records. “We’ll get Sanders’ medical records about the same time we’ll get Trump’s taxes. Never.”

  55. 55.

    Kent

    February 24, 2020 at 7:35 pm

    @Citizen Alan:@Eolirin:  And it’s not just the vice presidency.   I literally cannot imagine who Wilmer would appoint to any cabinet position who could possibly be confirmed by the Senate but who would not be viewed as a betrayal by his own followers.  Who in all of America could he possibly appoint to the position of secretary of defense?!?

    Honestly that is the LEAST of my worries when it comes to Sanders.  Let’s cross that bridge when we get there.   I expect he would appoint pretty mainstream Democrats because there aren’t any other choices.  And Sanders does actually want to govern, not burn the place down like Trump.  For Secretary of Defense I can see him appointing his Senate colleague Tammy Duckworth who is actually currently on the Senate Arms Services Committee and would be replaced by a Democrat in the Senate.  You don’t think she can get through the Senate confirmation process?  You think Murkowski is going to vote AGAINST her?

  56. 56.

    Mnemosyne

    February 24, 2020 at 7:36 pm

    @JPL:

    Because they’re disruptive 4Chan assholes who harass anyone who disagrees with them into oblivion. People are trying to get them to ease back into obscurity.

    Plus WAY too many journalists love the whole “let’s burn it all down!” narrative. Governing and laws are BOOORRRRRING and they don’t want to have to talk about them. Bernie is fun to talk about because his supporters and staffers are thin-skinned assholes who give a lot of great quotes.

    And THEN you get to the subconscious white supremacy where a bunch of young white men (and some women) are pissed off about their social and economic positions but don’t have the tools to deal with that anger constructively.

  57. 57.

    Butter Emails

    February 24, 2020 at 7:36 pm

    @Mike in NC:

    Weird jump from “I don’t like the way she dresses” to “I don’t think she can go toe to toe with a 370 lb pile of Tang in an ill fitting suit.”

     

  58. 58.

    CliosFanBoy

    February 24, 2020 at 7:37 pm

    @Eolirin: AMEN!!!!!!!!

  59. 59.

    guachi

    February 24, 2020 at 7:39 pm

    I just got a text from Warren’s campaign saying “Team Warren hit our $7M fundraising goal 2x over”. A goal, as I recall, I said she’d never make.

  60. 60.

    TS (the original)

    February 24, 2020 at 7:40 pm

    @Mike in NC:

    And will there be a conversation as to how the male candidates dress? Sounds just like all the attacks on those pant suits.

    Your comment is why women can’t have nice things – ever.

  61. 61.

    Mnemosyne

    February 24, 2020 at 7:40 pm

    @Eolirin:

    IMO, we still have a cultural delusion that the way to get people to do stuff is by yelling at them. Modern psychology tells us that yelling and abuse is actually the LEAST effective way to get people to be productive and accomplish tasks, but we still believe it as a society. We still believe deep in our hearts that nothing will get done unless someone continually screams at us.

  62. 62.

    dexwood

    February 24, 2020 at 7:42 pm

    @Butter Emails: My first thought,too.

     

    Maybe she should dress like Melania. //s

  63. 63.

    Betty Cracker

    February 24, 2020 at 7:45 pm

    @Butter Emails: Thank you. ?

  64. 64.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    February 24, 2020 at 7:46 pm

    @Mnemosyne: Bernie’s core is about 15%, he’s getting more than than that in the contests so far.  If Sen. Warren can’t fight Bernie Sanders, how can she take on Donald Trump?

  65. 65.

    Ruckus

    February 24, 2020 at 7:48 pm

    @Betty Cracker:

    Any of us can keel over at any minute. BS is just more likely to than most of the commenters here on BJ. His age and general health puts him in the more likely category.

  66. 66.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    February 24, 2020 at 7:50 pm

    I’m glad that I’ve decided to completely avoid the whole drama and keep my eyes on the prize, Trump out of power and any fucking Democrat in his place. Warren has been (and still is) my choice but I’ll vote for Satan if he swoops in and wins the primary. That said, I’m really sick of Bernie and it’s only getting worse the more he talks.

    Also, someone needs to tell him to stand up and pull his shoulders back a bit. That or get a walker.

  67. 67.

    Citizen Alan

    February 24, 2020 at 7:52 pm

    @mrmoshpotato:

    Yes, but those nominees still have to be approved by a senate that at best will be 52 to 48 on the side of democrats. Are they all completely oblivious to the fact that Joe Manchin may have veto power over all of President Wilmer’s nominees?

  68. 68.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    February 24, 2020 at 7:54 pm

    @Citizen Alan:

    Are they all completely oblivious…

    Yes.

  69. 69.

    joel hanes

    February 24, 2020 at 7:55 pm

    I’m told that if Sanders gets the nomination, and wins, his replacement in the Senate will be selected by the current governor of Vermont.

    Who [checks notes] is a Republican.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Scott_(politician)

     

    Does Massachusetts do a special election if Warren wins?

    Because the governor of Massachusetts is [checks notes] a Republican.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Baker

  70. 70.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    February 24, 2020 at 7:56 pm

    @Mnemosyne:

    IMO, we still have a cultural delusion that the way to get people to do stuff is by yelling at them.

    I FAIL TO SEE A PROBLEM HERE.

  71. 71.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    February 24, 2020 at 7:58 pm

    @joel hanes:

    Does Massachusetts do a special election if Warren wins?

    Yes.  Gov. Baker would choose an interim  Senator and then a special election would be held(I think within 150 days).

  72. 72.

    guachi

    February 24, 2020 at 8:01 pm

    @joel hanes: Massachusetts and Vermont have special elections. 145-160 days for Masachusetts and 180 days for Vermont. Vermont also has a governor’s race this year, though I doubt the Republican will lose. If I were either Warren or Sanders and it was June and I had the nomination locked up I’d immediately resign so the special election was held on election day.

  73. 73.

    Another Scott

    February 24, 2020 at 8:04 pm

    @guachi: “Predictions are hard – especially about the future.”

    ;-)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  74. 74.

    Ruckus

    February 24, 2020 at 8:05 pm

    @Mnemosyne:

    He’ll be out there with a broomstick taped to his back if necessary to keep him from falling over. And his diehard supporters will still think he’s the best candidate ever.

  75. 75.

    mrmoshpotato

    February 24, 2020 at 8:05 pm

    @Citizen Alan: Sorry, should’ve used the snark font.

  76. 76.

    joel hanes

    February 24, 2020 at 8:06 pm

    @guachi:

    Thanks for correcting my misconception about Vermont.

    I was misinformed.

  77. 77.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    February 24, 2020 at 8:08 pm

    @Ruckus: Weekend at Bernie’s Part IV.

  78. 78.

    Jay

    February 24, 2020 at 8:10 pm

    I love all the faint mysogeny that bubbles up in comments about Elizabeth Warren , Senator Professor, “She Persisted”,

    Somebody reliable,( Krugmann???Reich???) costed out her M4A Plan.

    Something like $10.4 billion,

    Which is exactly what is currently spent by Americans, the Government , and Employers on the crappy system you currently have that far too many Americans have no access to.

    I’ve started a “Draft Warren” Campaign in Canada, in case youguys decide you don’t want her. She would make an excellent Canadian “centerist” Prime Minister, and would easily be our second female Prime Minister.

  79. 79.

    Chyron HR

    February 24, 2020 at 8:12 pm

    @guachi:

    If I were either Warren or Sanders and it was June and I had the nomination locked up I’d immediately resign so the special election was held on election day.

    While it would be funny for Sanders to resign his seat and then lose the election, I suppose he’d just blame THE ESTABLISHMENT for his hubris.

  80. 80.

    Baud

    February 24, 2020 at 8:12 pm

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    There was a Part III?

  81. 81.

    Ruckus

    February 24, 2020 at 8:14 pm

    @TS (the original):

    There was a tweet or on here I can’t remember and don’t care, the other day about AOC wearing a designer dress to something and so it goes both ways. Too easy going and comfortable or too high priced. BTW a woman posted that the dress was on sale in a chain store and listed at just over $500 but on sale for just over $200. It’s like a tan suit is the end of the fucking world. It’s bullshit when they don’t have anything else to pick on someone. And it seems excessive to me but I wear shorts and tee shirts or jeans and tee shirts. I really don’t care what anyone wears except that trump women seem to wear only ugly that is way over priced.

  82. 82.

    Roger Moore

    February 24, 2020 at 8:16 pm

    @Mnemosyne:

    I hope someone cares enough about him to get him home to Vermont so he can get some rest.

    Good luck with that. One of the worst things about his campaign is that he’s surrounded himself with a bunch of people who don’t care about him as a human being.  They’re either grifters who care mostly about their next payday or cultists who see him as the only solution to all our problems.  They’ll never consider what’s good for him for a moment.

  83. 83.

    Marcopolo

    February 24, 2020 at 8:18 pm

    Just to change the subject a lil bit. Can we all take a sec to jeer the Bloomberg campaign for whinging about vandalism at their newly opened Flint, MI office:

    “Eat the Rich”Our office in Flint, MIAmerica deserves better. pic.twitter.com/ar5jKPmIJs— Team Bloomberg (@Mike2020) February 24, 2020

    Said vandalism is a poster board that says “Eat the Rich” taped, yes I said taped, to a window. It’s not like Bloomberg helped elect the MI governor who oversaw the entire Flint lead in the drinking water crisis (editor notes: oops, yes, yes he did).

    Can’t make this shit up.

  84. 84.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    February 24, 2020 at 8:19 pm

    @Baud: Bernie’s run in 2016.

  85. 85.

    Roger Moore

    February 24, 2020 at 8:22 pm

    @Eolirin:

    Warren, policies and political instincts aside, is genuine, warm, and most importantly kind. It’s the small things like that that really show that’s its just part of who she is. Hillary was like that too. I think it’s even a core part of Biden’s appeal.

    How the hell are we, as a country, not embracing that over the alternative all the damn time? Why is it always a razor’s edge at best?

    Because we’ve been sold politics as civil war by other means.  For all we talk about candidates as unifiers, we’ve been taught that politics is a struggle for dominance, not a search for mutually acceptable solutions.  The only logical conclusion is that campaigning is about dominance, and the strongest candidate must be the one who is capable of dominating the other party.

  86. 86.

    John Revolta

    February 24, 2020 at 8:23 pm

    @Citizen Alan: Are you fucking kidding me? We have to worry about Senate confirmation after the way Trumpf threw the whole process in the crapper? Fuck that. “Acting” everybody, until we can get that particular loophole closed and/or we don’t need it ourselves.

  87. 87.

    Roger Moore

    February 24, 2020 at 8:28 pm

    @Ruckus:

    Too easy going and comfortable or too high priced.

    Rule #1: whatever a Democrat is doing is wrong.  It is unnecessary to say what the right thing is, but what they’re doing is wrong.  If you do say what the right thing is and they change their position to match what you said, this is proof that they’re flip-floppers.

  88. 88.

    Geminid

    February 24, 2020 at 8:29 pm

    A friend was expressing his fear of Sanders voters not voting for the nominee if he loses. I told him I divided Sanders voters into three groups: 1) the hard core, who will vote for no one else. Vociferous, but not numerous. 2) the soft core, caught up in the “movement,” but open minded enough that many will vote for another nominee. More numerous than the hard core. 3) Democratic voters who see things differently than me. I think this group includes almost all of his votes over 10%, and they will vote for a nominee besides Sanders. Of course, his delegates will come out of groups 1 and 2, and will be trouble at the convention.

  89. 89.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    February 24, 2020 at 8:29 pm

    Warren did an outstanding job cutting down Pete and Bloomberg, now she has to go after Wilmer.

    I mean, when you get 9% of the vote in NH and 11% of the vote in Nevada, you have nothing to lose.

    Disqualifying him won’t break his core vote, but atleast it will prevent it from growing and scare straight the Wilmer-curious.

  90. 90.

    Kattails

    February 24, 2020 at 8:35 pm

    @Eolirin: Hugs to you for that, if it’s not too intrusive into your personal space :)

    I mean, JHC, I saw a guy in a hat that said “Trump no bullshit” and wanted to scream at him, “he’s 150% bullshit you jackass”. Every time I’ve seen Warren, in person or on video, she’s focussed and she’s real and compassionate. What’s the deal with someone seeming to object about how thin she is? She’s healthy, eats well, has tons of energy. Maybe she’d inspire some of our young people to take better care of themselves. I’m sure she’ll be able to scare up some nice clothes for the inauguration & for meeting foreign dignitaries.

  91. 91.

    Baud

    February 24, 2020 at 8:35 pm

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Horrible flick.

  92. 92.

    Dave

    February 24, 2020 at 8:38 pm

    @Ruckus:

    Gives new life to “Weekend at Bernie’s”

  93. 93.

    joel hanes

    February 24, 2020 at 8:39 pm

    @Kattails:

    Last time I was in an airport men’s room, there on the wall was a “Trump: No more bullshit” sticker.

    The maker used a tough adhesive, but the edge of my housekey, vigorously applied, was enough to scratch it off the tile in fairly short order.

  94. 94.

    oldgold

    February 24, 2020 at 8:42 pm

    Warren is where she is because her campaign from the get-go to the present has been tactically challenged.

  95. 95.

    Amir Khalid

    February 24, 2020 at 8:42 pm

    @Kattails:

    What’s the deal with someone seeming to object about how thin she is? She’s healthy, eats well, has tons of energy.

    Consider that many who hate Elizabeth Warren for these things are themselves fat, unhealthy, eat a poor diet, and are lethargic. It’s just one more thing to resent her for.

  96. 96.

    Eolirin

    February 24, 2020 at 8:44 pm

    @Kattails: Always happy for hugs :)

  97. 97.

    HalfAssedHomesteader

    February 24, 2020 at 8:45 pm

    @Citizen Alan: sec of def? Dennis Kucinich, obviously.

  98. 98.

    Patricia Kayden

    February 24, 2020 at 8:45 pm

    Immigrants who fear getting kicked out of the U.S. are dropping social services they're entitled to as Trump administration rules take effect, advocates say. The government says the limits on public benefits will make them more self-sufficient. https://t.co/OI8F8yQoHf— The Associated Press (@AP) February 25, 2020

  99. 99.

    Baud

    February 24, 2020 at 8:45 pm

    Chris Hayes is doing a little ad for Bernie’s electability.

  100. 100.

    jl

    February 24, 2020 at 8:46 pm

    I support Warren, so I take no pleasure in saying this, but Warren’s campaign has been in troubled waters for a while: not getting enough votes in primaries and caucuses. So, with all due respect to Cillizza, she might be preoccupied with trying to keep her campaign going, and having it be taken seriously, and to get back in the race as a widely perceived potential winner.  And get back in the news, since (from what I have seen) is the major candidate who is given the least coverage, unless corporate media is forced to

    Going after Bloomberg was the best short term strategy to appeal to likely new supporters and get in the news quick.  Warren may also think that several of her opponents would be a disaster, but chose to go after Bloomberg,  who she thought would be easiest one to seriously damage at the next available opportunity.

    Cillizza cannot imagine a non-cynical non-horse-race explanation.

  101. 101.

    Baud

    February 24, 2020 at 8:47 pm

    @jl:

    with all due respect to Cillizza

    That would be no respect.

  102. 102.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    February 24, 2020 at 8:49 pm

    We’re not looking to keep Pelosi because there’s a progressive running against her who supports Medicare for All and the Green New Deal among other things. Check out @ShahidForChange at https://t.co/g293QvlKFB and vote by March 3rd. https://t.co/6G8MWfUzIP

    — Susan Sarandon (@SusanSarandon) February 23, 2020

    Funny how the Sanders/Sarandon ticket is more focused on ousting NancySmash than McConnell.

    This has-been actress who has never won an election, who has never accomplished any political legislation, speaks of Pelosi as if she was a groundskeeper at one of Sarandon’s country clubs.

    Disgusting.

    And then Sanders’s supporters wonder why he’s polarizing.

  103. 103.

    jl

    February 24, 2020 at 8:50 pm

    Also, the candidates have a lot more information about what voting blocks support which candidate, what potential voters are considering which candidates to support, what voters will be angered by attacks on this or that opponent.

    So, I don’t second guess who Warren chooses to go after from day to day, or week to week. Warren has repeatedly said she is playing the long game (and now, looks like she has to) I believe that she is doing her best to do just that.

  104. 104.

    jl

    February 24, 2020 at 8:51 pm

    @Baud: Please be civil. I can change that to ‘whatever respect is due to Cillizza’. How does that sound?

  105. 105.

    different-church-lady

    February 24, 2020 at 8:52 pm

    I want to stab this election until it stops moving, and then stab it for another twenty minutes after that.

  106. 106.

    Baud

    February 24, 2020 at 8:53 pm

    @jl: Make it so.

  107. 107.

    Eolirin

    February 24, 2020 at 8:53 pm

    @jl: I think he’s suggesting no respect is the appropriate amount of respect to have for Cillizza?

  108. 108.

    jl

    February 24, 2020 at 8:55 pm

    @oldgold: ” Warren is where she is because her campaign from the get-go to the present has been tactically challenged. “

    I agree, even though I’m a Warren supporter. In retrospect, she didn’t think through how to adequately distinguish herself from Sanders. She probably needed her own signature issue to emphasize. I think the natural choice would be her great corporate reform plan. Without doing that, her anti-corruption slogan has been kind of hanging in the air.

    She got suckered into playing the GOP and centrist Democrat game of obsessing over every penny that her health plan would cost.

    I don’t think that is a knock on Warren. National politics is hard, and she is doing a great job for her first run on the national stage, but it’s her first run on the national stage. Big mistakes will be made, at least by any human candidate.

  109. 109.

    jl

    February 24, 2020 at 8:57 pm

    @Eolirin: Yes Baud is. I wanted to phrase it in a civil way, appropriate the delicate sensibility and fragile ego of a corporate media horse race pundit.

  110. 110.

    topclimber

    February 24, 2020 at 8:57 pm

    @Kent: This can’t be an original idea, but maybe Bernie understands that if he could well die in office or prove incapable of running for a second term.

    Is there anyone he could count on more to carry forth his policies than VP Elizabeth Warren?

    I concede that many will respond that Bernie is too ideological to think this way, or too impressed with himself to think he could actually die, or blah blah scatological blah. Maybe they are right, one and all.

    But if you don’t want your long sought goal of leftward ascendancy to risk being a one and done deal, you pick a heavyweight backup.

  111. 111.

    different-church-lady

    February 24, 2020 at 8:58 pm

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: SCRAM, BUDDY, THIS IS MY BEAT.

  112. 112.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    February 24, 2020 at 8:58 pm

    @jl: I believe the answer would still be none.

  113. 113.

    Citizen Scientist

    February 24, 2020 at 8:59 pm

    Just donated to the Warren campaign and threw in some for the Senate races, and I’m really hoping she’s in until PA’s primary.  Even donated to Doug Jones, since he’s gonna need some money for that race, despite how relatively uncovered it has been to date.  Keep at it Liz!

  114. 114.

    jl

    February 24, 2020 at 9:01 pm

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Very well known that BillinGlendaleCA a rude crude dude on a scale not even imagined by Baud 2020! Hard to believe, but true.

  115. 115.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    February 24, 2020 at 9:02 pm

    @jl:

    I agree, even though I’m a Warren supporter. In retrospect, she didn’t think through how to adequately distinguish herself from Sanders. She probably needed her own signature issue to emphasize. I think the natural choice would be her great corporate reform plan. Without doing that, her anti-corruption slogan has been kind of hanging in the air.

    I agree with you on this.

  116. 116.

    different-church-lady

    February 24, 2020 at 9:02 pm

    @joel hanes: Next time you see one, scratch off only the part that says “No”.

  117. 117.

    trollhattan

    February 24, 2020 at 9:03 pm

    @joel hanes:

    Good work. Failing that, removing the “No” and adding an emphatic exclamation point would have been an appropriate fallback.

  118. 118.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    February 24, 2020 at 9:03 pm

    @jl: I just said something nice about you and you go all Trump-like on me.  Have you no shame?

  119. 119.

    trollhattan

    February 24, 2020 at 9:03 pm

    @different-church-lady: Jinx!

  120. 120.

    gwangung

    February 24, 2020 at 9:03 pm

    @topclimber:

    Well, I think he’s more apt to pick a lightweight that’s going to double down on his ideology; my impression is that he values enthusiasm over administrative or political skills.

    But if you don’t want your long sought goal of leftward ascendancy to risk being a one and done deal, you pick a heavyweight backup.

  121. 121.

    zhena gogolia

    February 24, 2020 at 9:03 pm

    @different-church-lady:

    Great labor-saving idea.

  122. 122.

    Kent

    February 24, 2020 at 9:04 pm

    @David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:

    Funny how the Sanders/Sarandon ticket is more focused on ousting NancySmash than McConnell.

    This has-been actress who has never won an election, who has never accomplished any political legislation, speaks of Pelosi as if she was a groundskeeper at one of Sarandon’s country clubs.

    Disgusting.

    And then Sanders’s supporters wonder why he’s polarizing.

    They are trying to primary Pelosi?   Good luck with that.  Idiots.  click through and look at the clown.  https://shahidforchange.us/ he even has the hipster topknot except that he looks old enough to be a boomer.   He probably isn’t though, just looks like it.  I’m sure she is probably amused by the whole thing.

  123. 123.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    February 24, 2020 at 9:05 pm

    @topclimber:

    Is there anyone he could count on more to carry forth his policies than VP Elizabeth Warren?

    Nina Turner.

  124. 124.

    different-church-lady

    February 24, 2020 at 9:06 pm

    @trollhattan: Great minds think alike. And so do ours.

  125. 125.

    trollhattan

    February 24, 2020 at 9:06 pm

    Holy shit, a Wilmer thread by Lemieux at LGM is most of the way to a triple-TBogg.

    “I tell you [wags finger] I am not divisive!

  126. 126.

    Kent

    February 24, 2020 at 9:07 pm

    @topclimber:

    @Kent: This can’t be an original idea, but maybe Bernie understands that if he could well die in office or prove incapable of running for a second term.

    Is there anyone he could count on more to carry forth his policies than VP Elizabeth Warren?

    I concede that many will respond that Bernie is too ideological to think this way, or too impressed with himself to think he could actually die, or blah blah scatological blah. Maybe they are right, one and all.

    But if you don’t want your long sought goal of leftward ascendancy to risk being a one and done deal, you pick a heavyweight backup.

    Your logic assumes, all evidence to the contrary, that Sanders isn’t a narcissist.  If he actually cared about secession he would have built more of a bench than he has.  What is his current bench?  AOC?  Anyone else?

  127. 127.

    trollhattan

    February 24, 2020 at 9:07 pm

    @different-church-lady:

    Heh :)

    IRA gud thinkerer.

  128. 128.

    J R in WV

    February 24, 2020 at 9:07 pm

    deleted

  129. 129.

    WaterGirl

    February 24, 2020 at 9:10 pm

    In case anyone is interested, there is some new information in Balloon Juice News under Featuring in the sidebar.  If you’re on mobile, it’s in the hamburger.

  130. 130.

    topclimber

    February 24, 2020 at 9:10 pm

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:  I should have added the modifier “successfully.” Nina Turner without Berrnie will not move the ball forward. EW will.

  131. 131.

    WaterGirl

    February 24, 2020 at 9:10 pm

    @J R in WV: Did your mom say that if you couldn’t say anything nice, you shouldn’t say anything at all? :-)

  132. 132.

    Ruckus

    February 24, 2020 at 9:10 pm

    @Roger Moore:

    What’s your point?

    OK snark aside (who agreed to that?) I agree.

    What’s the old saying:

    If you have the facts on your side, pound the facts. If you have the law on your side, pound the law. If you have neither on your side, pound the table.”

    republicans have taken this a bit too far of course, their line is something like:

    If you have the facts on your side, pound the facts. If you have the truth  on your side, pound the truth. If you have neither on your side, yell about bullshit.”

    The are in phase 3 with every issue they hold dear, because they are lying about what they hold dear, which is money.

  133. 133.

    joel hanes

    February 24, 2020 at 9:11 pm

    @different-church-lady:

    Yah, snark, but it’s not in me to leave a sticker bearing that name defacing a public wall.   Also, in the moment, fury and disgust had pretty much displaced wit.

  134. 134.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    February 24, 2020 at 9:12 pm

    @WaterGirl:

    it’s in the hamburger.

    You spelled hambender wrong.

  135. 135.

    WaterGirl

    February 24, 2020 at 9:12 pm

    I love this:

    Interrupted by another reporter to note that the question was about Sanders, not Bloomberg, Warren replied “I heard you,” before continuing on in her attack against the former New York City mayor…

  136. 136.

    Kent

    February 24, 2020 at 9:13 pm

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Nina Turner isn’t VP material.  Maybe chief of staff which might be worse on a day-to-day basis.  But she’s not VP material.  What is she?  a 2-term Ohio state senator who crashed and burned much worse than Buttigieg when she ran state-wide in Ohio?   She brings nothing to the ticket.  He’d never appoint her if he actually wanted to win.  Warren either I don’t think.  He needs to hold down every centrist Dem and Independent vote to beat Trump and I’m pretty sure he actually does want to beat Trump.

    He could make her chief of staff which isn’t something you appoint until AFTER then election.  That could be worse in the sense that chief of staff has a real control over access to the president.  Or give her some big cabinet job like HHS.

  137. 137.

    WaterGirl

    February 24, 2020 at 9:13 pm

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: I actually spelled it hamburder by mistake, and then corrected it.  Maybe I should have left it.

  138. 138.

    zhena gogolia

    February 24, 2020 at 9:13 pm

    @WaterGirl:

    My husband is in love!

  139. 139.

    Ruckus

    February 24, 2020 at 9:14 pm

    Dave:

     

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: beat you to it. He used a snarky enough comment of course so it was easy to miss.

  140. 140.

    different-church-lady

    February 24, 2020 at 9:15 pm

    @Kent:

    Nina Turner isn’t VP material.

    Bernie isn’t P material. Ain’t stopping him, is it?

  141. 141.

    Ruckus

    February 24, 2020 at 9:15 pm

    @joel hanes:

    To bad you didn’t have a magic marker to change it to

    trump all bullshit.

  142. 142.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    February 24, 2020 at 9:16 pm

    @Kent: Now you have to stop doing this, by this I mean thinking rationally about this.  Cause Bernie doesn’t.

  143. 143.

    jl

    February 24, 2020 at 9:17 pm

    @Ruckus:  I think the Democratic nominee has to be very straightforward, very consistent, no cautious trimming or triangulating this cycle.

    You give an inch and the GOP will take maximum advantage of it, without shame, without regard for contradicting themselves in the same sentence. They’ll have confidence that the corporate media won’t call them on BS.

    Anyone retreats an inch on defending Medicare and Social Security, Trump will have bills going through Congress to gut those programs, while yelling bald face lies that only he can protect social insurance.

  144. 144.

    Ohio Mom

    February 24, 2020 at 9:17 pm

    Ruckus @81: AOC wore an evening party dress to appear on The View. Not at all revealing — it had a high neck — but the fabric was all dark blue sequins.

    In any other fabric, it would be a very simple day dress. If you say it cost $200, that is reasonable for a nice outfit.

    I only know what The View is because the hygienist at my old dentist’s used to play it on the TV above the chair.

    It’s a girly show so I think a girly outfit was fine. People just like to complain about AOC.

    On another note, I sometimes worry about Warren sticking so hard to her uniform.

    I wish she would wear something else to the debates, to show the less imaginative viewers that she is adaptable to circumstances. No, I don’t have much confidence in the average voter.

  145. 145.

    WaterGirl

    February 24, 2020 at 9:18 pm

    @Mary G: It was LOST, right?

  146. 146.

    Ruckus

    February 24, 2020 at 9:19 pm

    @different-church-lady:

    Just to be sure?

    Yeah this campaign started about a year too soon. But then it isn’t close to a normal political season in the US of A.

  147. 147.

    Eolirin

    February 24, 2020 at 9:19 pm

    @Ruckus: They also care about white supremacy.

  148. 148.

    WaterGirl

    February 24, 2020 at 9:19 pm

    @zhena gogolia: Isn’t Jo Jo a handsome fellow?  Those ears!

  149. 149.

    different-church-lady

    February 24, 2020 at 9:20 pm

    @Ruckus:

    Just to be sure?

    No, just because it deserves it.

  150. 150.

    mrmoshpotato

    February 24, 2020 at 9:20 pm

    @Patricia Kayden: Buck up, Billy!  Not being able to get that medicine you need will make you more self-sufficient!

    Fuck these people.

  151. 151.

    mrmoshpotato

    February 24, 2020 at 9:21 pm

    @Baud: LOL damn straight.

  152. 152.

    Another Scott

    February 24, 2020 at 9:21 pm

    NEW: In audio at a closed door event at in June 2016, Mike Bloomberg said his presidential campaign platform would be to "defend the banks," joked about droning his personal enemies, and called the progressive movement and Elizabeth Warren "scary." https://t.co/VfUOdnJpo3— andrew kaczynski? (@KFILE) February 24, 2020

    http://scaremikebloomberg.com/

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  153. 153.

    WaterGirl

    February 24, 2020 at 9:21 pm

    @Baud:

    She should shout more. And have a heart attack.

    I think you’ll make a great president, but as a campaign advisor, let’s just say there’s room for improvement!

  154. 154.

    WaterGirl

    February 24, 2020 at 9:22 pm

    @Another Scott: New campaign slogan:

    Mike Bloomberg:  Arrogant Prick.

  155. 155.

    mrmoshpotato

    February 24, 2020 at 9:23 pm

    @different-church-lady: ROFLMAO!

  156. 156.

    Ruckus

    February 24, 2020 at 9:24 pm

    @Kent:

    Your logic assumes, all evidence to the contrary, that Sanders isn’t a narcissist.

    Yeah, that ship sailed long, long ago. He isn’t a narcissist to the degree that tump is for sure but no denying that he is on the scale.

  157. 157.

    jl

    February 24, 2020 at 9:25 pm

    @WaterGirl: And dumbass electoral politician. Maybe that is another reason Warren attacked him, if the other candidates got wind of what Bloomberg was saying when he thought the public wouldn’t hear it.

  158. 158.

    jl

    February 24, 2020 at 9:27 pm

    @Ruckus: I think if Sanders is a narcissist, he’s the kind that would really want to win a presidential election if he were the nominee. So, that still leaves the issue of his judgment about how to go about it.

    He is not nearly as removed from the real world as Trump is, and has been, and ever will be.

  159. 159.

    WaterGirl

    February 24, 2020 at 9:30 pm

    @jl: Mine fits on a bumper sticker! :-)

  160. 160.

    BruceFromOhio

    February 24, 2020 at 9:32 pm

    @Ohio Mom:

    I don’t have much confidence in the average voter.

    The numb nuts gave us the dumpster fire. QED

  161. 161.

    mad citizen

    February 24, 2020 at 9:33 pm

    @Ruckus: So I was curious about this new marketing slogan, so had to google and google image it.  Still not sure what to make of it; it’s been around a year at least.

    In any case, guess it’s time to carry around white duck tape and a black or blue sharpie to be able to amend signs as necessary.

    An nice alternative would be to slap a photo sticker over offending language; photo being topless putin and trump together riding a horse.  That one came up in google image search.

  162. 162.

    WaterGirl

    February 24, 2020 at 9:33 pm

    @WaterGirl: Speaking of bumper sticker, how about this one?

    Dumb fucks for Trump

  163. 163.

    mrmoshpotato

    February 24, 2020 at 9:33 pm

    @WaterGirl:

    Did your mom say that if you couldn’t say anything nice, you shouldn’t say anything at all? :-) 

    Well then, goodbye primary season.  And I want to have a word with Liz Warren’s mother (to congratulate her on the multiple pantsings her daughter did last debate.)

  164. 164.

    Ruckus

    February 24, 2020 at 9:33 pm

    @Ohio Mom:

    I’m an outlier. Clothes cover the bits and keep you warm, after that I don’t give a damn. I mean clean sure, but then I wear nothing that has to be ironed or dry cleaned or never going to happen hand washed. The only thing that impresses me about say the trump women is how ugly their clothes are because they relate money to beauty. I actually like that EW isn’t a clothes horse. She’s comfortable in her clothes. A girl with my clothing concerns.

  165. 165.

    mrmoshpotato

    February 24, 2020 at 9:35 pm

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Stop bending all the hams.  No one buys them then.

  166. 166.

    Ruckus

    February 24, 2020 at 9:36 pm

    @Eolirin:

    If they have enough money they can buy the white supremacy.

    Money is their key unspoken issue. Like everything else there are key words and real issues. And their real issue is money. Everything else just gets them there.

  167. 167.

    WaterGirl

    February 24, 2020 at 9:37 pm

    @Ruckus: My iron broke when I was 30.  I never replaced it.

    I simply don’t buy things that need to be ironed.  I pamper my clothes when I wash them, which works for me.

  168. 168.

    mrmoshpotato

    February 24, 2020 at 9:37 pm

    @WaterGirl: LOL “I heard you, but I have more to say about how Mikey can fuck off.”

  169. 169.

    different-church-lady

    February 24, 2020 at 9:38 pm

    @mrmoshpotato: You think it’s funny. I want to actually do it.

  170. 170.

    WaterGirl

    February 24, 2020 at 9:38 pm

    @mrmoshpotato: I believe that was fuck RIGHT off. :-)

  171. 171.

    WaterGirl

    February 24, 2020 at 9:39 pm

    @mrmoshpotato: Liz: “First you want to erase me, now you want to control what I say.

    Um, I don’t think so.”

    [quote added belatedly for clarity]

  172. 172.

    Ruckus

    February 24, 2020 at 9:39 pm

    @WaterGirl:

    Well he was a republican not that long ago…….

    Mike Bloomberg – Arrogant Prick

    Has a nice ring to it. And seems truthful enough to avoid slander/libel charges.

  173. 173.

    Dan B

    February 24, 2020 at 9:39 pm

    @topclimber:  Bernie VP options:  Susan Sarandon, Nina Turner, … oops, out of ideas…

  174. 174.

    J R in WV

    February 24, 2020 at 9:40 pm

    @WaterGirl:

    No, my mom was more realistic than that.

    She was a Republican most of her life, until the Rs started working on abortion rights. On her death bed she told me she had stiopped voting R in the presidential races because of their attacks on women’s health rights.

    She also asked me not to tell dad, which I respected.

    She was a reporter, on the Society Pages orf course, until she was the only reporter in the news room when they got a call about a double murder.

    They were both nude, over the hill behind the Country Club, not married to each other. She had that story until it ran dry. No one was ever arrested… Back in the 1950s. She also took photos when needed. The Society Pages were not that interesting after that.

    Quite a woman my mom was…

  175. 175.

    Ruckus

    February 24, 2020 at 9:41 pm

    @WaterGirl:

    It’s not like there aren’t enough decent choices. And some indecent ones.

  176. 176.

    zhena gogolia

    February 24, 2020 at 9:42 pm

    @different-church-lady:

    Me too. I can’t believe how depressing it is. I had such hope.

  177. 177.

    Eolirin

    February 24, 2020 at 9:42 pm

    @Ruckus: I think a lot of the base cares more about the white supremacy than the money. It depends on if you’re part of the donor class or not.

  178. 178.

    Kent

    February 24, 2020 at 9:43 pm

    @different-church-lady:Bernie isn’t P material. Ain’t stopping him, is it?

    We agree, trust me.  But at least he is a gazillion-term Senator and member of Congress.  He’s about as old establishment Washington as they come.  He has more years in DC than all the rest of the field combined.

    Nina Turner on the other hand would INSTANTLY be turned into the “Soshalist Sara Palin”  The press would descend onto every aspect of her life with a white hot fury.  She is utterly unprepared for that sort of scrutiny, and neither is the campaign.  Sanders isn’t THAT stupid.  He has been around Washington for a shitload of election cycles.  He isn’t going to want September 2020 to be all about the Nina Turner show.  He’s too much of a narcissist.

    Even Trump wasn’t that stupid.   Appointing Nina Turner VP would be like Trump appointing Steve Bannon to be his VP.  That might have made all the right wing wackadoodles leg’s twitch.  But he went with Pence to shore up his base.

    The Turners and the Bannons of the world have their place.  But it isn’t a heartbeat away from the presidency.

  179. 179.

    mrmoshpotato

    February 24, 2020 at 9:44 pm

    @WaterGirl: Reporter: You mean right now?

    Liz: No.  He should’ve fucked off the day before he started his campaign.

  180. 180.

    Dan B

    February 24, 2020 at 9:44 pm

    @Kent:  Bernie bench besides AOL: Pramila Jayapal (my rep).

  181. 181.

    WaterGirl

    February 24, 2020 at 9:44 pm

    @J R in WV: She sounds wonderful.  You were lucky to have her.  Probably why you turned out so good.

  182. 182.

    BruceFromOhio

    February 24, 2020 at 9:44 pm

    My new Happy Place is called At Wits End. It has bourbon, some select ales, a stack of good books and a comfy chair with a nice window. There’s a reading light for when it gets dark, which is, thankfully, becoming less often.

    It does not have any of the fucking shit on this thread about the candidates. There’s no Twatter, or Faceplant, or Cillizza or other members of his pundit class. It’s really nice!

    The takeaway is,

    Vote for who you want in the primary, then vote for the nominee.

    And check the Playing To Win posts that WaterGirl in her infinite wisdom and endless patience has labored to provide us.

  183. 183.

    different-church-lady

    February 24, 2020 at 9:44 pm

    @Kent: Well, it doesn’t really matter, because he’s not going to pick Turner.

    He’s going to pick Tulsi.

    Because God hates me.

  184. 184.

    WaterGirl

    February 24, 2020 at 9:45 pm

    @mrmoshpotato: I like this new Liz!

  185. 185.

    mrmoshpotato

    February 24, 2020 at 9:45 pm

    @WaterGirl: Umm…sorry?

  186. 186.

    different-church-lady

    February 24, 2020 at 9:45 pm

    Wait, did somebody say bourbon?

  187. 187.

    Mr. Kite

    February 24, 2020 at 9:45 pm

    @Mike in NC:wwhat the actual fuck?

    You complain Warren’s looks and clothes turn you off. Because that’s the important thing. Oh you little man, not enough curves for you, so terrible.

  188. 188.

    mrmoshpotato

    February 24, 2020 at 9:47 pm

    @Dan B: Haha!  Bernie with a VP!  He’d make himself VP, and all staff and cabinet positions.

    (Surprised the orange assclown didn’t do this.)

  189. 189.

    WaterGirl

    February 24, 2020 at 9:47 pm

    @BruceFromOhio: Thank you!

    The next playing to win thread is on Wednesday morning.

  190. 190.

    WaterGirl

    February 24, 2020 at 9:48 pm

    @mrmoshpotato: I should have added quotes.  That was (my imaginary) Liz talking to the reporter.

  191. 191.

    mrmoshpotato

    February 24, 2020 at 9:49 pm

    @different-church-lady: No blame coming from here. :)

  192. 192.

    J R in WV

    February 24, 2020 at 9:50 pm

    @WaterGirl:

    My iron broke when I was 30. I never replaced it.

    I have a couple of irons, I use them to attach hot melt glue veneer edging to rough edges of sawn oak faced plywood. Not to make clothes smooth !

    ;-)

  193. 193.

    mrmoshpotato

    February 24, 2020 at 9:51 pm

    @WaterGirl: Gotcha.

  194. 194.

    trollhattan

    February 24, 2020 at 9:51 pm

    Remember the beating Obama took for Solyndra (tiny slice of an ultimately very successful stimulus program)? What’s going to be the lasting legacy of Bloomberg blowing half-a-bil on a stupid, pointless vanity campaign. Do I hear crickets? What’s the over/under on crickets?

  195. 195.

    WaterGirl

    February 24, 2020 at 9:52 pm

    @J R in WV: I’ve seen silk and cotton settings on irons, but never veneer.  They must have added that setting in the past couple of decades.

  196. 196.

    mrmoshpotato

    February 24, 2020 at 9:54 pm

    Jo Jo!

  197. 197.

    Another Scott

    February 24, 2020 at 9:55 pm

    Speaking of clothes…

    NY Review of Books (2/13/2020 issue):

    […]

    In high school, Betsy began calling herself Liz. From the age of thirteen, she had been earning money babysitting and waitressing on weekends and summers in a restaurant owned by one of her mother’s sisters, Alice Reed, who lived in the back. “I saw first-hand the kind of commitment and energy it takes to launch a small business and to keep it going,” Warren would say later, noting that her aunt did everything from cooking to fixing appliances. “On the seventh day,” she recalled, in what was surely meant as a contrast with the Lord’s full day off, “we scrubbed floors on our hands and knees and got ready for the next week.”

    Tensions between Liz and her mother exploded after her father’s health crisis. Excelling on the largely male debate team (while still scoring highest in her school on a test for the Betty Crocker Homemaker of Tomorrow), Liz wanted to apply to college, but her mother was vehemently opposed, denouncing her selfish ambition: “Why was I so special that I had to go to college? Did I think I was better than everyone else in the family?” Years later, Warren recalled retreating into silence, staring at the floor, trying to hide in her bedroom. Her mother followed, and the girl shouted to leave her alone. Pauline struck her in the face.

    Throwing clothes in a bag, Liz ran to the bus station, where her father found her and sat with her, sharing his own struggles. Quietly, he took his daughter’s hand and told her to persist. “Life gets better, punkin,” he told her. She wrote later:

    I carried that story in my pocket for decades. It was how I made it through the painful parts. Divorce. Disappointments. Deaths. Whenever things got really tough, I would pull out that story…. I’d hear my daddy’s voice, and I’d always feel better.

    […]

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  198. 198.

    Ruckus

    February 24, 2020 at 9:57 pm

    @Eolirin:

    In republican circles it only matters if you are in the money class, everything and everyone else is about getting there. trump brought on one of the worst evangelicals to sway the masses. Do you think he gives a fuck about religion? He does not. It is to buy their loyalty. Now you can’t say that about the racism. He’s sold on the racism part 10000%.

  199. 199.

    WaterGirl

    February 24, 2020 at 9:58 pm

    @mrmoshpotato: His ears are HUGE!

  200. 200.

    Kattails

    February 24, 2020 at 10:00 pm

    @WaterGirl: I was thinking “trample Trump” also, too. (comic sans? for the class.)

  201. 201.

    J R in WV

    February 24, 2020 at 10:05 pm

    @WaterGirl:

    Awesome!! Great quick response !!!

    I just get it hot, you don’t want to burn the veneer, just melt the glue. You use a roller to press the strip into the sawn edge until it cools down. You can even come back years later to repair it if it starts to come off.

    Down side is that you shouldn’t use an iron that you’ve been heating hot melt glue with to iron fancy linen shirts!!

  202. 202.

    Omnes Omnibus

    February 24, 2020 at 10:07 pm

    @J R in WV: Who irons linen shirts?

  203. 203.

    Ohio Mom

    February 24, 2020 at 10:07 pm

    Another Scott @197: What a sweet, inspiring story. Makes a person believe Liz Warren really was called to do everything she has done.

  204. 204.

    Eolirin

    February 24, 2020 at 10:08 pm

    @Ruckus: I don’t think that’s true of most of the members of those Evangelical churches though. I don’t think many of them have that kind of ambition. Yeah, the leadership is riddled with corruption and people in it only for the money, but it’s because the base’s blindspots make them easy marks. There are people like that everywhere, but the right is far more friendly to them, and it takes a lot more to get to the point where you’re unforgivable no matter what you get caught doing, at least as long as you keep saying the right words.

    But the base seem to me to be true believers who need certainty about the world and something to hate. I don’t think they’re aspiring to wealth or power. They’re authoritarian followers, not social dominator types like their leaders. And I think they care more about the racism than the money.

  205. 205.

    trollhattan

    February 24, 2020 at 10:09 pm

    @WaterGirl:

    What?

  206. 206.

    trollhattan

    February 24, 2020 at 10:10 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Anybody who wishes to be seen in public?

  207. 207.

    chris

    February 24, 2020 at 10:10 pm

    Game over, berniebots!

    Judge Judy will fight the Bernie Sanders revolution 'to the death' https://t.co/poaygjkAjx pic.twitter.com/FZDA65kJtT— New York Post (@nypost) 22 February 2020

  208. 208.

    Eolirin

    February 24, 2020 at 10:12 pm

    @chris: What. The. Actual…

    This is the worst timeline.

  209. 209.

    WaterGirl

    February 24, 2020 at 10:14 pm

    @J R in WV:

    Down side is that you shouldn’t use an iron that you’ve been heating hot melt glue with to iron fancy linen shirts!!

    Yeah, that would be bad.

  210. 210.

    WaterGirl

    February 24, 2020 at 10:16 pm

    @trollhattan: That was a reply to someone who was talking about Jo Jo after I posted this at comment # 129.

    In case anyone is interested, there is some new information in Balloon Juice News under Featuring in the sidebar.  If you’re on mobile, it’s in the hamburger.

  211. 211.

    Omnes Omnibus

    February 24, 2020 at 10:17 pm

    @trollhattan: No, you just steam linen enough to get the wrinkles out and you don’t use the dryer.

  212. 212.

    Ruckus

    February 24, 2020 at 10:19 pm

    @Another Scott:

    Not sure it gets better. I mean it does sometimes but life always craps on you eventually. It doesn’t mean to, it isn’t personal, it’s just life. Crap everywhere, it’s just once in a while you get hit with it. And yes some get hit far more often, some often enough they can’t see anything but crap. Just like death. We all die, life always ends with the same result. Not the same method or same timeline but the result is the same.

  213. 213.

    WaterGirl

    February 24, 2020 at 10:19 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: My dryer has a steam feature, which I have never used in the 8 years the I have had my dryer.

  214. 214.

    Omnes Omnibus

    February 24, 2020 at 10:21 pm

    @WaterGirl: I don’t even know how to respond to that.

  215. 215.

    Geminid

    February 24, 2020 at 10:30 pm

    @Dan B: I’d like to hear what you think about Rep. Jayapal if you feel like telling. I’ve read some about her but not much, and am curious.

  216. 216.

    Ruckus

    February 24, 2020 at 10:36 pm

    @Eolirin:

    You’ve almost got it.

    In the democratic side it’s the people that count. Bloomberg would be accepted, even with his billions if it didn’t seem like an act that he’s currently putting on. But it does because he’s trying to sell it to us, not convince us. EW is trying to convince each one of us, one by one that she gives a damn about us, that life can be better. She doesn’t worry about clothes, they are there to cover the bits and keep you warm. The people in them are most important.

    The republicans don’t care if you are hungry or abused or believe in god or are even alive, they care about you giving them money, preferably for doing/providing nothing and nothing more. In republican circles the leaders are the only important people. Lindsey Graham is a perfect example. He’s a follower, he sucked hind tit on John McCain and now he’s doing the same with trump. He’s no different than most republicans, other than being more obvious about it. But this is who republicans are, they are followers and do not understand the concept of equality. Conservatism is a very hierarchical system, Liberalism is an equality system. Both have leaders but for very different reasons. Conservatives look for leaders because they are followers. Liberals look for leaders because otherwise the system is too unwieldy.

  217. 217.

    WaterGirl

    February 24, 2020 at 10:37 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: That was good enough.

  218. 218.

    Kent

    February 24, 2020 at 10:40 pm

    @Geminid:@Dan B: I’d like to hear what you think about Rep. Jayapal if you feel like telling. I’ve read some about her but not much, and am curious.

    I always get her confused with Kshama Sawant but that’s probably because I don’t live in Seattle anymore.  Is she the one that succeeded Jim McDermott?

    At least she is keeping a lower profile than the “squad” or maybe she just never got the attention because she wasn’t in the class of 2018 but came into Congress as a minority party back bencher.

  219. 219.

    lamh36

    February 24, 2020 at 10:42 pm

    2020 Delegate Tracker
    Last updated: 2/24 | Delegates remaining: 3,878

    Bernie Sanders
    45

    Pete Buttigieg
    26

    Joe Biden
    15

    Elizabeth Warren
    8

    Amy Klobuchar
    7

    SC next has 54 right?

    I think Biden will win the SC primary, question is by how much and whether or not any open primary ratfuqn goes on (there have been reports of some in NV) and affects the final number. Still I think JB will win. He’s still leading with Black voters and Jim Clyburn is set to endorse him Wednesday, and in SC that is as big as you can get (reports say he will and all directions point to Biden and if not then Pete. I believe Clyburn his grandson is on Pete’s campaign). Sanders numbers have moved up, and Biden down, but still a lead.

    EW, PB and AK are all polling 8 or less w/Black voters in SC so I don’t see any of them getting any delegates? All 3 are also polling low w/Black voters nationally, including Sanders. A Dem nominee win runs through voters of color and it would be good to see the “frontrunner” or any of the canddiates do more than pay lip service to the issues that concern folks of color…and no marijuana policy is NOT the in with the community. IDK why but seems to me too many candidates think marijuana policy will get them an in w/Black voters…marijuana legislation is not even in top 5 of average Black voters. Definitely NOT the reliable voters that have been consistent.

  220. 220.

    Another Scott

    February 24, 2020 at 10:44 pm

    @Ruckus: It’s not the end, it’s the journey that matters. And making things better for others is part of the journey.

    ;-)

    Repost.

    Hang in there.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  221. 221.

    lamh36

    February 24, 2020 at 10:49 pm

    @DavidWright_7
    41m41 minutes ago
    More
    At CNN town hall tonight, Sen. Bernie Sanders responds to criticism of his praise for literacy program in Cuba during Fidel Castro’s regime: “They went out, and they helped people learn to read and write. You know what, I think teaching people to read and write is a good thing.”

    https://twitter.com/DavidWright_7/status/1232140113515368452

  222. 222.

    Geminid

    February 24, 2020 at 10:51 pm

    @Kent: I know Jayapal along with Pocan (WI) is co-chair of the House Progressive Caucus.

  223. 223.

    Another Scott

    February 24, 2020 at 10:52 pm

    @lamh36: I think Warren had the tweets about her plan for marijuana legalization because she was in Colorado and it’s obviously something that resonates there.

    She can multi-task.  ;-)

    Thanks for the report on SC.  It will be interesting to see what happens in the debate tomorrow, but like NV and other places, people have been voting early, so who knows if the debate will change any minds there.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  224. 224.

    WaterGirl

    February 24, 2020 at 10:52 pm

    @lamh36:

    …and no marijuana policy is NOT the in with the community. IDK why but seems to me too many candidates think marijuana policy will get them an in w/Black voters…marijuana legislation is not even in top 5 of average Black voters. Definitely NOT the reliable voters that have been consistent.

    Lamh, I haven’t seen anything about marijuana policy this election period.  Is that really a thing this time around?  I am really curious…  Which candidates are pushing that?

  225. 225.

    Mandalay

    February 24, 2020 at 10:52 pm

    I’m sure he was ordered to issue an apology, but better late than never for Tweety’s disgusting comments from last week:

    “Senator Sanders, I’m sorry for comparing anything from that tragic era in which so many suffered, especially the Jewish people, to an electoral result of which you were the well-deserved winner,” Mr. Matthews said soberly into the camera.

  226. 226.

    Kent

    February 24, 2020 at 10:55 pm

    @lamh36: I taught for years in inner-city schools in Texas I knew a lot of middle aged black women who I assume are the core of the party.  Teachers, nurses, professional women and mothers, the kind that show up to parent teacher meetings with their business cards in hand.   I doubt any of them give much more than a couple moments thought to marijuana policy except as part of overall decriminalization of stuff their kids get busted for.

    The ones I knew cared about normal shit like affordable health care, education, affordable housing, affording college, child care is a big one cause so many single moms.  And some things most white families don’t have to care so much about like getting your sons through high school without getting shot by the cops or arrested.   So criminal justice reform is big.  And they want respect.

    The don’t want to be told that some racist old white hick on a tractor in Indiana has the answers that the country needs because “Midwestern common sense” which is what Buttigieg and Klobuchar too often reflectively imply when they talk about Midwestern heartland values and all that bullshit.  White ‘Midwestern common sense’ is exactly what gave us Trump.

  227. 227.

    bemused senior

    February 24, 2020 at 10:56 pm

    @Another Scott: I hadn’t heard those anecdotes. I was president of the rocket and math clubs at my high school, and 10th in the state inthe Betty crocker homemaker of America contest. I participated to get even with the “mean girls” who thought I was weird.

  228. 228.

    lamh36

    February 24, 2020 at 10:56 pm

    @DavidWright_7
    27m27 minutes ago
    MoreDavid Wright Retweeted David Wright
    During his CNN town hall the following hour, Pete Buttigieg responded: “I don’t want as a Democrat — I don’t want to be explaining why our nominee is encouraging people to look on the bright side of the Castro regime when we are going into the election of our lives.”

    Buttigieg: “Why are we spotlighting the literacy programs of a brutal dictator instead of being unambiguous in our condemnation about the way he’s treated his own people?”

    https://twitter.com/DavidWright_7/status/1232145392151736320

  229. 229.

    Another Scott

    February 24, 2020 at 10:57 pm

    @WaterGirl: Warren had some tweets about her plan.  I reposted one here a few days ago.

    HTH.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  230. 230.

    Ruckus

    February 24, 2020 at 10:59 pm

    @Another Scott:

    Posted that here on another thread the other day.

    Yes it is the journey. And it often looks different from another’s perspective. Anthony Bourdain is a great example of that. He made a great journey about the foods of the world, he enjoyed the people and what they did just to survive and that there were many ways to go about it.

  231. 231.

    lamh36

    February 24, 2020 at 11:01 pm

    @DavidWright_7
    Follow Follow @DavidWright_7
    MoreDavid Wright Retweeted David Wright
    Sanders: “China is another example. China is an authoritarian country, becoming more and more authoritarian. But can anyone deny – I mean, the facts are clear, that they have taken more people out of extreme poverty than any country in history.”

    https://twitter.com/DavidWright_7/status/1232140197271408646

  232. 232.

    WaterGirl

    February 24, 2020 at 11:03 pm

    @lamh36: Go Pete!

  233. 233.

    WaterGirl

    February 24, 2020 at 11:04 pm

    @lamh36: Is this Bernie’s idea of what talking about foreign policy is?  Seems like he has lost the plot.

  234. 234.

    Kraux Pas

    February 24, 2020 at 11:05 pm

    @WaterGirl: My dryer has a steam feature, which I have never used in the 8 years the I have had my dryer.

    It’s good for getting out wrinkles real fast if you don’t have the time or inclination for ironing.

  235. 235.

    John Revolta

    February 24, 2020 at 11:05 pm

    So, is there a way to see all of somebody’s recent posts all at once? Like, if I’m wondering if somebody ever replied to a post of mine, can I find out without having to find that thread and then scroll around until I find that post?

  236. 236.

    WaterGirl

    February 24, 2020 at 11:05 pm

    @Another Scott: Well I sure hope the real Dem candidates aren’t pushing marijuana policies as the way to connect with black voters.  Please tell me they are not that ignorant.

  237. 237.

    WaterGirl

    February 24, 2020 at 11:06 pm

    @John Revolta: Do you know how to use the “find” feature when you are in a thread with comments?

  238. 238.

    Another Scott

    February 24, 2020 at 11:12 pm

    @lamh36:

    OTOH, beware the ellipsis. CBS News:

    Anderson Cooper: What is democratic socialism?

    Bernie Sanders: When Donald Trump was a private businessman in New York, he got $800 million in tax breaks and subsidies to build luxury housing. That’s called corporate socialism. What democratic socialism is about is saying, ‘Let’s use the federal government to protect the interests of working families.’

    Back in the 1980s, Sanders had some positive things to say about the former Soviet Union and the Sandinistas in Nicaragua.

    Here he is explaining why the Cuban people didn’t rise up and help the U.S. overthrow Cuban leader Fidel Castro: “…he educated their kids, gave them health care, totally transformed the society, you know?”

    Bernie Sanders: We’re very opposed to the authoritarian nature of Cuba but you know, it’s unfair to simply say everything is bad. You know? When Fidel Castro came into office, you know what he did? He had a massive literacy program. Is that a bad thing? Even though Fidel Castro did it?

    Anderson Cooper: A lot of p– dissidents imprisoned in– in Cuba.

    Bernie Sanders: That’s right. And we condemn that. Unlike Donald Trump, let’s be clear, you want to– I do not think that Kim Jong Un is a good friend. I don’t trade love letters with a murdering dictator. Vladimir Putin, not a great friend of mine.

    [image]

    A month ago, Sanders was told by U.S. intelligence that Vladimir Putin’s government has been attempting to help his campaign. And last week, lawmakers were briefed that Moscow is also trying to help re-elect President Trump. On Friday, Sanders offered this message to Putin: “As president of the United States, Mr. Putin, you will not interfere in our elections.”

    It looks to me like they chopped out the context and the question on Castro and Cuba.

    Bernie’s a smart guy and knows how the game is played. He should be smart enough to know how to answer questions like these, and if he isn’t then it’s good to find that out now…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  239. 239.

    Another Scott

    February 24, 2020 at 11:13 pm

    @WaterGirl: I think it was because she was in Colorado.  But I dunno.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  240. 240.

    Jackie

    February 24, 2020 at 11:21 pm

    @lamh36: Thanks for the much needed reminder the Primary voting season has JUST BEGUN!?

  241. 241.

    Ruckus

    February 24, 2020 at 11:28 pm

    @lamh36:

    China also kept most of their citizens in extreme poverty. Posted here before that a woman I lived with for almost 20 yrs, was first generation Chinese. Her dad was dying and wanted to be buried in the old country so the entire family went to China for 2 weeks and was saying good by to dad when he started packing to return to CA. Asked what he was doing, he replied, in Chinese of course, he’d spent 40 yrs here and didn’t speak english, Fuck this place, it hasn’t changed in almost 50 yrs, I’m going back to the US. I was told this so I’m assuming it was accurate, 30 yrs ago. But it indicates that China hadn’t really improved anything at all, people in villages were still living in huts with dirt floors. Yes they have been on a massive upgrade for a while now, but they were what 90-100 yrs behind the times. They had to upgrade, they had to build, to provide for more than the 2% at the top, they were going to get crushed sooner or later if they didn’t.

  242. 242.

    John Revolta

    February 24, 2020 at 11:42 pm

    @WaterGirl: Nooooooo……….(hangs head)

  243. 243.

    LC

    February 24, 2020 at 11:49 pm

    @Butter Emails: Anyone picked by Bernie will automatically have the centrist berned from him/her/they and be deemed pure by Bernie’s supporters.

    I know that has happened in the past, but I can’t shake the idea that a bunch of his hardcore online supporters are fake trolls. They will turn on him post-convention and use this line of attack. A nice steady defection of the people who built up all this “angry cult member cred” can suck a lot of people over who were in it for the chance to be part of a movement.

    I’m probably dead wrong, but I know there is a fake troll army portion of his support, and I have seen too many of the cult agree to believe shit they know isn’t true just to stay in good standing with the cult.

  244. 244.

    John Revolta

    February 25, 2020 at 12:00 am

    @John Revolta: Okay I typed something in “search this website ” and it gave me a bunch of old posts that presumably have my word in…………………

  245. 245.

    joel hanes

    February 25, 2020 at 12:02 am

    @zhena gogolia:

    You’re still here!

    I am delighted.

    I was afraid that, like Gogol’s wife in the fiction, you had exploded.

  246. 246.

    joel hanes

    February 25, 2020 at 12:06 am

    @J R in WV:

    I have a couple of irons, I use them to attach hot melt glue veneer edging

    For a dozen years or so, I used the only iron I have to wax skis.

  247. 247.

    joel hanes

    February 25, 2020 at 12:11 am

    @Mandalay:

    Tweety’s disgusting comments

    should have ended his career.

  248. 248.

    joel hanes

    February 25, 2020 at 12:14 am

    withdrawn

  249. 249.

    Jay

    February 25, 2020 at 12:29 am

    @WaterGirl:

    how many actual, not pretend, high speed raillines does the US have?

    Remember China’s “ Ghost Cities?” and where they are now?

    Remember when InterStates were new, not decrepid and falling apart.

    There are things one can do with a “managed economy”. You can do it for “society” as a whole, or just for the Billionaire Class.

    Bernie has always thought that Capitalism is broke, searched the world for examples of “better than Capitalism for the Average Bear”.

    Capitalism is broke. Has been since 1978.

    The Warren can fix that,….. well she has a plan that could work, were it not America.

    so, Bloomberg or Bernie?

     

    #CanadaDraftsWarren.

  250. 250.

    Ruckus

    February 25, 2020 at 12:31 am

    @joel hanes:

    If that’s what it takes he should have been gone long time ago.

  251. 251.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    February 25, 2020 at 2:04 am

     

    @Another Scott: If they did that he would be screaming bloody murder (like he always does).  That he isn’t means they didn’t.

  252. 252.

    sherparick

    February 25, 2020 at 11:19 am

    @Another Scott: Bernie is well aware that in writings and talks going back to the 1970s he has said things that very positive about the Cuban Revolution, the Sandistas, Chavez’s Venezuelan Revolution, and the Soviet Union (Socialist Solidarity and all that).  Probably until 2015 he never thought he run for president and that he was a fool on this subject was never a big concern for Vermonters (& one reason he runs as Independent there is to get the votes of people who identify as Independents and Republicans and won’t vote for anyone with a D after their name on the ballot). In Florida, that does not work because lots of people have visceral responses to the words “socialist,” “Castro,” “Maduro,” and “Ortega” in that state. I have been pretty pessimistic about Florida going for an Democrat because because 2 million white, fairly well-off and probably Fox watching boomers have moved into the state the last 10 years.  People talk about Puerto Ricans and and young Latinos, migrating in, but they are swamped by the white elder migration (with a lot of them voting in two states I suspect since Florida continues to slow walk the ERIC participation process).  Sanders just makes the hill far higher to climb.

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