Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Stamping your little feets and demanding that they see how important you are? Not working anymore.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

They were going to turn on one another at some point. It was inevitable.

He imagines himself as The Big Bad, Who Is Universally Feared… instead of The Big Jagoff, Who Is Universally Mocked.

The revolution will be supervised.

Today in our ongoing national embarrassment…

Stop using mental illness to avoid talking about armed white supremacy.

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

Do we throw up our hands or do we roll up our sleeves? (hint, it’s door #2)

If you voted for Trump, you don’t get to speak about ethics, morals, or rule of law.

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

Shut up, hissy kitty!

In after Baud. Damn.

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

Meanwhile over at truth Social, the former president is busy confessing to crimes.

There is no right way to do the wrong thing.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

Not all heroes wear capes.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

This isn’t Democrats spending madly. This is government catching up.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

It’s not hopeless, and we’re not helpless.

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

President Musk and Trump are both poorly raised, coddled 8 year old boys.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Warren Out

Reader Interactions

273Comments

  5. 5.

    lee

    Expected but still a bummer.

    I wonder if she is going to actually endorse Biden or Bernie.

  7. 7.

    rp

    Reposting from downstairs: Really bummed about Warren, but also really excited to see the reactions of the BernieBros when the first post-Warren polls come out and they realize most of her supporters went to Biden.

  9. 9.

    Dadadadadadada

    Goddamnit. Someone tell me this isn’t the worst-case scenario: Trump is still president, and two white guys who are even older than him are running to replace him.

  10. 10.

    germy

    So nice to see Bernie troops discover politics is additive, insulting people is no way to campaign and Obama is most popular Democ around. Now they have to stop calling black voters “Corporate Dems.”

    — Jennifer Rubin (@JRubinBlogger) March 4, 2020

    Jennifer Rubin in 2010 on Obama: “His sympathies for the Muslim World take precedence over those, such as they are, for his fellow citizens.” https://t.co/MvqIlvksib

    — George Zornick (@gzornick) March 4, 2020

  12. 12.

    dr. bloor

    @rp: Speak for yourself.  I’m eager to Feel the Bern after having my intelligence, humanity, and patriotism dragged through the Vermont swamp over these many months.

  14. 14.

    Alain

    @Baud: Yeah, I’m not surprised but deeply saddened. My second was Harris, originally, and Biden earned that spot with his town hall a few weeks ago. His depth of emotion and his values are good, and he brings folks together – always has, for the good and bad – to get things done.

    I hope she’ll stay in the Senate until the timing is right, and I’d love to see her in the cabinet. VP, I think I’d really like to see Abrams or Harris. In many ways, Harris would be the bestest AG to go after the crooks and fascist criminals, so I guess my preferred VP is Abrams.

  15. 15.

    ByRookorbyCrook

    Well fuck. Sad to see it. She was the Bactine for a nation too long ‘feeling the Bern’. Now we are really down to two near octogenarians with health issues. Hello Team any name next to the D.

  16. 16.

    oldster

    Damn. She was clearly the most qualified. It would have been a pleasure to hear her eviscerate Trump the way that she eviscerated Bloomberg.

    We owe her a big debt of gratitude for saving the Democratic Party from oligarchy.

    I hope she’s the VP.

  17. 17.

    Raoul Paste

    It’s going to be a boring cold open for Saturday night live now.

    I had hoped she would stay in but most likely her funding will go down after the recent results

  18. 18.

    PsiFighter37

    @dr. bloor: I’m ready to Burn the Bern again. I hope once Biden gets a majority of delegates, he shuts out all the Sandernistas from any meaningful DNC stuff. Those assholes turned the last convention into a shitshow; it can’t be allowed to happen again.

  20. 20.

    germy

    I started with Harris.  When she dropped out I moved to Warren.  Now she’s out, so I’m officially Team Broken Glass.

  21. 21.

    Nicole

    BOOOOOOOOOOOO

    But so it goes.  I think I will leave instructions for my headstone to say, “Here lies Nicole who would like to remind you all that Hillary won the popular vote” since it’s likely the closest I’ll get to seeing a woman President.

    Well, onwards and… in a straight line, I guess.  Our old white guys are still better than the GOP’s old white guys.  That’s about I can say right now.  Obviously, I will still gladly vote for the Donkey in November.

  23. 23.

    Baud

    @Nicole:

    Even if we win in November, there’s a good chance 2024 is an open election.  Hopefully, the country will be in a better place by then.

  26. 26.

    germy

    We will know the full extent of what Elizabeth Warren’s candidacy has accomplished when one of the little girls who took a pinkie promise selfie with her becomes president.

    — Erin ? Ryan (@morninggloria) March 5, 2020

  27. 27.

    joel hanes

    @Dadadadadadada:

    Someone tell me this isn’t the worst-case scenario

    This is not the worst-case scenario

    Consider a choice between (choose two)  Williamson Delaney Gabbard Bloomberg

  29. 29.

    Cacti

    I’m sure the BJ front pagers will analyze and dissect the reasons for Warren’s failed campaign in a million different ways, but the simplest ones are these.

    She’s a below average to average political talent in terms of charisma and appeal, and well below average as a political strategist.

  30. 30.

    laura

    Senator Professor Elizabeth Warren ran her campaign for All the Right Reasons. Her policy priorities were well reasoned, her focus was on what can and should be done to right the terrible wrongs visited on ordinary Americans by powerful monied interests. Her warmth, zeal and common touch were treated with contempt by the forces of status quo. Misogyny was and continues to be on full display  – same as it ever fucking was.

    She may be out of the running, but she ain’t running away. I’d back her in a bar fight. Her supporters will be hurting, and they deserve all the comfort we can muster.

  32. 32.

    Another Scott

    @Baud: BusinessInsider:

    Biden comes close behind, as a 77-year-old man would on average expect to live 8.29 more years.

    He’ll probably be fine. Literally the Best Health Care in the World™ would be taking care of him (even with the stress).

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  36. 36.

    Brachiator

    Wow. I wondered what Sanders might do.

    This really saddens me, even though Warren had not been my first choice.

    I think it may be good for the Democrats that she made her decision quickly, rather than drawing things out.

  38. 38.

    Nicole

    @Baud: If I’m still here.  Cancer recurrence and all.  The first diagnosis happened one week before the 2016 election, and I remember thinking, “At least I lived to see a woman President.”

    I’m also particularly salty because I just got a $600 bill for just my first week of radiation therapy which is in a goddamn in-network facility and is supposed to be covered so I don’t know what the fuck.  This is with good private insurance, too.   And I’ve had 4 weeks of therapy since then and have one more to go.

    Fuck misogyny, fuck white supremacy, fuck 40 years of trickle down economics, fuck it all.  Fuck fuck fuck.

    I’ll be in better spirits tomorrow, but today I throw metaphorical things at the metaphorical wall.  I won’t throw real things in case I have to pawn them to pay the damn radiation bill.

  39. 39.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @Nicole:

    I’m envisioning Biden-Harris for a couple of years, followed by a graceful bowout by Biden.

    You and I may get our eventual wish anyway!

  44. 44.

    randy khan

    @rp:

    Yeah.  The 2nd choice polling I’ve seen is not great for Sanders.

    The irony is that, while Sanders talked about expanding the voter pool, it was Warren who got people who previously didn’t support progressives to move into her camp.  It obviously never was going to happen, but I wonder what the election might have looked like if Sanders had declined to run and endorsed Warren, who supports the vast majority of what Sanders wants but isn’t him.

  46. 46.

    the Conster

    Seemed inevitable with Sanders in her lane and in her way at all times.  if she endorses him, she’s a fool.  His campaign is now the Titanic.  He won’t even reach viability in Florida.  I hope she’s on the phone with Biden negotiating terms, and If I were Biden, I’d tell her to kick Bernie in the nuts for me, and then we’ll talk.

  47. 47.

    West of the Rockies

    @Cacti:

    Always a kind word, always a gracious observation…  Someone did a number on you at some point.

  48. 48.

    germy

    Here’s something trump retweeted:

    NEW: Ron Johnson says he’ll likely release an interim report within next 1-2 months on his cmte’s Biden probe.

    He insists it has nothing to do w/ the election, but “if I were a Democrat primary voter I’d want these questions satisfactorily answered before I cast my final vote.”

    — Andrew Desiderio (@AndrewDesiderio) March 4, 2020

  49. 49.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    I can see going with Biden because he polls the best against Needy Imin, but it would have been nice if she was last progressive standing, not Mr Purity Pony.

  50. 50.

    zhena gogolia

    @Dadadadadadada: 
    But one of those white guys is a seasoned and ethical public servant who is not being promoted by V. V. Putin, in fact is strenuously opposed by VVP. That’s enough for me. We’re in a fight with fascism.

  52. 52.

    joel hanes

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:

    DWS was not the satanic influence that she was  made out to be by the performatively-lefty (and neither the DNC nor the DCCC are the Illuminati that some people apparently perceive them to be)

    But IIRC she did protect Diaz-Balart and Ros-Lehtinen from being challenged by Democrats.   That’s tolerable in an ordinary Representative from Florida, but a very bad mistake by the chair of one of the national Democratic organs.

  54. 54.

    trollhattan

    We can’t have nice things.

    As soon as she articulated her positions she was my top choice and I think improved as the campaign progressed, as one would hope. Now it’s Joe or the shouty guy so Joe it is. I will consider a Biden presidency triage for dealing with Trump’s considerable damage.

    My kid’s AP history class had a ballot Monday and  Warren was the clear winner. They know.

  58. 58.

    Hildebrand

    We started off with Sen. Harris, switched to Sen. Warren, now, well, really only one choice in the Michigan primary next week – vote for Biden and hope he picks Kamala for VP.

    As for Sen. Warren, I just hope she avoids Bernie like the plague.

  60. 60.

    joel hanes

    @laura:

    Her warmth, zeal and common touch were treated with contempt by the forces of status quo.

    And by someone nymed “Cacti”

  61. 61.

    jk

    This is an enormous loss for the nation and the world.

    Warren was head and shoulders above both Biden and Sanders in terms of intellect and gravitas.

  63. 63.

    Felanius Kootea

    Waaaaaaah!!!!!

    Hope Biden puts some of her platform in his to broaden his appeal.

  64. 64.

    Another Scott

    @Gin & Tonic: That’s not the way I read it.  I read it as 50% chance to be dead in 2028.  (More likely to still be alive in 2027, and even more likely to still be alive in 2026, etc.)

    You can bet that as President, the odds would be in his favor even more.  (Look at how they patched up Reagan after he was shot, his colon cancer, etc., etc.)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  66. 66.

    Anya

    Even though it was expected, I am heartbroken. It’s disheartening when you think about all the hoops women have to jump and all the unfair ways they are appraised vs their unworthy male counterparts.

     

    i don’t understand how my fellow countrymen/women failed to see what I saw in her. Did she make mistakes, sure. But so did the two old men remaining. IMO, other than being sucked into the M4A vortex, she was by far the most gifted campaigner and the smartest.

    ETA — I hope she doesn’t endorse anyone

  67. 67.

    germy

    @Nicole:

    I just got a $600 bill for just my first week of radiation therapy which is in a goddamn in-network facility and is supposed to be covered so I don’t know what the fuck.  This is with good private insurance, too.

    I suppose we’re supposed to be grateful the insurance company employees have good jobs.  We mustn’t disrupt their lives, after all.

  70. 70.

    BC in Illinois

    I’m going to keep my “Missouri for Warren” sign in my front yard for the next few days.

    Then go on Tuesday and vote for Biden.

    Joe Biden came to St Louis in 2016 to speak for Jason Kander and in 2018 to speak for Claire McCaskill. Yeah, I know we lost both of them, but he spoke (as I’ve said repeatedly) about the things that make us proud to be Democrats and he got me to go door to door for Jason Kander.

    And I suck at going door to door.

  71. 71.

    catclub

    @Brachiator: I think it may be good for the Democrats that she made her decision quickly, rather than drawing things out.

     

    This. It avoids a lot of “You have virtually zero mathematical  chance for the nom, why are you still running? ” questions.

  72. 72.

    cmorenc

    Biden-Abrams for Pres-VP + Harris for AG.

    (seriously)

    …and now or a fun strictly thought experiment just to see GOP heads explode.

    -Hillary Clinton encore as Sec of State.

  73. 73.

    Baud

    @BC in Illinois: I went back and looked at what he said about Klobuchar at his rally when she endorsed him.  Very effusive.  He’ll be great for down-ballot candidates.

  74. 74.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @joel hanes:

    It occurs to me that she was protecting those two because they were the best that could be expected to come from those districts, and could work with her on issues common between all three constituencies.

  76. 76.

    PenAndKey

    @Another Scott: Yup. Those life expectancies are averages. It’s a fair bet that the president, with access to the absolute best healthcare on the planet, is on the high end of that probability curve considering the other side consists of people without any healthcare. Do I think he should consider his VP strongly because they’re more likely than not to actually have to fulfill their jobs purpose for existing? Sure, but I don’t consider it a disqualifying factor by any means.

    @JPL: We’ll always have Tulsie

    Not for lack of trying, apparently.

  78. 78.

    germy

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:  It shouldn’t take that long.   But at some point, thirty years from now or so,  a candidate will mention meeting Warren as a child and making that vow.

  80. 80.

    bemused

    I debated with myself over voting for Biden or Warren in MN primary. I voted for Warren when I got in the booth. I had a hunch MN would go for Biden and I just wanted to have my probably only chance to vote for her.

    Now I am going to be stressing that Sanders might be the Dem nominee even though Biden is getting support from a lot of Dem legislators and donors. Sanders turns me off. I’m so tired of shouty, crochety old white guys. He also doesn’t seem to have a sense of humor that I have noticed.

  81. 81.

    BC in Illinois

    @joel hanes: @laura:

    Yes.

    In regard to your comments, my pie filter for the plant family Cactaceae has been put to use. I had been considering it. It was time to pie and move on.

  82. 82.

    germy

    @catclub:

     “You have virtually zero mathematical  chance for the nom, why are you still running? ” questions.

    Pundits were asking that before a single vote was cast!

  83. 83.

    dr. bloor

    @randy khan:

    It obviously never was going to happen, but I wonder what the election might have looked like if Sanders had declined to run and endorsed Warren, who supports the vast majority of what Sanders wants but isn’t him.

    Yep.  Sanders’s grandiosity and inability to compromise were never going to let him recognize that a better champion was already in the race.  I’m not holding my breath for any of his supporters to realize they fucked up by not backing a woman who agrees with 80% of his agenda, and would have advocated for it 10000% more effectively in office.

  86. 86.

    Nicole

    @Baud:

     

    @laura:

     

    @West of the Rockies:

     

    @joel hanes:

    Thanks guys; that really does make me feel better.  And fortunately, my husband’s workplace includes a woman whose entire full-time job is dealing with these health insurance issues for the employees/families, so I sent the bill and the 3 page approval form off to her  (said form including info that facility is in-network).  So no pawning anything yet. ;)

  87. 87.

    the Conster

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques:

    Needy Imin

    Did you make that up? it’s genius. The only redeeming part of this nightmare we’re stuck in are some of the nicknames. Shaun King has several that kill me – Crooker T. Washington, Talcum X, Shames Fraudwin (lol) etc.

  88. 88.

    Just One More Canuck

    @the Conster:

    If I were Biden, I’d tell her to kick Bernie in the nuts for me, and then we’ll talk.

    If she doesn’t want to do it, I will

  89. 89.

    BC in Illinois

    @Baud:

    He’ll be great for down-ballot candidates.

    I’m looking forward to this. Add in the Obamas . . . [and others!] . . . and we may be able to build a wave for the next eight months.

  90. 90.

    FelonyGovt

    @Nicole: So sorry you’re going through this. Hard enough fighting cancer without having to deal with an insurance company. Hugs.

  92. 92.

    Baud

    @Nicole: I think oftentimes, the bills simply reflect the delay in the paperwork for the insurance to pay.  But it causes unnecessary stress to people who need to not be stressed.

  93. 93.

    Skepticat

    I don’t remember feeling this positive about a candidate before, and this news brings me close to tears. Thank goodness she’s still in the Senate, and I don’t doubt she’ll be able to accomplish a great deal there. But dayum …

  94. 94.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Another Scott: Diving a little deeper into the actuarial life tables, he has roughly a 22% probability of dying before the end of his first term. More precise calculations would take more time than I have now.

  95. 95.

    mrmoshpotato

    DAMMIT!

    Guess I’m filling out my ballot for Biden, and there’s no reason not to drop it in the mail before the end of the week, even though our primary isn’t until the 17th.

  97. 97.

    Hungry Joe

    She persisted until she determined that it was no longer in everyone’s best interest that she persist. I have no idea what she’ll do re endorsement, but I trust that her decision will be strategically wise.

    I did a GOTV canvass for her (Dem households only) Tuesday afternoon, and my very small door-knock sample was a harbinger: A LOT more people said they voted, or were going to vote, for Biden or or Bloomberg than for Warren. The most common reason: “She’s too far out there.” Those words, exactly, from three different households.

  98. 98.

    randy khan

    @the Conster:

     I hope she’s on the phone with Biden negotiating terms, and If I were Biden, I’d tell her to kick Bernie in the nuts for me, and then we’ll talk.

    That might not be a particularly difficult ask.

    But I think Biden isn’t that guy.  It would be more about how she can help him directly.

  102. 102.

    Mr. Mack

    @Nicole: I’m sure you know this (I didn’t at the time) but radiation effects are cumulative.  I had chemo and radiation at the same time and I can tell you that you don’t need the added stress of sweating the bills…for now.  David Anderson actually helped answer a few questions for me and I will always be grateful he took the time to answer my email.  Sounds like you have someone at work watching your back and a good support system at home.  You got this.

  104. 104.

    d-bo

    Probably for the best, the damage she would have done to the old guys in another debate would have hurt the cause against trump while probably not moving the needle much on her winning the nomination. Still sucks, and I am proud I voted for her in SC.

  105. 105.

    the Conster

    @schrodingers_cat:

    BINGO.  I never could figure out her strategy, and if there was one, why she stuck to it.  Did she get bad advice, or did she just follow her (bad) political instincts?  I’ll be curious to read about the behind the scenes stuff.

  106. 106.

    Mai naem mobile

    I am upset about Warren. The only silver lining I see is that Warren moves up into the leadership in the Senate or if we are lucky she gets a Cabinet position that makes a difference but I also don’t want a Scott Brown situation.

  107. 107.

    terraformer

    @Ohio Mom:

    Yup, I think she should have stayed in for the March 15 debate, at least to remind people how smart she is/how much she knows about our country’s problems and how to solve them, and also, how much more energetic she is compared to the two old white men.

    I’m disappointed that most Dems just don’t seem to think the situation we’re in is a critical one. Maybe they’re “not ready” for such change so quickly. FFS, we need to fix problems RIGHT NOW, not in some imagined future of comity and happy sunshine.

    Maybe Bernie can do it, maybe Biden can. But of the two, Bernie has at least a recognition of the problems we face. Get ready for umpteen Biden lectures that begin with “Look….”

  108. 108.

    Leto

    @Nicole: I’m sorry you’re having to go through the same shit I did. I commiserate with you and offer virtual /hugs. Fuck cancer!

    Even though my head knew this was coming, my heart still wasn’t prepared. I’m glad we’ll still have her in the Senate pounding away there. Also regarding her, little girls, and selfie/pinky swears: we already have a number of her former students in the halls of Congress and they’re mainly women. She will have a very large influence for long time to come.

  109. 109.

    Bluegirlfromwyo

    @germy: Within 1-2 months, the Democratic primaries are all over but the crying. They’re not even trying for plausibility anymore.

  110. 110.

    burnspbesq

    I’d be perfectly happy to see SPW shiv Wilmer on her way out the door. He deserves it many times over.

    And if she trades an endorsement of Uncle Joe for a seat on the Platform Committee, that would be so win-win for the country …

  111. 111.

    West of the Rockies

    @Mai naem mobile:

    Did Spicer’s fat ass get bounced from DWS yet?  For a few weeks, there was a new and horrific picture of the guy in a dashing puce and chartreuse ensemble.

  114. 114.

    mrmoshpotato

    @burnspbesq:

    I’d be perfectly happy to see SPW shiv Wilmer on her way out the door. He deserves it many times over. 

    Oh I fucking want to see that.  Fuck him.

  115. 115.

    Another Scott

    @Baud: +1 on the unnecessary stress stuff.

    At least around here, our medical people usually know to the penny how much they will be paid and what our share (if we haven’t paid our deductible for the year yet) is.  It might be a deductible issue, unfortunately.  Whatever it is, I hope Nicole gets it resolved with having to pay as little as possible.

    Fingers crossed.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  116. 116.

    Felanius Kootea

    I think I’ll just tune off for the rest of this primary. I’ll vote for whoever the Democrats put forward, just hope there’s a backup plan since we have two guys in their late 70s, one who’s recently had a heart attack, who will be going around shaking hands and hugging babies (with COVID19 and an idiot in the White House who thinks it’s the flu).

  117. 117.

    Cacti

    @schrodingers_cat: EW was A+ in policy but not in politics.

    Yep.

    At the end of the day, elections are about convincing people to vote for you. She didn’t have a plan for that.

  118. 118.

    Kelly

    @Nicole:I’m also particularly salty because I just got a $600 bill for just my first week of radiation therapy which is in a goddamn in-network facility and is supposed to be covered so I don’t know what the fuck.

    When my wife was treated for cancer our insurance eventually paid for everything. However the arguing between the medical providers and the insurance went beyond 90 days and we started getting letters that we would be turned over to collection agencies. When we frantically called to say but we thought this was being taken care of the billing people said ignore the notices the computer sends them out automatically these arguments will go on for several more months. I’m this is already stressful why don’t you fix it? Oh we don’t have anybody to do that ?. So we got several months of automatic threatening letters then it all worked out.

  119. 119.

    AM in NC

    @Nicole: Come sit by me and we’ll throw things at the wall together.

    Sorry to hear about your cancer’s recurrence. Sending strength your way.

  120. 120.

    L85NJGT

    @randy khan:

    Given her results Tuesday, even if they all shifted to Sanders, Biden would still have beaten him like a rented mule.

    On Tuesday there are five primaries where he won’t break 40%, and winning the ND caucus won’t offset those delegate losses. Then on the 17th there are another four big states primaries that will likely be the end of the road, even he pisses and moans all the way to the convention.

  121. 121.

    Johnnybuck

    Bernie has at least a recognition of the problems we face.

    He just has no plan for dealing with it.

  123. 123.

    Hoodie

    @cmorenc: My bet would be Susan Rice for SOS.  That will make wingnut heads explode, too.  HRC would be a gas on the SC to screw with those sourpusses, but probably should get someone younger.

  124. 124.

    Kent

    @randy khan:It obviously never was going to happen, but I wonder what the election might have looked like if Sanders had declined to run and endorsed Warren, who supports the vast majority of what Sanders wants but isn’t him.

    Because Sanders doesn’t have a set of policy objectives.  He has a set of political objectives, namely to tear down the Democratic party and rebuild it in his image.  The policy objectives are secondary.

    Unfortunately too few of his more casual followers understand that. The die-hards of course do.

  125. 125.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Cacti: Honestly, dude, I would treat this thread as one of the RIP threads and let mourners mourn.  There have been and will been lots of threads for analysis, criticism, and the rest.  Or you could be a dick.  Your choice.

  126. 126.

    Hoodie

    @pat: That’s more for a parliamentarian/dealmaker types like Murray.  Warren can be like Teddy K, advocate for real breakthrough legislation, but not in the formal leadership.

  127. 127.

    Nicole

    @Mr. Mack: Holy cow; I bow down before you having to do both chemo and radiation at the same time.  As upset as I am that mine recurred barely 3 years later, it’s still a kind that’s not quite aggressive enough for chemo to be a net benefit.  So, small blessings where they come.

    I’m six sessions from the end (22 done so far) and the side effects haven’t been bad yet- I haven’t really had any fatigue and my skin is flushed at the end of the week but okay again by Monday.

    Anyway, I think I shall switch the monthly contributions I was making to Warren to some of the Senate races we may have a shot at picking up.  They can use my little bits of $ more than Biden.

  128. 128.

    Splitting Image

    Disappointing but not surprising.

    Biden it is then. I was hoping for better, but if there is going to be an old fart in the White House for four more years, better Biden than Trump. Or Bloomberg. Or Sanders.

    Now all hands on deck for the Senate races. If there is a silver lining here, it may be that Biden will be so dull a President that people will have to pay more attention to the rest of the political system, where the real change is going to have to get done over the next ten years.

    Remember that redistricting is coming up and Democrats need to win as many chambers in as many states as possible. A repeat of 2010 will push any progress back another 10 years regardless of who is in the White House.

  130. 130.

    L85NJGT

    @d-bo:

    Blowing up Sanders wouldn’t have mattered (he and the inner circle are doing a bang up job themselves), but she could have taken some bark off of Joe. So maybe not a tacit endorsement, but at least a realistic acknowledgement of the likely outcome.

  131. 131.

    Nicole

    @AM in NC:

    Come sit by me and we’ll throw things at the wall together.

    Let’s come up with some really clever profanity to yell while we do it, too, okay?

  132. 132.

    Aziz, light!

    @ByRookorbyCrook:

     Now we are really down to two near octogenarians with health issues.

    Biden looks his age, and like anyone his age stumbles sometimes in his verbal performance, but I’m not aware of him having any worrisome health issues. What do you think they are?

  134. 134.

    Baud

    The Massachusetts senator, who centered her bid on a promise to wipe out corruption in Washington, announced her decision on a staff call Thursday morning.
    “I wanted you all to hear it first, and I wanted you to hear it straight from me: Today, I’m suspending our campaign for president,” Warren said, according to a person on the call.
    She continued, “I know that when we set out, this was not the call you ever wanted to hear. It is not the call I ever wanted to make. But I refuse to let disappointment blind me — or you — to what we’ve accomplished. We didn’t reach our goal, but what we have done together — what you have done — has made a lasting difference. It’s not the scale of the difference we wanted to make, but it matters — and the changes will have ripples for years to come.”

    https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/05/politics/elizabeth-warren-drops-out/index.html

  135. 135.

    Hoodie

    @Aziz, light!: I think Joe’s reasonably healthy, and I’d bet that Jill makes him layoff the junk food, eat his veggies and get his rest.   He’s pretty trim.  He’s a bit pale and liver spotty, but he is Irish, after all.  Bernie looks like he’s ready to stroke out.

  137. 137.

    Kent

    @Hoodie:@cmorenc: My bet would be Susan Rice for SOS.  That will make wingnut heads explode, too.  HRC would be a gas on the SC to screw with those sourpusses, but probably should get someone younger.

    Yes, we are already dealing with enough re-treads with Biden and Sanders as the final two nominees.  We don’t need to trot out every 1990s era Dem when the bench is very deep.  Just watching the Impeachment hearings reminded me again of how much talent we have in this country.

    Hillary is great and all, but time for her to start working on her memoirs or sit on advisory boards and charities and open up some space for younger talent to develop.

    Fiona Hill was a badass during the impeachment hearings.  She needs a larger role in the next Dem administration.  Maybe UN ambassador or Assistant Secretary of State or something.  There are lots like that.

    And who fucking cares if wingnut heads explode.  Since when does the GOP ever take into account Democratic opinions when they make their appointments?   NEVER.

  139. 139.

    Elizabelle

    @Nicole:   Hugs and strength.  Hope you beat this back successfully and it never, never comes back.

    For throwing things at the wall:  “This is for Elizabeth!  And Hillary!”

  140. 140.

    Jinchi

    @Another Scott: Just because life expectancy is 8 years doesn’t mean he’ll be capable of performing the job for 8 years. Either of these guys needs to pick a very solid and capable VP because that person has better than even odds of needing to take on a large share of the burden under the best circumstances.

  142. 142.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @Splitting Image:

    Remember that redistricting is coming up and Democrats need to win as many chambers in as many states as possible. A repeat of 2010 will push any progress back another 10 years regardless of who is in the White House.

    This is an important thing to keep in mind.

  144. 144.

    jonas

    It was a good run for Warren. I would have been thrilled to see her come out ahead, but, alas, we are where we are. She needs to be the Senate Majority Leader if we retake the Senate in November. Even with a majority, Schumer would just get owned over and over and over again by McConnell and the minority.

  145. 145.

    Elizabelle

    I am so proud of everyone here who supported Elizabeth Warren:  who voted, who volunteered, who contributed, who believed in her.  Who cared so deeply about the outcome.

    Applause to all of you.  It may not seem like it, but it mattered.

  147. 147.

    Kent

    My WA state mail-in ballot was sitting on my counter until this morning.  I finally opened it and marked it for Biden.  It was going to be Warren but I decided to wait.

    Among the cases for Biden, I think he has the smallest ego, by far, of the remaining candidates, Sanders, Trump, and if you want to throw him in, Bloomberg.   All those other guys are much greater control freaks who I think would be unable to delegate.  Trump obviously, but Sanders strikes me as being Trump-like in that respect.  He doesn’t seem to have any competent seasoned people around him which is a bad sign.

    Biden seems like he is most likely to be happy to delegate substantial duties to subordinates and be happy to allow them the room to operate and the credit to succeed or fail.  After Trump I don’t think that is a bad thing.  I see a Biden presidency as appointing a good healthy mix of seasoned hands and competent new blood across the executive branch to bring back some competence and normalcy to Washington.  Just having a Federal government that runs competently and smoothly will be a tremendous achievement.    I want a government where a Biden can take a week off and everything still runs like a well oiled machine.  I don’t see a Sanders administration as working like that.

  148. 148.

    Karen

    I like how she eviscerated Bloomberg but we’re still in a world where a woman is not allowed to be “mean” but a man is “competitive.”

  149. 149.

    rp

    @Kent:

    And who fucking cares if wingnut heads explode.  Since when does the GOP ever take into account Democratic opinions when they make their appointments?   NEVER.

    I care if wingnut heads explode. Or did you mean wanting to prevent that from happening?

  150. 150.

    Nicole

    @Elizabelle: i’ll add another pile for Harris, too, until such time as I know whether she has a shot at VP.

    follow up: it looks like this bill may be out of a $750 total in-network deductible that our plan, in its infinite wisdom, sees fit to apply since I guess it’s not considered a 100% covered service because reasons (to which I say, dudes, it’s CANCER). But anyway, $750 total deductible is manageable for us.

    (And in the sometimes the universe gives you a tiny little bit back, a friend just reached out to me because she won the ticket lottery for Harry Potter, and is taking me tonight and tomorrow. Anytime one can see Broadway for $20 it’s a good day. ?)

  151. 151.

    Jinchi

    @Mai naem mobile: I like Warren in the Senate. Let’s give her a majority of Democrats to work with and mainline all the policies she’s worked so hard to formulate.

  152. 152.

    BC in Illinois

    Let me go way off topic.

    The Missouri Legislature is considering a bill  (HB 2209) to create a Missouri Department of Defense.

    Beginning December 31, 2020, this bill creates a “Department of
    Defense” and transfers the powers, duties, and functions vested in
    the Office of Adjutant General, the state militia, and the Office
    of the State Judge Advocate from the Department of Public Safety,
    via Type I transfer.

    This bill has an effective date contingent upon the passage and
    approval by the voters of an amendment to the Constitution creating
    a Department of Defense.

    I’m not sure whether this means that the border war with Kansas is heating up again . . .

    Or whether they think that a civil war is coming . . .

    Or what.

  153. 153.

    Baud

    Andrea Mitchell shouldn’t be lamenting the loss of women candidates after the way she treated Hillary.

  154. 154.

    Elizabelle

    @Nicole:   Kamala Harris would be a formidable VP or AG.  And maybe Biden could announce his intention to nominate her for AG and she could be out there campaigning too, explaining her first steps in righting our justice system.

    And Harry Potter tickets.  Woo hoo!  Enjoy.  (Is it a two-night play??)  Enjoy the Broadway evening.

  155. 155.

    dww44

    @bemused:  IMV, another characteristic Bernie shares with Trump.  Isn’t it ironic that the two “burn it down” candidates have no real sense of humor?

    He also doesn’t seem to have a sense of humor that I have noticed

  156. 156.

    Brachiator

    @Karen:

    I like how she eviscerated Bloomberg but we’re still in a world where a woman is not allowed to be “mean” but a man is “competitive.”

    I absolutely take your point, but most of the reaction I saw on this applauded Warren’s skill in taking Bloomberg down. And some wished that that she had been as sharp throughout her campaign.

  157. 157.

    Elizabelle

    @Baud:   Mrs. Greenspan.

    And let us not forget how she would recap an Obama speech MSNBC had just broadcast in full, giving an account that was nothing like what we heard.

    Her is a gaslighter.

    May she follow Chris Matthews into retirement.  Real soon.  (And I would guess that is the plan.  One last election in which to carry the Republicans’ water, or at least induce doubt about Democrats.)

  158. 158.

    joel hanes

    @BC in Illinois:

    Missouri and Iowa had a long-running low intensity border war before the Civil War.    Southern Iowans adamantly opposed being part of a slave state, and some of the early surveys and boundary laws were imprecise or ambiguous.

  159. 159.

    Another Scott

    @Elizabelle: I guess the timing isn’t right, but I’d really like to see someone like Kamala (if for some reason, not her) as head of the FBI. She could get a lot done there in 10 years (the term), and AGs often don’t stick around very long.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  160. 160.

    Mr. Mack

    @Nicole: Yep, 34 straight days of radiation, six weeks of chemo.  Our deductible is what yours is, max out of pocket 4000, per individual.  It’s a big hit, but manageable.  Best of luck!

  162. 162.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Kent: Fiona Hill really would send a message that Democrats are rebuilding the state department. We might be able to get some of the brain drain reversed. :(

  165. 165.

    Jinchi

    @Kent: Remember Fiona Hill is not a Democrat. She’s a Bolton favorite and probably a foreign policy hawk.She did great during the hearings and thats a reassuring sign that there are sane people and patriots even among conservatives. But I’m not sure she’s a fit for a Democratic administration.

  167. 167.

    Geminid

    If I grade Warren I give A’s for character and policies. As for political strategy and tactics, she got such a raw deal from the media  it’s hard to rate her. I’d at least grade on a curve, though, because this has been one screwed up primary season and political climate. In the 2008 general election Ploufe and Axelrod just had to play a smart game of checkers. This year’s primary process seems like some weird cross between Monopoly and Chutes and Ladders.

  168. 168.

    hitchhiker

    @Nicole:

    really clever profanity

    should be a bj tag.

    The job of the insurance company person processing your claim is to deny it and hope you don’t fight back. The job of the person charged with your paperwork after you fight back is to deny your claim and make it sound as final as possible.

    The job of the last person in this line is to agree to pay up.

    For them, this is just a matter of increasing their bottom line number by taking advantage of the fact that a LOT of their customers will take no for an answer.

    And yes, they will rot in hell for this, if there is a hell.

    Feel better!

  169. 169.

    Jinchi

    @Another Scott: These are great people but let’s not strip the Senate of capable Democrats just yet. Kamala as VP I’m all for. Otherwise leave her in place.

  170. 170.

    Z. Mulls

    It’s certainly an interesting idea for Biden to not just name a VP, but also cabinet members.  He can campaign and say “This is the TEAM I’m bringing with me,” and each of them can eviscerate the current holder of the office.         Biden introducing his prospective Sec of Educ at a campaign event, and him/her going through Devos’ record.   Or (as suggested above) Harris as AG, taking down Barr at her own events.   A team of experts vs a team of charlatans and fools.

     

    And I am bullish for Warren as VP, if it doesn’t hurt the Senate.     Biden demanded a meaningful portfolio from Obama to take the job, *and* insisted he be the “last one in the room” always.   His VP is going to get the same, and I’d love Warren to be the last one in the room.   Plus if and when Biden’s age starts showing more than it is, she is in place to take over more.

  171. 171.

    Another Scott

    Our work continues, the fight goes on, and big dreams never die. From the bottom of my heart, thank you. https://t.co/28kyKe777L

    — Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) March 5, 2020

    Has a pointer to a Medium piece on her remarks to her campaign staff.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  172. 172.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Gin & Tonic: SSA tables give the life expectancy of a 77-year-old US male as 10 years (i.e., to age 87), for an 81-year-old US male as 7.82 years (i.e., to 88.82 or roughly 88 years, 300 days). So (ceteris paribus) President Uncle Joe would be fairly likely to survive his first term & once there he’d be reasonably likely to survive his second.

  174. 174.

    Mary G

    I am still grieving Warren’s candidacy. America had a chance for rock star and chose the leader of a band that had its last hit in 1991. I am going to move my contribution to a Senate race.

  175. 175.

    Hoodie

    @Geminid: What Plouffe and Axelrod did in 2008 was harder than it looked, which is understandable with a candidate like Obama.  They took out two significant political figures in Clinton and McCain.   They played the caucuses and early primaries near perfectly, and still barely squeaked by Clinton once she regained her footing.  It was neck and neck with McCain until McCain self-destructed with the Palin pick and his panic during the financial crisis.  In her defense, Warren really was a novice in presidential politics and did pretty damn well considering it.  Look what happened to the other senators.  But there is very little room for error in that game.

  176. 176.

    hitchhiker

    @Kent:

    He doesn’t seem to have any competent seasoned people around him which is a bad sign.

    Bernie doesn’t exactly attract competent seasoned people. It’s his brand to push them away and mock them as “establishment.” You have to wonder who would be both acceptable to President Sanders AND capable of doing the work.

  178. 178.

    Domestic short hair tabby

    @Nicole: well that is wonderful! Wishing you the best in your battle with fuck cancer, and look forward to your review of the show!

  179. 179.

    Raoul

    By first choice was Harris, second Elizabeth. I’m bummed.

    But I’m also a terrible chooser. I’ve been a fan of Jerry Brown when Bill Clinton was running. And Paul Tsongas. And other assorted 2nd, 3rd and 4th place Democrats. I always fall in line (and will again), but it is exhausting.

    But also why I’m focusing on local and state stuff more. I can maybe have some impact there.

  180. 180.

    Tenar Arha

    I’m consoling myself with this quote, and hoping she’s working right now so we can push for all the great plans of the various candidates during a new Democratic Administration, Senate, & House. My preference is that she’ll be leading that charge in the Senate while VP Harris pushes from inside the Administration.

    What if Sanders or Buttigieg won the nomination, and then adopted her plans? “Are you kidding? Fabulous!” she says. “I think the question you’re asking me is, ‘If the things you want to get done actually get done, will your heart be broken?’ And the answer is, ‘No! I’ll lead the parade!’”

  183. 183.

    lamh36

    Kamala Harris on Liz Warren

     

    .@KamalaHarris on @ewarren: “There are no women currently in this race. The reality is that there’s still a lot of work to be done to make it very clear that women are exceptionally qualified and capable of being the commander in chief of the United States of America.”

    More @KamalaHarris on @ewarren, @amyklobuchar, @SenGillibrand: “We had extraordinary leaders who have a proven track record of leadership in local government and state government, running big agencies. I have nothing but praise for Elizabeth Warren.”

    https://twitter.com/kyunglahcnn/status/1235599938320359424?s=21

    Classy as usual!

  186. 186.

    Hoodie

    @Uncle Cosmo: Yeah, but capacity can diminish pretty quickly in the 80’s from what I’ve experienced with my relatives.  I think he’ll be ok for the first term, but Joe definitely needs to have a succession plan in place.

  187. 187.

    bemused

    @dww44:

    I made the same connection. Not as deficient as trump who has zero sense of humor. I don’t think I’ve actually heard trump ever  laugh, only smile smugly when uttering the most heinous things such as imitating the disabled.

  189. 189.

    cckids

    @Skepticat:

     

    I don’t remember feeling this positive about a candidate before, and this news brings me close to tears. Thank goodness she’s still in the Senate, and I don’t doubt she’ll be able to accomplish a great deal there. But dayum

    This. More than anything, I want her to take McConnell’s job. I know, I know, Schumer. Warren would be better, by several orders of magnitude.

  192. 192.

    Another Scott

    @Another Scott:

    Medium.com’s web site seems to be being slashdotted. Here it is:

    Remarks from Elizabeth Warren shared in a call with campaign staff:

    I want to start with the news. I want all of you to hear it first, and I want you to hear it straight from me: Today, I’m suspending our campaign for president.

    I know how hard all of you have worked. So from the bottom of my heart, thank you for everything you have poured into this campaign.

    I know that when we set out, this was not what you ever wanted to hear. It is not the call I ever wanted to make. But I refuse to let disappointment blind me — or you — to what we’ve accomplished. We didn’t reach our goal, but what we have done together — what you have done — has made a lasting difference. It’s not the scale of the difference we wanted to make, but it matters — and the changes will have ripples for years to come.

    What we have done — and the ideas we have launched into the world, the way we have fought this fight, the relationships we have built — will carry through, carry through for the rest of this election, and the one after that, and the one after that.

    So think about it:

    We have shown that it is possible to build a grassroots movement that is accountable to supporters and activists and not to wealthy donors — and to do it fast enough for a first-time candidate to build a viable campaign. Never again can anyone say that the only way that a newcomer can get a chance to be a plausible candidate is to take money from corporate executives and billionaires. That’s done.

    We have also shown that it is possible to inspire people with big ideas, possible to call out what’s wrong and to lay out a path to make this country live up to its promise.

    We have also shown that race and justice — economic justice, social justice, environmental justice, criminal justice — are not an afterthought, but are at the heart of everything that we do.

    We have shown that a woman can stand up, hold her ground, and stay true to herself — no matter what.

    We have shown that we can build plans in collaboration with the people who are most affected. You know, just one example: Our disability plan is a model for our country, and, even more importantly, the way we relied on the disability communities to help us get it right will be a more important model.

    And one thing more: Campaigns take on a life and soul of their own and they are a reflection of the people who work on them.

    This campaign became something special, and it wasn’t because of me. It was because of you. I am so proud of how you all fought this fight alongside me: You fought it with empathy and kindness and generosity — and of course, with enormous passion and grit.

    Some of you may remember that long before I got into electoral politics, I was asked if I would accept a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that was weak and toothless.

    And I replied that my first choice was a consumer agency that could get real stuff done, and my second choice was no agency and lots of blood and teeth left on the floor.

    In this campaign, we have been willing to fight, and when necessary, we left plenty of blood and teeth on the floor. And I can think of one billionaire who has been denied the chance to buy this election.

    Now, campaigns change people. And I know that you will carry the experiences you have had here, the skills you’ve learned, the friendships you have made, will be with you for the rest of your lives. I also want you to know that you have changed me, and I will carry you in my heart for the rest of my life.

    So if you leave with only one thing, it must be this: Choose to fight only righteous fights, because then when things get tough — and they will — you will know that there is only option ahead of you. Nevertheless, you must persist.

    You should all be so proud of what we’ve done together — what you have done over this past year.

    We built a grassroots campaign that had some of the most ambitious organizing targets ever — and then we turned around and surpassed them.

    Our staff and volunteers on the ground knocked on over 22 million doors across the country. You made 20 million phone calls and sent more than 42 million texts to voters. That’s truly astonishing. It is.

    We fundamentally changed the substance of this race.

    You know a year ago, people weren’t talking about a two-cent wealth tax, universal childcare, cancelling student loan debt for 43 million Americans while reducing the racial wealth gap, or breaking up big tech. Or expanding Social Security. And now they are. And because we did the work of building broad support for all of those ideas across this country, these changes could actually be implemented by the next president.

    A year ago, people weren’t talking about corruption, and they still aren’t talking about it enough. But we’ve moved the needle, and a hunk of our anti-corruption plan is already embedded in a House bill that is ready to go when we get a Democratic Senate.

    We also advocated for fixing our rigged system in a way that will make it work better for everyone — regardless of your race, or gender, or religion, regardless of whether you’re straight or LGBTQ+. And that wasn’t an afterthought, it was built into everything we did.

    And we did all of this without selling access for money.
    Together, more than 1,250,000 people gave more than $112 million dollars to support this campaign. And we did it without selling one minute of my time to the highest bidder. People said that would be impossible — but you did that.

    And we also did it by having fun and by staying true to ourselves. We ran from the heart. We ran on our values. We ran on treating everyone with respect and dignity.

    You know liberty green everything was key here — my personal favorites included the liberty green boas, liberty green sneakers, liberty green make up, liberty green hair, and liberty green glitter — liberally applied. But it was so much more.

    Four-hour selfie lines and pinky promises with little girls. And a wedding at one of our town halls. We were joyful and positive through all of it. We ran a campaign not to put people down, but to lift them up — and I loved pretty much every minute of it.

    So take some time to be with your friends and family, to get some sleep, maybe to get that haircut you’ve been putting off.
    Do things to take care of yourselves, gather up your energy, because I know you are coming back. I know you — and I know that you aren’t ready to leave this fight.

    You know, I used to hate goodbyes. Whenever I taught my last class or when we moved to a new city, those final goodbyes used to wrench my heart. But then I realized that there is no goodbye for much of what we do.

    When I left one place, I took everything I’d learned before and all the good ideas that were tucked into my brain and all the good friends that were tucked in my heart, and I brought it all forward with me — and it became part of what I did next. This campaign is no different. I may not be in the race for president in 2020, but this fight — our fight — is not over. And our place in this fight has not ended.

    Because for every young person who is drowning in student debt, for every family struggling to pay the bills on two incomes, for every mom worried about paying for prescriptions or putting food on the table, this fight goes on.

    For every immigrant and African American and Muslim and Jewish person and Latinx and trans woman who sees the rise in attacks on people who look or sound or worship like them, this fight goes on.

    And for every person alarmed by the speed with which climate change is bearing down upon us, this fight goes on.

    And for every American who desperately wants to see our nation healed and some decency and honor restored to our government, this fight goes on.

    And sure, the fight may take a new form, but I will be in that fight, and I want you in this fight with me. We will persist.

    One last story: When I voted yesterday at the elementary school down the street, a mom came up to me. And she said she has two small children, and they have a nightly ritual. After the kids have brushed teeth and read books and gotten that last sip of water and done all the other bedtime routines, they do one last thing before the two little ones go to sleep.
    Mama leans over them and whispers, “Dream big.” And the children together reply, “Fight hard.”

    Our work continues, the fight goes on, and big dreams never die.

    Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

    Well said.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  194. 194.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Baud: Oh hell no.  No one in the media should be lamenting the losses of women candidates after the way the bastards treated Hillary Clinton.

  195. 195.

    Elizabelle

    @Geminid:

    This year’s primary process seems like some weird cross between Monopoly and Chutes and Ladders.

    Word. That’s brilliant.

  196. 196.

    Kent

    @rp:I care if wingnut heads explode. Or did you mean wanting to prevent that from happening?

    I have teenagers and they sometimes do stupid shit just to rebel or antagonize their parents.  Then they eventually grow up and move past that phase of their lives and learn to act on their own accord, not for the approval or disapproval of their parents.

    Democrats should do what is best for the country and best for achieving their objectives, not to “trigger” the GOP on the one hand, or be considerate of GOP sensibilities on the other.   Both paths lead to folly, no matter how good it might make you feel.

    Put the best people into place and expect them to do their best job, and fucking ignore the GOP.

  199. 199.

    moonbat

    Admittedly, I am still stinging from Sen. Warren dropping out of the race. She was clearly the best, smartest, most capable candidate whose policies would have done the most good for the most people and I am sorry that as a party we were not brave enough to act on that reality. But I am also getting really tired of people nitpicking her campaign “style” or whatever. Joe Biden’s campaign up until the Clyburn endorsement was a dead fish floating in the water. He was a nonentity in most of the debates, has not advocated any policies new or old that I am aware of, and was actively NOT campaigning in many of the states he won on Super Tuesday. People chose him as the “safe” candidate to beat the pestilence that is currently occupying the White House and I get that and will vote for him in the general election. But please stop pretending that there was some fatal flaw in SPW’s strategy, personality, or message that made the difference. Unless her flaw was not being Barack Obama’s vice president.

  200. 200.

    japa21

    Just saw my first Biden TV ad here in Chicago area. The money is obviously pouring in.

  202. 202.

    Lyrebird

    @Nicole: 

    Wishing you all success and relief from the insurance miseries on top of your probably less than enjoyable treatments!

    The first diagnosis happened one week before the 2016 election, and I remember thinking, “At least I lived to see a woman President.”

    Yeah, on 11/9/2016 a dear elderly relative of mine was similarly bummed. She’s gone now, but she passed 100 yrs old and that’s after beating cancer.

  203. 203.

    J R in WV

    @Nicole:

    I just got a $600 bill for just my first week of radiation therapy which is in a goddamn in-network facility and is supposed to be covered so I don’t know what the fuck. This is with good private insurance, too. And I’ve had 4 weeks of therapy since then and have one more to go.

    If I had to guess, I would bet that the radiation facility you are being treated by sends bills to both the insurance pigs and the suffering patients at the same time. You should get a new bill eventually showing a payment from your insurance, and a near-zero balance due.

    When wife was diagnosed with septic shock due to pneumonia, she spent over two months in the hospital, and at least half that was in one of three different ICUs, including 23 days in an induced coma on a vent.

    Early on I had a flash of fear about the eventual bill, and the nurse (a vet named Rowdy who was a combat medic turned ICU RN) called a hospital social worker, and she and I had a long conversation. In the long run Medicare and wife’s supplemental insurance covered 99.997% of that hospital bill, which was just under $400,000. IIRC, it was nearly 10 years ago, our check was for just over $1,500. Which isn’t nothing, but think of the value received for that!

    Thankful for the WVU teaching hospital in Charleston, where a flying squad of doctors worked together to save wife’s life, our family doctor told me second or third day that her chances were 70-30… that 30% was her chance of living, and she recovered well enough to visit Spain, France, Italy, Arizona, New Mexico, and Baja California to kiss a whale.

    Hope this course of radiation kills your cancer dead, dead! and you have many comfortable years ahead of you. You still may very well live to see a female Democratic progressive president, that’s one of my goals too as an old fat bald white guy! We started boosting Kamala Harris, then mostly Elizabeth Warren, tho we pitched in to Amy K’s fund too.

    I have never loved Joe Biden like I did Obama, but he isn’t a despicable wurm like Drumpf, and I hope and expect Biden will select competent smart people to repair our national government.

    Best of luck, Nicole!!!

  205. 205.

    Orange Is The New White

    Within 1-2 months, the Democratic primaries are all over but the crying. They’re not even trying for plausibility anymore.

    @WhiteguyfromRussiantrollfactory:  There’s a strategem that’s no longer trying for plausibility anymore, and it’s not that of the Dem party.

    Take a good hard look in the mirror.  There’s the plausibility problem.

  206. 206.

    MCA1

    @trollhattan: “I will consider a Biden presidency triage for dealing with Trump’s considerable damage.”

    Silver lining for you here, imho: any upcoming Democrat’s presidency is going to be triage, and likely overwhelmed by the amount of damage control and reputation/alliance restoration required after 4 years of Cheetolini.  He has trashed the federal government and destroyed the stature in the world that we spent 75 years building up.  The next administration will barely have time for anything beyond trying to put out those fires, and won’t have much time to move any legislative agenda forward.

    I know, walking and chewing gum at the same time is possible and all, but I really think just rebuilding trust in the federal government and rooting out the arsonists among Trump’s political appointees and undoing their damage will be nigh on a full time job.

    A silver lining to that silver lining, though: it would be refreshing to see a House of the same party as the President independently pursue its own legislation, instead of just pushing forward the President’s priorities.  A situation where the POTUS tends to the Executive Branch and just signs off or vetoes bills that an independent Legislative Branch initiate would be a nice way to ratchet back the now greatly overexpanded role/power of the presidency.

  209. 209.

    Juju

    @Uncle Cosmo: all that information about longevity may sound good, but my issue with both Biden and Sanders and their age is that cognitive issues become more prevalent as a person ages. The difference between my mother and her friends at 77 and 80 and now beyond has been rather surprising to observe. The decline, if things go in that direction, is sad to watch. I see signs of that kind of decline in Biden. I’d be surprised, if he is elected, if he makes it through one term. If he does make it through one term it will be because he is propped up by his staff.  I don’t see as much cognitive decline in Sanders, he tends to repeat things a lot, but I have never seen him completely lose his train of thought the way Biden has on numerous occasions.  Sanders has the heart issue and that’s not good.  Those sort of health issues tend not to improve with age. If Biden is the nominee he better choose an excellent VP.

  210. 210.

    Yutsano

    When I left one place, I took everything I’d learned before and all the good ideas that were tucked into my brain and all the good friends that were tucked in my heart, and I brought it all forward with me — and it became part of what I did next

    I can’t less than three this enough…

  212. 212.

    Juju

    @Yutsano:  I know this is way off topic, but I remember you mentioning that you had trouble working with yeast doughs. I read that thread rather late and didn’t reply, but I was wondering, when you have bloomed yeast in the past have you put salt with the yeast?  If you have, you slow or kill your yeast. Always put salt with the dry ingredients, you will probably have better luck with yeast breads.

  213. 213.

    lamh36

    ‪Bernie strategy…”who needs Black folks”! I hope folks in Michigan show up and show out against him!‬

     

    NEWS: Bernie Sanders is cancelling his scheduled speech in Jackson, Mississippi this Friday for stops in Michigan, a Sanders aide tells @GaryGrumbach. His speech in Jackson was aimed at reaching out to the state’s African-American voters.

    https://twitter.com/geoffrbennett/status/1235629982723997697?s=21

  214. 214.

    Bluegirlfromwyo

    @Orange Is The New White: I was referring to Ron Johnson (Republican-WI) and his new found “concern” about Democrats knowledge of Joe Biden that Germy posted. I love getting accused of trolling when posting about GOP trolling. Thanks.

  215. 215.

    trollhattan

    @MCA1:

    Yup.

    I was perpetually enraged at the lack of media pushback at the Republican “position” that while “Sure, Obama may have overseen the longest uninterrupted period of economic growth in history, after stanching the bleeding from Bush’s Great Recession, but the growth was too anemic!”

    Fuckers.

  216. 216.

    J R in WV

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    @Cacti: Honestly, dude, I would treat this thread as one of the RIP threads and let mourners mourn.  There have been and will been lots of threads for analysis, criticism, and the rest.  Or you could be a dick.  Your choice.

    Actually, I just read a Psychology Today article with research on Internet Trolls, which spelled out that the people who do this have major psychological issues which compel them to do the trollish things they do. So he probably doesn’t have a choice at all.

    The issues [ title “Internet Trolls Are Narcissists, Psychopaths, and Sadists”] aren’t amenable to treatment, either, because sadism and personality disorders aren’t treatable. So just pie him and let the system keep you away from all that poison. I sometimes open other people’s replies to pied trolls, but rarely actually look at the troll posts themselves.

  217. 217.

    Nicole

    @Elizabelle: Yeah, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child comes in two parts. An acquaintance of mine wrote The Inheritance, also on B’way, also a 2-parter. Is it a trend? Dunno, but it sure makes for a lot of money to see one story.

    I’m looking forward to HP, both nights, but I do have to admit that for me the 4 most beautiful words in theater are, “90 minutes, no intermission.“ :)

    that was a great speech by Warren. Instead of despairing, I’m feeling inspired again. Yep, dream big, fight hard.

  219. 219.

    Bluegirlfromwyo

    @trollhattan: but the growth was too anemic!”

    Or “not fast enough”, had a GOP friend tell me that in the summer of 2009. Good times.

  221. 221.

    J R in WV

    @Kent:

    And who fucking cares if wingnut heads explode.

    I care!!! Want to see that every night on the TV news show!!!!! Wassa matta wit you don’t want to see that?!?!?

  224. 224.

    James E Powell

    @Kent:

    And who fucking cares if wingnut heads explode.  Since when does the GOP ever take into account Democratic opinions when they make their appointments?   NEVER.

    I certainly don’t care if wingnut heads explode, literally or figuratively, but I would note that nearly every time wingnut heads explode, the entire press/media world goes up in flames. See, e.g., Hillary & deplorable

    This has been a problem for Democrats for almost 30 years and I am at a loss for a solution.

  226. 226.

    J R in WV

    @West of the Rockies:

    Aw, gee, thanks! I have been know to jump off the deep end when someone irks me late a night, but I’m trying hard to not do that as much. And a little less  “F’ You with a rusty chain saw” too. But I do try.

  227. 227.

    Tall Tom

    So I have a strategy question:  Would it make sense as a candidate to announce your VP pick now?  Since the purpose in the general election is to win electoral math, and not the national majority %, would a VP pick from Wisconsin or Pennsylvania be a good choice?  Both of these states currently have Democratic governors.  We haven’t had their primaries yet, either.  WI and PA both have Democratic Lt. Gov. office holders, too.  Would an early VP pick from one of these two swing states help you win both upcoming primaries and the general election?

  228. 228.

    PST

    @Kelly:

    When my wife was treated for cancer our insurance eventually paid for everything. However the arguing between the medical providers and the insurance went beyond 90 days and we started getting letters that we would be turned over to collection agencies. When we frantically called to say but we thought this was being taken care of the billing people said ignore the notices the computer sends them out automatically these arguments will go on for several more months.

    That is most certainly my experience, and I’ve been through cancer treatment for family members or me five times in the last fifteen years or so. I never pay fast, even if the notices cause anxiety. Especially when more than one insurer may be involved, I found it best to let everything settle down and all the insurer-provider disputes resolve before writing any checks. I can’t guarantee that this is the best course, but it has worked for me.

  229. 229.

    Ohio Mom

    Interesting to me that Warren highlighted her disability platform in her speech — she got very marks for it from the lefty disability community. It was extremely well-thought out.

    Interesting, because who continues to be the ONLY Democratic candidate without a disability statement? The guy I’m now with (sigh), Joe Biden.

  230. 230.

    mad citizen

    @Tall Tom: Well I’m two states away but the Wisconsin governor is a mild-mannered Old White Guy (educator background I believe), like 70 I’m guessing, so it’s a NO on that as a VP pick for me.

    PA I have no idea who that it is.

  231. 231.

    janesays

    @Aziz, light!: Potentially declining cognitive function. He’s always been a gaffe machine, but he’s gotten notably worse. Definitely has a Ronald Reagan circa-1986 feel.

    To be clear, I’m with Biden, and I’m definitely less concerned by his health problems than I am with Bernie’s. But actuarially speaking, there’s a good chance either one of these dudes will croak before they get to 2024.

  232. 232.

    West of the Rockies

    @Tall Tom:

    Good question.  I assume the VP announcement comes at a time for optimum effect.

    Harris would not win a state for Joe.  California is solidly anti-Trump.  Would she positively impact the turnout of POC?  I think so, but her run for president did not exactly excite that base as near as I could tell.

  233. 233.

    Baud

    @Ohio Mom:

    Interesting, because who continues to be the ONLY Democratic candidate without a disability statement? The guy I’m now with (sigh), Joe Biden.

    Are you looking for something other than this?

    ETA: It does seem to just take bits and pieces from other plans.  Maybe he can adopt Warren’s plan when she gets on board! Something for her to negotiate.

  235. 235.

    glory b

    Hey, Thom Hartman just said he thinks that Bernie needs to clean up the language about “Establishment Democrats” as it seems to hit members of the Black Caucus.

    But yeah, he’s pretty out there on the conspiracy theories, right now he’s talking about Rush Limbaugh saying a President Sanders would engineer getting rid of lots of middle of the road dems and former republicans on msnbc and cnn.

  236. 236.

    Suzy

    @germy: I would love to confront Jennifer Rubin. I would love for her to go back and read the insanities she wrote then.

    Now that she has awaken to the horror show that is the Republican Party, I wonder how she would feel rereading some of her past columns. Her attacks against President Obama were downright unfair. She was intoxicated in republican culture herself.

  239. 239.

    Hoodie

    @hilts: That’s the problem immortalized by Mencken and related to the fate that befell the likes of Adlai Stevenson, Mike Dukakis and Al Gore. I sense that Warren was punished roughly as much for being an intellectual as for being a woman, i.e., female intellectual is a double hit.  The first female Dem president may very well be black and/or non-cis presenting and come from a background like law enforcement.

  240. 240.

    Kent

    @Hoodie:   Val Demings.  Grew up in poverty.  Rose up in the white man’s world of law enforcement to become chief of police of Orlando.  Went to Florida State not Harvard.  Rides a Harley, runs marathons at age 61, is an expert marksman (markswoman?) and all around badass grandmother and black church lady.  Speaks with the gravitas of a Toni Morrison.

    That’s they kind of resume I think will be the first female president.  Much as I love Warren, she just doesn’t seem to wear well with folks who aren’t urban white liberals.

  241. 241.

    germy

    @Suzy:  I may be cynical, but I suspect she’ll revert back to her original form as soon as we have a Democratic president.

  243. 243.

    Suzy

    @Baud: yep. He praised Mr. Pete and Beto the same way. And frankly, both Mayor Pete and Beto were pretty awesome in their endorsement speech. The positive energy, the smiles, the warmth and authenticity were quite the sight to see. This version of Mayor Pete, by the way, was infinitely better than the debate version of Mayor Pete. I think he was too green and wasn’t the best version of himself during debates. When he endorsed Joe, the warmth and authenticity impressed me. A lot. And it was kind of sweet to see how moved he was when Joe said he reminded him of Beau.

  246. 246.

    Suzy

    @Kent: I totally agree with you. Joe Biden shares with Barack Obama, among other things, an essential quality for being a good president: he exhibits the ideal balance between ego and respect for others. He is comfortable in his own skin and doesn’t have any problem with recognizing the talents of others around him. His human and moral qualities make me very confident in his choices for appointing people within an eventual administration. He knows everyone in Washington. And he is known as such a good person and a person who would create a great work environment. Mr. Biden wouldn’t have any problem to recruit persons of impeccable credentials and of moral character. Legions of people will want to work in his administration if he is elected POTUS.  Moreover, Mr. Biden wants to prepare a new generation of leadership and would surely recruit young people two. I have been impressed by the fact he never misses the occasion of praising the “new blood” in the Democratic Party. He has praised Mayor Pete, Beto, but also AOC as being brilliant.

  248. 248.

    janesays

    @Elizabelle:

    Now there is an idea.  Kamala for FBI.

    Tired of that agency going to Republicans as Director.  No need for that.

    The timing isn’t right. FBI Director is not like other Cabinet-level jobs. Directors are appointed for ten year terms, and unless there’s a really good reason to do so, they don’t get replaced just because a new president from the other party has taken office.

    Wray’s appointment won’t expire until August 2027. I suppose Biden could just fire him, but Biden is an institutionalist to his core, and firing an FBI Director without cause would be a huge violation of institutional norms. Only two FBI Directors in history have ever been fired: William Sessions in 1993, and James Comey in 2017.

  249. 249.

    Another Scott

    OpenThread?

    In other news, AndroidPolice:

    […]

    Our carriers could absolutely be investing more in the US’s most congested markets; increasing backhaul capacity, adding more small cells, better utilizing unlicensed spectrum — the list goes on. Yet their united response to our growing thirst for data is “5G,” and it’s a promise they seem woefully incapable of delivering.

    5G’s greatest promise has been, from day one, the concept of the “fat pipe.” That’s because right now, the greatest challenge facing carriers is simply the sheer volume of crap we’re sending and receiving on their networks. Most of said crap is video streaming, but online gaming, VR/AR, and other as yet unforeseen use cases are expected to only grow in the coming years, further stressing those networks. The easiest way to prepare for this massive growth in data consumption is to create a wireless network which has incredibly high throughput capacity, so that instead of lingering on (and thus congesting) the network constantly, our devices can use extremely high-speed networks to buffer much of that 4K HDR Netflix show in a few seconds, rather than over the course of an hour bit by bit. Once we get off that super ultra-fast connection, it’s then freed up, and your background data ideally transmits over a slower, “skinnier” frequency band. The problem is that, in order to have this high-speed fat pipe, you need a wide swath of ideally uninterrupted spectrum to do it (100MHz of solid bandwidth is generally a good starting point). But essentially no available spectrum in the US market meets this criteria, with the lone exception being that leased to Sprint. This is quickly exposing critical flaws in the current US 5G rollout.

    T-Mobile and AT&T’s more widely deployed 5G networks are unlikely to be meaningfully faster than their current 4G ones for the foreseeable future, and very realistically could even be slower in some markets, as PCMag’s Sascha Segan points out.

    […]

    USA!! USA!! USA!!

    :-/

    Ineffective regulation is destroying just about every aspect of American life.

    Grrr…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  250. 250.

    Fair Economist

    Booman tweeted a post SC Florida poll with a staggering shift to Biden. 65% with nobody else viable. If other polls look anything like that, there’s no point in Warren continuing. Or endorsing Bernie either.

    Also in that poll: Bloomberg was ahead of Biden, slightly, before Warren eviscerated him onstage. Actions have consequences.

  251. 251.

    Suzy

    @J R in WV:

     

    @J R in WV:

    I have never loved Joe Biden like I did Obama

    If it can make you feel better, remember that President Obama, who has worked very closely behind the scenes with Joe Biden for eight years, respects and loves him. They are pretty close.

  252. 252.

    Betty Cracker

    @janesays: By the extraordinarily low standards of Trump appointees, Wray seems okay. But there needs to be a stem-to-stern review of the DOJ when Trump is gone.

  253. 253.

    Morzer

    I wish Senator Warren all the very best and I would advise the people of Massachusetts to enjoy her as one of their Senators for as long as they can. I very much hope we see a woman president in the near future and I believe that Warren and Clinton have both brought that day closer, even if they didn’t get to see the promised land. I suspect that when the story of how Biden got the nomination is written, historians will point to Warren’s crushing of Bloomberg as playing a crucial role in clearing the sane, centrist lane that was getting just a bit too crowded.  That was a great service she did the party and, by extension, the American people.

  254. 254.

    Suzy

    @lamh36: His internal polling in Mississipi must be abysmal. He’s putting all his eggs in the Michigan basket. And he will try to make  Joe Biden the “NAFTA monster”.

  255. 255.

    Yutsano

    @Juju: Thanks for the late response! I did know to not add salt so I’m not making that error. Maybe I’ll wait to try until this summer some time when my apartment isn’t totally cold. It’s nice in the summer because it saves on cooling costs, but the place has a “chill” that just doesn’t ever let up.

  256. 256.

    Morzer

    @Suzy: Wilmer the Great White Wail knows that if he loses in the Midwest, he’s got absolutely no electability arguments left.  If Michigan goes for Biden, claiming that the Revolution can win California isn’t going to impress anyone with an IQ above freezing.

  257. 257.

    dww44

    @Betty Cracker:  Great observation.  Wray deserves kudos for seemingly successfully keep ing his distance from Trump and to keep the FBI ship upright and fair.  Twill be interesting to find out after the fact, what influence Barr has brought to bear on Wray, the FBI, and the administration of justice.

  259. 259.

    dww44

    @Juju: I think that Biden has pretty much intimated that he will spend a lot of time and effort passing the baton.  I also agree with you that cognitive issues seem more advanced with Biden than with Sanders.  That’s my real concern about Biden.  In every other way, in my opinion, he’s far superior to Sanders and I’m not talking about policy issues here at all.

  261. 261.

    janesays

    @Morzer: I don’t think merely winning in Michigan will be sufficient for Sanders to claim continued viability – he has to win by a huge margin (at least 15 points). Michigan is to Sanders what South Carolina was to Biden. A small win in Michigan would be as disastrous for Sanders’ campaign as a small win in South Carolina would have been for Biden’s campaign. A loss in Michigan is simply the end of Sanders’ campaign (though I doubt he’ll drop out even if that happens, because he is who he is).

  262. 262.

    mapaghimagsik

    Its a damn shame. And as expected, Berners are all over saying how Warren supporters must support Bernie.

    I have to admit that from what I’ve read from the Biden camp is a much softer tone, with lots of praise heaped on Warren.

    Hopefully Warren will weigh her options carefully. I’ll probably go with whoever she endorses.

  263. 263.

    janesays

    @mapaghimagsik: I’m inclined to believe she won’t endorse either candidate before the convention. She’s too far apart from Biden ideologically (hello, bankruptcy bill), and Bernie has done nothing to make her supporters feel welcome.

  264. 264.

    dogwood

    @dww44: I could be wrong but when I see older people like Biden and Nancy Pelosi stumble over words and seem a bit halting in their speech, I’m reminded of my sister, who, because of severe dry mouth, had to go with implants and screw in dental plates.  My sister  is much younger than a Joe and Nancy, but because of the plates, she can seem less fluent and smooth when she speaks.  I wouldn’t be surprised if some people would think she is losing cognitive sharpness, but I guarantee that’s not the case.  Joe’s teeth don’t look like his own to me and neither do Nancy’s.  People who hate Joe like to run with the story that he’s senile, but I think that’s off the mark.  As far as Joe’s health, he seems pretty fit.  He’s never touched alcohol, tobacco or drugs, and has maintained a steady weight for decades.  He obviously has healthy habits.

  269. 269.

    debbie

    @Suzanne:

    I knew it was coming. It still sucks.

    Yep. Paraphrasing Evelyn Waugh, “A blow, expected, repeated, falling on a bruise, with no smart or shock of surprise, only a dull and sickening pain and the doubt whether another like it could be borne – that was how it felt…”

  270. 270.

    Mnemosyne

    I’m just getting over here today. I’m pretty bummed about this. I think she would have had a good chance of winning if a certain cardiac patient had not insisted on jumping into the race 10 days AFTER she announced and proceeded to suck all of the air out of the progressive side of the campaign with the help of his troll army. Feh.

  271. 271.

    Mnemosyne

    As to the endorsement question:

    Warren will endorse the person who is able to promise her the most, whether that means putting her on the platform committee or delicately discussing possible cabinet posts (it is illegal to actually promise or offer someone a cabinet post before you’re elected).

    I have my opinion about which of the two remaining candidates will be more likely to keep his word, but my opinion may not be hers and it’s her decision to make.

  273. 273.

    Suzy

    @dogwood: The dental thing: Pretty sure it is the case for Nancy Pelosi.

    For Joe Biden: 1st factor is his long-life struggle with stuttering. Barbara Boxer said a few days ago that “Joe has ALWAYS had this little problem. Will fumble a few words, say the wrong word etc.” paraphrasing) Maybe this problem has been amplified by age, but I suspect it is more by STRESS, being the front runner and the main target at the beginning, something totally new for him, and fatigue on the campaign trail. A campaign means lots and lots and lots of talking with people. Drains a lot of brain energy for him, more than for people who don’t have the same neurological problem he has. In interviews it is much better.

    The jumping from one subject to the next: he’s always been pretty chatty, and has the bad habit of making a lot of “parenthesis” when he talks about something. Fun in the context of a relaxed conversation… don’t we all do this ?  But not good in the context of an interview.  In the context of an interview, or a debate, you need to use your time very effectively. He was very, very rusty and very, very stressed in the beginning of his campaign. And frankly, I think he entered unprepared. Had too much confidence in his experience and his knowledge. It seems to me he has worked on sharpening his message. Not always perfect, but definitively better. Like for the debates, where he has definitively improved.

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