Blog#19-3/6/20
TRUMP WINS DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY
By Richard Davis
The national Democratic party machine has once again managed to set up its circular firing squad as the bullets started flying. Instead of developing a comprehensive strategy to use the presidential primary as a way to unify Democrats, they have created chaos while allowing Trump to set the agenda for just about everything they do.
The grand obsession is to focus almost all of their messaging and energy on their anointed candidate who they believe has the best chance of beating Trump in November. Debate over the issues important to voters has been tainted by the obsession.
If the primary process was allowed to play out, while the Democratic party worked to make sure that voters understood the party would support the candidate chosen by the American people, then there would be no need for the shortsighted campaign to discredit candidates that party powerbrokers deemed unable to beat Trump.
We should be seeing all Democratic candidates spending more time focusing on the issues that are important to Americans. Instead it is the usual sandbox fights and behind-the-scenes sabotaging of campaigns. Voters may never know what kind of dirty tricks have been perpetrated against campaigns such as Sanders, Warren and others so that the party can anoint Joe Biden as The Chosen One.
It is all starting to look like the 2016 campaign all over again and it is clear that the Democratic party will use its power and influence to make sure that Sanders does not become their party’s candidate.
Sanders has never been a “real Democrat” as far as the party leaders are concerned. He has always been an Independent in the House and in the Senate but he has caucused with the Democrats. The fact that he labels himself a Democratic Socialist is just too much for the party faithful to accept, so they try to politically emasculate him at every turn.
I have no doubt that the party has already developed a strategy to beat Sanders if no candidate has enough delegates when they head into their convention in Milwaukee on July 13.
If the coronavirus is still an issue in July, the madman in the White House could easily sabotage the entire Democratic party nominating process by outlawing large gatherings of people.
I have a feeling of impending doom, horrific heartburn and a pounding headache every time I think that Trump may get re-elected. I had hoped that the Democratic party would be able to realize that a coherent unified strategy during primary voting was their best shot at creating the right kind of momentum to come out on top in November.
But I have lost most of that hope after witnessing how the media perpetuates the incoherence of the Democratic party by characterizing every twist and turn in the primary voting as some sort of monumental news story almost always framed as shocking and unexpected.
And I am disappointed in the number of American voters who are buying into the propaganda being sold to them by the Democratic party and the mainstream media.
If the Democratic party and their candidate, who emerges victorious in July, can find a way to not be permanently tainted by the mess they continue to create they may be able to beat Trump in November. They are dealing with a political virus that is killing their party. The only cure is clear thinking and common sense and that is why I have so little hope for a future without Trump.
It's not over, but hands have been shown
I see this in a similar way.
I expect a few more ‘aces in the hole” to be played before this is over. Obama will likely endorse Biden at some crucial point – I’m expecting it just before Michigan votes. The Clintons need to officially weigh in at some point, too. (I’m waiting to see what George Clinton says…).
And then there is Biden himself, who has a pretty crappy record and a history of gaffes coupled now with his unmistakable signs of senility. If he had been a good candidate when he was young and healthy, he would have won before with his previous runs, but he wasn’t that good back then and hasn’t improved with age. I am awaiting the scorn of Democrat friends who, if and when Biden loses, blame Sanders supporters rather than admitting that these centrist choices almost always lose. I’ll gladly take blame if Sanders is the nominee and loses to Trump, but if Biden loses to him, I’ll be looking at Democrats and asking “what did you expect would happen?” Biden is an awful candidate with an awful track record. We know this months ahead of the election.
They pulled out all the stops to get him the “comeback” story, but can they prop him up until the convention? (This brings to mind the movie Weekend at Bernies – a dead host propped up in a chair with aviator glasses on. Perhaps we get a Bernie, but not the right one?)
Sanders still has a few good states ahead of him, in theory, and the delegate count will likely end up being such that neither Biden nor Sanders has enough to win outright. This isn’t over yet.
It’s also amazing to me that the Democratic leadership can spend so much time, money, and energy to take down an opponent, and they chose Sanders over Trump. The anti-Sanders effort is large because it is a big-monied monolith who fears him and us more than 4 more years of Trump (which they’d prefer, since it would mean more anti-Trump fundraising and consulting gigs, and no tax increases, etc.)
It has become pretty clear the party centrists would prefer Biden to lose than to help elect Sanders, which indicates they are after their own interests and hope we will be complicit in assisting them.
I am happy to see the progressive wing of the party continue to grow, and am happy that despite leadership interference, these ideas are resonating and popular with people once they hear that it could be an option to work towards. The pendulum continues to swing left.
it's not over until November
I haven’t seen many political posts, particularly Bernie posts, at this site in a lonnnng time.
Do either of you plan on voting for the Democratic candidate in November?
It depends who it is
It’s been four years… : )
As I’ve said, I wouldn’t vote for Biden because of his record and mental fitness. So if he’s the nominee, probably not. I’ll do as I have in the past and look at third party options. (Clinton has told us to be wary of some Democrats, and not to support them all. That seems smart. : ) ) The DNC and party elite must know that there are millions of people very much like me out there. They are gambling that the math will work in their favor. My Vermont vote won’t matter, so this isn’t a risky thing to do here. I have the luxury of not-mattering. The Democrat, any democrat, will win Vermont in November. I just hope they know the odds in those pesky swing state districts.
I’m not a Sanders-or-nothing person. I could have voted for some of the others had they become the nominee, but they aren’t running anymore. At this juncture, though, Sanders is my far ahead favorite.
I’d really like to have him in the White House because I would be tremendously interested in how he uses it as a bully pulpit. My guess is that democracy would become more interactive, and more personal for many people. I doubt the bulk of his agenda could pass, but I could imagine him calling on regular people to pressure representatives in new ways that might get some things accomplished that currently look impossible.
I think the nightly news would be far more interesting under a President Sanders. I think, despite whining and moaning and worse, the well-off won’t be forced into poorhouses or breadlines, and the economy will continue to roll along, perhaps with more people in the middle and lower classes able to afford to buy more.
I think he’d be much stronger at calling BS on all sorts of things, especially Congressmembers, than the corporate-centrist Democrats.
So, I still hold out some hope that he’ll be elected. If he’s on the ballot, the Democrats will have earned my vote.