Quote (Black XistenZ @ 4 Mar 2020 01:44)

Yup, I gotta agree with that. For fender, everyone who opposes his worldview is a "moronic hack voting against his own interests". :rolleyes:

Quote (Black XistenZ @ 3 Mar 2020 17:54)

Of course her withdrawal was the result of shenanigans. But I dont have an issue with that tbh. She clearly had no path to the nomination, and staying in the race would only have hurt the candidate(s) she's more ideologically aligned with.
Also, I dont see the problem in the DNC trying to get the party to get the nominee who would be better for down-ballot Democratic candidates in November. They should of course not outright cheat, but imho, they dont do that. Bernie and the progressive wing do not have a majority among the primary electorate, no matter how much more enthused his supporters are compared to those of Biden/Klobuchar/Bloomberg.

Simply put, if a majority of the primary voters prefers a moderate candidate, then I see no problem with the DNC making sure that the candidates from the moderate line dont step on each other's feet.

I also disagree with the notion that Biden has no chance against Trump and would be Hillary 2.0. Hillary was a very polarizing figure, half the country already hated her before she even anounced her candidacy. Her own unpopularity cancelled out Trump's unpopularity to a certain degree. There are much less hard feelings toward Biden. Other factors are pointing in Trump's favor, like the advantage of incumbency, a strong economy, the world not having ended under his watch like some pundits predicted, and a more organized and professional campaign. Therefore, I personally rate a potential Trump vs Biden race as close to a tossup despite Biden being much less unpopular than Hillary was in 2016.

Quote (fender @ 3 Mar 2020 23:21)

it's so funny. people (on both sides, and from all backgrounds) act like they are in favour of things like universal healthcare, adequate wages, worker rights, environmental protection, affordable education, and against the washington establishment, against the donor class dictating policy by basically buying their president through financial contributions -

Quote (Saucisson6000 @ Mar 3 2020 08:41am)

Even CNN is doing a bad painting of Bernie Sanders

Quote (ThatAlex @ 4 Mar 2020 02:04)

You're right. Part of me is being dramatic just because so much of me senses DNC shenanigans again. Biden is indeed a better candidate than Clinton was. Problem is, Trump is the incumbent now, and despite being controversial, he has actually had a very solid first term. That said, where I disagree with you is a potential Biden-Trump race being a tossup. I'd make Trump about the 80-20 favorite against Biden honestly.

Quote (fender @ 4 Mar 2020 02:10)

i think that strongly depends on HOW biden becomes the democratic nominee. if he wins it outright, his chances might be around 40-50 percent. if he 'steals' it in a brokered convention, i'd say that even 20% is too high...

Quote (Black XistenZ @ 4 Mar 2020 02:05)

well, duh, of course people from all sides and backgrounds like "free stuff" and would like redistributional policies where they are on the winning side. but in the real world, distributional struggles are much more common than most people want to admit - there are just a ton of zero-sum situations. in reality, 'someone's gotta pay for it', and most people are smart enough to know that the idea of just making the top 0.1% pay for almost all of it is just not realistic. take obamacare as an example: it mostly amounts to a redistribution from the upper and lower middle classes toward the working-class and the poor. similar situation in Scandinavia and most European countries: the bulk of the money redistributed by their more generous welfare states is coming from the middle class and ordinary professionals, not from the super rich.


when it comes to healthcare, I'm with you that the American system sucks and that they should implement something like the Australian, Austrian or Dutch system. so that's one area where you're mostly right with your criticism imho. nonetheless, Bernie's medicare4all plans go far beyond anything you have in Europe, Australia or Canada. he's overshooting the target by quite a lot and thus allows the forces of the status quo to level valid (!!) criticism against his plans.

Quote (excellence @ 3 Mar 2020 18:10)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QW-_QkQlWpI

not exonerated of being an athiest satanic abortion-loving (D) political figure tells the (R) chairperson to “go to hell” for even suggesting the DNC may rig the primary against Barnie (again)