bernie is a geriatric hallucinator and beto is a manchild

come on friend

we need a grownup we can trust with the public coffers

oh, evollove keeps mentioning sherrod brown

i don't know the guy but he sez he could

I'd also put Schultz in that category, and not getting past the primaries for the same reason.

For some reason the Left of the party are falling behind a strong environmental message and I just don't see that as a mass vote winner. Even Klobuchar is doing it.

From what I've seen he's VERY likeable and I could definitely see him appealing to stereotypical blue collar voters who went Trump. But I don't know anything about his policies and I just don't see him chiming with the more utopian direction the Dems seem to be heading in.

schultz wants to run as an independent though, not as a democrat. i.e., 3rd party, like ross perot back in the 90s.


not sure he can cut into trump's hardcore base but he might siphon centrists from both sides though. bit of a crapshoot, that scenario.

with a centrist, the children who would vote for bernie would likely throw a fit and not vote, or vote for the latest incarnation of ralph nader.

i don't fucking know. it's all very discouraging. like everyone has gone insane all of the sudden.

I didn't know that about Schultz but yeah. At another time he may have been considered a potential Dem candidate but the direction they're taking means there's no place for anyone like him there right now.

there’s no place for me in it either

wtf

im quickly orphaned

but one must have patience...

I get the feeling you're gonna have to wait till this millennial generation's time has been and gone before you're allowed out of that orphanage. Assuming the generation that comes up after them aren't just as bad or even worse.

There's the party's primary. This is when the crazy, pie-in-the-sky stuff gains the most traction.

Then there's the general election. This is when people ask, "Yeah, but who could beat Trump?"

People like Sherrod Brown aren't especially sexy during a primary. He is, after all, a straight white male. Yawn, for most people.

But hopefully he makes it through. Because he is VERY good on worker's rights. He can easily garner a lot of the midwest blue-collar vote, which is crucial.

I can easily see Sherrod Brown beating Trump. But I am very nervous his own party will fuck him over during the primary season.

His policies? Progressive, yet sober-minded is how I'd describe him.

someone i know who used to teach college was some years ago approached by an angry student who asked why they got a b and somebody else got an a

"because they did better work"

"but that is not fair! we should all get an a"

LMFAO

yes, i know what you mean

i'll see what happens and act accordingly i guess... what else what can one do?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNX1knUjZl4

sadly it fits too well...

In my current fantasy, Bernie is running for re-election and being challenged from the center. It is very messy and exciting! I'm looking forward to whatever the means of production puts out.

Bernie Sanders records video announcing 2020 campaign

Bernie is still a heavy hitter with plenty of loyalists, even over two years after the superdelegates screwed him over in 2016. What other candidate can that be said about?

Beto looks like white Obama. People are pining for a return of Obama after 2 years of Dump. Wanna know what's an even harder hitter politically than Obama? White Obama.

Speaking of which: Obama won't endorse anyone until the primary is over. Harris IS trying to end it early, and we will see how it goes. The debates are probably the first spot where she can slip up hardcore (or if Bernie or Biden enters, and she is no longer the most popular entrant).

I'll tell you this, if Trump somehow wins re-election, I'd put money down on AOC running and winning in 2024.

Sanders carries too much baggage, especially from his younger years. It would be as bad as McGovern if he gets the nom. From what I’m hearing Brown would be a great pres, and if he had Julian Castro as his veep, I think it’s unbeatable!

Look forward to a Harpers magazine article this month on Joe Biden, man, that guy should just go out to pasture.

Dont listen to these bygone savages, Claire! They dont even acknowledge the brilliance of Brian De Palma.

At this point I would have thought that beating Trump would be a given, as long as the Candidate has a personality.

It has come to this.

this is a center-right country with a very old libertarian streak

was never for big government until fdr

but OF COURSE everyone wants the government on their side and tries to buy votes in their direction (that is the problem here, not capitalism itself--corporate welfare and tax cuts for the rich. i.e., the government doling out benefits to the wrong people)

but the responsible middle classes that vote the most are not going to tax themselves out of existence. they know that AOC's 70% tax on the rich will eventually come to apply to them as well as more freebies are required of "the government".

elizabeth warren's proposal included a big expansion of the IRS! the most beloved agency in the government lololol... yep, we want the agents to come and inventory our possessions...

so, hm, with friends like that... the enemies begin to look weirdly attractive

remember also that in spite of trumpo's shenanigans the economy is humming along nicely and unemployment is at a historical low.

who wants to send businesses and jobs out of the country? they're not going to stick around with bernie & co.

Is it really so much to ask for people to not be forced to resort to crowd-funding for a goddamn organ transplant? Medical debt is the number one reason people file for bankruptcy. College loans are a pending disaster. Wanna stimulate the economy? Allow people to afford an education without the risk of crippling themselves financially.

I'm sick of this, "fuck you, got mine" attitude so many in this country have. If we truly want social democracy, we need to stop spending so much on our military and more on our people. The least of our worries is this dumb border wall.

Taxing the rich is not enough. We need to promote laws in order to reduce wage stagnation, and when the middle class begins to grow again, they need to be taxed as well. The roll-out begins with the super wealthy and work its way down. People need to live within their means. I'm so sick of this culture of always chasing after the newest fanciest gadget and gizmo while others crawl on the street begging for change just to buy a toothbrush. Fuck off with that. Is that socialism or just being an empathetic human being?

Raise my taxes but eliminate my health care costs?
Raise my taxes but eliminate my student loans and ensure me and my future children can go to college debt free?

Sounds like basic dignity to me. Reduce lobbying, and boot corporations the fuck out of politics.

it's a lot to cover but i'll try to answer

the problem with the student loan crisis is that the loans are federally guaranteed, so that anybody is able to borrow huge amounts in order to postpone adulthood without any kind of reasonable plan to pay it back.

then they can't go bankrupt on it or get repo'd like normal loans. you're stuck for life.

unlike a car loan or mortgage where the lender looks at your financials and repayment plan before they lend you anything, here it's more like-- "hey you want some free money? sure, here you go!"

it's a government-induced problem. by opening up and guaranteeing the money supply it creates inflation. classic problem.

colleges respond in turn not by offering a good value for the money, but instead by building up spiffy student unions, offering gourmet choices in their dining halls, treating every student like a customer that must be pampered. grade inflation is rampant.

this in turn lowers the value of a college degree. because that's what inflation does.

since anybody and their mother can get an A by borrowing unlimited funds, what does it matter that you finished college?

so now you have to go for the master's while your adulthood and earning potential gets further delayed.

now you finally get the entry level job and have to start paying back a quarter million bucks...

sure, everybody needs an education. but unlimited money supplies only create inflation. look at the gold rush.

before anybody says this is like the gi bill: no, because with the GI bill there was no debt. so even if you fucked up and went to study "liberal arts" with the expectation to make millions, you didn't have to pay the value of 2 houses for your mistake.

i don't know what happened to college prices with the GI bill. so i won't say.

but also the GIs payed in advance by risking life and limb and the best years of their lives by being in a horrible bloody war. so it was fair payback, not a free gift like you'd give a spoil brat who wants to stay a child a little longer.

ps- i taught college. it was like a fucking day care for grownup babies

pps- i paid for my own grad school and lived like a pauper