Saturday August 24, 2019
438 Days until the 2020 election and 520 days until the Inauguration
Polling numbers this week on the Democratic hopefuls for getting the nomination of their party came out. It looks like it’s coming down to a three way race with a slight possibility of one or two others lobbing into double digits, but probably not.
It’s :
Biden at 29%
Sanders at 15%
Warren at 14%
(Or was it Warren at 15 and Sanders at 14?)
Everyone else is in single digits.
Kamala Harris had a big spike after confronting Biden but she’s slipped 12 points. She might come back. Booker could rise, but he, like so many of the hopefuls, hasn’t.
In fund raising from small donors Warren’s numbers are going up, like a hockey stick projection. Sanders has been high and remains so. Biden? He’s puddling along and way down in comparison to Sanders and Warren. Harris got a big spike, but it’s fallen off, way off.
A handful of candidates have 0%, and they are starting to drop out. Some have 2%, the highest is 5%.
Okay, so that’s where we are. Here’s my concern. Warren and Sanders are essentially appealing to the same sort of voter. If you combine their numbers they equal Biden’s percentage. I look at the other candidates who have any percentage and I ask myself if those candidates drop out where do their supporters go? One thing I can say to myself is that I doubt they go to Biden. That means they go to Warren or Sanders. This means that the majority of Democrats are in favor of someone other than Biden.
Biden’s wife is trying to push the idea that he may not be your first choice but … But what?
Another reason Biden gives is that he knows how to work across the aisle. I don’t doubt that. He has a record of doing so, but that was a different time. Remember Obama and health care? Barack kept working with the Republicans. Boehner kept stalling and asking for more concessions. Obama kept giving in. They kept moving the goal posts. When it came time to vote; the Republicans voted against. Reach across the aisle? If they extend a hand okay, but they have to reach across first, because they’ve shown no willingness to do so. In fact, many of them like to boast how they won’t.
I don’t think we need a “reach across the aisle and work with the other side” kind of person because the other side has shown no willingness to work with the other side. In fact, they have reveled in, and run on – not doing that. Remember when Paul Ryan was Speaker of the House? He’d hold photo ops showing all the Republicans sitting at a table ready to get to work and exclaim there were no Democrats there. Well, yeah. You didn’t tell them about the photo op. Or remember Newt Gingrich and his scorched earth policy?
Besides that, there are these underlying currents in Republican and conservative circles which don’t lend themselves to compromise, to wit:
– Grover Norquist and his mantra of no taxes. The idea is to shrink government to nothing.
– Another form of this is to spend so much money that the government will have no choice but to cut everything.
– The idea that the second coming of Christ is near, if only we can do stuff that is in Revelations …
There’s a number of other things like this, none of them are things you can compromise on.
Biden is a likable guy. He’s done a lot, but I don’t see that he has a clear idea of who he is or where he would want to take the country. I don’t think we need half measures right now. I think we need bold ideas put into action. Biden ain’t that person.
Warren is. Bernie? Eh.
If everyone dropped out of the running except Biden and one other person I contend that Joe’s number would still be at about 29%.
Warren is calling for big bold actions. Actions that in my mind need to be taken. I think she is energized and lighting the imaginations of people across the country. Bernie is more one note, maybe two.
I hope it comes down to Warren and Biden.
I hope Warren wins it.
Meanwhile, in other news, Susan Collins in Maine picked up an endorsement. Paul LaPage! Yeah. The former dumbass racist governor of Maine. Boy oh boy, if you want to stop black drug dealers from coming to Maine and impregnating white girls then Susan is your champ! Remember it was her vote that allowed beer drinking party boy Brett K to get on the Supreme Court.
In other news, early in the week our president started an arms race with Russia. He has now moved on with his tariff war in an effort to start a recession and it seems to be working! After multiple attacks on China they have finally taken the gloves off and instead of backing down they are now stepping up their game. Our president, not understanding econ 101, is cluelessly fumbling around. He will now go to the economic conference where most people will avoid him and he can sit arms across his chest and legs wide open with a sign saying, “Kick Me.” During that time he will get together with fellow idiot Boris Johnson (“BoJo”) and they will together plot how to ruin both of their economies some more.
The prez has also issued an order to companies in the U.S.of A. to not do business with China. Does this mean that Donnie’s ties will no longer be made in China? What about the MAGA hats? They are made in China. Will he stop having them made?
I’m sure CEOs across the land are going to their desks and flipping that switch that says, “China” to “No.”
Oh and David Koch died. So sad. He claimed to be libertarian or conservative or whatever, but in truth he wanted to be allowed to keep all his money, and dump all his garbage on others. Too bad he won’t be around to see President Warren go after that kind of bad behavior.
Oh and the fake memes have started up in earnest. There’s one about Beto saying he would throw out disabled vets and old people. Totally, made up. Not even a scintilla of truth.
Then there’s the “taking credit for that which I had nothing to do with” award. That goes to DT for signing an executive order saying disabled vets student loans were forgiven. Wow. Great. Obama signed the legislation for that back in 2014. So Donald is trying to take credit, once again, for things Obama did. Now that the economy is headed down I wonder who he’s going to blame? The Clintons! Yeah, that’s the ticket. You can only ride Obama’s coattails for so long Donnie. Then people are going to figure it out.
438 Days until the 2020 election and 520 days until the Inauguration
PS Outside the Dachshund Museum, Passau, Germany.
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