Dems, Dem-lites and Independents, who ya backing at this point and why?

POSTED BY: WISHIMAY
UPDATED: Monday, June 3, 2024 14:53
VIEWED: 19566
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SIGNYM

Saturday, April 13, 2019 11:29 AM

Quote:
You don't follow Homosexual Politicians?

Gay, female, male, black, straight, old, yellow, brown, young, white ... I don't give a fuck. People who pay attention to that sort of stuff deserve what they get.

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

"The messy American environment, where most people don't agree, is perfect for people like me. I CAN DO AS I PLEASE." - SECOND

America is an oligarchy http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?tid=57876 .

JEWELSTAITEFAN

Saturday, April 13, 2019 11:45 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Quote:
You don't follow Homosexual Politicians?
Gay, female, male, black, straight, old, yellow, brown, young, white ... I don't give a fuck. People who pay attention to that sort of stuff deserve what they get.

Identity politics require that you adhere to only one subset of celebritydom.

WISHIMAY

Saturday, April 13, 2019 1:55 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by JEWELSTAITEFAN:

This is why I don't feel bad for them being the cause of their own prophecy.

Really?? You don't think the older generations have a hand or twelve in making conditions like these??

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6916417/Minnesota-farmers-tea
rful-video-shares-industry-troubles.html

In the last month I've seen stores closing EVERYWHERE, Fred's, Sears, Target, Victoria's Secret, Macy's, JCPenny's, Bed Bath and Beyond... they have no money to spend ANYWHERE.

Between stores closing, low profitability in many lines of work, automation, student loans that aren't worth a damn, overpriced housing and vehicles and healthcare, NO chance at retiring, high cancer rates... they are screwed and it's all our fault.

The young don't always do the intelligent thing, but I can safely say the old have DEFINITELY done the dumb thing over and over and over.

CAPTAINCRUNCH

Saturday, April 13, 2019 3:03 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Hmm... interesting list.Just OOC, of the people that you listed as "not seeing it/ not this time" it's because you think they won't get the votes, correct? Why do you supposed that is?

Like I said: "Sometimes the problem isn't the candidates, it's the dumb @ss voters. I harp about consumers being as big a part of the problems with commerce & markets & good & services - same deal."

CAPTAINCRUNCH

Saturday, April 13, 2019 3:09 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
OK, I looked him up. Here's what I found out about him:

He's the youngest mayor of a city over 100,000. (South Bend, Indianna)
He served in the naval reserves for seven months, separated from the military and came out as gay
Smart enough to get a Rhodes scholarship (just like Bill Clinton)
Reversed the population decline of South Bend
Appeals to millenials, likes Instagram
Wants to raise the minimum wage and is for Medicare for all

That leaves a lot of unknowns:
How did he reverse the population decline of South Bend? Did he attract more jobs? If so, what kind?
What does he think about military spending, and our endless wars abroad?
What does he think about the budget deficit, our infrastructural decay, and manufacturing deficit?
Climate change?
How does he intend to pay for "Medicare for all", and preserve jobs if the minimum wage increase causes loss of jobs?
Immigration?

You should read the article I linked:

https://www.wired.com/story/pete-buttigieg-revived-south-bend-with-tec
h-up-next-america/

It answers some of those questions and gives a more in depth look at his recent actions as gov.

I only half care about answers to some of those other questions - it's easy for candidates to read polls and see what the popular thing is to say about any issue, just like it's easy for political partys to write popular, great sounding platforms. Can they pull it off? Lots of guessing. He has a history of success and achievement. That's enough for him to get one star from me.

CAPTAINCRUNCH

Saturday, April 13, 2019 3:14 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by WISHIMAY:
Quote:
Originally posted by captaincrunch:
Anyway...

Buttigieg continues to impress me, but that doesn't always mean he'd make a good president, or that he'd beat Dump. Good article here:

I just don't see it happening. I step out the front door and ask myself how many of these people would vote for a gay man and the answer is a resounding "not enough."

And of the ones that wouldn't mind if he's gay and vote for him, how many wanna watch guys be gay on TV for four years?? Even less.

The plus side, I would look forward to an era of good decorating

Totally on all points! "There's "butt" in his name, ha ha ha!" This country just proved they're about as unsophisticated and backwards as can be, so yeah, I have little faith he would ever come close to winning the nomination, or be taken seriously by his party. Just like with Hillary - they want to win, so that might even mean leaning toward one candidate over another (with the ultimate best intentions of course), and I bet they see him as an incredible long shot (lost cause).
In terms of just being capable to do a fair an honest job and accomplish so many of the things I want to see done, he's up there.

CAPTAINCRUNCH

Saturday, April 13, 2019 3:27 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by WISHIMAY:
Quote:
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
Why the "nah" for Yang, CC?

Wondering myself. The man wants to give $1000 a month to every adult in a kind or wealth restructuring because corporations are sucking it all up and he has a very good point about almost 60% of the population is paycheck to paycheck. My neighbors have three kids and two decent jobs and she's been begging the use of my car because they have NO savings and NO credit and her van died. The older kids will both be driving age by next year and they can't afford them to drive.

I think $1000 bucks a month is never going to work, but unfortunately...people like my neighbors are the rule rather the exception these days. Several of my kids friends won't be driving until 18 or later. Just keeping a vehicle running is crazy crazy expensive. We've spent $60k on vehicles ourselves in 10 years, with the four accidents....Sure we got a about half that back from insurance, but it's been a struggle for us to keep up with repairs.

My kiddo should be getting her license in the next couple months and her friends are jealous. I think that's odd. It doesn't help driver's ed isn't taught IN school anymore.

I feel bad for Millennials. They really are going to have the worst financial time since the 20's.

Seems there are 2 questions in this discussion/thread: who am I backing and who do I think will be the next dem presidential candidate? In this case the answer for me for Yang is both, "no." I thought he was rather unimpressive when I've seen him interviewed. Sure, he's a smart guy with some decent ideas, but I just don't see him getting the votes even with $1000 a month bribery/promise. His connection to silicon valley? I see that as being easily spun into a negative in a general election.

SIGNYM

Saturday, April 13, 2019 5:05 PM

Quote:
I thought he was rather unimpressive when I've seen him interviewed.

Why? Too low key? Scattered? Unable to formulate a resonating sound bite? Too wonkish? Too nervous? Too enthusiastic over small ideas?

Quote:
Sure, he's a smart guy with some decent ideas, but I just don't see him getting the votes even with $1000 a month bribery/promise.

Again, why? Is it a personality thing? A skin color thing? A policy thing?

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

"The messy American environment, where most people don't agree, is perfect for people like me. I CAN DO AS I PLEASE." - SECOND

America is an oligarchy http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?tid=57876 .

SIGNYM

Saturday, April 13, 2019 5:30 PM

The South Bend story is a like I thought: Attract tech and make the city a nicer place to live. Pittsburgh took the same path. However, it's not a path that the entire nation can follow.

Quote:
In Washington, he knows, none of that applies, and as president he’d face much more consequential decisions than how people pay their water bills. There, gridlock is now built into the system. As a result, he says he wants to change some of the fundamental processes of national politics and policy: Ditch the electoral college, do away with the Senate filibuster, and redesign the system for appointing Supreme Court justices.

He talks about investing in artificial intelligence and other technologies so that the US can compete with China and other countries, easing the transition to a new economy by insisting on portable health benefits, and taking a look at Universal Basic Income.

But he also points to the emotional toll of job loss. “You can’t just match up one job to another based on the demand in the labor market,” he said. “You gotta know whether it aligns with someone’s sense of who they are. So the idea that someone who was a machinist will succeed as a nurse’s aide, it’s not necessarily relevant to how he sees himself.” And if they can’t find a new identity in work, family, faith, or community, more nefarious substitutes—drug addiction, white nationalism—will slip in.

The problem is that IMHO our real solutions don't always "pencil out" in the short run. It's not easy to revive a city, but it's certainly easier to revive one city than a thousand, since each city will be competing for the same (limited) jobs.

I get that Buttigieg probably doesn't imagine that he can apply the same solutions to the USA as he did to South Bend, but that he wants to take the same "approach" (data-driven, collaborative) to USA problems. However, I think he underestimates the resistance of powerful interests who like things just the way they are, and fails to understand that being President will sometimes necessarily be a blood sport. Consensus is great, but sometimes you need to be able to fight, and fight hard. So if he's not capable of that, he needs people on his team who are. Also, I personally think that solving our problems will require a PHILOSOPHICAL change. People focus too much on efficiency within the system, whereas I think we need to focus on systemic change which is not maximally efficient (and shouldn't be).

So, interesting, thanks for the link, I learned a lot. But unless I read otherwise I think his scope is too small.

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

"The messy American environment, where most people don't agree, is perfect for people like me. I CAN DO AS I PLEASE." - SECOND

America is an oligarchy http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?tid=57876 .

6IXSTRINGJACK

Saturday, April 13, 2019 5:44 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by WISHIMAY:
Quote:
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
Why the "nah" for Yang, CC?

Wondering myself. The man wants to give $1000 a month to every adult in a kind or wealth restructuring because corporations are sucking it all up and he has a very good point about almost 60% of the population is paycheck to paycheck. My neighbors have three kids and two decent jobs and she's been begging the use of my car because they have NO savings and NO credit and her van died. The older kids will both be driving age by next year and they can't afford them to drive.

I think $1000 bucks a month is never going to work, but unfortunately...people like my neighbors are the rule rather the exception these days. Several of my kids friends won't be driving until 18 or later. Just keeping a vehicle running is crazy crazy expensive. We've spent $60k on vehicles ourselves in 10 years, with the four accidents....Sure we got a about half that back from insurance, but it's been a struggle for us to keep up with repairs.

My kiddo should be getting her license in the next couple months and her friends are jealous. I think that's odd. It doesn't help driver's ed isn't taught IN school anymore.

I feel bad for Millennials. They really are going to have the worst financial time since the 20's.

They don't teach drivers ed in school anymore??? Jeez.

I know millennials get a bad rap. I've worked what most would consider shitty dead-end jobs long enough now to know that they're probably just like any other generation though. Most are going to be moderately competent and have some drive, some are going to be lazy as shit and/or stupid, and a rare few have what it takes on the inside and the outside to really succeed.

Unfortunately, they're getting out into a job market that is absolutely abysmal compared to when I started in the late 90's. I do feel for them. It sucks.

I like what Yang has to say. I already said months ago that I'm voting Democrat in the primaries, even though I'm going to vote for Trump in the General. Right now, Yang has my primary vote.

If it comes to pass that Yang might actually have a chance, it's possible that I would vote for him in the general. That's a long way from now though, and I'm not going to be giving that much thought for a long time.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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