Too Soon To Start Thinking About 2020? No, it's 2020!

[Drazzil]

Just stop.

Buttigeg is my number three candidate, so I will.

[malchior]

So how'd the weekend go for the race?

• Buttigieg had the Nigerian supporter kerfuffle

• Bernie had someone jump on the mic at a Nevada rally to talk about him 'propping up dairy farms and animal agriculture'

• Bloomberg woke up the zombie idea that efforts to address redlining caused the financial crisis

• Klobuchar and Biden existed...maybe?

• Warren lost her voice but soldiered on the campaign trail in Reno

• The President did a lap around the Daytona 500 and then had Airforce One buzz the race field

[YellowKing]

The President did a lap around the Daytona 500 and then had Airforce One buzz the race field

From the way my FB feed exploded you would have thought Trump had solved the Middle East crisis and cured cancer by crawling around a race track in a limo.

Simple minds are easily amused I guess. And nothing says Trump like pandering to a bunch of NASCAR fans.

[Kraken]

The President did a lap around the Daytona 500 and then had Airforce One buzz the race field

From the way my FB feed exploded you would have thought Trump had solved the Middle East crisis and cured cancer by crawling around a race track in a limo.

Simple minds are easily amused I guess. And nothing says Trump like pandering to a bunch of NASCAR fans.

Is the Daytona 500 NASCAR, or is all of auto racing MAGA turf?

[pr0ner]

The President did a lap around the Daytona 500 and then had Airforce One buzz the race field

From the way my FB feed exploded you would have thought Trump had solved the Middle East crisis and cured cancer by crawling around a race track in a limo.

Simple minds are easily amused I guess. And nothing says Trump like pandering to a bunch of NASCAR fans.

Is the Daytona 500 NASCAR, or is all of auto racing MAGA turf?

I highly doubt F1 is MAGA turf.

[Kurth]

Here's the thing: Even that tweet essentially trying to correct the misinformation/hatchet-job previously attempted on the Buttigieg campaign is f'd up. It states that the Nigerian behind the account, "Liked Bernie in 2016." To me, that suggests strongly that this was a dirty trick orchestrated by the Bernie Bros. But if you actually read the article, that's not the case. This guy is a Pete Buttiegieg fan, and this whole thing about Lis Smith and a sock-puppet account was just a bullshit misunderstanding.

Twitter is the fucking worst.

[YellowKing]

I'm not saying all NASCAR fans are Trump supporters. But I'm saying all the Trump supporters I personally know are NASCAR fans.

[gilraen]

The President did a lap around the Daytona 500 and then had Airforce One buzz the race field

...and then the race was delayed 3 hours and ultimately postponed until the next day due to rain. Nature just couldn't bear it anymore

[Jaymann]

He has the un-Midas touch - everything he touches turns to shit.

[Drazzil]

Any Bernie supporters here? Did you guys all get the debate survey? Maybe its because I actually said "Go Bernie/Warren?" in my donation message? I only donated around 17 dollars to in five donations to Bernie so he *cant* be courting me as a larger donor.

[Holman]

Fuck Rush Limbaugh. He was ruining America before Fox even got started.

[Kraken]

Any Bernie supporters here? Did you guys all get the debate survey? Maybe its because I actually said "Go Bernie/Warren?" in my donation message? I only donated around 17 dollars to in five donations to Bernie so he *cant* be courting me as a larger donor.

I got a survey about priorities from the Warren campaign. I suggested that she formulate and publish a space policy, since she has policies for everything else and no other candidate has done it. I doubt that it will ever pass her eyes, and I realize that it's not ever going to come up in a debate, but maybe one of her lieutenants will see it as an opportunity. And if she's hostile toward funding NASA, I'd like to know that.

[Defiant]

[Drazzil]

One of the costs of not having a "professional" at the helm... Oy vey!

[gilraen]

This is the opening segment of The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell on Monday.
I don't know if you have to be signed in with your cable login to view the video, so here's what he said - and what it ultimately comes down to, and why it makes all this infighting look even more idiotic than it already is (and Bernie Bros are really not helping):

Every night now in America, at kitchen tables, people are staring at presidential primary ballots and deciding the future of this country, the future of the rule of law, deciding what it means to "protect and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic" and who is the best person to do that, as the presidential Oath of Office swears the President to do.

And the Democratic presidential primary - what makes this the most difficult choice for voters, according to polls - is not sorting out the complexity of the candidates' policy proposals, it's not that. That's not what weighs most heavily on voters, as they stare at their ballots, according to what they are telling pollsters. The number one issue, according to polling among Democratic presidential primary voters - number one is beating Donald Trump. That's the most important thing: getting Donald Trump, and his children, and Steven Miller, and Trumpism out of the White House. And Democratic presidential primary voters are right to concentrate on that first of all, because that in and of itself would be a huge governing accomplishment.

Political campaigns always get caught up in the policy proposals of the candidates and never emphasize enough the other side of our politics, which is equally important. The two sides of our politics are - what you are in favor of, and equally importantly, what you are opposed to, what you will prevent from happening. Sometimes the most important thing you can do in political office is to simply stop a bad thing from happening. The most important thing that John McCain did in his entire political career - his entire 31-year career in the U.S. Senate - the most important thing he did was not push through a John McCain policy proposal and get it passed into law. The most important thing Sen. John McCain ever did was say "no". He said "no" at 1:29 in the morning - that's when John McCain turned his thumb down and voted "no" on the repeal of Obamacare in the U.S. Senate. He voted "no" to ripping healthcare away from millions of Americans.

That's what the next Democrat president will be doing to all things Trump - saying "no". Saying no more Trumpism, no more Trump nominations to the U.S. Supreme Court, no more federal judges appointed, who don't even meet the minimum standard set by the American Bar Association. No more budget-busting corporate tax cuts and tax cuts for the rich. No more threats to take your healthcare away - millions of people's healthcare away. No more babies in cages, no more Muslim bans, no more celebrating with Russian ambassadors over a fired FBI director. No more rage tweeting at football players, no more tweeting at the Attorney General to lower a sentencing recommendation for the President's convicted felon friends, no more of that. No more idiotic childish behavior with the murderous North Korean dictator. No more non-stop pathological lying, day in and day out, by the President of the United States. Just think about what one day in America would be with no more of that.

And that's just the tip of the iceberg of Trumpism that would be instantly banished from the White House, if a Democrat takes the Oath of Office at the next presidential inauguration. Voters are very right to say that that is the most important thing weighing their vote. And they are doubly right if Mitch McConnell remains the majority leader of the U.S. Senate, because not one legislative proposal of any of the Democrats running for President has a chance of becoming law, if Mitch McConnell is still in place in the U.S. Senate. Every single Democrat running for President - including billionaire Mike Bloomberg - has a much more progressive tax policy than President Obama or President Bill Clinton before him. And not one sentence of Democrat tax policy will become law if Mitch McConnell is still the majority leader of the Senate next year. Every one of the Democratic candidates for President has a more progressive healthcare policy than Obamacare, but none of that can become law if Mitch McConnell still controls the Senate, and voters know that. And so most voters are not working very hard to sort out the differences between candidates' complex legislative proposals, because they know that a Democrat president will sign into law whatever Nancy Pelosi can pass in the House of Representatives, which will only matter if the Democrats manage to win control of the United States Senate.

[malchior]

Bernie is looking *extremely Trump-y* to me now. She misstated a key fact (which she did correct) that inflated sexual harassment cases against Bloomberg. Now that isn't by itself a good thing for Bloomberg having many...but Bernie has a clear hunger for power that doesn't blanche at pushing many of the same ethical lines as Trump. For example, his stance on his medical records is very similar to Trump's tax records.

[malchior]

This is the opening segment of The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell on Monday.

That was an eloquent way of saying that policy doesn't mean shit. We need to get rid of Trump. And the Democrats are incompetents in-fighting to the point that outsiders are taking over their party *just like Trump did*. That's why Bernie and Bloomberg are battling. They know the party is ripe for a take over. Welcome to our future.

[Ralph-Wiggum]

Can someone explain to me why both the new Emerson and NBC/WSJ polls have left Warren off the head-to-head matchup against Trump? There's been lots of Twitter gnashing of teeth about the MSM canceling out Warren and I thought it was generally pretty silly, but these polls seems to indicate there might actually be something going on here. Warren is nationally out-polling Klobuchar and Pete, yet they both get asked about in the survey and she doesn't? WTH?

[malchior]

Can someone explain to me why both the new Emerson and NBC/WSJ polls have left Warren off the head-to-head matchup against Trump? There's been lots of Twitter gnashing of teeth about the MSM canceling out Warren and I thought it was generally pretty silly, but these polls seems to indicate there might actually be something going on here. Warren is nationally out-polling Klobuchar and Pete, yet they both get asked about in the survey and she doesn't? WTH?

FWIW I didn't think it was silly to complain about this. Most of the media are counting her for dead because she performed so badly even in Boston suburbs she should have won. The media has so much influence on who is in the running simply because they keep the name alive in people's mind and they've decided she isn't in the race anymore. So poof...she is mostly gone. Ask Corey Booker about it. Biden literally stole all his oxygen.

[gilraen]

Can someone explain to me why both the new Emerson and NBC/WSJ polls have left Warren off the head-to-head matchup against Trump? There's been lots of Twitter gnashing of teeth about the MSM canceling out Warren and I thought it was generally pretty silly, but these polls seems to indicate there might actually be something going on here. Warren is nationally out-polling Klobuchar and Pete, yet they both get asked about in the survey and she doesn't? WTH?

FWIW I didn't think it was silly. Most of the media are counting her for dead because she performed so badly even in Boston suburbs she should have won.

Don't know about Emerson, but NBC or WSJ don't conduct their own polls. It was at the discretion of the polling firm that provides them with results, who said that the survey only had room for 5 candidates.

The Hill

Peter Hart, a pollster who works for the firm that conducted the survey, defended the decision on Monday to place Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) in a head-to-head match-up against the president, but exclude the Massachusetts senator.

“Amy Klobuchar was selected as the fifth candidate,” Hart told BuzzFeed News. “We have tested Warren earlier, and I suspect she will be part of the next testing.”

[Ralph-Wiggum]

That decision seems.... odd. Warren is polling higher than Klobuchar nationally and has more delegates than her.

[gilraen]

Warren is ultimately going to benefit from this in the short-term, because this screw-up is more of a national news story than the actual poll.

[malchior]

Don't know about Emerson, but NBC or WSJ don't conduct their own polls. It was at the discretion of the polling firm that provides them with results, who said that the survey only had room for 5 candidates.

This is accurate but not the whole story. WSJ and NBC do outsource their polls but they've consistently used the same firms for almost 2 decades. They likely have a lot of influence over how the polls are designed and executed. They need the polls to be relevant to the product they are selling after all. That doesn't mean they cook the data but they definitely cook the hypothesis to be tested.

[Fireball]

A primary that comes down to right-wing former New York mayor Bloomberg and the deeply dishonest and surrounded-by-awful-people Sanders is basically my nightmare.

[Defiant]

The media has so much influence on who is in the running simply because they keep the name alive in people's mind and they've decided she isn't in the race anymore. So poof...she is mostly gone. Ask Corey Booker about it. Biden literally stole all his oxygen.

Nate Silver said something similar recently, pointing out that Bloomberg had eight NYT stories while Buttigieg had none, even though Buttigieg has the most delegates and is actually on the ballot in the next couple of states.

[Kurth]

A primary that comes down to right-wing former New York mayor Bloomberg and the deeply dishonest and surrounded-by-awful-people Sanders is basically my nightmare.

I just want this primary to be over. The convention can't come soon enough.

[El Guapo]

One of the costs of not having a "professional" at the helm... Oy vey!

The thing that bothers me most about Sanders is not him but the people he seems to surround himself with.

[Holman]

The thing that bothers me most about Sanders is not him but the people he seems to surround himself with.

A Revolution requires True Believers, and that kind of commitment covers a multitude of sins.

[malchior]

Random note: It will be interesting to see how COVID-19 is going to influence the election. There are hints that there may be major economic impacts due to widespread supply chain disruptions. Good thing we outsourced our entire supply chain to China, amirite? Anyway, the following is just anecdotal but illuminating IMO. My wife is head of QA/Development for a home care product manufacturer that produces several products for dollar store chains. All their major raw materials from China are now delayed up to two months. This includes chemicals and things such as label stock and bottles. It isn't being widely publicized but customs is holding shipments inbound from China. They have raw materials stuck off-shore on cargo ships waiting for the port to allow them to come in and deliver. They are scrambling to get alternatives sourced in the US (and eat the cost) but slim pickings because...the Wall Street geniuses hollowed out our manufacturing base. They may have to furlough tons of the staff and/or reduce production.
It's a wildcard to say the least.

[Defiant]

A majority of voters are open to reelecting President Trump in 2020, up from a year ago, according to a new Hill/HarrisX poll.

The Feb. 14-15 survey found 62 percent of registered voters said they are open to voting for Trump in 2020 while 38 percent said they would never vote for the incumbent. By comparison, when this survey was taken a year ago in March 2019, 54 percent of voters were open to reelecting Trump while 46 percent said they would never vote for the President.

https://thehill.com/hilltv/what-america ... a-year-ago

[hitbyambulance]

mailed in my primary ballot today (WA state)

[Kurth]

Help us Obama Wan Kenobi, you're our only hope!

If there is a way to stop -- or at least slow -- Sanders, most Democratic insiders are convinced it's this: Former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama get behind an alternative candidate to the Vermont senator. Not only that, but the Obamas make their endorsements soon -- like pre-Super Tuesday -- and they urge all of the other candidates to get out of the race ASAP.

Why might this work? Because the Obamas are hugely popular figures among Democrats -- especially African-Americans, who would be the first building block of any candidate trying to build a coalition to beat Sanders. Obama left office in early 2017 with 6 in 10 Americans approving of the job he did as president, and those numbers have only improved since -- as people forget what they didn't like about his presidency and remember the good times.

The problem for the anti-Sanders forces in the party? There's zero evidence to suggest that either Obama is interested in wading into the current morass in order to keep the nomination from Sanders.

[Ralph-Wiggum]

I can't see how Obama getting involved in the above scenario wouldn't cause the party to completely blow up. The infighting between the Sanders camp and the rest of the party would make the 2016 division between Clinton and Sanders seem like peanuts.

[Zarathud]

Obama held his tongue on Trump. He’s not going to save the Democrats from Bernie.

[pr0ner]

Did Trump just endorse Mayor Pete?

[Holman]

[Smoove_B]

Did Trump just endorse Mayor Pete?

He can't hold a press conference until 6pm tonight on the coronavirus because he's very busy with Executive Time on Twitter. JFC with this guy.

[LordMortis]

This unexplained and unsourced pic confirms my bias so it must be true

[Smoove_B]

Oh boy, talk about complicating things

Biden says Kamala Harris fits the bill for Vice President.

[Grifman]

Oh boy, talk about complicating things

Biden says Kamala Harris fits the bill for Vice President.

Not sure how that "complicates" things but I've always said that I believed that Biden would select Harris if nominated. He's need an African American and a female on ballot and she fits the bill.