Democrats do the darndest things!

[Kraken]

Not the Onion:

Hillary Clinton on Tuesday declined to rule out launching a future presidential campaign after her two failed bids, saying “many, many, many people” were pressuring her to enter the race.

“I, as I say, never, never, never say never,” the former secretary of State said on BBC Radio 5 Live. “I will certainly tell you, I’m under enormous pressure from many, many, many people to think about it.”

[Jaymann]

Hey, Carter is still eligible!

[Daehawk]

Chelsea / Amy ticket.

[Defiant]

Hey, Carter is still eligible!

For those who thought Mike Gravel was too youthful.

(It would mean we would have nominees from five different generations)

[Defiant]

[El Guapo]

Basically the takeaway from the last week or so of the primary is that rich Democrats really dislike the current field, because the leading candidates are Biden (too old), Buttigieg (too young) and Warren / Sanders (want to take away too much of their money). And they're too dumb at politics to realize that they should just settle for Klobuchar, so they're running around trying to talk semi-prominent Democrats who aren't running into running.

I'd be shocked if Hillary winds up running.

[Kraken]

Not the Onion: Tulsi sues Hillary for calling her a Russian asset. If we didn't already have too much political drama going on, I'd love to see Hillary make a case that it's true.

As a public figure, Gabbard must show that the defendant acted with actual malice to recover damages. In addition, U.S. courts have said “rhetorical hyperbole” associated with politics is constitutionally protected speech.

Gabbard has routinely polled in the law single digits in the Democratic race to pick a challenger to Republican President Donald Trump in November’s election, but she has said she will not run as a third-party candidate.

After Clinton’s comments in October, Gabbard said the former first lady, U.S. senator and secretary of state was the “embodiment of corruption and personification of the rot that has sickened the Democratic Party for so long.”

[El Guapo]

Not the Onion: Tulsi sues Hillary for calling her a Russian asset. If we didn't already have too much political drama going on, I'd love to see Hillary make a case that it's true.

As a public figure, Gabbard must show that the defendant acted with actual malice to recover damages. In addition, U.S. courts have said “rhetorical hyperbole” associated with politics is constitutionally protected speech.

Gabbard has routinely polled in the law single digits in the Democratic race to pick a challenger to Republican President Donald Trump in November’s election, but she has said she will not run as a third-party candidate.

After Clinton’s comments in October, Gabbard said the former first lady, U.S. senator and secretary of state was the “embodiment of corruption and personification of the rot that has sickened the Democratic Party for so long.”

It's also stupid / obnoxious because it's *really* clear that Clinton was saying that Gabbard was being cultivated by Republicans (as a third party spoiler), and not by Russians. It's just that the NYT screwed up the reporting.

[Kraken]

O John Kerry, only you can save us. It's just some reporters running with an overheard remark, followed by vehement denial, but still...this got said.

DES MOINES, Iowa — Former Secretary of State John Kerry — one of Joe Biden's highest-profile endorsers — was overheard Sunday on the phone at a Des Moines hotel explaining what he would have to do to enter the presidential race amid "the possibility of Bernie Sanders taking down the Democratic Party — down whole."

Sitting in the lobby restaurant of the Renaissance Savery hotel, Kerry was overheard by an NBC News analyst saying "maybe I'm f---ing deluding myself here" and explaining that to run, he'd have to step down from the board of Bank of America and give up his ability to make paid speeches. Kerry said donors like venture capitalist Doug Hickey would have to "raise a couple of million," adding that such donors "now have the reality of Bernie."

[em2nought]

So how is the DNC gonna screw Bernie this time? I don't care how they do it, but it works for me.

[Scraper]

So how is the DNC gonna screw Bernie this time? I don't care how they do it, but it works for me.

I would think you would be rooting for Bernie since he's the one D in the race who probably can't beat Trump. I just don't see him being able to carry the middle voters. Sure he'll be strong with the liberal base, but that's it.

[em2nought]

So how is the DNC gonna screw Bernie this time? I don't care how they do it, but it works for me.

I would think you would be rooting for Bernie since he's the one D in the race who probably can't beat Trump. I just don't see him being able to carry the middle voters. Sure he'll be strong with the liberal base, but that's it.

I think he's the one and only that could possibly win, a true believer in what he preaches(at least for "other" people if not for himself).

[hepcat]

By your own reasoning, Trump shouldn't have won then.

[Lagom Lite]

So how is the DNC gonna screw Bernie this time? I don't care how they do it, but it works for me.

I would think you would be rooting for Bernie since he's the one D in the race who probably can't beat Trump. I just don't see him being able to carry the middle voters. Sure he'll be strong with the liberal base, but that's it.

Young voters
Latinos
Independents
Midwestern working class

Also, polls show Bernie beating Trump by the greatest margin of all dem nominees. If you are going for electability, Bernie is your candidate.

And where would a moderate cast their vote in the general, if the choice was between a fascist and a european-style social democrat?

[malchior]

Also, polls show Bernie beating Trump by the greatest margin of all dem nominees. If you are going for electability, Bernie is your candidate.

Biden has the best spread in the national polls. By about +2. However, it is a bit difficult to use the national polls to predict the outcome. We need the state head-to-heads and no one is doing that except in primary states. We don't know who is more electable *at the moment* in key battleground states.

And where would a moderate cast their vote in the general, if the choice was between a fascist and a european-style social democrat?

The preferred terms here are President and *SOCIALIST!?!*.

[YellowKing]

My conventional thinking was that Bernie would be the absolute worst candidate to run against Trump due to the SOCIALIST?!!! thing. But I've come around in the past few days because A) the polls don't support that he's the worst in a head-to-head and B) if the country was so dead set on not electing the status quo in 2016, there's a good chance they're not going to go for the status quo in 2020. Perhaps we now live in a world fought on the extremes, and the only way to swing the pendulum back is to go hard left.

[Pyperkub]

My conventional thinking was that Bernie would be the absolute worst candidate to run against Trump due to the SOCIALIST?!!! thing. But I've come around in the past few days because A) the polls don't support that he's the worst in a head-to-head and B) if the country was so dead set on not electing the status quo in 2016, there's a good chance they're not going to go for the status quo in 2020. Perhaps we now live in a world fought on the extremes, and the only way to swing the pendulum back is to go hard left.

A lot can happen between now and November. In some ways it seems to me that righting the USS Constitution is going to take an FDR kind of effort, and probably another monstrous market crash to inspire such an effort. Trump has definitely laid the groundwork for a huge market crash, and also killed many of the tools that we've used to allieviate such a crash over the past 50 years. If the economy tanks, I think you'd see support for Bernie and Warren skyrocket across the board. Remember that in '08, the global crash hadn't happened as yet...

[Isgrimnur]

Remember that in '08, the global crash hadn't happened as yet...

Politico

Bush signs bank bailout, Oct. 3, 2008

On this day in 2008, President George W. Bush signed legislation that allowed the U.S. Treasury to put its proposed Troubled Asset Relief Program into effect. Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson told Congress its implementation was required to stem a worldwide economic collapse. Bush acted within hours of its passage by the House.
...
Formally called the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act, the measure bailed out banks in the wake of the subprime mortgage debacle.

[malchior]

My conventional thinking was that Bernie would be the absolute worst candidate to run against Trump due to the SOCIALIST?!!! thing. But I've come around in the past few days because A) the polls don't support that he's the worst in a head-to-head and B) if the country was so dead set on not electing the status quo in 2016, there's a good chance they're not going to go for the status quo in 2020. Perhaps we now live in a world fought on the extremes, and the only way to swing the pendulum back is to go hard left.

I'm in the I hope Bernie doesn't give us Trump camp. I think Sanders could have won in 2016. It was a change election. He was ahead of Clinton against Trump nationally and in key battleground states. That said it would have contentious.

In comparison, this year is not so much a change election as much as a 'WTF IS HAPPENING' election. I don't know if conventional wisdom math works anymore. Until we get more data it remains to be seen where we stand and by then changing the nominee is going to be impossible. In this vein, he is a risky bet but honestly all of them are. Each has significant flaws but Trump is flaw personified so in this stupid, broken mess of a country it is a toss up.

[Kraken]

My conventional thinking was that Bernie would be the absolute worst candidate to run against Trump due to the SOCIALIST?!!! thing. But I've come around in the past few days because A) the polls don't support that he's the worst in a head-to-head and B) if the country was so dead set on not electing the status quo in 2016, there's a good chance they're not going to go for the status quo in 2020. Perhaps we now live in a world fought on the extremes, and the only way to swing the pendulum back is to go hard left.

That's where I'm at. Warren's still my #1 choice for several reasons, but I've moved Bernie up to #2 because he has the fanatically dedicated following.

The main thing is, let the voters decide. If Sanders rolls up IA and NH, the DNC shouldn't put its thumb on the scale for Biden or Bloomberg or any other centrist character. Democrats lose when they go with their "safe" choice (Dukakis, Gore, Kerry, Clinton), and they'll lose with Biden, too.

[hepcat]

but I've moved Bernie up to #2 because he has the fanatically dedicated following.

It's also the reason I moved him off my wishlist completely.

[Pyperkub]

Remember that in '08, the global crash hadn't happened as yet...

Politico

Bush signs bank bailout, Oct. 3, 2008

On this day in 2008, President George W. Bush signed legislation that allowed the U.S. Treasury to put its proposed Troubled Asset Relief Program into effect. Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson told Congress its implementation was required to stem a worldwide economic collapse. Bush acted within hours of its passage by the House.
...
Formally called the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act, the measure bailed out banks in the wake of the subprime mortgage debacle.

At this phase of the campaign (aka between Now and November).