What is your take on the Candidates?

[Skwmom]

Last edited Sat Sep 26, 2015, 08:55 AM - Edit history (3)

Mine:

Hillary - Definitely the establishment candidate of choice.

Biden - An establishment candidate who might enter to ensure Clinton is at least VP (think brokered convention). I really don't think anything will become of the Hillary stuff because of the state of our government.

O'Malley - The establishment candidate they hope they can sell as a progressive for the working class, etc. which is easier to do when you don't have a voting record on key issues (e.g., trade agreements). They have been keeping him low key because among other things he can determine what message the public wants to hear and to give him time to practice his delivery. By speaking out against debates, they hope people might view him as an anti-establishment candidate (which he's not - he' s just not the chosen one).

After, watching some O'Malley videos online, I put him in the category of: I'll tell you whatever you want to hear in order to get elected. The ultimate politician. He's hopes for VP if he can get enough people to buy into the progressive "image" they've created.

Update: Okay, after surfing the web I now understand why only 3% of Maryland voters supported him for President. So screw the citizens of your state so that you can use your actions to run for higher office... Oh yes, he is the ultimate politician...


Bernie - Non Establishment.

Chafee - Non Establishment.

Webb - Establishment. Potential VP for Hillary.

The debate will be one orchestrated show (especially with CNN running the show). Off course, sometimes you don't exactly get the result you anticipate. Here's hoping it's one of those times.

[Smarmie Doofus]

1. They're all basically the same except for Sanders.

Last edited Fri Sep 25, 2015, 03:41 PM - Edit history (1)

Only Sanders has relentlessly identified an attacked the fundamental problem in American politics and government: income and wealth inequality.

The rest are just treading water.... hoping things will be decided as they have always been decided.... by money.

Justice Brandeis said something to the effect of : we can have democracy in the USA ..... OR we can have money concentrated in the hands of a few.

BUT WE CAN'T HAVE *BOTH*.

Sorry: Brandeis was right.

Our economic arrangement does not produce or reflect a political democracy. Rather... a facsimile of same.

Only Sanders grasps this. ( Or should I say, "has the courage to OWN UP TO IT.&quot

The rest, DEM and GOP alike are interchangeable. One is for garbage pick up on Tuesday and Thursday. The next wants Monday and Wednesday.

Who cares?

[FSogol]

2. You are compltely wrong about O'Malley (and most of the other candidates, I suspect.)

Here's why I support O'Malley:

1. Ended death penalty in Maryland
2. Prevented fracking in Maryland and put regulations in the way to prevent next GOP Gov Hogan fom easily allowing fracking.
3. Provided health insurance for 380,000
4. Reduced infant mortality to an all time low.
5. Provided meals to thousands of hungry children and moved toward a goal for eradicating childhood hunger.
6. Enacted a $10.10 living wage and a $11. minimum wage for State workers.
7. Supporter the Dream Act
8. Cut income taxes for 86% of Marylanders (raised taxes on the rich).
9. Reformed Maryland’s tax code to make it more progressive.
10. Enacted some of the nation’s most comprehensive reforms to protect homeowners from foreclosure.

There is a lot more, but I'll only add that Mother Jones magazine called him the best candidate on environmental issues.
Article here:
http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2014/12/martin-omalley-longshot-presidential-candidate-and-real-climate-hawk

O'Malley is the one candidate that isn't just talk, he has a whole record of results.

[Fred Sanders]

4. When your only criteria is "establishment" or "not establishment", such petty details are annoying.

[FSogol]

5. Seriously. According to the OP there is no difference between Sanders and Chafee. I wonder if

that's what they are trying to convey.

[Skwmom]

7. No. Just that the establishment won't get behind them.

[Skwmom]

6. Mother Jones? After this election cycle I view that magazine

as tabloid trash.

[Fred Sanders]

10. Your opinion is a pillar of the left wing media and David Cornyn are also "trash"? Good to know!

Not everything can be filtered through the "Get Hillary" lens!

[Skwmom]

11. It's called journalistic integrity. He doesn't have it. n/t

[bigwillq]

3. I would vote for Bernie and O'Malley

No to Hillary and Biden.

I think Chafee is better than HRC or Biden.

I would not vote for Webb but if he did end up VP, I would be ok with it.

[SheilaT]

8. The likelihood of a brokered convention is

vanishingly small. I know every single election year since 1968 various people start salivating over the possibility, but it hasn't happened yet, and won't this year. On either side.

As for establishment v non establishment assessment I agree with your assessments. But I predict that whoever is nominated, the VP choice will not be anyone on the above list. Of course, I could be very, very wrong here.

And Biden still isn't running.

Unless Webb, O'Malley, or Chafee experience some sort of miracle (like maybe Hillary and Bernie both stop running), they will all be out no later than the first two or three primaries/caucuses.

[Skwmom]

9. O'Malley is too political for the general election. In "governing" to run for President

I think he really misread the tea leaves.

Update: Or maybe some Clinton backers gave him some not so good advice that he took...

[CharlotteVale]

12. Chafee is not non-establishment. He wants to

privatize Social Security.

[LWolf]

13. Okay.

HRC: A neo-liberal hawk. No thank you.

Biden: Another neo-liberal hawk. No thank you.

Chafee/Webb: I don't love them. I don't hate them. As a matter of fact, they inspire the same motivation I get when I think about the dentist.

Lessig: His single note is okay, but he doesn't bring anything else to the table. No thanks.

O'Malley: I haven't said anything at all about him since I chose a candidate to support, but I did say this before Sanders announced, and I stand by it:

http://betterment.democraticunderground.com/10026402674#post33

Sanders: nobody beats him on issues, integrity, consistency, or determination. He's the candidate that gets my vote in my state's primary.

[Cheese Sandwich]

14. Great analysis of O'Malley.

Loved it.

Hillary is Wall Street's chosen neo-liberal successor to Obama.

Biden is the backup in case Hillary implodes in a scandal.

Chafee is probably just trying to get his name out there to sell books or maybe to run in the future.

O'Malley is a trojan horse neo-liberal posturing as a liberal-progressive. He's there to help the Dems put on a show of an election for a faker democracy.

Webb is just getting his name out there for VP and maybe sell a few books.

Don't forget Larry Lessig. He is running in case Bernie implodes with scandal or bad health. He would be my second choice at this point.