Does baggage worry you?

[redqueen]

Maybe I need to stay away from social media. I keep seeing things that I can easily imagine the media using against our top tier candidates (to borrow a phrase) and for me it is definitely anxiety-inducing.

Whatever junk gets amped up to hurt our candidate of course won't be a fart in a windstorm compared to the mountain of shit that Trump has left trailing behind him, of course - but for whatever reason, right-wing shit is always spun as somehow less meaningful than whatever real or imagined stuff they decide is newsworthy about Dems.

So what do you think? Is this stuff nothing to worry about? Or is it a cause for concern, considering how the MSM loves to put its thumb on the scale?

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	Relax, it's no big deal
	4 (31%)
	Yeah, I worry too
	9 (69%)
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[monmouth4]

1. What "baggage" would you be worrying about. I have heard of nothing about any of our candidates

that would be of concern.

[redqueen]

2. I dunno what to tell you.

Most of it is frequently posted on social media. Some of it is not really making the rounds yet, but I'm sure it's just a matter of time.

Not going to go into it because I don't see the point. Also don't want to get my wrist slapped for bashing candidates / using RW talking points.

[TidalWave46]

11. "Also don't want to get my wrist slapped for bashing candidates / using RW talking points."

Baggage and RW talking points are two completely different things. You conflate the terms as a means to be far less than transparent.

[redqueen]

12. Not at all. If you insist I'll post some clips

In fact someone already did. Of Warren saying 'people dumber than us can hang wallpaper' or something along those lines.

Want more?

[TidalWave46]

14. "Not at all"

Actually, it's exactly as you stated. First calling it baggage and then calling it right wing talking points.

Your lack of transparency on the matter you bring up, the conflation of terms that are completely different, makes the whole topic worthless as far as any meaningful discussion is concerned.

[redqueen]

15. It IS baggage. And it IS being used as RW talking points

The only question is how much will the media participate in pushing this kind of crap in the GE, and how much will it affect swing voters.

[TidalWave46]

16. That is more straightforward.

Still completely lacking transparency that would allow a meaningful conversation.

What RW talking points are you so worried about?

[redqueen]

17. That Warren is 'elitist'

A classic label used against democrats for years.

[TidalWave46]

19. Which candidate do you think that won't be used against?

I can't imagine being concerned about something that will be used against all of our candidates.

[redqueen]

20. You're right, most likely all. But that's on video

which makes it worse.

[TidalWave46]

21. I don't see any "worse" there.

Seems like grasping at straws. All of our candidates will be labeled as elitists. All will have comments that "show" they are. We are talking about a bunch of wealthy people who went to very very nice schools, for the most part.

[maximusveritas]

26. Really? That has you worried?

You're talking about Warren recounting something she said as a teenager.
I'm not a fan of hers, but couldn't imagine that being anything to worry about.

[ancianita]

3. What might be legitimate baggage, and not made-up fakery? I don't know what baggage you mean.

There's no amount of hypocrisy, ethical, religious or donor attacks that our corrupt, criminal opponents could possibly produce to convince ANYONE anymore that "both sides do it."

If people aren't clear about law, governance and morality, they don't want to be.

[redqueen]

4. Whether they are clear or not, or why, won't save us.

We just have to win. The alternative is too scary to think about.

[TwilightZone]

5. There's no benefit to getting worked up about it.

The opposition and the right-wing media will use anything they can find on any of our candidates. That's the reality of it, and it's really not that different from any other election cycle.

Personally, I look at it from the perspective that there's nothing I can do about it from a high level, and it's up to other people to deal with it. We have to look to the campaigns, their surrogates, PACs, etc., to effectively counter the worst of it.

I similarly try not to get worked up with the constant barrage of inane nonsense that streams from Trump and his administration. None of it is anything new, and it's all the same pattern (lie and foster confusion) and the same strategy, so there's little use in getting worked up about the minutiae.

[redqueen]

6. I don't get worked up. But I do worry.

Every time I see the stuff posted, I think of how much I don't want to be seeing it again next summer & fall

Maybe it's because I'm in Texas, and get innundated with it.

[TwilightZone]

7. Anything that works will be back.

It's nearly impossible to know what will get traction and what won't. I wouldn't have expected, for example, the swift-boating of Kerry to work, because it was patently ridiculous on a number of levels. That gave us a view into just how gullible people can be and how little critical thinking makes its way into the masses in instances like that.

I guess that's partly why I just don't put much thought into which individual news stories about our candidates will translate or carry over or become important in a general election campaign. A lot of it is just the same primary crap we deal with every cycle and won't matter in the long run.

[TreasonousBastard]

23. Good attitude.

[DCofVA]

8. The deadliest baggage is the actual footage of the candidate...

saying something or doing something that makes the voter question his or her ability to be a good President.
The exception, of course, is the brain-dead Trump supporter who can watch Trump boast of sexually molesting women in the most lurid way, and still vote for him.
Fortunately, Democrats have functioning brains. The candidate's baggage matters to us.

[redqueen]

9. Yep sadly I can think of two video clips right off the bat

[cwydro]

10. Yes, me too.

It IS worrisome.

[Inspired]

13. I admit that it does.

Although I try my best to shrug off, I admit that it has influenced my preferences.

[redqueen]

18. I hope I'm just being paranoid

and that swing voters will be so turned off by Trump's disastrous first term that it won't matter what crap they throw at us...

[LanternWaste]

22. I consider baggage to be a "cost of doing business" in our political climate.

My presumption (possibly flawed) is that each candidate running has crunched the numbers, examined the data and figured their baggage would not cost them more than any other attack on them by the right.

And, as each candidate has had some gaffes that can be used against them if context is ignored (and it will be), the baggage is just part of the process.

So I'm not really concerned any more or less in regards to baggage regardless of which Democrat wins the primary.

[TreasonousBastard]

24. Not really. I pretty much agree with TwilightZone above...

There are some horrible things on the way, like global warming. Maybe another supervolcano or the planet literally splitting apart like it did with the Deccan Traps. Nuclear war?

But none of these can I control. Nor can I control the greed and ignorance of some politicians or the whims of the electoràte.

So, I roll with it,doing what I can to reduce the fallout and hope that the tide that brought this in can take it out again.

[loyalsister]

25. Acquired baggage is revealing to me

Whether it's lack of foresight, negligence, or arrogance that drives a person to disregard the possibility that behavior that is unethical or on the edge of morality can be used to create controversy it tells me that the person has a pattern of making choices without thoroughly considering consequences.