March 27, 2016

Is Hillary coasting to the finish line?

According to Clinton supporters here on DU, it's all over and there is no way Bernie could deny Hillary the nomination. This would be consistent with what I saw when I caucused today in Washington. The Clinton campaign made little effort to get people to the caucus, and it was 3 to 1 in Bernie's favor. This did not seem to bother the Clinton people at all, so I'm guessing they're confident Hillary will pick up enough delegates without actually winning the remaining states. As long as she breaks even in some, and loses others by a reasonable margin, she's in.

The odd thing about this is it seems a strange way to show enthusiasm for a candidate. For weeks, Clinton supporters have been licking their lips at the prospect of the Sanders campaign shutting down, but they're not delivering the knockout punch. And the tone has changed. But is this real? Remember the movie Pee Wee's Big Adventure? "I meant to do that!" Hillary is going to cross the finish line with just a few more delegates than she needs, and her supporters are saying, "Oh, yes. This is the way we planned it all along." And there is the possibility it won't work, if today is any indication.

March 12, 2016

Canadian TV Rips Trump

Canadian news is not like our news. When dealing with somebody like Trump, they don't try to be "fair" by doing old he said, she said routine. They let the viewer know, with no doubt at all, that Trump is crazy and dangerous, as well as being a total jerk and a worthless human being. The segment is called "The Fire Breather" by The Fifth Estate, a CTV organization. It's very entertaining, well worth watching.

CBC, not CTV.

March 10, 2016

Why are we angry?

This is the year of the angry white man, according to the source linked below. Thanks to the Clinton group for alerting us to this. Anyway, it's not clear why we're angry. It's also not clear why the previous "year of the angry white man" events are so quickly forgotten. What is clear, according to the article, is that Sanders getting angry white male (AWM) is bad because it negates Clinton's advantage among women and minority voters. See how that works? If a candidate appeals to women and minorities, and depends on those demographics to win, that's good, probably because we assume that candidate will do something special or meaningful for the voters who supporter him or her. If another candidate vacuums up the remaining votes, the AWM votes, that's bad, probably because we can assume that candidate will do something to hurt women and minorities.

Welcome to racial politics, folks. If you want to see it done right, go back and read some of Marion Berry's speeches. What we're seeing here is just the tip of the iceberg, because mainstream candidates who play racial politics don't want to appear to be playing racial politics. But it still boils down to, "You better vote for me because the other candidate is supported by angry white men."

Oh, almost forgot. The AWM thing also makes Sanders just like Trump.

http://latinosreadytovote.com/angry-white-males-propel-donald-trump-and-bernie-sanders/

March 8, 2016

UPS calls Donald Trump

Hello, Mr. Trump. It’s a pleasure to serve you, sir. I understand you have a package.

It’s a big package? Huge, you say? Well, we can handle packages of almost any size.

What’s that, sir? Oh. When I say “handle,” I just mean we are able to accommodate large packages.

By “accommodate,” sir, I mean we can send your package from one place to another, even if it’s big.

Well, yes, sir. You know our motto. We run the tightest ship in the shipping industry.

Oh, no, sir. Not uncomfortably tight. Just snug. You know, firm.

Firm, sir, not hard.

Yes, sir. We’ll be by in about an hour and grab that package.

Yes, of course, Mr. Trump. I mean we’ll pick it up.

March 7, 2016

Why Bernie can't win. Probably. Maybe.

Right up front, I am a Sanders supporter, and I want him to be our nominee, no matter what the consequences. If he does gain the nomination, there is the possibility of a very bad outcome in the general election.

It's nothing the Republicans could do to him. The clown car is in the ditch very deep, and there's no sign of a tow truck on the horizon. The death blow would come from inside our party. Remember, this is a struggle for the heart and soul of the Democratic Party. Sanders calls it a revolution, and the DNC doesn't know what to call it, but they realize allowing Sanders to win the presidency would end the nice deal they have going for themselves, derail their gravy train, push many of them into obscurity, make the whole third way strategy look bogus, and generally turn the established party structure inside out. This is exactly what many of us would like to see, and exactly what the third way wing of the party, meaning many Democrats, cannot allow.

Am I suggesting a significant number of Democrats would work to make sure Sanders loses the general election? Damn right I am. When push comes to shove, their personal well being is more important than the presidency, federal judges, foreign policy, immigration reform, police and justice reform, or anything else. Who are they, and how many of them are there? I don't know, but I remember Eugene McCarthy campaigning for Ronald Reagan against Jimmy Carter in 1980, and I don't even know what Carter did to anger McCarthy. Whatever it was, it was small potatoes compared to the anger and frustration many Democrats would feel if they lost control of the party to an "avowed socialist." There would be enough of them to pose a serious threat of defeating Sanders in the general election, in order to discredit the Sanders revolution and regain control of the party.

What might save Sanders in the face of such an insiders' coup? Independents and disenchanted Republicans. Many people are angry at the system that keeps giving them what they consider as a choice between Tweedledee and Tweedledum. They would vote for Sanders simply because he is neither of those. It would be scary, but it would be interesting. And it might be exactly what we need to put an end to these political dynasties we get so often.

March 5, 2016

As long as we're on the topic, let's stay on topic.

There was a post here that was locked for being off topic, but it did make a couple good points about the primaries and some of the fallout from the primaries. I thought it would be useful to paraphrase and discuss the points as they relate to the Democratic primary election.

First, many of us have not yet voted, and we would like to think our opinions and our votes mean something. In any primary election, there is always a push by the front runner to declare the contest over, to get the landslide moving faster. In our party, there is some urgency about this because we are afraid of spending all our money and energy before we face the Republicans. That's understandable, but we need to respect the voters and their opportunity to make their voices heard.

Second, and related to the first point, is the tendency of the party to choose a favorite and throw the weight of the party organization behind the favorite. It happens all the time, so I guess it's not unreasonable, but it contributes to casting aspersions on individual Democrats and their loyalty to the party. "If you were a real Democrat, you would be more positive about supporting our nominee, whoever that is." OK, but that makes it more difficult to oppose the party favorite. If you advocate voting for the insurgent, you're saying, in effect, "Don't vote for the party favorite." This creates all sorts of suspicion and bad feelings, with the party demanding that supporters of the insurgent declare themselves yellow dog Democrats, and said supporters resisting and getting rebellious.

The implication of course, is that we should all just chill out and let the process run its course. Easier said than done. Hang in there, everybody, and try to keep a lid on the suspicion and aggression directed at the other camp.

March 2, 2016

Making lemonade from lemons

The posts from Clinton supporters are different than the posts I saw yesterday. Going into Super Tuesday, it was all over for Bernie Sanders. Nothing left to do but not get hurt by the flying champagne corks at Clinton victory parties. There are still some proclamations of a huge victory, of course, and Sanders obituaries, but the tone is a little more muted around here. There is some reaching, the best of which I thought was a demand that Elizabeth Warren endorse Clinton because her state was a Clinton win. Is that a new rule? If your state votes for a candidate in the primary, do you have to endorse that candidate? It's nice that Clinton supporters are realizing Sanders is a credible opponent. It will be interesting to see how the Clinton campaign responds to not getting the Final Blow they expected.