Joe Biden beats Donald Trump, officially making Trump a one-term twice impeached, twice popular-vote losing president

[Greatoneshere]

13 minutes ago, Alpha1Cowboy said:

I disagree with Klobuchar.  She's always been just left of center in Minnesota and consistent in that.  She has a pretty high popularity rating across both rural and city voter bases there and has been able to maintain that, which in our current political climate is no easy feat, but there's a lot of overlap with Sherrod Brown which is another great possibility..but he isn't officially in the race at this point.  

 

Klobuchar's voting record has been consistently centrist (so I agree with you), which is the equivalent of Kamala Harris, et. al. The only difference is she is transparent about it and they aren't. That still makes her not the best candidate, but I grant she isn't a "situational" politician. She's just openly not great.

 

And I thought Sherrod Brown had announced? Maybe that was just rumor, I grant.

[CitizenVectron]

People assuming that Biden will just win are not very good students of history. While of course he has a good chance (starting out with great name recognition, good charisma, experience in the White House, etc), there are a few others in the race who can say the same (except being in the White House). Bill Clinton and Obama both started out as massive underdogs and ended up as President, as examples to counter Biden.

 

And I'll just add that even though I would prefer Warren, Sanders, or Brown, Biden is still a lot better than Trump, and it would be foolish to work against him if he does win.

[Jason]

1 hour ago, CitizenVectron said:

People assuming that Biden will just win are not very good students of history. While of course he has a good chance (starting out with great name recognition, good charisma, experience in the White House, etc), there are a few others in the race who can say the same (except being in the White House). Bill Clinton and Obama both started out as massive underdogs and ended up as President, as examples to counter Biden.

 

Yeah, Hillary won the 2016 primary on name recognition because other than Bernie, nobody else was putting up a serious challenge...Biden wouldn't have the same largely-wide-open playing so it doesn't seem particularly likely that he'd skate to victory just on name recognition.

[CitizenVectron]

And he may very well win, he's well known and liked. But it won't be a cakewalk.

[SaysWho?]

18 hours ago, Massdriver said:

 

I agree with a lot of your post, but I’m still not convinced. I acknowledge that there is a much stronger wing of the Democratic Party which subscribes to democratic socialism or social democracy than before , but it isn’t a majority of the party. Or maybe I’m wrong. The primary will tell us. I was wrong about Beto having as much support as he did in Texas. Perhaps the Dems are ready for Sanders. 

 

One difference between your history of progressives being correct and the new proposals out of Warren, Sanders, AOC, etc. is the Democratic socialist wing of the party’s proposals require a drastic change in the economic and tax structure of society. The ACA is the only thing that is close to it on your list. 

 

In my case, I'm not really behind anybody since the field isn't set and I want to watch the debates first, so I can't be disappointed yet.  In a wide open field, no candidate needs to consolidate majority support, so it's not even possible yet to know who's walking away with the nomination. I know that Sanders wouldn't need to a convince a majority of Democratic/Independent voters, though.

 

I think even big changes have become accepted by the American public. Americans support a progressive tax on the rich via income taxes, which didn't exist until major reform was introduced to our tax code. Medicare was dubbed as "socialism" (which it is a socialistic program, but it was used as an attack on it) by people like Reagan. Now it's an incredibly popular program.

 

In fact, the ACA is a great example of this because it fundamentally shifted our conversation about health care. Democrats had to fight tooth and nail to get the ACA passed. Now, Medicaid expansion is hugely popular, even in red states. Getting rid of the ACA now requires going up against removing protections for people with preexisting conditions, removing staying on parents' health care, and eliminating Medicaid expansion. It also goes up against people who finally could get cancer treatments, or could get health insurance between jobs that wasn't really expensive COBRA.

 

Conservatives always try to make this sound like the scariest shit, and time after time, they're completely wrong. Gay marriage didn't lead to marrying donkeys and toasters as heyyoudvd predicted. I say Democrats get bold since the bold options typically end up being the correct options, and Republicans will call anything they do socialism. We should be listening to progressives more instead of thinking they represent some fringe faction.

[RedSoxFan9]

 

there's no reason to ever be nice to these people

[SaysWho?]

Bernie Sanders staff shake-up: Top strategists leave his presidential campaign

 

Quote

Tad Devine, Mark Longabaugh and Julian Mulvey, colleagues in a political consulting firm who all played leading roles in Sanders' 2016 campaign for the White House, are parting ways with the senator, citing creative differences.

 

"The entire firm has stepped away. We're leaving the campaign," Longabaugh told NBC News on Tuesday. "We just didn't have a meeting of the minds."

 

Quote

Devine, a veteran Democratic presidential operative, was a familiar presence on TV in 2016 as Sanders' chief strategist, responsible for setting the early direction of the campaign when few other Washington insiders believed the little-known Vermont independent could be a serious contender for the Democratic presidential nomination.

 

Longabaugh helped design and implement the campaign's delegate-hunting roadmap and negotiated with key outside players like the Democratic National Committee on issues like debates.

 

Mulvey helped craft the firm's ads for Sanders, including his best-known commercial, which featured the Simon & Garfunkel song "America."

 

[CitizenVectron]

So what does that mean, exactly?

[Greatoneshere]

42 minutes ago, CitizenVectron said:

So what does that mean, exactly?

 

Nothing until we know what his election campaign looks like going forward. If Sanders goes in directions we don't like, then we know what the disagreement was about. And if he goes in directions we do like in terms of winning the primary, then we also know what the disagreement was about. That's how I'm reading into this anyway, we'll need to see this play out. Maybe others know what this means off of the bat though, good or bad?

[GeneticBlueprint]

Maybe they made a name for themselves in 2016 and think that a different candidate has more of a chance of winning. And they want to work for that person.

[Anathema-]

Well, to be fair, those guys are idiots. 

[b_m_b_m_b_m]

 

[Ghost_MH]

53 minutes ago, b_m_b_m_b_m said:

 

 

Berniebros are the best.

[elbobo]

looking more probable that Uncle Joe is going to get into the action. If he could score an Obama endorsement it would blow this whole primary wide open since Biden is unquestionably to the right of a lot already announced democrats. 

 

https://www.msnbc.com/morning-joe/watch/joe-biden-inches-closer-to-2020-presidential-bid-1449088579919

 

 

[CitizenVectron]

Obama endorsing Biden would lower my opinion of Obama. Not that I think Obama is some perfect person. With the exception of the ACA he will likely be remembered by political historians as a fairly ineffectual moderate President, one who had more impact through image than action. Also that he is maybe the cleanest President ever, in terms of a lack of corruption. That's not to say he wasn't 100x better than what the GOP offered or would have done. 

[SaysWho?]

1 minute ago, CitizenVectron said:

Obama endorsing Biden would lower my opinion of Obama. Not that I think Obama is some perfect person. With the exception of the ACA he will likely be remembered by political historians as a fairly ineffectual moderate President, one who had more impact through image than action. Also that he is maybe the cleanest President ever, in terms of a lack of corruption. That's not to say he wasn't 100x better than what the GOP offered or would have done. 

 

He stayed out of it in 2016 when he, behind-the-scenes, was for Hillary over Biden, so I'd expect the same now.

[SuperSpreader]

Does he actually fully own any of those properties?

[Greatoneshere]

14 hours ago, Ghost_MH said:

 

Berniebros are the best.

 

But I was told that Bernie Bros weren't real, and that I needn't worry about them.

[RedSoxFan9]

 

[b_m_b_m_b_m]

I'm really curious to see how that data looks after the ACA went into effect.

[marioandsonic]

Well, maybe if those people weren't so careless with their spending, they would have the money saved up in case of a $20,000 medical emergency!  Did you ever think of that?!

[CitizenVectron]

Do companies in the US typically have good short and long-term disability plans as part of their benefits? Not that that would help with medical costs, but it would help with being off work and not having to use savings.

[PaladinSolo]

5 minutes ago, CitizenVectron said:

Do companies in the US typically have good short and long-term disability plans as part of their benefits? Not that that would help with medical costs, but it would help with being off work and not having to use savings.

A what now. 

[RedSoxFan9]

 

I cant believe people fact checked the misleading labels cnn gave to these people.  Maybe they introduce Bernie as a father of 4 instead of presidential candidate 

[elbobo]

7 minutes ago, CitizenVectron said:

Do companies in the US typically have good short and long-term disability plans as part of their benefits? Not that that would help with medical costs, but it would help with being off work and not having to use savings.

 

mine offers it as something you can buy as an extra, not part of a regular health plan 

[Greatoneshere]

Just now, RedSoxFan9 said:

 

I cant believe people fact checked the misleading labels cnn gave to these people.  Maybe they introduce Bernie as a father of 4 instead of presidential candidate 

 

CNN gave TYT a hard time over exposing this. CNN = real journalism?

[CitizenVectron]

From what I have seen, at "office" jobs in Canada long-term is standard and short-term is common. Short-term would be for periods of less than 30-90 days, and LTD is until age 65. It's different from worker's comp as well (coverage that everyone in Canada gets so that if you get injured at work, you are compensated with payouts/salary). 

 

So as an example, my gf has used her short-term disability to be off work for a month to get her infusion treatment done for her MS. 

 

My workplace doesn't have short-term, but in its place allows you to bank an unlimited amount of sick days that you can use in place of it. We get 20 sick days per year, so it adds up fast. 

[PaladinSolo]

Collins making her 2020 push, won't vote with the GOP on emergency declaration, now won't support Wheeler for the EPA head, though she did for deputy, lol.

[Ghost_MH]

49 minutes ago, CitizenVectron said:

Do companies in the US typically have good short and long-term disability plans as part of their benefits? Not that that would help with medical costs, but it would help with being off work and not having to use savings.

 

Nope. Some companies do. The last time I had to use it, disability paid out 60% of my check, and it took a month to get the first short term disability check. That was fun. I imagine for people living paycheck to paycheck, not getting a check in a month and then getting only 60% of your pay at that would really suck. That is, on top of whatever medical expenses you have piling up resulting in your disability. In my case, it was back to back kidney surgeries. Even with insurance, it cost thousands out of pocket, I was out of work for a month and a half, and the first month of that, I received no paycheck. Then when I went back to work, they cut off my short term disability benefits, but my doctor didn't send in his paperwork to clear me for work, so I wound up missing a week's pay because of it.

 

That was me working for a company with what are considered actually good benefits around here.

[CitizenVectron]

3 minutes ago, Ghost_MH said:

 

Nope. Some companies do. The last time I had to use it, disability paid out 60% of my check, and it took a month to get the first short term disability check. That was fun. I imagine for people living paycheck to paycheck, not getting a check in a month and then getting only 60% of your pay at that would really suck. That is, on top of whatever medical expenses you have piling up resulting in your disability. In my case, it was back to back kidney surgeries. Even with insurance, it cost thousands out of pocket, I was out of work for a month and a half, and the first month of that, I received no paycheck. Then when I went back to work, they cut off my short term disability benefits, but my doctor didn't send in his paperwork to clear me for work, so I wound up missing a week's pay because of it.

 

That was me working for a company with what are considered actually good benefits around here.

 

Would the payments be non-taxable, though? In Canada LTD is non-taxable and also pays around 60-65% of salary, which means it's roughly the same as take-home salary. Usually here it's auto-deposited into your bank account (cheques aren't really used anymore for most things, even between people). I do think that most policies here usually have an exclusionary period of one week so that people won't use STD or LTD for a single day off.

[Anathema-]

 

[SilentWorld]

I feel like it’s not really doxxing when someone isn’t anonymous? 

[Anathema-]

3 minutes ago, SilentWorld said:

I feel like it’s not really doxxing when someone isn’t anonymous? 

 

Semantics. People's personal information was exposed and circulated for targeted harassment based on an appearance where they didn't volunteer their identity or solicit communications and where their only crime is asking Bernie Sanders a tough question.

[RedSoxFan9]

Finding the LinkedIn page of a “mother” or “student” is literally murder

[RedSoxFan9]

honestly when a lobbyist goes on cable news disguised as a father of three no one should point out that he’s probably a shill because of his background