It's Your AW Super Tuesday Thread!

Roxxsmom said:

Hope whomever the candidate ends up being of those two, I hope he picks a running mate who is both younger and not white. I say there's a much better-than-average chance of a VP taking the helm in the next 4 years, no matter who wins the election.

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This is it. This is what we're going to be looking at. Three white male septuagenarians (assuming Bloomberg's ego remains his primary motivator and he sticks around rather than bow out and put his money to good use elsewhere). I'm so tired of the entrenchment of the patriarchal system in this country.

Washington state votes next Tuesday and I left my ballot until the last minute. Things will shake out today and while my heart is with Warren, if she's out after today, my calculus will be all about who can bring down-ballot wins. And honestly, there's only one person (IMO) who can do that among the three old white dudes: Biden.

Jaime Harrison is running a close race against Lindsey Graham in SC. Can Bernie get him over the top, or is Biden more likely to after the turnout he inspired last week? What about Amy McGrath in Kentucky? If Sanders is the candidate, can he bring her voters in that state? Highly doubtful. Bernie might help in Colorado, possibly in Maine, but to me, this decision is now about who can reliably help secure additional Senate seats and ensure Dems hold the House. Bernie is too divisive for my taste, and he's ramping up the populist rhetoric to uncomfortable levels. His attacks on "corporate media" and the Democratic apparatus (the benefits of which he is happy to take, while continually punching them in the face) are unhelpful in the extreme if we want to boot Trump out.

Jennifer Rubin summed up my feelings in her opinion piece today:

And finally, when convinced that you have a monopoly on virtue, you are likely to resort to arguing that your opponents are “corrupt” (as a prominent supporter said of Biden, without evidence) and that you do not need to adhere to the rules others abide by — such as sticking to promises to release health-care records or showing your math on a health-care plan. Indignant and thin-skinned when challenged yet ready to assume the worst of others is a tried and true formula for rebuffing criticism and escaping accountability. When your motives are pure, aides and supporters who viciously attack others on social media get a pass.

Sanders has not just started behaving this way; he has operated this way for years, as do many firebrands who essentially play the role of backbencher. You know the type: Never responsible for accomplishing much of anything, ever the attack dog and determined to impugn others rather than argue on the merits. Aside from the substance of his views, Democrats need to decide if this Trumpian tone is one they want to mimic.

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I want to be in a situation where I can rely on a candidate to stump for not just themselves, but Democrats running locally. Biden and Warren I could rely on, Bernie not so much. I can also envision one helluva cabinet if Biden won, with so many of the excellent candidates we had early on, filling posts with experience and deep expertise. Bernie has always been a lone wolf. I haven't a clue who he'd tap to work with him. I've never seen him actually work with anybody. I've never seen or heard any mention, across two presidential campaigns, of who he might pick as a running mate. I half think he'd pick his wife.

Yes, I'll vote for him if he's the candidate (grudgingly), but I'll never believe he's the best person for the job.

I do suspect Warren pulled people away from Sanders - she certainly pulls me away from Sanders - but yeah, there are people who feel quite strongly about Biden's ability to help downticket. I'm not going to tell those people they're wrong.

I think Biden is a lackluster candidate, but I'll see who he choses for VP. And of course he's light-years better than what we have now.

lizmonster said:

I do suspect Warren pulled people away from Sanders - she certainly pulls me away from Sanders - but yeah, there are people who feel quite strongly about Biden's ability to help downticket. I'm not going to tell those people they're wrong.

I think Biden is a lackluster candidate, but I'll see who he choses for VP. And of course he's light-years better than what we have now.

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Yep. I think Biden/Warren gets it done. But, Joe will probably just fill up his VP and cabinet picks with moderates.

I do hope Bloomberg keeps his promise to fund the Democratic nominee as well as downticket. Because that may be key.

Diana Hignutt said:

Yep. I think Biden/Warren gets it done. But, Joe will probably just fill up his VP and cabinet picks with moderates.

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I am thoroughly sick of moderates.

On the other hand, at least he'd have cabinet picks.

I'm looking at Warren's numbers and they're heartbreaking. That hurts. I feel that from a lot of people right now.

I'm also strongly of the mind that old, white men aren't the future of the Democractic party, and if Biden does stumble into the presidency it'll be an accident of history.

But the base of the party turned out for him after 'the Establishment' had counted him out and his campaign couldn't rub two pennies together. People showed up and in some cases waited all day to vote for him, and I can't write them all off as people who want to stand in the way of progress or are simply poorly informed. I'm just coming to realize I don't know everything.

I'm upset for Warren as well. She'd be an excellent president and I think she'd get a lot done. But, I'm not mad about Biden. People voted for him, what can ya do?

I'm so incredibly frustrated that young people don't vote. It's so shocking to me to see how low the youth turnout percentage was yesterday. I'm in my 30s and I've reliably voted since the first time I was able to. How can people feel so passionate about a candidate (in this case Bernie), then not vote for him, and then get mad when someone else beats him?

I actually think a lot of Warren voters would go to Biden too, not just Sanders, so I don't consider her a spoiler in this election. Not to mention, Mike Bloomberg would presumably be taking Biden voters too. I'm angry that Bernie supporters are blaming Warren for not dropping out and endorsing him as though he isn't responsible for his own failures to get people to vote for him.

AstronautMikeDexter said:

I'm so incredibly frustrated that young people don't vote. It's so shocking to me to see how low the youth turnout percentage was yesterday. I'm in my 30s and I've reliably voted since the first time I was able to. How can people feel so passionate about a candidate (in this case Bernie), then not vote for him, and then get mad when someone else beats him?

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This.

I know a lot of young people (well, they're not so young anymore - a lot of them are 30ish) who did vote yesterday, and today are incandescently enraged about Joe Biden. I strongly suspect they'll go third party in the general, or sit it out entirely. And then not understand why they don't have enough influence in the NEXT election to get what they want.

The low 18-35 turnout has plagued voting in this country for many decades, long before the current 18-35s were born. I think there are a lot of reasons, and I absolutely understand the frustration of not seeing critical issues get addressed with appropriate urgency. It's maddening. But the only way to fix it is to stay in the game, not throw up your hands and turn your back.

There's a lot I don't like about Biden, but if he's running against the would-be dictator, I'm voting for him. Ditto Sanders.

I'm guessing that Biden will win the nomination, now that he's got his momentum back.

If I could have just one wish I could wish this election season, it's that Biden stays healthy and doesn't develop any serious health crisis or definite symptoms of senility during the election.

If there were two wishes I could have this holiday season, I want Biden to stay healthy and wish he would pick a Democrat for his running mate.

If I could have three wishes this election seasons, I want Biden to stay healthy, pick a Democrat for his running mate, and for the the Democrat he picks to be significantly younger than he is and to not be white.

If I have four wishes this election season, I wish he and his campaign managers do not repeat the mistakes of 2016.

If I had five wishes this election season, I wish that the ardent Sanders supporters realize that you don't always get the candidate you want nominated, but that a President Biden is infinitely better all of humanity than a second Trump term.

If I had six wishes this election season, I wish for a million dollars, deposited tax free in a Swiss bank account (in case Biden doesn't grant me my first four wishes, and I have to flee the country when he loses and academic types become un-Americans)...

I could go on with the wishes, but I should already apologize to Steve Martin for cribbing his "one wish this Holiday season" monologue.

I hate our two-party system.

This is it. This is what we're going to be looking at. Three white male septuagenarians (assuming Bloomberg's ego remains his primary motivator and he sticks around rather than bow out and put his money to good use elsewhere). I'm so tired of the entrenchment of the patriarchal system in this country.

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I get the feeling both parties are floundering. One of the reasons is the more dynamic youth are heading towards tech, not politics. A Bezos-like character with solid political experience who gets on the national stage could really shake things up. For the younger generation, I think it's ingrained now that tech, not politics, is how social and economic change is effected.

Cobalt Jade said:

I hate our two-party system.

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I feel a lot of people who say this. But short-to-middle term I don't see a way that it's changing, and it seems that developed nation with multiple parties are succumbing to the same rot that the US is. :shrugs:

Cobalt Jade said:

For the younger generation, I think it's ingrained now that tech, not politics, is how social and economic change is effected.

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I am strongly of the mind that technology influences society and affects change as much as anything. But a lot of the ideas coming out tech culture terrify me. This is the same well-insulated and often amoral smorgasboard of ideas that gave us Mencius Moldbug.

Cobalt Jade said:

I hate our two-party system.

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Kjbartolotta said:

I feel a lot of people who say this. But short-to-middle term I don't see a way that it's changing, and it seems that developed nation with multiple parties are succumbing to the same rot that the US is. :shrugs:

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Yep, the funny (not really) thing is, we have friends and family in both Italy and Slovakia, and they hate their multi-party system for the same reasons we are tired of ours: stagnation. No one can agree, and getting people to compromise is next to impossible because, in the age of "everyone can blast a headline," there's too much downside. I honestly believe the root of the problem is that we live in an age of instant gratification (and it's adverse, instant condemnation). Societal change on the scale that progressives expect is next to impossible without either a successful revolution or the willingness to compromise and accept that one might have to give a little in order to move forward. That's not the reality we are living in on the left, where purity is apparently the primary (only?) litmus test. Today on Twitter certain political acolytes have turned on their own because AOC dared to praise Elizabeth Warren's cameo on SNL.

Unfortunately, Republicans DO understand the concept of, if not compromise, being willing to fight smaller battles until the war is won. Which is how, for example, we're looking at the overturning of Roe v. Wade within the next 18-24 months.