He's definitely not getting elected now.
He's definitely not getting elected now.
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Music was better when ugly people were allowed to make it.
Muddy (11-13-2019)
Secretary of State Ocasio-Cortez?
There'd be no way that the FBI would be able to defend her when she fucks up.
Warning: The posts of this forum member may contain trigger language which may be considered offensive to some.
Music was better when ugly people were allowed to make it.
Make AOC a bartender again.
DemonGeminiX (11-13-2019)
Deval Patrick has declared he's in for the Dem nomination.
Warning: The posts of this forum member may contain trigger language which may be considered offensive to some.
Music was better when ugly people were allowed to make it.
RBP (11-15-2019)
By Amie Parnes - The Hill
Pete Buttigieg is surging in the 2020 primary, capitalizing on a Democratic Party wrestling with its political identity.
In a year when Democrats are struggling to choose between a string of septuagenarian candidates, strategists say the 37-year-old South Bend, Ind., mayor has become an alternative choice, tapping into a desire for a fresh face in Washington.
Democrats are also battling over how far left to go in the primary, but Buttigieg may be a candidate who appeals to centrists without turning off liberals.
Political observers and strategists say this appeal is one of the main reasons Buttigieg, who is a veteran and also gay, has surging toward the top of polls.
“He’s trying to be the Goldilocks ‘just right’ candidate in between everyone,” said Democratic strategist Eddie Vale.
When Buttigieg announced his candidacy, the chance of him winning the nomination seemed like a long shot.
Voters didn’t know much about him and couldn’t pronounce his name. He had a staff of four, including an intern. Some news organizations wouldn’t add him to their primary graphics.
Less than a year later, Buttigieg has a staff of 469 people, what pundits call a commanding presence at town halls and a rash of good headlines.
“I think one of the biggest factors not getting enough attention is they're doing a really good job campaigning,” said Vale. “They’re doing lots of events [and] interviews.”
It’s “definitely possible” Buttigieg could win the nomination, Vale said, because “his rise is coming from a good foundation, not just a viral moment.”
Buttigieg has emerged as an alternative to Joe Biden and most political observers see the Indianan as pulling votes from the former vice president. But he also appears to be winning support from other candidates, including some to his left.
“As far as I can tell, he's taken a little away from everyone,” said Democratic strategist Michael Trujillo.
A Monmouth University poll in Iowa released this week found Buttigieg winning 22 percent of likely caucus-goers compared to 19 percent for Biden, 18 percent for Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and 13 percent for Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).
Buttigieg gained 14 points since August, the last time Monmouth surveyed caucus-goers. Biden lost 7 points while Warren lost two points in the survey while Sanders gained five points.
“There’s no doubt about it — as the primary cycle continues, Mayor Pete’s appeal is only growing,” said Democratic strategist Lynda Tran. “The latest poll certainly puts the wind at his back heading into Iowa.”
Buttigieg’s fundraising has propelled his campaign. He raised more than $19 million in the third quarter, beating some of his competitors and becoming the candidate Hollywood A-listers have most supported with their checkbooks.
Buttigieg does face some hurdles — particularly his low support with black supporters. It is difficult to imagine he will win the nomination unless he can improve his standing with African Americans.
In South Carolina, where Biden performs particularly well because of his strong support among black voters, Buttigieg ranks sixth, according to an average of polls in South Carolina conducted by Real Clear Politics.
Aware of his weakness with black voters, the Buttigieg campaign made a $2 million ad buy in the state on Thursday, hoping to build support. In the first radio ad, Buttigieg highlights his time as a naval intelligence officer in Afghanistan contrasting it with President Trump's reality television career.
In the spot he also pledges "to do something about gun violence, to tackle systemic racism wherever we find it until your race in this country has no bearing on your health, or your wealth, your life expectancy or your relationship with law enforcement."
Buttigieg's age and lack of experience could also weigh him down, Democrats say, particularly in a campaign season where the party’s voters are locked-in on finding the candidate who can defeat President Trump.
“If Donald Trump wasn’t a factor, he would easily be the frontrunner. He’s young, very smart and dynamic,” the Democratic strategist said.
Some voters might not feel comfortable nominating a candidate who is only 37 years old.
The youngest president ever elected to the office was John F. Kennedy, who was 43 when he took the oath of office.
President Obama was one of the younger presidents ever elected in the United States. But he was about a decade older when he took office than Buttigieg is now.
“I don’t know if I feel comfortable voting for someone younger than me. I think that's a confusing dilemma for me,” Trujillo acknowledged, adding that other voters may feel the same way.
Trujillo said Buttigieg hasn’t also been scrutinized the way other candidates have so far.
“He has the appeal because he really hasn’t been under the microscope,” Trujillo added. “Once the bright lights are on you, things get a little bumpier.
But more than anything, Buttigieg will have to prove his electability against Trump.
“I like what he stands for a lot but I have my doubts about whether he can beat him,” one major Democratic donor said. “I don’t see how the mayor of South Bend Indiana ends up winning.”
RBP (11-15-2019)
By Gregg Re | FOX News
Pete Buttigieg, whose popularity has surged in recent days, found himself the sudden target of attacks at Wednesday night's fifth Democratic primary debate but sought to stay on the offensive and make an appeal to the country's political middle with a blunt rebuke of Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders' "Medicare-for-all" plan.
He was joined by several other candidates on stage in going after the health care overhaul, putting the party's far-left candidates on their heels over what Buttigieg called their "divisive" and unrealistic approach.
Reflecting the ever-shifting dynamic in the race, meanwhile, Joe Biden had a mixed performance -- projecting foreign policy strength and siding with Buttigieg against the liberal wing on health care, while also suffering some stumbles on the debate stage. Until recently the unrivaled front-runner in the race, Biden competed for attention Wednesday with three other top-tier candidates -- Warren, Sanders and Buttigieg -- but flubbed when he erroneously stated in front of Sen. Kamala Harris that he had the support of the "only" black woman elected to the Senate.
In an odd moment, he also said it's important to "keep punching at" the problem of domestic violence, noting that it's "rarely" needed for men to hit women in self-defense.
The debate was the candidates' first meeting since Warren said she would gradually guide the nation toward Medicare-for-all, supposedly paid for with a host of tax hikes on the rich and other measures. One by one, several of the candidates -- including Biden, Sen. Cory Booker and Sen. Amy Klobuchar -- raised objections to that plan.
"I’m not going to go for things just because they sound good on a bumper sticker and then throw in a free car," Klobuchar said at one point.
Buttigieg called for health care reform "without the divisive step of ordering people onto it," saying that "commanding people to accept that option" is not the right approach.
"We have a majority to do the right thing if we can galvanize, not polarize, that majority," the South Bend mayor said.
And, in a particularly spirited moment, New Jersey Sen. Booker directly took on Warren's proposed wealth tax, saying it would be ineffective as a means of funding her Medicare-for-all plan, along with her proposals to provide free college tuition and erasing student loan debt.
Democrats need to be focused on growing wealth, Booker said, not simply taxing it. Republicans have asserted that, even if all billionaires were somehow taxed out of existence without causing any capital markets distortion, the resulting revenues in the best case scenario would barely pay for three years of Medicare-for-all. (The world's 2,150 billionaires have an approximate combined net worth of $8.7 trillion, and the progressive Urban Institute has said that Medicare-for-all would cost on average $10.2 trillion for three years.)
Vermont Sen. Sanders, who is arguing for a more immediate shift to a single-payer system, separately sparred with Biden on the issue. Biden argued that Medicare-for-all could not pass Congress, in part because it would force people to lose their private insurance.
"I trust the American people to make a judgment about what is in their interest, and not demand of them what the insurance companies want," Biden said. He continued to push for modifications to Obama-era health care reforms instead.
On foreign policy, Biden sounded an authoritative note, declaring that he would restrict arms sales to Saudi Arabia following the murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi. “We have to speak loudly on violations of human rights," he said, unequivocally holding Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman responsible for Khashoggi's death.
Later, in a somewhat awkward moment, Biden prompted some laughter in the audience when he declared that "we gotta keep punching at" the problem of domestic violence, and that it is only acceptable to hit a woman in "self-defense," which he said would "rarely" occur.
And, Biden asserted that he had the support of "the only African-American woman who’s ever been elected to the United States Senate" -- prompting Booker and Harris to dryly remark, "That's not true."
Harris noted, “The other one is here.” Biden later corrected himself to say he had the support of the first African-American woman elected to the Senate, referring to former Illinois Democratic Sen. Carol Moseley Braun.
In another notable one-on-one moment, Sanders, touting the benefits of socialism in a discussion with billionaire Tom Steyer, argued that America only has "eight or nine" years left to reverse catastrophic effects of climate change, including cities going "underwater." United Nations experts made similar claims all the way back in 1989.
As the heated discussion unfolded at the MSNBC debate in Atlanta, Hawaii Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard -- who was recently accused by Hillary Clinton of being a "Russian asset" -- offered a blunt assessment: "Our Democratic Party, unfortunately, is not the party that is of, by and for the people," she said.
Gabbard also doubled down on earlier comments that Clinton represents the “personification of the rot in the Democratic Party.” She said the party is influenced by a “foreign policy establishment” that supports regime-change wars. She called it the “Bush, Clinton, Trump foreign policy doctrine.” (Harris then attacked Gabbard for appearing on Fox News.)
Separately, Gabbard unloaded on Buttigieg after he attacked her for a widely-panned meeting with Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, who is accused of war crimes.
"You would lack the courage to meet with both adversaries and friends," Gabbard shot back, noting that former President John F. Kennedy met with his counterpart in the Soviet Union.
Klobuchar also pointedly criticized Buttigieg, arguing that he "said the right words" as a "local official" but lacks needed experience.
"I actually have the experience," Klobuchar remarked.
"Washington experience is not the only experience that matters," Buttigieg retorted. "There's more than 100 years of Washington experience on this stage, and where are we right now as a country?"
Meanwhile, Warren unloaded on U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland just hours after his explosive impeachment hearing testimony, saying at Wednesday night's primary debate that he bought his position "by writing a check for $1 million" to Trump's inaugural committee.
Warren vowed that if she were elected, "We are not going to give the ambassador posts to the highest bidder" -- signaling that the Massachusetts Democratic senator would use the proceedings to advance her outsider message.
However, The Washington Free Beacon noted that Warren repeatedly voted to confirm several of former President Barack Obama's donors to ambassadorships, even when they lacked relevant experience.
"Read the Mueller report, all 442 pages of it, that show how the president tried to obstruct justice," Warren said. "We have to establish the principle that no one is above the law. We have a constitutional responsibility, and we need to meet it."
Others on stage also slammed President Trump over the impeachment proceedings.
“We have a criminal living in the White House,” Harris, D-Calif., declared. Citing Sondland's claim that everyone was "in the loop" on Ukraine talks at the heart of the probe, she said "that means it is a criminal enterprise engaged in by the president" and other top officials.
Not everyone on stage committed to voting to convict the president if he were impeached, however. Klobuchar suggested she wanted Trump removed, but emphasized the importance of seeing all the evidence.
"I have made it very clear that this is impeachable conduct. ... I just believe our jurors is to look at each count and make a decision," Klobuchar said, before saying that Trump repeatedly "puts his own private interests ... in front of our country's interest."
The debate's initial attention on Trump and Medicare-for-all took some heat off Buttigieg, at least for the debate's beginning moments. His dramatic rise from little-known Indiana mayor to a leading Democratic presidential candidate faced its toughest test on Wednesday, with rivals eager to stall his momentum.
Harris and Buttigieg engaged in a tense but respectful conversation later on in the evening, as Harris discussed the importance of not taking "women of color" for granted.
"I do sometimes feel like a stranger in my own country," Buttigieg, who is openly gay, remarked.
The debate in Atlanta marked the first time Buttigieg faced other White House hopefuls as an undisputed member of the top tier.
The 37-year old mayor of South Bend, Indiana, gained significant ground in recent months in Iowa, which holds the nation’s first caucuses in February. He is bunched at the top of most polls in Iowa with candidates who have much longer political resumes.
Veteran Democratic consultant and communications strategist Lynda Tran said Buttigieg “is on the rise, and that means he should anticipate the other candidates on stage this week to set their sights on his campaign.”
Some surveys are beginning to show him taking a more convincing lead in the race, at least in early-voting states.
Buttigieg still faces plenty of hurdles to clinching the Democratic nomination, particularly winning over black and other minority voters. But his Iowa rise means he could come under fire from his rivals like never before.
Biden, Warren and Sanders have all faced similar scrutiny in previous debates, and those attacks did little to change the trajectory of the race.
The debate unfolded at a moment of uncertainty about the Democratic field, with some in the party, particularly donors, worried there’s no one positioned to defeat President Trump. Former President Barack Obama took the unusual step last week of warning the party against moving too far to the left.
Speaking to that anxiety, former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick entered the Democratic race last week. Billionaire Michael Bloomberg, the former New York City mayor, is openly flirting with a bid.
Neither Patrick nor Bloomberg were onstage Wednesday.
With less than three months before voting, much of the nation’s political attention would typically be focused on the primary. Instead, the focus is on the impeachment inquiry against Trump.
Booker faces especially intense pressure. He’s yet to meet the Democratic National Committee’s polling requirements for the December debate, and his campaign acknowledges that he needs to capitalize on the national spotlight.
The New Jersey senator took an apparent shot at Buttigieg at one point, following the news that his campaign had used a stock photo of a woman in Kenya who apparently had nothing to do with the campaign.
“I want to turn back to the issue of black voters," Booker said. "I have a lifetime of experience with black voters. I’ve been one since I was 18. Nobody on this stage should need a focus group to hear from African-American voters."
In his rousing closing statement Wednesday night, Booker claimed to throw out his prepared remarks to discuss the "debt" that all Americans owed because of the country's racist history.
"It is time to fight, and fight together," Booker said, as the audience applauded.
Gabbard, for her closing remarks, urged Democrats to defeat the "divisiveness of Donald Trump" and "make Dr. King's dream a reality."
In his closing statement, Buttigieg offered an olive branch to "progressives," as well as "moderates" and "a lot of future former Republicans," emphasizing his efforts to win over moderates throughout the contentious evening.
"I want you to know that everybody is welcome in this movement that we're building," Buttigieg remarked.
After the candidates left the stage, progressive author and Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson -- who didn't qualify for Wednesday's debate -- tweeted simply, "Miss me?
Deval Patrick campaign event canceled at Atlanta college; only 2 people reportedly show up
By Brie Stimson | Fox News
A campaign event for former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, who launched a late Democratic presidential bid last week, reportedly was canceled Wednesday evening when only two people showed up.
Patrick was scheduled to speak at Morehouse College in Atlanta, a historically black men's college located not far from the site of Wednesday night's Democratic presidential debate. The event was organized by students from the New Deal Democrats.
The student organization told ABC News it was given only given 24 hours’ notice about the event and the campaign said Patrick canceled because he was late from another event and had to catch a flight.
The campaign added that Patrick would reschedule his Morehouse visit, Haslett reported.
Patrick filed Nov. 14 to be on the New Hampshire primary ballot in February.
It's not the first time Patrick has had trouble filling a room. New York Times reporter Jennifer Medina tweeted a photo of a nearly empty room at another event on Monday.
Both Kamala Harris and Pete Buttigieg have spoken at the historically black college. Bernie Sanders is scheduled there Thursday.
DemonGeminiX (11-25-2019)
Anti-gun billionaire douche-nozzle extraordinaire Michael Bloomberg has officially launched his bid for the Democratic nomination.
Warning: The posts of this forum member may contain trigger language which may be considered offensive to some.
Music was better when ugly people were allowed to make it.
I think anti-gun is a prerequisite for being a Democrat.Originally Posted by DemonGeminiX
Kamala Harris is out.
DemonGeminiX (12-03-2019), Muddy (12-03-2019)
Yang Squirts Whipped Cream Into Mouths Of Kneeling Men, Campaign Manager Desperately Tries To Stop Him
By Amanda Prestigiacomo - The Daily Wire
On Tuesday evening, Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang celebrated the opening of his office in Manchester, New Hampshire, by squirting whipped cream into supporters’ mouths.
The “uncomfortable” interaction was captured on video by ABC News reporter Christopher Donato.
As shown in the video below, Mr. Yang squirts the cream into one kneeling young man’s mouth and then celebrates by shaking the bottle and joking, “That’s a full-service presidential candidate!” And he wasn’t done there, to the obvious displeasure of who appears to be the candidate’s campaign manager Zach Graumann. The businessman then squirts more cream into another kneeling male supporter’s mouth before Graumann has had enough and steps in to move the candidate along.
WATCH:
Yang is known for having fun on the campaign trail with his supporters. The Democrat has offered up some cute dance moves, jetted around on a skateboard, and even crowd-surfed.
But the whipped cream squirting was not beloved by all online.
Jessica Fletcher, reacting to the video, kept it concise: “I am so uncomfortable right now,” she captioned the video.
Others responding to the video posted:
“Weird”
“Frat house optics?”
“He could offer me $10,000 a month and I still wouldn’t want him as president.”
“I’m definitely #YangGang but I admit this looks …strange.”
“Cringe worthy.”
“Campaign manager is not pleased. “That’s enough, c’mon that’s enough.” He recognizes really bad optics. Cringe worthy.”
“His handler is so uncomfortable. ‘K we need to go now Mr. Yang this needs to not be happening anymore.'”
“I cannot say what this reminds me of in an open forum.”
“Joe [Biden]: I promise to be the creepiest candidate in the history of candidates. Yang: hold my beer.”
Mr. Yang, a successful entrepreneur, has made a splash in the presidential field, in part for his universal basic income proposal dubbed “Freedom Dividend.”
Yang’s “Freedom Dividend” would redistribute $1,000 of taxpayer money to every American per month. The Daily Wire reported on the proposal:
“[Yang’s] universal basic income proposal would, according to the campaign, not merely ‘enable all Americans to pay their bills, educate themselves, start businesses, [and] be more creative,’ but would also ‘permanently grow the economy by 12.56 to 13.10 percent—or about $2.5 trillion by 2025.’ Although the policy of universal basic income is primarily associated with today’s political Left, famous free-market economist Milton Friedman also lent some support to the idea as a possible alternative to the status quo of an expansive welfare state. Yang’s other core economic platform, ‘human-centered capitalism,’ represents more of a vaguely defined goal than a concrete policy prescription. Yang also supports stricter regulation of the financial services industry.”
The presidential candidate also falls in-line with his fellow Democrats when it comes to healthcare, supporting so-called “Medicare For All.” “In practice, ‘Medicare for All’ would effectively amount to a single-payer health insurance system and a de facto governmental takeover of health insurance and imposition of socialized medicine in America,” The Daily Wire noted.
It appears Mr. Yang did not qualify to appear on next month’s Democratic primary debate stage. According to The New York Post, each of the six candidates who have qualified are white.
RBP (12-06-2019)
Twitter works for me, it's just instagram that doesn't..
OK.. Back to the story.. When is this clown going to drop out?
Hillary Clinton drops biggest hint yet that she’s mulling a 2020 presidential run
By Maureen Callahan - The New York Post
The strongest indicator yet that Hillary’s mulling a 2020 run? She appeared Wednesday, for the first time ever, on Howard Stern.
There was hardly a pretense she was there to promote the book she co-wrote with daughter Chelsea, long ago a bestseller.
As those who listen to the show know, Stern publicly begged Hillary to appear during the 2016 campaign. After Donald Trump won, Stern said one guest shot could have moved the needle her way.
“If she had come on the show . . .,” Stern mused in May. “The way I helped Donald was I let him come on and be a personality. Whether you liked him or not . . . people related to him as a human being.”
Hillary, it’s clear, was after exactly that — relatability, long her white whale.
One can only ask: Why now, if she has no plans to run yet again?
Sure, it’s possible she just loves being part of the national conversation. But of all the venues such a serious stateswoman could choose, one whose public presentation has been so carefully cultivated over decades, really: Howard Stern?
She hasn’t closed the door on 2020. Just this past weekend, during an appearance on the UK’s “Graham Norton Show,” Hillary said she’d been “deluged” with pleas to run again.
“I’d have to make up my mind really quickly,” she said, “because it’s moving very fast.”
A reference, perhaps, to latecomer Mike Bloomberg?
Stern was an able ally, allowing Hillary to expound on her ability to work across the aisle (despite no signature legislation while serving New York in the US Senate), her support for the Osama bin Laden raid and her role in advising the president, her plans for her first 100 days as president (health care), and her concerns for the future of the country, which felt especially raw during Trump’s inauguration.
“If I had lost to a normal Republican,” Hillary said, “I wouldn’t have a pit in my stomach.”
Given this was Stern — truly one of our best interviewers — we got some gems.
“Contrary to what you may hear, I actually like men,” Hillary said, leading Stern to flat-out ask, “You’ve never had a lesbian affair?”
Amazing. George Stephanopoulos, Chuck Todd, Norah O’Donnell, et al., take notes!
Hillary, laughing, again said no, and went on to discuss everything from her mother’s depression to whether she’s ever been in therapy (no, but marriage counseling post-Lewinsky), to her stiffness in the spotlight (“It’s outside my comfort zone”), to the true charisma that she lacks but that her husband and Obama, she readily admits, have in spades, to her friendship with Mick Jagger (!) and how the deaths of her younger brother and two close friends this year have devastated her.
Even a coughing fit, which became a campaign meme about her ostensibly dire health, didn’t faze Hillary.
“I thought I’d come on and cough some more,” she joked.
Never has Hillary Clinton sounded this relaxed, conversational and, yes, human. She sounded like anyone you may know. None of Howard’s verbiage — “Do you ever just lay in bed and say, ‘F–k this, I’m getting out?’ ” — left her flummoxed.
Hillary proved she could hang.
Howard’s listeners agreed, flooding the airwaves after she left.
“She moved me to tears,” said one female listener. “If she had only come on when she was running, she would have won.”
“I did, three years ago, vote for Trump, but if she had come on during the election, my vote would have swung 150 percent.”
“I’m a conservative. I’ve always hated Hillary. This interview changed my [mind] . . . I had no idea how cool she was.”
“I wanted to tell her I’m sorry we believed the hype and we did not elect a presidential person. I wish we would have known this Hillary three years ago.”
“I just finally saw the human side of Hillary. She’s stellar.”
“Listening to her now . . . I think she should run again.”
For the past three years, Hillary has infamously blamed Russian interference, misogyny, Bernie bros, Wikileaks, the Comey memo, low-information voters, voter suppression, the Electoral College, etc. for her loss. But on Stern, she added a telling regret.
“I think you were right,” she said of his repeated requests that she appear on his show in 2016. “I did not prioritize the media the way I should have. I think that was a miscalculation. I really do.”
And who, Howard asked, will she be supporting in 2020?
“Whoever can win,” she said.
It sounds like she thinks that’s her.
RBP (12-06-2019)
Buttigieg Says ANYONE Supporting Trump ‘Looking the Other Way on Racism’
by The Hannity Staff
South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg unloaded on Republican voters Tuesday; saying anyone who supports President Trump is “looking the other way on racism.”
Buttigieg was speaking on the campaign trail in South Carolina when he launched his vicious attack on conservatives across the country.
“Anyone who supported this President is at best looking the other way on racism, at best,” he said.
Buttigieg surged in recent polling from both Iowa and New Hampshire last month; sending shockwaves through the Democratic primary just months before voters head to the polls.
“The Saint Anselm College Survey Center poll of 255 likely Democratic primary voters shows that Buttigieg, supported by 25 percent, now holds a 10 percentage point lead over former Vice President Joe Biden and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who are tied for second at 15 percent. Buttigieg is substantially ahead of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who is in fourth place at 9 percent,” reports WMUR Channel 9.
A similar survey had him on top in the Iowa caucus.
“Anytime a candidate pops up above the pack, there’s a vigorous effort to vet them,” said Democratic strategist Zac Petkanas. “Buttigieg is going to have to prove that his recent rise is not just a flash in the pan.”
Ten Democrats will share the stage during Wednesday night’s fifth presidential debate in Atlanta, Georgia.
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