Naw, he's a UBI guy. Until a reconfiguration of that magnitude chops government employment (and regulation) in some thoughtful proportion, I'll be happy to let him do silly teevee hits now and then and ignore him.

This fun tweet from Kaus summons a fantasy: Wouldn't it be great if this minor shift of Hispanics toward a Republican candidate caused Dems to reconsider the wisdom of mass immigration of the unskilled, since they might not vote Blue/Donkey/Lefty?

Well, enough of them would so that it wouldn't matter, but those two seconds that just passed might be the best of your week.

Because THE WALL didn't happen, but as theatrical scraps. If it had, we might not have to worry, right?

The uniparty is built on bread, circuses, and graft.

I remember watching the Democratic primary debates and only Yang, Gabbard, and Buttigieg seemed to speak about issues rather than only unloading invective on Trump and hitting party talking points.

Now, I didn't agree with their positions on all the issues, but in addressing issues, they ran campaigns on ideas rather than solely "Orange-Man Bad" and evil corporations memes. These were the candidates who seemed to be running a serious campaign rather than pandering for votes through identity politics.

Buttigieg and Gabbard simply didn't have the resume for a high-level executive position like US president. They'd never run a major enterprise. Yang had some executive experience, mostly start-ups, but no political experience - which can be a dangerous lack in someone not prepared to confront and address the differences between running private, public, and publicly-traded enterprises.

They also seemed to recognize that the Democratic Party was moving away from its traditional base - the working class - and they seemed to be attempting to re-orient the party toward that base.

Still, the Democratic Party may be better off for having them in it, if it doesn't chase them away for failure to fall in line with its rapidly solidifying identity politics factions.

========================================

This fun tweet from Kaus summons a fantasy: Wouldn't it be great if this minor shift of Hispanics toward a Republican candidate caused Dems to reconsider the wisdom of mass immigration of the unskilled, since they might not vote Blue/Donkey/Lefty? ~ Crid at November 5, 2020 11:11 PM

Trump has gained a higher percentage of minority votes than any Republican before him. That gain alone should put to bed the Democratic mantra of "demographics is destiny" that has led them to complacency on immigration and urban violence.

It won't, but it should.

if it doesn't chase them away for failure to fall in line

Of course they'll be chased away. They're insufficiently dedicated to the party.

Here's the thing: I REALLY liked Andrew Yang. Even though I didn't like his concept for UBI, I could see that it was a way for him to garner attention. Once he got that attention, I would have liked to have seen him back off of that. He should have pushed that off to the side, saying that he would need a second term to make the plan economically feasible. He had a lot of great thoughts regarding the other issues affecting the country and this one issue was not enough to dissuade me. I planned to vote for him in the California Primary. But he suspended his campaign after coming up short in previous primaries before I got to vote for him.

"Buttigieg and Gabbard simply didn't have the resume for a high-level executive position like US president."

Many before them haven't, notably Obama. Crid can tell you it doesn't mean you're good at it. The public doesn't care. They're voting to be taken care of when somebody else isn't ensuring their graft is secure.

Yang has diagnosed the problem correctly but does not understand the cure. The working class needs help with jobs, jobs, jobs plus family and community stability not another handout. The only good thing about UBI is that it does not encourage single motherhood like most of the other government handouts.

>> Buttigieg and Gabbard simply didn't
>> have the resume for a high-level
>> executive position like US president.

I'd have voted for Tulsi in a heartbeat.

> Many before them haven't,
> notably Obama.

Remarkable that the Godforsaken Game Show Host didn't come to mind for you. Musta been the gleam of his smart phone that distracted you, but we'll never know for sure. Because, Raddy, billionaires aren't like you and me....

Remarkable that the Godforsaken Game Show Host didn't come to mind for you. Musta been the gleam of his smart phone that distracted you.... ~ Crid at November 6, 2020 3:30 PM

He had run a major enterprise when he first ran. The downside of his experience was that his major enterprise was not a publicly-traded company, but a privately-held one. He had no experience dealing with a collaborative oversight body - i.e., a board of directors. I cited that as a big weakness in evaluating his candidacy in a post on this forum.

No gleam of his amazing smart phone distracted me.

I'd have voted for Tulsi in a heartbeat. ~ Crid at November 6, 2020 3:30 PM

I considered her the strongest, and most sensible, of the Democratic candidates, despite the lack of executive experience. Her advocacy of Medicare for All gave me pause, however.

Paws, claws, talons, it's all animal stuff from here on out.

I mean, if you thought there were faults to forgive with Democrat Tulsi, wait 'til you see what Kam's cooking.

Besides, when you say "run a major enterprise," what corner of his bookless, litigation-sopping enterprise would you regard as a success demonstrating "experience"? Given the wealth that passed through -or fell from- his hands, which ventures earned your admiration? The airlines? The sports leagues? The hotels? The beefsteaks? The (licensed) neckties?

For a number of his voters, it was his way with a TV catchphrase.

Also, I lied… It wouldn't have been a heartbeat… Because in a Star Trek Parallel Universe™ where Tulsi was on the ticket, she'd wouldn't have been up against Trump, but some sincerely worthy and perhaps even conservative Republican.

No such figure comes to mind. Fiorina maybe. (Though her own executive achievements at H/P were somewhat, um, contextual.) Not ¡Jeb!

See? When imagining being persuaded to vote for a Democrat instead of a Libertarian, we're immediately carried into a psychedelic realm of fantasy where Spock has a groovy circle beard and Kirk gets a sex dance from the bikini'd Bat Girl painted green. It's a context too improbable for calculating motives, even one's own. It's weak shit, totally (TOS) Season Three.

But Tulsi was the anti-Kamala, at the monster's throat admirably, just like that "Lazarus" episode, and my memory of her will always be melodic.

And Bret Weinstein's Unity 2020 project featuring Gabbard & Crenshaw really struck a nerve here.





Christ, what a week. Wash your hands and wear a mask, and if you're going to drink heavily, do it at home.

I think it's too late for his advice to be of any significance. Partisan divisions are likely to be set in stone now. People are going to look back at the election and the prior several years, and many are going to conclude that Democrats are fundamentally evil people. We're at war now. Violence is the only way to resolve this.

That's silly. The number of people disposed to violence is not that great.

I was so sad, Tulsi was still on the ballot in MA when I filled mine in during the primary, but I thought she had dropped out over the weekend with the others so I didn't vote for her. Turns out I could have, she was still in :(

I agree, those three were my favorite too. Wish Tulsi could have been the veep candidate.

Kamela was a good choice though, given the situation with the riots. She's black, so can't be accused of racism in a serious way. At the same time she can't be accused of weak on crime.

I don't think a white woman can be president in the current climate, unless maybe the Republicans have a white woman candidate one day. People trust female candidates less, but having a WOC can bring out the BIPOC vote to neutralize the loss of votes for being a woman. Any powerful white woman will be written off as Karen.

Nic, is there anyway to judge another human being besides 'identity'?

In the biggest imaginable paradox of public thought it my lifetime— Despite a previously inconceivable flattening of opportunity for people of every distinction in sex, race, age, height, physical ability and mental capacity, there have never been more people who see only those qualities.

Kamela was a good choice.... ~ NicoleK at November 6, 2020 10:11 PM

Not quite.

She didn't poll well with "people of color" at all. Her support for paying the bail of the Minneapolis rioters belied her "tough on crime" claims as a former prosecutor.

That same claim as a former prosecutor alienated her to many "people of color." As San Francisco's DA, she had advocated a program that jailed parents of habitual truants. She'd managed to take experience that should have been a positive to at least one side of the electorate and turned it into a negative to both sides.

She brought no specific constituency to the Biden campaign, having captured no delegates by the time she dropped out of the primary race. What she did bring was access to Silicon Valley fundraising, along with a certain color palette and gender to the ticket.

If Biden is forcibly removed from office, she will ascend to the presidency without a built-in constituency and will likely not gain much popularity from there. She will very probably face a Jimmy Carter situation, an incumbent president fending off challenges from her own party.

This was not a wise choice for the Democrats to have made.

The only 'wise' choice for the Democrats was Bernie Sanders. But Bernie isn't really part of the team. He is only team adjacent. And hence was unacceptable for DNC management.

Once you take Bernie off the table Kamala ranks even with most of the other choices. But yes she does face a strong Jimmy Carter situation.

“People are going to look back at the election and the prior several years, and many are going to conclude that Democrats are fundamentally evil people.”

* * * * *

And there are people on the left who believe that Republicans are fundamentally evil people. Fortunately, I believe that the extremists who hold these views are a minority on both sides. They make a lot of noise, but their numbers are small.

> She will very probably face
> a Jimmy Carter situation

That's an interesting parallel. She shares Jimmy's insane self-assurance, but (apparently) none of his interest in good works. (No Begin/Sadat is at hand.)

Tulsi would have had a list of things in her jacket pocket. And she'd have been just as good at attracting SV money; after all, where else were they going to go?

Sure, both parties should have been worried about us Jojo voters, but we say that every time....

Amy Klobuchar would have been a great choice for VP, but Biden pretty much had to pick a black (or, in the case of Harris, half-black) running mate after having his campaign rescued by James Clyburn and black voters in South Carolina.

And I hold Trump nearly as responsible for the Portland/Seattle idiocies as I do the lefties. He triangulated like a simpering bitch rather that the nation's chief of law enforcement.

The only 'wise' choice for the Democrats was Bernie Sanders.

I have to disagree, Ben. I think it's less likely he would've led to Biden losing if he had been the VP pick than if he had been the Presidential candidate but, even as the VP pick, I think the Republicans would've managed to scare a lot of voters with the Bernie-the-Socialist bogeyman.

It's possible that if he had been the Presidential candidate, the enthusiasm he may have generated would've more than made up for the above-noted voter scaring. But I don't think so.

I think Trump saw Biden as his biggest threat. Hence Trump's Ukraine shenanigans.

"Musta been the gleam of his smart phone that distracted you, but we'll never know for sure. Because, Raddy, billionaires aren't like you and me...."

Just to reward your obsession:

• If Trump gets to KEEP his cell phone, you'll still never know what model it is or what's on it.
• As private citizen, he's free to kick back and chill with Melania -- or make arrangements to go see Stormy again. You? Chicks dig you, we know.
• Trump'll be down at the Rolls/Bentley/Ferrari/Lamborghini/Maserati dealer, where they'll fawn over him and his choice of $400K car. You? Maybe Carmax has a deal on a second-hand Civic. Oooh, is that an MR-2?!
• Mar-a-Lago is sure comfortable, and so the parade of foreign businessmen and dignitaries will continue. Say Hi to the 'rents for me. Pull out the futon to save them hotel money.
• Out renting a Jet Ski? Got a loan on a Bayliner, with the genuine imitation woodgrain instrument paneling? Maybe not.

Different crowd. You can be mad, you can be in denial, but you can't hang.

Sorry. Neither can I, but this has been about you since the beginning.

> reward your obsession:

Yeah, Lenona used that word again yesterday. We're not allowed to pay too much attention to the president, or his supporters, right?

You really DO compose elaborate fantasies about the material pleasures of his life, and the phone remains a favorite: It has a corkscrew and tweezers! After spinning for so many years into your covetous spiral, it's all a swirl of trinkets and brand names… Because golly, who wouldn't want to spend time with Melania? (Ahem.) He tells you he's happier than you are, and you believe him. You literally can't interact with others without comparing them to daydreams of your Diet-Coke-addled superhero. So you voted for him to be President. He has a nice wristwatch. But as with his cell phone, his experience of life is so very different from yours (and mine, you affirm) that we won't even be allowed to know how nice it truly is. The theme song to 'Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous' is your ringtone. The only argument you have for him in electoral politics is your naked, shameless and infantile envy.

Patrick's right: This could go on for a while. Politically, it's a no-win sitch.

But as it churns, my daydreams will feature your envious little heart slowly shattering into a million little pieces. And if he loses, as it now appears that he will, I'm going to cackle like a loon.

Flush with envy, Raddy books a room at the nicest place he's ever heard of.

Raddy, there's bargains out there for the common man when he needs a little of that Trump-style elegance

So, basically...

Gotcha.