Category Archives: Blogs' Archive

The whole reason there are so many Democrats running in the first place is because with a large number of candidates, they (the evil DNC) figure they can keep any candidate (Bernie Sanders) from getting 51% on the first round, meaning the superdelegates kick in (see last debate, the ‘should the candidate with the most delegates win’ question) and the DNC, which just wants to keep the lobbyist money flowing, gets to pick up anybody they want, so we’ll probably wind up with somebody super lame, like Claire McCaskill or some shit, and they’ll say “Look! We’ve got a compromise candidate!” Then from July to November they’ll talk about the lesser of two evils and how we have to eat a turd sandwich to avoid the ground up razor blades, or maybe it’s the other way around, and they’ll lose the election because nobody wants to hear that shit again, and then they’ll blame us.
There’s a slight flaw in their strategy.
With 5 candidates splitting the anti-Bernie vote, and Bernie getting 100% of the pro-Bernie vote, there’s a chance that Bernie will win in every single state. It won’t stop them from doing what they plan to do, unless we start winning states by more than 50%, but it will make them look seriously bad if they do it.
Still, the punditocracy is bemoaning the situation, and saying some candidates need to drop out so somebody has a chance to beat Bernie, but they are being foolish. Nobody can beat Bernie. Not legitimately.

When I went to bed last night, Fox News had already called Nevada for Bernie, with 3% of the vote in and Bernie with a whopping 56%. I was thrilled, but decided to write my blog in the morning, worried that they might chip away at that percentage through the night and leaving us with an Iowa scenario.
Well, there was a bit of chipping, but with 50% of the count now in, Bernie is still the winner by a landslide, although it’s down to 46%. Here are a few of my thoughts.
46% is a big win, for sure, but it’s not over 50%. We can’t slack off. We can’t be complacent. And we have to start winning primaries with over 50%, because if Bernie doesn’t walk into that convention with 51% of the delegates, we have no idea who’s going to walk out as the nominee.
On the other hand, the rest of the vote in Nevada was fractured, and Joe Biden might be the only one who gets any other delegates. That’s bad, because anybody with any delegates at all is likely to stay in the race till the end, and Joe might pick up some more in South Carolina and on super Tuesday. He may look like a walking corpse, he may talk like a walking corpse, but his campaign isn’t dead until he and the DNC say it it, and they’ll be in it to the finish.
Warren did very badly. On the one hand, I’m happy with that, because I don’t like Warren, and she’s one who I fear because she’s the closest to being a Bernie alternative. On the other hand, I’m surprised. After a stellar debate performance like that, she didn’t even break 10%. It might be an indicator that debates don’t matter at all, and I find that sad.
Sure, anybody can say anything at a debate, and you really should look deeper into a candidate’s record, but people aren’t doing that, either. If the debates don’t make a difference, it’s an indicator that people are basing their votes on even more spurious sources of news, like newspapers and the major TV networks, sound bites, and ads.
re the Culinary Union, which I think is a huge bright spot this morning. Even though their top management did not endorse Sanders (did they receive Bloomberg cash? I’ve got no direct evidence of that, except we know lots and lots of people have got Bloomberg cash), the rank and file voted for him in large numbers.
They may have the most money. But we’ve got the best message. And the votes.

Site leaders at Nevada precinct caucuses (according to two articles I just read) are being asked to sign an NDA before being allowed to pick up the election materials needed to conduct a caucus.
Now, this is new news, so more details may come to light (or not, as the whole purpose of an NDA is secrecy) and I must admit, it’s not clear what it’s all about, but it sure looks shady as hell to me. What with Pete Buttigieg paying $42,500 for a vote stealing app in Iowa and the Iowa Democratic Party saying flat out they won’t correct all the errors, and a member of Buttigieg’s campaign team being appointed to something called ‘voter security,’ and 5 out of 6 candidates on the debate stage saying they are perfectly happy with the DNC ignoring the will of the people and choosing their candidate in a smoke filled back room, like the good old days, there is certainly room for skepticism.
And there were differences in the two articles I read. One called it a non-disclosure agreement, which is what NDA usually means, and another called it a non-disparagement agreement, i.e. you can’t talk bad about any of the other candidates, which is a violation of free speech and kind of against the whole spirit of a caucus is. But even in the non-disparagement agreement article, they admitted that there was a clause in there which prohibited the site leaders from talking to the press. Which makes it a non-disclosure agreement. And if there’s anything we learned from Wednesday’s debate, it’s that NDA’s are bad.
One article said that it was voluntary, but the other quoted site leaders as saying they couldn’t get the materials unless they signed. Voluntary. Yeah, like all the women who signed NDA’s for Bloomberg were voluntary.
This is looking like a repeat of Iowa, and that’s bullshit.

When I wrote my last blog, I was informed mostly by internet comments and the few highlights I’d seen. It wasn’t a bad blog, I just read through it and it’s all true. But, I just watched the whole thing, and there’s one part nobody’s talking about, but I think is worth mentioning.
Much has been made about Warren eviscerating Bloomberg, but nobody’s talking much about Mayor McCheat’s lowering the hammer on Klobuchar. It was good dirt, it needed to be said, and Klobuchar is finished.
When you have to say “Are you saying I’m dumb?” it’s bad. When you’re out among friends and say that, you might elicit sympathetic comments, maybe an apology, and Pete did back off a bit, like “I’m not saying you’re dumb, but…” and the thing was, she was caught being extremely dumb. Both uninformed and unintelligent. The back story: a couple of days ago, Klobuchar was interviewed by some Hispanic station, and the reporter asked her if she knew the name of the Mexican president. She said no.
Now, to be fair, I have to admit that I couldn’t remember his name off-hand, either. I had to google it. Same as Amy Klobuchar did.
But when the question came up, she didn’t say “I’m sorry. I should have known that. But, I take relations with Mexico very seriously and promise that as president I shall work closely with President Obrador to improve relations between our two countries.” Seriously, how hard is that?
But no, she says she just forgot, she says she made a mistake, of course she knows the name of the Mexican president, Lopez Obrador.
I watched the interview. That wasn’t the case at all. She didn’t know.
So, she’s kind of dumb, maybe, at least for a presidential candidate. At any rate somebody that doesn’t do a bit of research before a major interview. Not executive material.
But, worse than that, kind of dishonest. It’s not the incident that’s damaging. It’s the cover-up.

Pretty much everybody agrees that Warren had a great night. Pretty much everybody agrees that Bloomberg got totally trashed. But where was Tom Steyer?
Not on the stage, not being talked about. So, he’s effectively out of the race. All of our anti-billionaire rhetoric can now be aimed at Bloomberg. All environmentalists should come to Bernie Sanders.
So, let’s talk about the 6 candidates that were there. First, Bloomberg. If these debates matter, and I think they do, a little bit, he’s toast. Maybe not right away, it took Kamala Harris a couple of months to drop out after her on-stage crucifixion at the hands of Tulsi Gabbard, but eventually. He can spend a shit ton of money on ads, memes, audience plants, and endorsements but all his money is not going to erase Warren’s attack -which was not about his money as much as it was about being rude to women. Also, the fact the Bloomberg himself looks a bit like a horse didn’t help. Bernie nailed him on the money. Then Pete nailed him on the money and Bernie turned around and said “You, too, Pete. You’ve got lots of billionaire donors.” So, that’s another result of last night. The gloves are off.
Pete, overall, did O.K. But, he will never be able to do any better than that because all he has is platitudes and platitudes don’t get out the vote. They don’t get people excited.
Warren, as noted above, had a great night. Does it mean she’s back in the race? We’ll see soon. If it translates into a strong finish in Nevada, she’s back in the race. If it doesn’t then she’s gone the first 3 states without gaining delegates and there’s very little chance of making it up.
Biden finished Iowa and New Hampshire as badly as Warren and had a mediocre debate performance. He’ll stay in until South Carolina, for sure, hoping for a big win there, but I doubt if he’s going to get it. He’s from another era, and barely registers with anybody under 60.
Klobuchar also felt the wrath of Warren last night. I wouldn’t say she responded badly (Yay, Minnesota! I didn’t know post-its were invented there. Did you know that?), but her voice was screechy and her hair kind of had that same unfortunate wobble that it did a few debates back. She is out of her league and I don’t get what she expects from staying in the race.

So, to Bernie, my main man. Nobody’s saying he had the best night, but they never do. He also never has the worst night. He’s consistent, and he’s had a pretty good debate every debate. It’s sort of like the primaries. I think the projections that show him winning every single state are kind of wildly optimistic and that’s a bubble that could be burst at any time, maybe even South Carolina, but Bernie will do well in every single state. He has a ground organization and enthusiastic followers in every state. There are working class people, and uninsured or under-insured people, and people with student debt, and people with family members in jail for marijuana, in every single state and they are natural Bernie voters. There will be no states where he is not in the top 3, and very few where he is not one of the top two. In most states, he will be the winner.
Bernie Sanders will win the nomination and be the next president of the United States.