Tag: Politics

This is where I’m keeping notes on the Democratic candidates. These are MY subjective impressions of each candidate, and will be updated right up until the candidate is chosen. If you want basic facts, check out this quick review on AlJazeera. Or the Wikipedia article linked in each section. You can discuss this post on Twitter if you like, or on Facebook.

Elizabeth Warren is my favorite choice. She has a distinguished career as a US senator, strong experience and academic cred, is a fact-based planner and has shown she is able to update her thinking as new information comes in. Wall-street types are absolutely terrified of her. Which is surprising because she is cool with rich people… but c’mon nobody needs a ninth yacht that has its own yacht inside it, and she has a plan for that. She is 100 percent onboard with GLBTQ rights. She gets that climate change will make every other issue irrelevant. She is more interested in the right outcome than in her getting credit for it. I wish she weren’t so old but she seems to be in good health. And yes, that matters. (Dropped out of the race on 05 March.)

Bernie Sanders I can live with I guess, though his fans are awfully close to being a cult of personality. He’s been in the Senate for a long time, has a great number of amendments through, wants to spend tax money on Americans and not on an ever-growing war culture, and is brave enough to wear the label “Democratic Socialist” with pride, which is no small thing. This basically means that he understands the corrosive effect income inequality has on society, and he seems to understand about climate change as well. He has also had a heart attack, and while he seems vigorous, the survival statistics even for people who aren’t president are sobering. Would he actually be effective as president? Damned if I know. Really I’d love to have him stay on as a Senator.

Joe Biden, I mean Jesus Christ, Joe, we were willing to let it go and just remember you as Barack Obama’s goofy sidekick but then you had to go and run for president like YOU are the inescapable leader we all need? You were a primary architect of “welfare reform” and of mass incarceration, which is racist as hell. You’re beloved by oligarchs. You have repeatedly lied about being involved in the civil rights movement. You have a long history of treating women and girls in a way that causes your supporters to say; “Well, that’s just Joe being Joe, you gotta understand…” Well no I don’t gotta understand, Joe, get with the current goddamn century. Also, what the hell is a “record player”?

OK, now that I’ve said all that, here’s a perspective on Joe Biden from Laurie Goff, that (unsurprisingly) had not occurred to me. Please read, because it explains something I had no other hope of understanding.

Michael Bloomberg I have been aware of just as long as I have been aware of Donald Trump (about 30 years) and I dislike him only slightly less than trump. Which is to say; I don’t think he’s an active Russian asset like Trump, but they score about the same in the “Racist sexual-harassing old white oligarch who will let you have a better life only if you don’t mess with billionaires” test. He has tried to distance himself from “Stop And Frisk” but after all the lives it ruined, I don’t think an apology is going to cut it. If he becomes the candidate it would prove everything the Bernie fans have been saying about the Democratic party. Voting for him would be an act of weeping desperation on my part; we have MUCH better candidates. UPDATE: Well he’s dropped out, which is good. But he’s endorsed Biden. Which is bad and what I’d expect of him.

Pete Buttigieg was the mayor of Insert Town Name Here, and not everyone agrees that he did a great job. He has served in the US military and seems like a basically decent guy. Some people are concerned about him being gay but really can’t we move past that? I mean, gay people can be boring too if that’s what they’re worried about. But he is very likable and definitely a smart guy. I think he’ll go far in the long run. He dropped out of the race on 01 March though, endorsing Joe Biden.

Amy Klobuchar I really don’t know much about, so I’m reading up on her. She was a corporate lawyer, became a US Senator where she was very effective at passing legislation. And let’s face it, that means she made compromises that Democratic purists are gonna hold against her. She can apparently be a real jerk to her employees, but on the plus side she was the one who got Brett Kavenaugh to get all weepy and defensive about how much he likes beer and how he never raped anybody as far as he can remember. She has dropped out of the race, endorsing Joe Biden.

Tulsi Gabbard has a really interesting history. An American Samoan, she is the only Hindu in the race, has military experience, has convincingly changed positions on gay marriage, supports Medicare for all, and as a 4-term Congresswoman is co-author of a bill to end ‘presidential wars’ (I like that last part a lot) and… well that’s about all I know about her. But even that is enough to get her in the “interesting” category.

Tom Steyer – I really know little about. He has dropped out of the race. Didn’t seem like a bad guy, but again, I don’t know him very well.