Amy Klobuchar 2020 campaign megathread

[Big Abraham]

I'll admit I'm a bit surprised. I didn't think she would run.

Still, I have to largely agree with Shadows, although I think she could do better than Warren at least.

[Big Abraham]

Way too hawkish.

Yup. Welcome to the Democratic Party

[Big Abraham]

Way too hawkish.

Yup. Welcome to the Democratic Party

It's not just "the Democratic Party" though.  Klobuchar is notably more hawkish than everyone else in the 2020 Dem. field, even (like Hillary Clinton at one point) having been in favor of a no fly zone in Syria.

Gillibrand also co-sponsored the "Free" Syria Act with her.

She's par for the course for most Dems. Not that that's a good thing.

[Big Abraham]

Way too hawkish.

Yup. Welcome to the Democratic Party

It's not just "the Democratic Party" though.  Klobuchar is notably more hawkish than everyone else in the 2020 Dem. field, even (like Hillary Clinton at one point) having been in favor of a no fly zone in Syria.

Gillibrand also co-sponsored the "Free" Syria Act with her.

She's par for the course for most Dems. Not that that's a good thing.

Gillibrand, unlike Klobuchar, voiced skepticism of the US being involved in Syria at all by 2015:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/sen-gillibrand-obamas-syria-strategy-wont-work-long-term/

Gillibrand also sounded ambivalent about the US mission in Libya back in 2011:

https://observer.com/2011/03/on-libya-gillibrand-and-nadler-sound-different/

And of course, Gillibrand, like the majority of Senate Dems, was critical of both of Trump's attacks on the Assad regime for chemical weapons use, while Klobuchar called it "the right thing to do".

Klobuchar also voted for the anti-BDS bill, while nearly all of the other 2020 Dems voted against it.  None of the others running or looking to run for prez in 2020 are as hawkish as her, as far as I can tell.

I will admit she's somewhat to the right of the other contenders on foreign policy, bit it's hardly a noticeable difference. Booker also co-sponsored the anti-BDS bill, as did Bennet who might run, as did plenty of other Senate Democrats who likely aren't running. Gillibrand's "criticisms" of the airstrikes in Syria seem to me a double standard, considering she praised American initiatives in Libya during the Obama administration.

"The President has been clear, this is a limited action in coordination with a broad coalition of allies, including those in the Arab world, who have asked for help in protecting civilians."

Those are her words. She was never ambivalent about NATO intervention.

[Big Abraham]

I will admit she's somewhat to the right of the other contenders on foreign policy, bit it's hardly a noticeable difference. Booker also co-sponsored the anti-BDS bill

He voted against it though.

My bad, I actually meant to refer to the Anti-Israel Boycott Act, a very similar bill introduced at the beginning of the last Congress which "prohibits any U.S. person engaged interstate or foreign commerce from supporting any request by a foreign country to impose any boycott against a country that is friendly to the United States and that is not itself the object of any form of boycott pursuant to United States law or regulation, or any boycott fostered or imposed by any international governmental organisation against Israel or any request by any international governmental organisation to impose such a boycott". This actually makes it far worse than the bill which specifically targeted BDS because this one prohibits individuals from publicly supporting any governmental organisation that boycotts Israel. Yeah. Booker co-sponsored that bill.

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Well, I'm comparing Klobuchar to the others who are running for president (or likely to run).  Maybe Bennet is more hawkish than her, I'm not sure.  I don't think anyone else running is though.

I would say Bennet is likely to run, but it doesn't really matter. Nearly every other candidate with the possible exception of Sanders and Gabbard (both of whom are still largely pro-military and pro-Israel) is a defender of the American war machine, and the fact that Klobuchar is slightly less likely to pay lip service to dovish ideals doesn't really make a damn difference to me