Who's going to qualify for the Democratic debates?

[John Dule]

I know I say this every time a Gillibrand thread pops up, but nobody should be the least bit surprised about this. The identity groups that she's trying to court all have better options in other candidates who aren't horrible hypocrites and flip-floppers. There is not a single voter in this country who feels any loyalty to Kirsten Gillibrand.

Glad about Gabbard and Yang though; hopefully they manage to at least get Buttigieg-esque "moments" and derail things a bit.

[John Dule]

I'm gonna say this- whoever is turned down by the Franken thing is a horrible person. If that's what sank her, seems like many Democrats are assholes. But I don't believe it was- her campaign just didn't find its niche and didn't rise up.

Gillibrand deserves to be, and will be, humiliated for what she did during that controversy.

[John Dule]

I'm gonna say this- whoever is turned down by the Franken thing is a horrible person. If that's what sank her, seems like many Democrats are assholes. But I don't believe it was- her campaign just didn't find its niche and didn't rise up.

Gillibrand deserves to be, and will be, humiliated for what she did during that controversy.

Imagine wanting someone humiliated for standing up against sexual assault. No excuse for a decent human being to do that.

I eagerly await any and all evidence that Al Franken committed sexual assault.

[John Dule]

I'm gonna say this- whoever is turned down by the Franken thing is a horrible person. If that's what sank her, seems like many Democrats are assholes. But I don't believe it was- her campaign just didn't find its niche and didn't rise up.

Gillibrand deserves to be, and will be, humiliated for what she did during that controversy.

Imagine wanting someone humiliated for standing up against sexual assault. No excuse for a decent human being to do that.

I eagerly await any and all evidence that Al Franken committed sexual assault.

He literally admitted that he committed sexual harrassment by resigning lol. Plus there are some uh... Pretty obvious pictures

[John Dule]

I'm gonna say this- whoever is turned down by the Franken thing is a horrible person. If that's what sank her, seems like many Democrats are assholes. But I don't believe it was- her campaign just didn't find its niche and didn't rise up.

Gillibrand deserves to be, and will be, humiliated for what she did during that controversy.

Imagine wanting someone humiliated for standing up against sexual assault. No excuse for a decent human being to do that.

I eagerly await any and all evidence that Al Franken committed sexual assault.

He literally admitted that he committed sexual harrassment by resigning lol. Plus there are some uh... Pretty obvious pictures

You see, sexual harrassment is pretty horrible too. I should've said harrassment earlier but it doesn't really change the point (plus Gillibrand has a commendable history of standing up against sexual assault in the military). Congratulations, you just wasted two posts on a samantic point completely moot to the discussion

I would also note that his resignation does not equal an admission of guilt; it's merely buckling under pressure. And the photo you're referring to is not in itself proof of sexual harassment.

[John Dule]

Leaving out a sitting governor and a sitting Congressman is a catastrophically bad look for the party.

They've gotta expand the field. They set up the 20 limit before they knew how many candidates there would be - there is cover to change the rules to be more inclusive.

Including Kirsten Gillibrand in a serious debate between potential presidents is far more embarrassing, believe me.

[John Dule]

https://twitter.com/AndrewYang/status/1154520227792719874

[John Dule]

Can someone explain to me how the hell Steyer got 2/4 qualifying polls already? Who on Earth has heard of this guy aside from online political junkies?

[John Dule]

Maybe I sound elitist, but the voters are idiots.

But remember, democracy dies in darkness.

[John Dule]

Whining about the process being rigged is a bad strategy, and it makes Gabbard look like a nutjob conspiracy theorist. She'll probably qualify in October and that'll be that.

[John Dule]

Yang will remain.

[John Dule]

The fourth debate would be a really great opportunity to pivot toward top tier / bottom tier nights rather than a spread. I think it's great that the first few debates were over-inclusive but at this point, having Biden and Warren on separate stages is totally pointless, having the likes of Steyer and Gabbard up there with frontrunners is a waste of time, etc.

So I would hope for -

Night 1 (or prime time slot on single night): Buttigieg - Sanders - Warren - Biden - Harris - Yang
Night 2 (or non-prime time slot on single night): Gabbard - Klobuchar - Booker - O'Rourke - Castro - Steyer

That assumes Yang stays in 6th which seems very likely but would be extra sweet if Booker, O'Rourke, or Klobuchar replaced him on the big stage

Switch Booker and Yang and you'll have the ideal lineup.

Why? Yang is consistently polling well ahead of Booker.

[John Dule]

Yang has double Steyer's numbers in national polling; it's just his massive amounts of cash he's funneling into the early states that's making a difference.

[John Dule]

The fact that they eliminated the donor qualifications just to accommodate Bloomberg is such a good microcosm of the corruption we're living under.

[John Dule]

Steyer is in. Incredibly good news for Sanders.

[John Dule]

The pathetic dying gasps of a campaign that never had integrity in the first place.  True bottom of the barrel stuff.

The pathetic dying gasps of a campaign that never had integrity in the first place.  True bottom of the barrel stuff.

The post so nice it was posted twice.

Also, what the heck is so wrong with that quote from the Sanders campaign?

[John Dule]

I don't get it. Why do you find it disgusting? And why would it be "suicidal"?

Sanders needs a more confrontational setup to win (big enough to matter), the armchair and softball questions from the audience format helps Biden. It's a legitimate criticism.

Also, what the heck is so wrong with that quote from the Sanders campaign?

If Biden's mind is falling apart, as the Sanders campaign implies, it should not matter whether they sit or stand, nor where the questions come from.

Biden is winning at the eleventh hour despite what voters can plainly see about him. That is in part because the  alternative is a year older and dealing with a chronic health concern of his own (one that is visible in his physique, even). Most voters who worry about selecting a nominee in good health will be just as concerned about nominating Sanders.

Moreover, even if all of this is good political strategy, it undermines a quality that I always appreciated in him. At the risk of self-mockery, I say that this is not the Bernie Sanders about whom Pete Buttigieg wrote an award-winning essay.

And I will be honest: I'm fed up with this campaign. On top of everything, we're staring at a recession and a pandemic that will kill thousands and maybe order of magnitudes more in this country. If the people running the Sanders campaign can't focus on that, I just want them to go away.

What on Earth are you talking about? Where does that statement imply that Biden is falling apart mentally?

[John Dule]

The pathetic dying gasps of a campaign that never had integrity in the first place.  True bottom of the barrel stuff.

The pathetic dying gasps of a campaign that never had integrity in the first place.  True bottom of the barrel stuff.

The post so nice it was posted twice.

Also, what the heck is so wrong with that quote from the Sanders campaign?

Oops, this site is buggy sometimes.

The problem is that a lot of really terrible Rose Twitter people, along with Trump team, have been working together on Twitter to push this idea that Biden is dying or sundowning.  This is exactly the kind of thing that Bernie and his campaign have been pretending to disown.  Oh, the horror!  We've never seen any of this behavior, bit if it does exist, I condemn it!

Except then they turn around and pull something like this, implying with zero subtlety that Biden's so sick that he can't even stand for the debate.

It's obvious that they're playing along with the smear campaign.  A campaign being run by the very people they're pretending to distance themselves from, and the F***ING TRUMP CAMPAIGN.

This is EXACTLY the kind of dog-whistling crap he pulled last time.  And it is disgusting.

Oh knock it off MacArthur. Nothing in that quote implied that Biden was losing his mind. You are reading into it what you want to see.

[John Dule]

The pathetic dying gasps of a campaign that never had integrity in the first place.  True bottom of the barrel stuff.

The pathetic dying gasps of a campaign that never had integrity in the first place.  True bottom of the barrel stuff.

The post so nice it was posted twice.

Also, what the heck is so wrong with that quote from the Sanders campaign?

Oops, this site is buggy sometimes.

The problem is that a lot of really terrible Rose Twitter people, along with Trump team, have been working together on Twitter to push this idea that Biden is dying or sundowning.  This is exactly the kind of thing that Bernie and his campaign have been pretending to disown.  Oh, the horror!  We've never seen any of this behavior, bit if it does exist, I condemn it!

Except then they turn around and pull something like this, implying with zero subtlety that Biden's so sick that he can't even stand for the debate.

It's obvious that they're playing along with the smear campaign.  A campaign being run by the very people they're pretending to distance themselves from, and the F***ING TRUMP CAMPAIGN.

This is EXACTLY the kind of dog-whistling crap he pulled last time.  And it is disgusting.

Oh knock it off MacArthur. Nothing in that quote implied that Biden was losing his mind. You are reading into it what you want to see.

No.  Not OK.  The entire point of the attack is to imply that Biden isn't physically capable of standing.  It doesn't make any sense to attack him for standing instead of sitting otherwise.

It's dovetailing right into the narrative being pushed by the Trump campaign that Biden is physically weak and decaying.  Which is the same narrative they pushed about Clinton in 2016, courtesy of Russia.  And the same narrative that Russia has pushed about other enemy politicians in other countries.

If it were less obvious, I might be inclined to call it a coincidence, but no.  Because we've seen this again and again and again and again from the Sanders campaign.  These dogwhistles to narratives and conspiracy theories being pushed by Trump or Rose Twitter or Russia about his opponents and the Democratic Party.  But you don't even have to agree with me on that to see what's going on here because it's just glaringly, stupidly obvious.

What is the alternative explanation?.  Is the attack supposed to be about something other than Biden's physical health?  Did the Sanders campaign just so happen to start caring about Biden's physical health at the same time that his supporters (whom the campaign totally condemns!) started coordinating with the Trump campaign to push that narrative?

Say 'sike' right now or I'm actually going to start thinking you've lost your mind.

[John Dule]

What's your alternative explanation?  That is the Sanders campaign's motivation for launching this attack?

You cannot possibly expect me to believe that that completely innocuous quote was somehow an attack on Biden's mental health. They were asking why Biden didn't want to attend; the quote goes on to imply that Biden does not want to have to defend his record against Sanders'. That is all that was being implied, and you'd have to have rabbit ears to read it any other way.

[John Dule]

What's your alternative explanation?  That is the Sanders campaign's motivation for launching this attack?

You cannot possibly expect me to believe that that completely innocuous quote was somehow an attack on Biden's mental health. They were asking why Biden didn't want to attend; the quote goes on to imply that Biden does not want to have to defend his record against Sanders'. That is all that was being implied, and you'd have to have rabbit ears to read it any other way.

I suggest you seek help. Professional help.

No, they weren't talking about Biden not wanting to attend.  Nobody is suggesting that Biden won't attend.  They are attacking Biden for, allegedly, wanting to sit at a table instead of stand at a podium (the Biden campaign response was "wtf? we don't care").

Also I didn't say that this was about mental health.  I said it was about physical health.  But you can read so you knew that.

Woah. All I saw was the Averroes quote. My apologies. I went back to the last page and saw the original Politico article.

This is pretty below-the-belt.