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Democratic Candidates for POTUS, 2016 edition

bym051d said:
Not that anyone around here cares, but Friday night, I changed my voter registration from R to D after registering R as a stupid 18 year-old and never bothering to change it.
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Am angel just got his wings.
 
cville deac said:
VA, NC, OH, PA, NV, CO, NH and maybe a few others wave hello too. And there are down ballot races as well in other states. But you also have a potentially more viable choice than Stein. Stein ain't getting 1% no matter what. Johnson is already polling at 10%. The more unpopular Drumpf and Clinton become, the more he could possibly be seen as a viable alternative, especially if he can get to 15% and get into the debates. Now I realize Johnson is not the economic cup of tea that Sanders backers prefer, but socially and when it comes to foreign policy, he's very similar to Sanders. And he's the 1 decent human remaining who will get > 1%. Just throwing that out there.
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I understand the argument that Johnson could get votes because Trump & Hillary are so unlikable. However, I don't think that many people have considered the flip side of that argument. Many...possibly even most...voters in this election are going to be driven by their dislike of either Hillary or Trump. Considering that, I think that many may be afraid to vote for Johnson over the concern that he cannot win and their vote might help elect either Hillary or Trump (whichever one they strongly dislike). With that in mind, they might feel that they have to vote for either Hillary or Trump in order to defeat the other one.
 
myDeaconmyhand said:
In his commentary he's been pretty blatant and open in his dislike for Bernie this whole election cycle, despite his seemingly neutral analytics
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As far as I can tell, he's been critical of the Sanders campaign's approach to primaries (vs. caucuses) and their overlooking of minority/older voters as a strategy. You could argue that he's been critical - of late - of the campaign's stubbornness in the face of an unsurmountable vote/delegate deficit.

That's a far cry from being blatant/open in disliking a candidate. It's more likely that Bernie-loving internet warriors can't handle critique of their guy, so they get amped up to dismiss it as bias.
 
I disagree. My opinion is that Silver has been overly critical to the point of open dislike. My opinion comes from reading many of his live blogs during individual primaries. His published articles are more even handed.

Sent from my SM-G935T using Tapatalk
 
cville deac said:
VA, NC, OH, PA, NV, CO, NH and maybe a few others wave hello too. And there are down ballot races as well in other states. But you also have a potentially more viable choice than Stein. Stein ain't getting 1% no matter what. Johnson is already polling at 10%. The more unpopular Drumpf and Clinton become, the more he could possibly be seen as a viable alternative, especially if he can get to 15% and get into the debates. Now I realize Johnson is not the economic cup of tea that Sanders backers prefer, but socially and when it comes to foreign policy, he's very similar to Sanders. And he's the 1 decent human remaining who will get > 1%. Just throwing that out there.
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While I like the idea of a third party making a run, is it wrong to negatively judge Gary Johnson from his Reddit AMAs? The dude shows up, throws in a couple easy one liners, and totally avoids any substantive discussion. If he debates that way, he would be destroyed.
 
The 2012 election went to Silver's head. Then he was wrong about both Trump & Bernie and his enlarged ego has had a hard time handling his total failure regarding his predictions about those two campaigns.
 
DistrictDeacon said:
While I like the idea of a third party making a run, is it wrong to negatively judge Gary Johnson from his Reddit AMAs? The dude shows up, throws in a couple easy one liners, and totally avoids any substantive discussion. If he debates that way, he would be destroyed.
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Who knows what voters would think about Johnson if he had to go thru the primary gauntlet where Hillary, Bernie & Trump spent months answering tough questions about all kinds of issues every day.

All Johnson had to do, basically, was raise his hand and volunteer to be the Libertarian Party candidate...hoping to then be be placed on an equal basis with the two major party candidates who have been grilled for months.
 
bobknightfan said:
Who knows what voters would think about Johnson if he had to go thru the primary gauntlet where Hillary, Bernie & Trump spent months answering tough questions about all kinds of issues every day.

All Johnson had to do, basically, was raise his hand and volunteer to be the Libertarian Party candidate...hoping to then be be placed on an equal basis with the two major party candidates who have been grilled for months.
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He tried in 2012. Didn't make it to the Republican primary.
 
PhDeac said:
He tried in 2012. Didn't make it to the Republican primary.
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How do you "not make it to the Republican primary?" Everyone who enters the race makes it to the primary. When your name goes on the ballot you have "made it to the primary". What actually happened is that he made it to the Republican primary, then fell what on his face due to a total lack of support. So this time he decided to just skip all the primaries and go straight to the final ballot.

Gary Johnson is like a 16th seed in the NCAA tournament who thinks he should get a bye to the Final Four.
 
sailordeac said:
Another good read for all Bernie fans (and everyone else).

http://www.usatoday.com/story/opini...ernie-sanders-elections-2016-column/85294346/

Poor guy apparently does not understand that there is no human nature and that socialism will produce a new "socialist man," and then everything will assuredly be wonderful.
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People who think they are being smart by comparing Bernie Sanders-style Democratic Socialism to Venezuela... are not smart. It's about as smart as saying the US will end up like the People's Democratic Republic of Korea if we keep doubling down on the whole republican democracy thing.
 
Deacon923 said:
People who think they are being smart by comparing Bernie Sanders-style Democratic Socialism to Venezuela... are not smart. It's about as smart as saying the US will end up like the People's Democratic Republic of Korea if we keep doubling down on the whole republican democracy thing.
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No, but it sounds cute and you can write articles about it, so it's easier than researching the real theories behind it.
 
bobknightfan said:
How do you "not make it to the Republican primary?" Everyone who enters the race makes it to the primary. When your name goes on the ballot you have "made it to the primary". What actually happened is that he made it to the Republican primary, then fell what on his face due to a total lack of support. So this time he decided to just skip all the primaries and go straight to the final ballot.

Gary Johnson is like a 16th seed in the NCAA tournament who thinks he should get a bye to the Final Four.
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Yeah, that takes being married to and publicly humiliated by a sitting President.
 
cville deac said:
VA, NC, OH, PA, NV, CO, NH and maybe a few others wave hello too. And there are down ballot races as well in other states. But you also have a potentially more viable choice than Stein. Stein ain't getting 1% no matter what. Johnson is already polling at 10%. The more unpopular Drumpf and Clinton become, the more he could possibly be seen as a viable alternative, especially if he can get to 15% and get into the debates. Now I realize Johnson is not the economic cup of tea that Sanders backers prefer, but socially and when it comes to foreign policy, he's very similar to Sanders. And he's the 1 decent human remaining who will get > 1%. Just throwing that out there.
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Sure, I guess if the objective is to send a message to the political establishment generally, Gary Johnson is as good as any. I was mostly focused on sending a message to the Democratic Party and I suspect that Johnson garnering support in the GE would be written off by the DNC as protesting Republicans and not a good reason to do some self evaluation and internal party reforms.
 
birdman said:
Sure, I guess if the objective is to send a message to the political establishment generally, Gary Johnson is as good as any. I was mostly focused on sending a message to the Democratic Party and I suspect that Johnson garnering support in the GE would be written off by the DNC as protesting Republicans and not a good reason to do some self evaluation and internal party reforms.
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Depends on where you live. If you're in a deep red or blue state, your presidential vote doesn't matter. Hillary, Trump, Bernie, Cruz, DWS, and Reince all suck out loud. Voting for Johnson or Stein in those states tells both parties to get their shit together. Much trickier in purple states.
 
FuckmouthedRube said:
Depends on where you live. If you're in a deep red or blue state, your presidential vote doesn't matter. Hillary, Trump, Bernie, Cruz, DWS, and Reince all suck out loud. Voting for Johnson or Stein in those states tells both parties to get their shit together. Much trickier in purple states.
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Yes, see my earlier post. Places like Mississippi, Alabama, Wyoming, even Massachusetts, or California, your vote really doesn't matter, so send a message and get a third party above the standard error in the national popular vote.
 
DistrictDeacon said:
While I like the idea of a third party making a run, is it wrong to negatively judge Gary Johnson from his Reddit AMAs? The dude shows up, throws in a couple easy one liners, and totally avoids any substantive discussion. If he debates that way, he would be destroyed.
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I didn't see his reddit AMAs, so I can't say. And he did come across as strange in the Sam Bee piece. But he's sounded fine on the other talk shows where I've seen him. I just want to see him get into the debates because I have basically despised everyone who ran in this election cycle. I'm open to voting for him if he comes across well, if I like some of what he has to say and if he becomes viable - even though I'm not as conservative fiscally and isolationist as he is. As a person, he's interesting and likable. He's a 60 year old weed company owning, extreme sports former Pub gov of a fairly liberal state. I've thought all along that our next prez will be a 1 termer. Drumpf is unthinkable. But I'm open to a Pub house, Dem senate and Lib prez. Maybe the biggest reason to vote for Hillary is her judicial appointments. Johnson is also a social liberal, so he won't be appointing any Scalias or Alitos. And if he gets in the debates and fares well, I can envision a scenario where he becomes viable because Drumpf and Clinton are so awful personally, and it's an outsider year. Not probable, but possible in this crazy election cycle.
 
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