Yay, Biden is finally in the race!
As I was telling Tod last night as he prepared dinner, I don't care that much which Democrat wins the nomination, so long as Democrats choose the candidate who has the best chance to beat Trump. And I measure that chance to beat Trump by looking at the head-to-head polling numbers for the various candidates against Trump.
Right now, Biden is that candidate with the best chance to beat Trump.
If six months from now, somebody else shows the best chance to beat Trump, then I'll say Democrats should nominate that person instead.
Tod thinks Harris has the best chance to beat Trump, and he may be right, but currently that's not what the polls reflect. If Harris can win over enough voter market share according to the polls, then I'd join him in arguing for Harris.
I also, again, argued that the Senate is probably more important than the White House. I'm going to start examining the 33 or so Senate races to look at which Democrats have the best chance to grab Senate seats from Republicans. Those Senate races will be more important to me than which Democrat wins the presidential nomination.
Meanwhile, go Biden! His opening campaign video focused solely on Trump being a Nazi throwback to the 1930s, linking him to the white supremacists in Charlottesville, which isn't a bad opening move. It's simply the truth.
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I'm a Leftist. But I believe in democracy over party. And right now we need democracy to work more than a particular Left ideology. Most voters in the US support increasing taxes on the wealthy to fund better government services, providing better health care at lower cost to consumers, legalizing marijuana, doing something about the climate emergency, providing better and lower cost education, shoring up the Social Security and Medicare trust funds, restricting access to deadly weapons, continuing to provide legal abortion, reforming immigration, and treating LGBT people fairly.
These are not "Democratic" positions, these are the positions of majorities of voters. If our democracy were working, it would be trying to solve these problems. In a functioning democracy, the major parties would be competing with each other to show who can best solve these problems.
If Democrats can show how they will solve these problems, while Republicans are making things worse, then they ought to win. Not because Democrats are right while Republicans are wrong, but because Democrats would be offering what the people want.
I hope 2020 can be that kind of election, where the people get to, and do, vote for what they want. They want somebody other than Trump to be President, and they want Congress to start solving their problems. That's all. Let us proceed.
Right now, Biden is that candidate with the best chance to beat Trump.
If six months from now, somebody else shows the best chance to beat Trump, then I'll say Democrats should nominate that person instead.
Tod thinks Harris has the best chance to beat Trump, and he may be right, but currently that's not what the polls reflect. If Harris can win over enough voter market share according to the polls, then I'd join him in arguing for Harris.
I also, again, argued that the Senate is probably more important than the White House. I'm going to start examining the 33 or so Senate races to look at which Democrats have the best chance to grab Senate seats from Republicans. Those Senate races will be more important to me than which Democrat wins the presidential nomination.
Meanwhile, go Biden! His opening campaign video focused solely on Trump being a Nazi throwback to the 1930s, linking him to the white supremacists in Charlottesville, which isn't a bad opening move. It's simply the truth.
-----
I'm a Leftist. But I believe in democracy over party. And right now we need democracy to work more than a particular Left ideology. Most voters in the US support increasing taxes on the wealthy to fund better government services, providing better health care at lower cost to consumers, legalizing marijuana, doing something about the climate emergency, providing better and lower cost education, shoring up the Social Security and Medicare trust funds, restricting access to deadly weapons, continuing to provide legal abortion, reforming immigration, and treating LGBT people fairly.
These are not "Democratic" positions, these are the positions of majorities of voters. If our democracy were working, it would be trying to solve these problems. In a functioning democracy, the major parties would be competing with each other to show who can best solve these problems.
If Democrats can show how they will solve these problems, while Republicans are making things worse, then they ought to win. Not because Democrats are right while Republicans are wrong, but because Democrats would be offering what the people want.
I hope 2020 can be that kind of election, where the people get to, and do, vote for what they want. They want somebody other than Trump to be President, and they want Congress to start solving their problems. That's all. Let us proceed.