Aug 192020
 


Joel Meyerowitz New York City 1963

 

 

No, no matter how much I read and watch, I can’t shake the idea (less so as I go along, actually) that the Democrats don’t really, honestly, want to win the 2020 presidential election. Obviously, there are many in the party who do, and voters too, but not the ones pushing the levers and pulling the strings. Those, whoever they may be, that are picking candidates, setting policy, maintaining media contacts, doctoring spins.

Because is there anyone among you who has ever seen a worse candidate than Joe Biden? I’m not just talking about his dementia and gaffes, but you’d be very hard-pressed to find anyone who can use Biden and enthusiasm -let alone inspiration, or even better: exhilaration- in one sentence that doesn’t include the word “no”. And isn’t that the #1 requirement for a candidate?

They ostensibly went with Kamala Harris to provide some of that, if we may believe the press. She’ll whip up the voters into wild bouts of inspiring enthusiasm! Only, Kamala bowed out of the primaries even before 2020 started, after spending $40 million -part of which is still not paid off- because she was stuck at 2% support and couldn’t generate … any enthusiasm.

What you got is a really old man who couldn’t get a toddler excited about ice cream, and a token black woman who nobody even in her own party likes. Mix those ingredients into a convention that attracts just half the viewers of the 2016 one and generates the excitement level of an infomercial for kitchen appliances, and is it any wonder I doubt that the “behind the curtain party” is in this to win?

As for the political program, the agenda, there is really only one item on it: Donald Trump. And no matter how many millions of times it may be repeated in speeches and news articles, NOT being something is in the end NOT a positive message. You’re supposed to win on your own merit, not someone else’s perceived lack of merit. Newsflash: “MOST BIDEN SUPPORTERS SAY THEIR VOTE IS AGAINST TRUMP RATHER THAN FOR BIDEN – WSJ/NBC News poll”.

This bit from the Guardian on Monday sums it up nicely, and it veers into late night comedy territory while doing it (what more can one ask for?):

Virtual Democratic Convention Kicks Off With Emphasis On Unity

The Democratic national convention begins on Monday with a star-studded lineup and heavy emphasis on unity aimed at presenting Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as the US’s best hope for healing a deeply divided nation[..]

The Dems have a hard enough time uniting their own party, let alone the nation. And there’s not a Trump supporter who would move into their camp – other than the odd washed up GOP politician.

An NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released on the eve of the convention found Biden with a nine-point lead over Trump nationally [..] According to the survey, Biden holds a wide advantage over Trump on nearly every issue except the economy, which voters say is a priority this election.


[..] Biden’s selection of Harris has exhilarated supporters, who showered the campaign with a stunning $48m in the 48 hours after she was announced as his running mate.[..]

What, so now they’re only $50 million or so behind?

Democrats anticipate the excitement around Harris’s historic candidacy as the first Black woman nominated for national office by a major party, will build momentum around the convention [..] Adrianne Shropshire, the executive director of BlackPac, a super Pac focused on Black Democrats: “I think there is also real relief that there is a ticket people can believe in, and get behind and push over the finish line.”

Excitement, exhilaration are words that don’t seem to mean anymore what they used to.

[..] the people who were in the Bernie campaign, the people in the Biden campaign, and people outside of both of those campaigns – have really worked hard to create an effective and genuine popular front against Donald Trump,” Weaver said, adding: “Trump is a very unifying factor.”


[..] Howard Dean, a former chair of the DNC who has attended every party convention since 1980, said the new format could work in Biden’s favor. Unlike Trump, who feeds off the energy of crowds at rallies but can look wooden and uncomfortable when reading from a teleprompter, Biden, Dean said, “does better on television than he does at a podium”. “This helps him because he will be on TV projecting calmness, reasonableness and thoughtfulness,” he said. “And that’s what people are desperate for right now.”

Isn’t it great that not feeling comfortable reading from a teleprompter 24/7 in your basement has now become a negative quality? I know, it’s hard to keep up.

But then there was the reality check from CNN on Sunday. Double digit leads vanished (coincidence?) just as Kamala caused all that exhilarating excitement:

Biden and Trump Matchup Tightens As Enthusiasm Hits New High

[..] on the eve of the party conventions, a majority of voters (53%) are “extremely enthusiastic” about voting in this year’s election [..] 50% of registered voters back the Biden-Harris ticket, while 46% say they support Trump and Pence, right at the poll’s margin of error [..]

Among the 72% of voters who say they are either extremely or very enthusiastic about voting this fall, Biden’s advantage over Trump widens to 53% to 46%.

It is narrower, however, among those voters who live in the states that will have the most impact on the electoral college this fall. Across 15 battleground states, the survey finds Biden has the backing of 49% of registered voters, while Trump lands at 48%.

The movement in the poll among voters nationwide since June is concentrated among men (they split about evenly in June, but now 56% back Trump, 40% Biden), those between the ages of 35 and 64 (they tilt toward Trump now, but were Biden-leaning in June) and independents (in June, Biden held a 52% to 41% lead, but now it’s a near even 46% Biden to 45% Trump divide).

 

The picture painted, especially amongst the most dedicated anti-Trumpers, is of course that Biden can’t lose; that’s what they all want, right? Well, think about it: CNN lives off of Trump, and so does a large part of the MSM. But then again, they made their beds and they’ll have to lie in them. The Democratic Party, however, does not. They are free to sabotage their own campaign.

And as I said above, there are many signs that MAY indicate that they are doing just that. The selection of Joe Biden, the basement strategy, the subsequent “appointment” of Kamala Harris, the near-dead convention. Do appreciate, please, that we have no idea how Biden and Kamala were “selected”. How did Biden all of a sudden rise to the top of the crop from seemingly nowhere? Where did Kamala come from post-primary mayhem? Did Joe personally pick her? Do you believe that?

But okay, if you don’t think that they would sabotage their own campaign, flip things around: if they WOULD have wanted to make sure they’d lose the election, what would they have done, you know, the donors behind the veil, plus maybe the Obamas and Clintons? Wouldn’t they perhaps have picked Biden and Kamala, whom very few people appeared to actually like, find sympathetic, prior to them being selected for their respective roles? Why not select people that DO resonate with voters without you having to forcefully shove them down their throats?

Why would a bunch of power-hungry folk (as all politicians and their sponsors are) want to screw up their own chance at obtaining power? Well, the lack of good candidates may well be a factor, but there’s something much bigger: the US economy, like most if not all western economies, is wobbling precariously on a precipice, and about to fall off. As I labeled it recently: The Bottom Is Falling Out.

Our entire present reality is still somewhat new, the COVID pandemic, its fallout, the bailouts, the government checks, the sick and the dead, but at some point it will all start to become a “normal” part of life. That doesn’t mean, however, that the economy will return to “normal” (whatever anybody ever thought that meant).

An enormous number of businesses will never reopen, entire fields will be obliterated, re: tourism, airlines, a large swath of retail stores. The unemployment that generates will be with us for many years. The Great Depression will become a mere footnote in most history books.

And the parties in charge in various countries, including the GOP in America, will be the ones blamed for most of the ensuing problems. If you’re a Democrat behind-the-curtain wizard, wouldn’t you at least consider saying: I think I’ll pass for this round, and let Trump take the heat?

Just so, you know, you can continue your cooperation with CNN, NYT, WaPo, FBI, and blame Trump every single day and 1000 times on Sunday for everything that falls apart, while continuing to generate clickbait profits ? If all you got to show for your grand ambitions is Joe Biden, it must seem a really appealing course of action.

Besides, you don’t appear to have any better candidates than Biden -at least not centrist ones-, but don’t forget that neither do the Republicans once Trump is gone. Da Donald is set to leave a huge hole behind where he once pontificated. And just about any Democrat except for Joe Biden could step right into that hole (pun intended).

 

 

 

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Home Forums Do the Dems Want To Win?

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  • #62339

    Joel Meyerowitz New York City 1963     No, no matter how much I read and watch, I can’t shake the idea (less so as I go along, actually) tha
    [See the full post at: Do the Dems Want To Win?]

    #62341
    redshift
    Participant

    Yeah, the thought has occurred to me as well before, they have majority in the House anyway and the Deep State is anti-Trump.

    I guess they would like to stop Barr and Durham’s investigations but it’ll probably not amount to much in the end, they have most of the MSM and a good chunk of the judicial system in ther pocket.

    #62343
    zerosum
    Participant

    Winning strategy
    pass for this round, and let Trump take the heat?
    “Da Donald is set to leave a huge hole”

    #62344
    VietnamVet
    Participant

    The global USA Empire has fallen. The “ancien regime” in its arrogance and incompetence dare not notice. There cannot be an alternative. If there was one, no more trillions of dollars of bailouts for Wall Street. The NY Stock market would crash down to its actual value. Americans would get free healthcare. The national public health service would control the coronavirus pandemic. Food would be provided for the needy. The homeless would have shelter. Taxes would rise. Corporations would be regulated for the public good. The economy would recover once Americans feel safe to go out in public.

    However, no matter how much better life would be with the end of inequality, the top 10% simply cannot let their continual rising wealth stop; damn the consequences.

    Democrats are doing what their big donors tell them to do. Racism, Russia and Donald Trump are their scapegoats for the failures of the former people’s party. In the second decade of the 21st century instead of a New Deal, a new feudal Dark Age is rising in North America.

    #62347
    John Day
    Participant

    I’m gonna’ vote Green again, so whoever loses will be my fault again.

    #62348
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    Who would go into a Casino and play, knowing full well, the games were rigged?
    Sorry, rhetorical question… 😉

    #62380
    Eddie
    Participant

    None of the identity politics candidates could score in a primary….and not even Sanders the social democrat…… In other words the candidates the party dreamed up to flesh out their diversity narrative can’t bring people to the polls when and where it counts……and Biden won the nomination purely by default….and now Harris is a promise kept to the same identity politics base that makes so much noise these days but fails to muster significant votes.

    The Dems continue to suffer from the abandonment of the real working class….which has no interest in electing gays, blacks, hispanics and Asians….unless perhaps they have something more going for them than merely being a special minority….maybe Yang came close.

    The Party leadership is still way too Clinton, which is to say that they are a bunch of influence-peddling faux Republicans. The map is not the territory and THE NARRATIVE is for the plebes, not the leadership.

    The Democrats always shoot themselves in the foot by insisting on making every campaign a referendum on being anti-racist and pro feminist and pro LGBT…..which they have to do…give lip service, I should say….to keep their motley herd of cats rounded up.

    #62383

    So many new names these last weeks! Rah, Ilargi!
    Why would media want to give up the gravy train that is The Donald? Why would the dems want to give up their role as gadflies? Why would anyone want to take the blame for what is about to happen in the economy? Maybe a master of bankruptcy is what the doctor ordered?
    Meanwhile…. from ZH “A “Novel” Breakthrough? New Studies Show Memory T-Cells Offer Long Term And Pre-Existing COVID Immunity”:
    …”many people who never had COVID-19 seem to have memory T cells that can recognize the new virus. This, of course, would mean that the virus isn’t a “novel” as we once thought.”
    Maybe now we’ll try and find out what has been causing those who are hospitalized to suffer such poor outcomes.
    nah.
    I saw a doctor today, and (as I did last time I saw one) I asked if she would remove her mask so I could see her face. She said: “I am delighted that you asked that! Of course I’ll remove it.”
    A good doctor. I am trying to collect them for future reference.

    #62393
    sharonsj
    Participant

    When the Dem establishment and the media gave us Biden, my first thought was this is Hillary 2.0 and it’s 2016 again. I do not think the Dems are interested in winning because it could affect their power and money. We are in a depression and I think neither party understands how bad things are and how bad they will get. We are in the middle of a pandemic and yet they’ve done nothing to combat it or help people get medical care. Close to 28 million people are out of work (joining the 100 million who previously gave up looking) and Congress goes on vacation instead of figuring out how to prevent an explosion of homeless people living in tent cities (coming to a street near you). I think I’m voting Green this time because both parties are worthless.

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