2024 Democratic Presidential Nominee

[W. Niederhut]

9 minutes ago, Cliff Varnell said:

The Democratic Party passed the Child Tax Credit which cut child poverty in half.  The Republicans blocked its renewal.

Democrats expand Medicaid programs delivering health care to the poor.  Republicans block the expansion of Medicaid.

In Minnesota Walz signed a bill giving all students regardless of family income free breakfasts and lunches at school.

Democrats vote to expand the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) to provide food security for 41 million poor people a year.  Trump promises to end SNAP.

Just to name a few Democratic anti-poverty policies.

So due to Kamala's race and gender she's not abundantly qualified, especially compared to Trump?

Putin and Netanyahu are the greatest purveyors of violence on the planet.  I oppose both.

Not on the subject of Gaza.  Netanyahu complained about her after they met in DC.

I'm opposed to US foreign policy regarding the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people.  I support cutting off military aid to Israel.  Kamala's chilly meeting with war criminal Bibi gives me a glimmer of hope.

I support military aid to Ukraine.  Putin's invasion was a historic blunder.

 

Well said, Cliff.

The Democrats, including FDR, John and Ted Kennedy, and Obama, have also initiated major anti-poverty measures at home and abroad during the past century-- Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Obamacare, Food Stamps, the Peace Corps, and foreign aid to Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

Republicans have opposed most of these anti-poverty policies, and Trump Republicans have endeavored to cut their funding.

 

Edited Wednesday at 09:16 PM by W. Niederhut

[Matt Allison]

And so ends this disgraceful saga.

As usual, the Kennedy family was right.

 

[Cliff Varnell]

9 hours ago, Karl Kinaski said:

As of Friday this week the Republicans will have in line: Donald Trump, J.D. Vance, and Robert Kennedy jr. You can't kill them all.

All three are committing political suicide.  

9 hours ago, Karl Kinaski said:

The Harris-Waltz Clown-campain has a problem. 

Deciding where to spend the half-billion dollars in small money donations they've collected in a month?

[Matt Allison]

6 hours ago, W. Niederhut said:

Geez... thank goodness we have such keen, reality-based insights about American history and contemporary politics from our three colleagues in Austria, Ireland, and England.

hahaha

Yes, isn't it?

But every day it's nice to get a chuckle.

 

[Cliff Varnell]

1 hour ago, John Cotter said:

plutocratic ideology.

Don't feel bad if you don't understand the factional nature of American party politics -- lots of Americans don't either.

Each major party has its corporate and base wings.  To differentiate between the corporate wings of the D's and R's is a false dichotomy.  Both share the same plutocratic ideology.

But to equate the bases of each party is a false equivalence.  The base of the Democratic Party is blacks and Bernie whites; the base of the Republican party is white evangelical Christians.  

In order to extract votes and donations from their bases the D's and R's must deliver to a degree on base policy concerns.  The Dem base is reliably anti-poverty and anti-war.  I call the Democratic Party the Quarter Loafers.  They'll reliably deliver a quarter of what's needed to fight poverty, ensure public health, mitigate against climate change, ensure voting rights and other guaranteed freedoms.

The Republican base is mostly motivated by hatred of the Democratic base.  They don't care if Trump is the most un-Christian person in the world -- they don't care about adjudicated rape, selling nuclear secrets, election denying, business fraud, pathological lying -- as long as he rips on the libs.

Edited Wednesday at 09:59 PM by Cliff Varnell

[John Cotter]

16 minutes ago, Cliff Varnell said:

Don't feel bad if you don't understand the factional nature of American party politics -- lots of Americans don't either.

Each major party has its corporate and base wings.  To differentiate between the corporate wings of the D's and R's is a false dichotomy.  Both share the same plutocratic ideology.

But to equate the bases of each party is a false equivalence.  The base of the Democratic Party is blacks and Bernie whites; the base of the Republican party is white evangelical Christians.  

In order to extract votes and donations from their bases the D's and R's must deliver to a degree on base policy concerns.  The Dem base is reliably anti-poverty and anti-war.  I call the Democratic Party the Quarter Loafers.  They'll reliably deliver a quarter of what's needed to fight poverty, ensure public health, mitigate against climate change, ensure voting rights and other guaranteed freedoms.

The Republican base is mostly motivated by hatred of the Democratic base.  They don't care if Trump is the most un-Christian person in the world -- they don't care about adjudicated rape, selling nuclear secrets, election denying, business fraud, pathological lying -- as long as he rips on the libs.

Don’t worry about me, Cliff. I’m fine.

It’s yourself you need to worry about, since you seem to be bamboozling yourself with your convoluted attempt to justify the Dems v Reps false dichotomy.

[Cliff Varnell]

3 minutes ago, John Cotter said:

Don’t worry about me, Cliff. I’m fine.

You're also full of contentless denial.

3 minutes ago, John Cotter said:

It’s yourself you need to worry about, since you seem to be bamboozling yourself with your convoluted attempt to justify the Dems v Reps false dichotomy.

You posted your conclusion without a single attempt to rebut the facts I've posted.

[Denny Zartman]

I watched day two while reading comments in real time. It was another solid day at the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois.

I personally wasn't crazy about the DJ music continuing underneath the speakers during the roll call of the states, but almost everyone commenting online seemed to really enjoy it. Guessing the musical theme for each state was fun, and Georgia made quite a splash. It all seemed designed to appeal to younger folks and to go viral. That's cool, I'm glad that the campaign is keeping young folks in mind. Reading the reactions of people who were watching a political convention for the first time was fascinating. There's a lot of enthusiasm out there right now. It was amusing at how panicked some people got when California passed.

In my opinion, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Hillary Clinton have been the best speakers so far. Hillary really gave it her all and the speech was well written and well paced.

Joe Biden was very good the first night, full of fire and emotion. The delegates were really into it as well.

Doug Emhoff was quite appealing, telling some cute stories of courting Kamala.

The Obama's were both good. I appreciated Barack making the case for reaching across the aisle and attempting to reconcile all the deep political divisions in our country, but pacing-wise his speech didn't really gather much momentum. 

Bernie Sanders was underwhelming, but he was himself.

[Denny Zartman]

The buzz is Stevie Wonder will be performing tonight.

[Denny Zartman]

57 minutes ago, Matt Allison said:

And so ends this disgraceful saga.

As usual, the Kennedy family was right.

 

Remember when people thought RFK Jr. was going to attract liberal supporters and hurt Biden's re-election chances?

 

 

[Cliff Varnell]

1 hour ago, W. Niederhut said:

Well said, Cliff.

Thank you, Will. 

John Cotter must like it since he's offered no response.

Edited Wednesday at 10:33 PM by Cliff Varnell

[Cliff Varnell]

7 hours ago, Paul Rigby said:

Kamala’s National Security Adviser Points to Continuation of Biden’s Russia Policy

Posted on August 21, 2024 by Conor Gallagher

 

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2024/08/kamalas-national-security-adviser-points-to-continuation-of-bidens-russia-policy.html

What would a President Kamala Harris’ foreign policy look like? She’s already signaled that Israel policy will remain unchanged.

Your concern about Israel baffles me, Paul, given your support for the most anti-Palestinian president ever.

What do you think of his son-in-laws' ideas for resorts on the beaches of Gaza?

7 hours ago, Paul Rigby said:

How about Russia?

How about Putin pulling out of Ukraine but keeping Crimea?

[Cliff Varnell]

1 hour ago, Matt Allison said:

And so ends this disgraceful saga.

As usual, the Kennedy family was right.

 

 

[Denny Zartman]

Cory Booker doing a great job right now, channeling his inner evangelist.

[W. Niederhut]

Colorado Governor Jared Polis is supposed to talk about the Heritage/Trump Project 2025 tonight. Hallelujah!

The Democrats are focusing on the positive, but they should talk more about Project 2025 and January 6th.

Perhaps Bennie Thompson will bring up the subject of Trump's historic J6 crimes tonight.

Edited Thursday at 12:18 AM by W. Niederhut