2020 US Presidential Election: The Democrat Candidates

[Valandil]

Who do you like? What do you like/not like about different candidates?

[Alcuin]

[Earniel]

I had had great hopes for Warren. She seemed like she'd actually had a plan for getting the USA out of the swamp of political incompetence it seems mired in these days.

I was rather put off by the way the media tried very hard to ignore her and how only the male candidates were mentioned even if they did worse in polls or votes than she did. I'm pretty sure that cost her delegates.

Still not ready for a female commander in chief, eh, corporate America?

[Alcuin]

I’m part Cherokee from both my mother and my father. My paternal grandmother’s sister was reticent to admit it: when she was young in the early twentieth century, authorities still seized people for being Cherokee and sent them to Oklahoma (“Indian Territory”), so it was something she was taught to hide. My mother’s father took a letter from the mailbox to his mother in the 1920s offering compensation for the Trail of Tears: she tore it up, saying she’d accept no “blood money from murderers.” I don’t know how others feel or think, but I consider Elizabeth Warren an incompetent poser who used a false racial claim to advance an otherwise lackluster career. Like Senator Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn, who falsely claimed to be a veteran of the Vietnam War who witnessed fighting on the ground – he was in fact a reservist, and never served overseas (don’t bother with Google: Google now hides the truth and can no longer be trusted; search “Senator Blumenthal stolen valor” using www.DuckDuckGo.com instead) – Senator Elizabeth Warren made false claims she has yet to rescind. Her legal work supported big business at the expense of consumers: I cannot fault a lawyer for helping her clients, but I do fault her for misrepresenting it. And she flat-out lied about being fired for getting pregnant.

Worse, though, I lived in Massachusetts in 2012, when she was first elected to the Senate. The people at the polling station where we voted handed out thick ballots to “dependable” Democrats: my wife’s uncle got one; neither my wife nor I received one, but rather the normal ballots. But her uncle was scrupulously honest, and called out loudly, “Hey, I have two ballots!” The voting attendants quickly took the extra ballot. My wife spoke to the police officer standing there, who replied with a laugh, “Yeah, that’s been happening all day,” and dismissed her complaint. Warren barely “won” that election.

How often do your partisans have to vote twice, or three or four times, to defeat your opponent? That stinks. Her career path stinks. Her claims stink. I know successful women: I have a friend who is a very successful woman who recently had to threaten legal action over her treatment, which was frankly to the detriment of the firm as well as her own. Ranking Elizabeth Warren in company with my friend insults my friend, who is professionally accomplished and nationally known.

[The Gaffer]

Seems like making false claims doesn't disqualify you from high office in any way these days.

[Earniel]

Originally Posted by Alcuin

I don’t know how others feel or think, but I consider Elizabeth Warren an incompetent poser who used a false racial claim to advance an otherwise lackluster career.

It was my understanding she has apologised for the claim and no longer puts her supposed descendance forth as a characteristic. Is there more she can do in this case? (Not a semantical question, I'm actually curious.)

And while I can understand such claims are not welcomed by, or even detrimental to actual Native Americans, I had the feeling it was an easy mistake to make if it indeed was family lore that her family had Native American ancestors. In America's giant melting pot, it is not that impossible to have a diverse mix of European, African or Native American ancestors. Also, I had the impression that different tribes use different ways to determine membership, and while some focus on cultural inheritance, some tribes do use blood quota.

So, even if it was a predatory, bald-faced lie instead of an honest mistake, Warren still strikes me as the least likely candidate to continue building leaky oil-lines on Native American territories; to erode other protections of those territories so they can be sold; turn the water cannon on tribe elders and try to further diminish the voting rights of minority voters, of whom a number are Native Americans. Am I wrong in this?

[Alcuin]

I’m no longer inclined to cut Left-leaning candidates any slack for what they claim. The news media in North America and Europe, including the UK, is so hard-Left that they overlook their own candidates’ missteps and overplay anyone else’s. No, I don’t feel charitable to any of them.

[katya]

I'm not a fan of Biden. Interesting tidbit, Buttigieg was the mayor of the town I live in and I liked a lot of what he did. The streets downtown have all been redone and it's much easier to get around, and it's much more bike friendly now as well. One of my friends worked with him in his office and said he was really nice and good to work for. So, going into the election season I liked him, but now I have seen some glimpses of his true colors and I'm not a fan of him either. The media coverage has also opened my eyes to how some of his local policies weren't necessarily helpful to everyone here either. I always liked him because he's very intelligent, and I always was impressed by how he answered questions, seemed like he was very sharp and had a lot of sense. But I found that doesn't necessarily mean I agree with his policies.

[Earniel]

I've noticed here to that some things that get done in a town are not necessarily the achievements of the major of that towns. But they do like to claim them as such when it suits them.

As for the presidential elections, now with the latest revelations coming from the ICE concentration camps (which has filled me with cold rage), I'm starting to wonder: 1. how anyone with any shred of ethics left can pretend the election is a choice between 'two evils' and 2. how absolutely fragile the American democracy is right now.

[katya]

Yeah, it's more than a little terrifying. The country is an absolute wreck.

[Earniel]

And now Ginsburg's death?

Seriously 2020, cut it out already.

[katya]

That's the thing though, it's not 2020 that's bad, it's just America. Remember back in 2016 with that circus of an election year and all the celebrities kept dying and there were like, killer clowns or something and everyone was talking about how they couldn't wait for 2016 to be over? Things just keep getting worse though and I have a feeling they are going to get worse before they get better, well into 2021.

[Earniel]

Heh, I can't remember a single year lately I thought was good enough that I didn't want it to end. I was as glad to see the back of 18 and 19 than I will of 20. But I no longer have the optimism to think 2021 is going to be better either, which makes for depressive musings.

I'm not sure it's only America. Other parts of the world are not that great either, at this very moment. Blind nationalism is on the rise in Europe too.

At least with a bit of luck, we'll be spared the election debates for a while. The first one... was not particularly inspirational.

And I don't want to think about how many people Trump has already infected with the White House's lax and irresponsible hygiene.

[Earniel]

Just a few more days now.

Vote you guys, go and VOTE.

[katya]

Hoo boy guys, this is a stressful night. I'm getting flashbacks to 2016. Voted today, got free pizza. Trying not to watch the results roll in but... it's hard not to.

[Earniel]

Looks like it'll be a stressful few days more still. Hang in there, guys.

I see new lows have been acchieved. Calls to stop counting and trying to actively prevent the counting (because who needs democracy, right?) were not on my bingo card.

And yet I shouldn't be surprised...

[Earniel]

Congratulations, Americans, with your new president-elect!

It was an exciting (sometimes a little too much) race and I refreshed the counting results a little more often than what was good for me, so I'm not ungrateful it is finally over.

... but at some point you're going to have to address the fact that 71 million of you voted for keeping children in cages.