Otto Lidenbrock
Otto Lidenbrock's JournalI like Beto but this is a bad idea
https://twitter.com/CNN/status/1143099867897716736I have supported many of his plans with climate change, healthcare and immigration but this is a bad take. The US government increased military spending to $700bn. Our military build up keeps getting bigger while our Veterans are struggling. Coincidence? The government are misusing the military budget. That is where we should look to as the means to look after the Vets rather than spend it on war and never ending build up. A tax like this only hurts the poorer of society.
Biden's speech at the Civil Rights Commission Nomination Hearing in 1983
First some context into the hearing:
In 1983, Reagan attempted to fire three members of the commission. They sued the administration in federal court to stay on. The authorizing legislation stated that a president could only fire a commissioner for "misbehavior in office," and it was clear that the terminations were the result of disagreements over policy. A compromise brokered in the Senate resulted in the current hybrid group of eight, half appointed by the president and half by the Congress, with six-year terms that do not expire with the inauguration of a new president. Since that time the commission has struggled to remain independent, and its agenda has oscillated between liberal and conservative aims as factions among its members have ebbed and waned.
The commission's appraisal came less than three weeks after Mr. Reagan announced his intention to replace three members of the panel. It follows 19 months of growing conflict between the White House and commission members who have defiantly questioned the President's commitment to civil rights in education and employment, among other fields. All six members, including the chairman, Clarence M. Pendleton Jr., voted in favor of the statement today.
This clip of Biden speaking at the hearing was for the nomination of Reagan's nominees as Reagan tried to politicise the commission for his own benefit.
https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4804001/biden-civil-rights-commission
Interestingly he mentions he was strongly in favour of affirmative action. We know he opposed busing but I hadn't heard about affirmative action before. Reagan's appointed chairman opposed it as mentioned above.
An observation about Beto and the "media darling" syndrome
Beto's Senate run got huge publicity and made him nationally well known propelling his Presidential campaign. Yet since declaring I don't see or hear much about his campaign anymore in the media. At the start pundits were saying he was too full of platitudes, style not substance and that a lot of his appeal was that he was against Ted Cruz...and now that shine has worn off. Standing on tables, waving hands got a lot of laughs.
Well today Beto has published his stance and plan for LGBTQ rights. Following on from his comprehensive climate plan. Following on from his immigration plan and gun control plan. He has a team in place in Iowa to go with his retail politics skill. He has Obama campaign alumni on his campaign.
His Presidential campaign is full of substance. But his polls do not reflect it and that has to be down to the media ignoring him. It's like there is a notion that he had his 15 minutes during the mid-terms so they have to move to the new shiny toy. I don't think that is right and it certainly isn't fair.
The reaction to Biden's comment emphasises why We MUST win the Senate in 2020
Joe Biden - the so-called moderate candidate - has people saying he is deluded in thinking he can work with the Republicans. In that case Bernie and Warren are lame ducks before even being sworn in if the GOP hold the Senate.
You can have all the plans in the world but it is pointless if it does not have the votes, or more importantly if it is not even brought to a vote.
2020 is not just about removing Trump. We have to remove McConnell and his cronies!
Is there something to take from the New York Governorship Primary last year?
If you followed it on social media Andrew Cuomo was seen as a conniving bogeyman while Cynthia Nixon resonated with lots of positivity and following. Nixon did several national TV appearances to further boost her national profile as an actress turned progressive candidate while Cuomo was not very visible at all. In the only debate Nixon threw a lot of jabs at Cuomo calling him a liar, corrupt and corporate. He said Medicare For All is a noble cause which one day will be enacted but through the federal level first citing economics...she disagreed wholeheartedly saying the state can act first. He stumbled through the debate defending himself but his main cause for re-election was New York needs someone to take on Trump.
On all the metrics of who campaigned harder and whose campaign garnered more enthusiasm she won by a mile. Yet on the most important metric - the ballot - he won. Very easily in the end.
Biden's most recent public comments (elaborated) on environmental policy
January 2019, speaking at the Mayor's conference.
A question about Warren
Just a curiosity I have - Hillary got panned by progressives when her "Goldwater Girl" past was brought up. She was 17 at the time of the 1964 election and voting age at the time was 21. But Warren who was a Republican until 1996 (age 47) largely has escaped being asked about it on the trail.
Goldwater wanted to repeal the Civil Rights Act act in the 1960s, so did Reagan. Did Warren support Reaganomics which in many ways derailed the middle class she now has the plans to fix?
Now I like Warren, I've often said on here when it comes to policy details she is miles ahead of the rest. I would be happy to vote for her because she has a track record since being a democrat of progressivism. My curiosity is will her Republican past be a hindrance for her as it was for Hillary. Or have we reconciled that the attacks on Hillary were overblown?
'A Guiding Light and Inspiration.' Why 2020 Democratic Candidates Are Flocking to Jimmy Carter
A peanut farmer turned politician then worldwide humanitarian, Carter is taking on a special role as several Democratic candidates look to his family-run campaign after the Watergate scandal as the road map for toppling President Donald Trump in 2020.
“Jimmy Carter is a decent, well-meaning person, someone who people are talking about again given the time that we are in,” Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar said in an interview. “He won because he worked so hard, and he had a message of truth and honesty. I think about him all the time.”
Klobuchar is one of at least three presidential hopefuls who’ve ventured to the tiny town of Plains, Georgia, to meet with Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, who is 91. New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker and Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana, also have visited with the Carters, including attending the former president’s Sunday School lesson in Plains.
Carter had planned to teach at Maranatha Baptist Church again Sunday, but he is still recuperating at home days after hip replacement surgery following a fall as he was preparing for a turkey hunt.
“An extraordinary person,” Buttigieg told reporters after meeting Carter. “A guiding light and inspiration,” Booker said in a statement. Klobuchar has attended Carter’s church lesson, as well, and says she emails with him occasionally. “He signs them ‘JC,'” she said with a laugh.
It’s quite a turnabout for a man who largely receded from party politics after his presidency, often without being missed by his party’s leaders in Washington, where he was an outsider even as a White House resident.
To be sure, more 2020 candidates have quietly sought counsel from Trump’s predecessor, former President Barack Obama. Several have talked with former President Bill Clinton, who left office in 2001. But those huddles have been more hush-hush, disclosed through aides dishing anonymously. Sessions with Carter, on the other hand, are trumpeted on social media and discussed freely, suggesting an appeal that Obama and Clinton may not have.
http://time.com/5591544/2020-democrats-jimmy-carter/
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