Subtle messaging, subtler approach.
I actually had to laugh. I mean, this is actually pretty standard R v. D messaging but it's just so Trump. But, yeah, if there was any doubt as to the primary wedge he'll attempt to drive...
It continues to amaze/frighten me how dumb Americans are that "socialism" has been turned into a four letter word. Because what are Trump's farm subsidies? Next thing he will be flying banners that one of the Dems had the nerve to have his epidermis showing during the debate...
We're headed into the debate this evening with Biden still mostly ahead in primary polls and also leading in the H-to-H polls w/ Trump. Warren and Sanders continue to jockey for second and at least in certain policy areas appear to be philosophically aligned, though their bases of support are different. I guess the rest of the folks that made it to the main stage need something, anything to ignite their candidacies. True to nature, Warren released another plan on the eve of the debate. Harris seems to still be falling the hardest and her policies are really getting blasted lately by the left.
We'll see if tonight Bernie and Warren go at each other instead of tag teaming Biden. I'd been surprised in past debates how aggressively the candidates went after Obama-era policies and that administration. This article from Politico examines some of the tension with Warren and Obama over the bail-out and the CFPB, which I found interesting.
I guess season's change. GWB and Trump are politically and personally on opposite ends of the spectrum but the party has wholesale moved on from the GWB era. Still, Warren or Sanders, if the candidate, are going to want Barack and Michelle on the campaign trail so I'd probably tread carefully.
As always, the candidates will have some interesting things to discuss about Trump. He again sided with the NK dictator (over people that once worked for him) and joked about an unconstitutional 3rd term on the eve of 9/11, a day on which he once gave a radio interview noting that his was now the tallest building in that area of NY.
Should be an interesting evening...
Potential corruption with Trump hotels, complaining about polls on 9/11, authoritarian behavior regarding Alabama and the hurricane...
It's the Bob Huggins strategy: a fair and unbiased referee would call every single foul, but doing so would LOOK biased and unfair to a casual observer. So lots of fouls don't get called. I think the same thing holds true for undecided voters, so Democrats will have to be careful in trying to win votes.
Really not sure if this means anything (it is polling, and it is early), but Trump has always been in the 80s in R primary polling. Two polls out today have him in the mid 70s. The funny thing is, it's not like other candidates are biting into his share, their numbers aren't going up, his are just going down.
https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com...ent-primary-r/
Ok, I gave you over 24 hours to respond, which I think was fair. But curiosity got the best of me. It’s my feline nature (Leo born in the Year of the Tiger).
And I have this little obsession with the truth. I guess you were talking about this:
https://www.npr.org/2019/09/10/75965...ional-election
If you’re going to bring the snark against one of my posts, you better also bring the facts.President Trump partially credited himself for Bishop's victory in a tweet Tuesday night:
Dan Bishop was down 17 points 3 weeks ago. He then asked me for help, we changed his strategy together, and he ran a great race. Big Rally last night. Now it looks like he is going to win. @CNN & @MSNBC are moving their big studio equipment and to talent out. Stay tuned!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 11, 2019
No public or private polling ever showed Bishop down by that much, and both parties acknowledged throughout the race that it was a neck-and-neck contest.
Julian Castro is freaking swinging...
At Biden in less than a minute, "are you forgetting what you just said 2 minutes ago" and "I'm fulfilling the legacy of Barack Obama and you're not." He went after Mayor Pete pretty hard, too, after the good Mayor tried to rise above.
I'll tell you, from the performance of debating, almost every person on stage talks circles around Biden right now. Maybe most folks like plain talk and not eloquence from their politicians but there's a difference these days w/ Biden...just doesn't process information nor is he as nimble in his thinking and speaking. Some of that can be attributed to his lifelong stuttering challenges but he's lost a step.
Last edited by bundabergdevil; 09-12-2019 at 08:48 PM.
Yup. Not sure how a 2% Castro trying to torpedo Biden as a fading senior, or a Tulsi Gabbard torpedoing a surging Harris last time, helps the Dems. Or a 0.5% DeBlasio stalking Biden on every chance possible last time helped.
I know the Dems want to appear open and fair after Bernie backers made last time around. But damn, all this does is help Trump by letting minor players attack the leaders.
And folks wonder why the GOP is squelching as many primaries as they can.
Castro keeps at it, going after Biden for cloaking himself in the Obama administration for "good" things and distancing himself from the "bad" things. I guess that's inevitable if they want to knock Biden down but I just don't know why the other candidates are attacking Obama's record --- to what political end, anyway.
I said it after the last debate but I think the Democrats - and in this case the questioner - are making a mistake to keep raising the deportations under the Obama administrations. The attack points make it sound like a lot of Democrats just don't believe in deportation at all , which is pretty out of step from most Democrats let alone the broader country. I think they're overreacting to Trump's extreme rhetoric and, in some cases, actions on this issue. It'd be pretty easy for candidates to say, "Serious offenders should be prioritized, as they were under the Obama administration but we need to return to a humane and practical immigration system..." or something like that.
Andrew Yang's quote about "my father grew up growing peanuts and living in a house with no floor, now his son is running for POTUS" was pretty baller...
Last edited by bundabergdevil; 09-12-2019 at 09:33 PM.
Surprisingly little about Trump, too. A couple of these candidates would do better to appear to be running against Trump and not just Biden, methinks.
You know no one thinks Beto can win because they all spent the entire gun control part of the debate talking about how great Beto handled the whole thing. That said, I think Beto is having a fairly good debate thus far.
I agree that Biden seems less sharp than most of the others, his answers just don't seem as coherent, like he is floundering around to make points. He rarely has applause lines or the kind of zingers that make headlines after the debate is done. That said, I think Biden scored a bit early on when he talked about Sanders and Warren not being able to pay for their plans and they both had somewhat weak responses to that. He should have pounced on that more than he did.
I'm having trouble picking a winner... not much I have seen to move the needle.
Why are you wasting time here when you could be wasting it by listening to the latest episode of the DBR Podcast?