Wednesday, March 04, 2020

Bloomberg is Out


They're falling like flies. What's left - Biden, Sanders and Warren? Mayor Mike has withdrawn. Bloomberg just kissed goodbye the half-billion dollars he wasted on his presidential bid but not before giving his Billionaire Boys Club endorsement to - Joe Biden.

A  lot of Bernie supporters will be licking their wounds this morning but, seriously, does anyone imagine that Sanders could set a policy agenda for America's deeply "bought and paid for" Congress? There are still many primaries to go between now and the beginning of June but it's now a come from behind race for Sanders.

As for Elizabeth Warren, the future is not looking rosy either. She came in third in her home state of Massachusetts last night. Biden came in first.
Ms. Warren lost after liberal voters split sharply between her and Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who flew into the state last weekend to campaign in hopes of dealing her a powerful setback. But instead it was former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. who came in first place in Massachusetts, winning voters over 50, moderates, black voters and even some liberals. 
The result represented her worst-case scenario. Ms. Warren had already finished in third place or worse in the early nominating states of Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina. That left her on the sidelines after Mr. Sanders and Mr. Biden picked up momentum and dominated the 16 Super Tuesday contests, which included delegate-rich states like California, Texas and North Carolina, as well as Democratic strongholds like Massachusetts.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Biden can't beat Trump in the presidential elections. Biden is tainted by the Ukraine scandal. Even though Biden didn't do anything wrong (apparently), Trump will be all over Biden about Ukraine. It will be so overpowering that much doubt will be cast in many people's minds.

Anonymous said...

Great, a race to the finish between the two oldest codgers - Biden at 77 and Sanders at 78 with a heart attack. Trump is a youthful 73 by comparison. Let the cane swinging begin.

Cap

The Disaffected Lib said...

We'll see, Anon. The Covid-19 could wreck DJT's campaign. In his rancid cost-cutting/deregulation orgy Trump defunded government services that it badly needs today to cope with the virus. And then he pawns the problem off on a religious nutjob - Pence. In the works Trump has a plan to strip medical coverage for 22 million Americans when the neatly-stacked USSC rules against Obamacare. It's not that most of their Republican-leaning countrymen give a shit about those 22 million. It's that they are from an underclass that the US economy and society depend on and, like it or not, interact with.

Congress shut down most of Obama's legislative agenda. Do you think Bernie would have fared any better, really?

The Disaffected Lib said...

Cap, get a grip. Charlie Watts is 78. The youngest Stone is Ronnie Wood, now closing in on 73. Together they've clocked 304 years on terra firma. And I've got a ticket to see them play Vancouver in May if concerts are still a thing by then.

Anonymous said...

I do think Bernie would do better than Biden. For whatever reason, Trump hasn't attacked Bernie as much as other Democrats (unless I've been missing the attacks). Does Trump even have a derogatory name for Bernie? Unfortunately, zingers trump policy in elections now.

I can't think of anybody in recent years in the US or Canada that is as far left as Bernie. I think it would be really interesting to see how his policies would play out. Would the citizens be better off or worse off?

You're right, we'll see in November.

Northern PoV said...

When I saw the Biden win in MA, I thought it's all over for Bernie, the machine has crushed another good one.

"Voter turnout" in the USA is all about the reactionary, older, muddle-in-the-middle voters crushing the aspirations of the progressive youth.

But this has been a bumpy ride so far. Liz was on top, then not. Biden led, then bled while Bernie surged. Bloomberg bought some good polling results. Now Joe is back on top.

So ... if we get to see a Bernie/Biden debate, and Biden has a 'bad night' (i.e. his cognitive failure on full display), will there be buyers' remorse for the new front runner?

Anonymous said...

Enjoy the show, Mound. I last saw them with AC/DC at the SARS gig in T.O. When I saw the price of tix for their show last summer, I couldn't pull the trigger. I had to settle for sitting a few rows behind Keef at the Toronto Film Festival. Not quite the same as a concert...

Cap

The Disaffected Lib said...

Anon, it's long been my opinion that the American public has been groomed or indoctrinated especially since 9/11. How often do they claim to see what they merely imagine? I have gone into the used books web sites to locate materials that chronicle how the German people collectively changed or were groomed between 1918 and 1933. It's a dark tale but the parallels in what happened during and after Weimar and the modern American experience are worrisome.

If Americans were again of an 'E Pluribus Unum' frame of mind, Bernie might be a godsend. Only they're not. They stand fractured today along so many lines - political, economic, social, regional and cultural - that social cohesion has been reduced to smoking ashes. I don't believe for a second that's inadvertent because it has enabled wealth and political power to be siphoned out of the working classes, blue and white collar alike, and straight into what is now a plutocracy. I don't use the term "plutocracy" casually. That's the conclusion of two profs, Gilens (Princeton) and Page (Northwestern) in a paper published by Princeton in 2014.

The Disaffected Lib said...

NPoV you pose questions I can't begin to answer. We'll all have to wait and see.

Anonymous said...

I think you all missing some points of importance here. Age maybe a factor but then one looks to who would take over. Bottom line are the Trump policy affects since he's been in office. Lets take into account US taxpayers from both parties have been paying for 8 wars ---corporate welfare to the max degree and seen all their previously paid for services and programs iron-down to lint levels. So is there any reason to still call the US a democracy, when there is really only 1 party and the other is the also ran?

For my way of thinking the US is no different than any mass country of oligarchs swilling all they can and to hell with the environment, clean water, food or bridges not falling down.....If the Coronavirus plays out the way its screwing the global economy....there won't be much left even for investment banks to 'short'. The Fed has been covering major losses for some time---fraud fines no longer affect investment bank's reputations....So whats left?
Never thought the WHO and UN would follow in lock step to cover for asinine investment firms and corporate world-wide debt, but that is whats going on. Let 1918 Pandemic numbers were 500 MILLION INFECTED---50 to 100 MILLION DEAD---NO DRUG OR VACCINE TREATMENTS--lasted 15 MONTHS before it petered out.....Compared to 90,000 INFECTED---3000 dead----and all the drug companies drooling over their vaccines and drug profits to be....? Disgusting...?

The Disaffected Lib said...

So now we have the UN and WHO conspiring with the global financial sector, do we? That's pretty big talk. What do you have to back it up. That would be something pretty earth-shaking. What have you got?

As for the 1918 influenza pandemic, this sounds like a FaceBook anti-vaxxer rant is coming. I assume you know better than the WHO and the medical establishment of every country in the
OECD. What are your medical credentials?

C'mon, you've got to come up with something better than a social media meme.