I just want to extend props and kudos to Christopher, Fred, Terry, and all of your supporters for the outstanding performance of Mr. Biden tonight — especially here in Massachusetts.
This is a night for all of you to savor, and I offer each of you my sincere congratulations.
Please share widely!
Joe Biden 1, Social Security 0
https://theintercept.com/2020/01/13/biden-cuts-social-security/
The question of what happens with Social Security and Medicare today and tomorrow is far more important than what’s happened in the past.
Bernie Sanders has been in Congress for nearly as long as Joe Biden. What has Mr. Sanders accomplished for Social Security and Medicare in those thirty years? I’m not asking what Mr. Sanders has pounded the table about. I’m asking what legislation has he sponsored and championed that has been signed into law.
Of the campaigns and movements we’ve seen so far, which is most likely to remove Mitch McConnell and Lindsay Graham from leadership roles in the Senate in addition to winning the White House?
Where has Bernie Sanders provoked the massive turnout and enthusiasm among ALL the voters that Joe Biden did across the East and South tonight? Where is the counterpart to the landslide in North Carolina and South Carolina? How is it that Joe Biden swept Massachusetts, pushing aside both Mr. Sanders and Ms. Warren?
Social Security and Medicare will be saved by tens of millions of Americans demanding that it be saved. I’m quite certain that its future is safer in blue, rather than red, hands.
I’m confident that a Democratic Senate that includes Bernie Sanders, Amy Klobuchar, and Elizabeth Warren and a Democratic House led by Nancy Pelosi is not going to let Joe Biden, Donald Trump, or anybody else hurt Social Security and Medicare.
That’s good enough for me.
Neat logic: I do not care that you tried to kidnap someone yesterday, as I figure there will be some cops to stop you if you try it again tomorrow.
Even neater logic: The candidate overwhelmingly preferred by current and soon-to-be recipients of Social Security and Medicare (boomers) is a loss for Social Security and Medicare.
California and the Latino majority parts of Texas. Not trying to be snarky, Biden clearly outperformed Bernie among working class whites and black voters. Bernie out performed Biden with youth and Latinos. So the question is how does Biden reach out to the Sanders wing to unite the party and vice verse? Obviously we can’t put two septuagenarians on the ticket, AOC is too young (although It’s unfortunate since she’d be perfect for this role), so that leaves me wondering what VP excites progressives and Latinos to vote for Biden? I’m not sure.
I agree and noticed the strength of Mr. Sanders in those regions.
The difference I see is that, at least at the moment, it appears that Mr. Sanders accomplishes those gains by pushing away the rest of the population — he stands outside the mainstream and demands that it follow him and join his “revolution”. Mr. Biden seems to be pursuing a strategy of standing well within the mainstream and reaching out to welcome suffering minorities into his tent..
I don’t think the choice of VP will make much difference — I think it’s a highly overrated aspect of a campaign and nomination. It certainly is true that the wrong nomination can hurt a campaign (cf Sarah Palin, Joe Lieberman), I can’t think of any nominations that actively helped a campaign.
I can think of one, and he is the current front runner for the Democratic nomination. I think Biden could go in a similar direction and elevate Booker or Harris. Both were very sharp on the debate stage and fluent in policy. What they were not, especially Harris, is particularly well known to a wider electorate. Both come from blue states with blue governors so it is not the same kind of risk you’d get with Baldwin or Brown.
Klobuchar would be solid, and MN is one of the few Hillary states Trump could credibly target, but I also worry there is nothing there for progressives. So uniting both wings seems imperative.
I’m not sure that picking any of the other front-runners would have changed the final outcome very much — of course, we’ll never know.
I think Barack Obama would have been elected by a significant majority with or without Joe Biden.
I do think, and noted above, that Mr. McCain’s nomination of Sarah Palin drove away a significant number of potential McCain voters.
Can we PLEASE focus on his plans for THIS race? (Item III at the link)
The idea that any Democrat is going to cut Social Security is laughable, especially when Donald Trump is flip flopping on his 2016 promises not touch them and is now saying he will cut Social Security and Medicare.
Thank you, SomervilleTom. And thank you for supporting Elizabeth Warren, who is one of a small handful of the very most effective and valuable public servants in this country.
Tom, I respect and admire your steadfast support for our friend, Elizabeth Warren. She is fortunate indeed to have loyal advocates like you.
Let me add my own congratulations to the group! This was a stunning victory, executed on a shoestring budget I might add. I think both the leading candidates along with Sen. Warren and Mayor Bloomberg have a lot of difficult decisions to make in the next couple of weeks. It is my hope they can continue to put the good of the party in November above their own personal interests. Moving forward to beat Trump has to be the goal.
Thanks, I’m actually still processing how wrong the polls were in this case. They either had Sanders a few points ahead of Warren for the lead or those two neck in neck. Part of me wanted her to save face in her home state.