Friday, July 05, 2019

The Weekly Twenty Twenty Update

*Updates throughout.

I am as full of polls as Joey Chestnut is -- or was -- with hot dogs, so this Update is light on that news until they calm down.  Looking ahead, today and this weekend, let's see what the names on everybody's leaderboard are up to.

-- Biden was on CNN this morning crapping on AOC, and everything else 'soshulist'.

Former Vice President Joe Biden expressed deep skepticism of the leftward tilt of the Democratic Party in an exclusive interview with CNN airing Friday.

Biden, speaking with CNN's Chris Cuomo in Des Moines, Iowa, suggested that Medicare for All is irrational, argued that the majority of Democrats are "center left" not "way left," and said Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, while "brilliant" and "bright," did not represent Democrats who can win a general election in a competitive district or state.

The interview made clear that Biden, who is facing criticism from the left of the party amid an increasingly contentious Democratic primary, does not feel the need to sway to the left to capture the party's base and, instead, hopes to set himself apart by embracing his moderation.

Biden backed up that confidence by pointing to the 2018 midterm elections, where a host of swing districts were won by more moderate Democrats.


-- Ten candidates are in Houston today for the NEA forum.


-- Elizabeth Warren is having a town hall afterwards this evening at UH, her alma mater, and my state rep, Shawn Thierry, is moderating.


-- Kamala Harris is carrying on her feud with Biden about busing, now a week old, and oddly keeps walking back (i.e., flip-flopping) her position on it, as she has done w/r/t M4A.



^^This is a Twitter thread you should read all of.

Her repeated inability to stand for something without wavering is a chronic problem for the California senator, and by my view is squandering her debate momentum.  She has the charisma and the debate chops down pat, but there are indications that black female voters don't really trust her.

-- This reflects Mayo Pete's hard ceiling as well.  No matter how much money he raises, he won't get on the ticket -- top or bottom, no pun intended -- because of his inexperience and his problems with African Americans.  What he will be is one of the Democratic nominee's most valuable assets, in terms of fundraising and getting out the vote for the demographics with which he is so popular.  He might be the Donkeys' most valuable kingmaker this cycle.

Speaking of shoring up bonafides with the black community ... Buttigieg, Harris, a "reeling Beto O'Rourke" (I believe that was the word I used) and Cory Booker will all be speaking at the Essence Festival in New Orleans on Saturday afternoon.


-- So many in the media have tried to write Bernie off despite the evidence that contradicts their premature reports of his political demise.





-- Marianne Williamson made lemonade out of the lemons virtually everyone on social media and late night teevee squeezed on her.



She also clapped back at Vogue for leaving her out of the picture of Democratic women running for president by Photoshopping herself in.

-- And some Green Party developments, which Gadfly has already mentioned and were first reported on IPR, document internal strife over the inordinate preference shown Howie Hawkins by the GPUS.


David Collins had blogged just a few days prior:

... GPUS is not showing any pronounced preference for a particular candidate. Howie Hawkins, the many-time candidate for Governor of New York, may have the nationwide name recognition, but Dario Hunter and Ian Schlakman have strong followings, especially among young Greens.

(Hawkins and Hunter both spoke at the Texas Green Party state meeting last month.)

While the bickering rings of Hillary Clinton's minions denying Bernie Sanders the 2016 Dem nom, it's obvious to this observer that intra-party politics -- irrespective of party -- is riven with these Hatfield & McCoy feuds.  It's not dissimilar from what's happening locally.

More on the latest next Friday!
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