Saturday, November 09, 2019

The Weekly Twenty Twenty Update

YouGov is polling Texans right now on the Democratic presidential primary and Senate race, so look for some fresh numbers, post-Beto, shortly.  The survey includes this question:

-- "I would prefer to support a candidate who is willing to take on established interests to fight for big ideas and pass legislation that will bring about larger changes"

-- "I would prefer to support a candidate who is willing to compromise with Republicans to work together and pass legislation that will bring about incremental changes"

Those are the choices, aren't they?  The two answers to the question, besides 'do nothing and see what happens' (the GOP answer).

At a moment in history when the science concludes that our Earth is within 12 years of being uninhabitable; when hundreds of people die every day because they cannot afford to go see a doctor or pay for their medicine; when one generation, or class, or creed says to another, "If you will just wait ! ..." when there is no time left; when waiting means dying ... then the philosophical divide -- the political division -- comes into tighter focus.

I've always felt it was about empathy.  Conservatives have little to none, centrist liberals have some to varying degrees, and progressives have ... well, too much for our own good at times.  This is why Bernie Sanders speaks to me when he says: "Will you fight for someone you do not know?"

Because he always has.

On to the horse race.



"OK Bloomer" was a big hit briefly, for flowers, bread, and old-fashioned underwear.  For the billionaire who has reconsidered his withdrawal from the primary?  Not so much.

Sneaky Pete also had a bad week.



What he's offering is yet another bastardization of the word 'progressive'.


**APPLAUSE**


Makes me long for video of Amy Klobuchar eating a salad with a comb.

But the best snark came from sad/mad Betocrats under the at-least-initially-serious hashtag #PeteforGovernor.


And *BOOM*



Hard to top all of this with some serious news, but I'll give it a go.

Billionaires Behaving Badly:



It's not Elizabeth Warren that all of these wealthy people, Wall Street, etc. are worried about.  She's just a strawman for Bernie.  Allow Hillary Clinton to demonstrate.



Which begs the question ...


Not snark.  Totally serious.

Couple more things.

On November 1, Jacob G. Hornberger declared for the Libertarian Party’s presidential nomination. He is better known than the other declared candidates for that nomination. In 2000 he sought the party’s presidential nomination, losing to Harry Browne. For many decades he has headed the Future of Freedom Foundation.

Hornberger hails originally from Laredo.

We know about Facebook's refusals to police lying in political advertising on their platform, and via Election Law Blog's Rick Hasen ...

Issue One’s latest report, “Digital Disaster: The failures of Facebook, Google, and Twitter’s political ad transparency policies,” reveals how piecemeal, voluntary approaches by the largest social media platforms to stop disinformation campaigns fail to protect our political system from foreign interference.

As the report shows clearly, the companies’ political ad transparency policies are a mess, and they do not measure up to the existing standards governing political ads on broadcast television and radio or the guidelines set by the bipartisan Honest Ads Act. The databases of political ads that they’ve created to help the public monitor digital ad spending in U.S. elections are also deeply flawed.

Yes, yes, don't believe everything you read online.  And certainly don't retweet or republish it on Facebook if it's a questionable source.


Their heads are quite clearly not in their hands.

Don't we have more important things to worry about, anyway?

This book should be a best-seller.

And hey, we've got ten for the debate in eleven days (but not Castro, unfortunately).

The clock is ticking for Democratic presidential contenders hoping to make the fifth debate on November 20 -- just 4 days left to qualify-- and the sixth debate on Dec. 19. And a new survey of the Iowa caucuses by Quinnipiac University has given two candidates the final qualifying poll they need. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard got 3 percent support in the new poll, which qualifies her for the November debate, while Sen. Amy Klobuchar earned 5 percent, putting her on the December stage. By our count, this means 10 candidates have now made the fifth debate and six have qualified for the sixth, so let’s check in to see where things stand for the other candidates.

First up, the November debate. It looks as if Gabbard might be the last candidate to qualify by the Nov. 13 deadline. Of the six other “major” candidates who haven’t yet qualified but are still in the race, not one has a single qualifying poll for the fifth debate. Former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julián Castro has met the donor threshold, but he’s had no such luck in the polling department, so watch out -- Castro might drop out soon, as he has said it will be “the end of my campaign” if he doesn’t make the stage.

One thing driving the pundits' yaps furiously is where Beto's support may be going.  It seems clear it won't be going to Boot Edge Edge.
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