Thursday, November 21, 2019

#DemDebate: The Aftermath


We're covering only the most important topics in this analysis.

-- Yangbangers waking up still mad about their bro not getting to talk.


-- Sure hope CloudButcher put on a sweater ... or took her Inderall.



Okay, seriously.

BobbleHeads Consensus: BootEdgeEdge won, Biden lost again.

At one point in the second hour, the moderators teed up Harris to hit Buttigieg on his lack of appeal with black voters. But she said she agreed with him! Buttigieg came across a bit too rote and programmatic for me -- at times it felt as though he was reciting a speech he memorized -- but his campaign will be thrilled that he walks away from this debate without a scratch on him. Plus, you will hear this line from Buttigieg a whole lot in the analysis of the debate: "I know that from the perspective of Washington, what goes on in my city might look small, but frankly, where we live, the infighting on Capitol Hill is what looks small."

The donor class is over the moon with the guy, but black voters aren't buying his con.  They're still willing to be swindled by Goofy Uncle Joe.

One awkward moment came when Booker called Biden out for his opposition to marijuana legalization -- a position that makes Biden more conservative than the median Republican on this issue, based on recent polls. In explaining his political appeal, Biden responded, “I’m part of that Obama coalition. I come out of a black community in terms of my support” -- a weird claim for a white candidate. He then suggested that the “only” black woman elected to the US Senate endorsed him, ignoring that one of the black women elected to the Senate, Harris, was right there on stage literally debating him. The whole moment drew laughter from the crowd and candidates.

The awkwardness came through even when Biden should have had good moments. He was asked in the debate about what he will do about the Me Too movement, and started talking about domestic violence — an obvious pivot for someone who helped pass the original Violence Against Women Act in the 1990s. Biden at first gave a solid answer on his record. Then he went with an unfortunate metaphor: “So we have to just change the culture, period, and keep punching at it and punching at it.” That was ... not the best choice of words for this issue.

Why do we have to keep reminding the Boomer African Americans propping up this zombie of his psychological infirmities?  Because once they get the message, his support scatters and we have a true picture of where this race is.

And it ain't with Pete Buttigieg as a contender.

Booker maybe did himself some good, and not just when he cracked jokes at the sundowning polling leader's expense.  Klobuchar's supporters think she did okay despite her onset of Parkinson's.  Liz Warren was rated both winner and loser on official scorecards; her foreign policy was the loser compared to Bernie's.  But the biggest losers were the debate moderators, who were heavily promoted despite their employers ignoring the sexual abuse elephant in the room.


As for the other gotchas, Gabbard wasn't owned by Pete and Booty didn't get punked by Gabby; that was a draw.  Harris didn't score on the major, either despite what the K-Hive is spinning.

This "debate" started late because of the impeachment hearings (nobody who has the time could possibly watch this much teevee about politics in one day without losing their mind), was frighteningly boring, and is already being drowned by today's hearings.  As a result it won't move anybody's needle.  There was a lot of pining for Julian Castro, which -- besides Bernie being right about everything -- was the most correct thing said or Tweeted about the evening.

No 2020 Update tomorrow but I will have the final installment of Houston city council district races previewed for the runoff now that the B lawsuit has settled that matter for the time being.
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Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Fight Night Five preview


No longer is there a clear front-runner. The fight for African American voters is raging. And there are growing concerns that impeachment may become a distraction from the primary. Those issues and more will play out Wednesday night when the Democratic Party’s top 10 face off in Atlanta just 75 days before primary voting begins.

I'll narrow the seven questions that the AP poses down to these four that I'll be listening for the answers to:

-- Who gets bashed besides Mayo Pete for lying about his non-existent black support, the billionaires in the race (and not), and Medicare for All by the shitty centrists?  Barack Obama perhaps?

(Obama), the most popular Democrat in America, inserted himself into the 2020 primary in recent days by warning candidates against moving too far to the left.  His comments create a challenge for Warren and Sanders and an opening for moderates Buttigieg, Biden and Amy Klobuchar to attack.  At the same time, Obama’s involvement offers a powerful reminder of the massive role African Americans will play in the presidential nomination process.  As we know, all candidates not named Biden have serious work to do when it comes to winning over the black vote.  Race and Obama’s legacy could play a major role in shaping the action.

-- Impeachment, baby?

(I)t’s noteworthy that five of the 10 Democrats onstage will serve as jurors in the Senate impeachment trial should the House vote to impeach President Donald Trump.  It’s a complicated topic for Democrats.  Some senators worry that a prospective impeachment trial will interfere with their ability to court voters early next year.  Others fear that impeachment could hurt their party’s more vulnerable candidates in down-ballot elections next year.  Either way, what the prospective jurors do or don’t say on the debate stage could be relevant if and when the Senate holds an impeachment trial, which is increasingly likely.

Bet heavily on Mitch McConnell fucking with the impeachment trial once he gets his hands on it.  It's what he does.  That's a concern for next year, though.

-- Does Warren have a better plan for avoiding the scalding she got on funding her (Bernie's) healthcare plan, aka M4A, than she did in the fourth debate?

No single issue has dominated the initial Democratic primary debates more than health care, and it’s safe to assume that will be the case again Wednesday night.  And no one has more riding on that specific debate than Warren, who hurt herself last month by stumbling through questions about the cost of her single-payer health care plan.  Given that policy specifics make up the backbone of her candidacy, she can’t afford another underwhelming performance on the defining policy debate of the primary season.  Expect the policy-minded senator to have a new strategy this time around.

-- Can one of the trailers bust out?

New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, and businessmen Andrew Yang and Tom Steyer are under enormous pressure to break out given their status as the only candidates onstage who haven’t yet qualified for the December debate.  They likely won’t have the same number of opportunities to speak as their higher-polling rivals, but these are dire times for the underdogs.  They need to do something if they expect to stay relevant in the 2020 conversation.

I am counting on a killshot from Major Gabbard at one or more of the crappy neoliberals.  It's a target-rich environment.

Tweeting tonight during, and a post tomorrow with as little spinning as can be found.
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Monday, November 18, 2019

The Weekly Wrangle

With the weekly round-up of blog posts, Tweets, and news from around and about our Great State, the Texas Progressive Alliance reminds you not to use your official letterhead envelopes to hold your cocaine.  Just in case you lose one at the airport.


The execution of Rodney Reed was stayed by court order.


As Democratic presidential candidates prepare to debate on Wednesday in Atlanta, neither of the two Texans will be on stage.  Beto O'Rourke's exit and Julián Castro's inability to meet the polling qualification leaves the Latinx vote in flux, both nationally and in the Lone Star State.


More immediate election news is also occupying Texas writers' interest.



Kuff did a series on who's filing to run in 2020: for Congress, statewide, and SBOE, Senate, and the Lege.  The filing deadline is December 10.

With the impeachment hearings taking center stage, a handful of Texas bloggers focused on the president.  G. Elliott Morris found some data that caught the cultural wave flipping Obama supporters to Trump (hint: for those about to rock, we don't salute you).  Paradise in Hell is trying to learn the lessons of the Trump regime.  Stephen Young at the Dallas Observer noted the local connection to Trump minion Mina Chang.  And the Supreme Court heard arguments regarding Trump's ending of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals immigration policy.



In other state capital news, the Texas Signal reminds us that redistricting technology does not have to be used for evil purposes, and the TSTA Blog explores the myth of the Texas Lottery.



Egberto Willies blogged about the National Organization for Women's rally in Houston, "Unlock the Future for Women and Girls", and has some video of the fireside chat ahead of it: "Organizing in the Face of Resistance".  The Rivard Report covers the Texas Mobility Summit in San Antonio.

Kanye West's appearance at Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church created something of a frenzy.





SocraticGadfly looks at the growing number of "Nones" and ponders the possible First Amendment implications, along with offering his own hopes.

Time to wrap up another Wrangle with some lighter news from last week.




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