There are 55 comments.

1. Moderator
   James Hageman

   Eustace C. Scrubb (View Comment):

   Yang seems to be a decent human being, so obviously there is no place for him in the race.

   Exactly my sentiment

2. Coolidge
   MichaelKennedy

   jmelvin (View Comment):

   I have read others suggest that the Bloomberg campaign was not a serious attempt for the presidency, but was more intended to garner support for his anti-life, anti-self defense crusade (which includes Moms Demand Action, Every Town for Gun Safety, and other like minded groups). However his racist roots have recently been exposed and this exposure surely cannot help those who care little whether minorities or the poor can adequately defend themselves from criminals win public office on the ruse that they just want everyone to be safer.

   I don’t know that his support for law enforcement when Mayor should be called “racist.” Unless you know more, I would object to that description. Who are the victims of black crime ? He is a nasty authoritarian type, so I would not want him anywhere near the presidency but would object to calling him racist unless there is more evidence,

3. Coolidge
   MichaelKennedy

   RufusRJones (View Comment):

   Arahant (View Comment):

   I think Trump has problems because he lacks civic executive experience and civic knowledge.

   That may be a small problem, but the larger problem is that the organization was stacked against him coming in.

   Right, I agree with that. I think his ability to deal with the media and his ability to have a fresh look about government was worth it etc, etc.

   Another example that is interesting is Mike Bloomberg. He owned a monopoly and he had zero civic executive experience but by all accounts NYC ran like a watch. There was a really excellent guest column in the New York Post about this. It was by a lefty lawyer that worked in social services in New York City. The idea of the column is Bloomberg really helped people, solve problems and cared about lower level executives and their opinions. She said when Deblasio got in it became highly political and dysfunctional.

   My guess is he knew how to get a really good executive team together to help him.

   I kind of disagree about his term as Mayor. There were problems with snow removal and superstorm Sandy. The lefties may have liked his nanny statism and gun control but he spent a lot of time bloviating on world problems when not running the city. I should add I avoid NYC like the plague so have no first hand experience.

4. Coolidge
   JamesSalerno

   I’m glad Yang is out just so I don’t have to put up with his fans anymore. Yang is not an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs make stuff that people want. Yang is a “want-trepreneur.” Want-trepreneurs create non-profit bureaucracies on taxpayer dollars. Just look at this resume: he founded “Venture For America.” The Obama administration knighted him a “Champion of Change” and a “Presidential Ambassador for Global Entrepreneurship.” Cringe-worthy. No private sector experience, the antithesis of an entrepreneur.

   He pulled the wool over everyone’s eyes because he said a lot of math-stuff to make his brand of parasitism sound intellectual. UBI sure sounds like a great idea when you have no work experience.

5. Member
   Front Seat Cat

   The Democrats still live in an information bubble. Warren isn’t popular outside of Mass. They kept propping up Biden even though he was not strong from the get-go, Bloomberg – ugh – the personality of a drone, plus wrong gender, color and income level for Democrats. The worrisome one is Bernie. As Carville called him, an old Bolshevik…..but something about him connects with liberals and the youth….it’s called socialism, and Obama laid the foundations. If you stop and think that this man could ever be president, it makes your stomach turn over and your heart sink…….our Founders would have never believed that this is where we would be in the future.

6. Member
   colleenb

   Painter Jean (View Comment):

   Hailing from Minnesota, I can tell you that Amy Klobuchar only won her seat because her name was a household word due to her father – a frankly mediocre, nasty fellow – being a columnist at the Minneapolis Star Tribune newspaper for ages. Take away that familiar last name, and I doubt she would have been elected. So I am astonished that, 1 – she entered the presidential race; and 2 – that she’s doing as well as she is. It points to the weakness of the Democratic field.

   Thanks for the background.

7. Inactive
   rgbact

    

   Pretty good nite for Never Trumpers. Progressives took a major hit for the Democrats, with both Sanders and Warren way underperforming, while the best moderate Dem option (Amy Klobochar) had a breakout nite. Also, Bill Weld got nearly 10% of the GOP vote vs. Trump, which is pretty good given most independents probably voted in the D primary.

   https://theweek.com/speedreads/895375/trumps-gop-challenger-bill-weld-did-surprisingly-well-new-hampshire-primary

    

8. Member
   colleenb

   Jon1979 (View Comment):

   Painter Jean (View Comment):

   Hailing from Minnesota, I can tell you that Amy Klobuchar only won her seat because her name was a household word due to her father – a frankly mediocre, nasty fellow – being a columnist at the Minneapolis Star Tribune newspaper for ages. Take away that familiar last name, and I doubt she would have been elected. So I am astonished that, 1 – she entered the presidential race; and 2 – that she’s doing as well as she is. It points to the weakness of the Democratic field.

   Going by the (admittedly slim) voting data of the first two weeks, it looks like about a third of Bernie’s 2016 support wasn’t so much Bernie Bro votes as they were ‘Anybody but Hillary’ votes — Sanders was the only other game in town four years ago, but with more options to choose from in 2020, those voters are looking for someone they think will be more palatable to swing voters this fall.

   So Bernie’s ‘floor’ of die hard supporters is about 25-26 percent, where Trump’s floor four years ago was in the range of 30-32 percent. Doesn’t seem like that big a difference, but it’s the difference between having to get a quarter of the primary voters on your side to upend Sanders versus having to get a third of them every week in 2016 to beat Trump. So the bar for success is lower for Klobuchar to get into the game, but her problem is she’s battling Mayor Pete, and come Super Tuesday, Mayor Mike for that same lane to get to 25 percent or more to upend Bernie. That’s also tougher to do with Warren and Biden still splitting about 15 percent of the vote.

   She might end up being the one to come out of it, but it would be against type for the Democrats — after three years of cheering on politicians who made the wildest claims/attacks possible against Trump — to suddenly decide to go for the most charisma-challenged/Dukakis-like option in Amy Klobuchar.

   Dukakis-like or maybe Dukakis-lite as she seems to have even less going for her than he did. I’m stealing keeping your phrase for future use.

9. Member
   colleenb

   RufusRJones (View Comment):

   I just got done listening to Breitbart News Tonight lay out all of Peter Schweitzer’s dirt on Klobuchar. It doesn’t sound like a very manageable situation for her.

   Need to check out Schweitzer’s book. I didn’t realize Amy was in it so thanks for the heads up.

10. Member
    colleenb

    MichaelKennedy (View Comment):

    jmelvin (View Comment):

    I have read others suggest that the Bloomberg campaign was not a serious attempt for the presidency, but was more intended to garner support for his anti-life, anti-self defense crusade (which includes Moms Demand Action, Every Town for Gun Safety, and other like minded groups). However his racist roots have recently been exposed and this exposure surely cannot help those who care little whether minorities or the poor can adequately defend themselves from criminals win public office on the ruse that they just want everyone to be safer.

    I don’t know that his support for law enforcement when Mayor should be called “racist.” Unless you know more, I would object to that description. Who are the victims of black crime ? He is a nasty authoritarian type, so I would not want him anywhere near the presidency but would object to calling him racist unless there is more evidence,

    I think @jmelvin is (1) referring to the tapes which don’t sound great and are probably not really racist except for SJWs and (2) aforementioned SJWs consider any law enforcement of any kind racist.

11. Coolidge
    Stad

    JamesSalerno (View Comment):

    I’m glad Yang is out just so I don’t have to put up with his fans anymore. Yang is not an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs make stuff that people want. Yang is a “want-trepreneur.” Want-trepreneurs create non-profit bureaucracies on taxpayer dollars. Just look at this resume: he founded “Venture For America.” The Obama administration knighted him a “Champion of Change” and a “Presidential Ambassador for Global Entrepreneurship.” Cringe-worthy. No private sector experience, the antithesis of an entrepreneur.

    He pulled the wool over everyone’s eyes because he said a lot of math-stuff to make his brand of parasitism sound intellectual. UBI sure sounds like a great idea when you have no work experience.

    And Yang was an anti-circumcision activist . . .

12. Coolidge
    Stad

    If I were Bernie, the last person I’d want close behind me is Buttigieg. Just sayin’ . . .

13. Member
    Arahant

    Stad (View Comment):

    If I were Bernie, the last person I’d want close behind me is Buttigieg. Just sayin’ . . .

    I was just thinking that, but thought, “Where is Stad when you need him?”

14. Coolidge
    Stad

    Arahant (View Comment):

    Stad (View Comment):

    If I were Bernie, the last person I’d want close behind me is Buttigieg. Just sayin’ . . .

    I was just thinking that, but thought, “Where is Stad when you need him?”

    And where’s my wife when I need her? We were going to have lunch with some friends today, but she had to beg off because something came up. I said, “Don’t worry, I’ll contradict everything I say for you!”

15. Member
    colleenb

    Arahant (View Comment):

    Stad (View Comment):

    If I were Bernie, the last person I’d want close behind me is Buttigieg. Just sayin’ . . .

    I was just thinking that, but thought, “Where is Stad when you need him?”

    You are both very bad. Although it gets back to my original thought about Mayor Cheat Pete – his last name reminds you of, er, his proclivities actions self-proclaimed identity.

16. Member
    RufusRJones

     

    Here's Amy Klobuchar in 2006 talking taking a hardline stance on immigration, supporting a border fence and even criticizing the Bush administration for not cracking down on companies hiring illegal immigrants.

    "We need to get order at the border." pic.twitter.com/bJcsfCQlON

    — Walker Bragman (@WalkerBragman) February 12, 2020

     

    It has begun #TCNT https://t.co/NPpr5CBNUc

    — Drew “Surging” Lee (@AndrewLeeTCNT) February 12, 2020

     

     

17. Coolidge
    MichaelKennedy

    Front Seat Cat (View Comment):

    The Democrats still live in an information bubble. Warren isn’t popular outside of Mass. They kept propping up Biden even though he was not strong from the get-go, Bloomberg – ugh – the personality of a drone, plus wrong gender, color and income level for Democrats. The worrisome one is Bernie. As Carville called him, an old Bolshevik…..but something about him connects with liberals and the youth….it’s called socialism, and Obama laid the foundations. If you stop and think that this man could ever be president, it makes your stomach turn over and your heart sink…….our Founders would have never believed that this is where we would be in the future.

    Remember what happened to the stock market in 1974 when the left took Congress. It was 6 years plus of inflation and depression at the same time,. Jerry Ford called it “Stagflation.”

18. Coolidge
    MichaelKennedy

    rgbact (View Comment):

     

    Pretty good nite for Never Trumpers. Progressives took a major hit for the Democrats, with both Sanders and Warren way underperforming, while the best moderate Dem option (Amy Klobochar) had a breakout nite. Also, Bill Weld got nearly 10% of the GOP vote vs. Trump, which is pretty good given most independents probably voted in the D primary.

    https://theweek.com/speedreads/895375/trumps-gop-challenger-bill-weld-did-surprisingly-well-new-hampshire-primary

     

    Hilarious.

    https://twitter.com/parscale/status/1227606528150134789

    118,000 votes. More than twice any other president got in that primary.

19. Inactive
    rgbact

    MichaelKennedy (View Comment):

    rgbact (View Comment):

    Pretty good nite for Never Trumpers. Progressives took a major hit for the Democrats, with both Sanders and Warren way underperforming, while the best moderate Dem option (Amy Klobochar) had a breakout nite. Also, Bill Weld got nearly 10% of the GOP vote vs. Trump, which is pretty good given most independents probably voted in the D primary

    Hilarious.

    https://twitter.com/parscale/status/1227606528150134789

    118,000 votes. More than twice any other president got in that primary.

    Bragging about getting lotsa votes in whats supposed to be an uncompetitive primary, isn’t the sick brag you and Brad think it is. Btw, lemme know if you fellas are confused about how percentages work. I can help.

20. Member
    Unsk

    Great work, Left Coast. Very interesting post I haven’t seen anywhere else. 

    The problem for the Dems is who fits the Anti- Sanders savior figure?

    Bloomberg might be trouble because allegedly he will spend $2 Billion on a campaign but otherwise voting for an Oligarch seems like the last thing most radicals will want to do.

    My fear is that Michelle Obama will enter the race. She as a stand in for Buraq she could unite the party and give Trump a run for his money. The good news is that she seems to want to be as far away from running as possible.

    Other than her, I see no Anti- Sanders Savior. Sundance at CTH maintains that when you look at the data, Bernie is close to leading everywhere for the Dems because we have so many brainwashed fashionable Lefties out there that abhor anything close that could be called a middle of road sell out. 

21. Member
    Ontheleftcoast

    colleenb (View Comment):

    MichaelKennedy (View Comment):

    jmelvin (View Comment):

    I have read others suggest that the Bloomberg campaign was not a serious attempt for the presidency, but was more intended to garner support for his anti-life, anti-self defense crusade (which includes Moms Demand Action, Every Town for Gun Safety, and other like minded groups). However his racist roots have recently been exposed and this exposure surely cannot help those who care little whether minorities or the poor can adequately defend themselves from criminals win public office on the ruse that they just want everyone to be safer.

    I don’t know that his support for law enforcement when Mayor should be called “racist.” Unless you know more, I would object to that description. Who are the victims of black crime ? He is a nasty authoritarian type, so I would not want him anywhere near the presidency but would object to calling him racist unless there is more evidence,

    I think @jmelvin is (1) referring to the tapes which don’t sound great and are probably not really racist except for SJWs and (2) aforementioned SJWs consider any law enforcement of any kind racist.

    And (3) aforementioned SJWs are now a growing, if not the major, power center in the Party, and the Party is not immune from the threatening violence if the SJWs don’t get their way. Bernie bros have already committed significant acts of political terrorism against Republicans. If the Democrats rig the game against Bernie again, I doubt that the Democrat Party will get off scot free. 

22. Member
    Ontheleftcoast

    Unsk (View Comment):

    Great work, Left Coast. Very interesting post I haven’t seen anywhere else.

    The problem for the Dems is who fits the Anti- Sanders savior figure?

    Bloomberg might be trouble because allegedly he will spend $2 Billion on a campaign but otherwise voting for an Oligarch seems like the last thing most radicals will want to do.

    My fear is that Michelle Obama will enter the race. She as a stand in for Buraq she could unite the party and give Trump a run for his money. The good news is that she seems to want to be as far away from running as possible.

    Other than her, I see no Anti- Sanders Savior. Sundance at CTH maintains that when you look at the data, Bernie is close to leading everywhere for the Dems because we have so many brainwashed fashionable Lefties out there that abhor anything close that could be called a middle of road sell out.

    There’s a lot of talk on the Left about a brokered convention. Steve Bannon thinks Bloomberg’s money is being spent to buy the DNC in order to push his pet agendas and to force a brokered convention that would draft Hillary. I could see Michelle Obama, too. 

    Mark Levin thinks Bloomberg is an oligarch, but China’s rather than Russian. That he’s financially tied to the PRC enough that he will sell out the US. Bloombert is not only personally hostile to Trump, Trump’s trade policies have hurt Bloomberg’s masters in China. Levin didn’t say this, but his analysis makes Bloomberg sound sort of like the Armand Hammer of the early 21st century. 

    GoogleFace may not like Bernie’s overt anticorporatism, but I bet they could sell his (or any) Democrat administration into a contract with them for a social/social justice credit + anti “fake news” service.

23. Contributor
    James Lileks

    “Order at the Border” is my second-favorite Jethro Tull song.

24. Member
    jmelvin

    MichaelKennedy (View Comment):

    jmelvin (View Comment):

    I have read others suggest that the Bloomberg campaign was not a serious attempt for the presidency, but was more intended to garner support for his anti-life, anti-self defense crusade (which includes Moms Demand Action, Every Town for Gun Safety, and other like minded groups). However his racist roots have recently been exposed and this exposure surely cannot help those who care little whether minorities or the poor can adequately defend themselves from criminals win public office on the ruse that they just want everyone to be safer.

    I don’t know that his support for law enforcement when Mayor should be called “racist.” Unless you know more, I would object to that description. Who are the victims of black crime ? He is a nasty authoritarian type, so I would not want him anywhere near the presidency but would object to calling him racist unless there is more evidence,

    I don’t object to his support for law enforcement, except where law enforcement engages in activities barred by the US Constitution. However my comments about his racism stem from comments that come from his own mouth mis-characterizing some minorities and crime, generally. It is his contempt for non-whites that has come out in various speeches that cause me to call him what I did. I know some of it recently was aired (just this week), but other bits have too in recent years. I’d have to go digging to find my references.

25. Coolidge
    Stad

    colleenb (View Comment):

    Arahant (View Comment):

    Stad (View Comment):

    If I were Bernie, the last person I’d want close behind me is Buttigieg. Just sayin’ . . .

    I was just thinking that, but thought, “Where is Stad when you need him?”

    You are both very bad. Although it gets back to my original thought about Mayor Cheat Pete – his last name reminds you of, er, his proclivities actions self-proclaimed identity.

    Speaking of his last name, here’s a pronunciation guide: