More tasty tidbits
A small sampling:
Sanders sends Democratic establishment into panic mode
"In 30-plus years of politics, I’ve never seen this level of doom. I’ve never had a day with so many people texting, emailing, calling me with so much doom and gloom,” said Matt Bennett of the center-left group Third Way after Sanders' win in Nevada
"Today is the most depressed I’ve ever been in politics."
On the trail: Buttigieg heckled
A group of counter-protesters wearing shirts that read “Black Voters Matter” disrupted the speeches with chants: “Pete can’t be our president. Where was $15 in South Bend?”
Buttigieg briefly addressed them, saying, “No matter who you support for president, I support you and I support unions and a $15 minimum wage.”
After he spoke, Buttigieg broke into a near-running trot to avoid protesters looking to confront him before hopping into a black SUV.
If anyone can provide video I would love to see this.
Nom nom nom...
The Democratic Establishment Is Broken
The phrase Democratic establishment conjures images of something like the Illuminati with the power to determine the outcome of American elections. But so far, the supposedly all-powerful leaders of the party have been about as well organized as The Muppet Show.
The Democratic establishment exists, but like the Republican establishment four years ago, it’s a mess, paralyzed by fear and indecision, and it doesn’t know what to do,” says Matt Bennett, a vice president at Third Way, a moderate think tank that proudly considers itself the home of the establishment.
This is just too good.
If anyone wants to leave other examples below, please feel free.
Comments
Where they gonna go?
From the Atlantic article:
I just loooove watching all the establishment Dems trying to process voting in an election where they don't like any of their choices.
LOTE: it's not just for Progressives any more.
The current working assumption appears to be that our Shroedinger's Cat system is still alive. But what if we all suspect it's not, and the real problem is we just can't bring ourselves to open the box?
They'll vote for Trump. Or stay home.
And then they will blame us and use the media to repeat their blame of us endlessly.
However, I'd like to think that there are fewer voters who are willing to be that shitty about Bernie, who even the right-wing Republicans I know don't think is a bad guy, than there were about Hillary, who is genuinely hated on both left and right--and for reason. Hell, there's probably even some "centrists" here and there who hate her.
Those of us who were Never Hillary had some very good reasons for being so. The only thing they've got against Bernie is the old Scary Commie thing--and another rehash of their stupid Putin rant which a lot of people are starting to see through.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
They're after Bernie now!
I said, “I like Fidel Castro
I think you heard me right”
And ducked as he swung
At me with all his might
-----
In today's version the dems establishment plays the part of the farmer and Bernie plays Dylan
Well, bless their hearts.
They are (1) completely clueless and (2) terrified because they see their gravy train coming to an end.
"Center left" lol
"Don't go back to sleep ... Don't go back to sleep ... Don't go back to sleep."
~Rumi
"If you want revolution, be it."
~Caitlin Johnstone
The Muppet Show
The democrats can be summed up with the two old farts that grumble about everything. This is what I thought of when I read this.
"That damn Bernie is unstoppable! What can we do about it?"
Nada!
More like a particular manifestation thereof
In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is declared mentally ill for describing colors.
Yes Virginia, there is a Global Banking Conspiracy!
Thanks, LM
I was just thinking "I kinda *like* those old farts!"
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Just like Trump indeed ...
They can't act as gatekeepers to the big donors and cut off Sanders' funding.
They can't act as gatekeepers to keep media from covering Sanders, he uses new media to his advantage.
They can't keep him from holding big rallies.
Their last stand is using the rules to their advantage, but Sanders knows the rules (having been burned by them last time) and helped alter them last cycle. So far he seems to be able to work around them.
Just like the Trump last cycle he's running against a field of lightweights.
And lastly, though it may be to early to call this one, the voters don't seem to be buying their bullshit this time around.
"The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function." -- Albert Bartlett
"A species that is hurtling toward extinction has no business promoting slow incremental change." -- Caitlin Johnstone
It's funny, but last time I told people
that I thought Sanders would have a lot of appeal for Latinos, though of course "Latino" encompasses many different cultures, not just the ones represented in my family, and I don't know anything about them.
Somebody told me back then that they'd heard that Latinos were calling him "el viejo" and I said--uh-oh--the establishment better watch out. They've given him a nickname. That means they like him.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
The timing is right.
"In 30-plus years of politics, I’ve never seen this level of doom."
Of course you haven't. You started about when Reagan was finishing his Republican tour of wrecking . It wouldn't be until 1993 that Clinton began his "Democratic" neoliberal assault on the U.S. I've been hoping for longer than 30 years that someone like Bernie would show up. I only hope that this election and many that follow are a nightmare for you.
-Greed is not a virtue.
-Socialism: the radical idea of sharing.
-Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.
John F. Kennedy, In a speech at the White House, 1962
Devil's in the details
The detail here is about having 50.1% of delegate votes on the first ballot. Otherwise, you know the rest. Let us talk about Bernie getting 49+% in Nevada--but, hey, isn't that less than 50.1%?
Well, with my limited computational skills, I believe that 49+ is less than 50+. Any one disagree with the math?
Now, being honest, do you think that the DNC is going to overlook this small point? No, No--HELL NO. Even if Bernie's two closest competitors between them suck up the remaining 50+%, the Dems will go to second ballot. Doubt this? If you do, then you've not been paying attention since 2016.
The question will then be: who can buy the most superdelegates: HRC or Mini Mike. Now with the Clinton mafia's record of having detractors suicide themselves, most people opt for preserving their own lives rather than accepting donations from Mini Mike, which will at best find their way to the heirs of now defunct superdelegates.
Cynical? Me? Naw. You got it all wrong. I believe in Unicorns and Rainbows.
Anybody going to the DNC convention, please first buy travel and life insurance, come the insurrection.
I'm gonna keep on smiling--
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtNqE7DFZmM]
Never trust a smiling alligator--or a smiling Clinton.
Coming soon to an essay near you: Godzilla and Mothra get Married.
I think maybe both are true.
Yes, of course their plan is likely to be "shave a few off here, shave a few off there, then buy it out from under him at the convention." That begs the question of why they don't just shamelessly cheat one primary/caucus after another, like they did in 2016. They know there will be no consequences for them if they do. There weren't any last time.
They're floundering around in full view of the public, and they're not looking like they have their
griftpolitical operation under control. That's gonna make their bosses/overlords less likely to turn to them. So yeah, there probably is some "gloom and doom" on that account. But I don't get why they're flustered at all, when they can just do what they did before."More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
An answer -- maybe not the answer
It's far more difficult to engineer with several contenders and "they" can't settle on one that can plausibly get through the primary process and then win the general election. The GOP couldn't get it together in 2016 for that reason even as they were confident that Hillary would be the general election opponent. Must have been terribly frustrating for "them" because odds are best in an open seat election when the opposing party has had the WH for eight years.
The MSM wasn't going to help them out with this because those contenders had huge Super Pacs and the MSM wanted to get every last penny in them.
The GOP tried to pick their 2008 horse way in advance. Then the turkey went and lost his 2006 Senate re-election. Tried it again for 2016, but Christie's GW Washington bridge stunt snagged him. So, they waited for a white knight to appear; instead a troll showed up and munched away on their large but lacking slate of contenders.
Where "they" go from here remains to be seen. (With serious money on the barrel, the MSM will do its best to keep Bloomberg in the race and "they" may yet publicly rally around him and pull their primary election stunts. but a Republican trying to buy the presidency as a Democrat is going to be a really hard sell.)
Get a load of the gravity of Bernie's volunteer power
Bernie unleashes volunteer army on Nevada: His supporters come from all over the country. And even from outside the country.
"If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:
THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED
FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
WAS MUSIC"
- Kurt Vonnegut
They keep talking about armies and brownshirts
They are so damned weird.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Third Way center-left?
" In the beginning, the universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry, and is generally considered to have been a bad move. -- Douglas Adams, The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy "