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Tuesday, March 3, 2020

DEPRESSED BROODING WHILE AWAITING THE VOTE RESULTS


I cannot now recall any time in my lifelong obsession with politics when the Democratic Party establishment has moved with as much speed, efficiency, and sheer naked urgency to crush a left-wing insurgency.  I think it is clear that Bernie cannot win 1991 delegates before the Convention, and regardless of his delegate plurality, he can never prevail at the Convention itself.  Note that behind the scenes Obama played a critical role in mobilizing the tsunami of Biden endorsements. My last gasp of hope is that Warren garners enough delegates to make up Bernie’s shortfall and cuts a deal for the vice-presidency, but that, I fear, is a wishful fantasy.

So it will be Biden [whom I declared to be toast only a few days ago, let us remember], and the campaign will be fought over the twitching corpse of his son, Hunter.

13 comments:

Sparks said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Sparks said...

So it seems.

You know, I hear often in the media that Bernie is unvetted. It's funny that that argument should be used alongside the massive effort to dig back into the sixties and seventies looking for crumbs with which to smear him.

On the other hand, as you rightly point out, it is in fact Biden who is unvetted. In what sense? The other candidates have simply been too polite to point out the Hunter Biden scandal. Trump will not be so polite.

And so, with a strong economy behind him, a 2 billion dollar campaign machine (which he did not have in 2016, mind), and an opponent even weaker than the weak opponent he beat last cycle (Hillary), Trump is poised to seize his second term and solidify a conservative majority on the supreme court for the next 30 years.

There will be a kind of bitter delight in saying "I told you so" to all the moderate Democrats come November, but even that's taken from me when I remember: In twenty years, when I'm still living through the fallout of this presidency, most of them will be dead and done with it all. It's my generation and the generations to come who will suffer.

marcel proust said...

Note that behind the scenes Obama played a critical role in mobilizing the tsunami of Biden endorsements.

Sounds plausible, but do we know this? I cannot find anything about this anywhere online. What I find is that Harry Reid played this role.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/02/us/politics/pete-buttigieg-joe-biden-endorsement.html

Anonymous said...

I wouldn't be so quick to lose hope. Bernie has suggested that he won't conceed if he wins the plurality, and his supporters certainly won't just stand by and watch the nomination being stolen from him. There will be massive protests, some of which may turn into riots, and so many people will pledge not to vote Democrat or to leave the party alltogehter that the establisment will accept Bernie over a certain loss with anyone else. It may of course be that they prefer losing to Trump and alienating 30-40% of their base over nominating Bernie, but at least they'll have to be open about it. Not all is lost just yet.

Ludwig Richter said...

Just as, a few weeks ago, I said it was too early to count Biden out, so now I would say the same about Bernie.

My wife and I are supporting Warren. We've doorbelled for her, and if she still has a sliver of a chance, we'll doorbell for her before our primary on March 10. That said, I don't see how she can continue if she loses Massachusetts, despite her assurances to her supporters that she's in it for the distance. We'll see.

Ed Barreras said...

Ugh...it looks as if the Biden tsunami has continued across Virginia and North Carolina. Texas is probably lost. How does this bode for the rest of the country? Right now on MSNBC (which I had to turn off) they’re saying Biden might actually have the delegate lead heading into California!

Here in LA county, I just took my mail-in ballot to the polling place, intending to surrender the mail-in and vote in-person. But my normal polling place was closed! Then when I got to the new polling place the wait was over an hour! I’ve never seen lines that long in all the years I’ve been voting in this state. Luckily, since I had my mail-in ballot in hand I was able to drop it off and leave. But what’s going on? Evidently there’s been some reshuffling to try out new voting systems. But the conspiracist in me can’t help but suspect some trickery.

This is extremely depressing. But if it has to be Biden to defeat the current occupant of the White House, so be it.

Anonymous said...

The choreography of the whole thing is Bernie can't defeat Biden, Biden can't defeat Trump. After Trumps second term then look for Ivanka to step in with Kushner as Sec. of State. Bushes, Clinton, Trump dynasties and why not? Obama was extremely dissappointing and now Bernies loss is the end of the line. Its over for the people who sincerely want to live a sharing life with others, The little Greta girl can hang it up with the Global warming stuff, global warming isn't malarky but the human condition is. Mean chimpanzees 1, Bonobos 0. Electronics and electronic voting machines only add to the freakish farce called humanity.

F Lengyel said...

"I have of late—but wherefore I know not—lost all my mirth, forgone all custom of exercises; and indeed it goes so heavily with my disposition that this goodly frame, the earth, seems to me a sterile promontory, this most excellent canopy, the air, look you, this brave o'erhanging firmament, this majestical roof fretted with golden fire, why it appears no other thing to me than a foul and pestilent congregation of vapors."

My Uncle Toby said...

A basket of deplorables...

David Palmeter said...

Here's Kevin Drum (Mother Jones) take on the race so far:

"Bernie Sanders 2020 sure looks a lot like Bernie Sanders 2016. He has his fans, obviously, but he tops out at 30-40 percent of the vote. Like it or not, there’s just not stronger support out there for a revolution, and Bernie isn’t willing to moderate his message to win over more supporters. That’s admirable, in its own way, but it’s not how you win a nationwide election."

David Zimmerman said...

As the perfect reading of the quote ["I have pf Late..."] from "Hamlet" -- perfect for the evening of Biden's near-sweep-- I recommend Richard Grant's at the end of "Withnail and I."
Brilliant.

F Lengyel said...

Richard Grant's reading of Hamlet to an audience of wolves at the end of "Withnail and I" may be the best performance among those recorded. Not an exaggeration.

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