‘Can Any of These People Beat Trump?’

[quote]But Bennet is still hung up on O’Rourke’s line from the last presidential debate: “Hell yes, we are going to take your AR-15, your AK-47.”

[quote]A few days after that debate, Bennet recalls, he was meeting with a group of blue-collar labor Democrats in New Hampshire. The group’s leader asked him, “Why are you talking about taking our guns?” When Bennet responded it was just one person, the man pushed back. Because nobody else on the stage challenged O’Rourke, the man said, they were perceived as agreeing with his stance. Bennet walked away from the exchange dazed and deeply concerned.

Told ya.

[quote]The discussion surrounding guns, Bennet fears, is symptomatic of a broader illness in today’s political climate. “This is becoming a competition to outdo each other in the Twitterverse, instead of actually addressing the problem,”

He's such a charisma void, but he truly gets it sometimes.

No. None of them will win. Write it down.

Four more years of being cheetofucked.

The Tokyo Rose of DL has thus spoken, spreading her [paid?] demoralization efforts wherever she goes.

Bennet at that climate crisis presidential forum actually spoke a lot of sense, he had a way with words, and he seemed pretty intelligent. But man his delivery is like eating slop. So bland and annoyingly nasal.

Didn't like him at the debates, though, so I'm glad to see the back of him. And he keeps attacking Pete on Twitter, even though the article makes it clear it's Warren and Sanders who drive him up the wall. Also, this line...

[quote]I just miss Marianne Williamson.

... disqualifies him immediately.

R4, I'm not trying to demoralize. I just don't want to sugarcoat anything. Absent something big happening between now and the election, we don't have someone that can overcome Trump's jackassery, to say nothing of the insane-yet-reliable habit of Democrats eating our young.

Not trying to be a downer, just keeping it real.

Keeping it real is realizing that Trump is being impeached and the worst of his crimes have only just seeped out. I wouldn't be surprised if he takes a shotgun to himself before it's all over.

R7, I would love that.

I guess I just see a lot of signs that we (Democrats) are as cocky now as we were in 2016. That's a sure fire way to lose.

Necrotic narcissists like him think they'll live forever. Suicide is most definitely not an option in his case.

R8: We're cocky (actually, no we're not) so we're going to lose? That's your analysis? You need to be quiet.

As to the post itself, Bennett is going to be a concern troll, I see. Well actually drum up some support in polling so that you can earn a place on the debate stage, Mike. Otherwise, it's obvious that you yourself don't have what it takes to win.

It's hard not to be a concern troll when you're surrounded by Democratic voters in New fucking Hamshire and they start hounding you on why you didn't speak up when Beto said he'd take your guns away. I happen to agree with Beto's position, but he made the job harder for the entire Dem field. Just be quiet, get elected, and THEN take the guns away once you've captured the WH, the Senate, and the Supreme Court.

R10, we're not going to lose because we're cocky. Being cocky leads to losing because it gives us more latitude to eat our young and throw temper tantrums about our nominee not being perfect. If we don't worry about losing, then people are fine sitting it out or voting for Bernie/Jill/etc out of "principle". And then hells bells, we're short of votes in the midwest and we lose.

Sound familiar?

I agree with R11. Just shut up about polarizing issues. I know it's a democratic primary, but everything you say in the primary can be used against you in the general. Just stick to broad, non controversial issues and deal with the difficult stuff once you have the job. Telling the average American voter what they need to hear versus what they want to hear, never works out well. Just lie to them like Republicans do.

Exactly

The candidates are foolishly getting boxed into far left positions to please the Northeast and Pacific whom swing state voters don’t identify with

Ummm yeah, who the fuck calls it The Pacific?

r15 They simply don't want to hear anything about the Electoral College. The thought of another popular vote win -- even larger than Hillary's -- will be enough to sustain them through another four years of Trump. Because surprise, they're usually the sort of people who can afford another four years of Trump.

R12: No. Doesn't sound familiar at all. Eat our young? What the fuck are you talking about?

And you will ALWAYS have people saying they don't like the nominee and voting third party or staying home. That happens EVERY election, you can't stop it. The idea that we're cocky (again, we're not) so some people wont' vote or go third party is just ridiculous. There will be people who do this no matter what. Grow up.

Democrats should be seeking a candidate who appeals to general election voters in Iowa, North Carolina, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio. That’s it. That’s the goal. We should get wary if Boston and NYC secular elites are very gung ho over a candidate.

So, R18, I don't know what triggered you, but calm the fuck down and read what I wrote. I never said that it doesn't happen every election -- what I said is that as we get more assured of our inevitable victory (which absolutely happened in 2016), the urgency to fall in line, show up, and vote for the nominee goes down. We (Democrats) have a clear track record of this.

One thing you can say about the Republicans is that no matter how awful their candidate is, they tend to fall in line behind their nominee when the chips are down. Republicans are great at holding their nose and voting the party line. Democrats aren't as great, and that's why you see more of a tendency to vote third party or just stay home if the nominee is objectionable to people in one way or another.

You may not be motivated this way, R18, but if you look at the data, we clearly have this trend as a party. That shit leads to losing close elections. That's all I'm saying.

[quote]Democrats aren't as great, and that's why you see more of a tendency to vote third party or just stay home if the nominee is objectionable to people in one way or another.

This is also why democrats, more so than republicans, have to rely on independents and swing voters. And why we have to raise so much money to support GOTV efforts. I love our base, but sometimes it's like pulling teeth to get some of them to polls on election day, especially in non presidential election years.

I blocked one Concern Troll and half the thread is gone.

Are they still railing on about candidates from The Pacific Ocean?

R19: "secular elites" Get fucked, your right wing troll. No real human being talks this way.

R20: And I'm telling you, you're wrong. This happens every election. You're not going to stop it. And no one is guaranteeing victory anyway, so I don't know where you're getting this "cocky" stuff from.

Oh, and cut the crap with the "triggered" nonsense. What are you, 12?

Yeah, the "secular elites" comment wasn't nice or necessary. There's no need to bring atheism into this discussion when we have enough on our plate with ideology already.

Sigh, R23. Let me know when you start to read.

R25: Sigh. Let me know when you stop concern trolling.