Democratic candidates unite against Trump but little else

[turbinetree]

By WILL WEISSERT and THOMAS BEAUMONT today

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic White House hopefuls agree President Donald Trump must be defeated next year. But the unity ends there.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana, are locked in an increasingly acrimonious feud that threatens to change the tone of the Democratic primary. The tension was on display Thursday as the candidates knocked one another as being spineless in standing up to the rich or throwing out wildly unrealistic proposals.

That followed a week of barbs between Warren and Buttigieg as they called on the other to be more forthcoming about their past. Buttigieg pressed Warren to reveal her previous legal work for corporations while Warren said Buttigieg should open his private fundraisers and detail the companies he worked for as a consultant at McKinsey & Co. a decade ago.

The hits mark a shift in a Democratic primary that has so far been largely devoid of tension, to the point that some candidates refused obvious opportunities to slam one another when they shared a debate stage last month. But as they prepare to debate again next week, that reluctance has dissipated and a clear battle is emerging between Warren and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who are leading the call for major overhauls to American life, and Buttigieg and former Vice President Joe Biden, who are urging pragmatism.

https://apnews.com/e72d68e8219580ed6ec761f2167291a5

[karynnj]

1. The AP article misses the forrest for the trees

In reality, Democrats agree on almost everything. However, in the primaries one always focuses on the differences.

Consider the issues:
Every Democrat says health insurance is a right and all have ideas on how to make it more universal and more affordable. Where they differ is on the plan to do so.

Every Democrat believes that climate change is an existential issue and all will return to the Paris Climate Accord and will - at least - reissue all the Obama executive orders that raised environmental standards. All of them say that they will work to move forward from that point. ALL of them will need us as advocates when they are elected to provide more support than existed in recent decades.

Every Democrat understands the value of allies and organizations like NATO.

Every Democrat wants to protect the Dreamers and to end the inhumane immigration policies.

All understand that we need to stand for human rights.

Every Democrat has spoken of how the Trump tax cuts made income inequality, already higher than in at least the last 50 years, worse.

On some issues, the new President could have a big initial impact using executive orders that could return policy to the Obama years. On foreign policy, any would call on all the Democratic experts to try to revive the gutted State Department and to make us act like America again.

I am sure I missed a lot of issues. The point is that we will pick a nominee based on anything from resume, vision, personality and, most important, the differences. The key thing is to keep in perspective that the gap between the entire set of Democrats and Trump is enormous, where all of the Democrats are at least pushing to move toward the same long term goals.

[corbettkroehler]

4. Agreed - Primaries Are About Drawing Distinctions

Sadly, this was part of the reason Kamala Harris and Kirsten Gillibrand didn't catch fire. The distinctions were inchoate in the eyes of many voters.

[NurseJackie]

2. Or so the RW would like for the world to believe.

What good purpose does it serve to continually portray Democrats as being in constant conflict, disarray, lacking unity, lacking direction, lacking purpose, lacking vision? None of those things are true.

[Sloumeau]

3. Since so many news organzations have the philosophy of...

"If it bleeds, it leads", certain news organizations are always looking for blood..or to just imply the potential for a bloody battle. Usually the AP is not this bad. CNN is probably the worst at this desire to try and stir things up. They have hosted two debates, and at both of them, they had questions that amounted to essentially "Senator Warren, Senator Sanders has indicated that he believes that you are the spawn from hell. Would you like to respond?"

The guy who heads CNN always wants to turn everything into a bloodsport. So, at every moment, the folks at CNN want to make it appear that one candidate is ready to bash another, and that one candidate truly hates another. This is National Enquirer/Fox News Journalism. Go for the eyeballs--ignore the reality.

[corbettkroehler]

5. Well Put, Friend! Your Example Is Superb! (n/t)

[emulatorloo]

6. Democrats in Disarray!!! A popular narrative for lazy reporters