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bluewater

bluewater's Journal
bluewater's Journal
December 29, 2019

Buttigieg: Biden supported the worst foreign policy decision in my lifetime

https://twitter.com/PriscillaWT/status/1211321823054508033

Seems Pete is trying to find a way to compensate for his own lack of experience on the national stage.

I am not sure this approach of denigrating "Washington experience" will work for him.

December 28, 2019

Which Democratic voters are potentially the most disloyal?

https://twitter.com/gelliottmorris/status/1210963665014415361

Soooo, Warren supporters are the MOST LOYAL Democrats.

nice!

December 28, 2019

Joe Biden Says He'd Defy Subpoena to Testify in Trump's Senate Trial

Joe Biden Says He’d Defy Subpoena to Testify in Trump’s Senate Trial

Returning to the campaign trail after Christmas, former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. on Friday stood by his comments that he would not comply with a subpoena to testify at President Trump’s impeachment trial in the Senate.

In a meeting with the editorial board of The Des Moines Register, whose endorsement in the Iowa caucuses is coveted by presidential hopefuls, Mr. Biden argued that complying with a subpoena and testifying would essentially allow Mr. Trump to succeed in shifting attention onto Mr. Biden and away from the president’s own actions.

“The reason I wouldn’t is because it’s all designed to deal with Trump doing what he’s done his whole life: trying to take the focus off him,” Mr. Biden told the newspaper. “The issue is not what I did.”
“This is all about a diversion,” Mr. Biden added. “And we play his game all the time. He’s done it his whole career.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/27/us/politics/joe-biden-trump-trial.html


Isn't Biden undercutting the 2nd Article of Impeachment against Trump, Obstruction of Congress for ignoring Congressional supoenas?

https://judiciary.house.gov/sites/democrats.judiciary.house.gov/files/documents/Articles%20of%20Impeachment.pdf

Just saw on CNN the hosts making this very point, why can Biden say he will ignore a supoena when Trump is being impeached in part for doing that himself?



This seems like an unforced error on Biden's part, handing the Republicans a gift of an excuse for not voting to remove Trump from office. Why did Joe even bring this up now?


December 23, 2019

Personal Prediction: Bloomberg will be our Democratic Nominee

Money talks. And right now the money has talked Bloomberg into a virtual 4th place tie with Pete Buttigieg according to The Economist's polling model:

Biden 26%
Sanders 17%
Warren 16%
Buttigieg 8%
Bloomberg 7%

https://projects.economist.com/democratic-primaries-2020/


RCP POLLS also shows Bloomberg moving up fast on Buttigieg:



Michael Bloomberg has committed to spending AT LEAST $100,000,000.00 of his own money in his presidential bid, some reports say he is prepared to spend up to a BILLION dollars!

His add blitz has already moved him into 5th place, and he is closing in on the 4th slot.

Let's face it, when all is said and done, his massive high dollar media blitz will ensure him the nomination.
As a Warren supporter, I find it very difficult to have to, in Jill Biden's words, "swallow" this reality, but face it... Bloomberg is inevitable.

Sigh.

Well, I will support the Democratic nominee, no matter who it is. Even a billionaire.

December 23, 2019

Sanders Outperforms Biden in Head to Head versus Trump

Bernie Sanders Outperforms Joe Biden in Head to Head Matchup with Donald Trump, New Poll Finds

In a recent survey by Ipsos/Reuters, slightly more respondents said they would vote for Senator Bernie Sanders than former Vice President Joe Biden in the 2020 election against President Donald Trump.

Though the difference is within the margin of error (3.4 percentage points) 39 percent of the 1,108 adults surveyed between December 18 and 19 preferred Sanders over Trump, compared to 37 percent who preferred Biden.

Biden has maintained a steady lead in national polls over other top candidates for several weeks, but primary voters have far from made up their minds. Recent surveys note growing indecision among Democratic voters and even declining favorability overall for candidates as the field has yet to coalesce around one or even two likely party nominees.


Though Sanders and Warren may be appealing to the same base of young, progressive voters, Sanders began to eclipse the Massachusetts senator after the fourth Democratic debate, when multiple candidates attacked Warren on how she would fund her health care plan.

Sanders' health care plan is no less ambitious, but recent surveys have determined the Vermont senator claims a plurality of support among Latino voters and young people between 18 and 29 years old, demographics likely fueling his late-stage surge to the top of the Democratic field.


In another measure of electability, however, the Sanders-Trump comparison compels more people to vote at the end of the day, according to the survey. Only 20 percent of respondents say they wouldn't vote if the election were held between Sanders and Trump. That's compared to 23 percent and 21 percent who said the same of Biden and Warren versus Trump, respectively.


https://www.newsweek.com/bernie-sanders-outperforms-joe-biden-head-head-matchup-trump-poll-1478891
October 28, 2019

Biden mum on running for second term if elected

Former Vice President Joe Biden in a new interview would not discuss the possibility of running for a second term in the White House if he is elected in 2020.

The Associated Press asked the Democratic candidate if he would promise to serve only one term. Biden responded by saying he would not make that vow.

“I feel good and all I can say is, watch me, you’ll see,” Biden said. “It doesn’t mean I would run a second term. I’m not going to make that judgment at this moment.”
Biden, 76, also said it's "legitimate" to ask about his age.

“Right now it’s a legitimate question to ask, just like it was legitimate to ask me when I was 29 years old running for the Senate, did I have enough judgment to be a senator,” Biden told the AP. “Right now, my age has brought with it a significant amount of experience in government and hopefully wisdom and some sound judgment.”

Biden is the second-oldest candidate in the Democratic field, behind Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who is 78. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), another Democratic frontrunner, is 70 years old. President Trump, 73, is running for his second term.


Biden would be 81 at the start a second presidential term, while Sanders, who recently suffered a heart attack, would be 82.

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/467643-biden-suggests-he-may-only-serve-one-term-as-president

October 27, 2019

Warren's wealth tax would solve economic inequality, says economist Gabriel Zucman

Taxing the rich to help the poor and middle class has defined the presidential campaigns of Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders.
Skeptics of the proposal argue that a wealth tax of this magnitude is impractical, and will not generate the revenue that Senator Warren and supporters anticipate. But French economist Gabriel Zucman, an early proponent of the tax, argues otherwise.
Zucman, now author of the book “The Triumph of Injustice: How the Rich Dodge Taxes and How to Make Them Pay,” joined The Final Round on Friday to discuss the profound effect the tax system has on American economic inequality, and how a wealth tax could change that.

‘The tax system is critically important’ to eradicating economic inequality

On Monday, Senator Elizabeth Warren unveiled an education plan that would dramatically increase federal funding for public schools over the next decade, siphoning money raised from her proposed wealth tax to cover the plan’s $450 billion cost. It is one of many proposals developed by the Massachusetts senator that depend almost wholly upon the success of her controversial wealth tax, which would impose a 2% annual tax on household net worth between $50 million and $1 billion.

Zucman said he believes such a tax could also be a solution to economic inequality exacerbated by the current U.S. tax system.

“Financial deregulation; the collapse of the minimum wage; higher college costs; the declining role of unions. All of these things have mattered a lot [to American economic inequality],” Zucman said. “But, when you try to look at the income and the wealth of the very rich, the tax system is critically important.

The U.S. used to have the most progressive tax system in the world, with top marginal income tax rates of more than 90% in the post-World War II decades, to estate tax rates to of close to 80% from the 1930s to the 1980s, and then you had a dramatic change in the 1980s. The top marginal income tax rate was reduced to 28%, and today, in 2018, for the first time in the last hundred years, billionaires have paid a lower tax rate – all taxes included – than the middle class and the working class. They pay 23% of their income in taxes; the rest of the population pays in between 25% and 30% of their income in taxes.”

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/warrens-wealth-tax-would-solve-economic-inequality-says-economist-gabriel-zucman-154526411.html
October 27, 2019

How being second choice could put Elizabeth Warren on top

Many Democratic voters who support other candidates are also considering voting for her

WHEN THE Democratic Party’s fourth primary debate got under way in Westerville, Ohio, on October 15th, it quickly became clear that the presidential race had changed. Instead of attacking Joe Biden, the former vice-president and front-runner in the race, as they had in previous contests, the candidates turned much of their fire on Elizabeth Warren, a senator from Massachusetts.

According to The Economist’s latest polling figures, Ms Warren is now tied with Mr Biden for first place, having briefly led the Democratic field earlier this month. Her steady ascent shows little sign of stopping.

Her support comes from several important demographic groups among Democratic primary voters. According to YouGov, a pollster, 35% of self-described liberals now consider her their first choice to be their party’s nominee for president. Another 16% of moderates and 6% of conservatives also say she is their top pick. Ms Warren has won over 32% of white voters, 15% of black voters and 18% of Hispanics.

Even white voters without a college education now favour the professorial Ms Warren over her rivals. Of these voters, 27% say they would opt for her, compared with 22% for Mr Biden and 18% for Bernie Sanders, a senator from Vermont. That could put Ms Warren in a strong position to draw away part of Donald Trump’s core support.


https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2019/10/25/how-being-second-choice-could-put-elizabeth-warren-on-top

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