JustAnotherAustinOwlStill
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RE: Democratic Presidential Horse Race thread
(08-06-2018 10:08 AM)OptimisticOwl Wrote: (08-06-2018 09:41 AM)JustAnotherAustinOwlStill Wrote: (08-05-2018 04:03 PM)OptimisticOwl Wrote: When I asked why she was currently your first choice you said:
"I think it comes down to a few things. Her reputation is good among colleagues as smart, motivated, thoughtful, etc."
That implies that your second through nth choices do not score as well as her on those qualities.
I notice you have yet to say her ideas for the country are good. The only thing you have mentioned is that she is against family separations, as I am. I am thoughtful, motivated, and smart. Why not vote for me?
No, you're misreading/misunderstanding. First, like I said, it's early and most candidates have not actually declared. This was an early gut feeling, as I explicitly said, not an article I'm submitting for peer review.
Having a basic temperament/mindset/whatever to be president is a screener for me. I therefor listed it first.
As far as positions on issues, whether it's Sanders at one end or Cuomo at the other, I'm in vastly more agreement with them than Trump or even most non-Trump Republicans. Is there some situation where I might vote for say, Kasich, over a Dem? I'm sure there is, at least theoretically, but it's highly unlikely. As the campaign starts and people put out platforms, I'll probably have stronger opinions between them.
But before implementing policy, you have to win, or it's all moot. (And this is a "horse race" thread, after all.) So long as a candidate doesn't disqualify themselves with character or policy issues, I'm going to be pretty pragmatic and focus on winning. As I said, I think Harris might have the best chance of bridging the Clinton/Sanders rift and moving beyond it. If Dems can't do that, we'll probably have a second Trump term. Next is winning the EC. I suspect the Dem will win the popular vote again, probably by a larger margin. But if a candidate can't flip some states it's a moot point. That's where I think Biden-Harris might be a stronger ticket.
If I was the lady in the lake handing out a sword, I might come up with a different answer. (And I'd want to wait until after some campaigning and debates.) But I'm not.
Hopefully that explains it a little better.
yes, it does. BUT, I asked about Kasich vs. Harris, not Kasich vs, a Dem. Kasich is a moderate, and Harris is an exemplar of the far left. That is why I chose those two. I presume you would vote for any Democrat over any Republican, no matter how moderate, nice, and capable the republican is, as a matter of habit. Che' would get your vote, should he resurface and run.
Kasich was my choice from the git-go, and remained so until the nomination was closed. I prefer centrists. If the dems nominated a centrist, the Repubs an extremist, I would vote for the centrist. In a reversed situation, I think you would vote for the Democrat, without regard for the positions.
Granted, in today's political climate, neither party is going to nominate a centrist, but the GOP will come closer than the DNC.
We have extremists on both sides battling in Portland. If by some chance the nominees for the two parties were come from those two sides, I would vote third party. Would you?
The fact that you see Cuomo as the right wing is telling.
Yes, you asked *Lad* that question. I was responding to your response to me. It’s coincidental that we both came up with Kasich. Though not surprising, he’s the obvious choice for a hypothetical more moderate Republican nominee. (I’m not sure how zombie Che came into this, but I firmly believe in judging people by the content of their character, not their status as living or undead.)
Anyway, Kasich as a “centrist” I’m not sure I buy, he was a Gingrich Republican in the 90s. But moderate conservative, who believes in governing pragmatically? Sure, and I respect that. And he does seem to have moderated significantly. I read an interview with him a while back about how his parents being killed in an accident caused him to do a lot of introspection and soul searching and examine his approach to politics. That’s the sort of thing I meant by “thoughtful” further up in the thread.
Harris as “exemplar of the far left” – sorry, that just strikes me as ridiculous. If she runs, she will be attacked for being too close to the corporate/Wall Street side of the party. Mainstream liberal, or just liberal, that’s a fair description. And to your question, yes I would vote for her over Kasich. I am a liberal (more accurately a social democrat) so why wouldn’t I?
Now if the Dems nominated a racist who ran a racist, xenophobic campaign, who lied pathologically, who bragged about sexually assaulting women, who made lustful comments about 11 year girls, who made sexual comments about his/her own child, who bragged about intentionally entering dressing rooms with girls as young as 14 to see them naked, who mocked the disabled, who mocked POWs, who mocked Gold Star families, who said our allies were “foes,” and so on… (Not that any major party would ever do such a thing!) Then hell yes, I’d vote for Kasich.
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