This is a big part of it for me too. Warren, Sanders, Castro, Yang, Booker, Harris, and maybe Steyer are the only people that a Democrat should be able to vote for in 2020 with a clear conscious.
Iâm just adding up contributions, yeah. As far as I know, nobody else is doing any volunteering for a candidate.
I think this is a pretty bad take. With Pete we have a non-zero chance at democracy reform, with Biden we have no chance. Pete has actually talked about recognizing GOP bad faith and hardline tactics and how we need to deal with them better, Biden wants to hold hands and sing Kumbaya around a state of John McCain. I would expect Peteâs tax policy to be more aggressive. I would expect Pete to be way better on immigration issues. Old Man Joe thinks big bad marijuana is a dangerous gateway drug. Pete is more progressive than Obama, Biden is less progressive than Obama.
4 Likes
I have wondered if things are setting up well for Booker to make a splash in this race as we head toward 2020. He got a small bump from the end of the last debate and feel like that could turn into more if he can bring that fire into his campaign and for a full debate in December. He likely draws voters away from at least 3 of the 4 leading campaigns if not all 4 if he gets some momentum on his side.
Counterpoint: it may be too late for him to put together enough GOTV infrastructure for his campaign in the early states.
Someone up thread said said you JT wouldnât know what itâs like to be poor or understand our issues, and I for one refute that premise.
Your work alone itt proves this is not true and I for 1 know you have not had it easy by any means and have not lived a privileged life, but instead worked rather dam hard to achieve what you and yours now recieve and know that hard work is just not all that it takes.
I appreciate your insight JT & BTW so did youâre dad. 
2 Likes
Bezos doesnât not want a Warren presidency. Maybe heâll run too.
2 Likes
We were talking about whether or not Pete would separate families at the border. Anyone who thinks he wonât - - why isnât he in favor of repealing criminal penalties for border crossing? Thatâs the basis for separation right? Does he expect police to never enforce laws for some reason? Because heâd just like them not to use the tools they have at their disposal? Does he expect jails to keep families together? To house children in adult jails?
2 Likes
Itâs not complicated. He is a moderate republican in a blue tshirt. He literally worked in Afghanistan for the military doing âeconomic development.â Then afterwards for Bain Capital and would have to kill you if he told you what he did there. He talks in a radio announcer voice and has been asked approximately 0 tough questions by the press.
https://www.ontheissues.org/2020/Pete_Buttigieg_Immigration.htm
Crossing the border illegally should still be illegal
Q: Youâre in favor of getting rid of the law that makes it a crime to come across the border illegally. Why wonât that just encourage more illegal immigration?
BUTTIGIEG: When I am president, illegally crossing the border will still be illegal. We can argue over the finer points of which parts of this ought to be handled by civil law and which parts ought to be handled by criminal law. But weâve got a crisis on our hands. Americans want comprehensive immigration reform. Weâve been talking about the same framework for my entire adult lifetime, protections for DREAMers; making sure that we have a pathway to citizenship for the undocumented; cleaning up lawful immigration. We know what to do. The problem is we havenât had the will to get it done in Washington.
Q: But didnât you raise your hand in the last debate, to decriminalize crossing the border illegally?
BUTTIGIEG: If fraud is involved, then thatâs suitable for the criminal statute. If not, then it should be handled under civil law.
1 Like
The Buttigieg campaign told The Post in June 2019 that he supported repealing criminal penalties for border crossing, but said in November that criminal penalties "are not off the table if fraud or human trafficking, for example, are involved.â âNo, we should not repeal all criminal penalties for crossing the border unlawfully,â the spokesperson said. âWe should still have criminal penalties for people who engage in fraud or who willfully evade immigration laws, as well as for people who engage in other crimes like human trafficking, which are covered in criminal statutes related to immigration. This administrationâs expansive use of criminal penalties for border crossers is ineffective, a waste of resources, and was used as an excuse for the cruelty of family separations. This should never have happened, and will not happen under my administration. I know we can be a country that honors both laws and values, and when Iâm president we will be.â In June, a spokesperson said âwe should focus prosecution resources on real criminal threats and real solutions to manage the border.â
from the wapo thing you linked. SoâŚnot as extensive as Castro, but also willing to handle most âillegalâ border crossing under civil statute, which would basically remove ICEâs jurisdiction, as I understand it. Still prosecute human traffickers, drug traffickers, and fraudsters as criminal offenses.
So it sounds like heâd be for the repeal of 1325, but keep criminal penalties in place for actual crimes (and not throwing families swimming the Rio Grande in ICE jail).
I donât know enough about stats and the actualities of immigration to speak to this in more detail other than to quote what that wapo thing says. Iâm not sure how people are getting âPete will put more kids in cages and be worse than Trumpâ from this, though.
I will add that Pete hasnât released a full immigration plan yet (one of his 18-page white papers with footnotes, etc), so iâm sure it will be addressed in more depth when he does.
1 Like
Just posting to say my read of Warrenâs M4A âretreatâ a couple weeks ago was 100% accurate. You should also consider that the same voting block who forced her into a more moderate stance will do the same to Bernie, only difference is he wonât concede. A lot of you are probably thinking âfuck yeah he wonâtâ as if thatâs a good thing. It is if you want a standard bearer constantly pulling the Overton window back to the left and I respect him for that. It is NOT a good thing if you want a candidate who can win a national general election for President in 2020, or a national Democratic primary for that matter. An inflexible position on abolishing private health insurance, raising middle class taxes, and embracing a âsocialistâ label puts a ceiling on his support that is not high enough to win.
Warren is the most progressive candidate who can still be elected, and thatâs only if she can recover from her missteps on M4A and convince moderate voters sheâs an acceptable candidate again. Her failure was going too far left on healthcare, not in stepping back to a transition plan. If you donât agree, youâre making a tactical mistake and the nomination of Biden or Bloomberg will be on you.
1 Like
Heâs lying. Its their thing - they falsely represent their actual thoughts. See: racism.
âFraudstersâ?
And they charged that guy who gave water to people dying in the desert as a human trafficker.
Arrogant much? How about if Warren loses to Trump itâs all your fault?
2 Likes
100%. The West Wingers imagine a possible ICE and CBP and prosecutors and jailers and entire system that is pure magical thinking and then they love to call themselves pragmatic realists.
3 Likes
Lol that was my term and the only succinct way I could think of to say âsomeone who commits fraudâ. Apparently I am an 80-year old in a 40-something body. Like I said, Iâm not knowledgeable enough about it to make a sweeping claim like âdecriminalize all border crossingsâ because even though that sounds great, what happens when there actually IS human trafficking going on?
I will wait until the full plan is released. All of Peteâs plans are interconnected and draw on each other in many ways, Iâm sure his immigration one will be no different. Heâs already briefly mentioned immigration expansion in his rural plan, so Iâm reasonably sure heâs working on an immigration-focused plan.
As for the ICE overreach, pretty sure every Dem on the stage wants to reign that shit in.
1 Like
Ok boomer.
2 Likes
Everyone wants to reign in atrocities even while they support a system that makes them inevitable.
3 Likes