CA Podcast #52 - The “Super Tuesday” Episode

Interesting commentary. But I think at this point(or within two weeks)the best thing for the Democratic Party will be to come together and use every and all resources to defeat whatever the Republicans come up with. The sooner this is done, then the sooner the debate can turn towards showing the Republican agenda for what it is, and the sooner the party can start galvanizing support not just to elect Hillary, but to not elect a Republican.

I think the Democratic Party is in pretty good shape actually at this point to do this. It is not fractured(certainly not in the sense that the GOP is), and there is no huge amount of 'ill will' as there is on the other side(the debates have been civil, and for the most part supporters of both Democratic candidates have been respectful and reasonable). There simply needs to be a coming together of the different groups, and the emphasis needs to be on stopping the GOP and getting out the vote-especially the younger Sanders voters.

Bernie Sanders can be, and hopefully will be, instrumental in helping this happen. He has shown he is a class act, has made a difference in the election by making Hillary a better candidate, and by making her take a broader more inclusive stance. As was stated in the podcast, there are a number of people in high places(like the President and his wife,like Bill Clinton, etc) who can assist in making this not just about electing Hillary, but about a blanket statement rejecting bigotry, hate, intolerance, and divisiveness.

Hillary has already started to go into general election mode and attack Trump. It is time to go all out on an assault on the Republican Party in it's disarray and the nutjobs it has representing it.

 

I'm just 2/3s into the pod cast and won't be able to hear the rest until I go to lunch.

Before I forget, @Ockydub talking about respectability politics.... One of my former, internationally recognized companies had a regional dress policy. In my region we were supposed to have no side burns, no hair below the lip, clean shaven, hair on the head couldn't touch the shoulders. In protest I would keep the little patch of hair below my lip unless someone said something to me which in 10 years I think it was just one time.

Every time right before Id go on vacation the following week, I didn't shave my facial hair from that Wednesday til the Sunday night before I'd start work again. I hated shaving my face daily. It took a while to find a product that kept razor bumps at bay. When I was no longer with this company you better know I let them facial pubes run wild and free. It took over a year for my neck to clear up the razor bump scars but it was freeing to not have to shave daily or every other day.

What was frustrating was that my region seemed to be the only one with this archaic dress code. The west cost and east coast couldn't care less about tattoos, facial hair and etc. Talking to the HR rep for my office and she couldn't have cared less.

Now every place I have worked at since, the dress code has been a lot more relaxed. Either you can wear jeans during the week or only on casual Fridays. Facial hair and tattoos? Just show up on time and they are happy. If I could grow a head full of hair I'd have one of those Craig Robinson bobs.

 

Nice podcast fellas. Here are some of my thoughts.

Republicans have become skillful at turning from defense into offense by just plain out lying, denying and retelling/rewriting history before your eyes. A white person can get into an argument with a black person, call them a nigger, a Republican witness it, but then would argue that the black person is being divisive because he brought race into the situation when it was just a disagreement. That’s what they do.

No it is not fair to say that Obama won because Bush sucked. It is fair to say that any Democrat would have won because Bush sucked. The Republican brand was not great, so the opportunity was ripe was any Democrat to emerge from a crowded field of individuals who were highly likely to be the next president because Bush sucked. Prez Obama emerged from that crowded field of very strong, credible candidates and that had more to do with Prez Obama beating the establishment at its own game and rewriting the unwritten rules of the Democratic nomination process. WIth his historic candidacy, his election was inevitable, which leads me to strongly affirm what I am about to say next.

Donald Trump will not be president.

Everyone keeps making a big deal of the fact that Donald Trump has won these states. He’s won, on average, 35% of the vote, meaning that an overwhelming majority of people in the Republican party do not want him and this is not a winner take all voting system we’re working with here. Trump has a strong coalition, but that coalition will only appeal to so many people. And frankly, I must say, that I truly believe that Donald Trump’s views, what he stands for and how he operates are not representative the majority of Americans in this country. There will be enough people who will come out to vote against Trump, rather than for him. I really don’t believe the people of this country would allow itself to sink so low after rising to highly to the occasion of electing its first black president. Like you guys stated, the Obama coalition will be out in full force for Hillary (or Bernie), and the electoral college favors a Democrat.

Speaking of Bernie, can we all concede that Hillary can relate to black people better than Bernie? Everyone needs an emotional connection with their candidate, but ESPECIALLY black people. And regardless of what we think about either of their policies, we generally go with who we know. Bernie needed more than a few months and Killer Mike, Ben Jealous and a black Ohio state representative to connect. Period. Hillary has won and is winning that game so far.

I didn’t realize Carson and Trump were getting protection. It makes sense for both of them, but the way that works, I’m sure Carson’s protection will be ending soon. He’s not as credible anymore, so I’m sure his threat level has been reduced drastically enough for them to cut him off.

Our system of government is what is jacked up about our country, not term limits. In fact, in states with term limits, lobbyists and staff are more likely to be in control than the actual elected officials. Besides that, citizens are partly to blame when they continue to be uninformed and not participating in the process. This system is rigged to favor those who have been there long, so it seems like a catch-22, but that goes back to the system being the problem and not term limits.

Superdelegates are typically representative of the number of endorsements from political elites that candidates seek out before they begin campaigning hard. Strength of support coming out of the gate is important to the media and also to many voters who look to their own politicians for cues as to how to vote. Besides that, getting support early on leads to access to political machines and any other resources a local elected officials could offer to a national candidate and vice-versa. That said, as you guys mentioned, there were quite a few folks that pledged their support to Clinton long before Bernie blew up. And besides that, no one knew Bernie was going to blow up. lol. I would cut Bernie some slack on his lack of superdelegate support.

I’ll say it again...the electoral college favors democrats unless they fuck it up.