Bernie Rolls Biden In DC

March 16, 2020

Last night Bernie Sanders scored a decisive victory over Joe Biden at the 11th Democratic presidential primary debate, before a no-audience studio in Washington D.C.

Sanders, trailing Biden in the delegate count prior to Tuesday’s critical quartet of state primaries in Florida, Arizona, Illinois and Ohio (the latter is now cancelled until June), went after Biden’s record early and often, culminating in the former vice president getting caught in a lie about not advocating cuts for Social Security on the Senate floor, when he in fact did so in 1995.

Joe Biden had started well for the first ten minutes or so before lying about parts of his record, which had previously undergone mild scrutiny in the corporate news media. One of the moments the media earmarked for Biden was his pledge to pick a woman as his running mate, something that had previously been done in 2008 (Sarah Palin) and 1984 (Geraldine Ferraro). Biden said he would nominate a Black woman on the Supreme Court if he became president.

By contrast, Bernie Sanders said he would lean in the direction of choosing a woman, but a woman with Progressive values. Sanders shone a light on Biden’s questionable record (voting for the bankruptcy bill, the Iraq war, the Hyde Amendment, the Wall Street bailout) while countering his record of voting against each of the heretofore mentioned variables.

In a solemn night marked by the specter of the coronavirus pandemic both Biden and Sanders remarked about the situation at some length. Biden challenged Sanders on the need for a “revolution” at the time of a global emergency, while the Vermont senator reiterated his call for Medicare For All at a time that it was no more urgent a need for those who face mounting medical bills.

The debate was a spirited and refreshing departure from the “food fight” debates of the last month or two. Viewers got to see two contrasting styles and political views, though many of the positions Sanders expressed were agreed to by Biden, repeatedly expressing an accord. One of the more amusing exchanges was when both candidates asked the other to “join me”.

“I don’t wanna join you. Why don’t you join me?” Sanders asked Biden.

Biden had also said something that appeared to race-bait, and in an odd way. Of the Latinx community, Biden said: “Because if we do not invest, everything that the very wealthy are concerned about and the xenophobes are concerned about will in fact get worse, not better.”

Erika Andiola, who in South Carolina protested Biden and the deportation of more undocumented immigrants (under the Obama Administration he was part of) than any other president, asked Biden on Twitter what the xenophobes and very rich were concerned about. Biden mentioning “xenophobes” and “the very rich” invited a question: was Biden tipping a racist dog whistle hat to white voters in the upcoming primaries in various places, including Arizona, which has an anti-immigration law?

Biden also spoke about an “undocumented alien” before correcting himself, saying “an undocumented person”. His remark was criticized by the political group Jewish Action, who on Twitter said that the term “has no place in our political discourse.”

NOTE: THE POLITICRAT is now a podcast! Available wherever you get your podcasts. Spotify | Anchor | Radio Public | Breaker | and more to come!

Episode 3 is right here:

A critical night for Bernie

If ever there was a night for Bernie Sanders to shine it is tonight. This is the debate he has always wanted: one tailored to the issues. Without the food fights. Without the noise. Without the cheerleading crowds in attendance.

Now he has the debate. One on one.

Bernie Sanders will debate Joe Biden later. The delegate count will mean little when the issues are at stake. Hopefully the moderators will stay focused (for once) on issue-oriented questions, not attacks and Fox News right-wing GOP talking points.

The coronavirus situation will dominate tonight’s debate. Bernie Sanders will be helped by his Medicare For All plan which would appear to be a ready-made solution to addressing the pandemic. Joe Biden will be helped by his “we need to heal” and have “a steady hand” mantra, which appeals to calming a fearful American public.

Since Americans are panicked (in no small part because of the corporate news media reporting conflicting advice) Biden would seem to have an advantage. Though Biden, who has also won numerous states (15 of the last 20 or so) in the Democratic primaries has shown himself to be a poor debater.

We shall see what happens soon.

It’s Super Tuesday! Vote!

To all residents of AL, AR, CA, CO, MA, ME, MN, NC, OK, TN, TX, UT, VA, VT, American Samoa who can vote: Please make your way to the polls today! Vote. It is a momentous day across the United States.

If you encounter any voting difficulties whatsoever please call 866-687-8683.

This is a message you should listen to.

Biden breaks his duck

March 1, 2020

Joe Biden roared to a stampeding 28-point victory in the South Carolina Democratic primary on Saturday night, igniting a presidential campaign that had been on life support with three poor or distant finishes (Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada). The conventional wisdom, in the corporate news media pundit class and among Biden staff and supporters was that the former vice president had to (and was supposed to) win South Carolina. He did just that, emphatically, with 48.8 percent of the vote.

Despite the victory some material revelations went unreported in the cable television news media celebrating Biden’s win: 51 precincts in Greenville, the most populous county in South Carolina, were closed without notice to voters. (A tweet sent out by the SC Democratic Party during voting read in part: “Heads up voters, some precinct locations have changed. Please check your polling location before you vote!”)

All in all, at least 131 voting precincts across the state were closed by South Carolina officials without notice to the voters. The voter turnout for yesterday’s primary, according to the South Carolina Election Commission, was just 16 percent, with 97.83 percent (45 of 46 precincts reporting as of March 1 at 12:16pm Eastern US time.)

Bernie Sanders finished a distant second (19.9 percent), the first time he has not won a primary or caucus outright or by popular vote. The Sanders campaign (whose South Carolina offices are in Greenville) had low expectations for South Carolina having spent little money there. The Vermont senator made only three or four appearances there this year, though in 2019 he made a number of appearances in the Palmetto State.

Tom Steyer came in third (just under 12 percent of the vote) and within an hour announced he was suspending his campaign. Steyer had staked as much as Biden on South Carolina and tried to make inroads in the Black community there.

Black voters in South Carolina, a specific and conservative Southern state, tend to vote more conservatively and have deeper identification with or ties to Establishment Democrats there. House Democratic Whip James Clyburn’s endorsement of Biden was viewed by some voters as a major impetus to vote for Biden, whose policies and history with Black people overall hasn’t been especially good. Biden had argued against busing in the 1970s. Senator Kamala Harris raised this directly with Biden in the first debate last year. Biden had prevented witnesses from testifying in favor of Anita Hill during the 1991 Thomas-Hill hearings.

Pete Buttigieg followed with a fourth place finish — and has now dropped out of the race with Super Tuesday around the corner. Senator Elizabeth Warren finished a disappointing fifth.

A victory for democracy

Yesterday a Wisconsin appeals court reversed a ruling that allowed for the state to purge at least 209,000 people from the Wisconsin voter rolls. This wasn’t so much a victory for Democrats as it was a victory for democracy itself. Sad that the Associated Press framed it as a victory for Democrats because it goes deeper than that. This ruling is about America itself and what kind of nation the United States is supposed to be. The ruling will be appealed by the conservative Republican group (Wisconsin Institute For Law and Liberty) who brought the case to purge Wisconsin voters to the courts.

Donald Trump won Wisconsin by less than 23,000 votes in 2016. Voter ID laws instituted by then-Republican governor Scott Walker (thanks to the Shelby v. Holder US Supreme Court decision in 2013 eviscerating section four of the 1965 Voting Rights Act) profoundly affected the ability of Black people, Asian-Americans, Latinx, Native Americans, elderly and youth to vote. Each of these groups is much more likely to vote Democratic. Trump’s “victory” was aided by Crosscheck, a system that then-Republican secretary of state Kris Kobach created to purge over seven million voters before the 2016 presidential election.

Recently, investigative journalist Greg Palast and his anti-voter suppression team won a huge victory in Georgia. Georgia governor Brian Kemp was ordered by a Federal judge to publicly release the files of over half a million voters purged from the voter rolls in the state.

As South Carolina votes today (63 percent of Democratic voters in the state are Black) in the Democratic primary let’s continue to allow democracy, and the idea of democracy in the United States of America to flourish, not diminish.

Don’t Delay! Vote Today!

The time to vote is right now.

Super Tuesday is around the corner. And as Black History Month in the U.S. winds down (every day is Black History Day in America and globally) the House of Representatives passed the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act this week, 410-4.

The South Carolina primary is tomorrow. And it will likely be a close race. We shall see just how close it will be.

Super Tuesday
Early voting is going on right now in numerous states, including California. Remember, if you are vote-by-mail voter, please drop off your ballot at your local county board of elections or mail it immediately. If you wait until last minute, be sure to head to your polling station on Super Tuesday (March 3, 2020) and hand it in to an election poll worker.

Photo (by Omar Moore): Bernie Sanders supporters at a Sanders rally in Richmond, California on Presidents’ Day 2020.

The Fierce Urgency Of Now

The Time Is Now.

Black History Month 2020 has been a little better than last year. The Emmett Till Anti-lynching law was passed in the House this week and will soon almost certainly be signed into law. We have seen a frontrunner emerge in the Democratic presidential primaries in the early going ahead of the monumental Super Tuesday coming up next week.

Early voting is getting late. Time to get out there and vote. If you are in California and you have a vote by mail ballot be sure to mail it NOW or drop it off at your local country board of elections. Or, don’t forget to bring it with you in person to the polls on March 3.

Vote. Wherever you are in the U.S. VOTE.

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