Wednesday, January 29, 2020

Good Dem Candidate Rundowns

Not sure how far Vox is going to go with these, but they have three up now, one each for Sanders, Warren, and Biden.  They are trying to make the "best" case for each candidate.  Reading them all, I think the one for Warren makes the best case for president (i.e. that she would be the most effective president of the bunch), the one for Sanders makes the best case for ability to win [the 2020 general election] and the one for Biden is just, well, weak--it may be right, but it's a weak argument.

At some level, it probably doesn't matter too much who wins, but of the candidates left I like Warren and Sanders both--I had hoped one would drop out to support the other by now but they're both too high up in the polls for that.  I think Biden is a bad choice, I don't really care for Buttigieg either, Klobuchar is fine but there are better options no matter what your big issue is, and I've no idea why Steyer or Bloomberg are even in the race or, for that matter, if they still are (also not sure if Gabbard is still in, though she does/did at least have a different perspective on some things even if I disagree with her on those differences).

Monday, January 27, 2020

The Joe Rogan & Bernie Sanders Thing

First, read this.

I don't think he should have so publicly accepted/commented on the "endorsement" but I don't think he should [have] reject[ed] it either.  What I'm really seeing here is that anti-trans sentiments are far more toxic today than just a few years ago.  The LGBTQ community has, in the past 6 years become much more broadly accepted--yes, particularly on the left, but even somewhat on the right--to the point that expressing anti-[any of those] sentiments makes you the bad guy among a sizable portion of the population. 

That is, IMO, a good thing. 

Still, a lot of the rage directed at Sanders does feel off.  How many of the haters were Clinton supporters--the Clinton-Kissinger thing was far worse? How about Obama supporters--among his foibles, he was anti-gay marriage (until he wasn't), his actual actions as president on the war front were less than stellar and his team's reaction to the financial crisis was to bail out banks and screw over homeowners? 

I get that Joe Rogan has regressive views that shouldn't be championed, but between Clinton, Sanders and Obama, I'd put Sanders on the highest moral ground (that does not mean I think he would be the best president, I'm not really sure the most morally good person can be a good president).  If the backlash seemed like people disappointed that Sanders would do something bad--and some of it may be--that would be more appropriate, but it really seems like people who don't like Sanders seeing an opportunity to pounce. 

...it doesn't help that so many Sanders supporters are assholes, but the man himself doesn't seem to be.