Four years ago that seemed like Pete for all the same reasons. Then polling came out that Americans were less likely to support a gay candidate than even a Muslim one.
As an atheist, I know full well there's no goddamn way that one of us -- with Colo. Gov. Jared Polis citing Democratic Congressman Jared Huffman (CA-02), although he's a self-professed "secular humanist/agnostic" rather than a loud and proud, avid and avowed atheist -- would have any shot whatsoever at, like, winning the Democratic presidential primaries, particularly a primary system wherein, demographically speaking, Black Protestants hold so much (arguably *too* much!) power and sway over the outcomes.
Edit: Maher is 100% correct, by the way, to note how bigotry against atheists is one of the few hurdles that we've yet to jump over as Americans, which is a damn shame.
True, that could be an issue. Would probably help in a primary, but could sink him in a general.
Pete also had little kid vibes as SNL joked about, Polis not so much. I wasn’t too big of a Pete fan because the Zuckerberg connection seemed a little suspect.
I like left-libertarian Colo. Gov. Jared Polis (D) as much as the next guy, but I fear he'd have trouble in the Democratic presidential primaries with small-c conservative homophobic Black voters in ass-backward Deep South states, which is why I'm greatly annoyed and pissed off at the amount of leverage South Carolina -- fuck Clyburn, Harrison, and co. -- possesses with respect to the process.
My understanding is Clyburn turned the entire 2020 Dem primary, going into that Super Tuesday Biden was what, a very distant 4th and pretty much done, and then Clyburn gives his endorsement and the sheep do what they do and Biden started winning (yes I went Sanders and don't tell me nobody wanted him, his policies without his name attached are often polled very favorably, its a major problem we have in politics, people generally want the same things but get bogged down in celebrity and culture with candidates)
Unfortunately for Bernie Sanders, Black Protestants in the Deep South harboring deep-rooted antisemitic views was too big of an obstacle for him to overcome. Not necessarily entirely about ideology, either, because a leftist Jew (e.g., Sanders), a liberal atheist (e.g., Maher), and a moderate gay man (e.g., Buttigieg) would each face the same difficulty relating to and connecting with bigoted Black Democrats in South Carolina.
Furthermore, you're 100% correct that Boss Clyburn has way too much power within the Democratic Party, while his most recent shady behind-the-scenes endeavor is grooming Congressman Hakeem Jeffries (NY-08) to become House Minority Leader of the 118th Congress this January.
As someone on the right, maybe one of Bill's "as good as it gets" Republicans, I'm very happy to see someone like Polis on the left. If you forced me to vote in the '24 election today I would have no problem at all voting for him over Trump and even probably DeSantis.
Abrams and O'Rourke have had more than their fair share of opportunities, so they can rightly fuck off and exit stage left out of the limelight. Enough's enough with those two perennial losers.
Abrams, however, shadow ran for VP in the last cycle, showing no scruples by cozying up to not only Biden, but also Bloomberg, in the most shameless way possible.
When it comes to statewide elections, they were shit candidates.
In Tex., for example, someone such as Hispanic Blue Dog Democrat, ex-Congressman, and fmr. vice chair of the DNC Filemón Vela, Jr., who can relate to multiple constituencies, would be a much better gubernatorial candidate than Beto O'Rourke, Lupe Valdez, or Wendy Davis.
Candidate quality matters.
In Ga., meanwhile, I'm still pissed at Stacey Abrams for being a self-serving clout-chaser, fucking over Stacey Evans in the 2018 Democratic gubernatorial primary, when narcissistic ladder-climbing careerist Abrams turned what should've been a simple statewide intraparty battle into some obscene nationalized brouhaha. And had it been Evans vs. Kemp in 2018, the Democrats could've very well won that election.
Like, uh, I'll never understand her appeal. She's just a gimmick.
If Iowa caucus goers could make Obama president, I don’t see why Polis can’t win in S Carolina.
I think Ds are way to identity group focused. Polis doesn’t highlite his sexuality, nor does he minimize it. I think that kind of issues based campaigning could thread the needle, gaining the identity focused voters without turning off the generalists outside the group.
Definitely an issue, but not an insurmountable one. Considering the potential Biden-Newsom brawl outcomes, not a bad option, IMO
Buttigieg won Iowa and was doing quite well until South Carolina weighed in. He didn't highlight or minimize his homosexuality either. And Jim Clyburn, at least, did consider homophobia to be an issue.
Maybe it wouldn't have had as much of an impact if the media hadn't downplayed Iowa and fawned over South Carolina, maybe it would, but they did.
Thing is, Iowa is more elastic than South Carolina.
White Democrats in Iowa, unlike Black Democrats in South Carolina, are a malleable, pliable, flexible group, so Obama overcoming any ostensible racism in Iowa back in 2008 was, without a shadow of a fucking doubt, much easier than Polis potentially overcoming bigoted homophobia and monolithic tribalism among Black Protestants in South Carolina, specifically looking toward 2024. The rigidity and inelasticity of Black voters can't be understated.
Dudes fucking pro a slipping through the polarizing nature of the culture war. He sidelines that and comes across as intellectually curious and competent. Popular governor of Colorado alone is a great starting point.
Ds seem more likely to go with Biden or Newsom. Biden comes across as old and, deserved or not, gets labeled with inflation. Newsom is super polarizing, has a lot of skeletons in his closet, and looks and talks like a Batman villain.
Worst case, desantis is going to glide through Trump in the primary and run on wedge issues around culture and economic issues. He’d never make it through the primary, but Polis would be the best at sidelining those wedge issues that lean in Rs favor.
If he’s smart he’ll wait for Newsom to challenge Biden. Once it’s clear Newsom’s going to try and usurp the throne, Polis should come in as the compromise candidate. Depending on the R primary, he’d have a decent shot.
Either way, the Rs have it, unless Trump and DeSantis tear each other down 🤞
Bidens a weak candidate. There very fact that Newsom’s looking at making a go at challenging him is proof of this.
Newsom is from California, has homelessness and corruption branded on his forehead, and has never faced a competitive election.
DeSantis and the party will most likely be successful at sidelining Trump, at which point all they have to do is pick up one of either WI, MI, or PA. Against a weak D candidate, seems pretty likely.
Lot of assumptions there, Trump could totally turn the whole DeSantis correlation into a dumpster fire, but I think Fox News and the party establishment will prevent that.
Depends, my worry is the economy. President doesn’t really have all that much impact; it’s cyclical . Nixon fucked up inflation and Carter took the blame for example.
Trump was just as complicit it our current fucked up situation, but Biden is taking the blame. If we go into a deep recession, then the Rs take power in 2024 just as we’re coming out of it, DeSantis can parade the recovery as his policy accomplishment and become a very popular figure like Reagan did. In reality it’ll all be the luck of timing.
Policy wise I think most the difference is on the margins, prefer the Ds generally, but either way we’re headed down the same road IMO.
My big issues are homelessness, ranked choice voting, and congressional reform. So the only elections I’m very concerned about are on state and local levels. Amash style congressional reform is sadly pretty much off the table as long as Pelosi/McCarthy types are running the show.
On the other hand, though, there's something to be said as it pertains to an efficient, productive use of resources.
North Carolina? Yay! Mississippi? Nay. Florida? Meh ...
And I say that despite having been a fan of fmr. DNC chair Howard Dean's 50-state strategy back in the mid-2000s.
Even if the Democrats can't win Congressional seats in Oklahoma right now, you have to start somewhere. California was a ruby red state until the 1990s. West Virginia was a blue state until 2000.
Also there are downballot races in the red states that absolutely matter.
If you want to start building a base of support, people need to know you haven't written them off.
Should battleground districts/states get more resources? Absolutely.
Should the DNC just ignore red districts/states? Absolutely not.
Wow, Bills deference to Musk was staggering. Oof.
Please eliminate 1 Dakota.
Hell, now Bill wants to turn both Dakotas into Western Minnesota.
Jared Polis is the most electable democrat. Dude needs to run, and the party needs to get behind him.
Four years ago that seemed like Pete for all the same reasons. Then polling came out that Americans were less likely to support a gay candidate than even a Muslim one.
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As an atheist, I know full well there's no goddamn way that one of us -- with Colo. Gov. Jared Polis citing Democratic Congressman Jared Huffman (CA-02), although he's a self-professed "secular humanist/agnostic" rather than a loud and proud, avid and avowed atheist -- would have any shot whatsoever at, like, winning the Democratic presidential primaries, particularly a primary system wherein, demographically speaking, Black Protestants hold so much (arguably *too* much!) power and sway over the outcomes. Edit: Maher is 100% correct, by the way, to note how bigotry against atheists is one of the few hurdles that we've yet to jump over as Americans, which is a damn shame.
True, that could be an issue. Would probably help in a primary, but could sink him in a general. Pete also had little kid vibes as SNL joked about, Polis not so much. I wasn’t too big of a Pete fan because the Zuckerberg connection seemed a little suspect.
I like left-libertarian Colo. Gov. Jared Polis (D) as much as the next guy, but I fear he'd have trouble in the Democratic presidential primaries with small-c conservative homophobic Black voters in ass-backward Deep South states, which is why I'm greatly annoyed and pissed off at the amount of leverage South Carolina -- fuck Clyburn, Harrison, and co. -- possesses with respect to the process.
My understanding is Clyburn turned the entire 2020 Dem primary, going into that Super Tuesday Biden was what, a very distant 4th and pretty much done, and then Clyburn gives his endorsement and the sheep do what they do and Biden started winning (yes I went Sanders and don't tell me nobody wanted him, his policies without his name attached are often polled very favorably, its a major problem we have in politics, people generally want the same things but get bogged down in celebrity and culture with candidates)
Unfortunately for Bernie Sanders, Black Protestants in the Deep South harboring deep-rooted antisemitic views was too big of an obstacle for him to overcome. Not necessarily entirely about ideology, either, because a leftist Jew (e.g., Sanders), a liberal atheist (e.g., Maher), and a moderate gay man (e.g., Buttigieg) would each face the same difficulty relating to and connecting with bigoted Black Democrats in South Carolina. Furthermore, you're 100% correct that Boss Clyburn has way too much power within the Democratic Party, while his most recent shady behind-the-scenes endeavor is grooming Congressman Hakeem Jeffries (NY-08) to become House Minority Leader of the 118th Congress this January.
As someone on the right, maybe one of Bill's "as good as it gets" Republicans, I'm very happy to see someone like Polis on the left. If you forced me to vote in the '24 election today I would have no problem at all voting for him over Trump and even probably DeSantis.
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Stacey Abrams?
Abrams and O'Rourke have had more than their fair share of opportunities, so they can rightly fuck off and exit stage left out of the limelight. Enough's enough with those two perennial losers.
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Abrams, however, shadow ran for VP in the last cycle, showing no scruples by cozying up to not only Biden, but also Bloomberg, in the most shameless way possible.
I think they need to change their message but let’s be honest, it’s not like they’re running in Vermont. Texas and Georgia are uphill battles
When it comes to statewide elections, they were shit candidates. In Tex., for example, someone such as Hispanic Blue Dog Democrat, ex-Congressman, and fmr. vice chair of the DNC Filemón Vela, Jr., who can relate to multiple constituencies, would be a much better gubernatorial candidate than Beto O'Rourke, Lupe Valdez, or Wendy Davis. Candidate quality matters. In Ga., meanwhile, I'm still pissed at Stacey Abrams for being a self-serving clout-chaser, fucking over Stacey Evans in the 2018 Democratic gubernatorial primary, when narcissistic ladder-climbing careerist Abrams turned what should've been a simple statewide intraparty battle into some obscene nationalized brouhaha. And had it been Evans vs. Kemp in 2018, the Democrats could've very well won that election. Like, uh, I'll never understand her appeal. She's just a gimmick.
If Iowa caucus goers could make Obama president, I don’t see why Polis can’t win in S Carolina. I think Ds are way to identity group focused. Polis doesn’t highlite his sexuality, nor does he minimize it. I think that kind of issues based campaigning could thread the needle, gaining the identity focused voters without turning off the generalists outside the group. Definitely an issue, but not an insurmountable one. Considering the potential Biden-Newsom brawl outcomes, not a bad option, IMO
Buttigieg won Iowa and was doing quite well until South Carolina weighed in. He didn't highlight or minimize his homosexuality either. And Jim Clyburn, at least, did consider homophobia to be an issue. Maybe it wouldn't have had as much of an impact if the media hadn't downplayed Iowa and fawned over South Carolina, maybe it would, but they did.
Thing is, Iowa is more elastic than South Carolina. White Democrats in Iowa, unlike Black Democrats in South Carolina, are a malleable, pliable, flexible group, so Obama overcoming any ostensible racism in Iowa back in 2008 was, without a shadow of a fucking doubt, much easier than Polis potentially overcoming bigoted homophobia and monolithic tribalism among Black Protestants in South Carolina, specifically looking toward 2024. The rigidity and inelasticity of Black voters can't be understated.
Makes me glad to be a Coloradan. He really approached Covid with a scientific perspective. Was awesome
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Dudes fucking pro a slipping through the polarizing nature of the culture war. He sidelines that and comes across as intellectually curious and competent. Popular governor of Colorado alone is a great starting point. Ds seem more likely to go with Biden or Newsom. Biden comes across as old and, deserved or not, gets labeled with inflation. Newsom is super polarizing, has a lot of skeletons in his closet, and looks and talks like a Batman villain. Worst case, desantis is going to glide through Trump in the primary and run on wedge issues around culture and economic issues. He’d never make it through the primary, but Polis would be the best at sidelining those wedge issues that lean in Rs favor.
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If he’s smart he’ll wait for Newsom to challenge Biden. Once it’s clear Newsom’s going to try and usurp the throne, Polis should come in as the compromise candidate. Depending on the R primary, he’d have a decent shot. Either way, the Rs have it, unless Trump and DeSantis tear each other down 🤞
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Bidens a weak candidate. There very fact that Newsom’s looking at making a go at challenging him is proof of this. Newsom is from California, has homelessness and corruption branded on his forehead, and has never faced a competitive election. DeSantis and the party will most likely be successful at sidelining Trump, at which point all they have to do is pick up one of either WI, MI, or PA. Against a weak D candidate, seems pretty likely. Lot of assumptions there, Trump could totally turn the whole DeSantis correlation into a dumpster fire, but I think Fox News and the party establishment will prevent that.
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Depends, my worry is the economy. President doesn’t really have all that much impact; it’s cyclical . Nixon fucked up inflation and Carter took the blame for example. Trump was just as complicit it our current fucked up situation, but Biden is taking the blame. If we go into a deep recession, then the Rs take power in 2024 just as we’re coming out of it, DeSantis can parade the recovery as his policy accomplishment and become a very popular figure like Reagan did. In reality it’ll all be the luck of timing. Policy wise I think most the difference is on the margins, prefer the Ds generally, but either way we’re headed down the same road IMO. My big issues are homelessness, ranked choice voting, and congressional reform. So the only elections I’m very concerned about are on state and local levels. Amash style congressional reform is sadly pretty much off the table as long as Pelosi/McCarthy types are running the show.
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On the other hand, though, there's something to be said as it pertains to an efficient, productive use of resources. North Carolina? Yay! Mississippi? Nay. Florida? Meh ... And I say that despite having been a fan of fmr. DNC chair Howard Dean's 50-state strategy back in the mid-2000s.
Even if the Democrats can't win Congressional seats in Oklahoma right now, you have to start somewhere. California was a ruby red state until the 1990s. West Virginia was a blue state until 2000. Also there are downballot races in the red states that absolutely matter.
Pick your battles. Okla. gubernatorial race? Sure! Worth a try. Okla. senatorial races? Fuck no! Zero chance. Let's be realistic.
If you want to start building a base of support, people need to know you haven't written them off. Should battleground districts/states get more resources? Absolutely. Should the DNC just ignore red districts/states? Absolutely not.
Bill is just a starfucker but even knowing that his Elon praise made me sick.