The current results should suggest to these people that in 2016 Bernie was buoyed by Democrat antipathy towards Clinton. She should remain in the shadows.

I wouldn't credit the email particularly, and have no idea what that organisation does. With Biden the presumptive nominee now there's gotta be some chance of a fix going in, either just because, or because his gaffes get worse than losing his temper or failing to finish one or two sentences per public appearance.

You have to respect Bernie’s style. He’s the most consistent politician I’ve ever seen and is going to die with his boots on. Just did a press conference and gave Biden the key talking points for Sunday’s debate, challenging Biden by asking why he is opposed to

• Medicare for all
• Free university and student debt relief
• Ending mass incarceration and reducing racism in justice system
• Transforming the energy economy in the next 7 years to save the world
• Ending billionaire involvement in elections and just ending billionaires in general
• Addressing high poverty

Many of these are just common sense issues. You just need to be transparent to about the cost and the financing mechanism (typically raising corporate, income and consumption taxes) so that society accepts that they need to make trade offs in order to have a more just environment.

I think the billionaire point is a distracting red herring but everything else is spot on. Over to Biden.

Obviously from a biased subreddit, but it's not at all acceptable that this is what you have to do to vote. People claim to have stood for hours waiting.

How does voting work in other countries?

In Australia it's always on a Saturday. Polling booths are set up in primary schools - where the P&C sets up a BBQ / cake stall to raise funds at the same time.

Voting is still done on a piece of paper and the vote slips stuffed into a big box for counting. In my experience it takes between 1 and 15 minutes standing in a queue before you get to vote.

We only vote for local, State and Federal government elections, but voting in all 3 is compulsory. At least, it's compulsory to turn up and have your name marked off and to collect your ballot.

i know it's not compulsory in the US, and they hold the general election and most of the primaries on weekedays. as an aussie i was scratching my head at US pundits fawning over states that held saturday voting like 'huh, why's that not done everywhere?'

Voting is not mandatory here, but people are automatically registered to vote if they're citizens and get their voting card sent home per mail in advance, and then they just bring it to the designated polling place where voting takes place. We vote on paper ballots that are counted both manually and by machine. It's done on weekends here too. I've never waited for more than 5 minutes. You can vote by mail in advance too free of charge.

We usually have an 85-87% turnout in the elections. I always thought that was low for some reason.

Ah that's smart to register people automatically. We have to register ourselves. But then we get fined if we don't turn up at the polling place, or mail in our vote ahead of time. So the onus is on individuals to register.

Klaus wrote:

Voting is not mandatory here, but people are automatically registered to vote if they're citizens and get their voting card sent home per mail in advance, and then they just bring it to the designated polling place where voting takes place. We vote on paper ballots that are counted both manually and by machine. It's done on weekends here too. I've never waited for more than 5 minutes. You can vote by mail in advance too free of charge.

We usually have an 85-87% turnout in the elections. I always thought that was low for some reason.

We'd around 63% turn out in our election this year. It was the first time it was held on a Saturday and the turnout was down 2 or 3% over all from the last general election. There were storms in the west though that probably effected the turnout there.

Fairly decent bounce for Sanders in the latest national polling, he's gained about 8 points on Biden.

He also got drubbed in big contests last night, losing by 12 to 40%. It’s over unfortunately.
Actually listened to a good discussion with a senior Policy Fellow at UC Berkeley’s Labor Center saying that Sander’s campaign knew how to mobilize but not organize voters. The last part required lots of repeated Face ho face interactions to drive maybes into definitelys. Good discussion.

Americans are insane. In the face of a pandemic they reject a move to medicare for all. And these are supposed to be the more left leaning Americans.

Liberals deserve four more years of Trump if they think the answer to a single issue in American politics is Joe Biden.

Was the turnout low?

Seemed fine in high mail-in and early voting states. Lower in states that emphasized in person voting.
That said, it might not be fully clear how much of that is corona versus this contest being a walkover.

For the Medicare for all issue, Biden rightly pointed out that Italy and other European states are devastated. So having state care won’t prevent a virus.
I think the important thing now for Bernie is to see if he can turn his fan club into a permanent movement. I’ve been critical of how his most fanatic supporters vilify anyone who is slightly opposed to him or runs against him. He’s made a great start. But now his ideas need to penetrate the base. That means building a coalition with lots of left leaning leaders, and focusing on drumming this mediate home everyday. And then working towards the policies. Bernie still lives in a fairytale land where this shit magically materializes. He needs to build the policy that shows Flobaba will go from paying 40% tax to 44% tax, but the will be increased benefits from removing waste from profiteering and superfluous private healthcare operators. I think this is the job of the next generation of left leaning leaders, and he needs to build that infrastructure quickly. Otherwise this movement will have been for naught.

Claudius wrote:

Seemed fine in high mail-in and early voting states. Lower in states that emphasized in person voting.
That said, it might not be fully clear how much of that is corona versus this contest being a walkover.

For the Medicare for all issue, Biden rightly pointed out that Italy and other European states are devastated. So having state care won’t prevent a virus.

Not having state care will? How is it right to point out something out that nobody ever claimed?

State insurance

Claudius wrote:

For the Medicare for all issue, Biden rightly pointed out that Italy and other European states are devastated. So having state care won’t prevent a virus.

What a moronic thing to say. How can anyone take that sort of thing seriously? All the people who'd agree with him on that now would be calling it idiotic if Trump said it.

Having centralised state care cuts alot of red tape from the private sector. I don't see how the impact of the coronavirus can be used as a case against universal health care, but I'm sure biden and his ilk will spin it that way

The timing of this virus has been a month behind what Sanders would have needed to make an impact.

But this is Trump's year to preside over, anyway. The rate of case growth in the US, even with inadequate testing, looks higher than in most countries at the same stage. It's a huge human catastrophe in the making.

Increasing chatter about a Biden-Warren ticket. No one will be that happy with the compromise, but I could see it help voter turnout.

I consider myself fairly up to date on American politics but I had to google who Hillary's running mate was. Don't think it makes much of a difference either way. It will take some doing to do worse than the republicans anyway. Palin, Ryan and Pence is quite the streak.

Jens wrote:

I consider myself fairly up to date on American politics but I had to google who Hillary's running mate was. Don't think it makes much of a difference either way. It will take some doing to do worse than the republicans anyway. Palin, Ryan and Pence is quite the streak.

I've done this several times. I always forget. I've forgotten again now. I do think Pence helped Trump bring in the Evangelicals though, it was a sign he wouldn't betray them. I'm not sure anyone can do something similar for Biden.

Qwiss! wrote:

Claudius wrote:

For the Medicare for all issue, Biden rightly pointed out that Italy and other European states are devastated. So having state care won’t prevent a virus.

What a moronic thing to say. How can anyone take that sort of thing seriously? All the people who'd agree with him on that now would be calling it idiotic if Trump said it.

The situation as it is right now is much more a failure of public health than it is an issue of there being no state-based health insurance system. If the USA had its public health act together, it would be in a much better place than it is regardless of its its insurance system.

It’s important to differentiate root causes of issues. I think most of us are I agreement that ethically it is better to have a state based insurance system. And if the government is an efficient operator, you should be able to save a lot of money relative to the status quo while also achieving the universal coverage that a commercial system desperately lacks. Education and health are government responsibilities.

What the heck is state-based insurance?

Personally I think it's pretty obvious that it's the capitalistic aspect of American healthcare in general that is probably about to turn the US into the worst example of corona spread in the world: people initially not getting tested because they can't afford the bill; people not being guaranteed paid sick leave by the government so they can't afford to stay home if they have a fever; people not seeking treatment as the symptoms worsen for the same reason that they don't get tested. The nuts and bolts of the whole society makes social distancing and self-isolation untenable for people who don't have a lot of money.

Some of these policies have been temporarily updated through the passing of recent laws, but like in the case with the paid sick leave they're still so inadequate (companies with less than 50 and more than 500 employees don't get any money for sick leave, because corporate interests lobbied the assholes in Washington) that 85 percent of the population aren't eligible for the benefits. The Democrats should be ashamed of themselves for that shit compromise they pushed through.

Yeah. Systematically, the USA needs to get a lot of things right. It’s not just Medicare. It’s public health. It’s also issues like time off work/ sick leave as you rightly point out. Of all the countries I’ve worked in, USA had by far the worst time off policies, including for maternity/paternity.

But I think it’s easier to do these things in certain environments. I’m a big advocate of m4a in South Africa where the ANC has not delivered promised socioeconomic gains post independence. The politics and economic structure should make it very easy. Political will is just lacking.

In America though where the healthcare industry is 1/5 of the country’s GDP and capitalism/ individualism are woven into the fabric of the country, building a socialist healthcare system will be much harder to execute. Changing the mindset and disentangling the economic linkages of the existing medical system will require real effort. It’s why I don’t foresee America implementing an m4a system anytime soon.

Klaus wrote:

Some of these policies have been temporarily updated through the passing of recent laws, but like in the case with the paid sick leave they're still so inadequate (companies with less than 50 and more than 500 employees don't get any money for sick leave, because corporate interests lobbied the assholes in Washington) that 85 percent of the population aren't eligible for the benefits. The Democrats should be ashamed of themselves for that shit compromise they pushed through.

The democrats have been shown for what they truly are in this crisis. Even ghouls like Mitt Romney are trying to do more for working people than the most powerful and influential democrats are.

Claudius wrote:

Yeah. Systematically, the USA needs to get a lot of things right. It’s not just Medicare. It’s public health. It’s also issues like time off work/ sick leave as you rightly point out. Of all the countries I’ve worked in, USA had by far the worst time off policies, including for maternity/paternity.

But I think it’s easier to do these things in certain environments. I’m a big advocate of m4a in South Africa where the ANC has not delivered promised socioeconomic gains post independence. The politics and economic structure should make it very easy. Political will is just lacking.

In America though where the healthcare industry is 1/5 of the country’s GDP and capitalism/ individualism are woven into the fabric of the country, building a socialist healthcare system will be much harder to execute. Changing the mindset and disentangling the economic linkages of the existing medical system will require real effort. It’s why I don’t foresee America implementing an m4a system anytime soon.

I think you have it the wrong way around, you're giving the US an easy pass. Politically (as in with regards to organisation) and in terms of economic infrastructure it's not even remotely comparable trying to implement national health insurance in the richest country of the world as compared to a country that's coming out of a century of apartheid. Just because the US are making a mess of it or are too obstinate to do it doesn't mean it's harder there than in South Africa ffs.

Qwiss! wrote:

Klaus wrote:

Some of these policies have been temporarily updated through the passing of recent laws, but like in the case with the paid sick leave they're still so inadequate (companies with less than 50 and more than 500 employees don't get any money for sick leave, because corporate interests lobbied the assholes in Washington) that 85 percent of the population aren't eligible for the benefits. The Democrats should be ashamed of themselves for that shit compromise they pushed through.

The democrats have been shown for what they truly are in this crisis. Even ghouls like Mitt Romney are trying to do more for working people than the most powerful and influential democrats are.

Which is why you get results like this:

It takes some serious effort to be so lousy at your job that you end up bumping the approval ratings of a president who has systematically demantled and defunded the healthcare and welfare systems during a literal pandemic, but the Democrats managed to find a way.

They've spent billions and leaned on every corporate media contact they have over the past year in a concerted effort to bury the one candidate among their own ranks who's running on a healthcare reform and empowering workers' rights platform. People see them for what they are, which is just a shit GOP with less conviction.

So now that Russian asset Tulsi has endorsed Biden should we assume Putin favours Biden?

No shame.

You do realise that a super pac is an independent body. I believe this one hasn’t even filed its membership at the time that they were going into elections. This is different from, say, Buttigieg meeting rich donors in wine caves.

I do know, and it's not different at all. She said she wouldn't take money from super pacs for that very reason. Like most other things with Warren it was just a convenient lie at the time, and she used it to criticise Bernie and implied he took money from billionaires because he had the open support of a nurses union. Then she went back on her word when she ran out of cash. She knew exactly where that money came from. Fraudulent and self-serving, as always.

Warrens complete lack of character and authenticity got exposed in the last few months. She repeatedly doubled down the centrist talking points about bernie being backed by superpacs and bernie bros being the worst group of supporters on the planet, despite both of those statements being demonstrably false. The superpac smear was particularly egregious in light of the fact she eventually took money from an actual superpac. Glad voters shat on this fraud

Qwiss! wrote:

So now that Russian asset Tulsi has endorsed Biden should we assume Putin favours Biden?

Hillary McCarthy and the DNC in being full of shit shocker. Not a fucking peep will be made about this

Are there any American politicians left that aren't Russian assets?

It's not really clear what Warren's motivations were, but empirically her campaign definitely did everything possible to hurt Sanders, splitting the progressive vote and then refusing any endorsement. It's bitterly disappointing.

I'm wondering how November will unfold now. Short of being in an existential war it's hard to imagine better grounds than this pandemic for Trump to try to do something outside the rules. I don't really expect that will happen but it seems more possible now.