For the first time Thursday, frontrunner Joe Biden faced his two leading left-leaning competitors on the debate stage: Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT).
Stephanopoulos: Can all of you sling poo all over yourselves for the next 45 minutes? Vice President Biden, you start.
Just what I’d expect from George, he is lite lite lite weight and tries to be cute but he is only after getting a food fight started.There is much more to HC and medical induced bankruptcies than most people realize and/or are willing to admit. If any candidate can get that message across that will be the end of any arguments.
I for one am tired of the we can’t, it’s too hard, it cost money, it will disrupt profits, etc, etc, etc and it is just not spoken about Health Care but also rebuilding highways, education, you just about name it, including the Green New Deal. What happened to the America I grew up within, the America that REPUGS continually say they want to return to. We are the wealthiest nation and we are afraid of our shadows, afraid to try to accomplish anything, we want the other guy to develop the ideas then we want to claim them and say look how great we are. I am tired of that. I don’t want to “return to normalcy” that is a slow death and you may as well dig the grave. Give me ideas, give me plans if they work great, if they fail, then they fail, try something else. You can not progress without failures, being afraid of failures, as I told my kids growing up, is failure.
On Sat I read an article that reported on studies that show within 15 years fossil fuel infrastructure will cost more than firms could receive in revenue and the article specifically mentioned NG pipelines. Already we see that renewable energy is cheaper than coal and nearly on par with natural gas so the article did not leave me with skepticism. Then the next day I read about the natural gas pipeline National Grid wants Williams to build into NYC costing nearly $1B just to go under the Hudson. It left me wondering if investors in either company were taking into account the that the window to make the investment and any return is quickly narrowing. I can’t see how something that would take 5 years to build, leaving a 10 year window based on the afore mentioned article could recoup $1B.
I wish Warren and Sanders had made a few points, like…
All of the “private insurance” plans wind up with tax dollars subsidizing insurance company profits.
Their plans provide health CARE for everyone. (don’t use the word “access”) Perhaps offer an unserious “compromise” that will make it legal for people to hire companies to tell them “no, you can’t see that doctor”, and make it legal for Americans to write checks to insurance companies for doing nothing at all.
Ask if all americans will be required to have access to the same levels of coverage that their “public options” provide. Ask if insurance companies will be required to provide that same level of access to care in all its plans, without costing Americans more out-of-pocket than their “private options”. Ask if employers will be required to provide employees insurance, without costing those employees more.
The only real problem I have with the Sanders/Warren plan is the speed at which it is implemented. Four years is probably too fast for the current lumbering health care infrastructure to adapt to a new way of doing things.
Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-TX) endorsed a Medicare buy-in…
I think this might be the best next step after Obamacare and when folks see how good it is and it starts outdoing the insurance companies we’ll then be able to transition to medicare for all.
I am pleased that we’re finally trying to have a substantive debate about Medicare for All. It’s a great slogan, but there’s a lot of tough mudding underneath it. When presented as policy rather than as mantra, the nuts and bolts don’t always appeal to people.
For as long as a mainstream political party takes as gospel the idea that many critical medical procedures are immoral and should be illegal, I do not want the federal government to be the sole provider of medical insurance. Frankly, the idea seems ludicrous. You first need to believe in rainbow-farting unicorns which will ensure that Republicans never again simultaneously control the legislative and executive branches.
Once again, Sen. Klobuchar statred this whole discussion, but NOBODY will even talk about what she said.
She is just not SHINY ENOUGH for the MSM to talk about her proposals.
The MSM wants Bomb-Throwers and Screaming Radicals because they are “good for ratings”. Not rational well-thought-out ideas from a proven person who GETS THINGS DONE.
Nope. Can’t talk about HER. SHE is not “exciting” enough to get the clicks of the bots going.
This is why we can’t have nice things. INFOTAINMENT NEWS and POLITICS AS REALITY SHOW.
sigh.
Consider the possibility that Sen. Klobuchar is simply uninspiring.
“May the best system win” seems to me like good politics as well as good policy.
I was pleased that we’re seeing some separation between candidates on this vital topic and I’m glad health insurance came up early again. That’s the whole point of these exercises.
I suspect that, no matter how fervently some candidates push their proposals on the trail, we’ll see a hybrid with a public option once they take office.
I was surprised that none of the candidates mentioned the dismal Obamacare enrollment numbers that recently came out, the result of Fat Bastard meddling with the insurance system while offering no plan of his own.
NOTE TO WRITER: *The word you were fumbling for is “flak,” not “flack.”
The tax increase is a red herring. Warren and Sanders are right, the goal of medicare for all is to reduce the cost of healthcare. The numbers they suggest are staggering and every family would see an overall reduction in costs.
Me, too.
In addition, the GOP and its “free market” approach to health insurance is ludicrous. Health insurance is as heavily regulated as any sector of economic life in America. The “free market” is a mirage and so is any possibility that the Trump Party gives a rat’s left gonad who lives and dies in this country.
I thought we were trying to elect a President, not a Scout Leader?
WTF does “inspiring” have to do with it?
See, this is issue right there. Primary Voters don’t vote on policy, or skill, or experience. They want a HERO to promise to “wave a magic wand” and “make it all better” and that is just childish and immature, and the reason we have Donald J. Trump as President.
General Election Voters want STABILITY. The MSM wants FIST FIGHTS ON CAMERA so we get this sad imitation of “Debate”, more akin to a Jerry Springer episode than any kind of actual Debate.
My Prediction: Biden will say something monumentally stupid and fall like a rock in the ACTUAL Primaries and Warren will win the Nomination (Sanders will sue over it, sore loser that he is.)
Warren will then pick Harris or Booker as VP, (causing Orgasmic Adulation among the “Progressives”) and lose Big to Trump who will win 39 states. Sure a Warren/(token VP) ticket will win New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, California, Oregon, Washington, New Jersey, New Mexico, possibly Illinois. ANY of the Democrats will win those states. BUT that ticket will get their ass handed to them in Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, etc. (all the “Flyover” and “Rust Belt” States along with the ENTIRE South and the Western “sagebrush” states) and we will get 14 more years of Trump (that is not a typo.)
Bet money on it.
The MSM and their Republican owners are doing EXACTLY what Nixon did in 1972; Picking the Most Polarizing Candidate to Run Against their chosen one (Trump.) Just like Nixon did by maneuvering and dirty tricks to install McGovern (the Progressive Hero of the Left at the time) as his opponent. Nixon (a highly UNPOPULAR President in 1972) then went on to win 49 states in the biggest smackdown in election history. McGovern got HUGE CROWDS of College Students at his rallies, and got torched in the General Election.
Mark Twain: “History does not repeat itself, but it frequently Rhymes.”
Mark my words.
Lots. It has lots to do with winning a presidential campaign.
I am considering the possibility that your posts on this subject are parody, so please don’t “whoosh” me.
Oh, you mean like when you were “inspired” by Obama, then spent the next 8 years bashing him relentlessly and in the process causing the Democrats to lose the Senate, House, Presidency, and Supreme Court for a Generation because he didn’t “live up to” your unrealistic aspirations?
I didn’t see any Obama’s on the stage last night. Just the current “leaders” catering to the Twitterverse to get press (as if the “Twitterverse” is a real reflection of the general electorate.)
The actual Democratic Convention is 11 months away, and the first actual Primary is over 4 months away, yet “it’s all over but the shouting”. Really?
In August 2007 the leading Democrat was Hillary Clinton followed by John Edwards and a distant 3rd was Barrack Obama (who?) and a bunch of others.
The leading Republican was (OMG) Rudy Gulliani, followed by John McCain and Fred Thompson (from Law and Order.)
You don’t know me very well, amigo.
Also, Amy Klobuchar’s color is “beige.”
ETA: It is actually somewhat inspiring to find a passionate advocate for Amy Klobuchar. I would not have thought that such a person existed.
I’m a that person that the East Coast Media Conglomerates seem unable to EVER find or Interview: A Center-Left Democrat who votes RELIABLY Democratic, but sees Sanders and Warren as pandering to the extreme left of the party too much. We are legion, but never, EVER interviewed because we are not “controversial and combative enough” for the MSM “shiney object chasers”.
I guess you could call me a “Bleeding-Heart Libertarian”. I know how I would LIKE things to be, but I understand how they really ARE and what is actually possible in our reality.
I like Joe Biden as a PERSON, but I don’t think he is the right candidate to take on Trump due to his loooong record in the Congress, his “joining at the hip” with Obama as opposed to being “his own man”, and his age (and I’m an over 65 White Male so I can say that.)
Still, the attacks upon him by snotty little candidates like Castro, and Gillebrand (good riddance to both), and people who should know better, like Harris and Booker piss me off for how transparently petty they are.
People like Klobuchar NEVER seem to get a break in our current Political Reality Show and it is to the detriment of America.
Full Disclosure: She is my Senator here in Minnesota so I know her and her actions and accomplishments FAR better than most here, and frankly, I have met her personally several times in my work for the Minnesota DFL Party, and I LIKE HER A LOT as a person.
She would make an excellent President (or VP) but the MSM and the screaming Twitter-Bots won’t let her break through.
I WILL vote for whomever becomes the Democratic Candidate (I always have) but I don’t see Warren as being able to overcome her “Shrill, Extremist” labeling by the entire MSM, who absolutely HATE anyone smarter than they are (like Warren.)
Right now my preferred ticket would be Warren/Klobuchar, but that can change as I really like Buttigieg too (another center-left candidate.)
Sanders can go pound sand. If you can’t JOIN the party, don’t run for it’s nomination.
Harris is waaaay too ambitious and seems perfectly willing to say and do ANYTHING to get elected.
Warren is a top-flight policy-wonk but when she gets excited she DOES get “shrill” and that will turn off a lot of shallow people (most of the electorate unfortunately.)
I can’t figure Booker out. On stage he is nakedly ambitious and petty, but in person he is reasonable and very good on policy. He needs new advisors. Go figure.
Castro shot himself in the face with that stupid “go get $1000!!!” gimmick, and his outrageous age-shaming of Biden. He’s done.
Beto has become a One-Issue Candidate. Pass.
Yang. WTF?
Biden. Man, I WANT to like him, but he is fading fast. Time to hang it up and let younger people run the show Joe.
Buttigieg. I really like how he handles himself, but nationally. well. He reminds me of Barack Obama in 2006. He needs more time to “mature” nationally. 2024 he will be a force.
Okay, you whooshed me after all.
Whatever the hell that means.
