Mega-Thread: 2020 United States General Election

[Spectral]

Left-wing House members including Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Katie Porter, Ayanna Pressley, Raúl Grijalva and candidate Jamaal Bowman along with 39 progressive groups signed a letter, obtained by POLITICO, arguing that no C-suite level corporate executives or corporate lobbyists ought to have Senate-confirmed positions in a Biden administration.

"Group of career politicians with no meaningful private sector experience say private sector should have no role in politics".

Sure, anything that dilutes the power of the political class is bad for people who have invested their lives in doing politics. You can't have people who have built companies participating in the political economy of the sector they're familiar with, they're apt to do things that aren't consistent with party-line politics.

[Zan15]

And it is clear why you are not anyone I care what their opinion is. By your lack of having a discussion in a respectful and adult manner.

And I could not care less how popular I am on here. lol! I know the crowd I am dealing with here.

LOL you are putting someone on ignore because they said you and a "thick skull"

Holy hell do you even realize what the candidate you support has said about people?

for someone who says "By your lack of having a discussion in a respectful and adult manner." how on earth can you even listen to donny for more than a few minutes yet alone support him?????


You are such the victim in these forums aren't you.

[Spectral]

But even those show Biden is not going to get maybe even the same level of minority votes that Hillary got. 12% African Americans would vote for Trump according to the Hill/Harris poll? If that turns out true, Biden will lose a lot of votes from African Americans. I hope it is true.

From a strategic perspective, this is pretty useless. There aren't very many states where picking up 12% of a minority vote is helpful. If current polling data is correct, the hit Trump has taken in losing suburban whites is way more impactful than any tiny inroads he's made with black voters.

[DingDongKing]

LOL you are putting someone on ignore because they said you and a "thick skull"

Holy hell do you even realize what the candidate you support has said about people?

for someone who says "By your lack of having a discussion in a respectful and adult manner." how on earth can you even listen to donny for more than a few minutes yet alone support him?????


You are such the victim in these forums aren't you.

I mean, I put all Trump supporters on ignore, but that’s because I don’t fraternise with folks who enable fascism. Different yardstick altogether.

[Ghostpanther]

From a strategic perspective, this is pretty useless. There aren't very many states where picking up 12% of a minority vote is helpful. If current polling data is correct, the hit Trump has taken in losing suburban whites is way more impactful than any tiny inroads he's made with black voters.

I disagree. It could make a difference in some important swing states, when you consider how close Trump won Penn, Mich. esp.

[Omega10]

"Group of career politicians with no meaningful private sector experience say private sector should have no role in politics".

Sure, anything that dilutes the power of the political class is bad for people who have invested their lives in doing politics. You can't have people who have built companies participating in the political economy of the sector they're familiar with, they're apt to do things that aren't consistent with party-line politics.

You very much intentionally took her post way out of context.

The problem is not that people in corporate America have a say in the government.

It's that besides the lobbyists that they already have which have a lot of influence, in a Biden administration corporate America will have its representatives running just about every single government department and most of the sub-departments. Giving them a monopoly on power is exactly the problem, and exactly the problem she is bringing up.

The first sentence your wrote is just a flat out lie as she is not saying anything like what you said.

[Spectral]

I disagree. It could make a difference in some important swing states, when you consider how close Trump won Penn, Mich. esp.

Michigan is 79% white and 14% black. Picking up 2% of the white vote is worth about as much as picking up 12% of the black vote. If you can get them both, sure, by all means, have at it. But if you're working at cross purposes or have limited resources, this is a pretty bad plan. My impression is that the main reason that Trump does the whole "I love the blacks!" thing is to try to reassure suburban white women that it's OK to vote for him.

[PhaelixWW]

For one thing, you are better at digging this stuff up. lol!

It all literally comes from one bookmarked page.

But even those show Biden is not going to get maybe even the same level of minority votes that Hillary got. 12% African Americans would vote for Trump according to the Hill/Harris poll? If that turns out true, Biden will lose a lot of votes from African Americans. I hope it is true.

HarrisX said 9%. Trump got 8% in 2016. That's not really a terribly impressive difference.

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I disagree. It could make a difference in some important swing states, when you consider how close Trump won Penn, Mich. esp.

This isn't 2016, though. His actions have cost him far more votes than any meager amount he might pick up in other areas.

[Spectral]

You very much intentionally took her post way out of context.

The problem is not that people in corporate America have a say in the government.

It's that besides the lobbyists that they already have which have a lot of influence, in a Biden administration corporate America will have its representatives running just about every single government department and most of the sub-departments. Giving them a monopoly on power is exactly the problem, and exactly the problem she is bringing up.

The first sentence your wrote is just a flat out lie as she is not saying anything like what you said.

I have a great deal of antipathy for the sort of Congresscritter that has never created anything in the private sector attempting to explicitly ban executives from holding roles in the government. Do you not see the power grab? Lobbying has its own problems, but that's not a remotely valid excuse to squeeze corporate founders out of a huge chunk of government. Again, the proposed policy:

...no C-suite level corporate executives or corporate lobbyists ought to have Senate-confirmed positions in a Biden administration.

That constitutes something like ~1500 positions in an administration across a vast array of departments. What, exactly, about being the CFO of a company would disqualify someone from a treasury position? Why would we not want a CSO from a genomics company to get a position with NIH?

This is a naked power grab by a bunch of political hacks.

[Rasulis]

It's a good sign for voter turnout everywhere, but I'm not nearly enough of a dreamer to think that Texas would turn blue. Not for another decade at least, and not without the republicans kicking and screaming the entire way down.

I don't know if TX is going to turn blue this election cycle or not. However, it is definitely turning bluer.

In 2016, Trump beat Hillary, but Democrats gained 6 Texas House seats.

In 2018, Cruz barely beat O'Rourke, and Democrats gained 12 Texas House seats.

In 2020, Democrats need 9 seats more to have majority in Texas House. According to a poll released Thursday by a boutique news site called Reform Austin, there are currently 22 competitive districts – five presently held by Democrats and 17 by Republicans – and Democrats are almost guaranteed to win five of the GOP seats and have good opportunities to pick up six more without losing any of their own.

The current districts are gerrymandered by interweaving what used to be GOP friendly suburbs and the urban areas. Unfortunately for the GOP, the suburbs have been turning bluer and the rural areas are losing population. Even if the GOP maintained their majority hold, gerrymandering in 2021 will become more challenging.

Lets go back to early voting. Another 4 million votes have been turned in since yesterday morning for a total of 26,061,324 (19% of 2016). Assuming the pace remains the same, total votes by election day should be around 85% of 2016.

Back to Texas. I think if the ten largest counties turnout reached the 65% mark, Biden will have a very good chance of carrying Texas. Currently, the 5 largest counties account for 49% of the early votes.

Cross your fingers.

[DingDongKing]

You repeating this in multiple posts doesn't make it more convincing.

It’s also funny because the member who supports fascism says ‘I do care what people on this forum think if me’.

[Omega10]

I have a great deal of antipathy for the sort of Congresscritter that has never created anything in the private sector attempting to explicitly ban executives from holding roles in the government. Do you not see the power grab? Lobbying has its own problems, but that's not a remotely valid excuse to squeeze corporate founders out of a huge chunk of government. Again, the proposed policy:

That constitutes something like ~1500 positions in an administration across a vast array of departments. What, exactly, about being the CFO of a company would disqualify someone from a treasury position? Why would we not want a CSO from a genomics company to get a position with NIH?

This is a naked power grab by a bunch of political hacks.

Technically nothing would disqualify the CEO of Boeing from being head of the FAA. It could be argued that the CEO of Boeing would be one of the most qualified people in the world to run the FAA and provide regulations for Boeing.

Why would we not want this? Conflict of interest. Why would we not want to have a CSO from a genomics company getting a Senate confirmed position in the NIH? Conflict of interest.

As far as things being a "power grab", everything ABOUT these positions is a power grab almost by definition. Everyone is fighting for the power that comes from running major US government departments. The CEOs are fighting for power, AOC is fighting for power, democrats and republicans are fighting for power.

Right now the Biden administration position is likely to be 100% of the positions goes to corporate America. This is very similar to what Obama actually did, and it's reasonable that Biden would follow the same procedures. It is a naked power grab by a bunch of corporate hacks, which basically is what corporate America is SUPPOSED to do. Take as much power as they can get. And a bunch of political hacks are fighting to try to reduce how much of the pie they get.

On a practical note, when the dust settle here, you will win and most if not all of the positions will go to corporate hacks rather than political hacks.

[Rasulis]

Early in-person voting has not even started in Florida, and the number of ballots turned in already exceeded August primary.

[Felya]

You repeating this in multiple posts doesn't make it more convincing.

It shouldn’t and doesn’t mater... lurkers are people too...

Hallo lurkers!!

[Rasulis]

Elections officials say not enough time to purge felons from voter rolls

Florida’s Division of Elections is telling Election Supervisors it will begin identifying registered voters who are ineligible because they haven’t paid off all their financial obligations related to past felony convictions.

However, their removal from the rolls isn’t likely before November third.

Election supervisors we spoke with said as long as you are registered and honestly believe you are eligible to vote, you can do so. Even if the state raises questions about your eligibility. And Leon County Election Supervisor Mark Earley said once your vote is cast, it will be counted.

“Once we receive a ballot and tabulate a ballot it’s counted and you can’t take those results back out because it’s mixed in with all the other ballots. You know, voting is anonymous,” said Earley.

What a farce.

[Edge-]

Elections officials say not enough time to purge felons from voter rolls



What a farce.

Huh, so Republican disorganization and ineptitude may finally score one for voting rights.

[Zan15]

I don't know if TX is going to turn blue this election cycle or not. However, it is definitely turning bluer.

In 2016, Trump beat Hillary, but Democrats gained 6 Texas House seats.

In 2018, Cruz barely beat O'Rourke, and Democrats gained 12 Texas House seats.

In 2020, Democrats need 9 seats more to have majority in Texas House. According to a poll released Thursday by a boutique news site called Reform Austin, there are currently 22 competitive districts – five presently held by Democrats and 17 by Republicans – and Democrats are almost guaranteed to win five of the GOP seats and have good opportunities to pick up six more without losing any of their own.

The current districts are gerrymandered by interweaving what used to be GOP friendly suburbs and the urban areas. Unfortunately for the GOP, the suburbs have been turning bluer and the rural areas are losing population. Even if the GOP maintained their majority hold, gerrymandering in 2021 will become more challenging.

Lets go back to early voting. Another 4 million votes have been turned in since yesterday morning for a total of 26,061,324 (19% of 2016). Assuming the pace remains the same, total votes by election day should be around 85% of 2016.

Back to Texas. I think if the ten largest counties turnout reached the 65% mark, Biden will have a very good chance of carrying Texas. Currently, the 5 largest counties account for 49% of the early votes.

Cross your fingers.

its funny they keep cheering people moving out of CA, NY, ECT when its just another example of them shooting themselves in the foot with the consequences.

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Elections officials say not enough time to purge felons from voter rolls



What a farce.

LOL from the folks who say "nothing in the constitution prevents felons from owning guns....."

..looks for limits on voting....hmmmm.....

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Elections officials say not enough time to purge felons from voter rolls



What a farce.

LOL from the folks who say "nothing in the constitution prevents felons from owning guns....."

..looks for limits on voting....hmmmm.....

[Redwyrm]

Early in-person voting has not even started in Florida, and the number of ballots turned in already exceeded August primary.

Yeah, Florida only gets two weeks of early voting. I seem to remember it being more in previous elections. Regardless I voted early by just getting the mail in ballot and hand delivering it. Best of both worlds.

[Edge-]

https://www.dailydot.com/debug/biden-leaked-texts/

Wait I must have missed this...so the Murdoch NY Post is going after Biden for...being a supportive and loving father to his son who was struggling with addiction?

This is the attack angle from conservatives? That he's a loving, empathetic father who will support his son through his darkest times?

And this is...bad?

What the fuck.

[Shadowferal]

You very much intentionally took her post way out of context.

The problem is not that people in corporate America have a say in the government.

It's that besides the lobbyists that they already have which have a lot of influence, in a Biden administration corporate America will have its representatives running just about every single government department and most of the sub-departments. Giving them a monopoly on power is exactly the problem, and exactly the problem she is bringing up..

Get used to it.
If the likes of Warren hold an oversight position then you may see some improvement. But don't expect any full blown changes right away. A Biden admin isn't going to rock the boat full left.