Showing posts with label 2020 elections. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2020 elections. Show all posts
Saturday, March 7, 2020
Friday, March 6, 2020
Elizabeth Warren Must Decide Which Side She's On
Norman Solomon
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/elizabeth-warren-must-decide-which-side-shes-on/
The night before Super Tuesday, Elizabeth Warren spoke to several thousand people in a quadrangle at East Los Angeles College. Much of her talk recounted the heroic actions of oppressed Latina workers who led the Justice for Janitors organization. Standing in the crowd, I was impressed with Warren’s eloquence as she praised solidarity and labor unions as essential for improving the lives of working people.
Now, days later, with corporate Democrat Joe Biden enjoying sudden momentum and mega-billionaire Mike Bloomberg joining forces with him, an urgent question hovers over Warren. It’s a time-honored union inquiry: “Which side are you on?”
How Warren answers that question might determine the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. In the process, she will profoundly etch into history the reality of her political character.
Facing the fact that her campaign reached a dead end, Warren basically has two choices: While Bernie Sanders and Biden go toe to toe, she can maintain neutrality and avoid the ire of the Democratic Party’s corporate establishment. Or she can form a united front with Sanders, taking a principled stand on behalf of progressive ideals.
For much of the past year, in many hundreds of speeches and interviews, Warren has denounced the huge leverage of big money in politics. And she has challenged some key aspects of corporate power. But now we’re going to find out more about how deep such commitments go for her.
“After Warren’s bleak performance in the Super Tuesday primaries, her associates, as well as those of Sanders and former vice president Joe Biden, say she is now looking for the best way to step aside,” the Washington Post reported on Wednesday — and “there is no certainty she will endorse Sanders or anyone else.”
A laudable path now awaits Warren. After winning just a few dozen delegates, she should join forces with Sanders — who has won more than 500 delegates and is the only candidate in a position to defeat Biden for the nomination.
The urgency of Warren’s decision can hardly be overstated. Sanders and Biden are fiercely competing for votes in a half-dozen states with March 10 primaries including Michigan (with 125 delegates), Washington (89 delegates) and Missouri (68 delegates). A week later, primaries in four states — Arizona, Florida, Illinois and Ohio — will determine the allocation of 577 delegates.
In the midst of these pivotal election battles, Warren should provide a vehement endorsement of Sanders and swiftly begin to campaign for him. Choosing, instead, to stand on the sidelines would be a tragic betrayal of progressive principles.
“Here’s the thing,” Warren said in a speech to a convention of the California Democratic Party nine months ago. “When a candidate tells you about all the things that aren’t possible, about how political calculations come first . . . they’re telling you something very important — they are telling you that they will not fight for you.”
We’ll soon find out whether Elizabeth Warren will fight for us.
The Intercept's Ryan Grim on Biden
As Joe Biden has gone from political afterthought to Democratic frontrunner practically overnight, the corporate media has largely failed to scrutinize him.
Instead of digging into Biden’s 50-year record in public life — which he has frequently misrepresented on the campaign trail — they’re rushing to coronate him and move on to the general election.
The Intercept’s politics team has been investigating Biden’s record for months, along with that of other candidates, but now that the race has winnowed, we need to fill the reporting vacuum.
Our team is already pursuing new leads — but cultivating sources, traveling to primary states, and poring over decades of records are time-consuming and expensive. And right now we’re not sure of our budget for additional expenses. Can you chip in?
STAND WITH THE INTERCEPT →
As the Democratic Party establishment has coalesced around Biden, he has benefited from uncritical coverage that’s created an aura of inevitability. But the democratic process works best when voters are fully informed. The media shouldn’t put its thumb on the scale by keeping the public in the dark.
By contrast, here’s what The Intercept has reported about Joe Biden:
Despite his claims to the contrary, “Joe Biden has advocated cuts to Social Security for 40 years.”
“Ahead of South Carolina vote, Joe Biden faces questions over claims of civil rights activism.”
“Joe Biden’s chief strategist lobbied to undermine Barack and Michelle Obama’s signature initiatives.”
The Intercept’s political reporting is different because we don’t cheerlead for those already in power — we ask what they’ve done with it and who’s benefited as a result.
Voters deserve to hear the truth about all the presidential candidates’ records, not just frenzied horse-race narration of who’s up and who’s down. The Intercept depends on your support to keep telling these stories.:
STAND WITH THE INTERCEPT →
Ryan Grim
D.C. Bureau Chief
Biden Defends Past Inappropriate Touching Of Women As Symptom Of Stuttering Hands
https://politics.theonion.com/biden-defends-past-inappropriate-touching-of-women-as-s-1842129609
DETROIT—Opening up about the lifelong struggle that has been a source of embarrassment and frustration, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden defended Thursday his record of inappropriately touching women as a symptom of his lifelong struggle with stuttering hands.
“Since my childhood, I’ve been burdened with this debilitating problem—anytime I wrap my hands around a woman’s waist or give them a shoulder rub, it’s because of a nervous medical tick,” said Biden, choking up while recounting how much his uncontrollable caressing of women’s backs and touching of their faces have hurt him over the years.
“I was often too ashamed in the past to speak about it, but I know there’s some teenager out there grabbing a classmate’s ass who needs to know they are not alone. I’ve dealt with the misfortune of seeing my hands reach out and pull a woman uncomfortably close to me and the embarrassment of them mocking me and saying ‘Stop doing that.’ I’ve worked to get it under control, and I want my supporters to be confident that I will only occasionally be touching women over the course of the presidential campaign.”
At press time, Biden was attributing his support of the Iraq war and opposition to school busing as the result of a challenging brain stutter.
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