Hindsignt 2020: October 2019 Edition

In the time that I last blogged about the election, our president has suggested we use a nuclear bomb to fight off a hurricane, he invited the Taliban to the Camp David on the anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and asked the leaders of foreign governments (China and Australia as well as the Ukraine back in July) to dig up dirt on his political opponents.  Can you imagine if President Obama had done any of this? Members of the Republican party mentioned impeachment of Obama for many outrageous reasons when he was president --- including being born outside of the US (false), the Benghazi attack (bogus), Libyan intervention, an IRS non-scandal, a legal prisoner swap and a transgender initiative. Yet when one of their guys commits actual crimes, like say ... treason, most of them stand by their man. Their hypocrisy in this matter is astounding.

The question remains for the Democrats, how far left do you want to go with our candidate? If history is any indication, we may want to go with a moderates, because they win. McGovern, Mondale and Dukakis .... they all have two things in common, (1) they were all liberals that ran for president ... and (2) they lost. Obama, Clinton and Carter ... were all moderates and guess what? They won. Of the top three candidates we have now, Biden, Warren and Sanders, only Biden is a moderate. I would hope that the Democrats will learn this lesson from history and nominate a moderate. Buttigieg, Delaney and Klobuchar would all be excellent Presidents. But time is changing so perhaps four years of Trump has set the stage for finally having a leftist president which hasn't happened in my lifetime. The Republicans have been calling us socialists for decades; we might as well finally elect one and make good on this. I am torn.

Considering what has been going with Trump, regarding Ukraine, it is hard to believe that whoever runs against him would lose but I have been wrong before about this. I was amazed when W was reelected.

The last televised debate was the best so far. They actually talked about issues, pointed out their differences but remained clear on the point that any one of them is far better than Trump on every issue, on any given day. The only conclusion I came to from this debate is that Juan Castro needs to drop out. He was a complete dick to Biden and in a prior debate, he was a dick to Buttigieg. We don't need a dick running for President in the Democratic party. Trump has already wrapped up the dick vote. Castro, please leave quietly.

There are a few Republican candidates running against Trump. Primarying an incumbent president is an uphill battle but it just became more difficult because the GOP has cancelled primaries in four states already (SC, AZ, NV and KS). More are expected. This is just further proof that Republicans really don't like democracy. They like power.

All three of our top candidates are in their 70's and so is President Trump. I don't know if this is something we should be concerned about. Is it ageism?  Maybe. Being 70 isn't what it used to be.  It takes a lot to develop the experience to be presidential. Perhaps the other candidates are too young. Unless they show major health problems (which Bernie is), I don't think it is an issue.  Warren seems be the sharpest of all the candidates so I'm not too concerned about this.

Dropping out:
Bill de Blasio - good riddance.

Our field:
John Delaney appeared on Hardball. He released his digital privacy plan.

Amy Klobuchar released a climate policy. She appeared on WBUR's Here and Now and on Radio Atlantic.

Cory Booker released a climate policy and a labor policy. He was also on Jimmy Kimmel Live and on the New Yorker Radio Hour.

Steve Bullock appeared on the Daily Show.

Pete Buttigieg released a climate policy and a disaster relief program. He appeared on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

Julian Castro released his climate policy plan and his housing plan. 

Kamala Harris released her climate policy and her criminal justice reform program. She was also on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. 

Elizabeth Warren endorsed Jay Inslee's climate plan. She also appeared on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

Michael Bennet released his education program. 

Joe Biden appeared on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert and on Jimmy Kimmel Live. 

Beto O'Rourke presented a clemency plan for drug offenders. 

Bernie Sanders wants to eliminate $81 billion in medical debt and proposed a wealth tax and a corporate tax plan. He also had a heart attack but has made it clear, he'll be on the trail again in no time.

Andrew Yang was on The View.

Power Rankings:

I count 19 candidates. I expect Booker and Castro to drop out soon and hopefully few others will as well. If I had to rank the Democrats in order of my personal preference, I would do so in the following manner: 

Biden

Warren

Buttigieg

Booker

Klobuchar

Sanders

Harris

O'Rourke

Gabbard

Bennet

Delaney

Ryan

Bullock

Yang

Castro

Messam

Sestak

(I probably won't vote if the people below get the nomination)

Steyers

Williamson

I expect this to change.