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Steel

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
18,220
My mistake on this one, i should have mentioned that i was reflecting on this Politico story https://www.politico.com/story/2019/01/28/wall-street-2020-economy-taxes-1118065 where Wall Street execs were pretty clear that they would support anyone but Sanders or Warren.

If you´re on the group that hates what Wall Street is doing, you believe they are handpicking a candidate to eliminate the chances of Sanders, and to an extent Warren to get the nomination.

Oh. Look. An article that I already read that only really says that they specifically dislike Bernie and Warren. Yes, you've uncovered the establishment plot with this piece of evidence.

IMO, the DNC should bar Independents from running as Democrats
This sounds like a specifically bad idea.
 

Seattle6418

Member
Oct 25, 2017
529
Brasília Brazil
Honestly the way some people refer to the 2016 primary I don't understand why they would even want Bernie to run again? What has magically been fixed this time that won't result in DNC stealing it from him once again, because I rarely see anyone pinpoint the exact machinations that rigged it against him? Like, Bernie had a very uphill battle in the sense that he was an unknown candidate on the national stage, not having the media clout of established names. That was on him to improve, and he just didn't have the time.

Which is why I think he has a much better shot going into this primary if he decides to run.

Because you have to keep fighting, you have better name recognition, you tried to approach groups like black voters and because a lot has changed since 2016.

Nobody knows if there´s enough voters for someone this "radical", but trying is the least you can do.
 

RailWays

One Winged Slayer
Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
15,885
Because you have to keep fighting, you have better name recognition, you tried to approach groups like black voters and because a lot has changed since 2016.

Nobody knows if there´s enough voters for someone this "radical", but trying is the least you can do.
I agree, but name recognition is something that ultimately all candidates have to fight for. Bernie has the leg-up this cycle on someone like Gillibrand for example, who isn't well known, because of him making that large effort in 2016. Yet, I won't claim that the DNC has it out for Gillibrand if she can't build her brand in time for voting season.
 
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pigeon

pigeon

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,447
Some true things.

* The 2016 Democratic primary had problems where all of the realistic candidates except Hillary were "encouraged" not to run.
* As a necessary part of that argument, Bernie Sanders was not viewed by Democrats (politicians or voters) as a realistic candidate with a real chance to win the primary.
* If a realistic candidate had run, they probably would've beaten Hillary.
* So clearing the decks was probably a bad idea and it's good that the exact opposite thing is happening here.
* But Bernie's success in 2016 was due in at least some large part to the absence of any non-Hillary competition, and now there is lots of non-Hillary competition.
* The polls are already showing that this is a big problem for him.
* Socialism is good either way.
 
Jan 15, 2019
4,521
I agree, but name recognition is something that ultimately all candidates have to fight for. Bernie has the leg-up this cycle on someone like Gillibrand for example, who isn't well known, because of him making that large effort in 2016. Yet, I won't claim that the DNC has it out for Gillibrand if she can't build her brand in time for voting season.
John Delaney announced his campaign in July 2017 and he still polls at like 1%. The powers that be must be terrified of a Delaney presidency.
 

Steel

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
18,220
I'd like to hear your rationale for the comparison of people thinking the buzzwords "centrist, neolib, etc." have been used so widely to dismiss arguments that all meaning has been drained from them and terfs being called exactly word for word what they are?

Some true things.

* The 2016 Democratic primary had problems where all of the realistic candidates except Hillary were "encouraged" not to run.
* As a necessary part of that argument, Bernie Sanders was not viewed by Democrats (politicians or voters) as a realistic candidate with a real chance to win the primary.
* If a realistic candidate had run, they probably would've beaten Hillary.
* So clearing the decks was probably a bad idea and it's good that the exact opposite thing is happening here.
* But Bernie's success in 2016 was due in at least some large part to the absence of any non-Hillary competition, and now there is lots of non-Hillary competition.
* The polls are already showing that this is a big problem for him.

I can agree with all this, but when people mention establishment conspiracy they mean the establishment rigging the election against Bernie.
 

Deleted member 15440

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I'd like to hear your rationale for the comparison of people thinking the buzzwords "centrist, neolib, etc." have been used so widely to dismiss arguments that all meaning has been drained from them and terfs being called exactly word for word what they are?
centrism and neoliberalism are extremely well defined terms that are being used to describe people who don't like the negative implications they have

in which case i think the solution is to rethink one's positions rather than pretend that language has no meaning
 
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pigeon

pigeon

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Oct 25, 2017
5,447
I can agree with all this, but when people mention establishment conspiracy they mean the establishment rigging the election against Bernie.

Yes, but the relatively common counterargument of "THERE WAS NO RIGGING AND NO PARTY CONTROL OF THE PRIMARY" founders a bit because, technically speaking, there was a lot of rigging and party control of the primary. It just mostly ended up helping Bernie by accident.
 

stupei

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Oct 26, 2017
2,801

What an amazingly awful take. Being a terf is a clearly defined stance that the person labeled with would admit to holding and based on their own belief system, though they might occasionally prefer friendlier packaging. Neoliberal is defined by the person applying it and thus considerably more arbitrary.

Also comparing issues of trans rights to terminology used in leftist political discourse is, at best, a little bit silly.
 

Steel

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
18,220
centrism and neoliberalism are extremely well defined terms that are being used to describe people who don't like the negative implications they have

in which case i think the solution is to rethink one's positions rather than pretend that language has no meaning
The language has meaning. But the way the language is used does not share that meaning 90% of the time and is used as a shorthand for not wanting to talk about specifics. Which is incomparable to terfs.

Yes, but the relatively common counterargument of "THERE WAS NO RIGGING AND NO PARTY CONTROL OF THE PRIMARY" founders a bit because, technically speaking, there was a lot of rigging and party control of the primary. It just mostly ended up helping Bernie by accident.
The "rigging" was not present during the primary, is basically my point. And the pre-primary "rigging" was mostly just clearing out Biden (Which consisted of a combination of his son dying and Obama specifically telling him not to) as there weren't that many people that would actually have stood a chance against Hillary capable of running at that point. In fact, I can't think of anyone that would have stood a chance other than Biden.
 

Kirblar

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Oct 25, 2017
30,744
centrism and neoliberalism are extremely well defined terms that are being used to describe people who don't like the negative implications they have

in which case i think the solution is to rethink one's positions rather than pretend that language has no meaning
They are well-defined terms which are often used as invectives that ignore the meanings (conservatives Ds, liberal Rs, in-the-middle-Is and 80s/90s Reagan/Thatcher/Greenspan lasseiz-faire types respectively) that are ascribed to them, rendering the terms meaningless in most discourse.
 
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Deleted member 15440

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"Establishment," "neoliberal," "centrist" have all been completely drained of meaning and really only reflect on people using those terms, not on the folks they're targeting.
The language has meaning. But the way the language is used does not share that meaning 90% of the time and is used as a shorthand for not wanting to talk about specifics. Which is incomparable to terfs.
the person i was replying to clearly disagrees
 

Steel

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
18,220
the person i was replying to clearly disagrees
No. You lack reading comprehension. The person you were replying to says that the words have been drained of all meaning. When terms are used incorrectly the majority of the time they're used, they most certainly have been drained of their meaning in vernacular contexts.
 

Deleted member 15440

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No. You lack reading comprehension. The person you were replying to says that the words have been drained of all meaning. When terms are used incorrectly the majority of the time they're used, they most certainly have been drained of their meaning in vernacular contexts.
how on earth do you know that those terms are used incorrectly a majority of the time?
 

SaveWeyard

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
1,540
No. You lack reading comprehension. The person you were replying to says that the words have been drained of all meaning. When terms are used incorrectly the majority of the time they're used, they most certainly have been drained of their meaning in vernacular contexts.
Or aeolist just disagrees with you. Why does it always turn to insulting other people's intelligence?

Additionally, neoliberalism and centrist ideology accurately captures the Democratic discourse and policy implementation since the Carter administration.
 

Kirblar

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
30,744
Or aeolist just disagrees with you. Why does it always turn to insulting other people's intelligence?

Additionally, neoliberalism and centrist ideology accurately captures the Democratic discourse and policy implementation since the Carter administration.
When lefties refer to literally anything right of them as "centrist" it takes all meaning away from the word, because someone like Obama is very much not a centrist.
 

brainchild

Independent Developer
Verified
Nov 25, 2017
9,514
Some true things.

* The 2016 Democratic primary had problems where all of the realistic candidates except Hillary were "encouraged" not to run.
* As a necessary part of that argument, Bernie Sanders was not viewed by Democrats (politicians or voters) as a realistic candidate with a real chance to win the primary.
* If a realistic candidate had run, they probably would've beaten Hillary.
* So clearing the decks was probably a bad idea and it's good that the exact opposite thing is happening here.
* But Bernie's success in 2016 was due in at least some large part to the absence of any non-Hillary competition, and now there is lots of non-Hillary competition.
* The polls are already showing that this is a big problem for him.
* Socialism is good either way.

Sounds about right to me.
 

Steel

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
18,220
Or aeolist just disagrees with you. Why does it always turn to insulting other people's intelligence?

Additionally, neoliberalism and centrist ideology accurately captures the Democratic discourse and policy implementation since the Carter administration.
Obviously Aeolist disagrees with me. That's not the point of contention here. Aeolist was literally comparing the initial post saying that the use of the terms neoliberal and centrist by lefties to call literally everything not like them as neoliberal/centrist has drained them of their intended meaning to terfs thinking that, being feminists that exclude trans women, terf is an insult.

Additionally, the "lacking reading comprehension" point was brought up in regards to the statement that my post was in conflict with the post Aeolist was responding to, which isn't simply a difference in opinion, it's a lack of reading comprehension.

how on earth do you know that those terms are used incorrectly a majority of the time?
Because I pay attention to when they're used. Do you want a scientific study on word use? Of course, you're one of the people that uses the terms incorrectly in the first place, so it does not shock me that you can't tell when the terms are being misused.
 
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pigeon

pigeon

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Oct 25, 2017
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As far as I can tell, there is no suggestion that Warren was, like, deliberately lying on any of these forms. The evidence suggests that Warren believed in good faith she was part Native American, having been told such by her parents, who she had no reason to doubt.

Given that she genuinely believed it, it doesn't seem...that surprising that she put it on forms. As she says, she probably did that on all kinds of forms. Wouldn't you?
 

Deleted member 41638

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So is it fair to say Warren essentially lied about being Native American? If so why are we allowing her to stick around when we are instantly asking for people like the Virginia governor to step down?
 

kambaybolongo

Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,131
As far as I can tell, there is no suggestion that Warren was, like, deliberately lying on any of these forms. The evidence suggests that Warren believed in good faith she was part Native American, having been told such by her parents, who she had no reason to doubt.

Given that she genuinely believed it, it doesn't seem...that surprising that she put it on forms. As she says, she probably did that on all kinds of forms. Wouldn't you?
My parents told me Santa Claus was real but if I still believed that when I applied to college that's on me
 

LaneDS

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,642
So is it fair to say Warren essentially lied about being Native American? If so why are we allowing her to stick around when we are instantly asking for people like the Virginia governor to step down?

Like I think it's unfortunate that Warren did what she did, but do you really think those two things are remotely equivalent?
 

brainchild

Independent Developer
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Nov 25, 2017
9,514
So is it fair to say Warren essentially lied about being Native American? If so why are we allowing her to stick around when we are instantly asking for people like the Virginia governor to step down?

This is a false equivalence gone too far. Like, I'mma need you to really think about what you said.
 

Deleted member 41638

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Like I think it's unfortunate that Warren did what she did, but do you really think those two things are remotely equivalent?

If she knowingly lied for years to take advantage of one of the most oppressed groups in America in order to advance herself? Yeah that's pretty insidious. But as OP pointed out Warren was always told she was Native American so there is a chance she just believed that and never looked into her genealogy.
 

samoyed

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
15,191
Warren genuinely believed she was of native descent. Naive of her but not all that shocking. It's going to stick to her and she deserves some of the blame for not getting it cleared up before running but this isn't a career ending lie. Campaign ending, sure, but it's pretty small in the grand scheme of things.

The Cherokee tribe itself just wanted an apology and retraction, not for her to quit politics forever.
 

Steel

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
18,220
Let's just have a short summary of the conversation we have every time the neolib/centrist whatever argument comes up.

One side says that dems are practically the same as the UK tories as a monolith save one or two figures. This ends up lumping figures Bill Clinton (an actual centrist), Obama, Gore, Hillary, Carter, and Biden under the same brush when there are very obvious differences in policy and social issue views between them.

On top of that the comparison to UK Tories only rings true if you don't look at economic and social policy. For example, in 2008 most European countries took up a policy of austerity during the recession, while the U.S. dems went with stimulus. Then you have the Tories slow dismantling of the NHS compared to the dems pushing for multi-payer/single-payer since pre-Nixon days but not being able to get it and going with the ACA as it stands. So, the comparison doesn't really hold on policy grounds.

Basically, the terms get used as such a wide net that they don't really mean anything speific other than a expression of distaste by the person using them. Which actually ignores the fact that neolib refers to Reganites not the modern dems (Who are such a big tent party that you can't really define them as a single type, more akin to U.K. labour but to the right of labour in general). Neocon refers to the W. Bush types.

Another problem with this conversation is that the people who often use the terms neolib and centrist/whatever don't actually agree with each other on the definitions when pressed.


It's funny because this whole problem could have been entirely avoided had she not taken Trump's bait and did a DNA test. I get that she honestly believed she was Native American, but damn.

So is it fair to say Warren essentially lied about being Native American? If so why are we allowing her to stick around when we are instantly asking for people like the Virginia governor to step down?
I don't think she believed she was lying. She was told from birth that she was native american. Which kinda makes her tone deaf and gullible. I mean, I have more Native American in me and I don't put it down as my race on forms (I'm half-hispanic and visibly so, so I put that instead). It isn't the same thing as blackface in either case.
 

Deleted member 41638

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This is a false equivalence gone too far. Like, I'mma need you to really think about what you said.

My point is IF Warren knowingly lied about her heritage and used that lie to better herself for decades how is that a passable offense? For me that would be worse than blackface. They are both horrible don't get me wrong.

I'm probably hypothesizing and assuming too much, I'll just stop.
 

stupei

Member
Oct 26, 2017
2,801
So is it fair to say Warren essentially lied about being Native American? If so why are we allowing her to stick around when we are instantly asking for people like the Virginia governor to step down?

The evidence we have seems to suggest she probably didn't do due diligence investigating into her own background, but I'm not sure I'd categorize it as lying, which suggests deliberate behavior. More like she unintentionally spread misinformation she believed to be true?

I'm not sure I see the similarity between behavior intended to belittle a minority group and mistakenly believing you are a part of a minority group, except that they are both mistakes. Still not really comparable or morally equivalent.

If she knowingly lied for years to take advantage of one of the most oppressed groups in America in order to advance herself? Yeah that's pretty insidious. But as OP pointed out Warren was always told she was Native American so there is a chance she just believed that and never looked into her genealogy.

The alternative is that she deliberately and knowingly deceived the public for years but then eagerly exposed herself through an unforced error. It doesn't really make sense.
 
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pigeon

pigeon

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Oct 25, 2017
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My point is IF Warren knowingly lied about her heritage and used that lie to better herself for decades how is that a passable offense? For me that would be worse than blackface. They are both horrible don't get me wrong.

I'm probably hypothesizing and assuming too much, I'll just stop.

I mean, I agree. If somebody could produce a conversation from Warren's past where she was like "oh man I've been claiming that I was Native American in the anonymized statistical data section of a bunch of legal forms and joining college social groups for Native Americans in order to gain some undefined advantage therefrom" I would certainly call for her to resign from the Democratic Party entirely. Or if, more likely, some other person was found out applying for scholarships they didn't qualify for or whatever, yes, dump on them.

I don't think that applies to this specific case, that's all.
 

samoyed

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
15,191
The alternative is that she deliberately and knowingly deceived the public for years but then eagerly exposed herself through an unforced error. It doesn't really make sense.
Yeah this. Making Warren, of all people, seem to some kind of calculating schemer her entire life and the DNA test being the oppo that takes her down is just turning her into someone she's not. She's a well-meaning politician with some severe blindspots with regards to her own history and the state of optics in modern politics.

She walked into the DNA test trap none-the-wiser. This should make it clear how naive she was about the whole thing.
 

LaneDS

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,642
She clearly believed in it and has for a number of years. It was also very clearly misguided and makes her look foolish. Comparing that to wearing blackface and standing next to a person dressed as a KKK member is a tremendous leap, in my eyes.
 

Deleted member 41638

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I mean, I agree. If somebody could produce a conversation from Warren's past where she was like "oh man I've been claiming that I was Native American in the anonymized statistical data section of a bunch of legal forms and joining college social groups for Native Americans in order to gain some undefined advantage therefrom" I would certainly call for her to resign from the Democratic Party entirely. Or if, more likely, some other person was found out applying for scholarships they didn't qualify for or whatever, yes, dump on them.

I don't think that applies to this specific case, that's all.

Agreed, I went a little too nuts with my idea, apologies
 

Maxim726x

Avenger
Oct 27, 2017
13,147
As far as I can tell, there is no suggestion that Warren was, like, deliberately lying on any of these forms. The evidence suggests that Warren believed in good faith she was part Native American, having been told such by her parents, who she had no reason to doubt.

Given that she genuinely believed it, it doesn't seem...that surprising that she put it on forms. As she says, she probably did that on all kinds of forms. Wouldn't you?

Yeah, I'm really not so sure about that.

I think you're giving her more credit than she likely deserves. If she didn't feel it would benefit her, why identify as NA? She clearly shares almost no values or traditions that would qualify her use of the designation.
 
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