Democratic primary watch

[ShelC]

I don't think the Ukraine thing hurt Biden. Biden is 2020's Hillary. He just needs to go away. 2016 was his shot.

Dems are doomed because they're playing by rules that don't apply anymore and aren't organized enough to mobilize their followers to do whatever it takes to win.

[Nodack]

We don’t really know what hurt Biden. He was #1 before the Ukraine scandal. He dropped like a rock in the ocean right after that.

Trump is the Republican nominee. That is written in stone. The Democrats had a crap load of candidates. They have to go through a whole different process than Trump to get to their nominee. They will fight and argue and it will get a little dirty like they ALL do. Eventually it will come down to one candidate that Democrats pick as their guy or girl. That’s when they all are supposed to kiss and make up like they always do.

Trump and the other Republicans beat the crap out of each other in 2016. It got real personal. Cruz and Trump were especially vicious towards each other. Kellyanne Conway was Cruz’s spokewoman and she said some really nasty things about Trump. Trump got the nomination and Kellyanne went from being an enemy of Trump to being his staunchest supporter and employee overnight.

Mobilize followers to do whatever it takes to win? What does that mean?

[virtual9mm]

I don't think the Ukraine thing hurt Biden. Biden is 2020's Hillary. He just needs to go away. 2016 was his shot.

Dems are doomed because they're playing by rules that don't apply anymore and aren't organized enough to mobilize their followers to do whatever it takes to win.

Oh, Ukraine hurt Biden badly, fatally even. Before, he was Uncle Joe. Now he's just another corrupt elitist like Hillary because his potential voters remain reasonable folks with standards.

[ShelC]

We don’t really know what hurt Biden. He was #1 before the Ukraine scandal. He dropped like a rock in the ocean right after that.

Trump is the Republican nominee. That is written in stone. The Democrats had a crap load of candidates. They have to go through a whole different process than Trump to get to their nominee. They will fight and argue and it will get a little dirty like they ALL do. Eventually it will come down to one candidate that Democrats pick as their guy or girl. That’s when they all are supposed to kiss and make up like they always do.

Trump and the other Republicans beat the crap out of each other in 2016. It got real personal. Cruz and Trump were especially vicious towards each other. Kellyanne Conway was Cruz’s spokewoman and she said some really nasty things about Trump. Trump got the nomination and Kellyanne went from being an enemy of Trump to being his staunchest supporter and employee overnight.

Mobilize followers to do whatever it takes to win? What does that mean?

Whatever the right does to push out misinformation over social, confuse voters, left version of QAnon, etc.

Maybe the Ukraine thing did hurt Biden or people just got tired of his act. I think the DNC realized they didn't need another "Hillary emails" issue with their candidate.

It's just amazing to me that the media picks up and picks apart every single blemish a Dem candidate has while Trump has done 10x worse and it just gets brushed off.

[Mori Chu]

It's hard to tell what has sunk Biden. To me, the eye test has shown consistently that he doesn't have what it takes. In the debates he has consistently been sluggish, confused, and unable to give convincing answers to basic policy questions. In various town halls, he seems abrasive and combative, telling people to go vote for somebody else if they don't agree with him. And his general policy vision does not seem compelling to me as what the country needs in 2020 and going forward. I have found him to be an extremely unappealing candidate, and I'm thrilled that he's doing poorly.

But I do worry that the Ukraine/Trump stuff may have hurt him inappopriately. His son Hunter did something that is arguably unethical, but (a) not illegal, and (b) quite common among many politicians and their families, including Trump's own family. I do want to clean up this kind of thing in our politics, but the idea that this would be disqualifying for Biden in 2020 is preposterous.

[Nodack]

It's just amazing to me that the media picks up and picks apart every single blemish a Dem candidate has while Trump has done 10x worse and it just gets brushed off.

Oh, Ukraine hurt Biden badly, fatally even. Before, he was Uncle Joe. Now he's just another corrupt elitist like Hillary because his potential voters remain reasonable folks with standards.

Democrats care if their candidates are decent people.

The more crap Trump pulls the more his base likes him.

Two completely different sets of rules.

[virtual9mm]

Yup

[ShelC]

Biden's senile. He should've never entered the race.

[Superbone]

Biden's senile. He should've never entered the race.

He's four years too late. He could have prevented this mess in the first place.

[Nodack]

I am kind of done with Biden too. He does seem to be losing it. And he has the Ukraine thing over his head. Whether it’s true or not, it looks bad.

I don’t know about Sanders either. He is looking pretty old now too and he has that Socialism thing over his head. Still, he is only one point behind Pete.

Buttigieg has shocked everyone with the lead after two states. He is my favorite now. He seems so well spoken, almost like he was channeling JFK or copying JFK’s style. I sure hope he is genuine. He is in favor of Medicare for all but also allowing private insurance. I think that is the smart way to go. That is a major sticking point for many, especially Republicans. The UK has public healthcare 100% covered for life and they also have private insurance for those who want it. Pete is covering all the bases and making both sides happy. Pete is gay and that turns off many voters but, rural voters tend to vote Republican and city slickers tend to vote Democrat. Progressive Democrats are more tolerant of gays than rural Republicans imo and that helps Pete generally speaking. He still has an African American problem.

Amy finished in third. That is pretty surprising too. She seems like she should be a junior high principle or something. Something bugs me about her.

[Indy]

He is in favor of Medicare for all but also allowing private insurance. I think that is the smart way to go. That is a major sticking point for many, especially Republicans. The UK has public healthcare 100% covered for life and they also have private insurance for those who want it. Pete is covering all the bases and making both sides happy.

That won't be sustainable. If it isn't a single payer, with everyone paying into it, it can't sustain itself.

There is a reason CEOs for health insurance companies make millions of dollars every year, and their C-suite team makes millions, and the next layer down, and so on. They make more money the based on taking in more revenue, and spending less of it on treating you. It is a scam. The longer we let that live, the harder it will be to overcome.

And yes, Pete is covering his bases to make all sides happy, knowing that it can't sustain itself. He is just saying what people want to hear.

[Superbone]

I have my ballot. Still undecided. I want to go with the candidate with the best chance to knock off Trump. I'm leaning toward Buttigieg at the moment but I'm going to wait until the last possible moment to make my decision.

[Indy]

I am going to vote in the primary for the candidate I would want to be president, and then vote in the general for the Dem nominee, whomever it is.

[Nodack]

He is in favor of Medicare for all but also allowing private insurance. I think that is the smart way to go. That is a major sticking point for many, especially Republicans. The UK has public healthcare 100% covered for life and they also have private insurance for those who want it. Pete is covering all the bases and making both sides happy.

That won't be sustainable. If it isn't a single payer, with everyone paying into it, it can't sustain itself.

There is a reason CEOs for health insurance companies make millions of dollars every year, and their C-suite team makes millions, and the next layer down, and so on. They make more money the based on taking in more revenue, and spending less of it on treating you. It is a scam. The longer we let that live, the harder it will be to overcome.

And yes, Pete is covering his bases to make all sides happy, knowing that it can't sustain itself. He is just saying what people want to hear.

Everyone pays into Englands health care system via taxes if I’m not mistaken. Isn’t that single payer? They can pay more if they want private.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_ca ... ed_Kingdom

Private medicine, where patients, or their insurers, pay for treatment in the UK is a niche market. Some is provided by NHS hospitals. Private providers also contract with the NHS, especially in England, to provide treatment for NHS patients, particularly in mental health and planned surgery.

Health care in the United Kingdom is a devolved matter, with England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales each having their own systems of publicly funded healthcare, funded by and accountable to separate governments and parliaments, together with smaller private sector and voluntary provision. As a result of each country having different policies and priorities, a variety of differences now exist between these systems.[1][2]

Despite there being separate health services for each country, the performance of the National Health Service (NHS) across the UK can be measured for the purpose of making international comparisons. In a 2017 report by the Commonwealth Fund ranking developed-country healthcare systems, the United Kingdom was ranked the best healthcare system in the world overall and was ranked the best in the following categories: Care Process (i.e. effective, safe, coordinated, patient-oriented) and Equity.[3] The UK system was ranked the best in the world overall in the previous three reports by the Commonwealth Fund in 2007, 2010 and 2014.[4][5][6] The UK's palliative care has also been ranked as the best in the world by the Economist Intelligence Unit.[7] On the other hand, in 2005-09 cancer survival rates lagged ten years behind the rest of Europe,[8] although survival rates continue to increase.[9][10]

Health care is so complicated that only 33 out of 34 developed nations have Universal Health Care.

[Indy]

Everyone pays into Englands health care system via taxes if I’m not mistaken. Isn’t that single payer? They can pay more if they want private.

Yep, but that is not what Pete is suggesting. His plan doesn't require everyone to buy in, and then let others buy additional if they want it. It is, if you want it, you can buy it from the government. But the entire way an insurance system works is that everyone pays in, because we know not everyone will have a need at the exact same time, so the bumps flatten out. With Pete's plan, the system will not sustain itself because only people that really need it right now will be in it, so they will all be drawing from it at the same time. The "best of both worlds" approach doesn't usually work because if there was a way to have what everyone wants, we would already have it.

[Indy]

Health care is so complicated that only 33 out of 34 developed nations have Universal Health Care.

We have too many multi millionaires and billionaires tied up in the game, and too many have bought off Congress on both sides of the aisle.

[Nodack]

The only option I see is if you keep the original Obamacare doctrine of every American must be covered by law. If you opt for private insurance you must prove you have it like when the cop pulls you over and asks for you proof of insurance. Make it part of your tax return. If you opt for Medicare for all you pay more in taxes the wealthier you are. Hospitals will have to accept Medicare for all. They are mostly private hospitals chains like Banner who will want a say in matters for sure.

[Mori Chu]

My take is, we already offer universal health care, we just do a crappy job of it. We always treat people who go to an ER without checking whether they can pay. If we're willing to do that, why not just cover them properly so they are less likely to need expensive ER care? We are an extremely wealthy nation and can absolutely afford to take care of the health of every single one of our citizens. Let's just do it already.

[Nodack]

We always treat people who go to an ER without checking whether they can pay. If we're willing to do that, why not just cover them properly?

I would bet that many would like to eliminate that requirement. I won’t name party’s. If we lived in a sane country we would be covering everyone because it’s the right thing to do and if done right is better and cheaper. We are definitely not a sane country at present.

[Indy]

My take is, we already offer universal health care, we just do a crappy job of it. We always treat people who go to an ER without checking whether they can pay. If we're willing to do that, why not just cover them properly so they are less likely to need expensive ER care? We are an extremely wealthy nation and can absolutely afford to take care of the health of every single one of our citizens. Let's just do it already.

The ER issue is a scam. Most ERs will just get you stable enough to discharge so they don't have to do what is right. Keep in mind most hospitals operate at profit margins in the 2-3%. The cost of healthcare is not in the people providing care. There is a reason your doctor likely has a "are you covered by insurance" price and a "are you paying out of pocket" price. Insurance is just there to suck billions out of the system.