Thursday, February 11, 2016

Vermont in February


23 comments:

  1. Dean showed us that we have the power.
    Bernie is showing us that we still have the power and that it's time to move forward with it.

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  2. My mother seems to have bought into not only the idea that Hillary *deserves* or *is owed* the nomination if not the presidency but also that it is a betrayal of one's gender for any woman not to support her. What rot!

    Yes, it is a disgrace that we have never had a woman president. That does not mean every woman in the country owes Hillary Clinton her vote.

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    1. Stand strong, Cat!

      It's okay that your Mom feels that way, as her generation may only have this chance to have a woman president. That's more about her desire than about Hillary's worthiness.

      Anyway, your vote will neutralise hers. ;-)

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  3. Can't find it now, Listener, but last night I saw on a thread you posted on Facebook about how the superdelegates are stacked. No wonder Hillary and everyone else thinks she's Miss Inevitable. She has been set up to be just that. :P

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    1. Here you go, Cat:

      This was posted on Maura's page earlier today by her friend Mark Waggner. Does this help?

      "In Democratic primaries, you get delegates if you cross 15% of the vote statewide or in any one congressional district. They won't "call" the last couple delegates until the final results are in, but there are 24 delegates selected by the primary, so Sanders will clock 14-16 or them when all is said and done.

      Since they have a number higher than 24 as the total, I am guessing they are counting superdelegates (governors, federal electeds, and dnc members from the state) in the total, which is a little scummy of whatever news outlet you're viewing.

      IMO, if the "party elders" were to overturn the overall primary results to hand the nomination to the loser at the convention, we would witness the worst loss in history and quite possibly the end of the Democratic Party."

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    2. At it's heart, superdelegates are pledged but not committed. Officially, they have the freedom to change their preference. In my view, this is where the caucus style system enters the later part of the nomination process. The pressure on them must be immense. Some say they will, by and large, vote for the candidate who has the popular vote. I guess we'll see. I'd still like to see the superdelegates approach ended.

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    3. Thanks, Listener, that does help. The superdelegate concept seems inherently undemocratic, with both a small and a large D.

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  4. As y'all may have gandered today…

    THIS IS HUGE!!! YUGE!!!! Einstein's Theory of Relativity has been proven right!!!
    http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/12/science/ligo-gravitational-waves-black-holes-einstein.html?_r=1?

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    1. It's all over Facebook; I've seen the story from three different outlets Amazing and yet we shouldn't be surprised. Papa Albert has been pretty much right on the money up to now. 8)

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  5. Jut getting caught up--been out of town all day. I see there is a Sanders-Clinton "debate" on now, but I am fine with reading about it later. Here are some tidbits I picked up from the online political columns.
    --Alan
    ==================

    New Sanders Video Advertisement [Click] Very fine!
    ==========================
    Nate Cohn notes that “with the actual results in and counted from two states, it is clear that Mr. Sanders is faring much better among less educated and working-class white voters than Barack Obama did in 2008, or than other idealistic liberal candidates like Howard Dean and Bill Bradley did.” “The pattern holds no matter how you look at the data. The exit polls show Mr. Sanders doing best among less affluent voters — and it’s not just because young voters, with whom he’s very popular, make less money. The actual returns also show that Mr. Sanders fared well in many of the places where Mr. Obama was weakest, like far western Iowa and southeastern New Hampshire.”
    ============================
    Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball: “It is fair to wonder about Clinton’s ability to put the party back together if she does become the nominee. Getting youth turnout is always tricky for Democrats, and Clinton is getting absolutely annihilated with young voters: She lost the youngest group of voters (17-29 in Iowa and 18-29 in New Hampshire) 84%-14% and 83%-16%, respectively.
    ==============================
    “Hillary Clinton’s stinging 22-point loss in the New Hampshire Democratic primary prompted fretting Wednesday among the party elite, and raised the stakes for the caucus in Nevada,” the Boston Globe reports.
    ===========================
    Jon Ralston: “There is no reliable polling in Nevada — at least not yet. But the conventional wisdom had been that Clinton had a huge advantage here, especially because Team Sanders did not arrive until October. Not anymore.” “I don’t smell a rat. I smell something much more pungent from the Clinton campaign: fear.”
    ======================
    Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) told CNN that the race between Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton shows no signs of dying down. Said Reid: “These races go on for a long long time.” When asked if that included a brokered convention, he responded:  “Sure, seriously some of the old conventions produced some good people. It would be kind of fun.”
    ======================
    Politico imagines first Sanders-Trump debate! [Click]
    ======================
    Rick Klein: “Yes, Hillary Clinton has a big, enormous, ridiculous lead among superdelegates. No, this is not necessarily the best time for her campaign to be bragging about that fact. [Click]

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    1. Thanks, Alan, especially for that last one. The headline alone gave me a huge smile.

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  6. Yep, I have one of those dogs that follows you into the bathroom. Blessedly, he can let himself out. Yesterday, he brought his big squeaky bone so we could play fetch. Life is good.

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  7. Saw my first Bernie TV ad this evening during Wheel of Fortune, that is some time between 7:00 and 7:30. Simple, direct, down to earth and bang on message. I found it impressive. We have a lot of union members here in Massachusetts, and a lot of folks who probably should be union members. I hope his message resonates.

    For a number of weeks now I've also been seeing an announcement that must come from our Secretary of State, urging people to take five minutes and register to vote online using their iPhone. That's it, reminding people to register or make sure they are registered and telling them how to do it the Space Age way (I almost said the Jetsons' way). So what with the state making sure folks know to register and Bernie getting his ads on air when he is, I think we may actually have a pretty good chance.

    The Bernie ad reminded me to remind Dad to get me sorted out online for my abscentee ballots. He said he hadn't done it yet but would try to remember to do it tonight. So then I'll be all set.

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  8. OK, Cat--I will see about changing my registration (temporarily) back to Democratic so I can vote for Bernie. Our precinct votes 100% by mail, so registering as an independent and requesting a Democratic ballot might not work.

    And the almonds are beginning to bloom...

    Alan

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    1. Well, the online registration was pretty painless. Interestingly, they asked for my California driver's license/ID card number, then later asked if they could use the copy of my signature on file with the DMV.

      --Alan

      P.S.: I had the registration deadline noted in my calendar, and also the date for candidates to be listed by the Secretary of State. I had figured I would wait to make sure Bernie was on the ballot, but I think there is now no doubt Bernie will be there.

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    2. I'm not surprised about the driver's license. The PSA here says all you need is five minutes and a valid Massachusetts driver's license.

      The almonds sound lovely. There's one on he main drag into which our street debouches, which I can just see from my bedroom window, a beautiful pink weeping almond. Donno if it is a true almond or a false one, but it's very pretty.

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  9. Alan, thanks for the new Bernie ad! I love it!! Whomever is putting together his very upbeat ads, I'm glad he found them!

    Here's an interesting bit I just tripped across. Apparently when Bernie brought up Kissinger and Vietnam one of the (apparently not neutral) moderators didn't remember that her microphone was on and can be heard sighing "Oh god."

    http://gawker.com/moderator-accidentally-whispers-oh-god-into-mic-when-1758651605

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  10. It is good to know that Bernie would never include Henry Kissinger in his circle of advisors…! Go Bernie!

    Back to the quilt before sleeping. ONE MORE DAY and it WILL be done!!! :-D

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  11. Have returned to Lorna Doone for bedtime reading. What a lovely book! I'm enjoying the writing almost more than the story itself.

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