Paid Members BomberPat Posted February 18, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted February 18, 2019 It doesn't seem to be getting picked up in nearly enough places, but the biggest story of the past few days is that a former director of Cambridge Analytica has been subpoenaed by the Mueller investigation. This is a company who have already lied about the extent of their involvement with the Leave campaign and with WikiLeaks, and are effectively the thread that connects Arron Banks, Leave.EU, Facebook, the Trump campaign, WikiLeaks, dodgy cryptocurrency dealings, all manner of political underhandness and dark money and, presumably, Russia - though likely through a number of proxies. I'm convinced that we've only seen the tip of the iceberg in terms of what they've been up to, and I find it hard to believe that they're the only company doing this sort of thing - but when you're after political dark actors, is the first place you look going to be innocuously named IT firms? I think this is going to bubble under for a long time, but when we look back on history with a few decades' remove, this will all seem like the biggest political story of the decade. Social media is the key political battleground for the foreseeable future, and it's the likes of Cambridge Analytica that are making the rules. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Posted February 20, 2019 Share Posted February 20, 2019 On 2/16/2019 at 9:07 AM, Brewster McCloud said: I'm willing to bet, though, that he'll serve a second term. Maybe not... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WyattSheepMask Posted February 20, 2019 Share Posted February 20, 2019 (edited) 33 minutes ago, David said: Maybe not... Sanders will be 79 years old by the time the election comes round, assuming that he gets the democratic nomination, which I doubt that he will. But that in itself raises questions who is a credible candidate for the Democrats in the hope that don’t end up Bob Dole-ing themselves and put forward an absolute no hoper. Beto O’Rouke? Kamala Harris? Edited February 20, 2019 by WyattSheepMask Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Factotum Posted February 20, 2019 Share Posted February 20, 2019 Sanders is important though. His progressive policies are proving very popular and any Democratic candidate against him will have to adopt some of them. Universal Healthcare is especially gaining traction in the US (Finally) especially with the way the Trump administration has rolled back Obama care (which wasn't great) Healthcare reform / basic incomes are the key for the Democrats in those states that went to Trump in 2016. Can easily be done, and does not go after raising Tax for the lower middle class. Sanders is unpopular among a lot of Democrats as he is an independent in all but name BUT if you want to see Trump get his arse handed to him in a debate, Bernie is your man. At the moment, there's not really anyone bar Warren who stands out. Plus he can have a cool running slogan: Hindsight is 2020 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Posted February 20, 2019 Share Posted February 20, 2019 13 minutes ago, WyattSheepMask said: Sanders will be 79 years old by the time the election comes round, assuming that he gets the democratic nomination, which I doubt that he will. It really depends if the Democrats are interested in seeing Trump lose, or if it's all about them having the candidate they want. They made that mistake last time, let's hope it doesn't happen again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Carbomb Posted February 20, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted February 20, 2019 Just now, David said: It really depends if the Democrats are interested in seeing Trump lose, or if it's all about them having the candidate they want. They made that mistake last time, let's hope it doesn't happen again. I guess it all depends on whether or not they feel it's worth playing the long game or not. They might well be planning to wait on letting the clock run down, letting Sanders get too long in the tooth to run in future, and let Trump do enough damage to the Republicans that they can get one of their own preferred milquetoast candidates in on the basis that he/she isn't a cunt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Posted February 20, 2019 Share Posted February 20, 2019 3 minutes ago, Carbomb said: I guess it all depends on whether or not they feel it's worth playing the long game or not. They might well be planning to wait on letting the clock run down, letting Sanders get too long in the tooth to run in future, and let Trump do enough damage to the Republicans that they can get one of their own preferred milquetoast candidates in on the basis that he/she isn't a cunt. I personally think it depends on if that long game means looking to the election after this upcoming one, because I think if they fuck about and leave Sanders in the cold again they'll be looking at another loss. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Carbomb Posted February 20, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted February 20, 2019 2 minutes ago, David said: I personally think it depends on if that long game means looking to the election after this upcoming one, because I think if they fuck about and leave Sanders in the cold again they'll be looking at another loss. Sorry, yeah - that's what I meant. I was figuring they might think it's worthwhile to take a hit for one more term, just to get rid of a colleague who's a thorn in their side and to give themselves a more solid chance of election the next term on the basis of sheer bad will towards the GOP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Sergio Mendacious Posted February 20, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted February 20, 2019 (edited) Edited February 20, 2019 by Sergio Mendacious Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Posted February 20, 2019 Share Posted February 20, 2019 3 minutes ago, Carbomb said: Sorry, yeah - that's what I meant. I was figuring they might think it's worthwhile to take a hit for one more term, just to get rid of a colleague who's a thorn in their side and to give themselves a more solid chance of election the next term on the basis of sheer bad will towards the GOP. If the Democrats look at the idea of another term with Trump as being worth it in order to keep a candidate like Sanders, who could win, out of the running, then that speaks volumes about the party in my opinion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Carbomb Posted February 20, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted February 20, 2019 3 minutes ago, David said: If the Democrats look at the idea of another term with Trump as being worth it in order to keep a candidate like Sanders, who could win, out of the running, then that speaks volumes about the party in my opinion. Definitely. But for me, it wouldn't be surprising in this era, especially given what we've seen over here and the reaction of the supposed "moderates" towards Labour's shift towards the left - they'd rather have the Tories in than Corbyn. It's probably even more pronounced with the Democrats, given that they're not actually that left-wing a party - they're probably closer to the British conservatives, and the Republicans closer to the DUP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Sergio Mendacious Posted February 20, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted February 20, 2019 Weird straw man type argument, though, bearing in mind that it's not anything I've heard anyone discussing, keeping Trump in just to keep Bernie out of the running, so it would be well surprising. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Carbomb Posted February 20, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted February 20, 2019 2 minutes ago, Sergio Mendacious said: Weird straw man type argument, though, bearing in mind that it's not anything I've heard anyone discussing, keeping Trump in just to keep Bernie out of the running, so it would be well surprising. Not so much "straw man" as "conspiracy theorist" really. Just considering the way they pretty much stacked the deck using their electoral colleges or whatever to give Clinton the candidacy. But like I said in another thread, I'm in a bit of a cynical mood today, so I'm looking at things from the extreme end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Sergio Mendacious Posted February 20, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted February 20, 2019 Aye, you're right, they used the system that was in place to have the more popular candidate win. Bernie was never going to win, but he brought a lot of energy and great policy to the table, and if he'd fucked off at the opportune moment, he'd have a lot more goodwill. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Devon Malcolm Posted February 20, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted February 20, 2019 The Democrats plumping for a centrist mum like Kamala Harris would be a dangerous ploy to take considering what happened with Clinton and considering the progressives and genuine leftists that are entering the party and invigorating different demographics to become politically active, much like with Corbyn over here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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