I like it

Fun, eclectic, off-beat, pleasantly liberal.

But I’d stay away from it at night!

I really hate it when we attack our own. It has been a problem since I came onboard DU every primary season. The best defense is to report the offensive posts.

puppies and butterflies?

How will that help people choose who's the best to support?

and/or possibly disqualifying.

Do you honestly think it would be better to only find out the negatives AFTER we had chosen a candidate and that person was running against a Republican with a fat opposition file?

When on juries I usually only vote against ad hominem attacks.

I'm not having it either, apcalc. All that crap kept me in "lurker" status too long. Not this time.
Let it be known to all the trolls:

And I can't believe I just used the orange shitstain's phrasing, but it's true.

As long as they can disrupt and eliminate civil discussion, they're successful.

was because I THOUGHT we could express our opinions here..why we would or would not support a candidate. You are saying that is not true. No I do not want to see tRUMP elected again, but I will not support every Democratic Candidate because they all have strengths and weaknesses and positions I may not support. For me, when every Democratic candidate has thrown their hat in the ring, then I will get serious about examining their stands on items that are important to the American people from my point of view. I have a right to my point of view whether it agrees with you or not..as does every person who posts on this blog.

So if he had a falling out with DT and decided to run to oppose him, would you support Jared, if he managed to win the nomination?

Obviously not, so your support does have limits.

However, that would be quite a Hobson’s choice...Trump vs Kushner! Yikes.

Ahhhhh....Kushner?

Maybe moving to Canada could solve it..

But I don't think we're that far gone yet . . . we better not be.

I'll vote for every Democrat in every race in 2020. I have never voted for a single Republican regardless of level. I research the non-partisan races heavily to make sure I understand their ideology. If it is two dueling Republicans like a recent Miami mayoral race I'll skip it entirely.

But it is comical here when posters try to pretend we aren't allowed to point out strengths and weaknesses. Last year I considered Gwen Graham or Andrew Gillum for governor here in Florida. I noted that Gillum had support from the Sanders wing. That may sound like a positive but anyone who understands Florida politics especially in a midterm knows that it is not a positive. The midterms are older and whiter and more conservative. Gillum also had the Tallahassee FBI situation, which was guaranteed to be pounced upon even if there was zero legitimacy. So I made a strategic primary vote for Gwen Graham. Unfortunately the voters chose otherwise and we turned victory into a self-inflicted defeat. When 46% of the exit pollers indicate Gillum is too liberal for the state, that is a self-inflicted loss no matter how narrow or how desperately we try to pretend otherwise. All the fundamentals were in our favor yet we blew it via the primary selection, and it probably took down Bill Nelson as well.

These are not happy times as a Floridian. That's why I'm not ready to chirp praise toward Nancy Pelosi, who had a 31-56% under water approval rating among the same November 2018 exit pollers who gave Trump a 45-54 number. I'm convinced we win both Florida races with an innocuous male atop our party instead of such an unpopular target.

When I joined this site in 2002 there was more of an acceptance toward handicapping each candidate. Somewhere that was lost and I'll point to the 2008 primaries. Ignore lists were passed around targeting anyone who dared prefer Hillary Clinton above Barack Obama. Many great posters never returned and I can't blame them. Then apparently similar in 2016 although I was wise enough to stay away.

It wouldn't matter who we nominated if 2020 set up as a cruise. It is anything but a cruise. Ousting an incumbent is hellish. Likability is not determined by action. Anyone can look great with the wind at their back. Likability is determined by reaction.

I'll wait to see how if plays out but my big picture perspective will always dictate. I don't care about day to day. There was an earlier great post in the Predictwise thread regarding the absurdity of overreacting to day to day developments.

and sensical. Thanks for the info too.

I think the intent of this site is to support the Democratic Party and candidates but NOT BASH Democrats or the Party. For example, I think the party (as a whole) needs to move to the left. This can be considered a criticism of the Party, but I don't think it's bashing. So disagreeing about candidates is fine as long as we don't bash the ones we don't like. At least that's how I understand it...……..

1 - it did not sound like right-wing bashing
2 - it was not always negative - being for one candidate does not mean you have to focus only on the weaknesses of the others.
3 - strengths of the candidate one wants is not discussed in such an over-the-top fashion as sometimes happens.

any (D), I do not care who dislodges the Trumpenfuher.

The purpose of which is to find a candidate who can defeat Trump?

I for one will post newsworthly articles that provide information on the merits and risks of the different choices.

let's just be cool
all candidates have flaws let's see how they deal with them

I try my best not to feed the trolls.

I don't use the ignore feature much, I just scroll on by.

We have those safe space forums for people who only want to read positive things about their chosen candidate; I don't see the value in them.

I did say I don't use ignore much.

And the oligarchs. The Democrats are not oligarchs. Save that for the Republicans.

I think I get the times when you all are asleep

If you cannot support shut the fuck up. I do not include Bernie in this cause he is not a Democrat.

during the primaries, including this run-up with several declared candidates, is allowed.

Oh, and don't forget the Gillibrand threads.

Me, I have no problem with the pro and con discussion. The constant drama llamas... I have most of them on ignore.

... among others.

I don’t think that will stop.

the positives and the negatives.

...

here -- and explaining what your concerns are about him or her, providing negative but truthful information that you think people should be aware of when making their voting decisions.

(But as a side note, it is better to call someone a "corporate sell-out," if that's your belief, than to use a gendered term like "corporate whore." It means the same thing without having the misogynist overtones. And best of all is to explain what you are referring to specifically, rather than to make a generalized claim like that.)

Whose job it is to post as “ concerned Democrats” and then start to bash candidates.

The goal is to create division among us. And they are masters at it.

I will support Any Democrat against the wizard. We need to be united.

then we can call them out or, if necessary, alert on them.

But we need to find out any negatives BEFORE we nominate a candidate, NOT AFTER-- through the Republicans bringing the problems to our attention. We won't benefit by trying to suppress all negative but true information now.