Maybe this will be the campaign of truth tellers. Let it be so! Republicans would melt like the Wicked Witch of the West. Just like Joe Biden laughing in Paul Ryan's face. That's all they're worth. That's how you beat them.

I like all our candidates and at this juncture I'm a strong Bernie supporter. Who knows I may be a clown car supporter before this is all said and done. I really don't think that will ever happen though as 'CONs give me the hives, big time

... don't ALL candidates "fund-raise off of bullshit"?

'That’s complete, well, “bullshit.” Republicans like Marco Rubio evangelize deregulation not because it’ll give a leg up to the little guy, but because that’s exactly what banks and big businesses (and the wealthy political donors who run them) prefer as a policy outcome. There’s a rich historical record of deregulation broadening the gap between the wealthy and the non-wealthy, and someone who argues otherwise is, in fact, bullshitting you. . .

O’Malley repeated his call to expand Social Security benefits and recommended a three-part course of action for realizing that goal: boosting wages through legislative action, raising payroll taxes on high earners, and pushing immigration reform through to get more people paying into the system. Notably, O’Malley signed on to a “donut hole” approach to the payroll tax cap: adjusting it so that wealthy earners pay more while the middle class’ tax burden remains unchanged.

The Social Security fight represents a big opportunity for the Democrats to make the case for government action in improving the average person’s economic situation, and it’s a strong contrast point to make with the 2016 Republicans, given that almost all of them favor cutting the popular program in some way. At the moment, O’Malley’s is taking better advantage of that opportunity than Hillary. He’s actively making a case for strengthening the program and using it as a rebuttal to the Republican economic agenda. Hillary is being more cautious, saying only that she’ll oppose the GOP’s efforts to privatize or otherwise weaken Social Security, while refusing to say what policies she’d support. Yesterday at a campaign event in New Hampshire she said that we should “figure out what works and how we build on what works and let’s not get into arguments about ideology and rhetorical attacks and claims.”

Really? A presidential campaign seems like a great time to get into ideological arguments. It’s actually the ideal time to get out there and make the case that your policies work and the other guy’s worldview is “bullshit.” At least one 2016 Democrat is doing that.'

DU REALLY should pay attention to Martin O'Malley.

“figure out what works and how we build on what works and let’s not get into arguments about ideology and rhetorical attacks and claims.”

That is a great disappointment to me. I agree with you. We must get into ideological arguments. The ideology that advocated deregulating Wall Street is what got us into this mess to begin with. The ideology of supply side is what caused the great wealth disparity. Geez.

Talking Points Memo ran this story on the Social Security debate. The full paragraph from TPM:



She's trying to appeal to voters in the mushy middle. There are people who see "ideology" as the great villain. In their view, the way to govern is for elected officials to put aside partisan politics, reach across the aisle, and work together to get things done. To that train of vapid cliches, perhaps "take a deep breath" will be the next addition.

If one side refuses to talk about ideology, then the result is to reward extremism on the other side. These mushy-middle types tend to think that the right answer must be approximately halfway between the two competing positions. The result, as often noted on DU, is that Republicans stake out extreme right-wing positions and thus move the center toward the right. That's what happens when you say "take a deep breath" instead of "their ideology is bullshit."

Also, when people try to speak like that they just sound wishy-washy, like they have no real conviction.

That's why Sanders is climbing the polls so quickly, he is on fire with conviction and people feel the authenticity. O'Malley will probably start climbing as well once he gets more traction and exposure.

O'Malley is from a Southern state, so he might be able to help win some other Southern states.

She is a co-founder of the DLC, a former member of the New Democrat Coalition, trying to run for President as a populist liberal because it's polling well Of course, she doesn't want to get into an ideological argument. Let's keep it all blurred and pretty, like an impressionist painting. Let's couch that in "sensible woodchuck" terms, aka "pragmatic" liberal language. It sells so much better that way.

However, I do agree to this extent: both of the major political parties have made "liberal" a dirty word. So, let's not stick labels on policies. When policies are presented to Americans without labels, they choose left, and not infrequently by huge margins.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/12777036

Free public colleges? Wonderful! Liberal free public colleges? Ugh. Scandinavian socialist free public colleges? Triple ugh.

Better to just go with policies than to try to label them.

All of our candidates would make be good presidents, and you are right the "war" is against the GOP, not against our own candidates.

Polite discussion as a "team" will help craft a solid platform in the G.E.

K&R

I think the whole bunch in the "clown car" could be labeled the same way, nothing but "bullshit" when it comes to their "plans" for this country!

They know the regulatory agencies have been co-opted from the top with political appointments and starved to the point that they do not have the resources to regulate. That's how 4 people get gassed to death at DuPont. That's how BP screws up everything they touch. Wait til Shell gets caught dumping their sewage from their Artic rigs. They are used to everything going over the side because it costs money to ship it back and properly dispose of it.

Republicans are bullshit and it's good to hear a Democrat say it.

that the Romney tax plan was "malarkey", didn't he? This is just the next logical step.

Quite frankly, if O'Malley explained why he thinks that, it's not lowering political discourse--it's sharpening it. Rubio's economic worldview is bullshit. And our politicians should have the courage to call it that.

Never heard that Irish expression, a good one-


http://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/oct/12/joe-biden-paul-ryan-debate

use to substitute.
People know exactly what it means and is sometimes the "ONLY" word that will suffice. It is highly descriptive of most Republican ideas.

you are absolutely correct - sometimes it is ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY

...is a good description for the rest of those in the GOP clown car. The latest is the Donald who says he knows how to defeat ISIS but he is not going to tell us how.

by making the regulations. But that's corruption, basically, which is obviously wrong. The key is not "deregulation", what's needed is the right kind of regulation, the kind that helps the little guy and punishes the mega-corporations and billionaires. And what the GOP has done for decades now is promote the kind of deregulation that helps the corporate class and hurts the little guy.

We have two really really good candidates to choose from in the primaries.

His record is why I'm supporting him - truth telling about that nonsense being spewed by Republicans is just the icing on the cake.

It's time to take republicans head on, and go after their insane policies that help only the rich. This coming election is very important, and a lot is at stake. O'Malley seems ready to take them on, and as you said, he has a record of doing what needs to be done.

I can't understand why anyone who is a Democratic Party member would not want this man's voice in the debates and his ideas on our platform.

And his 'know how'.

The slate right now (not including Chafee -he's a non starter for me) -

We're totally gonna kick their asses in 2016! It's generating excitement and supporters pushing their ideas to the candidates they don't support in the primary that will help us win it.

If we can get as excited as we were in 2008 - we will kick their asses.

One who's not afraid to stand up to the bully billionaires and another who's not afraid to call bullshit!