Saturday, February 29, 2020

Lest We Forget

There have been a number of pundits and a like percentage of private citizens calling for certain Democratic candidates to relinquish their white knuckle grip on their campaigns and surrender to the inevitable. That inevitable is, currently, Bernie Sanders. Which is quite interesting from a number of different standpoints. First of all, it was not so very long ago that Bernie was being asked to let go of his white knuckle grip as the Democratic Party chose to "go another way" and hand the nomination to Hillary Clinton. If your political memory does not stretch back that far, all the way to 2016, Bernie went down swinging. The result of that tenacity may have been to spring a divide wide in the party wide enough for a Trump to sneak through the electoral college. Then there's the now somewhat outdated notion that the nomination belongs this year to Vice President Joe Biden, so much so that he has vowed to fight on in spite of placing near the bottom of the primaries and caucuses held thus far. And then there's Amy and Pete and Elizabeth and Tom, all of whom have made gritty statements vowing to carry on in the face of adversity. Or ambivalence.
What will happen on Super Tuesday? Difficult to say, since that shows up a lot like the playoffs for a team headed to the Super Bowl. On any given Sunday, or Tuesday in this case, a team can surprise us. The Tennessee Titans were that way this year. That is until they came up against the eventual Super Bowl champion from Kansas City. Forgive the sports metaphor, it seemed applicable. Or at least accessible. Mike Bloomberg was the hyper-funded guy to beat a couple weeks ago. Before he ever took the debate stage.
Then there's the story of a candidate for the House of Representatives in Arizona who chose to suspend his campaign. After he overdosed on heroin. Chris Taylor, who currently sits on the city council of Stafford, Arizona said in a statement, “Today, I have suspended my campaign for the US House of Representatives and am seeking treatment for substance abuse disorder. “I will fully cooperate with local authorities on any matters arising from my recent relapse and overdose.” This probably qualifies as a "common sense" decision, but please remember the context: This isn't football. It's politics. 
Please remember to vote. 

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