I was listening to presidential candidate Sen. Michael Bennet talk about how Americans were more concerned about many issues more than they were about Trump on Morning Joe. Joe Scarborough also talked with another guest about whether voters believe in the mantra "it's the economy, stupid" when it comes to voting decisions. During the House hearings I kept hearing that everyday Americans were more concerned with pocket book issues and other matters than they were about impeachment. This may be true with some but to me was is akin to someone in Poland bemoaning the fact that they couldn't afford eggs to make for breakfast while Nazi troops were marching down the street in front of their house.
We all have been reading about how evangelicals with the few recent notable exceptions are entrenched in their support of the most hypocritically Christian president in history who according to his ex-wife Ivana kept a copy of Mein Kampf next to his bed. Jesus we should remind them is referred to in the New Testament as the King of Jews. Wake up, Christians, I think, invoking how ordinary Germans went along with or even participated in the Holocaust isn't hyperbole.
What always goes through my mind when Democratic candidates focus on the issues they think are the most important and don’t emphasize defeating Trump is the prime directive (really the opposite for Star Trek fans) they have their heads in the sand. No doubt they do this in an effort to differentiate themselves from their rivals, however is that there is only one matter I really care about. It is who has the best chance of beating Donald Trump that I think they should be emphasizing.
Everything else from how to craft a national health care program to the economy is like a story under the fold on a newspaper or on the inside pages of the paper on the right. By now amazingly Godwin's law has been suspended and nobody who is alarmed by how Trump is trying to turn the United States into as fascist country apologizes for comparing Trump to Hitler. Instead of being accused of hyperbole anti-Trump critics of the media accuse major outlets like the New York Times of bothsidesism (aka false balance).
I looked at the candidates still on the list and at those who dropped out and Sen. Kamala Harris and Beto O'Rouke jump off the page as having the varsity chops to stand up against Trump compared to some of the junior varsity still in the race.
Julian Castro, not on the list, just today dropped out of the race. Rolling Stone rated him as number 11.
Rolling Stone ranks Andrew Yang as number five and Sen. Amy Klobuchar as number six putting the math man above the Minnesota senator with what Rolling Stone calls an “understated persona which stands in contrast to Trump's bluster and bravado.” I agree Klobuchar has an engaging understated persona I think she is a tough as nails too.
I have three lists of the Democratic candidates. One I call the Reallist (the most credible candidates), the Middlelist of long shots, and, for want of a better word, the Ridiculist.
Reallist
Joe Biden
Bernie Sanders
Elizabeth Warren
Pete Buttigieg
Amy Klobuchar
Cory Booker
The Middlelist
MICHAEL BLOOMBERG
DEVAL PARICK
Ridiculist
Andrew yang
Tulsi Gabbard
Tom Steyer
Michael Bennet
Marianne Williamson
John Delaney