Get Used To It-- Despite The Media Elites, Bernie May Well Win The Nomination And The Election

The New York Times released the results of the new Siena poll of Iowa caucus goers yesterday under the slightly ominous headline Sanders Siezes Lead In Volatile Iowa Race. Times in house Bernie hater Sydney Ember wrote that "Senator Bernie Sanders has opened up a lead in Iowa just over a week before the Democratic caucuses, consolidating support from liberals and benefiting from divisions among more moderate presidential candidates who are clustered behind him, according to a New York Times/Siena College poll of likely caucusgoers... The rise of Mr. Sanders has come at the expense of his fellow progressive, Senator Elizabeth Warren: she dropped from 22 percent in the October poll, enough to lead the field, to 15 percent in this survey... Despite Mr. Sanders’s ascent, the combined strength of the moderate candidates is unmistakable. The poll showed that 55 percent of those surveyed said they preferred a standard-bearer who is 'more moderate than most Democrats.' Just 38 percent said they wanted one who is 'more liberal than most Democrats.'... Should he prevail in Iowa and face a similarly fractured field of mainstream rivals in New Hampshire, where he also currently leads in the polls, Mr. Sanders could be difficult to slow... [S]hould no clear moderate alternative to Mr. Sanders emerge from the early nominating states, the self-financing Michael R. Bloomberg, who has already spent more than $260 million on advertising and hired more than 1,000 staff members, is awaiting the field on Super Tuesday in early March.

But first is Iowa, where the race remains up for grabs to an unusual degree so late in the race: In the Times poll, nearly 40 percent of voters said they could still be persuaded to caucus for a different candidate.

Mr. Sanders, however, has some of the most committed supporters in the race and, significantly, his advantage with Iowa Democrats does not ebb when the field is narrowed to only the top four candidates. The Vermont senator still leads by seven points in that scenario, according to the survey, capturing 30 percent of the vote while Mr. Biden and Mr. Buttigieg both win 23 percent and Ms. Warren garners 19 percent.

These results are important because of how the caucuses work in Iowa. Candidates must receive 15 percent support in a precinct to reach what is called viability, meaning they are eligible to win delegates. If a candidate falls short of that number, his or her supporters can either leave the caucus or support better-performing contenders for the second and final vote of the evening. So voters’ second choices can prove crucial.

Ms. Warren, according to the poll, is the top second-choice preference of caucusgoers, which could lift her candidacy after the initial vote. But that is in part because she is the preferred alternative for those who support Mr. Sanders, who will most likely meet the viability threshold in nearly all of the caucuses.

Ms. Klobuchar’s supporters could play the most crucial role, though, should she fail to achieve 15 percent in most precincts. When voters were asked whom they would support if they were left with only four choices-- Mr. Sanders, Mr. Buttigieg, Mr. Biden and Ms. Warren-- Mr. Biden was the overwhelming favorite of Ms. Klobuchar’s backers. He received 55 percent of them in this scenario while Ms. Warren received 18 percent.

While Ember was gaming out ways more Wall Street-friendly candidates-- her husband is a Wall Street whore-- could beat Bernie, CNN's big Iowa story yesterday was how Biden had picked up an endorsement from a virtually unknown and completely uninfluential hack politician who CNN decided is a "key Iowa swing district congresswoman." Arlette Saenz reported that "Joe Biden has earned the Democratic presidential endorsement of Iowa Rep. Cindy Axne, giving the former vice president a boost at a critical time-- just nine days before the state's caucuses." Many Iowans-- even in her own district-- might be asking, "Who?"

Last cycle, Cindy Axne was in the right place at the right time and defeated Republican Party incumbent, closet case David Young, 175,642 (49.3%) to 167,933 (47.1%). She won blue-leaning Polk County (Des Moines) and lost the 15 other counties in the district. She outraised Young $5,200,723 to $2,759,712. (Young is looking for a re-match again this year and she is against out-raising him gigantically and has collected more from corporate PACs than Young has!) Once she was elected, she immediately joined the Wall street-owned and operated New Dems, started gorging herself on sewer money and ran up one of the worst voting records of any Democrat in Congress, although not quite as bad as Jeff Van Drew's. She votes against progressive legislation and proposals far more than for them and has been rated an "F" by ProgressivePunch. Only 7 Democrats in the House have voted further right than Axne has since she was elected. Michigan Independent Justin Amash's 54.39% vote score is heads and shoulders above her pathetic 38.60%. She's pretty typical of the kind of Democrat in Congress who has been endorsing Status Quo Joe.

Yesterday, Politico reported that Status Quo Joe spent two days in New Hampshire without taking any questions from voters at his public events, "a striking break from tradition in the first-in-the-nation primary state... He made no mention of the state’s opioid epidemic, which polls consistently show is the biggest issue facing the state. Voters at the events said they also would have liked to hear about his plans for health care, the cost of prescription drugs and the economy." Over at the Washington Post, Matt Viser noted that Biden-- like Trump-- is barely comprehensible when he speaks. The Beltway media, which has consistently pointed out that Trump speaks on a 4th grade level, insists that Biden's inability to communicate ideas is kind of cute, "imparting some family wisdom, passing along a few of the aphorisms he'd learned over his 77 years," according to Viser.

“With the grace of God and goodwill of the neighbors, as my grandfather used to say,” he began before turning to one from his father: “Don’t tell me what you value, show me your budget. I’ll tell you what you value.”

His wife, too, had a saying he wanted to share: “My wife has an expression: Any country that out educates us will out compete us.”

Finally, there was his mother: “If my mother were here, she’d say, ‘Joe, hush up and start taking some questions.’”

In the middle of explanations of tax policy, recollections of his years as vice president or attacks on President Trump’s fitness for office, Biden has a seemingly endless supply of family sayings that at any given moment can unspool like a long piece of Irish yarn.

Some are concise and border on the cliche; others are more elaborate. It’s hard to know which ones are truly original to the extended Biden clan, but there’s no doubt that many have come to serve as a sort of soundtrack over a decades-long political career-- and now for Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign.

These “Bidenisms,” whether by design or simply because it’s the way he talks, come tucked into his often meandering speeches in a way that speaks to the family heritage, folksiness and twinkle-eyed nostalgia that have become core elements of his political brand...They are the fortune cookie sayings, a bit of Biden family proverbs imbued in the Irishman.

...The family sayings are another iteration of Biden’s unique speaking style, one that is injected with a “folks!” here, a “not a joke!” there and a “here’s the deal” everywhere. To drive a point home, he’ll say “My word as a Biden.” To draw a connection, he’ll say “God love ya.” And to express indignation, he favors “C’mon man!”

Still, listening to a Biden speech can be like walking through a maze, unsure of where or how it will end.

The other day, he turned a question about whether Trump has fundamentally altered the presidency into a treatise on the Luddites and looms. He paused-- “I shouldn’t have started this because it was too complicated, I know”-- before plowing forward, nonetheless. He went into job loss in the retail industry, a discussion about automated trucking, Brexit, demagoguery, mass shootings, the importance of honesty, and how good and decent people help one another fix their flat tires.

“I could go on and on,” he said and, after 10 minutes, it was time for the next question.

...Sometimes, they can be an excuse.

At the launch of his 2008 campaign, Biden came under criticism for calling Barack Obama “the first mainstream African American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy.” As part of his round of explanations, he said, “I really regret that some have taken totally out of context my use of the word, ‘clean.’”

He then argued that he was simply attempting to quote a phrase that had been passed down to him.

“My mother has an expression,” he told reporters. “Clean as a whistle, sharp as a tack.”

Biden may have been at one time-- but that would have been a long, long time ago.