Actually, I thought you weren’t supposed to bring it up...

The point is that the programs mentioned exist *to a very limited extent*, regularly fall well short of what they claim to succeed at, and are not easy to get. As I said before, to say these programs already exist is exactly like saying gun control already exists.

I know this is a blog, but Libby is a hack

Here’s an even better idea: How about no one give Ben Shapiro the time of day in 2020.

Candidates regularly start campaigns with “light” policy positions and harden them as time goes on. Not new to Beto, wasn’t new to Obama, wasn’t new to pretty much every major candidate that came before. That’s fine. They’re out talking to and with people all day every day.

Before this he was running for different…

One can tax the rich AND create incentives for people to provide education and other needed services to communities that are underserved. I know it will shock you to learn that underserved communities are, almost 100% of the time, poor communities.

How you view creating tuition reimbursement programs that also serve…

Right.  Sen. Warren has a ton of specifics, and she ain’t getting much Splinter coverage. It’s easier to write snarky nonsense than to write about actual policy and politics. 

I’m not sure about him either, but of course it’s a bit vague—he’s speaking off the cuff a week into his candidacy. It’s ridiculous not to give him some time to solidify his positions.

As to the first part of your point, what annoys me is that Libby (and others) are creating dumb arguments about things they know he…

Yes. It’s a long conversation, and it varies place-by-place, but generally some governments change policy and screw people, in some cases young people are not warned that debt consolidation can prevent those reimbursements, in some cases qualifying jobs change. There are probably articles out there written by more…

I think you can make rich people pay taxes while also providing incentives to people who provide much needed services (such as education) in underserved places. You may be aware that these underserved places are typically places where the poor live, where the pay is too low to attract top talent, and where the burden…

I feel like you are being deliberately obtuse. Proposals to get people into jobs in places where they generally don’t go to take them is a good one. Debt free education is almost certainly (duh) not to be limited to welders. And, if you are so inclined as a journalist, reach out to the obscene number of people who got…

Sorry dude, you’re not the go-to on deciding where the political center is in the US. 63 Million people voted in an unabashed racist, so you’ll forgive me if I don’t reduce the determinative factor for “center” to two issues you are currently engaged in.  

Beto’s campaign will go a long way in defining him along the…

Splinter is starting to read like the diary of an angry ex-girlfriend. 

lord knows i want one. But most here would include Obama in that group, and he won. Hell, all but Kerry got more votes than the GOP candidate.

The lost for a lot of reasons - whether openly and happily embracing more liberal policy positions would have made a difference is no more than a guess on your part.

I’d rather…

I’ll say to you what I’d say to Grover Norquist. Fuck pledges.

I’m not caping for anyone. Just tired of certain loudmouths on the left who think they know more than they do.

Do i think Beto is going to be the candidate? No. Am I willing to give him and (most of) these other candidates a chance to make their case…

The GND is nothing but rhetoric right now. One can only be rhetorical about something without specifics. I’m not concerned about politicians accepting legal donations from people in particular industries. PACs? Yes. $2300 from some oil dipshit? No. $2300 doesn’t buy you influence in a race where you can raise $6M in a…

again, it’s ridiculous to call him center-right in this country. In the Democratic party? Perhaps. Big difference, though. 

we tend to eat our own

From what I’ve read, he’s for a single-payer system, not necessarily for “Medicare for all” which is a slogan more than a policy - in that the Sanders “Medicare for all” bill is, indeed, a single-payer system. Not really Medicare for all. Semantics, sure. But why you expect one politician to adhere to another…

You can call him slightly center right in the party - and if you are, fine. But in the country, he’s center-left. 

Aye. He’s center (in Democratic politics. Left-of-center overall, if not dramatically so). Those of us on the further left sometimes get our bearing off with limited access to the truly “center” in this messed up country.

Put another way: CENTER ain’t where you want it to be