Patterico's Pontifications

1/13/2020

Booker Is Out

Filed under: General — JVW @ 12:35 pm



[guest post by JVW]

Cory Booker, who with his Stanford education, corresponding ties to the tech community, friendliness with Wall Street, and a personal image of robust young minority leader ought to have been a formidable candidate for the Democrat nomination, has suspended his faltering campaign after experiencing weak fourth-quarter fundraising and lagging performance in recent polls. Naturally, President Trump responded to the news in his typical manner:

The failure of the campaigns of first Kamala Harris, then Julián Castro, and now Cory Booker to catch fire is one of the more interesting developments of this election cycle. In the Age of Trump and the corresponding Rise of the Crybullies, I had convinced myself that the Democrats would forever more prioritize issues of race, sex, and, to a lesser degree, sexual orientation and youth when choosing future candidates. Instead, we have a top four tier consisting of two elderly heterosexual white males, an elderly heterosexual white woman who once passed for Native American, and a young (defined arbitrarily by me as under 50) gay white male. Behind them is a second tier consisting of mostly elderly heterosexual white males, a middle-aged white heterosexual female, a Taiwanese-American young heterosexual male, a Samoan-American young heterosexual female, and then finally a bottom tier consisting of a middle-aged black heterosexual male (betcha you forgot about him!) and a couple of middle-aged heterosexual white males. This serves as a good lesson for all of us that social media only represents a fraction of the Democrat voters in this country, and it’s a fraction that might not exactly be fully in step with the desires of the party’s majority.

And it’s worth noting that tomorrow night’s Democrat debate is going to be whiter than a Ralph Northam medical school party.

– JVW

28 Responses to “Booker Is Out”

  1. This will give him time to devote towards sit through the Senate trial of Donald Trump and make outraged and pained facial expressions when he thinks a television camera might be focused on him.

    JVW (54fd0b) — 1/13/2020 @ 12:36 pm

  2. The failure of the campaigns of first Kamala Harris, then Julián Castro, and now Cory Booker to catch fire is one of the more interesting developments of this election cycle.

    Putting aside the merits (or lack thereof) of their policy positions, as retail national politicians all of them are disasters.

    Harris is afraid to take a position at all, Booker does nothing but posture like an SNL caricature of a politician, and Castro has all the charisma of a wet blanket.

    Dave (1bb933) — 1/13/2020 @ 12:52 pm

  3. To be fair, a pissed DJT had a fair shot at facing Booker beforehand – across a dinner table. Back in the pre-Jared days, Ivanka was probably a notch on the Derek Jeter (and those with similar constitution) belt.

    urbanleftbehind (5eecdb) — 1/13/2020 @ 12:52 pm

  4. In all of this let’s not miss the biggest issue, namely, that this is another in a long line of lies by this president. In recent polling, Booker was at 1% which is not zero polling territory.

    frosty (f27e97) — 1/13/2020 @ 1:00 pm

  5. So let’s see. The ethnic and racial diversity of the current Democratic field is zero. Doesn’t that make them racist?

    Bored Lawyer (998177) — 1/13/2020 @ 1:01 pm

  6. @4, he said zero polling territory, so he wasn’t lying this time. I hope he doesn’t stroke out from the shock of not being factually wrong.

    Time123 (66d88c) — 1/13/2020 @ 1:06 pm

  7. Not to worry! He managed to lie two sentences later:

    I was sooo concerned that I would someday have to go head to head with him!

    Dave (1bb933) — 1/13/2020 @ 1:13 pm

  8. 7. The two extra o’s in “sooo” indicates this is meant as sarcasm. It’s neither the truth nor a lie.

    He’s trying to imply that he’s not worried about any opponent, and that all of them are bad candidates. That may be a lie (by implication)

    Sammy Finkelman (02a146) — 1/13/2020 @ 1:21 pm

  9. Yeah, I guess with his being a “Robust member of a minority community” with a Stanford Education (that is impressive!) and “ties to Silicon Valley” (you mean like Pelosi?) he should have done well. Except he was an idiot. Which sorta hurts your chances. And he had weird looking eyes. Oh well, maybe Biden get nominated and we can start hearing the “Conservative Case for Obama’s VP and one of the most liberal Presidents EVER”.

    rcocean (1a839e) — 1/13/2020 @ 1:25 pm

  10. Booker might show up as Biden VP choice although Harris will be the more likely choice. Joey Biden, like most old Boomers, loves having women subordinates. He practically patted on the head, during one of the debates. Booker, OTOH, is man so Joey BIden boomer-thinks of him as “threat”.

    rcocean (1a839e) — 1/13/2020 @ 1:28 pm

  11. This was as close to a I am president moment for ole spartacus as it gets.

    mg (8cbc69) — 1/13/2020 @ 2:17 pm

  12. Trump remains the same class act he’s always been.

    Kevin M (19357e) — 1/13/2020 @ 2:40 pm

  13. -50 (cursed) Cloak of Karma.

    Kevin M (19357e) — 1/13/2020 @ 2:43 pm

  14. @10. Joey Biden, like most old Boomers, loves having women subordinates.

    Pfffft. In front of me is a copy of the New York Post, page 2, w/t bold headline:

    BYE-BYE BIDEN

    Subhead: ‘Mistakes’ force Dem to drop out of race.

    First three paragraphs:

    Democratic presidential candidate Joseph Biden quit the race yesterday, saying “the exaggerated shadow” of his mistakes had begun to obscure “the essence of Joe Biden.”

    The Delaware senator, reeling from charges he committed plagiarism and exaggerated his academic achievements, admitted that “I have made some mistakes.”

    “But now,” he added, “the exaggerated shadow of those mistakes has begun to obscure the essence of my candidacy and the essence of Joe Biden.”

    Love it when they talk about themselves in the third person; very Bob Dole. Essence denied: oh yeah, the date– Thursday, September 24, 1987.

    “Women sense my power and they seek the life essence. I, uh… I do not avoid women, Mandrake. But I… I do deny them my essence.” – Gen. Jack D. Ripper [Sterling Hayden] ‘Dr. Strangelove’ 1964

    DCSCA (797bc0) — 1/13/2020 @ 2:44 pm

  15. I think Booker as Biden’s VP would be the smart pick for Democrats.

    You won’t win against Trump if you are all negativity/24hr day…

    Booker does a real good job of upbeat retail politicking similar to Obama’s Hope and Changey shtick.

    Beside Booker’s politics, I get the sense that Booker is a good dude.

    whembly (fd57f6) — 1/13/2020 @ 3:01 pm

  16. You make a salient point, whembly. I was going to say that, unlike Obama, Booker seems to lack gravitas. However, his positivity would be a nice balance to the expected outrage at the top of the ticket.

    norcal (42c8d0) — 1/13/2020 @ 4:19 pm

  17. How many people even knew Booker was (still) running?

    nk (dbc370) — 1/13/2020 @ 5:25 pm

  18. Now, if Biden wants to guarantee Trump’s reelection, he’ll pick Kamala Harris as his running mate.

    nk (dbc370) — 1/13/2020 @ 5:27 pm

  19. Donor class wants biden as they wanted clinton. So debate rules favor candidate that can get well to do whites with disposable income to drive minorities out of race.

    asset (e9b64a) — 1/13/2020 @ 11:42 pm

  20. Donor class wants biden as they wanted clinton. So debate rules favor candidate that can get well to do whites with disposable income to drive minorities out of race.

    Just like they did to Obama, eh?

    Candidates have easily passed the fundraising thresholds for the debates. It’s the polling requirements that have disqualified people.

    Dave (1bb933) — 1/13/2020 @ 11:50 pm

  21. I think you guys care more who the candidate, whether Republican or Democrat, will be, than either the RNC or DNC does. What they want most is to keep their phony-baloney jobs, and what they work hardest at is keeping them no matter who is in the White House.

    nk (dbc370) — 1/14/2020 @ 5:16 am

  22. let me get this over with for you people –
    and Putin smiled.
    done.

    mg (8cbc69) — 1/14/2020 @ 5:49 am

  23. @17 T-bone knew.

    frosty (f27e97) — 1/14/2020 @ 6:45 am

  24. T-Bone/Corn Pop 2020

    urbanleftbehind (5eecdb) — 1/14/2020 @ 7:01 am

  25. 20. Dave (1bb933) — 1/13/2020 @ 11:50 pm

    Candidates have easily passed the fundraising thresholds for the debates. It’s the polling requirements that have disqualified people.

    It did disqualify Mike Bloomberg, who wasn’t taking any contributions *

    Tom Steyer, on the other hand, spent money on ads to raise small contributions – also, since polls in primary states counted as much as national polls, he advertised heavily there.

    In the first debates, number of unique contributors (even of $1) was an alternative metric to poll results, but later the candidates had to meet both thresh holds. Then Mike Bloomberg jumped in.

    ———————-
    * And I don’t think Trump did either, when he started. Now he’s not spending his own money or much of it, but this contribution metric is new and never was used by the Republicans.

    Sammy Finkelman (2cb3c3) — 1/14/2020 @ 7:09 am

  26. I did not until this moment know that Deval Patrick was black. I’d only seen his name in print as the Democrat who succeeded Mitt Romney as Massachusetts governor.

    Ingot9455 (68bf96) — 1/14/2020 @ 11:22 am

  27. In the year 2000, the JFK Library ran a John F. Kennedy Profile In Courage Essay Contest (open only to High School students.) It was the first annual one.

    It was won by Pete Buttigieg.

    The person his essay profiled was…

    Bernie Sanders.

    Because he wasn’t afraid to use the label of Socialist (i.e. a man of both conviction and candor) and he was also “a powerful force for conciliation and bi-partisanship on Capitol Hill”

    https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/education/profile-in-courage-essay-contest/past-winning-essays/2000-winning-essay-by-peter-buttigieg

    While impressive, Sanders’ candor does not itself represent political courage. The nation is teeming with outspoken radicals in one form or another. Most are sooner called crazy than courageous. It is the second half of Sanders’ political role that puts the first half into perspective: he is a powerful force for conciliation and bi-partisanship on Capitol Hill….

    …Sanders has used his unique position as the lone Independent Congressman to help Democrats and Republicans force hearings on the internal structure of the International Monetary Fund, which he sees as excessively powerful and unaccountable. He also succeeded in quietly persuading reluctant Republicans and President Clinton to ban the import of products made by under-age workers. Sanders drew some criticism from the far left when he chose to grudgingly endorse President Clinton’s bids for election and re-election as President. Sanders explained that while he disagreed with many of Clinton’s centrist policies, he felt that he was the best option for America’s working class.

    Sanders’ positions on many difficult issues are commendable, but his real impact has been as a reaction to the cynical climate which threatens the effectiveness of the democratic system. His energy, candor, conviction, and ability to bring people together stand against the current of opportunism, moral compromise, and partisanship which runs rampant on the American political scene. He and few others like him have the power to restore principle and leadership in Congress and to win back the faith of a voting public weary and wary of political opportunism. Above all, I commend Bernie Sanders for giving me an answer to those who say American young people see politics as a cesspool of corruption, beyond redemption. I have heard that no sensible young person today would want to give his or her life to public service. I can personally assure you this is untrue.

    Sammy Finkelman (2cb3c3) — 1/14/2020 @ 12:08 pm

  28. @27. Nice find, Sammy. Interesting.

    DCSCA (797bc0) — 1/14/2020 @ 12:14 pm


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