I supported Beto O’Rourke when he ran for the Texas senate seat because when your opponent is Ted Cruz, you don’t really need a platform other than “I am not Ted Cruz”. But it has never been really clear what he stands for and so I am a little surprised that his announcement that he is running for the Democratic nomination for president is being taken so seriously.
Seth Meyers looks at this and other issues.
The wikipedia page has a fair amount of info.
He’d make a good Liberal.
As always, look at what he does, rather than merely listen to what he says.
The Wikipedia article shows that he’s been in office for 6 years, so presumably one could vaguely infer his policies from his record alone, and better yet a comparison between his record and his claim would be quite informative.
John Morales@3,
His legislative record is indeed illuminating: he’s a DINO, who’s voted for legislation favouring the fossil fuel industry, the financial sector, and Trump’s immigration policy.
As for what he stands for: he stands for increasing the wealth, fame and power of Beto O’Rourke.
Firstly: Beto? His name’s Robert.
Second: for the rest, you can check this rather excellent Guardian article, which discusses his policies and voting record along with his qualifications to be President (spoiler: about as much as Trump’s).
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/mar/16/beto-2020-a-masterclass-in-male-entitlement-week-in-patriarchy
He’s got the stoner vote.
They don’t understand that he coukd get into office and shift toward warmongering centrism like Obama did.
Obama 2.0
Many Democrats are saying it is very important that their eventual candidate be someone who can actually win, who can beat Trump. Beto’s very name screams ‘second place.’
I referred to him on Twitter (without using his name) -- “As it turns out, people just appear to be more competent when standing next to Ted Cruz.”
It’s one thing to have a degree of charisma and run against an odious ooze monster, it’s another to be running against a much stronger field, especially when there’s going to be a lot more vetting and every error is going to be that much more magnified. His live stream from a dentist’s chair was a huge mistake, and his hand flapping non-answers at the coffee shop was not a good start to the actual campaign.
He’s not a completely lost cause though. I could see him being the VP choice depending on who wins the nomination (my fingers are crossed for Kamala Harris), but he has to avoid making more unforced errors. I’d really love to see a Kamala Harris/Stacey Abrams ticket, but that would require an United States with a little less racism and misogyny.
I disagree Seth I think Joe would be a bad ass candidate and that is what we need against the dumpster.
@10 Tabby Lavalamp
Would be nice to have someone whose policy history was less SWERF’n’TERF, of course…