Democratic Primary

[Kane]

Bernie says he wants to attend a debate in April but Biden is against it. Biden's performance during this pandemic has been pretty crap but that's expected because it's Biden. And he sounds like he's again by one year every day. Do you guys think Bernie is making the calculation that Biden could actually lose several primaries based on his performance thus far?

[Philly]

[John Galt]

this is true. as this crisis is just begining, by the end of it people will want strong governmental action to make sure this doesn't happen again. as my signature says, americans only learn by catastrophe, not experience. so this is a catastrophe rapidly gathering speed. and i think people will want a strong vision coming out of this, and bernie has a much stronger vision than biden

while trump deserves heaps of blame, the bush administration stockpiled something like 100 million masks for this kind of thing. in 2009 they were appropriately used by the Obama administration in response to the H1N1 virus. the obama administration which at the time had a democratic majority in both houses did not replenish them. so while biden might be talking about extending the legacy of Obama, there's blame there too. and Philly is right that this crisis is a time for Bernie to make a comeback

[exploited]

To be fair, almost nobody, with the exception of the Scandinavians, keeps an adequate supply of emergency materials just laying around for the next pandemic. So to some extent I don't find the lack of preparedness, as of January 1, to be problematic. It was problematic only to the extent that healthcare is problematic in your country - in my case, severe underfunding of the public health system, in your case, the world's cruelest joke of a public health system.

The reaction after something like this appears is what matters.

I should also point out that there is no reason why modern Western societies cannot pump out an adequate supply with only a bit of advanced notice. It is merely a matter of directing it to be done. So probably the biggest correction should be better detection, testing and way, way more funding for international health orgs. Pumping out stuff like ventilators and hospital beds and masks is something that could easily be done in a couple months, given sufficient planning and processes. Retooling is expensive but the manufacturing and industrial and engineering capacity of our societies is staggering and disturbingly underutilized in situations like this.

[Kane]

[exploited]

[John Galt]

well the thing that makes trump worse was that there was some planning, started under Bush and expanded under Obama, that Trump threw away because the one thing Trump has been consistent on is destroying every bit of legacy he can of Obama. that's really the only reason, it wasn't very expensive, but it would have made us far more prepared. I think he blamed it on a "Tim" during a press conference and said he takes no responsibility

the buck stops over yonder with Tim

[Kane]

Biden looks and sounds like he needs a f**k nap.

God he's going to get smeared by Trump.

[Philly]

[NAB]