I feel her statement that if you want to 'take away' insurance from millions of Americans, then she is not your candidate somewhat disingenuous. It's rhetoric that skates around the edges of truth. I was disappointed when she began saying this.

Otherwise, she is an excellent candidate, and certainly one I could be happy with as president.

Same with Booker. I like Booker a lot. He'd make a fine president. Different style. A bit more brash and East Coast. He could do the job.

Both could.

That said, GO Warren!!!

skating around whether "medicare-for-all" will raise the average American's taxes or not? She knows it will, and it's probably more expensive than she'd like to admit. If someone has insurance where they work why should they have to give it up? Bringing back the ACA to a better place it was before is infinitely more attractive that medicare-for-all, in my opinion.

As Bill Maher said on tonight's show, "democrats have to be careful not to out-crazy Trump". This was in reference to Warren's "plan" to offer sex-change operations to anyone in the prison system at taxpayer expense.

And more than that, it is the right thing to do.

You know as well as I, though, that no matter who is elected, they will put forward a plan, which then will have to be fashioned into law by Congress. The end product, as our framers intended, will be a compromise we can all live with borne of vigorous debate. Too bad the politicians will be distracted by those millions of dollars being put out by big pharma and for-profit healthcare to leave things as they are.

I'm more with Whitehouse every day. We need to get the dark money out of Washington DC. Period. It is corporate money, super pac money and big lobby money that has created the perverted systems we have now - 34 million Americans without health insurance and millions more under-insured, mass shootings of kids in schools, $750 per head per day to house people who came here seeking asylum in filthy cages in private for-profit prisons that lack even basic health and hygiene facilities.

The reason I'm an idealist is that I see what is, and imagine what could be. Whataboutism doesn't do much good, though I have posted several times that I was disappointed in Warren for not answering the 'gotcha' media question, structured for 8-second sound byte 'news' that could destroy her campaign.

OF COURSE taxes will be raised for Medicare for All. Absolutely. We already pay more in premiums, copays, coinsurance and deductibles than we would in taxes. That's her point when she says costs would go down. They would.

Right now, for example, I pay $17,235 per year in premiums for myself and my spouse, and I have a graduated copay system - $30 for regular visits, $45 for a specialist, $100 for urgent care and $500 for ER 'services,' AND, get this, if I have to be hospitalized, my 'out of pocket' is $3 large, and if my spouse also has to be hospitalized, my out of pocket will be $3,000 for her as well. And, this year, my HMO put in an nice little innocuous-seeming loophole - seems that my 'maximum out of pocket' of $6,000 isn't actually the maximum. They can declare a number of 'services' now to be exempt from that 'maximum.' So the maximum is no longer REALLY a maximum, just like truth is no longer truth - it's all alternative facts, but I still have to PAY OUT THE NOSE.

So, here's the thing. I'm on the bad side of 60 and that is when the warranty goes 'off' on your health. All kinds of fun things can and do happen. In an average year, I have to pay around $20K for healthcare 'services' from an HMO who collects premiums according to an actuarial table that 'bets' that I will pay in more than they have to pay out. That's how insurance works. So it is a direct conflict of interest for them to be asked to pay for medical treatment I actually need - they would lose that 'bet.'

This is why I like Warren, and why NOTHING can convince me that M4All isn't the best way for all Americans. So Amy Klobuchar, who, like Warren, Booker, Bennet and many of the others have excellent, wonderful, health coverage - I don't. And, back to my original point, for her to smugly say that if I want to trade in my crummy, rationed HMO with financially crippling copays for a M4A system where I wouldn't have to ever worry about some guy coming in with a laptop, standing in my blood and asking how I'm going to 'handle' the copay is a little much.

In fact, that, my friend, UTTERLY INFURIATES ME. I realize that some unions, notably the firefighters, have negotiated excellent coverage for their people. Unfortunately most private unions have been busted and millions work in 'at will' environments. Let the firefighters keep their insurance. Fine. But allow all the rest of us to trade in our crappy coverage for a Medicare system. I'll do that in a heartbeat, and that is why Klobuchar is not my candidate.

I'm sick of politicians that buy into the dialog put out by big pharma and for-profit healthcare - 'Oh, you'll LOSE your private coverage.' That's a joke. Because most private coverage for most Americans IS a joke, and most Americans would be materially better off with an Medicare for All system. They would. I would. I also believe you would, unless you're a firefighter and have great health coverage, or unless you can refute my points about my cost actually going down even if my taxes were raised.

Warren is between a rock and a hard place on that, and you know it. If she says, "Yes, taxes for everyone will go up, but you won't have premiums and copays, coinsurance and deductibles, so your costs will actually go down," the media will 'report' that Warren will raise middle class taxes. Period.

And it's not Klobuchar and Biden and others who are centrist on this who are at fault. The fault lies directly with the capitalist system that elevates the shareholder to primacy at the expense of all the other stakeholders. The system simply has a structural conflict of interests when it comes to giving you the care you need, because it is in the best interest of shareholders not to pay out.

You know, it is a tough thing to advocate the right thing when you have millions in dark money lined up against you. That's why I like Warren, and still like her even if she evades that 'gotcha' question.

I will talk about her all I want to.

SUNSHINE IS THE BEST DISINFECTANT.

ETA.. I'm grateful for Hillary speaking out!

and interesting how the truth of the matter is coming out. And am to the importance, we've been warned about that ringer.

exposed what many of us already knew without saying her name.

So let's sweep gabbard's gaslighting about Dems and Hillary under the carpet. .. uh No.

Me

Tulsi should be talked about. 2016 was not that long ago and we all have the right, as well as the obligation to question candidates who could be influenced by foreign adversaries.

We cannot treat this sort of thing lightly and we certainly cannot sweep it under the rug and hope it will go away. Now that the Russians have gotten away with affecting our elections, it will happen again and other foreign entities will join in. We have to be more vigilant than ever.

wrap my head around the mindset of those who want the discussion stopped about gabbard and her gaslighting Hillary and the Democratic Party.

did not take Jill Stein's influence seriously enough and now I can see that was a mistake. Fool me once.............

(Seems like I heard that somewhere before?)

Most of the candidates aren't in their last rodeo, and will have another chance or two.

by now if she wouldn’t have gotten some help. Anyway...I think it will happen soon enough.

I really like Klobuchar, too. I would have no problem with her as President. Unfortunately, she’s not gaining traction. Hopefully, she’ll get a serious VP shot.

There will be cabinet positions to be filled. Cory and Amy will still have a seat at the big table.

Because a president, no matter how excellent or how qualified s/he may be, can never do the job alone. Oh s/he must make the decisions, set the vision, birth the policy that will guide the administration for her/his term, but it is vital to have a cabinet filled with strong people who aren't yes-men or women. People who will say, "Wait a minute Madam/Mister President, I think you're wrong on this one and I will tell you why." All presidents need this. Obama certainly cultivated a cabinet like that. As did Clinton when he was president.

And, the president will have to cultivate and count on alliances they make in both houses of Congress. An effective presidency is about relationships. The president sets the vision, then surrounds herself with people who are strong and can flesh out the vision for all Americans.

At least that's how it should be.

But of course...Citizens United, the NRA, big pharma, for-profit healthcare, the prison-industrial complex, the military-industrial complex - somehow these parasites have invaded our body politic. Until we cure our republic of them and their influence, this republic will not realize its potential. The sheer weight of greed and lust for power will prevent it and the few will drag down the many.