RFK's campaign (will run as independent/third-party) (1 Viewer)

[samiam5211]

It looks like he's going to be on the ticket in November. I think he should get his own thread. He's about to become well funded, and it's going to be a professionally run campaign no doubt. I don't think it's out of the question that he get's Perot like numbers, and even if he get's 1/4 of that it could be a disaster for the Biden campaign that is probably looking at a few thousand votes in a few states turning the election anyway.

There is going to be money behind this campaign from all sorts of angles. No matter what anyone thinks about RFK, it would be a terrible mistake to not take this campaign seriously. He might take some from Trump for sure, but he's going to take more of the anti Trump vote from Biden, and Biden can't really spare any votes. Not all people who were going to vote for Biden would disagree with the things RFK has said about vaccines, and he's not going to be spending his time campaigning on just vaccine skepticism.

There are many more people voting for Biden who aren't enthusiastic about Biden than there are on the other side.

MSN

Asuper PAC supporting Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has begun polling his support as an Independent, one of the strongest indications to date that the long-shot Democrat is set to announce a party affiliation switch.

The poll, conducted by the firm John Zogby Strategies and commissioned by the American Values 2024 PAC, comes amid growing speculation — fueled by Kennedy himself — that he will leave the Democratic Party in the upcoming weeks.

 

[samiam5211]

CPD: Overview

Thanks.

It sounds like RFK has a decent shot at being on the debate stage next fall.

I can't believe that we might end up with our craziest election yet.

 

[Optimus Prime]

Independent presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr attended an anti-vaccine conference, saying that he felt as if he had “come home”.

Reiterating his commitment to the goals of the movement, the conspiracy theorist who recently dropped his bid for the Democratic nomination said he would order the National Institutes of Health to take a “break” from researching infectious diseases, such as Covid-19 and measles, according to NBC News.

He added that he would instead push the agency to study chronic diseases, such as diabetes and obesity. Mr Kennedy has claimed, without evidence, that both scientists and pharmaceutical companies are ignoring chronic conditions in the hunt for profits. He has argued that this effort includes pushing ineffective and dangerous treatments, and he claims that these include vaccines.

“I’m gonna say to NIH scientists, God bless you all,” Mr Kennedy said, NBC News reported. “Thank you for public service. We’re going to give infectious disease a break for about eight years.”

The conference was organised by the largest anti-vaccine group in the US – Children’s Health Defense. Mr Kennedy joined the group in 2015 and was its chairman and chief litigation counsel until April of this year when he left to pursue his run for president...............

RFK Jr pushes for ‘break’ in infectious diseases research

‘We’re going to give infectious disease a break for about eight years,’ independent presidential candidate says

www.the-independent.com

 

[MT15]

Does he think someone who has devoted their career and their education to studying infectious disease can just pivot to studying diabetes? He’s a complete idiot.

 

[Optimus Prime]

Gen Z has had enough of politics. Does RFK Jr have the answer?

Polls suggest Robert F Kennedy Jr is leading the race for the Gen Z vote in 2024, but claims of a youth movement towards the independent candidate appear elusive, Bevan Hurley writes

www.independent.co.uk

 

[faceman]

I take it as good news. Most of his support comes from conspiracy theorists. Those types
supported Trump in the last election. He won't be taken votes away from Biden.

 

[MT15]

I take it as good news. Most of his support comes from conspiracy theorists. Those types
supported Trump in the last election. He won't be taken votes away from Biden.

The last poll I saw said that when you add in RFK, Trump’s numbers went way down.

 

[Postingless]

I take it as good news. Most of his support comes from conspiracy theorists. Those types
supported Trump in the last election. He won't be taken votes away from Biden.

I think there is an actual possibility that he will steal votes from Biden as well. Read an article two or three days ago with the analytics of the recent poll which stated that he may easily take votes of older and more conservative Democrats.

 

[faceman]

I think there is an actual possibility that he will steal votes from Biden as well. Read an article two or three days ago with the analytics of the recent poll which stated that he may easily take votes of older and more conservative Democrats.

I'm sure he'll take a few,but he'll take far more from Trump.

Unvaccinated Adults are Now More Than Three Times as Likely to Lean Republican than Democratic | KFF

A new KFF COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor analysis finds that Republicans and Republican leaning independents, who represent 41% of adults, now make up 60% of the adult unvaccinated population across the country and that political partisanship is a stronger predictor of whether someone is vaccinated...

www.kff.org

 

[MT15]

I think there is an actual possibility that he will steal votes from Biden as well. Read an article two or three days ago with the analytics of the recent poll which stated that he may easily take votes of older and more conservative Democrats.

I am skeptical. Older democrats are very pro-vaccine, IIRC. They wouldn’t have any reason to support RFK, Jr.

 

[faceman]

I am skeptical. Older democrats are very pro-vaccine, IIRC. They wouldn’t have any reason to support RFK, Jr.

This is true. The article is dated,but still holds true.

For COVID-19 vaccinations, party affiliation matters more than race and ethnicity | Brookings

There's no reason to believe that these gaps in vaccination rates will disappear anytime soon.

www.brookings.edu

Of Americans surveyed from Sept. 13-22, 72% of adults 18 and older had been vaccinated, including 71% of white Americans, 70% of Black Americans, and 73% of Hispanics. Contrast these converging figures with disparities based on politics: 90% of Democrats had been vaccinated, compared with 68% of Independents and just 58% of Republicans.

 

[Postingless]

I am skeptical. Older democrats are very pro-vaccine, IIRC. They wouldn’t have any reason to support RFK, Jr.

Maybe but now he is saying that he isn't anti-vaccine despite all his previous misinformation speeches. I think many people will fall for that.

 

[Optimus Prime]

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is running for president as an independent, announced on Tuesday that he had filed paperwork to create his own political party in six states — an effort to get his name on the ballot with fewer voter signatures than would be required for an unaffiliated candidate.

Mr. Kennedy, an environmental lawyer turned anti-vaccine activist who has promoted conspiracy theories and right-wing misinformation, is seeking to form a “We the People” party in California, Delaware, Hawaii, Mississippi and North Carolina as well as a “Texas Independent Party.”

Election offices in North Carolina, Delaware and Hawaii confirmed that they had received the campaign’s applications for a new party, as did the Texas secretary of state’s office. Officials in California did not respond to inquiries, and an official in Mississippi said the office had not received a filing.

Mr. Kennedy’s campaign said that forming parties in those six states would reduce the number of signatures he needed to get on the ballot in all 50 states by 330,000 — about a third of the previous total.

In at least two of the states, however, he will need to persuade a minimum number of voters to register with the party in order to get ballot access: roughly 75,000 in California and roughly 770 in Delaware..............

MSN

 

[zztop]

So this happened during the superbowl




Meanwhile

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4459038-dnc-accuses-rfk-jr-campaign-super-pac-of-illegal-coordination/

The complaint, filed Friday with the Federal Election Commission (FEC), claims that the American Values 2024 super PAC’s practice of hiring signature-gathering vendors and assisting Kennedy in getting on the ballot in key battleground states constitutes a violation of federal election rules. The DNC cited Michigan and Illinois, which have guidelines set barring those outside of the campaign from gathering ballot signatures.

 

[Optimus Prime]

So this happened during the superbowl




Meanwhile

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4459038-dnc-accuses-rfk-jr-campaign-super-pac-of-illegal-coordination/

The complaint, filed Friday with the Federal Election Commission (FEC), claims that the American Values 2024 super PAC’s practice of hiring signature-gathering vendors and assisting Kennedy in getting on the ballot in key battleground states constitutes a violation of federal election rules. The DNC cited Michigan and Illinois, which have guidelines set barring those outside of the campaign from gathering ballot signatures.

…….Robert F. Kennedy Jr. apologized to members of his family, including directly to Bobby Shriver, for any pain that might have been caused, pointing out that the ad was created by a group with which he was not directly involved.

“I’m so sorry if the Super Bowl advertisement caused anyone in my family pain,” Kennedy wrote Sunday night. “

The ad was created and aired by the American Values super PAC without any involvement or approval from my campaign. FEC rules prohibit Super PACs from consulting with me or my staff. I love you all. God bless you.”

But as of Monday morning, a video of the adremained pinned to the top of Kennedy’s X profile, followed by a link to donate to his campaign…….

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/02/12/robert-f-kennedy-super-bowl-ad/

Some real doozies in the comments of this tweet

Some version of “it was the greatest commercial they had ever seen, you have nothing to apologize for, your family is embarrassed that you have the balls to go against the mainstream”

 

[Maxp]

I'd be shocked if that campaign ad resonated with anyone. The entire time it aired last night, I wondered if it was a joke.

 

[MT15]

…….Robert F. Kennedy Jr. apologized to members of his family, including directly to Bobby Shriver, for any pain that might have been caused, pointing out that the ad was created by a group with which he was not directly involved.

“I’m so sorry if the Super Bowl advertisement caused anyone in my family pain,” Kennedy wrote Sunday night. “

The ad was created and aired by the American Values super PAC without any involvement or approval from my campaign. FEC rules prohibit Super PACs from consulting with me or my staff. I love you all. God bless you.”

But as of Monday morning, a video of the adremained pinned to the top of Kennedy’s X profile, followed by a link to donate to his campaign…….

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/02/12/robert-f-kennedy-super-bowl-ad/

Some real doozies in the comments of this tweet

Some version of “it was the greatest commercial they had ever seen, you have nothing to apologize for, your family is embarrassed that you have the balls to go against the mainstream”

He claimed he didn’t know anything about it, but I read that he tweeted it at exactly the same moment it aired during the SB. He’s been a liar his entire life. And a Peice of work.

 

[zztop]

not sure if this was mentioned before

RFK Jr. is courting Black voters, a group he once targeted with vaccine disinformation

The independent presidential candidate produced a documentary-style film in 2021 that spread vaccine disinformation to the Black community.

www.nbcnews.com

In 2021, he produced a film called “Medical Racism: The New Apartheid” which used the real history of medical racism in the United States to peddle conspiracy theories that Covid vaccines were an effort to harm Black communities.

The documentary-style film features Kennedy, as well as Tony Muhammad, a minister of the Nation of Islam who has claimed that vaccines are “genetically modified” to harm Black children. Kevin Jenkins, CEO of the Urban Global Health Alliance, a New Jersey nonprofit group, who claimed that vaccine campaigns were a plot to “wipe out” Black people, is also in the film.

 

[Optimus Prime]

Inside the Million Dollar Theatre in downtown Los Angeles on Wednesday night, comedians cracked jokes about wokeness, the “scamdemic”, Joe Biden’s age and stumbles – and Robert F Kennedy Jr made his pitch, of sorts, to voters.

The 70-year-old, a member of the Kennedy political dynasty, with a long history of promoting conspiracy theories and vaccine skepticism, is running for president as an independent.

Recent polling from Quinnipiac projected that in a race involving Biden and Trump, Kennedy, who has pledged to “end the forever wars, clean up government [and] increase wealth for all”, could receive as much as 15% of the vote.

Kennedy has been campaigning across the country for months, and on Wednesday he was in his home turf of Los Angeles, where his wife Cheryl Hines, the Curb Your Enthusiasm star, hosted a fundraiser in the form of a comedy show. The event was open to anyone with $150 to spare and promised a “Night of Laughter” with stand-up from names such as Adam Carolla, Jeremy Piven and Rob Schneider – the one-time SNL star and now conservative influencer.

Kennedy has been campaigning across the country for months, and on Wednesday he was in his home turf of Los Angeles, where his wife Cheryl Hines, the Curb Your Enthusiasm star, hosted a fundraiser in the form of a comedy show. The event was open to anyone with $150 to spare and promised a “Night of Laughter” with stand-up from names such as Adam Carolla, Jeremy Piven and Rob Schneider – the one-time SNL star and now conservative influencer.


Hundreds of people lined up around the theater, eager to hear from Kennedy and excited about the possibility of a third-party candidate.

“This makes me think think he has a chance,” Burke Smith said as he pointed to the line. Smith, who drove up from San Diego, said he likes Donald Trump but would prefer Kennedy.

“We’ve been stuck in the two-party system for so long. He represents the embodiment of what the middle of the road is,” he said. “He speaks to the majority of the people.”………

For his part, Smith said he liked that Kennedy had done his own research on vaccines, unlike Trump or Biden. Still, he described himself as on the fence about how he would vote, but said he was hopeful that, with enough support, Kennedy could provide the change he believes the country badly needs.

Aside from brief remarks from Kennedy at the end of the evening and pleas from Hines to vote and to help him get on the ballot, the evening was entirely focused on comedy – often with plenty of culture-war zingers.

The crowd was younger than expected and included no shortage of designer shoes and $2,000 handbags. The front row featured familiar faces such as Dr Drew Pinsky and Drea de Matteo, both ardent supporters of Kennedy.…….

RFK Jr makes brief 2024 pitch beside culture-war comics at LA fundraiser

The independent candidate for president fronted a ‘night of laughter’ with Rob Schneider and others – were voters amused?

www.theguardian.com