The Debater's Diary

In the last post we looked at how senators have been the running mate of choice for Democratic  presidential nominees. Given Biden’s commitment to pick a woman as his VP nominee, women senators have the best shot in veep-stakes. Here is an assessment of the top VP prospects from the current crop of women senators: 1. Kamala Harris- adds racial diversity to the ticket and it might make Biden look like a bigger person for choosing someone who tried to eviscerate him in the debates. California is a deep blue state so her election as VP won’t put her Senate seat at any risk.   Joe Biden owes a great deal to the timely endorsements from black leaders such as Jim Clyburn. Clyburn and the others have expressed a preference for a person of color as the vice presidential nominee and this could tip the scale in her favour. 2. Amy Klobuchar-is a moderate like Biden and her policy positions are in sync with Biden’s. This might allow for a better working relationship. Her mid-west

In the last presidential primary debate, Joe Biden stunned everyone by announcing that his running mate will be a woman. It’s unprecedented for a leading candidate to bind themselves with such a commitment on the choice of running mate. Ted Cruz did announce a running mate, Carly Fiorina, during the Republican primary in 2016 but that was more of a Hail Mary pass. Suburban and black women were key to Democratic party's success in 2018 mid-terms and Biden will hope to strengthen his appeal to this vital constituency. It's interesting that every single VP candidate on the Democrat side going all the way to 1984 has been a sitting US senator. Tim Kaine (2016), Joe Biden (2008&2012), Selina Meyer (2012), John Edwards (2004), Joe Lieberman (2000), Al Gore (1992 &1996) and Lloyd Bentsen (1988) were all senators. In fact the last non-senator to be on a presidential election ticket was also the first woman to ever be on a presidential ticket; Geraldine Ferraro who was W

The conservative wing of the Republican Party had a simple goal - they would rather control the party, even if it was out of power, than have the party come to power under moderate Republicans. Anyone who wasn't conservative enough on every single issue was put on notice and Republicans who made common cause with Democrats even on common sense issues faced primary challenges from conservative opponents. Richard Lugar, former Republican senator from Indiana, was a ranking member of the powerful senate foreign relations committee and a six term senator. He was primaried for having worked on bipartisan legislations with Obama. His rival, Richard Murdock won the primary but lost the general election but these losses did little to deter the conservatives and they doubled down. This strategy eventually paid off. Conservatives have a stranglehold over the party and bipartisanship is dead with no place for moderates in the party. The moderate wing was decimated with moderates eith

Was Nidhi Razdan Was Wrong In Her Handling Of Sambit Patra? - Prasun Kumar Bhaiya & Aashay Sahay - An otherwise dull Thursday evening was punctuated by an on-air standoff between the NDTV anchor Nidhi Razdan and the BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra. During a panel discussion on the cattle slaughter ban, Sambit accused NDTV of having an agenda against him and his party. Nidhi reacted by demanding that Sambit either apologise or leave the show. An altercation ensued wherein charges of bias and impropriety were traded. Nidhi Razdan’s handling of the issue has rec eived widespread praise since. FirstPost celebrated the fact that she didn’t resort to screaming or shouting the way Arnab did in a similar situation, and various public personalities celebrated her bravery, restraint and professionalism . Here are the leading arguments in her support, and why we believe she was in the wrong: 1. SHE TOOK A STAND AGAINST A DISRUPTIVE PANELIST! “Would it be okay for Donald Trump or Nare

The Bihar Assembly Election of 2015 was a shot in the arm for the Indian liberal. As Nitish Kumar took a barb-wired stick to BJP's plans of consolidating India under the saffron flag, the ideological opponents of Hindutva felt the foundation of the dam to harness the right wing surge had been laid. Riding this zeal past the reversal in Assam, the liberal gained hope from BJP's declining prospects in the run up to the UP assembly election. News channel polls across 2016, saw BJP cede its leading position to first BSP, and then to SP - as it pulled off a change in narrative through the dumpster fire of infighting and the subsequent rise of Akhilesh from its ashes. The alliance forged with Congress further buffeted hopes, with the 'Khiladi-Anadi' duo of Akhilesh and Rahul lit up the campaign trail. Whatever happened in the remaining 4 states, UP was the Holy Grail and the springboard to the 2019 General Election. As the results unfolded on the 11th of March, ja

If your thoughts aren't conflicting, you're doing it wrong. From the recent US Presidential Elections, across Europe to back home in India, people are getting increasingly polarised. Positions are becoming ever more absolute and the common ground is fast disappearing. This break down is ironic in an age where advancements in science and technology have expanded the common grounds like never before. Political and societal discourse has never been accessible to so many people and amenities like health, education and transportation are reaching ever more people through revolutionary disruption. Yet the progressives and intellectual elite across borders with conviction their commitment to the bottom tier of society continue to entrench themselves into their bubbles, condescending upon the middle income masses which are increasingly turning right. On the other hand, the expanding wing of right leaning populations are willing to barter away the accountability of thei