Sunday, May 1, 2016
Blah blah
If this kind of self-righteous chest-puffery is what's required to get the votes, then so be it, but in the privacy of this anonymous and almost entirely unread blog, I will say that it's pathetic to hear these self-declared revolutionaries preen around the yard with their self-aggrandizing purity, all on behalf of a silly narcissist who found a pleasant sinecure at an early age and held onto it like a lazy professor with tenure, reading the same lecture notes for 40 years with no serious interest in listening to his students and no serious interest in how the world was changing around him.
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7 comments:
Almost entirely unread, but not entirely. :-)
I find myself half thankful that she hasn't had to run against an actual Democrat for the nomination, and apparently won't have a real Republican to oppose in the general, and half worried at how unseriously the candidates are covered and thus considered. But I guess it's been ever thus (cf. Adams-Jefferson).
Sanders was the kitsch candidate from day one -- the Burning Man generation's trippy dream to accomplish what the Woodstock generation couldn't with McCarthy/McGovern. In my more sanguine moments, I think it's good for the party to go through a nomination contest, if only for the free media and cutting a "coronation" sneer off at the knees. But the knee-jerk Clinton opposition from people who ought to be more suspicious of slander originating with Limbaugh, Drudge and Breitbart has been, well, astounding. My only hope is that by November, once the Cleveland vs. Philly dust has settled, Americans can see how making history is, as in 2008, also the better choice for the future.
Couldn't agree more -- and delighted to see you here! If you've dipped into earlier posts, you also saw that I am, on balance, happy that the Bern was felt (with no troops of horses involved). I'm glad the Overton window was pulled left, and I also believe that the overwhelming majority of these folks will vote in November. Maybe even Susan Saran Wrap.
The depth and persistence of misogyny is a real thing, but it won't, I believe, prevent this small step for humankind.
I hate to say it but I told you so ... :) I know and talk to a lot of Bernie supporters -- there is no way they are voting for Clinton. She will win, of course, but without them. And we will be left with one of two scenarios: 1) A long-lasting fissure in the Democratic party between the old left and the Clinton globalist/centrist view or 2) They will fade away (or take their ball and go home) and drop out of the party altogether. My money is on the latter ...
Well, I'm not ready to concede their votes yet, JP -- except the dead-enders, and my bet is that they'll amount to no more than 5% of his supporters. You're right that they're not NEEDED to win, but don't forget how bound and determined Trump is to lose. He will do his darnedest to get them to the polls to vote against him.
I sincerely hope you are right ... I still hold out hope that the core Bernie supporters will see the light but I can't even go near my Facebook page !
These folks will not go gently into that good convention. For example, see:
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/bernie-sanders-clinton-faces-contested-convention/story?id=38803835
JP! Hey!
Yeah, Facebook is a mire of misinformation, misogyny and misanthropy these days. (Probably no coincidence that *now* is when Republican legislators are proposing and passing trans-panic bathroom bills, just to keep gender identity front and center for their base.) Of your two options, I think the first is more likely, if only because it's already been that way since 1992. But like Falstaff, I'm less worried about the Democrats staying home out of anger -- half the people linked to in the right-hand column on the blogroll here initially said they'd stay home or vote Green 8 years ago out of similar pique, but probably didn't. Or did, but it didn't much matter.
But all those Bernie Bros who showed up to vote in the NY Democratic primary, only to learn they had to be registered Democrats to do so? (Doh!) Yeah, they might just opt to "wake, bake and flake" on Election Day. (Not to resort to caricature or anything...)
Still, the reason I'm only half thankful Hillary's having cartoon opposition is because I worry even more folks will stay home if they think she'll win in a walk. As it isn't a midterm, that prospect is at least somewhat less likely.
In the end, for me -- just as enough voters in 2008 finally made good on the promise implied in 1870 by the 15th Amendment -- my hope is as many or more in 2016 will ultimately be relieved to put 1920's 19th Amendment through its more-perfect-union paces, as well.
But if they don't and we, God-forbid, end up with a Trump, Cruz or even Rubio/Kasich administration, the 21st Amendment will get quite a workout over the next four years!
Derek ... ! Really glad our desire to read Falstaff's excellent analysis has brought us together here. Hope you have been well.
I think we are ll in agreement that HRC will be the next POTUS. My only worry at this point is in regard to the so called millennial generation -- it is not set in stone that they will be Democrats for Life. Everything I have been seeing is that they won't because they don't understand the value of engaging in what HRC defined as the system / process.
Even though there is a lot of work to do ... here is to 8 glorious years ... ! Are we feeling it?
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