bobquasit | That goddamned Hillary

My letter to Salon.

Subject: She'll NEVER get my vote...

...and I'm as staunch a Democrat as they come. Her constant triangulation - supporting the war, banning flag burning, joining Lieberman in his hypocritical moral crusades - betray a fundamental contempt for the intelligence of the American voter. Does she think we don't notice that she has no core principles of her own, other than "more power for Hillary"?

And yet, ironically, those contemptible, calculated attempts to appeal to the broadest portion of the electorate only demonstrate her own lack of intelligence. How can she not realize that nearly two decades of demonization by the right and the media have rendered her utterly unelectable to the majority of voters in the heartland? And that her nomination would only motivate those who follow the religious right into never-before-seen levels of turnout, launching an avalanche of Republican votes at all levels of the ballot?

Either she doesn't know, in which case she's stupid...or she doesn't care, in which case she's arrogant and stupid. In either case, I'll cast my vote for a write-in or third party candidate before I'd vote for her. That way, when she loses and the Democrats lose the House and Senate, I'll at least have the meager pleasure of (once again) being able to say "I told you so".

(Not to mention that she has already broken her oath of office as a Senator by failing to try to filibuster the abolition of habeas corpus. Of course, EVERY Senator is guilty of the same thing, including the Republicans.)

I'll admit that if I lived in a state where my vote actually mattered, I'd be more troubled by the idea of not voting for Hillary if she won the nomination. But fortunately (?), I live in a state that's so blue that my vote on the Presidential level is absolutely meaningless.

I'll never vote for a Republican, but I've written in candidates before and I'll do it again if I must. Yes, it's throwing my vote away...but it would have been wasted anyway. At least this way I'll be taking a stand that I can be proud of. And maybe, maybe the Democratic Party "leadership" - if that's the correct word for them - will get the message.

But I sincerely hope that Ms. Clinton tanks in the primaries, so I won't have to make that choice.