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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

You, Sir, are a complete idiot!

Gosh. How could I hope to argue with such pellucid logic?

I feel the same way (and I missed your journal. I hope you don't find me fickle).

I'm just glad to have you back! :D

Do you think Obama can take the primary from her?

There is something a little absurd about a freshman Senator with few real accomplishments running for President. The last sitting Senator to win the Presidency was JFK, and he'd been in the House before he was a Senator; the only other sitting Senator to win the Presidency was Warren G. Harding. This suggests that Obama has rather an uphill battle against, well, everybody. Hmm, but now that I think of it, the failure of Senators to win works against Senator Clinton, go figure.

Also, by the lines of previous history applied to election logic, a woman or a black person has never even won a primary, so...

Well, yeah. :)

Honestly, my principle objections to them are the lack of experience or accomplishments, and the whole rallying effect Hillary would have on the GOP and the Right Wing. To be sure, there is a percentage of the populace who won't vote for a black person and a certain percentage that won't vote for a woman, but most of those folk probably won't vote for any Democrat.

Still, it's pretty darned early in the race. My guess is that both Clinton and Obama will end up flaming out, with the nomination going to somebody else. Most interesting would be Al Gore coming in late when everybody else burns out or fails to ignite at all. Gore would probably win if he were the Democratic candidate.

I am looking at other Democrats, such as Christopher Dodd, who no one has heard of, and maybe some governors will come out of the woodwords.

I've heard of Dodd; I even met him when I was a kid, because I grew up in Connecticut. He's not bad at all, but I fear that the charisma thing may do him in with the media.

I'm a bit suspicious of Obama; not so much because of the youth/inexperience thing, but because he's taken a number of stands now (on coal, and ethanol subsidies) which make me suspect that he's pretty much for sale, like so many others. I've had far too much of that sort of politician.

I understand that compromise is necessary, but there are times when compromise is a short road to suicide, and global warming is NOT something to fuck with.

I'm not as anti-Hillary as you, but I am inclined to think that she's the one Democrat running at present who would actually lose to the currently running Republicans. The 2008 election is the Democrats to lose; the Republicans aren't showing much sign of getting their act together and the trends favor the Democrats, but Hillary will rally the GOP base and she just has too much going against her. Just about any other Democrat would do better, but Hillary has name recognition and connections.

Of course I'd rather we had a Parliamentary system with a Prime Minister at this point, but that would require time travel, massive persuasive abilities, and maybe a Sonic Screwdriver. :)

Aka... a new constitutional convention ;)

Yeah, I don't plan on voting for her, either.

I was so hoping she would be smart enough not to run in 2008. I thought there was a chance of that, but I guess I was wrong.

Kiralee

That goddamned Hillary

Hillary Clinton

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Regarding parliamentary reform.

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