2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumThe Democratic Party is losing people left and right..
About a month ago, I was talking to some Hillary supporters on my route about the whole Hillary vs. Bernie situation, and they couldn't have been more even-tempered about it. They were able to see many sides, and didn't think either candidate was the devil or a saint. Today, I saw the same group of people sitting out on their lawns and talked to them for a few minutes about their thoughts at this time. Not only did they switch to Bernie, they said that if Bernie loses the nomination and runs as an independent, they will still vote for him rather than Hillary as the Dem. I asked them why, and they basically felt like the Party was abandoning the very concept of Democracy with how they were treating Bernie and his supporters, and how they were "clearly" (their words) in the bag for Hillary. The whole race has disgusted them, and they were disgusted that Hillary would remain silent when so many primaries were having so many issues. They started out loving her, and now they weren't even sure if they would ever give money or canvas for the Democratic Party in a presidential election again. I am fascinated by this whole thing and the reactions people are having.
YouDig
(2,280 posts)Hortensis
(58,785 posts)everyone they know hates Hillary, and everyone THEY know hates Hillary. Oh, forgot -- and they all LOOOVE Bernie.
Recursion
(56,582 posts)hellofromreddit
(1,182 posts)Recursion
(56,582 posts)saltpoint
(50,986 posts)for itself this fall.
Hillary Clinton has a good lead in delegates. Sanders has sustained the support of his loyal following. There have been a few dust-ups between the two camps, but they pale compared to the skull-cracking lobotomy going on on the GOP side.
The Pukes began with 17 truly abominable candidates and the one left standing is arguably the worst of the 17, although they were all so wretchedly bad that deciding which one was worst could go long into the night, almost certainly ending with a knife fight. Phone home, Ben Carson.
The Republicans are far more split than the Democrats. The Republicans have a crappy ticket, no matter who Trump asks the delegates to throw onto it. The Republican Party has spent decades now alienating very significant swaths of the voting population and pissing in their own tub. Now they find no clean water and a monster has arisen in their midst, dripping slime with every step he'll take across that convention floor in Cleveland.
I think we win the White House, regain the Senate, and reduce the GOP House majority very considerably.
The Republicans lighted their own house on fire. Fundies and idiots and car thieves and more fundies poured gasoline on the blaze and behold, they're trapped in the attic.
I think this fall is going to have a distinctly blue tint.
MisterP
(23,730 posts)69 Reps, 913 state seats
one Oval Office is NOTHING to her
saltpoint
(50,986 posts)decide DWS's fate, she's on the next bus to Florida.
The DNC needs new blood, new energy.
MrMickeysMom
(20,453 posts)I was trying to explain to one DUer...
What is the logic behind the change in party for MANY Democrats residing in the "closed primary states" over the last 15 to 20 years? I can tell you that these voters (CLOSE TO HALF OF THE ELECTORATE) have moved away from the Democratic party. And, it doesn't just happen by accident. Unless you are one of those true believers who think that the Democrats previously elected kept on giving their electorate love, you will see that their movement OUT of our party happened with reason. Coupled with gerrymandering to help the Republicans, they left because they saw (and still see) that the party left us. They now have lessened the chance of inclusion unless the state allows them to. They STILL hold the long-forgotten Democratic party's values. THEY HAVE NO PLACE, unless they change parties just to have a primary vote. Depending on where they are, they can. And, when they do, they do it because they see a candidate WHO NEVER FORGOT THOSE VALUES.
Your problem is one of over-simplicity when no longer looking at people who are fed up with corporately owned members of our party. You pretend they don't exist. They do.
The rules of governance aren't supposed to change to serve Bernie Sanders. They're supposed to serve US. Too bad you can't remove the filter and see it.
TheKentuckian
(25,035 posts)without risking the unwashed mucking up the will of the rulers.