Mad_Machine76
Mad_Machine76's Journal
Any Sanders supporter seriously thinking about voting for Trump
is seriously lost IMHO. I agree that we not only need a robust 50-state strategy but we also need a "no uncontested elections" strategy. Republicans are simply walking away with too many elections because Democrats or other third parties don't put up a candidate. We need to make Republicans fight for every vote, if nothing else.
Things would not have changed drastically under Bernie
Unless we are getting a massive Democratic wave that would give us a filibuster-proof majority in Congress along with him, which most rational people are not, unfortunately. If you can't see the value in at least having Hillary in the WH over Trump or Cruz, then I don't know what to say. We need to keep GOTV for Democrats and progressives at the local, state, and federal levels in every election until we start stemming the red tide and build real momentum for progressive change. Sitting around and complaining that there is not enough change or that it's not happening fast enough isn't going to help anybody anywhere anyhow.
When the GOP is in control
When Democrats are partially in control, they have to work hard at "holding the line" on preventing GOP policies from being enacted and/or keep the GOP from undermining/rolling back progressive gains (or just keeping government minimally functional). If there is a way that Democrats in Congress are going to get Mitch McConnell or Paul Ryan to support a more progressive agenda (or at least stop being jerks and trying to actually govern responsibly), I'd like to see the strategy because, short of working to get Democrats/progressives elected at supermajority levels in Congress and keeping the WH in Democratic hands- effectively neutering Republican opposition- I don't see how Democrats/progressives are going to be able to aggressively implement a drastically more progressive agenda in a short amount of time. IMHO we need to replicate- and then, more importantly, maintain- the kind of successes we saw in 2008.
IKR?
I guess that, by using that logic, by not voting for Hillary, Sanders and his supporters are de-legitimizing her and her supporters? Is that how this works?
Clinton has been winning/is expected to win
all of the big state primaries. Bernie has certainly racked up some good wins recently, albeit in smaller state caucuses, which has barely moved the needle in his direction. The nomination is essentially out of Bernie's reach at this point. If he wants to take it to the convention and fight for concessions or something, that's his choice but the majority of Democratic voters seem to prefer Hillary. Once the convention is over, left-leaning independents will HAVE to choose between (likely) Hillary and Donald Trump/Ted Cruz/John Kasich and there is no way in this reality or beyond to convince me or anybody else that a Hillary Presidency will be the same as (or worse than) a radical Republican Presidency lead by the aforementioned GOPers- even though it may not be everything that Bernie supporters think that it should be. I should also remind people that sitting at home and/or voting for Nader and helping enable Bush to win in 2000 didn't help us move the ball down further down the field on progressive issues for eight long years and refusing to vote for Hillary in the GE (if she is the nominee) will only help make it easier for Republicans to take the Presidency and hold Congress, giving us another 4-8 years of radical Republican policies, SCOTUS appointments, and foreign policy disasters and embarrassments, not to mention ZERO movement on progressive policy goals.
Waiting for the Republican "alternative" to ACA
is like Waiting for Godot. It ain't ever coming. Given that the ACA is already a fairly conservative program (which isn't to say that it isn't helpful- which is *really* what the Republicans are upset about), it seems like it is basically impossible for Republicans to come up with a viable plan that is further to the right- short of repealing it all together. They can spin their wheels on this as much as they want. Even if not everybody loves and adores it, most people have accepted ACA as the "new normal" and Republicans *should* move on and deal with it but we know that they probably won't, though, unless they get a trifecta and win the Presidency and keep Congress, there is no way that ACA will be replaced OR repealed. Our job now is to help ensure that it is preserved and enhanced.
How is the party imploding?
Most of the party seems to be unifying around Hillary (and will further unify once Bernie calls it quits).
So
the real reason that they think that other people would do something like this is because they would do it too? What does that tell us about what goes on in their minds? Idiotic statements like this also further prove that they have absolutely no f*****g clue what it really means to be Transgender.
Ok
People threw Republicans out en masse in 2008 and delivered us a Democratic President and Congress for 2 years and then left the door wide open for Republicans to foist the Tea Party whackadoodles on us and we've been dealing with them ever since. It's not even clear that Bernie, if elected, is going to have even 2 years of a Democratic Congress to advance his goals, let alone even get them looked at. Then what? What are people suddenly going to do now that they haven't (but should have) been doing for the last 5 years of Obama's Presidency?
Profile Information
Name: Mara Alis ButlerGender: Female
Hometown: Indianapolis, Indiana
Home country: USA
Current location: Indianapolis, Indiana
Member since: Sat Feb 28, 2004, 01:13 AM
Number of posts: 24,402
