I can't stand the phrase "I held my nose to vote for the Democrat"

[trumad]

I've seen it a lot over the years here at DU... I held my nose to vote for Kerry---I held my nose to vote for Gore...etc.

As opposed to what? Voting for a candidate who doesn't have a chance in hell in the Presidential election and helping the republican party?

There shouldn't be any nose pinching when it comes to pulling the lever for the purpose of eliminating Republican scum.

[Virginia Dare]

1. Do you think it's possible to love every Democratic

candidate you vote for? :shrug: I've used that term before. I think the point that they're making is that even though they didn't necessarily fully embrace that candidate, they were the one that was representing the Democratic Party, so they voted for them anyway, because the alternative was worse. What's your beef?

[billyskank]

2. So people should enjoy voting for a candidate they'd rather not?

:wtf:

[blm]

3. It's usually said by someone who hasn't contributed to this nation's REAL

history in a positive way by even 1% as much as Gore OR Kerry have during their years of service.

They had to hold their nose to vote for the lawmaker who has investigated and exposed more government corruption than any lawmaker in modern history? Gee - what must they think about all those with FAR LESSER records of accomplishment? Or do they prefer the hot talkers over those who actually did the heavy, often dangerous, lifting?

[personman]

22. Propping up the establishment is indeed heavy, dangerous lifting.

But I certainly disagree that it's "a positive contribution to this nation's history" (paraphrased).

You know who could make a positive contribution to our nation's history? A positive contribution to civil liberties, poverty, polution...

We all could, if 90% of this nation's wealth wasn't resting in the hands of the upper 2%, including Kerry and Gore. Instead though, we get together here and talk about it in the hopes that, burdened with the weight of their capital-engorged guilt, they will throw down a few "freedom crumbs" for the starving masses to consume while licking their oppressor's expensive designer boots between cries of thank yous.

Probably noone wants to hear that though.

[blm]

24. Sorry, but the congressional record and National security Archives prove

your claim is not true.


You and I did not investigate or expose IranContra, the illegal wars in Central America, BCCI, CIA drugrunning or write a book about the growing threat of global terrorism, or spend 10 years helping to craft the Kyoto Protocol, like Kerry did, AGAINST the priorities of the establishment.

You and I did not facilitate the creation of the internet, like Gore did.

[personman]

26. They have done many greater positive things then I...

and they've done many greater negative things as well.
Who is to say what the sum of that is or who measures up?

[blm]

27. You made the claim that Kerry propped up the establishment even as the

record is quite clear that he has oppoesed the establishment more over the last 35 years than just about anyone in modern history.

And I even forgot to mention the legislation he submitted in 1997 for the public-financing of campaigns, another move against the corporate establishment.

[zonmoy]

29. so why hasn't the corporate establishment been weakened at all

rather than having it so powerful that our elections should be considered suspect.

[blm]

31. Because there are a few willing to cover up for BushInc who make it harder

on the many good Democrats who have fought to expose the truth.

There would have BEEN NO 9-11 or Iraq war, and no Bush would have ever been allowed NEAR the WH ever again, if Clinton had allowed the books to be opened on IranContra, BCCI and Iraqgate when he took office. And he actively worked to mute the CIA drugrunning revelation.

Clinton let Bush1 and Greenspan talk him out of it - that worked out well for this country and the world, didn't it?

[zonmoy]

28. why should nobody want to hear the truth.

[LisaM]

4. It's a very snobbish term

I almost said "snotty", but, well, you know!

I don't like the term either and thanks for bringing it up. I think that we can now all agree that Gore would have made a fantastic President, I thought he was a good candidate, and oh, yeah, he WON. And I didn't have to hold my nose to vote for him either.

[bryant69]

5. Plus it's probably not true

I mean if you were holding your nose while filling out one of those optical scan ballots it would be going all over the place. You need both hands to fill it out - one hand to use the pencil and one hand to hold the paper. And the hole punch is the same way - one hand to move the ballot up and down and the other to pull the lever - if you don't hold the ballot still it might slip and you'd end up voting for Snoopy. I guess if you were voting with a touch screen machine you could hold your nose and vote.

Interesting, that.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[MessiahRp]

7. LOL

Rp

[greguganus]

32. New fund raiser! Selling clothes pins at the polls! n/t

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

6. Obviously, your olfactory system is less sensitive than some.

The last time I didn't have to hold my nose at all, was in 1972.

“I never submitted the whole system of my opinions to the creed of any party of men whatever, in religion, in philosophy, in politics or in anything else, where I was capable of thinking for myself. Such an addiction is the last degradation of a free and moral agent. If I could not go to Heaven but with a party, I would not go there at all.” - Thomas Jefferson

[Lindacooks]

21. Really? You had to hold your nose to vote for Carter in 1976

and 1980?

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

23. Yes. I was a Jerry Brown supporter.

I was tempted to vote for Gene McCarthy, but held my nose and voted for Carter.

[CatWoman]

8. unfortunately, Tru, that's exactly where I have found myself

following Cynthia McKinney's defeat.

[trumad]

20. Well ya got a point there Cat....

but where's the fricking OJ pic?

[CatWoman]

30. it was too serious for an OJ pic

however, you know I'll do anything to get a smile from you :hi:

[Strawman]

9. Don't worry about things you can't control

like other people's sentiments that they're perfectly entitled to articulate. I might have to take a bite out of a shit sandwich from time to time to avoid a worse outcome, but I don't have to say it tastes great with a big ol' grin on my face. I didn't have to hold my nose to vote for Kerry or Gore, but I can think of some Dems that I would have had to.

[acmejack]

10. As opposed to voting for the man I wanted to see win the Primary.

Obviously the person I wanted to win doesn't every single time & while I'll support the party nominee, unlike some in, er, that used to belong to this Party, if my person fails to prevail in the primary, obviously the winner is not my first choice. Perhaps the winner isn't even my second or third choice. While I may be eliminating your Republican scum I may be forced to vote for a DLC scum which leaves very little to choose from.

Just fwiw...

[damntexdem]

11. I love that phrase -- it's so much better than ...

"I voted for the Republican."

And I will keep using the phrase, here, and in reality.

[wryter2000]

17. I hate voting for anyone who voted for IWR

They can't convince me they didn't know exactly what Bush was going to do. I could see it from where I sit in CA. To a large extent, they went along with it because to vote against it was politically unpopular at the time. (Let's not forget Donahue lost his popular show for opposing the war.)

But I voted for Kerry. I'll vote for Feinstein this year, too. I'm sorry if the phrase I use may upset you, but I'm with damntexdem. It's a lot better than saying "I voted for the Republican." It's also better than saying "I'm so ideologically pure I voted for Nader."

[Generator]

12. Yeah I know

They suffered so much blackening in that little oval next to the horrid Democrat's name. If you don't want to vote for the dude, DON'T. It's that simple. But I've never felt that way I've loved all the Dems I've voted for. (Oh and I could only vote for Clinton once-I cried the first time he won-but by 1996 I saw the Republican hand writing on the wall- he was selling us out and it hasn't stopped since then)

Surprisingly my favorite president is the one I was just too young to vote for, Carter. Whatever that makes me, a real Dem, a far left Dem, a traitor Dem (for voting for Nader in 1996) I loved voting for Gore and Kerry and Dukais and Clinton the first time.

[porphyrian]

13. I'll try to explain it.

It comes from being given the choice of "evils" rather than one you would like. It is merely a way of expressing dissatisfaction at having to chose someone you wouldn't otherwise simply because the remaining options are worse (unless some are using it to piss you off because you hate it). It's a frustrating situation to feel that you are being asked which shit sandwich you would like to bite, and the cliched term you can't stand is a nicer way of putting it. I think I've even said it before (sorry). Look, they/we are voting, and for the Democrat, so they/we have a right to complain if we aren't happy about their/our choices.

[Malidictus Maximus]

14. Well, it's not like

some of the candidates the Democratic Party has run are great, it's just that they are better than psychotic warmongering oligarchs. Just because I believe in basic decencies like universal health care, staying the fuck out of how other countries run themselves and dislike ecocide doesn't mean that I am required to not consider most *ALL* politicians untrustworthy until proven otherwise. Maybe being a product of Watergate rather than Camelot makes for inherent, innate and reflexive cynicism regarding anyone who wants power.

FWIW I think the official platform of the Democratic party is way off on many things of importance to me (If you had seen a perfectly viable small business destroyed to pay the 'Estate Tax' throwing people out of work, as happened to the family of my oldest friend) but we are rapidly approaching the point of empire in the form of corporate oligarchy and the rendering inhabitable of the earth if something is not done to break the power of the radical right. I might hate the gun grabbers of the Brady Bunch nearly as much as I hate the minions of Halliburton but I can at least hide my guns, there is no hiding from the 'patriot' act, the snooping of the NSA, the crunch of the jackboots trampling on the last vestiges of our freedoms.

[Nickster]

15. I believe it was our last elected President who said that you fall in love

with your guy during the primaries and then you fall in line with the party during the General. You don't have to love him, but you pull the trigger anyways because you know it's what's best. I believe when you hear people saying they "held their nose" they are just trying to articulate the same message, they voted for the candidate that they didn't fall in love with. They could say it in a nicer way, but I don't necessarily feel mad at them for saying it.

[derby378]

16. Exactly - just ask any pro-gun Democrat

Do you think they were thrilled when John Kerry associated semi-automatic rifles with terrorists from the Middle East? Of course not. But they voted Democratic because they knew that the total package that Kerry offered to America was a much better deal than anything Bush could promise.

And those pro-gun Democrats who voted for Bush because they were single-issue voters? We're working on them however we can. Our party is the party of the big tent, and we need everyone on board in order to make America safe for democracy again.

[undeterred]

18. I've heard socialists say that

and I appreciate the vote but I wish they'd get real. We have a two party system. If everyone who wastes their energy supporting 3rd party candidiates would get behind the Dems and work to make the party stronger, we could pull the party to the left.

I voted for John Kerry and prayed that he would win. He is a dignified, intelligent, capable man who would have made a much better president than anyone we've had in my lifetime. He did win, we just neglected to anticipate how evil the other party is.

[personman]

19. If I can't hold my nose I can't vote.

I feel I'm of the majority (I think) who realize all our politicians are a bunch of lying, cheating, scumbags, but of the minority who follows that through to the next logical conclusion; none of them should be leading us. :shrug:

I think any reasonable person is going to disagree with at least some of their politicians on some things, and understandably that could cause some hesitance. Seeing as the democrats even disagree among themselves on some issues, it's impossible to agree with all of them and ridiculous to try. If you can vote for someone you disagree with,(on anything really), without holding your nose, what does that say about how much you value your vote? (This is a rhetorical question, and not intended as an insult.)

[Malidictus Maximus]

34. Good points,

and it's a slippery slope. IMHO It's *NOT* a rhetorical question at all; it's a question that we need to ask ourselves as Americans. Often.

On both the left and the right.

I don't think there is a person who has devoted serious thought to politics who has not pondered that same conundrum: where do you draw the line between ideological purity and electibility?.

I mean the ONLY way you are going to get an elected official who agrees with you 100% is to fucking *RUN* (and win)!

Over on the Right it's the anti-abortionists who are hoist on that petard more than any other group; quite split between saying "fuck no" to anyone who doesn't think that every fertilized (or potentially fertilized) ovum deserves a name and has a guardian angle verses the pragmatists who figure any inbred bigot is better than letting a Democrat win even if said inbred fuck is not "pro life" enough (however a given wing nut chooses to define 'enough').

I have had to answer that question WRT being a progressive who is more towards the Libertarian side than the Socialist side; that is, to paraphrase Crowley -smoke what I will, consensually fuck whom I will and concealed carry what I will- while having come to the realization that there are functions of government needed in this modern age to take care of the needy, aged and infirm- to say nothing of saving the planet from ecocide- that are not allowed for in libertarian dogma. I'm not the only one in my family or amongst my friends that supports both the NRA and the ACLU.

[Pastiche423]

25. O-kay, just for you

I will no longer hold my pretty little nose to vote. Which means, I will not vote for someone I don't like, or feel they would not be good for our country.

Besides, my nose is still smarting from my 2004 vote.

Ah, freedom from nose pinching is a good thing.

[lonestarnot]

33. They can hold any fucking thing they want so long as they vote dem!

[LWolf]

35. As opposed to:

voting for a candidate I think would truly represent me, and what I stand for, but who doesn't appear on the ballot because the party nominates "not as bad as" instead of "the best."

As opposed to not voting at all.