A reader over at Andrew Sullivan’s blog sent in a response to one of his posts that so totally echoes my opinion, that I’m not going to bother with a “Me, too” post — I’m just going to quote it in full right here.
Sullivan had ended an earlier post (about the potential that Clinton could win the nomination) with the line: “the Democrats aren’t that stupid, are they?” To which a reader wrote:
“Yes, yes, we are.
In fact, we’re probably even more stupid than you can possibly imagine. After all, we’re too stupid to realize that when we worry that the Republicans say we’re weak, we are being weak; too stupid to realize that when you consent to an Attorney General who won’t say whether waterboarding is torture, you get an AG who says later that waterboarding is not torture if it’s done to the right people; too stupid to realize that people want us to confront Bush more, not less; too stupid to realize that Hillary voted for the war with Iraq and another possible war with Iran; too stupid to realize that the Clintons both supported limited torture until the polls said otherwise; too stupid to realize that the Clintons are totally unethical (and why? because Bill is so damned charming!); too stupid to recognize that Bill Clinton sold us all out (I’m sorry, but gays and lesbians were not the only ones to give hand over fist only to be disappointed); too stupid to realize that 50% of the country will never vote for Hillary; too stupid to realize that we’ve got our Reagan, the reincarnate of JFK, staring us in the face; and too stupid to realize that, for the first time that I can think of, the most liberal candidate is the one that is most acceptable to independents and Republicans.
We don’t deserve to win this election if we don’t nominate Obama. And you’ll see a lot of Democrats like me abandon the party if we don’t. Just watch. It’s hard to keep associating yourself with this kind of ineptitude.”
That’s exactly where I’m at — after years of meekly backing down, rolling over, not fighting for us, equivocating on the shredding of the constitution, on warrantless wiretapping and even on goddamn TORTURE…. If, after all that, the Democratic party is so fucking stupid as to reject a new and inspirational paradigm in favor of the same old shifty, triangulating approach to politics, pulling campaign tactics out of the Rove playbook, hoping for a 51% win…..
Well, then, if that’s the case, then they deserve to lose, and I’m done with ’em.
I don’t even understand why it’s even close — If a Republican had dismissed Obama’s win by saying “Jesse Jackson won South Carolina twice” and then pledged to grab delegates that don’t exist (after earlier pledging to honor the rules), we’d be screaming our heads off in anger. Just because they’re The Clintons doesn’t make it forgivable.
She voted for the war on Iraq. She compounded this by voting to declare Iran’s republican guard a “terrorist organization” — giving Bush another opening. She was in favor of “harsh interrogation” before the polls made it clear that the American public knows torture when they see it. Plus, she has refused to say whether she’ll roll back the power-grab of the executive branch.
And yet, she could still win this. Wake up, people.
If the past eight years are any indication, yes, the Democratic Party can be even stupider than that.
What we need is a real-life Bruno from the West Wing to say:
I’m tired of working for candidates who make me think that I should be embarrassed to believe what I believe, Sam! I’m tired of getting them elected! We all need some therapy, because somebody came along and said, “‘Liberal’ means soft on crime, soft on drugs, soft on Communism, soft on defense, and we’re gonna tax you back to the Stone Age because people shouldn’t have to go to work if they don’t want to!” And instead of saying, “Well, excuse me, you right-wing, reactionary, xenophobic, homophobic, anti-education, anti-choice, pro-gun, Leave It To Beaver trip back to the Fifties…!”, we cowered in the corner, and said, “Please. Don’t. Hurt. Me.” No more.
The West Wing, “Gone Quiet”
Amen, brother.
B.
Let’s imagine that Clinton and McCain get the nomination, and it turns out that the race is very close in November. Maybe Nader is even running, funded by some Republican Party sympathizers. Let’s also say that the House and Senate look likely to remain more or less as-is, maybe shifting a few seats towards the presidential winner’s party.
So here’s the question: Do you vote, and if so, for whom?
In that case? I vote for McCain.
For three reasons:
1) To punish the Democrats and send a clear message.
2) I’ve met McCain personally (when I worked for the Intrepid foundation in NY), and he impressed me.
3) He at least has some ideals I can agree with (his opposition to torture, for example).
Fair enough. (I meant to add that I was asking more to get a sense of dissatisfaction with Clinton, rather than to try to pin you down, but wasn’t able to edit after posting.)
For my part, while I certainly understand and respect your position, I think I’d vote for Clinton, on the basis that I’ll do just about anything to stop Republicans from holding the White House for four more years. I don’t personally subscribe to the Naderesque theory that
GoreClinton is no better thanBushMcCain, and am completely unconvinced at this point that the Democratic Party will hear, understand, and act on any message I send.If I’d met McCain, I may well feel differently, and I’ll have to see how I feel about their positions in a few months. (One of Salon’s blogs had an interesting post about McCain showing signs of economic populism, which makes me actually consider voting for him for the first time.)
Word.
CU
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/31/4-edwards-delegates-throw-support-to-obama/
And Moveon.org will announce shortly who they are supporting.
The very thing I thought of when I saw this post (both here and on Sullivan’s blog). Brilliant quote.
Oh goodness, let it not be Clinton.
More than 70% of the membership chose Obama. So, for the first time in its history, the organization that was founded to defend Clinton during the impeachment process is endorsing a presidential candidate, and mobilizing its membership to volunteer….and it’s NOT going to be for Hillary.
I love it!