My opinion is that the assumption that it was Hillary’s turn has been going on for a long time - since before 2008, even. I think there has been subtle and not so subtle pressure on Democrats to not even think about opposing her for a long time. I know I made fun of the Republican clown car but I think a lot of Democrats in Hillarys peer group avoided any sort career move that might give the impression that they would even think of opposing her.
Bernie was a contrarian at the end of his career, there wasn’t much the Clintons could do to them. And I guess it’s almost a tradition for the VP to at least think about running, which is why Biden had to make a show about thinking about it.
But Harry Reid, Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi and Jerry Brown - just to name a few qualified Dems off the top of my head- never even THOUGHT about opposing her.
I think the theory was that she would stand a better chance in the general if she was unbloodied by a hard primary fight but that backfired.
While I laughed at the clown car I also wished there was more competition on my side.
So, if I don’t adhere to some pre-approved liberal orthodoxy, that puts me on the same side as Trump? I’m not even a Cato institute libertarian, I’m with Trump?
Is this one of those “if your not with us (on everything), you’re against us” sort of situations?
I think what drives Republicans into the burn-the-state-burn-the-press-burn-the-educated/elites-burn-the-poor/ethnics-toss-all-procedural-norms-out-the-window-and-welcome-the-coming-doomsday/chaos/anarchy party is the constant delusion that Democrats act/campaign in similar ways. This delusion is dangerous. There is no both-sides-are-wrong equivalency in your country.
One half of your country voted for political arsonists who hate their fellow Americans so much they want to burn down the state. The other side is the Democratic party.
But Clinton got more votes than Dole. And more than Perot. So he won the Electoral college–but also led in the Popular vote.
Trump is the guy who is millions behind in the popular vote, despite winning the Electoral college. I’ll be glad to shut up about this–when Your Guy Trump does.
Obama and Clinton won the popular vote twice each. The screwy system ratified the wins that they’d have gotten if our Presidential election was decided by popular vote.
The National Popular Vote compact has been discussed on these boards numerous times. I’m all for it, and have said so, assuming it doesn’t get shot down on Constitutional grounds.
I have also repeatedly lamented the fact that Bush’s EC win over Gore in 2000, while losing the popular vote, made the Electoral College sacrosanct with most Republicans, including pretty much all Republicans elected to Congress.
At any rate, the point of my earlier post wasn’t to make the case for popular vote v. the EC, but just to point out that there’s a difference between ‘the outcome of our screwy system’ and ‘what Americans support.’
But McCain lost respect (from me, for one) for choosing Palin. Plus he seemed to pander too much to the extreme part of the GOP. We liked the straight shooter who would go on programs like The Daily Show and make sense and say reasonable things.
I like McCain better in 2000 than in 2008 but even in 2008, he made efforts to shut down birthers and racists within his party. I voted for Obama but I was turned off by a lot of the apocalyptic language coming from the left if McCain got elected.
So you think McCain and Romney are political arsonists that hate their fellow Americans so much they want to burn down the state? And you say this in the same post where you imply that Republicans campaign irresponsibly while the Democrats do not?
But you’re right, Republicans engage in the same sort of hyperbolic vilianization.