In point of fact, they’re correct. Nobody was entitled to those votes. It was Hillary’s job to win them. She blew it.
I say this as someone who didn’t vote in my primary because I was happy with either candidate. In retrospect, I’m sorry I bought into the idea that Hillary was more electable. I should have demanded more from her to prove it. Ultimately, she lost because she didn’t do enough to reach out to the Bernie bros and others. That’s on her.
Jesus Effing Christ on a popsicle stick, I am fucking tired of you and yours pathetic attempts at blaming Hillary for the travesty that is the current administration.
Bill Maher announces an Ass-kisser of the Month Award. Several months old but funny enough for a re-look.
EVERY SINGLE AMERICAN VOTER OWES THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA THE VOTE THAT WILL UNAMBIGUOUSLY PREVENT THE WORST POSSIBLE CANDIDATE FROM WINNING THE PRESIDENCY.
If that results in them giving their votes to a less-than-perfect Hillary who “didn’t do enough to earn” them, that’s just too fucking bad. They’ll get over that a lot quicker than the country will get over a POTUS who hates America enough to put her on the path to becoming a third-world client state of USSR 2.0.
I’m not necessarily directing this at you, but this is a fundamentally flawed view of democracy’s underlying value. A vote is not just a prize for the candidate; it’s one piece in a collective statement from the entire electorate about which person between the two candidates remaining is more qualified to lead, and in some cases, it’s absolutely about keeping the wrong person out of power, even if the alternative is someone who is mediocre or even not a particularly appealing candidate in a vacuum.
Keep in mind that democracy is not guaranteed; there is nothing beyond a piece of paper sitting in the Archives that says Americans are guaranteed the right to vote. Nothing at all. Democracy requires ongoing maintenance, and increasingly, it is clear that fewer and fewer Americans understand that basic truth.
Jumping off the soapbox and going back to this for a bit, this move is a classic authoritarian tactic, which serves several purposes. Transparency and having accurate, objective, impartial information is what a democracy requires to allow ordinary people to support or oppose policies, to make good, informed decision. Democracy requires some understanding of and agreement on what the truth is. Truth is the enemy of an authoritarian, and truth is what authoritarians try to destroy, because their goal is to become the source of truth themselves. If nobody knows what the truth really is, whether it’s science or economic data, then that gives them an advantage. Ordinary people stop trusting the public institutions that can check his power. The congress is enabling this of course, operating under the assumption that they can, when necessary, stop him. The truth, however, is that they’re also destroying trust in congress, which means that they won’t be able to stop him when they realize what kind of monster they’ve created. There’s still some time to stop this madness, but time is short - possibly quite short.
Yeah. I know. The only thing that mattered last election was getting a Democrat in office. But the way to get a Democrat in office is for the Democratic candidate to convince people that she’s the better candidate.
Yes, in fact, the candidates do have to earn votes. It’s appalling to me that this is a controversial statement. I guess that’s why Democrats are bad at politics. We act like it’s enough to just be right.
You’re right. Donald Trump is a disaster and the Republicans are destroying our country. You’re right, that should be enough to win elections. It isn’t, because lots of people are morons who vote against their own interest. We knew that before 2016. The candidate can’t just march up and say, “The other guy’s a disaster. You know I’m right.” You can’t scold people into voting for you. (Well, you can, but you can’t scold all the people all the time.)
It’s the Democratic candidate’s fault for not winning enough votes. And it’s also her fault for not motivating better turnout in the key Rust Belt states. That’s the job: win enough votes in the right states to get 270 votes in the Electoral College. We’re in this mess because Hillary failed at her job.
If she wants the Bernie Bro vote, then she needs to win them over. That’s politics. If she failed to win them over, that’s on her.
I agree with this partly, but it’s also the fault of fragmented and partisan channels of receiving, which we’re now realizing in retrospect were highly corrupted by outside influences. I accept and agree with the conclusion that Hillary Clinton could have campaigned more intelligently, but it’s also quite likely that she would have won had she not been subjected to a smear campaign with few precedents, if any.
I also blame the apolitical tendencies of the American voter, who for years has grown accustomed to the idea that democratic participation is something you can outsource, and that it’s something that they don’t have time for until election day. And many apparently - almost half the country - doesn’t have time for it even then. I blame Alex Jones, Roger Stone, and Russian bots for peddling fake news, but let’s face reality: the astounding ignorance of the average American in some ways makes our electorate fertile ground for October and November surprises. There was no logical reason for Hillary Clinton to lose to a buffoon like Donald Trump, just as there was no reason for nearly half the electorate to vote for Roy Moore. That outcome is only possible when the American voter is corrupted. Only when we can be brutally honest with ourselves about our own role in this mess will this change.
The interview should have ended with…
“Mr. Madison, what you’ve just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.”
So am I, damn it.
And this. Too many people voted for Trump, just to say “fuck you” to all the rest of us.
No doubt he thinks it’s a vanity piece.
A list of seven words you can never say. Now Trump thinks he’s George Carlin?
I think (seriously) that it was Omarosa’s job to bring Trump negative press, to get him fired up for the day and to know which enemies he should spew at. So maybe it fell through the cracks this week.
Despite how utterly useless she was in any capacity, and how loathed she was by virtually everyone she’s ever known or met, I do so hope she becomes an infected thorn in the orange jackass hide when she spews her [del]venom[/del] story.
Arent y’all the same people who were losing there shit over Republicans who were willing to overlook the flaws of their candidate to ensure that a Democrat didn’t get that Senate seat?
<goes to dictionary to look up “hypocrisy”>
As an average American. . . welcome to the club you astoundingly ignorant asshole!
mc
You are horribly wrong here. A politician’s job is not winning elections, it’s taking care of the country and the people. What use is a politician who just aims winning elections, like trump who started planning his re-election campaign even before his inauguration day.
Like somebody here said election victory is not the finish line, it’s the starting point. The JOB comes after the victory, not before it.
Finally, an admission.
Emphasis added.
That should be “their.” Ignorance fought!
Yes, thank you. The fact that I got it right later on in that same sentence was surely an accident. . .what would I ever have done without you?
mc
When you start name-calling, you’ve got to be ready to take your lumps.
You’re about to find out.