For decades of me paying attention to national politics, I’ve been a great admirer of Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders:
I was never the biggest fan of Bill Clinton: His administration’s tack to the center was always harmful. It was certainly better than Bush or Dole, but it seemed at the time that he could do better. Still, there were people in the administration who pushed it to the left. Hillary Clinton was one of those people. The most important frame for me was her speech on the U.N. 4th World Conference on Women (video). And I think that, both the specifics and the fact that she — the First Lady — said it were important.
Also, her willingness to call out the bullshit thrown against her impressed me. Her use of the phrase “a vast right-wing conspiracy” was important at a time when so many liberals were unwilling to defend the administration from that sort of thing. When a lot of lefties pretended that Whitewater was probably a thing and just laughed when people said they were drug dealing murderers. It was important to be able to have a phrase that described what was going on. Given that these were people who drove a good friend of hers to suicide and then pretended that she’d murdered him, given that these were the same people who accused her of hanging crack vials on the White House Christmas tree, given that these were the people who impeached a president, it had to be called out, and it was the right wording.
All right, but rhetoric is one thing. Wasn’t she a conservative Democrat with her votes when she got to the Senate? No. (h/t) Certainly the Iraq war vote was bad. It wasn’t the only problem. But that’s typical of any Senator. She was a consistently liberal voice. One of the most liberal Democrats in the Senate.
But there’s a lot of room in this country to the left of a fairly liberal Democrat. And I’ve always admired Sanders’ voice as a socialist in the House and Senate. I’ve always admired that he has been able to make that push happen without being a vanity candidate or throwing seats to the Republicans. I’ve always admired that he wears his passion on his sleeve. And I’ve admired that, at least in Burlington, he has left a legacy after he left office, with Socialists still able to keep control after he was elected to Congress by running the town well.
So I’ve been neutral up to now. But the Washington caucuses are coming up this Saturday. You can get more info, including finding your location here. My plan is to go in as undecided, so I can keep thinking about it up to the last possible moment, as if knowing about both of them since the early 1990’s isn’t enough time. If there are enough votes for undecided to get a delegate, great! Otherwise, I’ll have to pick.
So feel free to use this as a discussion thread of your plans for caucusing. It’s this Saturday at 10:00 for Democrats, and at I can’t be bothered to look it up for Republicans.
Or if you want to try to convince an actual swing voter (me) for your candidate, go for it. For what it’s worth, negative stuff about fake Clinton scandals or nonsense like Sanders isn’t electable won’t help your cause at least with me.
Carl, the guiding principle here is, “The worst Democrat is still better than the best Republican.” And, odds are, we’ll be opposing the worst Republican in November. So you can’t go wrong with either Clinton or Sanders. But having been a delegate many times, I’ll say neither I nor others have much respect for undecideds. There comes a time when you’ve got to make up your mind and commit your vote to somebody. As for me, I can’t attend a caucus on Saturday, because unfortunately an important out-of-town meeting was scheduled in conflict with the caucus, and I missed the surrogate ballot deadline. I would’ve been a Sanders vote, but didn’t plan to run for a delegate position this time; I’m getting too old for that.
The polls are blowing away the argument that Sanders isn’t electable. He does better than Clinton against Trump. He also beats Kasich who beats Clinton in the latest polls.
The real question is whether Sanders could get any of his ideas through Congress. The answer is yes, if the same voters who elect him president throw the Republicans out of Congress. I can’t think of any reason why they wouldn’t. The real obstacle is going to be voter suppression. Unless millions of people are lying to the pollsters, a solid majority of the U.S. population hates the Congress we currently have, and despises the Republican Party. So keeping those people from voting is the GOP’s best hope of retaining some control of government.
#I’mWithHer for all the points you’ve made Carl, and I love the service Sanders has done and is doing to make the correct framing of electoral decisions.
But fundamentally my decision to support and caucus for Hilz comes down to her gender.
Clearly, Hillary is the most prepared candidate in the field, if not the most prepared ever. But think for a moment what that means with respect to her gender.
As a white male I’ve observed how easily opportunities have come my way. Now think about how hard it was for a 21 year old woman to earn those opportunities in 1958.
Look what she’s accomplished.
I want ALL the women in my life to see that opportunity for themselves. It is long, long past due.
I believe when the majority of the citizens in our nation (women!) have the opportunities men have always have we’ll all be better served.
The time is now. The lever is in our hands. I’m going to bend the arc of history towards justice one more notch forward.
And I’ll do so comfortable she’s ready to be a great President and hopeful she’ll use her political acumen to slay the Republican Frankenstein party along the way. Dog knows she’s got reasons.
#I’mWithHer because Hillary represents progress. No, she won’t bring a political revolution any more than Obama or Roosevelt did. But the odds are she’ll move the ball forward.
So, I urge all of us to caucus for Hillary and then work very, very, very hard for her election and the return of Democratic majorities in Congress (with Bernie chairing the committee of his choice!!) to bring the change we believe in and the nation we have earned.
PS. Nothing will say Fk you to Republicans better than Hillary Clinton becoming President; icing on the cake.
One more thing all.
Search your heart and ask yourself who the Notorious RBG will vote for.
If there’s a better more intelligent ressoning judge alive, I don’t know who that is.
Think about that when you caucus on Saturday.
And think about the influence Hillary had on the man who appointed her when making the decision to appoint her.
While the die may be cast before the election happens I’m hearing the faint sounds of drums. I’m not sure if any of the current candidates can keep us out of war or more fun in Iraq. If you think the United States has a role to bring democracy and peace in the middle east vote for Hillary. If you want a candidate that is going to try to keep us out of that ungodly mess then vote for Bernie. No President can keep us out of a war if Congress decides otherwise but the current crop of warhawks as upset as they are with President Obama don’t want to act on their convictions or they know they don’t have the votes.
Bernie stance on Isreal and Palestine is very close to the United States official stance. And he’s not going ot be gentle on the settlement issue.
On this subject Trump is a better candidate than Hillary. As he knows to get a deal the United States must be perceived as even handed and fair to both parties. It’s a pretty intractable issue when you get to the core of it and that is the status of Jeruselum, and are honest about the fact Isreal defeated the nations of Egypt, Jordan, Syria and others in occupying what was the territory of these other nations and not an independent state. The arab countries have done as much as Isreal in keeping the Palestinians poor and second class citizens in their nations.
If you want social security to be thrown under the bus then vote for Hilliary, but if you want Social Security vote for the candidate that is going to keep it solvent.
If you want a single payer system and the only way the government can keep costs down then Bernie is your guy. If your wealthy you can still have your own personal doctor.
I’m unsure I will be able to make it to the Democratic caucus as I don’t know where it is in Whatcom county and I do have to work.
@3 I base my support for Sanders, not on who deserves to be president or has earned the job, but who will do what I want done.
The presidency isn’t a trophy. Nor is it a job opportunity. It’s about policy choices and who represents the kind of country I want to live in.
@5,
I believe it’s 10:00 everywhere. You can find your location here. There’s a place to type in your name and zip and it’ll spit out your precinct.
http://www.wa-democrats.org/pa.....c-caucuses