ladym55
ladym55's JournalHILLARY CLINTON GROUP: Request for some man-splainin'
I need to ask some questions of the privileged white guys who are all such vocal, passionate, and unquestioning Bernie supporters. This 60-year-old white woman just isn't feeling the bern ... too many unanswered questions.
So, to Michael Moore, Thom Hartmann, Robert Reich, Matt Taibbi, Bill Press, and now Charlie Pierce, please explain some things to my simple female self since I'm obviously not smart like you all.
Bernie says he will break up the big banks. How exactly does he plan to do that? I've watched how limited Obama has been by Congress--he can't even get a common-sense background check bill through, even after 26 small children were slaughtered and the had the backing of 90% of the country. He has been blocked on immigration reform--heck, the yahoos in the Senate won't even give a moderate like Merrick Garland a hearing, much less a vote. So how will Bernie actually DO this?
Bernie says he will reverse Citizens United. That's lovely, but isn't that a Supreme Court decision? (refer to previous paragraph)
Bernie wants to replace the ACA with single-payer. Okey-dokey. Again, I watched the sausage making that went into the ACA and have been appalled at the votes over and over and over to repeal Obamacare. And Bernie will make this happen how?
I'm going to skip right over the free college education. At one point, Bernie dismissed a question on women's reproductive health--didn't think it was a central issue. I live in a state that has just defunded Planned Parenthood, has one of the WORST infant mortality rates in the nation, and is contemplating the appropriate way to inter fetal tissue. I guess I think the efforts to smash women's reproductive health care to shards are kind of important--right up there with the big banks, but meh, what would I know?
Bill Press has just written a book about Obama, Buyer's Remorse, because apparently Bill missed all the obstruction and racism President Obama faced in office. How will he feel when Bernie isn't able to wave wands to make HIS wishes come true?
And to Charlie Pierce, so GLAD you thought people throwing dollar bills at the woman campaigning for the highest office in the land was awesome. I thought it was sexist and degrading ... and silly.
Citizens United is real and as George Clooney says, we have to deal with it. Apparently you all and Bernie think that money won't be needed in the general, and that all those down-ticket races will be just peachy keen with a standard bearer who doesn't think he needs to help Democrats down ticket.
So, guys, how about it? Help the old lady out. I can't tell you how disappointed in you I am. I like you and respect you, but your current behavior may result in a Ted Cruz, John Kasich, or Paul Ryan in the White House and Rethuglican super majorities in Congress. That will be really ugly for those of use who AREN'T privileged white guys.
HILLARY CLINTON GROUP: WTF Truthout
Okay ... new email in my inbox from good ol' Truthout.
http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/35644-how-sanders-could-lay-the-foundation-for-a-third-us-political-party
I haven't read the piece -- not going to. I'm too freaked out by the headline. How we can bring about a THIRD PARTY under the leadership of the great and wonderful Oz--err--Bernie Sanders.
Seriously??? How freakin' stupid can we get? We have a third party of Bernie Bots, and we will be inaugurating Ted Cruz next January because we need the DOJ devoting all of its energy to harassing Planned Parenthood and our military carpet bombing the Middle East. 
HILLARY CLINTON GROUP: Reality Check
As I watch the Sanders campaign go completely off the rails, I get sad and frustrated. Just this morning as I caught up on two days of Reader Supported News, I learned that Hillary's free trade policies support money laundering in Panama, Hillary has supported EVERY WAR EVER, and Elizabeth Warren thinks Paul Krugman is an idiot. (Well, I'm rephrasing and exaggerating a bit, but the basic idea is there.) So once the smoke clears and the Bern finally figures out the math of the nomination, we are left with an entire group of progressive Democrats who have been fed non-stop rat poison by visible and vocal progressives: Thom Hartmann, John Nichols, Robert Reich, Randi Rhodes, Reader Supported News, Truthout .... you name it, if it's "progressive," it's a BERNIE outlet and a Hillary hater. There are some noted exceptions, and those are people I continue to respect, like John Fugelsang. He supports Bernie, but says over and over that we all need to support our nominee--no questions asked. But as Karl Rove smugly pointed out, the Rethugs just need to let the left destroy the Democratic Party, and it's doing a damned good job of it.
Bernie is an outlier--filled with ideas and posturings. I suspect he ran because he wanted to get some really progressive economic ideas in the discussion, but then things took off, and Bernie just plain wasn't ready and is not cut out for the spotlight. He is very good at putting forth legislation that goes absolutely nowhere so he can take a stand, but THAT is not governing. Governing is actually making things happen, which is why Hillary is so good and such a threat. She knows how to get things done. They may not be perfect, but they are a steps of improvement. Is the ACA perfect? No. But it is light years ahead of where we were. Wouldn't single payer be awesome? Yes. But it will take years and steps to get there. Last thing we need is a bunch of Bernie bros and babes sitting home and sulking in November (cuz their precious pumpkin progressive great minds told them that Hillary is JUST LIKE CRUZ AND TRUMP) so we end up with either the disaster of Trump or the disaster of Ted Cruz or even the disaster of Paul Ryan.
I am just sick and tired of the childish behavior I'm seeing from people I used to respect. Ideological purity works great for books, but not for governing. We all need to be thinking about how we get moving after the nomination and get Hillary elected AND all Dems in office, so she has a legislature that functions.
Our Johnny's presidential campaign is costing us big bucks
According to today's ProgressOhio newsletter, Ohio taxpayers have shelled out more than $500,000 in security for John Kasich's presidential campaign. One can only imagine the outrage if the governor with presidential ambition was a Democrat. Every local tee-vee "investigative team" reporter would be screeching nightly at taxpayers' money being wasted. But since it's their Johnny, they forget to cover the story.
Pretty much the rest of the nation would like the mailman's son to toddle back to Ohio to continue his efforts to screw up the state for the foreseeable future, but local Ohio media types keep spinning that Johnny will be the go-to guy in a contested convention.
Here's the story:
http://progressohio.org/april-9-15-2016/?akid=979.655902.iPGiyF&rd=1&t=1
Senator Portman still won't do his job
Our less-than-illustrious Senator Portman actually met with Merrick Garland this week and called him an "impressive guy," according to USA Today. However, that does not mean that ol' Rob has any intention of doing his elected duty to the people of the State of Ohio. He still wants the "people to decide" (on someone who isn't Barack Obama) before actually holding hearings and a vote. Why would ol' Rob want a functioning Supreme Court? It is far more important to service the talking Turtle of Kentucky, Mitch McConnell, than to have a federal government that represents the people and does the work of the people.
The details are here in this week's Progress Ohio newsletter: http://progressohio.org/april-9-15-2016/?akid=979.655902.iPGiyF&rd=1&t=1
The story includes a link for contacting ol' Rob to remind him of his Constitutional responsibilities, since they seem to have slipped his mind.
HRC GROUP Just changed my avatar
The Lorax is going on vacation until after the general. I've had it with all the nonsense. It's time for Hillary and Hillary in her "I'm really, really done with your stupid" look.
(HRC GROUP) I have issues with progressive voices right now ...
Let's see, on my current Twitter feed, Thom Hartmann is retweeting something that supports Bernie's lack of support for challenging gun manufacturers and the Sandy Hook parents (seriously Thom?), someone else is suggesting that Hillary supported legislation for Panama that should not have happened, and on and on. On RSN, I get my daily dose of Bernie GOOD, Hillary BAD, EVIL, CORRUPT. I've seen terms like "plutocrat" thrown around. I've read that the Black Congressional Caucus didn't actually endorse Hillary, it was their lobbyists. (I need to break that to my own representative, given she appeared with Hillary in Cleveland not long ago.) And I won't go into what Robert Reich, Michael Moore, John Nichols, and Randi Rhodes put out there.
HOW IS THIS HELPING??? So glad you like your candidate. However, why do you spend so much time bashing someone your followers will need to vote for in November (unless of course they like the idea of a flat tax or a wall between the US and Mexico and the end of the ACA)? This is senseless, childish, and flat-out useless. Why not instead show your love for the Bern by showing HOW his policies can be implemented? Stop with "he gets big crowds" and tell me how his legislative experience will translate into the populist ideas he is suggesting. Stop telling your followers that all Dems are corrupt and the system is corrupt (unless the Bern wins). Caucuses are bad (unless Bern wins), and any state that Bern wins is good and any state Hillary wins is useless. 
Karl Rove must be laughing his a$$ off as we do all the heavy lifting for the Klown Kar on the right.
Rob Portman thinks all Ohioans are idiots
We all know that our Senator, good ol' Rob Portman, is one of the Republicans refusing to hold hearings on the Supreme Court vacancy. I contacted him and told him fairly bluntly that he needed to do his job. I reminded him that the people decided in 2012 who got to nominate justices and that justices DO get nominated in election years.
So ol' Rob responded--
1--The people needed to decide. (Huh. Seems to me I told him already that I didn't buy that argument.)
2--No one ever, ever in the entire history of the US nominated a justice in the year of a presidential election. (Apparently we Ohio residents have never done a Google search on SCOTUS nominations.)
I guess he could tell me the truth: Rob is a GOP hack through and through, who takes his marching orders from Mitch McConnell and doesn't care one whit about the nation or the state he pretends to represent.
HILLARY CLINTON GROUP: Feelin' the burn
When the primaries started, I thought, "Interesting contest! Debates on issues!"
It is now March 31, and thanks to the amazingly obnoxious (and noxious) posturing of Bernie's supporters, I have gone from "Wow, we have two great candidates! I think Hillary is awesome, but I like Bernie, too" to "When is the old guy going back to Vermont?"
I have yet to hear from a Bernie supporter who can say more than one sentence in favor of his/her chosen candidate before the bashing of Hillary begins. She is a PLUTOCRAT! She is a CORPORATIST! She is mean, unethical, a liar. She is going to be indicted!!!! She hates puppies and kittens. (I made that last one up, but I expect I'll hear that next week.) I feel like I'm listening to right-wing radio hosts, not fellow progressive Democrats.
It is especially upsetting given the absolute loony tunes who are the potential Republican nominees. This country barely survived 8 years of GWB and Cheney, so we want their policies on steroids? Really? Antonin Scalia wasn't a lousy enough Supreme Court justice? You want three more like that so you will have NO rights left at all just so you can be ideologically pure in your support of Bernie? You want the social safety net turned into block grants? The ACA repealed? Just because as a Bernie supporter you think there is NO difference between Hillary and a Republican?
The Bernie campaign has taught me that going nasty and negative and spreading lies about the opponent is SO not the way to go in primary. It is counterproductive. I know it has really turned me off big time.
After a time away ...
Turns out I have been away from DU for more than a month--I just couldn't take all the absolute nonsense going on in all the general discussions. We need to be discussing issues that affect us and will affect the election. But enough on that. I'm back because I wanted to talk about how I am trying to deal with the Bernie Bots in my life.
I heard from someone today I like and respect, and she expressed amazement that my Senator, Sherrod Brown (a progressive!) could "sell out" and endorse Hillary. Say what? Sherrod Brown and his wife, Connie Schultz, supported Hillary both in 2008 and now. He is most definitely a progressive, and guess what, LOTS of progressives support Hillary. Many people I know and respect who are most definitely progressives support Hillary and are already working on her campaign.
What I tell all Bernie Bots is that we have two great candidates to choose from--and my goal is to support and work for the Democratic nominee this fall. And I remind them that the LAST thing we need Donald Trump (a vulgar talking yam--thanks for the description, Charlie Pierce) or flat-tax lovin' and carpet bombin' Ted Cruz.
I am very frustrated with progressives (especially those in media) not being reasonable and rational in their support of Bernie. I know some thoughtful Bernie supporters. They voted for Bernie, but know that we need the White House, the Senate, and the House. They have said publicly that they like Bernie, but they will support Hillary in the general. They know what's at stake. The progressives doing the work of Karl Rove? Well, they need to be ashamed of themselves.
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