May 4, 2016

Look at all those Indiana voters so relieved that Bernie didn't drop out

The money donated to the Sanders campaign and the money spent in Indiana gave those voters a voice.

Those screaming that it's a waste (or even fraud) and that Sanders should give up, why don't you want people in these remaining states to vote?

May 4, 2016

Three kinds of voters

Default, Pro, and Anti.

Default: People who just blindly vote for the party. They often don't even know much about the candidates (e.g., https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvin_Greene) they vote for. Beyond casting a vote they don't participate in the election. The bulk of party-line voters. They're the reason most candidates pander and give wishy-washy bullshit answers. Putting out actual information might encourage some of these people to join the other groups, potentially tipping the balance.

Pro: People voting for their candidate. These people are very motivated and tend to participate--donations, rallies, canvassing, etc.

Anti: People voting against some other candidate. Motivated, but through different methods. Protests of opposing candidates and attacks on supporters. Maybe some shitposting on the internet. But they don't do much in direct support of their vote-dump of a candidate.

Sanders' big rallies are a sign of "pro" voters. The endless posts bashing Hillary are a sign of "anti" voters. I think a lot of the angst around here comes down to some anti-republican voters who back Clinton think pro-Sanders voters are simply stupid for not seeing things their way. Supporting Sanders now is equated with failure to oppose Trump. Failure to oppose Trump is then equated with support for Trump and all the bad things he might do. So they scream and scream in a vain attempt at forcing all of us to see it their way. Screaming right back resolves nothing, of course.

I'm a pro-Sanders voter, not anti-whoever. So I still think it's reasonable for Sanders to stay in the race so we get a shot at changing the party platform even if he gets numerically eliminated. After the convention, if Hillary is the nominee (which I agree is likely), I'll vote against Trump.

But goddamnit, between Clinton's shitty policy explanations, her accusing all of us of becoming democrats too recently, and DWS outright saying we don't belong, I'm leaning strongly towards leaving that president field blank in protest--let the puritans fend for themselves. And no, condescension from our resident peanut gallery and threatening me with "President Trump" won't fix it.

May 3, 2016

Y'all like math, right?

Aging party + Exclusion of youth and new members =/= Election victory

DWS is a goddamned fool.

May 2, 2016

In response to DWS's new mouthful of foot

If independents are expected to stay the hell out during the primary, what are we expected to do in the general?

May 2, 2016

Contested vs. Brokered Convention

Contested -- no candidate is over the magic number of pledged delegates before the convention.

Brokered -- contested convention that isn't resolved by the first vote and delegates can then trade.

Supers don't change a contested convention since the 'contested' bit comes before they can vote. But they can prevent a brokered convention.

I did my best to make sure this is correct--lots and lots of bogus info out there. Corrections are appreciated.

May 2, 2016

Civil Rights. Yea or nay?

I'm with Sanders on this. Capehart's an asshole.

May 2, 2016

Deporting children. Yea or nay?

I agree with Bernie. They're kids, not messages.

May 2, 2016

War. Yea or nay?

I'm with Bernie. This interventionist and proxy war bullshit is insane.

April 30, 2016

So what's Hillary's plan to get around congressional obstructionism?

Sanders plan is to get voters engaged so that they'll pressure congress and start replacing the corrupt ones (damn near all of them). He has already demonstrated how to run an insurgent campaign without big donors, so I can see the merit to that plan clearly.

So, what's Clinton's plan? Serious question, because all I'v heard so far are claims of "I get things done."

April 23, 2016

Bernie has made the party better (obviously against their own will)

Jump to 9:10.

?t=9m10s

This is a good explanation of why I originally supported Bernie and still do. I really hope he sticks to his guns and goes all the way to the convention. It would be nice if he won, and I'm still hoping he does, but even if he doesn't it's not as if coming in at 40%+ is the exact same thing as coming in at 0% like some around here describe it.

The movement is real and ignoring it would be a stupid move for the dems.