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In reply to the discussion: Ralph Nader: 'Cowering' Democrats face defeat [View all]MADem
(135,425 posts)You haven't met every activist in the country, either.
Most of the people I met who were Nader enthusiasts were the usual suspects--always complaining, always touting Third Party candidates, always intruding into Democratic fundraisers to gripe and complain, despite never handing over a dime or a vote. Fuck 'em. They don't deserve my attention or my time. I'll spend time with the little old ladies who vote reliably for Democrats, I'll drive them to the polls and the hairdresser and the grocery store--that's a far better use of my time than listening to some vote suppressing whiner who will not help my candidate.
Look, your glass is plainly half empty, and you're working hard to knock it over so you will surely die of thirst. I think that's your wish. That is how you're coming off. That's fine--knock yourself out.
My glass is more than half full. I like being a Democrat and I have no problem supporting the Obama - Biden ticket. If you think they suck, then go work for someone with no chance of winning, if it makes you happy. I'm not going to play Frank Luntz to the Undecideds, begging and pleading. Screw it. You do what you gotta do.
What you call "the base" is not the base. I keep saying that, you keep ignoring it. The base is the people who vote reliably -- not the very vocal people who stomp their feet and run off to meaningless third parties to "make a point" and "teach 'em a lesson." Those people are whiners, they are not the base--they are the FRINGE.
I guess the old Lead, Follow, or Get the Hell Out of the Way applies, here. Find a candidate you like and work to put them in office. Then find another, and another. Live your values instead of griping at people because they don't think the way you do.
Or stay on the fringe and call it the base--I'm too busy trying to help Dems get or stay in office. That, to me, is a good use of my time.