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2016 Postmortem

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VulgarPoet

(2,872 posts)
Fri Aug 5, 2016, 12:52 PM Aug 2016

An apology. [View all]

This probably... Will wind up unseen by a much larger contingent than the first time I posted this. And yeah, I accept and own up to that. I've gone straight down to the bone trying to collate and wrap up and prettify all of the reasons I couldn't countenance the idea of pulling the lever for Clinton if it came down to it; and to be fair, I deserve my amount of flak for it. And looking back at old messages between myself and someone I used to viciously butt heads with, looking back at the people I'd considered allies only to have been MASSIVELY wrong after seeing the kind of things they'd post without direct DU oversight, I know exactly what's spurring this.

Trump is a bloody nightmare. I was willing to flay skin and muscle from bone to fight the primaries down to the very last second-- and then I had to start paying attention to Trump. A less qualified man has never been fielded in politics before; and as much as I get abrasive, as much as I get out and out hostile with people, I can't countenance letting him get into office. It was re-reading a candid talk with a poster who has once again been FFR'd-- altogether sure he'll come back and keep doing his thing regardless-- that brought me back to this topic, and another poster that said "I might have wanted to wait till after the convention to post this thread".

He was right. My timing was off, and I took that to believe the people I'd considered ideological enemies were more willing to dig a trench and shoot us in front of it rather than work across any kind of aisle that wasn't filled with concertina wire. I'll freely admit, my hostility, my abrasiveness, it drove me to a point of mania. Because no, I couldn't believe in Clinton, not until rereading old messages with people that I still have respect for.

"But, even still, our history as Black people in this nation has taught us that the "government", though imperfect, has been our guardians, from protecting the Freedman during Reconstruction, to integration and anti-discrimination enforcement."


"Though imperfect". In all the time I'd spent angry, absolutely incensed by both the numbers of Hillary's supporters who couldn't restrain being smarmy and condescending; and Bernie's supporters who stamped their feet, hurled blatantly sexist invective, and really comported themselves no better than the outrageously offensive fundamentalists I've spent years deriding where the other site's concerned, those two words never occurred to me. Wouldn't have occurred to me. "Though imperfect". That has a lot to do with how I was raised, but that doesn't matter right now; what matters is that we're not going to be able to get perfect. Would it be nice? You bet your ass. But we have have to make do at the end of the day.

So far, both sides have looked nasty at one point or another. I'm certain that for every insufferable Clinton supporter, there's an absolutely infuriating Sanders supporter, and vice versa. And I'm even more certain that a vast number here would call me an absolutely infuriating Sanders supporter. You'd have been right. I was a jackass. But once again, I find myself coming back to that poster's words; albeit mangled through my own language: it's about survival, dumbasses. Survive to be dealt into the next hand, and hope to bluff our way to the pot.

I don't think the election will be as simple as the pools will paint it. Sure, Trump is in single percentage point odds right now; but I don't think it'll be that easy. As such... I'd like to wholeheartedly apologize for the things I've said up till now, and the misinformation that I'd believed in that propped up a flawed image of our candidate. Let's get down to business, and get these recalcitrant fucktrumpets out of office already.
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An apology. [View all] VulgarPoet Aug 2016 OP
Someone utterly unqualified, but who knows they are utterly unqualified, would be much better than stevenleser Aug 2016 #1
It's like watching a frat party beginning to go wrong. VulgarPoet Aug 2016 #3
Dunning-Kruger effect ehrnst Aug 2016 #17
Proud to K and R Happyhippychick Aug 2016 #2
K & R Kaleva Aug 2016 #4
K & R emulatorloo Aug 2016 #5
totally agree retrowire Aug 2016 #6
Adding another K&R NastyRiffraff Aug 2016 #7
I was raised to own up to my assholery. VulgarPoet Aug 2016 #9
This... JSup Aug 2016 #8
Normally I would enthusiastically K and R this, but we had another of these Squinch Aug 2016 #10
"Don't make perfect the enemy of the good" realmirage Aug 2016 #11
You had me at "recalcitrant fucktrumpets." Starry Messenger Aug 2016 #12
We will work together Loki Aug 2016 #13
primaries are always hideously ugly around here. geek tragedy Aug 2016 #14
Well done! sofa king Aug 2016 #15
K&R There is more that unites us than separates us. Demsrule86 Aug 2016 #16
Meta! Iggo Aug 2016 #18
Cool. The primaries are over and we all have to get behind Clinton now. PatrickforO Aug 2016 #19
KQQL.... Historic NY Aug 2016 #20
Thank you for re-thinking your positions. We all need to move on together to defeat the real enemy. pnwmom Aug 2016 #21
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