Reply #24: That why I voted for Jackson in a primary

[Jack Rabbit]

I live in California, which has a later primary that is almost meaningless now. I often just use my vote as an "attaboy award" for doing things like talking about important issues that no one else does.

Still, I asked myself if Jackson would march us off a cliff being ideologically pure rather than do the ugly thing the situation demanded, I thought that he probably would.

In the summer of 1991, right after the Gulf War, President Bush (the real one, the one who actually won a national election) was riding high in the polls and it looked like the Democrats would simply give him a pass in 1992. A friend asked me who I thought the Democrats should nominate, and I said under those circumstances that Jesse Jackson would be the best. It wouldn't be a question whether he'd make a good president (the presumption being that Bush would be re-elected), but rather that he would use the campaign to articulate concerns that should not be just swept under the rug. Now, who does that better than Jesse Jackson?

As for 100% ideological purity, if that demanded that of a candidate, the only person I'd vote for is me.