The Primary Wars... Speaking strictly as a member of DU...

[rasputin1952]

FWIW...I too am tired of those who preach...what "is really happening", and it is indeed a little too much for me. I have no candidate at this time, no one, except Richardson and Kucinich have seriously talked about issues. Richardson is no longer running, and Kucinich, while having a possibility of becoming the nominee, in all reality will not be the D nominee.

As for the R's....really, they have absolutely nothing. I live in Nebraska, it is about as GOP as one can get, and if I had the market on crying towels, I'd never have to work again. I've never seen the R's quite literally, as despondent as they are right now. They counted on Rudy...no go; they counted on Thompson to be a Knight on a White Horse...he came in riding a gray hamster, and that died under him. Romney...say what one will, the R's will not elect a Mormon. Huckabee...his religious talk will get him crucified. They have nothing, no ideas, no platform, no sense. When I see the R's on stage, I can see a visual of sacrificial lambs.

I do not know who the D candidate will be, whomever it is, I will support them. I truly believe that unless the D candidate completely folds under pressure or something catastrophic happens, be it illness or death...we cannot lose. But we should be aware that we, by our lack of voting, or our aptitude to make the most petty of points into something that resembles Armageddon, we can easily toss this election to the R's.

There is never a perfect candidate. All we can do is choose one by what their records are, and how we perceive them as potential leaders. There will always be flaws, but we need not dwell on the superficial flaws one possesses, we need to see where strengths are, what will the best we can choose do to put this country back on track. And this is not just an election for president, it is an election that will need good D's in Congress...Men and women that will do what is right, not what is popular, or worse yet, things that are just plain stupid. The first congresscritter that brings up a call for a Constitutional amendment to ban flag burning, or a Constitutional definition of marriage, should be dragged out of the respective chamber and be given a shovel to clean out the DC PD horse stables.

So when we look at the election that is finally coming in November, we need to be a unified fighting force, determined to ensure that this nation be returned to the people, by the people. Even the R's will thank us for bringing this nation back to at least some semblance of sanity.

When all is said and done, it comes down to all of us to ensure that the bush "legacy" dies a quick, but painful death. We must show not just ourselves, but our children and the world, that this nation is a just and decent nation, a beacon of freedom and tolerance...and the likes of bush and his absurd and disastrous ways will never again darken the skies of the world.

Thank you all for allowing me my little rant.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

1. The Thing That Frosts Me About This Board Are The "Your Candidate Can't Win" Crowd

I can think of a "million reasons" why their candidate can't win but that would reveal what is worst about ourselves, not what is best about ourselves...

[libbygurl]

5. That really gets my goat-naysayers often blinded by their blind hatred of one or another candidate.

nt

[Why Syzygy]

7. Is that worse

than blind admiration?

[libbygurl]

14. I don't admire anyone blindly - in my case, I'm a pragmatist, a realist. I know the weaknesses ...

...of my candidate, but I also like her strengths. As rasputin put it, there's NO perfect candidate out there.

Blind admiration and blind hatred are equally to be avoided, methinks.

Talk of blind admiration applies more often to the Obama camp, so quit ragging on me so early on this beautiful Sunday mornin'.

;)

[rasputin1952]

15. I think there are undercurrents that are affecting HRC's

candidacy that are barely coming to the surface.

There is the female issue, but it goes deeper than that, it is a question if she is the right female to take office. I have no problem with a woman president, but those who would vote for her are foolish to the extreme. It is all about qualifications, some feel she is well qualified, and with that, I have no problem, it is their assessment. But voting for her simply because she is a woman, is not a very good idea. There is also the very real aspect of "dynasty", I find that deeply troubling, as do a lot of citizens. Some of us saw the "dynasty" situation w/bush, people all over this nation are regretting that now. ghw bush was bad, but his son, my God, absolutely, bar none, the worst thing that has ever happened to this country, an incredibly dismal failure, not just as president, but as a human being. The thought of further procreation of this clan is absolutely frightening.

Same thing goes w/the Obama supporters. I have no problem at all with a persons race, but that should have nothing to do with whether he is qualified to be president. Once again, it is all about qualifications.

What I have found disturbing is that so often, we on DU complain about R's being "single issue voters", and to a large extent, that is what they are. We should not be that way, we are not lockstep type people. By our very diversity, we have a great strength, we far too often, fail to use that strength to benefit the nation, we, like just about everyone else, are selfish on an individual level. We want what we hope we see, but that may not be the best for our nation, and may not be best for us as individuals.

I am not singling out your post, I found it a good vehicle to add on to what I posted above, you can vote for whomever you like, it is your vote, and I trust you will use it after analyzing what we can see of the candidates.

It is up to the candidates to come clean and begin serious discussions on issues that are meaningful to the nation...so far, IMO they have failed to do that.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

8. Because If You Say All The Reasons Their Candidate Can't Win It Would Get Very Ugly

And I have scrupulously avoided doing that against very strong impulses for the past six or seven months...

[zanne]

2. Thank you for your post. I think we all try, but....

The heat in GDP gets to us to we just start in. I'm sure that we'll all be voting for the Dem nominee in the general election. When the primaries are over, maybe we can start to come together again so we won't have to deal with another four years of Republican rule.

[Why Syzygy]

3. I guess

Rudy will stay in until Jeb gives him Florida's delegates.

Unlike others at DU, I cannot take an oath to support WHOMEVER is nominated by the Democratic Party.
Not yet. Maybe never. My heart won't let me. Honestly, I cannot fathom voting for HRC for President.
That puts me in a big line of fire here, but even my silence on the matter has started to feel dishonest.

edit: I'm still within DU's rules because I do support Democratic candidates for political office.
Just not that particular Democrat for that particular office.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

Put A Fork In Rudi

He's done...

Still my favorite cliche...

[Why Syzygy]

6. The only thing

I can figure is he's getting Florida due to the criminal connection with the Bushes.

[rasputin1952]

12. Thing that gets me about Clinton is the whole ...

bush, Clinton, bush Clinton scenario. That is something that has a visceral effect on me, but I still remain objective about her candidacy.

Clinton is an intelligent and accomplished woman, but, and this is just my opinion, I don't think she is presidential material. I fail to see the requisite leadership skills. I want substance, I don't care about gender, i don't care about race, i don't care about religion...I care about leadership abilities, and who can bring this nation back on track. So far, i just don't see much else but posturing from all of our candidates. I am hoping that someone will rise to the occasion and start discussing how they can lead, and why the deserve my vote.

[libbygurl]

4. So well put, rasputin1952!

I especially agree with this, which few people even consider:

There is never a perfect candidate. All we can do is choose one by what their records are, and how we perceive them as potential leaders. There will always be flaws, but we need not dwell on the superficial flaws one possesses, we need to see where strengths are, what will the best we can choose do to put this country back on track. And this is not just an election for president, it is an election that will need good D's in Congress...Men and women that will do what is right, not what is popular, or worse yet, things that are just plain stupid. The first congresscritter that brings up a call for a Constitutional amendment to ban flag burning, or a Constitutional definition of marriage, should be dragged out of the respective chamber and be given a shovel to clean out the DC PD horse stables.

Perfection and purity are well and good, but one must live in the REAL world these days! No such thing as a perfect candidate! How difficult is that for some to perceive?

Thank you for an honest and realistic assessment of the elections today. Good morning to ya!

[rasputin1952]

13. And Good Morning to you as well...

:D

[sufrommich]

9. Great rant and spot on! k&r.nt

Edited for typo.Too early.

[cboy4]

10. Oh rasputin1952, I wish to offer my very deepest

condolences that Ben Nelson is one of your senators.

He puts the "D" in DINO, and is just a horrible individual.

You poor thing.

[rasputin1952]

11. Then again, Hagel has shown some spunk going up against

bush and some of the neo-con agenda...:)

it can be surprising around here occasionally.

As for Nelson, I worked on his re-election campaign, and while he has made some, (from my point of view), incredibly bad decisions, he also has made some darn good ones. no one is perfect, and Ben is far from it, to be sure, but the alternative at the time was an R out of the neo-con mold.To be honest, I though Nelson would be far more into the D side of things than he is currently, and I have written and talked to him personally about several things. He is one of the few that actually are active in their respective states, especially here in my area of the state. Most just forget about us once they get to DC. I have to hand it to Nelson, as far as our Vet's Home is concerned, it had stalled, and he pushed it through a few years back. The vets got a pretty good facility, and were moved from deteriorating buildings that were built in the 1920's. There are other things that he has done, but I have to say, i am disappointed in quite a few areas.

Now if you want a real piece of work, we have Fortenberry(R) for the 1st District, we'd be better off with a box of hammers...:D

[rasputin1952]

16. Well...looks like Thompson finally got off that hamster...

Indications are that Thompson is ready to toss his hat out of the ring, and return to the Black Lagoon.

In what I suspect is an almost complete rejection of neo-con and ultra conservatism, it appears that Huckabee, Romney and McCain are going to be the 3 that hold out as long as they can...which should not be very long.

Like I said in the OP, this election is going to go completely Dem, unless we refuse to show up at the polls, or there is some catastrophe. I have never thought that the citizens of this nation were stupid, they can be led astray w/empty promises from time to time, but we always seem to come back to a point of stability and move forward from there.

So here we go...it's getting to the wire, and Super-Tuesday will show us who our candidate most likely will be. I urge everyone to demand that issues take the forefront of discussion. Enough with the biting and slashing attacks...let's get the best candidate, we can by forcing them to address issues!

It doesn't hurt to leave DU for 10 minutes to e-mail all of the candidates websites and demand them to tell us what they would do to help this nation return to a place where we can all be proud.

The ball is in our court...w/Thompson most likely hitting the bricks, it shows that we are having an impact...we, the people, are finally speaking out and rejecting the GOP fear mongering techniques. Now, we need to know just what our D's are offering, and none of the slipshod Boilerplate answers...we need to know what they plan, if we are to make educated choices.

Let's all get to work...:patriot:

edited:typo...:blush:

[gdaerin]

17. If it is HRC I will help to toss it to the R's

You can't bully me!