Speaking as an undecided Dem in the race for the nomination...

[theHandpuppet]

What comes off as the ganging up on Hillary Clinton here is having the opposite effect some of you probably intended. Clinton was probably among my least favorites for the nom, but when it has come to the point that I can't come to GD without seeing at least five or six Hillary-bashing threads on the front page it really makes me wonder just exactly who's running scared here. The Hillary bash-fest comes across like an organized effort to undercut the Democratic frontrunner, like her or not. And there comes a point where the piling on really sours this voter. Just something for y'all to consider if you can lower the flamethrowers for a few minutes. If you want to promote your candidate, then tell me what he or she stands for and why you feel they're best suited for the job. But simply bashing Hillary Clinton into the ground over and over is turning me off big time -- it even smacks of more than a hint of misogyny.

I'm very willing to listen to why some of you support the candidates that you do. If I can get past the cacophony of Hillary bashing here, I might even hear you.

[jpgray]

1. People here in -general- would do well to be less insulting and dismissive in making their case

Because being an asshole about your disagreements with other people will only be convincing or respectable to those who agree with you already.

[babylonsister]

2. Are you ignoring all the other bashing threads that demean

other candidates by Clinton supporters? I have seen quite a bit of both.

[theHandpuppet]

4. Hmmm. Let's see...

Let's count the number of Hillary-bashing threads on the front page of GD, then count the same number for Obama, Edwards, Kucinich, Richardson, etc. I can do the math.

If some folks out there don't want to listen to what I'm saying as an undecided voter who's not yet campaigning for anyone, then by all means carry on as usual. If you want to tell me I'm not seeing what I'm most definitely seeing here, then again, carry on as usual. Just know that the bash fests are not having their desired effect -- just the opposite, in fact.

[babylonsister]

5. Well, for the record, I'm undecided, too, though I do have

strong opinions on who I don't want representing me. I have decided to bypass any and all threads critical of anyone beyond posting articles of interest I might find, because I have found myself 'taking the bait' in my frustration, and have decided it's just not worth it.
But I am here often enough to see both sides of this coin.
Good luck with any decision you come to.

[Dawgs]

8. You do realize that she is the frount-runner?

[theHandpuppet]

11. I believe I said as much in my original post.

For some reason I never thought being the Democratic frontrunner was akin to be the Republican nominee.

[MethuenProgressive]

3. Thank you for your thoughtful post.

Prepare to be flamed.

[Ninga]

6. I have found it useful to check in with the candidate forums. Give it a try. Regarding your

take on "bashing".....most of which I read as being passionate advocates. For time to time, the posts can get ugly, and no candidate has been spared....so having said that, I support John Edwards because I have watched him during this process and have a belief that he has the strength, and experience to actually change the paradigm in DC and foster change.

I encourage you to watch the next debate, on Tuesday October 30th.

[Dawgs]

7. What about the bashing of other candidates by Hillary supporters?

I'm sorry. I'm not buying that you are undecided. I've seen way too many of these posts to trust their content. Obama has been called "stupid", "moronic", "naive", and "dumb", yet you claim the "attacks" are only against Hillary. Dennis Kucinich has been called "ineffective", "an elf", and "irrelevant", yet you infer that she gets "bashed" and the others don't. Edwards is told that his campaign is floundering so bad that he should just quit.

I'm not buying it. Most of the "ganging up" is for legitimate reasons. She voted for the war, supports outsourcing, supports lobbyists, and has recently made some questionable comments about Iran. Yes, some posts are wrong, but every candidate has supporters that reflect poorly on their candidate.

And, she is the front-runner. She's bound to get talked about more because of it.

If you really are undecided, and this bothers you so much, I think you need to do your own research on the candidates and not base your decision on how others are acting on some message board.

[theHandpuppet]

9. Thank you for calling me a liar.

Then using that as a segue for another bash-fest. I suppose that was to be expected.

[Dawgs]

10. "bash-fest" against who?

I'm certainly not bashing any of the candidates. Maybe that is your problem - you're look at legitimate criticism as an attack. If that's the case, I'm sorry for calling you are liar.

[theHandpuppet]

13. So whose criticism is more legitimate?

Mine or yours? I made an observation which to this point can't really be refuted. If attacking me is your only rebuttal then perhaps my post truly was pointless. And never did I say in my post that Hillary Clinton was the only one being criticized here, so please don't rewrite my posts for me.

And just for your information, I voted for Dennis Kucinich in the last primary. Of the current crop of candidates Hillary Clinton was NOT among those for whom I could comfortably throw my support. But all this Hillary hating is really turning me off from the whole primary process. I think we're better than that.

[RainDog]

12. also undecided

I avoid any of the bash threads... I avoid most all candidate threads, in fact, because of the bashing from all sides.

However, I am really, really put off with the "inevitability" of Clinton's nomination posts. As far as my undecidedness goes, I am decided that Clinton is not my choice, as I've noted before, because I want to get past the Bush/Clinton era. I really think it's a mistake to nominate her for this reason, among others.