really? no, really?

[bix02138]

as seen in the age:

just before the convention a gallup/usa today poll showed that only 47 per cent of clinton supporters would definitely vote for obama. a further 23 per cent said they supported him but may change their minds and 30 per cent say they will either vote for mccain or stay home.

really? well then i have but one question: what the fuck, people?

what about john mccain's candidacy makes him the natural choice for a supporter of hillary clinton? please, somebody tell me. i'm dying to know. is it his stance on health care? education? interventionism? 100 years in iraq? abortion? george w. bush?

i can only think of two reasons a supporter of hillary clinton would not vote for barack obama:

a fit of pique childish enough to make ralph nader smile, or

racism.

oh wait. there is another possibility:

dementia.

i know i run the risk of alienating an anyone-but-obama clinton supporter or two with my response, but i have yet to have one explain to me the rationale for jumping from clinton to mccain (or staying home, effectively the same thing). your candidate didn't win? fuck, folks, the candidate i voted for for president has won exactly twice in my history of voting for president (three times, if you count al gore's victory in'00, when florida, which he won, was stolen; four, if you believe ohio in '04 was a repeat of '00). the point is, my candidate almost never wins. but does that mean i should start voting republican to up the chances of a better batting average? how preposterous. or perhaps i should stay home so as to not have my tender feelings bruised by the mean ol' electorate. yeah, right.

so, please—please—if there's a logical, politically-defensible and rational reason for hop-scotching from hillary clinton to john mccain, please explain it to me.

Comments

[orlandoman.livejournal.com]

I'm stumped like you, bix.

[toddpage.livejournal.com]

I told you.

people are crazy.

[bix02138.livejournal.com]

that they are... .

[mister-don.livejournal.com]

My cousins, die-hard HRC supporters, insisted that they'll write in her name rather than vote for Obama. This was before the convention, though.
I not talking politics to anyone in the family at this point.

[bix02138.livejournal.com]

silence may, indeed, be golden.

[lowersecond.livejournal.com]

A friend of mine (a Hillary supporter) said yesterday that he would either vote for McCain or stay home. His reason? "I think Obama is a snake in the grass." My response? "Where the f* have you been the last 8 years??"

As for the stay home approach, I have this to say: If you don't vote, don't complain about the guy/gal in office, 'cuz you did nothing to stop it.

[toddpage.livejournal.com]

RE: the latter statement.

WORD.

[bix02138.livejournal.com]

you took the word right outta my mouth.

[bix02138.livejournal.com]

i'm not sure what snake in the grass means (though i have my suspicions), but i wonder, again, what could be so compelling about john mccain as to warrant a shift of that magnitude.

yeah, as far as i'm concerned people who don't vote get the right to be mute for the next four years.

[theoctothorpe.livejournal.com]

I vote that it is thinly veiled racism. That comment has no basis in fact, only an easy way to justify not voting for him.

[bix02138.livejournal.com]

yes, that's what i meant. but crypto-racists take umbrage at being named for what they are and leave the room in a huff. sometimes they say that being called a racist has left them with no choice other than to behave like one. they hasten to tell you, though, that it's the name-caller's fault.

to refer to barack obama as a snake in the grass and attempt to use that to vote with the pit of vipers soon to gather in saint paul gives new meaning to the word disingenuous.

[pectopah.livejournal.com]

As an HRC supporter myself, I considered myself an Obama supporter as soon as HRC ended her campaign (voluntarily, not at gunpoint a la Mugabe). The intense pique directed at Obama by some HRC supporters, despite her and Bill's words at the convention, strikes me as truly childish and not a little embarrassing.

If McCain wins because of this, we will truly get the government we deserve.

[bix02138.livejournal.com]

jimmy carter's own words... .

[allanh.livejournal.com]

I don't understand it, either.

Women voting for a female veep who's staunchly opposed to abortion is like a jew voting for Adolf Hitler.

[jawnbc]

It's amazing how many misanthropes slip under the radar with their pleasantries in casual contact. Yet give them a chance to string together a fucking entire thought and they reveal how short-sighted and petty they can be.

[bix02138.livejournal.com]

oh hell yes!

why don't we understand the truth about America?

[tkn1114.livejournal.com]

Because we don't want to face the truth about the white people's club. Anything but a nig-ga, bubba! And worse, a nig-ga with a funny A-rab name! It ran in the heart of those who condoned and benefited from slavery, and it runs in the heart of their descendants. Otherwise, people'd be looking at issues. But since when do issues matter anyway? Only the pageantry does. Welcome to America, dreamer!

re: why don't we understand the truth about america?

[bix02138.livejournal.com]

i don't disagree on a fundamental level. i'll choose to find some manner of hope and solace that even if obama doesn't win, his candidacy is of profound importance, both to america and to our perceptions of who we are as a people. change comes, but often glacially.

Re: why don't we understand the truth about america?

[tkn1114.livejournal.com]

After these last 8 years, I'm afraid I can't be as "hopeful" as you are. I'd feel delusional. I went to work for Howard Dean full of hope and excitement in 2004, but he got laughed at.

This country is no longer owned by the America people, but by corporate America no matter who the President is. It's a sharade. Obama would be shot down in a minute if he tries to implement real change his way, whatever that is. So would McCain. They have to kowtow to the real power that be in this country to become President.

We are imprisoned. A lot of us are slaves. That's a fact. And we don't have any real desire to get out of the situation, because we're afraid. Afraid of losing what we do not have but are constantly told that we do have, or can have. The carrot is a lie that we continue to jump for.

Some data:
. The gap between the 1% ruling class in America and the working class is clearest and widest since the Depression.
. Mobility in the US is behind that of Western Europe for years. The average American owes far more than the average W. European who has more $ and vacation time than his American counterpart.
. Health care: Yeah, right!

No, I can't be optimistic about this reality. But, I'm willing to fight it tooth and nail, though :-)