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I say this to you as one Liberal adult to another: F-ck every last one of you who seek to vote-shame American citizens and browbeat the younger generation into wallowing in an ocean of bullsh!t that your careless Neoliberal policies have created. There. I said it.
Supporters of Bernie Sanders are constantly berated as immature, childish or not having a firm grasp of political reality. As a result of such f-ckery, the only way to generally express my disgust of what happened during the course of this 2016 primary is for me to be as blunt as possible.
The truth is a race between the “eminently qualified” Hillary Clinton and the so-called Neo-fascist Donald Trump shouldn’t be close at all. This race shouldn’t be tied at ANY point. There should be more than just a few points separating these two candidates even this far out from the election.
If Clinton loses, it’ll be because Democrats chose to support a weak-ass candidate after being warned repeatedly that her past decisions are a significant drag on her ability to lay waste to someone who has no effective political instincts and zero political experience.
If Clinton isn’t strong enough to be trouncing this muthaf-cka, then you never should have given her your vote. You never should have ignored the warnings about her record. You never should have ignored the financial entanglements of the Clinton Foundation, her decisions as Secretary of State, or her collecting millions of dollars in “speaking fees” from Wallstreet.
In short, if Clinton loses and you need someone to blame, walk your petty, scapegoating ass over to a mirror and take a good long look. Sanders supporters are not responsible for the repercussions of your poor decision to push Clinton.
Noticing how many people still have issues with supporting Clinton, the establishment is unloading a ton of condescension, false narratives and faux-guilt to whip Sanders voters into submission.
Rather than using such efforts to force Clinton into adequately appealing to Sanders voters, we hear ‘the sky is falling’ declarations from the very people we tried to warn. These actions are akin to the behavior of an immature child asking mom and dad to save them from the consequences of their poor decisions.
Here’s another hard truth. Adults don’t have to do anything they don’t want to. They’re not children so you can’t control what they do. It’s delusional to think you can force political submission from a group as diverse as Sanders’ voters. The Democratic Party’s political reality is that their base doesn’t have to do sh!t. It’s the job of the candidate to build a bridge for people to cross.
Instead of using your energy to whip the Democratic nominee into shape, you’ve chosen to mask her in a progressive costume made out of the policies and positions of Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. I see you.
Things are what they are, so what do we do now? Don’t ask me for a solution to this problem. If you’re reading this, it may already be too late. The metaphorical ass-whopping for this nation is coming whether we get it from the disastrous Trump or the Neoliberal ‘we-came-we-saw-he-died’ Clinton. And those who plotted to take away one choice, through alleged collusion or sabotage, don’t get to complain about those who voted for the other person.
< Objects in Mirror are Farther Apart than They Appear >
The Democratic party isn’t Candyland with everyone skipping around, holding hands and singing kumbaya. I posted a while ago at whisperwatch.com that this 2016 primary is not like 2008 because the points of contention between Sanders vs Clinton and Obama vs Clinton were vastly different.
Obama and Clinton argued with each other, but both were taking millions of dollars from Wallstreet. Sanders and Clinton disagree about the very structure which undergirds our government, how money affects it and whether it needs to be changed incrementally or massively overhauled. Sanders and Clinton seem to disagree about the ability of what government can accomplish and how much should be invested in making it happen. In contrast to Clinton, Sanders’ campaign was almost entirely funded without massive donations from Wallstreet lobbyists and big money donors.
The time for pulling punches is over and my reservoir of mercy is currently depleted, so let me continue to be as blunt as I possibly can.
Hillary Clinton is a mess of a candidate who has yet to improve her ability to maneuver the political waters without looking totally disingenuous. Her promises ring hollow to some people because she seems to have graduated summa cum laude from the School of Triangulation and Self-Preservation.
She needs to quickly admit when she’s wrong — or at least make people believe she has some sense of political shame. She needs to massively improve her ability to genuinely reach out to people who traditionally wouldn’t consider her at all. To do that, she has to genuinely care, on a micro level, about the day-to-day problems of the average American.
She also needs to stop making excuses for her past decisions, release her Wallstreet transcripts as a symbol of goodwill, and improve her oratorical skills. No more of this ‘Obama did it too’ / ‘I’ll release mine when everyone else does’ / ‘I’m not a natural politician’ bullsh!t.
And those are only the superficial changes! I don’t have the patience at this point to discuss the problems with her decision to destabilize Libya, her positions on fracking, Israel vs Palestine, and Wallstreet’s stranglehold over Congress which she doesn’t seem to mind. Not to mention her positions on revolving-door politics and her tenuous stance on the TPP!
Clinton’s supporters and media allies use her gender as a shield from criticism. They also use it as an excuse for why she has a problem connecting with people. That excuse only works if her problem involved mostly men. Some of Clinton’s most vocal critics are young (45 and below) women, including young African-American and Latino women.
The media has a bad habit of sitting in their air-conditioned, corporate-funded bubble and dictating the behavior of regular people. Worse, their bosses purposely sought to make the 2016 primary profitable by giving hours of free coverage to a candidate many people consider to be a buffoon (looking at you, Les Moonves).
In current polls (as of this writing), Clinton is pulling even or is down against someone whom people consider to be a fcking facist; someone with NO political experience, never been elected to a goddamn thing, and admits to knowing how to buy politicians.
Whose fault is that? Months ago as Bernie Sanders consistently trounced Trump in poll after poll, his voters made the argument that the Vermont Senator was a better bet to defeat Trump in November.
Sanders appealed not only to progressives, but independents and Republicans who couldn’t stomach Trump. With Sanders out of contention, his coalition of young people of all ages/gender/race/sexual orientation, along with Independents and socially-liberal Republicans will do what they probably intended to do before he jumped into the race.
Neither Independents nor Republicans have any particular loyalty to the Democratic party. Their support for a Democrat may have began and ended with Sanders. No matter what Sanders has to say going forward, it will be up to Clinton to appeal to these people. Am I being too much of an ‘adult’ for you?
<I’m Rich, B!tch! >
Here’s another hard truth: the rich in this country are going to be alright no matter who becomes President, even if that’s Trump. I said it. Actually, many people in Independent media have said this as well.
That’s why I was absolutely disgusted at the thoughtless, tone deaf comment from Sarah Silverman on stage at the Democratic national convention. After giving rational reasons for her support of Clinton, Silverman decided to publicly embarrass and insult Sanders delegates.
On that stage stood a multimillionaire telling the much poorer Sanders delegates that their dissatisfaction with the entirety of this primary process was invalid. On that stage stood a member of the 1% telling a segment of the working class that their treatment by the system is just fine because she now supports Clinton.
Silverman looked like a stereotype of a rich, white liberal who backed Sanders just to be seen as a boat-rocker, but who never really wants to do anything which could jeopardize their comfortable lifestyle. These people never want to lose anything beyond what they’re already comfortable with shedding.
As soon as it becomes more convenient to fall in line, the instinct to protect their access takes over. Notice who was allowed to speak (Sarah Silverman) and who was not (Rosario Dawson, Nina Turner, etc). And if you didn’t in some way bow to Clinton’s inevitability, you were not allowed to use the DNC’s platform to talk about your political views.
Some of the delegates Silverman insulted had to raise donations to get to Philadelphia in the first place. Some sent small donations to Sanders’ campaign for weeks or months despite not being in a position to financially support a political campaign. Some have been hurting economically since before Obama’s presidency and haven’t yet seen the benefits of the “awesome” rebounding economy.
Silverman’s not the only paper-progressive who backhanded voters in attempts to force them to save America from the poor decision Dems made in choosing Clinton. Seth Meyers, Dan Savage, Bill Maher, Whoopi Goldberg and a host of other 1%ers have joined the chorus. In addition, some of the most popular progressives are clinging onto the fanciful notion that Clinton may magically morph into a better candidate/person; a new FDR.
All of these celebrities and wealthy liberals are in a completely different socioeconomic reality than most of the people they’re trying to shame. But it was Silverman who stood her multi-million dollar a$$ on stage and told them that their reaction to the process (and their candidate not fighting for the nomination) was ridiculous. And she did so right on the heels of leaked DNC emails which detailed plans to undermine Sanders’ campaign.
Now Sanders’ supporters aren’t even entitled to their own fcking emotions because privileged, comfortable, wealthy, vapid liberals say so. Get the fck outta here.
< Steadfast and Consistent >
Bernie Sanders supporters have put up with a lot of sh!t, culminating in a 4-day long parade of insults and put-downs from a gang of formerly trusted liberals. Not only did they have to contend with the full weight of the corporate media’s open contempt for Sanders, but also with the condescension and alleged collusion of the DNC. Not to mention the actions of elected officials who pledged their undying support for Clinton even before Sanders entered the race.
A slew of 7-figure-liberals like Silverman have been added to the list of ‘Clinton or else’ whiners. These Paper-progressives now see it as their job to wrangle, insult and demean Sanders’ supporters to vote for Clinton — voters who still haven’t seen any firm and binding outreach from the Clinton campaign on policy issues, mind you.
Many Sanders voters have worked their asses off during this primary campaign only to be called “ridiculous” in front of a worldwide audience. Sanders delegates to the convention have been insulted, had their credentials taken away, and their signs snatched. They found themselves in the dark, placed in the nosebleed seats, and accosted by people who simply want them to shut up and fall in line. Some even had their seats taken away by seat-fillers who were allegedly hired to give off a sense of “togetherness” and acceptance of Clinton as the nominee.
Clinton’s poll numbers are abysmal and her untrustworthy numbers are about as bad as Trump’s. Clinton’s media allies, the Democratic establishment, paper-progressives and 7-figure liberals have all combined their powers in an attempt to FORCE Sanders voters to save them from their own poor decisions.
In their eyes, it has now become the duty of Sanders voters to shut up, be compliant, turn a blind-eye the list of problems with this current system….or else Trump.
Sanders himself intends to proactively support Clinton. He’s grown. He can do what he wants. But Sanders doesn’t own his supporters, they gravitated towards him. He didn’t blackmail them into supporting him, so when he says ‘jump’, they don’t ask ‘how high’. There is no transactional basis for their support.
< To the Woodshed >
I feel like a disappointed parent to the Democratic Party right now. The Democratic party seems out of control. They’re breaking curfew, lying all the time, refusing to clean their room, refusing to admit when they’re wrong, are constantly focused on the wrong sh!t, and don’t fully think through the consequences of their actions before they act.
The Democratic party needs to be figuratively taken to the woodshed. But for that to happen, there has to be a significant enough threat to their power. As talked about in a previous whisperwatch podcast, politicians only change in the face of consequences and repercussions.
What are the repercussions of ignoring almost half of the people who voted in 2016? Of pretending like everything is fine? Of planning to “stay the course” in a era of political upheaval and a cry for massive change, not just in the U.S. but worldwide?
What are the consequences of placing a thousand tiny thumbs on the scale to collectively ensure one candidate gets the nomination over another? Of fostering whisper-campaigns around Sanders’ religion and racial views? If there are no consequences, it sets a precedent for behavior going forward.
If the Democratic party doesn’t change, there could be a mass exodus of young people. But you don’t care because young people don’t vote anyway, right? For millions of people, their first political experience was to support, volunteer for, organize around and donate to Bernie Sanders. For others, they may have checked out of politics years ago but became involved once again because of Bernie Sanders. They’re not likely to forget what just happened.
Bill Maher analogized this election as choosing between getting onto a slow train to San Francisco (Clinton) or getting onto a train going to hell (Trump). No.
In my opinion, this election is best summed up as a choice between eating a sh!t sandwich or drinking bleach. I never intend to sit at a table with a bunch of muthaf-ckas eating sh!t and drinking bleach. Ever. What’s worse is that the ones with sh!t around their mouths have the audacity to criticize the ones who refuse to dine.
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Related
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/leslie-moonves-donald-trump-may-871464
http://www.commondreams.org/views/2016/02/14/hillary-clinton-and-syrian-bloodbath
http://qz.com/742168/disaster-will-come-dan-savages-epic-rant-lays-out-the-problem-with-third-party-candidates/
http://celebritytoob.com/celebrity-net-worth/sarah-silverman-net-worth/
http://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-celebrities/authors/dan-savage-net-worth/
http://www.therichest.com/celebnetworth/celeb/actress/whoopi-goldberg-net-worth/
http://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-celebrities/richest-comedians/seth-meyers-net-worth/
http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/07/politics/drones-cnn-explains/index.html