Why I Did Not Vote For Hillary

Why I Did Not Vote For Hillary

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Late last night and this morning, I was working on a piece about why I didn’t vote for Hillary. (Jason has a great piece on why he voted for Bernie. You should read it.) So I got my post done and then I found this new editorial by Shaun King, If voting for Hillary Clinton means voting against my core beliefs, I’m not sure I can do it.

Ted Cruz to announce some stupid bullshit at 4:00 today

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He should be announcing that he is dropping out on the grounds that he is widely hated. But it will probably be to announce his bold proposal to prevent Trans people from ever going to the bathroom...ever under any circumstances. Or, his bold pick of the corpse of Margaret Thatcher as a running mate. Who knows. Cruz is a has been. Fuck that weirdo.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) told reporters on Wednesday that he will make a "major announcement" in Indiana at 4 p.m. ET on Wednesday. Hoping to keep the media spotlight focused on his longshot campaign to wrest the nomination from Trump after losses in Tuesday night's primary, Cruz told reporters on Wednesday morning that he hopes Indiana voters will back his "positive, optimistic, forward-looking, conservative campaign."
Wednesday Open Thread [4.27.16]

Wednesday Open Thread [4.27.16]

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Hillary Clinton reached out to Bernie Sanders in her Philadelphia victory speech tonight in an effort to begin to bridge the gap between their two campaigns.
"And I applaud Senator Sanders for challenging us to get unaccountable money out of our politics, and giving greater emphasis to closing the gap of inequality and I know together we will get that done," she promised. "Whether you support Senator Sanders or you support me, there's much more that unites us than divides us," she added. Clinton then outlined some of those issues where we are united. "We all agree that wages are too low and inequality is too high. That Wall Street can never again be allowed to threaten Main Street. And we should expand Social Security, not cut or privatize it."
Bernie Sanders, for his part, was also conciliatory and realistic as to the goals of his campaign going forward. From a statement released to the press last night:
“I congratulate Secretary Clinton on her victories tonight, and I look forward to issue-oriented campaigns in the 14 contests to come. [...] “The people in every state in this country should have the right to determine who they want as president and what the agenda of the Democratic Party should be. That’s why we are in this race until the last vote is cast. That is why this campaign is going to the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia with as many delegates as possible to fight for a progressive party platform that calls for a $15 an hour minimum wage, an end to our disastrous trade policies, a Medicare-for-all health care system, breaking up Wall Street financial institutions, ending fracking in our country, making public colleges and universities tuition free and passing a carbon tax so we can effectively address the planetary crisis of climate change.”
I am fine with all that. Fight for the Platform. I really have never viewed the Sanders presidential campaign as a campaign to elect Bernie Sanders President. Rather, it really was a campaign to keep the Democratic Party in the progressive column. Indeed, Hillary and Bernie might make a good team going forward. No, not as a ticket. That is a demotion for Sanders to be her VP. No, Bernie can use his position in the Senate to advance the progressive agenda while working with Hillary Clinton on issues where they agree with each other and can get things done. Bernie will keep the party anchored to the left.

The Probable Nominee Vs The Trouble Maker

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At some point early on in the primary season people around here picked sides. If they picked Hillary they quickly stopped viewing the race as a contest people people with policies and ideas, and viewed it as a race between the "Probable Nominee" (PN) and the "Trouble Maker." (TM) I don't blame anyone for this choice and the mindset that resulted from it. That lens is exactly how I would have viewed the race if I had picked Clinton, and trust me I was within a single micron of picking Clinton. Like the Clinton supporters here, I would have viewed any attack on the policies of the PN as a weakening the PN in the upcoming general election. I would have looked at TM with scorn and shut out his transparently liberal and Democratic message because it was not something that "helped" the PM in the long run. I would have had an a moral compass that narrowed my thinking to stark black and white and provoked venomous pronouncements that supporters of the TM were reading off of Mitch McConnell's play book. But that is all behind us now. Now the trouble maker can be viewed as a man named Bernie Sanders.