I’ve been thinking back about the first presidential election I was able to cast a vote, and how my perspectives have changed since that first time in a voting booth. As the years have passed, I’ve found myself not always adhering to my family’s “Democratic Party or leave it” approach to politics. The best way to put it: Going back to the Clinton years, I’ve suffered from voter’s remorse, which comes with a growing agitation towards my party—from state party leaders to the DNC. This presidential election I was aiming for Sanders, like many of my friends and even a few of my family. After torturing myself during vacation watching snippets of the RNC convention, I’m worried, just like the GOP nominee rallied everyone to be afraid, I’m afraid, too. But I can’t fall in line with the Bernie or Bust crowd.
We can agree on almost everything, but when it comes to strategies that make it seem like voting for Trump would help get us where Sanders was going is better than voting for Clinton, or voting for third party candidates—no. No thanks. If the Midwest is going to make the decision for us, then I hope the DNC is finally doing some actual work now and organizing the vote in those states. Bernie Sanders is not going to be president. Neither are the two third-party candidates. I’m voting for Clinton.
Am I tired of suffering from voter’s remorse? You bet. Do I think I just might suffer again if Clinton is elected? Probably.
But there’s no way throwing a vote in any other direction is actually going to help this country. I’m afraid of Trump, but I’m not afraid of Muslims, Mexicans or African-Americans. I can’t move to Canada. This is home. I hope the DNC rethinks their strategy. I just hope it’s not too late.
— Mari Herreras, mherreras@tucsonweekly.com
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This article appears in Jul 28 – Aug 3, 2016.
Canada still sounds like your best option. You can’t comprehend the difference between test and strength. That’s exactly what iscdraggingbthis countryvdown. Indecision and poor decisions. Hillary and Bull have enriched themselves on this countries good will and ignorance. So that’s your vote? Even Bernie fell for it.
It’s always funny when far-left liberals show up every 4 years and cry about the presidential candidate. It’s like, where were you the last 3 elections when Democrats were losing Congress and the Senate to Republicans? Or the statehouse? etc., etc.
When the Green Party can win a single state-wide election, I’ll pay attention. When Bernie-Democrats can win a plurality of state-house seats in a single state, you’ll have something to talk about. Until then, keep your heads down and work.
While Bernie was being a pure independent all those years, Hillary was working hard for the Democratic party, taking the endless slings and arrows of the Republicans for him. Now they all turn on her for not being their pure savior. Bah humbug
A vote for Hillary is a knife in Bernied back. We can never achieve socialist utopia with the queen of wall street.
Mari, after reading your voting strategy I came to the conclusion that it is the definition of insanity. You may not fear Muslims, but after thousands have been murdered by radicals, our NATO members like France and Germany may be looking to deport Syrian refugees.
Now the Democrats appear anti police.
Canada wouldn’t have you.
Julie Heston:
Are you having a problem with your keyboard or are you having a stroke?
I hope that you or a loved one has contacted emergency services if it’s not the keyboard.
Oh, silly me.
Don’t bother to contact emergency services, that’s a socialist thing.
Let’s hope you can make it to the hospital on your own and let’s hope that you have a very ample bank account.
Today: Pigs Meet Trough
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/29/us/polit…®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news
As Democratic candidates run, sweating in the Philadelphia heat, to the now unleashed money handlers, all rhetoric concerning campaign reform is tossed like confetti. It is a convention after all.
“I hope the DNC rethinks their strategy.” Strong words there.
Right. Guess what Mari, the DNC has now been vindicated, the fix is in and no amount of malfeasance on its part will be criticized by the party. As long as the preferred, pre-selected candidate wins. The economy is rigged, the presidential campaign is rigged, so yes, it only makes sense to vote for Hillary Clinton.
In Bizarro World.
Now that we’ve seen 24/7 coverage of both major party conventions and suffered through “the tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing” foisted on us by the parties, candidates and media, perhaps it is high time that a grassroots effort were made to create a third party that actually represents the American people and not just the fringes of the political spectrum. For now, let’s call it the American Party. The platform of the American Party is formed by a commitment to a global-competitive level of free public education for all Americans with a focus on building character, ethics, leadership and imagination for the betterment of all people and not just those who pay to play and have privilege based on wealth, power and racial heritage; next, restoring and maintaining the Middle Class because nations with a healthy and vital middle class are stronger for everyone – by building a new and better infrastructure that is environmentally sound with a return of manufacturing in the United States and creation of well-paying skilled labor – the Middle Class will be the backbone of our nation; and lastly, by returning all levels of government to the basic reasons they were created in the first place – to maintain public services that allow for the safety, security and well-being of the populations they serve – not the out-sourcing, buck-passing, political pigs at the money trough filled by special interests and dark money brokers intent on wealth and power at the expense of all else that we have today. If we are ever going to take back our country, we had better do it soon because this election cycle has clearly demonstrated that there isn’t much time left before the only options are more-of-the-same and bat sha@t crazy – oh, wait….
sgsmith
Appropriate to call upon Shakespeare as this tragedy continues to unfold. Thanks
Thanks AZ/DC it is my keyboard. I now have a $10,000 deductible for my healthcare after Obama destroyed my old one. Have to live with a outdated keyboard and strokes as they happen.
What makes you think that for profit emergency rooms at for profit hospitals are a socialist thing?
You obviously don’t understand socialism. I wonder if you really even care about me.
“Bernie Sanders is not going to be president. Neither are the two third-party candidates. I’m voting for Clinton.”
Well then… that settles that!
Always enjoy sgsmith’s posts – but maybe could you please use the enter key to break up your prose into paragraphs?
Clinton Campaign Failed To Act.
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/07/dnc-debbie-wasserman-schultz-226352
Sounds just like Benghazi. But this time it’s just political careers that are dying. Thankfully.
I don’t begrudge your choice, Mari–each to her own voting strategy, in this grand democratic experiment, and so on–but please don’t fool yourself. If Billary Clinton fails to win this election, it will have nothing whatsoever to do with Bernie Sanders or anyone voting Green. She will fail on her own merits, or lack thereof.
If she fails to defeat one of the most ignorant, absurd, untruthful, embarrassing, unqualified, and downright dangerous presidential candidates in history–unbelievable as it may seem, but it could very well happen–it would be because she has utterly squandered her credibility. For many years she has been nothing more than a garden-variety politician who happens to be married to a former president, tacking back and forth with the winds of change and changing her tune whenever it suited the moment. She has consistently and earnestly played to Republican themes while pretending to be a liberal, courted the wealthy and powerful while pretending to stand for the underprivileged, and betrayed her base and the principles of her supposedly liberal party in the process. That strategy was birthed by her husband and his DNC, to the ruin of the Democratic Party and progressive change, and she has embraced it enthusiastically.
People are totally fed up with it–so fed up that they’re desperately grasping for a psychotic ignoramus just because he sounds different. If she cannot beat the psychotic ignoramus–and I mean soundly beat him, send him back to his Tower with his tiny tail between his legs–she does not deserve to be president. No amount of ill-conceived, third-party blaming can change that.
#NoOneButHerselfToBlame
It’s very socialist. They’re required to help you. Without ANY kind of socialism, you would be completely on your own.
I’m glad you’ve lived…and (hopefully) learned.
I’m with you on this one, MH. My first election-& the last time I voted third party-was the 1980 Presidential. Of course, even if all third-party votes had gone to Carter, that bad actor who wound up in the White House for eight years would still have done so. All the same, I learned all about wasting my vote then (never mind how much better Carter looks in hindsight). & Who else remembers the Nader fiasco?
The fact that Bernie made as good a showing as he did, and was willing to take the high road when the revelations came out, means the Democratic Party has to take his influence seriously. Meanwhile, any vote not for Hillary will just get p!$$ed away, and make it that much more likely we’ll get a textbook fascist for president (hopefully, checks-&-balances would keep him from some of the more egregious parts of his agenda, but not without a lot of damage & wasted energy).
“The fact that Bernie made as good a showing as he did, and was willing to take the high road when the revelations came out, means the Democratic Party has to take his influence seriously.” TDB
Really? The Democratic Party, and pointedly the DNC, have proven they are the black hole of the political universe. They will suck up all energy and continue on as nothing has really happened. Working against a party candidate? No problem? Thinly veiled anti-semitic/anti-atheist plots to derail the candidate? No problem.
Watching Sanders kowtow to the party, a party he had never been a member of til this election, was disgusting. He should have walked out with his supporters. These people who trusted him and worked their butts off in his campaign have every right to be turned off to politics … and to sit this one out or vote their consciences.
Both candidates have turned the parties upside down. Maybe that’s a good thing.
Sorry, Mari, but the only reason that third parties don’t win is because people don’t vote for them.
There’s no way I can vote for Clinton, who approved of thousands of refugee children being sent back to danger to “send a message to their parents.” I can’t vote for someone who has brokered some of the largest international arms sales in history (can you say cluster bombs?) but then claims she’s for “gun control.” I will not vote for someone who thinks that the U.S. has the right to intervene in other countries’ elections (e.g., Honduras), while she oversaw the theft of the Dem primary (http://electionjusticeusa.org/index.php/re…). I could go on and on.
I refuse to vote against my conscience and my values. No one, even you, seems able to make a reasonable argument for why anyone should vote for Clinton except “OMG Trump!” The DNC built this, they own it, but they don’t own me. We’ve been saying for months that Clinton cannot win against Trump, but we have been ignored.
I’m voting Jill Stein, Green Party. I hope you join me.
What exactly makes you think your vote for Clinton in Arizona will do anything at all to prevent a Trump victory? Arizona’s electoral votes are going to Trump, end of story. If you don’t believe that, you’re living in a far more fantastical land than Bernie supporters were accused of when they called for free tuition and Medicare for all. There are about 28 states in the union responsible for preventing a Trump victory, and we ain’t one of em.
A vote for Gary Johnson or Jill Stein (if she manages to get on the ballot after the Green Party deadline fiasco) goes a lot further in actually helping the country – increasing their vote percentages can lead to third-party participation in future debates and allow them to qualify for additional funding. In fact, by wasting your vote on Clinton in an overwhelmingly Trump state, you’re doing damage to the country by signaling support of Hillary Clinton’s neoliberal mandate.
You think? Maybe if third party movements could get their shit together they could have a bigger voice and actually help shape policy. They haven’t yet, with the regrettable exception of Nader, who helped give us W & Cheney. Thanks, Ralph. Bernie was able to pull the Democratic Party to the left because he ran as one, plain and simple.
Just like Ross Perot gave us Bill ( Knob Job) Clinton. Thanks Ross.
Weekly Editor:
Your argument for voting for Clinton holds up ONLY if you live in a swing state. In Arizona, the Republican will win, especially against the unpopular Sec. Clinton.
Vote your conscience and not your fears.
Joe “Tex” Callahan
Conscience? You bet. Jill Stein panders to anti-vaxxers. Gary Johnson panders to climate-change deniers. I conscientiously won’t vote for either. Whether she takes Arizona or not, it will be an honor to vote for Hilary and a thrill watching Donald Trump get his ass handed to him in November.
Right on, Peabo – vote for Clinton to show your support for Monsanto, fracking, Goldman Sachs, wars of regime change, trade agreements that strip our nation of its sovereignty, and a host of other issues/interests your candidate clearly doesn’t pander too.
Tex, myself, and others here are addressing those who wrap themselves in the fear of a Trump presidency to justify voting for Hillary. If that’s the editor’s only reason for voting Clinton, living in a red state renders it nonsensical and we’re pointing that out. I, for one, have no interest in debating the merits of supporting the standard bearer for neoliberalism/neoconservatism with members of her cult. Your vote is your voice – at least you’re exercising it…
Peabo — you are repeating false statements and misinformation, which isn’t going to help your candidate.
First, Snopes.com says that the anti-vax statement about Stein is unproven, and she personally is not anti-vaccine. The Green Party does support alternative medicine (including legal cannabis) and is opposed to the medical industry. I agree, and so do millions of other Americans.
Second, Nader did NOT cost Gore the election. Leaving aside the issue of the Supreme Court decision that handed the election to Bush, more Dems voted for Bush than voted for Nader, so if you’re going to look for a lesson there, it’s that major parties should nominate candidates that their members and independents will vote for.
You say it will be an “honor” to vote for Clinton. If you’re really trying to get her elected, how about if you share some of her policies that you like and respect? As I said in a previous post, Clinton supporters never do that. The only reason they seem to support her is because she’s not the other guy. That’s not good enough.
Hillary, supports fracking? Which Hillary?
Last month, in advance of the New York primary, the Clinton campaign aired a television ad announcing her allegiance with so-called fracktivists fighting to stop fracking, which has been tied to a number of health and environmental problems.
http://www.alternet.org/environment/hillary-clinton-tried-push-fracking-other-nations-when-she-was-secretary-state-new
Hillary Clinton Tried to Push Fracking on Other Nations When She Was Secretary of State, New Emails Reveal
Wouldn’t it be considered treason, when we have to rely on Russian hackers to find out Hillary is lying to Americans?
Madame Secretary, stop lying and release ALL of your emails.
She has no economic plan except raising taxes. That has been tried so many times with the same result. A downward spiraling job market. Liberals never lear. They suck you in with “shovel ready” nonsense and they advance projects that we never would have wasted money on. Then up goes the debt. Obama has spent us $10T deeper in debt and the economy is dismal.
I know, you just need more money. Somebody elses.
elsueno- thanks for the helping of condescension, but you’re going to need something better than cliches and straw men to throw around if you want to make a convincing case. Despite your rather lazy accusations, I’m no fan of Monsanto or anything else on your laundry list. I’m just someone who thinks the practical way to shape and change policy is from within. You know, like how civil rights legislation and stuff like that was passed. The way we’ve been doing it for years.
Blaze Mason – K-12 education, gun control, debt-free college, affordable health care, campaign finance reform, and so on. Do I think she’s going to roll up her sleeves and dive right in on all this? No. Do I think there are some hollow campaign year promises in there. Sure, I’m not a child. But, you see, that’s where the fight is to me. The good fight that can actually make change happen.
I ask you about Jill Stein. What makes you think she would be effective if elected? I’m all ears.
And we’ll have to agree to disagree on Nader. I won’t hang everything on his shoulders, but he let his ego get in the way and the country paid the price.
I can’t stop either one of you from your burn the house down logic, but if you’re cynical enough to think there would be no difference between a Trump and a Clinton presidency, then you are only thinking of yourselves.
“Liberals never lear.” Clinton or Trump, Rat, I’m going fight to get you an education.
Peabo, you still don’t seem to understand that voting for Hillary Clinton in Arizona does nothing to help her win or stop a Trump presidency. That’s not a straw man or a cliche, it’s a reality. So if you’re against Trump (which I’m certain we both are), your vote becomes an opportunity to lend support to a candidate who represents your values rather than participation in an effort to prevent the greater of two evils from taking office. For me, that person is Jill Stein and my vote for her is harmless to Hillary supporters’ efforts.
Maybe seeing a true liberal receive a record number of votes this cycle will cause Democrats to adopt some of her stances. Maybe it won’t. But voting for a candidate I dislike in a state she has no chance of winning seems ludicrous. If I lived in a blue or swing state, I’d have more soul searching to do. But I don’t, so I don’t. It’s not my system, I just vote in it.
My keyboard has multiple strokes. It is getting better.
I understand, elsueno. I just disagree. If third party candidates had more success shaping policy than siphoning votes I might feel differently. In my opinion, the Democratic party has needed to be pulled to the left for a long time. Bernie was (and I hope will continue to be) able to do so because he challenged from within. And, unfair or not, until third party candidates get their procedural ducks in a row and show they can organize on a national and professional scale, they will always be treated as fringe.
As for Trump, I think it’s essential for the health of this country that the ignorance, the arrogance, the race-baiting, and the misogyny he represents be overwhelmingly repudiated in the popular vote. For that reason, a vote for Hilary, even if she loses the state, is absolutely valid.
As good a reason as I’ve heard so far. Not good enough for me, but I have a little more faith in a liberal third party doing more if they get more (votes, exposure, funding, etc). You vote for Hillary and I’ll keep pushing to turn red states green this cycle. I honestly don’t think either effort will result in catastrophe so the battle for the left can be fought another day. Good luck out there.
And to you as well.
Hey Peabo,
Sounds like you have absolutely nothing to contribute. Maybe you should take a break.
Hope your conscience is clear after you vote for the candidate who rips off Haitian relief money
and takes Russian uranium bribes. Did I mention all of the money from countries who treat
woman and gays so well? So funny to hear about your high moral standard.
The Koch Bros. announced yesterday that they are endosing and supporting Hillary Clinton as the best candidate. Count me out. Wake up democrats, she is a fraud. Please don’t make another mistake.
Going to have to do better than regurgitate lines from Clinton Cash, Vinnie. Unless you’re on the Hoover Institue payroll, that is.
And Debbi, your post is simply not true. Try to bolster your argument with facts.
It’s amazing how peole have bought the DNC rethoric about Donald Trump. The wikileaks DNC emails prove that they invent stories to denigrate other candidates, like Bernie who paid DNC substantial money only to get played. The DNC plays sick games, in one email they agreed to place an add on Craigslist while pretending to be the Trump Organization hiring young females, they are sick people who don’t believe in their candidate so they have to resort to sick tactics, the same ones Hillary resorts to. Hillary & the DNC silenced Bernie’s delegates, insulted them and humiliated them, later to discard them like a worn out rags. How can anyone support someone who doesn’t care for human beings ? Hillary sees people as pawns for her gain, she doesn’t want to be President to help Americans she wants to continuing helping the Clinton Foundation that is dependent on Government favors to other countries that are willing to pay her millions of dollars. It’s time to elect someone who is not part of the Washington elites establishment, it’s time to elect Donald J Trump, this candidate will help us clean house in Congress, the time has come to get the corruption out of our Government!
Electing Chump will get the corruption OUT of our government?
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kJCKwqyR7KY
Thanks for the biggest laugh I’ve had in, what feels like, forever. It’s gonna take a lot of effort to top that one.
Vince. Peabrain has plenty to contribute. Granted, most of it is calling me names. But, I suppose it’s something.
Not familiar with Clinton Cash Peabo. I bet you know lots about regurgitation however.
I do use Drudge and Real Clear Politics for info. I’m sure you don’t approve of those either,
as you seem to be a Media Manners kind of guy.
Hey Peabo,
I did a little research and went behind enemy lines and checked Media Matters.
I understand now that you are talking about Schweizers book from last summer.
Funny how your beloved N.Y. Times and Wash. Post have no trouble with the book.
That very ” non- partisan” Clinton butt-boy David Brock was very upset about it however.
I am catching on to your slick habit of accusing everyone who disagrees with you of not
having an original thought or of ripping off someone.
I think you get most of your ammo from M.M. aka Bad Manners Media and their fact checking of everything on the right. Of course, they are always ” fair and balanced.”
Maybe you should find a new source of material as you are getting quite tedious repeating their lines.
And quit calling CW names. He’s great fun and doesn’t take himself so seriously like you lefties do.
The lady in the Kim Jun Il pantsuit lied again yesterday about the FBI director Comey’s statements regarding their investigation. She says he never said the lied.
He did say what she told us was “not the truth.”
Do we really want to play this game again with lying lawyers? Send her back to Arkansas if they will go. After the convictions for the Clinton Foundation frauds while she was Secretary of State.
Vince. It’s been a long time for someone to say something nice about me. Thanks.
Rat T. The lady in the Kim Jun II pant suit. I roared. Great one.
It’s so hard to believe that people don’t see through this phony witch.
Was that a Khan job?
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2016/08/is_there_a_backstory_about_khizr_khan_and_donald_trump.html
…and she did lie under oath about gun running.
http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2016/07/julian-assange-hacked-emails-include-info-hillarys-arming-jihadists-including-isis-syria/
Remember folks, these people provide guns to overthrow other governments, but they want to take yours.
Why is that?
Because people like Obummer and Shrillhill see armed citizens like us as a threat. Iran with a nuke is O.K. with them, but God forbid I should own an AR-15.
Because people like Obummer and Shrill Hill feel threatened by armed citizens like us. It’s O.K. for Iran to have a nuke, but God forbid I should own an A.R.-15.
Psst. Hey, fellas. While you’ve been busy patting yourselves on the back in the bowels of a dead comment thread, your tiny-fingered hero has gone into quite the tailspin. Better put your thinkin’ caps on, boys, he could sure use some of them smarts!
Typical post convention bump. Even the lying Clinton lady fool’s a few extra people for a month. Lucky for her the media hides her continual lies. She is a habitual one.
Stop the lying media. Call them on their lies for Hillary, the liar.
Keep dreaming. Tiny hands is toast.
Hillary is evil – tremendously so. Not a huge Trump fan and still may vote 3rd party, but could never vote for that bitch from hell.
Idiot.
The election according to Peabrain. Shrill Hill gets a bump after the convention so it’s all over. With 99 days to go a lot can happen. I have no idea who is going to win. Trump, sure. Hillary, sadly yes. I wouldn’t bet more than a dollar either way. Just don’t count your chickens before they hatch.
Amen brother.
https://youtu.be/MikSx1-Maro
This has nothing to do with polls or convention bumps. It has everything to do with Trump. Among his numerous defects, the guy is a total amateur. Every time he opens his mouth he says something that peels away another layer of support. How is that a path to the White House?
I think he lost control because he may know that his opponent is going to jail. Why else would he refer to Mrs Clinton as “the devil from hell?”
Does he know something we don’t? A year ago he told his daughter that “life would be easier” as a liberal. She has completely ignored his advice. So has he.
With our redistricting committee in place and legislative districts made up by ethnicity. Completely throwing one man one vote giving minority by population areas same representation as the majority. This was done at the direction of the Justice Department.
So my question is why do we need a redistricting committee or state legislature oversight. Just let the Justice department draw up legislative districts, they do by proxy anyway. Just look at Tucson’s arrangement for wards. This limited the expansion of Tucson basically putting their neck in the nose for outside development. This bringing additional cities while it stopped Casa’s Adobe’s & Tortalita, Which also stopped 60 million a year coming into the valley in return of state sales tax.
Do people understand that the most powerful official in the Valley is the county manager and his interest at not with Tucson. And this guy is not even voted into office and given more power than the surrounding cities combined. What to keep this the “Old Pueblo” just call it the older and getting older pueblo
All if the Bernie supporters should show their support for the voting system and write in Bernie cast a vote of conscience.
This is now the time since the majority of Democrats had their primary votes thrown out in 2008 & 20016 like they didn’t matter. Now is the time to let your vote count write in ” Bernie”