"Three months ago, I would have been more than happy to vote for Hillary Clinton in the general election. Yes I preferred Al Gore at the time but since Gore wasn't running, I felt Edwards was the next best choice. Over time Obama made the better arguments and appeared to be more viable so I switched over. My faith in Obama has been rewarded as he has turned out to be far more substantive, genuine, and inspiring that I initially imagined.
Had Hillary Clinton inspired or had Hillary Clinton run the campaign I thought she was capable of, she could have won me over too and earned my vote on February 5th. She wasn't my first or second choice but I could have been persuaded. Instead, I've been jaded and dissuaded.
Saying goodbye to the Clintons is not an easy thing. Bill Clinton was the first President I was ever eligible to vote for and I voted for him twice, the first time because he campaigned as a populist and the 2nd time because he was not Bob Dole.
In 2000 I was one of the people who thought it was a great idea for Hillary Clinton, despite having never lived in NY and having no experience as an elected official, to be my Senator. Yep, I chose her over several more experienced people who were thinking of running at the time because I realize that experience is lifelong and not tied to how many years you've held a public position. Perhaps I'm also a misoygnist for supporting Hillary Clinton over Mark Green, Carl McCall, or Peter Villone.
I also voted for Hillary in 2006, including in the Democratic primary when 17% of the voters chose Jonathan Tasini. I felt she was the better candidate and deserved to be given the benefit of the doubt on a vote here and there that I disagreed with. Perhaps I'm a misoygnist for supporting HRC over JT.
But this has all changed.
This change did not happen overnight. This change is a result of straw after straw after straw. With the Clintons, it wasn't 3 straws and you're out. I tried to give them every benefit of the doubt, every excuse, every justification. However, now I'm done.
So why am I divorcing them? In some order it was
- "I" "I" "I" in virtually every Hillary speech ad nauseum.
- Mark Penn. (The incompetent jackass who couldn't get 50% against Bob Dole and took the surest thing {Tony Blair's 3rd term} and turned it into a close race.
- Terri McCauliffe and the establishment machine.
- "turn up the heat."
- Smearing Obama with a kindergarten essay
- The Rezko hypocrisy.
- The drug use smears.
- The attempt to freeze out Iowa students.
- The anti-choice smear of Obama in New Hampshire.
- The cooked books and $5 million dollar loan.
- Playing the race card in South Carolina and elsewhere.
- Bill Clinton's fairy tale remark.
- Attempts to prevent service workers from caucusing in Nevada.
- The cactus tears in NH. (She attacked Obama dried eyed next sentence.)
- The mischaracterications of present votes in the Illinois state legislature.
- Her failure to apologize for her politically calculating vote on Iraq.
- Her equally politically calculating vote on Kyl-Lieberman.
- The vicious attempts to play the misogyny card when 99% of Obama voters don't have a sexist bone in their bodies.
- HRC's Michigan shenanigans.
- HRC's Florida shenanigans.
- Bill Clinton's caucus v. primary comments.
- The cheesy Wisconsin attack ad while she's in Texas.
- Lanny Davis (yep the Lieberman jackass) echoing the Clintons elitist attitude about upper middle class voters "not counting."
- Hillary Clinton saying that Patti Solis' decision to step down was Patti's decision when Hillary knows Patti was fired.
- Mark Penn's significant states comment telling people in 22 states to go F off.
- Hillary attacking Obama this week saying she gives solutions while he gives speeches. (During a speech of course.)
That's 26 straws and there were many others. I can't put a quantitative value on each straw but they added up. And now HRC is unwilling to pledge that she will abide by the will of the voters and accept pledged delegates as the nominee. This is the final straw. In short, she's trying to pull a Scalia and is plotting and scheming to steal an election. Although I believe her attempt will be futile because she will lose every state from here on out (including Ohio and Texas) and although I believe her efforts will be futile because the superdelegates collectively will support the winner among the voters, I am still through with the Clintons. There is no way in hell I'm voting for her ever again.
So how does one move from persuadable to willing to comfortable to accepting to begrudgingly acquiescing to no way in just 3 months? The fault for that lies exclusively with Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Does Hillary Clinton agree with me on most issues? The answer is yes. This is not about ideology. But there are people in politics on BOTH sides of the political aisle who simply take whatever positions they feel they need to take in order to attain and retain power. If a person is corrupt and agrees with me on the issues, that person needs to go and be replaced by someone who is not corrupt and agrees with me on the issues.
There are politicians who are hollow, opportunistic, and selfish. There are politicians who rely on the likes of Karl Rove, Mark Penn, and Lanny Davis, all professional liars and scumbags who spin, manipulate, and deceive. There are people in politics who are calculating and kniving and legislate from this devious mindset. John McCain is such a politician. Hillary Clinton is such a politician. I have no use for either.
What these "straws" have shown me is that Hillary Rodham Clinton is in politics for the power and not for the people or her country. Hillary Clinton has shown me that she is a person of very low character and a person who has very little integrity. Hillary Clinton is a person who has shown me that she will do anything to win even if winning is done unethically or immorally. Hillary Cliton has shown me that she will choose expediency over ethics and is aghast that voters are pummelling her for it at the ballot box as if we "insignificant" little people have no right to question her perceived authority. Well I'm tired of the Clintons trying to micromanage and pigeonhole voters with ridiculous labels like wine v. beer, upper income v. blue collar, Latino v. black, male v. female. What Hillary Clinton does not get is that people are people, not statistics on a spreadsheet handed to you by Mark Penn. I drink beer, I drink wine. I connect with people of all economic classes. I love people regardless of their race and gender. So take these poll driven artificial divisions of yours Hillary Clinton and shove them up your you know what.
The irony of all this hoopla is that if Hillary Clinton had simply done the right things from the beginning and not been blinded by her own hubris and arrogance, she would have been the next President of the United States. A WABC poll from 2006 said 68% of Americans thought she was a strong leader and her positives to negatives were +12. Today she's considered a Shakesperean tragedy at best, a joke at worst. And it's pathetic.
Had Mrs. Clinton simply complimented Obama from the beginning as a good guy, ran an honest campaign, fired her aforementioned jackass campaign strategist back in November, and simply talked about the issues in inclusive turns, she'd be way ahead in pledged delegates right now and a double digit leader in the polls over John McCain. Had she done the right thing and said prior to Super Tuesday that she will respect the voters and pledge to support Obama if Obama was ahead in pledged delegates, she might be the one ahead in pledged delegates right now. Instead she ran a campaign seeking to divide people based on microtrends fed to her by a pollster. But the flaw of microtrends is that people can't be pigeonholed that easily so when you try to pit A against B, you eventually end up pitting A against A.
In life I believe in doing the right thing. I also believe that doing the right thing is good politics in the end even if a current poll says otherwise. Hillary Clinton's flawed morality is that she believes in that which she feels can advance her own cause at a given time. It's the same immoral code that George W Bush, John McCain, Dick Cheney, Ann Coulter, Joe Lieberman, and Rush Limbaugh live by. It's the code of scoundrels and alleycats not leaders and inspirers. I want no part of it.
Hillary Clinton has taken a lifetime of accomplishments and an opportunity for greatness and flushed it all down the toilet. She has soiled her reputation permanently. I don't trust anything about her. Did she volunteer time at the Children's Defense Fund (Marianne Wright Edelman endorsed Obama) because she cared about children or because she thought it would look good on a resume and increase her husband's chances of getting elected? Did she stay married to Bill Clinton because she loved him or because it was a calculating decision that could lead to the US Senate and the Presidency? Does she support universal health care because she cares or because most Americans support universal health care? I just don't know the answers to these questions anymore. (Or maybe I do know the answers but just can't bring myself around to admitting them.)
I am divorcing the Clintons today, never to vote for them or support them again. These are my "divorce" papers. Regretably for the Clintons, I think there are several million Democrats who filed for divorce before me and several million more who are going to file for divorce after me."
I know if I tried posting a link less people would probably read it. This isn't my writing...but I agree with a lot of its points.
Only if my face looked as nice as icicles instead of feeling like them.
