Reddy

What in what I said do you find false or particularly egregious?

The campaign did make mistakes. But every campaign makes mistakes and half of them win anyway. Trump's campaign made far more fundamental mistakes than the Hillary campaign did. But the combination of campaign missteps, Russian propaganda, Comey, Bernie, stronger Trump messaging, whitelash to a changing country all contributed to that 80,000 vote deficit. caulfield is wrong when he ascribes Trump's win as any sort of "mandate" from the people wanting change. They were manipulated, and Hillary MOSTLY lost because of voters who stayed home.

This is a completely different argument from the point to which I was referring. This has nothing to do with people buying into Trump, it has to do with a terribly managed campaign. Those are different things.

Alternative narrative: rural white folks were terrified of a changing American culture and barely turned out enough to flip the election by 80k votes.

Henceforth you shall be known as The Great White Knight for All Bernie Bros. Seriously though, I'm pretty sure he can fight his own battles without you stepping in to defend his honor. But you know what, regardless, you're right. And I probably shouldn't use that term since I mean it in a derogatory way. That said, I also try to answer and address the points he makes. We sling shit at each other, but at least there's a conversation happening. That's not the case with you and me, is it?

No. You making this argument is not disrespect. You repeatedly trolling me with BS get in line comments after I take time to clearly state my position is disrespect, and I'm tired of it. Especially coming from someone who pretends to support Bernieism simply because I'm against it. The hypocrisy is what gets me. For the record, I don't put the Democratic Party on anywhere near the level of bad for the world as Trump. You do. Thus why you can't understand why I feel the way I do. I reject your premise. And wait. You're telling me you thought Trump was the most electable Republican?

Preach. Just wait for Nov. 7th if you think it's bad now.

Heading to Eastern Europe via Copenhagen on Tuesday. Solo road tripping from Warsaw > Krakow > Slovakia (High Tatras/Slovak Paradise National Park) > Budapest > Ljubljana, Slovenia > Bled, Slovenia > Vienna > Olomouc, Czech Republic > Warsaw. Anyone been to any of those spots and have any recommendations?

Yeah, I'm done with your trolling and disrespect.

I don't believe it's the end point either. I, too, believe it's "step 1 of 6". But focusing on the step we're currently ON makes far more sense to me than perpetuating a divide about what we do in steps 2-6. Damn, I actually agree with much of what you wrote there. Though if you'll recall, Howard Dean STARTED the 50 state strategy in 2006 I don't care whose ideas are whose and who had them first. All I care about is doing the best job we can right now to get as many Democrats elected period. I don't agree with everything the party does - not by a long shot. I was and am heavily critical of how the party operated during the Obama years. I also heap a lot of blame on the President's head for the position we found ourselves in. But that's literally all moot. It doesn't matter who did what badly when, what matters is doing it better NOW and moving forward, regardless of whose idea what was. Yeah?

If you'd like, I'd be happy to give you my position on whatever issue you're interested in. I'm just not arrogant enough to put my own personal views ahead of doing what's best for the greatest number of people right now and defending our Democracy from the attack it's currently facing. There are only two options: Democrat or Republican, and Democrats give us the best chance to protect our country right now. It's not party over country. It's country over my own personal beliefs.

Again, except that my priorities right now are: - Defending the people who would be harmed by a conservative Supreme Court overturning decades of social progress that directly impacts the lives of the most marginalized Americans and - Defending our American institutions against the degradation they're currently experiencing under this administration. Just because MY principles don't align with yours doesn't mean I'm not standing up for them and that I don't believe in them. I believe in doing whatever it takes to help the largest number of people have a better life and better opportunity. I want the people who've been most abused throughout our history to have the justice they deserve. And right now, that means getting Democrats elected to protect the Supreme Court and Democracy. You're free to disagree with my methods, but to suggest I don't stand for anything is - again - completely disingenuous. Your issue with me is personal - it has nothing to do with my politics or what I actually believe.

Says the guy who continually defends the Bernie movement even though he doesn't believe in any of the policies that movement espouses. But principles and all that.

Lol. This is the closest SS gets to eating crow. But I'll take it.

Huh. Weird. I'm pretty sure I said protecting real people and the American institutions from Trump was my priority. Confused how that jives with having a lack of principles.

That's pretty rich coming from a Republican whose party has completely cow-towed to Trump...

The irony is that everything you said here applies to you as well. Scroll back. You're never willing to cede any ground on an issue once you've made up your mind about it. Democrats are always wrong, always, in perpetuity, and even when they're right they're wrong because they didn't get there soon enough or they only did it because Bernie, etc, etc. It was a good speech, but you might want to hold up a mirror. I wholeheartedly believe Democrats need something different to become the party of the working class again. And I think they're on their way, thanks to the issues Bernie brought to light. I support most if not all the policies you do. But I also embrace pragmatism, because not every policy plays everywhere and the Bernie style candidate doesn't play everywhere. In PA 18 the party supported Lamb. In Alabama, Jones. In WI1 the party supports the Bernie candidate. Why? Because they're the most likely to win with their respective electorates. What frustrates me about Bernie folks is it's all dogma with no wiggle room. Everything is a litmus test. You're either right on the right issues or you're no use to the movement, no use to progress, and you need to be primaried. This does nothing but widen the chasm that already exists in Congress and in politics. The polarization makes accomplishing anything in Congress impossible, and this fleeing to the wings that both parties are doing just perpetuates that. Going far left just means the pendulum swings even farther right the next time around, and all the progress gets undone. What's the point in that? My philosophy is this: in this unique moment in time when we're literally in a fight to protect our institutions and Democracy, my priority is having a Democratic majority to put a check on Trump's power. End stop. Everything else is secondary. How long do you think RBG and Kennedy hold out on the SC? That's why having 51 Democratic Senators is vital no matter how moderate they are. The Senate is a hell of a tall order this cycle, I know, but we're DEFINITELY not winning it if we don't support the red state Dems. I don't think litmus test Sanders folks appreciate the gravity of the current situation in regard to the Supreme Court. I also feel that Sanders supporters don't appreciate where Dems are coming from on many of these social issues and the Supreme Court, because many of them are straight white men who aren't directly affected by Trump's policies or any of the policies the SC would overturn if Trump had one or two more vacancies to fill. LGBT, women's rights, race issues, immigration - they're secondary to the economic platform because they have the *luxury* to put those things second. Much of the base of the Democratic Party does not have that same luxury. That lack of empathy from Sanders folks frustrates the hell out of me. Anyway. I want Dems to win because I think Dems help us protect our institutions and mean fewer people get hurt in the short term. It stems the bleeding. THEN, once you've cauterized the wound, you start the repair process and push to enact policy that will bring the type of changes you and I both want to see. But you can't heal the wound until you've first stopped the bleeding.

Your trolling in support of the Bernie wing is so disingenuous ?

Dam, how do you feel about corporate Cory Booker's job guarantee bill?

This is why I say impossible standard. Because even when they do EXACTLY what you're calling on them to do, it somehow isn't good enough.

When have they yet had the opportunity to put this new platform into action? They haven't been in power since creating/adopting it? You hate on the Democrats irrationally, and hold them to impossible standards. WHY HAVEN'T YOU FIXED THE WORLD FROM YOUR MINORITY POSITION IN BOTH HOUSES!?!?!? C'mon.

Hey look, we agree on something. Mandatory voting will never happen in the land of the free, but ranked choice voting is something I absolutely get behind. Maine is doing it this cycle I believe.

You... haven't looked at the Democratic Party platform lately, have you?

Side note: I love that we can "like" posts now.

Trying to figure out how they do that as the minority in Congress, with a R Prez and conservative Supreme Court. ?