By now I'm used to the trolls. I've been blogging for a long time but of late the most viciously personal ad hominem has come, not from the Republican Right but from the Bernie Boys. I blocked someone on another venue yesterday after I mentioned to a Bernie Bully that by hoping that a candidate Clinton would fail and thus cause the nation to fail, he was taking words out of Rush Limbaugh's prayer book.
I don't think I've seen such ugly invective since I graduated from Middle school and believe me, I've read some nasty stuff in my years on-line. I am lucky, says he, that he doesn't have my address or he would kill me.
Sanders Supporters Prepared to fight, I read this morning. Indeed they are. You can almost hear the sound of a Munich Bierstube echoing with the sound of stomping jackboots and Bernie's Brownshirts yelling Seig Heil !
Yes, they're ready to fight, because it's not about convincing the public that Big Brother B has a rational plan to address what ails us or a rational view of a complex world coupled with the ability of any president to do all those revolutionary things without an actual revolution. It's about the fight, the struggle, the Jihad, the Kampf, the Crusade. It's about how irredeemably evil the other side is.
It's all about the urge to fight, the narcissistic lack of introspection. Just close your eyes and fly right into the enemy battleship called "Wall Street" because, as Barry Goldwater supporters used to shout: "In your heart you know he's right." "The bankers are destroying our country" and where have we heard that one before? Sieg Heil indeed.
It's not about qualifications or experience or even about the possibility or even the legality of putting all that pie up into the sky, it's about BERNIE! St Bernie of the beer hall, leader of the Sanderistas - a Che Guevara for El Norte, the Donald Trump of the Democrats.
It has become a rather cultist movement, mostly not in a good way. I like Bernie and I think he tries to sound all presidential but he has fallen short on several key issues and frankly I don;t think he has the stamina or experience to handle Washington politics. I am not thrilled will Hillary but I will take her over Trump every time. And she has the Washington creds. They will NOT chew her up and spit her out. I think she is the best candidate for the democratic nomination and the best candidate to continue to stabilize and grow this country. Simple as that.
ReplyDeleteLiking him isn't the issue for me. I certainly don't like Clinton and of course I don't know her well enough for that to be an issue, but so much of Sanders' rhetoric is about his "vision" and about how things would be in utopia. Are we dumb enough to fall for campaign rhetoric once again? Two time senator for a real state and being secretary of State in such trying times means she can step into the job. Bernie hasn't the experience not, I fear the temperament. I have to admit I disagree strongly on some of her opinions, but I remember a president doesn't and can't do all that much about domestic policy. The public assumes they're electing a dictator and then panics when that president tries to do anything.
ReplyDeleteThis is a stupid country at best and I'm almost to the point of not caring any more.
I know, it is hard to have any hope or confidence when you see the masses that rally around Trump. And I agree, this should not be a popularity contest but rather about who is the best person for the job and not doubt in my mind it is Hillary.
ReplyDeleteYes, Egg Zakely and though I'd like to think it was just the unwashed and the uneducated Trump brags of loving, it's far from that. The shock of seeing a Trump sticker on Bently bumpers and listening to upper middle class business men saying he sounds "presidential" reminds me of Rod Serling and the Twilight Zone. Is this really happening? Is there really some dire crisis behind this or is it all just rhetorical arson? Hate the rich, hate the poor, hate the immigrant, hate the majority and the minority; hate White People for their "privilege" but hate any other victim thereof because he's a competitor. Of course none of our rage is about human proclivities, it's all about our pantheon of scapegoats and it's all about outrage and hate and most of all, we're never ourselves wrong.
ReplyDeleteYes, given our system she's the only choice we have left Bernie can't win without subverting the system and it's all we have between us and that bastard Trump.
The thought has occurred to me that, as a society, we seem to be devolving into superstitious villages looking to burn witches and hunt down the Wolfman or Frankenstein's monster. Whoever isn't "like us" must be an evil we need to rid ourselves of. Whether it is a different religious view, atheism, someone who speaks a primary language that is not English, brown skin, LBGT, the list goes on into infinity of who to hate and who to hurt all in the name of a god they don't understand or care to. As long as they can hide behind the alter and spew forth their anger and suspicions. It is tiresome to have to keep telling people the "bathroom bill" is NOT about the bathroom and never was. People of Mexican descent can be Americans too, LBGT folks are not looking to molest your children and they are Americans too, who just want the same rights as everyone else. Leave them alone and they will not bother you. But that is not good enough, no, you must carry your guns and Bible and kiss the foot of Jesus or your are risk of being eliminated by the Mob of God.
ReplyDeleteI think all of this has always been true, and hatred and fear have always been the operating system of humanity. There are better periods and worse periods and often they correlate to the level of religiosity. My level of animosity toward religious institutions has never been higher than it is now.
ReplyDeleteTo refer to Bernie Sanders as "the Donald Trump of the Democrats" is utterly ridiculous. Sanders will be endorsing Hillary and urging his supporters to vote for her soon enough. Apparently that isn't good enough for some? This fringe group of people not-withstanding.
ReplyDeleteUtterly, of course. How could it be otherwise? I had thought that his followers were a bit fanatical, pugnacious, prone to a bit of violence, uncompromising, humorless, fond of scapegoating and prone to confusing principle with prejudice. Thanks for clearing that up.
ReplyDeleteWhat about the "brown shirts" that supported Hillary the first time she ran (the pumas)? I suppose they weren't a bit fanatical, pugnacious, prone to a bit of violence, uncompromising, humorless, fond of scapegoating or prone to confusing principle with prejudice?
ReplyDeleteAnd, although the Pumas were a fringe group as are the so-called "Bernie Bros", perhaps I should be indicting all 2008 Hillary supporters for the actions of a few (as you are doing)?
Capt Fogg = the Chris Matthews of the Swash Zone?
As yes, the Tu Quoque ploy. You understand anything I might say about one candidate is not refuted by the attributes of another candidate? It's a diversionary tactic and is also known as the appeal to hypocrisy and it's not only typical of the fanatic partisanship in the Sanders camp, it's the sort of thing one finds in grade school playgrounds. You want to trade insults? Really? If I'd wanted to argue with spoiled self righteous brats and tin horn revolutionaries, I'd have been a schoolteacher.
DeleteI don't want to "trade insults", no. I asked a question. You don't want to answer it... that's fine. My point was that there was a small contingent of people who didn't want to accept that their candidate lost the last time there was a contest (Hillary V. Obama). And many of those who said they wouldn't vote for Obama ended up doing just that (the pumas). This will be a non-issue after the convention.
DeleteBTW, Bernie's cultural revolution appeals to me very much. The Conservatives have taken over both parties. Hillary MAY represent the swing back to the Left I was hoping we'd get with Barack Obama. But now, as with Bill Clinton before him, he's pushing another "free trade" agreement that will be a bonanza for the fat cats. Hillary SAYS she is opposed to TPP. But who knows for sure? Perhaps all it needs is some tweaking after her election and she'll resume referring to it as the "gold standard". Unless it's passed by Congress in a lame duck session and signed into law by Obama before Hillary is inaugurated. BTW, it's not "Bernie or let the sky fall" for me. I'll vote for Hillary and hope for the best.
For me, the issue is not Billery versus Bernie. The issue is America's flirtation with fascism.
DeleteOne of my ancestors died in the Holocaust, a victim of the same kind of demagoguery that Trumpf is promoting. Never again! If war is what this madman wants, then so be it. Win or lose, I will fight to the end ... whatever it takes! Even if suffering the same fate as my ancestors.
Trump is NOT AN OPTION!
I don't get the impression that Bernie is going to be satisfied by the convention results. He seems to have a feeling of entitlement, whether or not the more fanatic of his supporters are a significant part of the whole. I know the system is almost grotesque in it's complexity, but I can't help but compare the wild eyed ranting to historical examples I would rather not see reenacted here.
DeleteAs to a president being a cultural avatar or messianic visionary, it all seems like pap for the angry mob. A president has very limited power and a candidate who doesn't recognize that doesn't seem reliable to me.
Capt. Fogg: I don't get the impression that Bernie is going to be satisfied by the convention results.
DeleteBernie Sanders endorses Hillary Clinton (excerpt from a 7/12/2016 CNN article) "I have come here to make it as clear as possible why I am endorsing Hillary Clinton and why she must become our next president", Sanders said at a joint rally here. "Secretary Clinton has won the Democratic nomination and I congratulate her for that".
But is he satisfied? I imagine he was fortified with some Tums or Maalox, but I'm glad he said it anyway.
DeleteWhat absolutely floors me about this election cycle is the willful tone deafness of Bernie cultists AND Trump cultists. Do any of them realize how pathologically TOXIC a Trump presidency will be! And why this madman must be stopped AT ALL COST!
ReplyDeleteI am really hard pressed distinguishing the brown shirts from the dumb (4-letter word rhyming with "fits").
Bernie's Cultural Revolution doesn't appeal to me and I'm revolted by the adherence to simple minded slogans and arguments, the blurry and unsupportable generalizations and the scapegoats. I've heard it all before and it never ends well. It's gotta be Bernie or let the sky fall - which is to put the interests of all Americans and much of the world second to partisanship. Why is this different than the Republicans? Yes, that's a rhetorical question.
ReplyDeleteGiven our choices in this election cycle, I have been reduced to a one issue voter: SCOTUS!
ReplyDeleteYES. Reminds me of the movie Titanic - the movie made it seem all about the inequities of British 19th century society rather than that huge hole in the side and lack of lifeboats.
ReplyDeleteA couple of Trumpsters on the court and it's OH CANADA for me. . .