Letters to the Editor
Uncle Fester
Published Letters: 1346 Editor's Choice: 12
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@Dawg: The Lee Shore
[Read the article: Who wants to be a Democrat?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]You're behind us now, and it's time to hold up an offering to the gods of the internet. Always liked the Lee shore in Moby Dick because you got that sense of transience as the past slipped under the horizon to be lost from sight forever. It's when you got that sense that Melville was out of his mind f'king brilliant.
My dispute with you is that you wouldn't let go. A common condition of mankind. But you can't understand people until you let go of yourself and try being them for awhile. Can't pour water into a glass that's already full and other zen bullshit that's totally true. We're all living in separate realities. If we're lucky, we can have shared experience, but it's a two way street. You sounded very much like a one-way street.
We can judge people on their ignorance, their hatred, and any number of faults stretching from here to armageddon (coming soon to a political campaign this fall). But that path only leads back to it's starting point. Every time. There's another path.
So I look at this preacher dude, and yes, he is an old school firery sob. But he had a lot of reasons to be angry that are not nonsense. To not see that is blindness. He's almost an icon now, a symbol of an era that appears to be passing. This guy took a stand the best he knew, and the times bound him and fixed his possibilities.
I think Obama sees him and his path and chose another. Obama wants to act on a greater stage, with a greater freedom, so he will chart a different course. That's the politics of change and hope.
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@Kate
[Read the article: Geraldine Ferraro still needs to apologize]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Well, I don't share your premises, so I can't enjoy your conclusions. I agree his remark was extremely inappropriate. But I don't consider it the DeathStar either.
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@manos99
[Read the article: Who wants to be a Democrat?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Because I swear, sometimes I could easily believe that animals are a lot smarter than people
Wouldn't disagree with that
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OutSiders
[Read the article: Who wants to be a Democrat?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]If you have to register Republicans and Independents to win, it sounds more like outsiders trying to take over rather than Democrats picking a Democratic Candidate.
I think it was LBJ who said we'd rather have them inside the tent pissing out than outside the tent pissing in. You're not the first to raise this point in the letters. It's worth mentioning that a lot of Independents and some Republicans are ex democrats. If we're looking for some type of purity test and only do business with people we agree with on everything, we're not going to do much business.
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How can the Reality candidate not deal with Reality?
[Read the article: Who wants to be a Democrat?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]It's shame Hilary has also been screwed by the ridiculous proportional system put in place by the DNC.
Isn't this the same DEM party that cried out "But Al Gore won the popular vote" after he lost to Bush. Hilary will win the popular vote but the effed up DNC voting system will end up screwing the majority of democratic voters
The proportional vote gives greater weighting to the popular vote, rather than the winner take all. Your remarks seem inconsistent to me.
What I don't understand is this. If I accept that Hillary is the experienced candidate, the reality candidate, and the realpolitik candidate, how can I then turn around and complain because Obama is exploiting the rules better? Hillary and her team should have known about Proportional voting and arcana like the Texas two-step and they should have had it wired. All this subtext that Hillary is getting cheated and is a victim is crap. Especially since she could still become the nominee. I don't think I've heard one Hillary supporter here say that it was a mistake to think that the Campaign would be over by Feb 5th or that Mark Penn has not worked out too well. I'd start there before I started navel gazing about sexism/racism and now ageism.
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@KcM I'll be the bombthrower on this one.
[Read the article: Geraldine Ferraro still needs to apologize]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I agree that it is now extremely difficult for Hillary to overtake Obama in pledged delegates. However, she has another path available to her. The popular vote.
Here's some numbers showing the popular vote as of now:
Obama +703,723
Obama +408,951 (w/FL)
Obama +80,642 (w/ FL & MI)
So it's not totally far-fetched to assume that some combination of FL, MI, and PA gives her the lead in the popular vote, though that's probably offset by IN and NC results. Thus her great interest in getting FL & MI to "count". If she has the popular vote and Obama the delegates going into the convention, the supers will have to make some tough calls. This is also my favorite doomsday scenario where the democrats snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2008/president/democratic_vote_count.html
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@Crunchy (OT) Dostoyevsky and the Grand Inquisitor
[Read the article: Who wants to be a Democrat?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Well, it seemed to me, in a late night free association moment, that we were right back with the Grand Inquisitor. The dude is non-dominational, and equal opportunity after all and a bit of him lurks inside us all. The GI is asking questsions, but he isn't listening, and doesn't want to listen to the answers. He already knows his answer and will broke no enlightenment. He doesn't want the truth to interfere.
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@KcM, Payne: Can she get the popular vote?
[Read the article: Geraldine Ferraro still needs to apologize]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Hillary is behind by nearly 3/4 of a million votes. That cannot be explained away.
I don't think I'm explaining it away, as much as putting forth a scenario where she gets those votes. And I agree with KcM, it won't be easy. I don't think FL & MI will be accepted as is, and there is no guarantee a new vote will give any better results. But the popular vote path easier than the delegate path. I think that is what the Clinton camp is aiming for. They are looking to win, and not play victim. And I heard Pelosi try to slam the door on the popular vote play. I'm not entirely sure that it will stay closed. This is, after all, the democratic party. Giving the nomination to the person who didn't win the most popular votes will freak people.