Letters to the Editor
Published Letters: 679 Editor's Choice: 9
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The stakes, the working class, the math and a little history
[Read the article: Obama and the white working class]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Watching NOW and Bill Moyers Journal last night put the stakes in sharp relief for me. Especially the segment on Bill Moyers Journal about the working poor in Alabama unable to buy enough food to feed their families.
In print, it seems cliche, and it is. Meeting these people for a half hour segment with Moyers and his team humanizes their plight better than just reading that "there are poor people in Alabama" can.
Similarly, actually driving through a Pennsylvania ghost town with shuttered factories and mines triggers my "mirror neurons" better than simply hearing HillaryCain spout platitudes about how noble and proud and blah blah blah "those people" are.
Give me a break. If I lived in Central PA, I'd get my shotgun out and run Hillary or McCain off my (meager) property at the first sign of approach. I don't want to speculate what would happen if Obama were approaching. The point is, anyone in a suit and a press gaggle is viewed with an appropriate amount of skepticism.
I always drove through Central PA as fast as I could get away with when going between Pittsburg and Philadelphia and back (the Highway Patrol is notoriously evil and for as long as I have been alive the Ohio/PA border featured a large billboard proclaiming "Welcome to Pennsylvania, The Keystone State! The Speed Limit is /STILL/ 55.").
Sometimes it seems to me when reading this back and forth between Obama and Clinton supporters I wonder if everyone hasn't lost sight of the stakes, or if some of these people (Republican concern trolls aside) even care about the working poor, the uninsured, seniors on fixed income and soldiers and the families dealing with stop-loss, injury, death and cuts in benefits.
It seems to me that all things being equal, both candidates have programs so similar that attempting to differentiate them meaningfully requires a lot of parsing. The claims of more experience one way or another are easily batted away (Obama does have more experience as elected official, and Hillary, being older and a political spouse, simply has more years under her belt).
Where my opinion comes in is the question of character and elect-ability. And we all know where I fall. There is one candidate who I don't think has a chance in hell to win in November and one who I think does.
As for the history part, I want everyone to think about the last few losers we've run in the last 25 years and why they became the nominee. Put yourselves outside your comfort zone and imagine how the masses might feel about voting for Lady MacBeth.
Obama misspoke. Somehow he keeps coming out of it looking better to me than before. And I remind you, he was my fifth choice.
But in the final analysis, its McCain that we need to stop. In the end, I don't care if its Ralph Nader that takes him down. But I think we can all agree that isn't going to happen.
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Patronizing
[Read the article: Obama and the white working class]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The working class need a patron.
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Shorter Salon.com
[Read the article: The rubes and the elites]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Daily hit piece on Obama.
Joan, I'm canceling my account when it is up for renewal.
Clinton is going to lose, Obama is going to win. Stop whining.
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"this flap is starting to look a bit underwhelming"?
[Read the article: Did the "bitter" flap affect the race?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Please. Its hardly a flap and it was underwhelming from the beginning. Stop projecting Clinton's failures on Obama.
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Women
[Read the article: Hey, Obama boys: Back off already!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Not all women are Clinton supporters, so supporting Clinton is not a prerequisite to build a winning Democratic voting bloc come November.
I think at this point you could define the Clinton camp using one word: Idiots.
If you think Hillary Clinton will win in a general election against Senator McCain, you are an idiot.
Man or woman, black or white, anyone whose hat is still in the ring for Clinton is an idiot.
Notorious WES and lolcait, I'm talking to you. And as much as it vexes me to say so, I'm on the same side of this as Sugarman. Talk about bridging divides!
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Chances are..
[Read the article: I think my dad's too old to vote]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]If you read the news or watch TV you are as much or less informed on the issues than if you don't. ;)
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Clinton supporters
[Read the article: Hey, Obama boys: Back off already!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Does anyone find it strange that the (non-feminist) female supporters of Clinton seem to have an oppression complex? Really, its you and your girl versus the world! Its like PTSD for the spousal abuse set. Did that big bad boyfriend or husband make you feel un-pretty? Did he cheat on you, that pig? Hit you?
Of course the loudest criers of "sexism" are not feminists -- Hillary is hardly so. Worse, the loudest complainers are themselves sexist. That's the point we're missing here: its not that they are racist for not supporting Obama, but that they are sexist for their assumptions about Clinton opponents.
That is not to say that there are some people who will not vote for Clinton because of the location of her sex organs (internal) just as there are people who will not vote for Obama because of his level of melanin.
The point is that Clinton does herself more harm simply opening her gaping maw (mouth, you sickos) than lacking a Y chromosome. She is Joe Leiberman in a pants suit, a man with a penis who I find thoroughly reprehensible despite the fact that I too am a man with a penis. So much for solidarity!
May I suggest that those who are most shrilly crying foul on the supposed sexism of this most fecund political season are being "hysterical?" I might, but that would be dancing on the edge of misogyny, and I love my mother (who is voting for Obama, because she too is disgusted with Clinton's disingenuous brand of politics).
Clinton supporters, rid yourself of your delusions and let the healing begin. First, denial, then anger, bargaining, grief then acceptance. Better luck next time.
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DeeperTruthy
[Read the article: Hey, Obama boys: Back off already!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Read the rest of his/her letters. Elucidating.
Only one more week left, Hillary!
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Hillary Clinton: The First 100 Days
[Read the article: The rubes and the elites]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Day one: Watch as President-elect Barack Obama is sworn in as president.
Day two: Take a well deserved vacation.
Day three: etc..