Do you not understand how tearing her down hurt everyone?
Do you not understand how ignoring those criticisms tanked her campaign?
Why are you angry at me and not Harris and the DNC?
This is what gets me. Democrats act like their party is some force of nature which they have no control over. They seem completely unwilling to place any demands on their candidates, because they’re afraid that it will weaken them and cause the Republicans to win.
In reality, Harris was already coming from a place of weakness. If she had properly handled the issue, it could’ve saved her campaign, but she refused.
Regarding the Epstein files: Releasing those files is important for the victims to gain closure. They have said this. Additionally, there are probably a lot of big-money donors implicated in those files, and that’s why they don’t want them released.
No, I don’t think they’ll take down Trump, either, but that doesn’t mean that they aren’t important.
Oh, I’m mad at them too. And I understand how her failure and that of the DNC screwed things up. I’m mad at lots of people :)
I’m not mad at you, in particular, but I’m mad at the concept that we, on the left, are always chasing the ‘perfect’ candidate and allowing really shitty people to win when a non-shitty person is available.
I’ve voted in every primary and off-year election since 2006, preferring the more progressive or dare I say socialist candidates in 2016 and 2020. Despite my choices not being the ones the rest of the county chose, I still voted for the democratic candidates in those elections. I would have liked to have a voice in 2024, but I wasn’t given one and it pisses me off.
Despite that, I think there was a clear “better for US and better for the world” candidate, but she got a bunch of negative press from people and organizations who were either too stupid to recognize the best of bad choices, or were actively trying to sabotage her chances. I think that negative press caused some people to decline to vote for her that otherwise would have, and the margin in some states was thin. I think it very well could have changed the election results if people had said things like “I don’t like her stance on X, but we should vote for her because she’s clearly better on Y, Z, A, B, C and D than him.”
I am NOT trying to say that the topics where people didn’t approve of her stances were not valid, or that they are not important. I would love to have the Epstein files released, and I would love for the US to support Gaza, and I would love for us to figure out how to support minorities, trans people, and all sorts of other disadvantages. I’m a caricature of the bleeding-heart-liberal and will fight for other peoples’ rights harder than I fight for my own. I happen to be privileged in race, gender and birth social status, but I recognize it, and that it is a fleeting privilege if I don’t help others retain theirs.
What I am trying to say is that when every political discussion turns into ‘but genocide’ or ‘release the files’, we stifle the ability to discuss things that are also important. Specifically those two examples because ‘but genocide’ was used during the election to great effect and ‘but epstein files’ is currently being thrown around here so often it feels like either just a meme or an intentional distraction. You did this exact thing when you took my whole response and turned it into ‘genocide isn’t as bad as facism?’
Thanks for writing more than a witty one-liner this time.
Do you not understand how ignoring those criticisms tanked her campaign?
Why are you angry at me and not Harris and the DNC?
This is what gets me. Democrats act like their party is some force of nature which they have no control over. They seem completely unwilling to place any demands on their candidates, because they’re afraid that it will weaken them and cause the Republicans to win.
In reality, Harris was already coming from a place of weakness. If she had properly handled the issue, it could’ve saved her campaign, but she refused.
Regarding the Epstein files: Releasing those files is important for the victims to gain closure. They have said this. Additionally, there are probably a lot of big-money donors implicated in those files, and that’s why they don’t want them released.
No, I don’t think they’ll take down Trump, either, but that doesn’t mean that they aren’t important.
Oh, I’m mad at them too. And I understand how her failure and that of the DNC screwed things up. I’m mad at lots of people :)
I’m not mad at you, in particular, but I’m mad at the concept that we, on the left, are always chasing the ‘perfect’ candidate and allowing really shitty people to win when a non-shitty person is available.
I’ve voted in every primary and off-year election since 2006, preferring the more progressive or dare I say socialist candidates in 2016 and 2020. Despite my choices not being the ones the rest of the county chose, I still voted for the democratic candidates in those elections. I would have liked to have a voice in 2024, but I wasn’t given one and it pisses me off.
Despite that, I think there was a clear “better for US and better for the world” candidate, but she got a bunch of negative press from people and organizations who were either too stupid to recognize the best of bad choices, or were actively trying to sabotage her chances. I think that negative press caused some people to decline to vote for her that otherwise would have, and the margin in some states was thin. I think it very well could have changed the election results if people had said things like “I don’t like her stance on X, but we should vote for her because she’s clearly better on Y, Z, A, B, C and D than him.”
I am NOT trying to say that the topics where people didn’t approve of her stances were not valid, or that they are not important. I would love to have the Epstein files released, and I would love for the US to support Gaza, and I would love for us to figure out how to support minorities, trans people, and all sorts of other disadvantages. I’m a caricature of the bleeding-heart-liberal and will fight for other peoples’ rights harder than I fight for my own. I happen to be privileged in race, gender and birth social status, but I recognize it, and that it is a fleeting privilege if I don’t help others retain theirs.
What I am trying to say is that when every political discussion turns into ‘but genocide’ or ‘release the files’, we stifle the ability to discuss things that are also important. Specifically those two examples because ‘but genocide’ was used during the election to great effect and ‘but epstein files’ is currently being thrown around here so often it feels like either just a meme or an intentional distraction. You did this exact thing when you took my whole response and turned it into ‘genocide isn’t as bad as facism?’
Thanks for writing more than a witty one-liner this time.