Candidate Bashing

[ursacorwin]

hi folks, you probably can guess who i'm going for, but it doesn't really matter.

this holiday i got to spend some time with my grandmother, she's going to die soon and knows it and is finally starting to listen to what other people say (she never did in life, she was a spoiled child and very self-centered). but she listened to me talk about my candidate, and then told me why she likes hers. that we don't agree on a candidate has nothing to do with our mutual hatred of BushCo. my grandfather was a decorated vet and my grandmother hates what is happening to our troops...she knows the real deal, even if she does get all her info from msgop and faux.

but one thing really struck me about our exchange, and as you can probably tell, it's about how we were so civil with one another. i have never, ever had a good relationship with my grandmother, in fact i'd go so far as to say she's always disliked me because my grandfather loved me a great deal. but no matter how she does feel about me, it was a wonderful and worthwhile exchange that has helped to bring us closer at the end of her life.

so when i come here and see all this stupid, sophomoric, juvenile name calling and thread after thread about candidate x's underwear or words s/he said two years ago but are somehow relevant Right Now!...i just want to weep.

keep this up and i promise you we'll lose. keep acting like the amateurs and nonprofessionals and i promise you we'll lose. keep helping the rethugs bash our guys, and belittle them in the minds of the fence-sitters and potential dem voters, and i promise you we'll lose.

you don't think all this bashing matters? think again. if nothing else, i've learned in my 30+ years of living life in this political family (three living elected members) that the right IS NOT imaginative. they COME HERE and look at the work YOU do for them, and with their superior monies and control of the media, you damn betcha that those memes get back into the mainstream.


sometimes DU really seems like a big elementary school playground. news flash: children don't vote, and most people are happy about that fact.

if you want this country back, it's about time we all started acting like the adults we'll need to be to make that happen. grow up, DU, and stick to relevant facts...

about REPUBLICANS!

[Jerseycoa]

1. Puts things in perspective

I'm sorry you are losing your grandmother.

[jedicord]

2. I agree with you in a perfect world...

Unfortunately, at this point the Dem candidates are trying to win the Dem nomination. In order to do this, one way to get ahead is to show why they're superior to the other candidates, and do so by showing the other's fallacies. AFTER the nomination is over will be the time to unite. Unfortunately.

I do believe there's a point where some posters here sound Repub-anti-Clinton-like in their nasty vehemence, and that does turn me off. No purpose is served there, except to help the Repubs prove Dems are hate-filled.

[trumad]

3. i don't know

the fact that you don't capitalize your i's makes me very suspicious....

[Scott Lee]

4. Great message - timely and right on the money.

Confessions first. I am an avowed and virulent pro-Dean fighter, and I have no doubt participated in many of the sessions you allude to.

That being said, the amusing part of this is that I had no original intent to be in this position. I joined DU because it was so slimed by the rightards over on the Hillary Clinton Forum. I figured anything that puts them into such fits HAS to be good, so here I went. I was more than happy with what I found here - great posts, intellectual discussion, humor, all of it. Until the candidates stepped up.

I really didn't want to jump into the bashfest, but did so out of defense, not offense. I couldn't believe the nasty-spirited bile coming from a few toward a couple of candidates (one of them being mine), and engaged in defense of them only to be met with increased hostility. Well, I'm an Aries....and those of you who know that persona know that you don't want to get them into a position of righteous indignation. That's where I wound up, watching the ridiculous nature and frequency of the Dean bashes here on DU. Clark has also been attacked pretty horridly, not to mention the late entrance of Ralph Nader. At this point, it seems that the majority of the GD is taken up with bash/hate threads. What a waste.

I'd be willing to bet that many of us would stand down if we felt that the attacks on our faves were decreasing. One thing the handfull of junior highschoolers who seem to revel in negativity toward one candidate or another fail to understand; they are getting nowhere with their tactics. They are not earning their guys more, or taking chunks out of their opponents' support base. They are only inflating their own egos in a juvenile sort of "shirts vs. skins" game.

Speaking for myself, I'd be more than happy to go off the defensive. That would have to be predicated by a reason given to me by those (and they know who they are) who spend 95% of their DU time on the attack against our own. Let's see what happens.

Best wishes to your family.

[Scott Lee]

5. By the way, notice that the AntiDean knitting clutch isn't here.

Good golly, I wonder why?

[Le Taz Hot]

6. Anti-Dean knitting clutch?

ROFLMAO!!! Excellent! I'll be stealing that if you don't mind. B-)