What the DNC failed to foresee is pretty obvious to many people this morning: a nationwide Clinton fatigue, coupled with an absolute distrust in the brand. The DNC was sure it could and would ram Hillary Clinton down our throats. Of course they didn’t think they’d have to do so; the assumption being we’d welcome her with open arms. As it turns out, that was a very bad assumption.
It is an age of frustration and revolt, whether establishment politicians care to acknowledge it or not. People have been fed up with business as usual for years, but for whatever the reason(s), these days the same people are willing to do something about it. I suggest it began with the Occupy movement which spread like wildfire and later became the brunt of late night jokes. The joke, it seems now, was on the jokesters.
On one side there’s the Trump brand which appeals to the kind of nationalism that frightens the more reasonable amongst us. "The Donald" claims he will “make America great again.” How he’ll do it consists of self-assured Trumpisms like: “I know how to make deals. I’ll be the greatest jobs creator in the history of the country. I’m the most militaristic guy,” etc.
Specifics? Unnecessary when you have a portion of the populace seething with a bloodlust that rivals that in 1939 Nazi Germany.
On the other side is Bernie Sanders, a self-avowed democratic socialist with a lifelong record of honesty, integrity and compassion. Should it come down to Trump vs. Sanders, I guess we’ll finally see which approach to the future America actually prefers: One of Nazi-like carnival barking or a real to life people’s revolution.
The RNC assumed it would be Bush vs. Clinton. So did the DNC. In that scenario, perhaps Clinton would appeal to more Americans than Bush, but the question so many of us had asked over and again was this: In a country of 330,000,000+ people, are those the ONLY two candidates we have to live with?
The answer, obviously, is not anymore.
Now, both the RNC and DNC will do everything within their power to subvert actual democracy in their blatant attempts to steal the nomination away from both Trump and Sanders. Both candidates clearly suffered dirty politics in Iowa. Trump was burned from a Cruz campaign that lied about Ben Carson suspending his campaign to garner votes back to Cruz. Sanders supporters will likely go to our graves wondering about those 5% missing votes in 90 precincts, along with shortages of voter applications in Sanders friendly precincts, the combination of which more than likely stole the victory from Sanders.
And then there’s this: The Iowa Democratic Party won’t release the raw vote. Why not? The fact that the head of the Iowa Democratic Party, Dr. Andy McGuire, sports a license plate on her Buick that reads: HRC2016 makes the grounds all the more fertile for Bernie’s political revolution. How the DNC doesn’t see this is mind boggling -- and very supportive of one of Donald Trump’s battle cries: “America is being ruined by incompetents!”
Dirty politics wasn’t going to work last night in New Hampshire. Last night the people rejected wholesale both parties preferred candidates and sent a clear message, should both parties bother to listen.
Right now the voter breakdown favors Sanders over Trump in a big way. Not only young women, but all women went for Bernie. Independents were equally as impressive. And let’s face it, with all his bluster, Trump could only must one-third of his party last night. Bernie nailed two-thirds of his and had a much higher vote total than Trump.
Of course the process will get much uglier moving forward. Hillary Clinton will only go down knuckles bleeding. Although her concession speech last night was basically word-for-word Bernie Sanders, she’s going to attack in Thursday night’s debate like never before. Usually that doesn’t bode well for the Clintons. Having her husband out on the stump hurling “sexist” comments was a “disaster” (more Trump speak) vs. The Donald, and will likely be the same vs. Sanders. A man accused of several sexual assaults, having had to settle one for $850,000 to keep it out of court, and with a White House sex scandal topping his resume, Slick Willy probably isn't the best choice to play the "sexist card." But don't tell Hillary and/or the DNC. So far the Big Dawg has wagged his finger a few times, but these days he looks frail and without the old charisma that helped him avoid ... well, jail.
The bottom line is Bill Clinton won’t being doing Hillary any favors by wagging his finger at us. Remember the last time he did that?
The bottom line is Bill Clinton won’t being doing Hillary any favors by wagging his finger at us. Remember the last time he did that?
Madeleine Albright basically handed whatever percentage of young women voters who were undecided over to Bernie by insulting woman across the board with her absurd statement. Not voting for Hillary Clinton would send them to hell? Really? At least Gloria Steinem had the sense to walk back her dopey comment about young women going for Bernie because “it was where the boys were,” but overall, I suspect that didn’t help the Clinton cause either.
And so now we head South where the Clinton so-called firewall will protect her from the democratic-socialist, except Hillary Clinton’s appeal to the African-American community is waning. Bernie Sanders has a lifetime of civil rights activism behind him, and many African-American activists are switching sides to join Bernie’s movement. It is telling that while Hillary Clinton was studying law at Yale, so that she could one day joke about getting a child rapist off, Bernie Sanders, during his college years, was being arrested for protesting against segregated housing in a Chicago University. Bernie also joined Martin Luther King's march on Washington, D.C., and has supported progressive civil rights legislation for more than 40 years. There are more than enough Youtube videos of the ever-evolving Hillary Clinton playing catch-up with Bernie on everything from Universal Healthcare to marriage equality, trade agreements and as of last night, overturning Citizens United.
The big problem for Hillary is the image she hasn't been able to shed, which I suspect does her campaign the most damage. She is viewed across the board as someone inherently untrustworthy. Forget all the scandals, but does anyone really believe she wasn't thinking about running for President when she decided to use her own email server while Secretary of State? Does anyone really believe all that gelt she gets from special interests ranging from Wall Street to Big Pharma, Monsanto, Insurance Companies, Private Prisons, et al, doesn't influence her?
Does anyone really believe she took sniper fire in Bosnia?
Something tells me the tides have already shifted way too fast and way too far for establishment politicians to alter the current. Consider it a Bernami if you will, but I feel confident today that Bernie Sanders will be the next President of the United States.
The big problem for Hillary is the image she hasn't been able to shed, which I suspect does her campaign the most damage. She is viewed across the board as someone inherently untrustworthy. Forget all the scandals, but does anyone really believe she wasn't thinking about running for President when she decided to use her own email server while Secretary of State? Does anyone really believe all that gelt she gets from special interests ranging from Wall Street to Big Pharma, Monsanto, Insurance Companies, Private Prisons, et al, doesn't influence her?
Does anyone really believe she took sniper fire in Bosnia?
In any event, welcome to the Revolution.
An addendum: Upon learning Hillary Clinton walked away with the same number of delegates as Bernie after being crushed in the primary, all due to the non-democratic creation of party hacks called Super Delegates, I immediately wrote this on Bernie's page. Okay, I am a passionate, hot-tempered, MoFo. The Sanders campaign has reassured his followers that everything is okay. I'm not as confident, but what I wrote below, except for suspending cash and giving him my all, is true. If they steal it from US, I vote the opposition party in protest.
What I just wrote on Bernie's page: Dear Bernie: You need to address this situation with the so-called super delegates. I have invested a lot of my time and money in your compaign. I believe in 99% of what you stand for. You're the first candidate in my lifetime I feel totally confident supporting, and I've convinced most of my family and some friends to back you as well. However, this issue with the super delegates terrifies me and today it took the wind from my sails. If this is how the DNC is going to steal the nomination (we all feel Iowa was stolen), after crushing Hillary in New Hampshire last night, how she gets to walk away with more delegates is obscene and has NOTHING to do with democracy. If you are going to support a party and a candidate who takes part in this kind of corruption, I need to know sooner rather than later. Please address this issue. I sent you another $50.00 last night and I've donated a few hundred before last night. I've spent countless hours on social media for your cause, but if you are going to support a stolen and corrupt process, I need to know so I can switch my attention and support to someone else (Jill Stein, etc.) ... frankly, if this is how Hillary Clinton wins, I will more than likely vote for whichever numskull the GOP nominates. I will NOT REWARD THE DNC OR HILLARY CLINTON. Please address this soon.
—Knucks
