Let’s get real
Let’s be clear about something here, readers. In a previous post, I said that all the right-wingers who are so upset right now about the loss of Mitt Romney are going to head down to their local polling places on Election Day to go ahead and cast their votes for the putative McCain-Whoever 2008 GOP ticket anyway. They’ll do this no matter what, even if they do so while figuratively pinching their noses shut to ward off the stink of Compromised Principles.
Commenter Dave Fourputt took umbrage at this suggestion and lashed out angrily:
Not me.
It’s you Democrats that will be like sheep and vote for any Democrat that is presented to you.
Even those who are/were oh-so-concerned about the Iraq war will throw away your principles and vote for Hillary and forget all about her ‘yes vote’ on the war.
Well, duh. I’ve said it more than once, and I’ll say it again right now: of course I’ll vote for whoever gets the Dem nomination this year.
Let’s get real here, readers — right-wingers are going to vote for McCain anyway, because what other choice will they have?
Left-wingers like me will vote for Hillary Clinton if she’s the Dem nominee anyway, because what other choice will we have?
What else am I going to do? Throw away my vote on some egotistical third-party spoiler like Ralph Nader? Take my metaphorical toys and go home, peevishly refusing to cast any vote at all in November? I’d have to be awfully stupid to do either of these things.
I believe that either Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton will be a much better President than John McCain (or Mike Huckabee, or Mitt Romney, for that matter). Therefore, I’ll do my part to see that Obama or Clinton gets elected. Yes, my own political views are more than a little bit to the left of Clinton’s or Obama’s. But even so, why the hell would I take the risk of another four (or eight) years of GOP misrule?
The Bush Administration has given us an endless, completely useless war in Iraq that’s bleeding our military and our economy to death; domestic scaremongering; a blatantly lawless Executive Branch that openly flouts Congress at every turn; fiscal recklessness and a spiraling national debt; constant abrogation of Constitutional rights; open promises of limitless and warrantless torture and espionage. McCain promises more of the same.
Given that choice, why in the world would I throw away or withhold my vote this November? Things have gotten way past the point where I’d be willing to take any chances. Believe me, I’m a lefty, but I’m nowhere near sufficiently stoned on rebroadcasts of Democracy Now! and Nation editorials that I’m going to do something wacky like throw away my vote. Sure, I’d love it if Dennis Kucinich could be our next President. But guess what? That’s never going to happen.
So don’t misunderstand me, readers. I’m not saying wingnuts will vote for McCain because they have no principles. They’ll vote for McCain because they won’t have any other real choice. That’s the way things are in American politics, like it or not.
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February 9th, 2008 @ 20:49
Ouch!
Hey I just believe one should not sell out their principles (and their country) by voting for whoever gets the nomination for a certain party.
To do so means you are a sheep.
Baaaaaah. Baaaaaaaaah.
February 9th, 2008 @ 20:52
You wrote:
Hillary voted yes for the war.
You would be selling out your principles by voting for her.
February 9th, 2008 @ 21:25
>You would be selling out your principles by voting
>for her.
That would be true if I said “I’ll never vote for anyone who supported the Iraq war,” or if I were required to support only those politicians who happened to agree with me 100% of the time on every issue.
Even if that were the case, though, I repeat: what real choice is there? If I said “My principles prevent me from voting for Hillary Clinton,” I could indeed choose to throw away my vote on a third-party spoiler, or stay home on Election Day. Then, when President McCain invades Iran next year, I could look at myself in the mirror and say, “Well, at least I didn’t sell out my principles by voting for Hillary Clinton!” No, thanks. The stakes are too high in 2008.
If I were a right-winger, though, and I felt that President Bush’s failures and shortcomings could be chalked up to his not being enough of a right-winger (please let me know if you don’t think that’s a fair representation of the LQ bloggers’ perspective), I guess I could see the appeal of sitting this one out or casting a “message vote.”
Furthermore, from a pragmatic perspective (I hear), some Republicans think it might actually be better to let Clinton or Obama spend the next four years trying to deal with the messy aftermath of the Bush presidency, and then let Romney or some other Republican candidate step in to offer “change” again in 2012.
But from my perspective on the Left, the stakes are MUCH too high to take any risk of a Republican getting into the White House in 2008. I simply have not got the luxury of sitting this one out, or pretending it doesn’t matter what happens on Election Day.
February 10th, 2008 @ 09:45
You are correct in that some Republicans are indeed thinking like this. IMHO those who do are more interested in power plays than the country.
February 11th, 2008 @ 05:54
dd nt vt fr Bsh 41 th scnd tm. dd vt fr Bsh 43 th 1st tm, bt nt th scnd tm.
Dmcrts vt Dmcrt bcs thy hv ‘prncpls nd vls’ mtr st t zr.
Lbrls wld vt fr sm Bn Ldn hmslf - f h ws th DNC nmn fr prsdnt. Pr nd smpl.
February 11th, 2008 @ 14:56
As is so often the case, you’ve shown up a day late and a dollar short. Bring something interesting or original to the discussion or be quiet.
February 13th, 2008 @ 09:01
Trth s nvr rgnl nd t cn’t b hshd. gnrd? f crs - tht s ndd fr lbrlsm t b vbl. Bt hshd? mpssbl.