"Every day is a journey, and the journey itself is home."
-- Basho, writer
This week we're asking everyone to go to our NEW website -- http://www.proleftpod.com -- to listen to the show.
There are links to donate to our podcast work at that site, as well as a link to our NEW Zazzle merch store!!! Thanks to @theologop for setting us up so beautifully!
Thanks!!!
Links:
- Leslie Jones interviewed at the New York Times...
- The Harvard Report on election coverage 2016
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14 comments:
Love the website transformation! Standing O to theologop!
Thank you again for the dose of sanity.
I'd settled a while back on referring to Trump as "president four-year-old" whenever I needed to name him in comments and such, but this week I happened upon this Richard Thompson song about him, written before he decided to run for president, and as he notes in the introduction "To avoid having my kneecaps removed I can't mention him by name, so I'll call him Fergus, Fergus Lang."
So that's what I call him now, Fergus.
You mentioned the feeling of helplessness that is a side effect of the massive dose of destructive idiocy being visited upon us all by Fergus and his band of felons, and I still hold that mockery is one of the best tools in the box for such feelings, or as Richard puts it in that same intro "What can we do about it? Well not a lot, he's got the politicians in his pocket, but there's still the power of song..."
So since the comedians are on vacation in this time of dire need, here's a powerful dose of mockery to help carry us through, and better guitar than that beast of a man ever deserved, even in a song specifically mocking him:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xc7x9tLFexw
-Doug in Oakland
Opening thoughts before listening to Pod Cast on Saturday as Usual: "Hah! Foiled again. President Stupid just pardoned Arpaio in the middle of a Hurricane. Poor DG and BG. Never can keep up with all the news out of President Stupid's White House."
Actually listens to Podcast: "She KNEW!"
Opening thoughts before listening to Pod Cast on Saturday as Usual: "Hah! Foiled again. President Stupid just pardoned Arpaio in the middle of a Hurricane. Poor DG and BG. Never can keep up with all the news out of President Stupid's White House."
Actually listens to Podcast: "She KNEW!"
I don't want to see Hillary Clinton flogged in the streets.
I DO want the Democrats, as a party collectively, to learn from mistakes so that we don't repeat them in the future.
This last election, we lost to a buffoon that makes Mitt Romney look ethical, Ryan look honest, McCain look even-tempered, Palin look eminently qualified, W Bush look like a Rhodes Scholar and Cheney look humane. He's the worst of the worst in all possible ways a Republican can be. How did this happen?
We can answer this question in one of two ways:
1. We can blame everybody but ourselves, whine endlessly and make excuses. Hillary Clinton and the Democrats did nothing wrong. She didn't fail us. We failed her.
2. We can do some serious introspection and ask what the Clinton campaign did wrong, what we need to learn and what we need to do better next time.
It feels good and self-righteous to take option #1. After the sting of defeat, self-pity is easier than facing your own faults. Taking responsibility and learning from your mistakes is the harder route. However, if we're going to do better next time, we shouldn't take the easy path. Do you think we WON'T face voter-suppression or sexism or a corporate-controlled media or purists or Russians next time?
We lost to the biggest joke of a candidate I could imagine. The words "president Trump" should be a punchline, not a nightmare we're currently facing. That we actually managed to lose to a drooling moron like Trump should be a wake up call as to just how incompetent the DNC is at campaigning.
So I hope I've explained why a lot of Democrats like myself get angry every time we've seen Hillary Clinton get in front of a microphone to tell us "it's not my fault". It's not because I'm sexist. It's because she symbolizes the arrogance of a political party that would rather lose the next election than face its own faults or learn from its mistakes.
We can't afford that.
Show me the link to Hillary Clinton in front of a microphone tell us "it's not my fault".
Also Clinton won the popular vote by 3M. She lost the votes of asshole Berners and Sarandons and Steiniacs who were just too darn pure to sully themselves and decided that, since Clinton was going to win anyway, they's piss their votes away in a useless gesture and let other people do the actual work of saving them from monsters.
Then there was Comey. And Russia. And a billion dollars in free media for Trump. And a NYT and Washington Post who were fucking obsessed with emails.
But yeah, keep pretending none of that mattered.
Memories :-)
https://twitter.com/EricBoehlert/status/901655080713277442
Before I post again, I'd like to say that we're all on the same side here and we want Democrats to win next time. I happen to believe that the way to do that is by looking at our own mistakes and trying to learn from them instead of making excuses and blaming everyone but ourselves. My philosophy in life is that it's better to be proactive and that the pain of defeat often carries a lesson to be learned.
I sincerely fear that refusal to learn from our mistakes or even admit we made any will only allow history to repeat itself.
I also want everyone to know that even though I voted for Sanders in the primary, I voted for and supported Hillary in the general election ("blue no matter who"). I agree that Stein voters were delusional and anyone who suggests that Hillary would be "just as bad as Trump" is full of crap.
I also hold two opposing thoughts in my head at the same time (you and your wife often like to talk about nuanced thinking, well, here you go):
1. Shame on the purists and the Stein voters who could have been part of the last line of defense against Trump by voting for Clinton and they chose not to.
2. Shame on the DNC that refuses to take any responsibility for this debacle.
A plague on BOTH their houses.
Yes, I grant you our outdated relic, the Electoral College, allowed Trump to "win" despite losing by 3 million votes. I grant you the stupid purists. I grant you the Russian interference. I grant you sexism in America. I grant you the FBI's actions. I grant you our corporate-owned media. I grant you the nothing-burger that was her so-called "email scandal". I grant you all of that. She still should have won this election in a walk.
Hillary Clinton ran against the biggest buffoon the Republicans have ever run (and that's a really high bar for the GOP). There is no excuse for losing this election.
If you think that's just my opinion, look at the post-convention polling numbers. Bernie Sanders, by that time, had folded his campaign so he was not a choice (except for the idiot "write in" crowd). Do you know what her lead was?
http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/election-update-clintons-post-convention-bump-is-holding-steady/
If it WAS true that Bernie Sanders had mortally wounded Hillary Clinton's campaign, we'd have seen that reflected in her post convention numbers. Instead, she had a lead that seemed unstoppable at the time. Had she been able to maintain that, 2016 would have been remembered as the "reverse Dukakis" election. The numbers don't support the theory that "Bernie-bros" ruined everything in 2016.
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As for "not my fault", I was paraphrasing to make a point but here you go:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OKZLqSM-VM
and
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqn7SXYZDqo
Just to show a few examples.
She took "absolute responsibility" and then blamed factors beyond her control.
"Responsibility". You keep using that word...
I know this is a sore topic. It is for me, too. I wish we'd have won. I wish Clinton was my president now. I wish for Democrats to win the next election. We're on the same side.
So what are some of the mistakes that she made? I'm no professional political analyst but if you asked me, here are a few ideas I'd like to suggest:
1. She made her campaign all about her. "I'm With Her", "Ready for Hillary". Presidential campaigns are not about you. They're about what you're going to do for the voters. Even an idiot like Trump knew this. He promised "Make America Great Again". Yes, it's an empty slogan but he understood that the election isn't all about you. And he's clearly suffering from toxic narcissism and histrionic personality disorder. What's her excuse? (I'm saying that in humor; in the spirit of laugh or cry)
2. She ran the John Kerry playbook of assuming that being the "Not Republican" is good enough. Clearly, it isn't. It should be but it isn't.
3. Make your slogans simple enough that even the dumbest of your supporters can parrot them at the water cooler at work. Her husband ran "it's the economy, stupid" and it worked pretty well. Sanders got a lot of criticism for repeating himself too much but he understood what Hillary did not.
4. Do better at understanding what the coming election is about. Voters were angry. The middle class is dying. Bernie blamed Wall Street fat cats. Donald blamed stupid politicians in Washington. Hillary (pause for effect) spoke in lofty platitudes about how love trumps hate.
5. Run candidates with this thing we call "charisma". Barack Obama has it. Michelle Obama has it. Bill Clinton has it. Hillary Clinton is a plank of wood. I'm sorry but she's just not inspiring. Voters shouldn't need that but they do.
6. Four words that could have made the difference: Vice President Bernie Sanders.
There's just a few thoughts I had. I'm sure those who are more savvy about politics might have a longer list.
We're on the same side. I want to win next time. I'm sure we all do.
Best wishes.
One word about the 2016 election: Crosscheck.
There are probably more "Jose Gonzalez"s who got purged from the voter rolls in three states than the 70,000 votes Fergus won them by.
Every minute and every erg of energy we spend fighting each other instead of them makes us lose.
Yes, we're gonna disagree about some things, but god damn it, when we fight over confirmable facts we're being gaslit.
That's when we need to turn our anger and frustration against the assholes who are actually trying to kill us, not each other.
Bernie would have lost. If you don't believe that, go read the oppo folder they had on him.
If you won't do that, you're not operating in reality, and as much as I value you being on our team instead of theirs, you just might make us lose again.
If we lose again, they might not fail at killing us as much as they have this time, although the folks downstream from the newly deregulated mines might not feel so lucky as I do right about now.
-Doug in Oakland
I realize tone of voice doesn't come across in this medium. Could everyone please hear me in the way I'm trying to come across with my constructive criticism of our party? I'm not "fighting" any of you. Neither am I trying to re-litigate whether Bernie would have won as a presidential candidate (although I do suggest he'd have been a stronger running mate than the guy we fielded).
I'm trying to start a calm but much needed discussion on what WE need to do better in the future, not just on how the media is screwed up, how voter suppression is a problem, how purists are idiots and so on. These are important topics as well and I'm not saying otherwise. The field is unfairly tilted against us in the elections, both literally by our Electoral College and in terms of how the media works against us. That means, like it or not, we need to perfect how we campaign. It's not fair but that's the world we live in.
I also want to be clear that I'm not trying to "flog" Hillary. She's a human being and she made mistakes. Let's look at those mistakes and learn what we can from them. You can't learn from mistakes you never acknowledge.
I'd also like to discuss a #7 to my list, a point I'm personally not certain about but that needs some review, is the decision to go with a "centrist" strategy hoping to be more electable in the general election. This has been the prevailing wisdom among Democrats. Even Obama governed by a fairly centrist policy.
I question whether this strategy is effective because (1) centrist voters that we're trying to appeal to probably don't vote (half the electorate doesn't and it's a good bet that much of this bloc is the portion of our country that can't get off the fence) and (2) when they do vote, it's a good bet that they're "low information voters" who aren't going to understand the nuance that a centrist campaign requires. Would a run-to-the-left and fire-up-the-base strategy be more effective? I think so and the idea at least merits discussion.
Love the podcast and as soon as I'm on my feet financially to the point where I can afford and expresso based beverage, I'll catch up on my belated contributions.
OK, let's be honest and not shy away from any facts that we don't find helpful.
Hillary was the candidate because she won the primaries, just like Fergus was the candidate because he won the primaries.
There wasn't any DNC conspiracy to favor her. And even if there had been one, do you believe it would have changed the outcome of the primaries?
This is important when trying to decide what "we" should do because it helps to identify who "we" are, just as the fact that Fergus won the primaries helps to identify who Republicans are.
-Doug in Oakland
I'm not denying that Hillary Clinton won the primaries. I'm talking about mistakes the Hillary Clinton campaign made in the general election.
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