Martin Longman has it correct. The civil war on the right has real stakes for people on the right. Whether the GOP becomes the party of Trump or the party of Paul Ryan has real consequences. I would argue that neither is good, because Ryan's economic vision is pretty awful. But at least there are legitimate differences.
On the Left, the internecine scrapping is pathetic. When you are running to the barricades because Hillary "only" wants to raise the minimum wage to $12/HR instead of $15/HR or because Tim Kaine only VOTES pro-choice instead of passing some pro-abortion litmus test, you are being fucking fool and an asshole.
The difference between Trump and Clinton is so vast as to boggle the mind. Here's a peak at something worth considering:
"Lying Hillary" is one of the more honest politicians today. Only Obama is more factually accurate. Trump, meanwhile, is our most dishonest.
That anyone could extrapolate a false equivalency between Trump's lies and Clinton's lies is a complete breakdown of the idea of empirical facts.
Similar arguments can be made about the "corruption" of Hillary Clinton. Clinton does what every single politician does: She makes speeches, she raises money, she tailors her speeches to her audience. She hews to established standards of factual accuracy.
But she has also been the target of a 30 year campaign of smears and innuendo. If people want to know why I've always felt that the email "scandal" was bullshit, it comes down to this: Whitewater, Travelgate, Vince Foster, Benghazi and a million other tiny smears.
I suppose one could congratulate the Right on successfully smearing the most successful and important female politician in our history, but I feel no need to congratulate those on the Left who pick up these baseless smears and repeat them as truths.
This email bullshit is a case in point. A bunch of staffer at the DNC didn't think Sanders could win the nomination because SANDERS COULDN'T WIN THE NOMINATION. That was true by mid-March and certainly mid-April. The math was stacked against Sanders. It always was. Yes, the DC establishment was behind her. Given the shitshow on the GOP side, maybe it's not such a bad idea to have people who actually know politics conduct politics.
This is an existential election. A Trump victory would literally imperil American democracy. His candidacy alone is already degrading many of our civic institutions. Any efforts made to bring the possibility of a Trump victory to fruition need to be fought with every fiber of our political being.
So, Left Blogsylvania, get off your fucking high horse about Bernie Sanders or Hillary or Tim Kaine and fight for what you profess to believe in.
We don't need another Ralph Nader.
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