If you're on the Left, the time to influence your party is now, not later.

[Bonobo]

Democratic voters: You will NEVER have more influence on your party than you have right now with your voice, with your vote. The Primaries are the time when the party establishment is LISTENING to you!

Don't get weak-kneed now. Don't bury the headline. Don't rush headlong into voting for the candidate you THINK is inevitable. That's putting the cart before the horse.

If you care about Progressive issues and EVEN IF you love Hillary Clinton, you should use your influence to push her further towards the Progressive side by showing support for candidates to her left.

If you jump on the establishment bandwagon now, you are essentially sending the signal that you will take whatever you are given.

Yes, now is the time when they are listening. Don't be silent, especially now.

Aim high. Always. What you wind up with always be better than if you shoot for the middle.

[Metric System]

1. Still voting for Hillary.

[RufusTFirefly]

8. Thanks for letting us know!

We were all on pins and needles, just waiting to see which way you'd go.

[sabrina 1]

63. 50% of 32% of the Dem base isn't going to win it for her. And as the months go by

even that is likely to continue to diminish. Registered Dems now make up only 32% of the electorate. She is now at 50% of that vote and below that in some polls.

Sanders is telling Dems the truth. And it's they recognized, you can't force people or scare them any longer, into voting for candidates they did not choose but are chosen for them.

The largest voting bloc in the country right now is the Independent vote, people leaving both parties are the reason for this. What Bernie is saying is those voters, so necessary to win, are not going to return to vote for people who are part of the establishment and responsible for the policies of the last number of decades that drove them away in the first place.

The party can either listen or lose, we'll see what the do..

[onehandle]

2. Don't trade your Nader vote for a Gore vote. What's the worst than can happen?

©2000. All Rights Reserved.

[Bonobo]

3. Nader was in the Democratic primaries?

I wish I had known!

[Ed Suspicious]

13. Nader was running third party. He split the vote. Bernie will not. But I suspect you knew that.

I suspect the point of your post is obfuscation.

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

16. I wouldn't suspect a damn thing.

It's sad, really. I wish one of these people would make a list of what she stands for, so we could compare the candidates, because I truly have no clue where she stands on most issues. Bernie tells us where he stands at every opportunity.

I'm starting to get annoyed, because there is no way to have a civil discussion about real issues with Hillary or her supporters. Insults is all you ever get.

[Bonobo]

18. In some cases, people simply don't know. nt

[KMOD]

4. Hillary is a left leaning Democrat and always has been.

[kath]

5. On what planet?

[KMOD]

6. Earth.

[eridani]

20. I guess all left-leaning Earthians wanted a war in Iraq n/t

[KMOD]

21. I didn't.

Still p'o'ed about it.

[eridani]

22. But you are supporting a candidate who voted for it?

And one who has attacked Obama's foreign policy from the right?

[KMOD]

24. No.

I'm supporting a candidate who was pretty ticked off at what Bush did, and is a very close confidante of President Obama.

[eridani]

25. With friends saying shit like "'Don't do stupid stuff' is not a foreign policy"--

--why would he ever need enemies? If HRC was ticked off with Bush, why was she still defending the war in 2008?

[KMOD]

27. It's not as cut and dry as you make it out to be.

But again, I will say that the Iraq war was a huge mistake.

[eridani]

30. And with HRC the Hawk, friend of Bibi and Kissinger, expect more of the same n/t

[KMOD]

31. She is not a Hawk. That's crazy talk.

[eridani]

32. "We came. We saw. He died." Nope, not a hawk at all.

That quote is not only hawkish, it's sociopathic. Maybe you can explain how turning Libya into a chaotic shithole dominated by the war of each against all is good for the world's women.

[Agschmid]

37. Yes she single handedly did just that...

[eridani]

48. I guess the sociopathic comment on Libya was purely justified, then n/t

[Bonobo]

51. Sociopathic is a good description. If a Republican has said it, everyone would agree.

More hypocrisy... It's like a hypocrisy farm powered by weather vanes.

[kath]

53. " a hypocrisy farm powered by weather vanes"!!

ooh, me likey.

Such a way with words, Bonobo!

[Bonobo]

55. I have my moments!

That was pretty good. Maybe I should grab the url...

[kath]

56. A truly great OP, Bonobo.

Read it a coupla nights ago and recced, and it's just as great on the second read.

(Oops, meant to post that as a response to the OP. Oh well, just as true...)

[Bonobo]

57. I think it is MUCH more important than 99.999% of what we see here in GD:P

It's the time for so-called progressives to put up and stand up for what they say they support.

Time enough in the General to vote for the candidate with the lesser credentials as a fighter for the people.

[ismnotwasm]

60. Yawn

[Bonobo]

61. Go take a nap.

[ismnotwasm]

62. Just woke up

Saw this and thought--I love the smell of irony in the morning.

Ah well--off to save lives

[jfern]

58. She voted for Kyl-Lieberman, the Iran war

Good thing the Bush administration didn't take full advantage of the warmongering that Hillary voted to allow them to do.

Hillary was a yes.
Obama missed the vote and said he would have voted no.
Sanders and Biden voted no.

[LeftOfWest]

28. will wait for an answer

to eridani's very good question.

She defended that war.

Enough no more of that eridani.

No more.

[John Poet]

36. And great pals with the Bush crime family.

"practically family", as the Clintons and Bushes describe themselves.

[Ken Burch]

54. She KNEW Bush would go to war if the IWR passed.

She knew nothing else could possibly happen once Bush got what he wanted from the Senate.

[BlueStateLib]

59. Why was Iraq invaded by Hans Blix and U.N. Weapons Inspectors

Clinton: While there is no perfect approach to this thorny dilemma, and while people of good faith and high intelligence can reach diametrically opposed conclusions, I believe the best course is to go to the UN for a strong resolution that scraps the 1998 restrictions on inspections and calls for complete, unlimited inspections with cooperation expected and demanded from Iraq.

Even though the resolution before the Senate is not as strong as I would like in requiring the diplomatic route first and placing highest priority on a simple, clear requirement for unlimited inspections, I will take the President at his word that he will try hard to pass a UN resolution and will seek to avoid war, if at all possible.

If we get the resolution and Saddam does not comply, then we can attack him with far more support and legitimacy than we would have otherwise.

http://aumf.awardspace.com/
http://www.theleftcoaster.com/archives/011884.php

[Armstead]

10. This year

[Ed Suspicious]

14. Wrong.

[JackRiddler]

15. Lean to the left, step to the right.

The triangulation dance. Keep stepping to the right.

How left was she when as a senator from the 9/11 state and a leader of the supposed opposition she cast her very decisive vote in favor of the Bushian war of aggression that murdered one million people for some geostrategic bullshit?

[KMOD]

23. dammit,

I was so hoping this was going to be about doing the "Time Warp, Again".

bummer.

[DonCoquixote]

34. It is about the Time Warp

an attempt to use 1950's policy to run a 21st century nation.

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

17. I'm not about left leaning - I'm about left.

She is not left. She is center in too many issues that I consider to be important. I'm not a one issue voter.

[KMOD]

29. That's your opinion, of course.

and you're entitled to it.

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

40. And I do agree that she is left (leaning). I hope she doens't hurt herself with all the leaning.

[Ken Burch]

52. How can you believe that after she helped build the DLC?

If she had no primary opponents(and most of her supporters still feel she's entitled to an unchallenged nomination, she'd standfor nothing, just like in 2008, when she ran as the candidate of "hard-working white people".

[RufusTFirefly]

7. A "holding my nose" vote and an enthusiastic one register identically

There's really no way to tell them apart.
That's important because it can be easily be misconstrued or distorted by the corporatists as a vote of confidence.

Primaries provide a chance to vote your conscience and your ideals and, hopefully, to help the person who matches those ideals become the Democratic nominee. Nothing is "inevitable." Don't let the self-fulfilling prophets discourage you from voting for a better world instead of one that's not quite as bad as the alternative. The people united will never be defeated.

[malokvale77]

9. I'll be working and voting for Bernie Sanders...

in the primaries and then the general.

Anyone one who has to be pulled left, is in fact not left.

[Gregorian]

11. The thing I don't like about left leaning is the leaning.

[ibegurpard]

12. yup

How many times have you been told the time to make your voices heard is during primaries? Now is that time.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

19. "Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, you may cherish the sweetest reflection that

"Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost." John Quincy Adams
the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost." John Quincy Adams

[DonCoquixote]

35. Voting alone

That might sound sweet in a world where your vote does not affect anyone, but the Bush II years proved that. Sadly, those who died in Iraq and in new Orleans, and ten thousand other places, cannot come here to explain that far better than I could, their only language is silence, which is drowned out by a bunch of privileged people singing Hymns to themselves about how principled they were to throw a tantrum back in 2000, led by a guy who NOW supports Rand (I will cut every social program) Paul.

[Le Taz Hot]

41. I love that quote. n/t

[Warren DeMontague]

26. No no no. You've got it all wrong. Here's what I've learned on DU about primary voting:

Rule #1: You should vote for the candidate who is GOING TO WIN in the primary, because they are GOING TO WIN whether you vote for them in the primary, or not. Therefore it is absolutely essential that you vote for them in the primary.

Rule #2: You should make your decision on which candidate to vote for based upon the demographic makeup of their crowds, or even better, based upon what some random internet person yammers anecdotally about the demographic makeup of their crowds.

Rule #3: You should make your decision to support candidate B based upon some story about something nasty that someone in the crowd at candidate A's rally supposedly said, once (See rule #2)

Rule #4: You should vote for the candidate whose turn it is.

Rule #5: You should shut your pie hole if you know what's good for you.



Rule #6: You should make your decision on which candidate to vote for based upon which candidate has supporters you argued with here on some random shit, 6 years ago.

Rule #7: You should vote for the establishment, corporate-friendly candidate because to do otherwise means you're a rarefied elitist who doesn't give a crap about the disadvantaged.



Hope this clears it up!

[MannyGoldstein]

38. !!!

[LWolf]

42. I guess we've been in the same classes,

because that's what I've learned at DU about primaries, too.

[djean111]

43. He shoots! He scores! Whoosh! You nailed it perfectly! n/t

[ccinamon]

44. Love it!

Pretty good summation --- thanks!

[jeff47]

46. 8) You should vote for candidate B so you don't have to run out and buy a volvo. (nt)

[Bonobo]

49. Dead on the mark as always, Warren. nt

And yes, THAT "Dead".

[ibegurpard]

50. eminently sensible!

Argle bargle!

[Uncle Joe]

33. That's a most astute observation.

Thanks for the thread, Bonobo.

[Scuba]

39. K&R

[ccinamon]

45. Excellent post!

I totally agree with your post -- I think we are in this mess because for 30 years we've "followed" the establishment bandwagons wishes.....it is slowly getting worse NOT better for the middle-class and poor. Time for NEW ways of doing things, starting with voting for whom you believe is the best/most progressive candidate and not who you think "can win the general".

Love this sentence: Aim high. Always. What you wind up with always be better than if you shoot for the middle.

[Bonobo]

47. Thank you. I wish people gave it more thought.

This is what we SHOULD be doing.

Fortunately, most of DU supports Bernie for the very reasons I put out there.

I suppose I shouldn't be disappointed that there are a small number of people who have smaller agendas that can't allow them to see the bigger picture.