Voting "For" is *always* better and easier than voting "Against"

[Stinky The Clown]

Voting against involves negative emotions.

Voting for is all positive.





In 2006, we all felt the momentum. We were voting FOR a new Congress and we got it.

In 2008, we were a little more ambivalent. I think the most enthusiastic "for" votes were cast in the primaries. In the general, there was a measure of "against" even as the "for" votes were overwhelmingly the most common. Personally, I voted "for" Obama. As I reported back then, for the first time ever, all of my family and extended family voted "for" the same candidate.



As we head into the 2010 season, there seems to be even less "for" sentiment. That repubican "enthusiasm" we hear about is not an indication of a "for" mood. Oh no. They're voting against all the bullshit things Fox News and the other right wing media outlets are telling them to hate. On our side, there's a sort of civil war. The Obama supporters are indeed voting "for" so as to keep control of Congress. Meanwhile, the disaffected, ideologically abandoned Democrats (I now find myself in this group) are faced with a real dilemma. There is no enthusiasm to vote "for" and there is no way to cast an "against" vote. (Don't believe what you hear or are told by the professional vilifiers - NO ONE in this group will be voting for repubicans any time soon.)

This could have been so much better. All it would have taken is some indication that we were heard. Actually, that's not true. We know we were heard. How? Because when we were heard, we were called "fucking retards".

Not even the repubicans, on their nastiest, meanest day, did that.

[Davis_X_Machina]

1. Flying Business is always better than flying Coach...

...but you don't get to do it often. Unless you wish really, really hard, that is.

[havocmom]

7. small equine is now airline?

:rofl:

[Jackpine Radical]

2. Pretty sad. The two largest camps of disaffected people in America

are liberal and progressive Democrats, and the residents of Joe Arpaio's outdoor jail.

[hobbit709]

3. sometimes the choices are

do you want to be slapped upside your head with a 2X2 or a 2X4?

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

4. It also saves wear and tear on nasal passages. K&R

[stray cat]

5. How many will not be voting? I agree with the sentiment and did not vote in 2000

as a result. Does anyone think I should have voted against Bush even though I could not vote for Al Gore?

[havocmom]

6. Yep, voting FOR something feels better. Getting what you voted for would feel great

But is sure hasn't happened in recent times.

And to all the broken campaign platform enablers who will be along to tell us we are wrong, stinky, a preemptive remark: hammering a point that is not really true does not make it true but does show a fondness for utilizing the technique Newt taught in his classes.

President Obama's transgressions and violations of Candidate Obama's statements of what he would do, insist upon, accomplish, have been documented time and time again. No amount of haranguing and repetition will change the fact that what we voted for is not what we are getting. As one who counseled 'give him time; it took decades for things to get this bad and they won't get fixed anytime soon', I won't put up with the various methods to denigrate and dismiss that have been used around here for months. Bully tactics, enabling pols who lie about what they intend to do, and people who will keep trying to sell talking points instead of addressing hard facts are not worth responding to anymore.

Just say no to Newtonian practitioners. Those who did it under bush are really not much different from those who do it now. They serve the people who control the pols, not the good of the nation.

[alc]

8. I always vote "for" and never for the lesser of 2 evils

That means I usually have a good choice in primaries but have to write in (or leave blank) on general elections. A blank vote is a way to tell them I'm for another option. I know they don't report it that way, but if only 95% of the people who showed up vote for one of the options, one side will realize there is a 5% chunk of voters who show up they can grab.

Neither party will recognize that they got my vote because i was against the other guy. If they get my vote they claim that I support what they've been doing. But, if they don't get my vote that have to admit that they didn't earn it and need to change if they want it. That's why I won't vote against, and I won't vote for someone who is the lesser of 2 evils.

[Stinky The Clown]

9. Dear Rahm,

I see your attack dogs are active today. They leave their fleas everywhere they go.

Your friend,
Stinky

[hfojvt]

10. we have a primary on Tuesday

you could always vote FOR the most progressive Democrat in the primary.

I think voting against is easier, as I wrote in October 2000

"from October of 2000:

Dear Editor,

I notice with some dismay that all the letters I have read have been pro-Bush. Are no Gore supporters writing, or are no Gore supporters being printed? Let me at least write for Gore and see if it is printed or suppressed.

First, I will give 520 billion reasons not to vote for Bush. That is the amount of money that the top 1% gets from the Bush tax cut. The public needs this money much worse than the millionaires who 'earn' it. Four percent of that tax cut goes to the bottom forty percent, compared to 40% to the top 1%. Such an unequal distribution is not inevitable in an income tax cut, but a result of Bush'sdesire to cut the top rates which most Americans don't pay. Only a cut at the bottom is for all taxpayers.

One of the pro-Bush letters mentioned "It's a Wonderful Life" which is also my favorite metaphor because the Republican party is the part that serves the Potters of this world and tilts the field even more in their favor. Gore promises to fight for the George Baileys and the Ernies and Berts, and I trust him far more than I trust Bush's 'compassion'.
Bush promises to end partisan bickering, and I believe that because his own party will run everything. Unless the Democrats filibuster and appoint special prosecutors (and they probably can't as a minority) the Republicans will compromise with the Democrats by allowing the Democrats to do what the Republicans want - help the rich people and the corporations make things that much harder for ordinary working people. Their Iowa platform includes abolishing the minimum wage doesn't it?

Gore proposes to use the imaginary surplus to reduce the debt and shore up social security which is surely a much more noble plan than using it to line the pockets of the wealthy. Surely Bush's tax cut is the last thing we should do if there is no surplus, and I still think that most of the surplus comes from Social Security and needs to be saved for my imaginary retirement.

I have mostly spoken against Bush instead of for Gore, but it is usually easier to be sure of what you do not want. A Bush presidency quite frankly scares me, whereas I am sure that Gore will be safe based on the last eight years. Eight years ago I did not see that much difference between Bush and Clinton, but now there is enough between Bush-2 and Gore to go with Gore."

[Fumesucker]

11. Indeed, but voting against is so much more prevalent..

It's been a long time since I've had the luxury of enthusiastically voting for a candidate, I'm not even sure what it feels like any more.

[Stinky The Clown]

12. I'm going to have that privilege in the upcoming midterms

I get to vote for a rep who voted to defund the war and who is a cosponsor of the "public option".

I get to vote for a really terrific young mom making her first entry into electoral politics in a run for the state legislature

I get to vote for a County exec who has instituted a (socialized) health care scheme for our county's poor and needy that involves a tax on our biggest employers

I get to vote for a school board member I know and admire.

Etc.

Obama is not on the ballot this cycle.

[Fumesucker]

13. Good for you..

And I mean that in a non-snarky way..

I however live in red state hell, voting is always of the "lesser of two evils" sort for me, usually only slightly less evil and you have to squint to see it at all, think of it as choosing between Sodom and Gomorrah.