There is ambiguity between what is legitimate criticism of Clinton from the left, and what is a right-wing or destructive malicious attack. I get that. Language can be imprecise, and perspective matters. One person’s freedom fighter is another’s terrorist. So here’s one way to think about it: intent.
If your goal is to make Clinton a better candidate and president, that’s allowed. Constructive criticism falls under that rubric. If your goal is to sabotage Clinton, then that won’t be allowed.
Again, what is what can be in the eye of the beholder, but that’s how moderators will evaluate these matters. If your goal is to make Clinton better, then great! If your goal is to destroy her, then boo hiss.
Many people, including myself, believe that there is no realistic way to make Clinton a better candidate. That ship sailed a long time ago.
She lies & changes her positions too much. Repeatedly and often. Watch any Youtube video of her contradicting herself for 15 minutes, see the multitude of posts on the rec list this primary season, see all the “mostly false” / “pants on fire” fact checks.
So, okay. I’ll admit it, I want to see her go down in flames this primary season. It’s not because I hate her, although I’ll also admit to really not liking her. No, it’s because I’m really fucking scared at how she is going to fare in the general election and I feel like I have no clue what she is actually going to do in office.
I am not alone.
Her untrustworthy numbers are really, really high.
You guys think you’re fighting unwarranted attacks on her character, but you’re FIGHTING THE ALARM BELLS instead.
Instead of protecting Clinton by pretending this issue isn’t huge, by pretending she’s inevitable, we should be promoting Bernie in a huge way. He’s got progressive policies, he doesn’t change his position with the political winds, he’s getting lots of new voters involved in politics… I truly believe he has a better shot at winning the presidency than Hillary does.
But whatever, the primary isn’t over tomorrow. The alarms might get turned off here, but they’ll be ringing everywhere else on the net. If you want your bubble, you can have it, but I don’t think it’s going to do anyone good in the long run.
I plan on voting, phone banking, donating Bernie until the convention is over. And yes, sounding the alarm about Hillary to other dem’s, just maybe not here. Because my goal is to make Bernie the candidate we face the Republicans with in November.
