Full disclosure: If Hillary Clinton wins the nomination, I’m an undecided voter.
Does this mean I have to go???
I’ve done voter registration, voter education, and get out the vote for Dems and Dem-sponsored initiatives in previous elections. I was a loyal, active member of UCSB Campus Democrats for my whole time in college, including as an officer during my senior year. I’ve convinced a great many people to open their minds and rethink the old GOP propaganda about the Democratic Party. I’ve posted here often and come to love this community dearly --- it’s one of the things that kept me going through these dark ages we call the Bush years.
So when the top of the reclist tells me I shouldn’t voice my opinion about what I think the Democratic Party should stand for, that if I won’t accept a certain person as the nominee of this party I’ve worked my ass off to help that I "don’t belong here," it royallllllllly pisses me off.
The fact is that knowing what candidates Kossacks absolutely can’t support under any condition is an extremely valuable piece of information for a voter who’s concerned with building the party. We’ve come a long way since McCauliffe and Daschle and the DLC were cuddling up with Bush to make people think Dems and Rethugs were one and the same. Some strategy that was! But thanks to the effort of awesome grassroots tribes like the Kossacks, gates are crashing! The times – they really ARE a changin!
I know damn well this is a blog devoted to electing Democrats. Every Kossack knows that. And THAT is EXACTLY why it’s so important to know if there are candidates that Kossacks don’t feel comfortable supporting. Because I don’t want folks whose voices I’ve come to love so much to have to leave because the nominee makes them queasy. Especially if that candidate ends up winning the general, as there’s a good chance will happen, because that means four years of it.
If my brother looked at me and said, "We can’t eat pizza tonight. We had pizza the last six nights. I’m so sick of pizza. It gave me the shits really bad this morning. Pleaaaase don’t make us eat pizza tonight!" we’re gonna have grilled cheese sandwiches or quesadillas or something. Because I love my brothers and want to respect their preferences the best I can. Doesn’t mean I’m gonna go grill steaks, but ya know, we won’t have pizza.
So if you can’t vote for pizza Obama, I encourage you to say it.
Ditto, Clinton.
Ditto Edwards.
Got an axe to grind with Kucinich?
If Gravel won, would you vote for Huck??
Would a Dodd nom make your blood boil?!
If Biden won, would it make ya bolt the party?
Does Bill Richardson make you uncontrollably angry for some reason?
Freedom of speech is an amazing, beautiful thing for a trillion reasons, but one of them is that it allows those of us who wish to do so to play our cards face up.