I understand that "electibility" is an important factor for many voters, especially partisans around Daily Kos, but ultimately I remain unconvinced that the right-wing controlled portions of the media, and the Republican 527 groups are going to be any better or worse for Obama or Clinton. Here are a couple of points I'm pretty sure of, however:
- If you think that John McCain is too much of a gentleman to dirty his hands with swift-boat type nonsense to the Democratic candidate, you are living on Fantasy Island.
- If you think that, in the event Obama is the nominee, we won't be hearing constant references to "Barack Osama", "Barack Hussein Osama", "Cocaine", "Liberal", and "African-American", you are living on Fantasy Island.
- If you think that, in the event Clinton is the nominee, we won't be hearing references to Monika Lewinsky, Vince Foster and Travelgate because "she has weathered that storm before", you are living on Fantasy Island.
- If you think that Republicans like Rush and Ann Coulter will really vote for Clinton over McCain, you are living on Fantasy Island.
So let me bring you back from the island for a minute. There is no doubt there will be the normal amount of negative, nasty shit-slinging from the Republican party once we have a nominee. And there is no doubt that they will unify behind their candidate. It's going to be a tough fight, and each of our candidates has challenges with certain states and segments of the population.
But don't forget - it's pretty clear we have the BETTER candidates. We don't have the anchor of eight years of failed policies and a quagmire of a war to defend. And we damn sure have the more energized electorate. Our candidate will have the funds to fight in states that were once considered untouchable for a Democrat. Republicans will not be taking our states from us, but they will be fighting like hell to retain their own strongholds.
And lastly, don't forget that while we might discuss the nuanced difference of our candidates positions, much of America votes like they would for their high school class president. John McCain may be a war hero, but his looks and speaking style do not bode well against the charismatic and extremely dyanmic speaking styles of our two candidates. McCain will be hard pressed to match the energy level of his opponent.
Discussing "electibility" at this point is a fool's errand. Using it as a tool to bash over the heads of either of our candidates is the unsubstantiated wishful thinking of partisans who only care about the horses, and not the horserace.