If you did not read my last entry (which you should if you haven't), I pretty much came out hard against those on both the Hillary and Obama sides who have threatened to bolt to McCain if their candidate does not win the Democratic nomination for President. To my dismay, when I proposed a poll, I saw that still roughly a quarter of you, 24%, said you would vote for McCain if your Democratic candidate does not get the nomination.
Well I put that aside until I came across this:
In order for Florida's 1.7 million votes to really count, the penalty needs to be lifted before the last primary in June. Otherwise, Floridians will have no say in choosing the Democratic nominee. The risk in not lifting the penalty in time for Floridians' votes to count is that they will desert the party in droves in November, either by not voting or by voting for McCain. Who could blame them?
Now I'm not saying that Jeralyn is a firm believer of this, nor is she wanting to persuade people to do this, and frankly I sense this concern as my mom is a Florida resident who did vote for and is a supporter of Hillary. However, speaking only for my mom, she is smart enough to know that either Hillary or Obama would be legions better than John McCain. She went as far as to acknowledge that in the end come Election Day, whether it is Hillary's name or Barack's name on the ballot for Democrat, that Democrat will get her vote.
Why in the name of God can't people get out of their petty pride to see what's at stake and what they are potentially getting ready to do to their country? For what, to make a point? Say what people will about Nader, but he wasn't the Republican candidate for President in 2000. John McCain however is, and if you think you will be getting a difference, well, Scarecrow from Firedoglake put it best:
Just like George Bush, John McCain has been on the wrong side of every issue important to voters: he approved the Fed's Bear Stearns bailout, but opposes more regulation and is skeptical about helping homeowners; he supports Bush's tax cuts for the rich; he'll stay in Iraq for 100 years, even though Americans and Iraqis want us out.
A vote for John McCain is essentially a vote for Four More Years, period. So if you are making plans to cast your ballot for John McCain if your Democratic candidate gets the boot, I don't want to hear it. If you will choose the Republican over the Democrat that beat your candidate in the primary, then I don't want to hear you complain about the mortgage crisis, the continuation of Bush's tax cuts, getting out of Iraq, the bank bailouts, warrantless wiretapping, telecom immunity, torture, the threat of war with Iran, et cetera, et cetera, et ceter-f'n-ra!
As far as I am concerned, this attitude revokes your right to complain about the direction of this country.