tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-872647804241988041.post3753424110693067660..comments2024-02-08T07:32:20.315-06:00Comments on Steve Bates - Yellow Doggerel Democratic Views: ‘Freedom Of The Press Is Guaranteed Only ...’Sampling The Networks' Hillary Committee AftermathSteve Bateshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07587223243120009776noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-872647804241988041.post-25844793121337287042015-10-24T02:20:07.844-05:002015-10-24T02:20:07.844-05:00Afterthought: IMO, Mr. Obama did in fact successfu...Afterthought: IMO, Mr. Obama did in fact successfully play me for a fool, in just that way, but I'm not sure the result would have been different had all of his supporters <b>voted for any other candidate actually likely to take the presidency.</b> Perhaps that's the strategy for me, and yes, it is often equivalent to voting for the least offensive of a bad lot of candidates. Welcome to my world... :-)Steve Bateshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07587223243120009776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-872647804241988041.post-89109005719945319652015-10-24T02:13:28.621-05:002015-10-24T02:13:28.621-05:00pj, it may depend somewhat on what I was doing bef...pj, it may depend somewhat on what I was doing before. For many years (mostly before "neolib" became a concern), I was a fairly conventional Democrat, mildly left of center and uncompromising mostly on women's rights (I did a couple of contracts for the local Planned Parenthood near the beginning of my IT career). Then Reagan and his henchmen came along and decided to have it all and have it now; their premeditated thrust to the extreme right forced me to examine what I advocated, who I could support, and what my short-term goals were, the goals every voter is forced to pursue if s/he is not to throw away his/her every vote as mere symbolic gesture (e.g., voting Green). I concluded my personal short-term voting goal was and is to do what I can to keep the nation from quite literally running off the rails into a neo-anything government of whatever sort... IOW, there are many roads to fascism, and I must do what I can to prevent America from following any of them. No vote for any major-party candidate is justifiable for a doctrinaire lefty; that's why having Bernie in the race has been such a rare treat for me. But I always knew it had to end; the only questions were how, how soon and what to move to when the end came. Either I have been successfully played for a fool, or Bernie has nudged Hillary a notch to the left on some issues; honestly, I never hoped for more than that... hey, it's only one person's one vote!Steve Bateshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07587223243120009776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-872647804241988041.post-24056127777174434302015-10-23T21:13:34.201-05:002015-10-23T21:13:34.201-05:00Voting for someone like Hillary might be tactical ...Voting for someone like Hillary might be tactical -- depends on what you think you'll get out of it -- but strategic it ain't. For anyone who actually leans left, supporting conservative Democrats is a losing proposition. Often enough that's even true in the short term. I've mostly been reduced to hoping that the crazy Republicans will save us from the neolib Dems.paintedjaguarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12543155841059132978noreply@blogger.com