zero shift
Banned
The Sanders vs Hillary arguments are annoying as fuck for primarily two reasons:
The first is that it seems that both sides are too stubborn to admit the elephant in the room for their candidates. For Sanders supporters it is the simple fact that he is not electable. For better or worse, he is to the Democrats as to what many conservative hardliners are to the GOP. He speaks very well to the more "radical" half of the base, while doesn't kindle as well with the more "moderate" side of the base, and (most importantly) doesn't speak for the common American voter. Sorry, there is no revolution taking place in the country (at least not yet). Again for better or worse, most Americans aren't keen with augmenting the country to follow the Scandinavian model or be the "Bolivia of the first world." The reality is what Sanders is doing is laying the foundation for a base that wants those things. That's why he kept bringing up "revolution" and voter-turnouts during the debate, as well as bring up the same policy points over and over.
Hillary fans also have a problem. While Sanders fans seem to think every candidate that isn't Bernie is a manchurian candidate for corporate America, Hillary fans think that she is the quintessential candidate for the job and brush complaints against her as nothing but a tinfoil hat bickering. Hillary certainly is no manchurian candidate, it isn't like she is completely free from their control. As much as people deny it, the majority of her funds come from big business. Her track record isn't something to get too excited about when looking at her record on criminal justice, defense, drugs, and going against big business. It certainly is better than most candidates, but it isn't something that most people should be satisfied with. I feel that many Hillary supporters see these criticisms as people more or less saying, "Oh my God! Hillary is essentially a Republican with a vagina and under a donkey banner! If she wins then I'll sit this out because both sides are the same!" In reality outside of a few select diehards nobody is saying this and even fewer are willing to risk not voting during the general election.
The second reason it annoys me is because...it isn't really happening. Esquire summarized things perfectly:
They work together. Bernie had plenty of opportunities to attack Hillary and rarely took it, the same is true vice-versa. Again, this isn't like the GOP debate where the candidates are all poo throwing monkeys. Bernie is more interested in steering the conversation leftward, Hillary is more interested in getting elected, and going by last night's debate they are both succeeding with their goals in full. There is no "grudge match" between the two. The only grudge match is between the Democratic base in which half of them thinks that the incremental change Hillary proposes will do nothing and if a candidate like Bernie isn't elected we will be doomed to be stuck in a nation that will Banana Republic, and the other half that thinks incremental change is the only realistic way forward and that by people voting for Bernie it potentially opens the door for a situation where he isn't elected for being too left and the nation is left with a thousand years of darkness due to a Republican being elected.
The first is that it seems that both sides are too stubborn to admit the elephant in the room for their candidates. For Sanders supporters it is the simple fact that he is not electable. For better or worse, he is to the Democrats as to what many conservative hardliners are to the GOP. He speaks very well to the more "radical" half of the base, while doesn't kindle as well with the more "moderate" side of the base, and (most importantly) doesn't speak for the common American voter. Sorry, there is no revolution taking place in the country (at least not yet). Again for better or worse, most Americans aren't keen with augmenting the country to follow the Scandinavian model or be the "Bolivia of the first world." The reality is what Sanders is doing is laying the foundation for a base that wants those things. That's why he kept bringing up "revolution" and voter-turnouts during the debate, as well as bring up the same policy points over and over.
Hillary fans also have a problem. While Sanders fans seem to think every candidate that isn't Bernie is a manchurian candidate for corporate America, Hillary fans think that she is the quintessential candidate for the job and brush complaints against her as nothing but a tinfoil hat bickering. Hillary certainly is no manchurian candidate, it isn't like she is completely free from their control. As much as people deny it, the majority of her funds come from big business. Her track record isn't something to get too excited about when looking at her record on criminal justice, defense, drugs, and going against big business. It certainly is better than most candidates, but it isn't something that most people should be satisfied with. I feel that many Hillary supporters see these criticisms as people more or less saying, "Oh my God! Hillary is essentially a Republican with a vagina and under a donkey banner! If she wins then I'll sit this out because both sides are the same!" In reality outside of a few select diehards nobody is saying this and even fewer are willing to risk not voting during the general election.
The second reason it annoys me is because...it isn't really happening. Esquire summarized things perfectly:
Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton: Together they won the debate, because last night it really hit me what a great pair they make. He is forcing her to talk about income inequality and campaign finance reform, she is taking his anger and turning it into something more palatable. Time and again, Sanders serves up the Howard Beale moments, and Clinton translates them into smooth talking points. Sanders gets you upset about a problem, Clinton convinces you she can fix it. I remain unconvinced that Sanders can get elected— we are not going to elect a socialist in America in 2016— but the longer he stays in the race, the more he reveals the concerns of the disaffected voter who is not crazy enough to vote Republican, the more Hillary can run on those concerns in a more appetizing way. They need each other. We need them.
They work together. Bernie had plenty of opportunities to attack Hillary and rarely took it, the same is true vice-versa. Again, this isn't like the GOP debate where the candidates are all poo throwing monkeys. Bernie is more interested in steering the conversation leftward, Hillary is more interested in getting elected, and going by last night's debate they are both succeeding with their goals in full. There is no "grudge match" between the two. The only grudge match is between the Democratic base in which half of them thinks that the incremental change Hillary proposes will do nothing and if a candidate like Bernie isn't elected we will be doomed to be stuck in a nation that will Banana Republic, and the other half that thinks incremental change is the only realistic way forward and that by people voting for Bernie it potentially opens the door for a situation where he isn't elected for being too left and the nation is left with a thousand years of darkness due to a Republican being elected.