I'm just in from a weekend trip to Louisville, Kentucky for their local Kino chapter's 48-hour film festival. It's a lovely city, and I wish I'd had more time to explore, but me and my fellow Wis-Kino buddies managed to make and screen a whopping four films (I'm dressed as a character from one of them in the photo at right), and had a great time. Many thanks to Kino Louisville, especially Whitney, for their hospitality.While I recover from the drive and get my head back on straight enough to make a proper post, I'd like to point out this little gem for you to ponder and be somewhat baffled/enraged by: Debra Bartoshevich, an elected delegate to the Democratic National Convention this year, is apparently such a sore loser after her candidate of choice--Hillary Clinton--failed to come out ahead, that she's openly endorsing John McCain.
I understand the disappointment felt when the cause or person you've supported so fully for so long doesn't succeed as you'd hoped. I am a liberal after all. What I don't understand, however, is being so bitter about it that, instead of supporting the candidate with similar views and goals, you switch over to backing the candidate that is about as polar opposite as you can get.
This goes for all Clinton supporters who've been threatening to back McCain. It doesn't make sense. It is, in my opinion, wrong-headed. But when applied to an actual elected Democratic delegate, we're now talking just plain stupid.
I'm glad that Wisconsin Democratic Party has now voted to strip Bartoshevich of her delegate status for this. It's absolutely deserved.
Seriously, I can't think of a single good reason to back McCain instead of Obama because you preferred Hillary. His politics and ideas are not remotely similar to those of Clinton, and I would argue that it would be insulting to all that Hillary has worked for to vote McCain.
h/t Steve N.
EDIT TO ADD: Arianna Huffington has an excellent article explaining why it would be ridiculous for liberal-leaning voters to support John McCain, including his terrible record on reproductive rights.
Posts
5 comments:
I thought she was still going to participate in supporting a Democrat candidate at the convention.
That she's said she'll vote for McCain in the general election wouldn't seem to justify denying her status as a delegate.
Who knows, lots of things may come to her attention between now and November 4 to convince her of the folly of her ways.
In the meantime, what the Dem establishment is doing to her strikes me as a touch mean spirited and spiteful.
She's a pledged Clinton delegate, and has said she plans to vote for Clinton at the convention. She hasn't said that she'd do anything to help support Obama.
You may be right that voting to unseat her might be too harsh. After all, we're not supposed to be in the business of forcing anyone to vote for anyone else. But she is an elected delegate, and publicly declaring your support for the opposing party's candidate is a pretty dumb move. It's less that she's going to vote McCain than that she openly said she would do so.
Her complaint about Obama is weird, too: "The Democrats jumped on this wagon of Barack Obama, and nobody really knows him."
Yeah, how dare those voters express their will in a manner that wasn't to her personal liking!
So I apologize if I come off a bit harsh (part of that is lack of sleep), but I still think she made a mistake when she made all of this public.
Good heavens don't apologize for your opinion, which I understand and sympathize with completely.
In my mind I just draw a distinction between her vote at the convention and her vote in the general election, and what they're doing is taking away one to penalize the other.
I can't help it ... law school did this to me!
I've also been baffled by why the Clinton backers are threatening to support McCain. It seems so Junior High. I feel like there must be something going on behind the scenes that we're not privy to. But even if there is, I feel like it's probably something that's really petty and stupid. What a dumb way to decide who should be president.
Having gotten some of the backstory regarding this situation, I'm not quite as angry at Debra Bartoshevich as I was when I blogged about the situation. Ultimately, I'm hoping she'll take a step back, look at things rationally, and realize that though Barack Obama may not be the perfect candidate in her eyes, he's far better than John McCain.
Post a Comment