JoB
JanS..
i don’t know where to start…
I didn’t say i wouldn’t vote.. or that i would vote for McCain if Senator Obama is our candidate… nor did i imply that anyone should not vote… or should vote for McCain.
What i said is that there are a lot of people who are being not only left out by his campaign… but are being dismissed as somehow not worthy of consideration by his campaign… and that it is unwise to count on their votes.
The one thing i did not hear as the pundits were discussing the reasons for Obama’s enormous losses in two of the recent primaries was the fact that he didn’t bother to campaign in those states…
You speak of the responsibility of voters who might choose not to make an effort.
What about the responsibility of the candidate and his campaign to show that he represents the interests of all his constituents if he expects their vote? I suspect that point would have been better made by actually campaigning for their votes.
I will certainly vote.. and there is no question i will not be voting for John McCain… or Ralph Nadar.. or the Republican green candidate whose name i can’t remember…
Nor am I waging an anti-Obama campaign.
I am simply not choosing to honor my commitment at the cost of my personal health for a campaign that is openly dismissive of my concerns.
and i think there will be many others like me who would have been willing to make an extraordinary commitment for a campaign that they believed in… one that generated hope… but will not do so for one that does not generate hope for them.
and that is the main problem with a primarily anti-anything campaign. It assumes that a common enemy is enough to make you suspend self interest.
But it is fed by anger… and the anger currently directed at Hillary can as easily be directed at Obama… all it takes is a little “evidence” of betrayal… or arrogance… after all.. arrogance is the real lever the press has been used against Hillary… and you kid yourself if you think it will not be used against Obama this fall.
I don’t believe that the kind of anti-Hillary campaign that was waged by democrats is justified by the kind of anti-Obama campaign that was fielded by the largely Republican press.
yes, i know that there has been much ado in this blog fueled by the Huffington Post about the possible inferences of any comment that Hillary made… but any of those comments pale in comparison to the actual names that Hillary has been called and the charges that have been made against her by her fellow democrats.
And no, i don’t think it unrealistic to expect those with whom i converse to refrain from making negative personal comments about me as a person… or my choice of personal writing style … or label me a troublemaker… especially in this kind of public forum.
It might be different if i was the type of person who indulged in personal attacks on others.. but i attack rhetoric and not people.
I don’t believe i have ever said anyone was stupid for having any idea… but i am quite sure that i have said that some rhetoric was pretty stupid.. and i am sure that i have said that repeating it was boring… and i know i have either said or implied that some people were simply uninformed… which apparently is considered condescending… whether they are uniformed or not.
Sometimes responses have disappointed me.. and i believe i once told Walfredo, NewResident and Ken that i expected more of them. But expecting more implies a belief in their intelligence..
I have said or implied that the remarks of those who have no compassion for others are callous…
but that doesn’t mean i think the people who make those remarks are callous… as theHouse demonstrated by making a donation to the local food bank and by attending and donating to the fundraiser for the locksmith.
i believe democrats who buy into the idea that the only people who support hillary are bigots, hillbillys and feminists are themselves making bigoted remarks… but i don’t think Kayleigh is a bigot. She has clearly shown herself as a person who is sensitive to bigotry.
I have consistently come to the defense of those who were being unfairly personally attacked on this forum and have consistently shown myself to be concerned with the well being of both individuals who post here and those in my community.
I thought that should have earned me a little basic respect. Apparently i was wrong.