Tuesday, October 25, 2016

A Little Left of Center

U.S. Senator John McCain announced he'll write in the name of fellow Senator Lindsey Graham for President. U.S. Representative Eric Paulsen says he'll write in the name of Senator Marco Rubio, the king of empty suits on Capitol Hill. One after another, prominent Republicans, after enduring months of boorish talk and behavior by their party's presidential nominee, and noting polls that show Hillary Clinton pulling ahead in her bid for the White House, have decided to abandon ship and disavow their party's nominee. But they all go to pains to say they won't be voting for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.
Secretary Clinton had difficulty securing her own party's nomination because she's perceived to be too moderate or centrist. Some even view her foreign policy views as hawkish. Yet the Republicans suggest that she's so far to the left that they'd rather aid and abet a misogynist, xenophobic candidate than admit that Hillary, one of two viable candidates on the ballot, would be a better president than the "bloviating idiot" (George Will's words) that their party has nominated.
Just remember that when you go to the polls. These Republicans are so irately partisan, so doctrinaire in their self-described conservatism (personally I don't see pillaging the environment, empowering corporate boards and executives at the expense of people, and piling on the the federal debt to fund tax cuts for the very rich as conservative values) that they'd rather disparage a moderate presidential candidate than support her. When the election is over, if Republicans control one or both houses of Congress, you can expect more gridlock and obstruction on Capitol Hill. The legislators who refused to reach out and embrace any olive branch that President Obama offered them won't be any nicer than President Hillary Clinton. If you want a functioning government, and won't mind a political environment a little to the left of George H.W. Bush, then vote Democratic across the board, up and down the ballot. Only with a Democratic congress will Hillary be able to govern in a way that is guided by a progressive compass.

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