Some of us are old enough to recall those early
Saturday Night Live point-counterpoint
skits, with Jane Curtin presenting a thorough, well-reasoned, persuasive
analysis of some major issue. Jane made
each point persuasively and
effectively -- and then was answered by Dan Ackroyd, whose counterpoint was always the same: Jane, you stupid ignorant slut! It
was funny, then.
In 2016, though, we have a similar situation taking place within the nominal Progressive-Liberal Wing of the Democratic Party, where it is not nearly as funny now. What we have, judging from numerous progressive and liberal websites and publications, is the utter repudiation of our own leading presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton, through the posting of hateful, inaccurate, untrue, distorted, biased, often petty and spiteful accounts of her alleged past misdeeds and errors. What has already occurred is that the remaining Republican presidential candidate, Donald J. Trump, and his staff, are picking up on many of these calumnies against Hillary Clinton. The Donald has repeatedly promised to use every bit of dirt he can find against Hillary Clinton, and to judge by his recent past, truth and facts do not matter in the slightest to him, as everything is a reality show to Donald Trump.
Throwing fuel on the anti-Hillary fire are virtually all of those liberal and progressive websites and publications which publish articles best descrbed as vying to be vile against Hillary Clinton. It would seem that no assertion, no castigation, no calumny is beneath these critics-on-the-left -- to list only a few: Hillary Clinton is a liar, a warmonger, a Wall Street tool or operative, a traitor, a betrayer of our nation, a shill for the rich and super-rich, a woman scorned, a bad wife/mother... And those accusations are only for starters; as the primary season has proceeded, the Thunder (or Flatulence) on the Left has vied to find ever-stranger unproven assertions against Hillary -- and even to claim that she is about to be arrested, tried, & convicted for them! The Lefties disgusting nicknames, ranging from Hitlery to Guccifer (Lucifer in Guccis), prove their hatred once again.
Other than providing some dubious therapeutic aid for troubled Hardened Hillary Haters, there is no useful purpose for all of this trash talk, except to provide aid and comfort to the forces of Donald Trump, who clearly monitor many websites and publications, trolling for ways of destroying Hillary Clinton. For these Trump operatives, of course, such behavior is just rational self-interest. For the supposed Progressive-Liberals, however, it is the unwise height of self-destructive masochism. If they think that their Hatred for Hillary will improve Bernie Sanders' chances to become the Democratic presidential nominee, of course they are kidding themselves. Bernie has had a profound impact on 2016 issues and on the race itself, but the Superdelegate System used by the Democratic Party now insures the nomination of Hillary.
Worst of all, perhaps, are some alleged-progressive leaders who boast, in various media, that should they have to choose between Hillary and Donald the Despot, they will not vote at all this year. That shameful stance only helps the Republican nominee, as all past elections demonstrate that a large voter turnout is essential for Democratic candidates to win. It is high time, then, for progressives to choose the greater-good, or far-lesser-evil, and support Hillary Clinton, when she becomes the Democratic Party presidential nominee. The Republican alternative is unthinkable, and distasteful even to the Republican leadership such as House Speaker Paul Ryan! Progressives need to wake up and smell the impending disaster that they may well cause!
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