tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10249940.post5952634345937078052..comments2024-03-26T20:24:43.919-05:00Comments on Papamoka Straight Talk: A CAUTION FOR DISGRUNTLED CLINTON SUPPORTERSPapamokahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14611162290397820224noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10249940.post-32030512762879163692008-08-26T06:05:00.000-05:002008-08-26T06:05:00.000-05:00As an Obama supporter Infidel, I would value your ...As an Obama supporter Infidel, I would value your vote and appreciate it for Obama. I think it is very wrong to insult people that are just not enthused about this election and either of the candidates.<BR/><BR/>From my perspective, my original candidate was Joe Biden simply because of his foreign relations expertise. My wife loved Hillary Clinton, and many a discussion about her between us ended with a "Yes dear." from me. When you get down to it, if you like any candidate it is in my opinion a gut feeling that you just run with. It would be ludicrous to think that anyone could sway anyone elses gut feeling.Papamokahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14611162290397820224noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10249940.post-39553363655329544852008-08-26T05:16:00.000-05:002008-08-26T05:16:00.000-05:00For Obama supporters, it is easy to dismiss the di...<I>For Obama supporters, it is easy to dismiss the disenchantment of Clinton supporters as sore losers. However, such an approach is conducive to making a bad situation worse.</I><BR/><BR/>You said it.<BR/><BR/>Here's my position; I speak for myself only, but I suspect many other PUMAs feel similarly. Like most of the swing voters who will decide the election, I don't have a particularly strong party identification. Late last year, I looked at the eight major Presidential candidates (three Democrats and five Republicans), and concluded that Hillary Clinton was the best candidate for the job. (She appeals to a lot of people like me who are open to voting for either party, as was seen in the primaries in the Midwestern and Appalachian swing states -- that's part of why she would have been a stronger general-election candidate than Obama.)<BR/><BR/>The candidate I favored didn't make it into the final round. Fine. I don't have a dog in this fight any more. I'm very unenthused (to put it kindly) with either Obama or McCain -- I have serious problems with both of them. I lean toward McCain as the lesser of two evils. But I'm open to persuasion.<BR/><BR/>However, <A HREF="http://cannonfire.blogspot.com/2008/07/more-unity.html" REL="nofollow">insults</A>, sneers, and lectures about what I "should" do are not persuasive, and they cut no ice with me at all. Such tactics are very effective ways of driving people <I>away</I>.<BR/><BR/>The sheer obnoxiousness and viciousness of so many of Obama's followers are part of why most polls show the a steady <I>increase</I> in the number of Clinton supporters who won't vote for Obama, or who even plan to vote for McCain.<BR/><BR/>Whenever I explain this, I get pro-Obama responses along the lines of "If you feel that way, then you are stupid and shortsighted", or the "cutting off your nose to spite your face" meme -- which just illustrates my point.<BR/><BR/>Many have even told us that, in effect, if we won't just shut up and absorb all the insults and do as we're told, we should get out of the party -- "get out, we don't need you".<BR/><BR/>Fine. If the Obama Democrats don't want our votes, I'm sure McCain does.<BR/><BR/>I'm not making any arguments for the PUMA position here. I don't need to. I'm not the one who's trying to convince anyone else to do anything. The Obama and McCain campaigns need to convince <I>me</I> and people like me. So far only one camp is making a real effort to do that. The other is actively trying to drive us away.<BR/><BR/>The behavior of Obama's followers is a substantial part of why he's going to lose in November.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com