Comments on Caucus-sucker Blues

Dribbleglass the undecided! You attention whore, you.

Dude, I can see you're very proud of what you secretly believe to be a highmindedness that is beyond the understanding of the simpletons who surround you, but get over yourself. It's not about you.

I haven't yet read your post, but the subject line: Caucus-sucker blues. Fucking brilliant.

don't the Obamatons know that JFK barely won and without his Dad buying Illinois, he'd of lost?

He was not a uniter. He was hated. He got _ _ _ _ BECAUSE he was hated.

Oops, taliking facts again. Sorry.

Way to paint up the picture.

what was the final delegate count? which way did the undecideds break?

whom is it about, if not me?

I've been looking for someone to articulate this for me:

"...and Obama isn’t as polarizing a figure and that’s probably the most important thing to think about going into the general election. I said I thought that voting for a president based on strategy like that was immoral."

I ditto you Sean. It's immoral...or somehow just wrong.
Many many many Obamatons give this rationalization for their vote, but what is ironic about this rationale is this: instead of voting for hope, they are voting for fear. Just as much fear in this election as hope.

I always take a pause when the "under God" phrase comes up; it kind of fucks up the cadence, but I can never bring myself to utter out loud something I patently disbelieve.

I always take a pause when the "under God" phrase comes up; it kind of fucks up the cadence, but I can never bring myself to utter out loud something I patently disbelieve.

Well, I read six paragraphs of this tripe before giving up in disgust. I don't care how your tale ends. Undecideds are attention whores. Get over yourself.

@4 - Kennedy got shot because he was riding in an open limousine without the bullet-proof bubble top. Hated - by whom - oh yeah, the guy who shot him. The nation wept in unison - can you imagine the nation weeping for W?

Undecided = attention whore. Wow - that's so zeitgeisty. I used to make fun of people who are/were undecided. And now I am/are one.

Remember the upper Dean summer and then the ineluctably downer Kerry autumn? That's why Obama is so iffy on my radar. As much as we're all seeking some sort of deliverance, I can't wrap my mind around the idea that O is the deliverer.

No, normal people are not seeking deliverance. Or a savior. Or any other freaky bullshit like that. Normal people are picking a viable candidate who has a shot at winning. Even if just picking does not lead to some kind of transcendent moral perfection. Please do not act like you are the only one on Earth who has noticed that each candidate comes with flaws. We know; we're the grownups, after all.

You'd have to have some kind of crazy inflated sense of your own importance to think that the world will end if you choose in error. Being unable to make up your mind is nothing to be proud of.

Glad you went to your caucus. BTW, you can certainly send uncommitted delegates to the convention. We had a few at our site. In fact, Washington State sent uncommitted delegates to the National Convention in 1992. So someone received some incorrect information.

We sent the nation's largest uncommitted delegation in 1992. I remember helping forge the alliance of Harkin, Tsongas, and other people who made it happen.

But ... not this year. This year it doesn't seem that necessary, since we have some really good candidates to choose amongst.

All I know is that my caucus was stressful as hell and the Obama kids were so rude to us Hillary supporters. I got there early and we were all told the rules and that we could put up campaign posters but we had to use blue tape (painters tape).

Me and one other supporter put up all of our Hillary posters since we had blue tape. The Obama supporters didn't have tape and so after we put up all the posters, the Obama supporters then made this huge deal "wait you can't put political posters up in a church" so they tore down all the posters. After they tore them down, the caucus leader said that they were wrong and that the posters should have stayed up, but by that time it was to late

Then at the end when Hillary and Obama supporters were allowed time to give their statements on their candidates, the Obama supporters hogged the mic and 4 or 5 of them talked and talked and talked, while only one Hillary supporter was given a chance to make their statement at which time the precinct leader who was an Obama fan said "you get one minute" even though the Obama supporters had just taken up a good 15 mins with their "Hope, Kennedy, Change, Hope, blah blah blah"

I absolutely hate the Caucus system.

I had a good time at the caucus today. It was noisy, since we were in a big meeting hall with other precincts, but overall it was pretty mellow, and there wasn't really any attempt to convince people to change their candidate or not be undecided.

We were lucky because the guy who volunteered to be our precinct coordinator had been a delegate last time, so he knew that we could in fact send an uncommitted delegate (we didn't; enough people committed or changed so we had 4 for Obama and 1 for Clinton).

I also felt that everyone respected other people's opinions or decisions about who to support; what I find most heartening was that it seemed like even though the majority of people were passionate about either Obama or Clinton we were also willing to support the eventual nominee if it wasn't our candidate.

We also only had one exactly-timed one minute speech for each candidate - I don't know if that's because we weren't really interested in trying to sway the others' opinions or because of a misinterpretation of the instruction print-out that we were going by.

Here's hoping the dems figure out how to do it better and are better prepared next time! I also think there should be some kind of absentee participation available for people who have to work or aren't into the caucus thing.

"I always take a pause when the "under God" phrase comes up; it kind of fucks up the cadence, but I can never bring myself to utter out loud something I patently disbelieve."

Me too, especially after doing some research on the pledge recently. Better late than never, I guess.

Dear 13: I am on the cusp of turning 70 years old. In 1960, I was fortunate enough to work for JFK - Bobby was my boss. I know what unendurable political excitement is all about, and I know all about hoping to change the things one can and accepting the things one cannot.

As I said: never before have I been undecided in choosing a candidate. This time, I am. You must be on lots of retsina to think that because I have announced my unprecedented indeciseiveness connotes some sort of self-inflated self-importance.

Both Hillary and Obama are equally qualified and equally impressive. But I must say there is a lot of self-fulfilling prophecy going on out there in slogdom. "Polls say" and all of that meretricious bullshit. What about Iowa, what about New Hampshire? The polls were dead wrong, and they will continue to be dead wrong because people are going to lie.

So I really need no lectures about how I should feel, or how I should conduct myself, or how I should think. Obama is not the second coming of Christ - would that he were. You may dismiss Hillary for all of the right or wrong reasons, but you still dismiss her. That's something you should get over.

Sounds trite: but may the best person win - Seattle PC and all.

You and I were at the same caucus, but different precincts. I didn't know anybody either, and didn't really care to get to know all the middle-glass trendy-glasses-wearing Boomers. But the process was interesting and I felt good about being able to participate and knowing that it would make an impact in the election. I agree with pretty much everything you said here, except for the part about cynicism; there were plenty of times I felt cynical.

there's no shame in being vacillant about touching the fire twice.

ANNNNNND...

there really is only one way to settle this. did the woman have one needle or two?

During our speech time, a woman on the overpopulated Obama side of the small gymnasium my precinct was ushered to made an impassioned plea for our sewing-circle-evoking Clinton group to change our minds and support the less-polarizing candidate, the candidate Republicans don't hate so much. That is my least-favorite pro-Obama argument, and hearing it again made me glad to be on the side I had chosen only the day before.

What infuriates me so much about that argument is that few people are willing to acknowledge why she is so hated; because she's a she. That they are willing to choose a candidate based on avoiding the repercussions of other people's misogynism makes me want to throw up. As was succinctly said @8, they are voting for fear. I refuse to disabuse myself of the notion that we have the luxury of making decisions based on logic and reason, not fear.

I have no problem with people who prefer Obama based on who he is, his policy, or his voting record, and obviously I will vote for him if he is nominated. I do have a problem with being treated like I was the enemy because I had the audacity to prefer the candidate who hateful scumbags like Rush Limbaugh think they have a better chance against.

Anyway, thank you for this, it was a great read and I don't understand how it could elicit such vitriol from the likes of Elenchos; I read honesty and observation in this story, not pride or attention-seeking.

@22 - true, Aislinn, it is unfair that the GOP and Independents are attacking Sen Clinton more due to her gender than they would if she was a he.

However, it's also reality. It may be unfair, but it's the ground on which we have to consider all our options.

Hopefully, most people made decisions based on who they wanted for President, and not on things like that.

After the Pledge of Allegiance (is there anyone among us who doesn’t choke on “under god”?),

It always bothered me until I was twelve or thirteen.