Both Obamas Speak Out on the Folly of a 'Protest Vote'
Apparently the powers that be in the Democratic Party believe that on balance both of the principle alternative party candidates - namely Gary Johnson and Jill Stein - are picking up support from voters they believe would otherwise be inclined to vote for Hillary Clinton. So now they are rolling out the big guns.
President Barack Obama warned in a radio interview on Wednesday that Americans who vote for Libertarian Gary Johnson or Green Party candidate Jill Stein in November risk putting Donald Trump into the White House, as he sought to blunt momentum for third-party candidates.
“If you don’t vote, that’s a vote for Trump,” Obama said in an interview on the Steve Harvey Morning Show. “If you vote for a third-party candidate who’s got no chance to win, that’s a vote for Trump.”
Meantime, in a campaign appearance for Hillary in Philadelphia today, First Lady Michelle Obama weighed in on the same subject:
[video:https://youtu.be/JejWDmrvaqE]
My, my - don't you just love the smell of desperation in the morning? I'm not sure what it smells like, but it's probably not victory.
Comments
Both Obamas suffer from a gap between say and do.
Obamas are worried about Inauguration
They must be horrified at the prospect of having to sit through birther Trump being anointed.
Do you think the Democratic establishment would have the balls to skip it?
They could skip town ahead of time
There is precedent - a couple of outgoing Presidents despised their successors so much that they got out of DC rather than sit through the inauguration.
John Adams was the first - he was in a coach back to Quincy, MA while Jefferson was taking the oath of office.
John Quincy Adams was as bad a sport as his father, skipping the inauguration of Andrew Jackson.
Andrew Johnson snubbed Ulysses S. Grant's inauguration because Grant let it be known that he would not ride in the same carriage as Johnson.
Woodrow Wilson rode to the Capitol with Warren G. Harding, but did not attend the ceremony (he may not have been up to it, since he was still in poor health after that stroke).
Richard Nixon left DC in disgrace prior to Gerald Ford's inauguration - there was no real reason for him to attend anyway.
There is no justice. There can be no peace.
I have to give John Adams props anyway.
He opposed slavery, even though he ultimately caved in order to get Southern support for revolution. He was humble and patriotic enough to serve as a rep after having been POTUS--a lifetime of service to his country.
Also prescient:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Quincy_Adams
Just riding back and forth to Massachusetts in winter before global warming deserves props, as does leaving his beloved wife to cope on her own in dangerous times.
Not to mention, he did some good acting in that Spielberg film and that TV series.
His wiki is well worth reading.
Okay, you caught me. I'm a fan.
I like him too, actually, a lot--I think it's the honesty
His support for the Sedition Act really distresses me, BECAUSE I like him.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Most of our Presidents and Founders were VERY mixed bags.
Adams was far less mixed than most. I don't know of a one that was perfect.
On the bright side, the Acts were repealed during Jefferson's adminstration.
Thanks - never an end to learning history!
Proof Positive that Dems are Scared Shitless
When did you ever hear pols even acknowledge 3rd party voters, much less deploying a President to scold voters.
Hahahah. #JillNotHill
Donnie The #ShitHole Douchebag. Fake Friend to the Working Class. Real Asshole.
Big yes to that. Whatever their internal numbers are saying,
it's enough to get them to convince the POTUS to go out on the stump for her and actually SCOLD voters who plan on voting for a 3rd party candidate. Anecdote: About 3 weeks ago, a retired state trooper told me he'll vote for Stein or Johnson. He said "I don't owe it to the 2 party system to vote for one of those two crummy nominees they gave us."
"Just call me Hillbilly Dem(exit)."
-H/T to Wavey Davey
If 2k is any guide...
Then half of Johnson and Stein will bolt in the booth to GOP/DEM respectively. That and the Bradley Effect/Shy Trumper makes the electoral math very challenging for Clinton.
I don't think so--I think they will
just stay home. If they bolt anywhere it will be to their living-room couch. Or the nearest bar. (Can't blame 'em.)
This is not 2000. This is another country.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
It's 2k all growed up from learning the lessons of 2k
Podems/Syriza/Brexit type election but the Trump is amazing at scaring the herd back into the pen.
2k was about 50% bolted. To the degree it's less than that should give us a yardstick to estimate the numbers of the awakened since then.
Yup, people in the US have
Yup, people in the US have learnt to recognize the signs of electoral cheating more easily after 2000.
http://www.michaelparenti.org/stolenelections.html
http://www.diggers.org/freecitynews/_disc1/0000001e.htm
http://www.dummies.com/education/politics-government/supreme-court-case-...
.
Not an investigation and effort to achieve justice - no, no! Never that! And so it goes, on and on, and on to here.
http://phys.org/news/2012-11-voting-machines-election.html
From 2012 to 2016 - but it's not a 'real' 'worry' :
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/09/paperless-voting-could-fuel-rigged...
Luckily, the Clintons have no trouble with concerns regarding (more) stolen elections, so it's all A-OK!
While a lot of us Bern with indignation.
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
Big difference 'tween then and now: the eyes Bernie
opened and the rise in the anger meter. Things are a lot worse for a lot more people now. Not to be discounted, those two factors.
#DemExit wouldn't have happened in 2000. Voters still believed then that the Dems were the good guys, or at least significantly better than the Republicans. That line doesn't have the same selling power it did. Not even close.
"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." --Jiddu Krishnamurti
A protest vote would be if we
A protest vote would be if we voted for Trump, just to keep the ethically challenged Clintons away from the white house for another four years!
Voting Jill or Gary would be a conscience vote.
There is a difference, Obamas, because no way no how will we ever vote for Hillary!
Fuck off, Barry. You had your chance and you blew it.
His legacy would have been far better had he chosen not to get on his knees for the corporate state rather than govern for us instead.
Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.
Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.
Notice the framing: "protest" (and "spoiler") votes
This framing aims to delegitimize any candidate outside the duopoly and invalidate valid reasons to vote FOR a 3rd-party candidate who best represents our views rather than AGAINST the D or R quadrennial offering. (We're called childish/selfish/ignorant of how first-past-the-post systems work. We're assaulted with identity politics of blame and shame. We're guilt-tripped and told what will be all our fault.)
Because, realistically, the Electoral College is an insuperable barrier to a 3rd-party win nowadays, we're told we're throwing away our votes, when in fact, we're using them as the barely audible voice we still have in the rigged system we have. If enough of us do that, our combined voices may reach a decibel level that can't be ignored.
I'm not hopeful about that, but I sure as hell won't be badgered into voting for one candidate I find unacceptable or against another I also find unacceptable. Nor will I allow myself to be put on the defensive about that.
EDIT: How is casting my vote for a candidate I support any more "throwing it away" than voting for a candidate I don't support? If I object strongly to the other presidential offerings, it sure seems like a waste of my vote to cast it for any of the options I don't want. And it matters not that I know I'll end up with one of the objectionable options anyway. Even so, in what rational universe would I voluntarily vote for any of the "strongly don't want" options? "Lesser evilism" exists as a campaign strategy to discredit this argument.
"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." --Jiddu Krishnamurti
Great post. Thank you.
ROTFLMAO
Obama is providing advertising for Gary Johnson and Jill Stein.
The wheels really have come off.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Damsel in Distress
For someone who claims to have all this experience and competency, why does Clinton need so much assistance from all the bigwigs in the Democratic party and in the media? At this point, a truly skilled politician running for President would be out campaigning for Democratic senators and congressional candidates. Instead, "everybody and his brother" has to stop what they're doing and bail Hillary out of another mess.
The problem is, she can't campaign on a daily basis
In such an established manner. No whistlestop tours for her, supporting parallel Democratic efforts along the way.
She appears to have no stamina.
Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.
But after a few days appears to be ALL FLUFFED UP!
Sorry for caps, but that is how it seems. My visage sick, haggard to rouged (!) cheeks and dentured smile would take longer for me on many counts, including IV infusion of $$, not a source available for me, a Demexit product.
Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.
I've seen some sort of new
I've seen some sort of new under-the-skin filler injection touted in the sort of internet ads I'd never click on - maybe one of her staff did that for her?
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
She appears to have nothing but "unbridled" personal ambition
hat tip to Powell. No soul, no principles, no honesty, no trustworthiness, etc. Just wants to be the first woman President.
#JillNotHill.
Please don't borrow Hillary's woman card without her permission.
It's about all she has, aside from her immediate familiy members (what a crew!) and hundreds of millions of dollars.
As opposed to my votes for Obama. They were WASTED votes.
Cretin ran on a 'liberal' platform, governed 150% the opposite direction.
Screw both these people. They need to sit down and shut up. They're going over the line when it comes to meddling in this election. Particularly Barry and his FBI BFF Comey.
I'm tired of this back-slapping "Isn't humanity neat?" bullshit. We're a virus with shoes, okay? That's all we are. - Bill Hicks
Politics is the entertainment branch of industry. - Frank Zappa
In Field Operations
We use the term " Universe". Johnson and Stein have made the universe 16% smaller. This new paradigm is something the Clinton campaign can't wrap their heads around. Where are they going to get the votes they need to get past 50% plus one.
OF course Hillary could have just proposed to beak up the big banks, create jobs, raise the min wage to $15, go to Single payer, and she'd clean Trump's clock, Johnson would get 2-3% and Stein wouldn't get past 1%.
Cause Trump is viable, is all on the Bush's and Clinton's.
FDR 9-23-33, "If we cannot do this one way, we will do it another way. But do it we will.
if Hillary proposed
....... be completely disbelieved, as there's no reason to believe the Pander Bear when she makes statements like these.
One of Bernie's main strengths was that he had fought for all that stuff before he proposed it as a Presidential Candidate; and so people actually believed him. Therefore, he had to be neutralized.
Enter D. Trump, stage right; enter H. Clinton, stage left. Exit Bernie (for all practical intents and purposes).
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
Oh for the love of Mike
My vote is not a "protest". I'm voting for the candidate who
If you want my vote next time, then it's a simple optimization problem. If not, then I'm sure you understand what you need to do. Which includes giving up if your views and personality don't match that of enough of the electorate.
We can’t save the world by playing by the rules, because the rules have to be changed.
- Greta Thunberg
Wed, 09/28/2016 - 8:09pm —
Wed, 09/28/2016 - 8:09pm — Hawkfish
Or fit a democracy!
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
Pitiful. Don't they get embarrassed, parroting each other?
A vote for a Democrat is a vote, but a vote for anyone else is a protest vote? Really? Why? Where do Democratic politicians, who think we should do away with "entitlements," get their sense of entitlement? Or their privilege? Or their hubris, for that matter?
This is so frustrating. Every four years, there's a Presidential election which is, trust me, folks, THE wrong election for a protest vote, but I was never given a protest vote. I guess I missed the day my state was giving out a right to vote called a "protest vote." I have only something called "a vote." In 2016, I shall use my Presidential vote to try to help the Green Party get on the ballot in 2020. Anything to make inroads into the insane duopoly that gave us two corrupt psychopaths as nominees for President. If I did have a protest vote, I'd love to use it to express my utter disgust with the worst set of Presidential candidates in U.S. history.
In most elections these days, it is Republicans who must run against candidates to their right, often several, but they never whine about that because no one is entitled to a clear field. In 2000, the candidates of seven parties ran for President. To Bush's left were the candidates of the Democratic Party and the Green Party. To Bush's right, however, were four candidates, count 'em, four. Yet, the only so-called "third" party candidate we ever hear about is Nader, a man who did more for Americans before he turned 40 than the Clintons and the Obamas combined. I am so ashamed and sorry that I never voted for him. I will never inflict that shame and regret on myself again and certainly not for the likes of Hillary Rodham Clinton. I really don't care which incompetent psychopath gets the Oval Office this time around.
Love it!
Preach.
I don't care either.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Boy, I can't wait for election night!
Just to see how many people actually don't vote for her heinous and thereby telling these assclowns to go fuck themselves. It's really going to be something.
This shit is bananas.
Hell yeah. A vote for Jill is also
a direct message to Hill -- "GFY Hellery." Hahaha.
Donnie The #ShitHole Douchebag. Fake Friend to the Working Class. Real Asshole.
New Plan
The next person who says this, i'm going to ask them if I should just vote for Trump then. Since it's apparently the same.
The logic is never applied the other way
It's like they never consider the idea that a vote for a third party candidate is also a vote that Trump won't be getting. I wonder why they wouldn't be concerned at all that by discouraging people away from voting third party they could increase Trump's vote count.
Maybe because Hillary IS SO
Maybe because Hillary IS SO getting her turn this time and TPTB have invested many billions in her, because the Clintons are going to give them the world to squeeze like a fracking orange under global law they'll be making themselves, just like the Clinton votes?
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
That's why VotePact is a great idea--
http://www.votepact.org/
It reveals their hypocrisy.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Oh, boy, does it ever - great
Oh, boy, does it ever - great site, thanks!
Now, if only my recs would stick...
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
If no vote is a vote for Trump and if
a third-party vote is a vote for Trump, then following that logic isn't a vote for Trump actually two votes for Trump?
"When we remember we are all mad, the mysteries disappear and life stands explained." - Mark Twain
Yep.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
If this thread indicates the effectiveness of the "protest vote"
scolding meme, Hillary needs to start measuring the windows for drapes
in her three-home Chappaqua "compound."
Here's hoping her interior designer has good taste.
Then again, what am I thinking? Who needs persuasion when they have rigging?
Dear President and First Lady Obama,
I will not cast a "protest" vote. My vote will be cast for actual freedom, for policies that are beneficial to all people, for candidates that are rational and stable. My vote will also be cast with a strong note of pure, unadulterated vengeance. The Democrats back-stabbed and cheated the only decent candidate, they committed election fraud on a grand scale, and they did it with breathtaking arrogance. Clinton-era policies wrecked my home state, and contributed to literally killing friends of mine before their time. If you think I would vote for another Clinton, EVER, even up against Satan himself, you are delusional at best.
I was canvassing for the Democratic Party before I even entered high school. Though I remained Independent, I have voted for Democratic candidates, an overwhelming majority of the time. I and others like me have been your foot-soldiers, and now we have been spit upon from on high. You are not chiding a bunch of children for refusing to fear the mercenary orange bogeyman correctly. You are speaking the same old threadbare "designated villain" propaganda to grownups who have finally seen through it.
You are not speaking truth to power, you are speaking lies to awareness and rage.
I hereby commit my vote to trying to legally hurt the "Democratic" Party as best I can, forever. Since I am obviously biased at this point, and not likely to stay even this polite about it, instead here's Samuel Clemens to explain how it works. -And no, I haven't changed his use of the masculine pronoun. In his day, only men voted. A different era.
"Each of you, for himself, by himself and on his own responsibility, must speak. And it is a solemn and weighty responsibility, and not lightly to be flung aside at the bullying of pulpit, press, government, or the empty catch-phrases of politicians. Each must for himself alone decide what is right, and what is wrong, and which course is patriotic, and which isn't. You cannot shirk this and be a man. To decide it against your convictions is to be an unqualified and inexcusable traitor, both to yourself and to your country, let men label you as they may. If you alone of all the nation shall decide one way, and that way be the right way according to your convictions of the right, you have done your duty by yourself and by your country -- hold up your head! You have nothing to be ashamed of." -Mark Twain; Letters from the Earth
My decision is to oppose the major party duopoly, and in particular, the Democratic Party. My decision is to support the Greens, since they are sane and correct, and your party is wrong, in so many ways. And it is the right and patriotic thing for me to do. And I am holding my head high.
"Capitalism is the extraordinary belief that the nastiest of men for the nastiest of motives will somehow work for the benefit of all."
- John Maynard Keynes
Wonderful, fellow-Peasant!
Wonderful, fellow-Peasant! You've nailed it to the heartless!
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
Wow, just wow.
My vote is NOT a protest vote! I am VOTING FOR someone who recognizes the status-quo is not working and wants to move the country forward in a sane way. In a way, I do want my vote to register as a big FU to the whole deplorable lot of them, but more importantly, I want it to be a vote for who best represents my values.
Voting for a pig and a warpig is not a sane choice. So yeah, FU HRC/PO/FirstLady/DNC/DINOs!
Aaannndd, don't wag your finger at us!
Where's the double middle finger emoji when you need one?
no emoji for that, but
here's this:
This shit is bananas.
It's only a protest vote if she doesn't win. They'd like to make
it a self-fulfilling prophecy, but we're not playing along any more.
If everyone who likes Stein votes for Stein instead of out of fear of Trump, then she'll win. If everyone considering staying home instead votes for Stein, she'll win. In 2014, 67% of eligible voters stayed home. That's a massive potential pool of Stein votes.
Besides, I tried to tell them to vote for Bern because "fear Trump!" They didn't listen to me. Why should I listen to them?
Please check out Pet Vet Help, consider joining us to help pets, and follow me @ElenaCarlena on Twitter! Thank you.
Now she's finger-wagging, too?
I so like being lectured down to.
Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.
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